Arabesque: A Wings Companion

Chapter One

"I can't believe I'm going back!"

Laurel grinned and shook her head as Chelsea's voice broke the stillness of the forest. A lot had changed in twelve years, but not Chelsea—not really—and her response to being invited back to the faerie homeland of Avalon was much as it had been before. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity none of them thought she'd get twice, not even with Yasmine as queen. Honestly there'd been a few years when Laurel wasn't entirely sure she'd see Avalon again. Fortunately for Chelsea, some things could only be accomplished by human hands.

Laurel held tight to Tamani's arm as he led them down a path now so familiar she could have traversed it in pitch darkness.

"Who's got Sophie and Zander?" Laurel asked over her shoulder. Chelsea's two adorable—if exhausting—young children were ordinarily in tow when Chelsea came out to the land. They loved visiting the forest and their Uncle Tam, but this was a journey they couldn't take with their mother.

"Jason's got them at home. As far as they know, Mommy's on a business trip," Chelsea said with a smile.

"It is business of a sort," Tamani said, with his typical unsmiling wit. "Faerie business. Besides, we won't send you back to Jason empty-handed and the pups will appreciate souvenirs."

It had long been the official position of Avalon that two humans could keep a secret if both were dead, but in the decade plus since the renegade faerie Klea had engineered a trollish invasion, an unusually large number of humans had kept the secret surprisingly well. Among them, Laurel's adoptive parents and Chelsea herself—but Chelsea refused to keep secrets from her husband, who had once observed that even if he did try to tell others, nobody would believe him and he had no proof.

A lump formed in Laurel's throat at the thought of the other human who once knew the secret—but no longer. David was directly responsible for their return to Avalon today, making his absence all the more conspicuous. Laurel was glad to have Chelsea, but she couldn't help but wish both her friends had been able to come. Willing to come. The memory potion had taken a lot of convincing—mostly from Tamani, who was closer to David than anyone except, perhaps, Chelsea—but Laurel was certain she'd done the right thing. If only that certainty made the consequences easier to swallow.

Tamani whistled sharply, a warbling sound easily mistaken for a birdcall, and after a moment faerie sentries began to appear from behind trees. They were cautious, leading with their diamond-tipped spears and crouching low in the undergrowth, nearly invisible in their forest-hued clothing.

"This is Chelsea," Tamani said calmly, "our invited guest." The sentries straightened, making themselves fully visible. Laurel recognized only a few. Once, she'd known more of them, but most of the sentries who'd been guarding the gate during the summers she spent at the Academy had been killed.

Most, but not all. One approached now and Tamani reached out to grab his comrade, Aaron, by the shoulders, drawing him near with the gruff, backslapping hug universally utilized by males in both the faerie and human worlds. Silve followed, receiving the same treatment. They'd been brothers-at-arms even before bonding with their shared grief of Shar's death on their watch. Without the intelligence Shar died to obtain, Klea may have won, all those years ago. And even if she'd lost, Aaron and Silve wouldn't have been around to celebrate. Laurel watched their silent communication with reverence, the glimmer of sorrow that flickered across their faces resonating with her own. Even in victory, there was sadness enough to last a lifetime.

"It's a proud day," Silve said softly, and Tamani nodded, though he didn't speak. "Shar would love to have seen it."

"He'd have been highly amused at the very least," Tamani said with a humorless laugh, settling back in beside Laurel and reaching for her hand. It was still hard for him to talk about Shar. He forced a smile, but these two hadn't listened helplessly to Shar's last moments from miles away. To this day, Tamani hated carrying a cell phone. "Shall we prepare the gate?" he said, and Laurel knew he wanted to leave that subject behind. For the moment.