"Elenore!" Frank cried out when the book, one that had crashed into the back of the small sofa and opened all by itself, slid towards Adam, nearly causing him to crawl over the back of the couch just to get away from it.
"Just a minute, Frank!"
"No, you really need to come out here, like right now, the damn book moved on its own again!" Frank nearly shouted, so very glad he wasn't an old man any longer. He knew if this happened back then, before Adam had given him and Elenore the Elixir of Life, he would have keeled over by now. Seeing how Adam looked around the room, not searching for something, more like seeing something they couldn't. "Adam, what do you see? Adam, can you hear me?"
At that moment, the world around him went grey, which was weird to Adam, even for him. He knew his grandfather was speaking, yet no sound came from his mouth. Which was impossible?! He felt his heckles on end as sounds of feet ran away from him, towards him, behind him, in front of him, beside him, and even on the ceiling above him, and still, he couldn't see a damn thing. A chill crept up his spine as the giggle that filled the air was rather creepy; at least Adam thought so. He knew he couldn't use his magic, one he had no clue on what would work on the Fae, seeing how he didn't even know they existed in the first place, and he wasn't about to go slinging spells in his grandparents' home willy-nilly either. However, that didn't mean he couldn't protect himself if the need arose.
Adam watched as his grandfather scurried out of his seat, yet what Frank was screaming; he couldn't say as he ran to fetch Elenore as Adam's staff returned to its original size. The book lifted off the couch when he began to chant his protection spell. Its pages flipping rapidly before tree roots shot forth and encircled around the shaft of his mage staff. Adam's muscles bulged as he fought against the pull of whatever the hell had ensnared his staff. So caught up in ensuring he wouldn't be pulled into that book or wherever it led to, he didn't see how his grandparents had rushed back into the room, nor did he hear the spell that Elenore chanted before Adam fell backwards hard on his ass. Then sound and color were restored in a blink of an eye, and the book closed and bounced on the cushion before landing in a hard thump on the floor by his feet. Adam scrambled backwards, putting as much distance between it and himself.
"What the hell just happened?!" Adam exclaimed.
"Adam, what did you see?" Elenore asked, trying to calm her grandson as she noted how his chest was heaving, the way he still gripped his staff like he was waiting for something to leap out and attack him. To the way his eyes darted about, to his nervous movements as he spun around like he could feel something behind him.
"I saw... hell, I don't know!"
"Adam, I need you to calm down; I need you to think, to remember, can you do that for me?" Elenore uttered in a sweet tone. "Good, good, now tell me, what did you see?"
"Other than those roots or whatever it was trying to pull me into that book? Nothing. I heard a lot," Adam said truthfully. "What did you do? How did you get the world back from its silent, grey atmosphere?"
"Is that what you experienced?" Elenore asked for clarification.
"Yeah, I knew grandpa was talking but couldn't hear a thing other than that creepy giggling."
"I used an old spell I found in my youth when I was fascinated..." Rolling her eyes when Frank snorted behind her, "with the Fae, given what I've read and heard about them, I thought I should be prepared in case I ever came upon one. I promise you, they won't come back for a while," Elenore stated, more like hoped, when she led Adam back to the sofas. "Here, you need this more than I do," she said, laying the amulet she had created long ago in his hand.
"What's this?" Adam asked curiously.
"Something that will protect you from Fae magic," Elenore hoped. Watching how Adam tapped the tome that still sat on the floor with the butt end of his staff. Thinking it would jump back up and start all over again. Seeing how Frank tentatively picked it up and held it out away from him like it was cursed. Watching her grandson returning his staff to its holder before falling back onto the sofa.
"Okay, why is she after me? What could she want from me?" Adam finally asked after a few moments of silence.
"I don't know, honey, the Fae haven't interacted with this world for a very long time," Elenore said, placing a hand on Frank's knee when he returned to his spot beside her. "There was a time when man and Fae interacted like anyone else out in the world. Then I don't know what happened, but a few hundred years ago, the portals to their realm just seemed to seal themselves off from ours. So everything I have here," gesturing to the books before her, "is what people have culminated from legends, fairytales, or passed down orally. I can't tell you what is true and just the writer's imagination. However, I can tell you the types of Fae that are out there because there are still some that choose to remain in our world."
