Chapter 15

The next day was spent with Jenna. She sparred with me as Tuck watched, he really enjoyed playing referee. Then she showed me a few moves that I hadn’t yet seen using the sword. We even spent a little time playing with the elements and flying around the cavern.

We were in the middle of practicing the ability to summon the element spirits while flying when I heard, “Oh not again.”

I nearly fell to my death when I looked and saw that it was Kailen that spoke. He was standing near the sleeping area and staring up at me. He did not look happy. I hurried to land taking extra care not to make a fool of myself. Jenna was right at my side.

Erion saw what was happening and looked very annoyed. He was helping to learn to fly faster by pushing the wind against my wings. He gave me a hard disapproving stare before he vanished.

“Is something wrong?” I asked with my arms folded across my chest.

“Why do you insist on doing things that you know are dangerous?” He sounded like he was lecturing a spoiled child. I could feel heat creeping up the back of my neck and I was sure that my face was turning bright red with anger.

“You will not speak to me that way!” I yelled, I just couldn’t help it. Enough was enough.

“Yes, your majesty.” He sounded cocky and gave an exaggerated bow. When he rose, he didn’t look at me. Instead, he turned to Jenna.

“And who may I ask are you?” He sounded very sarcastic.

“I’m Jenna.” She said in her normal overly perky tone. “You must be Kailen.” She held her hand out to him.

He shook it briefly. With one eyebrow raised he asked, “And what is it that you are doing here?”

“I’m an old friend of Tuck’s. He invited me to come and stay with you guys. I’m helping Callie with her magic.”

“Her magic?” He huffed in disbelief. “What magic? I have spent weeks with her and I have not witnessed any magic.”

I was really starting to get mad after that little statement. In fact I was about to punch him in his nose, but Jenna grabbed my arm and held me back.

“I don’t know what your problem is Kailen. But you better watch your tone. I thought you were a nice guy when I first met you, but obviously I was mistaken.”

“The only problem that I see here is that you have gone behind my back and started flying and using fairy magic. And to top it off you have invited a complete stranger to come and live here without my permission.”

“Without your permission?” I sputtered, I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to control myself. “Who do think you are? I don’t need your permission to do anything! In case you have forgotten, I am the princess here!”

With that, I called to the elements and a hard rain came down on top of Kailen’s head. I just couldn’t help myself.

I caught a glimpse of Naida snickering as she dissolved away.

“Maybe now you can go cool off.” I screamed as Jenna tugged me away.

“What’s with that guy?” She whispered.

“I don’t know.” I said and went on to tell her how I had first met Kailen and about the night above the tunnel. “Now this is what I have to deal with. He’s like Jekyll and Hyde.”

“That is very strange, Callie. I wonder what’s caused him to change so quickly. Or maybe he was really just a jerk all along. You better watch out for him.”

“I don’t know, but I can tell you for sure that I have had enough.” I was still angry at Kailen for the way that he treated me, but at the same time, I was very sad. I thought that he was someone that I could really trust, but now he was really starting to scare me.

There was a lot of commotion just outside of the entrance to the cavern. Jenna and I turned to see what could be causing it. I was shocked to see several people emerge. Some were carrying large over stuffed backpacks, while others pulled large wagons similar to the one that Tuck had used.

There were at least two dozen of them in all. Men and women. Some of them I recognized from Drake. Kailen must have invited them to come back with him. And he had the nerve to ask me why I didn’t seek his permission before we invited Jenna?

Kailen entered behind them hefting yet another wooden cart piled with things. I had not even noticed that he went back out. He pointed in our direction, and told the newcomers to find a place to set up camp along the wall near where we were standing. We quickly moved out of the way.

One by one, the newcomers made their way over to me and introduced themselves.

There were several couples, some with children. The first was Foster and Tania. He was short but thin with dark hair and a pointy chin. Tania, his wife, was pretty and petite. She had long strawberry blonde hair and two small children hid behind her as she spoke. They were both boys. Tanner was five and dark haired like his dad, while Tad was only three. He had pudgy cheeks and fair hair like his mother.

Next came Dain and Shaylee. Dain was tall and witty, while Shaylee was shy but lovely with soft golden curls and a friendly smile. They had only one child, a bold and daring nine year old girl named Avery. Avery had red hair and a large patch of freckles spread across her nose and onto her cheeks.

“You don’t look much like a princess.” Avery said with her hands on her hips.

“Well, what should a princess look like?” I stifled a giggle.

She thought for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t know but not like you.” Then she took off skipping about the cave.

I nodded and introduced myself to each one as they made their way about the cave setting up camp. Some had tents that were made of cloth while others made a bed in the back of their wagon on or on the ground.

The cavern soon filled with the chatter and laughter of its new residents. I wondered where Tuck, Jenna, and I would practice our fighting. Our open space was becoming very limited.

“Callie?” Asked an older woman named Celia. “Do you think that you could help me plant a garden, the sunlight over here should be just enough for my plants to grow.” She held out a bag of seeds.

“Sure.” I loved the idea of having fresh veggies. It would be great to have something to eat besides jerky and fish.

I summoned earth and asked her to bring forth a bed of rich soil. The ground rumbled and everyone turned to stare as rich black earth heaped up from under the hard rocky floor. “Thank you Demi.” I said quietly.

Celia stared at me with wide eyes and I took the bag of seeds and helped her plant little rows of vegetables. It was tedious work and I was getting dirt caked under my fingernails, but it was relaxing and gave me plenty of time to think.

