Coexist: Keegan's Chronicles (7 page)

***

Keegan’s mom tapped her on the shoulder which
brought her back from her memory.

“Keegan, I told you to make sure the
bathrooms were clean.”

Her mom always seemed so stressed out when
they were having company; she wanted everything to be perfect. Not
that anyone noticed or cared.

Keegan looked forward to having her family
over. It was the only time the kids got to use their gifts around
others. That was probably the hardest part of being an elfin child.
Not to mention it was an excellent chance for her to use her
camera.

Almost all family gatherings were at her
house, which was more like a fortress than a house. It was a place
where everyone could be themselves and not worry about neighbors.
It sat on 70 acres of land and on either side it had farmland so
there were no close neighbors to speak of. Most of the land was
wooded. To get to the house you had to go through a gate and then
the driveway that was long and winding. There was a massive stone
fence that surrounded the property and even security cameras. The
cameras were just a deterrent as their extra sensory elf abilities
would let them know in advance if they were being attacked.

The house itself was not that large. A two
story wooden house made mostly of glass. You could see out when
standing inside but not when trying to look in from the outside. It
was made of some kind of military grade glass. Her father said it
was in case of severe storms, but they all knew better. Keegan’s
favorite thing about the house was the ceiling to floor water
fountain that separated the living room from the dining room. It
was like a wall of rushing water. It made the whole house
relaxing.

The property was pretty amazing. There were
large rocks landscaped around the place. Her mother loved rocks of
all kinds, and her brother liked to use them for free running.
There were running trails that had sporadic workout stations for
training woven around the land. They had a huge shooting range set
up that would make any soldier envious. To top it all off they had
a stunning natural swimming pool and an underground shelter that
could fit everyone, even the extended family. The shelter was
stocked with enough supplies to last a year if they needed it,
although they hoped they would never have to.

Aunt Brigid arrived first with Keegan’s
cousins, Keara and Jonathan. Of the three sisters, Brigid was the
extravagant one. She had on True Religion jeans that cost over $200
and a bright red low-plunging wrap shirt which Keegan was sure had
to be a designer label. Not to mention her outrageously expensive
purse to pull the outfit together. Brigid’s husband worked a lot to
keep her in the lap of luxury. Keegan loved shopping with her Aunt
Brigid who liked any excuse to shop until she dropped, and she was
always the life of the party. She could make anyone laugh.

Shortly after Brigid arrived, Katrina showed
up with her two children, Merrick and Mackena. The first thing
Katrina said was, “Nice shirt, Brigid.”

Brigid said with a knowing glance down at her
own chest, “Hey, these are bought and paid for. I need to flaunt
them every chance I get.”

Keegan could hear her mother laughing in the
kitchen.
Let the
chaos begin
.

Once all the kids arrived they wanted to play
hide and seek. Of course this was not a fair game. Keegan always
won. Even though they could all visualize the others in their mind,
no one else could disappear at will. What could she say? They liked
to play and she liked to win.

Warrick ran around giggling. He loved having
other kids to play with.

Keegan enjoyed watching the kids use their
gifts. Jonathan, who used telekinesis, moved things around to look
for his sister. Merrick turned into a bunny and was hopping around
with Mackena chasing after him.

No one was sure what Mack’s gift would be. It
usually wasn’t evident until the age of five.

Keara was slightly different from the rest of
the family. Usually elves only partnered with other elves. That was
not the case with Brigid. She fell in love with a Warlock who was
not her destined partner and Keara was conceived. Keegan thought
Keara felt out of place. She knew she wasn’t quite like the other
elves. Everyone else had pale skin and flushed cheeks. Not Keara.
Her skin was a beautiful light mocha color with rosy cheeks showing
through and pointy ears. They always tried to convince her how
lucky she was, but she had yet to see it.

Keara could change the weather and turn on
and off anything electrical, and that was just for now. As she
aged, she would continue finding out more about her abilities.
Unfortunately, her warlock father took off and was never heard from
again and eventually Brigid agreed to meet her chosen mate and has
been with him ever since.

Keegan’s mom sounded off from the kitchen,
“Kids come in to eat.”

“Mom, were not finished,” Keegan groaned.

“Now!”

The kids mumbled as they headed to the dining
room where the complaining quickly came to an end. The food was
delicious.

Keegan noticed her uncle had arrived and was
in deep conversation with her dad. He was nicknamed Paul Bunyan for
his incredible height and weight; over 200 pounds, which was quite
large for an elf.

Keegan’s grandmother finished icing the cake.
It looked delicious. They sang
Happy Birthday
and Merrick tore through his
toys, most of which he liked. He opened one and said, “Hey, I
didn’t ask—” and then stopped mid-sentence and said, “This is
awesome! I’ve always wanted one.”

They all looked over at Brigid whose gift was
manipulating thoughts. She just shrugged her shoulders and
smiled.

After the party was over and Keegan said
goodnight, she headed up to her room to get ready for school the
next day. She had a big test in physics. Math and science came easy
to her, so she didn’t need to study, although she was not even in
the same ball park as her Uncle John when it came to numbers. There
was something about science that drew her in, and it was like her
mind worked differently than others. Teachers asked her to explain
a problem, and she would get the correct answer, but often they had
never thought of doing it her way. Sometimes they even thought she
had cheated because Keegan finished so much quicker than others and
didn’t have to write out all the work to get the correct answer.
She would sleep well because she knew she'd ace the test, easy.

K
eegan smiled as she walked down the halls and saw
her friends waiting for her. She attended a Catholic school, and
other than the uniforms, she thought it was fantastic. She loved
going to school, which was kind of odd for a teenager. School was a
place where she felt normal around her human friends. All the girls
managed to add some individuality to the uniforms with jewelry,
makeup and hair accessories. Lately, she’d taken to adding a scarf
to her uniform, and so far no one had told her to take it off. It
was a fashion trend that she picked up during her time in Dubai
with her family. They traveled a lot, at least twice a year and
always took trips out of the country. Her parents wanted them to
see there was more to the world than the United States.

