The Amulet (29 page)

“I need to show you something,” Faen said
after a long moment, his eyes shining with uncertainty.

“Okay,” Faedra replied cautiously, wondering
why he was looking uncertain. He very rarely looked uncertain.

Faen took hold of her hand and walked her out
of the hall. Torches blazed along the walls of the corridor,
lighting their way outside. The moon was out in all its silvery
glory, shining its bright ethereal light onto the courtyard where
they had stopped. They were bathed entirely in the moonlight now,
out of reach of the golden glow from the torches in the castle. He
turned Faedra to look at him and took both of her hands in his. She
noticed a slight tremble there and gave him a puzzled look.

“Close your eyes, please,” he whispered.

She did as he asked.

“You may open them now,” he said after only a
heartbeat had passed.

She did as he asked again, and instantly
sucked in a breath. Her jaw dropped, she couldn’t find any words to
describe what her eyes were seeing. She thought him beautiful
before, but now with his wings outstretched before her, it made her
want to cry. She took a step back but didn’t let go of his hands
and could feel tears of emotion pricking behind her eyes as she
absorbed the picture of beauty standing right before her.

His wings were silvery white, at least that
is how they looked in the moonlight. All around the edges, they
sparkled in gold. An intricate golden design intertwined its way
throughout his whole wingspan, which was twice the size of
Jocelyn’s, although, they were shaped similarly to his sister’s.
She had noticed that most of the fairies she had seen had wings of
different shapes and sizes. She hadn’t seen any that sparkled the
way Faen’s did right now, though. Every inch of his wings glistened
in the glow from the moon, and she could just imagine how much more
vibrantly they must shimmer in the sunlight. Enchanting didn’t even
begin to describe them.

“Breathe, Faedra,” Faen whispered after a
moment.

Faedra brought her gaze to meet his. “Huh?”
She was still speechless, it didn’t happen very often. She pulled
in a breath. “You’re beautiful,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” he said softly with an incline
of his head as he pulled her towards him.

She noticed his talisman hanging from his
neck. “Your necklace, and my…” she touched the jewelry on her
forehead, “it’s the same design as your wings.”

“Yes, it is.” He smiled at her
observation.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them,
you know,” she whispered as she looked up at his wings again.

“Well, you will have a very long time to
try.” He smiled again as he cupped her face in his hands.

She closed her eyes. His wings were
emblazoned on the inside of her eyelids; they still sparkled there
even when her eyes were shut.

As they kissed, Faedra was too distracted to
pay any attention to the warm sensation traveling up her ring
finger. Neither of them noticed the person lurking in the shadows,
who was glaring at them with such an icy stare it could have frozen
fire, nor did they notice the tiny red laser lights that encircled
her before she disappeared.

EXCERPT FROM THE EMERALD STAFF

CUSTODIAN NOVEL #2 - AVAILABLE NOW

CHAPTER ONE

Halloween was just around the corner, and
Faedra’s father, Henry, was arranging a Halloween costume party.
Faedra was mulling over what she could possibly dress up as.
Sitting on the swing and gazing up at the trees in her yard for
inspiration was not helping the least little bit. As yet, she still
didn’t have a clue.

She had a good idea what her newfound friend
Jocelyn was going to be coming as… herself. Although Faedra was
slightly skeptical that people would have a hard time believing her
wings were not actually real, Jocelyn was eager to take the risk.
And who was Faedra to stop her?

Let’s face it, who actually believes in
fairies anyway?

She certainly hadn’t until a few short months
ago. And as for her Guardian, Faen, she had no idea who, or what,
he would dress as. He definitely couldn’t go as himself because no
costume rental store could ever re-create his wings, even in their
wildest dreams.

Closing her eyes, she leaned back and started
swinging, enjoying the feeling of the breeze on her face and
through her hair. There would not be many more evenings like this
before the cold and damp of winter crept in and claimed the land,
so she was going to take advantage as long as possible.

