

# INVISIBLE DOMAIN

D.D. FABER

# .

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Douglas Dean Faber.

Excerpts from "Invisible Paradox" Copyright 2012 Douglas Dean Faber.

Cover Design "Airwalker Crest" Copyright 2012 Paul Simmeman

Based on an idea by the Author and a very rough sketch.

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 recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Ebook formatting by www.ebook.launch.com

# CHAPTER ONE

ONE

People are gonna want information about me, proof, I suppose. Proof that backs up the truth of what I'm about to reveal. Reasons, scientific or otherwise, that will explain, or try to, anyways. Put an official stamp on my condition, my situation or, barring that, an educated guess. So, here goes.

My name is Michael, or Mike, if people need a handle to hold onto. Well, at least it used to be. I don't know if a Christian or Family name applies to what I am now. It's all I remember about myself from before whatever the hell happened to me or as I call it, the Incident. Family history is all forgotten, though, Mom, Dad, siblings, cats, gerbils, so on. Job, girlfriends, friends, sports or other interests-all gone, forgotten or, just never existed. I'm only seventy-five percent sure about my name, so let's move on to something else, okay?

The Incident. Another conundrum, at least to me, maybe not to Others. Most of my best guesses, when I've been able to focus long enough to form one, are as follows and mostly come from scattered memories of science fiction shows. One)Governmental scientific coverup[The X-Files];Two)Radiation exposure[comic books]; Three)Accident of birth[not really sure where that one came from; Four) Alien abduction[again, The X-Files]; Five) Well, I don't really have any more ideas, I've run the gamut.

Now, as to what really happened, I don't know. What I do know is this:

I'm invisible.

Completely.

Permanently? I don't know. Yet.

All I do know is that I'm going to try like hell to figure it out-somehow.

TWO

In case people's minds troll the gutter like wind blown trash, I am wearing clothes. Basic tee with short sleeves, blue jeans and the quietest shoes I've been able to, um, borrow. I did leave money with a UPC(Universal Price Code) at the cash register. Never could get any individual customer service, though, since the Incident. Oh, plus sunglasses, as the invisibility doesn't include protection against the weather. In other words, I am corporeal. Solid. So I shop during regular store hours, I try not to set off the alarms and I try not to do anything that would alert the authorities.

Food and eating. Those would be compelling subjects to cover next, perhaps? Or how I even put on clothes without acquiring some degree of visibility or undue attention? Everything I put on or in my body disappears. Takes on a cloak of invisibility, one might say, though technically it stays corporeal, just like myself. Mostly. One has to understand, I have become ethereal, a few times, for a short period of time. The duration being usually an hour or so. I believe that it is willpower that produces these changes to my state of being(and yes, I know I said "changes"). Another change or side effect of the Incident is that I can also become visible and for a somewhat longer time, give or take, than the other changes. My Life has become a series of ongoing adventures, an experiment in motion, constant motion and I learn as I go. Maybe it was a government conspiracy/shadow science experiment that created me, but it will be my lifes' work, literally, to understand myself.

THREE

I have listed some of my Wellsian experiences in exploring my limitations and various stages of being or non-being but not all. Some things I will give out as we go along and yes,people may view that as cheating but I view as keeping my own counsel. Secreting an ace up my sleeve, so to speak, keeping something in reserve with other changes I have yet to find out for myself.

I came to "myself , as it were, on the fifth of September, finding this out via a discarded newspaper in the alley I woke up in.My next clue was an old drunkard stumbling into "my" alley and lurching to an unsteady stop, pissing not six inches away from me. The scraggly haired rascal then ran into me with his willie still outside his zipper and fell back down to the dirty alley cement, muttering profanities with a slurred accent.

He hadn't seen me. Nor, as he regained his footing shortly thereafter, did he see me then, even as he leaned on my arm as he tried to pass on by. I was slightly bemused, thinking that in his condition, the drunk had just not noticed me but then I was really taken aback as a police officer on horseback trotted past me, unseeing as well. The horse noticed something,snorting and pulling back from where I stood, but the policeman reined in his mount and set off after the stumbling drunk.

This is now the seventeenth of September and as I barely know my own name, have had no luck at all in finding my home, my place of residence. Spending several days in apartment hunting, I finally came across a somewhat dilapidated Apartment complex with very few residents calling it home. I carefully canvassed the lower units(it being a four story building, with a basement)as it seemed I might be in need of a quick exit strategy and lucked out, finding only one set of rooms(#101) occupied.

Good luck doesn't always last or at least, not for long, as I've since found out and as I was moving in some of my necessities, newly purchased, ran full frontal into my idea of a very lovely young woman. She had short red hair in natural curls, lips devoid of psuedo color-all together a very beautiful and sensually attractive young lady. She then stunned me in a vastly different way by apologizing to me. She seemed quite calm about it even while I was searching for the right words to say. Suddenly lacking all powers of simple talking, I finally noticed her eyes and long white cane carefully held in both hands.

Blind.

I was invisible and she couldn't sense my lack of physical form.

"Are you alright, miss?" I finally wrestled my tongue back from the proverbial cat.

"I'm fine, sir, and you?"

"Startled, a little, but fine. This is your apartment? #103?"

"No, I'm in apartment #101. First off the lobby,easiest to find. All things considered, the best apartment of this fine establishment."

"Sarcasm becomes you, Miss-?"

"Helen, Helen Callahan. Pleased to meet you, Mr.-?"

"Michael, Michael, um, Wells."

"As in H.G. Wells?"

"Helen, as in Hellen Keller?"

She smiled, it was full of mischief. "My mother had a wicked sense of humor, my father kow-towed to her on everything he believed unimportant, my name being one of many such things." She shifted her hold on her cane and shuffled her feet.

"Are you moving in? That's a somewhat intrusive and flighty young girl question, I suppose, but..."

"Yes. Yes I am, actually, already,um...Most of my stuff is here, and, um, I just bought some groceries and such. Is there a landlord or a manager here?"

Smiling without malice at my verbal miscues, Helen replied, "Not in the truest sense of the word. The few people here are visually or otherwise impaired, physically challenged, I suppose the proper term is. So no manager per se, our rents are covered by unseen insurance companies and any repairs that we can't do on our own, are done mostly by college students from the local community college for class credit and an occasional home-cooked meal."

As I made no verbal reply, she quickly grasped my reasons for asking and continued on with her explanations of the situation the residents were in.

"If you're in need, Michael, feel free to stay. Oddly enough, no-one ever shows up from the insurance company and the students wouldn't even notice an extra resident or two. Please call me Ellen, not Helen,. I don't much appreciate my darling mother's sense of humor."

"Helen Ellen Keller?"

"Like I said, a wicked sense of humor."

"Nice to have met you, Ellen."

"Likewise, Michael."

I made to scamper off to my appropriated domicile but Ellen stopped me cold with one last bon mot.

"Nice cologne, Mr.Wells."

And she was gone, out towards the shabby room loosely referred to as the Lobby. Inside my room at last, I hurried to the bathroom while tossing my bags on a second-hand evil pea green soup colored sofa and sat on the closed toilet lid, trying to catch my breath. I looked up and into the mirror, spying my bedraggled appearance and wondering.

This might just be the ideal hideaway for me. An invisible man in a house of the blind.

FOUR

September Eighteenth

I believe I slept away the next 24 hours. The sun was rising when I met Ellen outside her apartment and it was still rising when I woke from what I had thought had been a "short" nap. So either the sun was a real slow bastard or see the above. I found out that the closet -sized shower ran lukewarm rust-colored water and stood under the stinging spray for another 24 hours. After towelling off and putting on thrift store clothes...a 1975 Rush tour t-shirt and jeans with a small reddish spot on the kneecap, I thought I should begin the SEARCH. You know, the whole identity crisis thingy? But instead I sat down on the evil-colored couch and wondered whether I would like the results of such a search. Something evil, once learned couldn't be unlearned, um, forgotten.

"Michael?" Helen, just outside my door.

"Yeah?' I went to the door and opened it.

She smiled, a red-headed dawn goddess.

"I was wondering, have you eaten recently?"

"Um-"

"You haven't left the building since yesterday."

"Uh-

"I would have heard you,the hallways to the lobby and exit both circle my apartment."

"Ur-"

"You haven't cooked anything in your 'elegant' suite, I would have smelled it."

She was lovely even while she smirked at me.

Trying to catch up in this one-sided battle of the banter, I nodded weakly before I caught my gaffe and...my stomach rumbled like a south bound train over rickety tracks.

She tried to stifle her laughter with both of her hands and dropped her cane, continuing to snort and giggle simultaneously. So I bent over to retrieve it and when I stood up, Ellen grabbed my free hand with both of hers and yanked me out of my 'suite', saying:

"Come on sailor, shake your pegleg. I've got eggs a'fryin'and bacon in the micro."

Totally captivated and captured, I laughed sharply and asked if she manhandled and/or cooked for every stray new tenant. Shoving open her unlocked door, Ellen replied snarkily.

"Only the lost and hungry ones. And when I need a huge favor."

Sobering quickly as Ellen released me, I sat down at her rock steady kitchen dining table(mine wobbled drunkenly) and silently watched her nimbly gather dishes and the afore-mentioned food.

"You're staring at my ass, aren't you?"

"Um..." I reddened, realising that I had been doing just that.

"'They say I have the best ass, below 14th street...'"

"...is it true?' Yeah, I recognize the 'Rent' reference. You sing very well. Ellen, you do realize that I'm a complete stranger to you, right? Kinda taking a big risk here, aren't you?"

"You didn't answer my question, Mikey?" She pretended to pout while piling scrambles on my plate on top of the dozen strips of bacon already crowding the edges of my plate.

"Um, yeah, I was. Sorry."

Smirking again! I'd be mad at her if she wasn't so damn cute when she did it.

"No, you're not! You shouldn't be. Are you after ruining my virtue and my good name?"

"Um, what's the right answer here?"

"Yes, but not right away. Later, after we get to know each other better." Smiling, she sat down, began to eat, waving at me to start eating myself. Ellen ate daintily but with a fierce hunger.

"How did you..."

"No scraping of the plate, the pepper hasn't moved nor the catsup."

"Barbarian." I smiled and set to eating.

"Heathen, no wait, I don't use catsup either. Not on my eggs at least."

"Food's good", I mumbled through my full mouth.

"Surprised that the little blind girl can cook?" Slightly knowing smirk this time, then she relaxed and closed her eyes. "Yeah it is great, even I do say so myself."

Laughing around toast swimming with real butter, I put down my fork and reached out to touch her cheek.

"Seriously though, does my good character precede me or what?"

Setting down her utensils, Ellen took my hand and gently but with hidden depths of seriousness, slapped my face.

"Masher", she chirped through her eggs. Ellen seemed to study my face, as if her blindness allowed her to see beyond the pale. A few too many seconds passed, then she finally answered me.

"Well, I suppose I could do the whole 'blind girl in the dark, feel your face sorta' ritual but, truth be told,among such new friendships as ours, I can 'read' people better without it. Not that I'm Sookie Stackhouse or Jean Grey or Professor X, but it's more of a...Damn, Mikey, it's difficult enough describing it without your hungry eyes roaming my body like a Pac-Man about to gobble up yellow dots."

Before, no really come on, I mean as I snorted laughter, I could tell that her comments weren't judgmental. Indeed, Ellen used her free hand to cover another ever growing smile on her intoxicating, smirking, smiling sunshiney lips. I laughed out loud now as those lips spread and I put aside my fork and knife as she began talking again.

"Aura! That's the term I was brainstorming for..."

"More like a few rain clouds..."

"Michael!" She stomped her foot several times. Ellen tried assuming a stern expression but it was quite beyond her. As I began to form some type of defense of my behaviors, a sudden lightning bolt struck my brain's memory cells. A vague illumination struggled for exposure, struggled in vain, without much hope of full permutation. My inner turmoils, however did bring an illumination of another,totally different and unexpected kind...My body materialized and I witnessed my visiage in the steel counters behind Ellen.

"Did I say something wrong, Mikey?"

"No, I ..."

"I must have, Michael, I mean you're so quiet all of a sudden-"

"It's nothing, Ellen, merely a memory resurfacing, quite acutely yet without much substantiality."

"Someone's been watching too much PBS!"

"And you seem to be rather smirky, snarky even, if you will, so soon into our virgin friendship."

She actually giggled.

"I believe the term I used was new or fragile or something like that, Mr. Wells."

"Fruedian slippers, beautiful, Fruedian slippers."

"Beautiful, he calls me. Honorable Sir, I do thank thee." Giggling again, she gathered up the dishes and rinsed them off in the sink I had seen myself in, while I put away the food stuffs. The refrigerator was, I presumed, in a very precise and exacting arrangement and I was proven right when I saw food-specific spaces available for the items we, I mean, Ellen, had used for our breakfast, standing out like the last open spaces of an unfinished jigsaw puzzle.

"Keep the order in my 'fridge, Sir Mikey. Otherwise I might accidentally on purpose poison you, due to your bumbling."

"Did you hear any 'bumbling'?"

Ellen actually blushed, though I figured she was only kidding me and I quickly tried to cover up my own joshing.

"Helen-"

"Ellen, if you please." Her blush was fading, as she had figured out that I, too, was only joking and was determined to move past the moment. "I take it that you prefer Mike, instead of anything else?"

"Yes, but from you-I'll accept any moniker you decide to bestow upon me."

"You're quite shameless, you know that, right?"

"-as long as it's spoken with kindness, fondness, etc, etc." I sat down as Ellen did and tried to bring the conversation around to the huge favor she had hinted at before breakfast. But my tiny(compared to me) little angel picked the 'aura' explanation conversation and gently(if that was possible), steamrolled me. She put three of her fingers across my slow to open mouth, smiling, and again I wondered about her uncanny ability to know where my face was, indeed, where I was and what I was doing.

"I believe that the floor is mine, good sir, and I will have my say. Auras, to me, are more important and powerful and defining of a persons' real character and intentions. Some people of 'great knowledge'(again the smirk!) explain auras as visual characterizations, certain colors suggesting specific behaviors, etc, but I beg to differ and believe otherwise, i.e., that they are aromatic, sensory indications of a person's soul and original, continuing examples of who and what they are and will do, for the most part, till the end of their days. Barring catastrophic unforeseen circumstances, of course, or even evil, terrible persons that they might encounter.

"Thus, your aura as I perceive it, will prove me right in trusting you and seeking you out for our 'virgin' friendship."

"I think I lost you there for awhile, but thank you for your trust. However, there are some truths about me and my past I must tell you about, before our 'virgin' friendship matures, moves on to a different and more complicated level. Um, a lot of my past is unknown to me-who knows but God who I've been or what I've done-Please let me finish-hopefully it will all come out well in the end, but fair warning must be given."

"So when I used your formal christian given name-"

"It woke something of importance in my mind, my soul even, that I am not prepared to face or even to understand. I don't even want to confront or rebel against it. Certain forgotten truths or half-lies should be left lying asleep, undisturbed, till I am best prepared to deal with it.

"Ellen, until a couple of weeks ago or so, my life is quite an amnesiac blank-I've no idea of what, whom I might have been or done, so this is sort of a caveat emptor about me that you need to know. I need to make a beginning of investigating my past, no need to rush it, of course, but all the same, it is important to my state of mind and that of my soul's peace to find out-"

Ellen smiled, leaned over the table and kissed me, softly and lightning fast on my lips and said she understood. She kissed me? Nice benefits to this friendship!

"Now, about that 'huge favor' you hinted at before you bribed me with such a sumptuous repast?"

Ellen suggested we remove ourselves outside to the rear gardens behind the apartment complex- rather derelict the gardens were, she stated, but with somewhat comfortable chairs scattered about like menhirs in an old world landscape. It also had a view of the river that flowed past us at the bottom of a gently sloping hill at the outer limits of the sparsely occupied gardens.

"I need to grab a light windbreaker, the news earlier hinted at a damp, chilly day today. Wait for me in the living room, Mikey, I'd like to retain some mystery about this form I harbor underneath these natty clothes I'm wearing."

Having said this, Ellen repaired to her bedroom and waved me away, jauntily, pointing to the sliding doors that led to the outside and the previously mentioned derelict gardens. Yet before her bedroom door closed, Ellen crossed her arms in front of her, lowered them to the burgundy-wine colored knitted sweater she wore and in one swift move, pulled it over her head, revealing a beautiful, tanned and muscled back and arms. Then in a teasing mood quite in character with her impish ways and aura, Ellen undid her bra and tossed it over her shoulders, smacking me in the face, as I hadn't moved, entranced in the powerfully erotic scene I was witnessing. Sputtering as I pulled it from my face, I heard the door slam shut and a wicked laugh issued forth from within the bedroom. I put the 34B lace bra, with both front and back clasps on the chair Ellen had just been sitting in and headed for the doors.

Lost in my swirling and quite deliciously saucy thoughts, I approached the sliding doors and was quite startled to see an unshaven, t-shirted and jeans clad man of tall and muscular stature(and ruggged good looks, with waist long ash-blond hair in an industrial strength ponytail holder) staring back at me. Then just as fast as this vision had been shown to me, it faded and I was once more invisible. I sighed, being in a weird state of contentment, and slid the doors open. The sun was partly obscured by darkening, angry seeming clouds and I plopped my well-fed frame into a tattered red lawn chair nearest to a stone picnic table, with a fully functional umbrella with softball-sized holes that let the diluted sunshine through. As I waited for my mysterious cook/benefactor/beautiful blind girl from next door, my mind went in search of answers as to why the formal use of my given christian name(or at least the one I'd assumed due to the lack of proof for any other name), I wondered if I truly wanted an answer to jump out at me or did I wish my past to remain buried deep within myself.

Ellen wasn't long in emerging from the apartment and she looked stunning in an original blue Irish wool sweater and a Green Bay Packers'windbreaker over it left unzipped. The deep blue of the sweater set off her blazing jade-green eyes, her curly rusty red hair and her firm but not overly large breasts(sexist cur that I was, I noticed tham first before her gorgeous cat-like green eyes). Ellen dropped her cane by the lawnchair I was slumped in and slowly lowered her lean but supple frame onto a slightly worn chair and sighed audibly.

"The 'huge favor' (she used her hands as quotation marks around her words) is, well, not so huge, at least not to you, but I would appreciate you joining me in a trip to our local Humane Society, with the intention of picking out a suitable feline companion for me." Ellen paused suddenly, for a quiet moment, and then wiped away a few tears. "I've recently lost my last cat, Jellybean, from unknown causes and I need to put him out of my heart and mind and replace him, though it's"(her voice caught here and I wished I had a magic wand to wave away any and all of her pain, to be her Knight in shining armor and a broadsword) "been only three months-oh damn, I swore I wouldn't cry about this-"

Ellen stopped short and I acted out of impulse and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to me. I felt her liquid sadness as her face brushed mine and-I kissed her, with a hint of hunger, nothing more. She did kiss me back, so at least I wasn't a total 'masher' as she had called me before, then her tears stopped and she reached into her jeans pocket for a tissue.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to freak out on you like that. Jellybean was the best dog I never had-he would drink out of the toilet bowl, growl when the pizza delivery guy came .

And he purred loud enough to be heard over the phone."

"It's okay, Ellen, I didn't-"

"What? You didn't mean to kiss me?"

"Um, not quite, um,..."

"It's okay, Mikey, I needed the human contact, I really did." Ellen finished with the tissue , crumpling it and tossing it in the vague direction of a cracked, blue plastic wastebasket.

"The Humane Society is a leisurely twenty minute walk for me from here, it'll probably take, oh, two hours if you join me."

"Ha Ha."

"That's if you care to join me, that is."

Now, if only for just a moment, Ellen the 'tough little blind girl' sounded like a teenage girl before her first real date. I hastened to reassure, gave her my arm to lift her from the chair and propel us towards the Humane Society.

FIVE

The twenty-minute walk Ellen had described earlier turned out to be more like the two hours she had joked about. Of course, she hadn't figured on the delay caused by the muggers, so I suppose I can't carp too much about the extra time.

After harmoniously conversing on our delightful constitutional to the Humane Society for approximately fifteen minutes, Ellen swung her cane in the direction of a Ellen-proclaimed shortcut, a dimly lit even at noon-time alleyway between some dubious and closed business establishments. In case people have been wondering, I had noticed that the population of passerbys had exploded, sort of, and I materialised before anyone noticed Ellen talking and walking with Claude Rains. The four story plus tall buildings on either side of the alley seemed to lean in towards each other, blocking out the sunlight like moss-heavy trees on a southern plantation, creating an artificial darkness.

I'd like to say that this was my excuse for not noticing the three leather-wearing cliches that walked out from behind industrial-sized garbage dumpsters, intercepting us halfway down the alley, but I truthfully was too engrossed with Ellen. I stopped in my tracks wondering which of my various impossible options to choose from when I noticed Ellen hadn't. Stopped, that is.She actually kept on walking unconcerned and closer to the tres hombres of ill repute.

Ellen brought her cane horizontal, flexed her wrist and sharp, short blades emerged from the ends of the cane. As I was trying to grasp what was happening right in front of my eyes, Ellen swung the cane towards the nearest thug, ripping him new nostrils north of the others. The arc of the cane spun periously close to the startled second thug until she grasped the other end and set up in a stance not unlike that of Friar Duck from "Robin Hood Daffy"! Ellen definitely had their entire attention, cursing them as well as mocking them, mentioning their pathetic manhoods in picking on a "poor little blind woman like me", so I faded to a memory and waded into the fight.

Being invisible didn't bestow any magical powers upon me, so I just stepped up to the third thug and decked him with a roundhouse uppercut( at least I think that's what it was), then picked up a two by four and swung it at him like the Prince. This third mug, with a mohawk like a multicolored rainbow wig with a spiked cat-o-nine tails went down in a cliched heap while Ellen smacked the other idiot in the face, ensuring many future unpaid dentist vists and the silence was deafening.

The blades clicked back into the cane like the speediest turtle retracting its head into its shell and Ellen turned towards me with a satisfied predatory grin on her lively, beautiful face.

Then she shot up her free hand, grabbed my head and yanked it down to her level, planting a wet,sloppy kiss on me. I quietly merged back into total focus in case the noise alerted anyone but we were still alone. The muggers wouldn't be rising for quite some time, at least until we were long gone and then some, I suspected. None of them could possibly handle more of the ass-kicking we had dished out.

"Are you done with them already? I was just about to read my horoscope." Ellen let loose with a wild whoop of appreciative laughter as I continued with my monologue. "Hmm, I think I'm a Leo, so let us see...You will meet a short, beautiful stranger who can kick your ass as well as those who would dare to piss her off, so be very careful and very generous with your compliments, gifts and attention. Huh. That doesn't seem too likely to occur-"

"Hey! I resemble that remark, mister! You have to admit I kicked some serious ass!"

"I'd probably be very impressed right now if I had just met you, but let me see if I've got this right. You smelled their gentlemenly lord of the pigsty stink and triangulated their precise locations. You were trained on the use of the quarter-staff by someone who's seen too many episodes of "Robin of Sherwood"-"

"Actually, it's a buck and a quarter quarter staff..."

"Hah-ha. It was very impressive how you used their ugly overconfidence to get in closer, for the first swing, by the way."

"Well, there's always a first time. Thanks for the timely assist, my handsome knight in shining."

"Did you actually need my clumsy interference in your Bruce Lee fight to the death with those three mugs?"

Smiling enigmatically, Ellen linked her arm with mine and we started walking towards the alleys end. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm not telling you, that's for sure. If I seem too self-sufficient-"

"...then you can take care of me." I suggested. I had felt her slight shaking when we had linked arms and I didn't know if it was an adrenalin crash or if she had been just a teensy bit scared. I decided to go with the first answer in lieu of my made-up horoscope and turned to plant a friendly kiss on the top of her pretty red head.

"And what was that for, my masculine masher?"

"I've decided to stay on your good side."

"And which side would that be, Mikey?"

"Every side, from top to bottom and back again."

"Wise choice, Mikey, wise choice." (She was smirking again!) "Does this mean you're paying for my cat and taking me out for lunch?"

"Um, well I am..."

"Relax, Mikey, I was only kidding." Ellen laughed without a care in the world and pulled me to a stop. Tucking the cane under her left arm, Ellen grabbed ahold of my head with both hands and pulled me in for a longer, more serious kiss than any of our earlier kisses. Then she let me loose, grabbed the middle of her cane and started unscrewing its' head. She extracted a rolled up wad of twenties, flashed them at me in a silly, put-on manner and put it all back together again.

"My arm, My Lady, is yours..."

"Why thank you, Good Sir, I did not doubt it." Ellen paused for a minute, then continued. "But I still think you can pay for both the pet, the supplies and buy me lunch, Mikey."

"Yes dear."

SIX

"See, told you so."

"Told me so-what?"

"It's taken us almost two hours, when I could have made the trip in twenty minutes or less."

"Well no thanks to your nifty mugger-filled short cut of yours."

"Hmm, it did keep things interesting, didn't it?" She pulled open the Humane Sociey's front door and all but yanked me through it after her. Damn, she was strong!

"With you, interesting becomes common place. Maybe even seriously strange, I might call it. Cats to our left-"

"-dogs to our right, everything else out back. Hi Anthony, got any cute ones?"

A stud in a white coat and jeans, with Italian black hair and pecs to be a rugby player, smiled at Ellen and shook my hand as we were introduced.

"None as cute as you, Hell-on-Wheels. This the guy you mentioned was your latest reclamation project?"

Ellen smiled shyly. "No, Anthony, I think this one is my last one. Mikey here is a hopeless cause already. My work is cut and dried-out for me on this one, Ant."

"Well, in that case, let me lead you to our latest and greatest feline arrivals, Ellen. We've really missed you around here."

As we entered the first ward of cats in cubicles, Ellen quietly told me about her last adoption/reclamation projects. "Six cats and a Will and Grace fanatic with less interest in me than the cats-he was more into the males, than the pussys I suppose. Three of the cats still wander through the building, two of the others got pregnant and left-the last was Jellybean." She promised me the rest of the story later and we were shown the first cat.

Some three hours later, burdened with a forty pound bag of catfood, as well as three bags of various cat necessities such as bowls for said food, toys and a litter box, Ellen had chosen (or was it the other way around?) a dark tortoise shell female named "Tarot" and we were on our way back home.

"How come I have to carry all the heavy stuff and all you got to carry is the six pound cat in the carrier?" I teased, glad to know she could take it as well as dish it out.

"I'm just the poor little blind girl, remember? And you said you'd do this huge favor for me after I fed you, remember?"

"Poor little blind girl, my ass."

"Mmm-mmm, nice to meet you, ass."

Groaning, I resolved to keep my mouth shut but a sudden, blinding pain in my head brought me to my knees just as we enetered the building's lobby. The sound of everything I had been carrying hitting the floor spooked both Ellen and the cat as each squeaked or yowled.

"Mikey, what's going on? I know it's a dumbass question, but-Shit, are you alright?"

"I think, not so great, but slowly getting better." Sheer willpower from hidden depths brought me back to my knees(wings), but a sudden flash forced me to brace my hands on the lobby linoleum floor(golden blindness). I swallowed back bile, wincing as a nasty migraine ripped my brain into shreds of dried beef jerky. Much of the next hour or so passed without my participation.

Somehow Ellen (I found out later that one of her student's helped her) got me, the cat and all the feline products inside her apartment. The cat and the box, food bowls and water were in Ellen's bathroom; I with a cold, wet washcloth across my forehead and several aspirin poured down my throat along with cold water, was in the bedroom.

When the pain eased past the roar of a very close T-Rex inside my eardrums, I realised two things: my body was still visible though fading slowly: two, that Ellen sat quietly and somewhat forlorn close by the bed I was on. She appeared asleep on the plush, dark burgundy carpet twitching not unlike a cat with pleasant dreams.

I glanced around the room quickly quietly, taking stock of things that Ellen loved and cherished and had kept over her lifetime. I figured my lithe red-headed beauty to be in her mid-twenties, though when I tried to leverage my own age out of my throbbing head to see if I was robbing the cradle, all that came forth from this vision quest was more pain, streaking like heat lightning through my little gray cells.

I reached out to stroke her cream-colored cheek, wondering what magic spell she had cast over me, whether it bothered me or confused her. As I pondered this conundrum, Ellen's eyes opened slowly blinking away the remnants of a dream,maybe, and the sun smiled in her eyes, her lips parted and she spoke with that ever-present, sassy smirk.

"You'll not part me from you so easily, Mikey. Nor will I surrender to the lovely temptation you represent to me, well, not right as this moment, anyway. I rather doubt you're even up for it, Mikey...and I don't want to kill you just yet."

"Succubus, are you?"

Ellen shyly turned her head down towards her clasped hands in her lap and blushed, stammered and I realized, in that moment, that I was enthralled-as was she, perhaps for the first time(I hoped). I thought for a second that I had overstepped myself, pushing us forward too far, too fast. I tried to apologize but she put three fingers up against my lips, stopping me and smiled again.

"You don't need to apologize to me, Mike, and I'm sorry if I put you in an awkward position. Here I am teasing you sexually about sex and me hardly knowing what I'm doing. Hush, it's my turn. I want you to stay here, tonight, with me-but not-" Ellen blushed again and regained her feet, pushed me over on the bed and climbed in beside me. She pulled a blanket over both of us and reached back to access a remote light switch, plunging the room into darkness. "You need more rest, I need your company and a nap. The cat and the rest of the world can wait. So can my rampaging hormones." She snuggled in closer to me, as close as a stamp to an envelope, wrapping her warm arm around me.

"What about mine?"

"Yours'what?"

"Rampaging hormones."

I felt her smile in the dark and with an angel's kiss bestowed upon my ear, Ellen murmured softly, "In your dreams, Mikey my masher, "In your dreams. Sleep..."

I heard no more the rest of that night.

SEVEN

Loud meowing, scratching claws on a wooden door and the banging of said door brought me out of a dreamless sleep. Ellen yawned and muttered in my direction, "It's your turn to feed our baby, dear." Since snoring followed this declaration, I weakly answered with "Yes dear" and rose to fulfill her desires.

My body had vanished during the night and I supposed as this would spook our 'baby'Tarot, I pulled myself together, literally, before opening the bathroom door. I stepped quickly out of the direct path of a possible missile, but the aptly named Tarot blinked her eyes at me and sat like a newly bewinged angel cat, daring me to believe that such a calamity had been caused by her.

"Hi cat", I mumbled as I went to use the circular throne. When I glanced back towards the cat, Tarot had padded her way to my legs and slithered back and forth between them, rubbing her body against me.

"Thanks, Tarot, that's more action than I saw last night."

"I heard that, Mikey! I'm not deaf you know!"

"Hmmmph.You were meant to!" I answered back.Tarot repeatedly wound herself past and through my legs and I felt a strange and large bump on her left flank, as she brushed past me again. Without thinking, I picked her up and felt for the bump. Strangely, Tarot endured this rough treatment without any meowing....

Ten minutes later, I heard Ellen's sleepy voice cursing my name if I didn't hurry up and finish. I started, realising I was still cradling a sleeping Tarot. But before I set her back on the bathroom floor again, I checked for the lump one more time.

I didn't find it.

Shrugging, I put her down on the floor, flushed the toilet and exited the bathroom. Ellen slipped past me wearing a Milwaukee Brewers'Mission October" t-shirt(XL) And blue pajama shorts(very short). Smiling sweetly but with the touch of a trollop, she blew me a kiss and winked.

"Think about me while you scramble breakfast for us, Mikey."

Guess what? I did.

Ellen came out of the bathroom a little while later, dressed in a soft, comfortable Egyptian cloth bathrobe, haphazardly tied with a different colored and textured belt. The robe ended just above her knees, leaving her wonderfully slender legs bare all the way down to her unpainted toes. The gap in the bathrobe both teased and tantalized me, leaving me grope for words that wouldn't belie my cool guy exterior or reveal that I was a truly sexist pig.

"So, um, how did you learn to use the quarter staff like that?"

She reached the kitchen table before Tarot could trip her and sat down with a flip of the robe.

"Food smells good", Ellen said with a wicked smile, "Are you planning to serve it before or after you ravish me with your eyes?"

"After." She giggled. "You really are beautiful, Ellen. I've heard of people who lose one sense only to have their other senses greatly enhanced but I never known one to have such an impressive beauty as compensation." I brought the food to the table, trying not to notice the silent tear or two streaking down her face.

"Mikey...I really don't know what to say. Thank you I guess, but it seems rather inadequate. Food's good, thank you. No,Tarot,the food bowl is full , as is the water dish. Shoo, now!"

"You still haven't answered my question, cute little blind girl. It seems we have procrastination in common." Ellen continued to chow down, her 'nap' of the night before had turned into a long nights sleep, so she might not have been trying to ignore me.

"I have a class in self-defense for the blind, at a building owned by those students I told you about. You should come along with me, it's today at two. Only question is, it's only nine...what will we do till then?" She waggled her eyebrows at me like Groucho in a bordello, then answered her own question before I could.

"Don't overheat silly....I thought we could take another walk, this time through Gaudi park and maybe stop at the library or this great bookstore on Cherub street."

"I'd love to." I kept my response simple, so to allow the blood to return to my brain so I could converse above the caveman level.

Ellen nodded with a mouthful of food and put the dishes in the sink. Swallowing, she grabbed a dish towel and tosssed it at me.

"Your turn to do the dishes. I'll change into something decent and we'll go, 'kay?"

"I think it's too late for decent, Ellen, I just told you before you're a beautiful woman, not decent."

"It sure is nice to hear it again, Mikey, and no, I won't go out like this."

"Damn."

She laughed with gusto and sashayed along the hallway to her bedroom. Just as she got to the door, she hesitated for awhile then with a shrug, dropped the robe entirely...leaving me with a great view of her shapely backside and then closed the door behind her.

I heard her hearty laugh as I started the water running, adding dish soap and reflected on the past few days. I hadn't made any progress on searching out my true identity, my Batman to my Bruce Wayne, or how I came to be this way, but meeting Ellen seriously overshadowed my past, my quest. Even if there was a lot to gain in finding my answers, I'd rather have Ellen in my life than anything else. She was,simply put, more important to me than any answers. I could of course find some answers at either the bookstore or the library, that would just be a bonus to what was already shaping up to be a loverly day.

Ellen brought an end to my inner musings, strolling back into the kitchen. She was wearing a tight sweater that revealed she was a top half commando, her perky B-cup breasts straining the Irish blue wool and with form-fitting blue jeans hugging her lower half. I was left speechless.

"I'll take your stunned silence to be a very lovely compliment, Mikey, so let me get my cane and a shawl to wrap around me. The weather report on my radio said a cold fall was upon us. Mikey? Cat got your tongue?"

"Me-ee-ow. I'll repeat myself just one more time. Ellen, you are a very lovely lady. I'll be the envy of every straight and gay man we pass."

"Oh Lord, I've done created a monster!" Giggling, she left the kitchen briefly before returning with her cane and shawl. I held out my arm and she took it with a guilty smile. We made sure that Tarot was safely away from the door and left, locking the door behind us.

EIGHT

Gaudi Park and the bookstore were both located some miles away in the opposite direction of our previous trip to the Humane Society. I materialised shortly after we entered the lobby and, leaving the building I realized with a start that her left hand had left my arm and had insinuated itself into my right hand.

"Your heart seems to be beating just a little fast there, Mikey. Has it been awhile since you've had the pleasure of the company of a beautiful woman?"

"I don't remember." I hoped that my retort wasn't too harsh, Ellen did mean well. Fact was, my mood was the best it has been since I 'came to'.

"I'm sorry, Mike. Kinda full of myself, aren't I?"

I stopped in front of a boarded up real estate business, drew Ellen to me and put her right up against the brick wall of the building, my right hand behind her head. Then I brought her head forward, tilted it a little and kissed her with a firmness that had been missing from most of our first tentative kisses. The life behind me was unknown, the life ahead of me equally a mystery, but in the here and now, me was an us. I wanted her to know this, that this present was far superior with her in it than any past or future without her. I figured that this was the best way to tell her, not to mention one of the nicest ways.

"oh..." was the only word Ellen could manage after that and as we started out on our way again, her hand crept back into mine and grasped with a firmness that sent a message back to me...a message of her own. She had received my meaning and fully understood what I had been trying to say.

"Which place is closer, Ellen?"

"The bookstore is closer,uh, I think. About another half mile or so. Why?"

"Well...I'd like to check out back issues of the town's newspapers at the library-"

"Checking for something that might have to do with your, um, amnesia? Such as an attempted carjacking, etc.?"

"Yeah, something like that." Or governmental labs, secret or otherwise in the vicinity, maybe a nuclear testing ground or...

"Mikey? Hello in there? Ground control to Major Mikey? Are you with us?" Ellen pulled on my arm with both hands and her cane under her right arm and we stumbled like Keystone Cops to a nearby bench by a busstop.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I was thinking about something..."

"If the library would be more helpful to you, we can go there first." Her concern was palpable in her flushed face and in the timbre of her voice. I sincerely prayed to a God above that I was worthy of such concern.

"No, it's alright. I was going to say that the bookstore might have some material I can check on, ah, about amnesia."

"Uh-huh."

"Maybe even several self-help books on dealing with smart ass poor little blind girls." Ellen stuck her tongue out at me.

"Sweet."

"Shut up and kiss me again, just like that last time-"

"Mmm."

We finally made it to the "Judged by the Cover" bookstore, obviously not a major chainstore, as ten-thirty am rolled into town, I suddenly realized two new things; 1) I really didn't know the name of the town we were in; 2) What could Ellen be shopping for at a bookstore? For that matter, what could she get at the library?

"What are we looking for here, Ellen,-this small town can't boast too many books in Braille, can it?"

"Mikey, while I'll admit I don't 'read' many books, I do listen to a lot of them. I have quite a collection of books on tape or compact disc."

"Oh I am so stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Don't beat yourself up too much, my friend, leave that to me. Besides, I actually want to check out some new music cds." A smock wearing teenager greeted us as we entered the store, saying "Hi" to Ellen in particular, like the regular she probably was.

"Hi yourself, Audra. Is the new music out yet?"

"Yeah, Peter stocked after closing last night, same as always. You know how anal-retentive he is about that stuff."

"Right. Just checking."

"Need any help today, Ellen? Or is this your latest reclamation project?" Audra smiled at me now and Ellen bristled just a little. Right.

"No, that's why I've got Mikey here with me. Mikey, Audra, vice-versa. Are you on by yourself?"

"No-Thomas is in the warehouse, Danny's on the phones at the service desk and Randi's on break. Again." Audra rolled her eyes, blowing a puff of air to get her fake-blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Catch you later then, Audra. I gotta show this man your great cd stock. Come on, Mikey." Ellen steered me to the farthest end of the store where it turned the corner and became steps leading up to a smaller second floor. Another worker with a name tag that read 'Thomas, Asst. Mgr.'walked past us with a quick hello and headed downstairs, leaving us all alone among one of the largest selections of cds I ever remembered seeing. I took this time to do a Buddy Holly in reverse and fade away, realizing that I had been 'visible'for over two hours, ever since we left the apartment complex. Apparently my limits were expanding or my willpower was flexing it's metaphysical muscles...or maybe it was Ellen's presence.

"What genre are we..."

"Jazz/Blues, Mikey-I was hoping to find a new recording by Madeleine Peyroux today." I moved over to the Jazz/Blues wall and searched for the name. I personally did not remember ever hearing of the singer, but like an eager puppy I was more than willing to please.

"Here she is. Dreamland, Half a Perfect World, Careless Love and she shares one with a Willie-"

"Got that one. The others as well. Damn, still no new release from her." I watched her for awhile ruminating about something with her hand rubbing her chin and the other on her waist. She struck the pose of a serious thinker, yet her non-classic beauty complemented this vision, not detracting from it nor superceding it.

Realizing that I had been staring just a little bit too long, I started shuffling through other cds and came across a new Nina Simone box set. With my peripheal vision I could see my serious thinker had noticed, somehow, my staring and no longer had such a serious look on her face.

"Glad to see I amuse you", I chuckled and checked the song listing on the box set. I decided that my music collection needed replacing since I had no idea what had happened to my previous cds, and, since the prices seemed quite reasonable in such a small town, I decided to 'go to town', so to speak.

"Mikey, are you shopping for yourself?"

"Yeah, remember the amnesia bit?"

" Yes, handsome, I do."

"Can't remember what I had or where they are now, so I needs me some new tunes."

"Well, if you're still in that same location, grab me Madeleine's 'Careless Love' cd, Mikey, my copy is scratched and I need a new one."

"Yes, Dear."

"And add the Holmes Brothers' "Speaking in Tongues", while you're at it. I heard them on a soundtrack for 'Crossing Jordan' and I loved them at first listen."

"Sure thing." I added these to my pile while Ellen leaned against the wall behind me, watching me, well staring at the where I was, anyways. I went and found a basket not far from where Ellen had been standing and put my one selection in with the two she had selected, then I got down to some serious cd shopping. Box sets by Louis and Ella, Billie Holiday, Wynton Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby and two by Miles Davis soon joined the others before I moved deeper into the Blues half of the section.

"Are you buying the whole store out, Mikey my music lover?" Ellen sounded bemused, tolerant and inquisitive, all with only a few words.

"Not all in one visit, sweets, not all in one visit." I added box sets by BB King, Eric Clapton, Bessie Smith, Buddy Guy and of course, Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Lee Hooker to the basket before I decided that was enough for now and turned to find Ellen talking with a pale, older male worker. Name tag read 'Antoine', but I didn't remember Audra with the fake blonde hair mentioning an 'Antoine"; still I had more immediate problems. Such as had Antoine noticed a floating basket filled with music cds? Dropping the basket on the floor quietly I spun and noticed a unisex bathroom, thank you whomever. I hurried into it and concetrated briefly till I noticed my reflection in the mirror and flushed the toilet for appearances'sake before I came out and picked up my basket again.

"-Here he is, Andy, couldn't hold his liquor I guess. Mikey, everything come out alright?"

"Just peachy, thanks. Andy, is it? Audra didn 't mention you."

"Last second replacement, man. Ellen was telling me about you, man: She-et, that's quite a load you got there. Need any help carrying that downstairs?"

"No thanks, Andy. Ellen, shall we go now? Time's about 12:20, lunch might be a good thing before you start your class, yeah?" I took her elbow in an attempt to augment my verbal hints to leave and leave now. Puzzled look aside, Ellen still followed my lead.

"I'll need explanations later, Mister", she whispered to me as I steered her towards the checkout downstairs and up at the front of the store. "Big time, you big bully." Ellen was grinning widely by now as I piled our purchases on the counter. "Oh Mikey, one more thing. Audra, do you have a trade paperback copy of "The Book Thief" nearby? I want to share that with my guy here. You can read, can't you Mike?"

"Good choice, Ellen, that book is an awesome story. His previous book, "I am the Messenger" is also a very good book."

Audra had cut me off before I could have responded to Ellen's snarky comments or the one about sharing the book with 'her guy'. I quite liked the sound of that last one, not so much the other, but it more than balanced out in my favor.

""There's a rather nice burger place across the street, Mikey. You can explain our hasty departure from the bookstore while you buy me a salad or something else healthy."

"You're welcome, by the way."

"Thank you, Mikey, I was getting to that. You really didn't have to, you know. You paid for Tarot and all her supplies yesterday, the cds and the book today, lunch and... "

"I thought you were and I quote, 'a poor little blind girl', unquote."

"Ha-ha. No. I don't just attend the class, for your information you big bully, I teach it."

"Why am I not at all surprised at this new development?"

"Because you're a good man, Michael, that's why. Mmm, something sure smells good."

"That's my cologne, Ellen."

"Eau de cheeseburger? Lovely." We entered the burger place as a brief flash(golden wings, golden chains) flickered past my mind's eye and was gone.

NINE

Salads finished, napkins tossed with the rest of our meals debris, we gathered up our purchases and her cane and headed out.

"Mikey, I'm sorry...we're not going to get to the library before my class unless you let me go ahead-"

"No."

"-alone-"

"No. The library can wait."

"Mikey-"

"No! My answers can wait, Ellen. I'm not in a hurry anymore. Right now, I' rather-"

"-be with me?"

Instead of answering that surprisingly shy, halting remark, I leaned over and kissed her deeply, passionately, again. I was really 'starting' to love doing this. Checking my left hand for a wedding band, and vastly relieved not to find one, I kissed her again and then hailed a passing cab(probably the only one in the whole town). I was tired of walking and my knees were feeling a little weak just then.

"Mike, what was behind our hasty departure from the bookstore? And no more delaying me again with those wonderful, oh fuck it, kiss me again!" I obliged my sweet little blind girl and then got her into the waiting cab.

"Later, Ellen- I'll tell you later, I promise."

"Mikey, you're kind of starting to scare me here. Please."

I lowered my voice despite the glass partition between us and the driver and whispered unsexy words into her willing ears.

"Remember how you told me you 'sensed' my aura, deciding based on that that I was a decent enough guy to cook for?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I think I can do something similar, but in reverse. I couldn't sense any aura around him at all. Have you ever met him before?"

"No, can't say that I have, but then I haven't met all the part-timers yet, either. Where are you going with this?"

"You called him Andy, yet his name tag read 'Antoine'."

"Mikey, don't be jealous here! He came up the stairs, seemed startled to find me there , noticed me thinking and asked if I needed any help. He must have noticed my cane or the Sunglasses I sometimes put on. He touched my elbow and we were talking about gospel and blues music when you came out of the bathroom, I guess, and then you muscled me out of there-you weren't, aren't really jealous, are you Michael? Oops, sorry, I know you want me to-"

(Flashes of four faces), -call you Mike or-"(Silver-tongued smiler) "umm, sorry."

"Is this the place, folks?"

"1515 Coltrane Avenue, Mikey?"

"Um, yeah, here you go, buddy." I paid the driver from my wallet wad and I helped Ellen from the cab, carrying the heavy bag from the bookstore with my other arm. The building was in decent shape, the name in neon-"Martian Martial Arts school"-didn't have any burned out letters and neither the entrance nor the hallway leading up to the customer service/check-in counter smelled like human or cat piss.

"I'll put the bag in my locker, Mikey. Meet me by the ring-side,will you please? I've got to change."

"Can't I join you, um, in the changing room?"

"I would love to share that experience with you, Mikey, but we do have other women on staff, pun intended. And while they probably wouldn't mind you there, I have no intention of sharing you." With that she took the bag from me and entered the ladies' changing room.

