Chapter 43

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

FRANKIE

"Well, you're going to Seelie." Tegan pointed to herself. " I cannot."

Tenn paled. "Why not?"

"Babe, you were there last time?—"

"But it's not the same now," Tenn said in a rush, jumping to his feet. "Fuckface is dead?—"

"It's still Seelie regardless of who runs it?—"

"Babe—"

" Babe. " She put her hand on his chest. "Seelie may now be connected to Earth, but once inside, it's still Seelie . The tunnels alone were too painful for me. I fear full Seelie would take me down."

He groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands. For the first time I noticed he wore silver rings on both hands. I wasn't sure how I'd missed that. The gold bands on his arm flashed like they wanted attention.

"It's safe there now, Babe. And it's as safe as possible here." Tegan gently pulled his arms down, then tapped one finger on his forehead. "I'll stay right here in Eden, and you can relay everything happening."

" Fine, " he growled but it did not sound fine to him at all.

Tegan smirked and turned to everyone else. "It says, thy first stop comes with ease, so I don't expect any problems. Y'all just get in there and find this book."

"Yeah, no big deal. Totally." I shook my head. "Who is going and where?"

"Into Seelie."

"Yeah, y'all keep saying that as if I'm supposed to know?—"

"Oh. Right." Tegan grimaced. "So, there are two types of fae: Seelie and Unseelie. They have their own realms separate from ours, but in February we were forced to merge Seelie with Earth. It's very complicated to explain."

Bentley cracked his knuckles. "We concealed the opening into Seelie for safety reasons, but it is right here in Eden."

"Out front, to be exact," Thiago mumbled.

Everyone grumbled.

"Oh." I nodded. "Okay. So you know how to get there? And where to go once we're inside?"

"I lived in Seelie for seven years," Bentley said with a rough voice. "I know Seelie. More importantly, we are now allies with what's left of Seelie. One of our own is the Seelie Princess?—"

"Our cousin, actually." Tenn frowned. "Wait, was it cousin? Uncle Kenneth?"

The man with long silver hair looked up from his bowl of marshmallows and smirked. "The three centuries between Cyrus and me does muddy the water on what to call each other, doesn't it?"

I held my hand up. "Wait, you're a Proctor too?"

He smiled at me. "Kenneth Proctor. Descended from Myrtle Proctor and her son, Cyrus. My nephew was Micah Proctor, Haven and Hope's father."

"Obviously I know you're our uncle. I meant what do we call Saffie?"

Bettina sighed. "Can we just call her Saffie? Like I think the three centuries nullify the need for a family title?"

"You've been around my family too much." Jackson shook his head. " Nullify. "

Kenneth frowned like he had to think about it. "I also think Saffie would prefer to just be Saffie. Any other name just makes her sad, for obvious reasons."

Everyone nodded.

"I need to make some family trees," Savannah said suddenly. "All y'all are getting hard to follow, especially when you throw in angels and reincarnation."

I opened my mouth to ask questions, then sighed. "You know what? No. I don't want to know that yet. I just know I'm a Proctor, but my aunt and uncle always said I didn't have family left besides us three?—"

"That is because your magic crawled into the dark crevices of your soul and refused to come back out." Kenneth smiled sadly at me. "The loss of your parents was a blow, but they weren't exactly lying. The extent of our family lies in this room, and in Seelie, but you could not know that while you thought yourself human. The fragility of the mind required total separation."

Jackson chuckled. "I nullify my previous comment. You've just been with your family too much."

Kenneth and Bettina grinned.

Tenn pinched the bridge of his nose. "For the fragility of my mind, let's nullify the other options and just say we're cousins, ‘kay, Franks?"

"You got it, boss."

"What about her other question? The who is going?" Easton pointed to the words still floating in the air. "Nothing in there about who. You gonna read the tarot?"

Bentley stared at the ground.

Everyone groaned.

I looked around. "What? He didn't say anything?"

"The Goddess, also known as Valathame— that's her name— talks to Bentley," Warner said from the ground right beside me with his eyes closed. "That's the role of the Hierophant. He talks to Her. So sometimes She gives out these riddles for them to solve but then slides a little note for the B-man on the side."

Everyone pointed to Warner and nodded.

I chuckled. "This group is quite entertaining, I gotta say."

"Glad you think that since you didn't take my warning and get out before a soulmate trapped you here." Deacon grinned. "But alas, you're stuck with hothead over there."

We all glanced to Cooper, who I never would have labeled as a hothead. Cooper just nodded as he grabbed a giant marshmallow out of Kenneth's bowl, licked the bottom, then chucked it right at Deacon. It slammed into D's forehead with a thud . And stuck there.

Everyone laughed.

"Sure, but I'm the chaos demon." Tegan crossed her arms over her chest.

Tenn grinned.

