Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chaykeely ❯ Chapter three ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Alamara tochino marito." Arietta was speaking to a squirrel, which was perched on her shoulder.

The squirrel chittered and nodded as Arietta tied a ribbon with her ring on it around the animal's neck. It then scurried off through the forest.

"What did you say to it?" Keiran asked.

Arietta smiled. "Take it as far as you can, and then drop it." She walked away from the tree under which they had met the squirrel and started back to the house.

"Wait for me." Keiran ran after her. "Do you really think your fiance would cause you harm?"

"No." Arietta turned to look at Keiran. "I think he would cause you harm."

"Me?"

"Yes. Devlan is...well, very jealous. He thinks he loves me, but he doesn't...not really, anyway." She sighed and continued walking. "But he also wants to be king of the faerie realm. Maybe somewhere in his twisted mind he thinks that killing the faeries will grant his wish." She looked up at the treetops thoughtfully. "It might be the reason why I'm alive, also."

Keiran stood next to her and also looked at the trees. "I thought your parents saved you..."

"I have no memory of the event. Everyone assumed it had been my parents because they were powerful enough, but..." She looked at Keiran and frowned. "Devlan is also powerful enough. He could have saved me..."

"Well...we shouldn't assume anything until we're convinced, alright?" Keiran opened the cottage door and held it open for Arietta. "We shouldn't worry about things like that. We have enough fears already."

"I know. Do you think I should have gone to meet Devlan? You said we shouldn't worry unnecessarily..."

"I said not to worry. But it always pays to be cautious."

Arietta smiled and nodded. "Okay. I won't think about it too much anymore."

As they walked in, they saw Nevan and Brighid in the living room, talking to each other in low voices. Keiran cleared his throat and they both jumped.

"Oh, I wondered where you two were," Brighid said, smiling despite the distressed look on her face. "We were about to look for you."

"No need. What are you up to?" Keiran asked, walking over to the couch and sitting down. Arietta wordlessly sat beside him.

"Nothing...we were just talking." Brighid smiled nervously and sat down in a rockingchair. Nevan pulled a chair up next to her and also sat down.

"Really..." Arietta looked at Brighid suspiciously. "What were you talking about?"

Neither Brighid nor Nevan said a word, and neither would look at the other. Keiran yawned and stretched his arms.

"I'm getting tired. There's not much to do while we're in hiding like this, is there? Before we had to worry about the witches being so close, it was a lot less boring." He sighed. "Well, where is it?"

"Where is what?" Nevan asked.

"The deck of cards. We're stuck here. We might as well play a game of cards." He turned to Arietta. "Do you want to play?"

Arietta stared at Keiran wonderingly. "Cards?"

"Um, you don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" Keiran asked with a sigh. Arietta shook her head. "All right, then. We'll teach her how to play Go Fish."

"I'll get the cards," Brighid volunteered, running from the room, leaving her chair to make a creaking sound as it rocked back and forth.

"Where's Aisling and...what's his name? Kael, right? Where are they?" Arietta asked.

"Good question. Nevan, where are they?"

Nevan shrugged. "We haven't seen them in a while. Maybe they're in their rooms. They went for a walk earlier. Maybe they went again."

Keiran nodded. "Well, as long as they stay within the boundaries, it should be fine." He stood up and dragged Brighid's rocking chair to the coffee table as he saw her come in the room. Nevan did the same with his own chair. Keiran took the cards and shuffled them, then began dealing them out. "Okay, Arietta. You're being dealt seven cards. Hold them like this," he said, holding his like a fan facing him, "And if you have any two with the same number, put them down on the table. Otherwise, don't let us see them."

"Okay." Arietta did as she was told, and put down a pair of fours. Brighid put down a pair of twos, and neither Keiran nor Nevan had any pairs to start.

"Now, you’re going first. Ask one of us if we have a card matching one in your hand. If the person you ask says yes, they will hand you that card and you can put it down with your fours. Then you can go again. If they don't, they say 'go fish' and you have to draw a card from the pile. If you draw a card, and it is the one you asked for, you may go again. If it is a match to a different card in your hand, put it down, but you may not go again. And if it is not a match, keep it in your hand."

"Okay. Um...Brighid, do you have any fives?" Arietta asked.

"Hmm...yes, here you go." She handed Arietta a five of diamonds to go with her five of clubs.

"Nevan, got any eights?"


"I'd appreciate it if you left me alone right now. There's something I'd like to do," Aisling told Kael as they walked near the back entrance of the house.

"Why? What do you have to do?"

Aisling sighed. "It's a secret."

"Can't you tell me? Please?" Kael pouted, looking at Aisling with pleading eyes.

