Saturday Shorts: Aiden Elam Part Two - Black Bird

Hello readers!  Last week I introduced my Saturday Shorts with a scene told from Aiden Elam's perspective.  In Part One, Aiden recalls an encounter with 'ghoulies' (faelah) at his school.  This week, he recalls a memory from the day before, a memory some of those familiar with the Otherworld Trilogy books might recognized.  In this installment, we get Aiden's take on the scene from Faelorehn when Meghan hears voices calling out to her while she is standing in the Elam family's kitchen.  Once again, beware of typos ;).  Hope you enjoy!
-J.E. Johnson

PART 2: Black Bird

Mom picked me up later that afternoon.  She worked at one of the local high schools and had a different schedule than most teachers.  Some days, she had to go to work early and got to come home early.  Other days she started late and picked me up later.  My school, like me, wasn't normal.  At least not really.  I didn't have to be in class at the same time every day.  Mom could drop me off on her way to work and pick me up when she got off, whenever that happened to be.  Today, she picked me up just before two o'clock.

Miss Rodriguez talked with Mom for a few minutes before turning toward me.  "Ready to go home, Aiden?"

She smiled and held out a hand as I rubbed at my eyes, trying to wipe away the sleepiness.  On most days, I didn't have any trouble sleeping during nap time.  Today I could only lie there and stare at the window, my stomach tying itself into knots as I waited for the ghoulies to come back.

I nodded my head as I got closer to Mom, reaching up to take her hand.  Her fingers were warm and strong, and she held onto mine as if she'd never let go.

Downstairs, her car waited in one of the slots in the parking lot.  As we passed under the window to my classroom, I held my breath, expecting to see the ghoulies hiding in the bushes.  Either they were gone for good, or they were staying out of sight because I didn't see them as I climbed into the backseat of Mom's car.  Maybe I had imagined the whole thing, after all.  Maybe I really had slept during nap time and I had only dreamed the whole thing.

"How was school today?" Mom asked, her eyes watching me in the rear-view mirror.

Feeling somewhat ashamed about the ghoulies, I lowered my eyes and studied my hands.   I couldn't tell her about it even if I wanted to.  Even now, as I tried to put the thoughts together in my mind, they buckled against some invisible barrier, the way a soda can crunches and folds up when one of my older brothers steps on it.

When I didn't answer her, Mom took a deep breath and released it on a sigh.  "I talked to Dr. Sellers on the phone this morning.  She says she has some medicine she wants to try out with you.  To see if it will make you feel better when you get upset."

Mom's voice trailed off at the end and I felt my fingers curl into fists.  When she said she wanted to make me feel better, she meant the times I had my fits.  Even though I couldn't talk like my brothers and sister, I had no trouble letting them know I was angry, frustrated or scared about something.  Usually, I only got mad or upset when the ghoulies came around because I was afraid they'd hurt Jack, Joey, Logan and Bradley, or even Meghan.  And because I could do nothing, I would throw what Bradley called 'temper tantrums'.  My doctor said it was common for children with autism to 'express aggression'.  I didn't really know what those words meant, but I could tell Dr. Sellers had been talking about my fits.

  

My parents didn't talk too much about my autism with me, but they always let me know what they planned to do to help me with it.  In this world, kids were expected to be able to do certain things at certain ages.  Since I was seven, I should be able to read and write sentences and add and subtract numbers, as well as many other things, including getting along with other kids.  I could read, and I could add and subtract just fine.  But I couldn't prove it to my parents or my teachers.  My fingers wouldn't hold a pencil like they should, so I couldn't write my name down or show them that eight plus two was ten.  When I snuck into my older brothers' room and took their chapter books from the bookshelves, it wasn't just because I liked the sound of the paper fluttering as I flipped the pages.

Despite what my family thought, I liked the books because they were about awesome adventures with dragons and magicians and superheroes.  But if I were to open my mouth to say the words out loud, nothing ever came  out.  Once in a while, one or maybe two words would break free, but then my throat would clog up or my tongue would get stuck to the roof of my mouth.  I couldn't explain it.  It was like the real me was living inside a glass ball made of a mirror that only I could see out of, but no one else could see in.  I wondered if that's what it was like for my other classmates too, but I had no way of asking them.

Before I ever started school, Mom used to take me to therapy with other moms who had kids like me.  We would learn what the teacher called 'social skills'.  I didn't learn much there because most of the stuff they taught us I already knew from listening to Mom and Dad talk to Bradley, Logan and Meghan.  Sighing, I thought about what Mom had said about taking medicine.  Part of me felt nervous about it, and another part of me felt guilty that, no matter how hard they tried, Mom and Dad and the doctors couldn't seem to help me get better.

Eventually, I looked up, only to find Mom glancing at me in the rearview mirror.  She looked worried and I wondered why.  Mom always got this way after talking to the doctor.  I turned my eyes quickly away once again and stared out the window.  The trees lining the road were just starting to change color and some of them had already lost most of their leaves, their bare white branches like the hands of skeletons.

Mom flicked on her turn signal and our car rolled to a stop as she approached a traffic light.  On the left, a large shopping center sat partially hidden behind a row of neatly trimmed hedges.  I peeked up between the two front seats and glanced out the windshield.  Traffic rushed by in a hurry, each car that flew by making ours rock a little.  Mom was taking the back road home today and I smiled.  I liked the fast roads, but the freeway always scared me a little.  It felt like we were driving on a racetrack with all those other cars, some of them really big, but on the highways we could still go fast and there were only two lanes most of the time.  No big scary trucks taking forever to pass you if you were stuck behind a slow driver.

The light turned green and Mom pulled forward, turning right after the car in front of her crossed the intersection.  We quickly picked up speed and I glanced out the window once again, smiling when we passed the airport.  A small plane was landing as we drove by, its wing lights blinking like little stars.

The open, rolling landscape of rural San Luis Obispo was blanketed with acres of vineyards, the golden leaves of the grapevines a cheerful, sunny yellow splashed against the blue sky.  An occasional farm house, complete with a paddock for horses or goats, helped add variety to the scenery.  Just as I was starting to put the bad memories of the day behind me, I noticed a pumpkin patch coming up on the left.  The orange gourds, glowing like burnished beads in the afternoon sunlight, reminded me once again that Halloween was only a few days away.  Normally, the sight of pumpkins wouldn't bother me, but the small, rustic shed set up nearby had one of those giant blow up jack-o-lanterns next to it, the black slash of its eyes and mouth reminding me of the ghoulies.

I jerked my head to the side and glanced out the other window, quickly trying to banish the memories.  We had come to another traffic stop and as Mom waited for the light to change, a crow came to rest on a fence post on the side of the road.  It turned its head, one black, glossy eye staring at me.  A red sheen flashed over the bird's eye and a sharp pain pierced my head.  Drawing in a quick breath, I squeezed my eyes shut.  A memory, harsh as corrosive acid spilling against the backs of my eyes, flooded my mind, and a kaleidoscope of scenes played out in my head.  A huge black bird with burning red eyes ... Weird, dark red smoke curling in unnatural tendrils around a tree ... A terrifying voice speaking in my head ... Where had these memories come from?  Tangled up with all the images was another memory, one of my sister cutting her hand in the kitchen.  Yesterday.  Meghan had hurt herself yesterday.  Were these memories from the same time?  I felt my face pale and my heart begin to race.  What was going on?

The light changed and our car quickly picked up speed, leaving the crow behind.  Clenching my teeth, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried very hard to remember everything that had happened yesterday.  I had a bad feeling it wouldn't be pleasant, but for some reason it was important for me to remember.  I never forgot any of my weird encounters with the ghoulies, or other strange stuff in my neighborhood.  Why had I let this one slip?  Had something, or someone, made me forget?

