Upon Waking (Youngling Series) (10 page)

The
apartment was cold and empty once she left her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Damn Elijah, and damn his secrets too. Every time she thought they might be getting closer he had to go and shut her out. Not that she particularly wanted to get any closer to Elijah but hell…even if she wasn’t interested in him that way he sure was interested in her. Plus, he was Harper's brother and if she planned on being with Harper then that meant she would have to learn to deal with Elijah.

Tessa groaned and massaged her temples, collapsing into the soft couch and kicking her bare feet up onto the coffee table. A piece of paper flew off the table, whirled around a few times then landed on the floor beneath the table. If she had been in her own apartment, Tessa would have just left it but as it were, Penny was a neat freak. So, out of the goodness of her heat, Tessa sat up and snatched the paper, ready to crumple it into oblivion before noticing that it said her name.

The handwriting was small and neat with few flourishes; written in a dark ink from what she could only guess was one of those old fashioned pens that had to be dipped into an ink well.

Tessa Gwendolyn Rake

The sight of those carefully written letters sent a shot of icy dread through her veins, her fingers clenching and wrinkling the parchment. Before she knew what she was doing, Tessa ripped open the back, her eyes drinking in the words before her.

She wha tills the fairies’ green

Nae luck again shall she:

And she wha spills the fairies’ ring

Betide her want and wae.

For weirdless days and weary nights

Are hers till her deein’ day.

But she wha gaes by the fairy ring,

Nae dule nor pine shall see,

And she wha cleans the fairy ring

An easy death shall dee.

Come find me.

No signature, no explanation. Just what sounded like a rhyme and a three word message that gave her no indication as to who had written the message or how long it had been sitting there on her table. Tessa reread the message several times over, even going so far as to sniff the paper to see if she maybe smell the person who had written it. All she got was a hint of what she thought might be lavender.  As for the message, none of it made sense to her. No sense at all. But she knew someone who would know.

Tessa
grabbed her phone and dialed Nira’s number before she could talk herself out of it. How was she supposed to explain the situation to her? How was she supposed to explain anything at all? Turns out that she wasn’t going to have to explain anything after all. She tried the number three different times but each time was told by the automatic voice that the number was disconnected. Making a split second decision, she dialed Harper’s phone, hoping he could hear it in the noisy club.

“Hello?” He picked up after the second ring. Tessa could hear the noise of the club in the background but it was muted, like he had hidden himself in his office again. “Tessa?”

“Harper, I need your help.” She quickly filled him in on the note then bit her lip, waiting anxiously for his reply.

“Tessa…what does any of that even mean? Why would anyone leave an old Scottish rhyme about fairy rings on your coffee table? That makes absolutely no…sense…” Worry filled his voice at the other end of the line, silence quickly taking over. “Rowena.”

“Rowena? Your sister? Why would she want me to come and find her?” None of it made much sense. She had only met his sister once and it hadn’t been for very long. It was true that she hadn’t seemed to care for Tessa much but what did that matter?

“Repeat it to me one more time, Tessa.” She spoke the words once more and Harper sighed heavily into her ear. “I don’t know what her end game is, Tessa, but I can tell you this. Rowena has never been quite…stable. She’s always had this passion for lore and…me.”

“You’re her brother, Harper.”

“Half-brother, actually. Don’t ask me to explain it. Elijah and I use to be very close and it drove her insane, being the only girl. She hated that she was treated so differently and then I became engaged and she just…went off the deep end, so to speak. She refused to speak to me for weeks, Elijah too though he had nothing to do with it. And she was downright horrible to Isobel. She tried so very hard to be Rowena’s friend since Isobel had been an only child and had always wanted a sister. Rowena was relentless in her torture, punishing me and Isobel, at least until we boarded the ship to America.”  She could hear the trepidation in his quiet voice, could feel it seeping into the air around her. It didn’t seem to matter that he was miles away in the middle of a busy nightclub. Whatever he was feeling always seemed to penetrate her, letting her know exactly what was going on in his mind, even if he did think it was all closed off to her.

“What aren’t you telling me, Harper? Now is
not
the time for secrets and you know it.”

“She was…Rowena was so different on board the ship. Especially once Isobel got sick. She was kind and loving, caring for Isobel on her deathbed as there was no physician on board and no other women to tend to her needs. It was Rowena herself that…”

“What did she do, Harper?” Tessa urged, standing and pacing the small living room. The note lay small and forgotten on the coffee table.

