Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (9 page)

“Lilly, come back to me,” his forlorn voice broke my heart. I wanted to run into his arms and erase his pain. Why did I have to be the cause of so much heartache to my friends, my loved ones?

“You have to find a way to tell us what happened,” he pleaded. “I can’t lose you. I need you.”

I wanted to tell Brand how much I loved him, in case it was the last time I ever saw him. Why couldn’t I say something? I tried to think of some way to communicate. I decided to concentrate on the yellow jacket, the cause of the situation I found myself in now. If I couldn’t speak in the dream, maybe I could project a picture of the reason I was in the state I was in. Maybe it would be enough for Brand to figure something out.

I saw Brand hang his head in complete hopelessness. My heart ached to be with him, to feel his body against mine one last time. I concentrated even harder on the image of the bee whose sting had propelled me into a coma. A buzzing noise filled my head. I saw Brand’s head snap up at the sound. My image of an oversized yellow jacket hung in the air in front of him. I couldn’t hold it for very long, but it seemed to be long enough for him to get the message.

“Hang on, Lilly. I love you,” he said, filled with a new hope and sense of purpose.

He quickly vanished from my mind. The effort it had taken to project the image must have been great. I felt so tired and simply wanted to rest. I let the darkness drag me under to help me find some peace.

I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. I’d been locked inside my dark prison for so long that it was a shock to my system when I finally did see light again. I slowly opened my eyes but quickly shut them again.

“Turn that dang light off,” I heard Tara say. “It’s bothering her eyes.”

When I tried to open my eyes again, the first person I saw was Brand. He was looking at me expectantly, with tired grey eyes.

“Hey,” I said, not being able to get much else out of my parched throat.

“Have her drink some more of this,” I heard a strange male voice say. I looked to see who it was, and saw a tall black man in a dark blue suit and tie standing by Brand. He was handing him one of those nondescript beige plastic hospital cups with a straw in it.

“Drink this, my love,” Brand said, placing the straw in my mouth. “It’ll make you feel better.”

The liquid inside the cup was sweet, almost like drinking sugar water. After I’d drained it of its contents, Brand handed the cup back to the stranger.

“What happened?” I asked, finally finding my voice.

“You were poisoned,” Brand explained. “Malik was able to make the cure to save your life.”

I turned my attention to the tall black man again. I could only assume he was Malik. He was a nice looking man, in an odd way. His hair was cropped short and his ears stuck out a bit far from his head, but it didn’t detract from his handsome features too much. He had an open, friendly face that was only accentuated by his smile.

“I’m just glad Brand figured out what was happening before it was too late,” Malik said with sincere humbleness.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “It was just a bee sting.”

“It wasn’t an ordinary bee,” Brand replied. I saw his jaw muscles tighten, a sure sign he was trying very hard to keep his anger in check in front of me. “Don’t worry about it right now. We’re handling it.”

“You need to get as much rest as you can,” Malik advised me. “The effects of the poison will take at least a day to completely go away.”

“How long was I in a coma?” I asked.

“Two weeks,” Brand told me.

“Where are Will and Malcolm?”

“They’re doing something for us. They’ll be here when they can,” Brand said in a controlled tone that told me he was deliberately hiding something from me.

“So what are we going tell the doctors?” Tara asked, looking at Malik for an answer. “They were pretty much telling us to make funeral arrangements just a few hours ago. How are we going explain a full recovery?”

Tara was always practical when it came to explaining the surreal world I found myself in to the real world around us.

“They’ll just think it was a miracle,” Malik told her. “As long as Lilly’s healthy, they won’t worry about it too much. They didn’t understand what was wrong in the first place. Most likely, they’ll just assume that whatever poison was running through her system made its way out.”

“Well, I better go get Grandma and Lilly’s mom,” Tara said. “It was hard enough to convince them to leave her long enough for you to work your voodoo on her.”

“I’ll go with you,” Malik quickly volunteered.

Tara seemed surprised by his offer but didn’t tell him to stay behind. She turned to me and said, “We’ll be back. Just be prepared for a lot of crying. You had us all worried, girl.” Tara kissed me on the cheek and went to the door. I saw Malik open it for her and let her go out before him.

