Chapter 2 - We Are Family

Fiona

"If they think I'm getting dressed up for a worthless party, they have another thing coming!" I yelled out as I swung the sword at the training dummy standing in front of me, as if the straw and wood were responsible for the ignorant old-school ways of the fairies. Training always brought me peace and eased my frustrations, and this time was no different. Or so I thought.

"Fiona! What on Earth are you doing! If Mom catches you, she's going to completely come unglued!" The annoying voice that belonged to Niamph, one of my three sisters, caught my attention and caused my training to come to a halt as she walked onto the training grounds. I put the sword back in its sheath and hung it on the training dummy where I found it.

"Gee wiz, sis! Thanks for your concern!" I rolled my eyes with irritated sarcasm. "And now, thanks to you, I'm no longer training, so I'm in a pissy fucking mood. Do you care to tell me why you're bothering me?"

Niamph's red and brown eyes sparkled, and her fiery orange-red hair flowed freely as she sent a ball of fire flying in my direction without warning, but I welcomed the new challenge that was literally thrown at me. I smiled as I pressed my heels into the soil and countered her fireball with a larger ball of water, dousing the flames. I laughed as steam formed between her and I, making the sight of her almost nonexistent.

"Mom's looking for you; she wants to go over the last details of this party," her voice called from the other side of the steam. If only it were soundproof, too.

I closed my eyes and swayed my head back and forth, cracking my neck. "I'm so sick and tired of this party. You know what saves your life? Training! I have never once heard of a stupid fucking party saving anyone's life!"

"The party is only stupid because you haven't found your partner yet. Once you find him, your views will completely change, but that's not going to happen when you're alone here on the warriors' training grounds!" I cringed as I heard Shaylee's voice from behind me. My sisters now outnumbered me, and I didn't like it.

"You haven't found yours yet either, Shaylee. So why don't you just shut it instead of lecturing me on my life?" I turned around to see a very serious look on Shaylee's face.

Out of the four of us, she looked the most refined with her beautiful white hair that she almost always kept in a tidy braid. But now I saw a tinge of anger along with what I thought was pain in her blue and brown eyes. Maybe I crossed the line with that comment .... oh well.

"Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't. Maybe it's not what is meant to be for me. Everything will happen as it needs to," Shaylee replied as she squinted her eyes at me.

Seeing her irritation only increased my own. "That's so hypocritical! What gives you the right to give me shit about not wanting something that you don't even want yourself!"

The ground started to shake below us, and I knew it was Sloane before I even heard her voice. "Will you two knock it off! I'm sick of your bickering! Why do the two of you fight so much?!"

Sloane walked out of the woods, making the space between the three of them equal as they surrounded me. Her short brown hair bounced as she walked closer, her green and gold eyes daring me to push my luck.

The hypocritical evil bitches. I never cared who caught me training, to my parents' horror. I loved training, and I'd do it any chance I could get. It made me feel safe and in control of my own life because I didn't need anyone to protect me. This upset the elders more than anything, but I really couldn't care less about them.

Niamph had caught me training years ago and asked me to work with her in private. When we could, we'd sneak out in the middle of the night to work together. Sloane quickly caught on, following us and asking to join in. Then there was Shaylee. Mom and Dad's little princess. I've caught her spying on us before, but when confronted, she completely denied it. I have my suspicions that she's training on her own, but asking would lead me nowhere with her. If spying on us somehow helps her to defend herself, then who am I to take that from her?

"We fight because she refuses to conform! This is not the way of a fairy princess who COULD become our next Queen!" Shaylee waved her hands around the training field as she spoke, making sure we all knew she was talking about me training.

I didn't bother holding back my amused, sarcastic scoff. "You know better than anyone that I'll never conform to their ways. I'm not like you, Shaylee. I'm not like our parents. I'm wired completely differently."

"It's one thing to be different, Fiona. There's nothing wrong with that! It's another to be so defiant that you put a target on your back by your actions!" she snapped back as she pointed a finger at me while her other hand sat on her hip.

"Fuck off, Shaylee!" My comeback was lame, I know, but I was over it.

Obviously, so was Shaylee, because as soon as the words left my mouth, a gust of wind knocked me on my ass, causing me to wince in pain from landing on the hard ground. The pain only fueled my fire, and from my seat on the ground I sent a tunnel of water directly towards Shaylee. She tried defending herself by pushing it back with air, but it was easy to see that she didn't train with her powers nearly as much as she should.

"Fiona, knock it off! We're already late as it is!" Niamph yelled. I smiled at her lame attempt to get me to stop, and when her words didn't work, she tried her fireball approach again.

I turned so I could have a better view of the two of them, my water getting closer to Shaylee as I extinguished one ball of fire after another from Niamph.

"Two against one? Isn't this cheating?" I asked as I chuckled with amusement at their attempt to put me in my place.

"Make that three!" Sloane yelled as I felt the ground start to crumble beneath me.

