The Amulet (13 page)

“Of course, I have, I always snoop,” she was
proud to admit.

Faedra raised her eyes heavenward. Amy could
be so brazen sometimes. Amy and Zoë got to the doors before Faedra;
they each took a handle and pulled the doors open.

Faedra peered into the darkened room. In a
heartbeat the lights came on and a chorus of “SURPRISE!” rang out
loud and clear. She nearly jumped out of her skin, and Zoë
surreptitiously grabbed her glass of wine, for which she was
grateful, otherwise, she would have been wearing it all down the
front of her dress.

Sprawling in front of her were friends and
relatives, spreading all the way to the back of the large banquet
room. They wore excited expressions on their faces. Most were
blowing on party horns and throwing streamers at her; right at the
front stood the perpetrators. Her father, flanked by her Uncle Leo
and Nicki. She should have known. That was what her father had been
so busy doing all day, organizing a surprise party when she had
expressly told him that she didn’t want a big deal made of her
birthday.

It was already more of big deal than he
could ever imagine,
she thought derisively.

She stood frozen to the spot for what seemed
like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds. She wasn’t
quite sure how to react. She felt numb. All these people were here
for her, but the one person she wished could have been, wasn’t… her
mother.

She regained her composure. She wasn’t about
to embarrass her father, or herself, in front of all these people
by throwing a hissy fit. She took a deep breath and plastered a
smile on her face. One she would have to fake for the rest of the
evening, of that she had no doubt. Everyone cheered when she
smiled. She saw her father heave a sigh of relief.

The music started and everyone dispersed and
started to mingle. When she thought no one was looking, she
narrowed her eyes at her father and made a beeline straight for
him. He flinched, and braced for the worst. Uncle Leo and Nicki
stood their ground next to him.

“Dad, you promised,” she stated when she
reached him.

“Faedra, it wasn’t your dad’s idea,” Leo
interrupted, “it was mine.”

She shot him a puzzled look. “Why, Uncle Leo?
You knew how I felt.” She couldn’t bring herself to be mean to her
uncle, and, surprisingly, she felt hurt, not angry.

“I did it for your mother,” he stated.

She stepped back like someone had just
punched her in the gut and continued to look at him in
bewilderment.

“Lillith made me promise to hold a big party
for your eighteenth birthday. She was most insistent about it. So
if you want to blame anyone, Fae, blame your mum.”

Obviously, she could never blame her mum for
anything. She stared at her dad and uncle, tears pricked behind her
eyes. Her mother had wanted her to have a party for her birthday,
and she was going to make sure she enjoyed herself.

“Sorry,” she mumbled at the floor, feeling a
little ashamed of herself.

“No apology needed, you big goof,” Leo said,
grabbing her in a bear hug. “Just make sure you enjoy
yourself.”

Faedra had a good look around the room when
her uncle released her from his iron grip. There were banners all
over, announcing ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘18 at last.’ A long buffet
table, filled with food, stretched the length of one wall.
Helium-filled balloons tied to little weights, floated above each
of the tables that surrounded the dance floor. Streamers hung from
the rafters of the exposed oak beams that were holding up the roof.
A DJ was playing music at one end of the room, and people were
already on the dance floor dancing.

“You did all this for me?” she asked her dad,
uncle and Nicki. They nodded. “Thank you.” She opened her arms for
a group hug.

“Go on now,” her dad said after they were
finished with their hug, “go and enjoy yourself.” And without
further ado Amy and Zoë each took an arm and dragged her towards
the dance floor.

Faedra enjoyed dancing to all the latest
music on the charts, and some of the older stuff that she liked to
listen to, also. It seemed like a constant stream of people came up
to wish her a happy birthday. She greeted each one graciously, and
thanked them for coming. Although she had told her dad that she
would only have a couple of drinks, they kept being put in her
hands by friends and relatives who wanted to buy her one for her
birthday. She had managed, very discreetly, to dispose of some of
them in the various potted plants that were dotted around the edge
of the banquet room. But when she’d been caught in conversation
with someone, she found it hard not to take a few sips and was
starting to get a little tipsy.