"Okay, fine." Aisling sighed again. "I have a flower garden out here. It's hidden by faerie magic, but if you see me go there, you can see it clearly. I didn't want anyone going there and messing it up."

"I wouldn't mess it up," Kael promised. "Can I see? Please?"

"Fine, come on." Aisling walked away, toward the back of the cottage, with Kael following. She kept walking through what Kael thought was a cluster of thorn bushes, and he was hesitant to follow. However, the thorn bushes seemed to disappear suddenly and were replaced by a garden full of flowers. Aisling knelt over a row of white Heathers. "This is supposed to represent you. It represents protection. You were a warrior in a past life, correct? And then you were cursed? So protection suits you. At least, for the warrior part. And I guess it suits you in this life..."

Kael smiled. "How about these? Who do these represent?" He pointed at a row of white roses.

"Brighid. They represent innocence, purity, you know, that kind of thing."

"And these?"

"Those are white Zinnias. They're like Nevan, sort of...goodness. Overall, that describes Nevan, don't you think?"

"Oh, of course...how about these? These are Gladiolus, right? My mother used to have these in her garden."

"They're Keiran's. They represent sincerity and generosity."

"And these last ones...they're yours?"

Aisling nodded. "Yes...those are mine. Primroses. Not because they stand for something, but because they're my lucky flower. They respond best to me..." She trailed off, as if she didn't want to say something, but she shrugged and continued anyway. "They speak to me."

"Really?" Kael's eyes widened and he looked excited. "What do they say?"

"They just tell me if something's happening. That's all. Anyway, I wanted to come here to plant some seeds of a flower representing Arietta."

"I thought you hated her," Kael said.

"No...I've never hated her." She smiled a bit and handed Kael a few seeds. "Would you like to help?

"Of course! What are they?"

"Amaryllis. Pride, beauty, and timidity. Yes, those all describe Arietta in some way. The pride tends to stand out more than the others, however."

The two of them buried the seeds in the ground, and then Aisling summoned up a bit of water for the flowers. As they finished, Kael realized the sun was setting.

"We should go back in," he announced. "It's almost dinnertime."

"Yes." Aisling nodded and led the way out of the garden, followed by Kael.


pair of Aces," Keiran announced, moving to take the chips from the center of the table.

"Wait," Brighid said, pointing at Arietta. "What do you have?"

"Three sixes," she said, smiling. "That means I win, right?"

The other three stared at her in amazement. "Yeah...you win. You won Go Fish, War, Spades, Hearts, and now Poker. You don't have any psychic powers you're using to win, do you?" Keiran demanded.

"No..." Arietta grinned. "I'm just really lucky!" She laughed and stood up from the couch, dancing in a circle. "I won, I won, I won!"

The other three smiled. "Anyone hungry?" Brighid asked. "We've been playing for hours. It's dinnertime."

As if on cue, Kael stormed through the door. "Brighid, is it dinnertime yet? I'm starving!" Aisling walked in after him and froze on the spot, seeing Arietta doing her victory dance.

"I never expected to see that." At once Arietta stopped, smiled sheepishly, and sat down on the arm of the couch.

"I won," she said simply.

"I see." Aisling nodded and went into the kitchen. The others followed, and Brighid went to the stove to make dinner for them.


Devlan ran through the forest, realizing that the flashing of his ring became more and more frequent as he did. He knew he was quickly approaching Arietta, and had no time to spare in finding her. Finally, the flashing ceased, and the light emanating from the ring was steady. He looked around him, but did not see Arietta anywhere. Confused, he started to climb the tree under which he was standing, but stopped when he saw something green in one of the branches. He reached out to pick it up, and as he brought it to him, he realized it was Arietta's ring, tied on a yellow ribbon. He growled and clenched it in his fist. "Do you want to die, Arietta?" He sighed and looked into the sky, where the sun was setting. "I have about sixteen hours..." He jumped out of the tree and began running again, calling out Arietta's name.

"He didn't find her!" Enya cheered, hearing Devlan's distant calls for the elf princess. She danced in a circle around Keelty and Calder.

Galvin laughed and joined Enya's dancing. "We get to kill the elf!"

"Not yet. He has sixteen hours yet," Donelle reminded them, "Although, without tracking her by her ring, I don't know how he expects to find her in time."

"If he doesn't find her in time, but he does find her, at least it will save us the hassle of finding her ourselves," Keelty pondered.

Donelle nodded. "That's why I allowed him to search in the first place."

"Maybe she's already dead," Calder suggested thoughtfully.

"How would her ring have gotten out here, in the middle of nowhere, in that case?" Keelty asked. "We're not anywhere near the faerie realm. I mean, unless it can fly..."

Galvin looked up suddenly. "Squirrels."

"Squirrels?"

He pointed to the tree next to Keelty. There were five squirrels, watching them intently.

