We drove to Kayde’s home in silence, I could tell he wished I would talk to him, but didn’t want to bother me, or force me to talk before I was ready. His hand never left mine, and every chance he got to glance at me, he would. It was obvious that he was worried about me, and curious about what happened. I knew I’d talk to him about it once we got to his house, but I really wasn’t quite ready to delve into my feelings, both at the time of the incident and after the incident as well.

When we finally got to his house and pulled up to the curb, I was so deep in thought that didn’t even realize that the car had even stopped. I didn’t realize Kayde had gotten out of the car until he was on my side of the car and had opened the door. I looked up at him in a daze and wondered what he was standing there for.

“We’re here, let’s get inside, ok Phee?” He prompted me, gently.

I reached to my left and unbuckled the seat belt and leaned over to grab my purse. Kayde took my hand and helped me out of the car and we walked to the front of his house with his arm around my waist in such a way that I wasn’t sure if he was guiding me, holding me up, or if he just wanted to have his arms around me. Either way, it didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to get inside and warm.

Kayde opened the front door and reached in, flicking a light switch next to the door and then letting me walk in. I walked through the door into a beautifully decorated house. The majority of it seemed to be Native American art, with some Asian accents. He also had some lovely art that I couldn’t quite figure out where in the world it would have originated, but was absolutely breathtaking.

“Kayde, your home is absolutely beautiful.” I said so softly that it was more to myself than to my boyfriend.

“Thank you, love.” He answered, his hearing better than expected. “Are you warm enough? I’m sure I have a sweatshirt or something. I mean, it may be big, but if you’re cold…”

“No, thank you, but I’m fine. It’s plenty warm in here.” I answered. “Where did you get all of this art?” I asked him as I wandered through the hallway looking at some of the paintings.

“Well, most of them came from my mother. My parent’s left everything to me in their will when they passed away.” He told me.

“There is one that I’d like you to see though.” He said as he pulled me towards the back of the hallway. “This one, I painted a few months ago.” He said as he opened the door to a room at the end of the hallway.

Behind the door was a small room that had been converted to an art studio. In the middle of the studio was an easel with a canvas that was covered in reds, oranges and yellows. It took minute for my eyes to get accustomed to the darkness, but when they did, what I saw on the canvas, in its full detail, absolutely amazed me. I saw myself, naked, sitting atop a flaming bird that could only be called a phoenix. My skin was red, with a light hint of orange flames behind it, or maybe a better word was under it. My hair was flowing behind me, bright orange. I looked at Phil shocked that he could paint something so intricately detailed and beautiful.

“I told you, I’ve been dreaming about you for months.” He said, sheepishly “This is how you look when I see you in those dreams. Ever since Flora and Syle mentioned that there was no way to know what your specialty was, I knew that this was it.

“When things happened the way they did tonight at the restaurant, I knew it was you.”

“Can we go sit down?” I asked him softly.

“Yes, let’s go in the living room” He answered, as we left his studio.

Kayde took my hand and closed the door behind us and we began walking back down the hallway. I admired all of the artwork in the hallway and saw that a few pieces seemed to be styled similarly to the painting I had seen in Kayde’s studio. As we got into the living room and sat down on the couch, I realized how talented Kayde truly was.

“Kayde? Did you paint some of the stuff in the hallway?” I asked him quietly.

“Yes, I’ve been painting since I was very young.” He answered “The only thing I wanted for my fifth birthday was water colors. That was when my parents decided to change the office into a studio for me.”

“They’re so beautiful.” I told him. “I mean, you could really make some great money with those, I’m sure.”

“Actually, I already do. That’s why I don’t have much hanging around here.” He told me as a slight flush rose to his cheeks.

“Phee? Earlier, in the restaurant?” Kayde asked me “Did you do that on purpose? I mean, the way the flame of the candles leapt up like that? The way the fire in the kitchen started at the same time? Why did you do that?”

“Of course I didn’t do it on purpose!” I told him “Why on earth would I do something like that on purpose? It was just because of the way my dad was ignoring me. I tried to keep myself from crying and letting him hurt my feelings, but it just made me so mad!”

I could feel myself getting upset again and instead of letting my anger rise, I looked at the detail of Kayde’s fireplace instead.

“Does he do that a lot? Hurt your feelings, I mean?” Asked Kayde, referring to my father.

“Not on purpose, he just gets so… Ugh!” I said, feeling exasperated with my father and his grudge against my grandparents. “He can just get so defensive, or offensive, or… He just acts like a complete jerk anytime my grandparents are involved in anything!”

Shockingly to both Kayde and I, the log in his fireplace burst into flames.

We began walking towards the front of the restaurant with my father, grandmother and grandfather. Everyone seemed to be in a fairly decent mood, which was a nice change from my father’s earlier sour mood with my grandparents. If I was lucky, it would stay that way through the next hour or so while we ate dinner.

