A Date With Faet

"It doesn't look like any of our accounts have been frozen yet," Kelly said as she looked up from her tablet. "And the fact that we still have power and internet is a good sign too, isn't it?"

Keira pointed out "They're probably monitoring all our email and web activity and everything. That's the only reason to leave it all turned on, so they can see what we do with it. If they think we're part of some organized crime thing, they're probably monitoring all our communications to see who we talk to and examine everything we say looking for secret messages or something."

I sighed, "I think Keira's probably right. I know most of the websites and all our email is supposed to be encrypted but I wouldn't be surprised if they have some way to crack that. And there's not much we can do with our bank accounts if we can't leave the property. I mean, we could order stuff but nobody will be able to deliver it. They'll have to leave it at the end of the driveway then we'd have to step off the property to collect it."

Kelly asked, "How long are we going to wait here to see if they try something? We can't live forever like we're under a siege."

"I know Kelly," I replied. Then I sort of smirked, "Sooner or later we'll run out of coffee."

It was Saturday, about half past one in the afternoon. We'd eaten the last of the sushi for breakfast, now the three of us were sitting in the living-room discussing our options. We still had lots of food in the house, including lots of coffee.

Kelly rolled her eyes, but she pointed out "Going back to Otherworld won't solve that problem. They don't have coffee over there."

"We could always teleport over to the grocery store to load up on coffee," Keira pointed out with a smile. "Then we can pop over to the liquor store to get more wine and hard lemonade before we teleport back home."

Kelly got serious as she stated, "Joking aside, we can't just hide out here forever. Even though the place is secure, and soon enough we'll have complete privacy from the trees."

We could barely see the road now from our front windows, there was a thick stand of evergreens about three or four meters tall out at the end of the lawn. A bunch of hardwood trees were mixed in with the cedars and pines, they were filling in and getting taller now too.

The same was true to either side of the house, all the young trees we'd planted two years ago were going through a rapid growth spurt. I figured the people on the neighbouring farms were probably a little freaked out, but we hadn't heard anything. Kelly's and Keira's phones still worked but nobody had called them, and nobody emailed any of us.

"You're right Kelly," I sighed. "I don't think we have any choice. We have to go to Otherworld and deal with the king."

I didn't bother hiding how much I hated the thought as I added, "Even if we do get things sorted out with him and the prince, I don't know if we'll ever be able to just get back to our normal lives here. We've been under investigation for three months, and even though we haven't actually committed any crimes they've uncovered too much to sweep it all under the rug. Even just the financial stuff, the three of us have money and no way to explain where it comes from. To them that means crime."

Kelly sighed, "Actually I'm pretty sure the money thing really is a crime? I mean, using secret bankers to exchange foreign gold for local cash? There's laws against that sort of thing. And who knows where the shadow-economy gets the local cash from. I doubt it's all a hundred percent legitimate."

"Crap," I frowned. That's stuff I'd never thought about before. Maybe because I didn't really want to know it.

Finally Keira pointed out "If they've been monitoring our phones and email and stuff for three months, there's a lot of inexplicable stuff they'll have been exposed to. They'll know you're close to Elise and Susan. They'll have heard us refer to Kaitlyn as our granddad. Who knows how many times we've mentioned stuff like Otherworld or magic just talking to each other?"

Kelly said quietly, "They'll know the three of us went out east in March, and we didn't take a plane. And they'll know you went out there alone two weeks ago. I wonder what they thought of that."

I sighed again and shrugged "No idea. Maybe they think we have access to a private jet or something? They don't believe in magic, they believe in criminals."

"They might believe in magic now," Keira suggested. "I mean, after you hit them both with a paralysis spell then teleported away right before their eyes."

"Maybe," I frowned. Then I shook my head, "Doesn't really matter and we're avoiding the topic at hand. We need to return to Otherworld."

I took a deep breath then said "I think we should keep our return quiet as long as we can. We'll cross over to the western woods, then teleport directly into the castle. We'll meet with my mom and dad and bring them up to speed on everything that's happened here, then start figuring out our next step. They can keep us hidden from the men the king has stationed at the castle, at least for a few days anyways."

Kelly asked, "Why not just let the knights know we're back? I mean, we're going to have to see the king anyways, why not just do it the easy way?"

I shook my head, "I don't trust the king. I agree we'll have to see him sooner or later, but I want that to happen on my terms and not until I'm ready for it. In the meantime I don't want to bring any more grief on my parents. So I don't want the knights to know we're back. I don't want there to be any excuses for the king to lash out at my parents or our clann."

"Are you expecting a fight?" Keira asked. "Are we going to wind up at war with the king?"

I frowned, "I hope not. But we're not taking any chances. We have to be prepared for the worst I think."

The two redheads looked at each other and sighed.

"When are we going over?" Kelly asked.

I replied "Either tomorrow at dawn, or Monday at dawn. I think tomorrow's the better choice though. No point sitting around waiting until after things get worse."

Kelly sighed again, "Do you think it's safe for us to email the university, to let our profs know we'll be away?"

I shrugged "I don't think it would hurt any. The cops must know you're both legitimately enrolled at university."

