Confrontations
An Inkling of Magic - Chapter 21
“Oh, this is going to be even worse than I thought,” Elspeth whispered when she saw, not only Farren waiting for her, but Kieran and Niamh with him. None of which were looking especially happy standing in a group with their arms crossed while their eyes scanned the thinning hoards for her.
She swallowed nervously and flexed her hand that Derek had eventually released. It was tingling again just like it had in the library and all the other times when they'd touched, though she couldn't remember if that was the case when Derek had grabbed her wrist and pulled her through town. Of course, that might have had something to do with being more focused on the giant cat that was chasing them. Still, it was odd. Maybe it's a fae thing, she thought when it finally started to fade.
“Elspeth!”
The sound of her brother's voice calling her name startled Elspeth from her thoughts. Her eyes drifted up from the ground that she'd unknowingly been staring at as her thoughts had claimed her to find her brother stomping towards her with her friends following closely behind him and watched the relief in his eyes at spotting her quickly gave way to rage, his whole face turning thunderous when he took in who was standing much too lose for comfort beside her. Oh yes, this was going to be bad.
Resisting the sudden urge to grab Derek's hand again and flee, an action that would only make this all so much worse, Elspeth braced herself for the storm she could see brewing on her brother's face, a storm that was echoed on the dark scowls she could read on Kieran and Niamh's faces behind him. She almost jumped when she felt Derek's hand gently loop around her fingers to give them a squeeze. It was an oddly thoughtful and intimate gesture that left her reeling when, just as quickly as it had appeared, she felt the loss of his touch and fought to ignore the sensation it left behind in its wake.
“Where on earth have you been!” Farren growled in her face when he’d reached her making her feel a sudden and intense envy of turtles who could pull themselves into their shells for safety. She saw anger flash in his eyes when they flicked briefly in Derek’s direction before returning to burn a hole into her and she tried not to flinch.
“Let her go,” Derek growled and took a step towards them when his hand grabbed Elspeth by the elbow.
Farren stopped his shoving, but he didn’t release her arm. He turned his head to glare back at Derek who glared right back. “I’m only going to warn you one more time,” he spat, “Stay away from my sister.”
Derek smirked, a fire sparking in his eyes at his attempt to threaten him. “It will take far more than words to keep me away from your sister and, believe me, you don’t have that kind of power.”
Elspeth’s eyes were pleading and she shook her head at him ever so slightly, afraid that her brother might notice it. Play nice, she mouthed.
She watched as his eyes hardened into dark, green orbs and, for a moment, she worried that he was going to fight her on it. At last though, she saw him take a step back from them and she knew then that Derek was backing off as she’d silently asked him to.
“However,” he said, cutting off whatever response Farren had been about to give, “I’m afraid I have things to do and places to be so whatever useless display of over-protection you might be considering will have to wait.”
I’m going strangle him, Elspeth screamed silently as the fae in question sauntered away, but, of course, not before tossing Elspeth a wink sure to only rile her brother up even more. If Farren doesn’t kill me first, I swear I’m going to strangle Derek. That was not exactly what Elspeth considered ‘playing nice,’ and it made her wonder if Derek even knew what that meant.
Without even casting a look at him, Elspeth knew that Farren was just seething beside her. She could, quite literally, feel it – his grip on her arm having tightened a fraction. Afraid to turn around and catch his expression, she chose instead to watch the retreating form of Derek as he made his way back to his car.
“Let’s go, Elspeth.”
She flinched at the cold tone of his voice and finally turned to say something.
“No, I don’t want to hear it, Els,” Farren said broiling over with anger, though how much of it was directed at her she couldn’t tell and was dreading finding out once they were a little less public and he could let fly at her.
She sighed, wanting to say something but at a loss of just what to say, and simply followed his nudgings to start walking. Even with as short as it was, the walk was a tense one with neither of them speaking and Elspeth couldn’t help but notice that he had yet to let go of her arm.
He led her over to where Kieran and Niamh were waiting on the sidewalk in front of where Farren’s car was parked with crossed arms and stormy looks of their own and no hoods or umbrellas to protect from the light rain that had just started to come down.
“Thank you, Kieran, Niamh,” Farren said when they’d reached his car, “will you both be over later?”
“Ah, no worries,” Kieran replied, shaking off his gratitude. “Besides,” he added, turning to look pointedly at Elspeth, “what else are friends for, but to have each other’s back?”
Guilt welled up inside at the hurt on his face. The bitter frustration and confusion was clear in his voice, the hardness in his lilt that she could have sworn she heard quaver ever so slightly at the end, and in his eyes she could read his question – ‘why?’
“We likely won’t be able to make it over tonight though,” Niamh added, not sparing Elspeth another look as she answered Farren’s question. “Mum said something this morning about family games night tonight. Soon though.”
The last part she directed at Elspeth, fixing her with a glower that spoke volumes, and if she had had any question about why Farren was asking if the two of them would be visiting it vanished then. It was a planned interrogation, their ability to keep waiting for her to explain herself exhausted and determination for straight answers setting in.
