Adjusting Course, page 6
“We have magic at the main gate that walks them through feeling better about whatever they arrive for,” Geoff told us. “It’s how we deal with everything from nosy state police to UPS delivering tons of Amazon packages.”
“That’s smart,” Lageos muttered.
“But the fairy barriers I’ve seen have flaws,” I muttered. “If I let Darby through, he could let through anyone. Then those people could let through anyone. That’s a slippery slope and how traitors could still get in.”
“You got around that before,” Darby muttered. “You built in a door in the barrier at your house, right? Could you do that again?”
“Yes, but I could open and close it in a fairy barrier of fairy magic because I’m a fairy,” I answered. “I don’t know that I’m remotely knowledgeable enough to pull off anything else and not risk it failing.”
“Let us help, Your Highness,” Onas muttered as he came into my view. He moved closer but stopped when Lageos grabbed his arm. “You’re fried and need to refuel. What are you wanting?”
I huffed at him, feeling whiney and maybe hangry, definitely just wanting snuggles. “I want everyone here not to die. Duh, Onas.”
He simply blinked at me a moment. “Okay, well, what did you originally want to talk to the Alpha about? I have a feeling the topics can be combined in the right way.” He shrugged when several people gave him hesitant looks. “I listen to my gut as well.”
“Mother said his instincts were right much more than he was wrong,” Neldor agreed. “Unfortunately, he can be a stubborn ass and dig in his heels.”
“Unkind but not untrue,” Onas accepted, searching my eyes. “Why did you want to talk to the Alpha?”
I sighed, scrubbing my head with my hand. “We’ve rescued like fifty grandchildren of fairies, but they’re all shifters. And they’re just sitting around watching our chaos and in limbo. I hate it. I hate I can’t fix that and they aren’t getting any normal or love.”
“We all do,” he muttered.
“No, you don’t!” I yelled. “I lived that, Onas. It’s horrible. Do you have any idea what it’s like to not know where you’re going to be sleeping next or if your stuff will get stolen again at a new home? If the next place you’re sent will hurt you? Or never feel like you can sleep safely? You don’t know, and it’s hell for a kid!”
And then to the shock of everyone—myself included—I broke down sobbing. I went to Hudson and just curled into myself, crying out whatever the fuck was going on with me.
Lageos rubbed my back and gave me a healing rune. So did Neldor, and then I felt like I could have a grip.
“My healing runes weren’t doing much,” I realized when I calmed down. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“You’re feeling like a stretched-out rubber band, Your Highness,” Stefanie explained. “That’s your life right now, and it’s too much for anyone. It’s okay.”
Everyone seemed to accept that, so I didn’t focus on it or push it, glad at least that they seemed fine with ignoring my random crying.
I turned to Geoff. “Your pack are good people. They care. I wanted to ask if you could take them in and give them a real home. We aren’t what’s best for them as fairies. I have no idea how to help a kid get ready to shift later. And their Alphas are dirty since they sold them.
“That’s what I wanted to ask. I know you guys need more jobs. I’ll pay people to take care of them like a safe foster care center. Or if good people take them into their homes for now, I’ll give them stipends like the human system. Or whatever. What we’re doing isn’t working, and we have so many problems that the kids will fall through the cracks. They always do!”
“This is seriously triggering you, agra,” Darby whispered, pulling me away from the Alpha and hugging me to him. “We should have realized this.”
“How could you when I didn’t even realize it at first?” I said with a sigh. “There’s just too much, Darby. And yeah, I feel fried. Whiney. Maybe hangry.” I snuggled up to him. “I’m not sure it will even work now that Geoff’s extra targeted and that’s probably my fault too and everyone will hate me for it.”
“No, no, we won’t,” Geoff cut in. “We were always a target. It’s gotten worse with more corruption and issues, but we—we fight off too many issues too, Tamsin. Long before I met you.”
“I see the way this fits,” Onas announced before anyone else could speak. “If we put up a barrier like we know as fairies, we can station a few Faerie Guardians here. A battalion can take one extra guard duty a week at their main gate, nap even, but be on location for any problems. They can open the door into the barrier that you learned if you teach us how to do it.
“Or I think I even know how to do that, but I haven’t played with barriers in years. But that way, this place is ridiculously safe. Then they can take the extra risk of housing grandchildren of fairies that are shifters. The orphaned ones or even ones that need it for now while we’re waking more fairies. I’ll use my own damn magic on growing magic to get more food here.”
I stared over Darby’s shoulder as I thought of how that could all fit. Then I pulled away from him and without even realizing what I was doing, walked over to Onas and hugged him. “Yes. Yes, please, let’s do that. Just please figure that out.”
Everyone was stunned for several moments, but Onas snapped out of it first and hugged me back. “You’re doing better than you think, Your Highness. I can work with the Alpha if he allows it.”
“Someone will pull the guard like on Marisol.”
Shael snorted. “No, they won’t. We burned the ground around that and you disbanded the Light Guardians, so no more chain of command issues. Not for Faerie Guardians.”
“We threatened to kick out any who took faulty orders or didn’t double check with their chain of command to be sure,” Stefanie added… As she came over and pulled me away from Onas. The look on her face was a mix of shock and worry.
