She brushed her messy black mane of hair away from her face and took a look around. The air was cold and crisp as it burned her lungs. She judged that it must be winter wherever she was because all of the well-manicured lawns lining the streets contained dry dead grass. She was standing on a sidewalk with the street on one side of her and an apartment complex on the other. She glanced down the sidewalk to see if there was a street sign but only saw a stop sign. Just as she turned back towards the apartments, the door directly across from where she stood opened and out walked a tall, gangly guy in loose skater style jeans, a black t-shirt, and Vans. Elora’s eyes widened and a grin spread across her face.
“What are you doing here, Baby Sis?” Oakley asked.
Elora ran straight for him and had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from squealing like a girl. It was so freaking good to see him and to hear his voice, and then she was in his arms as she threw herself at him.
“Umph!” he grunted as she buried her face in his chest. “Hey, hey,” he said as he patted her back. She refused to cry, hell she didn’t even know why she felt the need to cry, but she wasn’t about to give in to it.
“What’s going on, Elora?” he asked her as he gently pushed her back so he could look at her face. She knew from the way his forehead wrinkled in concentration that he was trying to see past the front she was so desperately trying to keep in place. But what could she tell him? Hey big brother, long time no see, and since you asked, I was just rescued from the dungeon of a dark elf by a she dark elf who we thought was a bad guy, but maybe isn’t a bad guy and oh, by the way, mom is still there. For some reason she just didn’t feel that would go over too well. So she lied.
“Nothing, I just decided I needed to see you.” She smiled up at him and tried to appear innocent, which for her was not easy because she usually wasn’t. He glanced down at her appearance and she knew the dust covered, disheveled look wasn’t doing anything to help her farce and she knew her next question was only going to make things worse. “What month is it?”
“It’s January, the fourth to be exact. How did you get here?” he asked suspiciously as he looked around for her car. He would ask the most obvious question first. It was a valid one, of course, since he lived two hours away from Oklahoma City.
“I took the bus,” she lied again. January, bloody hell how long had they been in fairy land, she thought to herself, but tried not to let that thought show on her face.
His concern turned to annoyance as he stood up to his full six foot one height and crossed his arms in front of him. “What the hell is going on, Elora? You show up on my sidewalk in front of my apartment, where you have never been, I might add. You look like you’ve been in a freaking explosion or fire, and your covered in ash and crap.” He took a step towards her and reached for her arm. “And shit, you’re shaking like a junky. Now tell me what is going on.” He gave her arm a little shake—not enough to hurt her but enough to get her attention. “Does this have anything to do with those elves? I’ve told mom before I didn’t like her doing business with them?”
“I will advise you one time to remove your hand from the female.” A deep voice came from behind Elora. Oakley’s eyes widened as he looked past his sister to see two large guys and, his head tilted to the side, his mom.
“Mom?” his voice was hoarse.
“Hi, Baby.” Lisa smiled wide. “Um, you might want to go ahead and let your sister go.” Lisa made a nodding motion towards the tall guy on her left. “Cush seems to think you are hurting her.”
“Cush?” Oakley asked as he looked from his mom to the guy she had indicated. He still hadn’t let Elora’s arm go, shocked as he was.
Cush’s eyes narrowed as he watched the male's hand tighten imperceptibly on Elora’s arm. He had tried to be nice, but still the male had not released her, granted he did seem a bit dazed. He walked slowly towards them and said, “Let her go.” The boy finally let go of her arm and Cush felt something inside him ease just a bit.
“Elora,” her name came out softer than he intended, more like a caress, “are you all right?” She didn’t respond. In fact she hadn’t moved since he, her mother, and Rin had appeared from the portal. He stepped around, effectively pushing the boy away and knelt down so that he could look into her face. Her eyes were squeezed closed and her lips were moving swiftly. He leaned closer to try and hear what she was mumbling and nearly laughed when he finally deciphered it.
Over and over Elora muttered, “Goth girls don’t cry, goth girls don’t cry.”
“I thought it was big girls don’t cry?” he whispered close to her ear so that only she could hear him. She froze. Her eyes snapped open and her mumbling ceased instantly. Her eyes met his and he waited for her to say something, all the while fighting the natural desire to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to the shelter of his body. When she finally did speak, it only confirmed what he already knew.
Elora stared at Cush and realized that she was seeing him in his elfin form in the human realm. “Why aren’t you using your glamour?” she asked. Her heart skipped at the flash of possessiveness she saw in his eyes.
“I am using it,” he told her.
“Then why am I seeing you in your elfin form?” His jaw tensed and she could tell that he did not want to answer her.
“That’s a discussion best saved for a more private setting.” He stood and took a step back from her and that tiny bit of space between them felt like the Grand Canyon. Elora mentally shook herself and drew her shoulders back. She took a deep breath and let it out slow and then turned to face the others.
“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Oakley asked. “Because it looks to me like my mom and two strange men just appeared out of thin air on my sidewalk.”
Elora crossed her arms in front of her and cocked her hip out to the side as she looked up at her brother. “You want the full story or the Cliff Notes?”
“Elora, you can’t just tell him everything,” Cush said.
A single brow rose on her forehead as she met Cush’s eyes. “He’s my brother, Cush. He already knows about the elves; it’s just all the other crap he doesn’t know about, so cliff notes to begin,” she said and as she continued to speak her eyes never left Cush’s. “Cassie met a hot guy who wound up being a dark-elf assassin. The dark-elf king has an evil plot to get humans addicted to a drug produced from a plant from their realm, so they will spend more money in his casinos. Cassie was captured, we went to rescue her, and then we got captured. We were rescued; now we’re here. I assume Cassie and her man are going to go back to the light-elf castle,” she paused as if thinking and then let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Oh, and apparently, I’m Cush’s Chosen.”