As we rolled down the highway, the pumpkin field now a faint blur in the distance, I thought long and hard about the day before.  Mom had picked me up, just as she had today, and then we'd gone to get Bradley and Logan at their school in Arroyo Grande.  Once we got home, my older brothers had raced to the front door, pushing and shoving each other despite the many warnings from Mom.  I had lingered behind.  I always lingered behind because my brothers liked to torment me.  Usually I didn't mind, but it got tiring after a while.

My sister Meggy had already come home and was downstairs in her room doing her homework.  We weren't supposed to go into her room without her permission, but Logan and Bradley always did.  I only went into her room without permission if it was a dire emergency, like on Saturday mornings when no one else was up and I needed her to turn on the TV for me.

Bradley and Logan were so preoccupied with their argument over who had scored more points in basketball during lunch recess, and Mom was too busy keeping them from getting into a physical fight, that they didn't notice my sluggishness.  I was okay with that.  I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of it anyway, so I had dragged my feet and stared at the path leading up to our front door.

A low, grumbling complaint from a eucalyptus tree growing beside our house grabbed my attention before I could reach the front door.  I forgot the uneven path and the patches of moss growing between the cracks and cast my eyes toward the sliver, sickle-shaped leaves above.

It didn't take long to spot the bird that had made the noise.  It was a crow, at least I thought it was a crow.  A large, black smudge grasping one of the dead tree branches with its clawed feet, its red eyes trained on me.  Suddenly, I felt very aware of my surroundings.  I could smell the sweet, spongy scent of the swamp in the canyon behind our house.  I could feel the chill of the fog rolling in off the ocean, its damp breath coating my skin.  A car pulled into one of the driveways three houses down, and the distinctive crunch of tires crushing the gravelly asphalt grated against my ears.  I shivered, but I was pretty sure it wasn't from the encroaching cold.

Shaking my head, I glanced back up at the black bird and found it still studying me.  I narrowed my eyes.  Was it really a crow?  I mean, it looked just like the crows I saw flying around the neighborhood, but this one was so big, much bigger than the others.  And it had red eyes.  Crows didn't have red eyes.  They had black eyes.  Then something even more bizarre happened.  A dense coat of smoke, deep red in color, seemed to seep through crow's feathers, like steam rising off of frost-coated roofs on cold mornings.

The giant black bird fluffed its feathers, then craned its neck forward and let out one long, low caw.  If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn it said Aiden.

With my heart pounding in my throat, I ran to the front door.  Well, I tried to run.  My clumsy legs and feet refused to move as quickly as I wanted them to.  It was like wading through thick mud.  I pawed at the doorknob once I reached the door, frantic to get it open so I could hide in the safety of the house.  This black bird was like those ghoulies.  I knew it.  It had the same dark red, murky, black light glow to it that the other monsters had.

The siren of a fire engine wailing like a banshee snapped me out of my reflection.  I blinked and looked up, surprised to find that I was still in the back seat of my Mom's car and not standing on the threshold of our living room.  She had pulled over onto the shoulder of the road to let the fire engine pass, its bright color painting a red streak against the grey and brown faces of the distant hills to the east.  As she pulled back out onto the highway, I took a few steadying breaths.  The recollection of yesterday's ordeal was now fresh and bright in my mind.  Wanting to recall the rest, I let my thoughts descend back into my mind, hoping to dredge up the remainder of the memory.

I must have gotten the front door open at some point because the next thing I remembered was me standing in our living room, staring into the kitchen as Mom asked Meghan to peel the potatoes while she went to get Jack and Joey from day care.  Still feeling rattled from the strange bird, I had headed toward my big sister, ignoring Bradley and Logan, who had transferred their argument about who was the better basketball player to who was better at playing video games.  Sometimes, I liked to watch them beat each other up while in the guise of the colorful characters on the TV screen, but not that afternoon.  I wanted the comfort only my big sister could give me.

Meghan was tall, and kind, and pretty.  She was also a lot more quiet than my brothers and she knew a lot of stuff.  But my favorite thing about my sister was that she had the same glowing skin as me.  Crinkling my nose, I held out my arm, the loose flannel sleeve slipping from my wrist and bunching up at my elbow.  Usually, the pale blue glow wasn't so bright, but today it was almost the color of the TV screen when Bradley or Logan shut off their video game console.  I wondered if it had anything to do with the big crow.

Shivering a little, I padded across the cold kitchen floor toward Meggy.  She must not have heard me, because I had to say something to get her attention.  What I wanted to say was, Meggy, there is a weird bird outside and it's scaring me.  Can you help?  What came out was only, "Help?"

Meghan paused and glanced down at me.  She smiled, her hazel eyes flashing to green, blue and then grey.  That was another cool thing about Meggy.  She had neat eyes.  I wondered if my eyes changed too.  Sometimes, it felt like they did, but I never looked at them in the mirror.  Maybe they were like the rest of me, hidden behind that one-way mirror that surrounded me.

"Sure buddy," she answered.  "Do you know where the colander is?  Big yellow bowl with holes like lemons?"

Although I hadn't been asking if she needed help, I nodded anyway.  I knew what she was talking about, and helping my sister might take my mind off the bird.  We used the colander to drain the water from boiled noodles, or to wash off berries or salad, and it was stored below the microwave with all the other big pots and pans.  The drawer was stuck a little, and it took me a while to pull it open and fish out the colander.  It wasn't heavy, but my arms refused to lift it.  Instead, I ended up dragging it behind me, making all kinds of noise.  It was so embarrassing, never being able to do anything the way normal kids could.  Meghan never seemed to notice, though.  Sometimes, I imagined she could see me, the real me, but she never said so.

After taking the colander from me, Meghan got back to work washing and peeling the potatoes.  My brothers continued to shoot imaginary fireballs at one another and that icy chill still clung to my skin.

Aaaiiidennn ...

I jumped and felt my eyes grow wide and the blood drain from my face.  A voice, like the crackle of dry bones snapping under heavy feet, had called my name.  I spun around, wondering if Logan and Bradley had heard it.

"Die!  Die you orange mutant!" Logan was hissing at the TV as he pressed the button on his controller with the enthusiasm of a woodpecker.

Bradley only laughed, a maniacal cackle.  "I don't think so!  You can't get past my shield!"

No.  As crazy as their conversation was, it hadn't been them who'd said my name, and clearly they hadn't heard it.

I glanced up at Meghan.  She was still peeling the potatoes.  She hadn't heard it, either.  The voice was in my head.

As if it read my thoughts, the voice spoke again.

Little Fae-child ... it crooned in that eerie whisper.

This time I didn't check to see if anyone else heard.  All I wanted to do was not be scared anymore.  Taking three steps forward, I flung my arms around Meghan's leg and held on tight, burying my face against her jeans right above her knee.  I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed.  Please, please go away, whoever you are!

My plea was answered with a raspy chuckle, followed by, Hello, little Fae-child.  Do you know what you are?

It was such a cold voice, with the kind of tone that witches used in movies when they were trying to make kids think they were nice, when really they just wanted to stick you in a great big cauldron and turn you into stew.

I used to think witches and goblins and monsters were all make-believe, especially since Logan and Bradley had always try to scare me and Jack and Joey with stories about them.  At first, I thought they could see the monsters too, but when they started describing what they looked like I knew they were only teasing.  If they really knew about them, they would be even more scared than me, I bet.  The ghoulies didn't scare me so much anymore, since I had grown used to them, but this strange voice terrified me.

I clung to my big sister for a long time.  When the voice didn't return, I stole a glance upward only to find Meggy standing unnaturally still, the potato peeler gripped tightly in one hand, her other palm pressed against the rim of the sink.  Her eyes were fixed on something outside the window.  Curious, I followed her gaze.  What I saw then frightened me so much I gaped, letting my sister's leg go.  It was the black bird, only it looked as if it had grown in size.  The strange, dark red glow had grown, too, seeping from the bird like some demon fog.  Long, wispy tendrils of it crawled down the trunk of the tree and over the branches, the pointed ends looking like earth worms seeking damp soil to burrow into.  One of the tendrils had pulled away from the tree and was stretching toward the window.

