Chapter 49: 48. Comforted

Travelling between worlds turned out to be a bit like the special effects in science fiction shows, when the space-ship goes faster-than-light. Except we did it without the ship. The meadow and woods seemed to distort around us, colours shifted and reality melted away. We were surrounded by dazzling light, but nothing recognizable. Just blurry flashes and flickers.

Then suddenly it was over and reality snapped back into place around us. Kelly and I were still together, and still on our feet, barely. We were both shaken by the experience, both of us were breathing hard. It took a few moments to settle down and start to take stock of our surroundings.

"Aw crap," I sighed. We were still in the woods somewhere. "Where the heck did we wind up?"

My initial thought was I'd flubbed the spell. It was my first time trying to cross worlds, and instead of bringing us home I'd either just landed us somewhere else in Otherworld, or maybe somewhere else entirely.

Kelly was still holding me close as she glanced around, eyes wide.

We were in a forest, but it was definitely not the same woods. It was winter here. The trees had lost their leaves, the air was cold, and there was some snow scattered about. The sky was overcast, dull and grey. It was dawn though, I was sure of that despite the cloud cover.

As we looked around I noticed something else, something less tangible. It was like the air here felt a little less vibrant, a little less alive. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something about this place made me feel slightly anxious, a little on-edge.

We could both hear a noise in the distance to what I suspected was the south. It was a sort of constant faint roaring droning sound. It was both familiar and unsettling at the same time.

Kelly looked like she was about to say something, when we heard the sound of a car horn somewhere not too far to the east.

We both sighed in relief. There was no mistaking that noise, this had to be home. Then I recognized the roaring noise. It was the highway. Morning rush-hour traffic, throngs of people making their way into the city to start their workday.

Then it hit me, this was probably the point where we'd left Earth. I don't know all the places on Earth where the veil was thin, and I wasn't focusing on any specific location. So we'd have returned to the same point where we'd left, wherever that was.

And finally I realized what that intangible difference was. There was less magic here.

I'd noticed it when we first woke up in Otherworld, how I felt more alert, more alive there. It was the opposite here, and I sighed slightly as I recognized that loss. It actually left me wondering why fae came here, and how long I'd stay before I went back to Otherworld for a visit.

"We're in High Park!" Kelly suddenly exclaimed with a smile. "Come on!"

She picked a direction and led the way. Within a few minutes we emerged from the woods onto a road that wound through the park. From there she led us out and onto a residential city street.

I didn't know this part of the city, but Kelly obviously knew her way around.

She looked at me and said, "It's about a six or seven kilometer walk to get home from here. What do you think, do you want to try and teleport us home?"

She was smiling, but her smile faded as she saw my expression.

"I don't think so," I sighed. "There's less magic here, and I don't want to risk messing up something like that. Plus I'm a little drained from getting us here."

Kelly nodded, "Ok babe. I hope you don't mind the walk then?"

"I suddenly miss my phone," I pouted. "We could just call a ride-share."

She grimaced, "I know. Or if we had some cash we could take a bus."

I sighed, but I knew it wasn't that big a deal. It did make me regret the full packs we were carrying though. Between the books and the fae money, I knew I'd be feeling it by the time we got to the condo.

The two of us set off, with Kelly leading the way.

As we walked, she sighed "I just realized, when we get there how will we get in? We don't have our keys or anything."

"The management office will be open by the time we arrive," I said. "We can just buzz them, tell them we're back from vacation and lost our keys."

Kelly pointed out, "We don't have any ID with us either. What if whoever's there today doesn't recognize us?"

"Charm spell," I replied.

The pair of us attracted a fair number of stares as we hiked along the sidewalk. We were dressed like you'd expect for a couple people who'd basically just stepped straight out of the middle ages, so I wasn't surprised to have people gawking at us.

Kelly took us south till we reached the lakeshore, then we headed east past the little beaches and skinny parkettes that separated the cold dark water from the streets and the highway.

By the time we finally reached our building, my leg was killing me and I was limping again. It felt like we'd been walking at least an hour and a half, and I was definitely regretting my heavy backpack.

When we got into the lobby I immediately collapsed onto the sofa in the waiting area and rubbed my leg. I groaned, "I need a long soak in a hot bath."

"Sorry babe," Kelly gave me a sympathetic look, as she went to the board and punched in the code for the manager's office.

A couple minutes later someone came out to see us. I didn't recognize him, he was a tall slim guy in his forties, with short dark hair.

I didn't bother trying to convince him who we were, I was too impatient to get home. As soon as he opened the door I hit him with a charm spell and told him to take us up to the seventh floor and let us into our apartment.

A minute or two later we emerged from the elevator, and he used his master key to unlock our door. Kelly thanked him and sent him on his way while I limped inside.

I slipped my pack off my shoulders and dumped it on the floor by the coffee table, then collapsed onto the sofa.

Kelly closed the door after the manager guy left, then sat down next to me. "What happened to that bath, babe?"

"Have one of the servants prepare it for me please," I sighed.

Before Kelly could respond, a voice from the guest room stated "There are no servants here, I'm afraid."

"Mom!" Kelly exclaimed, as she dashed over to give Kelsey a hug.

