The Delacours: Part Deux

thirty-six.

The weekend after Odie's birthday, we readied for his party it the fae realm. Elijah requested us, and we unfortunately had no choice but to go.

"Odie? Are you ready?" I asked, as he came down the stairs with Ella.

"Ugh, do we really have to go to the fae realm for my birthday? You guys know how much I hate it there..." he said, groaning.

"I tried Odie," Val said. "But you're the child of the Eminence. There are certain customs we can't break... It's only a few hours. And I'm letting you bring Ella."

"I know you don't wanna go, Odie, but I'm kind of excited to see where your parents grew up," Ella said.

"It's not much different than it is here," he said. "Plus I have to wear this stupid thing every time I go that's impossible to put on..." Chris laughed as he came upstairs from the bathroom.

"I have trouble putting it on too, kid," he said.

"Oh, do I have to wear anything special?" Ella asked.

"If you'd like to," Val said. Ella nodded, excitedly. Val and Zane opened up a portal to the fae realm, and everyone stepped through. I heard Bee and Ella gasp as the portal closed behind us and they saw the realm for the first time. Val leaned over her favorite stand and got a bunch of pastries for everyone as we walked through the market to the golden building in the center. We took the lift up to Val's home. Ella and Bee were mostly silent in awe as we reached the living room.

"Holy crap! You guys live in a gold building!" Bee said. "Why would you ever want to live on Earth if you could live here?"

"While it all seems nice and luxurious," Aria said, "living here full time isn't practical for us. Not to mention, we would've never met you if we lived here." She reached for a hug, and ruffled through his hair.

"And time moves differently here. When we get back, it will be Sunday night," I said.

"Woah! A three day party!?" Bee and Ella said. We all laughed.

"It will only seem a few hours while we're here," Val said. A fae came in through the front door and greeted us with a pile of fabric in different colors.

"Ugh..." Odie said, grabbing his pants. "Mom, can we please do something about this? I don't mind being here... but wearing these pants is so uncomfortable."

"Why is that?" Zane asked.

"Because everyone stares at me in them..."

"Sorry, kid," Zane said, laughing, as he grabbed a pair of wrap pants from the pile. Bee, Chris, Ray, and Noah grabbed theirs as well. I took a pair for Ella and she and Aria went to the room to change. After Ella changed, I noticed a large scar across her ribs that matched where she was hit with the dark magic from the fight with Kalial and Liam.

"This is pretty comfortable... I don't know what Odie is complaining about. The fabric is so soft," she said, rubbing her hands against her legs. We all met up in the living room and I heard Ella's heart skip a beat and watched her blush as she saw why Odie was so uncomfortable in his pants as he adjusted himself.

"Why don't you two have this problem?" Odie said.

"Maybe because you're wearing them backwards?" Chris said, laughing. "Come on, let me help you put them on properly..." They disappeared into the bedroom. Val came and handed me something to wear and offered to help me put it on.