She smiled. The leaves were turning now, of
their own volition this time and she took a moment to look around
her. The trees that lined the circumference of her yard glowed with
ethereal radiance in the setting sun, and at that moment all was
right with her world. She shuddered at the thought that it could
have turned out so differently if she hadn’t been able to recover a
book the fae use to control nature. The nagging reminder in the
back of her mind that it had been stolen by none other than the fae
king’s daughter as some kind of revenge was still there. She
couldn’t figure out what the revenge was all about. She knew it had
something to do with her, but as yet, no one, including the king,
her Guardian, or her friend Jocelyn, had been forthcoming with any
information whichever tact she used to try and wheedle it out of
them. She felt in her heart that they knew exactly what Vivianna’s
motive was, but they were being tight lipped about it. If it was
one thing she had learned in the short time she’d known them, it
was that fairies could be extremely stubborn when they wanted to
be. Well, she was a redhead with the temperament to match, and
could be just as stubborn. She would find out what Vivianna’s
problem with her was, if it was the last thing she did. And based
on the fairy princess’s sword skills, it may very well be.

Faedra shrugged and let out a sigh before
leaning back as far as she could, her arms outstretched from
holding onto the ropes. After a few more swings, she came to an
abrupt halt in mid air, her head now pressing against something
warm and firm.

She opened her eyes with a start and looked
up to see a familiar face staring down at her.

“Faen.”

She smiled up at him. He held onto the ropes,
holding them so that she was almost horizontal to him. Her head
rested at right angles against his chest as he stood over her, his
aqua blue eyes locked with hers. He returned her smile with one of
his own and walked forward until the swing was vertical. Taking his
hands from the ropes he caressed each side of her face, and leaned
down to brush his lips against hers in an affectionate upside down
kiss. She closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling his touch
evoked.

After a moment, when Faedra’s muscles had all
but turned to jelly, and Faen’s lips were starting to feel a tingle
from the energy her emotions were building, he pulled away and took
hold of the ropes again.

“What are you doing out here by yourself?” he
asked.

“Thinking.”

“May I ask about what?”

Faedra sighed and pulled herself to sit up.
Faen gave up his hold on the ropes and moved around to face her.
She looked pensive.

“You look worried, Faedra. Can I help?”

“I don’t know what to wear to Dad’s party. I
have no idea what to go as,” she blurted, knowing it wasn’t as if
it were a life or death situation, but it was bugging her all the
same.

“You are worried about that?” Faen asked,
incredulous. “You have your mythology tests tomorrow and you are
worried about what to wear to a costume party?” Faen’s eyebrows
pinched together, forming a frown.

After discovering on her eighteenth birthday
what she was, Custodian for the Amulet of Azran, she decided to
change from her previous choice of psychology to study mythology
and parapsychology. It dawned on her that with her first hand
experience, there was every chance that she would be able to ace
her grades.

“Yeah, I know it’s a stupid thing to worry
about, but I also know that Amy and Zoë will look super cool, coz
they always do. And Jocelyn, well, Jocelyn will look like Jocelyn,
and I needn’t say any more on that subject. Still I don’t have a
clue what to wear.”

“If I may, Faedra, you seem to have your
priorities somewhat muddled. You have a week left to think about
what to wear but only tonight to brush up on your test.”

“That’s not helping either, Faen. So, what is
Frederick
going as?” she asked with a wry smile.

“I am not telling you. You will have to wait
and find out.”

“That’s not fair,” she grumbled and stuck out
her bottom lip in a childish pout.

“Come,” he said, a patient expression
plastered on his face. He held out his hands to take hold of hers.
“If I promise to think of a costume for you, will you go upstairs
and study? Your grades are extremely important.”

She sighed again as she slid off the swing at
Faen’s encouragement. “Okay, if you insist.”

“I do.”

