Chapter Six: Adelaide March
1946 Words
CHAPTER SIX
ADELAIDE MARCH
Slightly tipsy after coming home from the bar, I was relieved that it had been Mums turn to take care of chores for the evening. I hadn’t drunk much, but I didn’t know that I would be able to get much done if I’d had anything extra for the evening.
Our cottage was small. It had been on the property for centuries, had gone through it’s last upgrade sometime in the 1980’s, and I didn’t foresee us being able to another one anytime soon.
I went into my small room, and sat on my bed, taking off my boots, and socks. The minute my feet touched the ground, cold went through me. “Ugh,” I muttered, and changed my clothes.
I hopped into my pajamas. They were pink, with little bunnies. I put my brown hair into a bun, and I was about to get in when I heard a crash coming from downstairs. I froze. What was that?
I grabbed my cell phone, just in case, and one of the horseback riding trophies I had on my shelves. I heard stumbling, and grumbling, along with the sound of crashing. “Adelaide!” a voice called.
I gripped my cell phone, and the trophy in my hand. “Whose there?”
“It’s Bradley!”
I dropped the trophy to my side, then walked down the stairs to where Bradley was. He looked at me. His eyes were orange, burning, glowing. I hadn’t seen that before. I thought his eyes were blue.
“Endless…are you drunk?”
He laughed bitterly. “I’m not drunk. I’m in heat. Adelaide. I want you. I need you.”
This time the trophy dropped down on the ground. “Bradley…. what are you saying?”
He crossed the room to me. There was a blue, velvet box in his hands. “I can’t wait any longer. Take this. Wear it. The necklace will show you the truth. It will tell you everything about us, and then…then we can finally be together, Cariad.”
The phrase he used was an old welsh one, not commonly used by people who didn’t know the tongue. Edward Endless had come from wales originally, and it made sense that he would have taught his grandchildren phrases in his mother tongue.
Bradley shoved the box into my hands.
I took it, not knowing what else to do. His eyes were still orange, still burning, as though consumed by flames. And his hands, when his fingers grazed mine, felt like they were a million degrees.
I jumped back, afraid that I had been burned, but when I pulled my hand away there was nothing there. For a second, I thought Bradley was going to kiss me. But then, there was a knock on the door.
“Come on Bradley!” I heard Emma Endless’s voice call. “Don’t be an arsehole. You don’t want to do it like this. You’ll scare the girl half to death. Don’t be like Oberon, please.”
The name Oberon seemed to make him come back to reality. His orange eyes faded back to their usual blue. He stared at me, with wide, frightened eyes. “Adelaide…” he whispered, sounding more like a lost child than the growling, intimidating man that he had been before. “Adelaide, I’m sorry.”
I grabbed hold of his arm. “It’s alright, Bradley. You didn’t do anything.”
He shook his head. “Put the necklace on. Wear it.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because soon, I will, and I want you to know why.”
The door opened, revealing an angry looking Emma Endless. She stood there wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a pink jacket. Her emerald, green eyes were narrowed, and next to her was that mysterious, American Ben Taylor.
“C’mon Bradley,” said Ben, “you’re better than this. Let’s get you home.”
Bradley turned his gaze on me one more time. “I’ll be back. When you put the necklace on. It will all make sense then.”
He left, slowly, as if in a daze.
Emma placed a hand on her brothers back, then turned to me. “Sorry about this mess, Addy. He’s not himself right now. He’ll be better next time, I promise.”
“I’m sure,” I said with a nod and a smile.
Although I was completely confused as to why Emma Endless was calling me Addy, my nickname, which was something only close friends called me. As far as I could remember, I had never been friends with Emma Endless. Of course, as far as I could remember, I had never done anything with Bradley Endless to put him in such a tizzy.
Ben Taylor nodded at me and closed the door behind them as they turned to leave. When they were gone, I turned on the nearest light, and stared at the blue velvet box in my hand. I heard the creeping of footsteps, and looked up to see my Mum standing there.
Mum was like me, except her brown hair was a little mousier, and she was a little taller. “Everything alright, luv? Thought I heard voices. Sounded like Bradley Endless, of all things.”
