Crossing Paths

CH12- Hook in Mouth

We had all decided that it was best to keep Esther a secret from everyone else. One reason was to keep me from having even more people trying to probe my mind, which is what Gideon thought the Fae would do. Another reason was to keep the queen of Oceania from pushing me to do things, which is what Esther thought would happen. The third reason was Gerritt’s. He thought it would be easier to ask questions and search for information if no one knew what we were searching for, since it was a delicate situation.

My own reason was that I wasn’t about to have people trying to talk to Esther through me. I was irritated enough with this situation.

Gerritt had gone to Oceania before us and made all of the arrangements with the king and queen, so once we’d all packed and made arrangements with the house staff, we walked through the portal.

The Main Hall, where the portal released us, was, thankfully, almost empty. The only Fae present when we arrived were the king and queen and Princess Dolphina.

Dolly ran forward and hugged me, then Gerritt.

“It is so wonderful that you’ll be staying with us,” Dolly said, smiling brightly, then she saw Gideon and stepped towards him, “Greetings, vam-” she started to say, but caught herself, “Greetings, friend. I am Princess Dolphina and I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She curtsied very formally.

Gideon dropped his bags and wrapped Dolly in a hug.

“Thank you for the risk you took in saving my daughter,” he said, and I saw that he had bloody tears filling his eyes.

I was surprised and then saddened. I had been so focused on blocking him out, I hadn’t realized how much he was also going through. I would do better. Gideon was my father, after all.

Dolly hugged Gideon right back and said, “It was my pleasure.”

I could tell that she and Gideon would be good friends.

There was a few more minutes of pleasantries, then a servant was called to take us to our rooms.

Again, I couldn’t get away from Gerritt and Gideon. We had been given a suite of rooms, complete with two different bathrooms, a full kitchen, four bedrooms and a sitting room, all together.

“The fourth bedroom is for your human, Sir,” the servant said, bowing her head to Gideon.

He chuckled, “Oh, I didn’t bring my own human.”

The servant blushed, “My apologies, Sir. I will inform the kitchen.”

As the servant left the room, I let out a sigh. I was already exhausted, and I hadn’t even started my studies yet.

“I suppose I should have thought of that,” Gideon said, opening the first bedroom door and peeking in, “The Oceanians will have quite a difficult time providing my meals, being that they are at the bottom of the ocean.”

He left the door opened and moved to the next door.

Gerritt simply tossed his bag on the bed in the first room, then sat on the sofa and leaned his head back. Soon, he was snoring.

I went to the opposite side of the room from Gerritt’s and opened the door.

“This is my room,” I said, laughing.

It looked a lot like Dolly’s rooms had looked in the Fae realm. Coral, small colorful fish darting around, sand floors, and a huge jellyfish bed.

For the rest of that afternoon, the three of us stayed in our suite and settled in for what we knew would be a long stay.

I was flipping through a book I had found in the bathroom when Gerritt woke up from his nap. I felt his presence in my mind before he opened his eyes.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” I greeted him, cheerfully.

He let out a groan and rubbed his face.

“Uh, did you have a bad dream?” I asked him.

Gerritt groaned again and whispered, “Where am I?” with great difficulty, it seemed.

I looked up from the book and said, “On the couch?”

He had his hands over his face and his breath was quick and shallow.

I yelled for Gideon.

“Where am I?” Gerritt asked again, louder but still in a scratchy, gravelly way.

“Gerritt? Are you okay?” I said as I stood and went to his side.

I could feel his confusion and fear in my mind.

Gideon came out of his room and I waved him over.

“Gerritt, you’re here with Gideon and I in Oceania,” I said, placing a hand on his arm.

He was ice cold.

Gerritt lowered his hands, slowly, and looked from me to Gideon and back.

“Melissa?” he said, almost as if he didn’t believe it was me.

I nodded and smiled, but I felt very uneasy. Something was wrong.

“He said he killed you,” Gerritt whispered, his eyes filling with tears.

I could feel Gerritt’s feelings. I could hear his thoughts. I could see the horrifying images he was seeing in his mind. And since I could, so could Gideon.

We both growled, viciously at the visions of Gerritt’s memories.

There, in Gerritt’s panicked, terrified mind were memories of be tortured for what seemed like weeks. He was starved. He was beaten, severely. He was burned and cut and hung by his extremities until he couldn’t breathe. In every vision, the same terrible face leered at him as Gerritt screamed in anguish.

Almin.

How could that be possible? Gerritt had been with me every moment of every day from when we left the Fae realm until now. There had been no time for him to be tortured to the extent I was seeing in his memories.

‘It’s a fake memory,’ Esther said in my mind.

“Why would someone give him a fake memory?” I asked out loud.

Gideon sighed but didn’t comment. He just stared at Gerritt with a tortured expression.

‘Poor Gerritt. I wonder how long he’s been...’ Esther started to say.

There was a loud knock at the door that had Gideon and I on our feet, but Gerritt closed his eyes and lay still.

“Who is it?” Gideon called out.

No one replied, so Gideon shouted again.

’Uh, Melissa. We may have a big problem.” Esther said in my mind.

I wasn’t really listening to her though. I was watching Gideon as he went slowly to the door.

