The Amulet (15 page)

“You are going to have to be more careful
what you say in the future, Ms. Faedra,” Faen said, stating the
obvious.

She turned to him and squared her shoulders.
Whether or not he had looked concerned about her when she was lying
in his arms almost dead, he certainly didn’t now. He was back to
his usual stuffy demeanor, and right now was the wrong time. She
had almost been killed tonight, certainly had the stuffing knocked
out of her, and she just about had enough of the self righteous
fairy that was intruding on her life.

“Well, excuse me for not having my brain
firing on all four cylinders after having it slammed into a brick
wall just a few minutes ago,” she snapped.

She had been expecting a full-blown throbbing
migraine after that incident, but, as yet, nothing had
materialized, for which she was relieved.

Faen raised an eyebrow at her outburst but
said nothing for a moment.

“Fred, Ms. Faedra?” he looked at her
questioningly. “Do you believe I look like a ‘Fred’?”

Faedra’s shoulders slumped. No, he most
certainly did not look like a Fred. “Give me a break, Faen, it was
the only other F-word I could think of at the time,” she said,
raising her eyebrows at him. “But I changed it quickly. I don’t
think Frederick’s too bad, though.”

Faen was quiet again, watching with interest
as Faedra continued to look in her closet for a suitable
replacement. She picked a similar styled dress, but this one was a
deep forest green with a cream embroidered trim around the hem. She
hoped not too many people would notice. Who was she kidding? This
dress looked nothing like the one she was wearing that was now
ruined. She held it up and looked over at Faen, eyebrows raised.
Faen shot her a puzzled look.

“Out,” she snapped and looked towards the
door.

“Oh, yes, of course, Ms. Faedra,” he uttered
before his swift exit.

Faedra mumbled something about ‘ungracious
fairies’ under her breath as she changed into her other dress.

“If you insist we go back to the party, I
will not leave your side again,” he stated without compromise
through the door.

“Whatever,” she retorted.

“Even if you have to go to the bathroom!” he
added for good measure.

She scowled at the door.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she said as she opened the
door a few moments later to find him waiting patiently, as usual.
She had changed into her other dress, tidied her hair, cleaned the
blood from her face with a moist wipe, and touched up her makeup,
all with such incredible swiftness it surprised even her. There was
just a tiny red mark on her forehead where the gash had been, and
she covered that easily with a little concealer.

“So, do I get to go flying again?” she asked
when they were standing outside. She had missed the first
experience due to a lack of consciousness.

“If we are to arrive swiftly, yes.”

“Which brings me to my next question,” she
paused for effect.

“And that would be?” Faen responded.

“If I have on this ointment that is supposed
to enable me to see through glamour, how come I still can’t see
your wings?” That particular point was needling at her now.

Faen gave her one of his wry smiles. “That
would be because, how would I say, I ramped up the frequency of
mine, so to speak.”

“Not fair,” she mumbled. He just inclined his
head in his annoyingly gracious way and held out his arms.

“May I?” he asked.

“Oh, go on then, if you must,” she replied
nonchalantly, trying very hard to hide the fact that she was super
excited that she was about to go flying with a fairy.

Faen scooped her up in his arms. She wrapped
hers securely around his neck, and they glided gracefully across
the field to the village. It took her breath away.

“What if someone sees us?”

“They won’t. I have hidden us.”

Faedra watched as they skimmed above the
rooftops of the houses in the village. It was an exhilarating
feeling with the warm breeze blowing on her face and through her
hair. Although, all too quickly, they were on the ground again, and
walking back through the front entrance to the Old Brewery.

Faedra took a deep, steadying breath as they
got closer to the party. She knew she had some explaining to do.
She had just been for a ‘walk’ in the village with a man no one had
ever met before, and she had changed her dress.

“Well, here goes nothing,” she whispered to
herself as Faen leaned forward opening one of the doors to the
banquet room for her.

