Chapter 46

Ava closed the door and leaned against it. “This is stupid. You’re being stupid.” Pushing away from the door, she went over to the window and looked out it.

When Mystral and her guard appeared by the garage, Ava felt disappointment in a way she never had before. They had come to tell her and Capri about the meeting at the Circle of Stones. Why was she so upset that Firo hadn’t come to tell her personally? “You’re acting like Fade now—over a boy.” She growled. She spent more time looking outside watching for him than she did anything else. It had been one day. One day since she’d seen him and here she was acting like the world was coming to an end because he hadn’t come back. She scowled at the alley outside. Then she realized that the world or realms might actually come to an end if they didn’t fix things.

Shaking her head, she went over and sat on her bed. She didn’t expect to see him all the time. He had a lot to do. The princess he watched over seemed to bounce from one realm to the next, helping, so of course, he couldn’t always have time to come here. “Idiot.” She sighed and dropped her head, trying to relax and let all this moping crap drop away.

Slapping, her hands on her legs, she looked around the room. She should take the time to clean in here. With a smile, she shook her head. She’d rather tear a motor apart and rebuild it than work a vacuum. She felt better. Whatever that short meltdown was about, she was over it. Nodding, she turned to go back to the garage when she spotted the vest he’d given her to wear hanging on the back of her door. She needed to give that back to him.

Going over, she took it off the hook and looked at it. She hadn’t noticed how big it was when she had it on. It stopped her worrying about her breasts making an unannounced appearance, but that whole time over there was so surreal, she hadn’t noticed something like the size of it. For half a second, she wondered what it would look like on him. She doubted it was loose on him, which made him larger than she’d realized. Weren’t fabled fairies supposed to be small? She snorted. The fables and fairy tales had so much wrong, no one had the time to list it all. Six realms. Where were the stories of all the realms on earth? Were they on earth? She shook her head, thoughts like that were Em’s area, she had no wish to start thinking weird crap like that.

Holding the vest up, she again found herself picturing Firo wearing it. No shirt or jacket, just the vest. She felt her face get hot and glared at the material. Her brain was broken. She didn’t think things like that—ever. She wasn’t a virgin, but even that whole process had been out of what was expected and not from desire. She’d just been going along with the others when their hormones were running rampant, and all they could think about were boys. She rolled her eyes. Boys were so overrated. She snorted and then shook her head briskly. She wasn’t going down that woe-be-me hole again. She was normal, didn’t do what was expected, and never would.

One more quick look at the vest, and then she folded it neatly and hugged it against her chest as she tried to decide where to put it until she saw him. She should put it on the bike. The next time she saw him would be at this circle place. She’d thank him for loaning it to her and give it back. The dinner had been nice. In fact, it was the first sort of date she’d ever had. How sad was that? Fifty and having your first dinner date?

She held out the vest and looked at it. “Okay, thirty more seconds of this weird crap, and then you go back down to fix Karm’s bike.” She nodded. “I don’t have time for this confusing relationship stuff, Firo. Sorry.” Closing her eyes, she forced her mind to think of something else. Anything else.

A chill went over her whole body, and she opened her eyes. Moving just her eyes, she looked around. “Where the hell am I?” She was standing in a large bedroom that most definitely wasn’t her own. A buzzing feeling moved over her, and she felt her wings come out. She knew this feeling. She’d had this feeling when she was in FaTerra. “No. Noo.” She turned around and looked at the bed again. There was a large body in it.

Before she could take a step, a high-pitched squealing noise pierced her eardrums.

The large body in the bed bolted up, and then Firo looked at her with confusion, clearing the fog of sleep from his expression. “Avalie?” He tossed the blanket aside and got up.

If she weren’t having some sort of nightmare out-of-body experience, she would have paused longer to look at him wearing only a pair of black pajama bottoms. He had a small tattoo on his chest. That was surprising. She looked at it again. It wasn’t an ink on, she didn’t think. It looked like it was burned into his skin. Ouch. One wing with some kind of pattern through it— Focus! She looked at his face. “What the hell, Firo?”

He winced and then closed his eyes and did something with his hands, and the noise stopped. When he opened his eyes, he looked around the room, like he was afraid he was somewhere else. “How are you here?”

