New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (36 page)

She laughed.
 
“It’s not a ball gown, Blackthorn, just take it.”

“Blackthorn?
 
What’s up with that?”

“It’s your family name, and it suits you,” she explained.
 
“A beautiful flower surrounded by tough wood and wicked thorns.
 
Magic inside to ward away evil.
 
You know ... blackthorn.”

Theresa chimed in.
 
“It’s all you, babe.”

I reached out slowly to take the package, feeling its light weight in my hands.
 
I had expected it to be heavier for some reason.
 
I put it down on the chair so I could manage the unwrapping.
 

“Who’s it from?” I asked.
 
“You guys?”
 

“Nope,” said Theresa, offering no more explanation.
 

I glanced up at her but all I got was a mysterious smile in return.
 
I kept wrestling with the twine, unable to get it open.

“Never fear!
 
Tim is here!” yelled Tim, swooping down with his tiny knife to cut the last vestiges of the twine from the canvas.

“Thanks, superhero,” I said, folding back the edges of the wrapping.
 

The first thing I noticed was the color of the thing inside.
 
It was a dark, dark turquoise, and immediately reminded me of the swirling colors that came to me when I combined the Elements of Earth and Water together.
 
I couldn’t speak for a moment, reaching down to carefully pick up the material so I could see what it was.

As I pulled the gift out of its wrapping, it quickly unfolded itself, parts of it falling towards the floor, shimmering as they went.
 
The color that I had thought was a solid blue-green was actually both colors together and then again, both colors apart.
 
It was giving off some sort of illusion, first being turquoise, then green, then blue, then a swirling of all three.
 
It was mesmerizing.
 
Beautiful.
 
Magical, even.

I heard the inward gasps of my hairdressers and knew they were as affected by the gift as I was.
 
They moved in closer to get a better look, admiration for the beauty I held shining in their eyes.

“What is it?” I asked in a hushed tone, turning it to the left and right and looking it up and down, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with it.

“It’s a cloak,” said Tim in a very awed and respectful voice.
 
“It’s a council member cloak.”

“What?!”
I shouted, dropping the cloak on the ground in my shock.

The twins jumped back in fright at my sudden outburst and Tim took off in a frenzied spin of the room.

“No fucking way!
 
I am
not
wearing that thing!” I shouted.

Felicia quickly bent down and picked it up off the floor, saying, “You have to, Jayne.
 
It’s an honor!”

“Seriously.
 
Felicia’s not kidding, Jayne,” said Theresa, all serious business now.
 
“I don’t know what this is all about – it’s as much a surprise to us as it is to you – but you can’t turn them down.
 
It’s just not done.”

I snatched the thing away from Felicia and rolled it up in a messy ball and threw it on the chair.
 
“Well I can and I’m going to.”

I made as if to leave, but Tim came down and flew himself into my face, totally blocking me.
 
If I wanted to keep going I was going to have Tim smooshed all up in my grill – and the thought of a pixie penis bulge being pushed into my face, possibly even my nose?
 
Not an option.

“Get out of my way, Tim,” I said threateningly, trying not to lose the menacing power of my words with the inadvertent crossing of my eyes that were trying to focus on a pixie only one inch away.

“No.
 
Listen to me first.
 
I have something important to tell you.”

I crossed my arms and closed my eyes to give them a break for a moment.
 
“You have one minute.”
 
I could hear Tim back up a little by the fluttering of his wings and opened my eyes to stare him down, practically daring him to come up with one good reason for me to listen.
 

“Fine.
 
Okay, what I was going to say is ... uh ... ”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, making as if to move past him.

“No!
 
I know what I’m going to say.
 
Just wait!
 
You’re stressing me out.
 
I’m getting locked up from the pressure.”

I rolled my eyes.
 
“Fine.
 
You have thirty seconds left.”

“Okay,” said Tim, taking a deep breath, “what I was going to say is that you have to take the appointment as council member.
  
First, of course, it’s a great honor.
 
You can see there are only a few of them.
 
They serve for life.
 
We don’t see changes on the council very often.
 
And you said yourself they’re too old and they don’t change their minds about important stuff often enough.
 
You could fix that!”

“Sorry.
 
Not good enough.”
 
I started to move again.

“Wait!
 
I’m not done!” he shouted, holding out his hand.
 
“There’s other stuff too.
 
First, you get to be in on all the important decisions they make for our community.
 
Think about it!
 
Softer beds!
 
Two pillows instead of one!
 
Tortilla chips on the buffet!”

I frowned at him.
 
“Since when do you like tortilla chips?”

“I
love
tortilla chips!
 
Are you kidding me?
 
Who doesn’t?”

“So you want me ... to become a council member for life ... so you can have tortilla chips for lunch?”

“And dinner too.
 
And breakfast if you want.
 
You’ll be the boss, so, you know, sky’s the limit.”

“Sorry.
 
No deal.
 
You’ll just have to fly to Mexico or something.”

I started to move again, but this time, Tim got serious.
 
“Girls!
 
Grab her.
 
I have to tell her the last part!”

