The Endless Series Book Three: The Gatekeeper

Chapter 1 Louisa Endless             There was something in the house. Something that shouldn’t have been. The estate had fallen into disrepair without Oberon’s magic to keep it up. I had tried my best to manage but it hadn’t been easy. Five years ago, my brother Bradley had disappeared leaving me alone to help raise his daughter. Then, there’d been the matter of my sister Emma’s disappearance, and her child. Of course, there was the war. The war that ravaged faerie, that kept my brother Clark hostage in the faerie realms along with Ben Taylor, his consort.             Nothing had been right for a long time. Darkness tinged the air, to the point that I could taste it on my tongue, like cigarette ash in my mouth. It had been a long time since I had slept through the night.             “Louisa!” a voice hissed, making me bolt up in bed.             Nia was in my room, a lantern in her hand. She had skin as black as night, and emerald, green eyes. Her wild, curly hair had been pulled back into braids for the summer. In the village we lived, Dale, a dreamlike mugginess had taken over the whole place.             Nia normally kept her wings tucked away. She was a faerie, a former lady-in-waiting to the Queen, my sister. Emma Endless. But several years ago, when everything had fallen apart, Nia had been there for me in more ways than anyone else had. Now, we were a couple, taking care of the estate and my young niece. Bradley’s daughter.             “What is it?”             “Titiana’s missing!” she exclaimed.             I bolted from my bed. I slept in men’s boxers, and an old Twilight t-shirt I had because I liked looking at Kirsten Stewart like every, other bisexual girl. Then, I grabbed the glowing, silver staff that I kept next to my bed. It had been gifted to me by Mother, who had protected faerie before me.             It was the source of all my power. The only thing that made me special.             “How? Were there signs of a struggle?”             Nia shook her head. At that moment, she was wearing pajamas of her own that I’d gotten her a few Christmases ago. Tinkerbelle, because I’d liked the irony. After seeing Peter Pan, Nia had been less than pleased. She’d called it “offensive and mistruthful” but she wore them anyway because I’d gotten them for her.             “There were no signs of struggle, but her backpack was gone, and her bed had a note on it.”             She held it up for me to read:             Dear Aunties,             Gone to find Dad. Will use the magic mirror to call you when I do.             Love,             Ti             I frowned. “I never should have told her that I found Bradley. It was a bad idea, but I was so happy when we were able to track him finally. Whatever spell Aphrodite had over him was finally weak enough to let us track him down.”             “Maybe we should have gone sooner,” suggested Nia, “oh, and there’s a portal opened in the library. I tried closing it, but I didn’t have any luck. I think it’s going to need both of our powers to shut it.”             “I’m coming,” I said, and I followed her out of the room.             Late nights were part of my work as Gatekeeper. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept all the way through one. If it wasn’t a portal opened in the library, it was an infestation of pixies in the basement, or worse a demon attack where our priest had been killed in the conflict. The estate that my family had owned since World War Two had been created from faerie magic. But years ago, my sister, Emma Endless, had killed the fearsome faerie King Oberon who she’d been forced into marrying in exchange for our wealth.             My Grandfather, Edward Endless, was a writer who made his fortune largely on creating a series of children’s books based on his family’s adventures in faerie. The faeries hadn’t taken kindly on him exposing their secrets and had ordered him to either guard faerie or get turned to stone. He’d chosen to guard faerie, and in exchange for his service to them the faeries had gifted him the estate we called home.             It was a large, intimidating, Downton Abbeyesque thing. You half expected Mr. Bates to come around the corner carrying a tea tray or something. But we had no servants. Everything was run by us, and since the faerie Kings magic no longer guarded it the estate had become hard to take care of.             Three years ago, the roof had started leaking.             Last winter, a fire had broken out in on of the upstairs rooms after a fight with a demon that had used fireballs to attack us. Titania’s mother, Adelaide, had been in faerie since the girl’s birth trying to find a way to get her soulmate back. Nia and I had become her legal guardian’s and taking care of a five-year-old was no easy feat. Especially in a house that regularly had to be cleansed for demons or cleaned for pixies.             But the two of us did the best we could. Even if we were all but outcasts from the village we lived in, Dale, and no one seemed to want to be friends with our niece. Still, we never would have expected Titania to run away on her own.             When we got to her room, I noticed another note on the door. “Did you see this?”             Nia shook her head. “Not at all. I was too focused on the giant, magic portal along with our missing girl.”             The portal raged inside, a bright, blue glowing circle that looked like a lightening storm. I grabbed the note from the door.             Dear Aunties,             Please come find me in New York so we can bring Daddy and the faerie Queen home.             Love,             T              I frowned. “I don’t know if I should be proud, or furious.”             “Parenting guidebook says furious,” replied Nia.             “Yes, but the Aunt guidebook says that I should be proud. I think she’s going to be an excellent gatekeeper.”             “If she wants to be gatekeeper.” Nia pierced me with a withering look.             I smiled. “If she wants to be gatekeeper.”             I had to remind myself that we were no longer under Oberon’s rule. There was no faerie king to force our family into protecting faerie. Once I died, it could go to anyone. We weren’t tied to the place anymore other then that it was our home.             “The question is,” I said, “how did she get the portal opened in the first place?”             Nia shrugged. “Endless blood?”             “Maybe.”             The portal was still open, swirling around, revealing what appeared to be a room somewhere filled with treasure.             “Someone has to guard the gate,” I said.             “You’re his sister,” Nia said, “you go.”             I wrapped my arms around her, using my staff to steady us, and pulled her in for a kiss. She ran her hands through my blond hair, deepening it, a smile on her fac when we parted. With my staff in hand, I went through the portal.             It closed with a thunderous bang, and I heard a voice I hadn’t heard in years.             “f*****g hell!” I glanced over and there was someone I never thought I’d see again. My brother, Bradley Endless, alive and well.