"Like?" Adam urged her on with a roll of his hand.
"Gnomes, Dwarfs to an extent, Trolls, Sprites, Brownies, Fairies, Pixies, Treants, those are just the few that I know of," Elenore spoke as she listed off the kinds of Fae that were spoken about in her books. "You'll read about many more of them in there," she nodded to the stack of books.
"I'll make us some tea," Frank whispered, feeling the heat of his wife's cheek as he placed a kiss on it before getting to his feet when it seemed like it was going to be a long night. When he returned, Frank noted how Adam listened intently while the conjured scroll and quill were taking down everything Elenore recited. He knew his wife didn't need to open one of those books, not with the amount of time he knew she had her nose in them. "What's wrong, Adam?" Frank asked worryingly when his grandson's head shot back when he brought his cup up to his lips. They both looked in shock as the once hot, steaming liquid was frozen in his cup when Adam set it down with a message carved on its surface that said: 'Come to me.' Elenore's hand flew into his and squeezed it tight as a window into the world of the Fae opened to the left of them near the wall of the room. "Adam?!" Frank spoke about to get to his feet until vines sprouted from their sofa and pinned them to their seats.
"You want me, fine, you release them, now!" Adam growled, his magic lacing his words as he stared at that open portal.
"Enter, and they will be freed," came a voice of authority and grace.
"Adam, don't..." Elenore began to speak only to have her mouth gagged as vines wrapped themselves around her head.
"Don't worry, I will be back," Adam stated with conviction as he peered back at his grandparents before stepping through the portal.
******
The next morning...
Amanda hummed as she walked through the home she shared with Edward. Feeling rather empty now that Edward Jr. and Jill had started their college courses. Wearing the mask she had donned ever since, she's become her son's lover. Granted, she had to use old magic, the magic she knew he wouldn't know how to counter, to get him to sleep with her. Yet how she loved feeling that hard, long cock of his fucking her. Slyly glancing at her husband from the corner of her eye as they ate their breakfast, knowing after being with Adam, she could never feel his small cock. She didn't leave Jason because Edward was a better lover; no, she did it so her children wouldn't know what it was like to struggle through life as a commoner. She couldn't undo the anger in her son that her own actions had caused, yet she didn't need him to love her to fuck her. Wondering when the next time she would be able to see her son, just so he could use her all over again like he had done in the back of her car.
"So dear, how did yesterday go?" Edward asked; his contact had already told him what had happened. He wondered if she would even tell him the truth.
"Well, I don't know if you know this, but someone altered the police report on Jason's death," Amanda stated, knowing she was going to have to spread some truth among her lies. "Adam is out for blood. I know you didn't have a hand in it, dear," she said sweetly, laying her hand on his forearm. "That doesn't mean Adam believed it. He's still under the impression that you did even though the file showed no signs of your involvement." Listening to him sigh, wondering how Edward was going to spin this.
"I am sorry, Amanda. I know my behavior hasn't endured me to your son. I honestly have no idea who killed your ex-husband or for what reason. Yes, I did try to make his life miserable for the slander he was running in the papers. Yet I would never, ever have the man killed because of it; you have to believe me," Edward said in a warm tone as he laid his left hand over hers.
"I do, honey, now it's getting Adam to believe it," Amanda lied. There was just too much circumstantial evidence in the file and the items they had gathered that pointed at Edward. While she knew that no one would reopen Jason's case based on what evidence they had, something she was sure Edward was counting on, that only made her task of worming her way back into Adam's life all that much more urgent. She knew the perfect way, too. Wondering if she could sneak Adam into the manor without getting Edward aroused by it. She would have to think about that for a bit. She knew she was playing with fire, pitting her son against Edward, and knew either one wouldn't hesitate to kill her if they found out she was doing that.
