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  Brennan interrupted, putting his hand on my shoulder, “Hang on, Ruby. I’ll talk to Celestine and figure this out. You go meet up with Nick and Anya. They’ll be waiting for you, and I’m not sure how long Anya will be able to stall. Go back to the beach and find them, okay?” I let out a sigh of frustration, shaking my head, but realized that what Brennan was saying made sense. I didn’t want to worry Nick, and I sure didn’t know how to explain that a Mermaid just saved me from drowning, so I knew I had to get my butt back to the beach fast.

  Chapter 9

  I quickly walked up the beach toward Anya and Nick, who were waiting at the lounge chairs. My legs seemed okay, even though just moments ago they were most likely bruised, cut, scraped, and probably worse. I had a feeling there were a few broken bones that I didn’t really feel because of my shock, and Brennan’s quick healing. I still felt the residue of the Fairy magic he used to heal me. The warm tingly sensation still tickled on the surface of my skin. I waved and tried to smile brightly as I heard Anya speaking in my head, “I’m so glad you’re okay, Ruby! I knew you would be. Nick doesn’t know a thing. Just tell him you were swimming by the Jetty.” Anya sat next to Nick, daintily eating her french fries, glancing up at me and waving nonchalantly. Even though the voice in my head was full of concern, the air about her was blasé. Nobody would’ve guessed she was actually having a conversation with me. Boy, she was good at concealing her emotions and thoughts. I tried to mimic her and keep a smooth look of calm on my face, with my fake-smile glued in place. I hoped Nick wouldn’t notice I was still shaking and recovering from my near-drowning experience.

  “Hey Rubes! I wondered if you were gonna get back in time to eat this before it melted!” Nick called out as he held up a large Styrofoam cup filled with two scoops of ice cream. Well, at least I could stuff my face with my favorite indulgence as I mulled over my Mermaid encounter. “Thanks, Nick! Yeah, I lost track of time out there…I didn’t realize how long it would take me to swim back! Guess I’m not as fast as I thought,” I shyly smiled and shrugged, taking the cup of ice cream from him.

  “Where’s Brennan?” He asked, looking out towards the water and the jetty. I followed his gaze and saw Brennan talking to Celestine. They were sitting on the edge of the jetty, feet dangling above the water. From where we were sitting the Mermaid looked like she had legs! What the hell happened to her tail? Oh. It probably went away when she got out of the water…Guess they got one thing right in the movies, huh? But, was she sitting up there naked? It was too hard to tell from where we were. I shook my head. So many questions, not enough answers. “Oh, he met some girl he knew, I think,” I kind of mumbled, as I shoveled a spoonful of strawberry ice cream into my mouth. I would definitely have to work on the lying thing if I was going to keep this Fairy stuff from Nick. Even I didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.

  “Cool,” Nick smiled, nodding. Huh. Guess I’m better at it than I thought. I took another spoonful of strawberry ice cream and wished it was chocolate. Chocolate is my favorite. Don’t get me wrong…I love ice cream in any flavor (except coffee – yuck), but, for some reason, every time Nick orders ice cream for me, he gets strawberry. I guess I felt too self-conscious to tell him that I prefer chocolate. I didn’t want to sound ungrateful, and I certainly didn’t want to make him feel bad, thinking he ordered me the wrong flavor. Because really, it was fine. Wasn’t it? I loved eating ice cream. I kept shoveling it in my mouth to give me an excuse not to talk for a few minutes while I tried to figure out what else to say. I mean, what does a person say when they’ve just been being nearly crushed and killed by huge boulders under water and rescued by a Fairy and Mermaid? I knew exactly what I could say. Nothing. I couldn’t say a word of any of it to Nick. So I kept my mouth full of strawberry ice cream and tried to look “normal.” Whatever that looks like.

  A few minutes later, Brennan came walking up the beach towards us. “Hey guys, sorry about that.” Brennan said as he gestured back towards the jetty. “I met a chick,” he said as he made this cool-guy “I rock” face, and put his fist up to Nick to bump it.

  Nick bumped his fist to Brennan’s and replied, “Cool, dude! She hot?”

  “Definitely,” Brennan smirked.

  “Did ya get her digits?”

  “Ohhhh yeah.” Brennan nodded, plopping down in the sand in front of us. I just sat there, staring dumbly between the boys, mindlessly shoveling ice cream into my mouth. I suddenly heard Anya’s voice in my head, “Talk to Brennan,” she said. Just then, Anya got up from her chair, pulling on Nick’s arm, “Come on, Nick, you owe me a re-match. I think I can beat you out to the buoy this time. I’m all energized with french fries now!” Nick looked at me, unsure of what to do.