“It was Rowena that brought me the news that Isobel had died.” The words were so final and full of sorrow that Tessa found herself squeezing her eyes shut to keep the tears at bay. This woman that had been dead for so long had been greatly loved by Harper and still was. “Listen to me Tessa, I need you to stay where you are. I think I might know where Rowena is. I'm coming to get you.”

It had taken Harper all of ten minutes to race to the apartment and get Tessa before tearing off down the highway that led out of town. He had yet to say a word to her since he’d told her to get into the car and it was starting to get on her nerves. The least he could was tell her where they were going.

“Harper, why would your sister even want me? I mean nothing to her.” When he finally spoke it was in short clipped tones, anger turning his voice into a growl.

“It’s not that you mean anything to her at all. It’s that you mean something to
me
, Tessa.” His eyes met hers and they glowed; either from longing or the reflection of the car’s interior lights, she couldn’t tell. But she wasn’t about to ask, either. That particular question could wait until longer.

“So, this is another jealousy thing? She thinks were together and that makes her want to what? Kill me?” He gave no response, only continued to stare out the windshield.

The rest of the trip was long and silent, the rushing by of trees the only sign of time passing. They followed the same highway for nearly 40 minutes before driving through a sleepy little town, only to emerge on the other side and turn off on a side road.

“American Stonehenge?” Tessa read off the sign they passed, scrunching her face up in confusion. “What are we doing here?” in response, Harper pulled over to the side of the road and cut off the engine. The two of them climbed out of the car and walked around to the trunk.

“We’re not, actually. The rhyme is about fairy circles which are these-“

“I know what fairy circles are, genius.” Harper finally smiled at her, though it didn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Of course you do. Well, there are only so many places in the United States that have fairy circles, whether the humans know about them or not. What they don’t realize is that true fairy circles are invisible to the human eye. Only the supernatural community can spot them. And it just so happens that the closest one to us is about ten miles to your right.” Tessa glanced off in that direction, the wind picking up and blowing back her hair.

It was in that moment that she smelled it. It was defiantly blood and lavender, like the note. But it was the blood that interested her. Under the tangy copper scent was something decidedly more wild and…familiar.

“…Penny. Penny!” Before Harper could stop her, Tessa took off, her feet barely touching the ground as she ran and ran, the wind blowing a continuous stream of Penny's particular scent in her face. Trees blurred past her so quickly that she couldn’t make out individual branches, let alone leaves. She had never so fast in her life, not even since her change.

For a moment fear filled her as she thought about tripping and smashing face first into the rock strewn ground, but it quickly passed the further she ran. Tessa could hear Harper running behind her but she’d gotten enough of a start on him that there was no way for him to catch up to her before she reached her roommate. God help his sister if she had harmed Penny. Tessa wasn’t sure what she would do but she knew it wouldn’t be pretty. And at this point she didn’t even care what it would do to her and Harper; if there even was a
them
.

By the time she had reached the ten mile mark, Tessa wasn’t even winded, if in fact she could get winded still. Her feet slowed them stilled on the forest ground, the carpet of dead and rotting leaves silencing her footsteps. Only a few feet ahead of her was a clearing, the moonlight pouring down into the meadow and lighting the scene before.

The field was perfectly circular in shape, ringed with tall majestic looking white oak trees, their branches spreading up and out to complete the circle. They appeared to be ancient, hardy trees, at least ninety to a hundred feet tall, their trunks wide enough that it would take twice her arm span to wrap around any one of them. The leaves were a brilliant green in color; the pure white of the trunks clearly visible in the dark of the night. 

The trunks were nearly so wide and close together that it was difficult for Tessa to peer into the clearing without getting right up to the trees and peeking around the side of one. In the middle of the clearing was a roaring fire, the flames leaping close to twenty feet high in the air. Before the blaze were two chairs set back to back and sitting in the chairs was an unconscious Penny and Nira, their heads dropping to the rope wrapped tightly around their chests. It made sense now why Nira hadn’t answered her cell phone when Tessa had called; Rowena must have seen them together at the coffee shop and thought that they were closer than they really were. Tessa's finger dug deeply into the bark of the tree, the sight of her two friends in that position setting her blood to boil. What were they even doing here? Penny was supposed to be safely at work and Nira…hell, she barely even
knew
Nira.

Before Tessa could rush to their rescue a hand laid across her mouth and a strong arm wrapped around her middle to pull her back away from the tree. She struggled for a moment before realizing it was only Harper, his attention focused on the gap in the trees. Once he was sure she knew it was him, he released her, calmly laying a finger against his lips to remind her to be quiet. Tessa gave a small nod to let him know she understood and would keep silent. Harper slid his cell phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text after silencing the ringer. Tessa shot him a questioning glance and he mouthed his brother’s name back at her. Understanding dawned and, slowly, she nodded again before creeping back up behind the tree to stare at her two friends.