I had been to Rico’s with some friends from school for the first time last month to celebrate our graduation. It was a wonderfully friendly and classy restaurant run by a sweet old Italian man and his granddaughter. What most people, myself included, loved most about Rico’s was that it wasn’t just a place where the owner was hardly ever seen. Rico was there every day from open till close. He cooked, waited, whatever needed to be done, Rico was there to do it. And he wasn’t just a helpful old man; he was as sweet as pie. When we came in June, a friend of mine didn’t get her order made right and when she asked the waiter about it, Rico himself went back to the kitchen to make it, and instead of just making the order himself, he pulled the original cook over and showed him how to make the dish correctly, never with a negative word.

My grandfather walked in and today, Rico was standing in front seating people.

“Hi there sir. How are you this evening?” He asked my grandfather.

“I’m doing well, yourself?” Replied my grandfather.

“Doing wonderful tonight. Do you have a reservation tonight?”

“Yes, we do, it’s under Rose.” Answered my grandfather.

“Wonderful, looks like you’ve got your full party with you, do you have a preference for seating?” Asked Rico.

“If possible, could you put us somewhere somewhat private?” Asked my grandfather, “We have some important things to discuss, family matters, and we would prefer not to be over heard.”

“Well certainly” responded Rico “That should be easy enough to do.”

He walked us towards the back of the restaurant near the kitchen and around the corner then, much to my surprise, seated us in a closed section of the restaurant.

“Will this work well for you tonight?” He asked my grandfather, “It’s not an open section tonight, so it should stay quiet and private for you, unless we get overly busy.” He explained.

“Yes sir, this is perfect, thank you.” Asked my father, offering to tip Rico, obviously not noticing that he was the owner of the restaurant.

“Oh, thank you sir, but please, allow me to respectfully decline.” Rico said to my grandfather “Family talk is an important and often private affair, I’m honored that you chose my restaurant for it.

“Here are your menus, I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your orders, would you like anything to drink?”

“I think we’ll do fine with waters around the table please, sir.” Answered my grandfather.

After Rico had walked away, my grandfather looked around the table from my father to me, to Kayde, and finally at my grandmother.

“Now, Albert, I know that this is an uncomfortable subject for you, but tonight, we are here to have a talk about Phee, and Kayde, coming into their powers.” My grandfather said, looking at my father. “I hope that, as her father, you have enough concern for your daughter’s future to fight through your discomfort.”

“Yes, I will, I’ve had time to prepare myself for this conversation, so I think I can handle it.” Answered my father, glaring back at my grandfather.

“Now, first things first” Started my grandfather “Albert, I know that you, as well as Flora and I, were hoping the Phee’s skin wouldn’t change to much, however, today, both Phee and Kayde have witnessed Phee’s skin changing to a red color, momentarily. As far as her power goes, we don’t know what this means, but we do know that it means that her skin will be red in color. We all know your preference to appear normal to your neighborhood, for obvious reasons. The problem is that red is rather obviously not a normal color. The fact that she is already changing in color means that it will happen very soon. I’m not sure if Raven talked to you at all about the way things would happen for Phee, but before she learns her glamour, she must learn her power.”

“So what you’re trying to say is that she’s going to be red until after she learns her power?” Asked my father.

Before Syle could answer, Rico came back to take our orders and bring us our water. Kayde and I decided to share a large appetizer platter, my father ordered spinach lasagna, my grandmother chose a ceaser salad with chicken, and my grandfather ordered mushroom garlic linguine. Rico collected our menus and left to go turn in our orders.

“To answer your question rather bluntly Albert, yes.” Said my grandfather quietly, “An even bigger problem is that as a Faery, and Kayde, I hope you’re paying attention as well, once Phoenix fully changes color, she will also be fully in her power, and in order to learn her power, she has to be outside, in a natural setting. It’s not something she can learn inside a house.”

“So you mean that when she starts trying to learn her power, she has to be outside?” Asked my father “Meaning that there’s really no way to hide this from our neighbors?”

“Well, yes and no.” Answered my grandmother, “There’s a way around everything. For instance, she could practice her power outside, late at night; problem is that if she ends up becoming a Flower specialty, like I am, she’ll be hard pressed to practice in the dark. We really won’t be able to come up with a game plan for either of them until we know more about their power.”

“Ok, well, I guess this is really a talk that we should have later on, once we know more about their power.” Said my father, looking relieved. “Is that all we have to talk about?”

“Oh, not at all,” Said my grandmother “That was just one fo two things we wanted to bring up. Another thing we wanted to talk about was more for the kids than for you though. When you come fully into your power, you need to be aware that it will be very hard to control and they will be tied closely to your emotions. When I came into my powers, I couldn’t be anywhere around plants while in a bad mood because it would kill them. I couldn’t go into public either because whenever I saw something that made me smile or made me happy, plants around me would begin to grow!”

“And when I came into my power as well, things were difficult.” Said Syle, “You’ve heard the expression, a cloud following you wherever you go? Well, I literally had to deal with a cloud following me. In a good mood, there would be soft snow fall all around me. Everything I passed would end up with a light layer of frost covering it. I couldn’t go anywhere near plants that weren’t winter hardy, because they’d always die. When I was in a bad mood though, it was the worst. The soft snowfall was virtually a snowstorm. The light layer of frost would turn so severe that I would sometime break windows.”

“So you mean to tell me, that these kids aren’t going to be able to go anywhere until they’ve mastered this, this magic?” Asked my father, his voice harboring more than a bit of annoyance.

