"You're as sharp as a knife and you fit like a glove,
That is no way to life, that is no way to love.
Full of fear in your skin and the weakness of giving in.
You're stabbed in the back, but you feel no pain,
Push the heaviest doors that you can't open,
Yeah they've tied me up and my body lies still again."
Drumming her fingers on the armrest of her chair, Razaliardyna Teru tried her best to retain a calm demeanor. Excitement trickled through her veins, making her fingers drum faster, falling out rhythm with the song she was listening to. Sighing, she turned off her iPod, pulled her headphones from her ears and gazed out the small window to her right.
The flight from Moscow to New York had been ridiculously long and bland. She had been forced to sit next to an awkward young man who had kept trying to strike up a conversation. Each attempt had ended in embarrassed muttering and self-conscious hand gestures. She had thought it was somewhat cute, but he wasn't exactly her Romeo.
No, her real Romeo was waiting at the end of this flight, buried deep in the woods of Connecticut, lost in a catatonic stupor.
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips, threatening to spread into a full blown grin. She hadn't seen Warren in almost seven months, arguably the longest amount of time she'd been from him since his…incident at Fablehaven. She bit her bottom lip, feeling like a bubbly high school girl, her smile widening as the pilot announced their descent.
By the time the plane landed, she was practically coming out of her own skin. Why did people have to be so slow? She tapped her foot impatiently as people began to file out of the plane one by one, like dull toy soldiers. As the last passenger left the plane, she leapt from her seat, threw her bag over her shoulder and practically sprinted down the aisle of the plane.
Her luggage wasn't hard to find, she only had one suitcase and the small carry-on bag that was slung over her shoulder. All her gear; knives, swords, crossbows, had been sent to the next preserve she would be visiting by other means. She briefly wondered why she hadn't sent her clothes and other items along with them; she would only be able to visit Fablehaven briefly before being rushed off to Brazil to deal with a Society of the Evening Star related issue. Then she realized that a lone woman traveling from Moscow to Connecticut with nothing but a small tote bag would look somewhat suspicious.
Wrenching her suitcase free from the crowd of luggage, she scanned the airport. With any luck the car she had rented prior to boarding her flight would be ready to go. With a slight bounce in her step, she headed for the rental area near the front of the airport.
The drive to Fablehaven was longer than Razaliardyna remembered it being, or maybe it was just her nerves. Her nerves? She was nervous about going to see someone lost in a catatonic stupor? That was certainly new.
After what seemed like weeks of driving, she pulled up to the Fablehaven gate, which swung open robotically. She smiled as she pulled onto the preserve. She was glad that Stan had insisted on putting her name in the Register, if he hadn't done so, she would still be waiting outside the gate, trying to get through the unreliable phone lines to tell them she had arrived. Now that she was a welcome guest, she could stop by whenever she wanted. Her schedule with the Knights of Dawn wasn't exactly planned and she never knew when she would get a moment to breathe and run to Fablehaven, so the simple convenience was welcome.
She pulled up to the house a bit faster than she would have under other circumstances. The closer she got to her destination the more restless she got. Killing the engine, she forced herself to calm down. She had waited seven months; a couple more minutes wouldn't kill her… or would it?
She threw the car door open, slammed it shut and charged the front door. The second it was in reach she banged her knuckles against it, hoping severely that Lena would hear her. Shifting her weight anxiously from foot to foot, she wondered what was taking so long. Surely Lena had heard her knock, where was she? Should she try again? Just as she was about to try knocking a second time, the door swung open, revealing not Lena, not Dale or Ruth, not even Stan, but an eleven year old boy.
Taken slightly aback, she had no idea what to make of the mischievous eyed kid before her.
"Who are you?" he asked, leaning against the frame.
"I could ask you the same question." She retorted, raising a delicate eyebrow.
"Yeah but I asked you first."
"Yeah, but I'm older."
The boy looked like he was ready to make a witty comeback when Dale appeared behind him, opening the door fully. "This is a friend of the family Seth." The boy looked over his shoulder at Dale.
"I thought you guys never had any visitors. I mean, you live in the middle of nowhere!"
"Miss Teru is…um…"
The way Dale was floundering for words made the girl wonder if Seth knew anything about the preserce. "I help out with some stuff on the property when I can find some time away from my real job." She said, noting the grateful look Dale gave her. She eyed Seth, "Can I come in? Or do you want me to stand out here till dawn?"
"What kind of stuff?" He backed out of the doorway, allowing her entry to the house. As she passed the threshold she glanced at Dale, who subtly shook his head.
