The Faery Keepers (23 page)

             
“Check please,” are the magic words that snap me out of my haze and make me realize that I've actually survived the night, and when I look, so has Derek. The poor sap is actually
smiling
.

             
When Dante comes back with the bill Derek does something that nearly makes me fall out of my chair.
He pays for the meal
. He takes it deftly from the waiter’s hands, takes one look at it and pulls a wad of cash from his pocket and hands it back to the man with a simple “keep the change.”

             
“No, that's really not necessary.”

             
“Come now, a lady shouldn't have to pay for the meal all of the time. Consider it a thank you for a fun evening.”

             
She still didn't seem comfortable with it but I get up and say. “Come on, mom, let's just go home.”

             
“All right. Thank you, Derek. You're a fine young gentleman.”

             
As we're leaving Derek walks a head of us and mom mutters quietly to me, “Katie, I think that young man likes you.”

             
I groan. “Mom! Not you, too!”

             
“I'm serious. He really likes you. He couldn't keep his eyes off you all night, even when he was talking to me. I mean, I'd be offended but it was just too sweet. Besides, I can't be seeing as he just spent about eighty dollars on us.”

             
At the car the front passenger door is mysteriously locked and I'm forced to sit in the back seat with Derek. Great. Now my mom and Maggie just need to form a club.

             
He and my mom spend the entire ride home talking about some band called Sick Puppies which she actually knows for crying out loud. I mean, what band would call themselves “Sick Puppies”?  But I can't help but notice now that it's been pointed out to me that Derek really does stare at me a lot. I'd be kind of flattered if it didn't unnerve me so much.

             
When we get back to the house it's then that I notice the absence of Derek's green Jeep.

             
“How are you going to get home?” I ask him after mom goes into the house, leaving the two of us on the front walk in the gathering twilight. A sign of questionable judgment if you ask me.

             
“Oh, it seems like a good night for a walk,” he leans over and kisses me softly on the cheek. “Goodnight, Katelyn,” he murmurs, and then he's gone. Just like that. I guess he wasn't lying about our powers.

             
Down the street I hear a ghostly laugh and I can just make out a receding figure in the distance.

             
I sigh and retreat into my house, rubbing the still tingling spot where Derek's lips had touched my skin.





             
Maggie calls me the next morning, “so dish, what happened last night? I was going to call but I didn't know when you'd be home and I wasn't calling your cell because I didn't want to interrupt anything and oh my gosh, Maggie breathe!”

             
“Jeez, Margaret would you calm down?”

             
“Oh don't start that
Margaret
crap! Come on, you
have
to tell me! I'm your best friend, it's like
law
that we have to tell each other everything. Right? Katie? KATE! Why aren't you answering me? You can't just leave me hanging!”

             
“What? Oh, sorry. It wasn't so bad. Derek was, surprisingly, a perfect gentleman. He even opened the door for my mom. And paid for dinner,” I couldn't keep the shock from my voice.

             
“Whoa.”

             
“I know.”

             
I'm not sure whether or not I should tell her about how Derek had clued me in about his parents nearly killing him. So, instead of saying anything, I stay silent for a few seconds as she absorbs that latest bit of juicy news.

             
“He must really like you,” she muses.

             
I groan. “You and my mom really ought to coin a club or something because she said the exact same thing last night.”

             
“Ha! See? Even she sees it and she's met him all of once!”

             
“Oh, shut up,” I say, but not with feeling.

             
“Never. But I—” there's a pause and a garbled voice in the background. “Oh, that's Parker. I gotta go. Love ya, babe.” The phone clicks off on her end.

             
“Bye,” I mutter.

             
Later, at Nyla's, I expect Maggie or Derek to say something to me about the previous day but my qualms are moot. Derek starts the lesson with telling us the story of how the first Keeper was made.

             
“Now pay attention to this, you two
. Thousands of years ago . . .”

14. Gwephenlark & the First
Keepers

             
“Thousands of years ago, no one knows for sure how long because they kept time differently then, there was a war much like the one we are amidst today. It was between the
Fey
and the first generation of Zions.  Both sides were diminished greatly but there was no sign of an end to the bloody battles.  The Zions believed that they were doing God's work and were brutal and unmerciful with their killings.

             
“One faery named Gwephenlark, a lowly
Fey
that was merely a commoner in one of the hidden villages, was commandeered into battle because of the lack of able bodied
Fey
left.

             
“He saw horrible things happen to the faeries at his arms. And he, being a mere commoner in the Spring Court, was not accustomed to that degree of violence. But he would have to become used to the idea.  He was the only survivor from one particularly viscous battle and he began to question himself on what would happen if all of the
Fey
were extinguished. He knew that something had to be done or else they would become extinct. And if the faeries became extinct then who would be there to care for the seasons and the animals and what would happen to the balance in the world?

