Chapter 8

"Remember that time—"Amara cut herself off with a laugh. "That time when we stole Mr. Alison's big, blue flowerpot?"

Nearly spitting out my drink, I covered my mouth. "Aye, and he chased us down the street for half a mile before your mum caught us."

"Oh, that's got nothing on the Graham I know," Jake said, leaning forward from his perch on the log across the campfire. "You know what he did once when we were in our senior year of high school?"

As much as I appreciated the inclusion, that always made my stomach turn. Our senior year of high school. It was his senior year.

I never got to be a senior. With no legal documentation, I couldn't attend school.

Jake hadn't been the one that I'd considered a classmate, either. Rain had been. She came home from school each day, and we sat down with some textbooks, and she regurgitated what she had learned in class.

Still, I let him tell the story. Even if it was one I wasn't proud to be a part of.

"It was my senior prank." After taking a gulp from Amara's flask, Jake gestured around the fire. "You guys know about that? Senior pranks?"

Most of the others had retreated to their tents. All that remained around the campfire were me, Jeremy, Luci, Amara, and Jake. Aside from the sound of the ocean crashing in the distance, the only sounds that carried were our laughs. Jeremy and Luci didn't laugh as much as we did, but they listened.

And I had to admit, this was one thing I missed dearly. Sitting around a campfire in the dead of night was a regular occurrence here. At home, it was a special occasion. This was just the norm on the Fae Realm. Someone would play guitar, and someone else was singing, and we would talk, and we would laugh, and it just felt right.

"I'm from Earth," Jeremy said. "So yeah, I know what a senior prank is."

"I've watched enough television," Luci said.

"Well, there was this teacher I hated. Total cunt."

That much, I remembered. Even if, now that I was older, I didn't appreciate the language.

"Anyway. I had the genius idea to bring a few cows into her classroom. I took it from a farmer down the road. Her class was on the highest floor, so I knew it was gonna be a hell of a time to get the cows back down, right? But I didn't just want the cows there to slow down the start of class."

This… I did not remember.

"So I did some research in the library, and I found out that this food for sheep gives cows diarrhea. So I gave it to all of them after we finished bringing them upstairs. It was a disaster by the time class started. We ended up getting to skip that day."

For a few heartbeats, I stared at him in disbelief.

He just kept laughing, and we all just kept staring.

"Did you clean it up?" Jeremy asked. "Or pay the vet bill?"

"Hell no. They would've known I did it, and I wouldn't've gotten to graduate."

"Jesus, dude," I said under my breath, shaking my head at him.

He cocked his head to the side and opened his mouth to speak, but Jeremy spoke first.

"I broke into a cosmetic animal testing facility and got caught freeing them all. The shit we do as kids," Jeremy said. Ever so slightly, he narrowed his eyes at Jake. "Good thing we're older and wiser now, huh?"

I saw what he was doing there and respected it. "Eh, I don't know. I'm not so opposed to what you did there."

"The cops weren't too happy." A bare smile. "But you live, you learn. Now I know how to not get caught."

We all laughed, except for Jake. He sat there, obviously going over what he just confessed to. Just barely, his shoulders slumped. As if he was only now understanding why that was a horrible prank.

A quiet giggle sounded from the tent behind me, slightly to the left. My tent, where Rain, Warren, and Ezra were. I glanced that way but paid it no mind. Just grabbed my backpack off the ground and lifted out a granola bar.

As I chomped into it, Jake looked at me questioningly. "That really doesn't bother you?"

"I've been dying to ask the same thing," Amara said.

Chewing, I made out a vague, "Hmm?"

"You know." Jake nodded toward the tent. "Hearing them in there. Knowing what they're doing, or what they were doing."

I snorted a laugh. "Because they were fucking?"

"Yeah, I guess," Jake said, pale cheeks flushing. "Isn't that weird for you?"

"Not really, no."

"And ye don't get jealous about it?" Amara asked, offering me a sip of her flask. "I'd kill someone."

"Jealousy comes up from time to time, but I think that happens in two-person relationships too, doesn't it?" I waved at Jeremy in gesture. "If a guy's hitting on your wife, that's gonna piss you off once in a while."

"Yeah, true," Jeremy said. "Polyamory is more complex. There's more people in the mix, so there are more feelings in the mix. As long as you guys are alright with communication and everything, I don't see why it'd be any more difficult than my relationship. No relationships are easy. It's work every day. If you're willing to put it in, good for you guys."

"So long as everyone is considerate of one another, it's a wonderful lifestyle," Luci agreed.

"But it doesn't piss you off that you missed out on what they were doing?" Jake asked. "I mean, shit. I've heard it through the walls, and it makes me uncomfortable."

"Well, I hope so," Jeremy said. "Since you're her brother and everything."

