Arianna's Tale: The Resolution

By D. J. Humphries

After escaping her birthmother’s hold on her in Faerie, Arianna returns to the wolf house and her friends only to come face to face with another loss, a loss that she bent the rules of reality in an attempt to escape.

But reality can only be bent, not broken, and Arianna is forced to truly deal with the loss of Jack. Too many memories of her time with him keep surfacing in the wolf house, however, and when she feels like she can no longer bear to see them, Arianna manages to escape and sets off on her own. How to find your way in a world where you don't truly belong, though?

Will new friends be able to help? Or will she finally have to confront her biggest fear and deal with her faerie heritage? And what happens when an even bigger threat, thought to no longer exist, resurfaces in her world?

Find out in the last installment of Arianna’s Tale: The Resolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. J. Humphries
• Release date: Aug 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370193325

D. J. Humphries

I have been writing fiction stories for about as long as I have been able to hold a pen/pencil. My story files grew as I got my own computers, and I have carried them with me from one computer to another throughout the years. Despite my best attempts, I am always drawn back to the fantasy genre and find that I best understand my characters for those stories; I enjoy their travels and seeing where they take me probably as much as my readers will.Born and raised in the Metro Atlanta, Georgia area, I have been exposed to the Southern (U.S.) culture throughout my life. However, a recent move to Indiana has opened up my experiences even more and I have greatly loved the midwestern culture I have been experiencing! Writing (and reading) has always allowed me to explore other cultures, other worlds, and other lifestyles. My love of travel has not been fully realized, but I intend to use it to further my worldview and bring my readers even more fantastic stories!

Book preview

Arianna’s Tale

The Resolution

D. J. Humphries

©2016 D.J. Humphries

This one is for the characters and the worlds they allow me to share with all of my lovely readers!

A month…

Four weeks…

Twenty-eight days, seven hours, 34 minutes

Jack was dead. As I wandered aimlessly through the wolf house, his voice kept repeating in my mind from that day he knew the exact amount of time I had been in Faerie. It was that moment that I knew without a shadow of a doubt how he felt about me. It’s not like I hadn’t suspected before then, what with him appearing every time I had dream-walked to the wolf house while I’d been in Faerie… But that had been the definitive moment for me. Maybe that was why I kept hearing him say that, I couldn’t be sure.

The wolves were more or less leaving me alone. At first they had tried to approach me and talk to me, but I guess between my short, distracted answers, or my not even realizing they were there when they were right in front of me, they had sort of given up and left me to wander in my fog. Someone was always nearby. I knew that, even with my mind swallowed by my guilt, I knew they were still keeping an eye on me.

It was day four of my aimless wandering that Perri walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders until I looked up at her hazel eyes. She tilted her head to one side and bits of her long golden brown hair fell across her face, but she ignored it.

Rayne’s been watching you… she started. A distant part of my brain was worried about that fact. I had chosen Jack over Rayne, and I was happy that Rayne and Perri had gotten together, that Perri and I had become some sort of friends with each other, but I didn’t doubt for one minute that it was weird for her if he and I were around each other.

Sorry, I muttered, trying to sidestep her, but she wouldn’t let me, I didn’t ask him to watch me.

That’s not the point, she insisted while tilting her head the other way, He was worried you weren’t eating enough, so he followed you all day yesterday and said that you didn’t eat at all.

Food? I wondered with confusion, I haven’t eaten? I lifted my hand to press against my head and finally realized I had a really nasty headache. I forgot….

Her sympathy washed over me before she took hold of my wrist and dragged me into the kitchen. I blinked as the smell of Asian food entered my nostrils and immediately made my stomach growl. I hadn’t realized I was hungry… I had completely forgotten about food altogether, but faced with the meal that Caiden had clearly made for me, I was instantly ravenous.

I barely registered that he was there, his dirty blonde hair was slowly growing out from the spikes that it had been burned down to, but his brown eyes were completely focused on me.

Anna, he quietly beckoned and I shifted my gaze to him. It was that moment, when I saw the concern in his eyes, that I realized I wasn’t sensing him with my empath powers. I scrunched my eyes in confusion while I sipped my miso soup. I’m going to start checking in with you to make sure you eat every day… I already checked with your brothers to find out some of your other favorite foods.

As my gaze lighted on the back door, an image more vivid than any of the ones I had been experiencing lately flashed before my eyes. My first official day in the wolf house, when Jack had led me to the back door for the cookout around the pool…

He chuckled, and lightly pulled me to a stop just inside the back doors. I’d suggest taking off the cute little dress before stepping out that door, though. Somebody might be thinking about throwing you in the pool as soon as you get outside.

