2 Deja Blue Read online

  I walked into the restaurant and scanned the back of the room for Nick. Although I could only see him from the chest up, I could tell he was busily making dough. When he heard the door chimes jingle shut, he glanced up. He looked pretty flustered. I smiled and waved; he nodded and held up his index finger to me to indicate he’d be out to see me in a minute. I slid into “my” corner booth and pulled the book I had brought out of my purse. I glanced out the window and saw four small Fairies on duty, fluttering in the shrubs outside. It was a good thing I brought something to do because staring out the window at my unlikely bodyguards would just make me nervous. I opened my book on the table and glanced around the room again. I noticed that it was pretty busy in here today. Everyone seemed to be in the mood for pizza or pasta for lunch. In the opposite corner of the restaurant, I noticed a slightly older guy – he looked to be about 23 or 24 – sitting alone and eating a giant plate of spaghetti. I caught the faint glimmer instantly. It was another Fairy. He nodded at me with a look of understanding, and then I heard his voice in my head, “I am Simon, Royal Guard of the Earthen Court. The area is secure.”

  Huh. That was weird. The Fairies who have watched over me for the past few weeks didn’t seem like they were anyone of importance. And they’ve certainly never introduced themselves as such. This guy seemed a bit formal. I concentrated hard, and spoke to him, “The Royal Guard? They’ve never sent someone from the Royal Guard before. What’s going on?” He was looking at his plate of pasta, scooping up another heap of noodles into his mouth when his eyes got wide, like he just realized he’d made a mistake. He quickly recovered his expression, taking a sip of his water and spoke back to me, “I am here at the request of Prince Brennan. That is all I am allowed to reveal.”

  Crap. Stupid Fairy answers. They couldn’t lie, but they were good at not answering questions too. Something big must be happening if Brennan had this Royal Guard guy here. I wonder if he finally got those mysterious items he and Anya had been talking about. I felt a wave of calm wash over me, and I squinted my eyes at Simon, the Royal Guard. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Calming Spell?” I asked him with my telepathy. He nodded and continued eating.

  I let out a sigh and looked back down to begin reading. Well, at least I didn’t feel concerned about anything. It was kind of odd…not being able to worry too much. I was conscious of the trouble I was in, yet I couldn’t get overly worried about it. I just felt too relaxed. Sure I was still a little jumpy, but at least I could go about my life feeling mostly normal. Boy, if they could bottle that calming spell, they would make a fortune selling it to stressed-out people. I became so engrossed in my book that I didn’t hear Nick’s approach several minutes later.

  “Hey Rubes!” he reached down touched my shoulder. My heart took off pumping, and I jumped about a mile high, “Gahhh!” I yelped, clutching my chest, surprised at his sudden nearness. See? Jumpy!

  “Whoa! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya,” Nick smiled and slid into the booth across from me. I tried to wave it off, “Oh! Don’t worry about it, I was just so sucked into my book, I didn’t hear you,” I tried to coyly smile. “You guys look super-busy today, are you sure you have time to eat with me?” I asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ve gotta eat. I am starving. But yeah, we’re swamped. You work today?”

  Nodding my head, I grumbled, “Three to close. Yuck.” I gave him my blah face and stuck my tongue out in disgust.

  Nick smiled and then asked, “Yeah, I’m here ‘til closing tonight too. Hey, does yer kid brother wanna make some extra cash today?”

  “Leo? Yeah. I guess. I mean, probably. He’s kinda lazy, but he doesn’t have a job so he’s pretty broke. Why, what’s up?”

  “We are just gettin’ smoked back in the kitchen, and two people already called in sick today. We could use his help doin’ prep, bussin’ tables, cleanin’ up…that kinda thing. He’d save my ass if he could come in. My dad thinks I’m Superman or somethin’ and has me runnin’ all over the place.”

  “Oh, sure. Just call him. He probably just got outta bed, knowing him.” I answered wryly.

  Nick nodded, “ ‘Kay. You wanna just have subs today? We’ve got some made up already, so I can just go grab us a couple. I’ll call Leo when I go back to the kitchen.”

  “Sure, sure. That’s fine. Thanks!”

  “Coke?” He asked as he got up from the table to get our food. I nodded and smiled.