I couldn't help but shake my head. I quickly formed a spinning platform of water, standing on it as the ground caved in. These three really needed to work on themselves a little more. Even together they weren't much of a match.

"What the fuck do the four of you think you're doing?!? I knew it was bad when Mom and Dad sent ME out looking for you, but come on!" Cerulean's voice immediately made all of us stop. Being our oldest brother, we respected everything about him. He was the glue that kept us together and sane, and probably from killing each other as well.

I let out a sigh. "They started it, Ceru. I was out here minding my own business and ..."

Sloane quickly interrupted me. "You knew what time Mom wanted us! Don't even pretend you didn't!"

Cerulean moaned and slapped his forehead. "I swear, having the four of you as sisters is going to send me to an early grave. You're adults; I shouldn't have to come out here looking for you!"

"But Cer!" Niamph whined.

Ceru pointed a finger in her direction. "I don't want to hear it! We need to get back home before I get in trouble because of what's going on out here!"

Niamph, Sloane, and Shaylee all had irritated looks on their faces as they glared at me before turning to head back home. Cerulean went to follow them, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him for a minute.

"Thank you, Ceru," I whispered.

He chuckled softly, knowing exactly where this conversation was going. "You don't have to keep thanking me every time, Fiona. You know that."

"Yes, I do," I said as I nodded. "Because I want you to know how much I appreciate you risking getting caught helping me with training and whatnot. Not like anyone would know that YOU were the one who left gear out for me, but you never know. And it means a lot to me. "

"By helping you, I'm in turn also helping the other three. You know as well as I do that they'd never take advice from me on this subject. The fact that everyone believes a fairy woman's place is barefoot in the kitchen with a baby on her hip and toddlers running around is a joke. If that's what they want for themselves, that's one thing. But I'll be damned if you all don't at least have the ability to protect yourselves when needed." Cerulean's voice was quiet enough so that the others couldn't hear him, but it still contained his passion and determination. He always put our safety and well-being first, even on days we drove him absolutely crazy. Like today.

"Well, Sloane and Niamph are already on their way there. I'm pretty sure that after this stupid party they'll end up uniting with Ainsley and Kalama as soon as they're settled into their new roles. Especially once Sloane moves into Aunt Cybele's house. Lucky for Niamph, she doesn't have to move out." I wrinkled my nose as I thought how easily they'll give up their training for men.

Cerulean was quiet, and we started following the others, staying just far enough back to keep our conversation private, but not so far back that the others grew suspicious.

"So, have you decided which one of us you plan on living with?" I asked as I turned my head just enough to look at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to catch a reaction.

"It's not going to work, Fiona. Stop trying to put me on the spot," he answered simply with a smile as he shook his head, which didn't give me any insight as to what he was thinking.

"Well, as soon as we leave, you know that you need to choose a realm. Your powers won't be true nor come into full strength until you do so," I said, pushing my luck.

"I kind of like having the ability to tinker around between the four elements equally; maybe I don't want to give that up," Ceru replied with a smirk.

I couldn't believe the stupid things that came out of his mouth. "You know that the only reason you can do that is that the four of us are still living here together. As soon as we're gone, all of those nifty abilities you have will go with us."

"I could stay on the outskirts and be a warrior," he said casually.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him with wide eyes. "Really, Cerulean?"

My brother shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "You have the chance to join any one of us and stand by our side, sharing our strength and ability, and you want to stay here and be a warrior?"

He continued walking, making me hurry to catch up with him. "I won't piss any of you off if I become a warrior."

"No, you'll piss off ALL four of us by doing that!" I said right before I punched his upper arm. I can't believe how the male brain works!

Cerulean lightly rubbed his arm where I punched him and furrowed his brows. "So basically I'm screwed either way, huh? No way to get around making you all upset?" A smirk formed across his face. He could be such an ass.

"You know the answer to that. You're smarter than you look, but that doesn't say much." I pressed my lips together to try to hide my smirk.

"The joys of being the male first born child of a future fairy Queen. I was doomed the moment I was conceived," Ceru said with a sigh as we made our way inside of the castle that was built into a mountain located in Arizona.

I'll miss home when I move, but I won't miss the heat. The only good thing about this upcoming party is it means I get to move into Aunt Nixie's place afterwards and finally get to experience life with other water fairies.

"Ceru, if you think being the surprise son is bad, you should try being one of her four daughters," I grumbled as I knew what was coming.

"Fiona! Finally! Hurry up and come try on your dress!" Our mother's overly feminine voice could be heard echoing down the hall from one of the rooms in the back wing and I groaned in annoyance at hearing it.

I could hear Ceru trying to contain his laughter as he watched me sulk away. I lowered my head and dragged my feet down the hall, trying to procrastinate even more. Maybe if I take long enough I'll be lucky and my own powers will consume me, exploding me all over so that I won't have to play dress up.