Faen didn’t let go of her hand until they got
up the stairs to her bedroom. She wandered over to her desk and
pulled her books from her backpack. Faen lay on her bed on his
stomach and rested his head in his hands, which were propped up on
his elbows, and watched as she gathered her study materials.

“You have the test tomorrow, too.” Faedra
stated when she noticed that he was watching her instead of burying
his head in a book.

She started college as planned at the end of
the summer, and her ever-faithful dog had joined her. Only he spent
his days in class as his alter ego, Frederick, and his evenings at
home in his canine form. It was a very strange situation.

“My dear Faedra, what I do not know about
mythology is not worth knowing.” He gave her a conceited smirk when
she narrowed her eyes at him.

It was starting to get dark outside. Her
father was not yet home from work. His company had given him a
project a few months ago that needed him in their office to
complete, so he had been coming home late each night. This turned
out to be very advantageous because he was not around to notice the
fact that her dog was missing each day she was at college. Faedra
wondered how much longer she could juggle Faen and Frederick before
her father became suspicious that the two of them were never in the
same place at the same time.

She must have been studying for a while
because it was pitch black outside when she heard the crunch of the
gravel driveway made by her father’s car, and lifted her head to
see him pulling up beside the cottage. A few moments later he was
calling from the dining room.

“Hi, Fae, I’m home! You up there?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Well, take a break for a while. I’ve brought
take-out. Chinese; your favorite.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Faedra watched as Faen gave her a wink before
he blurred into his dog form. She didn’t very often have Frederick
around her home, for obvious reasons. If Frederick was there, Faen
wasn’t, and that would take a lot more explaining. As far as her
father was concerned, Frederick was still just a friend who boarded
his horse at the same stables as her horse, Gypsy. They
occasionally went riding together. Her father knew nothing about
him going to college with her. As far as she was concerned, that
was how it was going to stay.

She put her pen down and pushed her chair
back. Wandering past her bed on the way to the door she scratched
behind Faen’s ears. She’d been doing it for so long, she was
finding it an impossible habit to break. He didn’t seem to mind
though; as yet, he’d never brought up the issue. She pulled her
hands away when she caught herself doing it.

“Sorry,” she whispered. Her cheeks flushed a
little, and twinges of regret shot through her. She missed the
carefree relationship she had shared with her ‘dog’ until just a
few months ago when she turned of age and he had revealed his true
self. She suspected that Faen realized this fact all too well.
Perhaps that was why he never protested when she still kept
treating his dog form as her beloved pet.

“Come on, let’s go and have some dinner,” she
said with a sheepish smile. The shaggy white dog jumped off the bed
and padded down the stairs behind her and into the kitchen where
Henry was setting out the take-away boxes on the dining table. The
aroma wafted up to caress her nostrils and her mouth began to
water.

“Have a good day at college?” her dad asked
when she entered.

“Yes, thanks. How about you at work? How’s
the project going?” She leaned over and grabbed a prawn cracker
from a bag on the table, then took another and offered it to Faen,
who almost inhaled it he ate it so quickly.

“It’s going,” he sighed, “but not as smoothly
as I had hoped. It doesn’t look like I’ll finish it this week as
planned. But it should be done by the end of next week, just in
time for the party.”

“Since you bring that up, what are you going
as?” Faedra asked before putting another prawn cracker in her mouth
and crunching.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” he said with a
smirk.

“Oh, not you, too.” She huffed out an
exasperated breath. “Frederick won’t tell me what he’s wearing
either, and I haven’t got a clue what to dress as.”

“You’ll think of something, Darling. You
always do.”

She raised an eyebrow at him
. Isn’t that
the truth?

“By the way, I’ve invited some people from
the office. I thought it might be fun for you to meet some new
faces…” he hesitated, “well, one new face in-particular.”

Faedra watched as a flush came to his cheeks
and her eyes lit up.

“You’ve got a girlfriend?” she asked with
enthusiasm.

“Well, I wouldn’t go
that
far just
yet, so don’t go getting all excited.”