I stood there for a few seconds. Ellen didn't quite understand what I had said back in the cab. I didn't know how I knew what I knew about Antion/Andy, but the simple fact I did know was this:

Antoine/Andy didn't exist. He wasn't human and I think he knew that I had sussed him out.

# CHAPTER TWO

ONE

"Alright, I need a volunteer people!" There was a group of nearly thirty people attending the class, some with guests just there to watch not to participate, and still somehow Ellen picked out my scent. She pointed directly at me with her wooden quarterstaff.

"How about you, kind sir?" Besides me, there were about sixteen sighted people, roughly half the class. They were all one in smiling at me with a certain sympathy. I realized I was standing in the spotlight, expected to dance without any music. I was in very deep doo-doo.

I tentatively stepped onto the sparring mat, receiving a similar fighting staff from another well-built female teacher, who used the passing of the weapon as a brazen invitation to stare at my physique. Then I turned to face Ellen.

"Now while Mikey here may be a novice in the martial arts, you can 'see' that he is quite a healthy, well-built and fit male of the species. In other words, just the type we vision impaired women have to deal with and for whom we train to face."

Ellen gave me that Matrix 'come on bring it' gesture, the flip of her fingers and went into what I could only presume was a fighting stance. At this exact moment, I had one of my memory flashes, one where I criss-crossed both hands over my back and pulled out a pair of long swords with golden pommels, engraved with sacred Celtic runes and symbols, some even etched onto the spanish steel of the blades. It was so real in my mind's eye that I almost dropped the quarterstaff and reached for them. At which time Ellen made her first move and knocked it out of my hands and to the floor for me.

"Game on, then." I replied and let instinct take over. The next twenty minutes or so were spent in an even match, sparring on a one to one basis, with me hitting her almost as many times as she hit me. Somehow I sensed that I was holding back. Then she stumbled once and as a result, I smacked her in the head a little too hard, not at all my intended target nor the strength I had planned to use.

"Ellen!" I dropped the staff, rushed to her kneeling form and just as I was about to touch her shoulder glammed on to the fact that I had been suckered. As she spun into a sweeping leg kick, I did my impression of Bruce leaping into the air sans guitar and leapt straight up, over and into the staff.

"Ooof!" was the best rejoinder I could offer. I hit the mat rolled and gained my feet in a crouch but the afternoon's entertainment was over. Ellen seemed a little out of it. She handed the staff and the rest of the class over to the body gazer I was scanned by earlier.

"I'm tapped out, Mikey-I'll meet you by the dressing room doors." She brushed by me with a strange pallor to her elfin face and I began to worry about her. I nearly followed her into the ladies room, but instead retraced my steps to the service desk, quickly, very quickly.

I paced out in the lobby like an expectant father, till I heard a distant clatter. Brushing aside any improprieties and embracing my inner worry wart, I charged into the locker room.I donned my invisibility like a cloak and hurried through the rooms to find her.

Ellen was collapsed, half undressed, across a bench, her other clothes and cane scattered on the floor like a child's toys. Her aura, however, was not child-like. Black storm clouds, dark lightning streaks hovered over her like living death might appear to be. I had an idiotic thought of the "V'yger cloud-creature from the first Star Trek movie before I acted.

I scooped her seemingly-fragile body up in my arms and saw on her left elbow, a small blackish-brown and purple blotch, reminding me of the Black Plague deaths. Closing my eyes, another instinctive memory took control of me and...

This time the whiteout, the blank spot in my life and memories, seemed more like twenty minutes. I could see my reflection in the mirrors above the sinks and saw that I was still cradling a half-naked Ellen. Not that I minded at all, but she might and I figured that the noise might bring staff members-People that might not understand the situation and I couldn't blame them if they did.

Ellen began to stir as I redressed her in the sports bra she had been wearing during our sparring, added the Irish wool sweater she'd filled out so well before and brought the shawl out of her bag to complete her outfit.

"Masher", she mumbled quietly as I helped her to her feet. "Just how hard did you hit me, you big bully?"

I checked her head for bruising, for a lump where I might have hit her too hard, but found nothing. Not a scratch, not dried-up blood, nothing.

"How are you?" Try as hard as I could, I could not keep serious concern for her out of my voice.

"Still blind, I'm afraid, but other than that-" She shrugged but held out her hand for a second of silence then spoke again. "Actually I feel quite wonderful, in fact better than I have since I met you, Mike." She moved into the protective embrace of my arms and kept talking. "Somehow, I feel that you're responsible for this feeling, handsome. Not like you're Jesus or something,umm, but my heart says-God, I'm babbling aren't I? Of course, you could be Jesus, couldn't you? I mean, you could just be—"

I stopped her with another deep, lingering kiss. I wanted to tell her I felt everything the same way she did, but was it too soon? Too much? To hell with good intentions or indecision.

"Mike—"

"Too much too soon?"

"Not at all, Mikey, not at all. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by the suddeness, by the depth of what I'm feeling for you. I'm a little scared of this, this...what I said before. You know...You better not be laughing at me, Mikey!"

"No, never. I'm just trying to say I understand what you, what we are going through, or don't understand in equal measure. Damn, I'm not usually at a loss for words—"

"Your words are beautiful, Mich—Mike. I'm glad that we're on the same page, in the same book—so to speak."

Ellen cut off, then simply took my hand again as we entered the southern end of Gaudi Park. It suddenly seemed as if all the trees in the park were bursting out in all their glorious fall colors( Which they were) that I had never noticed before, till now, till Ellen. Yeah, I know this sounds corny, trite, cliched but the Scottish singer Fish had it right, love is a cliché. Not all cliches are unbearable, however—they become cliches to remind ourselves about their importance.

TWO

Ellen and I spent nearly two hours in Gaudi Park, strolling amid and through the fantastic fall foliage. We didn't converse much, and when we did, it wasn't mush or talk of love, but running like an underground river, it wasn't that much of a different current.

"Oh damn it Mikey, I left our cds and that book back at the dressing room lockers."

"Shh, no you didn't leave them behind. I gave them to your assistant, Nadyia was it?

She promised to drive them over tonight."

"That's the bitch that looked you up and down like a doggy treat."

"She's so not my type, Ellen.Um, let me rephrase that. I'm not at all interested in anyone but you. She pushes herself at me again, I'll turn her down flat and cold, leaving her no room for doubt in her mind."

"I trust you, Mikey—I don't much like Nadyia, but I trust her with running my business. So. Do I think she'll listen to you and back off of you? Not really but we'll see, we'll see.

"Thanks for remembering our purchases, Mikey, they do brighten my life. So do you, you know."

She actually ducked her head, blushing as she said this and I was deeply touched. We exited the northern entrance of the Park and passed onto a street aptly named 'Restaurant Road' by the students, so Ellen said, a group of various feeding troughs of various levels of quisine.

My growling stomach caused Ellen to cough, covering her barely controlled laughing, then she pulled me into a place named "Native Table", that gave me a whiff of the southwestern states. It was nearly six p.m. now and clearly I was very hungry. Ellen did her southwestern styled steak dinner equal justice and I easily admitted that my steak had been succulent as well.

Later, as we continued our stroll back home, I spotted Nadyia leaning against the front door of our "luxury" Hotel, holding the bag of our cds(and the one book) from "Judged by the Cover". She still had that predatory gleam in her yellow eyes, aimed directly at me. She deflated quickly however, when I gave her a standard 'I'm not that into you' speech and dropped the bag into my hands, quickly getting into her cherry red Impala('08 model for the completist freaks )and left skid marks on the tarmac and the smell of burning rubber in our noses.

Entering the building we procceded directly to her apartment, went in and I dropped the cds I'd bought for her on a TV tray near her small but modestly pricey stereo system. We stood there then with a sudden attack of awkward shyness. I decided to make the first move and be a gentleman at the same time, kissing her on the cheek mentioning that I needed some shuteye and a shower to recover from the thrashing she had given me. Ellen took the bookbag from my sweaty hands, tossed it on the couch by the stereo system and spoke one word that made me weak at the knees:

"Stay?"

"Are you sure—"

"Sure? Yes. Nervous? Yes."

She took me by the hand, heading towards the bedroom. Tarot had been curled up, asleep at the foot of the bed, but took off with a protesting yowl at our arrival.

"Now I want to do the cliched blind person thingy, Mikey, if you'll let me?"

"I have absolutely no objections, Ellen." Suddenly I was nervous. I could not remember, of course, my last time or my first time—but I would not believe that anything past, present or future would be the equal or better of tonight.

Ellen's slim, deft fingers untucked my t-shirt from my jeans, slowly pulling it up and over my chest, her cool touch electrified my body. Her thumbs played with my chest hairs, trailing pinkies crossed my nipples, making them erect, harder, faster than anything ever had before. Ellen's touch lingered like a slow brushfire across my nerves. She raised the tee to my neck, kiddingly she wrapped both my hands around my throat and shook me a little. Holding the tee with both hands at my neck still, Ellen pulled me in close to her and kissed me, exploring my mouth with hers. Her tongue was her fingers, pressing, feeling, rolling, curling, tasting.As if ripping a bandage off a hairy limb, Ellen then yanked the shirt over my head in one, swift moment, breaking our kiss for an eternity of split seconds.She resumed that kiss, her hands tangling in my long ash-blonde hair, gripping my head tight in passion. Then she let her smallest fingers trail down to my ears, followed by the rest of her digits. She carressed my ears softly, like butterfly wings against the summer breeze. I never knew my ears could be a sexual hot zone, never knew, never knew.

My hands had remained at the small of her back, my long fingers inches from her backside and my male libido insisting they wander southwards, now.

"Not yet, Mikey. It's still my time, my turn. Think of me as a tourist, trying to take in all the masterpieces, sculptures and paintings, of the Louvre."

"Putting it another way," she lowered her hands to my waist and removed my belt from my jeans, "I'm still feeling you out." A wicked smile lit up her otherwise child-like innocent face, like a red, sinking sun over a frozen landscape. Chills ran up and down my spine as her fingers played "Fur Elise", just before she found the button, then the zipper to my jeans.

We'd yet to enter the bedroom proper, losing ourselves in the cartography her hands made of my body, her mouth of my mouth—so much so, that Tarot had thought it safe again and that the interruption to her nap was over. The heavy 2-year old had jumped back onto the bed but before she settled down, noticed us start to shuffle backwards towards the bed. Yowling in protest once again, Tarot left the room entirely, heading back to the bathroom. Maybe that room would be safer for awhile, despite the presence of water!

My jeans were tugged earthwards, Ellen's breathing speeding up, just like mine. I had to help her slide them past my ass and down to my ankles. As I stepped out of them, shedding my socks and shoes as well, Ellen put her hands on my hips and tried to interlock her fingers. She failed. I'm not fat. However, I am about six foot four, 255 lbs. I'm invisible, not out of shape as Ellen was finding out for herself.

"Wonderful tonight, indeed." Ellen whispered into my hair, her hot hands resting on the upper curves of my ass.

"Enough." I breathed, then reached out with my long arms, cupped her ass with my hands and bought her forwards. She wrapped her long legs around my boxers and I carried her the rest of the way to the bed. Ellen removed the shawl and flung it to the left side of the bed, the sweater to the right, just before we hit the mattress.

THREE

I had become invisible once we'd started making love. I knew she could still sense me, feel me and taste me—besides my willpower had succumbed to this pint-sized sex kitten. I started to play with the red curls of her head, but she motioned at me with a certain part of her anatomy and my head sank to the valley of her breasts. "Use your teeth", she said in a husky

voice as she tugged off my boxers. Ellen's hands continued to explore my body and our lips met briefly, before I returned my mouth to playing in the freckled valley of her breasts.

"That tickles, Mikey! Maybe you should—"

The rest of her words dissolved into moaning, wordless sounds as I took one of her small nipples into my mouth and gently did as she had requested. Then I lowered my lips to her stomach, her belly, then to catch my breath I raised them back up to her luscious throat and pretended to be a vampyre and used my teeth there, albeit very tenderly.

Our bodies began to move together then, in a sublime rhythm that only God could have designed and moans were the only intelligible sounds we made for quite awhile after.

FOUR

"Does anyone deliver food around here?"

"Hungry, lover?"

"Mmm, very much so. So? Haven't I worked up quite an appetite for you?"

Ellen giggled at my clumsy double entendre and listed a couple of pizza places, takeout Chinese places as well as Thai and Mexican, but I stopped her and began to look for a phone, to order pizza. Once I found it and was actually using it to order a 18" Pepp/ Burger with garlic bread and soda, Ellen started nibbling on my neck and wrapping her arms around my waist. Then she complained quietly that she hadn't gotten any say on the toppings of the pizza.

"What? You're the one who asked for the pepporoni! What else did you want on the pizza?"

Then she showed me. She kissed my ears, the nape of my neck, the small of my back and worked her way around to my chest. "Stop it now. I need more food first, gotta regain my energy, my strength."

"Mmm, it'll take at least 40 minutes to cook it and get it all here, if they don't get lost or forget the soda and/or the garlic bread, so lay back down. I'm not done exploring you."

The phone call over, I'd dropped it on the floor and with a barely audible "Yes Maam", I turned to her once again.

Perhaps twenty-five minutes had passed before I heard knocking at our door.

"Pizza interruptus", laughed Ellen, and before I could react, she grabbed my t-shirt and put it on. It was a bazillion sizes too large on her and most of her body was covered by it. Most of it, I thought among thoughts already befuddled by her and the love we were making.

Ellen asked me to retrieve some bills she had stashed in a bedside table and from it, I handed her three tens. "Thanks, Mikey." She bounced over to the door and was about to open it when it was forcibly torn off its' hinges and thrown into our appartment, knocking Ellen onto her ass.

In strode our three thug-pals from the previous afternoon, plus two more. Seeing as Ellen had been knocked unconscious, I waded into battle naked and invisible. My mad-on would have scared off any other punks had I been visibile, but why spoil my fun? I was too pissed off to be generous, so when that same itching began at the collarbone of my back, I reached back there and found something there. The next thing I knew, I was brandishing two swords, not unlike Anduril from the movies, and the thugs were advancing on a still unconscious Ellen.

With a skill efficiency born of instinct and decades of practice, I swung the first sword flat-bladed,giving the nearest thug a solid thump that dropped him like a sack of rotten potatoes. The second, shorter sword sliced through the air and his stomach, opening it like a scalpel would a fresh cadaver.

I then assumed a fighting stance from a forgotten life, materialised and was gratified when the rear asshole bolted in fright. Cloaking myself again, I brought my left hand bearing the long sword horizontal, I swept it backhanded through the next man's wrist, dropping it and the gun it held to the floor. A few seconds after contact, I brought the short sword down and threw it like a humongous dart, skewering the last creep in the neck, pinning him to the wall of the apartment. All in less than two minutes. Somewhere in my mind a voice said with heavy sarcasm and a certain fondness, <You're slowing down>.

I returned the swords to their hidden sheaths behind my back and stepped over the unconscious thug to get to Ellen's side.I knelt down beside her, putting one hand to her heart and the other to her throat. She was still out of it, but not in any serious danger that I could tell, so I closed my eyes and directed my willpower to release something of mine into Ellen. She then fell into a deeper, healing sleep, so I carried her to the bed and tucked her in. The few scratches and cuts Ellen had sustained were healing quickly. I left the room light on as it wouldn't wake her and I went to clean up after our guests.

Stunned thug I picked up and carried him out through the lobby, into the street and tossed him into the nearest dumpster I could find. How appropriate.

Returning to Ellen's apartment, I knelt by the two very dead men and one hand on each. A different feeling flowed from them into me and their wounds began to close up and disappear, along with the rest of their bodies. Once gone, my hands went to the floor to deal with the blood and gore. Soon the carpet was as clean as it was going to get. I stood and went to see to the broken door.

Twenty minutes later I woke up just enough to grab the money from where Ellen had dropped it on the floor, put my boxers back on and opened the door to pay the real pizza delivery guy.

"Dude, I don't think this hole in the wall was there last week. I'll get one of the students to fix it up for ya." I thanked him and belatedly realized that since he had seen the money, I must have become visible long enough for him to see me as well, without having to summon too much willpower to do so. He hadn't even forgotten anything like Ellen had predicted he would. The aroma of Italy brought Ellen up from her slumber and she mumbled yummy sounds as I set up the cups, plates, napkins and food.

"I feel kinda weird, Mikey, but weird in a wonderful way."

"Well, as much as I hate to brag..."

Ellen blushed the deepest burgundy rose I or anyone in the universe had ever been blessed to witness and I tried to hold back laughter but I couldn't keep my smile from spreading.

"MIKEY!" Ellen smiled brightly enough to match mine, then blushed again under the heat from my direct gaze."I was, um, kinda talking about that, um, but also the nap we took afterwards. I feel very refreshed, well-rested like I've slept the night away. What time is it?"

"Ah, 9:30 p.m., I think. My watch is still a little battered from that drama you call picking out a pet."

"Um, you gonna eat that?" She pointed at the last greasy piece of garlic bread. I waved away my rights to it and took away the debris of our second dinner that night.

"I'm going to shower. Care to join me?"

"Just try and stop me, sailor. Go start without me, I'll catch up in a minute or so?"

I dropped my boxers on the cat as I passed her in the hall between bed and bath. Yowling again, she shot away from me with the boxers still on her and I laughed at the absurdity of it all. I started the shower, stepped under the hot water and as I increased the strength of the spray, a soothing female vocal with a touch of grit began singing somewhere nearby.

Slim but not too slender, neither over-endowed nor small, hot blooded but shy and yet very sensual-Ellen pulled open the shower curtain, stepped in and took the soap away from me. As she began to soap me up, I asked simply, "Billie?"

"No, Madeleine Peyroux, the cd you bought me earlier today. This song's called "Dance Me to the End of Love"."

"Beautiful".

"Thanks."

"Oh yeah, um, you too. Oww! The soap doesn't go there—"

"Hush up, Mister—Dance with me."

I brought her body very close to me indeed and we danced.

FIVE

I think it was close to midnight by the time we both fell asleep, don't ask me how we passed the time. I should think that much was obvious. But now that I have everyone's attention again, I believe that questions remained about the quantity of money I have on me—maybe I should address them.

One of the several days or moments I have yet to tell everybody about, I found on my person a key I didn't recognize.During one of my thirty minute visibility periods,

when I was still developing my willpower and my 'powers', if I can call these mysteries such, I took the key to a locksmith for ID purposes. Hoping for an answer to my ID, I was told that it was for a post office box. This, along with the information I needed to find the post office and that the boxes were easy to access, cost me $20.

In a brisk yet warm fall breeze, I headed off to the post office. My brain was in a state of perpetual fogginess and thus failed to notice any indications of the town's name. The post office was fairly modern for the size of the town(or at least, what I had seen of it) and at three in the afternoon, was fairly crowded. I faded to nothingness and slipped through the line to the deposit boxes around the corner from the service desk. A fine sweat broke out between my shoulder blades as I contemplated the key and remembered the story of Pandora's Box. Then I shoved the key into the lock and bracing my free hand against the metal to avoid noise(hopefully) I drew it out slowly.

If anyone's idle eyes had drifted to my area, they would have seen the box opening and nothing else as I could 'disappear' things that I took into my possession. The small codex-like device nestling in my palm reminded me of some Tom Hanks' movie for some reason. I've learned early-on into my 'second life' to trust my instincts. I pocketed the small device, turning to leave the post office when I noticed one more thing in the box. A small piece of paper as if torn from a school assignment book with a few words inscribed on it in Latin: 'Voveo utor est'. Below that, my name, signed(?) by me—MICHAEL.

Now I finally took my leave of the post office, walking back into the fall sunshine. My next stop would be a video store to see if my instincts were on. After that, who knew? I followed the main street down to the river bank but found no other place of business of interest in those ten blocks. I retraced my steps, once again passing the post office and found a video store called "When Dreams Begin",a small store with three bored teenagers staring at the door in hopes or despair for someone to walk in. Not an optimal situation for me and so, I took a seat across from the store on a park bench, near a bus stop.

This town needed a bus line? Shrugging, I thought that it must extend more North and South than it did East and West, for it to need a serious bus line. Pointless pondering, I supposed, until the city bus passed by me. It turned around a block or two later and came to a stop sixty feet away from my position on the bench.With the teenagers posing as a fortified barrier, I had nowhere else to go, so I sat and watched with growing amusement as their fortress crumbled when a vivacious blonde woman emerged from the bus driver's seat.

Two of the three followed her over to their next door neighbor, a donut/coffee place called "Energy Rush". I leapt to my feet and walked quickly over to the video store. Of course the third was a dishwater, plain-jane woman—too old, not pretty enough for the hormone-fueled boys—stayed behind. However it seemed that the plain-jane had the cancer stick jones and as she exited out the 'emergency' exit door in the back, I slipped in the front."I'm your back door man", I hummed as I headed for the Drama section. I had passed the time outside running through a mental list (this I retained?) of Tom Hanks' movies, striking off the comedies and the true life stuff like "Apollo 13", leaving me with dramas.

I started alphabetically in the drama section, finally stopping at "DaVinci Code" and took it off the shelf to read the back cover. Not finding what I wanted in those liner notes, I popped it open and an advertisement fell out onto the floor. The case being otherwise empty, I closed the case and returned it to the shelf. The ad was for a company that sold replicas of iconic items from certain iconic movies, such as "Lord of the Rings", "Batman" and obviously, "The DaVinci Code". Among the pricey items for sale was a cryptex, almost exactly the same as my codex, now in my jeans pocket, except for one detail: another item in the catalog was a key with the Fleur-de-lis symbol on the top. My codex had the symbol on both ends of the barrel.

Hmmm. I stuffed the ad into my back pocket and hastily left the store just as chain-smoker plain jane re-entered via the back entrance and the boys entered from the front. Slipping through the sea of hormones and acne, I made my way back to the bus stop in time to catch a free ride. I slumped into an empty pair of seats among a very empty bus and pondered the questions now raised by my discovery. Realizing I needed somewhere to bunker down for a rest, I closed my eyes for a few minutes and was suddenly thrown into the hard plastic of the seats in front of me. I couldn't help releasing an explosive burst of air and sound as the bus slammed on its brakes. The shapely bus driver took a surprised look in her rear-view mirror. Of course she didn't see anything as the bus was empty besides me and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair before putting the bus into park. I rose to my feet as she did and followed her off the bus. The reason for the sudden stoppage was soon apparent—a blind man with a cane but sans dog was standing in the middle of the street. The guide dog must have flunked some of his classes as it had chased after but had not caught either a cat or a squirrel and had been hit by a car turning from the bus' left side, into its path.

I walked closer to the people around the accident and was listening in when I saw the building where the blind man had been heading to: a rundown hotel that was now a home for the blind.

Home Sweet Home?

SIX

I know that this doesn't explain the money and everything yet, but stay with me—I'll get there soon enough. But the present beckoned and I walked toward its glorious sunshine light.

Ellen woke me up of a deep slumber by nuzzling my neck with her lips. Damn,

She smelled good.I pretended to still be sleeping, wanting to feel what she might do next.

.

"Mikey, your breathing rhythm has sped up since I kissed your neck. I know that you're awake-ackk!" I swung her around, moving her slender body to my side of the bed, facing me and kissed her properly, firmly, sweetly.

"You've been in the shower already, haven't you?"

"Mmm-hmm. Breakfast?"

"I-we just ate a major-sized pizza not that long ago."

"I think we already worked that off, Mikey." Ellen blushed again and flipped over, snuggling back to spoon with me.

'Mikey?"

"Hmm?"

"Um, last night?"

"Uh-huh?"

"That was my first time."

"Really?"

"Yes-you were my first, um, lover."

"I hope I was—"

"Gentle? Great? Fantastic?

"Yes, yes and yes. But, um, I think you're gonna need to prove it all over again, everytime, you-we-um..."

"Huh—I wonder what you're trying to tell me..."

"I'm trying to say that I love you too. That IS what you said to me before we fell asleep for the last time, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was what I whispered to you while I thought you were still awake."

"And now, the day after?"

"I still do."

"Still do what...?"

"I love you, Ellen."

"I love you too, Mike. Now, about you moving your stuff down here?"

"What?"

"Mikey, can you, I mean, will you move from your place, here?"

"I think I already have."

"That's settled, then. Bring the rest of your stuff down, later, yeah? I feel safe, no, I feel more alive, more complete than before, before I met you. I was right about your aura, you know, and I'm babbling again, aren't I?"

She colored again. I didn't waste any time in responding to her emotional outpouring.

"Yes, yes you are."

"Bastard!" She kicked back, hitting my shin softly with her heel.

"But, I will move the rest of my stuff in, tonight. I'm glad my aura is everything you said it was, not that I believe in it, but if I make you happy..."

"Oh Mikey, my love,-don't you ever doubt it! You big bully—Not every relationship takes forever to come together, to become set in stone. With you, I didn't want to let forever or anything else, for that matter, to stop me, us, this. I didn't need to wait, I didn't want to think too much, I just wanted. And still want. That's the best way I can put it right now."

"Sounds right to me, beautiful. Rules aren't really that hardfast in these times, these situations. Like you said, it doesn't need to take forever to decide if someone is right for you or not."

I reached around her back and cupped her right breast, causing her to catch her breath and snuggle even closer. I kissed her neck and we stopped talking for quite a long time.

.

"You make the sexiest sounds when you're about to, when you're close, as if it's the penultimate whisper you need to make to push you over the edge."

"Are you already picking up on my tells, Mikey, trying to figure out what makes me tick? I've noticed somethings about you too, you know."

"Really? Do tell."

"Mmm, don't think so, not yet anyways. So, should we visit the library today? Damn, it's Friday—the library's closed today—it's not open on the weekend, either."

"Too bad. Shall we sleep in?"

"Noo-oo, I need some food, Mikey, I'm knackered after what you've done to me-"

"What!"

Laughing, Ellen said, "Alright, what we've done together. Mmm, okay—what we're doing together. Can you do your mysterious research on my computer?"

"Can I use it to look up old newspapers, other websites of the mysterious and bizzare?"

"Yeah, it's how I get most of my news and weather reports. But let me set it up for you, I have a JAWS programmable computer. I'm making some extra cash by writing up articles on how to live with the visually impaired."

" Have you written any articles on how to live with the smirky and snarky-impaired, or is that too close to being a biography?"

"Har, har." Ellen moved gracefully to her den room, the one with the stereo system and access to the backyard. I laungished behind to watch her fine behind sashay ahead of me. She went to the stereo first and with practiced ease, switched the cds. Soon the gritty bluesy vocals of Nina Simone filled the room. Leaning against the wall, I whistled in appreciation as Ellen sat down in front of the computer and turned it on.

"Mikey?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Don't ever stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Showing me what great taste you have in women."

"Easily done. Now what?"

"Go do what you need to do. I turned the volume way down on the reader, otherwise the program now loading should help you out. I'm going to put on a bikini and do some late season tanning in the backyard. Care to lotion me up, later?"

"Sure, spoilsport ."

"Spoilsport? Oh, I get it. I'm putting clothes on this beautiful body, yeah? Sheesh, you are such a sexy pig!"

"I think that the term you're trying to say is, sexist pig, dear."

Ellen laughed as she said what she said, but when I didn't laugh with her, blushed and turned quiet, shy and then ran into the bedroom.

Ten minutes later, Ellen emerged wearing a kelly-green bikini that revealed more than it hid and a smile that warmed my heart.

"You are such a sweetheart", and with that quiet declaration, leaned over me, kissed me on the cheek and gave me a quick hug. "What's the weather report?"

"Better than the past few days. Seventy-five, sunny, late showers tonight. Repeat tomorrow, add winds of ten to twenty mph."

"Thanks, Mike. Bring the lotion out in about twenty, okay? I'm leaving the sliding door open so I can hear the music, yeah?"

"Absolutely." Again, I watched her as she went into the backyard and mentally set an alarm for twenty minutes. As she settled down into the lounge chair, I felt no sense of alarm, so I left her to her own devices, however reluctantly and turned to the keyboard.

I keyed onto local news first and found out that I was in the thriving metropolis of Rios de los Angelos, Wisconsin, located some ten miles south of Prairie du Chien and pretty much on top of the Mississippi River. The "Rios News", the local 'on-line' newspaper, went as far back as 1863 but I settled for the last three weeks of this year.

Nothing. Well, not nothing at all. Just nothing to do with what might have happened to me. I got out of the Rios News-site and in somewhat of a left turn, looked for federal buildings located anywhere nearby. There was a hit there, an abandoned Air Force Base, abandoned since 1955, a base located approximately halfway between Prairie Du Chien and Rios de los Angelos.

Something to check out. With five minutes left before I needed(No, wanted) to be outside with the lotion, I decided to try something 'really' out there and looked for a local UFO/Fortean hotspot website. It was a bit of a snore, giving conspiracy-laced accounts of lights in the sky, strange-shaped oddly moving crafts above the river, meteors that zig-zagged to Earth and so on.

I logged off, grabbed the lotion and headed outside. Hindsight is 20-20 or so they say. If I hadn't been so hormone happy to get outside to Ellen, I might have seen the last news item on the UFO/Fortean website before the screen went blank...Unknown object crashes to Earth in Southwestern Wisconsin...

SEVEN

Nina Simone was singing about "Strange Fruit" when we re-entered the apartment later that evening. Ellen went directly to the kitchen to make us some supper, I told her I would bring down some furniture and other personal items while she did so.

"Don't take too long, Mikey, supper will soon be on the table."

"A chef and a model too? How did I luck out so?" I smiled as I softly closed her front door but I hadn't missed the sudden flush all over Ellen's face nor the lack of a snappy comeback. Whomever I turned out to have been, it seems I was making at least two people happy in the here and now.

Ellen directed me in the location of my dresser, telling me earnestly how important the arrangement of furniture was to a blind person's ease, in mind and in getting around the rooms without harming themselves. I took the direction in the well intended manner it was given in, but truth be told I had figured that out from that first breakfast we had shared, just a few short days ago.

"Supper's ready, Mike—did you have any luck on the computer earlier?" We had not spoken of my search into the past while she'd been tanning and I had been lotioning her and watching her tan, both of us just enjoying the music and the moment.

"Not too much, Ellen. I'm hampered by not really knowing what to search for. There is an abandoned Air Force base a few miles north of here..."

"Oh yeah, I think it used to be a fur trading outpost or fort of some kind, give me a few seconds, no, yeah—Fort Rios de Dios. Roughly translated, Fort River of God or some such.".

"It's the only thing that sounds promising, actually. Nothing else did, I'm afraid. Even visited the local UFO website. According to them, this part of Wisconsin was a hotbed of UFO activity over the last three days."

"Is that about the time you popped up, out from nowhere?" She brought the food to the table, sitting on the same side as me and tucked a napkin onto my lap.

"Thanks, but no—no, it wasn't. I've been lingering around this town for about three weeks, not three days." I returned the napkin favor and we ate the meal in compatible silence. Back in the den room, the disc changer switched over to the last disc, the first disc of my recently repurchased B.B. King box set. "Three O'clock Blues", one of King's first hits, I told Ellen for no particular reason.

"Mikey, I do like it but we're going to need something more romantic, for later on, when we relax and discuss tomorrow's agenda."

"And what would be on that agenda, dear?"

"Well, the agenda includes a romantic picnic on the riverbank, I think, then a treasure hunt follows, at the old abandoned Air Force Base/fur trading outpost. Sounds good, yeah?"

"That accent of yours is thickening. Rather charming, it 'tis."

"Why, thank you, Mikey. How's the food, by the way?"

'Excellent. Did you ever want me to cook, or is the kitchen off-limits to me?"

"I think off-limits is the nicest way to put it, I think, but I'll let you take me out for a nice dinner or three to even it out. Deal?"

"Deal. And Ellen, it all sounds great,the picnic idea and all, but all work and no play..."

"That's why we're 'relaxing' after dinner tonight, Mikey." She lowered her head and said quietly, "That is if you care to, anyways."

"Poor little blind girl—it's too late for that 'does he still respect me bullshit." I put my hand to her chin, tilted her head up and whispered, "We both might have fallen, fallen fast here, but the way I've come to feel for you is the only authentic thing in my life. More important to me than my own identity. Trust us, okay?"

Ellen smiled through a couple of anxiety-provoked tears and I wiped them away, kissing them off of my fingers.

"Come on, let's change the music, shall we?"

"Oh, yes, that would be a great idea."

"Um, what about the dishes?"

"To hell with them." She sighed and went back to the kitchen. "You change the music, I'll take care of the dishes."

I emptied out the disc changer, replaced the cds in their respective cases and looked for something in her collection that would better 'relax' us. I put in the Madeleine Peyroux disc again, then selected the "Complete Ella and Louis" cds and slotted them into the player. I hit random play and sat down on the couch, waiting for Ellen to return.

My mind chose this moment to replay the highlights of the midnight rumble of the night before and I found myself wondering about the coincidence of the same thugs finding us again. Oh and those amazing swords I had used. The short one seemed to be an ancient Roman blade, a gladius, the other a rather ornate and bejewled sword of forgotten origins. Forgotten for longer than just this Eon, I imagined, to others than just me. Who was I? What was I?

"You're thinking about your past again, I can tell."

I grinned up at her sheepishly, then verbally acknowledged the truth of her words.

"Sorry about that—"

"Stop it, mister. It's all very good to know who you are and all, but no more thinking about that tonight." Ellen sat gingerly on my lap and put her arms around my neck. Then she grinned and whispered into my right ear, "Least, not about your past."

"How about my future, then?"

"Only if it includes me, prominently. Then it's okay. Well, maybe it's okay.But like the King once said, 'A little less talking...."

"...a lot more action?" I suited the song lyrics to actions and put my mouth to her neck.

"That's right...yes, just like that...Oh yes, that's so nice..."

# CHAPTER THREE

ONE

"Cold chicken, sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies and dip—all we need is cold drinks. I figured we could stop at the gas station near the library, Mikey, and pick some up there."

"I believe I've thought up one slight problem."

"Yeah? What's that?" Ellen, armed with another impish smirk, tossed me a set of car keys.

"Are you reading minds now, woman?"

"One of the parents of my martial arts students left the car here for various reasons, partly to pay off his bill I guess. Seems they didn't know that a blind girl can't drive, in fact I believe it's illegal.

"So, I borrow it out to the sighted students for errands, dates or if I need a ride somewhere for shopping, etc. Do you drive?"

"I sure hope so, it'll make the day a whole lot easier, that's for sure. Come on, I'll race you."

"Very funny, Mike. Did you bring any cds with us?"

"Sure did. Brought some Clapton, Buddy Guy, among others. Oh, and I brought that Madeleine Peyroux you've bewitched me with."

"I'm going to smirk again, Mike. Bewitched you indeed. What a load of bollocks."

But Ellen was beaming to outshine the sun as she directed me to the garage."I suppose I should reciprocate by telling you I love those Nina Simone cds you introduced me to. And your hands, your arms,mmm..."

"Funny. Is this Impala our chariot?"

"That's the one. Open the door for a lady?" I did just that, then loaded the foodstuffs into the trunk of the car and came round to the driver's side. Ellen had already buckled herself in and had put her cane in the backseat before I climbed into the car.

"Put in Madeleine's cd, yeah? It'll be a good one to start out our first date with."

"Yes ma'am. Dreamland, is it?"

"Mmm-hmm. I feel sunshine on my face, Mikey, I think that the forecast is going to be wrong, I can just feel it."

"Well, predicting the weather is like guessing what God is going do next, I think. So, where is this—never mind, I found it."

Ellen patted my arm like congratulating like a young child. "And you didn't even need directions. Well Done."

"Be a nice little blind girl or I'll buy you nothing but diet sodas."

"What are you trying to say? That I'm fat? Mikey, even I don't believe that one. My self-esteem hasn't been this high since-"

"Since what?" I replied, trying to come off all innocent. Ellen smiled ruefully.

"I prefer root beer, Mikey. Did you remember to feed the cat?"

"Yes dear, root beer it is and yes, I remembered to feed the cat." I have come to realize that I could 'will' my visibility into place easier and for much longer periods of time, sustaining it also seemed to be easier, as well. So, remember the money issue? It began after I retrieved the codex-thingy from the Post Office. I came to need money in order to rebuild what I had lost and just like that, my wallet doesn't gather dust-money replenishing itself as fast as I used it. Handy trick, yeah? Now she's got me doing that. I believe that the codex is something very special indeed, but like my past, I was still in the dark as to how special or how to use it properly.

I tossed several root beers along with several colas into a basket and headed for the checkout. Two other guys were ahead of me in line, unfortunately one of them pulled out a gun. The second man wasn't in on the heist and took a bullet in the stomach when he tried to intervene.

Before he could train the gun on me and fire again, I dropped into a crouch, dropped the basket and faded to black. Out of the camera's eye that was behind the counter and probably broken anyways, I reached up and grabbed the shooter by the belt. Standing up, I flung him back into a large candy rack, stripping him of his gun as I did so.Stuffing it into my pocket, after setting the safety, I reached out to the wounded man and touched him with the intent of doing for him what I had done for Ellen and the cat. The import of what I was attempting finally struck me as significant and that I was 'really' different from the norm.

The wound closed up and the bullet popped out into my palm. Next I reached. out to the clerk behind the counter and grabbed him by his AC/DC t-shirt, telling him to forget everything that had happened here. Of course I was still invisible when I did this—he kind of fainted as a result.

I propped him back up against the counter and closed my eyes. My inner voice told me something about an STD and I felt the urge to yank it out of him. Then I got real 'bitchy' and transferred it to the gunman, who was still unconscious—then I called 911 with a tipoff and left enough money on the counter to pay for the sodas. Then I became visible again after I left the store but before I climbed back into the car.

Ellen was humming along "I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter" and I put the bag of sodas into the trunk.

"Witchy woman, you put a spell on me..."

"I think you just mangled three or four different songs at the same time, Mikey." She giggled as I utilized my map reading skills and made a turn onto the nearest excuse for a highway in this part of Wisconsin and headed north towards our first destination. We had thought to set up out picnic at a way station slash park site a couple of miles from the old Air Force base. The weather, if the forecast had been right, would have juxtaposed our route, but with the sky sunnyside up we decided to stick with our original schedule.

The speed limit was strictly observed even though I could hear sirens in the distance as we headed out of town and the cd eventually ended, but Ellen pressed 'replay'. Before I could respond, Ellen played the 'poor little blind girl' card with a sad little pout(fake, I swear it), on her beautiful, unadorned lips.

"Fine", I sighed and put on my turn signal to change lanes. "The map says that the way station is about half a mile away. Ready to picnic?"

"Yep. All this fresh air has really given me an appetite." She gave me the Groucho Marx eyebrow waggle again and collapsed into a fit of the giggles. Hiccups soon followed after the giggles and Ellen reached into the back seat where some of the sodas had rolled from the trunk. Sure enough, she came back with a root beer and soon after that, Ellen began a series of really small burps.

"Oh God, I'm really sorry—that was most definitely unlady-like." Then she burst out laughing. I pulled into the small park slash way station and found a place to park. I started gathering up the picnic stuff as Ellen got out of the car and walked over to the edge of the hill the way station was on and sat down, dangling her feet off of Terra Firma.

Putting the picnic stuff on the nearest table to Ellen while watching her all the time wasn't an easy task and I kept dropping things onto the grass. I was a little, no, a lot nervous about her proximity to the edge, but I couldn't hover over her like a guardian angel. Flash(yes you can)Flash(the swords are real)Flash(you can heal). The flashes only confused and hurt me now and I collapsed onto the dirt.

I came to, again, with my head in Ellen's lap, her fingers caressing my forehead and a cold soda bottle against my neck.

"Whut—"

"You blacked out again, Mikey, damn you! You gave me such a scare! Dammit, don't do that to me ever again!" Then she started crying and my heart fractured. I sat up pretty quickly and enfolded her into my arms. She reluctantly let me hold her and try to comfort her. She then proceeded to put her arms around me and cried onto my shoulder. She used her hands as tiny fists of fury and pummelled my back, then my shoulders. She ran out of emotional gas eventually and took my head into her hands and furiously began to attack me with punishing kisses.

She tore off my shirt, running her shaking hands over my bare chest. Next came my belt. Ellen snaked it through the loops so fast it flew out of her hands and over the cliff's edge. I tried to help her with the pants, but the still angry and shaking 'poor little blind girl' swatted my hands away with a fiercely whispered shout, "No!" and unbuckled my pants, pulling them down, letting them drop.

I stepped out of them, hoping that the park service didn't often come here to police this place. Ellen turned her attention to her own clothes and swiftly removed her top, pants and the rest of her wardrobe. This was Life and Death sex, adrenaline fueled may it never happen I thought I almost lost you sex. I tried to slow Ellen down a little but she wasn't having any of that. Urgent need drove her, drove us both, to the exclusion of everything else in the world.

"Damn it Mikey, you scared the bejesus out of me!" Ellen's fingers were striping red, bloody furrows down my back, in her anxiety, her passion, in her unconscious need to hurt me back. It wasn't the most perfectly planned assignation, it definitely wasn't going to last very long, but powerful oh my God yes—

"MikeymikeyMikey—Damn it, oh damn." We held onto each other for quite a long time after that, enjoying the created heat, letting the fall breeze cool our sweaty bodies.

"I'm really sorry I scared you, sweetheart. I really am. Don't quite know what hit me—I was setting the table, watching you dancing on the edge of danger—"

"Ha-ha." She sniffed, "I was not dancing, I was only dangling my feet." She huffed, not quite mollified but beginning to recover her composure. I hunted down most of our clothes and Ellen attacked the food. The picnic aspect of our day was really underway now.

TWO

The picnic meal was rather anti-climatic, and we spent some more time afterwards just enjoying the view.Alright, I enjoyed the view and Ellen enjoyed my descriptions of that view. That ole Misissippi River was quite a view, but unconscious stirrings kept me from fully enjoying it.

I didn't remember all the various icons that had flashed before my eyes in the past few weeks—that was a problem, I knew. Plus all the blackouts that I'd suffered in front of Ellen were seriously scaring her and I did not know how to smooth those over. Any other man who got to enjoy fast and furious sex after scaring their partners half to death would probably be ecstatic, but I wasn't one of them. Since I came back from the "dead", so to speak, I wasn't anyways. I hoped that it was a lifelong condition.

"Can you see the Air Force Base from here, Mikey?"

I tore my gaze from Ellen and my own inner conflicts, to focus back on the view. Three miles to the north or so, I spotted the base. "Yeah, I can see it. It does actually appear to be deserted, unlike those X-Files episodes with patrol cars at the gates."

"You idjit, those weren't real." Ellen punctuated this ridiculous statement by playfully frogging me on the arm.

"Says you", I retorted instinctively. Ellen gave me a helping hand so I could get to my feet. We gathered up the picnic shambles and I do mean shambles.

"Mikey, was that the picnic basket that broke under us?"

"A-yep, that was the basket. What's left of it anyways."

"You were the one who pulled me to the ground, masher, it was your, um, ass that smashed it into kindling." She snorted.

"Are you laughing at me? Are "you" laughing at me?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, listen to this laugh riot, poor little blind girl, laugh it up. Remember when I said I had your bra?"

"Mikey..."

"Yep. That wasn't a paper airplane I sailed off the cliff before we ate.Size 34B wings, flying over the grand old Miss."

"You-you—that's really quite funny, actually. Okay, okay. I'll stop laughing at you. For now, anyways."

"Thanks."

"You're, heh-heh, welcome."

"Stop laughing at me."

"I can't—heh heh..."

"Stop laughing..."

"I..."

"Stop..."

"MI-ikey...!"

"Stop laughing or I'll leave you here!" With that proclamation I scooped her up screaming and carried her to the car and tried to dump her into the trunk.

"Mi-ike, stop it! The trunk isn't equipped with speakers! Ack-eek!"

"Nice squawking, maybe you're a parrot. Shall we see if you can fly, too?"

"Don't you dare! I'm not able to fly...Mikey...Mmmm." I stopped our games with a deep kiss that nearly made me drop her into the trunk anyways and after I opened her front car door, we both collapsed onto the car seats, laughing. I strapped her in despite her protests that she could do it herself and crawled over her to get to the driver's seat.

"You big goof! What's the big idea? You almost broke my legs...Are you laughing at me???"

THREE

The Air Force base was officially or had been officially called Arrowhead Air Force Base and it most definitely seemed deserted. I suppose those X-Files episodes had really fueled my conspiracy theories about my origins. Alright, I didn't really believe those episodes were based on the truth but I wanted to believe, that is.(Sorry).

The gate was locked but there weren't any armed guards in jeeps patrolling the empty grounds. We parked the car in front of the gates and both got out to take a closer look. Ellen brought her sword cane with her and I gave her a puzzled look for a few seconds until I noticed what had alerted her—nothing. No sound, no birds, no bees, no sound. It wasn't natural.

"Mikey? I don't hear..."

"Anything alive? Neither do I. Maybe you should stay in the car, while I do the looking around"(Invisibly, that is).

"Oh you have got to be kidding with that macho man bullshit! You know that I can take care of myself." Yes, you can, I thought. You are a very formidable, intimidating even, woman, but if I have the right read on this, you'll still be overmatched.

"Didn't you say this base was originally built on the site of a former Fort, Fort Angelos de los Rios or something?"

"Yep-you do actually listen to me. And that it was built close to a French trading Post."

"I 'really' don't like the vibe here, Ellen, and if you don't like the aura of this place either, I'd rather you be safer in the car than out here with me."

"Safer away from you? I don't think so, mister. Now you lead the way and I'll be close behind you."

"Well, keep your eyes open, Tonto."

"Ha-ha, Lone Stranger. What are we going to do about that lock?"

"I don't think that'll be a problem." I took the lock in my hands and, while watching it atrophy into dust, I let my physical form vanish. "It's open", though I figured my words were extraneous, Ellen probably felt the fetid wind from within the empty and foreboding compound. I pulled both swords from their sheaths and advanced carefully, trying to keep the whole place in view. The entrance guard post was the first structure we came to and passed by, eventually. The presumably bullet-proof plexiglass was shattered, scattered, just plain gone. Something brown and growing had taken root on the rotting stool, given life after the glass'

death, by the occasional thunderstorm or an invisible gardener. Ellen gave the open windows a sniff, then moved past the booth with a slight shudder.

