The War of Odds (26 page)

Sara couldn’t believe it, but she knew that hardly any time had passed since she and her friends left this realm to help the faeries on their quest. The glades still clung to icy shrouds of snow, even as buttercups and bluebells raised their petal faces to the warmth of the sun. Months had passed, and lives were lost in the faerie lands while Sara, Nate and Chloe trained for and carried out their mission. Only a few days had gone by, however, here at home. The faeries had promised the teens that they could, and would, bend time, but they had not promised that everyone would remain safe.

Sara’s eyes filled with tears and she dashed them away with trembling fingers.
No
, Sara acknowledged,
the faeries never promised our safety, and had actually tried, in their own way, to warn me about the hazards. I was the one who brought Nate to his death. It is my fault he is dead!
 
Tears welled up again and spilled down Sara’s cheeks.

“Hey, Sara,” Chloe had woken up and she touched her friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “It’s not your fault, you know. Nate knew what he was getting into when he came along, and he trained for it, too.” Chloe eyes sparkled with angry tears. “You know what bothers me the most, though?”

Sara shook her head and Chloe continued. “What bothers me is that Nate’s parents probably don’t even know he’s gone! Nate’s mom is so drunk half the time, she’s probably just pissed that Nate isn’t keeping the house clean, as usual.” She gritted her teeth with rage. “I don’t even know if his dad knew Nate existed, except as someone to beat up on,” she wailed. “Nate was the sweetest boy I’ve ever known, and his parents didn’t deserve him!”

The girls held one another, weeping, and the birds in the trees ceased singing, as if in respect for the girl’s sorrow. Finally, Sara pulled away and whispered, “What are we going to tell our folks, Chloe?”

Chloe wiped her nose on her sleeve, thinking for a moment. “We’ll tell them that we got lost in the woods, okay? It happens a lot up here… hikers, snowmobilers and hunters get turned around and the next thing you know, a search party is sent out to find them. My mom has told me about having to treat people with hypothermia and dehydration who got lost in these mountains. I think that’s our best bet.”

Sara stared into the distance and heard a dog howl… maybe the same dog she heard earlier, although it sounded closer now. Turning to Chloe, she asked, “What do we tell them about Nate?”

Chloe closed her eyes and murmured, “We say that we saw Nate’s dog, Mike, get killed… run over by that Cadillac. We say that Nate was so upset he ran into the woods and we followed him, to comfort him, you know, but that’s where we lost him, and ended up getting lost ourselves.” She sighed, adding, “I know that a lot of the people who get lost up here are never found.”

“Anyway,” Chloe concluded, “depending on how much time has passed; I think that’s the best story, don’t you?”

Sara nodded and replied, “Well, we sure look the part!” Chloe held her breath for a moment and then let it out with a small laugh. She looked down at her soiled clothes and dirty hands, grimacing in disgust. Then she inspected Sara, whose blond braids were ratty and filled with leaves and twigs. In addition, the girl’s pretty face was streaked with mud and shiny tear tracks traced pink trails through numerous, bloody scratch marks on her cheeks. Chloe realized that she smelled bad, and doubted Sara smelled like a peach either.

They stared at one another, for a moment, and then gave each other a spontaneous hug. They knew that they could never talk about their adventures with anyone. No one would believe them, for one thing, and even if they did, Sara and Chloe understood that the faeries valued their privacy. If the girls blabbed, and human beings went searching for the fairies, the war that had just begun, and was averted at such a high cost, would probably start anew.

Suddenly, they heard a shout and the excited barking of a dog coming toward them.
 
Standing up, Sara and Chloe saw that a K-9 police officer was closing in on them and a number of deputies were running up behind it. The girls heard a hoot of triumph and saw the officers grinning with weary happiness. Sara took her friend’s hand and gave her one last, complicit smile before police officers; EMT’s and members of a search party surrounded them.

For a couple of minutes the girls were so busy fielding questions, being forced into a sitting position so their vitals could be checked, and making phone calls to their frantic parents, who, under strict orders, sat at home waiting by the phone for news, they didn’t see the young man who had followed the search party.

Nate stared at the girl he loved and at his oldest friend. He saw that both girls were shaken and dirty but unhurt and his eyes filled with tears of relief. He was still not quite sure what had happened to him… but did know that after the Kelpie took him under the water, the nymph that Nate and Sara saved from the Djin snatched him away from the water horse to safety.

It was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to him. After the Kelpie took him to the sandy bottom of the pool, it shook Nate off its back and stood over him with its teeth bared and streams of bubbles snorting from its fiery nostrils. It stared deeply into his eyes and seemed to whisper, “This is for my brothers and sisters of the land where you rule.” Nate held his breath as long as he could, but finally, knowing that he would drown, he let the used air out of his lungs and had no choice but to breathe in the liquid that held him prisoner. The fear and the pain were horrifying, and the last thing he saw was Sara’s sea green eyes. He was drowning, dying, but suddenly, the nymph placed her lips on his and ordered him to, “Breathe- just breathe.”