I glanced up to find his pupils ringed with silver and tilted my head to the side curiously. You’re blocking them out right now? I queried and he grinned and nodded, I like the silver in your eyes… it’s pretty….

"I will kiss you, he countered coyly, leaning just a little bit closer to me with his one arm still linked through mine and the other pressed against the doorframe, This serves as your only warning." He lightly kissed my forehead before slipping out the door.

Tears were stinging my eyes as I mentally watched him disappear outside and the sunshine that had been in my memory faded to the twilight that was reality through the back windows. I can’t stay here, I heard the tears in my barely audible voice and felt the tension in the air from my words. I can’t stay here where everything I see reminds me of him….

Neither of them spoke, but I scarcely heard the swinging door swish behind me. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the back door, hoping some other memory would resurface so that I could glimpse him again. It was a constant internal debate… seek out the memories, or avoid them? I hadn’t dared even walk past the door to his room, I didn’t think I could handle those memories deciding to surface full-force.

We all miss him, Alex softly remarked. He walked around in front of me, standing on the opposite side of the kitchen island from me and breaking my view of the back door.

I know that, I countered distantly, redirecting my attention to my food and away from those strange aqua eyes of his. I hadn’t even meant to notice that his black hair had gotten longer, I also hadn’t wanted to notice that Perri and Caiden were magically gone from the room.

I saw the pained smile cross his face out of the corner of my eye. That first day he met you… he raced through the woods beside your car when you left the ice cream shop… followed you home in his wolf form, then chased me down at the mall to tell me about you…. He paused and my eyes slowly shifted up to his face to find the silver wrapped around his pupils—a rarity on the young packleader that I was immensely surprised to see. "He had always been so… cautious with girls… said they were nice, but not right… so I knew that day that he’d fall for you. I don’t think he realized how bad he had it until his birthday party. He told me it took everything he had not to kiss you when you gave him those tickets for his present. He was afraid it would scare you, and as much as he didn’t want you involved in our world, he was determined to not kiss you until you knew what he was."

It hurts so much, I whispered with tears streaming from my eyes that I could no longer hold in check. His hand had darted out towards mine, but it stopped in the air as he curled it into a fist.

I’m sorry… for what I did, he quietly continued while his hand slowly fell to rest on top of the counter in front of him, "I was going to tell him about the troll that day… but he was just so unbelievably excited about that concert, and I knew how much it meant to him… how much you meant to him. I really thought just getting you out of town would be enough, that we could deal with it and have good news when you got back…. He grabbed my hand so suddenly that I jolted in my seat and looked at him with wide eyes, I’m sorry, Arianna."

I wasn’t sure I had it in me to forgive him for the part he played in my dad’s death, but I couldn’t miss the sincerity in his voice, the regret, and I managed to nod my head once.

I can’t let you leave here… it isn’t safe, he stated with a sigh but I looked at him with exasperation.

"Why isn’t it safe? Who is going to do anything to me? The queen said she’d give me time… granted, I don’t know exactly how long time is to a faerie that can live for eternity but is ready to pass on her powers and more or less retire… the exiles clearly don’t mean me any harm. I don’t think I need to worry about any werewolves. So who am I not safe from?"

He just stared at me for the longest moment and I watched the silver slide from his aqua eyes meaning he wasn’t blocking out the elite group anymore… meaning anything else we said, they would all know immediately that we had said it.

Anna! The sound of Jason’s voice, my sweet little brother, sent both a thrill of excitement and a wave of sadness through me. His arms wrapped tightly around me from behind, not so tight that it hurt like right after he had become blood-bound to his werewolf girlfriend, Trina. Part of me was still angry with my brothers for linking themselves so directly to the pack… Another part of me was glad to see them so happy. Austin walked quietly into the room and sat down on the stool beside me and I wondered where Amy was, seeing as the two of them had become more or less inseparable since their blood-binding, too.

You’re more alert, Austin commented while he gently squeezed my hand and then stole a piece of sushi from the counter, It’s good to see you more alert again, sis.

I’ll leave you to talk to your brothers for now, but I can’t let you leave… I’m sorry, Alex sighed again and left the kitchen without another word.

With a loud creak, Jason plopped himself onto the stool on my other side, turning so that he was facing me and his blue-green eyes inspected my face carefully.

I glanced at him long enough to see that his auburn hair was spiked up again, and his eyes were really thoughtful—thoughtful-Jason was dangerous, he was too observant, too intelligent, he always managed to figure things out too well when he was like that.

Where would you go? he wondered, but I shrugged my shoulders, Really, Anna… If you want to leave so much, shouldn’t you have a destination in mind?