"Smells like marijuana gone bad",opined Ellen and I whispered my agreement. "I downloaded some history info on this area of Wisconsin while you were bringing down your furniture."

"Really? And you were going to tell me this, when?"

"Now, so hush!"She swished her double-bladed cane throught some rough brush adhering to the gates permanently opened and unerringly headed towards what had been the information building. At least that's what the dilapidated sign read. Ellen was planning to use the building to guard her back, a starting point to exploring the rest of the base.

"So? Give."

"The Native American tribes that were the previous landowners around here were Menomonee, Ojibway and Dakota, or Eastern Sioux. A land grab that masqueraded as a Grand Council or Peace Treaty, in 1825 was held at Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, allegedly to create peace between the larger tribes and, of course, Uncle Sam."

Ellen paused in her vocal download as we approached the information center. As we tensed for a possible confrontation, Ellen frowned and came to a stop. "Mikey, this may sound like I'm having a blonde moment—"

"You're a redhead."

"—but I feel something totally different—"

"How different?"

"About 360 degrees different?"

"That seems right to me, Ellen...something has changed and for the better, I think. Yet—"

"Something bad is still out there."

"Uh-huh and we're in the eye of the storm, for the moment at least." I sheathed my weapons, opened the door and guided Ellen in behind me. I did a quick recon of the waiting room but that certain feeling of a 'safety zone', if you will, persisted.

I planted my posterior on a slowly warping wooden desk and Ellen settled into a cross-legged squat on the floor, her cane close by just in case. A careful partner this time. That's good, I thought, better than my last...(where is this coming from? And why now?).

"So, anything else Watson? Something that might explain—this?" I waved my arms at the temporal spiritual shift and blew out some air.

"Well, there was a little known sidebar to the Grand Council of Peace. Seems that some of the tribal shamans were privy to the false overture of peace and held a Grand Council of their own. Perhaps covering their metaphysical asses, perhaps it was a genuine attempt at peacemaking among the peoples. Whatever. Whether they achieved inner or outer peace might be a moot question-then again, it might be the answer you were asking about. You know, the switch in mojos here. But this info is more to the physical aspect of the equation, the Shaman's meet and greet, it allegedly took place..."

"Here at this fort? Right?"

"You ruined my build-up, my denouement!"

"Sorry."

"You're not sorry."

"And that's a fake pout."

"Damn. So what now?"

"I think it would help if we could find the epicenter of this warm fuzzy we've both tasted on the wind."

"And then what?"

"I'm working on it, I'm—"

"Nice one, Han. Is this something you're remembering, something that you're good at?"

"No. Something I was born to do."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. I don't know if this building is the hub or not-We might have to search this place literally, one step at a time."

"Maybe not. I'm not exactly a slouch at this 'game' either, Mikey me love. I believe you humans would call it a touch of the Fae, the second sight as it has been described. My mother's contribution to the genetic masterpiece that is moi." With a grand bow and a grandiose sweep of her arms, Ellen basked in the applause.

Problem was, I wasn't clapping. After a moment of total silence, I figured out that it wasn't clapping either—-it was the sound of life, the sound of a heart beating.

"Mikey, you are picking up the heartbeat, right? Tell me you're in tune with me here, okay?"

"In tune, on time, hand in hand, in total agreement. This way?" I pointed to the door leading to the offices of information. Ellen nodded and picked up her cane. I helped her up, touched my forehead to hers and put my hand on the door. The beating was definitely coming from this direction. Watching Ellen, I moved my hand from the plane of the wood to the handle of the door.

"It's locked. What the -"

"Careful, Mikey, the wrong words here could bring the house down."

"Literally."

Ellen sighed. "Open the door, please."

"As you wish." I gave the door a giant-sized push, knocking it off of it's hinges and onto the floor ahead of us. Inside I was expecting a typical military office, spartanesque in decoration. I was wrong. I hated being wrong.

"Mikey? What is it—I'm not getting a sense of this room."

"That's because there isn't a room..."

"It smells like—"

"'oh give me a home..."

"—but without the pollution..."

"Uh-huh. If I was to make a guess, I'd say it was the Prairie du Chien township or whatever it was called, circa, 1825?"

"Son of a..."

"Language, language, remember? Whoa, who is this?"

"Mikey, I'm picking up Tribal chanting, smoke from a fire, and the heady aftershave of a 19th century Native American—female?"

"Right you are, I think. I'm going to try and make contact..."

"My turn, good sir. Step aside and let a woman do a woman's job."

Against my better judgment, I did just that. Ellen walked a few feet past me, stretched out both her arms, towards the woman who had just stepped forward from the past into the present and made contact. At first the language and the exchange between the two women were beyond me. Then I touched Ellen with my left hand and the picture cleared like antenna tv to HD tv. Besides her elaborate headgear and naked breasts streaming with blood, sweat and mud, the visual image continually shifted as if time was 500 channels and the remote was stuck on perpetual change.

Ellen's language skills captured a sublime, romantic tongue in Americanized and modern English and the world suffered in the translation.

"In the year of your Lord Jesus Christ 1825, the American government representatives convened a Great Council to try to gather the various Tribes in the region together, in a poorly disguised attempt at friendship and harmony. Our Tribal elders agreed to meet with them, yet at the same time sending their shamans to this trading post for a different gathering. The Tribal elders instructed their shamans to come to a peaceful resolution, to create a unified front to the United States Government and their lebensraum needs.

"Four out of five dentists can recommend a toothpaste or the right gum to chew for healthy teeth, but four out of five shamans trying to create peace, harmony and solid resistance to an overwhelming army just won't cut it.(Sarcasm from a 19th century shaman?).

"One shaman, a Black Sioux by tribe, had a far different agenda than the others, as did his Chief and the government.

"An evil soul inhabited the shaman and his elder. While alone against the four would-be harbingers of peace, they held a slight advantage in the fact that they were the eldest of the group of shamans and chiefs. They used this advantage to stall and divide the peace conference here at the Fort -eventually they sublimated it, sequestering it in Time, along with the other four shamans and their followers.

"In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act and Native America began its slow slide of atrophy into obscurity."

The A&E history lesson paused as if a button had been pressed at a museum and I took advantage of that pause. Ellen tilted her head back for an 'eye to eye' and I asked my questions.

"Are both good and evil stuck here, in some form or other?"

"No. The evil has escaped, many years ago. The good however has remained here, in stasis, till this day of your arrival."

"Um,yeah? Did this evil have help, does it have a name?"

"The evil had a creator, a Fallen Angel and his minions-the name, however, I cannot give you."

Truth began to slowly dawn on me, perhaps aided and abetted by previous days' events, but the star was too late for me. Ellen collapsed to the cold, cement ground floor; a live puppet with her animation drained from her, blood taken by a soul-destroying demon.

"And you can't give me the name, why...?"

Backing up, reaching for my weapons, stalling for time and complete comprehension.

"You would use it to compel me, to banish me! And I like it here!" And it attacked me.

FOUR

"It" was a devil-lite,yet still very dangerous. Less than four feet tall, black as the true devil's soul and with razor-like claws over every inch of its smoking, steaming body. I mean that literally. Smelling like shit mixed with bloodied tar, the mini-devil had horns that resembled a Minnesota Vikings symbol instead of ears, a sucker-like mouth with a hemisphere of fangs and eyes that were blacker than his skin. He held a bar that sizzled with demon lightning between two vicious looking obsidian daggers.

"Time to dance with me, angel-boy. But be careful of my thorns!"

Laughing sounds that a dying rape victim would consider nightmarish, it attacked. I had both blades out, ready to slice and dice devil steak tar-tar, but my first moves bounced of the armor thickness of its skin. I recognized the breed now, the type of devil I faced; it was the underworld's version of a Trickster spirit, a Coyote that Hell had spawned, not Native American folklore.

The torture-bar crackled and stung as it skimmed across my forehead, drawing a line of blood like sticky, gory eyebrows. I drove him back with several swift, hack and slash moves, trying to buy some time. I also needed him away from Ellen. Her condition seemed serious and the longer I took to deal with the Black Sioux trickster, the worse she would get. I had a suspicion that the shaman devil had drained a considerable portion of her life force and that a further withdrawal would kill her.

It eventually sensed what I was manuevering towards, yet too little too late and I soon had the defensive position that I wanted...Ellen was behind me and plan set into motion. I saw the creature hesitate, fatally, as its food source, his power supply if you will, was out of his reach. It's condition immediately began to deteriorate, as the horns loosened and fell out, then his torture bar fizzled out and his claws, like a barrier reef along his outer body dulled. During his next pass-by attack, his claws didn't even break my skin.

Desperate to regain his lifeline to this world, the former devil-inhabited shaman rushed me and leapt over my crouched body. At the apex of this jump, I shoved the broadsword upwards and skewered him through the only part of his unarmored body, his anus. Like a victim of Vlad the Impaler, the blade continued through its body and exited through his mouth. The blade glowed, drinking in the devil's darkened life force until the ugly visage faded from my sight, not unlike my own vanishing act. When I flung the gory chunks of its' remains off of my sword, its' viscereal muck flew apart like the rotting meat it was.

The portal to the now-burning pastures of 1825 was waning in short, static bursts and starts and I hurried to accomplish a spiritual rebirth of the temporal kind. I picked up Ellen's relaxed, unconscious body, then gingerly rushed over to the portal. When I got within a few feet of the "time tunnel", I put my left hand into the portal's smoky winds and laid Ellen on the cement floor, keeping my right hand over her heart and soul. I tapped into the peace now overflowing from the remaining shamans still stuck in time's ethereal embrace. The peaceful energy began to flow from the past through me and into Ellen, bringing color back to her beautiful, restless face. When her heartbeat steadied and fell back into its' natural rhythm and strength, I let go of the past and turned my attention back to Ellen, full time.

All the excess energy that I had pulled from the shamans and their peaceful power I now sent to work into ensuring Ellen's life and well-being. I directed the flow into the various channels that lead to the poisoned sections of Ellen's fragile frame. As she neared the "full" side of her metaphysical "gas" indicator, I felt a tug on my single-minded mission. A certain calmness entered me, putting my overwhelming fear of losing Ellen, to rest. This tug, of the deeply spiritual kind, told me I needed to sacrifice one of my 'special' powers to balance the healing, the saving of Ellen's life. I willingly offered anything—the force decided to relieve me of my ability to become non-corporeal and the gladius sword as an additional price. I was slightly hesitant to give up that blade back to the Boss, but I could still understand the reasoning behind this demand...After all, it was the Sword Peter used in the Garden of Gethsemane to hack off the Roman soldier's ear. Jesus restored the soldier's ear and in doing so, earned another devoted follower. So I understood His need to have that sword back in their possession, but now I would need one blade to replace it. And that wouldn't be so simple to accomplish.

Of course, I agreed to the 'terms' and the process continued unabated as Ellen recovered swiftly. I felt the portal finally close, so I leaned back on my heels and drew Ellen's head, shoulders on to my lap.

Maybe Anduril, the sword from "Lord of the Rings" would be an apt replacement for the Roman gladius. Ellen began to slowly regain consciousness and I started to breathe again. Despite my preoccupation with Ellen's well-being, I felt residual vibes and powers of peace, take over the entire base, indeed the whole Prairie du Chien and Rio de los Angelos areas seemed to have sun beams, rainbows and peaceful happy vibes, spread all over their populace and surroundings. It seemed to be a cloaking device of utopia, fulfilling my birthright, my destiny. Ellen opened her eyes that always seemed to focus on my invisible form and in a sexually-charged whisper, told me in no uncertain terms that I was truly a sight for sore eyes and easy on those eyes as well, metaphysically speaking.

"Hi. Big help I turned out to be, huh?"

I spoke past a huge lump in my throat. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"Oh no, my dear Mikey. It will take a lot more than a low-level devil of the Black Sioux Trickster class to separate me from you. A whole hell of a lot more. Are we done here then?"

"Yes, I believe we are."

"Are we heading straight home now, Mikey me love, or can we find a place in Prairie du Chien to spend the night?" She put some huskiness into her voice, a little girl pleading into her voice, and I laughed, laughed with her in the full joy of the moments to come.

"Can you stand? Walk on your own, back to the car?"

"With your help, dear Michael, with your help and support I could fly to the moon on gossamer wings."

"Well, so could I, love, so could I."

"Asshole?"

"What?!"

"I mean, did you stab him—"

"Oh, right, yeah...that's the sticky wicket I gave him."

"So, do we know who arranged this?"

"Not sure. I think those thugs we dealt with twice are a part of all this too."

"Let's go, Mikey, I'm feeling a bit worn out now."

"Sure thing. Hey—the sun's still out. Can you feel that on your face, your skin?" Ellen reached up for my head, bent it towards her and kissed me on the lips, then she kissed me on my neck.

"Do 'you' feel my lips on yours, on your skin? At the risk of sounding corny, Michael, you are my sunshine, but yes, I do feel the sun on my face, on every inch of my body. You, however, I feel on my body as well, inside and out, from my top to my bottom."

"Speaking of which..." I smacked Ellen on her ass, drawing a yelp of surprise, pain and pleasure from her.

"Mikey, not now...I mean, just what the heck was that for?"

"Oh, there's a whole list of 'what was that fors'! You could have been more careful, you could have told me you had Fae blood, could have stayed in the damn car like I told you to!"

"Mikey, my love, I can't help being headstrong. I was going to tell you about my Sidhe heritage and bloodline, but I was hoping to swap origin stories when you recalled yours..."

We were back in the car and on our way to a B&B in Prairie du Chien, found by the GPS system in the Impala, and had been 'discussing'things since we'd left the Air Force Base. These discussions were mostly vague and upbeat, but a more detailed, more truthful; reckoning would have to take place soon. I was beginning to recall significant parts of my past, putting together pieces of several mixed up puzzles into the correct boxes, then assembling the pictures on the front of those boxes.

"—but I suppose if my truth, my heritage is the only whole story we have between us, I'll start."

"Hold that thought, sweetheart, we've arrived at the B&B." I pulled the car into a parking spot and we disembarked. Ellen made her way into the building while I grabbed the day bags we had packed, just in case.

The B&B was a rustic hunting inn type of place, with fake stuffed animals placed through out the lobby, fake heads mounted on the walls like some two-bit horror movie layout, but the rates were decent, a restaurant was nearby and, when we got to our room, the four poster bed looked very enticing.

"Mikey, the room smells nice enough, but I think I sense a jacuzzi?"

"Yes, you do. Care for a dip?"

"That's a straight line if ever I heard one." Ellen smiled and began unbuttoning her blouse with one hand, pushing me in the direction of said jacuzzi with the other. "Start it up, Mikey love, while I slip into something more comfortable."

"What could be more—oh, I see..." Ellen dropped her blouse to the floor, and due to my bra flinging episode back at the way station, was topless and beautiful. She continued by starting to remove her jeans, while I turned quickly to the jacuzzi and started it up. I heard Ellen go to the side of the bed and clink two glasses into the complimentary chilled on ice champagne bucket and then nothing, as she shoved me head first into the filled mini-pool. Sputtering as I flopped around in the very warm and soothing water, Ellen laughed the laugh of the shameless before jumping into the water after me. Since I was having problems pushing my large frame into a sitting position, Ellen found it easy to straddle me while still laughing, snorting almost and lightly pinned my arms above my head..

"Just how I like my men... a captive audience(snorting laughter again)-did you want to hear my life story now?" She teased me with quick, darting kisses to my neck, lips and eyes, while I pretended to try and escape her hold.

"Absolutely not...Can you release memmmph."

"Not in your wildest dreams, my love. Tonight we are going to be wild, passionate and forgetful of the world outside this room, our forgotten pasts and our dangerous, uncertain futures left alone at the baggage desk. So relax, Mikey, it's time to recuperate and enjoy ourselves in the process."

"How high up in the Sidhe Court are you, Ellen?"

"Mich-ael! Relaxing, remember? Besides, if I tell you it might put a slight damper on the incredible sex we're going to have. Tomorrow, okay?"

"Please..."

"Princess—"

"Queen?"

"Please?"

"I love it when you beg, sweetheart." I chuckled ruefully, realizing when I was beat as she pressed her breasts into my face and sighed, and the love I felt for her overcame my need to know, became my need for her. I left the questions for the morrow and began to live the Exile song, kissing her all over.

FIVE

I would like to say we slept in late that next morning but Sidhe beauties apparently have insatiable libidos and I really enjoyed making love with such a beautiful woman. Later that morning, we ordered room service from the next door restaurant, me begging that I need more energy to keep up with her, her laughing as she pushed and pulled my body into more gymnastic-styled jungle loving.

The breakfast delivery interrupted our all-night into the morning love making and sent Ellen deep under the covers with an embarassed shriek, as I asked him to bring the food on in. I tipped him about forty or fifty percent, wishing I'd given him a hundred when Ellen squeaked from beneath the covers, "Is he gone yet? You bastard! This is the very last time I'll strip for you! Damn you, that was 'so' embarassing...I—"

I cut and syrupped the pancakes, then stuffed a forkful into her mouth and said, "Chew on that. Now, back to our conversation of the night before. Just how high up in the hierarchy of the Sidhe Court are you?"

Ellen sighed deeply, finished chewing the pancakes, took a swallow of apple juice to wash down the load of pancakes I had given her.

"Would you believe, the King's Daughter?"

"Oh damn, now I'm in for it! Sleeping with the King's daughter before marriage. Shit, I'm going to be turned into a frog, no, a rock under which the frog is sitting on...I..."

"Mikey, relax. It's not like I'm a full-blooded member of the Sidhe Court—I am blind, after all."

"Umm, yeah, what about your eyesight? Don't the Fae refuse to recognize imperfect children, those bastards!"

"Mikey...yes, unless the child's parents are the High Lords of the Wisconsin Sidhe Court. But even so, I've been castout because of my blindness, my so-called inability to lead the court should my Father, the King become unable to finish his years of service to the Sidhe Court.

"I know this all sounds a bit outlandish, but it is the truth I was told. One more caveat, though."

"And that would be?"

"My mother was half-human, half-Fae, and wasn't royalty in any sense of the word. Actually, she was an exile, like me, somehow she stumbled back into the Sidhe hidden courts and fell in love with my Father. Good thing it was, that she got pregnant early on or she might have been banished again. The baby almost literally saved her life, gave her a certain value and standing in the court. I know I told you my mothers' bloodline gave me the Fae blood and that's still true.

"My mother's human side didn't dilute my fathers' full Fae bloodline, but since she was from the Canadian's Sidhe Court, one country closer to our homeland, supposedly, her Irish Sidhe blood augmented the Kings', my Fathers' line and so I'm considered full-blooded."

"Yet still ostracized because of your blindness?"

"Yes." She tucked some of her damp Irish red curls behind her ears and sighed. "And yet, I could still be accepted back into the fold, if not back to my full ranking and Power as Princess of the Sidhe."

"And how or what would have to happen for that happy ending?" I gently pushed more damp curls off her forehead and watched with a combination of amusement and confusion as Ellen blushed furiously.

"It wouldn't be the typical happy ending of the fairytale books, wouldn't include a group family hug or big photo opportunity though. I'd become an emissary, an ambassador of sorts to the rest of the normal world, when, if and/or such a position was made necessary."

"You haven't answered the question, love." I gently nudged her back to the moment at hand.

"Umm, it's kind of embarassing and I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me, about us, as to how I feel about you..."

"And how do you feel about us, me, what we're doing?" I knew the answers, the feelings, but even a man need to hear them once in awhile, spoken out loud, spoken with the truest of words and intentions.

If possible, Ellen blushed even brighter red as she ducked her head, then raised it to "look" me directly in the eye and say, "I love you. I do so love you so very much, I love all we've been through and all we have yet to experience, and I would not have this come between us.

"Uh, so, if I come back to the Court with you or someone in your place either as my husband or husband to be, or if I come back with a child or with child(here she blushed deeply again), then I would be welcomed back in the court." She paused, waiting for a reply of any kind from me and I let the moment linger.

Ellen's blush lingered as well—she knew the answer I would give, no other possibility existed; she knew me too well already, no other answer would fit for us- not for me anyways.

"I love you too, poor little blind girl, I love you too.What if you brought me back, but without the extra weight of a child or a promise to wed, ahead of us? Not that I'd be adverse to any of them, especially the part of being your husband or the father of our child. But it's not something you should rush into, without knowing my origins, or who I am—really."

"I don't give a DAMN who you've been, who you might be—all I care about is that I love the who you are right now! Get that through that thick, wonderful, stubborn head of yours and let it sink down, down to your heart, your soul. Don't panic, Mikey, I'm not asking you to marry me just now(maybe later, though, no wait, no maybe about it). So yes, I think merely bringing you along with me, maybe with a promise(ring) for later nuptials, I'll be accepted back into the royal family. Least in name, that is. And if they still don't want me around, all that really matters to me is you."

"How soon do you want to do this, to return in style to your families' court?"

"Not that soon,silly. I don't want to rush back to my family's warm and embracing hospitality just yet, Mikey. I'm rather comfortable, right here right now, in the very warm and tender circle of your arms."

I set the food trays on the floor and pulled her gently into that circle. Ellen rested her head against my bare chest with a gentle sigh. Suddenly she shoved me back to the bed, sat up with the sheets slipping to her waist and fixed me with her piercing beautiful, unseeing eyes.

"You said you loved me!"

"Yes, I did...And?"

"And?? I never thought I'd find someone—"

"-someone like me?"

"No, not someone 'like' you, You!"

"Mmm, well, I didn't exactly set out to find you either, but I would never look a gift horse in the mouth—"

"Are you calling me a 'horse'?"

"Nonono. It's just an expression, Ellen—"

"Hush now. Care for a ride?"

SIX

A long time later, Ellen slipped into sleep. I took this time to make a few phone calls. One to the desk manager to book another day and night, two, to the dojo(via 411) to cancel that nights' class and finally, to a local number supplied by the desk manager to set up an appointment for the next morning. I watched my Irish fairy sleep for awhile and wondered if my family would accept her, deciding easily and quickly that I didn't give a rat's ass either way. Besides, if my family couldn't practice what they preached, they would swallow their pride, concerning her "pagan" ancestry and love her as I did.

"Mmm-mmm. I feel so refreshed, Mikey. Every time after we make love, I feel so reinvigorated, mentally as well as physically. Have I overslept?"

"Yes, yes you did. But no worries, I renewed us for another day and night, so we don't need to get out of bed, I mean, check out till 10 a.m. tomorrow."

"That sounds wonderful, Mikey, but my class is tonight, what will we do about that?"

"Already taken care of, my love. I'm going to shower, then maybe we can have a late lunch?"

"Should we save water?" I groaned, while faking weariness, as if she'd worn me out, but Ellen smirked at my feeble attempts at acting and led the way to the bathroom.

"Woman, you are going to use me up and spit me out, aren't you?"

"I never spit, I'm a Fae Princess. I also don't believe you for a second. C'mon, quit whinin', it's your turn to wash my back. And be gentle about it, let's not be in a rush, shall we?"

Ellen turned away from me in the shower, putting her arms above her head and waited. I took her wrists in my hands and bent to kiss her neck, her back, the top of her head. Her backside brushed against me and she moaned, I bit back a small noise of my own and turned on the water.

"Mike, oh Mike..." Ellen moaned again with increased heat and strength as I entered her from behind and lifted her up with my hands now cupping her breasts, pressing her warm, supple body against me. I began to move with a slow steadiness born of infinite patience and a growing desire to pleasure her till eternity's bright starscape enveloped us all. Sorry, I do get a bit flowery when I'm...under her influence, shall we say, or under the influence of love and its many delightful off shoots.

After the first shower, we needed a second one and after 'that' one, a long, soothing semi-relaxing jacuzzi bath. We ended up ordering out for pizza around four-thirty p.m. A much-later lunch than I had anticipated, but what man in my bvds would have the moxey to complain?

Over the half-hamburger, half-pepperoni, totally devoured over time pizza, Ellen just smirked and grinned at me, waiting just waiting for me to comment on her rapacious sexual appetite. I'm not a total fool, so I kept quiet not saying a word. Instead I returned her gaze, letting my eyes roam over her naked, nubile body and her memories of our sexual escapades slowly build up in her head, using my steamy gaze to burn her flesh to a deep blush. Then it was my turn to smirk and grin at her.

Ellen erupted into a flat-belly shaking roar of laughter and with a unladylike shriek, fell backwards off the bed, off our lovely four poster bed, to the plushly carpeted floor below, causing me to laugh harder than I ever had before. I offered her a hand back up to the bed but damn this woman was strong and instead she pulled me off the bed, down on top of her on the floor.

"Woman, have I told you yet that you're insatiable? And that I love that about you?"

"You said you love me!" Ellen sang in a la-la type of singing.

"That's hitting below the belt, love."

"Where else would I be aiming for, my love?"

"Oh."

.

This time when I woke her, I was fully dressed and ready to leave the B&B, our bags packed except for some clothes I left out for today, for Ellen to wear. She mumbled something vaguely resembling 'good morning' and tossed back the covers and sat up. I let loose with my best wolfish whistle, Ellen with her palm out towards me, warding me off with a grumbly "Keep your distance, you masher, you" and made her way to the bathroom. "Don't you dare, Mikey, augggh!" I scooped her up, naked body and all, and carried her to the shower. I turned on the cold water, gently set her upright inside the stall and gave her a quick kiss before the cold water hit her and she screamed at me.

"Wash off your sleepiness, dress and come on downstairs. We've got to be somewhere by ten-thirty." I laughed as she shivered and cursed at me. I left her a blouse, pants, panties, socks and shoes where I told her they'd be, I headed downstairs to settle our bill and bring the car around. I added visibility as I entered the stairwell alone.

Twenty minutes later, the Impala idling in front of the B&B, Ellen swished out the front door with her cane jauntily over her shoulder and the night manager on duty carrying our day bags. He opened the car door for her, and Ellen entered the car with the grace of a queen. Her smile dazzled the twenty-something clerk and his stuttering "come back again, anytime", only brightened the wattage, the intensity, the sexuality. She turned to me and told me to burn rubber. Under her breath as we drove away, Ellen laughed. "You'all come again, here."

"Or there, or 'there' and there..."

Ellen's royal grace dissolved into an almost-hysterical fit of the giggles and we drove off towards my mysterious appointment that I'd not yet filled her in on. In what stood as the heart of Prairie du Chien, I parked the car alongside a small but stylish and discreetly ornamanted jewelry store.

"Mikey, why are we stopping? Aren't we still in the city proper?"

"A-yep, we are. Let me see your hand, nono, the other one." I sized up her left hand ring finger and swiftly kissed her, then left her in the car as I entered the jewelry store. The Manager at my prearranged signal went to the door and locked it, thwarting Ellen's last ditch attempt to join me. Ellen threw me a high-wattage, beaming smile at me and pretended to "feel" the printed letters on the door. Resigned to not knowing what I was up to, Ellen got back into the car and relaxed, closing her eyes. She turned on the music and winked in my direction.

The jeweler and I got down to business. Since I was picking out an engagement ring for a Fae Princess, price shouldn't be an object yet beauty was a necessity. As I searched the sturdy yet pristine showroom cases, I felt the codex pushing me further along till the end of the southern wall of displays. Then I leaned on the glass counter, a whisper in my head telling me which one to pick.

"That one", I declared to the Manager, pointing out a white platinum band with a diamond in the shape of a rose, blue-green in color, three carats in weight.

"You have a very distinctive eye, Mr.Wells. That is indeed the ring I had mentioned to you on the phone, when you called me with your unique question last night.

Provenance is in my safe, Mr. Wells, if you are decided on this ring?"

"I am." As he went into the back room, I brought up the duffle bag I'd used for my clothes and set it on the counter. The price tag on the ring would have given most men heart stoppage and instant gray hair, but I most definitely wasn't most men. Judging the tax inside my head, I took the necessary amount out in $100 bills and placed it neatly on the counter. The Manager had told me on the phone, in response to my question, "Did you have an engagement Ring worthy of Royalty?", that indeed he did and he quoted me a staggering price. Then he told me where it was from and what it was made of and I set the appointment to go see it.

The Manager slash Owner of the store came back with the provenance papers, the letters of authenticity if you don't watch either Antiques Roadshow or History Detectives on PBS, that proves that the ring was what he claimed it was. The band was thicker than a normal rings' but the size he told me, was the size I'd told him when I'd entered the store. I had him measure to be certain, it seems that my nerves were actually starting to act up on me.

"Alright, let's wrap it up before my lady gets too curious."

"Of course, Mr.Wells, of course." He put the ring in a black silk velvet box in a black silk velvet bag and then handed it over, along with the insurance papers and the rest of the paperwork. He took a few minutes to count and put away the cash, then we shook hands and I stuffed the bag with the ring in it into my leftside front pocket as I left.

I unlocked the door, started to stride confidently towards the car, only to have my happy universe thrown into the garbage can.

The car was empty.

SEVEN

My heart was pounding like the war drums of the Black Sioux and I spun my head around like Linda Blair, sans the pea soup effects. I felt like Linda as well, until I saw Ellen waving saucily at me from an outdoor café across and further south down the street from me.

I swore like the proverbial sailor, every step I took down the street towards her, all but leaving the ground as my speed increased. The closer I got the more I thought that I was playing right into one of her smirks. So cool and possessed was how my final approach became until my breathing slowed to normal and I had run out of curses in every language that I knew.

"I thought since you were preoccupied with your mysterious mission, I would get myself something to eat and drink. Sit down, close your mouth, I've ordered something for you. Did you get what you were looking for?"

I shut my slack jaw, pulled out the chair and sat down, all in a calm manner. Then I took her face into my hands, looked directly into her fragile, beautiful jade green eyes and yelled at her.

"DON'T ever do that to me, ever again!"

"Sorry Mikey,you deserved this. No miss, everything is fine here. I ordered a steak sandwich, medium, for you with fries and a Dew, okay?" Her carefully modulated voice shook just a little, enough for me to realize that she knew I'd actually been scared and this was her way of apologizing. I accepted it with a pat on her hand and leaned back in my chair.

"I suppose you just opened the car door and sniffed your way to this café?"

"No, a police car pulled alongside our car and asked if I was okay, and I told him, no—my boyfriend was ripping off the jewlery store and could he please tell him where the nearest café was and here I am,here we are actually. So, what did you buy for me, Mikey?"

"Don't ask me now, I'm still a little miffed at you." I adopted a pretend sulk and she laughed at me.

"So you 'did' buy me something! Guilty by lack of denial! What is it? I couldn't get any impression from the store's door and yeah, I really didn't try too hard, so relax, okay?"

She pushed away her empty plate just as my sandwich arrived. Ellen then talked excitedly about what I might have bought her, silly talk really, but she was happy and I kept smiling around my sandwich and fries, thinking that a happy Princess made for a happy life, an easier life. If this was an example of what made her happy, of how easy it was to live with her, how easy it was to love her, I was indeed a blessed man. I probably could have bought her a box of Cracker Jacks and she would still be, well, maybe not as happy, but not too upset either.

She eventually bored of trying to pry an answer out of me so she moved onto other topics such as music, weather and her martial arts class, but I half-tuned her out, trying to think of a place special enough to give her the ring. I knew we were moving this relationship a bit faster than the norm and I knew she might think I was intimidated into proposing to her, after that speech she made about going home with a husband, or a baby, etc, but I believed in what I was doing. I told Ellen I needed the restroom and left her at the table. I passed a typical tourist rack of pamphlets of places to see and visit in the area and grabbed several of them to accompany me to the mens'.

Fifteen minutes later, I had secreted one pamphlet into my back pocket and trashed the rest on my way back to our table. Ellen was basking in the early afternoon sunlight and I had to stop on my way back to her, just to watch her red hair catch the light. I was beginning to believe in the power of the codex I carried, that it did what I hadn't thought possible: a holy relic that would carry one's prayers directly to God.

"Michael, are you just going to stand over there by the cash register, worshipping me from afar? Or are you coming back to the table, to pay your tributes to your goddess up close?"

Damn, she was in a good mood.

"Feeling a little full of yourself, love?" Ellen smiled, a predator with helpless prey at her feet.

"It's you that makes me feel this way, Mikey my lad. Have you settled our bill yet?"

I tossed back the last of my Dew, threw a couple of twenties on the table atop of the bill and took her hand as she rose from her chair. "Are we going somewhere, then?" I guided her through the moving crowd, waiters and the hostess, customers and such, heading us back to the car.

"I guess so!" She laughed as we jumped back into the car and headed south out of town. I put the memory of the directions to the Wyalusing State Park located just outside of Prairie du Chien into the front of my brain for easy access and slid in a new cd.

"Wynton Marsalis Septet, Live at the Village Vanguard, Disc 1 of 7. Yes, we're going somewhere, No, I'm not telling you where or why, Yes, we'll head home afterwards?"

"Are we going far?"

"Not really, we're almost there already. So you haven't told me where the Wisconsin Sidhe Court is, currently?"

"It's rather hard to find out without help. We have several different ways of communicating a desire or need to meet with members of the Court—usually through a Fleadh, a Festival.Messages are usually left with a Silversmith there and a response is delivered in 'person',sometimes, other times the return message is delivered through a song and it's lyrics. We're rather cryptic, we Fae."

I laughed and continued driving us down State Highway X, the road that would lead us to Wyalusing State Park rough gravel grinding under our wheels indicated a less than perfect road, inclined angles outside the window showed a change in altitude. We passed a sign with detailed instructions on where to go for whatever activity you had in mind when visiting this particular State Park and Ellen yelled out a guess as to our destination.

"Steep unpaved road, you paused to read a directions sign, the smell of a Forest of trees through my open window, I'd say we're in the Wyalusing State Park that overlooks the Mississippi River and three other states of the Union." Ellen looked at me with a gleam of victory in her eyes and asked, "Am I spot on?"

"Spot on, my love. I'll be parking soon, but I want us to spend the night here, do a little trail hiking in the dark,stargazing, um, and other stuff. So I'll get an overnight pass at the booth up ahead. Are you okay with sleeping in the car, under the stars?"

"It would be more romantic under the stars, Mikey." Ellen slid her hand onto my right hand on the steering wheel and squeezed. "I think there's a XL sleeping bag in the trunk."

"What if it rains?"

"I'll send a prayer to the local Fae creatures to prevent that , my love."

"You can do that?"

"No, not really. They might hear me but would probably ignore me, being an outcast and all."

"You're not upset about that, are you?"

"No, no I'm not. I've enjoyed my life outside of the court, even before you started my heart to beating again. Court life can be very oppressing, boring, etc., with a lot of rituals, law making sessions and trials to uphold those laws."

The booth entrance to the Wyalusing State Park came up on our left and I stopped the car then; nobody came to the car, so I parked it and went to the booth, entering it. The Ranger was inside the booth and on the phone, he waved a hand to acknowledge my presence.

I checked my watch while I waited for the Ranger to conclude his business on the phone, it was close to two p.m. Looking out the window at the partly-cloudy sky, I snuck a long look at my poor little blind Fae Princess still sitting quietly in the car and was not surprised to see her react to my scrutiny by "looking" directly at me and smiling sweetly.

I chuckled quietly, under my breath and decided I was too predictable. The Ranger completed his call and turned to face me.

"What can I do for you, sir? Day-pass, night's stay maybe?" The man was a relatively younger man than I had expected, yet he filled the profile otherwise with his impressive physique and clothing.

"Two-day pass would be the ticket, I think, I guess it all depends on the weather."

"Slight chance of rain, tonight, a little warmer in the low 60's, tomorrow all the way to the low 70's with plenty of sunshine on tap." He smiled sheepishly; "We watch a lot of the TV weather channels out here as we get close to the off-season. Do you have a tent?"

"No," I admitted, "I was hoping to sleep out in the open tonight, under the stars."

"Y'all here for a special reason or such?"

"Yeah, I plan to propose to her tonight, near the cliffs, if the weather holds."

"Let me make a quick call here, to my second in command. I think she found a tent yesterday that someone left behind, someone whom we believe snuck in after the late shift."

"That would be excellent, thank you."

"This your first visit to Wyalusing?" The Ranger spoke out of the corner of his mouth, then addressed someone on his walkie-talkie,

"Maria, this is Rob, over."

"Yeah Rob, what's up, over?"

After a few minutes of this kind of scintillating conversation, Ranger Rob told me Maria would meet us in the tent canping section of the park, I.D. us by our car plates and drop off the tent.

"Thanks, I appreciate the help." I paid for the overnight, two day pass and returned to the car with a sticker for the window as well. Behind me, standing in the doorway of the Ranger station, Ranger Rob whistled under his breath at his first clear visual of Ellen.

<Deus has verum beatus ves, Curator>.

"The Ranger has a tent leftover by other visitors, sweets, so we'll be able to stay overnight even if it does rain." I put the car in gear and headed further into Wyalusing State Park.

"Awesome, Mikey—what's going on? You have something planned, don't you?"

"Can't hear you over Marsalis's music, lalalalala—"

"Oh brother."

I smiled and watched as limestone cliffs began to rise on the passenger side of the car. The road curved up and around for awhile till we arrived in an open area for general parking. A sign pointed the way to the tent sites and I assisted Ellen out of the car after we parked.

"Tent sites are down that road, but I thought we could stretch our legs a little and walk the rest of the way." I retrieved Ellen's cane and she smiled as she took it.

"Thank you, good sir. Are we coming back for the car and everything else in it?"

"Absolutely, dear. Couldn't camp without it."

"So describe the colors for me, Mikey. All my senses can do for me now is scent the decay, the coming death of the aboreals of summer."

"Um, the fall colors are close to the apex of their journey, red, yellow, brown, some green still, some trees already bare of foliage all together. High winds and strong rainstorms are probably responsible for most of that.

"We're leaving the road now, drawing closer to the cliff edge..."

"I can sense that, you lovable goof."

"No interrupting the color commentator."

"Says who?" Ellen retorted, playfully.

"Says me, the color commentator, that's who." I looped my arms around her waist and carried her to the very edge. We had to get over the protective fencing, but that wasn't a barrier to me.

"I can feel the sun's last rays on me, Mikey. It's sinking soon, isn't it?" She was whispering into my shoulder-length hair near my neck, her breath setting my skin to goosebumps.

"Yes, it is. 'Red sky at night—'"

"Sailor's delight?"

"Is that how it goes?"

Ellen giggled. "That's how it goes tonight."

"Hey, you two! You have to get away from the cliff's edge!" A high-powered flashlight cut the dusky late afternoon gloom and ruined our romantic moment.

"Sorry Ranger, Ma'am, I was just showing my girlfriend the view." We crossed back over the barrier and nearly ran into a stocky, uniformed Latino whom I presumed was Maria. She recited to us chapter and verse, about the dangers of the cliffs, I tuned her out after getting back to the car and setting Ellen on her feet.

The tent was in a heap on the hood of the Impala. Maria handed me the stakes, rope and vague instructions as to setting the tent up, then left us. Ellen started laughing behind her hands as the Ranger drove off in a second-hand State Park pickup but stopped when I didn't join her.

"What's the matter, Mikey? You're a little distant right now."

"Sorry. Remember that dude, Andy I think his name was? How I rushed us out of the store—You wanted an explanation as to why..."

"Yes, I remember all that. I also remember telling you that I was scared by your actions. Sorry about that. I know you were only trying to safeguard me, but now—"

"He, Andy, that is, had no aura—he wasn't human. Neither was Maria, our snarly witch of a Ranger, human. I'm not sure what either one was, but I'm feeling highly suspicious of their motives, of the intent of the 'people' behind them."

"Mikey, there is a reason I didn't over react to Andy. And Maria is another one like him. They are drones, spies if you would. As you said, not human.

"Both of them are tools of my parents, sent out into the human society to keep an eye on me and other bastard children the Sidhe Court have sired. It's one way of preventing us castoffs and rejects from doing the Sidhe reputation any harm or exposing their secrets in any way." Ellen paused for a second, then went off into a different tangent before I could open my mouth to speak.

"You called me your girlfriend?! Mikey, you called me—"

"I'm about to call you something else besides that right about now."

"Mi-ikey..."

"Let's set up the tent so we can have somewhere to sleep tonight, in case it does rain instead of the car seats."

"Mike—"

"I promise that the surprise will happen 'after' we set up the tent."

Ellen stopped protesting and "meekly" helped put the tent into the car. We drove the short distance to the tents-only camping area and parked in the first spot I saw.

"We've got a spot on the side away from the cliffs. I don't want you to sleepwalk to your death."

"Thanks, I think. You'll have to keep me", her fingers climbed up the back of my neck, "preoccupied."

"Hunh." I began to set up the tent as Ellen sat on a picnic bench, swinging her jean-clad legs back and forth, back and forth. I forced my eyes away from her and gritted my teeth, trying to concentrate on the job at hand not the pleasure to follow. Twenty minutes later, the sun had set for good and I was no closer to finishing my task than I was before.

"You'all need help with that? Poor little blind Fae Princess could help you, if you ask her politely for it." Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight and damned if she wasn't enjoying herself just a little bit too much.

"Smart mouth. You think those Rangers are gone for awhile?"

"Uh-huh. Maria can't do much watching over me after the sun goes down, kind of the opposite of Vampyres."

"Good to know." I turned around fast, set upon her and scooped her up in my arms like before, then started quickstepping back towards the cliff edge.

"EEEK!" was all Ellen managed to say as I attacked her and she kept mum while we moved, yet she was shaking with repressed laughter even so. Once again, I carried her over the safety barricades and stepped close to the cliffs edge.

"Put your arms around my neck, your legs around my waist!"

"Michael Wells, are you trying to seduce me? Because I have to tell you, I'm a proper lady."

"Try to keep a straight face while you're saying that, love." I delved into my left front pocket, palmed the ring and closed my eyes, concentrating. I dropped my physical form into the ether and sent my prayers to the Almighty. I felt an incredible itch between my shoulder blades and realized I had remembered another aspect of my past.

Then, putting my arms back around Ellen, I leapt off the cliffs' limestone edge.

EIGHT

Sorry about the dramatics. My wings unfolded from the middle of my back, spread out to their full glorious width and I used them to hover five hundred or so feet about the ground. The Mississippi River sludged on below us, the grandiose view of several forested states bordering the river sparkled lights of a different fire than the stars above.

"Mikey, are we still on the cliffs? I kind of smell the river down below and the wind seems stronger than before..."

"No, we're not on the cliffs' edge anymore, my beautiful Fae Princess. We are actually now hovering over the powerful Mississippi River, five hundred feet plus above Mother Earth."

"SHRIEK! Mikey, what the HELL—I hear—-"

"Wings, yeah? More of my memory has been coming back to me. I want to ask you something..."

"Can I touch them?" I shook my head, stupidly, then I verbalized what I had meant to convey with that useless gesture. "Not while I'm using them to keep us aloft. Maybe later, if you're a good Princess and you say yes."

"Say yes to what, Michael my love?" Mischief haunted her vocal inflections but as I slipped the ring carefully, slowly onto her ring finger, her voice cut off as if her windpipe had closed suddenly. Squeaks only came from her pursed lips, squeaks of joy and delight, I later learned.

"Say yes to marrying me, Ellen, say yes to staying with me forever." My wings beat faster as I anxiously waited for her reply, my heart deep inside my larynx.

"Oh my GOD, I told you, you, didn't, you're proposing to ME and, we're in midair and we didn't need to do this-ohmygod!

"YES!!!" We sealed the deal by fusing our lips together for a kiss that would last as long as breath could be held. We spiraled higher into the heavens, never stopping the kiss, till Ellen finally broke free with a giddy laugh and told me she was cold. My wings gently fluttered, creating a downdraft to lower us several hundred feet.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise how high I'd taken us..."

"Shush, Michael, that was SO romantic! My God—Cupid or Venus herself couldn't have orchestrated a more romantic, perfectly beautiful moment than this—"And then she burst into tears. I may be something supernatural but I will "never" understand women.

"Ellen, honey, sweetheart...What's wrong?"

"Nuh-nothing, you big goof, absolutely nothing, my love, my angel. It's just one of those moments I'll always remember and I'm being emotional and babbling again but oh my Lord you proposed!" She lip-locked with me again and we hovered closer to the river.

Taking a deep breath to fortify her courage, Ellen's eyes sparkling in the starlight, she whispered: "Can you take us down to just above the river?"

"As you wish." I wrapped my wings around us and we plummetted towards the muddy mo'. Ellen shrieked with sheer joy of loving life with all its ups and downs, then breathed a deep, relieving sigh when I stopped our death-defying drop just as our feet skimmed the river.

"Mikey, I'm getting wet here!"

"I was hoping for that kind of reaction, actually..."

"Michael!" Ellen blushed. "I meant from the river!"

"You wanted the fish-eye's view, didn't you?" I teased, then lifted us up fifty feet from the coursing river. Ellen tilted her head towards the moonlight on the river, still appreciating it though she couldn't see it. Then she shivered again and I heard her unspoken message. With her arms wrapped securely around my neck and legs tight around my hips, I flew us back up to the cliffs edge. Landing on the other side of the barriers, I folded my wings around Ellen again and closed my eyes and whispered, "Say you love me again."

"I love you, Michael."

"I love you too, Ellen."

Something materialised behind us and away from the cliff's edge and softly intoned, <May is lugum exsisto beatus>.

We didn't notice it, however. Safely back on Terra Firma again, Ellen and I walked hand in hand in the opposite direction of where our tent was located. Her free hand caressed the ring, over and over again, as if she didn't quite believe it was real.

"So this beautiful, wonderful, lovely ring came from your secret stop in Prairie du Chien, didn't it?"

"Yes. So, tell me how you really feel about the ring? Does it fit right, do you like it?"

"Michael, I LOVE it...I really do, and yes it fits perfectly. So, this trip here was a spur of the moment thing?"

"Kind of, but not totally. Once I bought the ring, I needed somewhere romantic and spectacular to actually carry out the proposal. I found a pamphlet for this park at the café we were eating at."

"So,planned after all, was it?"

"Um, yes, somewhat. Why?"

"I bet I can guess at the point of time when it became your "game plan"."

"Somehow, no, scratch that, I don't doubt that you can or have and will shortly share it with me."

"It was right after I told you we didn't need to get married or pregnant for me to return to the Sidhe Court, in safety and acceptance. So, in your very own, stubborn way, that's when you decided to ask me to marry you."

"I truly am a millionaire."

Smugly, she retorted, "You should have flown to Vegas and checked out the odds."