“You are going to be a very powerful fairy.” She said as she bent over to bury another seed.

I looked at her puzzled. “I thought all of the female Fae could summon the elements.”

“No not all of them. The ones who can call them are usually only able summon one of the elements, not all four. It takes a very powerful Fairy to be able to do that.”

I looked over to where Jenna was sweeping up the dust from around her little room. I watched her get frustrated and then I saw Erion appear and send a soft wind to blow the dust from Jenna’s space out into the tunnel. He turned and winked at me before he left. Even though Jenna couldn’t see him, I knew that she must be pretty powerful too. I wondered if she knew about all of the things that Celia was saying. I also wondered what it was that made her so powerful.

It made sense that I would be able to call them, since I was some type of royalty or whatever. Jenna had never really mentioned her family, other than how they died, but she was definitely able to summon all of them. I wish that I knew who her mother was.

“And I have never seen anything like this before.” Celia pulled my attention back from Jenna and motioned to the garden. “You brought fertile soil through the rock floor of a cave. That’s just amazing.”

I smiled, but I was starting to feel a little uneasy. I had not realized that what I had done was anything extraordinary. It was something that I assumed all fairies could do. Then again, why would she need my help if she could have done it herself?

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I imagined what her reaction would be if she knew that I could actually see and interact with the sprits. She might just faint.

Celia went back to her work. She planted row after row of corn, beans, squash, and a bunch of other vegetables. We would definitely have ourselves a feast when they were grown. When she was through, I called on Naida, the water spirit, to bring a gentle shower to water her crops. I thought she would wet her pants from laughing so hard as she watched the little rain cloud gliding over her garden.

She thanked me repeatedly, and I promised to come back every day and water the plants until they were ripe.

I walked back to Jenna’s room, which was actually coming along pretty nicely. Tuck had worked all day on building her walls. The wooden slats while not entirely solid still created a nice sense of privacy and personal space.

“This is great!” I said to Tuck as he finished attaching a narrow door with thick leather straps.

“Thanks Callie! Tomorrow I’ll get started on yours.” He looked up and wiped some sweat from his brow. Poor guy. He was really working hard to turn this place into a home. It was good to see him actually find somewhere that he truly felt like he belonged, but I hated that he was having to work so hard to make it right.

“That sounds nice Tuck, but I don’t even have a bed. It’s really not necessary.”

“Didn’t Kailen tell you?” He stood up looking confused.

“Tell me what?” Kailen had not said a nice word to me in nearly a week.

“He brought you a bed back from Drake. It’s right over there.” He pointed to a stack of wood and an old mattress that had been propped up against the wall. “When I get through here, I will come and put it together for you.”

“Okay, great! I’ll clear a spot to set it up.” That really had me smiling.

“Just let me know when you are ready.”

I looked around for a good place to have my room. I wanted to move as far away from Kailen as possible, but I did not want to be on the other side of the cavern with people that I didn’t really know.

“Can I have the spot on the other side of Jenna? Or were you planning to use that spot?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nope you can have it.” He said with a chuckle. “I was planning to set up over here between Jenna and the wall.”

With that settled, I went to inspect my new bed. It was a little scuffed and dirty so I found an old rag and I got a bucket of soap and water from one of the newcomers. I scrubbed the bed from top to bottom. I even wiped down the mattress, but it still had a funny odor. I was standing there staring at it when I heard someone say, “Why don’t you call to earth to make it smell like flowers?”

It sounded like a great idea, so I closed my eyes and summoned Demi to fill my mattress with the scent of lilacs. Suddenly the whole room smelled like fresh flowers and when I put my nose to the mattress, it smelled just like fresh cut lilacs.

“That was pretty amazing.” The voice said again. I turned to see who was speaking, only to find Kailen standing a few feet behind me.

“Did you need something?” I asked with indifference.

“Callie, I just wanted to apologize for the way that I have been acting.”

“Don’t bother.” I said as I tried to walk away. Kailen caught me by the arm, and I was stopped in my tracks. I should have pulled away from him but I just didn’t have the energy anymore.

“Please Callie. Just hear me out.” He was trying to meet my eyes.

I let out a long heavy sigh. I tried to fight it but I couldn’t. I looked up to meet his eyes. “Go ahead.”

“Callie, I never meant to hurt you. I recognized who you were immediately when you walked into Drake. You were beautiful and kind, but you were never meant to be with someone like me. I tried to keep my distance. That night in the hollow, I let my emotions get the best of me. I should not have kissed you. I should have stopped it right then, but I was not sure of what I should say. You are our future queen Callie. You need to focus on your future, not on me.”

This guy’s ego was bigger than I thought. “Okay Kailen. Whatever. I really don’t know why you would say that I need to focus on being a queen when you have admonished everything that I have tried to do.”

“Callie, what are you talking about?” He was turning red in the face.

“You got mad because I was trying to learn to fly, then you blew up because I was using the spirits. You said that I should have waited for you, but you have done nothing to help me since we left Drake. I am really starting to feel like you are just full of it. I don’t even know what else to say to you.”

He just stood there shaking his head.

“Well, thanks for the bed. I guess I’ll see you around.”

I tried again to walk away. This time he let me go. I guess that I should have been hurt, but after the last week, I was just pretty much numb. I was sick and tired of all of the mixed signals that he was tossing at me. It just wasn’t fair and the truth was that I didn’t really know him at all. He was nothing like the person that I thought that he was when we first met. I was beginning to wonder what I ever saw in him at all.