  Just then, two obviously drunk guys stumbled through the front door of Martino’s. Having spent just a few too many hours in the sun out on their boat fishing, drinking and doing God knows what else, they must have decided to move their little party to Martino’s. Their loud, obnoxious behavior instantly drew attention, and one of the guys tripped and fell over a table, causing it to crash to the ground and knock into the patrons sitting nearby. All of a sudden, there were spilled drinks, splattered food, broken glass and a broken table. I jumped back farther into the corner sanctity of my booth as all hell seemed to break loose. The small crowd of patrons began shouting, shoving and pushing as Nick and his dad came rushing out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Within a blink of an eye, Simon, my Fairy guard had already jumped into action. Almost too quick to see, he grabbed the two worst drunk-guy-offenders and hauled them out of the restaurant in a swirling, misty dust of magic. I’m quite sure no one else in the place even saw him do it, or if they did, it would seem like that vague feeling of déjà vu. Quick, concise and most importantly, silent, Simon managed to remove the greatest threat to the patrons (and to me) before Nick and his dad even reached the angry crowd. With the two idiots gone, there was only a slightly disgruntled group of people left to be calmed down by Nick and his dad as they hurried over to them.

  Once they had settled down the guests, Nick’s dad comped all the meals for everyone and things seemed to return back to normal. Nick look flustered as he ran his hands through his hair, “See? What did I tell ya? Things are just nuts around here today! Stupid drunk rednecks. Lemme go grab our food.” He walked away, distracted and stressed but returned quickly with our lunch. Just as he set down our plates, I noticed Simon slip back into his chair and calmly continue eating his spaghetti, as if nothing had happened. Man, those Fairies sure don’t play around. Who needs the mob when all you really need is a little Fairy dust? I snickered at my revelation. Pixie dust sure can make you fly…as in, fly the hell out of the place and get your ass kicked. Well, I certainly felt safe.

  Nick scarfed his submarine sandwich down in about 15 minutes. He would have been done sooner if he hadn’t stopped to talk to me every so often. That boy was really hungry! “Sorry, I gotta eat and run today,” he apologized as he stood up, “but they are really swamped in back. I gotta get back before my dad has a coronary.”

  “No problem,” I answered as I got up from the booth. Nick met me in the aisle and leaned in to kiss me. I instantly felt any remaining tension I had about my current Troll situation just melt out of my body. Kissing Nick was the best dessert a girl could ask for. Who needed a calming spell when one kiss from Mr. Hotness would do the same thing? Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

  “Hey Scooby! Public place!” My annoying little brother called from the other end of the restaurant as he walked into Martino’s.

  I pulled away from Nick with a look of annoyance on my face. It’s not like we were all hot and heavy or something… just kind of cutely romantic. “Uggccch!” I kind of gargled out of my throat. “I swear to God, I am gonna kill my brother,” I muttered to Nick. He laughed, “Not if I kill him first.” I smiled at him as Leo came bounding up to us.

  “So, Dude, whaddya need me to do? And, do I get paid cash today, or what?”

  Ugh. Leave it to Leo to be totally inappropriate and rude. “Uh. You could say ‘Hi’ first, Leo. Nick’s doing you a favor today by letting you work here for some cash.” I glanced over at Nick, smiling.

  Leo rolled his eyes at me as he flicked his head to the right to flip his Justin Beiber-like ban
gs out of his eyes. “Oh whatever, Scoobs. I can tell they’re, like, totally crazy today. I think I’m doing yer boyfriend a favor by coming in,” he snarkily answered. I’ve got to hand it to the kid. Annoying and obnoxious as he was, he was smart and he paid attention. I’d have to remember to be extra careful around him with all this Fairy-Mermaid-Troll intrigue stuff going on. The last thing I needed was to have Leo involved in all of this crap.

  Nick spoke up, “Uh, yeah, you’ll get cash today. Just go in back and grab an apron from under the counter. Oh, and wash your hands, ‘kay? I’ll be there in a sec.”

  “Sahh-weet!” Leo answered as he walked toward the counter, “Oh, and watch out. I don’t know if Scooby’s had her vaccines yet,” he snickered. Nick, thankfully, just shook his head and looked back over to me, “I’ll take my chances,” he smiled and then gave me a quick peck on the lips.