"Not worth the trip, love, when I know the outcome of the bet ahead of the wager."

"Shh, my love, I think we're about to have company."

I checked over my shoulder to see that my wings were safely 'stashed' away, then made sure my physical form was visibile. I placed my right hand in front of Ellen in a vain attempt to block her from the company and with my left hand, pulled out my shiny new replacement blade from its sheath. It wasn't an Anduril clone, but a close copy none the less, made with Toledo steel and drawn from some metalsmith's vivid imagination. I brandished it in front of us as the company appeared.

"H-hold my lord, my lady, I present no danger to thee or thine." From the side of the road a thin, reedy sort of fellow stepped from and with the fall foliage and executed a halting but elegant deep bow before us. His body was composed of leaves, mud, twigs, branches and bark, with a discarded bird's nest functioning as its hair and hat together. Eyes that looked like unpolished gems gazed out at us, shining with the impossibility of life.

"I am the Messenger, dear lord and lady, only the message brings me to this place. Once delivered, I will fade back into the trees and forest, rock and mud, my duty to your Father and Mother, complete."

"Put your sword away, Michael. I'll handle this one, if you don"t mind." Ellen whispered, smiled at me with love and brushed aside my protective arm like it was a broken branch of a dying tree.

"Deliver your message, then, kind messenger, for I know you are needed to prepare for winter's coming."

"Many thanks to you, Princess of the Past and Future. This, then, is the message I was entrusted with to pass onto you.

"Greetings, Daughter, to you and yours. We have waited long for the proper time to call on you—this momentous occasion we believe is just such a time. Out of Love, we have allowed your life to pass along uninterrupted, without the rules and regulations that a member of the Royal House must meet. We would let that trend continue, but not without meeting the Guardian of your Heart, this emissary from the Airwalkers' House, Defender of Our Royal Princess.

"We desire and demand a meeting with you, Daughter Eleanor, and your chosen, Michael of the House of the Airwalkers. The location most suitable for our court to convene and closest to your position at the Wyalusing State Park, would be our Summer Court at the Indian caves of the Kickapoo Warriors.

"We do not desire to ruin your night of celebration with our wishes to see you again, Daughter, so this message will now come to an end. We implore you to be at the caves entrance tomorrow at three in the afternoon. The Reunion will be greatly anticipated and slow to end. Dinner of the finest foods we will serve thee, Warrior. Accomodations for you and our Daughter will also be provided. Till anon, Princess Eleanor of our Heart and Michael, Defender of the Royal line. Our Blessings are with thee till then."

The 'messenger' dissolved back into fallen leaves, dirt from the trail, dust from the wind and sticks, branches from the trees all around us. We both were somewhat dazed by the spectacle and pompostiy of it all. Then we simultaneously burst into whooping gales of laughter, nigh uncontrollable. Once we settled down to intermittent snorts and giggles, I looked at Ellen and she at me(you know what I mean).

"Lady Eleanor?"

"Sir Michael of the House of the Airwalkers?"

Snorts of laughter rang out into the crystal clean air of the Wisconsin night and we all but collapsed onto the hiking trail. We might even have fallen off the cliff again if not for the picnic table and the barriers.

Twenty minutes later Ellen and I got over our combined case of the snorts, giggles and guffaws and calmed down enough to complete entire sentences to each other.

"So. Shall we try to discuss all this sensory overload of information or table it till tomorrow?"

"I'd rather "celebrate" our engagement back in the tent, if you're in the mood for it." I waggled my eyebrows at her and though she couldn't see it, Ellen laughed all the same. "When have I ever "not" been in the mood? Isn't that a song by John Lee Hooker, by the by?

Anyhoo, lead the way sailor. My synapses are still firing on all levels and my sense of direction is all buggered up.Come on, boyscout, lead the way! We haven't had some good loving since last night." Ellen laughed again, this time behind her cupped hands and blushed furiously as I turned us around, back towards the Homestead loop where our tent still needed to be set up. I quickstepped her to the car first, to get the sleeping bag out of the trunk and began moving even faster to the tent.

"Let me set up the tent, Romeo, or we'll be sleeping on the tent instead of inside it." With that said, Ellen set about putting the tent up and damned if she didn't complete the task in less time than it took me to read the instructions.

"Stop smirking! Princesses don't smirk all the time!"

"And Angels don't know jack about tent camping."

"I'm not an Angel, love; something a little bit, alright, a lot more than a little bit short of being an Angel. Would an Angel have sex before marriage? Sounds more devilish to me."

"Stop that! So your mysterious past is still mysterious! At least we seem to have made some serious progress at last. Whatever the House of the Airwalkers is, it doesn't seem to be an angelic host or a part of the Heavenly organization—"

"Ellen, a little less talking..."

"A lot more action! Riding with the King, indeed, hmm, that sounds right."

"Um, they're not still watching us, are they?"

"No, Mikey...My parents might be Royalty of the American Sidhe house but they do keep their word when they deign to give it."

"A Princess, though, huh. Really? Are you slumming or something?" I was teasing her and she played right along with me.

"Yes I am and you damn well take better care of me or you'll hear from my Mommy and Daddy."

"Yes dear. 'Poor little blind girl', my ass. Pampered Princess is more like it." I loved teasing her, because she loved to return the tease and sure enough, Ellen retaliated.

"Not an Angel huh, but you do have your wings, eh Clarence? Whose 'Wonderful Life" did you save to earn those?"

"Yours. Twice, so far."

Ellen reddened, then laughed it off. "So how do Angels like their sex?"

"Princess, we aren't going to change a thing, from what we've been doing."

"I second that. Hmm, that move's different. So is that one, mmm, don't stop...."

.

We "celebrated" our engagement for several hours that night, yet sleep was still scarce as Ellen was in a talkative mood. First she waxed poetic about the ring, then gushed about the way I proposed, then she was shy and bashful about discussing our future, if we would stay where we were or if we'd live with either of our "houses" and so on. I tried to steer the conversation towards what we might expect at her parents' court but she kept steering me away. I let her succeed, it seemed only right.

"So Eleanor..."

"Mikey, don't use that name unless you're angry, surprised or highly annoyed at me. You're not angry, surprised or highly annoyed at me right now, so don't.use.that.name."

"Yes, dear."

Ellen sighed, deeply, then snuggled closer to me. "Are you up for more celebrating?"

"Are you trying to change the subject, El—"

"Don't."

"—ean—"

"use. That."

"—or—"

'NAME!" She started beating me up with her tiny fists but her heart wasn't in it.I kissed her deeply, running my tongue over her lips as she tried to bite it, but again, not seriously.

Then I shifted my body to better align with hers and we began to move in tandem. This time her heart was most definitely in it.

"

"

# CHAPTER FOUR

We packed up the tent with every intention of returning it. However, it took us awhile to pack up what with the stolen kisses and occasional walks along the cliffside.

"Can we do the, the hovering thing again?" Ellen put on a pseudo-pleading voice, yet I could read, the thrill, the love, the passion that came through those words. I smiled.

"Not in broad daylight, sweetheart. I'd rather stay under the radar than on it. The known world has forgotten me, I'd like it to stay that way."

"I understand."

Then she shrieked as I lifted her bodily into the air and twirled around like a whirling dervish. "Michael, this isn't what I meant! And you know it, you big bully!"

"We're off the ground, my love, we're hidden by the density of the trees here."

"You idiot-big, lovable, goofball idiot! Set us down, please." She was smiling, laughing, giddy with joy. We had only been twenty feet off the ground, but it felt like heaven. My love was satisfied, happily so, and thus, so was I.

"You know", Ellen said pensively with her hands on her hips, "you're going to need a classier outfit to meet the Sidhe Court and my parents."

"Uh-huh. What, like a tux or something?"

"No, not like that. A dress shirt, tie, dress pants, shoes, socks, leather jacket, all black. And try to stay visible the whole time you're in the Fae's company. They'll only think it rude. Anyways, it wouldn't help you evade them, they would still be able to suss you out."

I stopped dead in my tracks, frozen by the words that slipped so easily from her lips. Then Ellen bumped bodily and purposefully into me, finally startling a response out of me, like an explosion of long held breath.

"How—You knew—since when?"

Ellen had the grace and the nerve to blush both out of embarassment and guilt at the same time, while staying beautful and serenely innocent as well. One of the many things that attracted me and, to a lesser degree, annoyed me as well.

"Well?"

"You've kinda put me on the spot, Michael. I didn't mean to let it slip quite like that. I wasn't trying to 'prove' anything, not trying to show you up. I-"

I turned around, took Ellen into my arms and brought her close to me. "You don't think I'm mad at you, do you? I didn't know how or why I could turn myself invisible, neither did I know about the swords at my back or the wings."

Ellen swallowed. "Did you know before we stepped off the cliffs' edge?"

"——-"

"Don't tell me don't tell me don't tell me—-!!!"

"O-kay."

"It was too romantic, too incredible, too too perfect! Don't ruin it, please, so don't tell me." Ellen sighed and tried to snuggle even closer, if that had been possible. "Okay?"

"Okay. Care to answer my question, rid me of confusion?"

Ellen gathered herself and pushed me backwards, playfully, then tilted her head up to "look" at me.

"Well yes, I will need some new clothes as well, maybe a jade-green blouse and a dark brown skirt, knee-high at least—"

"Ellen, I meant—"

"Then some dressy but sensible shoes, maybe nylons maybe not—"

"Ellen, about the, my, invisibility—"

"Oh, "that". Well, it, um, geez."

"Mikey, please. It's just not that simple, so easy to explain. I can't, I "won't" be glib about this, it's too important to me, to us."

"Easy, love, easy. Do you want to tell me later, not at all, or later?"

Ellen sighed, then began. "Everything became clear, or as clear as it could be with me, then, after the first time we made love. My Fae abilities, memories—all that and more, came back to me then on that morning after, that oh so wonderful morning after.

"So the next morning, when I told you how wonderful I felt, because of the love we made, because of the sheer pleasure we shared before, during and after, the loving—all that and more left me with senses so alive, so on fire, that I could have found Jimmy Hoffa, Waldo and all the three leaf clovers in the entire world without breaking a sweat and all before the noonday sun. I felt so vibrant, so awake to everything in and around me that I could just about "see" you, I could tell more about you than even you knew. That's when I "saw" that you weren't always there, I could see the swords, your wings, your heart(your beautiful heart), your soul.

"Some things I didn't remember. Your wings, your swords were the main memories I lost until now, or to be more precise, last night when we flew off the cliff. The swords I forgot about entirely until the Air Force Base and the devil you fought and killed.

"But as I learned some of your secrets, I re-learned more of mine—and of my obligations, my priorities. You've stepped into my life and rearranged those priorities, made those obligations moot.

"Whatever my parents order, tell, plead or ask me to do with my life and our future, I will politely tell them to bugger off. I will override any objections to you, to us, to what we want to do with our lives."

Ellen stopped suddenly, as if she had run out of words, breathing heavily as she had not run out of emotions.

"What if they accept me, us; ask us to keep on doing, keep on living as we have been?

"That be a different kettle o'fish, Mikey. I don't really know what to expect from them regarding us, I only know what they would expect "of" us. Especially how, that we're, you know..." She broke off, biting her lip, waiting for me to finish her sentence.

"Lovers?"

"Michael!"

"Engaged?"

"Yes and, um, yes to that other one as well..."

"Are you blushing again?"

"Michael Wells, you..you..."Ellen huffed and puffed and spun on her heels, stalking away from the car. I enjoyed watching her stomp off her sun-burnt blush until I realised she was heading towards the cliffs' edge.

"Eleanor!"

Ellen pivoted a ballerina pirouette and just as fast as she had left, she was back again. Putting her hands on her hips, Ellen assumed a stern expression on her small, sensual face and proceeded to lecture me. Something was said about not noticing everytime she blushed, not preening when she told me how wonderful I made her feel, etc. Finally she ran out of steam and figured out what I had called her.

"Don't. Use, That. Name!"

"I will indeed us it, my love, as it is a name worthy of a Princess, and as beautiful as the woman whose name it is."

"Michael, what ever will I do with you?"

"Marry me."

"—oh—"

TWO

There were several clothing stores in Prairie du Chien and Ellen seemed determined to visit all of them. A black leather jacket with fleece lining was our first purchase, along with matching gloves for the coming Wisconsin winter. The jacket was more of an overcoat as it hung to my ankles and had a leather "vest" underneath it for warmth.

Even though Ellen couldn't tell how I looked in the jacket, she asked for the item specifically as if she had a picture of me in her mind(which she probably did, now that I think of it). As a sidebar, Ellen asked me what I thought about the look— though my feelings were probably not trustworthy, as she had a lady clerk helping us out, agreeing with Ellen on every choice she made, be it yea or nay.

Once while I was trying on the greatcoat, Ellen sent the woman out for something or other. Then she came up close to me, took my hands in hers and asked if the coat allowed me enough freedom to pull out my swords or flex out my wings to their full wingspread.

I agreed that it was important to figure that out now, instead of later when it really mattered. So I moved my hands up to encompass her arms and willed out my wings, then flapped them silently and lifted us ten feet off the ground. We no sooner settled back to the ground than the assistant came back. She came through the curtains to the large dressing room, stopped in her tracks and flushed scarlet, then backed out again. Ellen covered her mouth with both hands to stiffle her sudden, sunny laughter.

"I think she believes we were doing something other than trying on clothes, Mikey. If I'm going to be considered naughty", Ellen stretched up to kiss me, "then I need to be doing something worthy of that belief." She smiled with a wickedly erotic curve of her lips and decided the coat was perfect(in 2XL). After adding the gloves(size XL) without fingers, as well as a pair that had fingers, we settled our bill and left.

.

Walking along the street, I started to describe the next few store fronts but Ellen cut me short by telling me she knew exactly which stores were where, pulling me by my hands as if I was dragging my feet. Which was exactly what I was doing but I had thought my rebellious nature to have gone undetected. Right. This short slim redheaded curvy sensual loving fighting hellcat had one hand around my cajones(metophorically speaking) and the other firmly ahold of my heart. I was doomed. Kind of like Linus having to give the Christmas monologue in the Charlie Brown Christmas strips doomed. Not that I minded, of course, I wasn't the type of man to think that being a solitary soul was the best thing to be achieved. So I was wrapped around her little pinkie—so what? I was more than enjoying every minute of her company. ('Course they say that all newly-to-be-weds feel this way, so...).

"This is the next store, Mikey. Let's make this a quick stop, we only need a couple of black pants, close to silk as possible, I think, and some silk boxers, as well as socks, black, and two or three(you guessed it) silk shirts to finish up your "visit the Sidhe Court" outfit."

A 'short' hour later, I was outfitted as a black silk suited man(tie was optional, but we bought one anyway). I felt that all I needed was a guitar and I could go trick-or-treating as Johnny Cash. I made the(big) mistake of saying so and got a dirty look from the clothing store's assistant and a sniffle or six(crocodile tears, I swear) from Ellen, along with the old "You don't like the clothes,etc, I picked out for you" speech. Take out the words "clothes" and insert your own 'woman-bought/picked out just for you item' and you get the picture.So after that I just nodded at the sales clerks and said, "Yes dear" to Ellen every time she asked me a question and suffered in silence.

I insisted on my need for sunglasses and nourishment but Ellen held up her hand after 'sunglasses'.

"My family will have a feast waiting at their temporary court near those Kickapoo Caverns. You will "not" spoil your appetite before hand." She laughed out loud when my stomach rumbled in protest. I was actually 'allowed' to pick out my own sunglasses, even though they couldn't be reflective, had to be opaque and of course, you guessed it again, black.Sigh.

Next we stopped at some brand name mall clothes store and stock up on the basics like jeans, socks and plain black tees. Ellen insisted on joining me in the dressing room. She stated that my jeans weren'to be relaxed or baggy, but firm and tight and hugging my ass and legs like a second skin. That was the excuse she gave me, but by the number of times she 'accidentally' brushed up against my butt, I doubted that to the extreme.

So when it was her turn to get the basics, I insisted on helping 'her'. Ellen had no exterior to disguise her new and vibrantly raw emotions, blushing with every new pair of panties I added to the basket and almost shrieking out loud when I cupped her breasts behind a rack of lacy, racy expensive brassieres. "The better to measure you for the right cup size", I told her with a sneer.

"Your blouses should all be silky and buttoned down the front to the end, you'll look stunning and extremely sexy, especially in colder weather-"

"MICHAEL!"

"Some of the bras", I continued as if she hadn't spoken, "should have front clasps while the other half back clasps. Wouldn't mind finding a pair with both that I could rip off when I'm in that kind of a mood..."

"Mi-ichael!"

"As for the panties—"

'MICHAEL!!!"

"—this store probably doesn't have the edible kind..."

"You slimy, son-of-a...."

"—so we'll have to settle for the skimpiest, softest silk panties we can find."

"Augggh! I've created a monster!" This time she was grinning despite her dismay at my revealing dialogue and didn't argue with my choices as I shepherded her back to their dressing rooms. Being a not-so-typical member of the chauvinistic pig society(or 'men', for short), I slapped her behind as the dressing room door close behind her. Ellen's cream-colored skin reddened further as the two women(girls? Who knows these days?) giggled over our escapades. Then I heard one of them say quietly (but loud enough to hear), "I wouldn't mind being in her position." To which the other clerk replied, "I wouldn't mind any position with him, good lord what part of heaven did 'he'fall from?"

Ellen tossed the clothes towards a bench and turned to face me with her forefinger ready to point, along with a lecture, when she realized that I had fallen to my knees. I was clutching at my head, trying to ward off the Devil of all migraines from flashing through my brain,(fatherson)destroying my eyes and all my other senses(walkscrawlsfliesfallslivesdieslives-

Dieslivesagain).

"Mikey, is it one of those—"

I moaned, groaned, then felt myself being gently lowered backwards, my head softly coming to rest on her lap.

"—memory flashes?"

Which is what we had come to call them. I moaned a soft "yes" and she hushed me while softly kneading my forehead. The ponytail band Ellen had made me put on while trying on the shirts and jackets began to feel like someone was yanking my head back till my neck snapped. Ellen figured out, somehow, that this was causing me additional pain and eased it off as quick and painlessly as only an understanding woman could. I felt some of the pain begin to subside and the flashes from my past receded till I was well enough to sit on the bench by myself.

"Are you better now?"

"Yes, thank you. Go ahead, try the clothes on."

"Oh you, you're fine enough alright, you pervert." Ellen smiled to leaven the sting from her playful words, then changed from innocent-like vixen to sultry siren and began to strip slowly, sans the music. Something prompted me to hum a beat to accompany her incredibly sexual act, and I soon stretched it out to a wordless tune that came out from the hidden parts of my being, my soul.

Ellen closed her eyes to become this beautiful, wanton, sexy goddess and moved in syncopation with my voice. Lost in a dream-like state, this lovely vision soothed my aches and pains away, far away, never to return. I could have flown us out of this city, this state, this world even, making love to her every minutes of our future lives together, never needing to eat, sleep or do anything else ever again.

Totally naked now, Ellen, unfortunately, finally came around and asked me twice, three times for the first piece of clothing to try on. If this happened at every store we were to stop at, we wouldn't see her parents till Christmas, which I rather doubted they celebrated anyhow.

So I tried to concentrate on the task as a task, not to be enjoyed as much as I had already been doing and passed Ellen her clothes as efficiently as possible. Ellen agreed with most of my choices, rejected a few and occasionally whispered to me, "Please remove this piece of clothing from my body, Mikey."

I reluctantly handed her back her original articles of clothing and we left behind that magical dressing room, with both of us seemingly enraptured by what we had experienced there.

"Where now?" I asked and Ellen hesitated before pulling me across a somewhat busy street. Just before we crossed at the light on the next street, she turned left, dragging me along by sheer force of will(I told you this woman was strong) and told me, "Close your eyes and don't open them till I tell you you can!" Thus obeying her latest whim, I was led, stumbling a little, to a comfortable chair and told to wait.

I could hear Ellen talking really low to a sales clerk as they moved about what seemed to be a smallish store, catching only the odd third word or so. Included among these words were the following: fiancee, winter wedding, and sexy lingerie mingled with the word honeymoon. "Now" I began to sweat. I asked a nearby sales clerk for water and she chuckled with evil intent and brought me an ice-cold Dasani all the while admonishing me not to open my eyes.My throat was parched like the river bed in the song "A Horse with no Name" and thus I needed a second, third and even a fourth bottle before I could work my throat again.

"Alright, Mikey, you can open your eyes now."

Light re-entered my synapses and suddenly I was the blinded one, blinded by the incredibly beautiful, stunningly sensual, sexual—WOW! I couldn't find the words, couldn't understand what my heart was yelling at my brain for my mouth to release. I jumped to my feet, breathing heavily, trying not to faint from lack of oxygen. Also, as I began to circle around my lovely lady staring, staring, drinking her in till I could have been drunk on her beauty, I tried desperately not to ravish her right there, right then, in front of the sales clerks and God, in the middle of what I now perceived to be a Bridal Shop.

Ellen was looking down at her white dress shoe shod feet, gloriously resplendent in an angel-white wedding dress, the only article missing a golden halo. I continued to circle around my Princess, wondering how anyone but God could have improved upon the perfection that I had originally fallen in love with. The salesclerks'that had added additional highlights to Eleanor's natural beauty watched me first with bemused looks on their faces, then those looks changed to ones of professional pride as they understood how very impressed I was.

In a rather shy, quiet voice, quite unlike the confident woman I had come to know, Ellen asked me, "Mikey? What do you think? What—"

"Shh love, I'm still revelling in the wonderful sight of you, still drinking in...whoah." I had gotten dizzy, so I sat down in the same chair as before, my eyes never leaving my goddess of mercy, my angel in alabaster ivory white.

"I'll take your continued silence as being lost for words, Michael, and for what that implies, for what that means to me, I thank you with all of my heart."

The front of her dress allowed the gentle curves of her breasts to shine, an oval or ,more truthfully, a diamond-shaped gap between two pearl buttons to reveal more creamy-tanned skin that oh so deliciously tempted me to touch, to taste. There were subtle waves of white material crossing under her breasts (I admit it freely, I obssessed about them) that supported and enhanced their natural beauty. The rest of the front of the dress cascaded down to the ground in similar, storm-tossed horizontal waves, across her legs, across her ankles.

"Turn around for me?" I asked weakly and Ellen shone like the sun ascending, her smile blinding me anew, before she twirled slowly around in an Arabian veiled dance for one, for only one, for only me. The back of the dress was like the front, in that her body's beautiful physical attributes were sumptously highlighted. The back plunged in a v-shape to the small of her back, with the waves of soft fabric starting on the side of her curvaceous ass and continuing down, again, to her ankles.

Ellen swirled to a graceful stop directly in front of me, facing me, and she carefully went to her knees to hold my sweaty hands in her dry ones. Once again, she asked me if I was okay. I lifted her hands to my chest, to my heart, so she could hear it beating wildly out of control.

"Can you feel this? That's all due to you, to how absolutely unbelievably stunningly beautiful you are now, somehow more beautiful than I've ever seen a woman to be, more than any woman has a right to be. My heart is pounding like an Art Blakey drum solo and I mean that in a very complimentary way. That's how my body is reacting to you, oh my God, you...

"Make no mistake about it, Eleanor, I fell head over heels for you the first time I met you.I know love at first sight is a cliché, almost retro, less likely to happen than not, a fantasy; but not this time, not for me, and I firmly believe, not for you either." Ellen just shook her head, ageeing with me soundlessly, tears building up in jade-green eyes, threatening to spill over and out.

"I didn't have the words when I first opened my eyes before, I still don't. I might never have the right words to tell you how amazingly beautiful you are, how I will relish every day I wake up beside you, live beside you, go to sleep beside you...'

"Michael, hush now please, before I start to cry. I-I just wanted to show you how I'll look when our wedding day "does" occur. Of course, it won't be in this lovely dress, but..."

We were standing by now and I turned to one of the sales clerks' who had also begun to cry silent tears in sympathy with Ellen. She tried to regain her professional demeanor as I stepped over to her side.

"Yes Sir?"

"Whisper in my ear the price of everything she's wearing plus whatever else you deem to be needed as accessories", I whispered to her, "then help her get changed, bag it all up and have it ready for travelling." She whispered a figure above zero and below ten thousand. "Go ahead, I'll get the money from my car. I presume cash is acceptable here?"

The clerk nodded, and went to fulfill my wishes while the other clerk took my Ellen to the dressing room to change. I went out to the car, drew out two thousand five hundred more than the quote she had given me and returned to the store. After a few minutes of transacting, Ellen emerged from the dressing room, back into her everyday outfit of tee, wool sweater and jeans. She was dabbing at her eyes, in an effort to keep the tears from falling free. I tipped the two clerks the extra amount above the quoted price, feeling damn good about doing that, feeling that their efforts shouldn't go unrewarded. Both quietly thanked me profusely while Ellen waited by the door and tried not to cry. I shouldered the bag on my left shoulder and escorted Ellen out of the Bridal Shop with my right hand.

The car was half a block away and neither of us said a word until we got into the car. I opened the trunk from inside, then got out of the car and carefully laid the bag and boxes on top of our other purchases and closed the trunk. When I reentered the driver's side and sat down, I put Stevie Ray Vaughan in the cd player and started it up. "Pride and Joy" rang out like a clarion call to arms but Ellen reached over and turned it off. Speaking through my futile protests, Ellen asked me what I had put in the trunk. "Um, the dress, shoes, lingerie, everything you were wearing or had tried on in that last store..."

"OH MY GOD, MICHAEL! I can't believe you! I love you so much!" And then, in that illogical way that defines the fairer of the sexes, she finally burst into tears and buried her face against my chest and carried on crying. Women—they get what they want when they want it and 'still' they cry. I will NEVER understand them.

THREE

The rest of our shopping excursion was rather anti-climatic, anti-dramatic in comparison to the Bridal Shop meltdown. This was a mutual meltdown, mind you, as I melted when I saw how lovely Ellen looked in her wedding dress and Ellen broke down when she realized how I was reacting and that I had bought the wedding dress for her.

We collected ourselves over coffee(Ellen) and lemonade(me), then went on to finish our clothes shopping. Ellen added a few winter blouses, pants, a jacket and gloves. I added some warm crescent buns to our selections, as the meeting of the Court wouldn't start till three p.m.—who knows when dinner would be served and I wouldn't make the greatest impression if our stomachs growled.

I pointed the car south on County Highway 35 and we talked aimlessly over and around the music during this time. I headed west-northwest after seven miles to take WI 60 towards Wauzeka, a small town just beyond the Kickapoo Indian Caverns, ten miles or so away. Ellen slid in a Holmes Brother's cd, a disc I immediately took to as Christian themes were surrounded by danceable grooves and singable melodies, gruff vocals and foot-tapping beats.

"What's this one called?"

"'Speaking in Tongues', by The Holmes Brothers. Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For introducing me to some musicians I've never heard of before, it's fun."

"You are a goof, Michael, a big-hearted, handsome, lovable old goof."

"I am "not" old. I'm just well-seasoned."

"I'm only twenty-five in Human years, lover. I have a distinct feeling you've been around the planet a few decades more than me."

"Hmmph. So just how many relatives am I going to meet, pass muster by or play nice with?"

"Well, Mom and Dad, to start with. They're the ones you'll be talking to the most, the ones whose favor you must curry if you still want to marry me."

"Of course, of course. Is there any ritual to asking the King for his daughters' hand?" I had my tongue partially in cheek for this question but I had no intentions of embarassing Ellen or of failing to receive their permission to marry her either.

"Not really. It's not as if you have to prove you can support me in my lifestyle, etc, but I am sure they'll want to do some kind of mind-meld thingy, to prove your character."

"Mind meld thingy?" When Ellen began to laugh in snorts and giggles, I knew I was being had. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. You look so serious."

"That's because you've got me dressed up like Johnny Cash, woman."

"Damn. I was going for Strider, the Ranger. Oh well."

She put on a fake pout before I started laughing and we laughed together. That's how we passed the miles till our exit. We parked the car a few yards from the road and fairly close to the scenic route mile marker. Ellen unpacked and straightened out her cane, but left the blades sheathed. Handing it to me, she asked me to cover her while she changed. I made contact with my hand at her back and removed both of us from the radar.

Remember in the beginning when I mentioned that anything I took into my possession while invisible also became invisible? Ellen was a little confused until I explained my actions, that I wasn't trying to feel up her back and then my poor little blind girl Fae Princess did a non-erotic strip and changed her clothes. Besides the lace underwear, she donned a scarlet silk blouse with a golden scarf that circled her neck and dropped straight down towards her breasts. Next came a dress skirt in black, hanging to a point just past her knees. Shoes were scarlet to black to avoid any Dorothy jokes(I guess) and had flat soles.

"I need two more items from my bags." Ellen dug into her day bag and withdrew a silver pendant of a tree, the Tree of Life symbol that celtophiles favored and without any warning, looped it around my neck, clasped it and kissed me, all in one fell swoop. Then she took out a golden brooch with the same unending Tree design and pinned it the left breast side of her blouse.

"How do I look?"

"Maybe the Court Fae can tell me a better word for fabulously beautiful wonderful sexy can't wait till I get you alone again."

"You're alone with me right now", Ellen began with a hitch in her voice, "so hurry up and kiss me, you sex fiend." I did so, but not in a hurry. A few breathless minutes later, Ellen cleared her throat and said, "Michael, you are "such" a good man, with obviously perfect taste in women." She preened in a little Huron-Beltane fire dance, swirling her skirt around her like a cheerleader from the fifties.

"Now. Are you wearing everything I picked out for you to wear?"

"Yes dear."

"Black shirt, black tie, black dress pants, socks, dress black shoes?"

"Yes dear."

"Black greatcoat?"

"Yes dear."

"Remember, no invisible shenanigans out of you this time, Mikey me love. Keep those swords sheathed and try not to take offense if someone accidentally on purpose slights or insults you."

"Yes dear, but what if they slight or insult you?"

"Then off with their heads!" Ellen giggled, ruining the serious Fae Princess look she was going for.

"Yes dear."

"No, no, Mikey, that was a joke!"

"My blades will be sharpened in anticipation of decapitating their royal—"

"Joke, Mikey, joke!"

"Sigh. Yes dear. No blood letting, no duels for beer, no fighting over anything, no fighting of any kind."

"Now you've got it. Let's go." But before we moved, she straightened my tie just a fraction of an inch to the left and kissed me one more time. With that done, Ellen looped her left arm with my right and let her right arm fall to her side. We approached the gates to the Kickapoo Indian Caverns with the archway sign above saying, "Welcome to...". I took a deep breath before we stepped beneath the arch.

Immediately we were underground, as if a giant whale made of rocks and dirt had spread open its jaws and swallowed us. The passage led us under the leaf-strewn forest floor and into a true cavern. We weren't inside any of the Kickapoo Caverns, that much I surmised, but beyond that I had no idea of our surroundings. The walls of our tunnel, for lack of a better word, were cool but not damp and nothing alive or dead crawled out or around us on this leg of the journey.

Light slowly began to shine from below our feet, stalagmites of sunbeams reflected or redirected from the actual star. Light shone from the sides next, left and right, minature suns spilling horizontal beams. Lastly, light came from artificial sources set in the roof and from ahead of us, welcoming our party of two with warmth and brightness.

Our or should I say my, first "test" presented itself right after the tunnel ended and the cavern widened in all directions exponentially and a natural underground lake lapped at our feet. No boats, no bridge, not even a long stone path circumnavigating the water.

"Looks like we have to airmail it, sweetheart." Ellen turned her body in towards mine, assuming the position of her arms around my neck, her legs to my left side and onto my left arm. My right arm circled around her back, her head leaning against my chest and my wings unfurled like soft white blankets. Instead of heading into the same direction we had been facing, I flew near the ceiling of the huge cavern and scouted the lake below. It proved to be a wise decision, as the next piece of solid ground appeared to the right hand side of the lake, not directly ahead of us as logic might have dictated.

[he truly is an airwalker, little devil, you were quite correct to alert me about this development. Now into the lake with you, little serpent, and await your chance to destroy him.]

I winged our way towards the stone landing and saw several small bark-lined canoes tied up at a stone dock. I set us down light as feathers on the pier, brushed Ellen's clothes down a touch("masher"), did likewise to mine and tossed my wind-swept long hair behind my back and retied it with a ponytail holder.

Ellen unfolded her cane again and slinging over her right shoulder like a walking stick, took my right hand in her hand in an unconscious act of defiance. We assumed our own version of dignified royale, marching forward as if out for a walk in the park. She lifted our entwined hands to her lips and bussed my fingers reassuringly and soon enough we encountered the first of the underground Fae.

I don't know what version of many, storied tales of elfs/fae/sidhe, etc, I'd been expecting to meet, but none of the stories had ever mentioned any of them having Native American ancestors as their forebearers. A small scattering of armed guards surrounded huge swazstika-shaped rows of tables, all of them dressed in winter furs of animals long since extinct, armed with both spears and long, sharp knives. A small rectangle table sat just beyond the other rows of tables and seated there, in slightly-raised, much more comfortable chairs than the others had, were (I presumed) the King and Queen of the Wisconsin Sidhe Fae.

All of the Fae we saw here had long, long black hair or slightly turning grey to white long hair, some had it braided and some pony-tailed with gold ringed 'braids' all the way down to the end of their hair. Most, though, had it hanging free and loose like I usually wore my own ash-blonde, waist long hair—these were the high royal members of the court: the fighters had their locks confined in some manner or style, so it didn't impede their duties.

"Princess Eleanor of the Wisconsin Sidhe Fae, Daughter of our heart, we open our arms in love and happiness to see you back among us after so long a time away. Our shame in casting you out is overwhelming, so we beg your sincere forgiveness for our actions and welcome you back as Full Royalty, in line for the throne and all that your Royal Blood entails."

The King of the Fae delivered this speech without taking a pause for breath and smiling at his beautiful daughter, turned to face me next. His furs were pure white, with claws of gold at the end of what seemed to me like the paws of a gigantic polar bear. He also wore the Tree of Life symbol but not on a chain of gold but built into the armor of gold he wore under his furs. Since he had been the only Royal Fae to talk to us, of both her parents, I kept my eyes focused on him, not letting them stray to the gorgeous creature that was his wife, Ellen's mother, who stood at his left side.

"Welcome, also, we bid to our winged warrior, Michael of the House of the Airwalkers, the Protector, the Guardian and love of our dearest Princess Eleanor. A man of great stature indeed, among those of the world outside, to have won the heart, so completely, of our beloved Daughter and to defend her against such enemies the Devil of the Depths has sent against them.

"We are indeed grateful that you have answered our summons, Daughter, Michael, for we have not had such august outside company in quite a many months and have much to discuss with you.Please, sit and eat your fill, then we will begin a important discussion."

From side passageways carved out of solid rock, two short-haired 'youngsters' brought out chairs just as decadently comfortable as those of the Royal Couples'. Then other short-haired servants(?) brought out dishes of roasted beef, chicken and fish, with side dishes of hot bread, cheese and vegetables accompaning them as well. I hesistated to begin eating since no-one else seemed to be eating, but my peripheal vision told me that besides Ellen, I and her parents, all the other Fae had silently left the room.

Then her parents came down to physically greet us with hugs, and soft kisses for their daughter and hearty, well-met handshakes for me. Then they were gone, at least for the nonce. Before they left the room, I had glanced quickly at Ellen's mother and noticed that she was of Caucasian descent and wore a crucifix rather than the Tree Of Life that her husband did.

She also seemed older than him, though his darkened skin wouldn't show the wrinkles her paler skin would.

Ellen prodded me to begin eating and her parents slipped from the room, seemingly leaving us alone. For awhile we just concentrated on the food and beverages, Ellen rather stunned by the warmth of her parents' greeting, I captivated by the fact that the whole of this Sidhe Court were of Native American descent.

FOUR

By the watch on my wrist, it was nearly 4:30 P.M. before those self-same servants came for the plates and the remains of the feast. We had yet to say anything to each other of a personal nature, that is, since before flying over the lake and we didn't get much of a chance now. A Fae we had yet to meet entered the dining room and bowed to the spot between us, honoring both guests mutually I guessed, introduced himself as Councillor Pax Verum and explained to us that he was there to escort us to a more private quarters for our meeting with the King and Queen.. Pax Verum was a tall thin character with hidden muscles under a multi-animal set of furs; he had a staff of power topped with a tribal wolfshead replica made of gold and strands of gold ivy wrapping around the staff all the way to the bottom. He also wore one of the long knives that the guardsmen wore, so he seemed to be a man of many talents.

As a matter of natural, normal politeness, I of course helped Ellen to her feet and took her hand in mine as we followed the Councillor. She smiled her thanks, her love and gentle reassurances that all was going well, would continue to go well. I smiled back at her, not trusting my voice not to give away the nervousness within me and no words, actually, were needed..

The Councillor led us to a semi-carpeted room, with the floor covered by rugs of various Native American tribal rugs; I recognized Navajo, Cherokee, Sioux, Cheyenne and Ojibway before I stopped looking. Pax Verum left us with another bow and was gone, Ellen and I found a rug-covered sofa to sit down on. Ellen pressed her lips up against my ear and whispered, "I love you. I think it's going very well, better than expected. But I can't seem to go for more than two hours without saying that I love you." She smiled sweetly, causing me to blush for once and then her parents entered the room and I blushed even hotter. Ellen thought this hilarious, of course, but somehow managed to keep herself in check.

"We aren't interrupting anything, are we, My Daughter? How did you enjoy the meal?"

This time the Queen was doing the talking. She was dressed in a simpler robe than before, covered in mostly Navajo designs and her vibrant red hair cascaded down her back.

"It was delicious, Mother, we probably ate too much of it." Ellen tapped my hand, indicating that she wanted to do the bulk of the talking. I was content with that.

"My little girl—"The Queen of the Fae opened her arms to receive Ellen and I think both their stolid composures cracked simultaneously as tears began to fall. Queen hugged Princess, Mother hugged her Daughter, it was all the same, it was all good. They separated after a few minutes of old-fashioned female bonding, wiped their eyes and returned to their respective seats.

"Michael Wells, this is my Father, the King of the Wisconsin Sidhe Court—"

"Eleanor, you can dispense with all the formalities. Michael, I am called many names not all of them polite or translatable, but you can call me Wolf. It's not my full name but it will do, all the same."

"Um, Dad-Father? King Wolf of the Sidhe?"

Her Father smiled, not unlike the smile of a predatory animal, then laughed at his daughter's bewildered expression.

"Alright then, Michael—Eleanor has caught me out and I must come clean. My Ancestor's clan animal was the Wolf, so our middle or spirit name has always been linked to the Wolf. My given name is David Silverwolf Callahan, please feel free to call me David. Outside of the Courtier's earshot of course." He smiled a less carnivorous smile and Ellen looped her arms around my right arm.

"Michael, Mother, Mother, Michael."

Her Father laughed at this show of levity and brevity.

"Eleanor—"

"Yes Father. Michael, this is my Mother, Brigyd Faith Wolf Callahan. Mother, this is my future—this is the man I love and plan to marry soon."

"Eleanor! You've come to us a Bride-to-be? You could not please us more, this day, unless—" Queen Brigyd left it hanging out there and Ellen took her turn in blushing furiously. I put my left hand up to cover my mouth. Brigyd leaned forward to take both of Ellen's hands in hers and gasped in delight at the engagement ring.

"Oh my Daughter—It is a wonderful ring! And you say that Michael picked it out himself? Will wonders never cease? A man picking out the perfect ring for his bride to be." Obviously this was a dig at the King, who coughed loudly behind cupped hands to cover up his embarassment and the Queen laughed. "He truly is the man for you—such looks and brains together in one package, if I were single and forty years younger...And with such great taste in women, too." Ellen proudly displayed the ring then to her Father, yet she was also being shy—she didn't expect the same reaction from him.

The King took Ellen's hand and pressed her hand to his lips. Sparks flew as lips met ring and he fell back in shock. He turned to me with a dazed look on his face and he asked where I had purchased the ring. I told him of the jewelry store in Prairie du Chien, described it in great detail and his eyes grew larger still.

"Have you heard the Russian folktale about Baba Yaga and her magical, moving house?" I nodded yes and he continued. "Some versions of this tale are more benevolent than the more widely told tale. Skipping ahead, there is also a Native American take on this myth—a store run by a shape-shifting shaman who has taken back from the Government men many of our lost treasures, from all of the tribes across the world. The myth has it that if you are truly guided by your heart and your soul, you will enter this store at some major moment of your life and you will be guided to the forgotten treasures. If you are truly fortunate indeed, you will make the wisest purchase of all possible choices.

"Michael, this is most certainly one of those treasures. The ring, if I am correct and I usually am..."

Queen Brigyd snorted, Ellen giggled but David soldiered on, undaunted by this lack of faith and backing.

"—then it once belonged to a Healer of the Kiowa tribe, a clan that lived in the great plains further westwards, in Kansas and other nearby states. There was a story told that this Healer helped cure infertility among his clansmen, keeping his tribe from dying out. It is said that this ring supposedly granted him Sidhe-like length of life, near immortality, some say." David Silverwolf Callahan released his daughter's hand, finally, looking thoughtful and inwards. Then he shook his head ruefully and finished by saying, "But it is only a story."

"Yes, Husband, only a story." Queen Brigyd smiled knowingly at her husband. "We should leave these two alone, husband, they need some quiet time together." She stood up and reached for her husband's hand."There can be more questions and answers tomorrow, Husband, let us all get some sleep. It's been a busy, wonderful, emotional day and I am quite exhausted." She turned to Ellen and hugged her again, then whispered something in her that caused Ellen to turn redder than her hair and her mother laughed out loud. Then she started to pull her husband after her, but the King had one more question for me.

"My Daughter told us your family name is Wells. Is this true, Michael, or did you "crib" it from the author of "The Invisible Man"?"

My smile was my honest answer and I told him the truth. "It's the latter. I don't even know if my Christian name is actually Michael. I woke up one day in an alley like this"-and I briefly faded to nothing, startling both her Mother and Father, "And I picked the first, the simplest name I could think of. The last name you know how I came up with."

David Silverwold Callahan looked me directly in the eyes, slowly nodded his head and left the room with his wife. Ellen walked slowly over to my side and put her arms around me, then looked up at me with those jade-green cat's eyes and "saw" a better man than I was.

"Michael, I love you. But you promised you wouldn't disappear, you big goof." She kissed me just as Councillor Pax Verum re-entered the room. He waited with infinite patience till we broke the kiss, then indicated with a sweep of his arm, the direction we were to head, hopefully I thought, in the direction of a place to sleep.Thankfully, I was quickly proven right.

Pax Verum left us alone by the same way he came, which was only one of two oaken doors that accessed the huge room. I slid the bolt home on both doors and surveyed the rather large bedroom we'd been given. It contained a king-sized bed, a few chairs, a few bedside tables, a large walk-in closet and a large bathroom. Each of the bedside tables had a lamp, as well.

Ellen turned off the first lamp, then discarded her silk scarf on a chair and slipped off her shoes, sliding them under that chair. Her blouse she slowly unbuttoned down to the last button, then looked my way with fire in her eyes and mischief on her mind. She crossed the gap between us, undoing her skirt along the way and letting it lay where it fell. My eyes were glued to her long, bare legs and I felt sweat run down the center of my back. I carefully draped my coat, shirt and tie over the other chair nearest me, still captivated by Ellen's legs as she slowly weaved her way over to me.

Ellen let the blouse slip down off her shoulders and raised her arms above her head, dancing a slow seductive dance towards my heart. Didn't she know my heart was already hers? Did she need to steal it away again, every day, every night for the rest of our lives together? If so, I would give my heart up gladly, willingly, every time she asked it of me. By now Ellen had danced her way to my side. My poor little blind Princess put her hands to both sides of my head and drew my face to hers for a deep, probing kiss that spun my world around the sun twenty times in twenty seconds.

"Take me to bed, Michael. Now. Later. All Damn Night Long. Once, twice, treat me nice." Ellen pushed me onto the bed and climbed after me like a lioness hungry for a meal. Her blouse was now carelessly thrown over the darkened lamp, her panties down at the front of the bed and only the brassiere remained.

"Remove this, Michael. Use your teeth."

.

"Are they—"

"Sleeping? Not yet, B."

"Again? Hmm, it seems that his wings and his swords and his invisibility aren't the only magic he possesses."

"And that would mean what, wife?"

"He possesses her heart and she, his. This is a most fortuitous match, husband. His family and ours, forming a unified front against the Evil we all face? We must give our blessing to her decision soonest, tomorrow at the noon meal." Queen Brigyd paused for a moment and then continued her train of thought.

"We should suggest that they have the wedding here, soon, before they leave again. What a spectacular event in our Daughter's life and we will be a part of it, husband, I must insist. I would have a child, a grandchild before I leave this world for the next."

.

"Hmmm?" I was just about to drift off into an exhausted sleep when Ellen shook me awake, purposefully.

"Mikey, wake up, please."

"What-why?"

"Um-I want more."

"More wh—oh. Again?"

"Yes, please. Tonight's your lucky night, sailor."

"I think every night since I met you has been my lucky night."

"You say the sweetest things, Michael. Now whisper some naughty words to me and keep it quiet. Sometimes these walls have ears."

FIVE

Another pair of the short-haired youngsters of the Sidhe brought in a huge tub of heated water for our morning abolutions, along with towels and scented soaps. I offered the use of the tub to Ellen first, trying to be gentlemanly, but she ignored my verbal nudges and pushed me off the bed and into the tub, sending waves of water out of the tub and all over Ellen who was crouched on the edge of the bed nearest the tub.

As Ellen laughed I reached out one of my long arms, snared one of hers and yanked her into the tub with me. She shrieked loud enough to wake the glorious dead, laughing as she tried to escape the sloshing waters. Failing to do so, Ellen turned her attention to attacking me. I didn't have cleaning on my mind and I let her know that in unmistakable ways.

"What, again?" She teased, moving to a straddling position on my lower chest.

"Yes please, again, Miss."

'Oh alright", Ellen sighed dramatically, "but my Mommy and Daddy will be expecting us for the noontime meal. So, we only have-oh—"

"Yes?"

"a few hours,ah, yes, please, oh—"

"—till that time." The time for talking was over, long live the time for talking.

.