  “Go! Go!” I mumbled with my mouth full of ice cream. I waved them on. “I’m just gonna finish eating this and lay out for a few minutes. I’ll meet you guys in the water in a few.” Nick shrugged, “Okay, but don’t take too long!” He smiled and headed back into the water with Anya. I watched them go, and then I looked at Brennan as soon as they were out of earshot. “Okay. Spill it.” I said.

  Brennan let out a big sigh and shook his head slowly. “It’s an unfortunate situation. And now, you’re caught right in the middle. Apparently, Celestine is in love with a Troll.”

  I rolled my eyes and impatiently shook my head, waving my hand around for him to continue, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. How cliché. The Mermaid is in love with the human. Us poor-loser ‘under the bridge dwellers.’ I know all about that stupid little nick-name that the Yoopers give us. Blah, blah. How sad for her. Why is it so unfortunate, and how am I involved in this?” Brennan snapped his head up in surprise at my candor, and a slow smile spread across his face. He let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head from side to side.

  “What’s so funny?” I demanded, frowning at him. “So the Mermaid loves a human…it’s in about a hundred different fairy tales. I have seen The Little Mermaid, ya know. I should know better by now than to think there’s not some truth to them, right? Anya’s already lectured me on that topic today.”

  Brennan snickered again, “True. But, Kansas, it’s unfortunate because she’s not in love with a human. She’s in love with a real Troll.”

  My mouth fell open as I stared at Brennan in silence.

  “What did you just say?” I asked, because I knew I must have misunderstood him.

  “I said Celestine is in love with a real Troll. Come on Kansas, I thought you were much brighter than this. Shall I start calling you the Scarecrow? I think you’re missing some brains,” Brennan joked.

  “You’re telling me that there are real Trolls? Seriously?” I don’t know why I was so shocked. After all, I saw Fairies, slayed dragons, and just got rescued by a Mermaid, but now I’m supposed to believe in Trolls? What is this world coming to?

  Brennan simply nodded. “Yep,” his lips popped on the “p” sound, then he continued, “And it’s unfortunate because, just as the fairy tales say, most Merpeople don’t like outsiders. Falling in love with a…(ahem)…an Earthener is strictly forbidden. They like to keep their bloodlines clean.”

  “Earthener?”

  “A member of the Earthen Court. Merpeople don’t often approve of mating outside of their own Court. Unfortunately, a long, long, long time ago, some very adverse events occurred, tainting the Merpeople’s opinions of those outside of their own Court. You see, some of your fairy tales are based partly in truth. There are Danish and Swedish stories that tell of human men who went to the beaches to watch the Selkies – or Mermaids – dance. One of these men hid the skin of a beautiful Selkie, so she couldn’t go back to sea, and forced her to marry him. After years of imprisonment, the Selkie finally escaped, but the man hunted her down and killed her Selkie family as punishment. She then promised to take revenge upon all of the men of the village. Without divulging too many details, I can tell you that some of this actually did happen. And some happened not only with humans, but with many members of the three other Cour
ts of Fey...Earthen, Air and Fire. Merpeople are a very proud clan. They believe they are the superior race in their Court and they believe in keeping their kin pure bred.

  “Pure bred? You sound like you’re talking about horses!” I snorted.

  Brennan just waved off my comment and continued, “So, as I was saying, Trolls are members of my Earthen Court. They are the keepers of the minerals, metals and stones. They are also the protectors of the grounds of Fey. They value the earth and all that it’s made of, so they protect it and those who rule in the Earthen Court. Some Trolls, however, are known to be quite… ahhh…greedy.”

  I stood up, marched around the beach in circles, shook my head and spoke quickly, without taking a breath, “Back up a second, you said before that’ ‘It’s an unfortunate situation’ And I was ‘caught right in the middle.’ How am I caught right in the middle? I didn’t even know that Mermaids existed until about an hour ago when Anya told me about the Water Court. And I’ve never even met a Mermaid until about fifteen minutes ago when Celestine helped you move those boulders off of me! How am I in the middle?” My voice went up about three octaves, and I sounded very shrieky. I was rambling like a crazy person. I stood there with my hands on my hips, staring at Brennan, daring him to challenge me.

