The Emerald Staff

  The Emerald Staff

  (Custodian Novel #2)

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2011 by Alison Pensy

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

  Published by Laxsaro Publishing, Publishing on Smashwords / April 2011

  ISBN: 978-0-9825438-2-5

  CHAPTER ONE

  Halloween was just around the corner, and Faedra’s father, Henry, was arranging a Halloween costume party. Faedra was mulling over what she could possibly dress up as. Sitting on the swing and gazing up at the trees in her yard for inspiration was not helping the least little bit. As yet, she still didn’t have a clue.

  She had a good idea what her newfound friend Jocelyn was going to be coming as… herself. Although Faedra was slightly skeptical that people would have a hard time believing her wings were not actually real, Jocelyn was eager to take the risk. And who was Faedra to stop her?

  Let’s face it, who actually believes in fairies anyway?

  She certainly hadn’t until a few short months ago. And as for her Guardian, Faen, she had no idea who, or what, he would dress as. He definitely couldn’t go as himself because no costume rental store could ever re-create his wings, even in their wildest dreams.

  Closing her eyes, she leaned back and started swinging, enjoying the feeling of the breeze on her face and through her hair. There would not be many more evenings like this before the cold and damp of winter crept in and claimed the land, so she was going to take advantage as long as possible.

  She smiled. The leaves were turning now, of their own volition this time and she took a moment to look around her. The trees that lined the circumference of her yard glowed with ethereal radiance in the setting sun, and at that moment all was right with her world. She shuddered at the thought that it could have turned out so differently if she hadn’t been able to recover a book the fae use to control nature. The nagging reminder in the back of her mind that it had been stolen by none other than the fae king’s daughter as some kind of revenge was still there. She couldn’t figure out what the revenge was all about. She knew it had something to do with her, but as yet, no one, including the king, her Guardian, or her friend Jocelyn, had been forthcoming with any information whichever tact she used to try and wheedle it out of them. She felt in her heart that they knew exactly what Vivianna’s motive was, but they were being tight lipped about it. If it was one thing she had learned in the short time she’d known them, it was that fairies could be extremely stubborn when they wanted to be. Well, she was a redhead with the temperament to match, and could be just as stubborn. She would find out what Vivianna’s problem with her was, if it was the last thing she did. And based on the fairy princess’s sword skills, it may very well be.

  Faedra shrugged and let out a sigh before leaning back as far as she could, her arms outstretched from holding onto the ropes. After a few more swings, she came to an abrupt halt in mid air, her head now pressing against something warm and firm.

  She opened her eyes with a start and looked up to see a familiar face staring down at her.

  “Faen.”

  She smiled up at him. He held onto the ropes, holding them so that she was almost horizontal to him. Her head rested at right angles against his chest as he stood over her, his aqua blue eyes locked with hers. He returned her smile with one of his own and walked forward until the swing was vertical. Taking his hands from the ropes he caressed each side of her face, and leaned down to brush his lips against hers in an affectionate upside down kiss. She closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling his touch evoked.

  After a moment, when Faedra’s muscles had all but turned to jelly, and Faen’s lips were starting to feel a tingle from the energy her emotions were building, he pulled away and took hold of the ropes again.

  “What are you doing out here by yourself?” he asked.

  “Thinking.”

  “May I ask about what?”

  Faedra sighed and pulled herself to sit up. Faen gave up his hold on the ropes and moved around to face her. She looked pensive.

  “You look worried, Faedra. Can I help?”

  “I don’t know what to wear to Dad’s party. I have no idea what to go as,” she blurted, knowing it wasn’t as if it were a life or death situation, but it was bugging her all the same.

  “You are worried about that?” Faen asked, incredulous. “You have your mythology tests tomorrow and you are worried about what to wear to a costume party?” Faen’s eyebrows pinched together, forming a frown.

  After discovering on her eighteenth birthday what she was, Custodian for the Amulet of Azran, she decided to change from her previous choice of psychology to study mythology and parapsychology. It dawned on her that with her first hand experience, there was every chance that she would be able to ace her grades.

  “Yeah, I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about, but I also know that Amy and Zoë will look super cool, coz they always do. And Jocelyn, well, Jocelyn will look like Jocelyn, and I needn’t say any more on that subject. Still I don’t have a clue what to wear.”

  “If I may, Faedra, you seem to have your priorities somewhat muddled. You have a week left to think about what to wear but only tonight to brush up on your test.”

  “That’s not helping either, Faen. So, what is Frederick going as?” she asked with a wry smile.

  “I am not telling you. You will have to wait and find out.”

  “That’s not fair,” she grumbled and stuck out her bottom lip in a childish pout.