"That too, obviously. But just knowing that you're getting left out." With a gesture to me, Jake shrugged. "It just seems like it bothers you."

Another bare laugh. "It really doesn't. If I walked in there right now, they'd let me join. Rain kinda hinted at it when she asked if I was coming to bed yet. I said no because I wanted to hang out with you guys. I'm just not in the mood right now. Plus, Rain's libido is ridiculous. I couldn't keep up with that thing on my own."

Jeremy laughed, and Luci joined in.

Amused, Amara smiled at me. "So ye like it then. The multiple partners thing."

"Aye, I do. It was an adjustment at first, but I wouldn't change it for anything now." Taking another sip from the flask, I shrugged. "Ezra and Warren are some of my best friends. Because of our dynamic, I always have someone to talk to. If I need help with something, one of them is there. That's why Rain likes it too. Meeting one person's needs in a relationship is no easy task, but when you have a team working together…" Another shrug. "It works. Our system just works."

Still, she smiled. "Then I'm happy for ye, mate."

"So am I." Jeremy elbowed me in the ribs. "You're a good great great great great step grandpa."

Laughing, I patted his head. "A jolly good grandson you are as well."

Apparently, he wasn't quite as amused, because he swatted my hand away and narrowed his gaze. "Don't do that again."

Awkwardly clearing my throat, I scooted back. "Sorry."

"What's the plan here?" Luci asked, and I was grateful for the subject change. "Are we all keeping watch?"

"I got an hour or two on the flight here," Jeremy said. "I can stay up."

The only reason I was doing alright so far was because I hadn't slept. Until I settled in here, until I adjusted to being back, I liked being awake. "I can grab a couple of hours in the morning or tomorrow afternoon. I'm not tired yet."

"I didn't wake up until midday today," Amara said. "Figured since we were heading out late, we'd need someone on watch. I can stay up too."

"Two on watch sounds good," Luci said. "If either of you needs a break, come get me."

"I'll stay up too," Jake said. "I'm not real tired either."

"No, I think it's best if you go to bed." As he stood, Jeremy gestured to Jake's tent. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Lots of walking. You're going to need your rest."

"Really, I'm okay?—"

"I'm sure you are now, but you won't be tomorrow." His voice hardened, much like my father's did when I was a boy. "Two people on watch is plenty. Let's go."

Jake's expression was somewhere between confused and annoyed. "I can handle myself."

"No, he's right, man," I said. "We'll hang out tomorrow. Just get some rest."

Something like a scoff escaped him. "I'm not tired. And I'm a big boy. I can make my own decisions."

"That's the thing." Jeremy exhaled deeply. "You think you're a big boy. Much like how my ten-year-old thinks he's a big boy. You are the youngest person in this group, even if you don't think you are. And, I mean this kindly, but you wouldn't be here if Rain and Graham hadn't insisted you come. We agreed you could, but that means that you're gonna have to listen to what we say. If you don't, we'll open up a portal right now, and you can take your happy ass home."

There was a part of me that wanted to defend Jake. Especially when I saw his eyes. I couldn't say there were tears in them, but they were glassy.

And I understood why. After a decade in purgatory, he woke up in a different reality. One where I was friends, even family, with the gods that I prayed to. One where we were on call for CIA agents and the creators of our world.

It was far-fetched already. But it was so much harder to wrap your mind around as a teenager. Especially as a teenager in a man's body.

"Whatever." Jake darted to his feet and cursed under his breath as he walked to his tent.

Jeremy frowned at me. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt his feelings."

"Don't be," I said. "He needed to hear that."

"Indeed, he did." Luci patted my shoulder on his way past. "Sleep well, esiasch."

I replied with the same and watch them continue to their tents. Once they were out of sight, I pulled in a deep breath and carefully let it out.

"How the hell did he end up like that?" Amara asked. "How Jeremy described him, I mean. Being young, but not realizing he is."

"It's a hell of a story," I said. "How much time do you got?"

"All night, apparently." She grabbed her spare blanket off the log beside her, shook it out, and put it on the ground in front of the fire. With a cheerful smile, she sat and patted the spot beside her. "And before ye ask, aye, I want all the details more than I want to catch ye up on everyone we knew, and everyone who has died, and everything that's happened. We'll get there. Tell me the story first. Then tell me why Nix—the Nix—considers you family."

Chuckling, I lowered myself to the blanket beside her. "I hope you brought snacks."

Amara stretched behind the log for her backpack then passed it to me. "Take yer pick."

I did.I took my pick, and I told her everything.

For hours, we sat, and I explained. How I had met Jake, and how close we had been when we were young. Then his death, followed by the years without him, only to be reunited because of the boyfriend Rain happened to stumble upon. More than likely, because of the ghost who played a large part in our love story and was the same reason a few dozen ravens perched themselves along the border of Rain's tent. I explained how my life intertwined with Laila's and Jeremy's, and how I had been gifted eternity.

