The Amulet (21 page)

“Are you sure?” she asked, not quite being
able to believe what he was telling her, and imagining her father’s
panic stricken face on the phone to the Police.

Faen gave her a warm smile. He knew the great
lengths she had gone to over the years to prevent giving her father
any cause to worry about her. A quality he admired and respected.
She cared more about those she loved than she did about
herself.

“I am sure,” he replied. “Your father is
blissfully unaware of your whereabouts and I will make sure it
stays that way. We will return to the World of Men in plenty of
time before he would start to wonder where you have gone to.”

She heaved a sigh of relief and the color
returned to her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He inclined his head.

After they had finished their meal, the two
fairies appeared.

“We have prepared your rooms for you.” they
sang in unison and gestured for the three to follow. They all got
up and continued behind them. Faedra was looking forward to being
able to flop onto a bed and finally get some sleep. She was
exhausted and imagined that what she was feeling must be similar to
jet lag. She had never been on a long haul flight but her friends
had, and how they had explained it to her, it had sounded just like
she felt.

They followed the fairies up umpteen
spiraling stairs, along what seemed like miles of corridors until
they eventually stopped. The fairies pointed to three doors that
were adjacent to each other.

“You will find everything you need to make
your stay comfortable,” they sang. “If you find you need anything
further, you only have to ask. One of us will attend to your needs
directly.”

“Thank you,” Faen, Faedra and Jocelyn replied
together.

The fairies disappeared around a corner and
they were alone in the corridor.

“Well, goodnight,” Faedra said.

“Goodnight, Ms. Faedra.”

“Goodnight, Faedra.”

Jocelyn and Faen exchanged their goodnights.
They all entered their rooms in synchronization, as if the move had
been choreographed. Faedra closed the door behind her, leaned back
up against it and sucked in a sharp breath.

“Oh, wow!” she breathed as she scanned the
room that sprawled out in front of her.

The room was easily the size of the entire
ground floor of her house and was furnished with the finest ornate,
elaborately detailed furniture that she had ever laid her eyes on.
At one end of the room, an immense marble fireplace took center
stage, filling nearly the entire wall, and was complete with a
blazing fire crackling within it. A deep burgundy chaise trimmed
with gold, sat in front of the fire just waiting to invite someone
to sit there.

Wood paneling stretched all the way around
the room to about half way up the walls. Above the paneling, rich
wallpaper lined the walls and elaborate gold sconces with opaque
glass lampshades protruded, a soft glow emanating from each one.
She looked above her as she now noticed she was drenched in a soft
glow. A small chandelier bobbed above her head, showering her with
soft sparkling light. She stepped to the side, it followed. She
stepped forward, it followed.

“No way,” she gasped, as she realized where
she went the chandelier followed, lighting a path for her every
step of the way.

On the other side of the room was a
four-poster bed that she imagined to be the size of her entire
bedroom. It was made of rich mahogany and the posts were carved
with intricate spirals. It had sumptuous, velvet burgundy drapes
the same color as the chaise. A gold satin comforter covered the
bed. Faedra wandered over to it and ran her fingers along the heavy
velvet material, and then onto the soft satin comforter.

A pair of cream silk pajamas had been laid
out for her on the bed. She held them up to her to determine if
they were the right size; they were. She smiled, why ever would she
have thought otherwise? She wandered past the bed to a pair of
glass doors that stood the height of the wall, at least ten feet
tall. They were framed in gold with gold handles. She opened them
and walked through onto the balcony where they led. She looked down
to one side and saw the city below that was lit only by the silvery
light of the moon, casting its eerie light on the buildings it
watched over. She looked in the other direction and could see the
valley stretch out until it met with a mountain range that loomed
in the distance. She wondered in which direction they would travel
tomorrow to reach the pine forest.

A shiver ran through her and she walked back
inside. There was a chill in the air and she was only wearing a
t-shirt and jeans. The doorway next to the glass doors led to a
lavish bathroom. Mirrors lined one entire wall. The rest of the
room was made out of marble and accessorized with gold fittings.
Steam rose from the water filling a sunken bath that had quite
obviously been run for her. Fluffy towels were stacked in a neat
pile next to the bath and a toothbrush had been placed next to one
of the two basins. They weren’t kidding, they had certainly thought
of everything to make her feel comfortable. She undressed and slid
into the warm water. A sigh of epic proportions escaped as she
submerged herself up to her neck.

Once she had bathed she dried herself. With a
towel wrapped around her torso, she wandered back to the bedroom
and dressed into her pajamas, laying her clothing neatly over the
back of a chair that was placed next to the bed. She had to wear
them again the next day so she made an effort not to get them too
crumpled. She lifted the covers and slid between the sheets that
felt like pure silk. The sconces turned themselves off and the
chandelier above her head dimmed to blackness.

She sat up with a start. “No, please do not
go out completely,” she said with an urgency that surprised even
her. She’d never been scared of the dark before and cursed the
redcap for making her feel this way. For a split second, she
wondered who she was kidding. The lights weren’t intelligent; they
wouldn’t respond to a spoken request. But all the lights came back
on in an instant, then dimmed to a soft glow.

“Thank you,” she spoke to the room as a whole
and lay her head back down on the pillow.

Unfortunately, instead of falling asleep as
soon as her head touched it, she was wide-awake. She lay motionless
for a few minutes with her eyes closed trying to will herself to
sleep. She moved to one side then to the other. Nothing. She was
still wide-awake. After about an hour of tossing and turning, she
threw back the covers and sat up in exasperation.

This is not fair,
she thought,
why
can’t I sleep? I’m so tired.
She went through a list of
possibilities. The bed was comfortable, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t
dark, that wasn’t it either, then it dawned on her and a light bulb
came on above her head. And it wasn’t the chandelier. She had not
slept on her own since she was six years old. Faen had always been
right there sleeping on the rug beside her bed, every night, for
more than eleven years.

