Girl Enchanted (Book 2 of The Girl Trilogy) (4 page)

With the dark feel to the house, I
found it odd that she had numerous framed pictures of a happy baby
girl all over the walls. I think this made the place seem even
scarier. On top of a silver chest of drawers, there was a movie
frame playing footage of the tiny girl flying and dancing in the
air just above the flower garden. The child’s laughter was a creepy
contrast to the dark feel of the home. In the center of the room
was a hologram of a large gothic looking cross.

“
I’m back,” she almost sang
the words. In her hands she carried a silver platter of treats.
“Come, come. Join me in the fancy room.”

“
We’d be delighted,” Shaul
said as he smiled crookedly at me.

I wondered what he was up to. My mind
was spinning with all sorts of thoughts and conclusions. As much as
I should have wanted to leave this house, I found myself very
curious about this finely featured woman. I hadn’t expected a
faerie to live in such a spooky home.

The breeze followed us into the fancy
room like a ghost chasing after us. The faerie gestured for us to
sit down on her unusual sofa. It was big and looked like three
gigantic venus fly traps lined up side by side. When I sat down
between the green flexible teeth onto the red padded cushion, I
sank into the flowers surprisingly comfortably, but a part of me
was a little frightened that the mouth of the couch might swallow
me up whole like a fly. The floral, airy scent of the fancy room
helped me to relax.

Shaul didn’t appear worried at all. He
sat down within the mouth of the flower without any qualm at all.
His expression conveyed absolute serenity.

With Shaul at my side, the woman
served us. “These are the most delicious pixie pears and mallow
fruit you’ve ever tasted.”

“
I’ve never actually had
those before,” I said excitedly, longing to enjoy the precious
fruits. I reached out to take some, but Shaul took my hand and set
it on his knee.

“
We’re not hungry,” Shaul
said in his charming silky voice that everyone found irresistible
except for this woman who frowned as he spoke and except for me
right now because I was hungry.

“
Oh, but you must try my
jam and cakes with cream.” Her voice was even sweeter than
Shaul’s.

My mouth watered as I gazed at the
homemade delicacies.

Shaul raised an eyebrow. “They look
scrumptious, but we are fasting today.”

“
Fasting?” The woman’s
yellow eyes widened almost as big as the sun itself. “Why?” she
asked, her expression filled with wonder.

“
Fasting takes us out of
the physical world and connects us more to the spiritual.” He
tilted his head and looked at her curiously. “Fasting makes us more
like angels which gives us more power.”

“
Angels fast?” she asked as
she scooted a pansy shaped chair so close to us that she nearly
touched her knees against ours. Apparently, she was interested in
what Shaul had to say.

Shaul nodded serenely. “Angels don’t
fast per say. They just don’t eat.” He chuckled lightly, apparently
amused with himself.

Personally, I was confused and found
his conversation odd, but the woman was highly
intrigued.

I noticed the fancy room, as she
called it, also displayed on the dark crystal walls several framed
pictures of the same baby girl that was in the entry. The baby was
wearing cute little flower costumes of varying colors. I was afraid
the strange baby might jump out of the walls and kill us with an
axe.

“
We’re preparing ourselves
for taking a virtual mind dream later this afternoon.” Shaul
grinned. “Fasting makes the experience more ethereal.”

“
How intriguing.” Her eyes
sparkled with interest as she ran her delicate fingers through her
long shiny hair.

“
The greatest pleasure
comes the more closely connected you are to the
spiritual.”

“
Oh, you are right. We
faeries know that better than anyone.” She smiled comfortably at
Shaul and then turned suddenly to me, her eyes piercing. “What is a
virtual mind dream?”

My eyes widened involuntarily because
I had no idea whatsoever what it was and it made me uncomfortable
that she was looking at me so intensely.

Luckily, Shaul intervened swiftly. “A
virtual mind dream is bliss.” With a glint in his eyes, he pulled a
glass ball out of his briefcase. “All you have to do is look at
this crystal ball…”

She turned to him
excitedly. “
Crystal
ball?”

“
Yes.” He looked around the
room. I assumed he must have been well aware that she loved
everything to do with crystal which may have been the reason he
chose to peek her interest with a ball of it. “Just concentrate on
the ball until your mind shifts to your desired
experience.”

“
Are you saying I can have
any experience I want by just staring into the crystal ball you
sell?”

His expression was serious now.
“That’s what I’m saying, Mrs....” he paused. “May I ask your
name?”

“
Oh, I’m sorry.” She
blushed, her eyes twinkling in excitement like yellow diamonds.
“I’m Telly Belle.”

“
Ha!” Shaul laughed.
“Related to Tinker Bell, are you?”

Telly laughed too. “I’ve heard of her.
Ancient mythology.” She looked pleased. “I’m surprised you know
about Tinker Bell. But, no—no relation.”

“
So, tell me your deepest
desire and I’ll help you experience it. The first time is
free.”

She hunched down and got even closer
to us. “I want to see my daughter again.” Looking away, she pointed
at the pictures on the crystal walls. “There was this young woman
that used to live by the big lake below the forest’s cliff. She
used to ride her horse in the valleys and swim in our
lake.

“
One day I was crying
beside the waters because my husband was taken away and forced to
live without me in Azkelon. The girl snuck up on me and put
daffodils and pansies in my long black hair.

“
From that day on, we
became friends. But, I made a mistake.” She seemed tormented by her
memories.

“
What mistake was that?” I
asked, though her story frightened me.

“
I let her into my home.
Every day she came here to play with my sweet baby. Then I told her
the prophesy of my child.”

My eyes widened. “What was that?” I
asked anxiously.