  Brennan stayed still sitting there on the beach, looking relaxed as he leaned back onto the palms of his hands. He looked up at me seriously, “You are in the middle of it because of Grobel.” He said the name with an accent on the first syllable, so it sounded like GROW-bull. (As in, what a bunch of bull, I thought.) Ugh. I was getting quite annoyed with his calm attitude and his cryptic Fairy responses. Why the hell don’t they just come out and tell me everything? I had remembered hearing that name before…when Celestine was talking to me. But I was a bit dazed at that time, so I couldn’t really remember the details of what she said.

  “Who the hell is Grobel?” I asked, irritated at Brennan’s lack of information.

  “Grobel is the Troll who tried to kill you.”

  I plunked down on the sand in shock. “Huh?” was the only word I was capable of getting out.

  Chapter 10

  Brennan placed his hand gently on my leg as he spoke, “Take it easy, Kansas. We won’t let anything happen to you. In fact, I already have an idea,” he smiled with a hint of twinkle in his pale ice-blue eyes. I sat there, feeling defeated as tears welled up in my eyes. Someone was trying to kill me. Why? And why does Brennan suddenly seem nicer to me? Ever since we had to work together to get rid of that nasty old dragon, he has seemed to grow up. I blinked back the tears and tried to collect myself. I blew out a deep sigh and had to ask, “So, Grobel is a Troll who purposely pushed those boulders down on me?” I looked questionably at Brennan. He nodded, and I continued, “But why? Why would a Troll – who I’ve never even met – want me…(gulp)…d-dead?”

  Brennan held his sympathetic look and continued to try to sooth me, rubbing the side of my leg. He sighed. “Someone, or several someones, in the Water Court are very upset that Sirrush died before coming back through the portal to Fey. They – or whoever it is – blame you for his death. Whoever has this grudge hired Grobel to….take care of you.”

  Again, my mouth dropped open, “You mean, like a hit?! Someone hired a hitman to take me out?!?” I exclaimed. Was I stuck in an episode of The Sopranos? This was getting crazier by the second. I just simply couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then, I had a thought: the stocky, leather-clad dude on the motorcycle who almost ran me down last night…that must have been Grobel. A.K.A. Mr. Creepy Dark Shadows Stalker. Brennan nodded at my silent thoughts and confirmed my suspicions. “Probably so,” he said.

  “Heyyy! You’re not supposed to be reading my mind! I thought you could only hear me when I was ‘talking’ with my Fairy telepathy!? I didn’t say that to you!” I smacked his arm and pouted. Nope. I guess he’s not growing up after all. Ugh.

  Brennan laughed, “Yeah. Ya did. Don’t worry about it. You’re still new at this stuff. You’ll figure it out eventually. I’m sure your emotions are just all jumbled right now. When you’re feeling really emotional… or…well…ah…it’s only happened once or twice,” he chuckled again.

  I smacked him on the shoulder, harder this time. “You mean to tell me, I’ve been ‘silently talking’ to you before now, and I didn’t even know it?!?” I was pissed. How could he not let me in on this tidbit? Brennan leaned back and laughed again, rubbing his arm and pretending like I actually hurt him, “Hey! I said it’s only happened a few times,” he had a devilish grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye again. He continued a bit more seriously, “But back to our other conversation…you are in the middle of all of this because of Grobel and because Celestine helped save your life. Now, you are indebted to her.”

  I blinked. “Wha?” I couldn’t even form the entire word. I was bubbling over with all kinds of emotions. Shock. Fear. Worry. Anger. Frustration. They were all there. I felt the shrieky voice coming on again, “What do you mean, indebted? I didn’t ask her to save me! She acted like she asked you if she could ‘be of assistance’ or whatever…how does that make me indebted to her? Isn’t it, like, her civic duty or something to help out a Prince?”

  “Yes, it’s true she asked. And, as she said, she was nearby because she mistook Grobel for his brother, Bexin. That is who Celestine loves. But still, when a Mermaid saves a human’s life, the human must repay the favor, in whatever manner the Mermaid chooses. Just as if a human saves a Mermaid’s life, the Mermaid is indebted to the human and must return the favor. It is not the way of the Fairies. It is the way of the Merpeople. But, I think I can help you out with this,” he arrogantly smiled, “Just another one of my brilliant ideas…heh heh…”

  I cut him off. Annoyance shrilled in my voice as I shook my head, “Great. Just great. I have a craptastic creepy Troll trying to kill me, I’m in debt to a Mermaid, and I have to deal with one of your ‘brilliant’ ideas?!? Oh, and don’t forget, I have freakish swimming abilities too. What more could happen to me today?” I flopped my hands down in the sand, realizing that I was having a small temper tantrum and starting to sound a lot like my friend, Jeremy.