Both girls moved up to the side of me, but didn’t touch me.
 

I reached down to my leg to grab for Blackie but cursed to myself as I realized I’d left it in the room.
 
I sighed.
 
“Fine.
 
Last try.
 
What?”

“If you are on the council, you are bound to the other members.”

I looked at him disgusted.
 
“Ew.
 
Is that supposed to be a selling point?
 
Because all you’re doing is making me feel better about my decision to decline.”

“Yes, it’s a selling point, dummy.
 
Because if you’re bound, it would be much harder for you to disappear into your elements.
 
They can keep you grounded here with us, Jayne.”
 
He suddenly got all shy-sounding.
 
“ ... And I ... well ... I’d really like it if you stuck around.”
 
He cleared his throat and then did a few loops in the air, as if he needed to clear his brain of the emotion that was jumbling his words.

Of all the reasons he had given me to wear the cloak, that one was the most convincing – even though the idea of tortilla chips did have its appeal.
 
Even now, in the relative safety of this bathroom, surrounded by my friends, I felt the draw and pull from Earth and Water.
 
I knew they would be happy, if it were possible for an element to feel an emotion, to have me join them for all eternity.
 
It was as if I were a piece of them, somehow separate.
 
No one, and no element, likes a piece of itself to be apart.
 
Ever since hearing about the wind elemental who had disappeared into his element, never to be seen again in any realm, I’d been a little afraid of suffering the same fate.
 
There had been times, even when standing in front of the demon, that I had hesitated in bringing up The Green – or I had done it reluctantly after realizing I had no choice – because I was afraid of the consequences.
 
The only recent exception had been the tree for my mom, but that was different.
 
I had been using the force to connect with The Green and
create
– not destroy.
 
I could do that all day long and not worry about disappearing ... but fighting Dark Fae, orcs, and demons?
 
That took a more destructive force – one that could eventually destroy me too.

I walked over and picked up the cloak, holding it in my hands.
 
The material was smooth and cool, almost like silk.
 
The cloth wasn’t as light as air, but it was nearly so.
 
I could feel a warmth building inside the palms of my hands that gripped it.
 
I was willing to bet the cloak would be cool in the summer and warm in the winter – some magical quality making it wearable year round.

“Who gave it to me?” I asked no one in particular.

“The council,” said Tim.
 
“This is how it’s done.
 
There’s no formal ceremony or presentation.
 
The cloak is delivered and you choose to wear it or not.”

“What if I want to give it to someone else?
 
Like Tony, for instance.”

Tim shook his head.
 
“Nope.
 
Can’t.
 
The cloak won’t go on him.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him.
 
I looked at Felicia.
 
“Turn around.”

“What?” she asked, confused.

“Turn around.
 
I want to test it.”
 
I held up the cloak as if to put it over her shoulders.

Her face blanched.
 
“No way.
 
Huh-uh,” she said, her hands up as she backed away.
 
“I don’t want that kind of bad juju on me.”

“I’ll do it,” said Theresa, her head held high in challenge.

“No, Theresa!” said Felicia, anxiety tainting her voice.
 
“You shouldn’t!”

She shrugged.
 
“What’s the harm?
 
It’s just a cloak.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Tim, flying backwards until he was almost against the far wall.
 

I held it up, now at Theresa.
 
“I’m game if you’re game.”

She walked over and turned around, back to me.
 
“Go for it.
 
Cloak me.”

I put it over her shoulders, wondering how I was going to secure it there, but I was stopped by the shrill scream that came bursting out of Theresa’s mouth.

“Gaaahhhh!!!
 
Get it off meeee!!!!”

I jerked it away, noticing immediately the smell of something awful and a wisp of smoke rising up from her back.
 
I glanced down in frightened awe at the cloak still in my hands.
 
It was fine, not a mark on it.
 
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I looked up and saw Theresa’s back, obviously the place where the awful smell and smoke had come from – her tunic had burn marks on it and her exposed skin was fiery red and smoking.

Felicia grabbed her sister by the shoulders, forcing Theresa to look into her eyes.
 
“Take some from me.
 
Now!”

“I can’t, I can’t,” said Theresa, desperation strangling up her voice.

“Do it!
 
Or I’ll force it into you!”

I watched mystified as Theresa stopped struggling and then stared intently at her sister, who stared back just as keenly.
 
A wisp of glowing energy came out of Felicia’s eyes and entered Theresa’s open mouth.
 
Theresa closed her eyes and mouth, inhaling deeply and then exhaling slowly.
 

I saw a movement at her back and watched in amazement as the wounds began to heal themselves.
 
I knew that fae could heal quickly from injuires, but this was something else.
 

“Whoa,” I said, without thinking.
 
“What was
that
all about?”

Felicia dropped her hands from her sister’s arms.
 
“
That
was all about my sister doing something stupid – something she knew she shouldn’t have done – and having to take some of my energy to heal herself.”
 
She gave her sister one last hard look before she turned away and began to gather up her styling products, putting them into the duffle bag on the floor under the nearby sink.