  “Come,” he said, a patient expression plastered on his face. He held out his hands to take hold of hers. “If I promise to think of a costume for you, will you go upstairs and study? Your grades are extremely important.”

  She sighed again as she slid off the swing at Faen’s encouragement. “Okay, if you insist.”

  “I do.”

  Faen didn’t let go of her hand until they got up the stairs to her bedroom. She wandered over to her desk and pulled her books from her backpack. Faen lay on her bed on his stomach and rested his head in his hands, which were propped up on his elbows, and watched as she gathered her study materials.

  “You have the test tomorrow, too.” Faedra stated when she noticed that he was watching her instead of burying his head in a book.

  She started college as planned at the end of the summer, and her ever-faithful dog had joined her. Only he spent his days in class as his alter ego, Frederick, and his evenings at home in his canine form. It was a very strange situation.

  “My dear Faedra, what I do not know about mythology is not worth knowing.” He gave her a conceited smirk when she narrowed her eyes at him.

  It was starting to get dark outside. Her father was not yet home from work. His company had given him a project a few months ago that needed him in their office to complete, so he had been coming home late each night. This turned out to be very advantageous because he was not around to notice the fact that her dog was missing each day she was at college. Faedra wondered how
much longer she could juggle Faen and Frederick before her father became suspicious that the two of them were never in the same place at the same time.

  She must have been studying for a while because it was pitch black outside when she heard the crunch of the gravel driveway made by her father’s car, and lifted her head to see him pulling up beside the cottage. A few moments later he was calling from the dining room.

  “Hi, Fae, I’m home! You up there?”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  “Well, take a break for a while. I’ve brought take-out. Chinese; your favorite.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Faedra watched as Faen gave her a wink before he blurred into his dog form. She didn’t very often have Frederick around her home, for obvious reasons. If Frederick was there, Faen wasn’t, and that would take a lot more explaining. As far as her father was concerned, Frederick was still just a friend who boarded his horse at the same stables as her horse, Gypsy. They occasionally went riding together. Her father knew nothing about him going to college with her. As far as she was concerned, that was how it was going to stay.

  She put her pen down and pushed her chair back. Wandering past her bed on the way to the door she scratched behind Faen’s ears. She’d been doing it for so long, she was finding it an impossible habit to break. He didn’t seem to mind though; as yet, he’d never brought up the issue. She pulled her hands away when she caught herself doing it.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. Her cheeks flushed a little, and twinges of regret shot through her. She missed the carefree relationship she had shared with her ‘dog’ until just a few months ago when she turned of age and he had revealed his true self. She suspected that Faen realized this fact all too well. Perhaps that was why he never protested when she still kept treating his dog form as her beloved pet.

  “Come on, let’s go and have some dinner,” she said with a sheepish smile. The shaggy white dog jumped off the bed and padded down the stairs behind her and into the kitchen where Henry was setting out the take-away boxes on the dining table. The aroma wafted up to caress her nostrils and her mouth began to water.

  “Have a good day at college?” her dad asked when she entered.

  “Yes, thanks. How about you at work? How’s the project going?” She leaned over and grabbed a prawn cracker from a bag on the table, then took another and offered it to Faen, who almost inhaled it he ate it so quickly.

  “It’s going,” he sighed, “but not as smoothly as I had hoped. It doesn’t look like I’ll finish it this week as planned. But it should be done by the end of next week, just in time for the party.”

  “Since you bring that up, what are you going as?” Faedra asked before putting another prawn cracker in her mouth and crunching.

  “You’ll have to wait and see,” he said with a smirk.

  “Oh, not you, too.” She huffed out an exasperated breath. “Frederick won’t tell me what he’s wearing either, and I haven’t got a clue what to dress as.”

  “You’ll think of something, Darling. You always do.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. Isn’t that the truth?

  “By the way, I’ve invited some people from the office. I thought it might be fun for you to meet some new faces…” he hesitated, “well, one new face in-particular.”

  Faedra watched as a flush came to his cheeks and her eyes lit up.

  “You’ve got a girlfriend?” she asked with enthusiasm.

  “Well, I wouldn’t go that far just yet, so don’t go getting all excited.”

  Faedra beamed a big grin at him. It was about time her dad found a companion. He’d been on his own for much too long, as far as she was concerned. Her uncle’s efforts at playing matchmaker had failed miserably, which only ended up making her father less inclined to want to try anymore. This was exciting news, and now she couldn’t wait until the party next week.

  “Well don’t leave me hanging, Dad. What is she like?”

  Henry’s cheeks reddened a little further. “Well, she’s a little younger than me but that doesn’t seem to bother her at all. She is beautiful, Fae. I don’t quite know what she sees in me.”