  “Feel free to kill him,” I said to Nick after I returned the kiss. He chuckled at my remark as he headed back to the kitchen, shouting at Leo in the most authoritative voice I’d ever heard him use. Ha! Leo was in for it now. I smiled all the way home…

  Chapter 15

  It was almost closing time at the Craft and Hobby shop where I worked. I was mindlessly sweeping the front aisles when I heard the jingling bells of the front door. I looked up to see Leo walking towards me.

  “What’s up? Nick let you off work already?” I asked.

  Leo nodded, strolling over to me, and leaned against the front counter. “Yeah, somethin’ about child labor laws or whatev. Got paid though.” Leo reached into the front pocket of his denim cutoffs, pulled out a crinkled wad of cash and held it up to show me. I nodded and smiled, “That’s good, but why are you here?”

  “Oh, Brennan stopped by the restaurant earlier and was lookin’ for you. I told him you were there earlier suckin’ face with little Nicky, but that you’d left and had to work later.” I rolled my eyes, giving my brother an annoyed look as he continued on, “He wanted me to give somethin’ to you as soon as I got off work. Gave me twenty bucks too! He said I had to bring it to you the second I was done workin’. So. Here I am.” Just then, Leo saw the new fishing lures we had out on display and sauntered over to them to inspect the latest arrivals.

  “Well?” I impatiently threw my hands up at Leo. “What do you have to give me?!” I swear the kid has Attention Deficit Disorder.

  “Oh! Yeah,” Leo shook his head as he glanced over to me and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a very crinkled, folded envelope and handed it to me. I looked at it, puzzled. “What is it?” I asked.

  Leo shrugged as he started to walk towards the front door, “Don’t know, don’t care. I got my twenty bucks. And with what Little Nicky paid me, I’m frickin’ rich. Call me Mr. Trump. Later, Scoobs.”

  I shook my head as I watched my brother walk out of the store. I figured the envelope must be something important and probably had to do with whatever ‘items’ Brennan was going to have me keep at the house. My heart started racing and the knots in my stomach slowly started twisting. I flipped the envelope over to open it, and then, chewing on my lip and glancing around the store, I got too nervous to look at whatever was inside. What if someone was watching me? Maybe I should open this when I got home, when I knew I could be sure that I had my Fairy guardians around me. For all I knew, there was some invisible Troll or dragon watching me. It’s not as if I knew about all the special skills of the inhabitants of Fey. I did know that some dragons can cloak themselves and become invisible to humans. Brennan and Anya had told me that much. What if there was one somewhere close? Although, that would be nearly impossible since dragons were supposedly unable to pass through the portals from Fey unless it was a Blue Moon. Although, Sirrush got through. Ugh. The thought of that stinky old dragon gave me a funny taste in my mouth. It was his dumb fault that I’m in this stupid mess right now. As much as I wanted to open the envelope right then and there, I decided to wait until I got home to see what was inside. It was just about time to lock up the store anyway, so I wouldn’t have to wait long.

  I pulled my bike up to the side of my house and glanced around the yard, looking into the woods behind the house. I counted at least seven small Fairies. I also noticed that Simon, from the Royal Guard, was in his human form and lingering amidst the trees too. Good thing Fairies had that déjà-vu thing working in their favor and that we lived in the middle of nowhere. Some stranger standing in the woods would surely draw attention or make any passer-by suspicious. My house was quiet, except for the television which was broadcasting some show on the Discovery channel. My parents were probably in the living room watching an episode of some fishing show. Ugh. More fish. What was it with me and fish lately? I couldn’t stand them, and now I was swimming in deep troubled waters with Mermaids! I called out to my parents that I was home, kicked off my shoes, and ran up the stairs to my bedroom two at a time. Safely in my room, I glanced out the window and saw three Fairies on patrol on my window sill. You wouldn’t think three small, little Fairies could protect me, but in about a second, they could soda-pop fizz into their human-sized selves in the middle of my room and probably Kung-Fu the crap out of anyone who might be after me. Trust me on this fact. Brennan and Anya gave me a demonstration to ease my mind when we returned home from Traverse City. Once I saw them in Kung Fu action, I felt pretty safe with Fairies lingering on my window sill.