I looked at Brand and saw how much the past two weeks had drained him, not only emotionally but also physically. His face was paler than usual and his eyes were still haunted by the real possibility he had to face of losing me again.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Why should you be sorry?” he asked, completely unprepared for my apology.

“All I seem to do is cause you and everyone else a lot of pain. Maybe you should have just let me go.”

“Don’t say that,” he said with such vehemence it made me flinch. “I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. Do you understand me?”

I couldn’t say anything.

“You just don’t understand,” he said, running an agitated hand through his hair. “None of us would be the same without you in our lives. Don’t ever say you’d rather be dead. If you had died, a piece of all of us would have died with you.” He looked at me. I wanted to erase the pain I had placed on his face. “And it would have completely destroyed me, Lilly.”

How could I have said such a selfish, thoughtless thing to him after everything he must have gone through the past few days? I immediately felt ashamed for my moment of self-pity.

“Forgive me,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“I’ll forgive you if you promise to never say something like that again.”

“I promise.”

Brand leaned down and gently kissed me on the lips. He touched his forehead to mine, and just sat there with his eyes closed, content just to be near me.

The door to my room opened, and I saw Utha Mae and my mom walk in. Brand left my bedside to allow them some time with me. I saw him walk over to Malik and say something. Malik nodded and left the room.

Tara had been right. Utha Mae and my mom ended up crying as soon as they saw that I was awake. Brand stayed in the background, keeping a watchful eye on me. A little while later, Malik came back into the room and said something to Brand. Brand nodded, but never took his eyes off me. Malik took a seat in the corner, obviously wanting to be out of the way of my family reunion.

I did, however, notice his eyes follow Tara wherever she went. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Yes, from what I knew, he had been the one who’d saved my life but, other than that, I didn’t know anything else about him. After the fiasco that was Simon, I intended to make sure Malik’s intentions were honorable, if indeed he had romantic designs toward my best friend.

A little while later, the team of doctors assigned to my case came into the room and hovered over me, pondering what had caused my miraculous recovery. Having no clue what had cured me, since they were never able to figure out why I was sick in the first place, they did what Malik said they would and agreed that whatever had been in my system was now out.

Utha Mae and my mom decided to leave about an hour later. Apparently, they had been staying with me in my hospital room a lot since my arrival, and both wanted to spend a night in their own beds for the first time in two weeks. I encouraged them to go home. Malik and Tara escorted Utha Mae down to her car. Before she left, my mom picked up my left hand, lightly touching the ring on my finger.

“When did this happen?” she asked.

“Not long before I got sick.”

“When do you plan to get married?”

“After I’m out of school.”

“I see,” she put my hand back on the bed. “Well, you get some rest and call me if you need anything.”

She turned from me, and I thought she was going to leave the room, but she walked over to Brand first.

“Take care of her,” she told him and gave him a motherly hug.

After she left, Brand came and sat down beside me on my bed.

“She took that better than I thought she would,” I said.

“Your mother loves you,” Brand replied. “I know she hasn’t always shown you that in the past, in the best way possible, but you shouldn’t doubt her love for you. I think she just wants to see you happy. Like we all do.”

“What did Malik tell you earlier when he came back into the room?”

“He told me Malcolm and Will caught the person who poisoned you.”

“Who was it?”

He paused as if he wasn’t sure he wanted me to know, but he finally said, “Izzi.”

“Izzi? Why would she want to kill me?”

How had I made Izzi mad enough to want me dead? I’d only met her maybe three times in my life.

“I’m not sure yet,” Brand answered. “But I intend to find out.” The menace in his voice worried me.

“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”

“Malik can force her to tell us the truth.”

“How?”

“Do you remember me telling you that Izzi is a fairy?”

“Yes.”

It was the night I went to Brand and declared my love to him. I’d asked him about his relationship with Izzi, and discovered it had all been a ruse to make me mad enough to forget about him.

“Malik is her leader. I guess you could say he’s the king of the fairies. She’s supposed to answer anything he asks her truthfully. But if she doesn’t, I’ll know.”

“I don’t understand. How did she poison me with a bee?”

“Fairies are shape-shifters. They’re all born with the ability to shift into one particular animal. When you showed me the yellow jacket, I knew it had been Izzi who’d poisoned you.”

“Is that like a skill of hers? The poison she put inside me?”

