Chapter 22: Chapter 22

News about Arcie’s gift was made know the next day. It turns out, when Arcie was seeing ghosts, it was actually her elven gift. A unique gift that’s allows her to see ghosts and to be able to channel their powers as hers. It was a new gift for elven royalty, and it is one that Rose and Ace’s daughter possessed.

I really want to have another conversation with Arcie. I need to know more about Kellar’s other half in the human world and where to find him. The human world is too big for me to be searching alone. I could ask my aunt for help, but she’s been unreachable these days, and it makes me wonder which part of the globe she's traveling to next.

“Jen, come on. Rose and the kids are waiting.” I’m currently at Jen’s apartment waiting for her to get dressed. Well, she would have been ready if I had not asked her to dress up for this very special occasion that she clearly has no clue about.

I am dressed for the occasion in a baby blue fairy dress that I rarely wear for casual dinner. It isn’t fancy. It’s just something that should at least make me a little more presentable, as I am not going to be the main character for this event; Jen is.

“Stella, don’t you think that this is too much? Ugh. This dress is fancier than yours. Can’t we trade?” Jen eyed my dress, making me laugh at the concerned frown on her forehead.

“Uh…nope. Rose, picked that dress out for you.”

“Rose?” Jen raised a dubious brow at me. “Your SISTER picked out this dress?” She repeats, gesturing to her attire dubiously. It’s an emerald dress with lovely beaded designs at the waist. The chest has a sweetheart neckline with golden chains as sleeves.

I’ll be honest. Nate’s the one that picked out the dress, which just suits Jen so perfectly. I felt like Jen was starting to pick up that I was lying to her, so I quickly headed for a door and placed my key to transport us to the other realm.

“Oops, I think that it’s our cue. Let’s go, Jen!” I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front door with me. She barely managed to grab her purse when I finally got her through the portal.

The place that we dropped off to wasn’t in Gija, as she had expected. Where we are now is somewhere in Sanvers because of the lush forest. We could have gone and asked Ace’s brother for the venue, but Ace does not want anything to do with his older siblings, especially when Arcie’s magic has just manifested. They would just fawn over her.

“Hey, girls. Glad that you guys can come.” Nate is standing before us, dressed exclusively for this occasion. The king of Thalia looks so dashing that I bet all the ladies across the realm would fawn over him if they saw him now. Royal red tuxedo trench coat with golden detailing and buttons. When he walks towards us, the decoration chains on his shoulder pads make soft jiggling sounds that play well with the footsteps of his expensive leather boots.

When it comes to fashion, you can always leave it to Nate to dress up for the occasion. Even Jen is impressed when she sees him.

“Nate?” She gawks at him, her cheeks clearly red just at the sight of the vampire prince. “What are you doing here?”

Nate and I locked gazes then. I give him a wink before patting Jen’s shoulder for good luck.

“I’ll leave you two for a moment. Enjoy!” I did not wait for Jen’s response because I knew that she would grab my hand for sure.

I looked for my sister because I knew she was somewhere in this area. She was standing with Ren, Dan, Fred, and Ace when I eventually found her. The whole troupe together once again. They have always been inseparable, making me wish I have the same kind of relationship as them.

“Good job luring her here.” King Fred pats me on the shoulder with a proud smile.

“Yeah. How did you do it anyway? Jen has always been so sharp about this things especially at the last second.” Even though my sister was talking to me, her attention was clearly focused on Nate and Jen.

“I…didn’t exactly lure her here.” I admitted. Everyone seems to pause and stare at me for a while, as if they think they heard me wrong.

“Wait, what?” My sister blinked at me in response. “If you did not lure her here, then how exactly did you manage to get here to this realm?”

Now I feel a little embarrassed because it feels like they were all expecting highly of me for this task. “I pulled her in before she could continue to ask me more about where we’re going.” I smile innocently. Their only response to me is to give me a blank stare. Well, aside from the twins, anyway. Dan laughs out loud and extends his hand towards Ren.

“See. I told you that she would play this dumb. Pay up, big bro.” Ren lets out a low growl and tosses his three gold coins.

Were they betting on me?

“I’m sorry, but I panicked! What do you want me to do?! She was already doubting me when she began asking about my lie that Rose chose her dress!”

The three guys in the crowd groan, while Fred laughs even louder than before. Rose just crosses her arms and glares at the guys.

“What’s wrong with using me as an excuse that I picked out my best friend’s dress?” She complains.

“Queen, have you seen the dress that Jen is wearing?” Dan puts an arm around her shoulder, which Ace quickly pinches and swats away. “There’s no way that you would be able to pick out something like that.”

“Actually, it was custom made for Jen.” I pointed out, which is a mistake on my part because I have just given them more reason to make fun of my sister and I at this point.

“Custom made-” Dan gasped dramatically, which was so loud that it startled all of us. Ren, his twin, looked like he was about to knock him out if Fred had not stopped him. As usual, the king of the magic kingdom looks so happy and amused that I genuinely envy him. “Stella, you really played it dumb. If Rose was in charge, Jen would be wearing sweats.”