He swung the door opened quickly and stepped into the hall, looking both ways. Then, he looked at me and said, “Nothing,” but then he held up his hand and looked toward the stairs at the end of the hall.

“What is it?” I whispered.

Gideon tapped his chest in a rhythm like a heartbeat. He could hear someone’s heartbeat.

Gerritt was breathing deeply and evenly with his eyes closed, but I sensed his mind, and he was fully awake. What was he doing?

Gideon headed slowly and silently for the stairs.

I went to the door and stood in the hall watching him, waiting to back him up if he was attacked.

Gideon reached the end of the hall and put his back to the wall, listening. After a few seconds, he smiled. Suddenly he jumped out and snarled fiercely, facing the stairs.

I heard screaming and I sped to the stairs to help my father, but just as quickly I realized he was perfectly safe.

On the stairs, held by one of Gideon’s fingers under his collar, was a young Fae boy.

“What have we here? Did the kitchen send me a snack?” Gideon said, laughing.

The boy screamed again and began crying.

I knew Gideon wouldn’t eat any child, so he had nothing to fear, but the poor kid was about to pass out from fear.

“Gideon, let him go. He’s terrified,” I said, shaking my head.

Gideon chuckled, “He may be terrified, but I think he owes us an apology. Don’t you?”

The boy started mumbling something, but his crying was so bad I couldn’t understand him.

“Why did you bang on our door, boy?” Gideon said, softly, but sternly.

“I dared him to! Eat me! It’s my fault, not his!” I heard from down the stairs.

Two more boys came up the lower flight of stairs and stood on the landing below us. One was much smaller and was hiding behind the taller one who had spoken.

Gideon smiled.

“You dared him to bang on our door?” he said, then he looked down at the boy he was holding and asked, “And you did it?”

The tall boy stepped up one stair and said, “It’s the truth, vampire. I don’t lie. And I don’t let vampires eat my friends, so you better get away.”

Gideon asked the taller boy, “What’s your name, boy?”

The boy puffed his chest out and said, “Tarik.”

“Tarik, what makes you think I would eat you or your friend?” Gideon said, still holding the collar of the crying boy.

“Someone told me you’re vampires and you eat Fae children,” he said, his expression angry.

“Who told you that we eat children?” Gideon asked.

The boy he was holding onto said, “The man in the market. The man with silver eyes. He made us promise not to tell anyone we knew. We won’t tell!! We promise!!” then he continued to cry.

“We don’t eat kids,” I said, shaking my head at them, “Silver eyes? Do you see him a lot?”

Silver eyes couldn’t be common, because Almin and Oskar, his brother, were the only Fae I had met with this feature.

Tarik said, “No, I never saw him before. You don’t eat kids at all?”

Gideon let go of the boy and laughed, “No way. Just grown-ups.”

The boy stood where he was by Gideon and said, “I didn’t know anyone could eat a grown up.”

Tarik was eyeing the boy and said, “Fin, come here.”

But Fin was suddenly very enamored with Gideon and me.

“Can I see your food?” Fin asked, grinning.

Tarik must have been uncomfortable with this idea because he marched up the stairs, closing the space between himself and us dangerous vampires, so he could take Fin by the arm.

“I am responsible for you and I’m saying, no vampires!” Tarik said, dragging Fin down the stairs.

The boys headed down the stairs with Tarik and Fin arguing the possible dangers of trusting and befriending monsters. When their banter was far enough away, we knew they couldn’t hear us, we burst out laughing.

“Kids, right?” I said.

“Yes, but those kids did give us an important heads up,” Gideon said, “I’m going to talk to the queen. Will you be okay seeing to Gerritt?”

I nodded.

However, when I got back to our rooms, things had changed with Gerritt. He was sitting up, sipping tea and humming to himself. He looked completely normal.

“Um, are you okay?” I asked him.

He looked up and smiled.

“Melissa! Of course, I am. Why wouldn’t I be now that you’re here?” he said, smiling still.

‘Careful, girl.’ I heard Esther warn in my mind.

Gerritt’s expression changed. He’d heard Esther’s words.

I blocked him and asked Esther, ‘What’s going on?’

‘It’s Almin. I’m sure of it.’ she answered.

‘We know. Almin told the kids-’ but Esther cut me off.

‘No! THAT is Almin,’ she said, ‘Gerritt is not Gerritt.’

I looked at Gerrit, who was now staring at me with his head cocked to one side.

“Secrets don’t make friends, ladies,” the grinning Gerritt faced Almin said.

“Everyone has secrets,” I said, then I walked around him once, looking him up and down before asking, “Don’t they, Almin?”

Gerritt dropped to the floor suddenly, unconscious.

‘Someone is scared of you,’ Esther said.

‘But why?’ I thought to her.

I supposedly had powers since I was now part Fae, but nothing amazing had happened yet to prove that. If Almin had been taking over Gerritt’s mind for long, he would have known that.

Esther listened as my thoughts formed and said, ‘He probably started when we got here. He must’ve been waiting for you.’

That idea did not make me feel comfy. How did he even know we were coming here? When had he been close enough to do anything to Gerritt?

“I think it’s time to go see these Fae teachers,” I said and feeling Esther’s agreement, I headed out to find a tour guide.