"You think that they..." Keelty's eyes narrowed a bit. "You don't plan on harming them, do you, Galvin?"

"Why not? They aren't innocent, you know, if they did help her. If they are aiding the elf princess, they must be punished."

"You're insane. They're squirrels, Galvin. They're animals. We can't harm them. You know that." Enya shook her head. "As much as I'd like to..."

Donelle began to walk away, and her accomplices followed. "It's getting dark. The sun has set, and soon the moon will be up. Let's get back to our tents, okay?" The others nodded as they made their way through the forest.


"The moon's going to be up soon, Keiran," Nevan warned.

Keiran nodded. "I know. I can feel it already. It doesn't matter too much now." Arietta smiled.

"You didn't want to transform in front of me?"

Keiran laughed a bit. "Yeah...I never want to transform in front of anyone. It's kind of embarrassing, really..."

"I can relate," Kael said, laughing as he slurped the spaghetti Brighid had made. "I transform whenever it rains. That's more unpredictable than yours."

Arietta looked at Kael, confused. "That's right, I don't know what you are. What do you become when it rains?"

"I don't know what the term for what I am would be, really. I was cursed by a witch when in my past life that in this life, I would turn into a dragon whenever it rains."

"A dragon? Really? Wow! So you can breathe fire?"

"Um...no. I'm a very tiny dragon. About this high." He held his hands about a foot apart. "Well, I might be able to breathe fire. I haven't tried it. I know my claws hurt people, though."

Nevan nodded. "They hurt a lot. This is why I don't share a room with him anymore, under any circumstances."

"So that's why..." She stopped, realizing she was about to mention the pit in Kael's room,would tell them that she had been in their rooms. "I mean, I just had a feeling..." She mumbled.

Keiran jumped up and ran from the room. The others looked at each other. "Don't worry, Arietta, he's never transformed in front of us, either," Brighid said, smiling at her.

Arietta nodded and looked down at the food in front of her. "What is this?" She asked. "Is it edible?" She asked Aisling, who was already eating it.

"Of course. It's spaghetti, Brighid makes it all the time. And don't worry, there's no meat in ours. Just in Kael's and Keiran's."

"Yes, because they're carnivores," Brighid said, smiling at Kael, who was too busy eating to pay attention to the conversation.

Arietta shook her head. "Revolting," she muttered, picking up the fork and cautiously taking a bite of the pasta. "This is actually rather good," she admitted.

As everyone except Nevan, who had gotten his fill of blood from the rabbit earlier,at the table eating, a black cat with purple eyes walked into the room. Its eyes fixed on Keiran's bowl and it jumped onto the table to begin lapping up the food.

"Hi, Keiran," Nevan greeted him. Keiran looked up at him, then went back to eating without saying a word.

"Can he not talk when in cat form?" Arietta asked. The others shrugged.

I can talk, Arietta heard him say. Well, I can talk to you, apparently, telepathically. They've never understood me.

"Can I talk back telepathically, or do I have to say what I want to say out loud?" She asked aloud. The others stared at her.

I don't know. Try talking to me telepathically and we'll see.

Can you hear this?

Yes. This is great! I guess being a cat every night for one week every month isn't so bad. He purred and looked up at her. Well...at least tonight it isn't. I guess we don't know what the next month will bring.

I guess I can hear you because I can talk to squirrels and things...so I can probably talk to any animal like this.

Maybe. He licked up the last bit of his food and leapt across the table to Brighid, purring and rubbing her arm with his head. Could you thank her for me, Arietta?

says 'thank you'," Arietta told Brighid, who smiled.

welcome, Keiran."

disgusting. Why is he on the table, if he's in cat form?" Aisling asked.

laughed and shook his head. "What, me climbing on the table in dragon form isn't disgusting?"

point," Aisling mumbled. "That is disgusting. Don't do it."

While they're discussing that, Keiran said to Arietta, Come with me. I want to look at the moon.

Why do you need me there for that?

Because I don't want to be alone. Please? He jumped off the table and landed next to Arietta's feet. Please follow me?

Fine, she conceded, following him outside. Nevan and Brighid smiled at each other, and Aisling and Kael continued arguing.

Brighid, everyone's pairing up," Nevan whispered.

know, it's so cute." Brighid giggled. "Let's leave Kael and Aisling alone. Come on," she said, taking Nevan by the hand and leading him out to the living room.

they left Aisling looked around the almost-empty kitchen. "Where did everyone go?"

shook his head. "I have no idea." He smiled and then yawned. "I think I know, actually."

raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

He stood up and stretched his arms. "To bed! I'm exhausted. They probably were, too."

I'm sure that's where they are," Aisling replied, rolling her eyes. "God, you're an idiot." She walked off toward her room.