Once Upon a Steamy Night
Chapter Twenty-five

Claire woke up with a start and regretted It instantly with the blinding headache and the sun rays almost sending her back to the land of unconsciousness. "Ow!" she groaned. Her mouth felt dry and her lips chapped.

"Hey, relax," she heard Liam's voice as his hands massaged her temples.

"Archais!" She waved a lazy finger and the window closed plunging the room into total darkness.

"Ok, you could have asked me to close the windows and turn the lights on," Liam said.

"Incips," she mumbled.

Liam sank back into his seat taking note of the lights that were turned on.

"You aren't supposed to do magic, Claire," Liam mumbled.

Claire eyed him curiously. "Who said so?"

"Your dad. Your injury isn't healing through magic except through hospital kits. You've been patched up," Liam explained.

Claire shrugged. "It's their fault since they sent me into that weird thing."

"Just stop to think about me, Claire. I was so worried about you!" He exclaimed.

Claire sighed as she relaxed on the bed. "I'm sorry, Liam."

"Let's go back to Rutherford, at least you won't get hurt," Liam said.

Claire shook her head. "That's impossible, Liam I can't run away from my destiny when I've not even started."

"That's the problem. You've not started and you're getting hurt!" Liam exclaimed.

"I'll take it from here, Liam," Adam said calmly stepping into her room.

"Adam please tell her she needs to leave here. Just a day here and she's been attacked twice," Liam said.

"It's been three weeks in the real world, Liam. The one day you've been living here is three weeks. One full moon is already over, and we have two more before Claire needs to leave," Adam explained. Liam gaped at them. "But it was just a day which isn't over yet."

Adam nodded. "Yes, that's how time passes here."

"I'm sorry you got hurt, princess. Who hurt you?"

Claire frowned as she regarded Adam with a skeptical look.

"I know it's crazy, but I hurt myself."

"Either way, you aren't supposed to get hurt inside the test. It's a virtual reality world!" Morgana exclaimed.

"She left the virtual reality world when her body disappeared," Scot pointed out.

Claire's eyes widened. "My body disappeared? When did that happen?"

"Approximately three hours before you woke up but since time passes differently here I dunno," Scot shrugged.

"Three hours? But I was barely there for five minutes!" Claire cried.

Nothing made sense!

"Tell us what happened, Claire," Morgana urged.

Claire remembered everything and it felt so real she shuddered. She couldn't tell them that whatever was tormenting her maybe in her; besides, it may all be crap.

"I played well and passed, then I got hurt and woke up, but I thought it was just in the game," Claire summarized.

"What did you see, Claire?" Adam probed.

"I saw mom," she whispered remembering how her mom's vibrant blue eyes had been except she hadn't been so keen on rescuing her.

"Where?" Adam asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I rescued her from the veil and...and got my code," she lied.

"Well, I guess you found the answer to your deepest desire," Morgana sighed.

Claire nodded. "I also found out the world will turn to chaos and humans used as puppets if I don't close the veil quickly."

A heavy silence descended upon them each one left to their thoughts.

"I know I'm not in the right shape, but I need to start training immediately because two days later we'll all be headed to close the veil," Claire said.

***

"Sililra!"

"Claire!"

Claire's eyes shot open as she positioned her spear at the intruder.

"It's just me, Claire. Good morning," Scot smiled sheepishly.

Claire regarded him skeptically. "When did we first meet?"

"In your school on the day of your adopted parents' death," he replied smugly.

Claire smiled as she lowered the spear. "Nice try but no, Anede."

"Vanquish!" He muttered immediately as the spear disappeared and he transformed from Scot to a tall, lanky young man with long flowing black hair and piercing lavender eyes. "You're getting better, Claire but how did you trick me to get the wrong answer?"

"Easy. Since you always snoop around in my mind," Claire shrugged.

After her little announcement, she had been accorded another trainer, an old guardian who has lived for centuries, Anede.

He was kind and strict and she had gotten along with him. She had also found out he was a shapeshifter who could read people's minds.

The fact that days passed in the human world before a single day passed in the faerie realm had given her an edge.

An edge to training properly with Anede despite Liam's jealousy and an edge to heal. For some weird reason, she was the only one who was capable of healing herself.

"Good morning, Anede," she smiled at him grabbing the tray from him, "Thanks for breakfast."

What can she say, pretending to be someone else sure had its uses, she smirked as she bit into the fried chips dipped in ketchup.

At this moment, she was blissfully in heaven.

"Exacubli!"

Claire gasped when her delicious food disappeared.

"Why did you do that?"

"I thought it was only Liam that made you goofy and take leave of your senses, but it seems like food is a part of your distractions," Anede replied.

Claire glared at him. "First you won't let me see Liam till my training is complete="

"To avoid distractions," Anede interrupted sharply.

"—and now, I can't even eat in peace!" Claire finished.

"So, you can focus today and not sit there for days savoring a simple meal," Anede replied calmly.

Claire stomped around. He irritated her sometimes and drove her crazy, but he was a good trainer, so she reined in her anger.

"Fine, let's train!"

Anede smiled and disappeared.

Claire joined him in her training garden and the next few hours were a series of spell enchantments, powerful magic, elemental powers, martial arts, and learning about symbols. Those few hours that passed by were days in the mortal world but for Claire, it was the best few hours of training.

