Forever Fae (27 page)

He leans over until h
e’s right up in my face and adds
, “You know, you are beautiful when you’re helpless.  I think I could stare at you all day like this, but we must get going.  Get dressed and be ready in five minutes.  We will leave then.”

He quickly gets off of me and heads out the door.  Now that he is gone, I think of all the shit that is going on and how deep I am in it.   I sit up on the bed and rock myself back and forth.  I need to think of a way to get out of here, but I don’t know where
‘
here
’
is.  I know I will be headed to the Black Forest soon so I must be somewhere in between.  I wonder why no one has spotted us yet.  I go to the bathroom and do my usual morning ritual of using the
toilet
, washing my face and brushing my teeth.  I dread looking in the closet for something to wear, but I know I must.  I can’t wear this bathrobe all day
,
now can I?  Or can I?  I pick out a blue dress and then
realize that the dress is the color of Ryder’s eyes.  I smile thinking about him.  The only shoes in the closet are high heeled sandals.
Are these people serious?
I am so going to break my neck if I have to run away in these things.  I let out an exasperated breath and put on a pair of the sandals. 

My five minutes are just about up so I smile at myself in the mirror as I’m putting the bathrobe
over
th
e
ridiculous dress. 
Th
e
dress
shows more skin than the red dress, but I ripped the red one when I angrily tore it from my body.  Let’s see what they say about this.  I sit on the edge of the bed and wait for the door to be unlocked.
  This time when the door opens it is
Warren.  He
t
akes
one look at me and
sh
akes
his head.

“Very funny, Princess, but I’m afraid the master will be quite eager to see what’s underneath that bathrobe.  Enjoy it for now because you w
on’t be wearing it much longer,” he says amused.

I scowl at him, but I keep my mouth shut.  Sometimes I think it’s best to stay quiet.  I keep
my head high and my chin up as he
takes my arm and we head out of the room.  I look around the rest of the house while we walk to the front door.  There is a kitchen
,
living room and other rooms down a hall.  I guess that is where everyone else slept.
The house looks pretty standard and
I can honestly say I had the best room.  When we walk out I am able to see our surroundings.  I was blindfolded when coming in and now I’m not.  I see that we are on the outskirts of the Mystical Forest and when I turn to look at the house
,
it’s gone.  I gasp an
d blink twice to clear my eyes. 
S
erious
magic
is
at work here
, it has made the
invisible.  A weight feels like it’s been lifted off my body
and
I can feel my connection to Merrick open up.  I immediately try to speak to him.

“Merrick, I have to do this quick.  We just left a house that disappeared before my eyes and I’m getting ready to get into a carriage that I know is surrounded by magic.  We are on the outskirts of the Mystical Forest and are headed through the valley to the Black Forest.  Please hurry, Merrick.  I love you all, and if something happens to me please know that I do not blame anyone other than myself.”
 
I’m glad I had time to get all of that out.

I tried to keep my fac
e blank so
Warren wouldn’t know what I was doing.  I don’t think he even
realize
s
that I
c
an
speak to Merric
k right now.  Warren looks
at me
and then back to the area where the house was just a few seconds ago. 

He says, “You’re not going crazy if that’s what you’re wondering.
  The house was there and now it’s not.  It remained invisible the whole time we were in there so any chan
ce of anyone finding us was zilch
.”

“Calista!
Oh thank the gods, are you
OK
?  You’re not hurt
,
are you?”
Merrick asks frantically.

“No, Merrick, I’m fine.  I’m about to get into the carriage and then I won’t be able to communicate.  Avery came to me this morning a
nd it didn’t go over very well.  He sure can be a complete dick, but h
e’s here
now
with Warren and we are on our way to the Black Forest.
There’
s also a troll here that’s
driving the carriage.”

I
c
an
hear Merrick sigh and hesitate when he asks,
“Did Avery do anything to you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle
,
Merrick.  Please don’t worry about me
.  I’ll be fine.  My time’s up,”
I add quickly.

“Stay strong, Calista.  I love you.”

My chest tightens at hearing
him say it
and the pain in the back of my throat makes it hard to breathe.  The connection broke as soon as he said those three words.  In a way I’m glad I didn’t have time to comment on it, but if I would have said
it
back he would have taken it the
wrong way.  I do love him, and he knows I do, but not in that way.  If I ever do get rescued
,
I don’t know how I’m going to handle the guys when I get back.

I step into the carriage and
see that,
thankfully
,
I am going to be by myself.  Avery rides up on a horse and gives me a snarled expression as he passes the carriage.  I politely give him the finger and he rides off.  Warren is also on horseback and is riding behind the carriage.  If they were in here with me
,
I would probably try to kill them with my bare hands and I don’t think I would come out unscathed after that.