She turned, hung her legs over the edge of
the mattress and slid her feet into the slippers that had been left
for her beside the bed. She made her way through the door and
wandered down the corridor. Faedra stopped in front of the next
door down, put her hand up to knock, hesitated and pulled it back.
She did this several times, until finally, she tapped lightly on
Faen’s door and opened it. She poked her head through the opening
and peeked around the door. It was dark inside, no sound of
movement.

“Faen?” she whispered as she entered the room
and clicked the door shut behind her. “Faen?” she whispered
again.

She heard a rustle coming from her left and
turned her head just as a soft light appeared over Faen’s head as
he sat up in bed.

She noticed he did not have a shirt on and
there was a catch in her breath as she let her eyes scan his
perfectly formed torso. He noticed her gaze and looked down at
himself. Almost instantaneously, he materialized a soft cotton
shirt from nowhere to cover his chest. He looked back up at Faedra
who was standing over by the door looking rather uncomfortable.

“Ms. Faedra? Is something the matter?” Faen
asked in response to the look of sadness on her face. His features
were soft, his expression welcoming, and his hair mussed. He ran a
hand through it to try and smooth it down.

He had such a presence here in his home,
somehow different to when he was in her home. Faedra wondered if he
felt as much of a fish out of water in her world, as she did in
his. She took a hesitant step forward. She was eighteen now, an
adult. Not to mention Custodian to a very powerful fae element.
Faedra’s brain was telling her she should feel silly not being able
to sleep without her dog, but the dreadfully lonely sensation
welling within her was overwhelming. She swallowed hard and looked
down at her feet.
He’s going to think me stupid and
childish.

“Ms. Faedra, whatever is the matter?” he
asked again.

“I, um, I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep,” her
voice cracked with emotion, “then I realized why.” She looked up at
him, tears pricking behind her eyes.

“Why?” he prompted.

“Because for more than eleven years now, you
have slept beside me and I… err… miss you.”

His expression changed to one of compassion
that Faedra had not seen on his face before, but had seen in the
eyes of her dog many times. He patted the bed beside him.

“Come,” he simply said.

She breathed in with relief. She hadn’t
realized until that point that she’d been holding her breath. She
moved swiftly to his bed and climbed up to sit crossed legged to
the side of him.

“Would you like me or your dog?”

The question took her by surprise. She
thought about it for a second. “You, please,” she whispered and
smiled at him sheepishly.

Faen returned her smile with a warm one of
his own that he didn’t hand out very often.

“Very well then, I shall stay,” he said with
an incline of his head.

The soft glow of the light above illuminated
just the two of them in the immense bedroom. Everything else was
shrouded in darkness. Faedra leaned forward and carefully picked up
the talisman hanging around his neck. She noticed a catch in his
breath as her fingers brushed against his skin, and brought her
gaze up to meet his. His eyes were full of emotion. They locked
onto hers, not letting them go.

After a silent moment, she managed to tear
her gaze from his and looked at the talisman she had laid in the
palm of her hand, moving it under the light. She had noticed it
before, but never really looked at it closely. It was round, and
looked like it was made of ivory; although, it had an iridescent
quality to it that she had not seen in ivory before. A leather
thong threaded through a hole at the top, held it around Faen’s
neck. The center of the talisman was carved with a beautiful Celtic
design and a band around the outer edge had lots of symbols carved
into it.

“This is beautiful. What is it made of?”

“The horn of a unicorn.”

“Wow, really?” she shook her head in
amazement as he nodded. “I recognize these symbols, but I can’t
think where from.”

“They are runes. You probably saw them when
you were at the festival.”

She nodded her head. That was where she had
seen them before; when Rose had seen something of her destiny in
them, but refused to tell her what. “Of course.” She lay the
talisman gently back against his skin.

“Can I ask you a question?” she said.

“Of course,” he replied.

“Are you immortal?”

Faen chuckled at her question. “No, Ms.
Faedra, I am not. Although, fae do live much longer than humans, so
that is where the myth probably stems from. We die of old age just
like you do. We can be killed, but not very easily, and not by
human hands.” Then he thought about his last comment and rephrased
it. “I should say, not by human hands, present company
excluded.”

Faedra’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean I can
kill a fairy? Not that I would want to, of course,” she added
hastily.

“Well, there is no point having a power if it
does not protect you and the amulet against the very creatures who
are likely to come after you to get it.”

“Good point,” she agreed. “So how old are you
then?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You said
a
question, Ms. Faedra.”

“Oh, come on, Faen, you know me inside and
out, and I hardly know anything about you. Apart from what dog food
you prefer and that you like to be scratched behind your ears,” she
gave him a wry smirk.

He conceded. “Very well, you may ask me some
more questions. What do you wish to know?”

“Your age?”

“Oh, yes, hmm let me see now. We age much
slower than humans do, about ten times slower I believe, so that
would make me about two hundred and three of your years.”

“No way!” Faedra exclaimed. “You only look
about twenty.”

He smiled.

“So how long do you live then, bearing in
mind that you don’t get killed by a rogue Custodian?”

“Oh, about a thousand of your years, give or
take a few,” he smiled again.

Faedra gaped at him in disbelief and he
nodded his head to reiterate his statement. She shuffled up the bed
and turned to lie down on top of the covers next to where he was
sitting. She looked up at the soft glowing ball of light that was
bobbing gracefully above them.

“Tell me about my mother,” she shifted her
attention from the light to Faen’s face.

His smile faded and sadness filled his eyes.
“What do you wish to know?”

“Well, I was only six when she died. It was
so long ago that I can’t remember too much about her; I get scared
that, given a few more years, I will forget everything about
her.”