2 Deja Blue Read online

  “Come on, ease on down, ease on down the road

  Don't you carry nothing that might be a load

  Come on, ease on down...ease on down the road!

  Pick your left foot up when your right one's down,

  Come on legs keep movin', don't you lose no ground

  You just keep on keepin',on the road that you choose;

  Don't you give up walkin' cause you gave up shoes...”

  I shoved his back as he sang, but he just kept singing. Ugh. Like I don’t hear that song enough from my mother in my own house! Between The Wiz, the Wizard of Oz and her latest obsession with Wicked, now I’ve got my best friend serenading me too. “Hey,” he finally said as I followed Jeremy out from behind the safe canopy of my tree-lined path, “It’s kinda fitting though, don’cha think?”

  “What is?” I answered.

  “The song. Duh! Us easing down the road or…dirt path…and you wearing no shoes…” I glanced down towards my feet. Oops. He was right. I didn’t have my shoes on. Walking bare-foot is just so much more comfortable to me. I hardly ever wear shoes when I come down to the lake. It’s just a habit I guess. As we headed down the grassy embankment towards our driftwood meeting spot on the beach, I finally looked out towards the water.

  There were four silhouettes on the beach. I picked out Anya right away. She was standing in her halter dress, looking serene as always. And, of course, Brennan, wearing his Hawaiian blue board shorts (and no shirt) stood there with his feet spread apart, arms folded over his puffed-out chest, looking like a tough-guy. The third individual I recognized as Celestine. Her unique beauty took my breath away. She stood between Anya and Brennan, with her white-blonde hair blowing in the breeze, and she looked absolutely breath-taking. She was wearing a pale-green sarong, wrapped around her and tied in a knot at her neck. The loose material clung on every curve, and flowed in the breeze ever so gently. I looked over at the fourth person standing in the circle. He was standing across from Brennan. Also shirtless, he was only wearing, what appeared to be, black cutoffs. He also stood with his feet wide apart and his arms folded over his tattooed chest. He was an inch or two shorter than Brennan, but much broader. He was almost stocky in his appearance, but covered in muscles (and tattoos). His sandy brown hair was cropped close to his face, and his features were hard and sharp. He would almost look attractive, if not for his large nose that appeared to be smashed…like it had been broken about six times. He looked tough and mean.

  I glanced around and noticed that Jeremy was the only one wearing shoes. Ha! For once, I actually looked like I fit in. I wasn’t as pretty as the other girls, but at least I was dressed for summer and arrived sans shoes. Jeremy, on the other hand, had on his black jeans, black sleeveless t-shirt and black Converse tennis shoes. Although, I did notice that the new purple streaks he had in his black hair were almost the exact shade of Celestine’s purple eyes. Those eyes still kind of freaked me out.

  Brennan took charge immediately, “Did you bring the items?” he looked directly at me.

  I nodded, and Jeremy and I peeled the backpacks off of our shoulders and laid them on the beach in front of us. Brennan nodded with satisfaction and gestured to the muscular, stocky, almost-attractive stranger standing across from him, “Ruby, this is Grobel.”

  What?!! My breath caught in my throat and panic rose in my chest. I froze. I couldn’t speak. Why did Brennan want me to meet the creepy stalker who tried to kill me?! My instinct was to turn and run, but my feet were stuck like I was standing in quicksand. Just then, Anya came closer to me and grabbed my arm, “It’s okay, Ruby. We’re all here to make a deal. Nobody’s going to hurt you.” She sounded reassuring. But, I had a hard time processing what she was saying. My mind was racing as fast as my heart. I felt Jeremy move closer to me; he grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. I tried to calm myself down as I felt my breathing speed up.

  Brennan spoke seriously, in a warning tone, as he stared stone-faced at the Troll standing near me. “Grobel is going to behave, aren’t you?” Grobel gave a firm nod, but his hardened expression didn’t change. It was as if he was carved out of a rock, standing there on the beach.