The few hours before the noon time meal passed all too quickly, much too quickly, and soon we were towelling off, getting dressed in our back-up dress clothes. This go-round, Ellen had me dressed in an all tan-beige outfit, with the black greatcoat draped over it all-still the same shoes.

Ellen drew on a royal-purple silk blouse over a scarlet-red bra, a pair of black flared ankle-long pants and another golden scarf. Also, the Tree of Life brooch was hastily added to her ensemble before we were "summoned" to the Royal Throne Room.

I grabbed my pendant as well, looping it around my neck as we followed Pax Verum through the halls that all looked alike to me.We arrived in the hall we had first met her family in and found the King, Queen and one other person waiting for us. This other woman, similar very similar to me in facial structure, bone structure too, her eyes her lips everything, shouted out just who she was.

Ellen froze at my side, clutching my arm in a vise-like grip, sensing the sudden tension in the room and the similarities in scents, from me and the other person. She finally whispered to me, "Who is she, Michael?"

"My sister, Evangelose. Sister, my Love and bride-to-be, Eleanor Callahan." My mouth was making the sounds, but my brain wasn't supplying the words. Another archive switch had been thrown, spilling forth just a few more undiscovered truths. Evangelose flared her wings out once, twice, loud enough for Ellen to hear, hard enough for Ellen to feel the breeze they created.

"Oh Michael, she's...family. How wonderful." Eva came close to us, offering both of us a friendly family hug. To Ellen alone, she spoke.

"My undying gratitude to you, Princess Eleanor of the Sidhe, for bringing such light to my Brother's eyes, such love to his barren and empty heart. No one of our diminished race has suited my Brother, who left our ancient home to come down to Earth, in search of his True Companion. You are indeed that True Companion, I can sense it in my own heart. I am the Representative of our family, sent to be the Witness to your happiness, dear Brother, a witness to this oh-so-promising match of hearts and souls."

Evangelose stepped back from us, turning to the King and Queen, bowed low and thanked them for inviting her. Ellen and I both turned our attention to her parents, waiting for the other glass slipper to fall.

"Daughter, you are wondering how and why we brought your chosen's family to attend our court, I know this to be true, while Michael wonders how we knew who his family was when he did not.

"This Story should be told by a Bard telling of ancient and important histories, or a Shaman telling of our Creation Myths of the Ancient Peoples before us, but we will keep it as simple as possible as we have an "agenda" to complete.While Michael's family history must be his to figure out, as easy answers are not worth knowing, our race has had exchanges of peaceful intentions ever since both of our lines split from their original progenitors. So, as you demonstrated both your natural abilities for flight and invisibility, we realised the clan, the family you belonged to and contacted them, to send a representative hence."

"Why, Father? To take him away from me? To separate us, by the division of different clans?" Ellen was building up to a spectacular blowup but her Mother cut her off before it could gain any further momentum.

"Oh my dearest Daughter, no! Your Father's flair for the dramatic fails to allow your full comprehension of our desires. We brought Evangelose Iskarios here to join in our glad tidings, to welcome Michael into our family.

"You see, dear Daughter," Queen Brigyd came over to grasp Ellen's hands, "We wish you only the greatest happiness that your union with Michael has and will continue to bring you, forever and anon. We would ask you to have the wedding here, within the week, even sooner if possible."

I almost began to fear the possibilities of how Ellen would react but when I saw her face light up with one of her sun-shaming smiles, I relaxed and realized that even if my past was still somewhat of a murky mystery, then at least my future was to be set in stone, love and complete happiness. When Ellen reached back for my hand, hoping to garner an answer, an approval of the events just outlined, I clasped it with both of mine and raised it to my lips. I whispered, "As my love wishes, so shall it be." Ellen laughed with unabandoned glee and jumped into my arms, forgetting the demeanor that a Royal Princess should possess.

I stole a glance at my newly-found sister and thought I saw a tear or two slide down her face. I smiled briefly at Evangelose but kept the majority of my attention on my bride soon-to-be.

"Then we have an accord, Michael Iskarios, of the family Iskarios?"

"We do indeed, your Highness. I ask of you your Daughter's hand in holiest of matrimony."

"Our Royal Blessing is freely and lovingly given to you, Michael. We have your promise that you will treat our Daughter Eleanor with the greatest amount of respect, the deepest reserves of your loving heart?"

"I do."

"Remember those words, Mikey", she whispered with a catch in her trembling voice, "you'll need to use them again soon, real soon." Ellen pressed her joyously wet face against my neck and laughed/cried with every fibre of her being.

"I will," I whispered back, kissing the top of her head with the gentle touch of an Angel's lips.

"Brother, I would talk with you and Princess Eleanor, now, if possible." Evangelose touched Ellen's arm with a happy smile on her face."Then your Bride-to-be and I should have a woman to woman heart to heart talk, so I can tell her what to expect of you." My love colored slightly at the insinuation in my sister's voice, but recovered swiftly when she realised that Evangelose was only jesting.

"I must needs pull rank on you, Airwalker, as I would see my Daughter in this beautiful wedding dress you and your betrothed have picked out.

"Then we will begin our plans for the Ceremony and for the festive celebration to follow the wedding." Queen Brigyd began to lead Ellen away from me and at her Daughter's quiet words, sent a hastily summoned man at arms to fetch the dress from our car. I flung him the keys, he nodded his thanks and was gone. Evangelose led me in a different direction,until we found ourselves near the stone pier, jutting out into the lake.

[now is the time, little serpent, to grow big and await your moment to attack the airwalker. Leave the female for me, till a later date. I would kill her myself, at a place of mine own choosing].

"Come fly with me, Brother, like we did since we were young children." So saying, she spread her wings to their utmost span and lifted herself into the sky. I did the same and soon we were skimming over the lake, ascending to the caverns' roof, weaving among the dagger-edged stalactites and finally, just hovering in mid-air over the middle of the lake.

"I know you have many questions, Brother. Your amnesia must sorely have vexed you this past month. Know that our Parents are still pleased with you, for this Earth-bound journey you have undertaken for our species, and will continue to supply you with the support that is needed for this mission's success.

"But I have only recently left their side, to bear witness to this wonderful moment in your life, and your loss of memory though it complicates both the journey and the mission you have tasked yourself with, our Parents still believe you must work through it, yourself. Without any further memory assistance from them or myself. I know it seems difficult and my presence a bit of a tease or a letdown, but this is truly the best way for you to achieve all we and you desire. Plus I'm sure you wouldn't mind a few decades away from the families' influence with that beautiful Princess of yours."

She joined her hands with mine and smiled as my thoughts of Ellen obviously played across my facial features, then she continued.

"I do so envy you, Brother. Eleanor is indeed the perfect Ying to your Yang, the missing half of your soul and spirit, to complete your mythic self. She is a warrior fit to match you, not a simpering weakling like some human women can be. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she can be tender and loving when that is called for, but she is also a lover of fierce passion, fiercely devoted only to you. I envy that ability of yours beyond all others you possess, to bring out such commitment out of such a proud creature as your Princess so easily, so fast, so completely. You will have many happy decades with her, if I dare to say so myself."

I spoke for the first time since we flew off on our own and turned the conversation around to her.

"From what you've said to me, I gather that all is not well with your beloved?"

Evangelose blew a few strands of ash-blonde air away from her face in response and drew both her blades from behind her back.

"Come, let us spar, Brother, for I have missed the thrill of it, the sweat and the blood of it." Suiting words to actions, Evangelose did a backwards flip to give me room to arm myself and then sparks flew. The clash of our swords rang like great clanging bells of Cathedral towers, eventually spreading deep enough into the Sidhe's home caverns that we drew observers, witnesses to an age-old battle.

I remembered now without being told, that my sister and I had fought like this, in the air, with spanish steel forged in eons past, ever since we first sprouted our youthful wings. I knew much, much more than I did before, when I had first reawakened, a ghost among the humans, and more there was for me to learn. Yet I should tell you this now, even though it may seem obvious: My wings and my ability to fly, my swords and my knowledge and ability to use them, as well as my ability to disappear and reappear were not the by-products of any scientific experiments. I was born with these wonderous gifts and more, besides.

We clashed and separated, flew together again with steel sparks of the tempest of our fight filling the air around us, till an ill-advised swing sent a stone pillar stalagtite plummeting into the lake. Both of us sheathed our swords, my sister extending her hand towards me amd grasping my forearm in salute, before she breathed out, "Well-met, Brother, you have not lost any speed or mastery of the steel. Let us land—your soon to be in-laws seem to be worried that we are sparring for real."

We dived head first towards the lake, skimming the churned up waters with the very tips of our feathered wings before levelling out and winging our way to the stone pier.

"What in God's name was going on up there? I thought you were in trouble, I just about dragged my Mother The Queen, all the way here at a fast paced run—" Here I looked at the Queen, who smiled at me and winked, as if to say, "You're on your own here, buddy-boy."—"and you're not listening to me!" Unexpectedly, Ellen shoved me with all of her might and her pent-up frustrations and I fell backwards into the lake. Still wearing my greatcoat, I sank like a mobile stone towards the murky depths. In my surprise, I hadn't grabbed a fresh lungful of air and found, to my further amazement, that I didn't need one.

Equally at home in the sea as well as the sky and the land, I unfurled my wings and used them to swim deeper into the lake. It was freedom, it was wonderful, it was....pain and agony.[now my little serpent!].

Something was trying to bite off my legs with its overgrown teeth and I was struggling to get away. I broke the water's surface as did the serpent attacking, judging by the gasps and yells from the gathered crowd. Before I went under again, I espyed my sister diving off the pier towards me and as the creature attacked again, drove both her blades into the thing's single, ugly eye. I felt blood flowing from my legs as someone dragged me back to the pier. The first and last thing I heard after I resurfaced, was Ellen's heart-rendering scream, "MICHAEL!"

SIX

I was told later, several days later in fact when I finally stayed awake and aware long enough to hold a lengthy conversation, that my sister and the Sidhe archers had disposed of the creature, eventually. What they didn't tell me till the day of the wedding was that Evangelose had ridden the monstrous snake -beast like a cowboy on a bucking bronc, stabbing and slicing it till blood loss finally killed it. Not to mention a few dozen arrows or so stuck into it's slippery hide from the King's personal bodyguard of archers.

The next piece of information, I never doubted for a minute. Queen Brigyd smiled with intense pride as she related the fact that Ellen had never left my side, not for meals nor sleep and only a few times to wash and use the WC.

"She blames herself, of course, for the injuries you suffered. She nearly took one of your swords and dove in after the creature. Her Father had to restrain her and even "he" needed help to do so."

"I did not!" King Silverwolf barked indignantly, as he came into my sickroom with Ellen on his arm.

"You're awake!" Again the King had to hold onto her to keep from smothering me with her enthusiasm. Ellen settled down, burying her face in my chest and began crying her eyes out.

"Hey, cut it out. You're going to drown me!"

"Th-that's not fu-funny. I almost did—it's all my fault!"

"Stop that, Eleanor, you're—"

"D-don't use th-that na-name."

"Come on, turn me on—smile at me."

"Is that all it takes?" Ellen finally managed to do just that, even though it was a paler version of her usual radiation-burn inducing smiles and also managed to stop crying as well.

"With you, yes."

"Mikey, you big goofball, you sweet-talker you. Wait, I think I'm still mad at you."

"Me? What for?"

"Mother had to delay the wedding, your sister is angry that one of her swords is broken off, stuck in that creature's eye, the hall for the wedding has been ready for the past week and I had to call someone back home to feed our cat!"

"That's all you've got?"

"Plus your sister had set her eye on our Councillor, Pax Verum, and my parents are wary of her intentions. They think she will love him then dump him when she is through with him."

When Ellen started to cry again, I noticed that her parents had left, leaving us alone. I held her hands, tried to sweet-talk her into calming down. That worked all too well—Ellen fell into a deep, worn-out exhausted sleep. Poking her head into my room at this time, Evangelose smiled, then rolled her eyes at my situation. She tiptoed into the room with all the stealth of a jungle cat, picked Ellen's limp body up and set her on a comfortable makeshift bed a few feet away from me, obviously set up for her while I was recuperating.

" She's a very passionate woman, Michael. You do know that you don't deserve her, yes?"

"Thanks, sis. Any other encouraging words? Like what you're doing with Pax Verum, their Councillor? Not up to your old love 'em and dump 'em tricks, are you Eva?"

To her credit, Evangelose flushed at this comment—but looked me straight in the eyes and told me, "No. This is something totally different, Michael, something real—I hope. We're taking it real slow. He's to be my date for your wedding—after that, who knows?

"Anyways, you'll have your hands full if you ever do go against the grain with her. Ellen has a very stubborn streak, a strong backbone and will fight for what she wants with everything and anything she can get her hands on. Luckily for you, you seem to be what she wants."

"A-yep, that is a tough break for me, yeah. I see a lot of problems in the years to come, that is if I'm a total freaking idiot, of course."

"Your scratches are almost healed, yes? Ellen's been itching to wear that wedding dress you bought for her. I have to admit, Brother, that you're showing some class, some style for once in your life. That dress is almost beautiful enough to want to get married in it myself. And that greatcoat of yours is so totally cool! Pick it out yourself, did you?"

"No."

"Hah! Thought not. She did, yeah?"

"I'm not talking to you, anymore."

She grinned at me. "You haven't seen me in months and you're tired of me already. Yeah, that sounds about right." Evangelose turned to leave but had one more shot to fire across my bow.

"Don't make her wait too long, Brother. She's the best thing to happen in your life so far."

"Trust me, Sister, I know. Don't I know it." She left me with a knowing smirk on her face and I fell asleep.

.

Three more days passed before the King's Healers declared me fit to leave my bed and walk about, with Ellen or my sister's help, yet another four days before I felt like myself again. I spent a few hours a day sparring with wooden staffs and Ellen, I took long walks with Ellen all over the underground court and I tried my hand at dancing a traditional Fae wedding waltz in preparation for the post-wedding festivities. Since my Sister nearly lost a lung laughing at me, I took it as a sorry attempt despite my efforts.

Ellen responded well to my rehabilitation and was soon her "old" effervescent self, giving me grief about my new limp, talking non-stop about where we were going on our honeymoon, changing her mind every hour on the hour and trying to get me into the same bed as hers at the same time.

The night before our rescheduled wedding, I relented to her requests(feeling a bit edgy myself, this isn't a one-sided relationship you know) and, after a light and late dinner with my Sister, Ellen and her parents, a sort of rehearsal dinner, I took her by the hand as we left the dinner hall.

"Any last regrets, cold feet, second thoughts?"

"Never, Michael, never. Well, maybe. Just a few. No, make that a lot! Man, my feet are like blocks of ice."

"Ha, ha, bloody ha ha. Too bad you feel that way, love. I was planning to sleep in our bed tonight, instead of that damnable cot. But if you've got cold feet, maybe I'll just sleep somewhere else tonight—"

"Hush your sassy mouth, mister. I'm sorry that I teased you. If you're sure you're up to it, oops, sorry, I'm really..."

"Hush yourself, now."

Ellen smiled, lifting her fingers to my cheek and caressing my face, saying nothing, not needing to say anything. Holding my face now with both hands, she threw her legs around my waist and pulled herself up to eye-level. We kissed, quick, small pecks, before moving on to longer, deeper, lasting kisses. Outside our room, Ellen breathed into my ear, "Take me, sailor. Take me to bed, take me in the closet, take me on the floor. Just take me, damn you, and never let me go this long without you ever again."

"Gladly." I carried her inside and gently deposited her on the bed. I undressed her slowly, carefully and completely, then I took off my own clothes a lot quicker.I still had some scars from the creature's attack and Ellen knew she had to be somewhat careful, but once we started, all caution pretty much flew out the window, had there been one.

I extinguished the lamps, leaving us on equal terms in the dark, and we came together at the foot of the bed, kissing, touching, exploring each other's bodies as if this was our first time. In one sense it was, as I felt I had been reborn after the sea serpent's attack and with the fog lifted(somewhat) on my past, I did feel like a new man, again.

Bringing myself back to this moment, this time, I eased us onto the bed, trying not to aggravate the remaining "scratches" on my legs and back. Ellen never stopped kissing me, I never let go of her, my near-death experience had only fueled our passion, our need for each other, to complete the missing halves of our hearts, our souls.

"I promise to be as gentle as possible, Mikey. I know you're still hurting, so just lay back and let your Princess do all the "hard work".

SEVEN

The women came for Ellen at about seven-thirty in the morning, all of them seemingly stoic as Valkryes on a mission to collect the dead. They gathered a disheveled but mostly dressed Princess and escorted her out of our room. I swore that I then heard furtive whispers, giggles, oohs and aahs,some of them from Ellen, as they headed on down the halls.I sighed deeply, rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep. About half an hour later, rough hands lifted me out of the bed and dumped me into a tub of lukewarm water. Fortunately for me, I 'hadn't' been dressed. Unfortunately, it was my sister who had picked me up naked and dumped me into the water.

"Thanks for the wake-up dunk, Sis."

"Hey, you're welcome. Just because the Bride gets to be gussied up, feted and polished, doesn't mean you can just show up dirty and in jeans, you know. C'mon, scrub up, down, all around and I'll lay out your clothes."

"Thanks, I think. When is the ceremony, how long is it supposed to last?"

"The ceremony is in three hours, it'll last about twelve hours."

"What?!"

"Relax, Brother. The dress-up part only lasts about an hour, the party and the gifts-giving takes up the rest of the time."

"Gifts'-giving?"

"I've got your back on that one too, Brother. The Family sent a sleighful of gifts for the Sidhe Court, never mind what or whom contributed what, and I'll take back whatever gifts are for the Family as well. Some might be for you, who knows? Here's your pants, shirt, tie,etc. Hurry up, I don't relish the opportunity to see you butt-naked again." Thus said, Eva turned her back to me as I rose, dripping water from everywhere, grabbing a towel to dry myself off. It took a few minutes longer, as my hair needed a towel or two all of its own.

"Don't bother to towel dry your hair, I brought you all the modern gear to set your hair in the traditional Family style."

I donned the boxers, pants and dress shirt, leaving the later item unbuttoned as Evangelose needed some room to work. She brushed it straight down, back away from my forehead, and long, down my back. Pulling out a golden ornament from her bag, Evangelose held it out for me to take.

"Seem familiar at all?" The item in question was a gold heart with flames framing it, wings blooming out from either side and a band with a clasp for the hair to go through.

"No, it doesn't. Sorry."

"Brother, brother. It is alright, the Family isn't expecting miracles out of you, well, not in the memory recovery project, anyways,You'll be left alone for the next several years, to live a happy life with your beautiful wife, at least that's the message I was sent to deliver. The wedding, your wedding, is just a happy bonus. I envy you, brother; she will be a true companion for you, in love, life and on the battlefield. She is a fiesty one, a true warrior woman. I was seriously ready to call on her to help me with that sea snake, if I hadn't finally dispatched it."

Evangelose put the golden hair jewelry in place and used a battery operated hair dryer to take care of my drenched locks. Once that was over and done with, she gave it a hundred strokes till it shone like white, spun-gold.

"Okay, now that unruly mane of yours has been somewhat tamed. This silver tie,tie clasp of the Tree of Life symbol, are early wedding gifts from your in-laws. Put them on. The shoes are shined, don't scuff them, these gold rings are yours from our side of the Family, don't lose them, this wedding ring belonged to our Grandmother,Great Granny X's six, it's worth several King's ransoms, don't drop it before you give it to your Princess."

I took the dazzling ring from her callused hands and gave it a once-over. It had one large blue diamond with several smaller white diamonds surrounding it, all set on a white-gold band. The ring wasn't the equal of the treasure I had given Ellen as an engagement ring, but from this one I could feel love accumulated over the past generations, radiating like a small star.

"Tell the Family thank you, Sister, from me and my Bride, it is indeed a great gift."

"Yeah, yeah. Put the tie on—no wait, shave first. Here's a razor, don't get your clothes wet."

"Sis?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Hmmmph!"

I finished up my 'toilet'as the Europeans put it, and suited up. I put the ring in my shirt pocket and the codex I gave to my sister for safekeeping. Evangelose gave no reaction to the item after I gave it to her, I shrugged back at her indicating I didn't recognize it either. I had thought it belonged to my Family, but clearly I was wrong. That rather confused me, but I dismissed it from my mind, asking her to keep an eye on it till I asked her for it again.

"Not too shabby, Brother, not too shabby. You clean up rather well.I'll take some photographs back to the Family, I'm sure they'll be real happy you dress up nice."

"What about these? Should I leave them behind?" I reached back to indicate my swords, but Evangelose shook her head no.

"You don't know? They're in a different dimension, Brother, they stay there till you and only you, reach for them in need. If you should try to use them to trim your hedges, they won't be there."

"That would seem to be a case of extreme overkill, yes? What about our wings?"

"Last question I'll answer, Brother. They are with you from birth, but unlike your weapons, stay non-corporeal until your will unfurls them" Evangelose held me still and looked me over, grunted her approval and said I was finished, ready to get married.

"I see you're also dressing up for the wedding, Sister. Got a date for my party? I bet it's that Pax Verum, the Councillor. He's so dreamy—"

"Asshole. Yes, I got dressed up, but for your wedding. Not for my date—"

"Ah-ha! You called it a date! I really think you like this guy."

"Brother, if I hadn't spent all this time getting you ready, I"d..."

"Are you blushing? I do believe you are! Oh My God...The great warrior, Evangelose has finally lost a battle! And without even drawing her blades...Oh, wait, that's right—he's the one with the..."

"Brother don't you dare! I was going to wear my armor, my swords and such, but I'm doubling as the maid of honor as well as your Best Man. So they kinda want me to look like a lady instead of a fierce warrior-woman. Besides, I already had several guys and a few gals asking me to spend the party with them and the party after the party with them and, well, that scene's gotten a little old. Especially since I slept with enough Native American Fae before I came to this court(just joking, don't tell Pax). So. this outfit is to impress only him, no-one else."

"I would have thought that killing that sea snake would have impressed him enough, much less looking like a girly-girl. Or, is that more his type? I suppose, since he seems kinda bookish, not at all your usual type of macho man. I'm sorry I teased you, it's not like I set a great example in my early years for you to follow, did I? Did I? I don't even remember, so what am I talking about?"

Evangelose grinned, broadly. "You didn't set the ladies' worlds on fire, that's for sure. A good thing, too, since I picked up all the ones you passed up and believe me, you could have had your choice of just about anyone in that...Ah, nice try, Brother, but no more answers!

No-one waits for me at home, no-one came with me on the journey, so when I attracted the atttention of a cute brainiac like Pax, I decided to end my carefree ways and try being serious about one guy at a time.

"Now. C'mon and stop stalling. Your time as a free man is over, it's shackles and chains for you now."

I put my hand on her shoulder, murmuring some words about "finally seeing the light" and gave her a big family hug. Then I let her push me out of the safety of my room, feeling rather like a trussed-up turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

My first view of the hall impressed me, lots of silver and gold strands decorating the pews,banners and flags of both families'(mine matched the design on the hair braid Eva had given me just a few minutes ago) hung from the rafters, with many individual Native American Tribes represented as well. The Queen was the Family's shamanistic leader and she was standing at the altar, beaming, awaiting the start of the ceremony. The members of the wedding party were made up mostly of Ellen's family, obviously, and my sister, who now led me up to the altar to take our place to the right of Queen Brigyd, facing her for the time being.

Queen Brigyd nodded to a small group of musicians off to the side of the pews and a folkish/Native American version of Madeleine Peyrouxs' rendition of a Leonard Cohen song, "Dance Me to the End of Love", filled the air and set the mood, as well as started the ceremony. Evangelose elbowed me to turn towards the entrance of the hall, to view the arrival of the King and the Bride. Right on time, a woman singer started singing the lyrics in the Navajo language and all in attendance rose to their feet.

Now I know that the King would be escorting his Daughter down the aisle, but to my regret, I did not notice him or the wedding finery that he wore at all. My eyes were instantly drawn to the divine beauty walking gracefully, with full Royal Dignity, next to her Father, the King.

My stunningly gorgeous, 'poor little blind girl', had grown up to be the most beautiful fairytale Princess of all the fairytale Princesses' in the whole world, once again shone to shame the sun. Besides her exquisitely tailored wedding gown, the ladies in waiting had interwoven strings of rubies throughout the lace, culminating with a heart-shaped ruby with wings of gold on either side, set to rest on the upper swells of her breasts. Furthermore, a string of small leaf-shaped emeralds surrounded a crown of gold set upon the top of her fair, curly red hair. The largest leaf of the emeralds drooped slightly to the middle of her smooth as cream forehead, forming the top of a triangle of beautiful jade-green cornerstones. Despite their inability to see, Ellen's eyes did send a message...that beyond her eyes was a strong, passionate woman of unequaled beauty, strength and intelligence, and that this was mine, mine alone, as long as I respected her and treated her as the Princess she was. But her eyes didn't demand this, no, they said that this was what she deserved and in return, was what she promised to me, unreservedly.

I turned us to the steps of the altar, and with my love's hand in mine, mounted those steps before kneeling together before the Queen at the altar. One last look at my love before the Queen began to speak only strengthened my belief in what was about to transpire.

"Beloved people of the Fae, Honored Guests of the Iskariose Family and all other Guests of Honor, welcome. Welcome to the Wedding of our Beloved Daughter, Ellen AnDurin AnCatDubh Callahan and Michael Iskarios, Curator de Beatus, to the Union of the Family of the Native American Wisconsin Sidhe Court with the Family Iskarios of the Cerulean Sky.

"We welcome you all to this blessed event and ask you all to join us in the Celebration of Michael and Eleanor's love, the Festival that will follow this official Ceremony.

"Michael Iskarios, of the Family of the Curators, this is our beloved child, Eleanor Callahan, for whom we would sacrifice all our riches, all our comforts, all variations of our well-being. Do you swear on your Eternal Soul to bless our child with the best of your life to come, the whole of your love you have inside your heart, all the understanding you are capable of, all the patience in the world, do you so Swear?"

"I do so Swear."

"Eleanor AnDurin AnCatDubh Callahan, our Beloved Daughter, to you we present Michael Iskarios of the Guardians of the Cerulean Sky Family." Once more I looked into my sweet Ellen's eyes and was lost forever and again. "Eleanor, do you swear to Michael on your soul to bless him with all your love, the best of your life to come, to him, all the understanding you are capable of, all the patience of the world to him, do you so Swear?"

"I do so Swear." Sweeter words exist in many different languages, but at this moment in time I could not think of any to even match the ones she uttered.

"To the Family of the Guardians, we ask you to bless this couple with all your love, all your support, your guidance and your vast knowledge, your tolerance of all Beliefs, who speaks for this Family?"

Evangelose stepped forward with a settled smile on her face and all seriousness about her everywhere else, responded, "I do Speak for the Family of the Guardians, the Airwalkers of fabled legend."

"Do you Swear to the Vows preceding?"

"I do so Swear."

"To the Family of this Sidhe Court, do we bless this couple with all our love, our support, our guidance and vast knowledge, our tolerance of all Beliefs, who does Swear to this?"

"I Speak for the Family of this Sidhe Court and I do so Swear to this." The King David Silverwolf Callahan has spoken, I thought. There was a strange look on the Queen's face and on Ellen's, it was then that I noticed that Councillor Pax Verum had stepped forward as if to speak. Now he retreated with a peaceful, knowing smile. The look on the Queen's face had changed to a beatific smile as well as the one on Ellen's and I belatedly realised that we must have been Royally Blessed in some manner.

Queen Brigyd recovered quickly from the momentary hiccup in the service and resumed the ceremony. "Since both Families have spoken of their blessed intentions towards this couple, I see no objection to this union they have created with the help of the Almighty Father.

"All this being said, I do declare you, Michael, and you, my blessed child, Eleanor, to be Husband and Wife. You may kiss the Bride, My son."

I tenderly reached my hands to the back of Ellen's head, cupped the soft, radiant red curls of my Wife's head and brought my lips to hers, completing the ceremony in the sweetest way.

I guess that the kiss lasted a little longer than was traditional, because someone made a discreet coughing noise behind her hands so we broke off the kiss with sheepish grins on our faces and when we turned to face the congregation, the applause was deafening.

As I took her hand with the new wedding ring added to the engagement ring and started to walk back down the aisle, the singer and the band struck up another song Ellen must have given them the sheet music to while I was probably unconscious. It was an older song of Van Morrison's, entitled "Someone Like You". The Fae woman singer sang the tune with a delicacy more delicate than Van Morrison—it sounded more beautiful than the sound of rain against a window after you've just made love with the love of your life.

Congratulations and blessings of goodwill followed us down the aisle, some fool actually threw rice and we finally made it out of the hall and into the clear, to the outskirts of the Reception Hall. Before my sister could join us, I seized the moment and my wife who shrieked with surprised delight and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me soundly. This kiss lasted longer than the last one had, even though this kiss was also interrupted, now, by my sister (again, I think), who grinned openly at us and none-too-delicately stated, "Get ready you two lovebirds, Company's coming."

"Stand by me, Evangelose, please." Ellen all but dragged my sister to her left hand side,my sister all too willing to bond with my wife (against me, of course. Or am I being paranoid?). We greeted and thanked close to two hundred people, who passed us and then entered the Hall that the evening's party would be held in.

After the Reception line had finally dwindled down and we had received, greeted and thanked everyone who had attended, we too headed towards the "Party" Hall. The band started up with traditional Fae and Native American wedding waltzses' and we took a seat at the head table. Dinner was of course very fancy and delicious and lengthy, yet we made it through without gaining a belt size. The Human tradition of striking a glass goblet with a utensil, ostensibly to make the wedded couple kiss(as if this P.D.A would embarrass them) made it's comeback here at our wedding dinner. We kissed over a dozen times to the delight of the crowd, I attributed this to the amount they'd had to drink, but the longer the kisses became, the less amount of times did they tap their glasses.

Then the dancing began. The band struck up traditional songs from both sides of the Families and mixed in songs that either Ellen or I had requested. About an hour into the dancing, the same singer from the wedding introduced "our" song, for our dance, and the hauntingly beautiful song "Dance Me to the End of Love" began to issue out from the band and the singer. I took my beautiful wife's hand and led her to the dance floor again. All other dancers stepped back off the floor, for us to be spotlighted in the middle of the dance floor.

"So Mister Iskarios, how does it feel to be married?"

"Um, wonderful, actually, though I guess it depends on the person I married."

"Does it now?" She murmured into my neck, setting my skin on fire. Her hand in mine set off fire alarms, the hand at my back tingled like an electric shock.

"Yes it does, Mrs. Iskarios. So how does it feel to married yourself, sweetheart?"

"Mmm, right now...a little boring."

"What?!"

"Take me higher, Michael. Dance me in the air, like hippie butterflies."

"As you wish, my love." I unleashed my wings and lifted us about thirty feet off of the dance floor. Voices' of surprised oohs and aahs came from below us, then we found ourselves joined by Evangelose and her chosen victim, Pax Verum.

"Once in awhile, Brother, you have an excellent idea. Add the fact that you chose Ellen, here, as your life companion and that's two in one lifetime. Not bad for you."

Though I gathered that her partner, Pax, wasn't as keen on the idea as we were, judging by the whiteness of his face. Another song by Madeleine Peyroux's followed the previous one and other couples occupied the dance floor, with almost every woman gazing up at the four of us dancing en flight. The men all seemed to be glad that they were earthbound, yet jealous that they didn't have their partner's full and complete attention.

Ellen seemed content to float on air for the rest of the night, but the band soon took a break and Pax Verum had to return to the dance floor to make the announcement that the time of The Bestowing of the Gifts on the Blessed Couple was soon to commence. As we settled back down to the dance floor, Ellen had a dreamy look on her face and she asked me one more question before we headed to the next event of the Ceremony.

"How do you feel about having kids?"

EIGHT

The Gift Giving thingy was a lot more boring than I could ever have foreseen, hard as that might be to believe. Eighty percent of the gift givers knew Eleanor or at least her family bloodline; my sister Evangelose, if there had been a bride or grooms' side, would have been sitting alone. Yet the Callahan clan's single men did bestow upon me many articles of weaponery, though some items such as a crossbow and battle axes seemed a bit like overkill.

Ellen of course received several stylish and handmade articles of clothing, jewelry, household items and a few unmentionables that I somehow didn't get to see, yet left her blushing like a rose in a garden of grey weeds. Councillor Pax Verum was one of the last to bring us a gift, aside from the King, Queen and my Sister, and he needed help bringing it up the stairs to where we sat.

The Councillor seemed a man of few words, at least among us non-royal visitors and that didn't change now(maybe Evangelose had his tongue. Ugh, disturbing image)To his Princess he presented a variety of rosebushes that could be grown without much sun and had a strange yet more beautiful aroma that any other rose I could recall. Ellen was delighted with her gift and nearly gave the Councillor a heart attack with a peck on his cheek. Evangelose hid a smile beneath her gloved hand and I had to stuff a snort of laughter as well. To me he presented a scimitar, a curved blade, with Fae, Native American and even older Scandanavian runes and sigils along its razor-sharp edge. He explained that the runes provided a singular advantage to the bearer: that it would never cut the skin or harm anyone I counted as an ally or friend.

I was also profuse with my thanks as I found the scimitar to be a worthy replacement for the replica blade I had lost down the sea snake's gullet. I placed it in the sheath behind my back and it vanished like all the others before it. Pax Verum backed away from our seats with a blessing in the Munsee-Delaware tongue, that once translated, wished us a long, healthy happy and productive life. I wondered how the last applied to us but an idea presented itself in my mind, one I decided not to pursue any further at this moment. Pax tried to steal one more glance at my sister before he withdrew, but I caught him looking at her with amazement in his eyes and I "really" didn't want to know why. She winked back at him and I turned my head away with a silent groan, in sympathy for the poor soul.

My Sister came up to us at last and took Ellen's hands into hers, speaking in a dialect that I did not understand but that caused Ellen to duck her head and laugh out loud with lovely tones of happiness. Then with a seriously wicked gleam in her eyes and on her lips, Evangelose turned to me and presented me with a small, black stone jewelry box. She bade me to open it. Inside was a ring designed as two dragons encircling a sapphire gem.

"It is called "Guarded Treasure", Brother, a ring passed down from one generation to yet another, now represented by you and your lovely wife. It is gifted with the ability to communicate with your own siblings, or other family members, like me, at any time and across any distances.

"Use it especially to call me when Eleanor conceives, for I greatly wish to be there to aid and comfort her during this time. All our Family Women know that the male is useless during this time."

Her snarky comments elicited a quickly smothered chortle from the Queen and a wry smile from her Husband, the King. Ellen still had her face hidden but a smile peaked through her intertwined fingers as my Sister finished her giving of her gift. Ellen raised her head to whisper into my ear, "It probably serves you right, her teasing you. You were, I wager, a rotten older brother to her."

"Why do you think I am the older sibling of the two of us?"

"Hush, it is now my Parents turn to gift us."

Now the King and Queen, Mother and Father of my blushing bride, rose and escorted us to a different Hall altogether, yet adjacent to the Gifting Hall. Standing hand in hand before a blank sheet of solid rock, the Queen raised a rod of magic that I hadn't seen before now and tapped the rock wall three quick, sharp raps. A picture of our "home" town of Rios de los Angelos appeared before us and quickly changed as if we were running through the streets of the town. The scene "stopped" at a frontal view of our rundown building we called home sweet home.

"Dearest Daughter, We know we have promised not to interfere(much) in your life outside of our Court, but honestly, this is no place for someone of your status to live. But we also understand that you have lived here and loved here, worked and played here, and have the place arranged to a science due to your blindness. Thus we will leave your apartment as it is, but we will rebuild the entire rest of the building around you, deeding the entire structure to you and Michael's needs. Maybe add a nursery to the adjacent apartment to yours as well?"

'MOTHER!" Ellen must have been getting used to blushing around me, though, as this time she didn't even try to hide it at all. Brigyd continued as if no-one had made any objections or interruptions to her speech.

"Our Present to you, Daughter, is not only for your wedding but also for the many birthdays and holidays when we had shamefully ignored your existence. You and Michael will be sent on a proper honeymoon while the work on the building is being done; when you return in two weeks, your domicile will be properly decorated and equipped for a Princess and her Prince, yet not too ostentatious that it will alert ordinary Mortals to your obvious differences."

"This is too kind a gift, Mother, Father—thank you."

I added my sincere thanks as well, but the King had yet to add his two cents worth to the present.

"The house will be safeguarded, Daughter, Michael, with an alarm system only the Fae can create and only the Fae can get past. I will send details along with the workers, one of whom will stay behind till your return."

"We hope that someday our past treatment of you will be forgiven and we will be welcome in your home." This statement from the Queen served as a jarring reminder of Ellen's earlier cautions of how well we might be received, since she had been outcast earlier in her life due to her supposed 'imperfection'. This sudden reminder of the slights she had been dealt kindled a cold anger inside of me, but Ellen's unseen elbow to my ribs and the way she reacted to their stilted but hearfelt apology blew the flames out.

After both women had accepted each others apologies and promises for future visits to either abode had been made, the Queen gave Ellen a gentle push in my direction, whispering something into her ear about "duties". Then the King, Queen and Eva made a subtly hasty exit, leaving me alone with my new wife for the first time.

"Let's go, Mikey. My Mother made it quite clear how I should spend the rest of this night and most of tomorrow morning as well." Like the last time, Ellen didn't hide her flaming red face nor was the blushing as obvious either. I smiled a foolish smile and escorted my Bride back to our chambers.

As you should be able to tell from the story I've told you thus far, Ellen and I had not been exactly celibate before our marriage, nor have been so after only 24 hours into our relationship. But as special as those times had been and always would be in my heart, tonight was to be something altogether different. Tonight we were husband and wife, tonight we would touch each other as if we were both still virginal.

Once we'd entered the room, Ellen began to remove the jewelry that she had worn with her wedding dress. When she got to the dress itself, I stepped over quickly to help her.Putting a few fingers to her partially parted lips to shush any protest, I began to do the Braille version of appreciating how beautiful she looked to me tonight, how utterly beguiling she was to me, how lovely.

"Mikey...It's...not...fair...you're still dressed...you... oh...you..oh...forget it, you...oh!" I kissed the top of her breasts, I undid the buttons carefully and I kissed the flesh between her breasts. I unbuttoned more buttons, pulled the dress down just a little and very gently, and took one of her nipples into my mouth. "Mikey, stop it...please...you're killing me here...let me take the dress off. I...I don't want to ruin it...Oh, yes...Thank you, Michael, husband..."

I took the dress off my wife and tenderly wrapped it in the plastic bag provided for it in the closet and hung it there. Ellen had very little left on her after that and she was impatiently waiting for me to remove that. I went to my knees, to remove the garter first. Remembering a previous time, I removed the garter with my teeth, gently nipping her soft skin as I did so. "Hey!" Then I worked my way up and Ellen made no further protests for awhile. I also removed her bra with my teeth and you can guess the rest.

Now I worked my way up, beginning with the sweet spot I had left off at while the dress had still been adorning her body. Ellen had begun to relax now, able to enjoy more fully my ministrations.

"Mmmm, yes, Is it your turn to be blind, husband?"

"Yep, even got my eyes closed."

"I don't believe you."

"Are you calling me a liar, wife?"

"Yes. L-I-A-R. Mmmm, sweet liar. Mmm-ohh..."

From her breasts I enjoyed my way south and for a long, long time I treasured my wife's sweet-tasting skin. Then she collapsed into my arms in a mock faint, even to the point of throwing her arm up to her head in the classic silent film styled heroine.

"Goof."

"You're the goof, husband. The bed, please, sweetheart, my legs are kinda weak right now."

"Mmm, wonder why—let's discover why, shall we?"

"Um, did you ever answer my question about having kids, my love?"

I took a moment, paused to consider my answer, then asked a question of my own.

"How does my answer affect this exact moment in our lives, if I might be so bold to ask?"

"Because if we did want kids, I heard it might help if I was on the top?"

"Um, well, kids or not, that sounds like an awful lot of fun."

"Hunh. Now I'm thinking about diamond bracelets."

"And what position does that entail? Or, require?Um—"

Forget about hearing anything about the rest of the night, it was way too special to share with anyone but my wife.

NINE

Somehow the 'stress' or 'pressure' of the previous day/night exhausted both of us and sometime after four or five hours of celebration, we fell asleep. When I woke just a little bit sooner the next morning than Ellen, I was amused at the positions we had fallen asleep in. Ellen had her chest up against mine, no sheet between us, her legs akimbo; one squeezed inbetween mine stretched full out like a placekicker after the ball has split the uprights, the other one straight out as well, but in the opposite direction.

When she awoke, Ellen smiled sleepily at me and mumbled, "Mornin'."

"Morning, sunshine. Interesting way you fell asleep last night,um, morning,whenever it was."

"Mmm, yeah, we did fall asleep this morning, didn't we?"

"Yeah, so it's not really morning. More like quickly approaching noon."

<Are you decent, Brother? I'll be there in ten minutes or so with a lunch tray>.

"Eeek! Michael, grab me a robe! Your sister's on her way, with our lunch! Hurry!"

I got up leisurely, stretched langourously, strolled over to the walk-in closet and donned a fresh pair of boxers, a t-shirt and ever so slowly, pulled on a pair of black jeans. Then I took a robe out of the closet and held it out to her, from twenty feet away.

"Come here and get it, sweetheart."

She clutched the sheets to her breasts and shrieked my name. Then she pleaded with me, begged me and went back to shrieking, all in under a minute.

"MICHAEL! Your SISTER will be here shortly! GIVE me that robe RIGHT NOW! Please?'

"Crawl to me, woman." I stepped back further into the closet, making the distance between us more like thirty feet now. "And how did you know, it was inside my head—"

<Almost there, Brother. Is your Wife decent?>

>Ask her, Sis, she's receiving you too<

<I don't believe this. Do you think it's because you two have...>

=EVANGELOSE! Don't you dare say it!=

<Brother, she needs to...>

>Sister, don't complete 'that' sentence<

<...control her temper, her volume>

We broke the connections and I stared meaningfully at Ellen, clearing my throat in a similar way. Ellen threw up her hands, growled then began crawling down the bed. She reached the floor, flicking her curls out of her eyes, then resumed slithering towards me. I almost dropped the robe while watching my sexual predator and then my sister knocked on the door.

"OH MY GOD!" Ellen straightened into a log and rolled towards me at a lightning fast speed, knocked me down to my knees and grabbed the robe. Then she leapt to her feet, dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, my last view of her:

"Nice butt!"

"Thanks for sharing, Brother, but I'm still only interested in men, one in particular now."

"TMI, Sis, TMI. Is that bacon scrambled eggs and toast, swimming with butter?" I stood next to the bathroom door and shouted.

"Bastard!"

"Honeymoon over already, Brother?"

"It was going very well until you decided to drop in unexpectedly with THIS DELICIOUS FOOD."

"Michael, if you ever want to see me naked ever again..."

"Ellen, get dressed and join us, will you? Eva seems to have something on her mind."

"Okay, I'm coming out now."

"Are you decent?"

"Yes", Ellen said as she stepped out of the bathroom, "In fact I think I'm more than decent." She was wearing the jade-green silk robe I had picked out for her with a light gold camisole underneath. Damn, she must have had that hidden in the large bathroom. Under the robe she was wearing some kind of knee-high silk socks in a matching color with the robe and comfy, Navajo designed slippers. She was a vision, she knew it, she was strutting it and she was smirking as if she had gained some hard-fought victory. Maybe she had. I smiled at my sister and led my wife to the table, where Evangelose uncovered the food.

.

Evangelose wrote one or two words on three separate pieces of paper and put them face up on a map of the world. One name was Daedelus Island in the Ikarios Pelagos, the piece of paper laying just off the coast of Greece. The second name was Andorra, a small country sandwiched between France and Spain. The third and last name was Piper Island, located in the Mississippi River, five miles north of Wyalusing State Park.

I pointed to the last one. "If we go here, we can finally return that tent." Ellen smacked me over the head with her empty plate. It shattered into a thousand pieces, she screamed thinking she'd hurt me and I didn't even bother to check for blood.

"I'm so sorry, Mikey, I'm so... wait, didn't that hurt?"

"Um, no."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No, sorry."

"So, Evangelose, are these the honeymoon spots my parents were referring to last night?"

My Sister's eyes were bright with amusement. <And how did you figure out that,new Sister of mine?>

=I read the names through Mikey's eyes=

<Really? That's quite an accomplishment you know, Sister Ellen. Does Mikey know you're doing this?>

=Not all the time apparently. Can you read him?=

<Yes, but all his thoughts have been both single-minded of late and sexual in nature and only concerning you. Oh and he's thinking of you right now, as a matter of fact, something about you crawling across the floor, NAKED? BROTHER!>

>Hmm?<

<Your lovely Wife would like a hint from you as to what destination you'd care to spend two weeks of your honeymoon at!>

>Can she hear either of us right now?>

<No, I blocked her out, kinda like parental control. Well, which of these three...>

>Which one does she prefer?<

Evangelose sighed out loud.<I think she prefers the Grecian Island, but she's too sappy in love with you to deny you almost anything.>

"Okay, how about this one?" I pointed at Daedelus Island, then spoke the name out loud.

"Sure, if 'you' want to go there." Inside she was screaming, =Yesyesyes! Please say yes!=

"Sure I want to, sweetheart. Sister, is this a..."

"Yes, it's a Family-owned island. A few servants if you want them, a cook, maid every other day or so and a speedboat owner/operator who'll shop at the mainland for you with a simple phone call and cash on the nose, American. Otherwise, it's completely uninhabited by man or beast. Nice beach, old comfortable and large house, great swimming around the island, lots of solitude if you decide to act out any kind of twisted fantasy—"

"Sister, enough. Ellen wants to go there, so that's good enough for me."

"Your new In-laws might be upset if you didn't choose their preferred location, the nicely upkept Lighthouse on Piper Island..."

"Ellen, sweetie, how about one week at each location?"

"Um, no. It's gotten colder now in October, I need to be warm and feel uninhibited. Grecian Island all the way."

Evangelose nodded and told us she'd send a thought-note to the Family to prepare for our arrival. She left with the debris of our brunch, telling us to gather our stuff as we'd be leaving in the next few hours. She closed the door behind her and Ellen came over to the bed I was now sitting on. She climbed up onto my lap and kissed me. "Thank you."

"It sounds like a really nice place."