No matter how hard training was, Claire still enjoyed it and finally, she took a break. She had to mend fences with Aiobel and Ryan.

She found Aiobel in the children's ward where she was attending to some kids who had started exploring their powers.

"Hey."

Aiobel glanced at her and sighed. "What do you want, princess?"

Claire winced at the amount of sarcasm in her words. "I'm sorry, Aiobel, it's just someone who used to taunt me like that, so it snapped something in me yesterday." Now Claire thought of it, the whole thing felt like ages since it last happened.

Aiobel shrugged. "I'm sorry I guess I should have warned you."

"It's fine."

"Anede is a good teacher," Aiobel said.

Claire noticed the sparkle in her violet orbs and smirked. "You like him, right?" Aiobel's face turned bright red as she lowered her lashes. "That's ridiculous."

Claire giggled. "You don't have to lie to me. I'm well aware of your feelings."

Aiobel's embarrassed face became downcast as she glanced at the kids. "I have to go, Claire."

"Don't be silly, Aiobel there's someone else attending to them besides you can always talk to me."

Aiobel's shoulders sagged. "He's not going to ever be interested in me. I'm too young for him and he has a reputation of wanting only experienced and powerful faeries." Claire's eyes widened. "And you're giving up?"

"I've got no way to prove myself, Claire."

"What sports are you good at?"

"Softball. Why?"

"See you later, Aiobel," Claire chuckled, skipping away.

She found Ryan in the armory; they were stacking up weapons like people going to war.

"Yo, Ryan."

Ryan cast a glance at her, a lopsided grin on his lips. "Your boyfriend here?"

"Anede cast a weird spell so I won't be able to find him and vice versa," Claire mumbled.

"Cool. So I won't be losing my heart from talking to you," he chuckled.

Somehow, Morgana and Adam had convinced Ryan that Liam wasn't a hunter but a skilled wrestler who wore a protective charm that wards against offensive spells and magic. Surprisingly, Ryan bought the idea, or he was just too scared to think that a hunter was in their midst. Whatever be the case, Claire was cool with it.

"I'm sorry about that, Ryan," she apologized.

"It's cool, princess. You're very beautiful so if I was him I'd have done the same thing," he chuckled.

Claire took two steps back. "You wanna play softball tomorrow?"

Ryan frowned. "Aren't you supposed to finish training tomorrow, prepare a speech and a dress?"

Claire eyed him. "What do you mean?"

"Isn't tomorrow your eighteen years birthday?"

Claire's eyes widened as she glanced at Ryan. She had forgotten she wasn't in the human world where time was slow.

"But I need to do this for Aiobel," she whined.

"The softball?" Ryan asked.

She nodded. "Show up tonight then. I'll get Anede to give me another break."

"Sure, princess," he smiled, winking at her.

For once, Claire was glad Liam wasn't with her else Ryan would be taking another trip to the healers.

Claire took a quick turn to Morgana's room where she was sure her father was and stopped suddenly when she heard voices.

"She hid it from us," Morgana was saying.

"It doesn't mean anything, mom!" Adam exclaimed.

Claire appeared in the room glancing at the crystal ball before it disappeared, and Morgana flashed her a smile.

"Hey, Claire. Do you need something?" She asked.

"You were spying on me?" Claire asked, her tone laced with disbelief.

"Not like that, Claire," Adam sighed.

"You should have asked me," Claire stressed.

"So, you would lie again!" Morgana snorted.

"What do you want, Morgana? That means nothing. You maneuvered your way in that test," Claire sneered.

"Claire, you killed your mom, boyfriend, and a coven of witches," Morgana sighed.

"It was a fucking game!" Claire exclaimed.

"Their bodies were shriveled up like those of your adopted parents," Morgana muttered.

Claire's eyes glowed, her golden irises overshadowing her green orbs.

"Take that back!"

"I didn't even say anything!" Morgana cried.

Thunder rumbled in the sky and the entire castle turned to pitch dark.

"Claire, stop!" Adam exclaimed.

Claire took a deep breath and sighed, the castle returned to normal. She remembered what the green-eyed man told her, how he had chuckled and laughed maniacally when she had touched her parents' dead bodies. She shook her head. "It was Sabrina just like how Scot said."

Adam nodded. "Relax, Claire. Morgana doesn't know what she's talking about."

Claire nodded trying to calm her frazzled nerves. The green-eyed man was playing tricks on her again.

"I'm sorry, Claire. I'm just worried about this prophecy if it comes to pass then the veil will be the least of our worries," Morgana sighed.

"Mom, Claire has nothing to do with the prophecy," Adam said through gritted teeth.

Morgana nodded. "Have you prepared your speech for tomorrow?"

Claire frowned. "That's what I came to ask you."

Morgana sighed. "A party will be held for you tomorrow and you will need to assure your subjects that you're in control and will protect them. You have to spend time with them before leaving." Claire nodded. "I can work on something but for now, I have to unite two lovers."

"Anede and Aiobel?" Adam asked.

Claire nodded. "How did you know?"

"Everybody knows except Anede," Morgana chuckled.

Claire smiled. That's gonna change now with a little romantic softball. With that thought playing in her mind, she left to find Anede.