Chapter 7

Allie

I stormed away from Masen full of anger and fear. I couldn’t believe they had Manny. My heart raced at the thought of what could be happening to her right now. Manny put up a tough front but she was so very fragile inside. I knew I could go get her and bring her home where I could keep her safe but once again tonight I was suddenly frozen in place. I almost laughed when I heard Fadden complaining to Masen.

“Do you know how much I hate being called like I’m a dog? Yes. You do. And yet you continue to do it.” Fadden was almost whining as he spoke. “I was doing something very important when you called so this better be worth it!”

“The Darkness have Manny.” Masen answered shortly. “And now as you can plainly see, Allie has decided that she can rescue her single-handedly. Now I don’t know about you but I’m not letting that happen and I was sure you would want to be with us when we storm the gates of hell. But you can return to your very important business.” Masen dismissed Fadden with a glance and started walking towards me.

I was still struggling against Fadden’s magic hold when Masen reached me and touched my hand. There was a loud popping noise and I could move again.

“What the….?” Fadden’s voice rose in surprise. “When did you learn to do that?”

Masen didn’t answer him just continued to look at me searchingly. “Allie, I know you want Manny home safe and I know you think you can do this alone but you can’t.  The Darkness will have traps set for you because it figures you will go off on your own. It’s going by your usual patterns, so we need to have surprise on our side. We need to plan our attack. Please can we go back to the compound and prepare?”

It annoyed me that he made so much sense and that I knew he was right. I hated giving in to him so early in our so-called relationship. The only reason I was going to go with him was Manny. She was what was important. And yes, my usual response was exactly what I just did. Charge off without thinking things through properly. I knew I would have to make changes when I met my One but it still didn’t make it easy to deal with. If he had just been a friend or family member it would have been easier but because he was a mate-match, there were so many other feelings to deal with. I looked down at our clasped hands and realised that I was the one holding on so tight. Subconsciously I was already needing him more than I wanted. There was only one thing to do.

“I don’t need your help!” Wait. What? Where did that come from? Why am I arguing with him? “If you want to pow wow with the others and follow after me then go ahead. I can, and will, get Manny home by myself. Thanks for setting me free from Fadden’s magic.” Part of me was listening to my words in horror but another part was yelling inside me “Go girl. Don’t take his orders. You can do this alone. You don’t need anyone because you never have. You work better alone.” This voice was one that I had never heard before which made me very suspicious. I know my internal voices as I’m sure you know your own. There was something insidious and slimy about this voice. I turned towards Masen and whispered “It’s in my head. Please help me.” I really hoped he wasn’t too angry with me to see that I was sincere in my plea.

“Let me in,” he responded “so I can help you from inside. You know what I feel like already but this will be magnified. We’ll work together in fighting it off, okay.” Masen held my face in both his hands and looked me straight in the eyes.

I relaxed my mind as much as I could, feeling very scared about what was going to happen. I could normally deflect The Darkness when it played games like this but tonight I seemed to be almost defenceless against it. Masen’s warmth suddenly filled my mind and eased some of my worries. He felt so good and so real. He was smiling at me while he searched for where The Darkness was hiding. His thumbs rubbed my cheekbones in comforting movements as I opened myself even more and found I could help him search. Yes! There it was. A stagnant mouldering mess of darkness festering in my mind. Together we sent a bolt of bright, pure light straight into it and it shattered and dissipated. All that was left was a feeling of deep intense love and I realised it came from Masen.

“Thank you so much. I’m not sure why I couldn’t do it myself tonight.” I knew my voice was shaking, from both fear and tiredness. I was tired when I shouldn’t have been. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked both Masen and Fadden.

Fadden put his hand on the top of my head like he was patting a puppy and sent a surge of clean magic through me. “The Darkness attacked you when you were feeling very vulnerable. Normally when it tries to get to you, you are strong and not really attached to what’s happening around you. You care, of course, but it’s all part of your job. Taking Manny was a very personal attack and while your defences were down it got in. Luckily, you have Masen here with you and together you are damn near unstoppable. I’ve never been able to clean someone’s mind as quickly and as painlessly as what you both did just before. Braveboy has talents he has chosen to not share with me.” This last bit was as petulant as a fully grown, centuries old super-hot fairy could sound.

I giggled before I could think better of it. Seriously. I giggled. I have no idea what is going on with me right now. Masen had been staring at Fadden like he had lost his mind until I giggled (What was with that?) which made him swing his gaze my way.

“Please don’t encourage the big baby fairy. I have had other trainers other than you, Fadden. You’ve been pretty busy here at the compound being a teacher for the last year so I had to do something other than watch Allie for hours on end. Which was extremely enjoyable.” He quickly added at the end. “I needed more help with mind melding. You got called away at a crucial time of my training so I had Garron help me.”

Garron the Great? Was he for real? Everyone had heard of Garron and pretty much no one had ever met him yet here was Masen talking about him like he was a normal being. My head was spinning thinking about what kind of life Masen had lived before he came to me. But all that would have to wait.

“Okay. Let’s go back to the compound and work out our plan.” I squeezed Masen’s hand and started to walk back home. “Will Jenny be there to help still?” I asked Fadden.

He was still standing there just looking at Masen with a strange light in his eyes. “Yeah she will be.” He answered in a distracted voice.

“Let’s move then. Running might even be a good thing.” I said to them both.

“I don’t need to run.” Fadden smirked at me but then turned to stare at Masen. Again. “Garron? You got help from Garron?” I was startled by his incredulous tone. I didn’t know why this was such a shock to him, surely, he knew Garron. Fadden seemed to be high up in the Fairy ranks. Maybe not as high as Jenny and Garron but really, what did I know of the Fairy hierarchy.

Mase finally answered Fadden in a weary tone. “Yes, Fad, I had help from your brother. Now can we please go?” He started to run pulling me along with him. I looked behind to see where Fadden was but typical for the arrogant being he was already gone.

All I could say to Masen was, “So I guess your life has been pretty exciting hey?” and kept on running towards home. He laughed a little at my wry statement.

“Yeah, I guess so. But it’s about to get a lot more exciting.” The look he sent me when he said that left me in no doubt of what he meant. “Brace yourself, Allie. The storm’s coming in fast for us and its going to be one hell of a ride. Let’s start things happening to get Manny home to us.”

Home to us. I think my heart just melted hearing him say those words. Dear Lord the gooeyness was getting worse.