  Now it was Brennan’s turn to be slightly annoyed. “Look, Ruby, we can’t talk about this too much longer. Nick will start worrying about you if you don’t join him in the water soon. I’ll fill you in on everything else later. I’ll find Grobel and talk to him. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, okay? Anya and I will place a protective spell around you. Nothing will harm you, I promise.”

  “Oh, what, so now you can keep me from getting killed? How is that even possible?” I shook my head in disbelief at him.

  “Grobel is of the Earthen Court. Anya and I are Royalty of the Earthen Court. We’re stronger and more powerful. Trust me. We can protect you, especially when we know what and who we are protecting you from. I will go find that punk Grobel right now, and, I promise, I will come talk to you when you return home tomorrow, okay?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

  I was still worried, but I knew that Brennan couldn’t lie. I knew he was telling me the truth, and I knew I had to trust him. I suppose it was kind of cute how he was trying to be all tough-guy. I shook my head and sighed as I stared down at the sugary-sand beach I was sitting on. This was so miserable. How could a vacation that started out so great, suddenly turn so sucky? Even though I was sick to my stomach, I didn’t want to involve Nick in any of this. I made a promise to Anya and Brennan that I wouldn’t tell anyone about Fey or any of its magical beings. Besides, Nick wouldn’t believe any of it anyway. I chewed my lip and contemplated my options. Believing in Brennan and trusting that he and Anya would keep me safe was my only choice. They hadn’t let me down yet. As Anya said, I am forever connected to Fey now. Not only through my Fairy sight and Fairy hearing, but now through Sirrush and the magic he gave me. Of course, there would be consequences from him dying. I should’ve known that all along. Brennan told me himself that the Royal Counsel of Fey would want a
nswers and that he would deal with them. It was kind of like the United Nations, I suppose…the Counsel was made up of all of the important people of the Four Royal Courts in Fey. There was a Royal Court for each of the four elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Air. I guess someone wasn’t too happy with all of the answers Brennan gave them about our incident with the dragon. Perhaps someone in the Water Court was really upset that I was involved with killing Sirrush? Maybe I should go talk to them myself? But what would I say? And how the hell would I even get there? I’ve never been to Fey. How does one travel to another magical realm? I’m not even sure I could go. I shook my head in frustration again.

  “Come on,” Brennan said as he stood up, pulling my arms to get me to stand, “Let’s go join the others. Don’t you worry about a thing, okay, Kansas? We’ll talk more tomorrow, and we’ll figure everything out.”

  I tried to smile and nodded my head, but a tear slipped out of my eye and down my cheek. I quickly brushed it away, trying to shake off my nervous fear. “Okay,” I blew out a steadying breath. “Let’s go.” I brushed the sand off of me and followed Brennan out into the waves. My stomach was doing somersaults and my insides felt all clenched up. So this must be what real stress feels like. It was similar to how I felt every time I had to take a test in trigonometry, only this felt about twenty times worse.

  As we met up with Anya and Nick, I tried to look casual but I probably just looked constipated. Brennan spoke up right away, thankfully pulling any attention away from me. “Dude! I’m gonna go hang with that chick I met for a while, ‘kay? Sorry to blow you off,” he smirked. Then he high-fived Nick, who laughed and said, “Sure thing, man. Cool.” I noticed Brennan exchanging some quiet words with Anya. They kept me out of the conversation, but I could tell they were telepathically communicating. I wish I knew how to turn it on and off like they did. Maybe they’ll teach me one day. Or, maybe I’ll figure it out on my own. Or, maybe it’s just something that only Royal fairies can do. Gahhh! I am in way over my head here. I can’t get my brain to shut off. How in the world was I going to get through the day? I wouldn’t be hearing from Brennan until tomorrow night. I might as well put on the best act I could… It was that, or reveal how crazy and nuts my life is to Mr. Hotness, thereby ruining any chance of us staying together. I slowly made my way over to Nick and tried to playfully splash at him. (He, of course, reciprocated.) Brennan splashed me as he cruised by me in the water, “Later, Kansas! Stay away from those flying houses, ya hear? Wouldn’t want you to get trapped under anything heavy.” He smiled and winked at me. I rolled my eyes and gripped my stomach as it started nervously churning again. Ugh. Waiting through the next 24 hours was going to be pure hell.