Fairysitters
Part 4
I
knew Christine was there when I awoke, so I didn't bother opening my eyes. She
lay quietly snuggled into the crook of my right arm.
You
were talkin' to Kathy, weren't you?, she sent to me.
Mm-hmm,
I replied, feeling her little hand touch my aching forehead.
Robin
told you not to...
I don't think I want to, I sang back, remembering the phrase from a joke I'd heard
in 2nd grade. I smiled, then winced with pain.
See
how bad you hurt now?, said Chris.
I'm
fully aware of the physical ramifications of using The Link, kiddo.
Still...she's gonna be mad.
Who's gonna tell her?, I asked. She paused, then shook her head.
Not
me, she said. She doesn't have to know eh-verything.
True,
I agreed, slightly attuned to the sudden partnership redeveloping between my
kid sister and I. Hey, listen, think back for a minute. Do you remember who
shot me in your dream?
No,
she answered. I waited for her to add more, but she changed the subject
instead. 'Member when it was just you-n-me?, she asked.
This
partnership again, I thought to myself. You and I, I
corrected. Yeah, I remember. Boy, Robin really had you scared back then,
didn't she?
She had you fooled, too.
That's not what I said.
I know,
said Chris deliberately. She got up and went to the doorway of my room. I
opened my eyes to look at her in confusion and she half-smiled at me
apologetically, then left.
What
the...?!, I thought to myself, then laid back down, only temporarily having
forgotten my headache. I could feel her run down the hall to her room and slam
the door. I winced again. I am not liking this situation at all, I
thought grimly. Something tells me I need to stay healthy for a little
while.
Christine's
anger had gained momentum as she ran down the hall, so by the time she slammed
the door to her room behind her, she was furious. She scanned the room and
found K'ren sitting on the bed she'd made.
"W-What's
wrong?" stammered the fairy uncertainly.
"Where's
K'rin?" growled Christine, her eyes boring into K'ren.
"I
d-don't kn-know," she replied, visibly frightened now. "What..."
"You
tell her," said Christine, grabbing her windbreaker from the little coat
rack in the corner, "if she even thinks about messing with my words again,
I'll leave her in a demon nightmare." Chris turned and, with the briefest
of concentration, turned her room door into "The Door". As she yanked
it open, K'ren realized her supposed charge was about to leave unattended.
"Where are you going?" she ventured timorously.
"Out,"
replied Chris cooly. "And you can tell Corwin, too, for all I care."
She walked through and destroyed the door behind her.
When
the cool Pennsylvania mountain air hit her, she auto-matically felt herself
relax a little. She looked out over the landscape in front of her and took a
deep breath. Daina had made this place exactly like the woods surrounding their
old house in Sewickley when they had first moved. The whole thing had been done
from memory, even down to the funny little tree that jutted out from the side
of the hill overlooking most of the forest. The trunk of the tree grew straight
out, while the only two projections from the trunk grew straight up and far
enough apart to make a natural seat. Chris put on her windbreaker and carefully
edged her way out onto the tree to this spot. She stood, holding onto the last
branch and looking out over the creek far below her. The wind whipped up a
little and she sat down. Daina must've been here recently, she thought.
Whenever she came, the weather changed to her mood...and Chris could definitely
feel the homesickness in the air.
But
she had problems, too. K'rin and K'ren had taught her a lot of things, even
some about growing up, but she still felt something wrong. Sometimes she felt
it with K'ren and sometimes with K'rin, but one of them always made her
uncomfortable. For one, they went out after she went to bed. Once, she had
followed them to see where and they had gone to Caustria, right to Corwin's
castle. She still wasn't completely sure what Corwin had done wrong, but she
knew it'd been pretty bad. Everytime she'd even mentioned his name after they'd
gone to see Kathy that one time, Daina had gotten really tense and upset. When
she tried to discuss him with Robin, she had said, "Maybe the three of us
ought to talk about this further." But then she'd had her dream and
everything was totally forgotten. Target and Kathyrn had been too busy to
listen and the twins never really understood her. She wasn't sure if they ever
would. After all, they were normal 5-year-olds while she'd been 5 for the past
3 years...
I
guess I better go back, she thought to herself. But what am I gonna do?,
she thought. I don't want to worry anybody, but I don't know what else I can
do or who I can...Katy!!! Katy wouldn't get all upset and she always
understood. And she definitely wouldn't tattle.
She
started to call her best friend, but stopped, suddenly wondering if handling it
on her own wouldn't be better. Daina usually did and things always turned
out...
I
better call Katy, she thought, now positive she was making the right
decision.
In
less time than it took her to think of the little girl, Katy was there, sitting
on the other side of the big branch. "Hi, Christine!" she said,
giving her a hug around the branch. "Where are we?"
"This
is my sister's woods," replied Chris, grinning happily at the sight of her
friend. "Listen, I gotta tell you something," she began.
As
she explained her worries to Katy, she slowly began to feel more comfortable.
"I just don't know what to do now," she said, finally, shrugging her
shoulders in resignation.
"Wow,"
said Katy, "I dunno either. Maybe we could try tellin' Aunt Robin
again."
"I
guess. But she's taking care o' Daina right now and if we worry her, Daina'll
get worried and she'll over...o-ver-ex-ert herself."