Timothy cleared his throat and stood up. "Right, so Coven Leaders or Bentley, who is going on this first part of our quest to Seelie to find the book?"

Tegan and Tenn both looked to Bentley.

He shrugged. "Look, this quest is going to get ugly. But this step isn't, so whoever wants to go can go. If you wanna see what Seelie looks like, then this is a good chance to do so. If you wanna sit this one out, then stay."

"Except for me and Tegan," I said and then everyone's gazes snapped to me. "Because she cannot go, and I have to go."

Bentley and Tegan smiled, so they saw what I did. Tenn looked to his sister who was gesturing to me with a nod.

Chutney raised her hand. "Why do you have to go, Frankie?"

"It says Tower in the last line. It's capitalized, so it's referring to a person."

" Ohhh, " most of the group said under their breath.

Lily stood up. "Well, I'm going. I think my PTSD needs some closure."

"Same," Willow and Savannah said at the same time and stood.

"Right, so if you are going to Seelie, please line up at the door." Tegan gestured to the front door. "I'd rather not have any civilians watching all y'all march up to the gate thinking they can do the same to get in. While it may be safe there, we don't want to open the doors. So, I'll portal y'all to the gate, then you can go in."

Lily, Easton, Savannah, Willow, Chutney, and Royce all jumped up and hurried to the door. Timothy and Kessler exchanged glances, then slowly stood and headed over. Hunter stopped at the door to the stairs, then nodded to his children before going down to his wife.

Constance shook her head. "For obvious reasons, I'm going to stay."

"Thiago?" Royce cleared his throat. "You don't want to see?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then cursed. "You know what? Life is short. Let's go."

I pet all the dogs, then got up and walked over to the door with the others. As soon as I stopped and turned back, I found Cooper right behind me. He gave me a small smile and a nod, so I smiled in return. Bentley strolled over to the front of our line to lean against the door.

"You know what? I think I'll stay." Emersyn pointed to us. "Go on, D. We both know you want to. Just don't die."

He grinned and then kissed her forehead before rushing over to stand with us. "If I die, she's gonna kill all y'all."

The others laughed.

"Babe, go. " Tegan pushed at him. "You too, bestie."

Bettina jumped up and wrapped her arm around her brother's, then dragged him over to the line with us. She looked over her shoulder. "Lancelot, the fuck are you doing still sitting there?"

He sighed. "Fine."

Once Jackson was standing with us, Tegan held her hand up. "Go get that book." She snapped her fingers.

Bentley opened the door and Tegan's white portal box was all we could see. He nodded. "Follow me."

All at once, we turned and followed Bentley into that white unknown. It was as fast as a blink of the eye. When the light faded, we stood just before a wooden gate—like an actual gate. But that wasn't the part that surprised me. Two massive trees bordered a circular opening made of stones stacked carefully. The forest stretched out from both sides of the trees. Within the stone circle, a wooden gate blocked a faint, glowing blue light that peeked around the edges.

Bentley waved his hand and spoke in a language I didn't know. Orange lightning bolts streaked across his arm. The wooden gate slid into the stones, vanishing from sight. That blue glow washed over Bentley and seeped onto us. It was a spectacular turquoise and blue combination that I'd only ever seen in the ocean. Bentley nodded and waved for everyone to follow him through the stone circle and into the light.

"Frankie—"

I cursed and about jumped out of my skin.

Tegan chuckled. "Sorry."

"Dammit, woman." I pushed my hair back and turned to face her. "I thought you weren't going?"

"I'm not." She held up a bracelet. "You need this."

Before I could ask a single question, she grabbed my wrist and wrapped the bracelet around it. Her magic flashed against my skin, fastening the clasp with ease. I frowned. It was made of two rows of white crystals all the way around.

"Babe?"

"I just forgot something?—"

He reached out and grabbed her by the back of her neck, then dragged her mouth up to his. I hadn't intended to watch them kiss, but the passion between them just came out of nowhere. I looked away only to have my eyes meet Cooper's. My heart sank. He stood ten feet ahead by the stone circle waiting for me. He glanced to his sister, still locked in her embrace with my cousin, then he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, that's enough. Damn." Cooper shook his head. He held his hand out to me. "C'mon, Frankie."

Frankie, not Francelina.

Shut up, brain. You told everyone to call you Frankie. Don't be upset when he listens.

Everest was the only one who ever ignored my request, so hearing my full name just made me think of him. But apparently hearing Cooper call me by my nickname also made me think of Everest. It was super helpful. I shook those thoughts away and placed my hand in my soulmate's, letting him pull me up to the open gate.

"Seriously, are we gonna have to start all over with the honeymoon phase?" Cooper sighed, but his gaze was locked above my head. "You were gone like two weeks. Max. We're starting all over with the face-sucking all the time?"

