Seven: Bradley Endless
1094 Words
Chapter Seven
Bradley Endless
I was in my room. I had a very, very strange feeling that it had been a long time since I had been in my room. I had images of New York, a little girl, and Tatiana floating around in my head.I woke up find a little girl with the same color eyes as mine standing by my bedside.
“Daddy,” she said, “is that you?”
I groaned, my head aching. “Tatiana,” I said.
She smiled. “You know who I am. Who are you?”
“Bradley Endless,” I said. “Where’s your Mum? Where’s Adelaide?”
The woman that was my mate, and Tatiana’s child, I hadn’t seen in five years. I could only imagine what it was that she thought of me. “She’s not here,” Tatiana admitted.
“What do you mean, she’s not here?”
“I mean, she’s been in faerie this whole time trying to find you,” said Tatiana, “or a way that the two of you could be together.”
I frowned. “When was the last time that you saw your Mum, Tatiana?”
She hesitated. “I was three. I helped her sneak into the faerie gate when Aunt Louisa wasn’t looking. Aunt Lou doesn’t like us going there, because of what happened to Aunt Emma.”
“What happened to Aunt Emma?”
“Cousin Edward cursed her,” she explained, “and she’s been in a sleeping curse ever since. Uncle Clark tried to rescue her, but he’s not King anymore. His throne got taken from him by Solis, the Lord of Summer.”
I got up, and knelt down so I was close with her. “You mean to tell me Emma’s been cursed, and we have no idea where your Mum is?”
Tatiana nodded. “Aunt Lou’s been trying to keep the estate from falling apart and raise me. That was why I needed to find you. Aunt Emma is the goddess of fear, so she was able to contact me in my nightmares.She kept me safe, and told me how to find you. That was why I went to New York. Because Aunt Emma guided me there. She says she has a plan to make sure everyone gets their happy ending.”
“What does that plan involve, Tatiana?” I asked.
The little girl, my daughter, with blond curly hair looked so much like me it actually hurt. It was no wonder that she had gone to New York on a rescue mission to save me. She had my mischievousness streak. “Time travel,” she said, “that was why she had to bring you back. Because you’re our connection to the white rabbit.”
“The white rabbit?” I said.
“Baker,” she said.
“Baxter,” I corrected.
She nodded. “Baxter.”
“Let’s go talk to your Aunt,” I said, “we’ve got a quest to plan, it seems.”
“Daddy?” she said, looking up at me with her big eyes.
“Yes?” I said.
“Can I have a hug?” she asked. “I’ve waited ever so long to have a hug from you, Daddy.”
My heart swelled. This was my daughter. Born from me and the woman that I loved. I hugged her, wrapping her in my arms. “Of course,” I said, “of course, my heart.” I picked up my small child, and together we went down to the stairs.
To my surprise, I saw my brother Clark, my sister Louisa, her girlfriend Nia, and Hook all standing together in the hallway.
Louisa looked at me warily. “Bradley?”
“Hi, sis,” I said with a wave, “I hear we’ve got a quest going on.”
“That we do,” said Louisa, “are you ready to go back to faerie?”
“Never,” I said, “but I am ready to reunite our families.” I glanced at Hook. “Aren’t you supposed to be off sailing the world with my sister?”
Hook frowned. “It’s not my fault that the child turned out to be an omen. As you’ll recall, it was Clark who made the deal with the demons in the first place.”
Clark glowered at him. “You are the one who let her get cursed.”
“I didn’t let her do anything! She forced me not to take down the little prick. I was ready to kill him. You know how Emma is. She believes that there is good in everyone.”
“Yes, she does,” agreed Nia, “which is why, regardless of what happened in the past, we need to save her. But we’re going to have to go back to faerie in order to do that. And we’re going to have to be able to work together. We won’t get anywhere by bickering about the past.”
“Someone has to stay here with Tatiana,” said Louisa, “there’s no way that she’s going to faerie. She’s too young. What if something happens to her?”
“Nothing will happen to her,” I said, “I’m her father, and I’m here now. No one gets left behind. That’s how this whole mess started in the first place. We left Emma behind, and we let her get married off to the King of Faerie. We’re not letting that happen again. Is that understood?”
Nia stared at me thoughtfully. She knew me as the thief who had always been stealing something from faerie to make ends meet. I imagined she was confused at this sudden change, but she wasn’t the only one.
“Well, well,” said Nia, “looks like someone is attempting to be a hero for a change. I must say, Bradley, it looks good on you.”
I nodded to her. Impressing Nia was no easy feet, so if she was willing to follow me into the unknown, then I must have been on the right side.
- Writer