“No, she used a mixture of poisonous plants and coated her stinger with it. They’re practically untraceable, since they can only be found deep inside the Amazon. Fairies know a lot about nature. They protect nature when they can and use it when it’s advantageous to them. That’s one reason they like to be naked whenever they can. It’s a more natural state. After you showed me it was her, I went to Malik to ask for his help. When I told him what your symptoms were, he had me take him to the Amazon to find the antidote. However, involving Malik is going to change both of your lives I’m afraid.”

“In a good or bad way?” I asked hesitantly.

Brand smiled. It was the first true smile I had seen on his face since I woke up.

“Depends on how you look at it, I suppose. When a fairy saves a human life, they become that human’s godparent.”

“So, what, Malik’s like my fairy godfather now?”

“Basically, yes. He’s going to be in your life a lot from this day forward. Fairies are very particular about how their charges are treated and looked after.”

“How old is he?”

“Mid-twenties, I think. Why?”

“He’s not like you then? He won’t live forever?”

“No, fairies have life spans similar to humans now. There aren’t any pureblooded fairies left in the world. Most fairies live to be a hundred or a little over that, but not much.”

“Do they have powers?”

“Only the ability to shape-shift; their knowledge of plants and animals is passed down from generation to generation. They’re skilled at making potions but not much else.”

“Can I be there when you ask Izzi why she tried to kill me?”

“Why would you want to see her again?”

“I want to know why she did it, and I want her to tell me herself.”

Brand was hesitant to honor my request but he finally said, “If that is what you want.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The doctors reentered my room before Tara and Malik made it back from escorting Utha Mae to her car. They requested I stay in the hospital for a couple more days for further observation. I didn’t want them to be any more suspicious than they already were about my recovery, so I agreed to stay and let them run their tests. Brand stayed close by my side while they talked with us. I began to wonder if he would ever feel comfortable leaving me alone again. It seemed like every time he did, something bad happened to me. Heck, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to leave me alone either.

Tara and Malik came back to my room after the doctors left, and told me Utha Mae and my mom planned to visit again the next day to check on me.

“What day is it anyway?” I asked, having no concept of time anymore.

“It’s Sunday,” Tara answered.

“They’re going to kick me out of school,” I moaned, leaning my head back on my pillow, staring at the white tiled ceiling above my head. “And Dr. Barry is going to fire me.”

“Girl, you worry too much,” Tara sat down on the side of my bed. “I’ll go get your assignments from your teachers tomorrow. They know you were in the hospital. And don’t worry about Dr. Barry.” The confident smile on Tara’s face had me intrigued.

“Why? Did something happen to her?”

“Oh, I had Malcolm go talk to her for you. From what he said, she’d pretty much do anything he asked her to. So, keeping your job isn’t something you need to worry about.”

Poor Dr. Barry. she had already been slightly infatuated with Malcolm even before meeting him. After being exposed to him, I was sure she thought herself head over heels in love with my friend now. I would need to make sure Malcolm didn’t go see her again. It wasn’t fair to use his power of attraction in such a selfish way.

“I need to head back to Washington to make some arrangements,” Malik said to us. “But I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I couldn’t help but notice his eyes were more on Tara than Brand and me when he said this.

“Would you mind taking me home? I’d like to get things taken care of quickly,” Malik said to Brand.

“Of course,” Brand reluctantly left my side and put his hand on Malik’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back,” he said to me before they phased.

“So what’s the story with Malik?” Tara asked. “He just sort of showed up and took over.”

“He’s my fairy godfather,” I said, feeling a little silly saying it aloud. They were words I never could have imagined coming out of my mouth.

Tara’s eyes widened. “You mean he’s gay? Girl, that figures. Why do so many good-looking men end up liking other men?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “No, Malik’s not gay, as far as I know. I mean he’s literally my fairy godfather.”

Tara looked completely confused, and I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t all that confident I understood what it meant either.

“You mean like in Disney movies?” Tara questioned. “He’s not going to be dancing around with a wand, singing Bibbity Bobbity Boo, is he?”

“No,” I laughed. “At least, I hope that’s not how it works.”

Brand reappeared in the same spot he’d phased from, and seemed pleasantly surprised to return to see me laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, coming to reclaim his seat on the other side of my bed.