Keira warned, "If they know we're going to try and 'flee the country' at dawn, they might try and stop us somehow. They might try something tonight."

"I doubt there's anything they could do," I pointed out. "But if you want to play safe, then don't send the emails till just before we go."

Kelly nodded, "Tomorrow morning's fine. I doubt we'd hear anything back tonight anyways."

"You should email Sue," Keira said. "Elise might have already told her, but you should make sure she knows cops might be looking into her affairs."

"Right," I agreed. "I'll do that in the morning before we go."

I sighed and added, "I hope Sue and Kaitlyn will be ok, I hope the cops aren't going to mess things up for them. Same with Elise. The cops will know both Elise and Sue are close friends of ours."

Keira frowned, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"There's not much we can do to help though," Kelly said sadly. "We can't take them to Otherworld. And they probably won't want to give up their new lives and go into hiding or start over again with new identities."

I shook my head, "I just have to hope we can get things sorted out with the king, and he'll call off whoever he's got here stirring up trouble."

Neither Kelly or Keira commented on that. We all knew how much of a long-shot that was. The king wanted me over there and under his thumb, there'd be no reason for him to want to make it easy for me to return to Earth.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly quiet. None of us felt like talking much, and we certainly didn't feel like celebrating anything. All our plans for a fun May long weekend were completely forgotten.

After dinner I decided to look in on Detective MacRae. I still had his badge and credentials, and I used them as focus for a clairvoyance spell.

"Well they haven't given up and left," I sighed. "They're practically just down the road. They're in the little town, near where we shop for groceries. Looks like they've rented a house, they're using that as their base or something?"

They were around the corner from our grocery store, in a little old house. They were just over a league away from us, they could practically sit in the front room and watch us do our weekly shopping trips. MacRae was sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop, and Bernier was in the living-room talking on a landline phone.

"Maybe we should go pay them a visit?" Keira suggested.

Kelly asked, "And do what? Ask them nicely to give up and leave us alone?"

Keira shrugged, "I don't know sis. I hate feeling helpless though, I want to do something."

I shifted my focus slightly to get a look at what MacRae was typing.

He was in the middle of a report to his bosses, from the look of it. I didn't see the word 'magic' anywhere but he wrote that I escaped custody, and he speculated I had help. He was currently explaining how the entire police precinct was shut down after some sort of targeted EMP destroyed all the electronics in the building, as well as several cars in the parking lot.

"It looks like they're ignoring the possibility of magic," I said as I let the spell end. "They figure someone helped me escape. Maybe they think someone drugged them or something, I'm not sure how they'll explain away the paralysis or me teleporting."

Keira scowled, "So let's go give them another demonstration."

I sighed, "I don't think that's a good idea. Anyways it's not like they're in charge, if we scare those two off someone else will take their place. And until we resolve things with the king, he can always find more ways to mess with us here."

There wasn't much more to say after that.

We got our backpacks out and packed some clothes and other essentials. We each packed a supply of fae coins and human cash, just incase. We were basically fugitives both here and in Otherworld, so it seemed like a good idea to be prepared.

If we had to come back to Earth for any reason, we had lots of options. I knew a half-dozen waypoints on Earth in addition to the one in our ravine. From Vancouver to Toronto to Cape Breton.

After packing, we all just wound up going to bed early. Like Friday night, none of us slept well. There was too much stress, too much uncertainty.

In the morning, Kelly's alarm clock roused the three of us from a fitful sleep. She had it set for two hours before sunrise, so we had plenty of time to get ready. None of us said anything, we all just quietly got up and got started. We showered, then dressed for travel.

We were all in similar outfits, with black stretch-jeans and black spring jackets. I had a pink t-shirt, Kelly and Keira both wore green t-shirts. And all three of us had hiking boots on our feet.

I made us a quick breakfast, and the three of us ate quietly and had some coffee. Afterwards we all did the dishes, then the twins emailed all their profs and I emailed Sue.

We had about ten minutes left before sunrise as we made our final preparations. We had our swords, bows, and each of us had full quivers. Kelly and Keira had more arrows bundled up and strapped to their backpacks, we weren't leaving any behind.

We got our backpacks on our shoulders, my bow was over my left shoulder but Kelly and Keira kept theirs in hand and had arrows set. They were ready for trouble, but I'd be relying on magic first if we ran into any problems.

We took another minute or two and checked through the house, we made sure everything was turned off, windows closed, that sort of thing. Then we all stepped out the kitchen door into the backyard.

I locked the back door with a spell, and felt a little wave of sadness. I had no idea when we'd be back. Or if we'd be back. As much as I hoped we could resolve things, I knew it was possible we'd never be able to return.

Finally the three of us turned and set off across the yard. We made our way into the woods and down into the ravine, and soon enough we were at the little glade.

I quickly found the spot, and Kelly and Keira took their places to either side of me. They each looped an arm around mine and waited for me to cast the spell.

All three of us were still quiet, and I could tell the twins were feeling as sad and anxious as me.

As the sun started coming up over the horizon, I took a deep breath then sighed once more. Finally I cast the spell and pulled the three of us across to Otherworld.