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Evangelose says it's very rare that I can communicate with you telepathically, Mikey. It makes me feel even closer to you, more connected."

"Just so you know, I can't necessarily read your thoughts, just your stronger projections or when you are trying to communicate with me. The only people you'll be able to communicate with other than me is my Family or others of my race, within a certain distance."

"Sounds romantic,um, I just had another thought."

"That's a new record for you sweetie, isn't it?"

"Michael! Cheap shot. You don't have your blackouts anymore or the flashes when I use your full, Christian name. Weird, yeah?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It could be that I've about run out of hidden memories connected to that name, that trigger point."

.

We had packed everything we had with us, one of the Sidhe youngsters having had fetched all articles of clothing from the car, when I realised that the Codex was missing. Just as this idea occurred to me, a knock came at the door and Pax Verum entered after a short pause.

"I believe you are wondering about this device, Michael, new son of the Sidhe, and where it's been and why I have it."

"Simply put, yes."

"I've done research on this item due to orders from the King & Queen, who sensed it once you crossed our borders. Do not harbor anger, Mikolose, it is a good thing that I have been granted time to study this device. It is not altogether good, nor is it evil. The Codex, as you've named it, does grant wishes, for lack of a better term, but it can also deliver you to pockets of evil, for purposes that seem to be of someone or something else's. I think that this device led you to that spirit/devil near the Mighty River, as it also led you to Princess Eleanor's treasured engagement ring. Maybe it even led you to the Princess herself, but I felt that I must tell you this—if you take it from here with you on your honeymoon, I cannot guarantee you will end up exactly where you want to be. It could take you to an area where evil is dormant or dominating, leading you into serious trouble.

"If you decide to leave it here with us, I will personally guarantee its safe return to you if you so desire. If you take it with you...Hell may break loose. It must be your choice, however..."

"Why is that, Councillor?" Ellen had spoken up first.

"Because you are married to the Curator, Princess, the Guardian of the Innocent, the needy, the helpless. Some of his "powers" are natural, birthrights bequeathed to him through his bloodline, others ceded to him to aid in his duties as the Guardian. This Judas device is one of them, a seeker of evil and unrest, without which he would forever be late.

"However, if I may cast my vote in aid of your decision to say yea or nay, I would say this: take the two weeks given to you by your Father the King, a practical guarantee that the Sidhe or members of Mikolose's family will answer the clarion call in your stead. Then, at the end of those two weeks, Princess, used the treasured ring to summon the codex and I will send it swiftly to your side."

I looked at Ellen, Ellen cocked her head towards me and in unison, said that the last option was the best.

"Excellent, excellent. A wise choice, Guardian. Now that that is decided, the King & Queen bid me to bring you to the Hall of Visions." Councillor Pax Verum turned on his heels to lead the way. I gathered up all of our belongings save the Codex and Ellen's dress and we followed him out.

There, in the Hall of Visions, the King & Queen, Evangelose and a few other chosen members of Royalty were gathered to see us off. A few last minute vacation based gifts such as suntan lotion, beach clothes and the like were lavished on us, as was another astonishing sight: a real, live truly yellow brick road began twenty feet from the black rock wall and led into the vision of paradise that was our destination.

Evangelose pressed Ellen into a sisterly hug, whispered something in her ear I couldn't make out. Both women looked back at me with evil smiles and I believe all the blood drained from my face. Then Evangelose walked over to Pax Verum's side and actually took his hand in hers. Will wonders never cease?

The King gave both of us either sincere handshakes or hugs, depending on the person and sincere wishes of goodwill and happiness. The Queen abandoned her Royal Dignity by crying with her Daughter but again, both eyed me up like a prime side of beef in a Butcher's shop. Then we stepped onto the yellow-brick road, Big Country's "We're Not in Kansas Anymore" song playing in my head and we were off to see the Lizards. One minute we were under Terra Firma in the southwestern quarter of Wisconsin, the next we were in 80 degree heat with a blazing sun above us on an island off the coast of Greece.

# CHAPTER FIVE

A small map included with our vacation supplies indicated that the island was about three miles long, two miles wide(at its' widest) and that the house should be four hundred feet beyond where we stood in the sand and the sea.

I didn't want to move. Neither, apparently, did Ellen as she stripped off her top and threw it onto the beach, followed by her pants.I was so engrossed by this fast-paced striptease that I never saw her leg tangle in mine and topple me back into the ocean. Being a big man seemed to make it easy to topple me and I was spluttering out seawater when she tackled me, pushing me backwards towards the beach. My head hit the sand hard, I think I saw stars, then I did see my wife laughing to beat all as she climbed me like a horse. She used both hands to pin my arrms above my head and I let her, then she lowered her lips to mine and began kissing me passionately, deeply, provactively.

"Yuck. You taste like salt water!"

"I wonder why?" And I flipped us over and did the same thing to her, kissing her neck, her lips, her ears, eyelids, throat. I reared back and paraphrased her statement.

"Hmm, you 'don't' taste like seawater. Let's rectify that!"

"Nooooo!" She fought back with her fists, her feet and even tried to bite me(!) all to no avail as I carried her out into the sea. Then she cheated, tickling me along my ribcage(That's what my sister whispered to her!), so I dropped her without further ado into the sea.

"Bastard! Hey,no splashing-cut it out—ooh, you're gonna pay for that—give THAT back to me—don't you dare—oh, do that again!" It was beginning to seem to me that if all our arguments ended up this way, we'd be arguing a lot.

"NOW you smell like the sea!"

"—""What's the matter, baby? Seahorse got your tongue?"

"Errgghh!" With that profound statement, Ellen launched another attack on me, trying the same tactics that got her dumped into the sea the first time. I reacted by unfurling my wings to encompass my body and the fluttering action kept her too far away to tickle me or sweep kick my feet from under me again.

"Cheater! That is 'so' unfair! Put those wings away and fight like a man!"

I laughed to further infuriate her. "What, and lose to a half-pint, blind, Princess of the Wisconsin Sidhe? I don't think so, my love." This said, I took advantage of her confusion in how to attack me and lifted myself out of the sea, to just above her head. This was rather short-sighted of me, however, as Ellen jumped high enough to grab my ankles. She tried to drag me down, but I had to outweigh her by at least 150 lbs. and instead she had to hold on for dear life as I started to wing myself further inland. I really rubbed it in by swooping in low enough to grab our stuff and as she succeeded in climbing up me to my waist, flew off towards the house.

"Damn Mikey, could you at least describe the view? I bet it's wonderful! Why can't I ever stay mad at you?"

"The view is stunning and because you love me and I'm a great catch and—"

"The view is stunning? That's the best you can do? What, English wasn't your first through fourteenth choices?"

"It's a sandy island, with patches of grass, blue-green is the color of the sea and of my love's fair eyes."

"I take it back. English isn't even in your top one hundred choices. And I'm the great catch—I leapt straight out of the water to catch your ankles."

"Ha-ha, very funny, poor little blind Princess. There's the speedboat, motoring away towards the mainland, a few gulls or some other kind of white bird flying over the house. Wow, the house is huge! I wonder where you're going to sleep, this house is only big enough for me."

"Smart ass!"

"Cute ass!"

"Um, is that a compliment or an insult?" As she tried to figure it out I overflew the house and soared towards the end of the island closest to the mainland. I dropped my "cloak" of invisibility, dumped the bags behind the house(Sure hope nothing was "fragilley") and continued flying around the tip of the island.

"I think I know something that'll distract you." When I felt my jeans zipper start to move, I yelled at her that it was too dangerous and she giggled. I stopped to hover above the northern-most point of the island and lifted her up to face level and kissed her. Ellen's eyes sparkled like the Aegean Sea below us, so full of life that I was taken aback again by their power their ability to rob me of speech and clear thoughts.

"So", Ellen whispered into my wind-tossed hair as she burrowed her face into my neck, "Can we, you know, make love up here?" How did I ever buy into that "poor little blind girl "shtick?

"It might be a little difficult, with nothing but air to push against for friction and I would hate to drop us from this height."

"Oh pooh, so take us back to the house, husband, it's our honeymoon and I'd like to christen a few rooms before the night is over." She winked at me instead of waggling her eyebrows like Groucho Marx again and I laughed at her with joy and love in my laughter.

I sent us into a sideways spin, a spiral into the sky then earthbound again, laughing all the time with Ellen shrieking above my laughter. I knew she loved every minute of it, my wife was above the fear of flying, and she showered what parts of my face and shoulders she could reach with quick, sloppy, salt-flavored kisses.

All too soon I landed at the back of the house, transformed us back into visible creatures again and gathered our stuff to take inside the house.

"You sure know how to show a girl a good time, husband." Ellen was sauntering alongside of me while I carried everything—tell me, am I being a gentleman or am I whipped like the family pig—around the side of the house. Ellen had long ago kicked off her soaked shoes and was walking barefoot through soft, warm sand interspersed with very dry, very brown and dying grass. She had managed, somehow, to retain a green sports bra and a very small, very blue binkini bottom—despite my best efforts to 'ditch' them during our epic sea battle.

She must have sensed my adoring eyes burning her skin, for she looked back at me, smirked a little then changed it to a full-blown assault smile and her teeth were brilliantly white against the tan she had started to cultivate way back on our picnic at the waystation.

"Did you even bring your cane? I was curious, as I hadn't seen it yet."

"No. I didn't think I'd need it. The island seems to be all sand and flat in the bargain. Besides, I don't plan on going anywhere without you." Ellen waited for me to catch up to her and she looped her arms through my right arm.

"What about the cooking, laundry and finding your way around the house?"

We had just now come around the front of the gigantic building and my weary arms dropped all our stuff gently on the front, enclosed porch.

"Your Family's house, you do the cooking. Didn't they say we had a cook?"

"Eva was probably yanking our chain. I'm cooking, huh?"

"Oh and by the by, don't worry about the laundry. I don't plan on wearing much over the next two weeks, so don't you plan on it either." I didn't want to tell her that she was just as sexy with clothes as without, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Any which way, Mother left me with a line of credit with a local bank on the mainland, so anything we need this card will take care of it, within reason. No ordering the Venus de Milo or whatever, Michael, and especially no 'complete' collections of John Lee Hooker or whomever." Ellen produced the bank card from her luggage as we entered the house proper. To say it was huge would be a huge understatement. The lobby itself was almost bigger than our apartment, with a few sofas, wall paintings and a table or two. We walked our way through it quickly, looking for a bedroom, kitchen and dining area, not necessarily in that order.

"Could we have some food first, Mikey, then perhaps a nap?"

"Sounds perfect to me. What did you have a taste for?"

"Michael!"

"Food-wise?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Um, something with beef, I'm feeling a little too thin, too waifish right now." By now we had finally found the kitchen, so I began to check for a refrigeration unit. Ellen checked for a place to sit, ending up on the edge of a stainless wood cutting board, swinging her bare legs back and forth.

"So, Mikey, how do you feel about having a sister? She seems to genuinely care about you, about me as well I think."

"It's a good feeling to know I have family, family that cares, but I wonder sometimes why they've left me wandering in the wilderness so to speak. Why only my sister came to our wedding as a single representative, why no one else even sent a communique in their stead?"

I was patting ground chuck into hamburger patties, I had salad fixings ready to mix and steak fries were already cooking when I felt Ellen come up behind me. She encircled my waist with her arms, rested her head against my back and form fitted the rest of her body to mine.

"Sorry Michael, I can only say I'm sorry about how your side of the family has treated you. But you'll never be alone again, I promise you. I do so love you."

"I love you too, Eleanor. Shall we look for a dining room or just eat in here?"

Ellen seemed dubious about that prospect, asking if there were any chairs to sit on in this room.

"No, not exactly, but the floors are wood and waxed—if you don't mind eating like the Japanese."

"Domo Arigato, Michael-san. Do we have catsup for the steak fries?"

"Heathen."

"I also put catsup on my—"

"Lalalalalalalalala!"

"—hamburgers, you big, loveable goof."

"Guilty as charged, now eat and fill out that waifish-thin frame of yours."

"You don't think I'm "too" skinny, do you husband?"

Right, like I'm going to answer that question. I stuffed half a hamburger into my mouth and mumbled through my food.

"Michael?"

"Yes dear?"

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Um, I'm pleading the fifth."

"Oh, you'll be pleading, alright! Men!"

"Dear, it's a proven fact that those kind of questions are only allowed before the wedding or thirty years after it. Not during the honeymoon, under any circumstances."

"Hmmph." Then her mood changed directions and she began to talk excitedly about what we could all do doing our honeymoon here on the island. Scuba diving, swimming, sex, beach combing, sex, etc., were the main activities she mentioned along with eating, sleeping, and of course, once again, sex.

"Care to explore the rest of the house after I put all the dishes and such, away?"

"What time is it, Mikey? I'd like to feel the sunset. Maybe we can take a nap if it isn't late enough for the sunset." I have noticed that when my blushing bride really wants something, her voice gets 'tinny', almost hushed by a child-like wonder of what she wants.

"Wait right here, I'll be right back."

"Don't you have a watch?"

I laughed. "What do I need a watch for? We're on our honeymoon, remember?" I ran out of the kitchen into the lobby and flew off the porch's open door into the western sky. The sun was indeed setting and would be gone entirely if we stopped for a "nap". Having left all the doors I used open on my way out of the house, I flew back in, all the way to the kitchen, landed briefly to scoop up my startled wife and flew back outside despite her shrieks of dismay.

Turning myself back to invisible and by contact, Ellen as well, I spiraled us upwards and westwards towards the dying sun. Since my delectable Princess wanted to "feel" the sunset, I took us as high as I felt was safe for my underdressed Fae Princess and hovered there.

Ellen closed her eyes, basking in those fading rays until she started to shiver, just a little bit. I started our descent, but Ellen caught my hand and whispered.

"No, not yet." She pleaded, in her sexy, soft whisper. "I just love being up here with you. I've never felt this free and this secure, all at the same time, in my whole life, never. This is love to me, Michael, love of a kind no presents can convey, no words can express. This is even better than sex, this feeling."

We remained at the apex of our flights together for a few minutes longer, then Ellen tilted her head back and said quietly, "Take us down, please?"

"As you wish." I wrapped my wings around her and we plummeted several hundred feet in just a few seconds. Ellen's yelps almost formed words that sounded like "I didn't mean so fast!" and I took pity on her, slowing down our rate of descent. A few minutes later we plunged into the Aegean Sea and her shrieks of terrified joy turned into shrieks of the just dunked in the water unexpectedly kind. The water was rather warm on the eastern coast of the island and since we weren't too far from the beach, it wasn't too deep either.

"You are such..." I pushed her under again.

"—a bastard—" and again.

"Stop that!" and once more.

"Stopstopstop!" So I did, feeling the rush of victory over such a formidable foe.

"What was that all about, Michael?" Uh oh.

"Um. Care to swim back to the beach?"

"Race you!" And with that much of a head start, she was likely to win. So I cheated, opening up my wings and took to the sky, skimming low over the water and gaining fast. Somehow she found out that I was cheating, for she took off her sports bra and tossed it over her bare shoulders where it flagged me right in the face. I ripped it away from my face and tucked it into my jeans, which combined with the half-to three quarters naked backstroke Ellen was executing, she was speeding ahead, regaining her lead.

"Damn cheater!" I mumbled, hypocrite that I was, and tried to avert my eyes as I tried to gain some 'ground' on her. Thirty feet from shore, Ellen switched over on her stomach again and suddenly disappeared below the waters.

TWO

I did my best swan dive into the sea and reconned the area. Ellen was on the sea floor and had found something. She was gamely trying to lift it out of the sea bed when I noticed what it was. I moved faster than I ever had done before, reaching Ellen before she budged the half-buried Codex out of the sand and shoved her towards the surface. She tried to protest without speaking, but quickly found out I was deadly serious and she swam for the shore.

I had learned earlier that I could stay under water without breathing at all, but after awhile even I had to surface to catch my breath. I tried to co-ordinate the position in the water of the Codex by triangulating the island with other shoals and rock formations that didn't qualify as islands and then followed Ellen back to the beach.

"What is it Michael? It called to me, I could sense it almost enough to see it. Why did you stop me?"

"I told you about the Codex I carry with me—the one your councillor is holding onto till our two weeks are up?"

"Yes, but I don't—"

"He told us that the codex could lead down dangerous paths, that they would keep it safe till after our honeymoon—"

"Oh, right, now 'that' rings a bell. Are you saying that this is the same one or a different one?"

"It's definitely a different one, different in size, shape and weight. The problem is,this codex might not "do" anything remotely similar to ours. It could be a real Pandora's box or a one way trip to Heaven's Pearly Gates. I just don't know—but I do think that it's too risky to remove it without knowing more about it first."

Ellen nodded thoughtfully and my mind started to wander, my eyes set to roaming. I dug the bikini top out of my jeans and put it in her hands. She smiled a trollop's come-on and licked her lips.

"Isn't it past time for our nap?"

I smiled at her. "You have a wonderfully one track mind, sweetheart. I was thinking of contacting my sister about this codex..."

"No, No and No. I can't dig it up, you can't contact your sister about it."

"But—"

"You triangulated its location, yeah?"

"Yes, but—"

"So at the end of our two weeks, you'll still be able to find it?"

"Yes, but—"

"So, drag that cute little butt of yours back to the house and get rid of that tee shirt, Mister! If I'm going topless, you can at least do the same." Ellen put her fists on her hips and started tapping her bare foot on the sand, which of course made no sound whatsoever and was not intimidating at all.

However, I did see her points, um, I mean point, so I slowly pulled the sea-soaked tee shirt over my head and tossed it aside, onto the beach.

"Not good enough, mister. Take those jeans off right now and I do mean now!"

"You're only with me for my body, aren't you?"

"Michael! Now!"

"Yes, dear." I unzipped the jeans, pulled them off and tossed them onto the rapidly growing clothes pile, as Ellen had tossed the bikini top onto my tee shirt. I was down to my speedos now, black in color, when Ellen finally nodded and said:

"Let's go then."

"Are we going to take these clothes with us, dear?"

"Of course you are, Michael. Come on."

.

Back at the house after a fifteen minute walk, an idyllic hand in hand kind of walk, we started to explore the gigantic building. I had a sneaking suspicion, however, if we found anything resembling a bedroom, our exploring would be over.In order we found a dining room bigger than our building, a recreation room with billiards, darts and a ping-pong table; next on the list we found a cold food storage room, and I thought the hell with it.

>Sister<

<Brother? Is the honeymoon over already?"

>No, it is most definitely not over. But before we sex up the cold food storage freezer, where's a damn bedroom?<

She laughed, loud and long. Almost as long as we had been searching for the Master Bedroom.

<Brother, you've been there almost five hours and you haven't made it to the bedroom yet? You two really "are" made for each other, aren't you?>

>We've been all over the island, above it, in the sea a few times,high above the Earth, found a codex in the sea bed—<

<BROTHER! Now you tell me this? I need details about the codex and its location.>

>Sorry, can't. I promised the wife no dabbling in evil stuff stuck in the ocean floor. Bedroom location, please?<

Evangelose sent me instructions and I "signed" off, then took an unsuspecting Ellen up the first flight of stairs we found and turned left past a nursery room. Nice hint, guys, real subtle.

"What's the hurry, Mikey, you're gonna make a woman feel real special."

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do, make you feel special."

"This is the bedroom? It echoes! Just how big is it? It seems to be the size of a football field."

"American football or English?"

"—Strange question, but does it matter?"

"Yes, English football, or soccer, can be boring, especially if you're just watching and not participating."

"Is there a bed somewhere, anywhere?"

"With you, my love, anywhere is a bed." I grabbed my lithe, sexy mermaid and put her up against the plush carpeted walls. I held her there with my powerful arms and began to kiss her, starting with her neck like a vampyre and Ellen joined in on the fun by wrapping her legs around my waist, trying to peel off my speedos with her toes. I raised her higher up the wall and kissed what I could reach then. Ellen succeeded in her foot "massage" and asked me to lower her, but instead I lifted her higher yet, so I could do to her with my mouth what she had done to me with her feet. She stopped talking soon after I began, stopped saying anything coherent at all.

.

Evangelose knew she couldn't use the Fae's spatial portal or she'd show up too close to the house and spoil Ellen and her Brother's good times. So she asked the Queen for the favor of "teleporting" to the Andorra location and soon found herself on one of the Medieval Castle locations, but outside of the castle itself and down among the 'serfs' houses, if there still were such people in these times. She dusted herself off, then checked the skyline. The sun had already set, so she felt that her next leg of her journey would go mostly unseen. Radars might pick her up, but no plane ever scrambled fast enough to find her. Not to mention that our non-human genetics mostly befuddle radar readings anyways, she thought out loud, just to hear how steady her voice might be. Damn it all anyways, why did Mikolos have to find the Ikario Pelagos' codex? I wonder if he touched it, or God forbid, Ellen had. I'd hate to think that my new sister-in-law had touched it—I hate to think...no, I won't think that way, that negative.

So Evangelose unfurled her golden wings and launched herself into the night air, heading towards the southern coast of Greece, to find the sunken codex of the Ikarios. She reviewed the few horrible facts of knowledge she had about this codex. It wasn't at all like the one "safe" codex Mikolos had—this one was totally protective, a spiritual dead bolt on a prison chamber behind which was a "thing" that defied belief, drove most people gibbering with foam bubbling out of their mouths and their brains sloshing around in their heads like jelly loose in a punch bowl.

A few hours later she was passing over nighttime Athens, the city glowing like a fancy and rather large cluster of vibrant diamonds. A dread began to fill her mind, the closer she got to the site of her Brother's find. Again, she thought of dragging Mikolos in despite the honeymoon, but that she considered too cruel.

The sea opened up below her due to her nighttime vision, something her brother did not have and as she flew over Daedelus Island, she spotted his energy source glowing on the second floor of the house. Evanagelose grinned wickedly as she then dove into the ocean right where the codex was supposedly half-buried in the seas floor. The water's temperature had dropped a bit since the last time she had been at this island and she found herself wishing she could have shared this trip with her councillor, Pax. All thoughts of previous times vanished as she reached the sea floor and found the codex.

"Damn, it is a seal of protection. A powerful one at that. I really hope neither of them touched it." Evangelose got as close as she dared without touching the codex and circled it, checking for its sigils and runes. The only phrase or warning was a sentence in Latin that translated into, <<This Evil only Sleeps>>. She snorted a little at the inscriptions pomposity and put on a pair of metallic gloves she had brought with her and then reached down to tug on the codex. For a few minutes it didn't budge, but then it all but flew out of her hands and sailed out of reach above the waters' surface above her.

"Damn it!" Evangelose snarled and turned to swim after it to the surface, to give chase if she had to. Something snaked out a tentacle from the foot-wide opening created out of the seabed and brought her back underwater, down to the sea floor. Before she could mount a response, more tentacles swarmed out of the sandy ocean floor and roped her body down. Then the sea bed dissolved and Evangelose was pulled down even deeper into the hole.

<BROTHER! SISTER!>

Then she faced the darkness and lost.

THREE

I jerked out of a restless sleep, having tossed about like a ship in a storm, sweat all over my body, my head banging with a force ten migraine. I looked over at Ellen who had stirred, crying out "Sister!" and slipped back into unconciousness. If it had been an actual telepathic call for help and the sender had panicked, Ellen might have been knocked out by the power of the call. I closed my eyes, trying to contact my sister but nothing happened. It was as if there wasn't a channel open to receive my call, my "signal". That in itself could mean one of two things: Evanagelose was in trouble and probably unconcious or it was some kind of psychic trap, perpetuated by another member of the family.

Damn it, I shouldn't have mentioned that new codex to Evangelose. If I'd known her better, I could have predicted she'd come and investigate for herself, without "bothering" me or anyone else of our Family or Ellen's. I put my fingers to Ellen's wrist, her pulse was steady and strong, she was sleeping like a worn-out party angel. Did I dare to go and see if my sister had indeed sent out a distress call from the Aegean Sea?

I knew that all the strenuous activity we had engaged in since dinner six hours ago should leave her worn out for quite awhile yet—still I had promised Ellen that I wouldn't contact my sister(she had contacted you) about the codex in the sea or delve into any other trouble spots with the previous codex for the two weeks we were on vacation, but...

Screw it. She would either understand or she wasn't the woman I believed and loved her for being. The woman I had come to love and need so desperately in such a short time would definitely understand. It was more likely that Ellen would want to come along to help, despite how much I wanted to protect her and keep her safe. So I snuck out of bed, dressed hastily in tee and jeans and left the room with her quarterstaff(not her cane) in hand. I closed the double doors gently behind me and slid the staff through the doors' handles in a feeble attempt to bolt the doors.

I had an underwater flashlight with me as I flew to the beach. Once I had reconfigured the location where Ellen had found the codex, I launched myself into the water like a winged torpedo. Arriving at the former location of the codex, all I could see was a blackish, gaping hole. Yet the seawater did not enter nor did it swirl out from the hole, so something magical had happened here indeed. It was while I was trying to decide what course of action to take, when I remembered Evangelose's gift to me: the Guarded Treasure ring. A communication device to any of my family, across any distances.

I raised myself above sea level put my right hand over the ring and directed my thoughts into contacting any member of the family, preferring it to be Evangelose. A very murky picture formed on the screen of my mind's eye, as if darkness or interference was affecting the "reception". Then it cleared up and Eva's face literally swam into view.

<Brother, what are you doing here, away from your lovely new wife and your warm bed?>

>I thought I felt you call me, sister, I was pretty sure you had. Did you come here to seek out the codex I told you about?>

<Been there, done that, gone home again. Go back to bed with your Princess, Brother. We'll talk again, soon.>

To say I was confused was very misleading, but I didn't feel I had much recourse or reason to doubt my sister, especially without any backup. I lowered myself back into the sea and was further baffled when I found that the hole in the ground was closed again. I went so far as to tamp the ground where I thought the codex and the hole had been, but without finding diddly.

I decided to give up, to fly back to the house. My internal clock told me it was nearing dawn and I wanted to be by my love's side when she woke up. I soared skyward, catching a northerly updraft and making great time back to the mansion. I helped myself to a hot shower and stumbled across the main bathroom and left my clothes in a sodden heap by the shower drain.

I tried to creep back into the bedroom but a beautiful, half-naked half-asleep red headed sprite was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her breasts and an angry look marring her mixed Irish-Native American face.

"And where the hell have you been, mister?"

"Midnight dip, sweetheart. I was trying not to wake you up."

"I'd say you failed and yes, yes you are a midnight dip. Michael, were you checking on that codex thingy?"

"I can honestly say that I didn't see it at all, my love. So, can we go back to bed?"

"What woke you up?" She had started to tangle her fingers in my ash-blonde mane, "I thought I'd worn you out."

"I thought Evangelose had tried to contact us, that she was in danger." Her fingers stopped moving, her whole body went still.

"I had a similar nightmare, Michael, but I didn't wake up. You did, obviously." She looked a little down, so I tried to make her feel better about herself.

"I have the Family ties, beautiful, that's the only reason why I am more receptive to her call."

"Is that where you were? Trying to find her?"

"I thought she was here for that codex you found, out in the sea. So I flew out there, to see if she was in trouble, but all I found was a mysterious hole in the ground where the codex had been."

"No sign of your sister at all?" I smiled at the concern in her voice. I had truly married an angel.

"None. So I tried to communicate with her through the ring she gave me. At first, I got nothing but psychic static, then there she was, in the flesh so to speak, in my mind's eye."

"What did she say?"

"Been there, done that, gone home again. Said she'd call me after our two weeks were up and she was gone—so was the strange hole in the ocean floor. Nothing left to investigate, no-one left to talk to about it."

"Well, um, I can see why you'd be worried, Mikey, but let's face it—your sister's a big girl and she can take care of herself, probably better than you. Since she's been at it longer and...well." Ellen ruffled up my hair and laughed. "So if you need someone to talk to about it, I'm the best listener you'll ever find. Come on", she took my hand, "let's go back to bed and see if we can find something to do to take out minds' off this mysterious visit of your sister's."

Find something to do together, oh, that was an easy thing to do.

FOUR

The morning after my strange encounter with Evangelose I got up before my Princess did and went downstairs to make breakfast. I did up our "usual" breakfast of scrambleds, rashers(bacon) and toast with plenty of butter, made a pot of coffee mostly for Ellen and found some kind of juice for myself.

"Morning, Mikey." My vision strolled into the kitchen where everything was almost ready and damned if she didn't sparkle. Her short, curly red hair was uncombed but it still bounced with life, her eyes and face weren't "made up", but her natural beauty didn't need help. She was wearing a ruby-red bikini top and bottom partly covered by a golden sunset colored sleeping gown and no slippers on her bare feet.

"Good morning, my lovely Princess." I pulled out a chair for her and she smiled at me, blowing me a kiss and I almost let the bacon burn.

"It all smells wonderful, Mikolos. That coffee 'is' just for me, right?"

"Of course it is, love. But why the use of the Greecian form of my formal name?"

Ellen shrugged and sipped her cuppa, stabbed at some eggs, shoving them into her mouth without swallowing the coffee.

"In that nightmare I had, your sister kept calling you by that name, so I thought it might be your truest name and I should get used to using it, that's all."

"Hmm. Care for a swim after breakfast?"

"Of course, silly. Why else would I be dressed like this?" The robe slipped off her shoulder and pooled onto the back of the chair. I almost choked on my toast.

"Problems, Mikey?" She slipped the straps of her top down her arms, leaving me with a very generous view. Now my unknown juice went down the wrong pipes and I started to cough.

"Mike, are you alright? You should slow down when you're eating, I don't want you to choke to death."

"I'm f-fine, dear." Then I decided to fight fire with sex appeal and took off my tee shirt, tossing it into her lap.

"Hey, you took off your—"

"Uh-huh. Now I'm flexing my six-pack abs and other muscles I know you have been appreciating over the course of our relationship.—"

"This isn't fair! I can't even see yours."

"Do you think it's any more fair that I "can" see yours? That's just cheating and teasing at the same time. So, come on over here and feel my abs, I know you want to."

Ellen giggled, then segued into a full-throated laugh, then leapt into my lap.

"Did I hurt you?"

"Not at all, you're as light as a cloud or a bunch of feathers."

"Good, then carry me to the beach, sailor, before it gets too wet in the kitchen."

"Sure thing, sweetheart." I cheated, though, doing the ole vanishing act and the familiar airmail to the beach.

"Cheater!" Ellen laughed, then shrieked as I threatened to dump her into the Aegean Sea again. Instead we skimmed the waves, occasionally dipping into the sea. Swimming without a total soaking. All Ellen could do was shriek and laugh, with my arms looped around her chest and her legs curled back to clinch mine.

"Okay, Mikos, let's settle into the water for a regular aaahhh!" I let her go splash. Ellen started swimming properly and she was as graceful in the sea as she was on land. I dove into the water after her, humming the theme from "Jaws" and came up from a few feet below her to attack.

"Swimming, not playing shark, Mikos. I need the exercise, don't laugh at me, a different kind of exercise. Mmmphh! You taste salty, yet heavenly. Kiss me again." I did so, then she pushed me back into the green-blue sea and took off swimming again, only faster and sleeker this time. I swam after her, using my wings to help propel me through the water. Within a few minutes, I caught up with her again and as she stopped to avoid another shark attack, I kept on swimming.

"Hey! You're cheating again! Damn you, you, you, big goofy cheater!" Then all I heard was nothing, as she sliced through the water like a mechanical yet lightweight shark.

We eventually made it to the halfway point of circling the entire island and beached ourselves like anorexic whales. Funnily enough, there was a picnic basket not too far from where we came ashore.

"I smell food, my love, did you happen to arrange this? Ah, a couple of towels too? You are just the most thoughtful man alive, I do declare." Ellen batted her eyes at me with the worst southern accent I'd ever heard, but I drew it inside me just the same, another memory to savor especially when she reached up to kiss me.

"I'm not all that hungry yet, good sir, I haven't quite worked up an appetite yet."

"Hmm, let's lay out on the beach towels and see if we can come up with something to whet your appetite."

I cupped the back of her head with one hand and her buttocks with the other, then pulled Ellen to me for a loving and lengthy meeting of our lips. She moaned into my mouth as my fingers on her bottom worked their way inside the fabric and soon tore it off of her.

"Oh my Mikos, my husband."

Her frantic fingers pulled down my swim trunks till they slid past my ass, and gravity took over. Then I began to raise and lower Ellen, while slowly lifting off from the ground. I distracted her with my kisses all over her face, her neck, while achieving a greater distance from Mother Earth. She raked her fingers over my bare back, in her passion she pulled on my hair. When she finally came and I soon after that, we were four hundred feet above the surface of the sea. When we both came again just before lowering us back to the beach, my feet didn't feel the ground we touched down on.

We snuggled then on the pristine beach towels and murmured lovers' endearments to each other till Ellen dozed off, in my arms. I unfurled one wing and arched it over her naked body, to block out the sun so that my Fae Princess didn't turn into a Fae lobster. I managed to stay awake, simply content to watch my wife sleep and snore, while the sun climbed higher to its'zenith and past. An hour later, she all but jumped to her feet and attacked the cold sandwiches, fruit and bread, while I watched in amazement. It was similar to viewing animals attacking their dinner on National Geographic channel. Suddenly it occurred to me that if I didn't dive in soon, I might not get anything to eat myself.

"Um, dear? Mind if I get something to eat?"

"Yes, I mean no, just help yourself before it's too late."

I did help myself, putting aside a couple of sandwiches, some fruit and bread, a couple of cans of cold soda. I passed the coffee thermos to my ravenous wife.

"Thanks. Now that's what I call working up an appetite?"

"Did you notice—"

"That we left the ground while," Ellen colored here, "you know, we were engaged? Yes, yes I did and it was beyond wonderful! You keep on spoiling me this way, I'm going to come to expect this sort of treatment all the time."

"Is that right? Here I thought you 'weren't' a typical spoiled Princess, my mistake I guess."

"We're on our honeymoon, we are newlyweds, therefore I deserve to be spoiled."

"What happened in that sentence?" I was laughing so hard, I could barely speak. "You started out with we're and we are and ended with only you deserving to get spoiled."

Ellen smiled, with the toothy grin of a hungry shark with blood in the water.

"Because you already get spoiled, just being with me. Spoiling me is your reward. Is the suntan lotion in that picnic basket, love?"

"Yes, dear."

"Then lather me up and down with the stuff, will you Mikos? See, this is what I was talking about, you being spoiled—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it." In a way she was right. I loved the "job" I had been blessed with ever since I moved into that building for the blind, in some small little Wisconsin river town I had probably never heard of before. One could believe in a higher power that directed or at least nudged us in the right directions, after I met Ellen. Both of us not being whom we needed to be, no-one to care for, no-one to take care of us.

Ellen flipped over onto her stomach and asked me to un-do her bikini top. I did so with pleasure and started to spread the lotion on, over her back, kissing the areas of her sweet flesh before I lotioned them.

"Lower now", she mumbled softly, and I kissed my way down to the small of her back. Then I lathered the lower half of her back with the lotion and Ellen sighed contentedly.

"Lower still?"

"Bottoms off?"

"yes please..."

So I took off the rest of her swimsuit and continued on kissing and lathering her with lotion. By the time I reached the soles of her feet, Ellen was squirming under my fingers, making happy-to-be-with-you sounds.

"Give me half an hour, max, my love, then I'll flip over. No more than that or I'll burn like a vampyre." She raised her head off the towel and "looked" back at me.

"Are vampyres real?"

"Never met one but I can't say for certain. I never knew fairies existed till you revealed yourself to me(so to speak) nor did I know about whatever I am, either. So, I really can't give a honest answer to that one."

"Hunh. And now that you've met us Fae, what do you think of us?"

"Your parents seem nice enough, your councillor Pax is a quiet man but seems true (and destined to be my sister's latest victim), you, however—"

"What about me, Mikolos?"

I knelt on the sand closer to her face and softly whispered into her lips: "You I cherish, you I adore, you I worship, you I love forever more." Ellen swallowed hard, clearly not expecting such a serious answer, and started to cry. Women. I'll "never" understand them.

.

Evangelose woke up in a strange sort of cavern, one she presumed was deep below the sea. All the walls seemed to bend the wrong way, she noticed, stairways led to and from the same place but with different sides and twists. It was something from an Escher mind freak painting, she thought and struggled to sit up.

She felt a little light-headed and wondered if the weird markings on her skin and the resulting blood loss were from the tentacles that had snagged her and pulled her under the sea floor. Having rested long enough on her ass, Evangelose stood up and flexed her wings-they were working fine.Next she reached for her weapons but they weren't there, not in this dimension anyways, and her wings didn't fold back into their usual "storage' dimension either.

Frowning, Evangelose first walked to one end of the strange room she found herself in, trying to find a window or some kind of door. Failing to find either, she took to the air and flew to another level of the bizarro building. There seemed to be an altar on the second level with rusty bloodstains all around it, but she had spotted the window she had been looking for and she headed straight for it. She pulled up short of flying out the window, though, and it turned out to be a very wise decision. She looked out the window now, trying to see what had startled her so, and realised that what she had seen were stars.

Stars? Not even, she quickly absorbed, any of the stars one could see from any part of the planet she was from.Completely different and foreign in every respect, the stars she saw seemed to be the wrong "colors" for stars, not even similar at all to the stars one could see from Earth. Evangelose shuddered at some forgotten memory from a past long ago, forgotten but on purpose, with a need, a desperate need to be forgotten.

Evangelose turned quickly away from the disturbing sight, her heart beating faster than it should. A suspicion of what exactly was happening began to itch inside her brain. She had heard and in some cases, read, of the stories of the Old Gods, variations of the Gods the human author H.P. Lovecraft had fueled his books with, writing down as much of the truth as he dared to. If Evangelose knew anything about stories or myths or legends, it was this: all had some basic roots in the truths that they were built upon.

She tried one more time to connect with Mikolos, her beloved brother, but something or someone had put up a psychic wall around him and Eleanor. Well, good enough, then. She really didn't want to disturb them, despite the gravity of the situation she found herself in. But no-one of the family were open to her, which left her with the one secret contact she had made during the wedding.

Evangelose sat cross-legged on the floor, with her eyes closed and her mind flying through strange skies indeed in order to contact Pax Verum. As she was initiating this, something unknown was slithering towards the altar, something that needed to feed. Evangelose caught a small, physical glimpse of the idea of the thing and nearly lost her connection to the councillor.

<Pax Verum, I am in great need of your help.>

(xx)-Eva? What is the matter?(xx)

<I cannot afford the time to explain right now, my friend. Please send the codex Mikos left with you. I need to leave whereever the hell I am>

(xx)-But it might take you somewhere else, worse than where you are now.(xx)

<Not possible! Please! Hurry>

(xx)As you wish.(xx)

Just as Evangelose could see too much of the hideous being descending to the altar, the codex popped into existence just above her head. She grabbed it, opened it and was gone, all in the space of time it took her heart to beat.

The being sliming it's way over the altar got a general location where it's meat-meal had gone and twittered instructions to it's servants on the planet below. The she-meat would arrive to a very hot welcome indeed.

FIVE

The sun-bathing and the picnic over, I packed up everything in a neat pile for Erik(our delivery man) to collect later and we headed for the sea again. Ellen had gotten dressed again, much to my disappointment, but I left my second shirt of the day behind, not fearing sunburn while I was in the water.

"How about giving me a head-start, sweetheart? With those powerful, muscled arms of yours(sigh) and your strong, tanned legs(mmm), you'd catch up so easily anyways."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Ellen, but not a headstart in these waters. I'm not feeling very settled about this sea since my contact with my sister last night.

"I don't want to race you but I do want to keep you in sight."

"I just bet you do", Ellen smiled in understanding, put her hand in mine and we strolled out into the sea. Once deep enough, we began to swim. Slowly at first, but then faster as we started to stretch out our arms and legs to their maximum potential. Then we slowed again and floated on our backs for awhile. As I saw the sky start to darken, we stumbled back to the shore one final time as rain clouds that had come with that darkness began to let loose a torrent of rain.

"How far are we from the house?" Ellen yelled over the thunder and lightning, with the rain and the increasing winds adding to the din.

"No more than a mile if we head inland right now."

"We're going to get soaked! Can you fly us home in this storm?"

"Probably not such a good idea. I could attract the lightning's hand if I do fly above the land without anything higher up than me."

"Damn."

"Come here." I let loose my white wings to their fullest wingspan and with my right arm cradling her butt and legs, I spread my wings over our heads and began to run. I knew I wasn't one of the fastest runners of the Families, but I was one of the best fliers, and we still made good time and were under the roof of the enclosed porch within ten minutes.

"Those flappers make for great cover. How are they for warming me up? I'm suddenly v-very c-cold, Mikos." I enwrapped her in my wings, pushing and pulling her nicely tanned body up against mine, sharing my body warmth with hers.

"That's not a very nice name for my wings, by the way. Especially now, when they're keeping you nice and warm and toasty."

"Guess which part of your body I named Pink—"

"Hey! Come on, now. I was just trying to warm you up, not turn you on."

"And why not?'

"Um, I really don't have a good reason for not turning you on." We had made it to the master bedroom by now and were nearing the bed.

"I didn't think so", and she smiled with an air of self-satisfaction. She nuzzled my chest with her lips and I shivered a little. Her lively pink tongue found one of my nipples and she flicked it, before pulling it in between her lips and sucking on it, before biting it not so gently. This time I shuddered and not just a little.

"Ellen", I whispered into her still-damp red hair, "I want to make a child with you. Only with you as its mother would I bring a new life into this dying world." What I had said surprised her so much, I guess, coming out of the blue like that, that she jumped up into my arms. Wrapping both bare legs around my waist, Ellen tilted my face to her lips and she didn't stop kissing me till she'd covered every inch of my face.

"Mikey, Mikey, Mikey! Oh my sweet husband, I love you so much!" Then she squealed with delight again and pulled me onto the bed after her. "I can't believe you! Are you really an Angel after all? I just can't wrap my mind around all of, all of..this...this..." When she couldn't find the proper words to describe "this", Ellen just grabbed my head and began another barrage of sweet, stinging butterfly kisses.

I took her hands out of my hair and held them above her head, pinning them to the bed with one hand of mine. I used the other hand to gently tease her, stroking her breasts, her stomach, her thighs while pushing my tongue into her sweet mouth, to do a fast-tempo tango with hers.

"Bastard! Let me loose!" She was grinning as she said this, trying her best to squirm loose, but failing miserably. I then remembered her attempts to tickle me before and I turned the tables on her, tickling her just above her hips. Ellen squealed and began to laugh uncontrollably, while trying to buck me off of her like a bronco ridding itself of the cowboy, but still to no avail. I sent my free fingers roaming all over her body from her neck to her breasts to her buttocks to her feet, tickling all the way and finding her very ticklish indeed. But this only seemed to heat her sexual engine even hotter and the pleasure I was taking in teasing her loosened my concentration and my hold on her. Ellen finally bucked me off and rolled us over with her ending up on top of me. Then the fun "really' started.

.

Several hours laterr, we took a shower together in the most opulent bathrom I had ever been in and we made love one more time inside the stall before I begged for mercy.

"Now I've got you begging, do I?" Ellen grinned with malice intent, so I started tickling her all over again.

"Baby, now you know that just turns me on. And, I think, that it turns you on too. In fact, I know it does."

"How about this?" Ellen had walked past me on her way back to the bedroom but I roped her in with my left arm, brought her back to me. I sat down on the edge of the bath, propped her over my knees and...

"Michael, don't you DARE! Ow! Ow! Ow! Damn it, Michael, Ow!"

I let her loose and she tried to get revenge by trying to get to my ribs, but I played the cheater card, keeping her at bay with my long arms. She stopped trying to tickle me and pouted, hands on hips.

"You big bully! I can't believe you spanked me, you, you, big bully!" Then she started to laugh, but tried to maintain her pouty face and stomped off to the bedroom. It was from there that her laughter burst out, issuing forth like bats leaving their batcave. I couldn't believe it: my wife was laughing her ass off because I "bullied" her and then spanked her for tickling me. I will "NEVER" understand women.

.

I joined my lovely wife in the bedroom where she was still laughing into her pillow and I began to give her a deep muscle back rub, starting at her neck. She interspersed her laughter with sighs and moans of appreciation, which of course, she made during sex, but it seemed different somehow right now for a simple backrub. Now I moved the massage down her spine and along the sides of her ribs, stopping briefly to tickle her there.

"Damn it, it's not fair! You're only ticklish in one spot—"

"That you know of."

"What are you saying? Do you mean—"

"No, I'm just saying..."

"Tell me, please?"

"Yes, there are two other places I'm ticklish but you'll have to find them out for yourself. I won't tell you, unless you care to bribe me? No? So you are on your own there, I guess."

"Mmm, that sounds like a great idea for night-time sneak attack, oops. Never mind what I just said, and um, no, I'm not going to bribe you. Not going to happen, no sir, please tell me? Rats. Now, please continue."

So I started tickling her along her sides again.

"—the back RUB! Mikey, please, I'm begging YOU STOP IT!"

"Oh ho, now you're begging "me"!"

"You better not be laughing at me!"

"Hee hee hee hee hee."

"Very funny, laugh it up, bird-boy."

"Sorry, I just can't resist. Your squirming is actually very sexy, very hot."

"Bastard. Back rub, now! Before I "rub"you out this time."

So I put my hands in the delicate small of her back and continued to massage her. Again she made with the moans and deep, deep sighs. I guess I was still pretty good at this, having learned the technique in college(hmm, another returning memory) to please my then-girlfriend whose name and face I could not recall. By now my travelling hands had reached her beautifully sculpted hindquarters and I took an extra long time massaging "those" muscles.

Ellen was gripping the sheets by now, squirming more than she had before when I had been tickling her and I knew I hadn't lost my touch. Then I moved my hands down inside her thighs and she got louder with her vocalizations, her heart-felt feelings of pleasure. I let her calm down a little by moving the massage to her upper legs and the backs of her knees. I quickly learned that the back of her knees were also quite ticklish and my delight in discovering this made her snarl at me again.

"Calm down, baby, calm down. I'll be good, I promise."

"I don't want you to be good, I want you not to be such a bastard and tickle meeee! Oh, not again!"

I resumed the "normal" massage, picking back up with her shins, her ankles and then carefully, tenderly, the soles of her feet.