Ava snorted. “Like I know? One second, I’m standing in my room—” She looked down to see the vest was still in her hands, and she held it up. “—thinking I need to return this to you, and the next, I’m standing here.” She wiggled the material back and forth. “Here’s your vest. Thanks for letting me borrow it. Now, if you could wake me from this magic nightmare crap, that would be just great.”

Someone pounded on a door. Firo growled and stomped toward it.

On the other side of the room, a door flew open, and the princess stood there. She had clearly just jumped out of bed because her hair was actually not all smooth and perfect. “Firo? Ava?” She came into the room.

Firo jerked the other door open, and Mystral’s guard stood in it. “The perimeter alarm went off…” He gave Ava a wide-eyed look.

Firo waved his hand around. “Ava accidentally made herself appear here.”

“You did?” Aireese came over and looked at her, an astounded expression on her face. “How?”

Ava scoffed. “Like I know.” She looked at Firo and then back to her. “How do I send me back?”

Aireese turned and looked at the two men. “We’re fine, Aslac. Tell everyone it was a little magic gone awry. Asure my mother that all is well.”

He gave her an abrupt nod and then left. Firo closed the door and then turned around and looked at her.

“I think bringing her here to Fa Terra has awakened more magic inside her,” Aireese said quietly.

Ava looked at her and then over at Firo. “How do we put it back to sleep?”

“I’m not sure.” She went over and stood by the window. “Let me think about it for a moment.”

Ava jerked her head back and looked at Firo. He was looking at her with a strange look on his face.

“Is it possible I did it?” Firo went over to a chair and picked up a robe that matched the bottoms he had on. He slipped it on quickly and then came over and stood in front of Ava.

“You think you manifested her?” Aireese gave him an odd look. “Weren’t you asleep?”

He nodded but didn’t look away from Ava.

“If you were awake, maybe, but asleep? I’m not sure anyone can do that.”

Firo ran his hand through his hair. “We need to figure it out. Setting off the alarms once is an accident. If it happens again…”

The princess nodded. “I know. Mother will demand answers if it happens again.”

Ava looked from one to the other. “Our perimeter alarms go off if anyone that doesn’t live in the building comes near it.”

Aireese gave her a contemplative look. “Did Capri do it?”

Ava nodded.

“She must have a way for the spell to recognize individuals.”

“Who does ours?” Firo glanced at the princess briefly before looking back down at Ava.

“I’m not sure.” Aireese walked toward Ava. “Your magic shouldn’t be that strong yet. To bring yourself from one realm to another.”

Firo sighed. “What if our magic is?” He gave her a look that was apologetic, and Ava didn’t know why. “She was thinking of returning my vest to me, and I was dreaming…”

Aireese held up her hand. “I don’t need details.” She put her hand over her mouth and looked from him to Ava and then back again. Dropping her hand, she shrugged. “It could happen. A newly blended magic wouldn’t be strong enough, but the two of you have been connected for half a century, so I think it is possible.”

Ava didn’t understand any of it. “Can we just make it so it doesn’t happen again?”

The princess went over and sat in the chair. “It is strange that it happened tonight when it hasn’t before.” She raised one eyebrow and looked at her guard. “Unless something has changed you haven’t told me about.”

Firo glanced at Ava but shook his head. “Nothing has.”

“What do you mean changed?” Ava went to lift her hand and saw she was still holding the vest. She held it up and then shoved it against his chest. He took it from her hand. She went over and stood in front of the princess because clearly, she knew something Ava didn’t. “Like what?”

Aireese turned her head and looked at Firo and then slowly moved it to meet Ava’s gaze. “If the two of you have completely bonded and your magic is forever joined, then it would be much stronger. You would be able to aid each other from afar without being there in body.”

Ava jerked her head, like her brain twitched, as she processed the other woman’s words. “That hasn’t happened.”

Aireese sighed with a friendly look on her face. “The connection you have already makes me envious.” She stood up. “I’m not allowed that.” She glanced at Firo. “As you know.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “I’d suggest the both of you need to find a way to not be thinking of one another at the same time again, until Ava has more control over her magic.” She gave Ava a big smile. “Your power is already so strong that it’s simply amazing.” Her expression sobered. “But there are those here that would find that a threat, so you need to learn how to control and quickly.” She smiled again and then started moving toward the door. “I’m going back to try to sleep. Good night.” She left without another word.

