Callie
I trotted down the front steps and looked around, but I didn't see Willa anywhere.
I glanced over my shoulder at one of the guards, standing perfectly still, his eyes straight ahead. Biting the inside of my cheek, I crossed my hands behind me and walked over to the guard. "Hiiii. So, I know you're on duty, and you're all guard-like and stuff, but I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the fleeing Fae."
His eyes shifted down to me and he stood there, studying my face for a moment. Slowly he moved his hand in front of him, pointing to the side of the house. "She went toward the gardens."
I grinned. "Thanks. I appreciate it. Carry on…or whatever it is you do."
Like a cartoon character winding up for a run, I swung my arms to one side and took off toward the edge of the house. As I rounded the corner, I slowed, nervously smiling, walking fast and stiff past the lawn of kids and the teacher, who had paused to watch me with an owl sitting on his shoulder.
When I got to the winding scape of the gardens, I hurried up and around the corner, through the trellis, and slowed, breathing heavily. Willa was sitting next to the fountain, looking up as the weird water-not-water trickled over and down into the base. Seeing Willa forlorn was something new to me. I realized that I had never had to be there for her like she had been there for me so many times. She didn't date, she didn't fall prey to broken hearts, and up until the last 48 hours, I figured her parents lived away and she just wasn't close to them anymore.
Everything had changed though. Every sigh, every distant stare was different. She didn't even look over at me when I walked in. I quietly sat down on the edge of the fountain, facing her, but didn't say anything. I wanted to give her the chance to talk, or not talk, whatever she needed. After a few minutes, she thankfully began. "When I was a really little girl, a whole lot of years ago…"
"Hey, we're the same age," I replied. "You calling me old?"
She snorted and shook her head. "Trust me, forty is not old. But 240 is seasoned where I come from."
My mouth dropped open. "You're 240 years old? Holy hell you look amazing. But damn. Living that long sounds like torture."
She smiled at me. "Fae are different in that regard. We aren't always looking to the future. We aren't rushing forward all the time like humans. No offense."
I shrugged. "None taken. The guilty can't be offended."
"I came here when I was little," she continued. "And this fountain was the most amazing thing to me. Witch magic was so different than Fae magic. It was bright and colorful. It was exciting to me. My dad brought me here to meet Vlad and his father so that when I took over as Queen one day, I would have a relationship with the witches. It was nice because it was before I learned of our terrible history. Of the hatred witches always have for the Fae. It was just people meeting people. It was the only real trip I went on with him when I was little. He was always so busy."
"Dads are like that," I replied.
She took in a deep breath and looked up at the sky. "So, yeah. I'm a Fae Princess, surprise!"
"I'm jealous. All those times we watched the princess movies and I was like daydreaming about becoming one, you were actually one."
She tilted her head and gave me a funny smirk. "You do know I introduced you to those movies like two years ago. You were thirty-eight dreaming of becoming a Princess?"
I put my finger to my lips. "Shhhh. No one needs to know but us."
She giggled that familiar giggle and it sounded so good. I missed my sister. She turned and faced me. "I was young when I ran away. I couldn't stand the idea of living a life full of stress and pain that the royal court brought to our family. The Fae have the ability to live for a very, very long time. It's a gift from wherever we come from and we try to use each and every day for the best of everyone else. After what I had seen in the royal court, I didn't feel like I could do that there."
"Do you miss your mom and dad?"
She looked down at her hands and then back at me, a glisten of a tear in the corner of her eye. "My mom is ultimately why I left. She died when I was young, a teenager in human years."
"How did it happen? I thought you lived a long time."
She nodded. "We do, but we're not immortal like the pixies."
I put my hand up. "Wait…did you say like the pixies?"
Willa rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Why do you think there are so many of them? They breed like rabbits and never die."
I lifted both eyebrows. "I guess…I never really thought of it that way."