My instincts told me to run, even as my conscience insisted I stay and guard my big sister.  I took several steps back and opened my mouth, wanting to scream.  I must have made some sound because Meghan snapped out of her daze, her hands jerking up as if returning to the chore she had forgotten about.  Her hands must have moved too fast because instead of peeling the potato skin, the peeler slipped and cut her knuckle.

"Crud!" Meghan hissed, dropping the peeler and clutching her hand.

"Meghan?  Are you okay?"

I jumped.  When did Mom get home?

"Bradley!  Logan!  Turn those video games off and finish the potatoes.  I need to see to your sister's  hand."

All around me, chaos erupted.  Groaning, Logan and Bradley obeyed, shuffling into the kitchen with glum looks on their faces.  Mom was pulling Meghan down the hallway toward the bathroom and Jack and Joey, recently released from the captivity of the day care center, started chasing each other around the house, screeching in delight.

As my two older brothers commenced with the potato peeling, resuming their fight, this time using soggy potato peels instead of fireballs and magical shields, I quietly snuck out of the kitchen and headed for the room I shared with the twins.  Jack and Joey hardly noticed as I disappeared down the hallway, having abandoned their chase game for the toy basket kept next to the couch.

I passed the bathroom on the way, peeking in to make sure Meghan was okay.  Mom was clucking like a hen while my sister tried to assure her it was only a nick.  Meggy didn't see me as I passed, but she looked shaken, no matter how she tried to reassure Mom.  Her skin was pale and her eyes were shifting color faster than usual.  Had she heard the voice as well?  Had she seen what I'd seen?

Hoping that the horrible bird was gone now and the strange voice with it, I slipped into my room and climbed onto my bed.  Although the window on the far wall looked out over the opposite side of our yard, I closed the blinds anyway.  It took me a long time to get the plastic rod to twirl in the right direction, but once I could no longer see any daylight, I breathed a sigh of relief.  Selecting one of my favorite comic books, one sporting a hero wearing green, I had curled up on my pillow and read until Mom called us all into the kitchen for dinner.

"Aiden honey, did you hear me?"

I blinked and glanced up to find my mom turned in the driver's seat and giving me a worried look.  We were home and parked in our driveway.  When had that happened?  I shook my head.  No.  I hadn't heard her.  I had been so preoccupied with recalling the incident in the kitchen with Meggy and the weird voice that I hadn't even noticed most of the drive home, let alone what Mom had been saying.

She smiled kindly and said, "We are going to see Doctor Sellers tomorrow morning.  We are going to try this medication, and if it doesn't help, you won't have to keep taking it, okay?"

Will it make me sick?  Will it make me different?  Will it make the creepy voice go away for good and make it so I don't see the ghoulies anymore?

Knowing none of those words would ever come out of my mouth, I simply said, "Kay."

Mom smiled and ruffled my hair, then released her seat belt and stepped out of the car.  Although it had scared me, I was glad I remembered everything.  If the black bird and the ghoulies were really trying to hurt me or Meghan, knowing as much about them as I could might help someday.

Not wanting to linger in the car, especially if the crow was back, I quickly unsnapped my seatbelt and climbed out onto the concrete after my mom.  The car door slammed shut a little harder than I had meant it to, but I didn't let the guilt get to me.  Instead, I hurried toward Mom, grabbing her hand as we walked the short distance to the house.  I didn't even look into the trees.  The last thing I wanted to see was that black bird staring at me with glowing red eyes again.

*****

Thank you for reading this second installment from Aiden's point of view!  Hopefully I'll have the next installment up soon.  In the meantime, discover the Otherworld with the first book in the series, Faelorehn.  The ebook is free on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords!  The audio book edition is also available from Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

Saturday Shorts: Aiden Elam Part One - Ghoulies in the Classroom

Hello readers and happy Saturday!  This year I'd like to start a new type of blog post called Saturday Shorts, where I will create a short story and break it into four to five parts (one installment every Saturday for each month).  I am starting with a piece told from Aiden Elam's point of view (from the Otherworld series).  Some of you might know that I've been planning to write another set of books that tell Aiden's story.  Although those books are a ways off, and they will be taking place when Aiden is much older, there is no reason he can't be sharing his side of the story with us now.  If you have not yet read the Otherworld Trilogy, I recommend you do so before reading this post (unless you don't mind spoilers ;)).  Enjoy and I hope to bring you more stories in the future!  Oh, and one more thing - this piece has not seen a professional edited, so beware of typos :).

-J.E. Johnson

PART 1: Ghoulies in the Classroom

It’s so very hard to be little, especially when you are little and unable to tell people what you are thinking.  On the other hand, sometimes being stuck inside your own head can be a good thing.  I can think better about stuff that way.  Not the usual stuff everyone else my age thinks about, like when the newest episode of their favorite cartoon is going to air, or if their moms will let them go on a play date with their best friend, but the kind of stuff they don’t notice normally.  I think it’s because most kids and adults are so distracted by all the noise and lights in the world that they miss the cool stuff. 

Well, I guess ‘cool’ is the wrong word to describe it.  ‘Creepy’ is probably a better description.  Just yesterday, something creepy happened at my school.  I don’t go to the same kind of school my brothers go to, but I’m pretty sure weird little monsters don’t just climb into their classrooms in the middle of lunch recess.

At normal schools, you have to talk to people and answer your teacher if she asks a question.  Where I go to school, I don’t have to do any of that.  I like learning and discovering new things just fine, but at a regular school, I think the noises and the mean kids would be too much for me.  Mom and Dad say that I have autism, and that’s why I have trouble behaving like a normal kid.  I don’t know that much about autism, but from what I heard Mom and Dad saying when they thought I wasn’t listening is that I have many of the symptoms.

At the time I didn’t know what a symptom was, so I had to look it up in Logan’s dictionary.  He’s my older brother.  It was hard pulling the dictionary from his bookshelf and even harder to find the word. 

I knew it was in the S section, but sometimes when I’m doing something, my body won’t stop when I tell it to.  Like looking for the word.  My fingers kept flipping the pages long after I realized I had wandered in the T’s.  Other times, my body works faster than my mind and I’ll stop in the middle of doing something even when my brain is asking me to keep going.  It is very frustrating, but I have learned to live with it.

When I finally made it back to the right spot in the S’s, I read that a symptom is a sign that something is wrong.  That had scared me.  For a whole week I moved around the house more carefully and quietly than normal.  Being scared of something when you can’t tell your family why is very hard. 

Eventually, Mom sat down with me and gradually discovered the reason for my glum mood.

“Symptoms,” was all I could say.

She must have realized I had overheard her and Dad, because she told me that my autism made me different than other kids, but not sick or bad.  She said that the doctor was going to try and find some medicine to make me better, but that I didn’t need to worry because she and Dad would look after me.

“Meggy?” I had asked in a small voice.

Meggy was what I called my older sister, but her real name is Meghan.  Of my entire family, I love Meghan the most, maybe even more than Mom and Dad.  It sounds awful, to love your sister more than your parents, but for some reason I just do.  It’s like my heart has special little rooms inside for all my family and friends, but Meggy’s spot is bigger than all the rest.

Mom had laughed at my question and kissed me on the head.  “Oh yes, Meghan will always look after you, too.”

And so it was because of my autism that I went to a different school than the other kids on our street. 

I didn’t mind, and most days were calm with very little excitement.  Except for what happened yesterday.

Some days we stayed inside during our lunch break and played with the toys in the classroom. Tuesday was one of those days.  After we were done eating, Mrs. Warren excused us from our tables to go play.  I went directly to my cubby and pulled out a comic book from home, the pages worn and creased from the dozens of times I’d looked through it.

