Chapter 14

Tuck and I made our way back out of the passage toward the waterfall. Tuck carried my sword in its box on his back. He had wrapped it with some heavy cord and tied it across himself.

“So you can teach me to use it?” I was getting excited. I imagined myself swinging the long sword around like a ninja.

“Yes, but we need to find somewhere else for you to do it. I don’t want to lose my head.” He smiled.

We made it about halfway to the falls when we decided to stop for the night. Tuck wrapped the box in one of the blankets and used it as a pillow. Just in case, someone came along and tried to steal it.

The thought of that made me shiver. But I felt pretty safe here with Tuck.

We settled onto our beds and I laid there in the dark for a long time. Sleep never found me. I found myself wide awake worrying about what kind of queen I would possibly make. My parents never explained any of this to me. They raised me as a normal human girl not a princess. How was I supposed to rule a whole kingdom? The thought of it made me want to laugh. It was like I was transported into the pages of book. No a fairy tale. That definitely made me smile.

The first thing that I would do, I thought, would be to let the outcasts back into the city. Maybe I could make Drake a part of my kingdom too, and maybe even our cavern if anyone wanted to live there.

Where would I want to live? The thought of going back to that dreadful palace made me cringe. I definitely did not want to live there. Then again, my parents had built it. Maybe I could do something to it to make it more livable and less like Lilith. I could open it up so that my new friends like Tuck could live there too. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

I don’t think that I had slept very long when I felt Tuck nudging me awake. “We better get going.”

We gathered our things and a short time later, we entered the cavern.

Kailen still had not returned. I tossed my pack down and began unpacking things and setting them back up for later. Tuck built a fire and we ate a few vegetables that we had left over from my stop in Drake.

“Are you ready to try this baby out?” Tuck asked with a gleam in his eye as he held up the box containing my sword.

“Absolutely.” I took the sword out, it felt amazing in my hands. I immediately leapt into a warrior pose and grinned.

Tuck laughed and put me through several exercises. My arms ached from swinging it over and over again, but he would never let me give up. He just kept pushing me.

“There are no time outs in battle, Callie. You have to build up your strength.”

He was right. I stretched out my muscles and began again. I soon started to feel like the Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off, as I took swing after swing. I kept it up until I thought that I would collapse. Then, I called it a day.

The next day Tuck said that, he had to go out for a while, and that I should stay behind and practice. I tried to protest, but he promised that he would not be gone long.

I ran through my exercises, but my heart wasn’t in it. It was not nearly as much fun when I had to do it by myself. Before long, I gave up and plopped down onto the cold floor.

My stomach started growling and I tried to think of something to cook besides fish. The only problem was that there is nothing down here except bugs and rats. What I wouldn’t give for a nice juicy cheeseburger or a greasy slice of pizza.

I opted for a piece of jerky. No cooking required, and since it was just me, there was no point in going through the trouble.

When Tuck finally returned he was pulling a large wooden cart. It had large spoked wheels and a thick rope that he used as the handle. In the back of the cart, there was a table with four legs and several wooden ladder backed chairs.

Sitting toward the front of the cart was a girl. She appeared to be close to my age, she had long wavy dark hair and deep brown eyes. She had a small heart shaped face, and when she smiled, she reminded me of what I always imagined fairies to look like when I was a little girl. Her long slender wings were shades of pink with a touch of pale green.

“I thought that you could use some company.” Tuck grinned as he started to unload the cart. “This is Jenna Salvia. She has been living out here on her own for a while too.”

I introduced myself to Jenna with a shy little wave.

“Tuck is usually pretty good about checking in on me. I was beginning to wonder what happened to him.” She smiled at Tuck, and he smiled back. I thought maybe I saw a spark of something pass between them. It would be good for Tuck to have somebody like Jenna.

Seeing the two of them together just made me think of my own lonely fate. I was beginning to think that I was destined to spend the rest of my life alone. I was somehow strangely bonded to Brokk. My heart still skipped a beat whenever I thought of him. I was supposed to marry him someday but I really wasn’t sure about that. He turned out to be a real jerk. Then I started to have feelings for Kailen, and now he didn’t want anything to do with me. I was beginning to think that maybe I had been cursed.

I helped Tuck and Jenna unload the wagon. We set up the table and chairs close to the fire pit. Tuck brought over a tall shelf and stood it against one wall. Here he stacked several cooking utensils along with a bunch of clay dishes. He carried two large buckets out to the river and filled them with water.

I stood back and looked around. This place was really starting to come together. “Where did you find all of this stuff?” I asked turning to Tuck.

“It belongs to Jenna. When I told her about this place she got really excited and so we loaded up her wagon with some of her things and here we are.” He draped an arm over Jenna’s shoulder.

“I hope that you don’t mind.” Jenna smiled. “I just thought it would be nice to be around real live people again. It gets awfully lonely out there in the tunnels.”

“I don’t mind at all.” I smiled back. “I am ecstatic to have a girl here. It’s not easy living with just the guys to talk to.” We both giggled at that.

“I’m going back to Jenna’s old place to get the rest of her things. You two can stay here and get to know each other.” Tuck said as he pulled the cart back out of the cavern.

Jenna and I sat and talked for hours. We even came up with a name for the cavern. We decided to call it Maricela, which in Spanish translates to something along the lines of rebel heaven. It was perfect.

Jenna told me the story about how she ended up in the tunnels. It was very similar to Tuck’s. She lost her family to the guards and found herself on her own at a very young age. She met Tuck a while back and they somehow managed to keep tabs on each other.