“Honestly Albert, it’s highly possible that they’ll have a hard time out in public.” My grandmother said gently “But it’s also possible that it won’t be so difficult. Maybe Kayde will just be a thought Faery and all that will happen is that he’ll jumble or clarify people’s thoughts.

“There are a lot of different specialties out there, we just have to have time, once again to let the kid’s come fully into their powers.”

“This is ridiculous!” My father said loudly, shocking us all “How can you restrict these children this way? If you had known your place when Raven died and left my daughter alone, none of this would be happening right now. My daughter never would have slept with this guy and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“You’re ruining my child’s life, and you expect me to just sit around and accept that?” My father finished, as he glared back and forth at my grandparents.

My breath caught in my throat and I nearly started crying. No! I thought to myself. I will not cry over this. He will not ruin my night again.

“Dad?” I said quietly.

“Just because she’s nearly eighteen doesn’t mean she’s not a child.” My father said.

“Dad?” I said again, a bit louder, breathing deeply as I tried to breathe deeply and keep myself calm.

“She doesn’t know the first thing about any of this. You know what? Fuck this! I’m leaving. I refuse to sit by idly and watch you people try to brainwash my child!” Said my father, standing up.

“DAD!” I said again, nearly shouting, as I stood up.

At that moment, four things happened. The candle centerpieces flared up almost three feet, there was a large racket in the kitchen that consisted of some yelling and what sounded like pots and pans crashing, a few second afterwards, the smoke alarm in the restaurant started buzzing loudly and the over head sprinklers came on, and then Rico came running to our table.

“I’m so sorry, but there is a fire in the kitchen, we have to evacuate the restaurant.” He informed us, giving us a few seconds to gather our belongings and then hurrying us to the emergency exit.

As we stood outside of the restaurant I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the candles, the noise in the kitchen, it all seemed to happen when I lost my temper with my father. I looked up at my family and saw that my grandmother, my grandfather, and Kayde all seemed to be looking at me. My grandfather leaned towards Kayde and whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear.

“You’re right. I’ll take her around the back. Thank you for dinner, we’ll see you soon.” He said to my grandfather as he took my hand.

“Phee, baby, we’ve got to get you out of here.” He said to me pulling me further down the alley.

“What? What about my family? Can’t I at least say good bye to them?” I asked, confused as to why we were leaving so suddenly.

“You can call them from the car.” He told me sternly.

“What?” I asked annoyed. “Why?” I asked annoyed.

“You’ll see when you get in the car, for now, we have to go Phee, trust me.” He said to me.

We walked around the back of the building and headed to his car. He opened the door for me as always and waited for me to get myself situated before closing the door. The strange thing was that this time he seemed to be blocking me from looking outside of the car. After he had walked around to his side of the car and gotten in the car I looked at him.

“Now can you tell me why we had to leave without even giving me time to say good bye to my family?” I asked.

As an answer, Kayde reached up and flipped down the sun visor in front of me and opened the mirror. As I looked up, I saw a face staring back at me, wide eyed. Even though the face I saw was my own, it was still unfamiliar to me. The face I was used to seeing in the mirror was lightly tanned from all of my work in the garden, but the one I saw was red, and not the light red that looked almost pink that I had seen earlier in the day, but a much stronger, more vivid red, that seemed to be almost glowing. My usually long dark brown hair seemed to be turning bright orange from the roots down to the ends. I turned to Kayde with questioning eyes, worrying about whether or not I had been seen like this.

“That’s why we had to leave my dear, and why we leave the way we did.” He answered my unasked question.

As I got to the middle of the stairs, I realized that there was something strange going on. No one was talking in the living room. If nothing else, I was sure Kayde and my grandparents would at least be in the middle of some kind of unnecessary chit chat. As I rounded the corner into the living room, I could see what the problem was. It seemed my father had gotten back home from shopping around the same time as Kayde had gotten back. Instead of my father getting back a bit after Kayde and walking in on a conversation that was already taking place, they got there at the same time and neither of them knew what to start talking about.

Chuckling to myself about how shy they both are, I decided to break the silence.

“Well look at that, my two favorite guys made it back home” I said smiling as I walked over to the love seat to sit next to Kayde.

“That’s a lovely dress Phee,” Said my father “When did you get that? I’ve never seen you in it before.”

“Grandma and Grandpa gave it to me” I told him.

“It was Raven’s favorite dress when she was younger.” Said Flora to my father, “Anytime we went out, she’d wear it, if it was appropriate.”

“Well dear ones” Said my grandfather, as he began to stand up “I can’t be the only one in the house who is hungry, can I?”

“No sir.” Said Kayde, standing and offering me his hand for support.

“Ever the gentleman.” Said Flora laughing “He reminds me of you when we were at that age.” She said, looking at my grandfather.

“Does anyone mind Italian? I know that you and Kayde had French last night, right?” Syle asked looking at the rest of us.

“Italian sounds delicious.” My father said to my grandfather.

“Mr. Woodland?” Said Kayde as we were standing on the porch waiting for my father to find his keys and lock the door.