I was just sitting down on the carpet when a foul scent wafted in my direction.  I wrinkled my nose and instinctively looked toward the open window, my eyes widening at what I spotted there.  Our classroom was on the second floor of the building, so the only things we ever saw outside were the trees at the edge of the lawn, the road beyond that, and the birds that visited the feeders hanging in the oak tree nearby.  But it wasn’t a tree or a bird that I saw. 

It was one of the ghoulies from my backyard.  But what was it doing here?  Ever since I was little, strange creatures that looked like half-rotten monsters had been showing up in my yard and the swamp behind it.  At first, they had frightened me, but I remembered Meggy talking about them before I started going to school, so I figured everyone saw them.  When my sister stopped talking about them, I thought they had gone away, but then they started showing up again.  I waited for Meghan to say something, but she never did, and so I didn’t either.  I learned to watch her carefully after that, and I realized that she could still see them.  She just wasn’t telling anyone.  I decided to do the same thing.

And now one of them was hanging onto the ledge and peering through the open window.  It had shiny skin, like a frog or some other animal that lived in wet places, and it was the color of splotchy mud.  Long, crooked yellow teeth jutted out from its lower jaw, and its nose was upturned like a pig's. When I squinted, I could just make out a nasty halo of blackish red smoke radiated from its dark hide, like silt unfurling and forming clouds of color in clear water.  All of the nasty things, the ghoulies, always had this weird color surrounding them, and they all smelled terrible.

I would have been afraid, but like I said, I had seen them before.  Not all of them looked exactly like this one, but I knew it was a ghoulie and I knew it wouldn't hurt me.  The other ones had stayed away from me the way mosquitoes avoid me when they realize I’m wearing bug repellent.  Anyway, I was mostly afraid it might hurt my classmates.  Just like everyone else, except for Meggy and me, they couldn’t see it.  As I watched it, the ghoulie shoved the upper half of its body through the window and was now reaching for the ground with its short front legs.

Click, click, click…

I jerked my attention away from the window and cast a glance at the girl, Maddie, sitting closest to me.  She had pulled over a barrel of wooden blocks onto the carpet and was cracking them together, her glasses making her pale blue eyes as large as an owl’s.  The blocks came in many different shapes, the kind you used to make wooden cities with arches and columns.

One of the blocks, a rectangular-shaped one, had toppled away from the rest of the pile.  I reached out, and ignoring Maddie’s screech of disapproval, grasped the wooden block in my hand, my fingers clumsy and slow to respond to my thoughts.  The corners were smoothed and it was almost as heavy as a rock.  I knew there was a risk of breaking the window if I threw it, but the monster now had its orange eyes fixed on Bella.  She had an even harder time than I did communicating with normal people, and she couldn’t move very fast.  The creature would go for her first.

Sticking my tongue out in concentration, I drew my arm back and threw the wood as hard as I could, holding my breath and praying it didn’t miss.  To my great relief, the wood cracked against the creature’s skull, causing it to squeal and jerk away from Bella, scrambling backwards through the window.

Mrs. Rodriguez turned away from one of the other boys, Jake, and glanced at the open window, then straightened and narrowed her eyes at the girl beside me.

“Maddie, did you throw a block at the window?”

Maddie just grinned and continued to click the wooden blocks together, making a burbling sound as she did so.

Miss Rodriguez must not have been too worried about us throwing blocks because she looked back down at Jake.  Or maybe it was because Jake had started flinging paint around with his paintbrush and she needed to return his focus on keeping the paint on the paper.

Now that the scary monster was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief, one of the only sounds I could make without trying very hard.  It was so frustrating.  I knew how to read, and how to write, even if my letters didn’t always turn out neat or facing in the proper direction.  I could picture them in my mind, the words I wanted to say as well, but every time I tried to speak or print out a sentence, my throat would close up, or my mind would go suddenly blank.  It was as if the string of words belonging to the sentence I wanted to write broke loose and went flying all over the place like deflating balloons.

My eyebrows drew together and I glanced up, looking around the room and taking note of all of my classmates.  There were only seven of us altogether.  We were in what is called a Special Needs class. None of us were like normal kids, but that was okay.  My mom and my teachers reminded me that I was extra special, and that’s why I couldn’t go to a school like my brothers or sister.

Knowing all this didn’t bother me.  I didn’t want to be like the normal kids.  Bradley and Logan had told me stories about some of the kids at their school who were mean to them and the other students. The nice thing about my school was that all my classmates usually got along and none of them ever did anything just to be mean.  Even so, something, some feeling deep inside of me, told me that I was very different from my fellow classmates as well.  Seeing the ghoulies was only part of it.

Maddie made a loud noise and I jumped, breaking out of my own personal reflection.  When I looked up at her, she was smiling and holding out one of the wooden arches.

I tried smiling back.  She was asking me if I would help her build a city.  Deciding it was best for me to forget about the monster in the window, I took the block and scooted closer to her.  As I started stacking wooden shapes with as much coordination as my hands would allow me, I thought about some of the other reasons I was different.  I created a bridge with one of the larger arches and glanced up at my friend.

Maddie didn’t glow like me.  Neither did Jake, Russell, Bella or Mira.  Mrs. Warren and her assistant Miss Rodriguez didn’t glow, either.  In fact, most people didn’t glow.  Just me and my sister, Meghan.  When I was little, I didn’t think too much about it.  But now that I was seven, I wondered about stuff all the time.  Not just why we glowed, but also why we saw the ghoulies and no one else did.

I sighed and got back to building castles with Maddie.  Thinking about monsters reminded me of the ghoulie from earlier.  I still had no idea why it had showed up here, or why it was out during the day. Usually I only saw them before and after sunset.  Trying to forget about it, I picked up a cone-shaped block and was about to add it to the top of a turret when a shadow momentarily blocked the light streaming in through the window.  I glanced up, my hand freezing in mid-air like a crane jerking to a stop over a half-constructed skyscraper.  The ghoulie from earlier was back, its wicked claws scratching at the corner of the ledge, trying to find purchase on the windowsill.

My mouth went dry and my skin grew hot.  I risked a glance at my arm.  Just as I suspected, the pale blue glow of my skin had grown a little brighter.  This always scared me.  It happened a lot when I was frightened or mad or sad.  Each time it happened, I was worried my skin might actually melt, but I always managed to calm down before it grew worse.

I returned my attention to the window and nearly gasped.  A second ghoulie had joined the other and was trying to force its way in as well.  And then a third one appeared, its beady eyes fierce and glowing orange as it peered at me through the window.  The fear crept over my skin like icy spiders and I tried to remain calm.  Why were there so many?  What were they doing out in the middle of the day?  And then I remembered: Halloween was only three days away.  That would explain why there were so many, but not why they were here.

Halloween night had always made me nervous, ever since before I could walk.  Mom or Meghan would help me make my costume, and then I’d go out trick-or-treating with my brothers and sister, just like all the other kids.  I would laugh and scream and try to look like I was having a good time. That’s what grown-ups expected of kids on Halloween.  Only, that was the one time of year that the ghoulies came out the most.  Kind of like the way worms crawl out onto the sidewalks after a rainstorm.  Even if they could never get close enough to hurt me, they still scared me and gave me bad dreams.

The slight rustle of cloth distracted me from the creatures scrabbling at the window sill.  Mari, who had been completely absorbed in her picture book over in the library nook, had flung the book down and was making a bee line for the window.

For a few seconds I sat gaping at her.  Could she see the monsters, too?  I returned my eyes to the window.  One of the ghoulies had pulled its attention away from the classroom and was busy eyeing a hummingbird buzzing around the feeder in the oak tree.

“Hummie, hummie!” Mari squealed, her hands outstretched as she moved closer to the window.

Without giving it a second thought, I dropped the block I was holding.  It crashed down and crumbled the castle in progress into a pile of rubble.  Maddie gasped, then made a sound of outrage, but I hardly noticed.  I was too busy making my way to the window.