Yeah, I felt the same that I’d willingly gone to Onas like that.
Something I think Darby realized because he hugged me again so my back was against his chest and I could keep talking to everyone. Perfect.
I focused on Geoff. “We’ll do the barrier no matter what. I won’t trade the lives of your people for help.”
“You just don’t know how to make it work, and guarding grandchildren of fairies is a reason to station a Guardian here,” Geoff surmised. “Otherwise, you’re going to get shit for playing favorites and other groups jumping on you to give them the same.”
“Fuck, I didn’t even get to that part yet,” I groaned.
“We will take that deal,” Geoff said firmly before I could get upset. “Gladly and glad we can help. Hell, we’ve got a bunch of empty-nester grandparents who would love to spoil some young shifters. I don’t know how it will work to start, but if you give us some help with people, we can get everything set in the main party room.
“Cots won’t be fun, but the kids will all be together. Help with food, and people can start to meet them. That’s enough for now. We can talk about building a foster center or whatever for them later. We’ve got a crew who can more than do that if we get materials. And yes, we have people who would like the jobs. Maybe even some of the people you have at the havens could help.”
Done. Just done and done.
I wanted to cry all over again but this time in relief. Instead, I went and hugged Geoff, mumbling my thanks and taking it off my plate.
To which he thanked me for saving his pack multiple times now.
Fair enough.
Onas promised he would handle the details and make it work immediately. I was shocked, but then I caught a thought that he was a big fan of wolves… And he’d once had a fling with the Alpha Mate’s mother before she was mated. Okay then. That was some loyalty that he worried for Geoff’s mate because of a fondness for her mother.
I actually liked him a lot better for that and knew I could leave the project in his hands at least.
Shael insisted I eat and I didn’t disagree. Hudson canceled some things in his schedule and promised we could swim and have an easy time after lunch. I felt bad and invited him, Darby, Izzy, and Lageos to a fun meal. Then I added Lucca.
Dalyor and his friends had joined our group at one point—or they honestly might have been there from the beginning I was so out of it—and they invited themselves because I didn’t have guards. Which was hysterical given it was lunch with a demigod but still, I agreed.
Which meant all the commanders were coming with as well. Fine, whatever, just give me food.
Izzy was amazing on many levels, but her organizational abilities were a superpower that many should aspire to. For real.
And her way of getting me to agree to take over things that didn’t make me feel like I was being a horrible friend. She said that was mostly because of how I always made sure to appreciate her and I did. I honestly had no idea how I would have survived without her and Darby.
Which was why I focused on her. “What are you in the mood for? Where can I be seen or should we glamour?”
“People are still talking about how you were attacked, remember?”
I blew a raspberry. “Fuck, that seems like last week. My life is too much. Okay, so be seen? We can post something like, ‘I’m fine, sorry there was confusion?’”
“Perfect.” But then she sighed. “I know you don’t want people to know your training facility is by Colorado Springs, but eventually it will get out.”
“Yeah, but I ran up a mountain today and didn’t livestream it. Those days we can do whatever and like say I stopped on a layover or refueling?”
“Yeah, that works.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why? What are you thinking?”
I blew her a kiss. “What you keep talking about lately. What have you been in the mood for?”
She groaned and I chuckled, hearing in her mind I got it correct. Yup, I was oblivious on lots, but I paid attention when it mattered.
Fine, food cravings weren’t exactly a priority, but I paid attention because I cared. I might not be able to fix everything, but I could get Izzy some Memphis barbeque when she had a damn craving.
I opened a cloaked portal behind the restaurant I wanted. Grabbing Izzy’s hand, we went through, and I smiled when we came out. “Welcome to some banging Memphis barbeque.”
“Lead the way,” she chuckled, squeezing my hand to let me know… I wasn’t sure. She was with me? Loved me? I took it as all of that and comfort.
I glanced around and made sure no one was there and there weren’t suddenly extra cameras. Relief filled me when I saw we were in the clear, but I noticed Onas watched me after he came through the portal and was doing the same. His thoughts told me he was impressed that no matter how fried I was, I always made sure to check stuff like that.
And that my training for that was good. Training? Sure, Mel showed me some tricks, but there wasn’t any training. That was self-taught mostly with trial and error.
I told him that in his mind, wincing when I did it to everyone and too loudly from the way they grabbed their heads. “Sorry, I really am fried.”
“It’s fine, Your Highness,” he said.
“No, Tamsin,” I corrected. “Don’t risk someone with a phone out or an echo point someone could catch. Barriers can waver or have issues. Get in the habit around humans of using my name. Pass it on. I’m too visible now with social media to get the company going.”
To my shock, not only Onas but the other fairies seemed to finally accept that. Rock on. Maybe my day was looking up?
“No, no way,” a man said when I walked into the restaurant. “You got to go. You’re not welcome here.”
“Why?” I demanded, letting go of Izzy’s hand and moving in front of her protectively in case there was a problem.
“You ate us out last time,” he blasted, clearly the owner or at least store manager. “People were talking that you’re a competitive eater. That’s not okay here.”