He opened his eyes and recognized the nymph he had tried to help. She held a whip in one hand and his limp body with her other arm, while she breathed air into his lungs. The whip turned gold and then red as she slammed it down on the Kelpies body. “You will stop this insanity, Horrack, or you will die!” Nate heard her words, telepathically, as the Kelpie fled, squealing in pain and rage. Then, he and the nymph floated up and up, while she crooned, “Breathe…”

Then, to his utter astonishment, Nate found himself in the school’s swimming pool, surrounded by panicked students and the swimming instructor, who was furious and promptly placed him on detention… for scaring the team to death, jumping in the pool with his clothes on, and for removing the braces on his teeth without permission from his dentist.

He didn’t have the nerve to defend himself against the irate teacher, who thought that Nate was either drunk or high, and trying to prank the swim team, but took his punishment gladly, amazed and grateful to still be alive. He talked with the students later and heard about all the strange things that had taken place over the last few days, while he and the girls were in the faerie lands.

There were earthquakes and storms, tidal waves, and a couple of eruptions from volcanos long thought dormant. Many people were killed, all over the world, although it seemed that the citizens of Ashbrook were spared. Scientists were at a loss trying to explain away the freakish natural disasters (finally settling on solar flare activity being to blame), and newscasters were attempting to cover up earlier, outlandish reports of dragons over the oceans and strange mythical beasts fighting each other in the heavens above.

Nate knew, of course, that solar flares had nothing to do what happened on Earth. He also knew that, despite claims that the stories were false and only being reported by drug-addled hippies and conspiracy theorists, the tales were all true.
 
He also realized that he would never say anything about what he knew to be true.

He found out that he had been gone about three days, and his mother wasn’t even aware of his absence. The only thing she said when he showed up at the house, was that she had received a call, and that somehow, Mike the dog, had gotten loose from his chain, ran out on the road and been run over by a car. She had gazed at him for a moment, and muttered, “Sorry, sweetie, but I told you that there is no place for a dog in this house.” He smiled at her sadly, and wished for the day he could leave for good.

His biggest concern now was the girl’s well- being and as he watched their tears flow and saw how tired and beat up they were, he decided to wait for a little while before he shocked them again with his presence. He could only hope and pray that now that he and the girls were home, Sara would still consider going out with him.

He turned to walk away, and saw a flash of red in the trees. Pausing, Nate’s eyes probed the gloom and he saw Hissaphat, the cat, walking away with the little sprite, Pollo, on his back. Catching Nate’s eye, Pollo said something and Hiss stopped. Then, the little brown faery doffed his cap and bowed low. The cat grinned, winking and then he and the sprite were gone.

Nate blinked away tears. He thought of the dwarves and the sprites. He thought about Muriel, the wood nymph and the magnificent sasquatches. He saw the graceful elves, Rondel and his sister, Rowena, and remembered the valiant unicorn who sacrificed itself to save Nate. He saw the land of fae in its strange, techno-color splendor, and he knew he would never forget William, the aging rock-star who had been given the gift of eternal, musical enchantment.

Nate saw the pixies and the Grigs, the goblins and the trolls and Hestia, the faery queen of the hearth. He remembered the gentle giants and the deadly Kelpie, and knew that despite everything; the fear, the anger and the sorrow of all their losses, he and his friends, Sara and Chloe were given a true and powerful gift… the first-hand gift of understanding and the knowledge that there really was magic in this common, mundane world.

Brushing his tears away, Nate started to walk home, and then he heard his friend, Chloe shout, “Nate… is that you?”

The shock in her familiar voice made Nate’s heart sing and the young man turned around with a grin. He laughed, as she squealed with joy and ran to him. Spinning his lifelong friend around in the air, Nate looked into Sara’s face and saw tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. There was confusion in her expression, and hope, but more importantly, he saw all the love in the world shining from her sea green eyes and Nate knew that he and Sara, at least, would live happily ever after.

~The End~

About The Author

Linell Jeppsen is a writer of science fiction and fantasy. Her vampire novel, Detour to Dusk, has received over 24- four and five star reviews. Her novel Story Time,
 
with over 56- 4 and 5 star reviews, is a science fiction, post-apocalyptic novel, and has been touted by the Paranormal Romance Guild, Sandy’s Blog Spot, Coffeetime Romance , Bitten by Books and 54 top reviewers as a five star read, filled with terror, love, loss, and the indomitable beauty and strength of the human spirit. Story Time was also nominated as the best new read of 2011 by the PRG! Her dark fantasy novel, Onio (a story about a half-human Sasquatch who falls in love with a human girl), was released in December 2012 and won 3
^rd
place as the best fantasy romance of 2012 by the PRG reviewers guild!

For more information about Linell Jeppsen and her novels, visit
http://neljeppsen.weebly.com
, or

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com/home.html