Chapter 60: 59. Defended

I felt a hand on my shoulder and my eyes snapped open as I looked up.

Keira was there, standing next to my chair. She asked softly, "Hey. How're you holding up?"

"Ok," I mumbled. I was sitting on a chair beside the bed with a blanket wrapped around me.

The tall redhead offered me a bottle of water as she said "You should drink something, Tegan. And you should get some sleep. If you don't want to risk disturbing her, go crash in the guest room."

It was probably around midnight now. After I got Kelly home, me and her sister carefully got her undressed and put a nightshirt on her, then we got her into bed so she could rest.

Kelly seemed to be ok, however many blasts of healing magic I'd hit her with had patched everything up pretty good as far as me and Keira could tell. I'd seen the scars though.

Kelly had a round dime-sized pink scar on her chest just above her right breast, and a slightly larger oblong scar on her back. And I knew from personal experience she'd need a day or two of bedrest, to ensure everything in between had properly healed up.

I didn't want to leave her side, but I also didn't want to disturb her by getting into bed next to her. So I brought in a chair and a blanket, and just sat by the bed.

"Thanks Keira," I whispered as I accepted the bottle. I opened it and had a couple gulps. I didn't make any move to get up though, let alone go to the other room.

Keira stayed next to me for now, watching her sister sleep. After a few minutes she said quietly "It was on the news, but they didn't say much. Two cops killed in a shooting, no suspects, investigation ongoing, blah blah blah."

I had another gulp of water and nodded. "One of them was controlled. Forced to do it."

"Yeah, you said that earlier." Keira reminded me. She wasn't annoyed about it, I'm sure she knew I'd forgotten. I was in such a panic before, I don't know half the things I said or did.

After another minute or so of silence I glanced at her and asked "Is your mom on her way here?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "I haven't contacted her, she has no idea it happened."

That surprised me, but I couldn't say I was unhappy about it. "Oh? Why not?"

Keira shrugged, "There's nothing she could do to help that you haven't already done. It wouldn't stop her from barging in and taking over and being a busybody about things though. Me and Kelly are twenty-five now, we're not kids anymore. I won't speak for my sister, but I don't want our mom taking over our lives again. We just got free of that three months ago."

After a moment she added, "And this is your place, not hers. I'm sure you don't want her here any more than I do."

Keira's tone surprised me almost as much as her words. I wasn't sure if she didn't actually like her mother, but it definitely sounded like she was glad to be out from under Kelsey's thumb. When the two of them had their twenty-fifth birthday in July it had been a big deal, but I hadn't realized how important a milestone that must have been for Keira.

It suddenly made me wonder if she shared some of my suspicions about their grandfather. I put those thoughts aside for now, it wasn't the time or place to try and have that conversation. It did let me see Keira in a new light though.

I finally just nodded, "Thanks Keira. You're right, I wasn't looking forward to Kelsey showing up and taking over. I wouldn't have made a fuss though if you'd called her. I mean, I wouldn't try and get between either of you and your family."

She gave me a quick smile, then asked "I guess you're going to head over to Otherworld as soon as Kelly's ok? To let Maeve know what happened?"

"Nah," I shook my head. "We were all planning to go over Thursday morning, I figured I'd just wait and tell her then. I mean, it's only three days difference. Assuming you and Kelly will still want to go, of course."

Keira frowned, "This time I will speak for my sister. Yes we're both going with you. And frankly if you wanted to go early I'd be down with that too. Bottom line is, whatever's going on me and Kelly are both going to be safer if we stick with you."

I sighed and felt a little nauseous again. "I don't think that's true Keira. Kelly only got hurt because she was with me. They weren't after her, she was just caught in the crossfire."

The redhead sighed and sat on the foot of the bed facing me. "Tegan, if whoever these people are wanted you bad enough and you weren't here, they could grab the pair of us and use us to get at you. Believe me, I'll feel safer with you than hiding somewhere else. I'm sure that goes double for Kelly."

I just sighed again and drank the last of the water. I made no move to get up or go to bed or move to the spare room though.

Eventually Keira stood up and whispered, "Try and get some sleep. I'll check on you both in the morning."

"Thanks Keira," I mumbled. "Good night."

"G'night," she replied as she left.

I sat watching Kelly a while more, till I eventually nodded off again.

When I woke, I was surprised to find myself in the guest room after all. The sun was up, it looked like it was about mid-morning. I got up out of bed and found my fuzzy slippers on the floor nearby. I was just slipping them on when Keira appeared in the doorway.

"Oh hey, you're finally awake. I've got the coffee on if you want some."

I blinked at her, "How'd I wind up in here?"

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She rolled her eyes, "I carried you, how'd you think? It's not like you weigh anything, short-stuff." She smirked and added, "I swear from now on I'm going to be worried you'll blow away every time there's a stiff breeze."