“
I told her that my baby
was half air faerie and half siren and the reincarnation of the
first woman, Eve. I explained that she would join with Lucifer to
reattach the original apple to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil. After they accomplished that, there would be peace on
Earth.”

I felt my stomach twisting in
knots.

“
My friend became very
upset when I told her this prophesy. She said she heard the same
prophesy about a josephine which was an original creature who was
half faerie and half mermaid, but she was told the serpent would
trick Eve and not put the apple back, but instead he would eat from
the Tree of Life causing him and his demon race to rule the world
forever bringing forth hell on Earth instead.

“
We had a terrible argument
that night and she left my house in a rage. The next morning when I
awoke, my baby was gone. I searched and searched, but I never found
Cordellia and I never saw my friend again.

A rush of adrenaline shot through my
body.

“
So, what I want more than
anything is to see my daughter and to know if she is
safe.”

I didn’t know what to say.
The pieces started coming together. I just didn’t know what to say.
This brokenhearted woman sitting before me, in her beauty and
elegance, was my mother—my
real
mother. Mom had stolen me from this
woman.

4

“
I’m feeling a little dizzy
right now,” I whispered. “Maybe we should go.”

“
Oh, dear,” Telly responded
with reservation in her soft voice. “You look a little green in the
face.”

Shaul looked at me with concern. “Are
you Ok, Cordellia?” He asked, putting his hand on my
shoulder.

The woman’s head jutted up.
“Cordellia?” she asked with surprise.

Apparently realizing his mistake in
calling me by name, Shaul also looked surprised and maybe even a
little frightened that I might be upset with him. “I’m sorry,” he
said to me, worry in his expression.

But, I was almost relieved that the
truth was surfacing before all of us. I had been determined to run
away, but now Telly seemed to be figuring out that I was her
daughter on her own. Cordellia was a very uncommon name and she
would likely have suspicions of any girl with the same name as her
daughter.

The woman’s eyes welled up as she
looked at me. “Cordellia?” she asked.

“
Yes,” I managed to choke
out of my tight throat.

“
How did you find me?”
Tears streamed down her face as she touched my cheek.

“
The music called me here,
but I didn’t know you were my mother until now. After hearing your
story and putting all the pieces together I realized.

“
The music?” Her eyes were
wide with wonder. “That must be the lake music. Your father is
calling you from Azkelon!”

She took me into her arms and hugged
me for a very long time. My emotions were so mixed up that I didn’t
really know what I felt.

On one hand, I felt that Mom had
robbed me of my birthright by stealing me away from Telly, but on
the other hand, I felt relieved that I was learning the truth. I
had always felt like an outsider in Los Angeles and now I
understood why. I didn’t belong there.

While Telly was hugging me, I looked
into Shaul’s uneasy eyes and smiled softly at him. He returned the
smile and the tension he had been storing within left. I took his
hand and squeezed it.

When Telly released me from the hug, I
was still holding Shaul’s hand. His lips turned up on one side in
that charming crooked grin and he looked at Telly. “I guess I can
put my crystal ball away.” The tone of his voice was
ironic.

Telly was smiling from ear to ear.
“This is so much better than a virtual dream. In fact…” she nodded
her head as she wiped away tears from her face, “…this is the best
day of my life.”

Then I started to wonder if Shaul had
set up the salesman scenario of the crystal ball to lead the
conversation in the direction it went. I looked closely at his
gorgeous face as he spoke with Telly. There was a wicked glint in
his eyes that told me that he had anticipated her reactions to his
enticing sale’s pitch and directed the unfolding of information
that led to the final epiphany. He was the devil after all! I
really didn’t mind though and was actually quite impressed with his
skills.

Then Telly paused in her conversation
with Shaul. She looked at him curiously.

He continued to speak, but she didn’t
respond. “Mrs. Belle?” Shaul glanced at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Telly, are
you Ok?”

She shook her head side to side like
she was waking herself up. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She turned to Shaul.
“Are you Lucifer?”

He laughed, his face lit with
surprise. “Certainly not!” He turned to me, chuckling lightly
now.

I laughed too, trying to cover for
him. “You don’t really believe that prophesy. Do you?” I rolled my
eyes.

“
Yes, I do,” she said
seriously. “You should too, Cordellia.”

I shrugged again. “Well, you don’t
have to worry about Shaul. Lucifer would never have a biblical
name.”

“
Shaul was a Hebrew king in
the bible,” he added, still smiling.

“
He disobeyed God,” she
said, her tone lightening. “Didn’t he?”

“
I don’t know,” Shaul
responded, apparently lying as he was an expert on the
bible.

Telly continued, “He was supposed to
kill the Amalek people which was the same as basically eradicating
a lot of evil from the world, but he did not obey.”

My eyes widened. When I realized my
expression, I tried to make a blank face. “We’re not much into
religious stuff,” I said as I twisted a strand of my hair between
my fingers nervously.

“
Well, I’m just a regular
ol’ faerie,” Shaul smiled wryly. His silver eyes were playful. “I
may have a bag of tricks up my sleeve, but I’m no demon.” He
chuckled again.

“
Well, Shaul…” she frowned,
“I hate to say it, but you may have some competition for
Cordellia’s heart sometime soon.”

He laughed. “Nobody’s going to take my
girl away from me.”

I liked the way he said
that.

“
Fate will be what it will
be, so I surrender.” She looked at me and put her hand on my arm.
“I’m just so glad to have my baby back.” She started to cry, but
then stopped herself. A smile spread on her face as she touched my
cheek.

We spent the next couple of hours
talking with Telly. Mostly Telly and I told each other about our
lives since we were apart. Both of us felt sad that we hadn’t
experienced the time together. But, I had mixed feelings. Even
though, I felt that I should have been with Telly, I wouldn’t trade
my past with my mother.