Keystone

Chapter Five: Curses. Foiled Again.

Geod Faesong

Chapter Five

Curses. Foiled Again.

Dead silence. Caius and Brook were staring at me in shock. So was everyone else for that matter. At least until Caius snapped at them, “Oh, get back to work! Geod, Brook come with me. Now.” Every single Fae immediately tried to look like they were working. Pieces of chairs and tables reassembled themselves and went back to where they belonged. Fae sat down and pretended to work, but really their eyes were darting back and forth between Caius, Brook, and I like we were their favorite soap. I decided to follow Caius’s instructions. No need to make him madder than he already was.

    Caius turned and began to stride up the stairs. I gestured for Foxy, Brian, and Cecil to follow me. “Come on, guys,” I said in English, “follow me.” They were all very confused. Cecil looked like he was about to speak, but Caius cut him off.

    Caius had paused on his trip up the stairs and looked back down at me. “Oh for crying out loud, Geod!” he snapped in Faeleeish. “They stay here!”

    I tried to explain. “No, no. That’s part of the reason I’m-”

    He cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Nevermind,” he sighed. “Bring them up. It’s only thousands upon thousands of years of Fae history.” I decided to ignore the sarcasm.

    “Follow me, guys!” I said again with a grin. They were all really confused, but I ignored them and skipped through the room towards the stairs. Brook rolled her eyes and followed me. Brian, Cecil, and Foxy all hesitantly followed. Except they walked. I’m not sure what they had against skipping. I waited at the foot of the stairs for them to catch up. Brook stepped ahead of me. I stuck my tongue out at her. She stuck hers out back.

    “What’s happening?” Cecil asked me as we began skipping (or walking on their part) up the stairs.

    “I have no idea!” I said cheerfully. We passed by a bunch of doors built right beside the staircase. They led to various landings and rooms, but Brook ignored them. We were headed for the very top.

    “What language were you speaking?” Foxy asked. “I didn’t understand more than a few words of it.”

    I was surprised. It was nearly impossible for a non-Fae to understand any part of Faeleeish. “Really? What did you hear?” I asked curiously.

    “Well… it was weird really,” Foxy said slowly. “A lot of the Fae were greeting you in German.” I made a face. That. I was surprised I didn’t notice. Normally, I made a big deal about Fae talking to me in German. (Loooong story I don’t want to get into.) I guess I was distracted. “Also,” Foxy continued, “they were talking a lot about money. I didn’t get much more than that.”

    I was impressed. Faeleeish was a confusing blend of all languages, including animal ones. I wondered if it was some kind of Psychic thing. I gave a small laugh. “That’s pretty much it. A lot of the Fae were cashing in bets with each other,” I explained. I didn’t mention the bets were about me. That would require a long explanation about my personal life. Which would pretty much obliterate all my mystique as a Fae. Basically, I hadn’t exactly left on “good terms” when I had dramatically stormed out four months ago. I left a whole lotta curses behind though. The Fae kind and the word kind. I was pretty sure the Fae ones had all been either activated or disable-

    A huge waterfall of mud rained down from the ceiling hitting Cecil squarely in the head and sending him tumbling to the floor. Ok. So maybe almost all of them had been either activated or disabled. The mud kept coming for a few more seconds completely covering Cecil from head to foot. Foxy, who was directly behind Cecil, had luckily missed the majority of the blast because she had dodged out of the way at the last second. It was probably a Psychic thing. Brian had completely missed it. Of course he had turned into a black mouse, so that probably had a lot to do with it. He changed back to the blonde Fae and stepped to the side as a waterfall of mud began to flow down the stairs from Cecil. Cecil stumbled to his feet and spat mud out of his mouth.