“Kayde, there’s no need to be formal, you can call me Al.” My father said with a tone so friendly that it almost made me question his motives.

“Ok then, Al. I was wondering if you had any plans to spend time with Phee tonight.” Kayde half asked. “I was hoping to take her to go see a movie, if you didn’t have any plans.”

“No sir” Answered my father “After dinner, she’s all yours. Just behave yourselves.” He said, as we all headed down the walkway to the cars, laughing at his joke that I didn’t find very funny at all.

“Thanks Al, and don’t worry, I’ll treat her with the utmost respect.” Kayde assured my father as I glance at him with a raised eyebrow.

“So in that case, Kayde, you and Phoenix can ride in your car.” Said my grandfather “Albert, I know that you’re not exactly comfortable with Flora and I, so I guess that means we’ll all drive our own car and meet up at Nico’s?”

“Sounds like a plan” Answered my father.

Once again, Kayde held his car door open for me and waited for me to get in the car and closed the door after me.

As we pulled away from the curb, a question popped into my mind that I was surprised that I hadn’t asked about before.

“Kayde?” I started off slowly, trying to decide exactly how to word the question without hurting him. “I was wondering, what were you doing out so late on a Thursday night?”

“It’s the weirdest thing.” He told me “I went to bed at eight o’clock that night; I was exhausted from working early that morning.

“I fell asleep much quicker than I had expected and I dreamt of you the whole time. You looked the way I told you, red skin, and bright orange hair. For some reason, I woke up at eleven o’clock. Wide awake, not even a bit drowsy. For some reason, I felt an urge to go for a walk.

“That was out of the ordinary, but not too much. What really threw me off was that when I started walking, I ended up turning corners that I never really walked along when I took my walks. I had never been to the block that your father’s office is on. I just kind of ended up there.” He finished up as we pulled into the parking lot of Nico’s.

“Kayde, dear, do you mind if we talk about this more after we leave?” I asked him. “It’s just, it’s pretty amazing from my end, and I’m curious about your end.”

“Of course babe.” He answered as we began to get out of the car.

Kayde leaned up against his car and pulled me in front of him and wrapped his arms around me as we waited for my father and grandparents to pull into the parking lot.

“You know, what your grandmother, what Flora said last night, about having to have strong feelings for the Half Blood you sleep with?” He said softly in my ear. “It’s true. I mean, I’m sure it was obvious to you, I just wanted to say it out loud, you know?

“I mean, I’m not in love with you or anything yet. But I’m pretty sure that that is all it is, a yet, because I can definitely see myself with you for a long time, maybe forever.” He finished as he leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

He had completely taken me by surprise. I had been thinking about the way we felt about each other and wondering if I should bring it up for hours now. I never expected him to be the first one to say something about it. It’s always rare for a guy to come out with something like that. It was obvious even before he brought up his feelings for me that Kayde wasn’t the average guy, so I’m not sure why it threw me off so much, but I was absolutely speechless for a few seconds.

As I took a couple of deep breaths, Kayde turned me around so that I was facing him. “I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just figured that since you and I knew the same information, it wouldn’t be a big deal.” He said, looking at me with worried eyes.

“Oh Kayde, it’s not that you freaked me out. I was just surprised. Most guys wouldn’t have been the one to bring something up like that, you know?” I explained to him “I mean, you’re nothing like any guy I’ve ever dated, it’s wonderful, and refreshing and, you know, I don’t think forever with you would be such a bad thing either.”

Kayde leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips just as my father was pulling into the parking lot. “I sure hope you mean that.” He said, winking at me and pulling away as my grandparent pulled into the lot as well.

I walked through the back door and started up the stairs. I can not believe how much things have changed in the past forty eight hours. I thought to myself. I went from a single, normal almost eighteen year old girl to a half human half faery magical being with a boyfriend.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what my grandmother had said about Kayde, and how he felt about me. I’ve been with guys who cared about me, of course, but never one like Kayde. He had just met me not even two full days ago, but he was so sweet and generous and caring. I loved the way he took the time to plan out a twenty minute drive to take me to me to find my grandparents, it had blown my mind. The way he brought me a whole rose bush instead of cut flowers, because he knew I liked plants, but didn’t know if I liked cut flowers made my heart melt. The way he ate me out, determined to give me an orgasm before we even had sex, made me… Well, let’s not talk about how that particular situation made me feel.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how strange it felt to call Flora and Syle my grandmother and grandfather, knowing that physically, they look no older than I. It was easier to think of them as my grandparents, refer to them as my grandmother and grandfather while they were using their glamour, but even then, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way I had seen them the night before. The smooth, tight skin wouldn’t leave eyes. I knew that one day it would be easy and that I would be used to it, but that day certainly wasn’t today.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how my father was reacting, I kept expecting him to blow up over it, and I expected it to happen soon. My father hated anything out of the ordinary, with the exception of my mother, apparently. I knew that once I truly started changing, once my powers came, once I started acting more, well, Fae, he would hate it. I know he was keeping me from my grandparents to avoid me learning from them and becoming more like them, thinking that if he kept me from them, I would stay normal, the way he wanted me to.