  “Oh, come on, Dad. You’re not bad looking yourself, you know. You would be a catch for anyone. Come on, tell me more.”

  “Well, we have been out to lunch a couple of times. She is very sweet natured and she loves animals, especially dogs.” He cast his gaze over to the dog relaxing on the floor beside them. “I’ve told her all about you and she can’t wait to meet you. Oh, I do hope you like her,” he added somewhat pensively to his daughter, who was looking hopeful.

  “She sounds wonderful, Dad. I’m sure that I will like her just as much as you seem to.” Faedra could hardly contain her excitement and wrapped her arms around her dad’s neck. “This is great news, Dad.”

  “Thank you, darling. Now dig in before it gets cold.” He waved his fork over the open boxes of Chinese food that were spread over the table.

  Faedra put a little from each container on her plate and dug in. She tried to savor every last bite before having to go and bury her head in her books again. She was determined to ace her test tomorrow. Her Guardian was right, she could wait until after her test to worry about her costume for the party.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Faedra was glad she put in that extra bit of ‘cramming’ for her test the evening before. It was tougher than she expected it to be and knew very well that she would not have done anywhere near as well as she imagined she had, if she’d spent the time worrying about her costume, rather than studying. Relieved that the test was now over and feeling confident that she had done her best, she followed the other students and strode with a smile out of the examination hall. Bodies spilled into the hallway like a knocked over bottle of cola and hurried off in different directions, most with relieved expressions on their faces.

  Faen was waiting for her across the hall when she exited. He was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed in a relaxed manner over his chest and one foot resting up against the wall. She still had a hard job getting over how good he made a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt look, and noticed some of the girls walking by turn their heads to look at him. He didn’t even notice them; his attention was directed solely on his charge.

  He gave her a warm smile, as he pushed away from the wall and dodged in and around the frenzied flow of students with a touch of inhuman grace, until he crossed to the other side where she was standing, waiting. He had completed the test with an hour to spare, so he left his finished paper on the desk and quietly exited the hall, as instructed to do so by the adjudicator. He knew he would find the test simple. As he had told Faedra the night before, what he didn’t know about mythology wasn’t worth knowing. He was, after all, part of what they were teaching.

  He should be giving the classes, not taking them but he didn’t mind, as long as it allowed him to stay close to the Custodian, as was his duty as a Guardian. Although he could try and convince himself that was the actual purpose, there was a much deeper reason he wanted to stay close to her and it now had little to do with her being the Custodian of the Amulet of Azran.

  He caressed her chin with his fingers and tilted her face up, lowering his lips to hers. His kiss, a simple sign of affection, lasted just a second. But the statement was a bold as shouting it from the rooftops. He didn’t care who witnessed his affection for Faedra in her world. In his own, however, that was a different story. It was very much frowned upon for a fae who held a position such as his, to be intimate with his charge. If the king found out, he could be withdrawn from Faedra immediately and replaced by another Guardian. Faen’s heart sank every time he thought of the possible consequences of his actions but their bond was too strong to resist.

  “How did you do?” he asked over the din in the corridor, after pulling back from their kiss. Constant chatter echoed off the walls. All the other students that had just been released from their various tests were meeting in the hallway to compare experience
s. Everyone around them was either confident they had done well or worried sick that they had flunked.

  “I feel confident about it, how about you?”

  He raised a conceited eyebrow and answered with a wry smirk, garnering him a playful thump on the arm.

  “Never mind, forget I even asked.” Faedra sighed, and raised her eyes heavenward. Feeling just slightly jealous that he didn’t have to study any of this stuff.

  The hubbub in the hallway started to subside as students made their way out of the building. Faedra was thankful that the test was at the end of the day and they could now go home.

  “Now that I don’t have any more studying to do, let’s go see Jocelyn. I haven’t seen her for a couple of days thanks to all this revising. It will be nice to be able to relax for a while.”

  Faen took hold of Faedra’s bag, lifting it off her shoulder. “Allow me, Ms. Faedra,” he said with a smirk.

  “Don’t you dare start all that again.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  He gave her another smirk as his hand found hers. They wandered out of the building and across the car park to where her car was waiting for them.

  It didn’t take them long before they were pulling up next to the church. The church where her friend, and Faen’s sister Jocelyn, kept guard over the portal to the land of Azran. Jocelyn’s Border collie form shimmered into her fae form as soon as she saw them coming around the corner.

  “Faedra,” she squealed with excitement, “it’s so good to see you! How did the test go?”

  “I think I did okay…” Faedra’s eyes started to glaze. “Oh, no, not again…” She managed to turn to Faen, her eyes already full of pain, just as she started to drop to the floor. Faen leaped forward and only just caught her in time before her body would have crumpled onto the gravel pathway.