  I sat down on my bed and opened the envelope. Inside it was a folded piece of white paper that looked like a letter. I opened it up and read the scripty-writing that looked like it was from another time:

  Ruby,

  I’ve secured the items I told you about and hid them in the place we decided on. It has been there for several days, but I did not want to alert you to its presence, as I didn’t want to cause you undue worry. I have set up a meeting for tomorrow at noon. I’ve put the key in the ground near the flowers we used against Sirrush. You’ll know where. Do not unlock the items until tomorrow. Bring Jeremy to our usual spot.

  See you at noon,

  Brennan

  Huh. Okay…I guess I’ve had something in my closet for a few days now and I didn’t even realize it was there. I looked over at the small, white door with the glass doorknob tucked into the corner of my room. It seemed normal enough. I slowly walked over to it and pressed my ear up against it. Nahhh, I’m sure there’s nothing alive in there. Brennan and his Fairy-babble. He tells me stuff, without really telling me stuff. I suppose some level of secrecy was necessary…just in case…well, I don’t know what for, but who knows who or what else is snooping around. I just wanted to pay off my debt to Celestine as quickly as I could. I didn’t need some other “person” messing it up for me. I guess Brennan was just being cautious.

  Even though it was getting late, I wanted to get that key. I didn’t want to leave it out in the garden any longer than necessary. I slowly crept back down the stairs, not wanting to alert my parents that I was going back outside. And, I definitely didn’t need Leo nosing around to see what I was doing. I looked down the hall towards his room and, through his half-open door, saw him sitting about four inches away from his computer screen, engrossed in a video game. Whew. He’s distracted. A bomb could go off in the house and he wouldn’t notice it if he’s playing those stupid video games.

  I turned the other direction, tip-toed past the living room, and headed out the back door to the garden. I stepped out into the warm, dark night and scanned the yard. The cool grass felt good on my bare feet. It almost tickled as I walked through the yard. Ever since Anya had placed those calming spells on me, I noticed I felt even calmer when I was barefoot on the grass or dirt. Maybe my direct connection to the earth made the spell stronger? Hmmm. That’s something to think about I suppose.

  Brennan had said that he put the key near the flowers we used against Sirrush. That would be the Moon Flowers. I saw the bright, white trumpet-like flower blooming all over the yard. Oh great. Which plant did he put it near? I felt frustration and sighed wit
h irritation at Brennan’s lack of information yet again. I looked around carefully and spotted something near one of the Moon plants.

  Next to the garden swing, and resting just under the Moon plant, was the pair of my red Converse tennis shoes. They were the very shoes I wore when we killed Sirrush. I never leave my shoes outside. I hardly ever wear shoes, unless I’m going somewhere. Brennan must have put them there to clue me into the location of the key. Smart thinking! My “ruby slippers,” showing me the way to Oz… heh heh… I smiled at my own little Wizard of Oz joke. I then realized that was probably exactly what Brennan intended.

  I walked over to the plant and knelt down on the ground. I scanned the dirt and started digging with my hands. Just under the soil I found a small, red velvet bag. I opened the bag and dumped its contents into my hand.

  The small brass skeleton key fell onto my palm. I closed my hand around the cold metal key, carried it back upstairs, and crawled into my bed. Brennan told me not to open the closet until tomorrow morning. I stared at that little white door for what seemed like forever, and I kept the key clutched in my hand under my pillow. It felt like I was waiting for a monster to jump out at me. How would I ever get to sleep tonight?

  Chapter 16

  Well, I did manage a few hours of sleep after all. I called Jeremy first thing in the morning and together, we worked up the nerve to open the closet. And now, here we are, at the beginning of August, sweat dripping down our faces, lugging a bunch of rocks in backpacks through the woods. We were headed to the beach to meet up with Anya and Brennan. I thought about this whole mess and hoped it would be over soon. I didn’t know what these rocks were going to do, other than perhaps be used as some kind of bribe for Grobel. I just hoped that keeping these rocks in my closet would serve as my payment to the Mermaid for saving my life. We wound our way through the woods, down the dirt path. I kept my eyes towards the ground, eyeing the Fairies fluttering about. I was too preoccupied to say much during the walk to the beach, so Jeremy started singing quietly to himself. I winced and shook my head at the familiar melody from The Wiz that Michael Jackson made famous.