The music slowed down and she made her exit
off the dance floor. She watched as Amy and her new boyfriend were
slow dancing their way around it; Zoë and her long-standing beau
were doing the same. They looked really happy and she smiled at her
friends who were enjoying the moment with their respective
partners. She turned to go and find someone to talk to and bumped
straight into Faen’s chest. She took a step back in surprise and
looked up at him. She hadn’t seen him since that time in the bar
and wondered if he was still around. To be honest, she’d been so
distracted by everything going on, that she hadn’t even thought to
look.

“May I have this dance, Ms. Faedra?” he asked
politely.

She squirreled around in her mind for a
moment. She’d never danced with a man before, except for her dad,
and that was when she was little and stood on his shoes while he
twirled them both around. She didn’t think that counted in this
instance.

“Um, I don’t know how,” she admitted,
sheepishly.

“I do,” Faen replied, holding out a hand for
her. “May I?”

She felt her cheeks flush and her heart
pound. Not only was she a disaster with her power, she was now
going to embarrass herself on the dance floor, too.

Faen took hold of her hand in one of his,
placed her other hand on his shoulder, then placed his other hand
around her waist. She was too nervous to giggle, but she felt like
they should be on an episode of Dancing with the Stars. That image
disintegrated almost immediately as Faen led her with grace and
fluidity around the floor. The other couples that had been dancing
were now turning their attention to her and Faen, and had moved to
the edge of the dance floor. She noticed that people who had been
mingling all over the banquet room were now forming a circle around
them, watching them intently. She also noticed that they were now
the only couple dancing.

Faedra couldn’t ever remember feeling this
alive. She felt like she was floating above the dance floor, it
didn’t even feel like her feet were touching the ground. She looked
up at Faen and focused all of her attention on his eyes that were
doing the same to hers. She was locked in a moment of sheer
tranquility and wondered if she would ever come down to earth
again.

She did, with a bump. As soon as the music
finished, there was a loud applause that emanated around them. She
tore her gaze from Faen’s and looked around her. The whole party
had been captivated by their dance, and she scanned their faces. On
most, she could see pure delight, but when she got to her father,
his features screamed concern. On her friend’s, Amy and Zoë, pure
confusion.

Oops
, she thought,
none of them
know about Faen.

Heck, she’d only found out about him just
over twelve hours ago; she’d certainly never thought of a story to
tell them when just such a thing like this occurred. But then, in
all fairness, she hadn’t been prepared for a surprise party,
either. She had been prepared for sitting in the bar, having a few
drinks with her friends, while Faen sat inconspicuously in the
corner and kept an eye on her. He’d failed miserably on the
inconspicuous aspect of the evening, and she made a mental note to
show him what it meant in the dictionary when they got home.

She looked at her father like a deer caught
in the headlights. As he stalked towards her, her friends followed
behind him. She would have to think of something quickly.

“Oh, no,” she whispered.

“Stay calm, Ms. Faedra,” Faen whispered back,
putting a calming hand on her shoulder.

The crowd that had accumulated around them,
was now back to mingling and dancing. Faen had led Faedra off the
dance floor after their dance, and they were now standing to one
side of it.

“So, who’s the dark horse then?” Amy said to
Faedra, while raking her eyes up and down Faen.

“Are you going to introduce us?” her father
said, with a politeness that was laced with just a hint of venom.
He had never seen his daughter with a man, especially one as good
looking as this one, and she had never mentioned a boyfriend. His
father senses were on full alert.

Faedra scanned their faces again and
swallowed hard. She could feel herself starting to tremble. Faen
sensed it, too, and gently squeezed her shoulder. Her father was
not doing a very good job of masking his concern; her friends were
just positively brimming with excitement for her. It was about time
she had a boyfriend… she could read it in both of their
expressions.

“Um, everyone, meet, uh, F-red.” she caught
herself at the last second.

Every pair of eyebrows shot up in unison,
including Faen’s.