I shrugged again as I spoke, Maybe I’d go to Dad’s house… I’m sure I could work something out with the tenants to crash on the sofa for a while or something… or maybe one of the exile fae would let me crash at their place for a while… but all of that would just be temporary, because I have to get out of town, too….

I saw the shock flitter across his eyes before he blinked it away and a bolt of pain shot through my heart at how similar it was to Jack’s knee-jerk panic that had always flashed across his eyes.

Anna… Where would you go if you left town…? I think Mom’s made her stance pretty clear on allowing us to visit… and you don’t really know anyone anywhere else… Austin interjected quietly.

I’d figure it out, I insistently mumbled, "I can’t stay here… you think you understand, and I’m sure to some extent you do, but I see him. The memories are so vivid I can hardly make myself comprehend that they aren’t really happening… And they’re everywhere. And I suspect that once I get out of the house it isn’t going to be any better because I have memories with him all over town, and when you add in Dad… I can’t be here! I saw them both flinch when my voice rose and felt my teeth clamp down tightly. They were scared of me… But could I really blame them? My powers had already more or less exploded once and somehow marked Caiden. I would be scared of me, too. I won’t hurt you… that stupid Summer prince’s powers are still keeping mine locked down."

He really cares about you, sis, Austin softly remarked, He keeps checking on you… Could you… could you go to Faerie with him or something…? Would that help?

I couldn’t stop the derisive laugh from slipping through my lips. Ignoring the fact that I can’t stand him… He isn’t even the crown prince… There are multiple people above him in Summer Court who would just turn me over to the Winter queen…. I sighed and shook my head. The only place in Faerie where I wouldn’t be delivered straight to the queen is Autumn Court, but I don’t trust Aki enough to go back there….

What did the Autumn Court King do, anyway? Jason wondered with a single lifted eyebrow while he shoved a piece of sushi in his mouth.

I might tell you if you two would quit stealing my food.... My grumbling only resulted in Jason’s grin spreading across his face while his hand darted out and grabbed up another piece of sushi. I narrowed my eyes toward the rolled up seaweed, rice, and crab tempura, and then met his startled gaze.

You… he faltered before he dropped the sushi on the countertop only to have it shatter. You froze my sushi. There was awe in his voice and blue-green eyes stared openly back at me. You’re getting really powerful, Anna….

Aki has some kind of mind influencing powers and tried to influence me to stay in Faerie and take the throne and everything I don’t want to do. I’m not even sure it’s entirely intentional, but I ran away from him and I don’t trust him enough to go back. Was I avoiding the topic of my powers? Absolutely! That didn’t mean I couldn’t answer their other question. Besides, I was hoping that if I made it clear enough that I couldn’t be at the wolf house or in Faerie that they might understand my need to leave town.

And since King Aki is a king and Prince Taiyoo is a prince not set to take the crown… the Summer Court prince can’t keep the Autumn King away from you in Autumn Court…? Austin queried causing me to tilt my head to one side as I worked my way through his words slower in my head to make sure I understood them.

That’s right. Taiyoo can’t protect me from Aki… I reiterated with the faintest smile and a shake of my head, Why did you have to say it like that? So confusing and everything?

We’ve been instructed to address the faeries by their titles… the parts of Faerie by their courts, Austin reasoned with a shrug, Alexander is trying to maintain peace with the fae, as much as he can at least.

Well, I think he’s being a little overly cautious, I mumbled under my breath—overly cautious with the fae and with me. Was that why he was so determined to keep me here? Because I was fae?

I knew I couldn’t get reasonable answers out of my brothers, especially not since they had bonded to the pack, so we just hung out for a while. I had gotten good at concealing my emotions from people so it was easy to convince my brothers that I was doing better even though I really wasn’t. It was also really easy to get them to believe that the idea of leaving town wasn’t under consideration anymore. Admittedly, part of me was sad about that. I guess I had always thought they would be able to see through my ruses, but they couldn’t anymore.

When we finally parted ways, they ran off to see their girlfriends and though I followed them out of the kitchen, all I managed once they were out of sight was to fall to sit on the sofa and stare off into space.

I could feel the magic at the back of my mind just waiting for me to turn around and see the images of Jack and me dancing around the living room from the night of the party. It was one of my more frequent visions and one that I had essentially learned how to block. Like always, I found myself torn between my desire to see him again, and my desire to avoid his image altogether.

Somehow, I fell asleep, dreaming of escaping the wolf house….

Chapter 1

Something woke me up. It wasn’t my alarm, because it was still dark outside the crack in my window. For a long moment, I just lay in bed, completely still, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of my room around me. Nothing sounded off. A year ago, I probably would have fallen back asleep… But that was before the troll, before my dad and my boyfriend were killed… That was before a lot of things.