Tenn stopped beside us just before the opening into Seelie. "I saw your dead body, Coop. I had to watch Savannah and Riah fight to bring you back to life. You're gonna have to suffer through watching me live mine to the fullest every second I get." Then he smiled and leapt backwards into the light.

I looked up to Cooper. "You died?"

"And I'm never going to hear the end of it," he said with a sigh.

"You don't like PDA, do you?"

He gestured to where they'd been kissing. "It's PD F with them far too often. Like, just close the door. She can portal anywhere. Just snap your fingers and bring yourselves to privacy."

Braison had told me about their PDF too, but I wasn't going to bring that up. Instead, I just chuckled and tugged on his hand. "Come on. Let's not keep them waiting."

Together, we stepped into the glowing light and cold air washed over me. But the moment the light faded, warmth wrapped around me like I'd gone back home to Florida. Cooper looked around and whistled under his breath. I nodded. The rest of The Coven was standing a little ways ahead of us, also looking around at the fantasy we'd just stepped into.

Just through the gate there was a lush meadow full of gorgeous plants and flowers of every color imaginable. Colors that I'd never seen on Earth. They were almost neon and glowing. The meadow was wide, giving plenty of space to walk around and get situated. At the edge of the meadow sat a large bay that glistened like starlight. It was evening in Seelie, so the waters were a silver color, but I couldn't help wondering what color the sun made it. The silver of the water at night was like liquid moonlight. I was mesmerized by it. The meadow stretched out to the left, then dipped into a forest that even from here looked equally as magical as the meadow.

The trees to the left of the gate rustled and swayed and shadows filled the space between them. But then a massive black dragon emerged from the dark with glowing red eyes. My jaw dropped. I backed away several feet, pulling Cooper with me.

"LONAN!" Chutney squealed and raced over to him to give him a hug. "What are you doing over here?"

The black dragon gently lowered into the lush turquoise grass. He blinked his red eyes slowly, then huffed and little flames burst from his nostrils.

"Oh, he lets you guard the gate, eh?" Chutney giggled. "Are you healing well?"

He grumbled.

Her face fell. "Well, maybe you need to actually behave and do as they say?"

He snorted.

"Boys." She rolled her eyes. "You know they'd let you stay if you wanted to. You don't have to stall your injuries."

The dragon narrowed his eyes, then turned to Tenn.

"I don't see why that wouldn't be true." Tenn smiled. "It's nice to see you, Lonan. It'd be better to see you healed."

Savannah walked right up to him and pointed her finger at the Death Mark on her arm. "Don't make me put you on blast, you hear?"

"She makes a good point." Deacon cleared his throat. "You're gonna need your strength for what you want."

The dragon named Lonan huffed and sank into the grass like a puppy pouting.

"Of course I'm gonna agree with them!" Chutney threw her hands up. "It makes no sense just to allow yourself to remain injured to avoid going back to the Old Lands?—"

"Lonan." Tenn stepped up in front of him. "I promise I will not force you back to the Old Lands. Please, heal. Then we'll help you. Okay?"

Lonan let out a big sigh, then pushed up off the grass and spun around. He vanished into the shadows as fast as he appeared. Tenn just shook his head. Savannah and Deacon turned to Bentley.

"He's just scared," Chutney said softly. "Whatever caused his banishment has really messed with him."

Tenn wrapped his arm around Chutney's shoulders. "And we'll help him any way we can. I mean, we're good friends with the others now. We just are waiting for Bentley to give us the green light."

"I know that feeling well."

We all jumped and turned toward the sound of a feminine voice. The others all relaxed and smiled at her. She was a pretty little thing with warm hazel eyes and hair like liquid gold. The chains of diamonds wrapped around her body really sparkled against her dark skin. Her clothes left little to the imagination and looked exactly like image results I would've gotten on Pinterest had I searched the word fae princess.

" Ziva," Bentley whispered her name on a sigh.

"It's about time you returned." She put her hands on her hips and arched one eyebrow.

He chuckled and pulled her in for a hug. They held on tight to each other for a long moment before stepping back. Then she went around to the others, giving them hugs.

"I like your hair this gold color," Willow said softly with a blush on her cheeks.

"Thank you, Willow." Ziva's smile widened. Then she looked around and frowned. "Where's Squishy?"

"In a cuddle puddle on the living room floor," I said with a laugh. When she looked to me, I waved. "Hi, I'm Frankie."

She shook my hand. "Ziva. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Seelie, the new and improved Seelie."

Water rippled on the bay and then at least a dozen heads popped up through the water. One after another, the women pushed up on rocks and small boulders at the edge of the shore and flicked their tails out of the water. My eyes widened. Tails. They have tails. Oh my God. Mermaids. Those are real-life mermaids. In the blink of an eye, the bay was full of them.

