Page 6 of Touched

Suddenly feeling brave, I stand, wiping off my butt from the grass and dirt, and head into the plantation to test my theory.

As I near the back of the establishment, an old man in overalls, holding some kind of gardening tool, walks by without noticing me.

I wander inside the plantation, and the much cooler temperature hits me immediately. While we aren’t affected by temperatures much, we certainly still notice them.

“Hi.”

I look up to see an older human lady wearing a large yellow bonnet, a pretty white dress, and white, lace-trimmed gloves smiling at me.

Oh, hells… It wasn’t a fluke. She can see me, too.

What is going on?

“Hello,” I say, trying to calm my racing heart as I attempt to pull all the stuff I’ve read in books about how humans behave and speak to each other out of my head. I reply, “How are you?”

“Hi there!” she replies again in a heavy Southern drawl. “I’m Suze. Would you like to tour the Elmwood Plantation today?”

Hells. What do I say?

Do I want a tour? Why not…

“That would be lovely,” sounds from behind me. Jumping with a start, I turn to see a woman and her husband standing there. They walk up to the lady in the bonnet, and I realize she hadn’t been talking to me at all.

“It costs ten dollars each, folks,” she tells them.

Rubbing my fingers on the bill hidden in my small satchel, tucked against waist of my dress, I sigh in relief. One night about a year ago, I found a fifty-dollar bill on the ground on that wild street called Bourbon Street. I’ve been carrying it around ever since… whenever I visit the human world, that is. When I’m at home in Laric it’s hidden away inside the pages of my favorite cowboy romance novel, under the roots beneath my bed… where no other Fae can find it.

Curious, I follow silently behind the couple. An old man, who’d introduced himself as Earl, with a thick gray beard and small round pieces of glass held together by a black metal of some kind over his eyes, leads us through the building. He proceeds to show artifacts and photos from bygone days.

After a very interesting tour, I head out to the back. Not bothering to see if anyone is around, I unfurl my wings and take to the sky. I fly much higher than usual, still nervous that a human saw me.

Who knows what others might be able to?

Why did he see me? How?

* * *

Irake my fingers through my hair. “Where the hell did she go? Where are you, Aeris?”

She’s nowhere to be found. She literally disappeared into thin fucking air.

“Whoooo…re…talking… to?” a drunk young tourist slurs as he passes me.

I ignore him and look around. She’s completely gone.

Glancing at my watch, I realize I’m two minutes late for my meeting with Tony, my informant, and race down Royal Street. As I reach the bright yellow door, I slip into the Angry Parrot bar.

Unsurprisingly, the bar is dark, even though it’s the middle of the day. It’s like the city wants a perpetual night, to keep people drinking and unaware of the time. I’m on duty, so after a quick scan of the patrons, I order a Coke from the bar, find a table in the back corner, and sit down, relieved that my informant is late, too. Pulling out my phone I check to see if I have any messages informing me of where he is.

Nope, nothing. He’s just late.

A few minutes later, a nervous voice beside me has me looking up. “LeBlanc?”

I glance at the man, quickly sizing him up. “Tony?” He’s unkempt with greasy hair, a face that could use a razor, and wrinkled clothing. He’s also clenching and unclenching his fists rapidly, a sure sign of his unease.

He jerkily nods.

I dip my head toward the chair opposite mine. “Sit.”

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