"Oh,
yeah. Welll...what about Target?"
"We
could try him or Kathyrn again," mused Christine.
"We
better try somebody or we might both end up in trouble," replied Katy.
Christine nodded and stood up carefully, mindful of her precarious position.
"Okay,
but let's check to see if K'rin's back first. I'm still really mad at
her," she said, helping Katy to her feet. She created a small door that
opened up into the hall next to her room and went through. Just as they were
about to go in the room, however, they heard voices arguing.
"Who...?"
began Katy.
"Shh!"
whispered Chris quickly. "I know that voice!"
"Well,
did you follow her?" came the voice.
"No,
I couldn't. She made a door..." replied the other more timidly.
"Oh,
for Pyr's sake, the stupidity!" interrupted the first voice. "Do you
realize she could have blown our whole cover by now? She obviously
knows..." There was a pause and the other voice muttered something
unintelligible. Almost immediately, the reply shot back, "Oh, you're in
this up to your scalp, my pet, and don't you forget it! I'll be darned if some
precocious little brat's going to escape me! I'm gonna find her and after I
find her, you are going to take her to M'Lord's castle. Now let's get moving."
The two girls didn't wait for the approaching footsteps to reach them; they
nearly dove back through the door.
As
soon as the door disappeared, Christine gasped, "Now what?"
"Wait
a minute! How could she possibly that you know?" demanded Katy.
Christine
shrugged. "I dunno. I never said anything about...oh, no!"
"What?"
"When
I left. I told K'ren she could tell Corwin if she wanted to," said Chris
miserably.
"Oh,
Christine!" sighed Katy.
"I
was mad! I didn't think she'd...that voice in the room? Y'know who that sounded
like?"
"A
little like Naomi," said Katy almost immediately.
"That's
what I thought, too. Maybe she made herself look like a different fairy so she
could sneak around my sister."
"Well,
then who's the other fairy?"
"I
dunno, but either way, we gotta get help for sure, now."
"Target.
Let's try him first. He'll know if it's really Naomi or not," said Katy.
Chris nodded and made another door. This one led directly into the weapon room
of Robin's castle. Instead of finding Target there, however, they found Marcus
taking his crossbow down.
"Marcus...!"
began Chris, running toward him.
"Chris?!"
he answered, spinning around in shock. He knelt down and caught her in a bear
hug as he continued. "Where in blazes have you been? Everybody's looking
all over for you! I was just about to go join Target and Bullet in the search,
but now that you're here..."
"Wait,
why is everybody looking for me?"
"Because
K'ren said you had been gone a long while and she was worried about you..."
"I'll
bet," muttered Katy to Chris.
"...don't
think I trust her too much, though," continued Marcus. "Something
about her reminds me of..."
"Naomi?"
asked the girls.
"How
did you know?" he replied.
"Marcus,
she's trying to make me go back to Corwin's castle. I think she's going to try
to use me to get my sister."
"Knowing
her sister, it'ld probably work, too," added Katy.
"The
witch!" spat Marcus. "Why, I'll...look, Chris, I owe you for saving
me the time she threw me in her dungeon. I'll protect you this
time."
"Thanks,
Marcus," smiled Chris gratefully.
"We
can't tell anyone we're here, though, 'cause they'll send us right back to her
and we'll be in trouble," said Katy.
"Yeah,
let's go back to the woods," said Chris, turning back to the door.
"Okay,"
said Marcus, following her. "By the way, who's your friend?"
"I'm
Katy," she said, following him.
"Oh,
nice ta meet ya," he said, as the door disappeared.
"They
were just here," said Target, pausing by the door. "I felt both of 'em."
"Both?"
asked Robin.
"Yeh,
Katy's with her. They're probably just playing somewhere, although I'd feel
better seein' for meself."
"So
would I," said Robin. "Where did you feel them last?"
"Weapon
room," he returned briefly, turning to go. "Be right back."
"If
Marcus is still there, send him back," she added after him.
"Define
'lost'," I frowned at the fairy twins as they hovered over my bed.
"Well,
maybe lost isn't the proper word for it," began K'rin, slowly.
"Well,
school me on the proper wording," I said, folding my arms patiently.
"Misplaced,
maybe," added K'ren.
"Misplaced?"
I echoed.
"No,
no, misplaced is wrong...more like displaced..."
"She
really just went off..."
"We
tried to ask her where and..."
"So,
hold on a second. What you're saying is that she went off somewhere by herself
and you don't know where."
"Yes,"
they responded simultaneously.
"No
big deal." I shrugged. "She's allowed."
"Yes,
but she left in an awful huff..."
"And
she's been gone so long..." They hadn't really moved any, but I was
beginning to lose track of which one was K'ren and which was K'rin. Since
confusion tends to exasperate me if I'm not the cause of it, I took a deep sigh
and said, "Look, how about I just find her and see if she's okay..."
"No,
no! You can't get up!"
"Stay
in bed and tell us where she is."
"We'll
go get her!"
It
would keep Robin off my case and me in less agony, I thought. "Awright,
she's...in the forest I made a while back." I made a door to the forest
without much effort and K'ren and K'rin dashed through it. There's
dedication to a job, I thought, laying back to relax. They worry too
much. Even K'rin's all upset. I wonder what Chris' doing in my woods, anyway?