Return of the Fae (9 page)

“Describe what you’re seeing.” He couldn’t let her brush him off. If Parris had a vision, he needed to know.

“It’s like I’m watching a movie. The same people are here, but it’s not here, you know? I don’t know how to describe it, it’s freaking me out.”

Just then, organ music filled the chapel, people stood, and Parris screamed.

Chapter 8

When something is lost, it may just be hidden. Think why the object would want to hide from your vision, and once you know that, you’ll know where to look. Trust your instincts. Give in to your higher power. It will lead you to the truth. Or over a cliff. If it’s the cliff, it wasn’t the right voice. –The Academy of Witchcraft Manual, Volume 3, page 769.

Heads closest to them turned. Parris pointed down, “Charley horse,” she explained reaching down, massaging her calf. “Sorry, it just came out.”

One woman handed her a bottle of water from her oversized purse. “It’s the heat, dear. You’re dehydrated. I bet you’ve been walking this morning.” She glanced at Parris’ shorts and tennis shoes. “Long services can affect you. Father Mike’s the worst at keeping us late. You sit down while the benediction is sung. God’s not going to be upset at you for taking care of yourself.”

Parris took the water, sinking back into the seat. Screwing off the cap, she took a long drink of the water. Ty leaned closer and massaged her leg with a practiced hand. The man did have good hands.

“So you want to fill me in? Why the histrionics?” Ty whispered.

“When we’re out of here. Any chance that will be soon?” Parris didn’t want to explain what she’d seen when the music started. She didn’t have visions. She’d never had visions. Seeing things was Ty’s super power, not hers.

“He’s not in the chapel. I’ve checked. I guess we can safely leave now. People will think I’m escorting the crazy lady from their church.” Ty grinned. “Now who’s not a normal girl?”

“Thanks, I’m happy your weirdness is rubbing off on me.” She placed the cap on the bottle. “Let’s go before the service ends and everyone comes to save the screamer.”

Parris headed toward the door. She didn’t wait for Ty’s answer, she felt him following her. How that was even possible, she didn’t want to know. The more time she spent with the man, the more in tune to his reactions and location she became. Of course it was normal right? Normal, humans felt the same way about people they slept with, or dated. She didn’t know what bound them together, besides The Council mission to find the secret coven and destroy its power source. A mission she’d fulfill to keep her and her grandmother safe from The Council’s punishment for hiding in plain sight all these years. Parris thought of Prudence and her banishment. Who knew what they’d do to them. Parris and Ty left the church through a side door. A crumpled blanket blocked the top of the stairs leading to street level. No, not a blanket, a sleeping bag with a large human-sized bump in the middle.

Ty pushed her behind him as he leaned down, folding back the edge of the bag. “Dude, you need to sleep somewhere else. The church is filled with people. You’re going to get arrested.”

“Son, unless they’ve changed the schedule, most of those people you’re worried about are part of the local coven. Paranormal creatures like having their own service, without humans around, so the Vatican has issued a decree for the larger cities where we have a gathering.” The man sat up, kicking off the sleeping bag. “Why would the coven turn me into the police? I’m safer here with the angels than in my rented condo.”

Ty hugged the man. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why are you hiding? What’s got you spooked?”

“Hold on, one question at a time.” Robert Nelson glanced at Parris. “Mind if I have some water?”

Parris handed him the bottle. “You can have the rest.”

Robert downed it in one gulp. He threw the plastic bottle off the stairs where it landed in an open recycling container on the street. “You’ve got the right one this time Ty. I told you the other one wasn’t a soul mate.”

Parris stared at the elderly man. Sleep had matted hair to his head that looked like he hadn’t washed for days. A strong odor wafted from his body. Sweat and sulfur? He blabbered on about soul mates? Parris couldn’t believe they’d come all this way to meet with this.

“Him,” the man corrected.

“What?”

“You can’t believe you came all this way to meet with him. Use your language correctly girl, I’m not a this.” Robert Nelson stretched. “Let’s get going.”

“Where?” The word slipped out before Parris could stop it.

“To St. Louis of course. I can’t very well train you here on the street, now, can I?”

Parris glanced at Ty, not able to keep fear out of her voice. “He’s going to train me?”

“I’d hoped he’d say yes. You need an expert who knows your power.” Ty looked at his mentor. “You need any of this stuff?”

“No, leave it here. There’s a young man who’s been sleeping on the next stoop who doesn’t have anything. His folks kicked him out of the house for being gay. I wonder what they’d think if he told them he was also a witch?” Robert started down the stone steps toward the street. “Can we stop at Skyline Chili first? I’m a tad bit hungry.”

“Sure. We have to go by to see Prudence before we leave anyway.” Ty caught up with the man. Parris watched the two walk in front as she followed along. So this was the great wizard who’d trained Ty? He looked like some of the men who hung around the bar looking for odd jobs she paid for with a bottle or two of liquor and a bag of sandwiches.

“Looks are deceiving sometimes.” Ty called back.

“Stop reading my mind,” Parris answered. She thought about the vision she’d seen in the church. A group crowded around her, led by a tall, older man with eyes that reminded her of her father’s. Unlike her father’s smiling eyes she remembered from the pictures she’d hung in her living room, this man’s eyes shined with a dead cold. Hate seethed from him like blood pouring out of an open wound. The hate focused on at her.

When they’d gotten to the small restaurant, somehow, Robert looked cleaner, more like an eccentric professor. Parris knew she stared when he turned appraising her.

“You’ve done well my boy, getting her this far. I think she’s the key.” Robert stared at the menu board. “I want one with everything. Get her the chili on spaghetti. It has some cinnamon in the mix, she’ll like it.”