  Anya grabbed onto my other hand and closed her eyes. I suddenly felt a wave of calm wash over me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The warm calming rush of energy came up from the sand, through my toes, up my ankles, and over my calves as it melted though my muscles and bones, gradually working its way up to my head. Slowly, the panic left my body and my feet no longer felt stuck in quicksand. I shifted my weight around and gave Anya a look of gratitude. She squeezed my hand, then let go.

  Seeing that I had calmed down, Brennan continued, “Grobel, so far, you have kept your end of our initial deal and have not harmed Ruby.” Grobel nodded firmly, his mouth set in a tight line. “We know you are to compete for your brother, Bexin, in the Grá mo Chroí Dúshlán.” Again, Grobel nodded. (Did the guy ever speak?) Brennan continued, “We have another deal to make with you.” Grobel’s face tilted ever-so-slightly and his eyes piqued interest. Although it was only a slight change in his expression, at least I could tell the guy wasn’t actually carved out of stone. Brennan nodded and held up his index finger, as if to gesture “one moment,” and turned to look at the Mermaid. “Celestine, as part of her payment of life debt to you, Ruby has hidden, and kept safe, something very valuable that we will use on your behalf.” Celestine smiled and nodded at me, and then I heard her sing-songy voice, “And she has agreed to the other?” she looked questionably at Brennan. Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. I spoke up, “Agreed to the other what?” I looked at Brennan, because he seemed to be the one in charge of this crazy meeting on the beach.

  Brennan avoided my gaze and, instead, spoke to Celestine, “Not yet. But she will.”

  That’s it. I pressed my lips into a hard line and balled up my fists. Now they were talking like I wasn’t even there. Anger started bubbling under the surface, and I tried to look calm and refrain from screaming. “She will? Who will? And ‘she’ will agree to what?” I said through my gritted teeth.

  Brennan looked squarely at me, authority oozing out of every pore, and said, “You will, Ruby. Trust me.” He looked into my eyes with such a burning intensity that I blinked and had to look away. Geesh. Talk about a serious stare-down. I guess I didn’t really have a choice to say no to whatever it was they were going to ask me to do. Brennan redirected his burning gaze to Grobel.

  “Grobel, as next of kin to Bexin, you are to compete for him in the Grá mo Chroí Dúshlán. But, you also have the right to choose another competitor on your behalf.” Again, the stocky Troll nodded.

  “We want you to pick Ruby to compete for you.” My mouth dropped open in surprise, and Jeremy literally gasped. Out loud. At the same moment, I heard the hard, gravelly, almost-amused voice of the Troll say, “And what makes you think I should or will or even can pick her to compete for me in such an important Challenge? She is not of Fey. The Water Court King and Queen may not even accept her. This is the girl that I was supposed to kill, remember?” He shifted his weight around and looked both amused and offended at the same time.

  “You should pick Ruby because I am offering you a very lucrative exchange, and we’ve already bargained and paid you to not kill her. Don’t worry about the Water Court King and Queen. We’ll take care of that. I think this should convince you to choose Ruby.” At that moment, Brennan and Anya knelt down and unzipped the backpacks that were lying at our feet, revealing the glistening rocks inside.

  Grobel gasped with a look of surprise and broke his stony glare as his face suddenly became animated with what could only be described as wild greed. “Are those Isle Royales?” he knelt down to inspect the rocks more closely.

  Brennan stood, taking on a regal pose of authority and answered, “Yes. And you will pick Ruby because you are of the Earthen Court, and I am your Prince. I order you to choose her. Disrespecting a direct order from your Prince is an act of treason. Penalty is death. I am only offeri
ng you the Isle Royale stones as a token of good faith...consider it payment for the job of not killing Ruby. ” He stood staring down at the Troll with a look of such determination that even I felt a little weak in the knees. Yikes. Brennan was totally hard-core in charge here. Grobel slowly stood, rubbing his chin with his hand as he thought over what Brennan had said.

  “The Royales…they are safe? Untainted?” Grobel cautiously asked as his breath quickened. His hardened expression had morphed into that of a crazed, strung-out child who had just ingested a gallon of soda pop, a pound of candy and was greedily staring at a mountain of presents on Christmas morning. Greed. It was the look of pure and obsessive greed.

  Brennan nodded smugly, “Of course.”