“What’s wrong with sweats?” Rose places her hands on her hips and glowers at the guys. “You guys just have it easy because you all don’t have to wear corsets and heels all the time.”

I really hate where this conversation is heading, but I have to admit that I agree with my sister on this. I took her side and nodded my head to show my support.

“I would love to see you guys wearing a dress.” I said, to which Rose and Ren started to snort in unison, and they seemed to turn their attention to Ace.

“Actually…” Ren has a mischievous grin on his face while he looks at Ace.

“Try and say something, mutt. In less than a second, I swear that Sanver will have a new king.” Ace suddenly turns to Dan and frowns. “On second thought, maybe I will just break a bone or two. The kingdom will be in shambles if this idiot gets to be king.”

“Hey! I have feelings too, you know.”

“I just love this group. It’s always a party with you guys.” Fred laughs some more and claps his hands.

Ace, the party pooper, gives him a dirty look. “Shut up. You can’t even say something useful aside from that?”

“Guys, be quiet for a moment.” I shushed them when I noticed that Nate and Jen were heading to the proposal setup that we prepared. “Oh, shoot. Places, everyone!”

We all started to panic. Me, Ace, and Fred moved in one direction, while Ren, Dan, Rose, and her familiars moved in the opposite direction.

None range magic users like them are assigned to get the staff ready for the music and to make sure that the path is clear, while range users like me, Fred, and Ace are specifically assigned to do the effects to make the scene feel a little more magical.

Fred would add the lights to make it a little more dramatic. Ace would use his powers, begrudgingly if I might add, to procure flowers along the way and even have the birds sprinkle flower petals. I would be in charge of keeping the temperature in check to make sure that Jen is comfortable. I also have a part to play in the last part, which will soon be revealed if Nate can remember to do his part.

Soft music starts to play in the background. I nudge Fred to offer some green fairy lights to dance with every step that the couple takes. Next, I turn to Ace and give him a nod. Of course, he won’t be Ace if he doesn’t roll his eyes before doing the work. The rose petals fall gently around them that swirls beautifully together with Fred’s fairy light. It looks so magical that I decided to add in some small specs of snow.

Summer night mixed with winter. Now that is something that you can never see in the human realm.

It makes me feel delighted when Jen looks so happy and mesmerized. Nate glances over to us with a happy smile on his face. He gives us a nod of gratitude before returning his attention to Jen.

“Hmph. I don’t get why his proposal has to be this special when you all almost ruined mine.” Ace grumbles.

“Shh! Quiet or I am telling my sister.” That shut him up real quick.

Although I can't hear what they're saying, I can see that Rose and the twins are signaling for me to move into position from the opposite side of the pair. I swiftly back away from Fred and Ace and approach the couple. I situate myself behind the nearest tree I can find and hide there. I waited until Nate would kneel on one knee so that I could undo the enchantment on the ice rose that contains the ring.

The air seems to shift like someone was beckoning me to look in to my far side, right to where the forest is. Something in the distance was glowing. At first, I thought that it was just Fred’s magic, but there were two of them that were moving in sync.

They’re eyes. Feline eyes.

“Javi?” I’m certain of it. It’s Kellar’s familiar. What is she doing here?

I started to head towards her, but someone held my hand to stop me.

“Stella, it’s your cue.” I did not even realize that Fred was following me. He watches me with concern in his eyes. “Is everything alright? What are you looking at?” Fred follows where I was looking a while ago, only to see that the spot where I spotted Javi is empty.

“N-Nothing. I’m sorry!” I quickly turn my attention back to the couple only to see that Nate is already on his feet, looking dead nervous and seemingly sweating despite my decent control of the temperature. He already has the frozen flower out where the ring is hidden.

I missed my cue!

I bit my lip and began to undo the magic that I had worked on the rose, forcing its petals to blossom and reveal the ring. I see Jen blushing and smiling in happiness before she yells out her answer.

“YES! Nate, this is so wonderful!”

Nate hadn’t even placed the ring on her finger yet, much less gotten up when Jen hugs him tightly. I don’t think that I have ever seen the king of Thalia smile and laugh this much as he got up and twirled his newly appointed fiance in the air.

“Guys, come on out! She said YES!” Nate announces.

The twins and Rose were the first ones to come out and congratulate them, followed by Fred and Ace.

“Come on, Stella. The engagement planner should be there to take some credit.” Fred beckons me to follow.

“Sure. I’ll be right there. I just need to fix my dress a bit, because, you know. Corset problems.” I lied, but at least Fred did not question me about that and went on ahead to where the others were celebrating Nate and Jen’s engagement.

When Fred was gone, I turned my gaze back to the spot where I had last seen Javi. I can’t help but wonder why she would show herself to me even though the last thing that Kellar told me was to stay away from him. I doubt that it was Kellar’s orders to ask Javi to check up on me, or us, for that matter.

This event only brought up one reason as to why Javi would show up like that.

Kellar must be in trouble.