“You know, the best thing about being a girl,” Jenna asked as she got to her feet. “We can do all sorts of things that the guy fairies can’t do.”

I was taken back. “What do you mean?”

“We are more in touch with the elements. We can call on their sprits when we need to and they respond to us.”

“What are you talking about? What are the elements?” I was really starting to get confused. Was she saying that I could talk to spirits?

“Callie, there are four elements in nature. They are what really rule the earth.”

I was still puzzled. When I didn’t say anything, she continued.

“There is fire, earth, air, and water. Each of these elements is magical in its own unique way. Each has a spirit that rules over it. You can summon that magic using the spirit whenever you need to.”

“Why would I need to summon them?” I was still perplexed.

“Here I’ll show you.” She said as she stood up and faced the fire pit. She closed her eyes and after a moment, she began. “I call you Brenton, spirit of fire, to light this wood so that I may warm this room and prepare our meal.”

I looked to the fire pit and a large burst of flames rose up. I could feel the warmth of it on my face. I could hardly believe it. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or run in fear.

“Thank you Brenton.” Jenna said opening her eyes. She turned and smiled at me. “You see? Easy.”

I didn’t know what to say. “Wow, Jenna. That was amazing.” I finally managed.

“You just have to concentrate, and ask the spirit for what you need. Just remember to thank them when you finish.”

“So you really think that I can do that?”

“I know that you can. I bet that you are probably more in touch with them than I am. You could probably summon them without even thinking once you got the hang of it.”

Jenna agreed to help me learn to use the elements myself. With her guidance, I was able to call on the water spirit, Naida. She and I actually made it rain inside the cave. I used Erion the air spirit to summon a breeze to stir Jenna’s hair around her face. I think she was just as amused as I was. Demi, the earth spirit, caused the ground to rumble and a cylindrical stone rose up from the floor. Jenna sat down onto it. She held out her arms and smiled.

“See? Easy.”

“That was pretty amazing. I almost wet my pants when I saw Naida appear and stir up that little cloud.” I laughed but Jenna just cocked her head and looked at me as if she were confused.

“Do you mean that you actually saw the spirit? Like the actual person or whatever?”

“Well, yeah. Wasn’t I supposed to?” I was getting a little nervous by the look on Jenna’s face. I hoped that I hadn’t done something wrong.

“That’s really strange, Callie. I have never met anyone that has actually witnessed the spirit before. What did they look like?”

I thought back to all that took place as I called to the spirits. I was so nervous at the time that I really did not look very closely at them. If I had known that no one else ever got to see them, I would have paid more attention.

“Well, I watched Brenton appear and light the fire when you called him. He is a pretty big guy, very muscular. He’s kind of a ginger. He has red hair, his eyes are a glowing golden color. He has fair skin. He was probably a few years older than us, I’d say mid twenties. He was bare-chested and he had a sword strapped to his back. He had a large tattoo of flames that started at his waist and stretched up his back and neck. Basically, he was pretty hot. No pun intended.” We laughed, Jenna more in astonishment than at my lame jokes.

“What about the others?” I could tell she was getting excited.

“Demi was very dark complected, almost Latino maybe? She had long dark hair, and dark eyes. She was wearing a long flowing green dress. The back was open and revealed a tattoo of a tree with a think trunk and branches that reached up to her shoulders.”

“So basically they are all tatted up?” She giggled.

“Yeah, pretty much. Erion was tall and slender but with lots of chiseled muscles. He had short spiky blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He didn’t bother with a shirt either. Which was nice. No tattoos for him. Naida was tall and thin. She has long straight coal black hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a long colorful sarong around her waist and a top that just came up over one shoulder. ”

“Wow, that’s amazing. I have never met anyone that has been able to see them before. I wonder what it means?” Jenna was making me a bit nervous, but I brushed her off. I wanted to play some more.

We practiced a while longer and each time that I called one of the elements, it seemed to get easier and easier. After a while, it felt as if I had become one with them. Like they were now a part of me and I was a part of them. They just knew what I wanted and were already there when I tried to call them.

I smiled at Demi when she appeared to help me grow an apple tree under one of the holes in the roof. When she saw me look directly at her, she cocked her head as if she were confused. She slowly started to approach and when she saw that I was still watching her she smiled. She even did a little dance of excitement before she disappeared.

“What are you girls up to?” Tuck asked from the doorway.

“I was just showing Callie a few tricks.” Jenna said with a smile.

Just then, a small cloud appeared over top of Tuck’s head and began to shower him with cool raindrops.

We all laughed until our sides hurt and I finally asked it to go away.

“Were you able to get all of my stuff?” Jenna was already rooting through the wagon.

“Oh yeah. This is the last of it.” Tuck moved toward the cart and helped her unload some stuff.

Jenna picked a spot a little ways away from where I usually slept and Tuck helped her to set up her small bed. She tucked her things away in a tall dresser that she had set up against the wall.

“All set?” I asked.

“Yup, it feels like home already.” She smiled and fell back onto her bed.

“Tomorrow we can try to gather some wood. We could tie them together to form some walls, that way we can have some privacy.” Tuck was already planning how we would make our new place into a home.

“That would be great.” I had not had a moment of privacy since I got there. It would be nice to have my own little place to call home. Even if it was just a few little walls. It would also be nice to have a real bed. The stone floor was no substitute.

That night Tuck moved his things closer to Jenna’s and I was left feeling very alone. I made up my mind that I would talk to Kailen one last time, and if he still wouldn’t listen then I would have to push him out of my mind. I was growing very tired of felling hurt and alone all the time.