“I was just telling Tara that Malik is my fairy godfather.”

“He’s going to tell his firm that he’s moving to Lakewood,” Brand informed me.

“What type of work does he do?”

“He works for a private law firm. They handle environmental policies and things like that. He said it didn’t really matter where his home was. He may have to make trips up to Washington D.C. every once in a while, but that would be about it. He mostly works from home anyway.”

“So he’s completely changing his life because of me?” I asked, wondering how many people I would end up affecting in some way. “When is he supposed to come back?” I asked.

“In a couple of days, when you’re allowed to go home,” Brand answered.

“When can we talk with Izzi? I want to know why she tried to kill me.”

“We’ll need to wait until you’re out of here, since you want to be with us when we ask her.”

Unexpectedly, Malcolm and Will walked through the door to my room. Brand and Tara gave up their positions beside me so my two other fallen angel friends could give me hugs.

“Dearest,” Malcolm said in an admonishing tone, “you really need to stop having these near-death experiences. I’m not sure I can handle them anymore.”

Malcolm sat beside me, holding one of my hands.

“I’ll see what I can do about that,” I said, squeezing his hand, trying to reassure him that I was feeling better.

“Where is she?” Brand asked Will, who was standing on the other side of my bed. Will handed Brand what looked like a small metal box.

“She waited until the last possible second to change,” Will said.

Brand put the box into one of his pants pockets.

It took me a minute to understand what they were talking about.

“Is Izzi in the box?” I asked.

“Yes,” Brand answered, trying to keep his emotions in check, but I could see the anger simmering behind his grey eyes. “Fairies have to change into their animal form once a day for at least a few minutes, or they lose the ability to shape-shift. Malcolm and Will waited until Izzi had to change and then they trapped her.”

“Why doesn’t she just change back into her human form?” I asked. Surely, she could just bust out of her small prison that way.

“It’s an iron box,” Will told me, coming to stand on my left side once again. “It’s like poison to fairies. She won’t be able to change back until we let her out.”

“Then why don’t we just open it up now?” I asked. “I want to know why she did this to me.”

“It was hard enough to catch her the first time, dearest,” Malcolm said. “We’ll have to do it at my house. The room I built for Sebastian to stay in at night has no openings for her to use as an escape. She can’t simply change into the bee and run away from us there. It’s where we’ve been holding her until she needed to shape-shift again.”

“Shape-shift?” Tara asked. “What are y’all talking about?”

Brand explained to Tara about the shape-shifting ability of fairies.

“What’s Malik turn into?” she asked.

“I think it’s a black cat of some sort,” Brand answered. “But you would have to ask him to confirm that. I don’t know Malik all that well, to be honest. We’ve never spent much time together.”

A nurse came into my room then to let us know that visiting hours were over. No one wanted to go, but the way the nurse stood at the door reminded me of a prison guard waiting for her charges to do what she said.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Malcolm whispered before kissing my hand and leaving the room under the watchful eyes of the nurse.

Will kissed me on the forehead. I noticed his eyes drop to the ring on my finger. When he looked back up at me, he lifted his eyebrows in a motion I had seen a lot during our childhood. I knew he would want to talk about the engagement ring when we had some time alone. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to have that talk with him, though.

Tara told me she was going to go back home and start cleaning.

“You don’t need to come home to a nasty apartment. I’ll bring your school stuff to you tomorrow when I get out of my classes.”

Finally, Brand and I were alone again, but I wasn’t sure for how long. As soon as everyone was gone, I lifted my arm, holding out my hand to him in a silent plea to be held. It didn’t take long before he was lying in bed beside me, holding me close. I guess I was more tired than I thought. Within a few short seconds, I was sound asleep.

I didn’t wake up until the next morning. When I did, Will was sitting beside me in a chair, watching me.

“Hey,” I said trying to sit up. “Where’s Brand?”

Will stood and helped me. He grabbed an extra pillow from underneath the bed and placed it behind my back.

“He went to his house to change clothes. How are you feeling?” he asked, taking a seat beside me on the bed.

“I feel a lot better today. I guess I just needed some real sleep. Would you mind getting me some water, though? My throat feels scratchy.”