Instead, I felt the powers already thrumming through my body, pooling in my hands. I hadn’t called them consciously, they had just reacted to the fact that I felt threatened. This was starting to become the norm for me, but it was still freaking me out a little. I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to having these stupid faerie powers, much less that they were becoming like another sense for me.

When I sprang from the bed, spinning in one fluid motion to face the front door, I was glowing. No, that’s not some sort of symbolism… My entire body was letting off blue-white light as my powers hummed along my skin.

I’m unarmed, Anna.

It was probably meant to be a soothing comment, but recognizing the voice caused a trickle of orange light to seep into my blue-white light.

You’re never unarmed, Taiyoo, I hissed while he took a cautious step into the circle of light coming from me, Stop. He did and my eyes flickered across him, quickly cataloging the fact that he was in his human form, his faerie self hidden by the glamour that made him appear almost normal. Bright blue eyes were calmly watching me, but his fire-red hair wasn’t spiked up anymore, it fell shaggily to the bottoms of his ears.

I’m not here to hurt you, he tried again, but I only laughed and threw my hands up in the air.

Then why are you here?

You ran away from the wolf house, from your family… he remarked, remaining perfectly still in some ill-fated attempt to convince me he was docile.

You see… He was right, I had run away from the wolf house, and it had been far from easy. The first time I had tried to sneak out at night, of course they had heard me, and Elizabeth had followed me to the bus stop before Austin showed up in a car to take us back.

The second time, I had made it all the way to the closed front gate before anyone had shown up, and really, I think if I hadn’t discovered the fact that the front gate was made of solid iron, I would have managed to get further. As it was, being fae makes it impossible for me to touch iron. I guess that’s also a bit of a hypothesis, because I haven’t actually touched it… It makes my skin burn just being near it so I haven’t had the nerve to try actually touching it.

It was the third time that I managed to get away. I had spent over a week working on learning how to use my fae concealment powers, and when I was absolutely positive I could make myself and my bag appear invisible to anyone even looking directly at me, I disappeared from the house. I had made sure to wait for a night when Taiyoo wasn’t around since he could find me if I couldn’t keep my mind settled even when I was invisible, and then I had just vanished as far as the wolves and the few fae that were at the house were concerned. As they ran around searching for me, I calmly made my way out of the house and waited by the front gate for them to eventually open it. Since I was only invisible, I could still hear them, and they had decided that I had somehow managed to transport myself away even though the grounds were supposed to have been warded against my transportation magic.

I had a few months to stew over that last bit: who had warded me into the house and why? Did they really think keeping me trapped inside a house of werewolves was a good idea?

I snapped out of my reminiscing and didn’t even try to shoot the blast of ice magic at Taiyoo, it just happened because he had startled me.

Are you going to kill me, Princess? he queried with that same calm tone, but he had deflected my magic with his own and he had the faintest orange glow to him, not exactly orange… more like sunlight… more golden….

I’m thinking about it… I quietly admitted, but he knew I didn’t really mean it, which made his eyes scrunch in confusion—you see, faeries can’t lie, but for some reason, I was able to come closer to lying than any other fae that I knew, or that they knew.

Everyone is worried about you. Six of your human world months have passed, will you please go back now? he requested, but I instantly shook my head.

"No way. I can’t be there, I can’t handle being in the house where Jack should be, knowing that he’s only not there because of me. Where my brothers have chosen to stop being human, at least partly because there’s a Faerie Queen threatening to start a war with me… The town where my dad was killed by a troll that was hunting me. Don’t you get it, Taiyoo? Ever since I went to that town, everything in my life has spiraled out of control! I blurted, feeling my powers pulse briefly stronger before I reined them in again. Did you ever think to ask what I’ve been doing for the last six months?"

I thought we could discuss it on the way back to the wolf house. Unless, of course, you have decided to return to Faerie and take your throne, he reasoned with a shrug that was too graceful to be human, Besides, Rei and the wolf you imprinted your powers on have been keeping tabs on you.

My powers flared again, but I was completely in control of them. What I had spent six months doing, besides finding a job at a coffee shop and getting a room in a slightly less than sleazy long-term hotel, was mastering my faerie powers. It wasn’t easy, getting the job without a real address, because I had been sleeping on benches and in a church or two until I had gotten enough money for the hotel room, but I had managed. Part of me believed I completely deserved the less-than-luxury accommodations, the other part of me was arguing with that part, saying that no one deserved to have to live that way. Internal struggles are never fun…. But whenever I wasn’t working, after I got the job of course, and whenever I wasn’t applying for jobs before I got it, I spent all of my time testing and exercising my faerie powers.