Her shoulders rose and fell as her eyes stared back at the fountain. "Her life force was seized from her by magic. It was a Mage, a close cousin to the witches. It was kind of what forced the treaty to really go into effect between the Fae and the Witches. Anyway, I told my father that I wanted to leave. That I wanted to not be the future Queen. I saw what it did, and I wouldn't be a part of it."
I cringed. "Was he mad?"
She shook her head. "No. My father really never got mad. But he was sad. He supported my claim to leave the court though, and with Cruz, Esmeralda, Harry, and Bella, I went to El Granada to make a life. I had only been there about three months before you and I met. And everything just kind of fell into place."
I reached and squeezed her hand. "See? You thought you were coming to the human world for a peaceful and fulfilling life, and then you met me. And suddenly all your dreams evaporated and you became a therapist. You're welcome. I know I give you meaning."
She laughed, tilting her head back. "I love being your therapist. It's the best."
"Mhmm. So, I do have one other question."
Willa nodded. "No, I don't have wings."
I blinked at her. "Well, that wasn't what I was going to ask, but that's definitely good information to know. I was actually wondering why, when I was kidnapped…again and again…did everyone say they could sense me as a Fae?"
She reached down and picked up my arm, looking at the bracelet. "My father gave me that when I left the Fae realm. He wanted me to have a remembrance of home, and to know I could always come back if I needed to. The bracelet itself was forged with Fae magic. That was actually what they were sensing."
I cupped my hand around the bracelet. "You let me borrow your bracelet from your dad?"
She nodded. "And look, you took it all the way to Rome. Remind me not to let you borrow my bicycle."
We both laughed and I reached up, scratching my head through my matted ball of grossness on top of my head. Willa wrinkled her nose at me. "You need a bath. Love you but it's true."
I rolled my eyes. "Gimme a break will ya? I've been busy."
Willa leaned over and hugged me tightly. "I know, and I'm sorry about the misunderstanding, and from keeping things from you. I just wanted to keep you safe. I guess it didn't work out so well."
I rolled my shoulders back. "I'm still standing. And I got a little more in the tank too."
Willa smiled. "So, we're still besties for life?"
"Duh," I replied, dramatically rolling my eyes. "Though that is a far longer contractual agreement for you than me."
She shrugged. "That's cool. Maybe I'll make friends with a witch and I can slip you an immortality potion or something."
"They have those? But I was so looking forward to a really good nap one day."
Willa stood up and reached out her hand. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up so you can resemble a human. You are looking more like a snogdorf."
I paused and furled my brow. "What the hell is a snogdorf?"
Willa snickered. "I made it up. Come on. I gotta have a little fun."
I shook my head, throwing my arm over Willa's shoulder as we headed back through the garden and around the house to the front door. I could feel all the eyes of the kids, the guards, and the teachers staring at us, but it didn't matter. Willa was back, the team was back together, and things would be over soon. I knew it. I could feel it.
After laughing with each other as we strolled down the hallways, looking at all the dark and ominous paintings on the wall, I retreated to my room to finally take a shower and get refreshed. On the bed, a pair of yoga pants, a sweater, and my boots were neatly stacked with a small note on top. "Figured when I got here, you'd want something comfortable to put on. Xoxo Willa."
I grinned, taking my clothes and heading into the bathroom. I was all ready and prepared to take a shower, but then I realized there was nothing but a tub. It had been a long time since I'd taken a bath, but I knew that it would feel good, especially since I had been going through so much. My poor exhausted body. I turned on the hot water and got it to the right temperature, letting it fill up the bathtub. I poured a couple globs of bath soap in to make it bubbly and started to undress. As I peeled my clothes from my dirty body, I glanced up at my reflection in the mirror, realizing how terrible I looked. I was glad that the glass was fogging up because no one needed to see that. I dropped my clothes on the floor, considered setting them on fire, but I didn't want to burn down the mansion.