Ava looked at the door and then slowly turned to look at Firo. His expression mirrored the ‘well, shit’ moment she was having inside her head. “Now what?”

He lifted his hand and remembered the vest, and tossed it toward the bed. “I am not sure.” He went over to the chair and sat down, and then motioned to the other one.

Ava sighed and went and sat down. “There has to be some kind of magic to stop me from using my magic by mistake, right?”

His mouth quirked like what she said was amusing. “There are all manners of magic, Avalie, the problem is finding the one that works.”

She nodded, even though she didn’t get it. “Okay, so what do we need that will work?”

He studied her, his pale eyes giving her a soft look. She was trying hard not to think about how good he looked, with his messy hair and bare chest showing.

She jumped to her feet and paced to the other side of the room. “You’ve broke my brain.” She scoffed and spun around and looked at him. “I don’t daydream about boys and—” She stopped herself from elaborating on her thoughts. “—that relationship stuff.” The look of patience on his face annoyed her further. She pointed at him. “Just stop looking at me.”

He did smile at that and slowly got to his feet. “I would have to have my eyes removed to accomplish that, Avalie.”

With each step he took toward her, she fought the urge to bolt from the room. That wouldn’t be good, she thought, running down the hall of the place she wasn’t supposed to be. She held up her hand. “Just stay there. I can’t think when you—” She motioned her hand up and down. “—do anything.”

Firo gave her an amused look. “I think a piece of this puzzle—” He quirked an eyebrow at her as if he was asking if that was the saying. “—is our magic needing each other.”

“Our magic?” She scrunched up her face. “That’s a pretty lame line, Firo.”

He chuckled. “I wish that it were a line.” He came over and put his hands on her shoulders. “Do you feel better or worse when I do this?”

She exhaled and focused on what she was feeling. A warmth went through her, and she recognized it to be their magic blending. Later, she’d think about how that was something she never thought she’d understand in a million years kind of thing. Heat was also moving through her, and she looked away so she wouldn’t blush. She knew what that was, too, and it led to places she didn’t know if she’d ever go again. “Is this a trick question?” She gave him a hard look. “I can feel the blending and—” She shrugged. “—other stuff.”

Points for him for not grinning at her then. He nodded. “Some time, we’ll discuss the other stuff, but for now, I do believe our magic is taking on a life of its own and forcing the connection.”

Ava stepped back so his hands weren’t near her. “What? What does that mean?”

“Think about it. I marked you half a century ago. Each time we’re together, the connection grows, and with everything that’s been happening, I have been dealing with a flurry of events…”

She held up her hand. “Hang on. Are you saying my magic threw a hissy fit and brought me here because it missed yours?”

He gave her an amused look. “Something like that, yes.”

Ava wanted to scream but was afraid that the guard would come back and give her more ‘you shouldn’t be here’ looks. Closing her eyes, she dropped her head forward and rubbed her hands up and down her face. When she looked at him again, there it was again, that understanding, patient look. “You know, you could look a little stressed about this.”

“I am quite concerned about how upsetting this is to you.” He nodded.

“And you’re not upset this is happening?” She went over and sat on the edge of his bed, then looked at it, got off it again, and stood there.

“If I say yes, will it make you feel better?” He went over and sat back down in the chair.

Ava narrowed her eyes and looked at him. “Would you be lying if you said that?”

“Yes.”

Bonus points for him telling the truth, she thought. “Why aren’t you? Upset about it?”

He held her look, a stoic expression on his face. “I have spent all these years thinking about you, checking on you, watching you from a distance—” He lifted one hand. “—and now I don’t have to. I am quite pleased that I finally get to speak to you and be near you.”

She stood there, her hands on her hips, and stared at him. “Yeah, you should have lied just now.” She nodded.

Firo laughed. “You are a very confusing woman, and it’s difficult to please you.”

Ava threw up her hands. “I don’t want to be pleased.” She dropped her hands. “I want things to go back to normal, to not be this.” She pointed to one of her wings.