Her father was on her in a flash. “Why did
you go wandering off without telling anyone?” he demanded. Then
looked down at her dress and narrowed his eyes at Faen who was
glued to her side, just like he said he would be.

“I spilled red wine on my other one, Dad, so
I nipped home to get changed. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my
birthday in a stained dress.”

He didn’t look entirely convinced of her
story, but didn’t say anything more on the matter either. “Well,
you’re back now. Please just let me know if you decide to go on a
walkabout again. You know how I worry about you.”

“I know, Dad, I’m sorry, it won’t happen
again.” But something told Faedra that maybe it wasn’t a promise
she was going to be able to keep in the future. She suddenly
yearned for the uncomplicated life she had lived until this
morning, where she knew exactly who she was and where she was
going.

CHAPTER NINE

Faedra was hoping that no one noticed the
fact that she had devoured almost half of the contents on the
buffet table upon her return. She had no idea how many calories her
body literally burned earlier that night, but her body was
screaming at her in no uncertain terms to replenish them. She was
starving and couldn’t get the food down quick enough.

“Feeling a bit peckish tonight are we?” Amy
said jovially as she crept up behind Faedra, making her jump. “That
must be at least your sixth plate of food.”

Rats, someone did notice
. “It’s my
Birthday,” Faedra replied blankly; she couldn’t for the life of her
think of anything else to say.

“Well, remember, a moment on the lips,
lifetime on the hips,” Amy said with a smirk. Faedra narrowed her
eyes at her friend; Amy just shrugged in response and gave her a
wink.

The party wound down gradually after that.
Faedra said more “goodbyes” and “thank you for comings” than she
cared to remember. It was half past midnight before they got
home.

Faen was waiting in his dog form at the front
door when they arrived. He had left as Frederick the same time she
and her father had.

“That was a wonderful party, Dad,” Faedra
said as she gave him a hug. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, darling. I’m glad you
enjoyed yourself. Well, it’s been a long day, I’m off to bed.
Goodnight.” He kissed her on the forehead and made his way to
bed.

“Night, Dad.”

Faedra and Faen made their way to Faedra’s
room, too. She was exhausted and looking forward to a good night’s
sleep. She wasn’t going to forget her eighteenth birthday in a
hurry, that was for sure.

After she changed into her pajamas, she let
Faen into her room. He was still in his dog form. She climbed into
bed and fell asleep almost instantaneously.

Faen took his usual position on the rug
beside her, but he didn’t fall asleep. He was on full alert,
listening to every creak and groan the old house made at night. He
knew that the house was warded and nothing could get to Faedra
here, but he was extremely concerned about the blatant attack on
her at the hotel. He had no idea why the redcaps were interested in
her or who they were in allegiance with, but he was determined to
find out.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a noise
that Faedra was making above him in her bed. He sat up and watched
her for a moment in the glow of a soft light he had created over
her head. She was still asleep, but her body was starting to move
agitatedly under the covers. Her hairline was wet with sweat, and
her eyes, under their lids, were moving about erratically. She was
having a nightmare. It didn’t surprise him. She had battled a
redcap and lived to tell the tale. Not many fae could say that, let
alone a human.

He blurred into his true form and stood over
her. Maybe he could calm her dreams if he could comfort her somehow
without waking her up. He frowned when he realized he didn’t know
how. Tentatively, he moved his hand towards her face. His fingers
hovered above her forehead for a moment, then he drew them away
again. He hated to see her in distress, but felt powerless to do
anything about it.

Her face contorted and she started mumbling
incoherently. The mumbling got louder and louder until he thought
she was going to scream. It was an automatic response; he put his
hand over her mouth just as she did, in fact, scream. He managed to
muffle it, knowing that it would have woken her father if he had
not.

Faedra was flung from her nightmare by the
built in shut-off mechanism that everyone has in their brain to
wake them from a nightmare before it gets too intense and you can’t
escape it. Her eyes were wide with fear again as they looked down
at the hand that was covering her mouth, then up at Faen in
confusion.