Lookout!  I wanted to shout.  The ghoulies will hurt you!  But all that came out was, “Goos!  Hurt!”

With my heart racing in time with my feet, I shoved Mari out of the way and reached for the window latch.  The girl went down screeching, crying at the top of her lungs when her bottom hit the ground. 

The monsters latched their attention onto me, their predatory eyes narrowing as they bared their teeth and hissed.  One of them had slipped its arm through the open window and was trying to sink its claws into the wall.

Panicking, I spun around, trying to find something to use as a weapon against it.  A shelf of books, some bean bag chairs, the table with our math activity from earlier ….  A cup of pencils sat on the bookshelf closest to me.  As quickly as I could, I reached out and grabbed one of the largest pencils, nearly shouting in triumph as my thoughts and actions worked in unison for once.  The tip was dull from use and the eraser was worn all the way down to the metal band, but it would have to do.

Another sharp hiss, followed by a growl, caught my attention and I spun back around.  The first ghoulie had wedged the window open further and had stuck its head through, its pig nose sniffing the air.  It glared at me, but couldn’t swipe me with its claws because both front feet were being used to hang onto the windowsill.  The smell coming off of it made me gag, and I held my arm up to my nose.  The monster lunged again and the others behind it forgot all about the hummingbird as they turned to regard me and the other students once again.

A fresh shriek of anger and pain from Mari had drawn the attention of our teachers.  Mrs. Warren and Miss Rodriguez were now looking in our direction with worry on their faces.  I continued to stare at the three ghoulies, scraping my brain for any sort of idea that might make them go away.  They were still struggling, but it wouldn’t be long before they made it into the classroom, especially since the first one had almost succeeded earlier.  I didn’t have much time.  Taking a deep breath and telling myself to be brave, I turned the pencil around, pointy end out, and shoved it as hard as I could into the eye of the closest ghoulie.

The beast screeched in pain and let go of the windowsill to claw at its eye.  The others, who had mostly been hanging onto the first one, wheeled back and the whole lot of them crashed to the ground below.  Taking a shaky breath, I stepped forward, almost falling over my own feet, and pulled the window shut. It clicked into place and I fumbled with the latch until it locked.

By that time both Mrs. Warren and Miss Rodriguez were kneeling beside Mari to see if she had hurt herself.  The dark-haired girl mumbled something and pointed in my direction.  Her face was scarlet and there were streaks of tears painting her cheeks.

“Aiden?” Miss Rodriguez asked softly, “Did you push Mari down?”

I stood still, my hands clamped behind my back, and hung my head.  It was times like these that I really wished I could talk like normal kids.

I nodded my head.  Even if I couldn’t communicate like everyone else, I never lied.  Mom had told me that lying made you weaker and being honest made you stronger, even if it was hard to be honest.  

I was already weak in so many ways.  I wanted to be strong, so I never lied.

“Why?” Mrs. Warren pressed.

I looked up toward the window.  Blackish streaks and a few scratches showed on the wall, but like the creatures, I knew I was the only one who noticed the marks.  I wanted to tell them about the ghoulies, but I knew that telling people you saw scary monsters that no one else could see was worse than lying.  Instead, I told them something else that may not have been entirely truthful, but wasn’t really a lie either.

There was something dangerous trying to get in through the window, a wasp I think.  Mari was distracted by the hummingbird and didn’t see it, so I pushed her so she wouldn’t get stung, then closed the window so it wouldn’t get inside.

That’s what I would have said if I could.  Instead, I opened my mouth and tried to speak.  After a long while, all that came out was, “Wasp near window.  Help.”

I wanted to cry.  Not because I thought I was in trouble, or even because I felt bad for knocking Mari down, but because I couldn’t tell my teachers what had happened.  I couldn’t even apologize properly to Mari for being so rude.  But I did try.

Turning toward my classmate, I mumbled, “Sworry,” and offered her my hand.

She stared at it with big brown eyes and sniffed once before reaching out her own hand to accept my help.  Her fingers were wet, but I knew it was because of her tears.

“Thankoo Aiden,” she said, her rage and tears suddenly gone.

She smiled at me and gave me a hug, which made me blush.  Mom was always teasing me by saying that Mari had a crush on me, and now I was beginning to wonder if saving her from the ghoulies had made it worse.

“Next time, you need to get one of us if you see any wasps,” Mrs. Warren said, her voice more stern than before.

Both she and Miss Rodriguez got up and returned to their previous tasks.  Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I shuffled back over to Maddie and helped her pick up the blocks.  I expected her to be angry with me as well, but during the whole incident at the window she managed to start building the castle’s foundation once again.

For five more minutes I helped with the blocks until Miss Rodriguez rang the bell announcing our lunch break was over.  We all put back our toys and games and then headed to our cubbies where our pillows and blankets were stored.  I recovered my comic book and put it back as well.

“Alright boys and girls!” Mrs. Warren proclaimed.  “Nap time!”

Jake and Mari groaned, but Maddie and Bella started rolling out their blankets.  Russell refused to follow directions at first, but then Miss Rodriguez went over to encourage him to join the rest of the class.  Not wanting to draw any more attention to myself, I did as I was told, smoothing out the corners of my small quilt and fluffing my pillow.  I especially loved my pillow because my sister had bought it for me.

“It’s green and extra soft,” she’d told me when she brought it home with Mom one day.  “And I even got a little pouch full of dried lavender to put inside the pillowcase to help you sleep.”

Logan and Bradley had laughed and told me it made me smell like a girl, but I didn’t care.  Meggy had got it for me.

As I lay still, listening to the relaxing music Miss Rodriguez had put on for us, I breathed in deeply, the faint scent of lavender tickling my nose.  The smell reminded me of my big sister and thinking of Meghan made me feel much better.  Soon the scary images of the ghoulies faded from my mind and I fell asleep.

*****

Thank you for reading this first installment from Aiden's point of view!  Hopefully I'll have the next installment up soon.  In the meantime, discover the Otherworld with the first book in the series, Faelorehn.  The ebook free on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords!  The audio book edition is also available from Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

First Chapter Sneak Peek of Caelihn, the Next Novel of the Otherworld!

Hello Dearest Readers!  It has been a very long time since I've posted anything new here on my site, so I am hoping to make amends by offering you the first chapter of Caelihn - A Novel of the Otherworld, as a Christmas gift.  This is the next chapter in Robyn's and Devlin's story, and although it is much less action-driven than the other Otherworld books, I hope you will enjoy it regardless.  Caelihn is meant to be a reprieve of sorts between Lorehnin and the next Robyn novel (Caelihn is not the sequel!  There will be more to come in the future!).  Also, I'm hoping that those of you who were disappointed that Meghan and Cade didn't make an appearance in Lorehnin will be pleased with this next, short novel installment.  The entire manuscript still needs to make a visit to my editor, which means it isn't quite ready yet, but I will be sure to let you know when it will be available.  For now, I hope this sneak peek will suffice.  Happy reading and Happy Holidays!
-J.E. Johnson

Chapter One

Transition

Focus, Robyn.  Focus. Breathe in, breathe out . . .

My eyes were pointed straight ahead, my heartbeat steady.  Without moving an inch or taking my attention from my target, I opened up my senses and scrutinized my surroundings.  Far above me, the sunlight trickled in between the newly unfurled beech tree leaves, warming my skin and hair.  I took another deep breath, gathering in the scent of clean earth, fresh spring rain, and flower petals ready to burst free of their confines.  The subtle sounds of birds and other forest creatures going about their daily chores only added to the magic of the Weald, and this mild bustle helped ease me into my trance.

Alright, it wasn’t really a trance.  Just an exercise Enorah had taught me to help find my glamour and encourage it to work with me: to take note of everything around me, then set it off to the side so I didn’t have to worry about any outside distractions.  I’d also discovered that it came in handy while zeroing in on a target some fifty yards away.