Gripping the bracelet, I tried to pull it off, but it was pretty tight and snug. I wrinkled my nose. "Wow, I'm so disgusting that my bracelet is plastered to my body. Not cool. Nothing a little soap can't handle."
Figuring since the bracelet was crafted by Fae in another realm, it was probably fine to submerge it in the water. Besides, the thing had been through hell and hadn't fallen apart yet.
Once the bath was done, I turned it off and stepped in, slowly lowering myself into the hot water. Normally, I hated that tingling feeling, but the heat enveloped me. It was only then that I figured out just how sore I really was. My whole body was exhausted. Even though the Tracker had healed me, my body still hadn't recovered and I wasn't sure it ever truly would. At least it would give me stories to tell my grandkids, or Willa's grandkids when I was old and gray.
Once in the warmth of the water, I took my time, washing every crevice of my body. I didn't even want to look to see what the water was like when I got out. I dipped my head under, rubbing in the shampoo and rinsing all the pink hair dye out of my hair. I hardly remembered what my hair actually looked like before it was a matted massive pink sparkly goo.
Leaning back, I took the body wash and squirted a huge amount on my wrist, working under the bracelet as good as I could. Once I had myself all lathered up, I gripped and pulled hard, but the thing didn't budge. In fact, it kind of hurt. It almost felt as if it was part of me. I tried again, and again, using conditioner, lotion, and anything else I could find laying around by the bathtub. After about twenty minutes and making absolutely no headway, I rinsed all the soap off and got out of the tub, wrapping a towel around me. I stood in the middle of the bathroom floor grunting and groaning, pulling on the bracelet as hard as I could. Sweat was starting to pepper my forehead and nothing had moved at all.
Nerves rushed over me, wondering what in the world was going on. It shouldn't have been an issue to get it off. The thing was loose on me when it was first put on and if nothing else, I had lost weight over those last forty-eight hours. I quickly dried myself off and grabbed the robe, tying it tightly around me. I peeked out of the doorway and looked back and forth to make sure there was no one just standing around and then hurried out in my robe, knocking loudly on Willa's door.
She opened the door with a bright smile, but it quickly faded when she saw my face. "What's wrong? She stepped to the side, letting me in. "I can't get the bracelet off. It's like it's part of me. I used everything. Soap, lotion, and even toothpaste. I cleaned up around it and all over it and I still just cannot get it to budge."
Willa raised her eyebrow, chuckling as she waved me in the room. "Come sit down. You're probably just really tired. You went through a lot, and your strength is probably not what you think it should be. It's nothing a little Fae coaching can't take care of."
She patted the bed and I sat on the edge, letting her hold my wrist. She rubbed her hands together and gripped onto the bracelet, giving it a tug. I winced, feeling her pull my skin. "You're going to pull my arm out of its socket. I'm telling you. It feels like the thing is attached to me. Like it's part of me."
Willa looked slightly concerned, which only made me more concerned… and panicked. She stood up straight and closed her eyes, hovering her hands over the bracelet. I could feel the warm tingle rushing up my arm. Slowly she lowered her hands and tugged on the bracelet, but still nothing.
"Oh," Willa said, nervously biting the inside of her cheek.
I narrowed my eyes. "What does that mean?"
She glanced at me nervously. "It means, I think something happened. I think the bracelet, for some reason, has bonded with you."
I jumped up from the bed and started to yank on it. "What do you mean it bonded with me? It's a bracelet, not a dog."
Willa shook her head. "Fae magic is different. The bracelet itself might not be alive but the magic inside of it is. And for some reason, it's chosen you. I'm not exactly sure how to get it off."
"So, I'm pretty much stuck with this for the rest of my life? Well, at least it's pretty."
Willa laid her hand on my shoulder. "You don't understand. If that bracelet bonded with you, then that means the magic did as well. With that bracelet on, they'll be able to track both of us. We've got to get it off."
I was having a really bad week. A week that looked like it wasn't going to end anytime soon.