Chapter 4

Masen

I couldn’t believe how calm Allie seemed to be. I knew though that the next few hours were going to push her to her limits. We all held pieces of a puzzle that she didn’t even know about. Life was about to change for her and I just hoped she was as strong as she appeared to be. I watched her walk beside me, her hair swinging just below her shoulders. The last time I saw her, her hair was down to her waist.

“Why did you cut your hair?” I ask as we walked. “It was so long and took such a long time to grow.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “How do you even know that?” Once again there was a tinge of fear in her tone.

“I know everything about you. I’ve known you since we were created. I don’t know why you weren’t made aware of me. It’s been painful to only watch you from afar when every part of me wants to be with you. Part of my training was to learn how to control myself around you. The Powers That Be were very firm with me every time I left and tried to get to you and would get caught. I wish you knew me like I know you, this would be so much easier.” Some of my frustration at the situation bled into my tone as I talked. I could feel her eyes on me and I turned to meet her gaze.

“I wish I knew you too. And I will. I’m not happy about this whole thing right now, but one thing I know is that you are part of me. If we can learn to get along and fight off The Darkness, then I know we will be fine. Give me time and space as much as you can.” Allies voice was gentle yet firm.

The training room was in sight now and we hurried to get inside. Once we arrived the sound of talking was quickly cut off. I looked at the two new people in the room. Jenny the Wise was a tall red haired fairy. This surprised me because in all these years I’d never suspected it. Christian the Good was also tall and he seemed to glow with purity and gentleness. I heard Allie gasp and quickly spun to see what was wrong. She was staring at Jenny like she had never seen her before.

“You’re a fairy? You’re A FAIRY?” Allie was heading towards Jenny when she stopped and her head seemed to droop between her shoulders. “I guess this is one of your secrets, is it? Why would you hide this from me?”

“Because my Queen cannot be known to be out in the general public.” Fadden spoke from behind me.

“For God’s sake man, ring a bell when you enter a room, would you!” I snarled at him. I hated his habit of sneaking up on me. “And your Queen? As in Queen Maybell?”

I looked again at Jenny and was startled to realise that now I could see how regal she really was. Meanwhile Allie has slumped down in a chair and was shaking her head and muttering under her breath.

“Allie! Suck it up and get ready to learn what this is all about.” Harsh, yes, but I needed her to be functioning. “It’s time for me to tell my side of the story.”

Allie lifted her head and sneered at me. “Watch it, Braveboy. I might be feeling a bit unsteady right now but I’ll bounce back and you better watch your back.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her because she was just so cute. I knew she could be lethal and that her mind game was strong but this little blonde woman made my heart smile.

“Okay. Are you all ready? Allie, you need to eat, go get some pizza.” I sat on the floor with my back to a wall and looked at this group of people I was hoping to belong to. “I was created at the same time as Allie, and The Powers That Be made sure I knew about her. I was raised and trained to know all about Allie. So yes, I know all about you as well, although Queen Maybell, you are a surprise. Because I knew about Allie and had actually been allowed to see her my powers have been unlocked.”

At this Allie snorted and said, “Whoopee for you.” I cut a glance at her and waited until she was quiet again.

“I’ve grown up living with different Fairies who have been my teachers and mentors. Fadden has been with me for 10 years now. All of this has been leading me towards the day we would meet. Unfortunately, The Darkness has known about Allie all this time too. I’ll let Fadden explain all that. I don’t know what your powers will be but they will make the world tremble and The Darkness fear. All of us here, Allie, we’re here for you. And be very clear on this point, apart from me, any of them could have left at any time. Remember that.” I couldn’t look away from her bright blue eyes as I said this last bit. “And even if I could leave, I wouldn’t.”

Sala stood up and walked over to where Allie sat. “I came because The Powers That Be asked me to. They believed that we would have a strong friendship and that with our powers combined we would be a formidable team. As Masen has said, at any time if I wanted, I could have left. The Powers aren’t totally without kindness. But I chose to stay because I love you and I wanted our friendship. My powers aren’t unlocked yet either and until they are I am not much help in this next phase. Fadden has been helping me to use what talents I do have so I can be as strong as possible.” She reached over and gave Allies hand a squeeze. Allie looked over to where Fadden was standing next Jenny. Her gaze travelled between the two and then on to Christian, Jimmy and Sala.

“Now you, Jimmy.  I need to know what you are doing here.” Allie asked quietly.

“I was sent here too, with Christian, to help you gain as much experience and training as possible. We were also told that we would play an integral role in whatever is going to happen. Chris and I are a lot older than you think and we’ve fought The Darkness for a long time. Our role was to build our group so that we had a bond that couldn’t be broken. We lucked out because I, I mean we, love you and the bond seemed to come easy to us all. We were told you would shake the earth when your powers unlocked and that you would need as much help as possible. As for your powers, we weren’t told what they would be.” Jimmy looked at Chris who nodded his head. “That’s it, really.”