So I finally decided to sit my butt down, and work on CF again. This is great news for me. My Fae muses have been driving me nuts. I know quite a few of you are probably NOT interested in this anymore, but for those who are, thank you for coming back after so many months. It’s appreciated!
Chapter Three
“So, you’re not really a common faery?” Tawny looked up from her coloring book. Marlon sat in the FaePouch the girl generously offered to him. He found himself having a hard time explaining things to her, but she seemed to understand.
“I suppose not. My parents never treated me as if I was otherwise, but when I turned seventeen last year, they started acting kind of weird.”
“Oh.” Tawny looked back at her coloring book. “I don’t think Benny was common either. He didn’t act like it.” She paused in selecting another color. “Why didn’t they want you to know?”
Marlon frowned. That was something he’d never thought about. “I don’t know. I think my mother must have wanted to get away from it for some reason.” He glanced towards the window, hearing a car door slam. “Tawny….” He needn’t have spoken. The young girl was already up, looking to see who it was. He heard her gasp. “Not good news, is it?” He allowed himself to fly to her shoulder. “Nope. That’s your father, right?” He watched as two businesslike gentlemen walked up the cobble stone paths.
“We have to get Tracie, and get out.” Tawny started to head for the door. Marlon just barely had time to grab on to her shirt.
“Hang on, Tawny. Let’s get you out of here first. My spells won’t work too well if they see you for some reason. Is there a trellis out the window?” Marlon didn’t like the idea that he would have to have the girl climb out of a two story window. He didn’t see any other way around it.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if it will hold all of my weight. We should just get Tracie’s help….”
“I’ll deal with Tracie and the others.” Marlon smiled softly. Tawny opened her window, and glanced down. “It’s too high….” She glanced at him. Marlon took a look out the window. “Yeah. It is pretty high….” Marlon thought for a long moment. The footsteps downstairs weren’t as close to the staircase as they had been, but that didn’t mean anything. Most humans did come up to their bedrooms at least for a little while after being out of the house. “Tawny, if you’re going to come with us, I need you to do this.” He thought about how he could assure Tawn was going otbe okay going out by herself., He couldn’t come up with any ideas. I need help. But I can’t risk being found out just yet. Not if Tawny’s still around. The last thing she needs is to watch another faery she’s befriended die. Maybe it’s a good time to try out that one spell. “Close your door, Tawny.” He watched the girl do as he asked. Then he sighed. “I’m going to attempt to do something we’re not really supposed to do, especially not around humans.”
Marlon closed his eyes briefly. He began to speak the incantation. He was careful to pronounce the words clearly. He heard Tawny gasp in shock. He smiled softly to himself, realizing that his spell was successful. “Do I look terrible?”
“You look amazing….” Tawny came over slowly. She reached out a hand. “Can I…touch you?”
“Yes…” Marlon stood still, and let the girl touch him, and see that he was only just bigger. He closed his eyes, glamouring the wings on his back. “Now will you come down with me? I don’t want you to get hurt.” Tawny nodded, allowing Marlon to take her hand gently. “OKay now, I’m going to go down first, and the guide you down. Without saying another word, Marlon lowered himself over the window sill.
He kept a listen out for anything alarming as he made it to the bottom. The last wrung of the trellis hung just a few inches above ground, so he had to jump. Not surprisingly, he landed on his feet. Then he called up quietly to Tawny. “Come on. I’ll be right here.”
“I…I don’t know if I can.” Her small voice called back. Marlon saw her head poke out the window. “Marlon, I can’t…”
Marlon sighed. Crap. I don’t have the strength to use suggestion on her. Besides, that kind of stuff needs to be reserved her parents. “Tawny, if you don’t come now, we’ll have to leave you behind.” He decided to try a more mundane tactic. This tactic even worked on his brother Teri sometimes.
“No way…!” Marlon watched with relief and satisfaction as the girl swung her legs over the side. “Please, don’t let me fall….”
“Slow and steady, one foot at a time.” Marlon said. “Tawny, so tell me something. What do you think of your sister’s crusade?”
“I don’t know, really.” Tawny hesitated when she got to the last wrung. “I don’t think I can make the jump.”
Marlong walked over, putting out a hand to her. “Reach down and take my hand.” He guided her to a near perfect landing. The girl landed on her knees though. She stood up, and brushed herself off. Just as she was getting her FaePouch strapped around her waist, Marlon felt his spell beginning to waver. “Okay, it’s wearing off. I’ll need a lot of rest now….”
“What about my parents? Felix? Your siblings?” Tawny asked. “How are we going to get them out?”
Good question. Marlon knew that things were only going to get stickier. Then he heard a most welcome voice.
“Thank goodness you got her out, Marlon.” Tracie didn’t seem to be too surprised about his size. “That glamour’s going to wear off soon. Don’t worry. I already told Dad that Tawny wasn’t here. Take her down the street to the Seven Eleven. I’ll be there with the others soon.” Tracie’s head disappeared.
“Okay then.” The words were no sooner out of his mouth when the faery teen found himself at his normal size. He shook his wings slightly. Growing yourself sometimes made the wings flat. He could barely lift himself off the ground. He was grateful just this once when Tawny picked him up. “Easy now…”
“I know how to handle a faery. I practically carried Benny everywhere.” She smiled slightly. “He didn’t mind.”
“Huh.” Marlon figured that Benny was one of the fae that didn’t generally mind the human handling. There were not many that shared that enthusiasm. “Just put me in the FaePouch for now, okay?” Marlon sighed in contentment. “Thanks. Now she said to go to Seven Eleven….”
“Right.” Without much more than that, Tawny took a back alley out of the yard.