I looked from the blue box, back to her. “Mum, the strangest thing just happened. You won’t even believe it.”
She sat down on the couch nearest to me. “Try me love.”
I sat down in the nearby rocking chair, that was covered with some of the wool blankets Mum made and sold. “It…well…it started out at the pub tonight. I was with Sylvia, and I was curious about why Bradley was alone, so I went to talk to him and he…. he told me he was my soulmate. Then, when I came back here, he stormed in just now and gave me this.”
Mum wrapped her terry cloth robe around her shoulders. “You know, my luv, a smart girl would stay away from the Endlesses. They’re not like other families. You know as well as I do the strange things that go on around that estate. Although….”
“Although what?” I asked.
“Do you remember, back when you were thirteen, and you broke your leg?”
I winced at the memory. “How could I not? I was climbing that tree down by the river, and I fell.”
“Well, it was Bradley Endless that found you.”
I laughed. “Mum, you’re getting your stories mixed up. It wasn’t Bradley, it was Danny. It’s always Danny in all of my stories.”
“Except, it wasn’t Danny that time. Oh sure, Danny was with you when the Doc came and helped get your cast on. But it was seventeen-year-old Bradley that found you, that carried you home. I told him he didn’t have to stay, but he insisted on it, and he held your hand the entire time. He kept on saying, ‘Not now, Addy, not now….’ like the two of you had a history, and he was waitin’ for something to happen.”
I grabbed one of the blankets on the chair, and I wrapped it around me. The jewelry box was now in my lap.
“In your waking hours,” said Mum, “whose to say what has happened in your dreaming hours?”
“What do you mean, Mum?”
“Well, sweetheart, you know as well as I do that the Endlesses t’aint exactly normal. People go to that house all of the time, or they interact with one of them, and they can’t remember a single detail about them. If you believe the myths, Edward Endless worked for the faerie King, and that’s how he got his vast fortune during World War Two. Now, his family all have the sight, and they all protect the gate. When you were a child, you used to make up grand stories about things you did over there. But then, the next day, I’d ask you, and it was as if you had forgotten everything. I think, in your dream world, you do know the Endlesses. But when the sun rises, your memories are forgotten.”
I blinked. The whole thing sounded absolutely crazy. But nothing about the Endless siblings, or family for that matter, made sense. “Bradley told me that I was his soulmate, and that if I put it on, I’d remember. Should I do it?”
Mum shrugged. “I don’t know dear. Only you can make that choice. But I will say this. Faeries don’t take it too kindly when you reject their gifts. Be careful, whatever you do. Are you alright sweetie? I can stay up with you, if you like.”
“I’m alright. Besides, I’ve got chores in the morning. I’ll just go back to sleep.”
Mum nodded and got up from her seat. She placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I think, whatever you do, there are worse men that you could be with than Bradley Endless. But that’s just an old woman’s opinion.” She smiled softly at me and went back up the stairs to her room.
I looked at the velvet box, resting snuggly in my lap. It couldn’t hurt any to take one peek, could it? As I was about to open it, I saw something green glittering on my hands. I put my hand up in front of me, I saw that what was stuck to my hand were scales. And the scales had come from touching Bradley Endlesses arm.
Now, more curious than ever, I opened the velvet box. The charm was round, with what looked like a black slit, and an orange pupil. It was an eye, I realized. Exactly like Bradley’s had been when he was here.
As I stared at it, the iris moved, and it looked directly at me. For a second, I thought I could see Bradley’s face, piercing into my soul. Then, I heard it. A distinctive, possessive, low male growl saying one word, mate.
Quickly, I snapped the box shut, shut off the light and I ran up to my room, tossing it into my nightstand drawer determined not to look at it ever again. Mum was right about one thing. There was something not quite right with the Endless family, and I realized that I was best left in the dark not knowing what it was. Especially if the secrets involved jewelry that had moving eyes in them.
But even as I slept, I couldn’t escape Bradley Endless, or his hot gaze. All I dreamed of was his touch on me, and his eyes burning into my soul, until there was nothing left. Nothing left but my thoughts of him. And the burning need for him I had.
- Writer