She dropped her eyes and studied the ground at her feet and the puddle that was building there. Should she feel guilty at the relief she felt in knowing she had a little bit longer to wait before being assaulted with questions on the part of her friends? It was doubtful though that Farren would wait that long to assail her himself, like as not a brutal attack would be launched the second they were both in the car, but it would still be easier to bear than questions being fired at her from all directions.
Lost in thought, she heard his voice but missed whatever response Farren must have given and, next thing she knew, he was opening her car door and shoving her inside.
~...~...~...~...~...~
Elspeth squirmed in her seat as Farren climbed into the car and slammed the door shut. She watched him took a deep breath, then another, as his fingers tightened around the stirring wheel with so much force she wondered if he wasn’t imaging it was Derek’s neck. Though tempted to look down at her lap and fidget nervously with her hands, she took a deep breath of her own and waited quietly for the flood to unleash.
“Where were you, Elspeth?” he rasped over the squeaking of his windscreen whippers, his voice shaking as much from fear as from anger. “I came to pick you up as I said I would only to find you weren't there,” he continued more upset than Elspeth could ever remember seeing him before. “Not only that, but I learned that neither Kieran nor Niamh had seen you all day when they asked me if you were feeling alright that you didn't show up for school. Which is impossible as I distinctly recall dropping you off with plenty of time to get to your classes.”
He twisted in his seat and glared at her a little while he put the car into gear, checking the rearview mirror quickly before putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the parking space. His handling of the gear shift was jerky and violent as he took everything out on the poor, abused piece of car equipment. They were flying down the road at what Elspeth was certain was not within the speed limit when he asked the question again.
“So I repeat, where on earth were you and what was he doing with you?”
She clenched her eyes shut at his tone, a tear spilling out as she struggled to know what to say. Should she tell him? Could she tell him? Elspeth was new to all this librarian stuff, but she was pretty certain that if it was against some old library law to tell a clueless librarian that she wasn’t losing her mind that it was certainly breaking the rules to tell someone who wasn’t even a librarian. Would he even believe you? That corner of her mind that would always taunt her whispered. Everyone already thinks you’re crazy as it is. He might have been willing to overlook a little craziness, but a secret society of magical librarians? They’ll pack you off for sure.
“Farren…”
“Don’t, ‘Farren’ me, Elspeth,” he said, cutting her off, “you asked me to give you time and I’ve tried. I’ve really tried, but yesterday I couldn’t get a hold of you and then that storm came out of nowhere and I was terrified! So I called Kieran and Niamh, expecting you to be with them, and do you know what they told me?”
No, but she could guess. They’d been so close, but, she thought, preoccupied with each other laughing about something that she’d hoped they hadn’t noticed her. She felt her stomach twist with guilt over what she’d put her brother through, her friends too judging by their own expressions as they’d talked with Farren outside his car. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Farren barrelled on.
“They told me that they caught a glimpse of you leaving school with none other than Derek,” he gritted out, “and, when they raced outside to catch up to you, they lost you only to later see you sitting in his car with him as he drove off.” He let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know what to do about you, Els. I want to help you, but you won’t let me! And, from the way he’s been hanging around you, I can only assume it’s mixed up somehow with Derek. And it makes me so angry I could punch something!”
Elspeth jumped a little when his hand pulled back and slammed into the side of the stirring wheel as if to prove his point.
“Do you really have nothing to say, Els?” he cried when her tongue failed to find any words, “nothing at all?”
“I’m sorry,” she said at last, her hands twisting in her lap and playing with the hem of her shirt, “I never meant to make anyone worry.”
Farren shook his head, his auburn hair that was a touch darker than Elspeth’s own all mused and standing on end from anxious fingers combing through it as he was prone to do. “I’m sure you didn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that you did, and not for the first time this week I might add. Sorry just isn’t good enough this time, Els, and I can’t let it go without a reasonable explanation.”
She snorted. “Well, if it’s a reasonable explanation you’re after, you’ll be waiting a long time as I’m afraid I can’t give it to you,” the confession blurting out of her with so much force it could have bowled someone over.
“Els–”
“Because there is nothing reasonable about any of this,” she continued, pushing past her brother’s attempt to interrupt her. A laugh escaped her that was half a sob and half manic laughter, “and I don’t even know where to begin with the unreasonable explanation!”
“Try the beginning,” Farren said softly, his smile so gentle and encouraging even with the worry that was still reflected in his eyes that it hurt, “I have it on very good authority that it’s an excellent place to start.”
Elspeth stared out the car window, worrying on her lip as she stared out at the fields and the few, sparse homes that were located on this side of town – Farren having chosen one of the back ways home. The beginning. But which beginning?
She was pondering the question when a sharp chill ran down her spine making the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end. It was so strong that she actually gasped out loud and physically contorted as the shiver racked her body.
“Elspeth? Are you alri–”
The question was cut off, lost amidst the sound of crunching metal and the shaking of the car as something incredibly large slammed into the side of the vehicle forcing it sideways and into a spin. The tires squealed as Farren stomped on the breaks, the dampness on the road giving it a little more slide. Eventually though they got the car to stop and, when they did, they were turned around backwards and on the opposite side of the road.