They had bright sparkling eyes and long hair that fell in waves to their hips. The scales on their tails looked like liquid metal. They were a shade darker than the water itself, and I wondered if that was some evolutionary trait for a reason. They waved and batted their eyelashes at Bentley.

He cleared his throat and turned to us. "Go ahead, find them. Find the book. I need to . . . handle something."

Tenn pursed his lips and nodded. "Sure thing, dude."

Cooper scowled and watched his little brother turn away and walk into the water in the middle of all the mermaids with Ziva right on his heels.

"Come on, guys, we need to find them so we can find the book." Tenn marched away from the bay and onto a trail that led up the middle of the meadow.

Though, after seeing this meadow, I'd never look at another one the same way. The forest all around it had these little golden twinkling lights that were almost like swarms of fireflies. The flowers themselves were completely foreign to me. Some were close to Earth's roses and tulips and such but in neon colors with dots. The meadow was wild in its growth. The bushes weren't in any kind of order. It was like they were planted and set free to grow as they pleased. A narrow stone pathway cut through the middle of wildflowers.

I looked up and did a double take. Up ahead there was a massive tree, some kind of mix between a weeping willow and banyan tree. I'd never seen a tree that big in my life. Its huge branches stretched out to create a serene little canopy beneath its leaves. Little lanterns dangled from chains on the long branches. At the base of the tree, beneath a canopy of roses and vines, was a round bed. It had white blankets and white drapes covering the sides. It was straight out of a fairytale.

Then I saw the people.

A beautiful woman with long black hair was draped over the bare chest of a man with long, vibrant red hair. She was propped up on her elbows, her thin fingers tracing his skin. He curled her hair around his fingers. Little flickering golden orbs danced all around them as they seemed to be lost in each other's eyes.

Tenn choked on a gasp. " Grandmother? "

The woman lifted her head from the man's chest and grinned. "Grandson!"

Grandson? What? HOW? The woman rushing toward Tennessee didn't look much older than me, so I wasn't sure how she was his grandmother. Sure, I now knew immortal beings existed, but Tenn wasn't one of them. His grandfather may have been an angel, but I thought the rest of his family was very, very mortal. Yet those were the words they'd said.

Wait a second. Tenn's family is MY family. Or at least part of it. I pushed through my Coven-mates who'd all frozen in their tracks to gawk at the woman. I needed to see her better. When I did, my confusion deepened. The woman all but tackled Tennessee in a hug that he returned without hesitation. So far, they looked alike, but that was only going by the long black hair and tan skin.

When she pulled back, she looked up at him with silver eyes that sparkled. She reached up and cupped his cheek, and that was when I saw the gold, glowing lines on her face and all the way down her right arm. " Haven. Where is your sister?"

"I'm here," Bettina said as she pushed through to her. "Sorry, I was a little distracted by the way you look."

She blushed and looked down at herself. She wore strips of silky white material bound together by shiny silver rope of some kind. In the center of her chest, in the same spot as mine was, she had a heart-shaped crystal that shined a bright aquamarine color. Golden, swirly lines spread across her right shoulder and down her arm to where it covered each of her fingers. A silver diadem sat across the middle of her forehead.

"My little Hope, I am also now constantly distracted by the way I look." She chuckled and stepped back, then turned her attention to the rest of us. "Ah, my darling Coven. How fare thee this night?"

"Who are you?" I heard myself whisper.

Her silver eyes shot right to me, then widened. "Francelina Proctor. Finally."

Before I knew it, I was in her arms. It was the warmest, cuddliest hug I'd ever gotten. I found myself wishing she wouldn't let go. When she eventually did, those silver eyes seemed to peer right into my soul. I wanted to sit and talk to her forever. I didn't even know who she was.

"Daughter of mine." She reached up and smoothed my hair back. "I am Myrtle Proctor. We share the same blood."

My eyes burned like they wanted to cry. I'd known she was related to me. Yet she knew without asking. I cleared my throat. "How did you know who I was?"

She smiled, then with one hand, tapped on the silver diadem on her forehead. "I am the Lead Crone. It is my job to know things . . . and I have been watching you since the day you were born. I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you finally back where you belong."

A hot lump of emotion formed in my throat. "You . . . you knew my parents?"

"Wonderful people, even if I am a little biased." She winked to me. "Now, I suspect I know why you are here, but perhaps you'd like to tell us?"

Tenn leaned around her and cleared his throat. "Thorne?"

The man with the long red hair, who was still lying in bed where Myrtle left him, sighed dramatically. "I am busy."

Light flashed in front of my face. I gasped and threw my hands up—and felt my magic rush out of me. My neon-blue flames shot across the meadow straight for the bed Thorne was lying in. When my magic rolled across his bare stomach, his eyes flew open. He threw his hand up and caught my flames around his fingers.

Eyes like hot embers met mine in an instant. He smirked. "Well, this is interesting."