My father was a rather hot tempered man, and I knew that even if it didn’t happen now, soon, he would blow up over this and try to blame someone. It was most likely that he would try to blame my grandparents and say that if they just hadn’t kept in contact with me this wouldn’t be happening. In my mind, the only person that could be blamed was my father himself. He knew my mother was a Faery, and so he knew that any child they had would be half Fae as well.

To be honest, I just couldn’t stop thinking. Thoughts were whirling through my mind one after another and before I even realized it, I noticed that I had already taken a shower and was wrapped in a towel and heading back to my room to pick out a nice outfit for dinner. I wanted to wear something sexy, since Kayde was there, but still classy, since I was going out with my father, Syle and Flora as well.

I started rifling through my closet and pulling dresses out. I had sexy, and I had classy, and hell, I even had elegant, but sexy and classy? I couldn’t find anything. Just when I was almost to the end of my closet, there was a knock on my door. I opened my door and found a box on the floor with a folded note taped to the top.

I picked the box up and opened up the note.

Flora,

Hope not to be over stepping any boundaries, but we thought you might like to wear this. It was your mother’s favorite dress when she was your age. We hope you like it. And we hope you don’t mind us sabotaging your wardrobe.

Flora and Syle

P.S.

Don’t worry; your wardrobe will go back to normal if once you decide whether or not to wear the dress.

I opened up the large white box and in it was the most amazing dress I had ever seen. I pulled the dress out and laid it flat on my bed, admiring it. It was a short, black V Neck dress with small leaf skeletons embroidered on the bodice, inside of each leaf was a very thin white fabric that made the leaves seem gray. The skirt of the dress was made to look like it was made out of nothing but raven or crow feathers layered one upon another down to about two or three inches above my knee. The minute I saw it, I had decided to wear it to dinner. I loved the black and gray of the bodice and the blue-black color of the raven feathers.

I slid the dress over my head and it slid down my body like silk. I went to my jewelry box and put on a black pearl necklace that my mother had left for me that had a small tear drop shaped piece of onyx hanging from it. I opened the drawer that had all of my earrings in it and pulled out the pair of matching onyx earrings. I left my wrists and hands bare of jewelry. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and curled it just enough to add a soft wave to the bottom of my hair.

Now that my hair and jewelry we taken care of, I pulled out my make up and dumped it over my bed. For my eyes I chose a black eyeliner and mascara, a glittery tan base shade, which I swept over my entire eye lid up to my eyebrows, a grey shade for my eye lid and a navy blue color to add a smoky look to the corners of my eyes. To the top, I lightly brushed some loose clear glitter to give my eyes a shimmer. For my lips, I chose a soft pink color to help draw attention to my eyes and keep me from looking way too made up.

As I was adding a shimmery powder to my face, neck and chest I heard a knock at the door. Knowing that it was near six by this time, I figured it was going to be Kayde. I finished with the powder quickly and rushed down stairs.

After setting down our flats, Kayde and I walked to the shed to get some gardening tools, which for one reason or another, I seemed to collect, and so I had more than enough for the four of us. As Kayde and I came out of the shed with a trowel in each hand, Flora looked at us and laughed.

“You dear, dear children. Do you honestly expect a flower faery to use a trowel?” She asked with a twinkle in her eye “I’m the kind of woman who likes to get her hands dirty!” She said, digging into the dirt.

“I prefer to stay clean, myself” Said Syle as he grabbed one of the trowels.

Kayde and I picked one up as well and started digging on the other side of the row that Flora and Syle had started on.

“You know” said Syle “You’re at quite an advantage having your grandmother here to help with the planting.”

“Why’s that?” Asked Kayde

“Let me show you.” Replied Flora.

Once her hole was big enough she pulled a basil plant out of its pot. Holding on to the base of the plant in one hand, she held it in the air in front of her eyes and stared intently for a moment. As we watched, the roots that had been wrapped around the large clump of soil seemed to move. At first I just assumed that I was seeing things, but then the roots began to twist and unwind from the dark moist soil. Kayde and I leaned forward as we watched Flora set the plant in the ground and watched as the roots pressed themselves against the walls of soil, burying themselves in the dirt. Softly, Flora pushed the pile of dirt towards the base of the plant, filling the empty spots with the soil.

For a moment, the two of us were silent as we processed that what we had just seen was real, impossible as it may have seemed.

Finally, I asked Flora “How did you do that?”

“Well, that’s part of my specialty, but with practice, it’s something every faery can learn to do.” She answered. “I can do it without words by communicating to the plant that its roots are safer and better off unwrapped from the soil and pressed into the earth.

“Now if you, or Kayde were to learn to do that, you would have to spend everyday taking care of these plants to teach them they can trust you and talking to the plants so that they know your voice and spirit. Once you do that, when you tell them they are safer and better off, they’ll listen to what you tell them and take it into consideration.”

“What do you mean? Plants can think?” Asked Kayde

“Oh yes” Answered Syle “Every single natural thing on our earth has a spirit and can think, trust and worry the same way that we can.”

“Now, since you know the secret to talking to plants, let me show you part of what is in fact part of my specialty…” Flora said, as she began to giggle.