Will poured some water from a pitcher beside my bed and handed me the cup. When I took the cup from him, I saw his eyes drop to the sparkling diamonds on my ring finger.

“Malcolm says you told Brand you didn’t want to get married until after you were out of school.”

“That’s right,” I took a sip of water from the cup, waiting for him to continue.

“Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be engaged to him?” The incredulity in Will’s voice wasn’t lost on me. “I mean, you’ve known him for like, what, a month?”

“I love him, Will. That’s all I need to know.”

“But,” I could see the frustration on his face. There was a lot he wanted to say, but he didn’t seem sure how to say it. “Ok, how do you know he loves you for who you are and not just because of the way you make him feel? I mean, does he really even know you? Does he know what you like and what you don’t like? Does he know you cry at romantic movies and sappy Hallmark commercials? Does he know you like to eat tomato sauce but not fresh tomatoes? Does he know chocolate fudge always makes you feel better when you’re depressed? What if what he feels is just because you make him feel almost human? How do you know he’s someone you want to spend the rest of your life with? I mean, have you even thought about that part? He’ll never grow old, Lilly. Can you honestly say that won’t bother you?”

Will’s words had their desired effect. How did I know Brand loved me for who I was and not just for how I made him feel? The effect I had on all the Watchers couldn’t be disputed. I knew they all felt a special contentment in my presence, that none of them had ever experienced before. Will was right about the fact that Brand really didn’t know that much about me. Was his love for me just a byproduct of my peculiar nature? It was how I explained away Malcolm’s feelings for me. I just assumed the effect I had on him was the cause of his infatuation. Could the same be said of Brand?

I hated the doubt Will had just planted. It made me question everything now.

“We have four years,” I said, trying to sound reasonable. “It’s plenty of time for us to get to know one another better, if I make it that long.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Will’s reaction resembled Brand’s the previous day, when I thoughtlessly said it might have been better for everyone if I had just died. “We’ll figure everything out. You’ll live a long, full life, Lilly Rayne Nightingale. You have my word on that.”

Brand phased into my room, dressed in a fresh blue polo shirt and jeans. He wasn’t alone, though. Abby was with him, wearing her purple pigtailed wig, a white pin- tucked puff-sleeve shirt, black slacks, and lavender contact lenses.

“Hey, love,” she said, walking up to me and kissing me on the cheek.

“Hey, Abby.”

Will left soon after their arrival. I got the feeling he didn’t like being around Abby. It was just as well. Our talk had put me in a pensive mood.

Abby and Brand had only been in my room for about thirty minutes when Brand got a call on his cell phone. From the look on his face, I could tell he was surprised by whoever it was on the other end of the line.

“Are you sure?” he asked the caller, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Ok, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Who was it?” I asked after he ended the call.

“Allan,” he replied in surprise, slipping his cell phone back into his pocket. “He wants to come here and tell us what he found out about you through the tests he ran.”

“He what?” The complete astonishment on Abby’s face was almost comical. “He actually wants to leave his bubble and come out into the real world?”

“I know. I can’t believe it either,” Brand replied, shaking his head in amazement.

“I almost forgot all about those tests,” I said. It seemed like it had been longer than two weeks since my visit to Allan’s house. “Why is he so anxious to tell me what he found?”

“He wouldn’t say over the phone,” Brand answered. “And now that you’re awake, he doesn’t want to wait to tell you what he discovered. I need to go get him.”

“Why can’t he just phase here himself?” I asked.

“Allan hasn’t been many places,” Brand answered. “We can only phase to locations we’ve physically been to before, unless we’re following another angel’s phase trail.” He walked over to me and gave me a kiss to tide me over while he was gone.

“Oh, geez,” Abby said, averting her eyes. “Do you really have to do that in front of me, Dad?”

“You’d better get used to it, daughter of mine.” He smiled at her and gave me a wink. “I plan to do that a lot, whether you’re around or not.”

“Well, give a girl some warning next time, would ya? At least give me a chance to make myself scarce.”

“I’ll be right back,” Brand said to me before he phased.

“I’ve never seen Dad smile so much before,” Abby said to me after he was gone. “You make him happier than he’s ever been.”

It made me think about what Will had said. Why did he have to plant that seed of doubt in my head about Brand’s true feelings for me? It was making everything seem tainted with uncertainty now.