Finding Fae

Kent, Milly, and I spent the entire day in the library. Those two were secretly thrilled to be teachers to someone who had no clue about anything. I was a blank slate. I learned so much about a lot of things. One of those things was the Spirit Bonds, like the ones I had with the guys, weren’t permanent.

I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved that made me feel. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those dopes, but the thought of them being around me all the time like this for the rest of my life was enough to make me want to choke them all now and save myself the insanity later. Except, maybe, Nando. Out of all of them, he was the easiest to be around.

I was learning all about the different types of fae and how to identify them by those little flashes I caught from time to time. After my Awakening, I should be able to look hard enough and see right through the disguise without having to wait until they lost their cool.

“I am a bit concerned about the Awakening,” I admitted when we heard the front door slam shut.

“They best we can say is you need to continue growing,” Milly said. “We can help you keep your mind sharp, but you’ll need to find someone who can handle the physical side of things.”

“Any suggestions?” I groaned.

“Zane is pretty capable, but he’ll refuse. He doesn’t like training with girls,” Kent chuckled.

“They fight dirty,” Zane said in the doorway. “Please say you two weren’t torturing her with dusty histories and crap.”

“I happen to like dusty histories and crap, so you hush before start looking for a thick book to hit you with,” I laughed.

“Rex has a huge bruise on his face today,” Zane grinned. “Nice swing.”

I smiled back as Kent chuckled.

“Well, it’s probably for the best you don’t try training her right now,” Milly said as she looked at a books title and handing it to me.

“Having a Demi as a father figure and him teaching you at least the basics could end up being bad for Zane,” Kent laughed. “They might not be the greatest role models, but Demis know fighting. You’ll need someone that’s much more skilled than any of us.”

“We’ll make a few calls and see if we can’t find someone that can come help you out,” Milly patted my hand and passed me three more books. “In the meantime, these should help. It’s mostly basic knowledge, but it’s better than asking a bunch of teenagers and getting half the information you need and what you do get is only partially right.”

“Hey,” Zane looked at his mother like he wanted to be offended while I giggled. “You ready?”

“Your not staying for dinner?” Milly asked.

“No, I need to do laundry and dishes before I end up resorting to sweat pants and a bleach stain t-shirt that’s older than I am,” I shook my head. “Since I’m suspended for a few days still, I’ll see if Zane wouldn’t mind bringing me back tomorrow, if you’re not busy.”

“Actually, I’m taking you to Nando’s house for the day tomorrow,” Zane said. “One of his aunts or cousins or a sister, maybe, can read people’s pasts. It’s a long shot, but it’s all we have at the moment.”

“You’re thinking she might be able to see something about Fae’s parents?” Kent rubbed his chin. “That is a long shot.”

“It’s a start,” Zane shrugged. “Let’s go.”

---------

“I’m not doing that,” Zane looked at the dryer like it was a bomb about to go off.

“Stop being a puss and take the clothes out of the dryer,” I huffed as I leaned forward to finish washing the dishes. “It’s not going to bite you.”

“What’s in there?” he asked.

“Bits of fabric, cut and stitched together to be worn on a person for modesty,” I answered with a smirk. “Inanimate, harmless.”

“I’m not going to reach in there and end up grabbing panties, am I?” he asked.

I barked out laughter as I leaned over the sink of dishes. Gary was a terrible housekeeper and things had piled up pretty badly.

“Trade?” I asked and Zane practically ran from the laundry room.

“Done,” he said, taking the sponge and hip bumping me out of the way.

I dried my hands off and chuckled as I went to the laundry room. I moved things around and took the dry clothes to my room to put them away. It wasn’t exactly quiet, since Zane had thought ahead and brought a small radio and was playing music off his phone. I wasn’t super familiar with popular music, but I did like the way some it sounded and ended up dancing a little as I folded clothes and put it away.

“Nice moves.”

“What the- freaking moronic stupid head idiot!” I yelled and threw the jeans I had in my hands at Malachi’s face. “Stop breaking into my house, you stalker creep! Jesus!”

He smirked, highly amused with the situation as he tossed the jeans back at me.

“Do not smirk at me like that, stupid. Why are you back?” I glared and tossed a hanger at him.

“You have to admit, it’s pretty funny,” he laughed, dodging the hanger. “I can honestly say I’ve never been called a stupid head idiot before.”

“Calling you a jackass would be an insult to donkeys everywhere,” I threw a shoe at him, then reached for my alarm clock.

“Whoa! Put. The clock. Down,” he ducked behind my door.

“I will not put the clock down until you are no longer being a pain in my neck,” I shouted. “Go away, Malachi.”

“Why are you so violent?” he shouted back and I threw the clock with a wordless cry.

“A Demi raised her,” Zane said from the doorway after he ducked past the shattered pieces of the clock. “How did you get in here, King?”

“Open window,” he pointed down the hall way.

“Bullshit,” I yelled and threw the lamp next.

“Fae, enough,” Zane said catching the lamp before it shattered against the wall. “Your just breaking things at this point.”

“Maybe I freaking want to break things, Zane!” I yelled and picked up the stack of hangers off the bed and started chucking them at Malachi, who was still taking shelter behind the bedroom door. “If I want to break every stupid thing in this house, because it makes me feel good, then I’ll freaking throw things until there’s nothing left, because I’m sick and tired of dealing with all of this crap! Three weeks of this stupid place and I’m ready to cut and run just so I can take a freaking vacation from the freakish hell I find myself in!”