“What…in the world…did I just hit?” he asked between heaving breaths, his eyes blown wide. “And are you alright, Els?”
Her body ached from the force of the impact with had been on her side of the car. She groaned, “I’m fine, just rattled and bruised I think.”
Whatever it was had hit with enough force to blow the airbags and she could see how the hood of the car now had more ripples than ice cream.
Groaning and muttering about car insurance, he unbuckled his seat belt. “Elspeth, stay here. I need to check the car and see how much damage that thing did, whatever it was.”
Panic shot through her and, ignoring the protests of her body, she lunged for him, pulling him back as he went to open his car door. “No, Farren, don’t!”
“Elspeth, what are–”
A low, menacing growl rumbled from somewhere outside the car making the words die on his tongue. Elspeth paled. She knew exactly what they’d just hit or rather what had just hit them.
She swallowed nervously.
“Farren, we need to keep driving,” she urged him.
“Something tells me that that wasn’t just a really large dog was it?” Farren said, sounding just as anxious.
She shook her head. “Not even close.”
“You know what that was?”
“Uh, huh,” Elspeth replied vaguely, scanning around them for any trace of the creature. The chill still hadn’t left her body nor the unease that came with the feeling of being watched or, in this case, hunted.
Nothing. She knew it was out there, she could feel it, but all that she could see were the backroads of sleepy little Hydendale and empty fields.
“It’s part of why I was so late coming home the other night after school,” she added, “now can we please just get out of here? I’m not overly fond of the idea of becoming cat food.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Farren’s brow furrow in confusion, but he did as she asked and took it out of park. He was just about to step on the gas when a grey and black furred blur crashed into the windshield.
Elspeth screamed and closed her eyes at the sound of fracturing glass and pieces of the safety glass were sent flying. Opening her eyes, her breath caught in her throat when she found herself staring right into the bright, golden eyes of a mngwa peering down at her through the fragile remains of the windscreen. Its tail swept back-and-forth as it stared back at her. Just one, maybe two, swipes with its powerful paws and what little was left of the barrier between them would give way in an instant.
“Why is it just watching us?” Farren asked, speaking barely above a whisper, “for that matter, what even is it?”
She froze at the question. Her eyes blowing wide as she inhaled sharply. “You mean you can see it?”
“Of course I can see it,” he hissed, “What kind of question is that!?”
Not daring to take her eyes of the giant cat that she was now convinced was toying with them, she opened her mouth to reply when her cellphone started vibrating in her backpack. She frowned when it didn’t immediately stop like it would for an incoming text. There weren’t that many people that actually called her. Texted, yes, but very rarely an actual phone call.
Ignoring her brother’s cries of protest telling her not to move, Elspeth cautiously unbuckled her seat belt and leaned forward until she was able to grab a hold of one of the leather straps of her backpack and pull it out from under the white mess of airbags and onto her lap. A frustrated huff that was almost a growl of her own left her when her phone stopped vibrating just as she’d managed to fish out the thing.
“Els, do you really think this is the time to worry about who’s calling you? A better idea would be to call 911 and have them send animal control,” Farren asked when she started typing in her pin number to unlock her phone. He frowned when he looked at it. “I thought you’d shattered the screen on that thing?”
“I did,” she said as the icons on her screen loaded in, “and, no, animal control won’t help us. They can’t deal with something they can’t see.”
“Can’t see? I’d think it rather hard to miss! It is not smaller than a bread box.”
Tapping on the phone icon, she ignored him and stared impatiently at the blank screen while she waited for it to load in. It had never felt so slow to load as it did in those scant few seconds.
“Finally,” she muttered when things started to load in. Elspeth frowned when she didn’t recognize the number in the call log. Probably just a spam call.
She stiffened when the mngwa let out a loud yowl that sounded exactly like the sound Maelyn’s cat made whenever it was annoyed and about to attack the source of its provocation. It was followed by a loud thud and the car shaking as roof of the car buckled and caved inwards a little.
“Not that I’m at all eager for it to come any closer, but why hasn’t that thing just broken through the rest of the windshield?” Farren wondered allowed, brow drawn tightly together as he gazed out over the car’s mangled hood, “it’s not like it’s much of a barricade.”
Elspeth frowned. Yes. Why hadn’t it?
It’s after you remember. A voice in her head that, again, sounded much too like Derek’s whispered.
She froze, a realization dawning on her. “It doesn’t want in. It wants us out.”
A buzzing in her hand pulled Elspeth away from the reality of their situation that had just set in. She glanced down at the phone in her hand and was surprised to see it was the same unknown number as before. Her thumb hovered over the ignore button.
Don’t.
Her brows knotted together at the stray thought. Shaking it loose, she pressed ignore anyway only for the phone to immediately start vibrating once again with the same incoming caller.
Please.
A voice echoed in her mind when she again went to ignore the call. She didn’t know why she did it, but at the forth buzz her thumb slide over and pressed accept before she could think the better of it before flying up to turn the volume back up on her phone.
“Finally you answer. Took you long enough.”