She stood up and walked around the garden. “First, I have to make sure that I don’t put any strain on the plant by asking them if they feel strong and healthy.” She found a portion of the garden that she liked and stood in front of it. “These ones say that they are feeling strong and healthy, but could use a bit of a boost, that’s what I’m here for.” She said to us.

She began a low hum, almost too soft for me or Kayde to hear. As her humming grew louder, she kneeled down on the dirt and leaned forward, placing her hands on the ground over her head. Kayde and I watched her, curious and silent, trying to see what she was doing.

“No sweet one, watch the plants.” Said Syle quietly.

As we looked to the plants, we both gasped. Right in front of us, my garden was growing; we watched what seemed to be a week, possibly two weeks of growth right in front of our eyes. New stems, new leaves and new flower buds began to shoot out right before our eyes. One of my basils, which had not been growing well since I planted it in early May filled out before my eyes, turning from what looked like a branch stuck in the ground to a small bush.

Kayde and I were shocked with what we had seen, leaving both of us momentarily speechless. We looked back and forth from each other to the plants to my grandmother, trying to decide whether or not we should believe what we had just seen.

“Don’t worry kids” Said my grandfather. “In a few weeks, none of this will be surprising to you in the least. Which reminds me…

“In a week or so, maybe sooner, the two of you will start looking differently. Now, Kayde, I’m not sure about you, however I do know that Albert is not much one for calling attention to himself. The problem is that soon, it seems, Phoenix will be red, and she’ll have to stay that way for at least a little while until she knows how to use her glamour.”

“Oh goodness!” I said “I didn’t think about that. Neither has dad, of course, but he’s going to hate that! Oh Flora, what on Earth will we do?”

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head off one bit” My grandmother reassured me. “Syle and I will figure something out as soon as we can.”

After a few moments of silence, Kayde stopped working and looked up at Syle “Why do you think her skin’s already doing these color flashes and mine isn’t?” He asked, seeming more curious than worried.

“Well, it’s highly possible that yours has actually been doing the color flashes, as you put them, but that your color will be similar to the current color of your skin. I mean, look at me, or Raven, although we were both born with our color, could you imagine trying to catch your skin changing from its current color to mine?”

“Or my mom’s” I reminded Kayde, “My mother’s skin was exactly the same color, the only difference was that it had a shimmer to it.”

“Don’t worry Kayde” said my grandmother “The fact that your skin hasn’t had any changes in color will actually make it much easier for you not only to fit in as it happens, but to learn your glamour as well.”

“Lucky bastard” I said, jokingly.

Kayde laughed and tossed a small handful of dirt into my lap. “Watch it girly.” He said laughing.

As we started on the last flat of plants, I realized it was starting to cool off which meant it was probably around five o’clock, if not after. I looked up and saw that the sun quite a bit lower than I expected it to be.

“Kayde, do you have your phone?” I asked, hoping I still had enough time to get ready without rushing.

“Sure babe, what’s up?” He asked.

“I was wondering what time it was. We’re supposed to be leaving around six, remember?” I reminded him, realizing that just maybe, gardening was not exactly the best choice before dinner.

“Oh yea, it’s um, four thirty seven.” He told me. “I guess we’ll have to save the rest of these for tomorrow. I’ve got to go home and at least change my pants, although a shower and full change of clothes would be nice, time allowing.”
“Don’t worry son, we won’t leave without you. Go ahead and take your time.” My grandfather told him.

Kayde got up and dusted his pants off and gathered up the trowels and took them to the side of the house to rinse them off with the hose. When he was out of hearing distance I leaned toward my grandmother and asked what I had been wondering since earlier.

“Last night, what you said about how a half blood comes into their power?” I started off “You said that they have to have strong feelings for the other half blood? Does that mean that Kayde feels the same way for me that I feel for him?”

“Well dear,” My grandmother said softly “The feelings don’t actually have to be positive, it could be strong feelings of hate, but seeing the way he hangs around you and looks at you definitely says that strong hate is not the case here.”

As I stood up and turned to walk toward Kayde I saw he was already almost back to us.

“I’m going to head home now babe, I’ll be back around six o’clock, ok?” He asked me.

“Yea, that sounds good. I think I need to head upstairs and start getting myself ready as well.” I told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

After my father had left I remembered the plants in Kayde’s back seat and all the letters and cards that my grandparents had sent talking about the different things they had planted that spring or summer and such.

“Would you guys like to help Kayde and I plant some stuff in the garden?” I asked Syle and Flora.

“Oh dear one, we’d love to! We can show you some tricks too.” Said Flora with a wink.

As the four of us walked out to the car, Kayde asked his first question about being a Half Blood.

“So, this whole ‘glamour’ thing? Is that something Phee and I will be able to do?”

“Yes”, said Syle “You will, of course, it will take practice, like everything else, your specialty will come first, and faster, the other stuff, like everything else in life, takes time.”

We got to the car and each took one flat of plants and headed to the back yard. As we were walking, Kayde stopped for a minute and just started to stare at me.

“What is it babe?” I asked him, confused.

“Nothing… I just thought I saw something.” He said, still looking confused.

“Like what?” Asked Flora.

“Nothing, it was just a trick of the light or something, I’m sure.” He answered and kept walking.