  The Troll nodded, shifting his stance to look more aggressive as he tried to control his expression again. He cleared his throat and regained his composure. “I will choose this girl at the Challenge, but if she loses, no recourse must be taken upon me. On this, I must have your word.”

  “Agreed.” Brennan answered, and continued with an icy voice, “But, consider this payment in full. You shall abandon your plans to get rid of the girl. After the Challenge, you must leave. If any of my guards or Fairies report seeing you in this state again, you will be dealt with immediately. If you run, or try to hide, we will find you. You must call off the deal with your employer. Return whatever payment they have given you, do whatever you must. I don’t care how you handle your end of it. If you do not follow through with what we have agreed here, the highest penalty will be paid by you and your loved ones.” Brennan’s firm statement had the air of finality to it. Grobel merely nodded again, picked up the bags with the stones, and turned to leave.

  “Excuse me? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Anya chirped.

  Grobel stopped, turned back to face the Fairies and got down on one knee. He placed his right arm across his chest, with his fist closed, and bowed his head. The Troll spoke solemnly in his deep, gravelly voice, “On my honor and the honor of my family, I shall obey the orders of the Earthen Court and shall forever give fealty to my Prince or suffer the highest penalty.”

  Brennan placed his hand on Grobel’s shoulder and said, “So be it done. I call to the Earth to seal these words.” Just then, I felt a strange tingly sensation ripple through my body, and I saw a magic mist swirl up from Grobel’s body as he shuddered. It was as if tiny particles of light and energy came swirling and crackling out from the ground and passed up through his body. I instantly thought of someone being electrocuted, but it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t gory or anything. But the Troll definitely looked like he received a little shock. He stood up quickly, gave a slight head-nod bow to each of us, and then turned and walked down the beach. He seemed to just gradually fade into the horizon. It was weird. No popping sound like the Fairies, no instant disappearing, no swirling mist, no nothing. It was just a silent, gradual fade into nothingness against the landscape.

  I stood there, blinking my eyes in disbelief at what had just happened. Jeremy was the first to speak, “Well, hot diggity-damn. If that ain’t some whacked-out wizard stuff.”

  “Um. Fairy stuff, Jer. Not wizard stuff.” I corrected.

  “Whatev. It’s freakin’ cool. What the hell just happened here?” He looked with amazement at Anya and Brennan and Celestine.

  “Yeah. I’d like to know that too.” I said, narrowing my eyes at Brennan. I had a sinking feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  Chapter 17

  “What?” Brennan said to me, holding out his hands, trying to look innocent. “I got rid of Grobel and settled the manner in which you will repay Celestine the debt you owe her.” Celestine was smiling warmly and nodded, her freaky purple eyes bright with excitement, “Your Prince has very effectively handled all of our problems!”

  My eyes popped wide open as I shook my head with disgust and threw my hands over my heart, “My Prince? He isn’t my Prince!” I scoffed.

  Celestine looked puzzled, “Well…you offer your allegiance to him. You see Fairies, talk to Fairies and are connected to your gardens. You are of the Earthen Court, aren’t you?”

  I stood there dumbfounded. I never thought of it like that. Brennan was just the pain-in-the-ass brother to one of my best friends. He was just helping me out of this mess. Was that somehow declaring my “allegiance” to him or to his Court? Did that mean I owed him now? As usual, I found myself lacking in my knowledge of Fairy culture and customs. They really do need some kind of handbook.

  As I stood there, unable to respond, Anya spoke up, “Ruby. Of course you are connected to the Earthen Court. You always have been. But now you have ties to the Water Court too, since Sirrush gave you his magic. It is, of course, your choice if you choose to pledge your fealty to the Water Court instead, but we just assumed you would align with us.”