I had said I didn’t want anything to do with them, and the reality of that statement was still true, in part, but I did like the idea of being able to defend myself. I didn’t know how much longer the Winter Court Queen, my biological mother, was going to leave me alone, so I needed to be prepared to fight her. I just needed it to be on my terms and not have the werewolves willing to risk their lives for me or a bunch of fae and exiled fae depending on me to help them by leading the way to victory, or something…. It was too much responsibility. But when it was my decision, because I needed to protect myself, and not because I actually wanted to fight anyone, the powers came relatively naturally.

Leave, Taiyoo, I growled, but he didn’t move. He remained perfectly still except for the strange golden-orange light that was faintly dancing around him.

Six months, Princess… Your mother is starting to feel that your grieving time should have passed… You need to get back to the wolf house, to your exiles, where you will be safe, he reasoned as he took a single step toward me, but that single step drew my attention to the tiny stripes of golden-orange light swirled in my own blue-white light.

Six months I’ve been away from the wolf house, from you… and a couple of weeks before that… and your magic is still in me… I murmured as I pressed my hand to my chest and looked up at him, Why? You said it would leave….

Six human world months to repair the damage you caused to your own powers… Even the Winter Court Princess cannot heal herself that quickly in the human realm, he considered with the faintest smile, You hardly have any of my magic left in you, though. Does it really bother you that much?

Yes.

I can try to call it back, but to be honest with you, I’m not entirely certain it will leave you, he admitted with another one of those overly graceful shrugs of his shoulders when I darted accusing eyes to him.

What? I suppose I become a little monosyllabic when I get upset, and I admit, it isn’t my absolute best feature, but there could be much worse things… right?

In case you haven’t noticed, Princess… I’m quite fond of you, and so is my magic. I have a feeling it isn’t going to want to completely leave you, even if I call it back to me, Taiyoo explained patiently, but I noticed the tiny step toward me and flared my powers again.

Leave, I repeated just before my alarm started to go off. I walked over to it, which forced me to have my back to him, and shut it off, then turned back to find him only a few steps closer. "I have to go to work. You need to leave because there is no way I’m going back to that town."

He just stood there staring at me for a long moment and then nodded, just once. I will deliver your message. But I think you’re making a terrible mistake, Princess, he trailed off into a sigh and then was just suddenly right in front of me and pulled me against him into a hug. If I am correct, and you are mistaken, I will come back for you, though.

I struggled against him for only a second because my attention was drawn to the fact that the light around me and the light around him weren’t hurting either of us. Instead, they seemed to merge into some kind of almost green light where they touched directly, and swirled together where they didn’t, like a candy cane.

What is this? I whispered, even though I hadn’t meant to, and Taiyoo backed away from me the tiniest fraction so he could look into my eyes.

Proof that we would be fine together, he stated quietly, Be safe, Arianna. Please, be safe.

He disappeared as suddenly as he had come—just there, and then not—and I felt the absence of the strange warmth he brought with him whenever he was around. I stood there like an idiot for a long time, just thinking about, well… everything. Part of me felt safer knowing that Taiyoo knew where I was and would at least try to help me out if it came to that, but there was this other part that couldn’t help comparing that to Jack… Jack had tried to protect me and look what had happened to him…. I still loved him. Six months didn’t do anything to repair my broken heart, even if it did help with repairing my fae powers….

Another one of my alarms went off, and I shook myself back to reality to get ready to go to work. I’m a hard sleeper, and very good at shutting off alarms, so I always have a backup; this time it really just rescued me from my own thoughts, and not from weird dreams.

Chapter 2

A week passed after Taiyoo’s random visit and I really was starting to think things were settling back into my normal routine. I got up and went to work pretty much every day, and when I wasn’t working, I was concentrating on developing my faerie powers. I thought I was living a pretty normal life, at least until I was at work one day…

The coffee shop where I was working was a mom-and-pop place, Vintage Brew, owned by Teri and Marc Hinkley and they employed a lot of the local high school students and a couple of college students from the community college. I think my favorite part about the place was the eclectic feel from the various old pieces of furniture that had at some point been parts of other local establishments throughout the years. Then there were the wall decorations that were all over the walls, a lot of them, like the furniture, had come from other establishments, but some of them were created by local artists. My favorite was the bridge… It looked kind of like a picture, small, and framed, but it was actually created from wood from when the covered bridge had been restored and some of the older wood had been discarded. It was the most intricate, tiny little wooden bridge surrounded by little wooden trees, and it made me feel