             
“So, after Gwephenlark fully healed from his acquired injuries, the unwelcome fruits of the heat of battle, he began to search for humans. And not just any humans. Those pure of heart and quick witted, who could be trusted with the task he was going to present them with. They would have the weight of the
F
eys
' world upon their shoulders.

             
“In the end there were five that he found he could trust. For faeries are very good judges of character when they aren't corrupted like Chrysantha is. Three men and two women, well they were considered adults then. But realistically they were teenagers or just coming into their twentieth year of life. Gwephenlark revealed himself to them as his true self and they believed that he was, indeed, real. He pricked his own skin and blood poured forth from the wound. He explained to them that his kind were in danger of being killed off and that he didn't foresee an end to the war any time soon. He said that his blood would give them extraordinary powers that no human had possessed before and that they, in turn, would have to help in exchange for this precious gift. He stated that their children would be changed, too, but it would be an immense honor to carry on the line of the Keepers. The five agreed, like Gwephenlark expected, and he fed them each a measure of his own blood.

             
“The blood surged through the humans veins and gave them magic, just as Gwephenlark had promised. And with it, a shining tattoo-like mark on their forearms that discerned them for what they were. Not fully human, but not fully
Fey
either. A sort of mix of both that had only the attributes. Human resilience, but also the speed and stealth of the
Fey
.

             
“And so it was with the five's help that the war was balanced out, not quite won or lost, but left at a stalemate for centuries. An impasse, if you will.

             
“The first five Keepers are our ancestors. Those three men and two women passed the gene on from generation to generation and made us what we are today albeit a bit more, um, watered down, to say it lightly. They were very powerful and very strong.”

             
Derek stops and lets the tale sink in, finished with the story of how we came into existence.

             
“So you can basically say that we're from a long line of vampires,” Maggie snorts.

             
“Just because they drank faery blood does not mean that they are vampires, Mags,” I sigh “I mean when Chris gave Cathy and the twins his blood in
Flowers in the Attic
was that considered vampirism? No. It was for survival. Same rules apply. That was the only way Gwephenlark could find to save his race.
I
think it was rather noble.”

             
“Good point, Kate,” Derek nods his approval and flashes a pleased smile at me. “He did what he had to. And so, we are faced with the same task as our ancestors. But we're getting off topic. Did either of you happen to notice something that's similar between the first keepers and yourselves?” he asks, looking between our mirror image puzzled faces. “My guess is
no
.”

             
“They were really powerful like we are,” I offer after a few silent seconds. It's all so obvious now.

             
“Correction,
you
are really powerful like they were,” Maggie grumbles.

             
Oh not this again! “How do you know how powerful you are since you haven't exactly done anything yet?” I roll my eyes at her in annoyance. “I mean what's the big deal, anyways? You want my powers? Take them. Life was simpler when we didn't know about this faery mojo stuff anyhow.”

             
“Hey now! Let's not forget that you met me because of it!” Derek interjects before I can go on. “I mean we can't just disregard my whole involvement. It's insulting!”

             
“No that's not what I meant,” Maggie groans. “It's not that I don't want you to be special, Katie. You are. I guess I just. . . . envy you.” I've never heard Margaret struggle for words like she is now.

             
“You what?”

             
“Well I don't appreciate the audience, but I suppose I do. I mean everything's so easy for you. You don't have to work at things like being noticed or pretty or having incredible magical powers. They just
are
.”

             
Wait, wait, wait. Rewind. Did
she
just call
me
pretty? I gape at her like she's just grown a third eye and is speaking Portuguese.

             
“Don't look at me like that.”

             
“But I don't get it you're the—” Pretty one. The one who's got it easy. The beautiful half of the duo. I want to add these but they sound lame and the words die on my tongue so the sentence just hangs there.

             
“Well this is just
fascinating
. But, unfortunate as it may be, I cannot waste my time listening to you two blather on about inane things when I'm supposed to be teaching you the ways of our race. So excuse me for my rudeness, but can we
please
move on?” Derek cuts in as I open and close my mouth soundlessly. I'm a little irked but glad at the same time that he's saved me from explaining myself.

             
I close my mouth and nod at him silently.

             
Later, when we're leaving, Derek stops me in the doorway and I wave Maggie on when she looks back at me. “I'm fine,” I mouth at her.

             
“You're beautiful,” he says simply. It's not like a compliment or anything. He says it like a statement of fact. And then he turns around and closes the door gently after me.

             
Nonplussed, I leave.    





             
In a few weeks school starts back up again, which in turn makes it hard for Keeper Lessons to continue on a daily basis. Goodbye summer, we'll see you again next year.  With my mom on nights and me coming home a mere hour before she leaves I pretty much have free reign to the house. But that doesn't mean that I can just do anything I want. I mean, I'm sure I could but I just don't have the guts to keep things from my mother again. It was bad enough keeping the whole Faery thing away from her. Besides, I've got too much homework in my junior year to even
think
about it. With her minute hour to see me mom has noticed this and has issued a strict mandate that I'm not to do anything until my school work is done. So what’s a girl to do?