“I can order for myself,” Parris groused.

“I keep forgetting women aren’t docile as they were in my day.” Robert smiled, watching her. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

“And pigs fly,” Parris mumbled.

Ty gently pushed her toward the dining room. “Why don’t you grab us a booth and we’ll be right over. Tea?”

“That would be nice.” Parris slid into a booth closest to the window, watching the people walk past.
Docile my ass. He can shove training if he thinks he’s going to talk to me like I’m some fainting flower.

She saw the man again in her mind. She needed all the help she could get. “The devil you know,” she whispered against the glass. “The devil you know.”

Soon Ty and Robert returned with trays of food. The smell of tomato, meat, cinnamon and onions overwhelmed her. Her stomach growled in pleasure. The guy might be a chauvinist pig, but he knew food.

Robert shoveled food, head down like he hadn’t eaten in days. “Thanks, I think the place is great too.”

“How can you still read my mind? This block keeps Ty and Derek out.” Parris twirled spaghetti on her fork.

The old man raised his head, grinning at her, eyes sparkling like a teenage boy given his first muscle car. “I’m better than the boys.”

Parris laughed, in spite of herself. “Okay, then, stop it. It’s creepy.”

Robert patted her hand that rested on the table. “Dear, there are far more disturbing things in this world than you even know. I can’t believe the minds of some of those poor souls I shared food lines with down at the mission. What ever happened to the mental health system in this country? We should be ashamed of ourselves.”

“Preaching to the choir here. April, my bar manager, is training to work with kids on the streets. She’s an angel for wanting to help those kids.” Parris reached down, patting her shirt pocket for her phone. “Damn, I forgot to call her this morning to check in.”

“The bar is fine. She’ll call if she needs you.” Ty finished his lunch and leaned back, like a spectator at a prize fight, watching the banter between Parris and Robert. Parris would bet he’d put money on the old man, not her. He pointed to the chili. “You better get eating, we’re heading back tonight.”

Robert shook his head. “No, we’re staying another night. Get me a room at the hotel. I need to get caught up.” He pointed at Parris. “I need to talk to her.”

Parris put her head down, focusing on eating. She felt like a lab rat, everyone poking and prodding, trying to find where she came from, who she was. Not even Grans remembered her real name, after spelling herself to forget. Sometimes she wished she remained back at the bar, playing darts and wondering why she could do magic. Knowing why was ten times harder. Because now she had responsibility to The Council, to Ty, and, no matter what, to Grans.

She felt tears slip down her cheeks before she realized they were falling. She reached for a napkin and a hand covered her own.

“You don’t know it now, but you will be okay. All witches doubt their path at some time or another. Usually it’s when during their teenage years when they fall in love with the hunky human boy next door. You’re off normal timelines.” Robert smiled. “This is your journey. You will be glorious. I can see it.”

He released her hand and resumed eating his chili, letting Parris wipe the tears off her face without additional comment.

Finished with his meal, Robert tapped the table, announcing, “Time to go see lovely Prudence.”

She watched him walk to the sidewalk to pet a German Shepard whose owners had tied it to a pole. “He’s something else.”

“You haven’t even seen the best of him yet. Don’t let his old fashioned ideas rub you the wrong way. If he’s in your court, there’s nothing you can’t do.” Ty stood at the end of the bench, offering Parris his hand. When they touched, sparks flew between them, making Parris lean closer.

She drank in his smell, cinnamon, spice, and everything nice. “You and your friends are making this whole problem kind of okay. I mean, it’s a complete pile of crap The Council is making me train as a witch, let alone as a witch hunter. I just want to run my bar.”

Toki answered her. “You shouldn’t lie.”

She met Toki’s eyes. The fairy knelt on the seat in the next booth, looking over the top at Parris.

“And you shouldn’t sneak up on people. Besides, nothing I said was a lie.” Parris pushed a wayward curl back behind the fairy’s ear.

“Ha, even I know that’s not the truth. You love the training, admit it.” Ty nodded to the fairy. “It’s nice to see you again, Toki.”

“Thank you, sir. Zander says hello. He misses you.” Toki’s eyes filled with tears.

“And I, him.” Ty’s attention switched to the man outside. Robert had untied the dog’s rope. “I’ve got to go before he gets into trouble. We’ll wait for you outside.”

Parris sank back into the booth, her hands resting on her knees and sitting sideways so she could talk to Toki easier. “Is there a reason you popped in, besides pointing out my falsehoods?”

“I wanted to warn you. The man is getting close to those you love.”

“Grans?” Parris’ heart seized and she berated herself for leaving Grans alone. She shouldn’t have gone off with Ty.

“No, she’s protected. Your boyfriend put a warding spell on her house before he left.” Toki tilted her head. “Didn’t he tell you?”

“Ty doesn’t tell me a lot of things. Especially on himself. What was that about someone missing him?”

“It’s not my story to tell,” Toki hedged.

“Come on, you can’t leave me out of the conversation. Who is Zander? A fairy, like you?” Parris took an ice chip from her tea, crunching it with her teeth.

“He’s Ty’s fairy. They got separated during the whole mess with Rowena. Now, Zander can’t come back until Ty forgives her. And that will probably be, like never.”

“So many rules, how do you keep them straight?” Parris’ thoughts wandered to the witch frozen in stone, their next stop. Like visiting an elderly aunt in a nursing home before leaving town, the stop to see Prudence was more out of a sense of propriety than friendship. Parris knew the woman had been lonely. The fact The Council could make someone
 
suffer that way made Parris squirm.