"Thank you for not tickling me there, Mikey. That massage felt really gooood, it made me sooo, um, you know what, don't you laugh at me." Ellen flipped over on her back and whispered something naughty to me with a hopeful smile.

I smiled back at her and laid down beside her to kiss her deeply again and again. Repeatedly and with all the love in my heart. Ellen responded fervently, heatedly, telling me she loved me over and over again.

I was about to kiss her, the entire length of her small body, right down to her toes, when she took hold of my hands to stop me and with a catch in her voice, she asked, "Did you really mean, we, we could have a child together?"

'Only one child, my love?"

"You didn't answer, sniff, my question."

"With all my heart, Eleanor, with all my heart. I want us to have children, or child; medically or physically, I see no reason why couldn't have kids. Even if neither of us is totally human, I still believe we can create a child between us."

"Thank you, Michael, thank you, oh god, so much. Don't you ever change your mind about me, Mister, or I will hunt you down." She started to cry again.

"I would never change my mind about the most beautiful, most sexually attractive, brilliant, thoughtful, happy, perfect woman I have ever met or ever will meet. I would come back from death to you, to be with you forever."

"If we had to, could we adopt?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Simple and direct and positive. That's my loving husband. Now,are you going to ...?" Ellen smiled at me suggestively and held out her hands.

I laughed and told her that that manuever wouldn't get us pregnant.

"Hmm, we can still work on 'that' later."

"Mmm, yes dear." I went back to kissing her from head to toe, with many delightful stops on the way.

.

I rummaged through the family's 1,000 cds in a rack by a stereo in the bedroom, made several selections and put it on low volume, and randomized it. Marvin Gaye's smooth, silky voice issued forth, crooning about "Let's Get It On". I laughed heartily at the irony and then the simple joy of hearing Ellen's echoing laughter. I rejoined her on the bed and we moved together for a lengthy kiss.

"Mood music, Mikey? I don't think we need anything to create that kind of mood, now do we love?"

"We haven't listened to any music since before we went underground to the Sidhe Court. I was having withdrawal symptoms from not hearing any music."

Ellen sighed a deep, fake-as-a-model's sigh and laughed at my fake pout, motioning me to come back to bed.

"Time to sleep?" I suggested hopefully, with a fake yawn thrown in for effects.

"Not on your life, husband of mine. Unless you want me to suss out your hidden ticklish spots?"

"Groan, now she's blackmailing me into making love to her, with her, without her..."

"Hey!"

"Just checking to see if you were paying attention."

The random play on the cd player shifted from Marvin Gaye to Ella Fitzgerald, "I loves you Porgy", the tune she began to sing.

"Now that's "definitely" mood music, my love, so come here and love me, tenderly, sweetly,thoroughly."

"You know what? You've been vacillating between Mikos and Mikey, which one is it going to be? Now that I think a little bit more about it, you've been tossing in Mikolos and Michael, too."

"This falls under the category that is actually an imperative rule, that I must follow for the rest of my life or I will be drummed out of the club of loving women everywhere."

"Which is?"

"The category is that it's a woman's perogative to change her mind and to fuck with her man's mind as well."

"That won't get us pregnant, either."

"Haha, now you're a bloody comedian, too?"

"You weren't laughing during the massage, now were you, my love?"

"Um, no. I was not."

"You were kind of making certain, um, noises that one could interpret as—"

"Michael. Do. Not. Continue. That. Sentence."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh." I dimmed the nearby table lamp that had become our sole light in the darkening house and took my wife in my arms.

SIX

Ellen was still sleeping when I woke the next morning at around eight and went downstairs to place a food, wine and other commodities order with our delivery man, Erik Lavakros.

I asked him if he could arrange for a sailboat for the afternoon, no problems he told me. I asked him for a detailed map of the Ikarios Pelagos, no problem he told me. Finally I asked him about any local legends about "Evil" around these islands, he said big problems, especially on an island thirty miles to the northwest and he would point it out on the map, no problem.

He set the return delivery time for the food at ten a.m. and the sailboat with the marked maps at around one-thirty p.m. I said no problems and don't knock, just leave the food in the kitchen, payment would be on the table in cash, thank you very much and one more thing, purchase a couple of quarter staffs as well.

I stole a quick peek at my sleeping wife, snoring peacefully, with her right hand resting on her flat stomach and my heart added a few extra beats to its normal rhythm. She would be a perfect mother I thought, blindness wouldn't even be an inconvenient blip on her radar.

I set out some clothes for Ellen, something for sailing, something for sparring, finally something for possible danger ahead. Then I went outside again to do my exercises, some movement exercises and some loosening, stretching exercises with and without my weapons.

I brought out the scimitar first and began to do basic movements on the grass, spinning this way and that, weaving the sword about in a intricate dance all its own, neither of us currently squiring a partner.

I took out my second sword and began the dance of the swords' duet, cutting only the grass and the invisible air. Half an hour later, lathered in sweat and cut blades of grass, I sheathed both swords, heading back to the house. Erik would be over soon with the foodstuffs and the quarterstaffs, I didn't want to spook him with my antics. If the wife was awake I'd cook her breakfast and then suggest a sparring session to keep ourselves 'fighting trim'.

I walked up the stairs, didn't see her in the bedroom. I caught the sound of water running, so I headed towards the bathroom and stopped dead when I also heard the sound, the beautiful dulcet singing voice that emanated from the crystalline shower room. This is my wife, singing? It was just then that I realised that I had never heard her sing along with the music playing in the apartment or the car. This was my wife? To have and to hold, to love and to listen to?

I took a seat on a bench before the wall-filling vanity mirror slash desk, resting my arms on the cosmetic counter top and listened to the singing of an angel. Too bad the crystal shower doors were opaque.

Ellen was singing a retro-jazz song from the band, Fairground Attraction, "Allelujah". She segued from this love song to a jazzed-up, slowed down version of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You". I sat in total blissed-out silence while I luxuriated in the sound of her voice and when that song ended so did the water. As Ellens naked, tanned body emerged from the shower, I began to whistle, hoot and applaud madly. She shrieked loud enough to shatter the crystal shower stall had they been made of the cheap stuff.

"Mikolos! You—you—you! How long have you been in here, listening to me?!" She had started out yelling and her voice level had dwindled to barely above a whisper when she finished, as if all the confidence in herself had flown out the window.

"Yes, I was listening to you. Your angelic singing voice could put all the Divas in the music business out of business. I was captivated all over again. How come I've never heard you sing before?"

Ellen had grabbed the towel I'd proffered her and she dried off her hair, neck and arms, and wrapped it around her lower body. She'd blushed furiously when she'd learned I had been listening to her singing, not because of her complete nudity. Women.

I went to her side as she sat at the vanity mirror on the bence, sat down beside her and carressed her cheek, whispering into her ear.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Do you love me?"

Ellen lightly gut-punched me.

"You know I do."

"Say it."

"I love you."

"Believe it."

"Mikos, I love you! You must believe me, sweetheart, I do!"

"Then you had better believe me now, Mrs. Iskarios, when I tell you this. You. Have. The. Loveliest. Singing. Voice. I have ever heard."

"Really?" Now she was shy?

"Really. Now that we have "that" out of the way, how about some breakfast? Or maybe, some sparring practice?"

"I didn't bring my cane or a spare quarterstaff, so you could say that I'm a little short-staffed." Now she's making puns?

"I called Erik with an order, added a couple of quarterstaffs to the bill, they should be here by now."

"Um, breakfast second, then. I feel like kicking your ass right now, actually." Now she's Chuck Norris?

"Better get dressed then or you'll distract me into getting my ass kicked."

"Hmm.Okay, okay! I'll grab a tee shirt, sports bra and shorts and meet you downstairs, okay?"

"Great. That's what I left for you on the bed, dear."

"I might not like your choices, Mikos." Now she's Blackwell?

I went downstairs, grabbed the foodstuffs and refrigerated what needed it, left the quarterstaffs outside and pocketed the map with a couple of scribbled notes on it from Erik. I took the quarterstaffs outside now, to the front yard outside of the enclosed porch, to where I'd been practicing my moves earlier.

I started to warm up again without waiting for Ellen, twirling one of the quarterstaffs like a band leader in a martial arts parade. I spun, parried held and thrust, starting to feel pretty good about my prowess.

"Looking pretty good there, Mister. You know, we really should anglicize that name of ours, Mikos. It's quite a mouthful for the average citizen."

"We're not your average couple, Eleanor of the Fae, ordinary, average names do not become us." I couldn't keep a straight face for longer than it took me to say that mouthful and I started laughing. Ellen took her quarterstaff out of its vertical position in the sand and smacked me in the head with it.

"Hey!"

"Game's are for children, my husband. Last smacked cooks breakfast!"

Then we got into it. I played it wild, swinging the staff high and eye-level, at a fastball out of the strike zone. Ellen stopped it easily, batted me away and swung the staff in an undercut motion, barely missing the nose on my face. Countering with a waist-high sweep, I tried to tap her head but she jumped over it with ease, and flowed into a backwards somersault flip. When she stuck the landing, Ellen brought the staff up between my legs and made me curl into a fetal position. I dropped the staff to cup myself and let out a squeaky groan as I collapsed.

"Thus endeth...the lesson...for today."

"Michael, Michael...I'm so sorry, I'm..heh heh heh, ha ha..."

"Are you...laughing...at me?"

"Uh-huh. Can I help you up?"

"Sure, here's my hand..." As soon as Ellen gave me her hand I pulled her down to the sand with me and we began to wrestle, tumbling from the grass to the sandy beach. She tried to pin my arms down with her knees, but I was too strong, too quick and instead she straddled my head between her legs. Another time I might have taken this in another direction, but instead I grabbed her ass with both hands and flipped her over my head, and onto a patch of wet sand, we were very close to the beach by now.

"Ack!" was the only sound I got out of her but I didn't wait for anything else conversational. I went into a crouching position in a split second or two and leapt onto her, pinning her down far more effectively than she had pinned me.

"Bastard! You know you're stronger than I am, you cheating, no-good son of a—" she stopped then, mid-curse, and laughed. "I sure got you good in the nutsack, didn't I? They'll get better, I promise. In fact, I could be instrumental in assisting that healing."

"Do tell."

"Show don't tell."

.

Evangelose rose from the crouch she had assumed once the codex had finished transporting her and tried to suss out all she could about her strange surroundings. All was gray cloud and mist, swirling about as if from a fog machine at a rock concert, without any discernible landscapes, rock formations or anything else you could find on a map. She unsheathed one blade and made her way (hopefully) in a direction that would lead her somewhere, anywhere but this unending gray limbo. She was thankful to her Father that her blades were back, a sign that she was in a dimension known to man and space, as she knew it, at least.

Something flapped its wings as it soared over her head by some fifty feet. "What is this place?" She whispered to herself, "I don't think that this is where I was intended to go."

"Maybe not, ugly duckling of the Airwalkers, maybe not. But trust me this much, here is where "I" wanted you to be, for awhile." A tall, darkly handsome man, dress all in white with a dark silver light in his eyes and a silver tongue in his mouth, stepped out from out of nowhere.

The silver the color of the star that Fell, the Morning Star, Lucifer himself.

"Morningstar Asshole, how nice to see you again. Done licking your wounds from the last ass-kicking we gave you?"

Lucifer smiled and the ground shook. "The way I remember it, the battle was a little-one sided that time. You weren't alone, both your good brothers were with you, not to mention a host of greater angels as well. This time, you are all "alone"."

Eva snorted, laughter mixed with bravado. "I'm never alone, Morningstar, my Family is always with me, in spirit at the very least. I also remember a part of the battle you seem to have forgotten.You had two battalions of those black devils you've been using lately. And we still kicked your ass."

Lucifer growled through his increasingly-strained smile and the sky shifted. He materialised a sword of flame in his right hand and several dozen black devil-lites with his left. "Hell is come to thee, proud Airwalker. Let me show you its kind embrace." Lucifer whispered, his voice as loud as an earthquake.

Evangelose had loosed her second sword during the "discussion" and began to slice her way through the hoard of devil-lites, working her way towards the Prince of Liars. They bled black but kept on coming, losing limbs but not their ferocity. She suffered several cuts, bleeding red, wearing down after killing her first dozen devils. There was nowhere to set her back against, to make a stand. No room to spread her wings out, to take flight above the melee, though Lucifer himself would have met her there. She was on the losing end of this fight and knew it. Trying to send out a psychic call for help, Evangelose didn't notice the devils circling round her back till it was too late. Lucifer allowed the call for help to escape, but slowed it down and redirected it; Instead of his intended target in Greece, he sent it screaming to the Sidhe Court in Southern Wisconsin.

SEVEN

We shared the breakfast duties, me doing the cooking Ellen the clearing of the table and the washing of the dishes we divided up between us. Of course she used that duty to start a water fight, spraying me with uncanny accuracy before I found a large towel to throw over her head, making her drop the extendable water faucet hose. I swooped in for the kill, scooping her up and dunking her head in the sink, full of cold water from rinsing the dishes.

"Had enough?" I asked as I lifted her out of the cold water.

"Bully, you're just a -" Dunk! Goes the Princess.

"—big bully of a—no, no, wait!"Dunk! again went the Princess.

"Uncle, uncle!" She gasped, out of breath, before I could dunk her again.

"When will you ever learn, you can't outdo me in chicanery, fighting real or play, cheating or pranks?"

"Hopefully never." She was now ensconsed in my lap, hands full of my hair, lips parted to meet mine. "Never, as long as it always ends like this."So saying, she shook her head like a playful pooch, showering me with cold water. Laughing at her minor triumph, Ellen returned her parted lips to mine and we spent a few highly enjoyable moments playing tonsil hockey. Before we got too far along to stop, I told her I had another activity planned for the afternoon.

"More fun that what we're doing right now, right here?"She mumbled into my collarbone, nibbling on my skin.

"Um, not really, but um, how do I answer you without getting eviscerated?"

"You can't. So, what's the activity?" Damn woman was softly biting my ears now, sticking her tongue—

"Erik is supposed to tow in a sailboat, around 2 p.m. today..."

"Now THAT'S an activity! Still, it's only eleven..."

"Ellen, shouldn't we save something for the rest of the -I'll stop right there."

"No, no-I..."Now I was confused. Ellen had gotten off my lap, staggered a short distance and collapsed.

I jumped down off the steel counter by the dishes and rushed over to her side. I had her head in my lap in seconds, checked her pulse at the same time and found that despite my own rapidly pounding heart, her pulse was strong and steady.Now her color had come back and her breathing slowed to normal, so I relaxed my hold on her wrist and waited for her to speak.

"Mikey, what happened? I felt so weak, for a moment there, so light-headed..."

"You look better now. You want I should fly you to a hospital?"

"Not yet..." She told me shyly, "but if I want what I already know to be true confirmed, you can take me to a doctor."

"What, are you-we, we're pregnant?"

Ellen nodded happily, she was just short of bursting at the seams with the news, yet something was still bothering her, bothering her deeply.

"What else is there, dear, you still seem upset by something."

"I—I can't contact your sis-sister. I wanted to tell her the g-good news, but I can't get ahold of her."

I raised my eyebrows at her as I helped her to her feet. I considered whether to be annoyed at her or not for wanting to tell my sister she was pregnant before she told me, then I felt too happy about our situation for that macho bullshit and I swallowed more than my pride.

"Both your parents told me that they had a zone of silence around the island as far as telepathic communications go, I was very surprised I made contact with Eva off the island—Actually, she made contact with me, so I suppose I can't contact anyone in that "manner" from here, on the island.

"Maybe if we take the sailboat away from the islands' perameter, we can try contacting her again, let her join in on our joy."

Ellen smiled again, growing in confidence about her condition and how I was responding to it and the quick changes in our lives, to the responsibilities that were accruing. She took my hand now and I followed her out of the kitchen. We entered a room that we had yet to be in, one that had comfortable sofas, chairs and loveseats.

Ellen led me to one of the loveseats, pushed me down onto it and stripped off her t-shirt. The sports bra she had been wearing had been exchanged for another deep green bikini top. I started to wonder if this was leading in a certain direction or not when she sat down beside me and took both my hands in hers then place them on her flat, tanned stomach.

"I might be wrong, I hope I am, but I feel a sense of foreboding about your sister and our baby. Something bad is happening, not to us right now, but to someone we care about. It's a Fae thing, but my human side delays, dilutes the warning, rendering it almost useless.

"I need you to back me up on this, Michael, whatever may happen to us, I need to know that whatever sacrifice I might have to make, you'll accept it."

"As long as your life isn't on the altar, Eleanor, I won't stand for that nor will I hesitate to stop your play if it is your life we're talking about."

"I understand where you're coming from, Michael, I do. But someone is in dire trouble in my vision, we might just be too late or too early, I have no way of knowing for sure. This scares me, Michael, I don't know what to do."

I brought her down to my level, with one hand still on her stomach, and I held her close for a few minutes till she cried herself out.

"The best I can come up with right now is to take the sailboat out away from the island and try to contact someone from our families as fast as possible."

Ellen wiped her eyes dry and nodded, then stood up with me in tow. She 'looked 'at the tee laying on the floor and shrugged at it.

"Do you have any button-down 'work' shirts in your luggage? I want it to wear to keep the sun off me for awhile and the cold at bay, just in case."

"I don't have one with me but there might be one in the family closet, a leftover. I'll fetch it for you, along with a pair of jeans and a jacket, just in case like you said. Stay here for my peace of mind, will you please?"

Ellen sat down again and nodded, with her hands still clasped over her stomach. I was wary of her sudden, meek acceptance of my suggestions but I did trust her, so I went upstairs to grab her clothes and a few things for myself.

She was actually still there when I came downstairs to the den again. I put the overly large shirt on her extended arms and by God, it looked wonderfully sexy on her. I had to tell her so in a breathy whisper. It made her blush beyond her tan, then she upped the ante by taking off her jean shorts to reveal the bottom half of the deep green bikini top she was wearing and tossed them onto the floor. Ellen took the other pants from me and put them on instead.

"Spoil-sport."

"Why?"

"You got covered up just a "little" too fast, there."

"Michael, you pig. Thanks for the compliment, however...let's go! Now I'm excited about our sailboat excursion."

"I hope our plan works—we're rather limited now in our ability to get off and away from this island."

.

An hour later we were out on the sailboat, heading away from the Pelagos in a southerly direction, give or take a few degrees. About five miles away from our honeymoon island, I set to calming our sailboat, dropping the sails and eventually, dropping the anchor off the starboard side.

I sat down in the middle of the cramped deck and set my mind to working on contacting my sister, first, then the Sidhe Court back in Wisconsin. Contacting my sister was the priority, but all my efforts could not raise more than a hazy, gray mist in my mind's eye. Next I tried sending my thoughts to the Sidhe Court. The picture I got from there was disturbing to say the least: empty halls, empty chambers, empty, empty, empty.

The one, clear message I did receive from the Court, however, did tell me something of what had happened, if not why.

The Sidhe Court had gone to war.

EIGHT

The complete army of the Sidhe Court paraded up the walkway to the teleportation device, then came to attention while the few remaining Fae applauded them, seeing them off to war. One of the few that remained was Pax Verum, the one most worried about Evangelose's fate, but designated by the King and Queen to stay behind and "rule" in their absence. The army then moved on and into the Hall's device and were gone, only a token amount of Fae were left behind.

.

Hours later, a loud explosion rocked the entrance of the Sidhe Court, startling Pax Verum out of a late nap induced by the lack of light and companionship. He spent a few precious minutes waiting to regain his equilibrium, then he grabbed his staff of office and exited his spartan rooms to see just what the hell had happened.

He had to go as far as the Great Lake before a glimpse of smoke in the distance warned him that however unlikely it seemed, they were under attack. A small group of guardsmen were retreating towards the lake, pursued by a horde of small black devils, driven on by several larger devils. Pax Verum raised the hidden stone bridge that lay under the lake's surface, allowing the majority of the guardsmen to make it safe to the main halls. Unfortunately, quite a few devils also made it across, harassing and killing the few guardsmen who struggled to get away. After the last of the guardsmen either crossed or were cut down by the devils, Pax reversed the mechanism, causing several fiends to fall into the lake.

But the larger devils had winged beasts in reserve. They came in now carrying a massive army of both devils. Once across the lake, the scaled things unloaded their shock troops and a pitched battle began. The Fae were greatly outnumbered if not outclassed, now that the main army had left the halls, and despite Pax's great magics, they lost men and ground quickly.

Having been driven back to the warrens of halls that comprised the largest part of the Court, Pax tried to rally the remnants of the Fae still armed and able to fight, to fight using ambush tactics that didn't do much good against such a swarm of death. The larger devils drove their troops with whips and swords of flame, using the latter to set everything in reach on fire, including the stone walls themselves.

"Demon fire!" shouted the last of the archers, who then tried to feather the larger devil with several arrows at once. The action only served to irritate the devil who then turned his attention to these remaining bowmen. Pax turned away from the ensuing screams and found himself in a hallway that deadended with one of the flying devil horses that had been brought down and burned to death by flaming arrows. But Pax had no time to find the irony in that moment, for when he turned away from the charred remains, he found one of the devil leaders standing very, very close indeed.

^You have nowhere left to run, little elfling— ^ but then it fell backwards with a scream to curdle blood, Pax not waiting any longer to strike with the few remaining spells he had the willpower left to cast— finally accepting that his situation was bleak, nigh hopeless, he retreated back to his study to cast one last spell. This Sidhe Court may be ending in blood and fire, but he could still warn the other Courts, his other friends, his King and Queen and their army-plus the newlywed Princess and her husband in Greece-before dying alone.

He dispensed with many of the fripperies and ceremonial bullshit and set the spell in motion. As complete a warning as he could send, he did, and all the Sidhe Courts were thus warned, they could take extreme protective measures. His warning to the King, Queen and their army went unheeded. Pax Verum had no time left to contemplate the reasonings why that was. Finally, as the tumult and screams grew louder and thus, closer, he cast his warning to the newlyweds on Daedelus Island and to his utmost surprise, his shame and horror, was sucked along with the spell on its journey to Greece.

.

I was telling Ellen about what I had gotten from my scrying of the Sidhe Court when a sharp pain in my head(the sidhe court of wisconsin has been attacked all are dead protect yourselves from the devil's minionspax beatus, Pax Verum) dropped me to my knees only to witness Pax materialise out of thin air and plunge into the sea.

"Michael, what the hell—"

"Stay here!" With that bit of cryptic wisdom, I dove off the sailboat and into the sea after the councillor. Whatever force had brought him here had driven him deep into the sea and I needed to use my wings to aid in my imitation of a torpedo chasing a human depth charge at high speed. I caught sight of him a few moments later, more or less now drifting downwards and caught up to him shortly thereafter. Thankfully the councillor was only a tall man not a heavy one and I was able to drag him to the surface without harming either him or myself.

I pushed him onto the sailboat, shouted for Ellen to come over and administer CPR, then back into the sea I went, however unwillingly. Wrapped around my legs was a huge, putrid-colored tentacle that seemingly stretched to the ocean floor, far out of my sight. I sluggishly pulled forth both blades and sliced off the things from my legs, but another one came slithering towards me to attack anew. Again, I cut through the foot-wide width of the strange tentacle, no octopus or squid this, wondering what size the rest of the creature was for its tentacles to be this long. But during that whole, strange, silent fight under the sea, I never saw anything but those tree-trunk sized tentacles.

I felt the remnants of the creature's tentacles still clinging to my legs and my blood starting to flow onto its suction cupped "arms". I scraped them off of me with the scimitar, thanking Pax Verum all the while for the protective spell on the blade that kept it from cutting me or my friends and flew slash swam back to the sailboat. Just before I resurfaced and boarded the sailboat, I sliced the anchor chain clean through. I limped onto the deck and made it to the mast, slumping as I released the sails.

"Get us out of here!" I shouted to no-one in particular as I collapsed onto the deck and blacked out.

.

Ellen told me later, back on the island, that she had revived Pax and that he had had enough reserves left to summon a stronger wind to take us away from whatever the hell that thing had been attached to. Then both of them had worked on bandaging my wounds again—this was becoming a regular if nasty routine with these two—though it hadn't been as bad as Ellen had first thought, she admitted later, and we had retreated back to the island fairly quickly.

Pax Verum told us both about the blitzkrieg invasion of the black devils Ellen and I had first faced at the abandoned Air Force Base, Ellen weeping for the loss of life and I burning with the warrior's obsessive need for revenge. He also told us of the fact that the Army, led by the King and Queen had left just before the attack had begun, left for the northern reaches of Wisconsin. The exact location being somewhere among the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior, where the codex had sent them.

"How can you and I get there?" I growled directly to the councillor, deliberately ignoring my wife's dropping jaw and angry face.

"I'm coming too, damn your chauvinistic pride! I'm as lethal a fighter as any Fae warrior—"

"And they died, they all "died", back at the court, Princess! I hate to think so, but we may already be too late."

"No! Damn it all to hell, we have to get there and get there now!"

"Ellen—"

"Short of a miracle, Princess—"

"Michael, wait, listen to me—"

"Pax Verum doesn't have the codex anymore, do you?"

Pax hung his head. "There's more news I've yet to tell you. Your sister "called" to me, she was in dire need to escape from some hellish place she'd been trapped in, and needed the codex to get out of it. Wherever Eva is, so is the codex. If the codex told the King and Queen to take their army to the Apostle Islands, there too, is your sister and our common-ground enemy. The Prince of Lies.

"But you can still speak through me, to your "family", Michael. He will still respond to you, Michael. Your lineage is not corrupted."

"What?"

"Not now, my love. Alright, Pax, let us pray together then, shall we?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you...oh MEN!"

Pax Verum and I knelt together, he preparing the way and I "walking" my thoughts along that "way".>I need help, Father of All. The Fae are still descendants of your children, Lord, and I would aid them as I was born to do.< I could sense Pax prayers right alongside mine but also another feeling, another player in the game,similar to Ellen's. God help us, not our child, not my wife.

++you do not realise whom you face, son of the airwalkers, neither your strength nor your faith are strong enough to face one of my Fallen. All four shall I send to the islands named after the ones who followed my Son, to turn back the Fallen who calls himself 'Lucifer'. My blessings go with thee, airwalker, and with thy family shall you be victorious.++

The next scene for us was one of the worst I never hope to see in my nightmares any of the remaining days of my life.

NINE

There were broken and torn bodies scattered everywhere, Fae and devil alike. Some were in bloody pieces, others dead standing upright on their blood-soaked feet, the blades or whatever might have killed them still in their soul-less bodies. Some were joined together with their last opponent, some frozen by fear till their bodies had slowed, then stopped in the penultimate moment of life and death.

"Michael, all I'm sensing is death, some ours, most of them "theirs", the enemy. Do you see anyone or -thing still alive and fighting?"

I flew two hundred feet into the air, to escape the charnal smoke and fire, searching as my wife had asked, for any signs of life. "I don't see anything yet!" I shouted down to them, but then an explosion rocked the next island to the west—northwest and it caught everyone else's eyes not only mine and I swooped down to grab their arms, heading in that direction as quickly and as carefully as I could, bearing people precious to me as I was.

When we reached that island, more death and destruction greeted us, but so did life; life was also there, good fighting evil among the rubble of an automated lighthouse. I could see the King of the Fae protecting his wounded Queen against the Fallen Angel himself, while the rest of the army still alive was fighting the black devils still obeying the Fallen's orders and one surprise foe: my sister.

I dropped Pax Verum off near the King with one of my blades, for his magic was used up and near-useless against this foe. Ellen I still clasped and though she wanted and she fought to get loose to help her parents, I flew her to a near-by hill, far enough away from the action to satisfy me and left her there. I sailed down in a hell of a hurry to divert my sister from her hapless victims, for victims they would be if they fought my possessed sister for any length of time.

I used my invisibility to temporarily fool my sister into taking a blow that rocked her back to her heels, then I turned to the guards she had been fighting and yelled at them. "GO! You two, go to your King and Queen! You three to that hill over there and protect your Princess!" Then I spun around, just in time, to parry my sister's lethal first swing. I didn't know how the Fallen One had possessed my sister, perhaps through the codex near our honeymoon island. But further menacing slashes by Evangelose's two swords kept my mind from ruminating any more on that subject or anything else than the battle at hand, the death battle of two siblings of the airwalkers.

I had luckily kept the scimitar for myself, as I didn't want to harm my sister and as long as I didn't sustain any life-threatening injury, this plan had a slim chance of keeping us both alive. I did not possess the luxury of glancing at the other life and death struggles in progress all around me, nor of keeping an eye on my Princess, as Evangelose pressed the battle home to me, having no such interest in keeping "me" alive. Without either of us realising it, we had taken our clash into the air not too far away from the hill where I had deposited Ellen. My mind was on keeping myself healthy and whole for the immediate moment with a defensive action. Keep in mind that I was outnumbered two blades to one, by an opponent that knew me better than I did, whose skills hadn't gotten rusty from amnesia, so I never did see Ellen slip down the hill, past her dead or dying Fae protectors. My fighting eye finally saw a slim opening as my sister "did" notice Ellen and I didn't hesitate to seize the moment, using the scimitar to knock first one then the other blade from her hands. Without the time to think about what I was doing, I slashed the scimitar at and through Evangelose, cutting into her not to spill blood but her evil taint and tether that had held her enthralled to the Fallen One.

This was the 'evil' I had been battling and this was the only damage the Sword could have inflicted on my sister. Evangelose fell from the sky not unlike a damaged bird, but I caught up to her in time and broke her fall, laying her on the hilltop as carefully as I could. It was then that I noticed Ellen had left the safety of the hill and I turned hastily to save her from whatever foolish(in my eyes) manuever she had begun. I was too late, for the first time in my faded memory, I was too late.

Ellen had grabbed a golden spear from one of her fallen bodyguards and hefted it in her right hand for a few seconds. I felt the life transfer, the sacrifice she made on all our behalfs, as she flung the spear. The Fallen Angel had dropped the King before the killing blow could be delivered and spun on his clawed feet. The spear pierced his left eye, dead center in the iris of black and like a bad dream on Christmas morning, disintegrated into black ashes, swept away on a killing wind.

The rest of the black devils vanished as if they had never been there in the first place but I didn't notice. The King was helping his wife put on a makeshift sling on her right arm, while Pax treated several of the many Fae soldiers for varying degrees of wounds, but I didn't notice. Evangelose was regaining consciousness and staring at Ellen with an equal measure of sorrow and pain in her eyes, but I didn't notice.

I ran down to Ellen's side just as she fell to the ground like a string-cut puppet and kept her from hitting the rocky ground.

"Why?" I whispered, yet everyone present heard me.

"Why?" I spoke in a haunted voice, yet the ghosts of the dead did not hear me.

"Why?" I spoke of a future derailed and only those future me(s) could sympathize with me.

"WHY?" I shouted before the King and Pax Verum separated my wife from my arms.

"God save me, is she—"

"She's alive. But not the child to be. The Princess must have sacrificed the life-force of the child to banish the Fallen Angel." Pax looked all of us, each one of us, directly in the eyes before continuing. "She must not be blamed for this action—her sacrifice saved all our lives, our very souls perhaps." Pax tenderly, carefully lifted her up to a sitting position, as she began to come around—back to her senses, as I lost mine—falling into the Light.

TEN

I came back up for air in the bedroom of our honeymoon suite, with Ellen dozing in a comfy chair by the side of the bed and Pax Verum reading a medical chart to the King of the Fae.

Pax motioned the King out of the room, came to the opposite side of the bed that Ellen was sleeping next to and checked my eyes, my heart rate and pulse, took some blood for "further tests" and asked, "Should I wake her for you?"

"Not yet. How is she—physically and mentally? How is she?!"

"Physically, she's exhausted. A few bruises and cuts, most superficial, but inside she's fine, whole, undamaged. Ellen could easily conceive again, if she wants to."

"Why wouldn't she 'want to'?"

"That's where the mentally fit part you asked about comes in play.Eleanor is afraid of your true reaction to her literally split-second decision to sacrifice your future child. She's also worried that the life the two of you have chosen will deny you the chance of having children, for fear of something similar happening to them.

"Lastly, she is worried whether this sacrifice will haunt her for the rest of her near-immortal life. I do believe that this last fear would be greatly alleviated by you having a positive reaction to her choice, one that would come from your heart, your soul and not from a greeting card replicated sentiment that you didn't write or agree with.

"The Princess needs you to be the golden-hearted Angel she fell in love with, the man who doesn't remember who or where he's from but that he loves her undeniably and has since the first time he ever saw her.

"She needs you to be her Prince."

"I am that man, Councilor, I swear by the Father who created me, I am that man and always will be. I give you my word that whatever Eleanor wants and needs from me, I will give it to her without hesitation or doubt."

"Don't.call.me.Eleanor."

Both Pax and I turned to her, Ellen giving me a wan smile while tears drizzeled down her pale cheeks.

"Love of my life, how are you—what happened to your tan? How long have I been out this time?"

Ellen sniffled a little more, then a snort and giggle escaped her, then a full-fledged sunbeam lit up her face.

"I heard everything you said to Pax, Michael, and I believe it, oh God, I believe you, I need you, I love you." She took a deep breath and continued. "You've been out for a week, Michael. We came back here for more rest and relaxation, courtesy of your family and mine. My parents are to join the Sidhe Court of Canada, for now, and are leaving tomorrow morning. Pax will be staying behind to recruit non-court members across the U.S. to rebuild the Wisconsin Sidhe Court—the other states' courts will not allow another King and Queen to join them for fear of any power plays among the different factions.

"So we'll be "allowed" another two weeks here to recuperate and even more if we need it, but there is a stipulation—we're needed to investigate that spot on the map Erik marked and gave to you earlier. But two weeks free and clear before we're "back on the job", so to speak.

"Um, there is one last thing concerning the incidents up in the Apostle Islands—we have to go back there and clean up the residue of our battle there, to make sure all the evil has been purged from that scene, that battle." Ellen looked sad and forlorn for a second or sixty, then ran her fingers over my head.

"I know you might need some more time to heal, husband. I want you to know that I'm going to be right here, waiting patiently till you're, um, ready to, um, resume sleeping, with me again."

I smiled at my poor little blind girl and yanked her bodily into the bed with me. Ellen let out a whoop of surprise as I dragged her close to me and tried to speak to me, despite my lips on hers and my tongue dancing with hers.

"I may not be "physically" totally able to 'SLEEP' with you, but I sure am mentally ready and able. Take a nap with me, Mrs.Whatever the hell my last name really is, and let's find out just how ready I am."

# CHAPTER SIX

It turned out thusly: I was more than able to 'sleep' with my lovely wife, in fact more than once that afternoon, much less the rest of the night. Then, her Parents had to leave that very afternoon, without saying goodbye(How Rude!) and Pax had left during the night following for a B&B the Grecian Sidhe Court invited him to stay at, totally out of the blue.

So we were now all alone on the island again and the food storage was completely refilled, new quarterstaffs delivered and the sailboat returned for the duration of our time on the island. Evangelose had spent a few days during my recuperation sleep, apparently consoling my wife and commiserating with her as well, "seemingly" striking up a friendship with, 'of all people', Pax Verum. My wife slyly hinted after both had left the island on the day after her parents had gone, that they had 'consoled' each other quite a few times during my 'blackout'.

I laughed out loud again at the thought of my sister falling into a relationship after such a long time only 'sleeping' with men, not dating them, and Ellen shoved me out of the bed, telling me to go make her some breakfast. I even brought it up to the bedroom suite to serve her breakfast in bed, but by that time she had already forgiven me and developed an appetite for more than just the food.

Later I wondered if my sister was laughing at 'me' about the same thing, yet I had taken it further than her? Oh well, spit happens when you're thirsty. We started to get into a routine, as far as routines go for people who fly and are Fae and it went like this.

We sailed around the island but no further, once a day, sparred twice a day with the quarterstaffs, went flying(invisibly, of course) every night to watch the stars and "make out", and made love several times a day slash a night, in and off the island, inside and outside the house. Ellen still seemed a little wistful during the night and occasionally distant, mentally, especially when we were sparring. I resolved to work on the latter first and called Erik from the only phone in the house(it only dialed out, no way for incoming calls to bug us).

"Erik? Mikolos here. Fine, we're fine. Listen, I have a special request to make of you, a present for my wife. I need a weapon, a very fine weapon indeed. Now, here's what I need."

.

Another day, another run-through of our routine, and Erik brought in the weapon I'd asked him to acquire, cost not a problem. I had told Ellen I was going downstairs for a snack and found the blade in a beautiful wood case with red velvet lining inside. The katana was a Japanese sword, but this one curved like the blade Arwen used in 'Lord of the Rings' with an inscription in Gaelic on the flat of the blade that read, A Sword Worthy for the Princess of the Fae. The runes were gorgeous and sharply etched and I was pleased with both the workmanship and the heft of the blade. I took the case up with me to the bedroom where I found Ellen had already gotten out of bed, showered and gotten dressed. She was sitting at and on the foot of the bed, fidgeting a little, like she was expecting something special. (Damn woman could read my mind).

"Mikey, I know you brought something up from downstairs, it's for me and it's not food, so come on—give it up! I can't wait—I can't sit still from anticipation!" True to her words, Ellen bounced up from the bed and almost impaled herself on the sword case I was holding out .

"Oh my God—it feels wonderful!" She had all but dumped the case on my feet after taking the sword out and was running her fingers over the flat surface of the blade, checking out the runes and the Gaelic inscriptions.

"Michael, the sword is certainly a beautiful piece of craftmanship and it's a great surprise! I can "read" the runes, the Gaelic words , A Sword Worthy of the Princess of the Fae, how perfect! It's similar to a katana of Japanese origin, but it curves like a Fae shortsword." She put the blade down on the bedcovers and turned back to me.

"Thank you, Michael.", was all she needed to say and I kissed her, holding tight to her warm, supple so alive body. I kept on holding her, kissing her, till her body started to respond to my "efforts" to seduce her. She wound her hands around my head, flicked past my ears and on into my hair, which she grabbed chunks to hold on to. She used the hold to all but attack me, hungrily. She tried to devour me or be devoured by me. Ellen then turned away, picked up the sword and placed it in the case, shutting it and putting it gently on the floor.

Turning back to me, Ellen undressed me silently while her breathing ran fast and heavy. She pushed me back onto the bed(Damn my wife was pushy!) and climbed me like a jaguar clawing its way up a tree. "It's time to thank you properly." She growled and began to size me up as if I were a deluxe happy meal. Just a 'slight' change in our 'routine'. Damn, I think I just cured her of her blues. Then there wasn't any more time for thinking, as natural instincts, fueled by hormones took over.My mind shut down to its basic principal activities and my five senses acquired the drivers' seat.

.

Several hours later, drained by all the gymnastics she'd put me through, I woke startled to find I had fallen asleep and that Ellen had left the bed. She stood twenty feet away from the bed, naked and compulsively alluring and held her katana in her hands. I propped my head up with my hand to watch whatever my wife was up to and screamed her name when she used the blade to carefully cut herself on her left arm. Ellen brought the wound, slowly beginning to bleed, to the runes on the sword and as I watched, mesmerized, the blood seeped into the runes and filled them, changing them to a different meaning, a different set of Gaelic inscriptions. This phrase, I later learned as I did not read or speak Gaelic, meant the same thing that was on my scimitar that Pax Verum had given me: Harm no friend nor ally.

Ellen had sensed that I was watching, that I believed, and to allay my fears that her cut had hurt her, brought the sword back to the left arm again. I watched as the blade burned blue, touching the wound, healing it almost instantly, and for the fortieth time, wondered about my beautiful blushing bride. I wondered if she was more than even she or her parents knew, more than even my family could guess at.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, my love, but this is an ancient Fae ritual of protection and dedication—it gives the sword its' name and major purpose for the life of the blade.

"So this katana is now named "The Healer" and it is dedicated, like yours, to only harming enemies and evil, not friends, allies and all things good and pure."

Ellen now sauntered over to where I watched her from the bed and rather demurely asked, "Can we go out and play?"

"Shouldn't you get dressed first? I wouldn't want to hurt any part of you..." I put my hands on her ass, drew her to me and kissed her stomach just above her hip bones, gratified to hear a small "oh" escape her lips before she slapped at my hands.

"You need to get dressed as well, Mikey, or I'll be distracted by your scrumptious body into losing on purpose." Ellen smiled and scrambled for the clothes she had been wearing earlier, while I pondered how she could be distracted by my body since she was blind?

We walked outside, Ellen still admiring her katana with 'oohs' and 'aahs'. I had bought a hand made leather sheath for the curved katana and gave it to her once we got outside.

"A sheath? With a looped belt to go over my back and chest, too? You're spoiling me, Michael, keep it up."

"For you, lover, always."

"MICHAEL!"

<Brother, keep it to yourself.>

>Evangelose? What's happening with you, sister?<

<I'm giving you fair warning, Brother. I have to bring you the codex within the next week, as the situation nearest you is worsening faster than we had anticipated.>

>Do we have any 'intel' on this trouble spot? I do rather hate going in blind.<

=Ha ha ha. No fair making fun of the poor little blind girl.=

<Greetings, sister. I am glad to hear you sounding in better spirits.>

=Thanks go to my loving husband, you and my Family for their unending support and love.=

<You have my support always, sister. Pax Verum sends his regards as well.>

>I have heard that he now saves his regards for only you, sister, how is that relationship going?<

<BROTHER! Well, um, yes, yes, he does. You just had to use that word, didn't you, Brother?>

>What word is that, dearest sister?<

<Relationship! It's like Kryptonite to me, Brother, you know that!>

>So you and Pax have been getting your freak on?<

<how did you guess? I didn't tell you that much about us, did I?>

=I'm afraid, sister, that I had a small hand in letting him know how far you two have progressed in your—=

<Don't use that WORD!>

=Relationship, relationship, Eva is in a relationship!=

<Sister, sister! You were supposed to keep our, um, 'thing' a secret!>

=Sorry=

<Forgiven as always, new sister of mine. So, Brother, I'll be bringing the codex over a week from yesterday, so you only have six more days to "play" with your new wife. Better enjoy those days. Bye.>

>Always. Stay safe, sister.<

.

"Come on, husband. Let's get it on...no, wrong phrase around you. Um, hmm, what does one say when you want to start a fight?"

"Your tractor is ugly?"

Ellen just shook her head in disbelief and released her sword from its case and started to circle my position in the sand. She moved in suddenly, swinging the sword like it was her quarterstaff and I decided to disabuse her of that habit right away. I curved the scimitar towards the height of her katana's arc and it flew away from her like a boomerang.

"First lesson: the sword is not your quarterstaff or your sword cane. Different weight, a different style is needed to attack someone with this blade and we'll cover the other differences as we go." I fetched the katana for her, she nodded and we picked up where we left off.

I disarmed Ellen a few more times but it became increasingly more difficult each time. Then my turn came. Ellen sprang from a crouched position, swung her right leg under both of mine, planted her left leg, switched her hands with the katana and nearly took my hand off along with my scimitar. She jumped to her feet after my round of cursing was through and came over to my side, asking how I was.

"I don't smell blood, only sweat and manly hormones on the air, so I'll take it as a given that the runes worked and you're only cursing cause I stung your silly male pri-yi-yide!"

I ran towards her as she prattled on, scooped her up like before and dumped her into the blue-green Aegean sea, far enough out that she didn't hit any submerged rocks.

Ellen came to the surface, sputtering curses of her own and began to swim back to the island."Bastard." I might have been willing to leave a blind woman alone in the sea, had I been what she was calling me now, but I most definitely was not such a man. Thoroughly pissed, cursing my name she was... I decided to mollify her with one of her favorite acts, making out off of Terra Firma. I picked her up with my hands under her armpits and flew further inland then skyward till I found a cooler wind blowing.

"This isn't going to help you-oh—stop kissing me, I'm mad...mmm...do that again, no no no! I'm mad at you! Damn typical male of the...mmm, yes, bite that again, gently, gently...wait a minute! I think I'm mad at you! Um, am I?"

"No, you're not mad at me. You actually seem—"

"MICHAEL!"

"—happy to see me."

"Damn thin wet see-through tee shirt. I'm probably poking holes in this thin material, oh, um, maybe I'm not mad anymore, maybe just a little turned on..."

"Just a little?" I teased her, kissing her through her shirt, biting her through her shirt.

"Okay, okay! Maybe more than just a little, ooh, maybe a whole heck of a lot! Take us down, will you my love, I'm feeling the need for soft and slow right now. I feel a genuine need for a gentle touch, a lingering kiss, a steady heartbeat against my skin. That's what I need right now, Michael."

"Your wish is my command, my Princess. Let's retrieve our weapons, shall we, then I'll fly us back to the house." Ellen nestled her head again my chest and whispered, "As you wish." I simply replied, "Have fun storming the castle!" and she erupted into a laughing fit.

Stashing the sword back into its' case with the sheath as well, I flew us back home and in through the doors I had left open. I put the case under the bed for the time being.

"I'm going to take a hot shower. Care to join me?"

"Usually after one of 'those' showers, I need to take a cold shower to compensate."

"Chicken! Change into something comfortable and I'll be back in a flash." So saying, Ellen traipsed off to the bathroom and I decided, for just this once, to do exactly as she had suggested(well, ordered, semantics). I stripped off everything, found a terry cloth robe vaguely in my size and belted it on. Then I went down to the kitchen and came back upstairs with a tray full of some sandwiches, hot coffee, hot tea and three beers for me. Ellen came into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her waist and nothing else; by now, my robe had loosened and I also, was commando underneath.

The food was simple yet well received by my apparently starving young artist/wife, the coffee and hot tea gratefully appreciated and the back massage I gave her afterwards elicited nothing but moans and soft 'mmms' of enjoyment.

"Michael, I think I'll keep you if that's alright with you."

"You've had a busy day today. Sparring, flying, making love, swimming.." She hit me with a pillow and the fight royale was under way.

TWO

The afternoon slipped slowly, silently into early evening and the cold food sufficed to satiate our food needs till even later that evening. But considering how many times we had made love after returning to the house earlier, I would have thought that more nourishment would be needed. But Ellen had more stamina than such a slender person should have and denied me egress from the bedroom till she heard her own stomach gurgle, growl and rumble.

"Stay here, Michael. It's my turn to bring back the day's hunt. You can rest until I come back, angel-man. I'll see what kind of repast I can come up with."