“I’m not,” I drawled. “I’ve done some challenges when I travel, but it’s not like I train. And I sure as hell didn’t eat all the food here last time. I had four fucking plates. That’s totally within reason at a buffet restaurant.”
“You had four plates of ribs,” he snapped, backing down when Lageos stepped up next to us. “You had like a dozen racks of ribs.”
“I don’t remember having that many but yeah, it was four plates,” I grumbled. “Either way, don’t label yourself all-you-can-eat and then bitch people eat too much. So not fair that you call yourself a buffet but kick people out who get their money’s worth.”
“We can eat somewhere else,” Neldor muttered when we started getting attention. “Let this idiot explain why he lost out on the money from our large party.”
It was hard not to laugh when all of us would have gotten our money’s worth. I agreed though and spun on my heel to find somewhere else. Asshole.
“Big mistake that might cost you your job,” Izzy said to the guy. “Not only are you food shaming someone, but people are offering to pay a ton for her to promote them. She was going to post something saying she loved the food here while we were refueling for our trip, but now I think she should post that you’re a jerk and not to eat here.”
She stormed out of there before I even reached the door. She was fuming when I reached her in the parking lot.
“Thanks, Izzy.”
“If you were a guy, he would have laughed that you could put away so much. But because you’re a woman, he causes a scene and tries to embarrass you how much you ate. Isn’t there some code they can’t take note of that and yell to the whole restaurant what you ate? Jerk.”
“I so love you,” I chuckled and hugged her. I wasn’t sure it was a sexist thing, but I adored her for being so protective of me. “I have another place. This one had better ribs, but the other has the best fries which we love.”
“We do,” she agreed, grabbing my hand and pulling me back to the spot where the portal was.
This time Shael went in first after she promised she would go in cloaked. Neldor went next with Dalyor and his friends, his thoughts on working with them since they were going to be around me a lot. He had actual training from his father but had also worked with a few of the Rothchilds after bribing them for help. Smart, really smart.
Well, Neldor always was. He could be an idiot, but I never had any complaints of him being stupid. There was a difference in my mind.
Once we were all through the portal and at the restaurant, we could actually get a few tables together in the back. It was right at the start of lunch and things were being put out fresh. I mentally sighed. My day had been so crazy and chaotic that this morning seemed like last week.
“Part of what’s going on with you is that you only had that fruit bowl,” Dalyor reminded me when we got in line. “You might be too powerful for us to read that you’re down on the tank like other trainees. Your ‘tank’ is so much bigger than most. You might not be registering empty but think of it like fuel efficiency.”
I nodded. “If there’s a leak in the oil or gas tank on my bike, it’s not performing as well. Or it acts wonky from pressure dropping too fast.”
“Exactly.”
“Thanks, that helps.”
“I’m glad.”
I was about to check with him he was really okay with ditching training, but I noticed panic on Rafe’s face. Quickly focusing on his thoughts, I almost laughed but instead made my way over to him.
“Thanks, our party is all set,” I told the server who was flirting with the fairy. “We’ve got a server and drinks coming.”
“Oh good, just checking,” she said… While her thoughts were nasty as fuck, and she wanted to smack me out of the way of the hot guy.
“Okay, don’t accept anything from her,” I said under my breath. “Damn, she’s an angry one.” I focused on Rafe. “You good?”
“Sorry, Your—Tamsin. I froze. I’m not sure I’ve ever had someone like her talk to me.”
A human.
I nodded. “Just act like you would one of us flirting with you when you don’t want it.”
Dalyor snorted. “He acts like a deer in headlights then too. Rafe’s a bookworm and women mostly scare him.”
“Dick,” Rafe bitched, but then cleared his throat. “He’s not wrong though. Thank you.”
I smiled when Darby moved closer and started talking to Rafe about how men brushed off annoying people nowadays. I didn’t think it had really changed too much, but it was sweet that my prickly pear would work with him on that. To be fair, he was really, really good at it. When we met, he practically had “fuck off” stamped on his forehead.
Well, for everyone but me.
Mostly.
Lunch was amazing and it was just fun. Everyone relaxed, and the fairies got a chance to dip their toes into being around humans and more. We ate and ate, seriously almost cleaning them out. It amused the staff and no one was rude about it. It didn’t seem to be a busy day for them, but they would probably have extra stocked in the back.
Right? I was pretty sure that was how restaurants worked.
With every plate I started to feel better but when we were finishing up, I really had reason to be happy. Lageos had figured out the issue I’d asked him for. He created a charm to absorb my excess magic and throw it in a reservoir. He modeled it after the magic of Faerie that pulled anything over the top from fairies after they stepped through the portal.
It didn’t do that to me because I was using excess power to wake fairies. I had a moment to wonder if it would once that was done or if the world left me alone? At least on that but something to think about for another time.
Right then, I was over the moon.
“How does it work?” I asked out loud, so excited that I forgot we had been speaking in our minds. Whoops!
He told me that it only worked for someone I loved, and they simply had to activate the charm and touch me. Perfect, that included Izzy as well. He promised he’d get it all set up. I was thrilled, that was a huge worry off my list. For real.