I turned to look, Kelsey had just emerged from the guest room. She must have moved in while we were gone, or at least she was house-sitting for us. She was currently wearing pyjamas and had a house-coat wrapped around herself.

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After they exchanged a hug, Kelsey said "Welcome home, the both of you. We've been worried."

"Did you get our letters?" Kelly asked. "How are you? How's Keira?"

"Yes," her mother nodded. "I received your notes. I passed Tegan's letters on to her mother. Mrs. Vale will be very pleased to know her daughter has returned safely."

She added, "I'm fine, your sister's been worried about you. I'm sure you two have some stories to tell, but I won't press yet. I'll let you both get settled, and I think I heard mention of a bath."

"Yeah," I finally dragged myself upright. Once I had my boots off, I got up and limped into the bathroom.

A little over an hour later I finally emerged from the bedroom, ready to be social again. I'd had a good long soak in the tub, my leg felt better, and now I was dressed in my comfiest Earth clothes. I was wearing a pair of leggings and my oversized pink top, and warm fuzzy slippers on my feet. There was one thing left to do, and I made a bee-line for the coffee machine which was full of beautiful caffeinated goodness.

It wasn't till after I had a mug of coffee in hand that I finally realized my mom had arrived at some point. She and Kelly were sitting on the sofa, Kelsey was across from them on the recliner.

"Hi mom," I smiled. "When did you get here?"

She hurried over and wrapped me in a hug, then replied "Kelsey called and said you were home and soaking in the bath. Of course I came straight over." She scolded, "Tegan why didn't you call as soon as you got home?! How long were you going to make me wait before you told me you were safe?"

"Sorry mom," I grimaced. "It was a long walk and I was exhausted."

After my mom let me out of the hug, Kelly motioned me to come sit with her. I settled onto the sofa and cuddled up against her.

She put an arm around me then told our moms, "We wound up in High Park, and had to walk home. We didn't have any money or phones or anything, so we couldn't ride-share or even take the bus."

Mom frowned, "I knew all that take-out food was unhealthy. There's no excuse to be exhausted after a walk like that."

I protested, "We haven't had take-out in like two months! We didn't get much sleep last night. And I was carrying a backpack mom, it's heavy!" I didn't want to mention my bad leg, I knew mom would freak.

"Oh?" mom asked skeptically, looking at the backpacks me and Kelly left on the floor. "What's in them?"

I sighed, "Both packs have each got about ten pounds of Fae books." I paused a beat, then added "And maybe twenty pounds of Fae gold."

Mom just stared at me, like she wasn't sure how to process that. Kelsey stared too, eyebrows raised.

"Gold? Like, real gold?" mom finally asked.

"Yeah," I suppressed a smirk. "Maeve insisted. I think she'd have sent more but the packs were heavy enough already."

Kelly smirked and said to her mom, "My girlfriend's a rich and powerful fae noble."

"What?" mom asked, looking between Kelly and me.

I blushed, "Maeve's kind of a big deal over there. She's a Countess."

"As in, she owns her own County," Kelly added.

"No," I corrected her. "She just rules the county, she doesn't own it."

Kelly rolled her eyes, "Right. She only owns the Brádaigh estate. It's a mere forty-thousand acres, including that huge castle, and two whole towns."

I grinned as I corrected her again, "Forty-two thousand acres, in fact. And don't forget she owns all those forests, and the lake as well."

My mom was speechless now as she just stared at the both of us. Kelsey seemed impressed as well, though she was slightly less dazzled by all this talk of wealth.

"So what have we missed over here?" I asked.

My mom exchanged a glance with Ms. Connolly, then she replied "Kelsey helped me tell your father the whole truth about you. After you vanished I was distraught, then we got your letter and I had to try and explain to him what was really going on."

She took a breath and said, "So he's seen pictures of you, he knows you're a 'fae' and a changeling... It took a little while for him to get over all those shocks. He'd like to meet you though. He's at work right now but I'm sure he'll want to see you as soon as he can."

"Oh... Wow." I hadn't expected that, and it took a few moments to get my head around it.

While I was processing that, Kelsey told Kelly, "Your sister will also be eager to see you. You can probably expect a visit from her in the next few days."

Kelly grinned, "Good! I've missed her."

The four of us talked some more, Kelly and I recounted some of the story. I had a feeling we'd be telling it over and over, so for now we just hit some of the highlights.

Around lunch-time, Kelly got on the phone with her twin and they had a long chat. My mom got a call from dad, then mom and Kelsey made some plans, and before I knew it me and Kelly were roped into going out for a fancy dinner.

"Then it's settled," Ms. Connolly said with a smile. "We'll head over to the restaurant at six and meet your father there."

She'd booked us reservations at some posh exclusive restaurant right downtown. It was walking distance from the condo, and Kelsey said we'd have a private room so we could all talk openly there.

It was exciting and of course I was really looking forward to seeing my dad, but I was also a little nervous. And I wasn't keen on doing more walking.

Kelly groaned, "I appreciate the effort mom, but we just had a big fancy banquet last night. Me and Tegan were hoping for a quiet night in tonight."

Ms. Connolly replied, "You can have a lazy day and quiet evening tomorrow. Tonight your parents want to celebrate your safe return."

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