“You are safe, Ms. Faedra. You were having a
nightmare. You screamed and it would have woken your father,”
Faen’s voice was a soft whisper.

Faedra nodded her head in understanding; he
lifted his hand from her mouth. She sat up and looked at him with a
blank expression. At first she felt numb, but then it started, a
slow tremble from the center of her body that quickly intensified
to a violent shake. Her teeth started to chatter and her whole body
shook uncontrollably from head to toe. She was suddenly freezing.
Her lips turned blue and felt numb, but there was sweat beading on
her forehead.

Faen could see what was happening. He had not
witnessed it in the fae, but he had seen it in humans. She was
going into delayed shock. He’d been amazed at the resilience Faedra
had shown after her attack earlier on, but she’d been so focused on
getting back to the party so her father would not worry, that she
hadn’t given herself time to digest what had just happened to her.
Now, several hours later, her brain and body were telling her it
was time to do just that.

“Ms. Faedra,” he whispered calmly. “I believe
you are experiencing what humans call delayed shock.”

Faedra just stared at Faen, almost like she
was looking through him and didn’t quite see or hear him. He raised
his hand and rested it on her forehead. She felt like ice to the
touch. He grabbed her bathrobe from the chair and wrapped it around
her shoulders. “Can I get you anything?” he asked with growing
concern. “Is there anything else I can do?”

She was still shivering fiercely when she
looked him in the eye. “I… don’t... want... you. I… want... my...
dog.” Her words came out in a forceful staccato.

He didn’t hesitate. In the blink of an eye,
he had blurred into his dog form and was sitting beside her on the
bed. She looked at her dog for a split second before throwing her
arms around his neck and burying her head in his soft welcoming
fur. Faedra closed her eyes and held him tight, hoping to get some
comfort from him. Hoping that warmth would soon seep back into her
soul.

Her brain was telling her that the dog she
loved so much was still the detached fairy she couldn’t quite work
out, but she didn’t care. Her heart told her that this was her best
friend. That he had always been there for her, wagging his tail
when she was happy, letting her do just this when she was sad.
Right now, she was downright terrified and confused, and her brain
was having a hard time processing it all. So burying her face in
Faen’s fur was exactly what she needed at that moment.

She regained her composure with surprising
alacrity. Only a few moments had passed before the shivering
abated. The shock surging through her felt like it was flowing out
through her body and melting into the bed covers. She pulled back
from Faen and looked deeply into his molten amber eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered and laid a
delicate kiss on his cold wet nose. “You can come back now, I need
to talk to you.”

He blurred back to his fae form. The soft
amber eyes that were gazing at her only a second before, where now
a startling liquid blue, and she drew in a breath. She felt as if
someone had just torn her friend away from her. She straightened
herself up, ready to get down to business.

“It wanted the amulet,” she stated. “Why
would it want the amulet?”

He shook his head. “I do not know what a
redcap would want with it. They are killing machines, nothing more,
nothing less. As long as they have fresh blood on their caps, they
are happy.”

Faedra cringed. She remembered the way its
cap had glistened moistly in the light from the streetlamp and
realized that must have been someone’s fresh blood. Her body gave
an involuntary shudder.

“They must be working for someone. Although
they are mostly solitary creatures, they have been known to band
together and do someone else’s bidding, if the prize was right,” he
continued.

“Who else would want the amulet? The letter
said it was no more powerful than a pretty trinket without the Book
of Anohs, and that’s supposedly under immense protection. Can
anyone get their hands on the book?” she asked.

“The book is bound under heavy protective
magic. Only the Keeper of the Book and the king have access to it,”
he replied. “Did the redcap say anything else?”

“Yes,” she whispered, and lowered her
eyes.

“What?”

“It said, ‘I can understand why she wants you
dead’,” she spoke flatly, bringing her eyes back up to meet Faen’s.
She watched a look of concern flash across his face, but then it
was gone again. “Who would want me dead, Faen? No one is supposed
to even know about me. What could I have possibly ever done to any
of your kind that they would want to kill me?”