Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (40 page)

I watched as he clumped across the room, kicking off his unlaced boots and flipping a switch on his stereo.
 
He took two steps towards his door, reaching out to flick on his overhead light before backing up to drop down on the edge of his bed.
 
I could hear the music come on loudly.
 

There was a knock at his door, his mother’s voice coming through the space.
 
“Too loud, Tony!”

Tony picked up one of his boots next to his bed and threw it at the door.
 
I could hear his mother pad away without saying a word.

I gasped at what I saw.
 
“Did you see that
?!
 
Tony would
never
do that.
 
Never!”

Gregale said nothing.

I was getting ready to leave, so stressed out I couldn’t even think straight.
 
But then I watched Tony start to move again.
 
He got up and walked over to his desk, shoving a bunch of things out of the way, looking for something.
 

Curiosity made me stay.

He found whatever he was searching for, digging it out of the junk on the tabletop.
 
His back was to me so I couldn’t see what it was.
 
He leaned over and pressed a button on his stereo so the CD selection was lit up.
 
I watched as he clicked through the tracks until he came to the one he wanted.
 
He pressed
play
and then sat down on the edge of his bed, holding something in his hand – the thing he had been looking for and then found buried under the crap on his desk.

The music began to come out of the speakers, a haunting melody I hadn’t heard in a long time –
My Immortal
by Evanescence.
 
The words carried a whole new meaning for me in this moment, as my spirit floated up above Tony’s new and disturbing life.
 
I knew looking at my best friend right now that this song meant something much, much more to him too ... more than it ever could have before we were exposed to the world of the fae.
 
More than it ever could have when we were together in each other’s lives every day.

Tony’s body began to silently shake and tremble, his shoulders hunched over.
 
He shifted a little to the left and I could finally see what he was holding in his hands.
 
It was a picture of him and me that I had put into a frame for him over a year ago.
 
We had gone to the mall, goofing around by the big fountain.
 
I remember holding up my camera and doing a self-portrait of us.
 
Later I put it in a frame for his birthday, telling him to put it on his desk to remind him not to be so serious all the time when he was doing his homework.
 
I watched as a tear landed on the glass.
 

Suddenly, Tony looked up at his ceiling, as if he could see me there, and yelled,
“Why can’t you just leave me alone
?!
”
 
He jumped up, throwing the picture across the room.
 
It hit the wall, shattering in a huge explosion of glass.
 
The picture and frame fell heavily to the floor amidst the wreckage that was his new life ... a life that didn’t include me anymore.
 

I had seen enough.
 
Too much.
 
“Gregale,” I cried desperately, “get me out of here!
 
Please!”

I felt Gregale’s energy warmly surround me and pull me back through the plane we had traveled.
 
I paid no attention to the cold things that brushed past us as we flew by.
 
I could only think of one thing – the image of my best friend, left alone and abandoned by me – the one who should have been there for him but who had instead chosen personal glory and adventure over
friendship.

We were back in the meadow, lying amidst the heather, and I was sobbing uncontrollably.
 
I couldn’t move past the pain that my selfish choices had caused the person I loved most in the world.
 
How could I have left him alone like that?
 
What have I done?

“Jayne,” Gregale said softly.
 
“Jayne, please do not cry.”
 
He must have misunderstood my tears.
 
“I do not yet consider my debt to you paid.
 
You may still have anything you wish from me, at any time.
 
This thing I did for you – I am afraid it was no favor.”

I just shook my head.
 
I couldn’t even talk.
 
The tears poured down my face unchecked.
 
I began to keen for my lost friend, moaning with the pain.
 
It was too late.
 
I
was too late.
 
There was no point in going back to Florida.
 
I had already lost him.
 
He didn’t want to be my friend anymore.

I felt Gregale leave my side, but I didn’t care.
 
It was better that way.
 
I was a terrible friend.
 
A terrible person.
 
Everyone should just leave me alone.
 
I should go over with the Dark Fae – it’s where selfish people belonged.

I don’t know how long I sat there sifting through the memories of Tony, of the times we had spent together before Dardennes and all of them had come into our lives – even further back, before my mother’s boyfriend had entered our lives and started the cascade of events that had led me to be here, my heart breaking, in the middle of the heathers and meadows of the Light Fae forest ... in the middle of an enchanted piece of somewhere I didn’t even know where.
 
My own private hell.

I was going to miss the plane to Florida, but it didn’t matter.
 
I wasn’t going.
 
I tried to block out the image of Tony throwing our picture across the room and the sound of the song that had been playing when I saw it hit the wall, but I couldn’t.
 
It was haunting me.
 
The tears came anew, threatening to wash me away entirely.

I became aware of another presence, seconds before I felt a gentle touch on my arm.
 
I looked up through my tears to see Maggie the witch at my side.
 