He nodded slowly, and she thought for a moment that he agreed. “It can’t. Things can’t be unknown or undone. There is no backward, only forward with a magic marking.”

She looked around for something to throw at him for making sense and telling her the truth. There was nothing that didn’t look expensive, so she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “If we were outside right now, I would be throwing rocks at you.” She glared at him. He smiled briefly but continued to sit there. “I should get Crystal to do something to you…” She stiffened and then looked at him again. “Crystal. She can spell a stone to keep me from jumping, or porting or whatever it is that happened to bring me here.”

Firo raised a brow. “Something not permanent.” He nodded slowly. “It would be better for one of your friends to do it. If I ask for assistance here in Fa Terra then word will…”

“Yeah, secrets don’t keep well.” She nodded. “Okay.” Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she tapped the screen. “Wait, can I make a call here?”

He grinned. “Phones do work. Most of my kind just prefer other means of communication.”

She had no idea what that meant. “Right.” She brought up Crystal’s name and hit the button. Closing her eyes, she put the phone against her ear.

“Ava? Why are you calling me when I’m two doors away from you?”

Ava opened her eyes. “Because I’m not. I am in FaTerra—no idea how I got myself here.”

“You’re what?”

Ava flicked her hand as if she could bypass this part of the conversation. “My magic is doing its own thing, and I landed myself here.”

“Oh my gosh. Can you get back? I don’t know how to get you back.”

“No. I’ll get back. Firo will bring me back. I’m calling you because I need a pendant or something that I can wear that will keep me there—in Interealm. Can you do that?”

“Oh. Hmm, I’m sure I can—it will take some thought and a bit of work, but yeah, I can bind you to here.”

Ava cocked her head to the side. “When you say here, you mean like—our realm, not the building, right?” Not being able to leave the building would make Ava lose her mind even more than she already was. She watched Firo get up and go over to a door. When he opened it, she saw it was a closet. He grabbed some things and then went into a door beside it.

“Yes,” Crystal said slowly. “I might have to talk to Capri about helping, but it’s doable. I did one similar when I had that problem with astral projecting; remember when I was sixteen?”

Ava nodded. Crystal had done it so much that it kept happening when she didn’t want it to. It was a strange time. Then again, when most of them were teens, it was an adventure as everyone tried to learn how to control what they could do. “That will work?”

“Yes. When you’re wearing it, you will not be able to be ported anywhere else.” She sounded more confident now.

“Perfect. Start working on it. I’ll be home shortly.”

“I can’t believe you’re in Fa Terra again. Take pictures.”

Ava looked out the window. “It’s the middle of the night, and I’m not supposed to be here, so I won’t be going on any strolls.”

“Oh. Bummer. Okay, I’ll see you when you get back.”

Ava nodded and hung up.

Firo came back into the room, fully clothed, his hair neat. He gave her a curious look. “Your friend can do this?”

She nodded. “Yeah, she says she can.” She glanced at her phone and then held it toward him. “You know, if you had a phone, I could have just messaged you about that vest, and I wouldn’t have landed here.”

He opened his mouth and then closed it and gave her an abrupt nod. “I will acquire one.”

“Good.’ She scoffed. “Who doesn’t use cell phones now?”

He tilted his head. Beings that don’t need them. His voice was inside her head.

Ava frowned. “Don’t do that. That’s just creepy.” She shook her head. That was a lie. It felt so intimate to hear his voice inside her head and not in her ears.

“I apologize.” He held out his hand. “Are you ready to go back?”

Ava hurried toward him and slapped her hand in his. “Yes.” The tingling started and traveled quickly up her arm. She groaned. “Isn’t there a way we can stop that?”

Firo gave her an amused look. “Yes.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “But I don’t think you’ll agree with the way we have to do it.”

It took three seconds for what he was saying to sink in. “You’re talking about sex.” She shook her head. “I told you that’s not my thing. I didn’t like it.”

He raised one brow and pinned her with a look. “I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest for you to discuss things that happened with others. Someone could die a painful death, sliced into a million pieces.” His expression lightened. “And perhaps you didn’t experience it with the right being to enjoy it.” He smiled, and it was a pure player smile.

She wanted to smack him and hug him at the same time. “Just—let’s go.”