Just In Time

Chapter Eighteen

Declan didn't have to specify that it was Vaselia who was bing murdered. Aubrey waited for him to say more but that was the end of his story.

Well that was more than she'd expected out of him so she'd take what she had gotten.

"Must have been scary."

Again in the mononous voice Declan replied,"It was." Declan paused,"It's my turn now."

Aubrey have him a questioning glance,"I thought you weren't interested."

"Well since we are stuck seventy five thousand years in the past with no plumbing, WiFi or anything remotely amusing I'm going to take whatever I can get for entertainment." Declan stated,"And to be perfectly honest Aubrielle you're entertaining no matter what century it is."

"That almost sounded like a compliment." Aubrey replied.

"Take what you get cupcake."

"Fine." Aubrey said,"What do you want to know?"

"The first time we met in the woods."Declan said his gold eyes burning with a strange sort of confusion,"I'd said that you should be dead."

Aubrey let herself smile a little,"Yes, truly an interesting way to make a first impression."

Declan responded back with a wry smile,"But what you fail to notice was that your response was far more interesting. I believe your answer was, which time are you talking about."

Aubrey remembered how she'd blurted out the response almost instinctively with no control over her mouth. In hindsight the entire thing had been odd considering that she'd finally met a boy who she used to consider imaginary up till then.

"What did you mean by that?" Declan persisted,"What happened for you to say something like that so casually?"

"Well not counting our recent escapades of fightinv wolves, getting chased by guards and drowning in an ocean seventy five thousand years in the past I should have died at least Thrice, no technically it was four times." Aubrey said listing it alk out on her fingers,"I've survived a hurricane that killed everybody else in the neighbourhood, the accident that killed my parents, and most recently from drowning in the school pool."

"That's three." He pointed out.

"I also narrowly escaped being murdered." Aubrey shrugged.

He raised an eyebrow,"Is that all I'm going to get?"

"Unless you answer another question of mine." She said.

Declan looked amused,"Fine. Go ahead."

"What exactly am I?" Aubrey asked,"My powers what are they? And what's this business of a chosen one?"

"I know that school is boring and everything cupcake but you should have paid enough attention in math to know that those are three questions."

Aubrey sighed,"And you'll get three answers from me."

Declan nodded,"The answer to the first question, you're a Demi-Fae which means that some in your line of ancestry must have been a full blooded Fae and you were the one who inherited the traits. Secondly your powers, as far as I'm aware you can hear voices, see visions and heal people if need be. But all in all you're pretty much pathetic in all of them."

Aubrey glared at him,"You told me whatever I already knew."

"Then ask smarter questions cupcake."  He says,"Why would I know about your powers? They are yours."

Aubrey sighed, it was useless arguing with him.

"The last question." She said,"What's the chosen one?"

"It's not you." Declan said firmly,"So forget you ever heard about it."

"-But-"

Declan cut her off,"You wanted an answer I gave one. You can't argue with it."

She bristled but kept her mouth shut. Gods, he was just infuriating.

"My turn." He said,"The hurricane you were talking about. Was it Katrina? The one that hit New Orleans?"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes confused. It was a mundane question with a mundane answer which puzzled her because this was Declan. Nothing was mundane when it came to him.

"Yes." She answered truthfully.

"The accident." He followed up,"Were you in the car when your parents fell down the cliff?"

Aubrey had never mentioned which accident it was. And yet..

"The first time." She replied vaguely.

"And the second time?" He asked without missing a beat.

"No. I wasn't in the car." She responded.

"Why?"

"That's the fourth question." She said, her voice cold.

"And you'll get another answer from me."

"Then let me ask the question." She said,"Why do you not tell your father or the rest of the Seelie Court about your powers?"

Declan hesitated but then answered,"Because I don't trust them. Now it's your turn to answer. But I'm changing my question. You said you were almost murdered, by whom?"

"My grandmother." Aubrey replied detachedly,"One day she took a knife started mumbling crazy things and attacked me. I couldn't defend myself."

Declan paused as if to let her ask the next question.

She hesitated,"You told me to run away from Spade that day during history, why?"

Declan gave her a sad look and the moment stretched out forever in silence before he decided to break it,"Because if you turned out to be what the Fae have been searching for they'd use you like a weapon. You hardly seem like the kind of girl who'd be okay with that."

"And am I?" Aubrey asked,"Am I what they are looking for?"

Aubrey almost didn't expect Declan to answer but he did,"They think you are. Your visions, the voices , it all adds to their theory. What they don't know is that they are being very skillfully tricked."

Aubrey froze. So Declan knew. He knew that it was the lady in the red cloak who'd put the voices in her head, who'd told her about the future.

He knew that those weren't her powers.

"So no Aubrielle, I do not think you are what they are looking for." He then smiled just a little bit,"I think you're something far more spectacular than that though."

He didn't miss a beat before firing his question at her,"Your grandmother, you said she was mumbling crazy things, what were they?"

Odd question but none the less Aubrey answered it,"She said that a sacrifice must be made for the true queen to rise. The queen can only rise through the heir's ashes. It was pretty similar to what the voices in my head keep on saying."

Declan looked at her, this time really looked at her as if he was trying to memorise her. His gaze made her feel hot all over and she quickly smiled to herself but then scolded herself for being such a high schooler.

When his eyes met hers, they were determined more than guarded as if he'd figured something important out.

"Those times you almost died." He started,"How did you manage to survive?"

The answer flowed easily through Aubrey's lips,"It was you. You saved me. Each and every time."