She dropped down to sit next to me, the pain of bending her limbs etched into her wrinkled face.
 
I couldn’t speak to her now.
 
I wasn’t up to her barbed comments and harsh criticisms.
 
I just shook my head at her, the tears still flooding my face.

“You have seen something you shouldn’t have.”

I shook my head.
 
I didn’t agree.
 
I had needed to see it.

“The Gray distorts things.
 
It puts a shadow over things that do not have shadows.”

“I need to let him go.
 
He’s already gone.”

“No!
 
If you let him be taken from you, you are not the fae I thought you were.”

“I wish I wasn’t fae!”

“Lie!”

“I wish I hadn’t left Tony.”

“Lie!”

“I wish he had come with me.”

“Truth.
 
Finally.
 
You cannot control the choices of others.
 
But his life is different now.
 
His choice may be different now too.
 
Go to him.
 
Let him make the choice again.
 
Do not make the choice for him.”

“I already let him down.”

“No!
 
You do what’s right for you.
  
He does what’s right for him.
 
Sometimes what is right brings you together.
 
Sometimes it drives you apart.
 
The only thing you have is honesty.
 
Be honest with yourself right now.
 
What is your fondest desire?”

Those words came back to me, a whisper from the near past – the day I stood before the last waypoint, the first day of my life as a fae.
 
I thought about it hard.
 
Concentrating with all my might, trying to ignore the pain and self-criticisms.
 
What is my fondest desire?

“I want things to be the same with Tony again.”

“Lie!”

“No, it’s not!
 
It’s the truth!”

“No!
 
Lie!”

I started crying again, but this time in anger.
 
I yelled at her.
 
“What do you know
?!
 
You don’t know me!
 
You don’t know Tony!
 
You have no idea what I want!”

“I know the difference between truth and lies.
 
Speak your truth, girl, or I will no longer waste my time with you.”

“Fine!
 
Leave!
 
I don’t care anyway!”

“Lie!”

I laughed bitterly.
 
All the fight went out of me.
 
I don’t know if it was because I was mentally exhausted or if I had finally snapped, but I couldn’t yell anymore and I was done crying.
 
“You’re nuts, you old bat.”

“I have heard worse.
 
So.
 
Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?
 
Ready to tell the truth?”

I shot her an evil look.
 
“You are an ugly old hag.”

“Truth!”

“I wish I could smash you right now, right in the head, and not worry about getting turned into a toad.”

“Truth!”

“I want to kick the ass of the person who is messing with my Tony.”

“Truth!”

“I miss him.”

“Truth!”

“I want to get on the plane and go see if he has changed his mind and wants to join me here.”

“Truth.”
 
She struggled to stand up.
 
“So what are you doing here then?
 
Don’t you have a plane to catch?”

I looked at her curiously.
 
“How do you know that?”

She cackled and started hobbling away, chanting to herself in her scratchy voice, “Green things, green things, beautiful lovely green things ...
”
 
She
soon disappeared into the trees at the edge of the meadow.
 

I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, sending out a message into The Green, hoping somehow, some way, Tony would receive it.
 
“I’m coming to get you Tony, and anyone who gets in my way, better watch the fuck out because I am
pissed
.”

I got up and went back into the door leading to the compound.
 
I had a plane to catch.

I ran to my room, throwing open the door.
 
Tim was there, zipping around the room, his wings buzzing.
 
“Where have you been?
 
Everyone’s looking for you.”

“I was having a crisis, but I’m back online now.
 
Are you ready to go?”

“Yep!”
 
He was wearing the miniature fanny pack that I had Netter find for him.
 
He couldn’t wear a backpack for obvious reasons, but he had bitched for weeks about how he wanted some sort of pack like everyone else, so I finally caved and enlisted the brownie’s help.
 
I didn’t have the heart to tell Tim how goofy fanny packs were
,
he loved his so much
.
 
I tried not to laugh every time I saw him wearing it, but it was tough.
 
I don’t even know what he kept inside the damn thing
,
it was so small
.

Tim flew down and landed on his bed, bouncing up off of it and flying up into the air, doing somersaults and barrel rolls.
 
Tim liked to use his tiny mattress as a jumping off spot for his stunt flying.
 
He had a whole miniature bedroom set on top of my dresser that was a carbon copy of mine, right down to the quilt and itty-bitty silver tray on the dresser.
 
Every day he’d have me put a token on the tray for Netter.
 
The chocolate ball took up the entire top of his dresser.

I threw my old human clothes into my backpack along with my Converse sneakers.
 
No need to go back there looking like a hippy freak, which is what the tunics made me think I looked like.
 
Netter had made sure my old clothes were cleaned and pressed; now I was glad he’d bothered.
 
I had Blackie strapped to my leg as usual.
 
I added my brush, toothbrush, and makeup to the bag and I was done.