“Kayde?” I said his name somewhat softly. “What did you see?”

He looked at me with eyes that seemed to be full of worry or confusion, but I wasn’t sure which.

“Your skin. It was… Well, red.” He said, giving me a strange look. “Just for a second though, nothing to worry about, I’m sure.”

“Red skin, you said?” Asked Syle. “I know it seems impossible boy, but you saw us last night, my skin as pale as snow, Flora’s green as leaves. Phee’s red skin could give us an insight into what her specialty will be.”

“Earlier, when I was sitting on the porch, I thought I saw my skin turn red as well. I thought I was just seeing things, so I wrote it off as nothing.” I told Syle, Flora and Kayde. “You think this means my specialty will have to do with something red?” I asked.

“Not think dear one, we know.” Said Flora “For now, why don’t we go into the back yard and plant and talk.” She said, as she began walking again.

Syle, Kayde and I all followed her around the side of the house to the back yard.

Even though I had figured it would have been Kayde when I opened the door, I was pleasantly surprised to see his playful smile and mischievous eyes looking back at me.

“Phee, I’ve done something horrible.” He told me. “But now I don’t feel quite so bad, knowing that you forgot all about your roses!”

“Oh Kayde, I didn’t forget about them, I’m planning to plant them today.” I told him laughing. “I just haven’t had a chance yet since we’ve got company.”

“Oh? Should I be worried?” He asked me.

“No, not at all. At least, I don’t think so.” I answered, hoping he wasn’t still uncomfortable with my grandparents. “What exactly is this terrible thing you’ve done?

“Oh, um… come to the car with me real fast.” He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards his open passenger door.

“Kayde, I can’t go anywhere with you. I have no shoes on and there are people in my house trying to spend time with me.” I hissed at him.

“We’re not leaving. Just look in the back seat.” He told me.

I leaned over into the car and saw flats and flats of different herb, fruit and vegetable plants.

“Oh Kayde! Are these?” I stopped myself before asking, afraid that I would end up making an assumption that wasn’t accurate.

“Yes sweetness, they’re for you.” He answered, putting his arms around me. “You probably have some of it, but there’s nothing wrong with expanding a garden, is there?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “Not at all! Not ever!”

“Alright, I think I’ve kidnapped you long enough, shall we go back inside with your visitors? I’m sure your father is dying to meet me as well.”

Kayde draped his arms around my shoulders and we walking back to the house. As we got up onto the porch, we could hear arguing.

Oh no. Already? I thought to myself, knowing exactly what had happened, I broke into a run into the house and Kayde chased me in.

“You think that just because she’s like you, you can take her under your wing and teach her all your weird crap? I’m not letting my daughter turn into some kind of weird ass dirt worshipper!” Yelled my father. “I am not going to allow you to corrupt-”

I rushed between my father and my grandparents as Kayde stayed standing at the entrance to the living room. “I don’t know how this happened, nor do I even care, but you guys will NOT argue around me.” I said in a firm voice. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Kayde. Kayde, this is my father, Albert.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Said Kayde, obviously feeling a bit out of place and uncomfortable.

“You too son.” Replied my father, obviously still seething about what ever had taken place while I was outside with Kayde. “I understand my daughter is rather taken with you, so I figured I should stick around and meet you.”

Kayde moved to my grandparents and offered his hand to Syle. “It’s nice to meet-”

“Didn’t we do this part last night?” Asked my grandfather, laughing as I realized Kayde wasn’t familiar with my grandparents in their glamoured forms.

“Kayde, that’s Syle” I told him. “And that’s Flora. They used their glamour to come and visit with us today. They’d like to take us out to dinner tonight, are you free?”

“Yea, I don’t have any plans today other than seeing how long it will take of me hanging around before you kick me out.” He said, laughing at his own joke.

“I think now’s a good time for the shopping. I’ll be back by six o’clock for dinner, sound good?” Asked my dad.

“Yes, six sounds fine” Said Flora to my father kindly.

I sighed; disappointed that it would be that much longer before I got to see Kayde. I turned and headed up the stairs with a sigh. When I got to the top of the stairs I heard another knock at the door.

“Just a moment” I heard my father shout downstairs. He was probably sticking his food in the microwave or something to keep it from attracting flies. I heard muffled voices downstairs and hoped that my father wasn’t giving my new boyfriend the third degree. Or bringing up what I had told him last night.

Mortified I grabbed a pink tank top and a pair of jean shorts and pulled them on over my bra and panties. As I ran down the stair I heard a woman’s voice that sounded familiar but I just couldn’t place a name to the voice.

As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs and turned into the living room I realized the voice. I couldn’t place it because it was a voice I hadn’t heard in almost sixteen years. It was the voice my grandmother used to use when she would come to visit. The one she used when she used her glamour.

“Phee, look who came to visit.” Said my father in a tone that sounded like clenched teeth.

“Flora! Syle!” I said, surprised and excited. “What are you two doing here?”

Flora turned to me to explain. “Well, seeing as we never really got along with your father, we thought it would be best to come and visit with the two of you before your party so that we wouldn’t have to worry about 16 years of awkwardness coming around to visit at your eighteenth birthday party.”