I laid my head back on the bed, then sat up looking for a pillow. Even though she had said that she had wanted a gentler, slower loving, most of the sheets, blankets and pillows were scattered all over the bedroom. After I got myself settled, I started to doze off before a horrifying shriek from Ellen set all my nerves to jangling and my pulse pounding, racing with fear.

I never touched the floor, nor the stairs, my wings pulsing into action without the slightest urging from my will. I all but flew straight into the kitchen, bringing myself up short when I didn't see Ellen anywhere. I smelled fresh air coming from the hallway that led to our elaborate greeting room and the outdoor porch. Again I took to the air, the ceiling being twenty feet about me. The front door had been made of crystal glass, wasn't there anymore. Someone or something had shattered the thick yet ornamental crystal pane and my wife's blood decorated the shards that were left. I hurled myself through the new four foot wide by eight foot tall opening in the door and gained altitude as I tried to sense where she had been taken.

I sighted something reptilian yet humanoid, standing on two feet with a prehensile tail for added support, getting its scaly ass kicked by my bloodied yet unbowed wife. I pulled into a holding pattern just above the two combatants and almost whispered a silent prayer for the reptilian creature.

"Ellen! Help yourself to this!" I dropped the scimitar right between them and she grabbed my toss like Donald Driver. She drove the thing back to the sandy, grass rough and when it stumbled momentarily, Ellen decapitated it. Slug-like black blood spurted from its neck and I felt like cheering for her, at that moment, both she and I caught the scent of many, many more of these fish-like creatures(I'd gotten a better look, now) and decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

"Back to the house!" I yelled back at her, flying ahead towards them, hoping to put the fear of my God into them. I swore as I flew closer to the water's edge as untold hundreds, maybe thousands of these creatures were emerging from the sea. Close behind them was the tentacled monster I had barely escaped from during our last encounter.

I hung suspended fifty feet from them and a hundred feet off the ground, undecided on how I should proceed. >Sister? Any chance you're in the neighborhood right now? I hate to admit it, but I'm in way over my head at this moment! <

"Yes, Brother, there is every chance I'm really close by and with a few friends from our side of the family, too." I glanced above me and witnessed a holy host of Angels or least the next best thing. At first glance our family had the appearance of holiness and the wings sort of added the necessary physical appearance factor but this much I now remembered: we were not Angels. Not all of us, anyways.

Some of the 'kinda Angels' were literally hurling lightning bolts, others had special bows and arrows of damnation fire, some cast magic spells, others swooped in with weapons like mine and reaped the whirlwind, unleashed heaven and hell on the throng of fish-things. Evangelose jolted me out of my reverie I had fallen into as she descended onto the tentacles, so I flew over to where she was fighting it and joined her. Both her blades turned to burning steel and the squid like tentacles she sliced off did not grow back.

I had my sole remaining weapon unsheathed already and since my sister was doing such a bang-up job on the hideous pseudo-squid, I took on the responsibility of guarding her back. The fishmen took a beating and kept on coming, but unlike the tentacled creature Eva was fighting, when I cut off an arm, leg or head from these things, they didn't regenerate.

During a thirty-second respite from their onslaught, I glanced around for Ellen and saw her surrounded, protected by several of my fellows(Airwalkers). She seemed to be protesting their mollycoddling but the vision she presented lent more strength to my arms and speed to my wings.

The fish men's numbers seemed to be dwindling fast, even though at the start of the fighting they had outnumbered us by at least a 50 to 1 count.

"I'm going into the water," my sister shouted, "to try and find this creatures' sick and twisted heart and perforate it." She dove into the water, in the area from whence the tentacles came. While I, fresh out of fish men to turn into Mrs. Pauls fishsticks, dove in after her. I headed in a different direction, though, looking to close the gate to hell that these things had obviously swum out of.

I swam past my sister's version of a theater play, of hack and stab, part deux, and followed the sandy, cement-like footprints left behind by the fish men. Eventually I found the hole in the sea floor that looked rather like the one I'd seen the codex inside of some little time ago. I dropped to the sea floor and swam into the opening, armed and ready for almost anything.

What I saw was, upon clearing my face of my wet, unruly mop of hair was Pax Verum engaged in some kind of staring contest with another dude that looked mostly human but with webbed feet and hands and gills around his neck. Behind "him", was the gate that these creatures had most likely come from as well as the many-tentacled creature-feature Evangelose was currently eviscerating. Being a mostly direct person, I decided to thrust my sword through the gills around his neck and give the guy a full lobotomy, sending his head bouncing back down through the gate.

"Come, help me close it! Between your strength and my magic, we should be able to get it done." We put his words into actions and slammed the gate shut. Of course, every action breeds an equal reaction and the chamber we were in began to shake and flood. Underground seaquake I presumed and, dragging Pax Verum behind me, swam out of the cave and towards the surface and into the sky above.

A few other rocky shoals jutting far enough above the sea level to almost qualify as islets shook with the tremors below the seafloor and began to crumble. I flew with great haste towards where I had left Ellen, Evangelose and the rest of the family but from below me came Pax's comforting words.

"Your family's island should be secure from these upheavals, Mikos, due to all the protective measures they have had set in place."

"Then how did these—things, get on the island in the first place?"

"A good question. The fellow I was engaged in combat with under the sea's surface was a Sorcerer, dedicated to the release of these foul Old Gods. But look—the servants have been dispatched, the fallen Sea God destroyed by our closing the gate to the Sunken City. There's your sister, there—our Princess! All seem well, or well enough."

I dropped Pax off by my sister, who seemed bloodied but still able to stand on her own two feet, then I increased my speed till I reached my wife's side. When I saw her dazed look, the blood spattered about her body, I scooped her up in our usual way and flew off in what I presumed to be the general direction of Athens.

"Michael? Michael! I'm fine, really, Michael. Besides, you've healed me before, can't you just do it again?"

"Yes, yes of course. I lost my head, seeing you covered in blood, oh God, I was so scared..." Ellen slipped an arm around me and held me close as I circled back around to our island. Ellen smiled through the gore.

"Very little of it is mine, darling. Amazing amount of blood these fish creatures have, isn't it?"

"How many did you kill?"

"I think I lost count after...oops." She covered her mouth, realising the gaffe she'd committed when I grew quiet, a calm before the verbal storm. But my anger simmered down and I went deep into myself with my will, into the deep reserves of my soul and brought up the love, the healing force, overflowing into Ellen's tired body. So much willpower did I use, so much healing love went into Ellen that the excess gore and blood splatter evaporated from her entire body, cleansing her clothes as well as her skin. It went deep into her heart and soul, easing even the pain caused by the sacrifice of our child that would never be. As the power passed through me and into Ellen, I felt the presence of another, smaller soul spark to life within her and it spoke to me.

%Father? Are you receiving me?%

>Yes, yes I am—<

%I am your child, dear Father, or children, if you will. The one whose sacrifice was worth the making and the one you will conceive with Mother later this week. Do you believe me?%

>Strangely enough, I do. Does Eleanor know of you, of this conversation?<

%Not of this conversation, but I have talked to her as though I were her conscience, ever since the sacrifice was made. Do not tell her, Father, of me or this talk, I would not reopen the wounds, the sorrow she has suffered.%

>What can I do for you, my—child?<

%Take her away from here, Father. To the Apostle Islands you must hasten; the danger is on one island, the island you need to be on for my/our conception however is called 'Madeleine Island', named for the chief's daughter so many years ago. Go with Truth and Peace, Father, and your sister and wife, of course, as well.%

>Wait, child of mine. Will you be a girl or a boy, to be born to us nine months hence?<

%Why do you ask, Father? Can you not wait the few months it would take to find out naturally?< She sounded impishly good humored.

>So I can win a bet with your mother to be, of course.<

%I really don't think that that is an important reason, Father, but do remember this advice.%

>Yes?<

%I do prefer the name "Marie"%

And she was gone. I came back to the moment and found Ellen beaming at me, smiling through and despite the tears.

"MICHAEL! I just regained my vision for a few precious minutes while you were healing me! It was weird but oh so wonderful! I was—"

Sudden understanding dawned on me.

"What did you spend those few minutes looking at?"

"Your eyes. Your face, your beautiful face, and, um..."

"Say it."

"Um..."

"Say it!"

"MICHAEL! You ass—I spent all that time looking at you, drinking you in till I could remember your face for the rest of my life."

"Was I worth it?" I teased her.

"Shut up and kiss me."

So I did.

When we came back down to the island everyone but three had left the mysteriously pristine battlefield. My sister was tending to some small cut on Pax's arm and a tall, viking-blonde and well-built Matriarch was facing me, clasping her hands in front of her body.

(?)Come here, my son and bring my new daughter-in-law with you. I would compare Eva's tales of her beauty and your happiness up close.(?)

>Mother, I believe. This is my Bride, Eleanor AnCatDubh of the Callahans, Fae of the Wisconsin Sidhe Court, Eleanor, my Mother, Maria de los Angelos Iskarios.<

(?)Princess Eleanor, my blessings and congratulations on your nuptials, welcome to our storied Family line.(?)

=Thank you, Mother Maria=

(?)Call me Mother, Maria, both together, but not late for dinner. Oh, Damn it all, Mikolos, see what you've done to me? I'm so overwhelmed that you found yourself such a beautiful and elegant young bride without my interf—I mean, my help(?)

=Thank you for your blessings, Mother Maria Late for dinner.=

(?)Oh Good Lord, Mikos, she's already been with you far too long. Poor Eleanor's already picked up some of your bad, punnish humor.(?)

=Yes, Mikos does have some bad habits, but I'll let them slide since he's so good to me, so good for me.=

Ellen smiled, took my hand and squeezed.

>So, Mom, who and what am I?<

(?)Eva told me about your amnesia, I am sorry that happened to you when you fell, but the family council is quite adamant about not telling you everything. However, in lieu of a specific wedding present or our presence(Damn, there I go again!) at that wedding, I will tell you this much: This island is named after your Grandfather.(?)

While my puzzled look and slowly-opening mouth spoke volumes without any sound, my Mother turned to Eleanor and gave her a fierce but brief hug.

(?)Love him the best you can, tolerate his faults please, and do not hurt him anywhere except his pride. I am very pleased, as well as honored, to welcome you to our family.(?)

Then she was gone in a blinding sheet of white light and there were only four of us on the island again.

THREE

"Well, now that introduction is over, what now?" Ellen spoke aloud, claiming she had a psychic headache from too much telepathic chatter. Pax and Eva had rejoined us, we had moved to the glass-covered porch and were considering our next move.

"I do think we're meant to travel to our second "trouble" spot, the one in the Apostle Islands and clean up whatever "residue" of evil is still remaining. Plus, I'd like to say a proper goodbye to the 'child' Mikos and I left behind there."

Pax stirred at this mention of our destination, then confided that he had once camped up there before with family members, way back when he was a child, long before he had been recruited to join the Sidhe Court of Wisconsin. "So which of these islands does the threat emanate from?"

"The codex will tell Mikos, when we travel there." Evangelose cut in, handing me the device after getting it back from Pax.

"Wait—what about our stuff here? Not to mention my dress! Is it still at the Court?"

"First, the dress has been sent ahead to your new house, your new building, home. Your stuff here, grab a bag and fill it; carry the sword in the sheath on your back. We should all maintain contact during the trip, otherwise..."

"Otherwise?" Piped up my wife, catching the cautious tinge to my voice.

"Otherwise, one of us may end up on the Edmund Fitzgerald at the bottom of Lake Gitcheegummee, one of us where Columbus is 'really' buried, one..."

"Brother, we get the gist. Ellen, I'll help you pack your gear and my brothers'. You two stay here, don't leave home without us."

"What do they think they are, American Express cards? Sorry, I'm catching whatever you have. Seriously, though, you do know your sister and I are..."

"—Spending a lot of time together? Yes, she kind of told me at the wedding that she had her eyes on you. Are you two serious or is she just fooling around again?"

"Serious? I'd like to think so, but your sister can be hard to read, sometimes. Any chance you can help me out with her?"

<Careful here, Brother, I am listening in on you two.>

"Well, sexually, I've heard that she prefers—"

<BROTHER!>

=MIKOS!=

"I think thet're almost ready to leave, Pax, they've been listening in on our conversation."

"oh no. how much?"

"Pretty much all of it, Pax dear, but we'll discuss that after our trip to the islands. And just as a hint, whispering doesn't hide your thoughts." Evangelose smiled at him, brilliantly, and we all went out and away from the house. Ellen gave me her bags to carry and slung her sheath with sword over her shoulders.

"I still love you, Mikos. Even if you are a sexist pig."

"What did I do? He was just asking me—"

Ellen smiled sweetly at me, now, and took my free hand in hers. I slung her bags over my other shoulder and we all joined hands on the sandy clearing, just before the sea began.

The codex firmly in my other hand with Ellen's hand now on my upper arm. I closed my eyes and concentrated my will. Then the original Chippewa name of the island where we needed to go issued forth from my mouth.

"Moning wuna kauning, or in the Chippewa-Ojibway tongue, known as "The Home of the Golden Breasted Woodpecker." And away we went. It was a very eerie feeling, as if one's life was put on hold in one place and continued like a paused DVD in another. Not dissimilar to the feeling we got when we transported from the court to Daedelus Island, but not exactly the same either.

.

"What's the modern name of this island, Mikos?" asked Ellen, as we materialised in a forested area, in the dark of the night.

"Madeline Island." I replied as we sat on a uprooted tree as we tried to get our bearings. "I believe we're in the Big Bay State Park, the southeastern end of the island. If this is where the residual evil is, we shouldn't be too far away from it. There's the hill I put you down on, that's the burned spot where Lucifer was when you skewered him...Maybe the residual evil woke up something else evil, something that's been waiting awhile to be set free. I'm sure our battle with the Devil and his little helpers might have left some lingering psychic stench here, and woken something else up.

"According to the map I tore out of the Atlas back at the house, Hagen Road should be a mile or so southwest. In other words, that way." And I pointed in the direction I meant.

"Brother, not that I want to lead this motley parade into battle, but why don't you do your disappearing act and fly ahead of us to scout the scenery for us, to prepare us for any eventuality we might encounter?"

Feeling ornery and tired, I asked her,"Why don't you?"(God, I sounded like a pouting seventeen year old younger brother now. Wait, am I the younger of us two?).

"I don't have that ability, Brother, and you are the oldest of us two. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your wife. Besides, I like her better than you, I think."

"Funny." I took the codex out and used it like a divining rod of sorts. After I dropped our bags on the ground and let the codex lead me, it seemed to pull me in the southwesterly direction I had pointed out earlier, through the trees and marsh, away from the road. I 'tuned' out my physical form and brought out one weapon, keeping the codex in my left hand.

Being that it was rather late in the camping season, I didn't expect to run into too much company whether I was invisible or not and if the mysterious, disturbed awakened evil were caused by anything vaguely powerful and supernatural, they might be able to sense or "see" me anyways. But I stayed on being invisible, determined to keep whatever advantage I might have, not knowing what I may be facing.

It was just about that moment that it really got surreal, like Alice in Wonderland surreal, as a glowing, larger than average sized squirrel came scurrying up to me. Seriously, I was waiting for a moose in drag to come along with a pair of Russian spies chasing them. But this squirrel seemed insistent in lecturing me in its chittering language, too bad that Pax was the resident Native American speaker. I'm not sure he was fluent in squirrel, but when the thing pointed dead ahead of my path, I seemed to remember a Ojibway legend about a magical squirrel that led the Indians to the Apostle Islands as a place to call home, around the time that Columbus was sailing for the New World. The squirrel in the legend was named Ojidaumo and he was revered for taking the Ojibway to Lake Superior and their bountiful new home in the Apostles.

I tried to pronounce the squirrel's name out loud, in the direction of the squirrel that was trying to help me now and it did hush for a second, taking off ahead of me in the same direction I had been heading. After ten minutes of fast paced sprinting, I could smell the lake off of Big Bay Point. The squirrel stopped before an abandoned shack, actually pointed with one of its paws at it and disappeared.

>Sister, I think I've found the problem site. Make some haste, will you, I believe I'm outnumbered six ghosts to me.<

<We're on our way, Brother. What kind of ghosts are you facing there?>

>I'm not really sure, very old ones to be sure. Beyond that, I don't have a clue.<

These ghosts had simply risen from the ground beneath the shack and were slowly approaching my general location. They were probably reflective of their current state of their bodies, in a terrible state of disrepair, so it was no surprise to notice that most of their clothing had rotted off of their skeletons, all skin and tissues gone as well. So, all in all, very few clues available to me to discern who they might have been and from what time period and if they were truly deserving of their fate. They continued to mill around my inexact location, not entirely sure of where or what I was, and I hoped that this would keep them occupied long enough for the rest of Scooby and the gang to catch up with me. Especially since Ellen could possibly "heal" their curse with her katana or at least tell if they deserved their fate or not.

Somehow Pax Verum got there before anyone else, exclaiming about the ghosts and wading in to begin the fight. They had no weapons but could probably still do some damage as they were. Pax began an exorcism mixed with elements of both Native American and Catholic exorcism rituals when Evangelose charged in with her swords drawn and ready. She had the ability to alter the swords' density as to affect the spiritual make-up of ghosts but none of them seemed to be affected, other than having an arm or bony leg chopped off at the joint.

Ellen brought up the rear (who had left my blind wife alone in the dark woods??), putting her free hand to her head, trying to suss out what we needed to know about their intentions and on which side of the spiritual realm they were on, not that it mattered to my sister who was continuing to flail away at them.

=I'm getting a strong sense of nastiness emanating from these good ole boys, Mikos, I believe they are evil, almost certain that they were "woken" up by our battle here earlier. If they had been benevolent spirits, they would have helped us then. They're French fur traders, late 1600s, got lost in the forests here, turned cannibal when they had to stay out here during a particularly severe winter and ran out of food. They slaughtered and...consumed...a small tribe of Woodland Indians that happened upon them in the midwinter, in their shack. We need to 'kill' them, send them back to Hell before their evil spreads any further, to anything else evil and lying asleep anywhere in these islands.= "Ellen, no!" She had rushed past and under my outstretched arm, swinging 'the Healer' over her head, catching one of the ghosts unawares. His skeleton shattered into dust, scattered on the winter wind, but the next ghost was ready for her. He grabbed her arm, froze the sword right out of her grip and tossed it aside like a tin foil plaything.

Then he rose from the ground on a mistral wind, carrying her insensate body and fleeing towards the point. All three of the remaining ghosts converged on my now-visible form, visible as my concern for Ellen had weakened my will to keep me invisible, to keep me occupied and away from the ghost that had spirited Ellen away. I flew for the treetops, trying to gain my freedom, but the combined effort and evil of those ghosts somehow dragged me back down below the trees.

Just a little too late, Pax Verum's exorcism finished and sent the three ghosts holding me back to some circle of Hell. Then I fell from the sky and hit the ground hard.

FOUR

Ellen struggled with the spectral cannibal but without the sword, her blows were ineffectual. She could hear Michael's howls of rage and frantic attempts to fly after her, to get above the treetops and then she was falling, falling into the cold lake water. After a few dazzled moments spent sinking,something cold,thick and scaly swam under her and she latched onto it for dear life, praying that someone had seen what had happened to her, praying that someone was on their way to—fuck this! She could still try to help them help her.=MICHAEL! HELP ME!=

<Michael is out cold, sister, what happened to you and where are you?!>

=Where exactly, I have no idea! That French-fried ghoul dropped me into the lake and now I'm riding some Loch Ness nightmare, some big freaking sea snake again! I really can't do this again!=

<Courage, sister! We're coming after you! Which direction is it heading in, can you tell?>

=We seem to be heading along the shore, yet away from the island. And I do have courage, but these constant duckings in either salt or fresh waters can't be good for my complexion or my hair!=

(xx)-Women!-(xx)

<Disregard him, sister, I'm on my way. Pax will take care of Michael.>

=Hurry, please...=

<Hurry is my middle name, Eleanor. I'm coming for you."

.

Pax Verum turned Michael over, gently feeling his head for any clear damage. Aside from a nasty bruise along his forehead, Pax thought that he was fine, that he was going to live, albeit with a vicious headache. He laid both hands on Michael's chest and uttered a fairly simple yet powerful healing spell. His eyes spasmed open, then he tried to push his way back up, but Pax briefly held him down.

"Take it easy for a few seconds, my friend, breathe deeply letting my spell to work its' full measure on you.., okay now you can get up." Pax sat well back from me, on his heels, as I got to my feet. I suppose my visiage was frightening to say the least, considering the amount of anger and rage I was feeling towards anyone who tried to stand or get in my way.

"Where is she?"

"Eva says that she's on some kind of sea snake, similar to the one that nearly killed you in our lake at the court, following the coastline east and away—Eva is already on her way to her."

"Join me for a flight?"

"Is that a question or a demand?"

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay, just don't drop me."

"Never hurt my sister, mage, and you'll never have to worry about me. Now hold on tight, the first drop is a killer." And I ran off of the island near Big Bay Point and fell for a few brief moments, then my wings spread out, caught the wind and we were airborne.

.

<Ellen, I see you—I'm about twenty feet back and above—Lord help us, that's one big beastie you're riding!>

=Well, what are you waiting for? Get me the hell off of this thing!=

<It might not be that easy, sister. If this thing is sentient, it could take a dive to try and avoid me—you might be Fae and even more, but I still think that will be your death!>

=I understand, I guess. So what do we do now?=

<I'm talking to my brother, now, Eleanor—trying to get some bright idea from him. Well Brother, what should I do?>

>Where are you? I just took off from Big Bay Point.<

<According to that map you made us study, we're between Hermit Island and Stockton Island.>

>Pax and I just cut across Madeline Island, we'll try to cut it off!<

.

Evangelose thought the beast was heading for the rocky shores off what she presumed was Oak Island and she decided to risk a chance on scooping Eleanor off of the beast.

<Sister, prepare—here I come!> She dove sharply, swiftly, stilling her wings in a diving predator's attack and never saw the massive prehistoric tail surge out of the water till it slammed into her body, sideways, shoving her right out of the sky, towards the rocks off the coast of Oak Island.

<brother...>

.

>Sister?< I saw her falling out of the heavens as I must have done, she was just to the west of us and descending helter-skelter towards the rocks. I begged my Mother in a silent prayer for the speed I needed and summoned forth every ounce of willpower to make it happen one way or her way. As we came close, Pax interwove his legs with mine and dangled his arms out to grab at her feet.

"Got her! Drop us off on the beach and go rescue our Princess! GO! Drop us and leave—I'll tend to Eva and you'll rescue Eleanor—that's the parts we get to play!"

"Right you are, Pax. Bombs away!" I dropped them both from only a few feet above the beach, as it was, and climbed back higher into the brisk November winds. I circled higher and higher till I saw the beast again, cruising still with my beloved blind girl clutching its' scaly hide, swiftly approaching Bear Island.

I angled myself like a giant spear, thrusting myself at a steep descent towards the sea snake. I swerved wildly to avoid its prehensile tail, but the sudden gust of wind caused by its passage sent me pinwheeling away from it and I nearly crashed into the cold waters of Lake Superior.

Regaining my balance without getting my feet wet, I re-established myself into a steady flight pattern and continued to chase the beast. The last or furthermost island of the Apostle Islands loomed directly ahead—Devil's Island. How apropo for this creature from some watery hell surely belonged there. It slowed its speed considerably as it approached the underground sea caves that encompassed a goodly part of the island. It executed a smooth bump and fling move, sending Ellen heads over heels onto the beach. I saw her land on the sand and lay there, dazed, as the beast turned to face me at last.

It had crawled onto the sandy beach of Devil's Island and reared up on stubby though sturdy legs and opened its considerable maw at me, roaring an invite to dance. I had both swords out by now, the codex tucked into my belt loop of my jeans and I flew below its mouth to stab at its throat. Blood spurted out at me, covering me, as I tore out a new smile below its chin and I circled around it to figure out my next attack.

I, like my sister, had forgotten all about its tail as well and the thing swung about and knocked me forcefully for a loop before I righted myself. I was past the island now and had to fly back. As I came in for what I hoped would be the killing blow, I saw my love gamely struggle to her feet and— >Keep moving forward, my love, to the safety of the caves ahead.<

=Mikos! Thank God you're here! Send this freakin' thing back to the shit pit that spawned it, would you please?=

>As.You.Wish!< and I drove the broadsword through its' eye into its' brain and the scimitar I used to completely decapitate it. With a sickening, squelching sound, the headless sea monster toppled forward into the lake and, thankfully, sunk in the dropoff beyond the beach of Devil's Island.

>Ellen? Sweetheart, you can come out now-< I touched down at the shore near the cave and ran towards the cave.

=I must look a fright, don't look at me, I look horrible! What? Aren't you going to contradict me?=

"I can't see you my love, come out of the caves."

"You better not laugh, Michael Iskarios, or I'll smack you back into Lake Superior!"

My beloved Fae Princess resembled a bath tub soaked kitten, her gorgeous curly red hair plastered against her head. "Um, you look lovely, dear..especially since your blouse is also soaked—"

"MICHAEL! This is not a wet t-shirt contest winner moment! And I'm cold."

I took her into my arms and folded my wings around us to combine and save our body heat.

<Brother, are you two well?>

>Well-enough, Sister. And you?<

<Nothing a night on a cold island with a hot man can't fix. Oh, yeah, and a day of beauty at a fancy spa, too.>

=Amen to that, Sister.=

<Aren't you going to fly back here tonight, Brother? Clouds are making the sky difficult to navigate.>

>Well, this place doesn't seem too comfortable or warm and Ellen's still soaked from her Loch Ness monster ride, so...<

<We've got a tent here, a fire and some freeze-dried foodstuffs. It's not too long before dawn, then we can get out of here.>

>Where'd you get all that stuff?<

<We mugged a late winter girlscout group. Brother, we found and bribed a pair of Park Rangers. Get your cold ass over here.>

>Yes, sister.<

"Are you up for some more traveling?" I caressed her face with my fingers, drawing a pleased sigh from her lips and Ellen nodded her eager assent.

"Alright, then, snuggle your head here, wrap your arms around my neck(not too tightly) and, yep, put your legs on my left arm."

"Are 'you' alright to fly? I know you're hurt, tired and..."

"Ellen, as long as you're with me, I can fly to the moon...with or without my wings."

"Michael..."

"Here we go." I lifted us up into the cold night air and we were buffeted about by the wind, until I build up my wingspeed and headed due south. We flew the distance in a little under an hour, circled over Oak Island till I saw their campfire not too far from the beach, but far enough away from the trees as well as to be safe. They also had two tents, not one, so things were definitely looking up.

I went into a slow, vertical fall, spiraling just a tad to warm Ellen up just that much more. Then we were on the ground and we had a massive family group hug, genuinely glad to see each other finally safe and relatively sound.

The four of us all huddled around the fire, passed around the food and tossed all the wrappings and leftover scraps into the fire, per park rules. Then Pax brought out a small cooler with ice and cold beer. I really had to ask him how he got 'those'.

Pax shrugged nonchalantly when I asked him but I could tell he was pleased with the unspoken compliment. It was a very pleasant late evening meal slash get together and we didn't have any demonic interruptions, bizarre fish men or any kind of deviltry, for that matter. Around four in the morning, we "paired up" and retired to our respective tents. Ellen yawned almost immediately but I soon found out(not that I doubted it) that she 'was' extremely tired. Indeed, halfway through stripping off her now-dry clothes, she fell asleep sitting up. I picked her up and slid us both into the king-sized sleeping bag.

I wrapped myself around her like a cocoon hugs a caterpillar and found myself, too, drifting off into sleep fast. Our tents weren't pitched too close together but I could still hear laughter and other sounds that I didn't want to associate with my sister or Pax Verum. So I willed myself to ignore them and...We woke up later, both of us soaked in sweat and still interlocked, physically. Somehow, during our sleeping, we had made love and our child, now smiling, was waiting for us...

.

Before we made our way back home, we made our brief stop at the battle site where we faced the Devil himself and laid him low, despite our own personal losses. Ellen had asked me to build a cairn for the child we would never know, never love, never see take a first step, and I did so, willingly, and we said a few words of prayer to send her unborn spirit back to His good graces. She and I stood alone at the carefully build memorial, each holding the other and whispering soft words of forgiveness, love and comfort, till we felt just that little bit calmer and that we had paid our respects with all due honor.

FIVE

"So...it's settled? Until you two decide if you're going back to your respective clans slash families or try to make a life on and of your own, together, you'll stay with us?"

Pax Verum looked at Evangelose and took her hand, his naturally darker skin highlighting her relatively pale skin and together they nodded their agreement to Ellen. My wife, the peace-keeper, the settler of arguments, the negotiator.

"After all, we do have this enormous building that contains four floors..two..houses.."

"My wife wins the prize for stating what none of us saw, the obvious. Do you think we've been set up, that we've been had? Roped together like cattle?"

"No, Brother, you haven't been had. Pax and I, now, we were set up, we were 'had'. Your Father and Mother sussed us out early, Eleanor, and built us into your life, your future, whether you wanted us or not. Built us a future, too, before Pax and I even decided we had or even wanted one. So please put up with us as you put us up with you."

"You've been practicing that speech, haven't you Sister?"

"Please, Mikos, we can use each other's first names now."

"Then why is everybody calling me 'Eleanor', then? I prefer Ellen."

"Because it's your name!" We all chorused together. ( We'd been drinking, just a little since we got back from the Apostle Islands.) Pax and I just a little more so than our respective partners.

=I think it's time to take our men to bed, Eva, before they become totally useless to us.=

<I think you're right, Ellen. See? I can play nice.>

=(giggling)=

<(laughter)>

Rather abruptly, Ellen grabbed my hand, yanked me off of the comfortable couch and all but dragged me into our half of the building, to the second floor, actually, of our half of the second floor, at that. You see, the building was split into two houses, two halves, top to bottom, not floors two by two.

Ellen pushed me into the bedroom, pushed me onto the bed and climbed onto the bed after me and I do mean "after me". As she tore off my shirt the song, "Maneater" started to endlessly loop through my mind until she took off her own shirt and my one-track mind got back on the right track. Ellen then started kissing my chest, began working her way down. I brought her lips back up to mine. She had a questioning look on her face, but I just cradled her head in my hands and kissed her very firmly, all the while turning up the heat with my hands.

Those self-same hands slipped down to her waist and tugged off her shorts, letting my intentions be known. I made no move to be the lead in our horizontal dancing, no move at all to change what we were doing. Well, I did rechannel her focus back to us, rather than just on me, and I'd like to think that I'll always do that but...My mind kept wandering back to the psychic talk I'd had with my yet to be conceived child and I wanted Ellen to have the chance this child had promised me.

"Mikos, what's wrong? I, oh, keep doing that, um, what was I saying, oh, definitely keep doing THAT, why am I on top..oh God.. I'll stop babbling now—"

SIX

<Sister El-ea-nor, are you awake?>

=Yes, Sister Eva, I am.=

<=I think I'm pregnant.=>

<=How do you know>=>

<=A Woman knows=>

=(Quiet laughing)=

<(Snorts of barely concealed laughter)>

SEVEN

(x)Both of them? On the same night?(x)

^^Yes. Amazingly enough, yes, both of them.^^

(x)Excellent. Now we wait, yes?(x)

^^Yes. We wait for the one we want.^^

(x)The One who will lead us back to glory on the Earth and our rightful place in Heaven.(x)

EIGHT

The thugs who had tried to assault Ellen and Michael rematerialised outside of the dojo Ellen had once ran.

"She hasn't been here in months, man."

"I know that, you idiot. But if the Boss says check it out, we check it out." They walked around the building, breaking in and entering it, checking it out from top to bottom, from front to back. "Her scent isn't here anymore, either. She has truly abandoned this 'normal' life of hers."

"Then we should go back to the Boss and tell him so." They disappeared again, into the night, with the sound of angel wings shivering accompanying them.

# About the Author:

Douglas Dean Faber lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Marie, and their family of three cats—-one of which makes her literary debut in this novel(Tarot)—-and about 8,000 music CDs. This is his first novel in a series. An excerpt from the 2nd book in the series, "Invisible Paradox", is at the end of the book. If you care to contact the author, he has yet to establish a website, so ddfbr1@att.net

About the Artist:

If you want to engage the services of the graphic designer who created the cover or you just want to gush about it to her(We all did!), paula8522@yahoo.com

Reference Sources:

"A Visitor's Guide to the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore", by Dave Strzok.

A Small and incomplete Glossary:

'Deus has verum beatus vos, Curator"-God has truly blessed you, Guardian.

'May is lugum exsisto beatus'-May this union be blessed.

Wyalusing State Park-A Munsee-Delaware word meaning, 'Home of the Warrior'-it's a lovely state park, take the time to drive there and visit it.

<...>-dialogue from Evangelose, telepathic dialogue.

>...< Telepathic dialogue from Michael, Mikolos, Mikos.

=...=Eleanor AnCatDubh(The Black Cat) Callahan.

(?)-Mother Maria Iskarios, mother of Mikos.

(xx)-Pax Verum(Peace and Truth)

THANKS:

To my Parents for passing on the joys of reading;

To my Youth Choir Director at Albright United Methodist, Paul Freshley, for instilling in me the love of music; R.I.P.

To my co-workers at Wal-Mart #5438, Lisa, April and Donna, who were my proofreaders and supporters as well-since this latest draft was written ,Paula(from shoes), Michele(my sister-in-law), Sharon(UPC), John R.(2nd shift), Sarah(Apparel), Rachelle(ICS),Gerri(Lawn& Garden),and Julie our very good friend have joined the Reading Squad as well.

To my Daughter, Kayleigh Gabriella Soweto Faber who has caught my love of reading and continued it into the next generation as well as making my heart smile and laugh everytime she's with me;

And above all, to my Wife, Marie, who has given me the Wings with which to fly and the breeze of encouragement to test them out-I love you.

Thanks to Paula Simmerman for her outstanding cover design;

Thanks to H.P. Mallory for her ebook on self-publishing;

This book is dedicated to my computer-savvy and lovely wife of 10 years(in December) and my beloved daughter, Kayleigh Gabriela Soweto Faber. Thank you!

Music to listen to while reading this novel:

Sarah McLachlan-"Building a Mystery"

Sonya Kitchell-"For Every Drop"

Bill Miller-"Red Sky, Red Heart"

Mark Masri-"La Prima Volta"

Sinead O'Connor-"Angel"

Queensryche-"Some People Fly"

Imelda May-"Knock 123"

Delta Goodrum-"Angels in the Room"

AfroCeltSoundSystem w/ Peter Gabriel-"When You're Falling"

Madeleine Peyroux-"Heaven to Me"

Kansas-"Peaceful and Warm"

AC/DC-"Hells Bells"

Govt Mule-"Brand New Angel"

April Smith-"Terrible Things"

OAR-"Back to One"

John Hiatt-"Angel Eyes"

Andrea Bocelli-"Dare to Live""

# Hungry for more? Read on for an exciting excerpt from the next Chronicle, "Invisible Paradox".

# -Prologue #1-

December 24th\- "Your tests are indeed positive, Mrs. Iskarios. I'd say that you are about three weeks along, give or take a few hours. That's a prenatal joke, a very small one I'm told. So, very early days yet. An especially delightful and surprising Christmas gift for you and your husband, yes?"

"Yes, yes it will be a most excellent surprise. Particularly when I tell him tomorrow, that is.

He's in for quite the shock." Ellen began to get dressed again while the Doctor typed up her notes on her laptop. The Doctor looked up at her patient, and remembering her blindness, offered to call her a cab.

"No thank you, Doctor. I'm here with my sister-in-law. She's in the next room with your nurse right now."

"Yes, yes, she is my next patient, as a matter of fact. That's certainly a stroke of luck, having someone to share the good and bad times of your pregnancy with, someone you are related to.

"See my desk nurse for your next month's appointment, Ellen, and have a Merrier than usual Christmas you bad girl you. Are you really going to spring it on him as a present?"

"Oh yes, Doctor, most definitely. Michael truly deserves to be surprised, even shocked. He's a nortorious prankster himself,so..." Ellen grinned, then exited the small examining room.

Doctor Youngstone closed the door quietly behind her and walked to the next room down.

Ellen smiled happily to herself as she gathered her purse and cane. She did as she was told,setting another appointment with the desk nurse for a month out from the holidays. Then she settled onto a comfortable sofa to quietly wait for Evangelose. From her purse Ellen slipped out a Walkman complete with small earphones,an early St. Nick's present from Michael and started listening to disc two of Louis Armstrong's "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man". Thinking of the pleasurable surprise she was going to share with her husband tomorrow on Christmas Day, Ellen smiled mischieviously in anticipation and started tapping her feet to the groove of the trumpet.

# -Prologue #2-

December 24th-Evangelose waited, nervously, for her pre-natal physician to finish with Ellen her sister-in-law, and come to check her out. Pax Verum, her lover and the Father of her child, was still Christmas shopping with her brother, Mikos (Michael), and like Mikos, was totally unaware that she and Ellen were both pregnant.

She had read through all the magazines in the waiting room, all the pamphlets in this sterile exam room, even the signs on the wall and the older magazines in the door holder. Eva would have started counting the strands of hair on her head, if not for the fact that she wasn't the best at mathematics.

<Sister, is she done visiting with you yet? I'm bored.>

=Yes Eva, she's on her way to see you now. Are you nervous? You sound nervous.=

<And you don't sound nervous..you...you...why aren't you nervous? Is it a 'Fae' thing?>

=(giggles)No. I've been thinking about the look on Miko's face tomorrow morning. It's kept my mind pre-occupied. How are you planning to tell Pax?=

<That's why I'm nervous. I'm not sure how he's going to respond...>

=Eva, sister, relax! I might not know Pax as the rest of my family, but I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know he'll be a Father! You know, continuing the Family name and all that macho stuff!=

<You don't think because we're not married, that they'll reject me, us?>

=Not at all! We 'Fae' really aren't too fussy (anymore) about unmarried pregnancies, there's not enough of us to be against repopulating the species, no matter how they come to be. Kids are kids, a generation of Fae continued for another lifetime or ten.=

<Well, that makes me feel real special-gotta go, Doc's here.>

"And how are you feeling today, Miss Iskarios? You seem a little nervous."

"Just a bit." Eva admitted.

"Will this be your first child?"

"Yes."

"Okay, okay, let's start with your pulse and heartbeats..."

Evangelose came away from the Nurse's desk with an appointment card for the same day as Ellens and linked their arms together as Ellen rose from the sofa to greet Eva. The two women exited the professional building straight into the parking lot.

Dr. Youngstone stripped off her gloves after her last examination, poked her head out into her nurse's office and told her she was taking a cancer stick break,.grabbing her cell phone before ducking out the back exit into an alley abutting the rear of her building.

She lit the cigarette, took a few drags then reluctantly punched one number for a speed dial on her cellphone and listened, waiting for the other party to answer.

"Yes?"

"Both women were here, both will continue to see me as their primary gynecologist for the length of their pregnancies."

"Excellent. How are they doing?"

"Both are very healthy, happy, only the Airwalker is nervous."

"Interesting. And our prognosis was correct, three weeks along?"

"Yes."

"Continue to monitor them and keep us updated, Doctor."

"What about-(Click)-Damn it." The Doctor flung away the half-smoked cigarette and turned to go back into the building but hesitated. She turned back around, feeling like she was being watched.

"Now who's being nervous?" Then she laughed, a little high strung giggle and reentered the building. The alley was silent with snow beginning to fall and stick on the garbage dumpsters.

A small, very localised yellow drizzle fell on the smoldering cigarette until it's meager fire was doused and the remainder of the tobacco was reabsorbed into a hardy, scraggly bush close up to the wall of the building.

# -CHAPTER ONE-

ONE

"Please, pretty please? It's snowing outside, dark, no-one will see us. Please?"

Do you have any idea how hard it is to say no to a beautiful red-headed Fae Princess who is also the love of your near-immortal life? Well, it's nigh impossible. Especially on Christmas Eve, especially when she's been giddy all day waiting for the morning like an innocent child, but it's for the delight of seeing me, the one she loves, opening my presents? That's right, she wasn't excited about her presents, no no, Ellen was fit to bursting about giving my gift to me.

Still, I did have a reputation to uphold, so I sighed heavily and deeply and took her in my arms, went invisible, spread out my wings and lifted us skyward. We flew a goodly distance above the store fronts of Prairie Du Chien, where the four of us had been shopping and headed west towards the River, the mighty Mississippi. A well-lit ferry was making its way south, for the poor people who wanted to gamble their holidays away. Ellen sighed, content, while we hovered five or six hundred feet above Terra Firma. She was warmth incarnate in my arms, wearing an Irish woolen coat, a woolen green tam on her head, a scarf (guess what it's made of) and insulated jeans, tucked into fleece lined black leather boots...all of the clothing had been an early Christmas gift from my sister and her beau, Pax Verum. My sister had promised more gifts of the same kind for me but that I didn't deserve to get them early.Sisters. Women. I will never understand either of them.

"I love you, Mikos. I know I've only known you for about four months and...we've had more excitement in that time than most couples have in their entire boring lives. I feel so warm, so blessed, so loved." Ellen rested her head back against my shoulders as I watched the snowflakes come to rest on her face. I kissed a few of them, tasting the cold water mixed with the salt of her skin and I was content.

<Brother, where are you two? Pax and I are waiting for you by the car. It's freezing out here and it's starting to snow!>

=Sister, come join us over the Mississippi. It's such a wonderful feeling and a beautiful evening for flying.=

<Brother, you spoil her so.> Evangelose teased, <but you know Pax isn't as enamoured of leaving the ground as your wife is.>

=Your husband is a spoilsport, sister, leave him at the car and come join us!=

<Pax says he is 'willing' to try flying again! Isn't it funny when our men think that they have freedom of choice?>

=(Sighs) Yes sister, it is hilarious, truly. At the beginning of the month I gave Mikos a list of items as gift ideas for me for Christmas and he thought he could pick and choose among them, as if not buying the whole list was an option.=

>Someone's going to be awfully disappointed come tomorrow morning, I think, eh Pax?<

(xx)S-sorry, I have to agree with Eva and your wife on this one, Michael!(xx)

=Mikos! We've decided to call him by the Greek derivative of his given name, Pax, get with the program!=

>Sister, are you dangling him off a storefront again?<

<No, brother. I 'm guesstimating that we're within thirty feet of your position and NO I am NOT dangling him again! It was only that one time, anyhow. He's such a big baby at this.>

=Now sister, I seem to remember somebody elses reluctance to dance at that club in La Crosse last weekend...=

<Dirty pool, sister, not the same at all. Up here, I'm graceful and light on my feet. On the ground, in syncopation with that 'stuff' the humans call music, pah! Not the same.>

=Okay, okay!(laughter). I think that it's time to head back home anyways, everyone; we have to finish decorating the tree and the windows and...=

<>(xx)(Groans)(xx)<>

=You are all spoilsports! Hmph.=

>I love you too, Eleanor, Princess of the Fae.>

=Mikos...=

I put my hand behind her head, pulling her lips closer to mine for a proper kiss as we floated above the Earth, then I rearranged her body in my arms and flew us back down to the car. As we materialised just outside a closed hardware store, I felt my sister and Pax land just beyond the car, in an alleyway between the closed for the night businesses.

"We do have the correct ingredients for the hot buttered rum drinks, don't we dear?"

"Yes, Mikos, you've already asked me twice about that. They are already in the trunk, dear, along with some Christmas gifts, so no peeking," Here she thumped on the trunk a few times for emphasis, "Eva and I will unload everything we purchased first, then you men can bring up the rest."

I looked at Pax all innocent like and he shrugged, comically, back at me as if to say 'what presents, we didn't buy anything for you ladies', 'so therefore there's nothing in there for you'. Evangelose swatted him across the back of his head as both ladies settled into the backseat of our car and Ellen just smirked at me, confident that I had bought out an entire jewelry store for he. Well I can tell you, it really burns me when she is so confident about these sorts of things, like she knows just how tightly she's got me wrapped around her little finger, especially when I had done exactly(well not exactly) as she had 'requested' me to do. Besides the small store of jewelry I had bought out for her, I had also purchased half a high end Apparel store, too. And most of it, being imported from Ireland, had already arrived earlier this week, was wrapped and waiting under the tree. Since Pax and I had thought ahead to pre-decorate the tree in our large, shared family room, and without telling our ladies, we both hoped to spend the rest of the evening sequestered with Ellen and Eva, respectfully, and apart from one another. The four of us had been nearly inseparable since last month's 'fun' in the Apostle Islands, our two women particularly having bonded like the sisters(in-law) they had become in fact.

We pulled away from the curb at last, with Ellen sliding in a Christmas CD by the classy jazz artist Diana Krall into the player and to our delight, began to sing along with the traditional songs on the disc. The rest of us stayed silent as Ellen sang, so as not to ruin the beautiful ambience her gorgeous voice created. This wasn't just my prejudiced pride in my wife overriding all opposition to the contrary, no, Pax and Evangelose had also exclaimed in wonder when Ellen had consented to lead us in some Christian Christmas hymns a couple of weeks ago. The four of us had started to sing along together, but once Ellen had begun to outshine us as a star outdoes a firefly, one by one we fell silent and just listened. Ellen hadn't noticed our nonparticipation until she had half finished the disc we had been singing along to, then she had flushed magenta red all over and refused to sing anymore by herself that night or any other night, despite our protests and our pleading.

Eva managed to have a one on one sisterly talk with her the next day and when we gathered for dinner that night, Ellen shyly announced that she would sing more carols that night only if Eva would join her and that there would be no more applauding, as that had embarrassed her.

"Mikos, honey?" Ellen began.

"Yes dear?"

"You're driving awfully slow. I'd say, about 10-15 mph under the speed limit. What's up with that?"

"It's snowing, sweetheart. I'm just driving to the conditions of the road."

"Heavily?"

"Um, no. Not really."

"Maybe even lighter than before?"

"Um, er, maybe?"

"Mikos, is it possibly because you want to hear me sing?" My Princess was smirking.

I sighed. "Guilty as charged."

Eva and Pax cringed, awaiting the inevitability of Ellen's punishing response.

"Well, pick up the speed, Mikos, and maybe I'll sing some more at home, yeah? Is that okay?"

"Putting the pedal to the metal now dear." The CD started up again and, with my sister joining in on the harmonies, Ellen sang the rest of the way home. Too bad it was such a short drive.