Donald spotted her and thought,
Why does she have to be an
elf?
He had no issue with the fact that she wasn’t human. He
wasn’t human either. It drove him crazy, but he knew she could
never return his feelings, not in the way he needed. Because she
was an elf, she had an inability to feel deeply about anyone other
than her chosen mate. They could date, but it would never lead
anywhere. Last year, she had pursued him and he told her he only
liked her as a friend. It was one of the hardest things he ever had
to do. He couldn’t justify putting himself through the pain of
knowing he would be nothing more than a passing fancy so he settled
on the next best thing, being her friend. He had to settle with
that.

Taking another quick glance at Keegan out of
the corner of his eye, he banged his head back against the front of
his locker. He loved everything about her. She was funny, smart,
friendly, confident, considerate, and clumsy, which was so cute,
not to mention the fact that she was insanely beautiful. The room
felt brighter the moment Keegan walked in. Ugh, he felt so corny
just thinking about his feelings for her.

***

Anna and Lauren had Keegan’s locker open and
were applying their makeup when she walked up.

“You guys really need to get your own
mirror,” Keegan said, rolling her eyes.

“There’s no fun in that, and besides your
mirror is magical or something. It makes us look amazing,” Lauren
said over her shoulder.

“Uh huh, I’m sure the $5.99 Target mirror has
magical properties.”

Keegan pushed them aside to stow away her
backpack, and looked at herself.

Through the mirror, Keegan could see Donald;
he was so cute with his orange hair. He happened to look up at the
same time and she saw his green eyes reflect back at her. She
smiled at him, but he couldn’t see. He closed his locker and turned
away to joke around with the rest of his crew.

Donald, Sam, Spencer, and Calvron were
inseparable. On the rare occasion they were caught by themselves,
each one usually complained about the other. They were worse than
women in a beauty shop.

Sam, who happened to be one of the hottest
guys in school, threw a piece of paper across the aisle at her.
Keegan tried to look cool by catching it, but of course she failed
miserably. Anna picked up the crumbled paper and hit Spencer in the
head which caused them all to laugh.

Keegan saw Katie timidly walking up to her.
Katie was shy and had a hard time making friends, and even though
the two of them had become quite close, Keegan had a feeling she
still didn’t feel like part of the gang.

“Did you finish your math homework?” Katie
asked.

“Of course, this morning on the ride over
here.”

“I have no idea how you can do that,” Katie
said. “It takes me hours to do math work.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Yes, but just on a couple of questions.”

“No problem, I’ll help you at the end of
English class.”

Keegan wondered what her friends would think
if they found out what she was, but it was forbidden for her to
reveal her secret. She imagined if she told them that they would
look at her as if she were some kind of freak. Humans seemed to
fear magic and anything that was different from what they were used
to.

Keegan aced her test, and the rest of the day
went by in a blur. Her least favorite part of the day was gym
class. She was always made fun of for her lack of coordination.
Today, things felt different though, and even the coach noticed.
They played soccer and not once did she trip and fall or miss the
ball. For the first time ever, Keegan scored a goal, and she even
had some decent blocks. Obviously, her training with Thaddeus was
paying off. She felt strong and confident. Maybe her father was
onto something when he said time and practice was the key to
everything. It had certainly worked for Thaddeus.

While Keegan enjoyed high school, her brother
was homeschooled. As a matter of fact, all elf children who were
born to be warriors were taken out of school in the sixth grade.
This allowed them to focus on their training, which included using
their mind and becoming highly intelligent. Most of their training
took place at a camp where they spent hours in the field learning
the ways of a warrior, and then they completed their studies at
home on their own. They spent countless hours reading and had a
strong grasp of history. Her brother could recite books word for
word, which was kind of creepy.

R
ourk ran swiftly through the woods with his
attacker closing in on him. He could hear his own heartbeat
pounding in his head. Sweat poured down his face, and he felt pure
joy. He lived for this kind of stuff. It was what he was born to
do. He was leading his victim and it would all be over soon.

He loved the sound of branches cracking under
his pursuer’s feet. They were sloppy and needed to be reprimanded,
which he would take care of once the chase was over.

Slowing down, Rourk took cover behind a large
tree. He listened, and all he heard were the familiar sounds of
nature; birds chirping, squirrels running, even the sound of a deer
could be heard in the distance. What he was not hearing was the
sound of footsteps. This brought a grin to his face. Perhaps he
found a worthy opponent after all. He could take the easy way and
close his eyes, if it weren’t prohibited. He scanned quickly and
saw nothing.
Think
Rourk
. The woods were vast, but this was a game of cat and
mouse. He could not be far. What surprised him the most was that
there were no sounds of heavy breathing even though they’d been
running for hours. Then, like a light bulb going off, he looked up.
“You are a sly little devil,” he said. Taking aim with his
paint-gun, he fired. “Show yourself,” he demanded.

The boy dropped nimbly from the tree and
walked confidently up to Rourk, removing his paintball mask. Rourk
was shocked by what he saw. He couldn’t have been older than
twelve. What perplexed him even more was the boy's eyes. They were
the same clear blue-green as his chosen’s, only this boy’s looked
older for some reason.

Rourk kept his face still; a warrior never
gave away his thoughts by facial expressions when caught off
guard.

“What is your name?” Rourk asked.

“My name is Thaddeus, and yours is
Rourk.”

Stunned, Rourk demanded, “How do you know my
name?”

“You will someday be my brother-in-law,” he
stated, as if it were obvious.