  

As I calmed my mind, the index finger of my right hand pressed gently against the trigger of the crossbow held up to my shoulder.  I narrowed my gaze, focusing completely on the farthest target away, and released one final breath slowly through my nose.  Just as I was about to increase the pressure on the trigger, something came to rest on my shoulder.  I started a little, but didn’t let the bolt fly free.  That was one of the earliest lessons Enorah and the other archers had taught me: fierce control.  Never release an arrow unless you had full control of every step leading up to the exact moment it left the bowstring behind.

The tension at being surprised, however, remained.  That is, until familiar fingers brushed against the side of my neck.  The tightness in my muscles drained away and I brought the crossbow down to rest against my thigh.  Even without turning around to see who it was, I recognized Devlin’s touch.  I smiled softly and leaned into him, temporarily forgetting my practice and instead relishing the smooth caress of his hands over my skin.  He bent and pressed his mouth to my neck, whispering endearments in the language of Eilé as he worked his way up to my ear.

“How are your exercises going this morning?”

Well, there went what tiny bit of concentration I’d been clinging onto for dear life.  I released a small sigh and turned my head so that I could look up into his eyes.  Then, grinning, I returned my focus to the target and took aim once again, pulling the trigger with confidence.  The small bolt flew through the air, slamming into the painted target mere inches from the bull’s eye.

“My aim is getting better,” I chirped, patting the bow, which I had christened Venom.

The crossbow had been a gift from Devlin, as well as Enorah.

“I have a feeling you’ll take well to this,” the tall Faelorehn woman had said upon presenting me with the bow several weeks ago.

She’d been right.  I was still struggling with knife and sword fighting, having only been in Eilé for a few months, but as soon as I picked up a crossbow and took aim, I knew I’d found my calling.  And at least this way I could contribute something to the Wildren of the Weald.

I turned and laced my fingers together at the small of Devlin’s back.  Pressing my cheek against his chest, I took long, deep breaths, listening to his heartbeat and finding comfort in his scent.

“Yes, this aspect of my training is going very well, but my glamour’s still being stubborn.”

“Much like its mistress?” he murmured against my hair.

I pulled away just enough to punch him lightly in the stomach.  Ow.  Certainly that hurt me more than him.  Devlin chuckled and pulled me back into a comfortable embrace.

“I don’t appreciate your teasing,” I grumbled.

“But it is so much fun to rile you up.”  He stepped away from me and gently took my face in his hands.  “You are so adorable when you’re irritated.”

Adorable?  Me?!  I glowered at him.  “How many times have I asked you not to use that word when describing me?”

Devlin shrugged.  “I can’t remember.  Would you prefer I use the term charming?  Or cute?  Or delectable?”

Ugh, could he get any sappier?  He must have noticed the look of abject horror on my face because in the next second, Devlin ducked his head and nipped me on the nose.

“I’ll try to use more masculine words next time.  How about robust, dashing, or gallant?”

And that just slapped the exasperation right out of me.  My shoulders started to shake with withheld laughter.  “Oh, that’s enough!  Someone will hear you and report back to Enorah or Rhyne!”

Enorah, the fearless leader of the Wildren, would more than likely tease the both of us to no end about our mutual infatuation, and at the worst possible times, too.  I could only imagine what would happen if she were to fling those very terms back at me in the middle of a sparring lesson just to throw me off my guard.  I could picture her now, standing on the sidelines, her eyes gleaming with mischief, as she described my ‘delectable’ use of the sword, or the ‘robust’ way I moved around my opponent.  Ugh.  Back in the mortal world, I had been the one to embarrass my friends without the slightest hint of shame.  Enorah had a talent of using my own medicine against me, and doing so with flying colors.  And Rhyne would be just as bad.

The sudden thought of Devlin’s little brother quickly brought my mirth to an end.  I had been nervous about meeting Rhyne, but he had been everything I’d expected him to be: a mischievous younger version of Devlin who not only ribbed his older brother every chance he got, but adored him above everyone else.  To him, Devlin was the father he never had, his only family in the world.  I had liked him immediately.

Although he had been very accepting of our relationship in the beginning, I had been getting a strange vibe from Rhyne of late, as if he was afraid I’d take his big brother away from him.  After all, I was the reason Devlin failed to capture the Daramorr, and the reason the two of them had lost their chance at having their own home.  Diarnan Castle was to be Devlin’s reward from the high queen Danua for capturing the Morrigan’s devotee, Mikael, but because of my interference, he had fallen short of his goal.

Biting my lip, I removed myself from Devlin’s embrace and stepped back.  Sometimes I worried about Rhyne.  I suspected that even though he was clearly happy for Devlin and me, something about seeing us together dampened a bit of his spark.  There was a subtle sadness to the looks he cast our way when he thought I wasn’t paying attention, but I didn’t dare bring it up.  I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate his brother’s girlfriend asking him about the emotions he clearly wanted to keep to himself.

I couldn’t let any of it bother me now, however, and I really needn’t worry about him or Enorah.  Both of them were gone from the Weald for the time being, anyway.  Ten days ago, Enorah had received a summons from Queen Danua, and Rhyne had offered to go with her.  I tried to tell myself it wasn’t because of me and Devlin, but I had a feeling that our relationship had something to do with it.

“Is your glamour at least showing itself to you?” Devlin asked, breaking into my thoughts.

I sighed heavily and gathered up Venom and my spare bolts.  Devlin walked with me to the target to retrieve the rest, and I shrugged.

“In all honesty?  I don’t know,” I admitted.  “Sometimes I’ll get these strange tingling sensations, in my fingers and toes.  But sometimes the prickling shows up in the most random places, like behind my knee or in the middle of my back.  I think it’s my glamour trying to work itself free, but then it disappears as quickly as it arrives.”

Devlin pursed his lips and nodded.  “Enorah told me that when Meghan first came to the Otherworld it was the same for her.”

I smiled at the mention of Meghan’s name.  Meghan was my best friend from back home, and about four years ago, she discovered she was Faelorehn and the daughter of Eilé’s high queen.  Now she was married to Cade MacRoich, a Faelorehn man who had been the hottest guy I’d ever seen (until I’d met Devlin, of course), and the two of them lived in a castle like a fairy prince and princess.  Except this fairy princess wielded her wealth of magic like a great battle axe and had obliterated the Morrigan in a battle worthy of any Celtic legend.

We reached the moldering hay bale and Devlin and I started plucking the bolts free of the straw.  They were fashioned of rowan, the most effective wood against the faelah, the reanimated nightmares the Morrigan liked to use as her minions.  Fortunately, the goddess was no longer around to create more, but that didn’t mean some hadn’t been left behind after her demise.

“So I should stop worrying about my absent magic, then?” I asked Devlin as we headed back toward the trail that would lead us to the small village of the Wildren.

He nodded and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a half grin.  He reached out an arm and pulled me closer to his side.  I accepted his partial embrace and together we strolled along, soaking up the warmth of the late morning sun and breathing in the fresh, clean air of the Weald.  It was early April and the green of the forest was finally starting to emerge after winter’s long visit.  Small birds, chattering cheerfully and keeping busy with nest building, darted from one twig to another.  The many brooks and streams of the forest flowed free, the icy edges of their banks beginning to thaw.  And finally, the sun was beginning to cut through the constant chill that often lingered in the air.  Despite the overall joy and peace of the bright, sunny day, and being nestled close to Devlin, I could feel my frustration building up again.  My Lorehnin glamour was a mystery to all of us, and that fact alone had me on edge more often than not.

Once, I had managed to get my magic to crackle invisibly along my skin, but that was only when Devlin had fed some of his own glamour to me.  When I had made the decision to overturn my life and give up everything I’d worked for in the mortal world in exchange for a new beginning in the Otherworld, I was counting on my glamour being there for me in case any more Daramorr decided to carve me up like a pumpkin.

