Page 2 of Anywhere

“Did… um… did you feel anything happen?” the guy asked as he looked around the lush cabin space of the private jet. My father had designed it for these long trips. I glanced at the bed. I’d missed fixing the crystal decanter that had landed on the floor with the comforter. I pointed out the window, and the captain leaned forward to see what I was indicating.

“Something hit the wing. I think it was a bird or maybe a couple,” I said as I swiped my hand at the rest of the mess. The items quickly righted themselves.

The captain turned his head. I bit the inside of my cheek to not laugh at the confusion on his face. I could almost see him asking himself if something had just moved. Being able to read his mind would be awesome right about now.

“Oh… Okay,” his eyes now searching the rest of the space.

I was really regretting not bringing someone with me on the flight to fuck. Considering what my father was forcing me to do, it might have been the last time I got to fuck someone of my choice. That could’ve been the end of me, but at least I could’ve said I’d joined the Mile High Club before that happened.

I put my legs on the footrest in front of me and leaned over to pull a drink from the minibar. Even staring death in the face couldn’t stop the annoyed-as-fuck feeling I had inside my chest. It felt like the annoyance would burn me up with how it raged.

Sighing, I gave the captain an irritated look. He worked for my father, so as far as I was concerned, he worked for me and should get back to work.

“Why do you look so shaken? Should I be concerned about you? Should I be calling my father? I mean, we hit some stupid bird and had a little turbulence. No big deal. What exactly do you think happened?” I asked.

I watched his face go through a range of emotions, and I could almost hear the questions inside his skull. I guess it wasn’t fair to treat the man like he was an idiot. It wasn’t like he could comprehend what had just happened.

“Ah… Well, I-I… we were… um…”

“Is there an actual sentence hidden in there?” I took a swig of the fizzy fruit water disguised as alcohol and gagged as I stared at the can. What the fuck had my father stocked the fridge with? The label read: Real fruit flavour with a kick. Zero calories and zero alcohol, but all the same taste. I had news for whoever made this undrinkable garbage. It didn’t taste like an alcoholic drink at all. It tasted more like watered-down fruity piss.

“You know what? Never mind. I’ve been reading too many weird books lately and staying up far too late.” He shuffled toward the cockpit.

“Hey, how much longer until we get there?”

He looked over his shoulder at me, and I could see the wheels turning as he tried to tell himself that what had just happened hadn’t happened. I had a love-hate thing going on with those who didn’t know about us, magic, or how the world worked. The Flitters—as many of the Factions called them—were all blissfully unaware that they were puppets in a much larger master’s game. Many a night, I wished that I could be that oblivious. It certainly would’ve saved me from flying to this tiny shithole island to form one of the next power triads. Next-gen, here we come. To become part of a powerful triad was supposed to be an honour. I was told I should be excited by the opportunity, but all I saw was a lifetime of responsibility that I didn’t want.

My jaw twitched at the thought. The new position in my family was bad enough, but to be forced into marriage with two people I didn’t fucking know and taking over additional family responsibilities was not my idea of living. It sounded like a death sentence with two ball-and-chains. It was certainly not what I wanted, but my father didn’t give a shit what I wanted. All that mattered was that I was chosen at the last union ritual to become the next head of the Adair family and join with Rhys and someone else. I had no idea why Devlin couldn’t take my place. Not that he’d been any keener to take on the triad life, but being the firstborn should come with perks like passing on shit you don’t want to deal with.

I waved my hand, and the captain’s eyes focused on my face. “Time? How much time?”

“Sorry. We’re forty minutes out from The Isle of Man,” he said. “If we make it there alive, that is,” he mumbled as he disappeared inside the cockpit.

Forty more minutes to comprehend the fucked-up life I was heading into and, more importantly, how I would get myself out of this mess.

Elewyen

The trees rustled, and my hands stilled from packing my travelling pack. I shivered as a cool breeze swirled around my neck and felt like a noose trying to strangle me. There was a restless charge in the air. I didn’t know what exactly it meant, but something was comin’, and it was big.

The older women in the coven were gathering and whispering in hushed tones about things like forced mating, and the word enslave had been used. There was a terrified tone in all of their voices, and they were making arrangements to improve the boundary security. I didn’t know what that meant or what had set them off, and I didn’t care. I’d grown up in the wild, and anything in the bush didn’t scare me. I loved these women. They’d taken me in and raised me, but they were not brave of heart. Living in the wilds, you learned to swallow your fears and fight, or you were swallowed by something much larger and scarier.

If it hadn’t been for them, I would never have understood the civilized world or learned to speak without growling like the wolves. For example, I learned that the massive stone homes were called castles, and those who lived in them should be avoided at all costs. They were dangerous to us. The other thing I now knew was that they had strange things that no one else seemed to have.

I’d seen them out in their small shiny boxes on black wheelbarrow wheels and asked one of the women of the coven what the shiny animals were called. They’d told me they were cars and that their ancestors told stories that, once, everyone used to have one, but now only those in the castles had them. There were so many of these differences, and I wanted to know why. Why didn’t we have shiny cars to move around? And why did they have lights that didn’t need fire to glow?

“Elewyen, cannie I come?” Keeva asked. I recognized the young girl’s voice and turned to see her standing with her travelling cloak on and a small basket of berries. “I’z got food,” she said and held up the basket for me to see.

Smiling, I sat my newly packed sack down and knelt to look the beautiful young girl in the eyes. She was the first girl I’d rescued from the villagers. It was the first time I understood what had happened to me and why I had a burning desire to help more women like me.

Reaching out, I ran my hands down the soft red locks of her hair. “Yer gettin’ ta be a big lass, but dis trip I’za need ta do on me own.”

Her young face fell, and her soft green eyes dropped to stare at her feet. I lifted her chin and made her look at me as I gave her a firm look. “Ya know ya wit be ma first choice in a season or two.” I glanced around at the other women, like I was sharing a big secret, and got close to her ear. “Din’t be tellin’ the others, but I’za need ya here ta look afta dem. There be naw a one I’za trust more den da likes of ya.” I gave her small cheek a kiss.

Keeva wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me as I hugged her tight. “I’za wuv ya, Eleywen. Ya gotta come back.”

Pulling back from the embrace, I kissed her forehead and then each of her cheeks. “Aye, I’za be back before Mabon. Ya best no be finkin’ yer gettin’ out a dancin’ wit me.”

Keeva smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I dinnie want ya ta go. I dinnie tink I’za see ya again,” she said, and a tear slid down her cheek.