The journey to the Black
Forest
t
akes
about half the day and
I
spen
d
most of
the
time impatient and restless.  My knees
bounce
up and down
,
making t
he carriage sway back and forth the
entire
time.
  Warren
r
ides
up beside the carriage at one point and
tilt
s
his head to the side.  He
s
ees
my leg bouncing and
clamp
s
his lips together.  I believe
my nervousness has him
trying to hold in a laugh. 

I have never been to the Black Forest so I have no idea what to expect. 
All I can say is that i
t definitely lives up to its name.  As soon as the forest
begins
the light diminishes.  It’s scary and depressing at the same time and I can’t imagine what it would be like to live here.  The feeling of dread settles in the pit of my stomach and I find myself actually afraid.  Yes, I’m strong and stubborn, but my skin has gone clammy and my pulse has started racing.  The darkness of the forest feels like it is eating away my courage and replacing it with defeat. 

I take a few deep breaths and whisper to myself, “I must stay strong.  I must stay strong.  I must stay strong.”

The
f
a
rther
we get into the forest
the more
I get the feeling of being watched.  My scalp prickles and the hair standing up on the back of my neck is a good indicator as well.  I sit up to look out the side window of the carriage and I notice the trees
have grown
darker.  The trunks look rotted and the leaves and limbs look like they are spilling oil.  The
entire
place reeks of violence and death.  I can’t stand to see any
more so I sit back in the carriage and close my eyes. 
Visions
of my fam
ily and Ryder pop in
to
my head and I let t
he
feelings of peace consume me
.
I revel in it for these last few minutes I have
left
.

The
carriage comes to a stop.  My heart rate speeds up and my breathing quickens.  I look from side to side and see we have entered a
village of some
kind
.  There are
different types of house scattered about
the area. Some are
made of wood, some of clay and some of bricks.  There
are
also
houses up in the trees.  Warren comes to open the carriage door and Avery is there to take my arm.  As soon as I am out of the carriage
,
I feel my link to Merrick open back up.  I keep my expression blank and look at both Avery and Warren.
They’re not paying attention to me so I concentrate on Merrick.

“Calista, are you there?  I can feel you
,
”
he begins.

I need to concentrate on keeping my face neutral whil
e I talk to Merrick.  Warren and Avery
look at me and all I want to do is slap
th
e
smug expressions off their face
s
.  The troll that drove the carriage is with us
,
too.

There are different fae creatures everywhere.  When they see me, their eyes sparkle and they bounce up and down squealing, singing, and chanting as loud as they can.  I keep my expression blank and continue walking
.
My
insides are in turmoil with the raging emotions I’m feeling.  I’m furious, scared, humiliated, sad,
lonely
and
I just want to be at home.
Talking to Merrick right now is the only thing keeping me sane.  I
wonder how long our connection will last.

“I’m here Merrick.  We made it to the Black Forest and now we’re makin
g our way through the village.
Ther
e are fae creatures everywhere and
i
t’s like a parade right now.  They’re all jumping up and down and celebrating that I’m here
,
”
I say.

“I can’t tell you of our plans, but just know that you won’t be there long
,
”
Merrick claims.

I breathe a silent
sigh of relief and keep my head high.  No matter how I feel
,
I can’t let them know how scared I truly am.  I have to be strong for my people and
my family.  It looks like we’re
headed to a huge tree that
resembles
a small redwood, but slick and black.  It’s a monster of a tree and I see a door carved into it.

“How is everyone?”
I ask even though I really don’t want to know how crazy everyone is going at the moment.  I really want to know about Ryder, but the guilt comes back with the
thought of asking Merrick about him.

“They’re all worried about you.  Ryder is sitting here fuming because I’m talking to you and he’s not. His face is all red and everything
.
He
has a dagger pointed at
my chest. I love provoking him.” He laughs. “
He says that if I don’t tell you that he loves you, he will rip off my balls and shove them down my throat.”

“Stop being childish, Merrick, and listen to me.  We are headed to a huge tree toward the back of the village.  There’s a door carved into it.  It’s the only one I’ve seen in this village.”
  The pins and needles feeling I get when I lose my connection is coming back. 
I say hurriedly,
“Merrick, the connection is about to fade
.
”

The connection drops before I finish what I was going to say.  I don’t remember everything on
the walk through the village, but at least t
alking to Merrick helped keep my mind clear.  Warren and Avery both stop at the door to the tree and turn to look at me.

With a satisfied smirk, Avery, still holding onto one of my arm
s, guides me through the door of
the tree.  The space inside is hollow and there is a long staircase reaching toward the top.  My hands start to sweat and my mouth goes dry.  I am about to meet the most powerful person here and I have no magic to defend
myself.   I hope I can do this, but
I’m tired from all of the travelling and from lack of food.  I seriously want to kick myself in the ass for not eating because I could really use the energy right now.