So the kid didn't know about Fablehaven, she wasn't surprised. "Oh, you know, I study the butterflies and check on some of the wildlife in the woods. It's pretty interesting."
She heard Seth mutter something like "About as interesting as watching ice melt."
"Shouldn't you be up in the attic? Your grandfather will be furious if he finds you out of your room." There was a nervous edge in Dale's voice and he glanced in the direction of the backyard.
The boy shrugged, "I heard someone knock and no one came to answer the door, I figured that whoever it was would want to come in. It's not like I was out in the garden or anything."
"You could hear me knock from the attic?"
"Yeah, it sounded like you were trying to break down the door or something." He began trudging up the stairs, "You won't tell grandpa, will you Dale? I mean it's not like I really did anything wrong, I only came down to see who was at the door."
"Not if you get up there within the next 5 seconds and don't come back down until your punishment is up." Dale began counting down from five. With wide eyes, Seth bolted up the rest of the steps faster than she had expected him to. Once he was out of sight, Dale shook his head. "I knew I should have locked the door."
She laughed at Dale's threatening comment and began sauntering to the backyard. "Give the kid a break; I'd still be standing out there if not for him. I didn't know Stan had relatives over, where's Lena?"
"You really should call or something to let us know you're coming."
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Dale. "Sorry, I finished up early in Moscow and didn't have time to call, what with the Society getting more active…" her words trailed off and she bit her lip. Any activity from the Society was bad news, and they were getting pretty active.
"Raz! So good to see you again!" Lena came into the room from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "I wasn't expecting you; otherwise I would have made some hot chocolate."
"Hi Lena, it's good to see you too." Raz offered the former naiad a warm smile and friendly embrace. "A cup of your hot chocolate would be lovely, but I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time, I have to head off again soon."
"Oh of course, of course, you'll be wanting to see Warren more than you'll want to catch up with me; I suppose there's always next time."
"Now Lena, don't be like that." The younger girl teased, "You know I'd love to catch up with you! It's just…"
"I understand. Now come along, I've already wasted enough of your time, you better be heading to the cabin."
"Thanks Lena." The two women headed back into the kitchen, followed by Dale. Raz walked into the backyard, barely containing her excitement as she began the hike to the cabin where Warren waited.
Seth considered ditching the attic and taking a small detour into the garden, but shook off the idea. He had already gotten into enough trouble, confinement in the attic for one day was bad enough; he couldn't imagine how boring it would be for the rest of his stay.
He reached the attic door and threw it open. He wasn't surprised to find Kendra standing near the doorway, her arms folded.
"Are you crazy?"
"I'm back aren't I?"
"What if Grandpa had caught you?"
"He didn't, so what's the big idea?"
"You're so stupid."
"Yeah, yeah."
Seth pushed his way into the playroom and slammed the door shut behind him. Kendra walked back to the small alcove to finish her paint-by-numbers picture of the pond. Seth sat next to the rocking horse.
"So who was at the door?" Kendra tried to sound casual, but curiosity was making her edgy. Seth wasn't fooled.
"A big huge lumber jack with an ax. He was a lunatic, tried to kill me, but I held him off with the coat rack until Dale got there."
Kendra nearly dropped her paintbrush in exasperation. "Honestly Seth, you expect me to believe that?"
"Yup."
"Try again."
"Okay fine you got me; it was this super pretty girl."
"Seth!"
"This time I'm serious! She was really, really pretty and had long gold hair."
Kendra gave Seth a skeptical look from the corner of her eye. Was he really being serious? "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!" He was getting more animated now, like when he had told Kendra about the witch. "And get this; she had purple eyes!"
"They must've been contacts."
Seth shook his head, "I think they were natural."
"Yeah right, did you get close enough to see?"
"Well…no…but they looked naturally purple…"
"Looks can be deceiving."
Seth was pouting now; he laced his fingers behind his head and thunked to the ground. He was now eye to eye with the underside of the rocking horse. He nearly smirked. "Did you ever notice the keyhole on the belly of the unicorn?"
"Keyhole?"
Yaaaay I finally started a fanfiction 8D if anyone was wondering, the song Raz is listening to is "Salt Skin" by Ellie Goulding, you should check out her music- it's amazing. Also, Razaliardyna is pronounced ra-ZAH-lee-uh-ar-din-uh, just incase you were staring at the screen like "what the....?" I hope to be putting chapter 2 up soon, I'm ridiculously busy with school and have like...no time to write, but it should be up somtime before uh...June...I hope xDD