“So, where’s our boy Kayde?” Asked my grandfather.

“Oh, he’s going to come over later.” I told him.

“Oh, I see”, said Syle, “Do the three of you have any plans tonight?” He asked, turning to my father as I sat down in one of the chairs in our living room.

“Not that I know of, do we, Phoenix?”

“No, we don’t, I didn’t have anything planned at least.”

“Flora and I were thinking that we could all go out to lunch or dinner tonight.” He said with a smile.

“Well, I’m sure that Kayde and I would love that, Dad, would you come with us?” I answered before my father could turn down their offer.

“Of course.” He said. “It will have to be dinner tonight though; I need to do some shopping today, for the house and for the party.”

“Sounds good to me.” Said Flora, my grandmother. “While you’re shopping, I’m sure that there are things Phoenix and Kayde want to talk to us about.”

“Yes, there are! At least on my end!” I said enthusiastically. “Like, I guess it’s more of an observation then a question but what you said about a half blood coming into their power. Does that mean tha-”

“Not that this isn’t interesting” Interrupted my father. “But it all still freaks me out a little bit, could we maybe avoid the faery talk until after I’ve gone shopping?”

I laughed at my father’s weak tolerance for anything out of the ordinary and agreed. We sat in the living room for a bit and talked about things, starting with weather, and then continuing on to food, which seemed to be the topic of choice for all four of us. We talked about favorite foods and least favorite foods, even foods we loved to eat but hated to cook. For me, it was fudge. I could eat fudge every day, but hated to cook it. As we talked and laughed, there was another knock at the door and I stood up to go answer it, assuming this time, it was Kayde.

The morning sun was bright and warm, the way it should be in the middle of July. I woke up much earlier than I expected, probably because I went to sleep at midnight but to me, it felt more like two in the morning. Dad was still asleep, so I decided to get up and make some food.

I pulled my robe on and headed down stairs to the kitchen. It was incredibly warm in the house so I walked around opening the windows and then decided to open the door as well. It seemed quiet and peaceful outside so instead of breakfast, I made myself a nice pot of Mint Magic tea and sat outside on the porch swing listening to the birds. Everything seemed different today. Calmer, quieter, and happier. Even the birds seemed to be singing a different song.

I sat drinking my tea and thinking about last night. Apparently, I was a Faery. Well, I was half Faery. What my specialty was, so to speak, I didn’t yet know, but according to my grandparents, I would soon enough. And so would Kayde. I realized that seeing as I couldn’t come into my powers without the help of another Half Blood who I had strong feelings for, it was the same for Kayde, which meant he had strong feelings for me as well. It wasn’t until that thought popped in my head that I realized at some point today, Kayde would be coming over, and to the best of my knowledge, my dad would probably be home.

I looked at my watch to see what time it was and for just a moment, my skin looked as though it had a slight reddish tint to it. Inspecting my arm closely, I decided that there was no way my arm had been red. It must have been a trick of the light, or my eyes, or mind, or well, something, because I was very obviously not turning red.

I picked up my tea pot and cup and headed back into the house for breakfast. After setting the pot and cup down on the counter I opened my refrigerator and started searching for something to cook up. After a through hunt of the fridge and kitchen I decided that the most sensible dinner would probably be an omelet. I pulled 3 eggs off of the door and some pepper jack cheese off the shelf and set the two on the counter. I pulled out some mushrooms, onions and garlic and sautéed them in some butter. As they were cooking, I chopped some thyme, chives, oregano and basil in the food processor and then mixed them with the eggs. Once the mushrooms, onions and garlic were done, I poured them into a bowl and then poured the eggs into the pan. After letting the eggs thicken up a bit I sprinkled a bit of pepper jack cheese over the eggs, then poured the mushroom, onions and garlic onto half of the pan and covered them with a pile of pepper jack cheese and flipped the other half of the egg over the pile of veggies and cheese. The minute I took the omelet out of the pan and sprinkled a bit of cheese and hot sauce over the top, I heard my dad coming down the stairs.

“Smells good down here Phee, what’s for breakfast?” He asked.

“Well”, I told him “I just made myself an omelet with mushrooms and onions and garlic.”

“And nothing for your dear old Dad, huh kid?” He asked laughing.

“Nope. Nothing. Because someone, who shall remain nameless, forgot to do the grocery shopping again.” I told him teasingly, “Someone who has been in charge of the shopping for the past sixteen years, might I add…

“By the way, here’s the list for the party. Next weekend, remember?” I told him, hoping we wouldn’t have a situation like my sweet sixteen where he had to rush out the morning of and buy food and cook all day.

As I was heading into the living room to eat, there was a knock on the door. I handed my dad the omelet and winked at him. “Just so you know, this is a bribe to buy food today…” I told him as I headed for the door. “This is probably Kayde, so be nice.” I nearly begged.

“Wait. Phee, if that’s Kayde, shouldn’t you put some clothes on?” Asked my father.

I rolled my eyes. “Did you just forget everything I said last night?” I asked him.

“No, I purposely blocked it out. Please put some clothes on before you make me remember.” He said, setting down the plate and walking to the door. “Don’t make me invoke my parental rights, kid.” He said walking past me.