I shuddered as memories I would just as soon forget surfaced to my mind.  At the very beginning of the year, I had been kidnapped by a devotee to the Morrigan and brought to Eilé.  The Daramorr, Mikael, and his sister Moira had tried to kill me and steal my magic.  They had been very close to succeeding, but Devlin had arrived just in time to thwart them.  Too bad they managed to scurry off with a rather sizeable portion of my Lorehnin magic.  Now I was starting to wonder if they’d taken all of it and left nothing behind.

“Don’t fret,” Devlin told me, rubbing his hand up my side.  “Your magic just needs time to heal, and time to get used to being back in Eilé.”

Oh.  I must have been thinking out loud again.  Or he had grown far too good at reading my emotions.

Devlin took my hand and lifted it to his mouth to press a kiss there.  His unwavering support and affection was a balm to my tattered soul.  Not only had I discovered I was Lorehnin (someone of mortal and Faelorehn blood) in the worst possible way, but four months ago my foster parents had severed the last connection I’d had with them, making me an orphan once again.  Okay, technically I was an adult, but it still hurt to have the only parents I’d ever known declare they couldn’t accept me for who I was.  And this had happened before they knew I was Lorehnin.  All in all, it had been a very trying year and having Devlin, and now Enorah, Rhyne, and all the Wildren of the Weald, willing to welcome me into their home had been a blessing.

And tomorrow morning, I reminded myself, you will be leaving to go to the Amsihr Mountains where you may or may not find your blood relatives.

I was incredibly nervous about the prospect of tracking down my family, but Devlin had promised we would stop by Luathara Castle on the way and visit with Meghan and Cade.  I could not wait see Meghan again.  I had written her a letter about a month after moving to the Weald with Devlin, and her response had been such fun to read.  She’d stated enthusiastically that she didn’t believe me, and that she would murder me if I was playing a prank on her.  The rest of the letter was a long list of questions: how could I be half Faelorehn?  What was Devlin like?  Where was I living?  How did I like Eilé?  And, most importantly of all, she wanted to know why I hadn’t come to visit her yet.  The letter I’d sent out after that one assured her that Devlin and I would be making a trip to Luathara very soon.  And that day had finally come.

Shaking my head, I returned my thoughts to the conversation Devlin and I had been having earlier.

“I can feel my glamour, I just can’t picture it too well,” I admitted with a shrug.  “It’s almost as if the magic in me is trapped inside an egg.  I can detect it inside its shell, but I have no idea what it looks like.”

Devlin nodded and pursed his lips, his hands resting casually on his hips.  “Glamour can be like that, especially with someone who grew up in the mortal world.”

I narrowed my eyes and released a sharp breath through my nose.  If my glamour was as stubborn as I was, it might be a century before it graced us with its presence.  Or, a less optimistic part of me whispered into my mind, your suspicions could be right after all and Mikael and his horrid sister are now basking in the glow of magic that was once yours.

An image of the two of them, in all their resplendent Faelorehn beauty, dancing around in a cave as my electric violet magic rained down on them, flashed through my mind.  Fierce anger pierced my heart and I gritted my teeth.  The stupid scene lingered, so I used my skills of imagination to envision a giant scorpion emerging from the depths of the cave to slice them in half with its pincers.  As horrific as the image was, it made me feel a little bit better.

Devlin caught sight of my face and gave me one of his disarming smiles and said, “Don’t give up on it just yet.”

He reached out a hand and I accepted it, reveling in the feel of his warm, long fingers lacing with mine.  I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, the worry melting away under the warmth of the early spring sunlight.  We walked in silence the rest of the way back to the small village of the Wildren, neither one of us needing to talk as we let the natural beauty of Eilé occupy our senses.

Before long, the trail broke away from the crowded trees and blooming underbrush, and spilled out into a spacious meadow of sorts with a few large beech trees standing here and there like living watch towers.  The village of the Wildren itself was composed of several rustic cabins consisting of natural stone or logs topped with tightly-woven, thatched roofs.  Many of the roofs were dotted with green patches of sod or moss.  Some of the houses were single-storied units, a few others standing a bit taller, suggesting a lofted bedroom above the first floor.  They all sported chimneys, for the Otherworld grew very cold in the winter.  I hadn’t lived in the Weald for very long, but since arriving in mid-February, I had woken to find the ground dusted with snow at least three times.

Today, although still somewhat chilly with winter’s remnants, held a brightness to it that promised warmer days ahead.  Devlin and I made our way between the clusters of cabins, pausing every now and then to make space for those moving a lot quicker than us.  A variety of children, ranging in age from early toddler years to late teens, scurried about doing their daily chores or hurrying off to their mid-morning lessons.  I smiled, despite the nagging worry about my magic.  One thing I’d learned for certain in the past several weeks was that Enorah was a gift from the Celtic gods.  Not only did she take all these stray children in, no questions asked, but she insisted on giving each child that came into her care an education in both academics and defense.  The Otherworld was a dangerous place and she wanted to make sure they were prepared should they choose to leave the Weald when they reached adulthood.

Some of the youngest ones, not much older than five if that, sat around in a circle as an adult read to them from an ancient, leather-bound book.  In one open patch of land, the leaves had been swept clean and some more children, these ones a little older, were busily scratching numbers into the dirt as their teacher called out instructions.  Around the communal fire pit a great cauldron hung suspended over a pile of dry wood.  An older woman, probably Lorehnin like Devlin and me, was showing five teenagers how to properly prepare the midday meal, while two others worked diligently to get the fire lit.  Down by the creek, another group was casting lines into the rushing water in the hopes of catching a fish or two.  Beyond the edge of the village, where a large clearing stretched beyond the other side of the stream, several older children were trying their luck with archery.

I grimaced when I watched one misfire and receive a rope burn on his arm.  I knew how he felt.  The longbow and I were not on good terms.  I had received my fair share of rope burns, and being as short as I was, the longbow wasn’t the best weapon for me.  After my fifth attempt at the sport, Enorah had taken pity on me and given me the crossbow to try out.  It had been love at first sight, and anytime I wasn’t studying about the history and social structure of Eilé, or learning how to defend myself against the magical beasts and beings of the Otherworld, I was over at one of the archery ranges, practicing with Venom.

“Are you all packed for tomorrow?” I asked Devlin as we took a left and headed toward our own cabin, leaving the activity in the village center behind.

There were only a handful of cottages that weren’t clustered together with the others.  Enorah and a few of the other adults had their own, private lodges, and when Devlin had returned with me, she had been kind enough to gift us our own place.  Nestled against the small, rocky hillside that sat on the other side of a shallow creek, and spaced a comfortable distance from its neighbors, the cottage I shared with Devlin was a step up from my apartment in San Luis Obispo.  The floor plan was an open one, with the common room, kitchen, pantry, and a small bathroom downstairs.  The bathroom was tiny, but functioned almost the same as those in the mortal world did, so I couldn’t complain.  A lofted bedroom upstairs completed our cozy space, and the many windows let in plenty of outside light.  The furnishings were simple as well, and even though it wasn’t the best place for entertaining, I absolutely loved it.

“Yes, but I noticed you still haven’t packed.”

Devlin’s voice interrupted my thoughts once again, and I smiled with sweet wickedness up at him, fluttering my eyelashes demurely.  I was by no means a damsel in distress, but it was fun to play with Devlin.  To my slight dismay, however, he knew better than to fall for my attempts at innocent seduction.  Curse him.

“Are my charms not working on you?” I queried meekly when he studied me with an unaffected air.

“Not in the least,” he quipped, the brightness in his blue eyes suggesting otherwise.

I sighed dramatically and took several steps forward, moving closer to our cabin.  Over my shoulder I said, “I guess I’ll have to practice some more on Keirney and Donnel, then.   They seemed very eager to help me the last time.”

The smug look on Devlin’s face disappeared in a flash.  Without warning, he struck, his hand shooting out to grab me.  Fortunately, I had put enough distance between us to dart out of reach just in time.  Laughing, I bolted for the door to our cabin, throwing it open and sprinting inside before Devlin could stop me.