“Ouch! That one hurt! Fae!” Zane said, as he tried to dodge the hangers that bounced off the door. “Why do you have such good aim?!”

“Because I’m a messed up freak of nature, Zane!” I screamed as the last hanger went flying across the room.

“Messed up, perhaps, but freak of nature might be a bit harsh,” Malachi said, peeking from behind the door.

“Shut up,” Zane and I both said.

“What are you even doing here, King?” Zane asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, Deacon,” Zane shot back.

“Oh for the love of blueberries, just answer the freaking question straight for once and stop being a cryptic asshole for five minutes,” I huffed and flopped to the bed as tears started falling from my face.

“Blueberries? Really?” Malachi laughed. “I have to hand it to you, you are very creative.”

“Not helping,” Zane said. “Why are you crying, Fae?”

“Take a wild guess, genius,” I snapped. Seeing him flinch, I felt bad a little. “Sorry.”

“No, I get it,” he sighed. “Come on. We’ll go see if we cant find some tea in the kitchen. King, leave.”

Malachi scoffed but ducked behind the door again as I walked by, letting Zane lead the way back downstairs to the kitchen. I was directed to a chair and pushed down while Zane dug around in the cabinets in search of anything herbal to give me.

Malachi came too, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. He was back to the brooding look we all knew and loathed as Zane sniffed a tin of loose leaves.

“That’s Jasper tea,” Malachi said when Zane looked confused. “Not good for calming.”

“I know what it does,” Zane snapped. “I thought you were told, multiple times to leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” Malachi snorted and I saw red.

I was across the room and throwing punches before I even noticed I had moved. None of which were landing where I intended them to go. Malachi blocked each one, knocking it aside or dodging it. It only made me angrier until I started kicking, too. Like the punches, those were blocked.

One punch was blocked and I immediately reached in and slapped Malachi right across the cheek, making him step back in shock. I wasn’t even expecting it, so I know he couldn’t have seen it coming. While it felt damn good, it also sort of made me cringe a little bit. I knew his face had to be a little sore after I hit him with my algebra book, so that slap had a double dose of ouch behind it.

“I want to know why you insist on being somewhere you don’t want to be,” I huffed, out of breath from the exertion. During our fight, I had backed him into the living room and Malachi sat on the arm of the couch.

“And what makes you think I don’t want to be here?” he asked, crossing his arms

“You. You’ve made it clear that my being here is like finding a rock in your shoe,” I glared. “So why would you willingly put that rock back in your shoe, Malachi?”

“Can we talk without an audience?” he asked, looking at Zane. “You don’t need a bodyguard with me.”

“I’m beginning to think I’m here to protect you right now,” Zane smirked.

“Please?” Malachi asked me and I sighed, and rubbed my temples.

“I must be freaking insane,” I muttered.

“You’re serious?” Zane looked at me and I sighed. “Fine. Five minutes.”

I could tell he wasn’t happy as he stomped out of the house and slammed the door shut. This place wasn’t going to withstand the anger in this house at this rate and I wondered if Gary might have left the toolbox behind when he ran off.

“When you first got here, I knew there was something different about you,” Malachi said, looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world to him all of a sudden. “I couldn’t figure it out, but there was something about you that made it impossible for me to not think about you. Victoria, unfortunately, noticed my interest.”

“She’s a real piece of work,” I scoffed.

“Trust me, you have no idea,” he smirked a little bit. “She’s been a pain in my ass since my first day here. I’ve made it clear that there is no way I would ever go near her like that, but she still keeps at it. She’s also a very possessive and jealous type of fae, so once she got this obsession in her head, there’s not a lot that can make her change her mind.”

“Is there a point to this?” I asked and sat down.

“She saw you as competition after you fell in the halls that day,” he said. “I helped you up without thinking and she saw me. I was so mad at myself for putting a target on you when you didn’t deserve it. I started trying to get you to leave the school, anything to get you away from her influence.”

“Not that I believe a word of this crap, but why be a jerk about it? You could have just said something. I may be the chum in the water, but I’m not blind. You’re the big fish. What you say, they’ll do,” I said. “Victoria and her crazy might not have listened, but at least the rest of the school wouldn’t have gotten involved.”

“If I had said anything, it only would have made things worse,” he shook his head. “You were already bleeding on a daily basis and getting more and more bruises between classes, what would have happened next? Broken bones?”

“And why should I believe that this whole time, you actually cared in your twisted way?” I narrowed my eyes again.

“Why did I jump into that pool, Fae?” he asked. “You were drowning, nearly dead, and it scared the hell out of me when your lips were blue and you weren’t breathing.”

My eyes went wide when I thought about it a little bit. Surely, he didn’t do mouth to mouth, right? Oh God, I hope he didn’t.

“Please tell me you didn’t do mouth to mouth?”

“Out of all that, that’s what you chose to focus on?” he made a face.

“Answer the question,” I snapped forcefully.

“No,” he said, looking confused. “Why?”

“Because that would be the easiest excuse as to this sudden change in heart,” I groaned and flopped to the floor with a groan.

“How would that explain anything?” he asked.

“It’s a long story and, frankly, one I really don’t want to get into,” I said. “I was told that, unless there was a Bond between us, you wouldn’t have known I did a Call that night.”

“That’s right,” he said quietly.

“Please tell me there’s more than just two Bonds that can come from a Call,” I pinched my eyes shut. His silence was answer enough and I felt my brain break. Either Malachi and I were Spirit Bonded, or we were Life Bonded. I didn’t want to know which.