“Frederick, I mean. This is Frederick. He is
a new boarder at the stables. We just met, recently.” Her hands
were getting clammier by the second. Faedra didn’t like to lie and
it wasn’t something that came easily to her.

“Pleased to meet you, Frederick,” Amy said as
she took hold of his hand and shook it with just a little too much
enthusiasm.

“Yes, pleased to meet you,” Zoë reiterated
with a much more graceful shake of his hand. Faen did the noble
head bob that he always did when acknowledging people. It was so
old-worldly, and so completely Faen.

“Frederick,” her father said, taking Faen’s
hand in a firm handshake. He eyed Faen cautiously and gave him the
‘you lay one finger on my daughter and I’ll swing for you’
glare.

“You can be assured, Mr. Bennett, my
intentions are nothing but honorable,” Faen responded to her
father’s unspoken warning.

Faedra cringed, looked up at him, and gave
him a silent ‘no one says stuff like that anymore, you’ll give
yourself away’. He just smiled calmly back at her and it took her
breath away, as usual.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Faen had caught the interest of Uncle Leo and
Nicki, too; they now wandered over to meet him. Faedra was feeling
more and more uncomfortable with her family surrounding them. They
were all very polite, but there was no doubt in her mind, it was a
thinly veiled inquisition. She started to relax as Faen charmed the
pants off them. Answering their questions without so much as a hint
of subterfuge, or annoyance. Faedra thought if she had been
questioned like him, she would be feeling exasperated by now, but
she was impressed by how quickly he could think on his feet.
Obviously, all his answers were lies.

She excused herself to go and use the
restroom. She needed a break from the surrealism that was
surrounding her at that moment and wandered down the corridor to
where they were located. As soon as the door closed behind her, the
sound of the music muffled. Once inside the restroom, she looked at
herself in the mirror. She was feeling a little tipsy after having
one too many drinks handed to her. Wandering back towards the
party, she stopped to look out of one of the floor-to-ceiling
windows that lined the corridor.

The courtyard was lit up with floodlights
that cast a warming glow over the fountain. There was seating
surrounding the fountain; the whole picture looked inviting. She
decided she needed some fresh air to try and clear the fuzzies that
were addling her brain and went to sit out there for a moment. She
would be on the soft drinks for the rest of the night she told
herself sternly. She stepped outside into the welcoming warmth of
the summer night air, wandered over to one of the benches, and sat
down. The sound of the music was reduced to a muffled beat in the
background now. She leaned back against the bench and soaked in the
atmosphere of the courtyard. The fountain was very pretty in its
own austere way.

It was an uncomplicated structure, but grand
in its simplicity. The water trickling from the top tier, fell into
the tier below it, which then cascaded down to the basin at the
bottom. People had thrown coins into it. The coins glinted in the
light from the floodlights that illuminated the water; she wondered
if any of their wishes had come true.

A noise coming from beyond the courtyard
towards the rear vehicular entrance of the hotel, pulled Faedra
from her thoughts. It was black as pitch over there, out of reach
from the floodlights in the courtyard. She didn’t think much of it;
it was probably just a guest and there were plenty of people
milling around this evening. Although, she noticed now that she was
completely alone in the courtyard.

“Hello?” she called into the darkness.

“Faedra,” a gravelly voice responded.

She didn’t recognize it, but that didn’t mean
much either. There were a number of the party guest’s partners here
tonight that she had never met before. She rose from the bench and
wandered over to where the voice had come from.

“Hello, is anyone there?” she asked again,
squinting her eyes, trying to force them to see into the
darkness.

She felt a warming sensation on her ring
finger and looked down at it. The symbols on the ring were glowing
brightly.
Wear it also and never take it off. It will warn you
if danger is near.
She remembered what her mother had written
in her letter. The fine hairs on the back of her neck raised and
goose bumps flashed up her arms. A chilling cold enveloped her, a
cold like she had felt in the woods. She turned to leave but was
not quick enough. She didn’t see it coming; doubted if anyone could
have, it happened so fast.