I placed Venom and the extra crossbow bolts in the corner as gently as possible, but that moment of pause gave Devlin enough time to catch up.  The air whooshed from my lungs in a startled gasp as he wrapped both arms around me, scooping me up against his chest.  I kicked my feet, not intending to hurt him but hoping to encourage him to put me down.  I squealed in horrified surprise as the two of us began falling backward.  Expecting Devlin to hit the floor, I shut my eyes and waited for the impact.  Instead, I felt him bounce against something soft.  I stilled when I realized he had collapsed into the love seat.  His grip, which had been as unyielding as a vice, melted slowly into a fierce embrace.  Both of us were breathing harder than we should have been, and soon Devlin’s hands were seeking out the skin beneath my shirt.  Oh no.  None of that.

I squirmed away and Devlin let me go.  I ended up sitting across his lap, my hands pressed against his chest.  I wasn’t trying to escape, not really, but I couldn’t have him taking advantage of my momentary weakness, either.  Not if I wanted to keep my wits about me.  I made myself comfortable, sinking further into his essence and pressing my cheek against his chest so that his chin rested on the top of my head.  There.  Hopefully sitting here for a while would cool both of us down.

“Now, are you satisfied?  Or do I have to have words with Keirney and Donnel?” he asked, his voice rumbling in his chest.

I smiled, and even though he couldn’t see it, I was certain it rang clear in my voice.  “Oh, no.  You don’t have to worry about them.”

Tilting my head so that I could get a better look at him, I continued, “You do realize that Donnel is ten, and Keirney is eight, don’t you?”

Devlin’s eyes narrowed, but the humor remained.  “They may be young now, but in ten years or so it will be an entirely different story.”

I sat up and shoved a hand against Devlin’s shoulder.  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I snorted. 

 “They’re like my little adopted cousins.  And besides, I’ve got you. Why would I want anybody else?”

The look Devlin gave me made my heart melt.  Biting my bottom lip, I snuggled up against him once again.  Although I had always portrayed myself as being rough around the edges and wholly independent, it wasn’t entirely true.  My relationship with my foster parents had always been touch and go, and when my father had written to me in college to inform me that he and my mother no longer wanted anything to do with me, I had kind of let that fierce façade crumble a little.  I didn’t want to admit it, but part of me was still pretty emotionally disturbed from their rejection, and Devlin had been there to fill that hole.  I didn’t know what terrified me more: knowing that I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was, or wondering if maybe the reason I loved Devlin so much was because he had been there, in the right place at the right time, when I really needed a friend.

I gritted my teeth at that last thought.  What I felt for Devlin was genuine.  He was fierce and passionate in his own right, and even if my life hadn’t taken such a rocky turn; even if my foster parents had loved me as much as any parent should, I still would have fallen for him.  And I was strong, despite my weaknesses.  I had survived a botched sacrifice, and despite my fears and misgivings, I had embraced my feelings toward Devlin and had come to live in Eilé with him.  Every day that passed, I grew stronger and better at being a young Lorehnin woman in the Otherworld, despite my mortal world upbringing.  And I could have done it with or without Devlin by my side.  But it was oh-so-nice to have his love and support.

“Hey now,” Devlin murmured, shifting me on his lap so that he could look into my eyes.  “No dark thoughts.”

My smile was weaker this time, but I shook my head.  The fact that he could read me so well was proof we made a great team.  Time to snap out of my melancholy.

“Dark thoughts gone,” I promised, holding up my right hand.

“Good,” he said.  “We don’t want Meghan and Cade to think you hate it here.”

That made me laugh and reminded me that I still had to finish packing.  Groaning, I reluctantly pushed away from Devlin and headed toward the stairs to our bedroom.

Upstairs, several articles of clothing, both from home and from Eilé, lay strewn across the bed like discarded corn husks.  The wooden steps creaked and soon I felt Devlin’s presence behind me.  My arms were crossed loosely over my chest and I turned to glance back at him.

“I’m still not sure what to bring.  Will it be cold at Luathara?”

The nights in the Weald had been exceptionally chilly, and winter still hung in the air for most days, but I had no idea if Meghan’s castle would be the same.

“It shouldn’t be too different from the climate here in the Weald, but the mountains will most likely be snowcapped and cold,” he admitted as he stepped forward to help me pick out the appropriate attire.

The two of us were only bringing one pack each, since we planned on walking for most of the trip.  The idea was both thrilling and horrifying to me.  It felt like we were going on some grand adventure found only in the epic fantasy novels I’d read over the years.  Part of me couldn’t wait to discover the Otherworld in this way, but another part was extremely cautious.  I had seen what monstrosities Eilé could produce, and knowing that I’d be traipsing around in the land of faelah and evil wizards who employed the Morrigan’s dark magic made me want to curl up in a ball and hide under our bed for a week or two.

But I couldn’t let myself dwell on that.  The world I lived in now was dangerous, and although I was still very much a novice with regards to my crossbow and self-defense lessons, I’d picked up a lot of new skills since leaving my old life behind.  The visit with Meghan and Cade would be well worth the risk of a possible faelah encounter, and the anticipation of seeing my best friend again, in her new home in Eilé, was enough to burn away the last of my apprehension.

“Well in that case, I’ll pack a few pairs of jeans, some T-shirts and a few sweatshirts.”

I gently shoved Devlin out of the way and started picking from my pile of clothes.  I was able to fit five T-shirts, two of them with long sleeves, three pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts, along with a set of pajamas, into the pack with my spare underwear and socks underneath.  On the very top I placed a heavy hooded sweatshirt, just barely getting the straps buckled to keep it all in place.

When I turned around I found Devlin grinning.

“Will you ever wear any of our clothing?” he wondered aloud.

I crossed my arms and wrinkled my nose at him.  “I do wear your clothing.  But my old clothes will take up less room in my bag.”

He only shook his head, his lips curving into that lopsided grin I loved so much, then stepped forward and pulled me into his arms again.  This time I tilted my head up to his, silently asking for his kiss.  He didn’t disappoint me and I responded back just as enthusiastically.

“We’ll never be ready to leave in the morning if you keep this up,” he murmured, his voice rough and low.  The very sound of it sent shivers down my spine.

“Oh, what’s the rush anyway?” I returned, kissing him again, this time much more thoroughly.

Somehow, Devlin was able to escape my attempts at seduction and slipped away to help the others with some chores he’d promised to attend to before our departure in the morning.

Once alone, I got back to the dismal task of filling all the pockets on my pack with the little things we’d need for our journey.  Just to please Devlin, I added a skirt, blouse, and the bodice Enorah had given me when I had first arrived in Eilé to the lot, squeezing it into the large pocket on the front of the pack.  After checking, and double-checking that I had everything I would need, I carefully folded the remaining clothes and returned them to the large chest on my side of the bed.

Downstairs, the cabin was empty and growing brighter as the sun crested the sky.  Since Devlin would be busy the rest of the day helping with patching roofs, mending fences, and other such chores, I decided to make use of the time by tidying the cabin and getting dinner started.  We would be gone for the gods knew how long, and I didn’t want to tempt any vermin into breaking in while we were away.

Once the kitchen and living room were free of crumbs and clutter, and the stew was bubbling on a pot suspended over the small fire place in the kitchen, I curled up in one of the stuffed chairs beside the window and picked up the book I had started reading a few days before.  The tome was a collection of children’s tales of Eilé, miraculously written in English, and despite their simple plots, I found myself enjoying them.  As my eyes traveled over the pages, reading about fantastical creatures, both evil and benign, I wondered how many of them were real and living in this magical world I had been introduced to.  Perhaps tomorrow, and the days to come, I’d get to see some of these dangerous and benevolent things.  To my delight, the thought left me smiling and eager to begin our journey.