***
My car was still in the little clearing, so deeply embedded into that giant Douglas fir that it looked like two different species were trying to mate. And I shuddered when I saw the crumpled metal and thought how plausible it had been for me to believe Syla when she told me that I had died in the crash.
Allard saw me shiver.
“You are distressed, beloved,” he observed. “We should leave this place.”
Beloved. I liked the way that sounded.
Allard took my hand and kissed it and where his lips touched my skin they left little fiery imprints that I could feel but not see.
In truth, the little pocket of forest looked very ordinary in the daylight and though I’d felt a brief frisson, it was more a reaction to the sudden cold than anything else.
The snow had melted and though it was not raining, the air was fragrant and green as if freshly washed.
Except for the tree I’d mangled in the crash, it was a beautiful place. Still, compared to Allard’s home, it looked a bit drab. Even though I’d only spent a little time in the land of light, it felt like home. I would be glad to return there after I saw Hugh and made sure he was all right.
“Yes,” I said. “We should leave.” I was anxious to see Hugh again and reassure myself that he was in fact, doing fine.
“Paint a picture in your mind of where you would go,” Allard said, “and I will take you there.”
CHAPTER NINE
I concentrated on visualizing the Portland tattoo parlor where Hugh and I’d received our birthday ink five years ago.
I could see walls hung with mirrors and framed artwork by PDX artist John Donald Carlucci. I saw the colored Christmas lights draped over shelves of crystals and tiny animal skulls and scented candles and raku trays holding penjing, miniature gardens representing mountains covered by evergreens with tumbled rocks and even a little waterfall on one.
The little landscapes looked familiar and I realized why—they mirrored places I’d seen in the land of light.
Magic, I thought.
“I see the place,” Allard said.
We were already holding hands, so Allard squeezed mine and between one heartbeat and the next, we were standing in front of the tattoo place. It was raining and everyone around us was huddled into their hoodies and rain gear, apparently oblivious to our presence.
“Are we invisible?” I asked Allard.
“For a few seconds more,” he said. “Let us go in.”
I had been afraid that the shop would be closed for Christmas but I guess it was open in case anyone wanted a last-minute holiday tattoo.
The interior of the shop smelled of spiced oranges, which was a relief. I despise patchouli and the scent of white sage that always seems to permeate new-agey spaces.
There was a small living Christmas tree in one corner of the entryway, decorated completely in gold and silver stars of various sizes.
Hugh was sitting at a little reception desk inside the door and when he saw me, his eyes lit up.
“Hilde,” he said happily and rose to sweep me into a hug.
He looked good. Healthy. Happy.
Clean, in all senses of the word.
“I dreamed about you yesterday,” he said. “It was wild.”
“About that,” I said, but he was already looking past me to Allard.
“Hey,” he said, “I’m Hilde’s brother.”
“I’m Allard.”
“I saw you in my dream too.” Hugh turned to me, “Let me get Vyx.”
He disappeared into the curtained-off alcove and returned a moment later with the tattoo artist.
Now that I’d been in the Verge, I could tell immediately that Vyx was fairykind, something I hadn’t been able to tell when we’d first met.
She looked different than I remembered and then I realized Vyx had been male five years ago.
“Hilde,” she said, and held out her arms for a hug. She was tiny, not much more than five feet tall, but she gave a good hug.
She pulled away to look at me earnestly. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.
Then she looked at Allard and said, “Allard.”
Hugh and I looked at each other. “You know her?” I said.
“I know Vyx,” Allard replied carefully, “but I had not met him in this female guise before.”
Vyx smiled and her features rearranged themselves subtly to become more masculine. She quirked her eyebrow at Allard, then allowed her face to melt back into her new female form as if to say, “Ta-da!” Hugh did not seem particularly surprised by this accomplishment and Allard was not fazed at all. He stepped forward and swept her into his embrace. He was nearly twice her size and looked like a bear hugging a doll. “It gladdens my heart to see you,” he said to her.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, “and I mourned you.”
She went to the door and locked it, then invited us back into her parlor for a talk. I told Hugh about my adventures and about Lyrus and his open invitation to visit any time.
Hugh looked uncertain. “I can’t even deal with Dad right now,” he said. “Not sure if I’m ready for another father.”
Vyx wrapped her slender fingers around his fist and brought it to her lips to kiss it. “The land of light is beautiful,” she said. “I would like to see it again through your eyes.”
There was a new tattoo on Hugh’s arm, a portrait of Vyx framed in an intricate design that twined our family sigil with another fairy rune. I realized the fairy had both claimed him and put him under her protection with that image.
I approved.
“He is not ready to leave,” Vyx said to me, as if Hugh were not there, “but he is healing and he will be well soon.”
I took my brother’s hands and I addressed him in that secret language we’d used when we were children, the one I now knew was the language of our fae parents.
“Are you happy?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I am. And you?”
“Wildly happy,” I said.
“You know we can understand you,” Vyx said with a mischievous glance at Allard.
“Then don’t listen,” I said.
Allard gave her a wry look. “She can be a bit of a tyrant,” he said.
She smiled at him. “She loves her brother,” she said. “But so do I.”
It should have seemed very strange to me but somehow it didn’t. Once you got past the reality that you were part fairy, there really wasn’t too much else that could throw you off-center.
I turned down the offer of a free tattoo and promised I would visit soon, and Allard and I left.
It stopped raining just as we closed the door behind us.
I could feel myself smiling all over. “Thank you,” I said to Allard.
“For what?”
“For my happiness.”
“I love you,” he said.
I replied by kissing him, ignoring the passersby. “Am I the stone of your heart’s fruit?” I asked when we finally came up for air, teasing him just a little because I knew what he would say.
“Yes, you are.” He thought for a moment and then added, “Or to put it more plainly, I love you with all of my heart and soul.”
Such pretty words. I wondered if he knew how I craved those words because he could see my dreams.
A vision of Parker floated through my mind. “I would like to meet this Parker,” Allard said.
No, you really wouldn’t, I thought.
“It seems to me that he is a man who needs to dream more,” he said darkly. “I could oblige him in that regard.”
It was tempting to let Allard plague Parker with nightmares. He’d certainly given me one or two bad nights, but I was too happy to have thoughts of revenge.
“Maybe some other time,” I said, reaching up on tiptoes to kiss him.
“Shall we pay a visit to your father now?” he asked.
Now that was going to be some visit.
“In a minute,” I said because I’d spotted a Voodoo Doughnut across the street.
I took his hand and pulled him toward the curb. “Have you ever eaten a donut?” I asked him., wondering what his reaction would be if I ordered one of the shop’s signature treats, the cream-filled, chocolate frosted cock-n-balls option.
He leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, “Mine taste sweeter.”
It was going to take some getting used to this mind-reading thing.
Snowed
A Naughty Fairytale
Luscious Lee Grimm