  Jeremy continued standing there silently (that was so unlike him), and I lost it. Once again, my teenaged hormones kicked in and I started marching around them on the beach. “What do you mean, ‘pledge my fealty?’ I’m not pledging anything! I don’t even really understand what is going on here! If you’re asking me if I’m on your side, or someone else’s, then duh – I’m on yours! Of course I’m on your side. But what’s all this about pledging fealty or allegiance or whatever? And what exactly just happened here with Grobel? What was all that…that…whatever it was when he knelt down and all that …sparkly stuff happened?” I realized my voice was getting shrieky again, and I probably sounded like Jeremy having one of his temper tantrums. That thought irked me too. Since when did I suddenly turn into my volatile-tempered friend? I was usually the calm, collected, cool one. I was the one who could handle stress and not overreact. It was unsettling to me that I was losing control like this, but it was just so frustrating not knowing anything! I felt left in the dark…like I was the one locked up in that dark, little attic closet in my room, waiting for someone to get the key and unlock it to let me out.

  Brennan started chuckling at my latest tantrum, and I instantly reached out and smacked him across the shoulder, “Oh! You shut it! Stop laughing at me!” I was so annoyed at all of this; I didn’t really understand what was going on, and now Prince-Not-So-Charming Brennan was laughing at me! Ugh!

  Anya spoke up quickly, “Ruby, what happened on the beach here was that the bond and promise that Grobel has made has been sealed with the magic of the Earthen Royal Court. He cannot break it. If he tries, even tries to break the bond, he will die and his entire family will be banished from Fey. Exiled. You are forever safe from him. And, he will – or should I say – he must, choose you to compete in the Grá mo Chroí Dúshlán against the Water Court’s competitor. You competing in the Challenge will repay the rest of your life-debt to Celestine.”

  Brennan nodded enthusiastically and with slight arrogance added, “Yeah, thanks to me. And, since you’ll be competing on behalf of Bexin, you’ll be representing the Earthen Court. My Court.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  As I started to bubble over in frustration again, Anya put her hand on my shoulder to soothe me and broke in again, “What my brother means is, since you are competing for the Earthen Court, it shows that you are aligned with us.” I blew out a frustrated sigh and decided to keep my mouth shut for the moment. I guess it wasn’t so bad. I suppose I knew I was connected to the gardens and the Fairies for a long time. Getting myself wrapped up in all of this crap only happened because I wanted to help them get rid of the dragon that was causing so many problems in my town. I guess I’d rather be aligned, or pledge my fealty or whatever it was to my best friends, (even though Brennan is an ass) rather than some unknown beings in the Water Court. But, to be honest, I didn’t want to pledge anything to anyone.

  Finally, Jeremy found his voice, shaking his head in amazement, “This is so freakin’ cool. Ruby, you’re totally inner-circle. Now, when exactly is this Challenge-thingy? And can I come? I wanna watch! Oh my gosh, I’m sooo bringing my camera! This is the bombdiggidy swizzle!” Jeremy go
t all excited as his thoughts ran away with him.

  Brennan got very stern all of a sudden, as his lips pressed together, and shook his head, “No. No cameras.”

  Anya chimed in, looking apologetic, “Yeah, I don’t know if you’ll be able to come or not Jeremy. This is kind of a…Fairy-Merpeople thing…”

  I looked at Anya, Brennan and Celestine with slight panic, “Wait a minute! I’m not a Fairy or a Merperson, and I have to be there! I want Jeremy there. I’ll need him there for…for…emotional support!” I pouted.

  Celestine just giggled and shook her head, “Well, I can see the four of you have much to work out. I will leave the details up to you. I look forward to seeing you at the Grá mo Chroí Dúshlán in seven days.” She gave a quick nod to me and Jeremy, and a slight bow to Anya and Brennan and took off jogging towards the surf. As she approached the water’s edge, she peeled off the sarong, peeked back at us over her shoulder and gave us a smile, and then dove into the surf…naked! She surfaced, waved at us, and then dove under the water again flipping her huge diamond-sparkly emerald green tail in the air.

  Jeremy’s mouth dropped open and his eyes popped in amazement. He stood there staring out at the water and gasped, “Oh. My. God.”

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” I smiled at Jeremy. “I told you it was wicked-cool….and…kind of creepy.” I added as I kind of thought about my legs turning into a giant fish tail. Iccchhh….I shuddered. I hate fish! I looked back to Anya and Brennan. “So, seven days?” I looked questionably between my royal friends.