My brain was still half asleep, I couldn't keep up with half the stuff she was saying.

She finally gestured, "Go see your girlfriend. I'll get you a coffee."

"Yeah!" I nodded and hurried past Keira and into the master bedroom. Kelly was already awake, she had some extra pillows supporting her in a half-sitting position. There was a mug of coffee on the side-table next to her.

She smiled at me as I rushed to her side, "Good morning babe."

I managed to restrain myself from pulling her into a big tight hug. Instead I gently hugged her with one arm on her left side, and was careful not to touch her right side at all. I gave her a kiss, then finally replied "Good morning Kelly. How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," she replied. "A little achey, but I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow."

As I sat down on the chair next to her she added, "Keira's already told me she didn't bother calling mom. And I agree with her, we're sticking with you and going to Otherworld together. I think we should go early though. You need to tell Maeve what happened. That cop said the Ceallaigh family sent him, if they've broken the truce Maeve needs to know about it."

I sighed, "I know what he said. I'm not sure I believe it."

"What do you mean?" she frowned.

"If Eileen or her family wanted to break the truce, or if they wanted to kill me, why would they make sure their assassin told us that? Wouldn't it make more sense to just like, bump me off in secret?"

Kelly continued to frown, but she had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Your girlfriend makes a good point sis," Keira said from the doorway. She came into the room and handed me a mug of coffee, then sat on the foot of the bed.

I smiled, "Thanks Keira."

"You're welcome," Keira replied, then added "So the cops had a news conference this morning. Apparently both cops' body cameras were turned off for that whole thing yesterday, but the car's dash-cam was running."

I felt my face go pale as I realized what that meant. "Oh crap. I never even thought about cameras. They definitely saw me and Kelly. Did they see magic? I used a barrier spell, then healing spells, then we teleported away..."

"Whatever they saw, they're keeping it secret," Keira replied. "They said they won't release the camera footage out of respect for the cops' families. They announced at the press conference that it was a dispute between the two cops, that they argued then the one guy shot his partner then himself. And they said there was no-one else present, no witnesses."

Kelly frowned, "Someone's covering it up? Either to protect us, or... Or what? I don't get it."

Keira shrugged, "No idea. Maybe whoever messed with that one cop is covering their tracks?"

I sighed deeply. After another gulp of coffee I decided "Ok we have to get over to Otherworld as soon as you're healed Kelly. Tomorrow morning if you're up for the trip, or Wednesday morning at the latest."

"I've already contacted Uni and let them know both of us are off," Keira said. "I told them there was a family emergency."

After draining my coffee I stood up, "Ok. I'm going to get dressed then take care of some security stuff around here. Reinforce the protective spells, that sort of thing."

Kelly asked, "Could I get some breakfast first babe? Before you get busy with the other stuff?"

"Of course!" I smiled. "I'll make something nice and bring it up here for you."

I wound up making french toast and cooked up the last of the bacon we had in the fridge, then me and Keira sat on the bed with Kelly and the three of us sort of had 'breakfast in bed' together.

It was kind of nice actually, and got me thinking we should do it again some time when Kelly wasn't recovering from being shot. I figured it was sort of like a pyjama party, except me and Kelly were in nightshirts. Keira was the only one wearing pj's.

When we were all finished breakfast Keira volunteered to do the dishes while I got dressed. Then she came back upstairs to stay with her sister, while I went outside to reinforce some spells.

First I did a complete walk around our property-line. I started where the driveway came in off the country lane, then went clockwise all the way around and back to the ravine, then through the trees to the little creek. Then I walked along back there, and finally back up past our yard and house and finished up at the driveway again.

It was only six acres of land, and my leg wasn't sore yet but it was always a little weak. That and the fact that eighty percent of the property was untouched woods made it slow going. Of course I wasn't just walking for the view or for exercise, I was reinforcing some magic the whole time I was out there. This land was mine, it was my own little private domain. I owned it but I was also responsible for it, and I was reminding the earth and the grass and the plants and the trees of that relationship.

If anyone set foot on my property, from any direction, the land would tell me. Whether it was a delivery truck pulling up the driveway or an errant hiker wandering through the woods, or a fae emerging from Otherworld into the little glade in the ravine, I'd know about it as soon as they crossed the property line.

By the time that was finished it was early afternoon. Rather than take a break I just went straight on to my next task. I slowly made my way around the house, reinforcing the security spells and defensive wards. Nobody would be able to break in, or force their way in. Even if the door was wide open, nobody would be able to set foot in my house without permission. Of course permission could come from any of the three of us, Kelly and Keira were part of the household, part of the family.

Originally the idea was to make sure nobody broke in and robbed the place while we were away in Otherworld. But it would also keep us safe while we were home too.

PurpleCatGirl

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