We talked, and we ate, and I had more fun than I thought I would here.

I didn't think much about the friends I'd lost when I came to Earth. There weren't many of them. Being what I was, more people than I cared to admit rejected my existence. Amara hadn't been one of them, but the fact remained.

When I went to Earth, I tried my best to forget anything from this world that hurt. I clung to the things that gave me hope, that brought me comfort, but I veered far from the things that would bring me to tears.

Amara was one of those things. Not because she had ever done me any harm, but because I didn't think I would ever see her again. And now, here she was. We were sitting beside a campfire, eating orange berries, and honey bread, and chicken jerky.

"This is new," I said, wagging a stick of it. "Only the rich had chickens when I was here."

"Because of yer however many greats grandson and his wife." Amara chewed with her mouth open, giving me a full view of the ground up jerky. Now I understood why Ezra hated when I chewed with my mouth open. "The masses don't know that. Only a handful do, really. I'm lucky to be one of them."

"So am I." Tearing my hunk of honey bread, I smiled. "Sometimes, I can't believe that any of this is real."

"I bet ye can't, ye lucky shite." She playfully bumped her shoulder into mine. "How'd ye get her to give it to ye early?"

"I just asked her for it," I said. "We were dealing with all that stuff with Jake, though. They helped us, and they wanted us to be as strong as possible when we fought that battle. So she gave it to me. And to Rain."

Amara's shoulders slumped.

"Have you asked her?"

"Aye."

My chest tightened. "And she said no?"

"She said I needed a few more years." Which made sense, because Amara was three years younger than me. Even I was too young to typically receive eternity. "I think it was more than that, though. She did the search. Afterward was when she told me no."

I furrowed my brows. "Did you ask if it was more than that?"

Amara laughed. "Like I'm in any position to question her."

"Rain did."

"Well, I would've been shocked if she hadn't given it to Rain. They're clearly close."

They'd only known each other for couple months, but yes. They had fostered a friendship during that time. Still, that statement didn't sit right with me. "Véa doesn't play favorites, Amara."

"I didn't say she does."

In so many words, she had.

But that wasn't fair. I knew Amara. At least, I knew who she was when we were kids. She didn't seem much different now than she was then. And considering that, I wasn't shocked that Laila told her she needed more time.

Amara wasn't particularly kind. I wouldn't call her evil. She'd extended kindness to me when almost no one else in our village had. But she could be rude. Snippy, to say the least. Judgmental. Holier than thou.

It didn't affect how I saw her. Usually, her aggression was well-placed. She wanted to do the right thing, balance the scales between good and bad. But that didn't change that her methods were often wrong.

"Maybe ask her why she said no. Then work on yourself for a while," I said. "Ask again in a few years."

"Maybe." Grabbing the log behind her for stability, Amara started to her feet. "I gotta piss. Don't pass out while I'm gone."

"I don't plan on it."

Forest crackled under her feet as she walked off behind me. And I sat with that for a while. The comfort of nature.

Reclining against the log, basking in the heat that floated from the fire at my legs, I turned to the sky above. My gods, the beauty of it here. Back home, even on Warren's acres and acres of land, you still couldn't see the stars like this.

On Earth, where the land was polluted with light, you could only ever make out speckles of stars sprinkled against the cerulean backdrop. Here, you could see it all. Just above me, a galaxy shone. Every star burned like its own sun. Encapsulated by orange and yellow smoke—which Ezra had once informed me was called a nebula—the sky beamed like creative light shows at a rave. I'd only been to one of those, when I was seventeen with Jake. It had been the closest I'd felt to home since I'd left, and I'd relished in sharing the view with my best friend. Now I was back, and Jake was not beside me, but it was more beautiful than the rave lights could ever be.

All around, much like the stars in that nebula, this world seemed to hold me. On Earth, I got pleasure from sitting outside, but not like this. Not like home.

It was like the entire landscape breathed its life into me. That cool wind cutting through the warmth of the fire—a simple and yet intrinsic combination. It smelled faintly of the sea, and somewhere in the distance, waves crashed against the shore, controlled by that orange, full moon. I could almost taste the salt in the air. Every few minutes, a dragon's call would echo off the mountains.

On Earth, when I heard an animal in the wild, there was a moment of fear. What if it had rabies? What if it was hungry?

Not here. Here, it was such a simple exchange of life for life. We were all one within each other, and there was a part of me that never wanted to leave. A very small part, but a part nonethel?—

"Somebody's out—" Amara screamed. She yelled, and then she screamed, and I remembered why I left.

No matter how beautiful, this was the reality of the Fae Realm.

Fear. Not of nature, but of the enemies that lurked behind each tree.

At my side sat a blade of Elvan ore. I snatched it up and sprung to my feet. "Everybody up! Get the fuck up!"