Nothing about the scene in front of her had changed except that one of the women was stirring, pulling groggily at her bonds. Nira was glancing around wildly, her eyes wide and filled with fear as she tried to scoot further from the flames. It was no use though; both of her legs had been tightly bound to the chair leg behind it and the chairs themselves were tied together so unless both girls tried to move the chairs remained stationary.

Finally, when Tessa could take it no more and without warning Harper, she ran out into the field to kneel before Nira’s chair, thinking that by freeing her first she could help get Penny to safety while she and Harper dealt with Rowena. A wide silk scarf had been crudely knotted around Nira’s mouth so Tessa grabbed it in both hands and gave a firm yank, tearing the flimsy cloth in two.

“Tessa, thank the gods! What are you doing here? How did you find me?” Nira started to sob and Tessa shushed her gently as she proceeded yanking the rest of the knots apart. As soon as she was done, Nira collapsed into her arms, continuously thanking her. Tessa watched as Harper approach then suddenly halt about twenty feet away. “Tessa?” Nira raised her head and saw Harper for the first time, reaching up to brush the tears from her face. “Who is that?”

“That’s-
“ Her
words cut sharply off as Penny woke with a start, nearly toppling the two chairs over into the flames. Tessa’s reflexes kicked in before she could even tell them to and she was there in a split second, setting the chair upright before making quick work of the knots that held Penny prisoner. “Penny, thank goodness you’re all right.” She gathered her friend up; she was pretty shaken up but wasn’t crying as Nira had been.

“What the hell happened, Tessa? I was at the apartment getting ready to go into work and suddenly someone knocked me over the head. Or well, at least it
felt
like someone had hit me over the head.” Tessa set her on her feet beside Harper who was still busy staring at Nira, his brow furrowed. She quickly looked her friend over, noticing that she seemed more pale than usual and there was a slight blue tint to her flesh but quickly attributed that to the cold after being taken away from the fire.

“We’re pretty sure Rowena kidnapped you to get to me, Penny. I am so sorry about this. Nira-“

“Tessa.” Harper caught her arm in a death grab and swung her behind him, Penny following the same trajectory shortly after. Tessa stumbled but caught herself, glancing up at him in confusion. He was crouched in front of the girls, his teeth bared and a loud snarl tearing from his throat. Nira still stood about twenty feet away, her hands clasped behind her back and a small smile on her face. She did not look like a girl that had just been kidnapped against her will and tied up in the middle of nowhere to have only God-knew-what done to her. She looked almost smug…triumphant.

The fire seemed almost to grow in leaps and bounds behind her, stretching her shadow out the edge of the clearing. Harper carefully guided Tessa and Penny around to keep out of its shade, sticking to the light from the fire. Nira remained facing the two of them, her dark hair flying in front of her to create a black halo around her face. Neither Harper nor Nira said a word, continuing just to stare and circle one another. Penny whimpered quietly, clutching tightly to Tessa's shoulder. She leaned forward, her mouth pushing up against Tessa's ear.

“That’s the girl that tied me to the chair. Does Harper know her?” Tessa looked at her sharply then back at Nira, her eyes narrowing. So she wasn’t who she’d said she was. Then who the hell was she?

“Tessa!” Everyone turned to watch Elijah stride into the clearing, still wearing the clothes from earlier in her apartment. Only this time there was what looked like a thick coil of leather looped through the belt. He’d pulled his hair back and tied it up with a scrap of leather, small pointed ears peeking out of the snowy white strands. He stopped an equal amount of distance from both Harper and Nira, staring at the dark haired girl like he knew her…like he knew her
very
well.

“Glad to see you got my message, brother,” Harper muttered, sparing only a quick glance at his younger brother. Elijah said nothing, merely smiled at the small group of people to his right then focusing all of his attention on Nira who stared right back at him, grinning now.

“Yes, I am also very happy to see you have arrived,
brother
.” Nira dipped her head and body in a mock curtsey and when she rose a gasp tore from both Tessa and Penny. Although Tessa had started to suspect the truth it was still a shock to see it.

Gone were the dark curls and olive skin. Now, abundant waves of hair the color of freshly spilt blood fell to the girl’s petite waist, her eyes the same shade of luminous teal as Elijah’s. Her flesh shone like honey in the firelight and she had even grown a few inches in a matter of seconds. The only thing that remained of Nira was her necklace; the now polished silver of the triskelion shining at the dip in her throat, flashing in the light as if to mock Tessa for not having figured it out sooner.