Followed
Followed:2310words
Update Time:2024-11-01 09:40:40
[Carmen]As we left the mall, I got a nervous feeling. It felt like someone was watching us, but I didn’t know why they would be. We were probably a strange group with Pyla being so tall and Gemma being so beautiful, but I didn’t like the itching feeling I got from it. “Do you two feel like we’re being watched?” I whispered. “Yes, ever since we left the store it’s felt like someone is stalking us,” Pyla replied. “My lizard instinct told me I was being hunted, but I can’t see where the person is without being obvious.” “I felt that, too. Everything was fine earlier, but once we left that store, it was like I could feel someone’s eyes on me.” “Do you think they’ll follow us to the restaurant?” I asked. “Should we just call it and head back to the fae lands?” “No, I can lose a car. Don’t worry, Carmen. Our girls’ day isn’t over yet. Don’t look too much or rushed. They have to think we don’t realize they’re there,” Gemma answered. We went to the car and put the bags in the trunk before we got in. I sat behind Gemma and Pyla was in the passenger seat. She had it pushed all the way back so she could fit. I told them the next time we did this, we would take Rock’s van. We thought Pyla would fit because she was just ‘tall for a human’. We were wrong. After getting into the car, Gemma pulled out of the parking space. I patted my knee nervously. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t like it. “There’s a car behind you,” Pyla told her. “They’re keeping pace, but staying back enough that they might not be following us.” “I’ll leave the parking lot and drive for a bit, then I’ll circle a block and see if they follow me. If they do, then we’ll know they’re following us. If they don’t, then we’ll head to the restaurant,” Gemma replied. “You good, Carmen? You look nervous.”“I’m fine,” I answered. “Let’s do this.”I gripped the seatbelt on my shoulder while we drove. This was one of those times when I wished I could see. I was nervous. We drove for a few minutes and then circled around a block. Gemma circled the block twice, and as she turned onto the main road. Pyla confirmed that we were indeed being followed. I could feel my heart racing as we drove on, not knowing who was in the car or what their intentions were.“We need to lose them,” Gemma said, her voice firm. “Hold on tight, this might get a little bumpy.”She swerved the car onto a back street, hitting the gas pedal hard. It was clear that she was an experienced driver, and I trusted her to get us out of this situation. The car behind us struggled to keep up as we took sharp turns and weaved in and out of traffic.Gemma took a sharp turn and the car skidded on the pavement. I could feel my body being thrown to one side, but I held on tight to the seatbelt. Pyla let out a scream, but I knew it was more out of excitement than fear. Gemma slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road.She turned off the car and told me to get down. I could hear them shifting around in the front of the car while I ducked down. My heart was pounding in my chest. “They just went past. Stay down for a little longer. We’ll leave in a couple of minutes,” Gemma said. “Why would someone be following us?” Pyla asked. “No clue, but there’s some freaky shit going on in the area lately. We’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for anything concerning. We’ll need to report this to Trent and Queen Maeve,” Gemma replied. “Should we go home? I’m getting really worried. What if they figure out where we are or spot the car?” I whispered. “I can use my glamour to change what the car looks like. I’ll make it look like a man is driving and change the color of the car. That should be good enough to get us wherever we’re going,” Pyla offered. “Carmen, they followed us from inside the mall and none of us sensed them before we went into that store. They had to have gotten there afterward and picked us out. Not everything is supernatural. There are humans who kidnap other humans all the time. We lost them. Pyla is going to use her glamour on the car. Let’s go have our lunch and then we can go home. There’s no reason to go back now,” Gemma said. She had a point. It could have just been bad humans and they weren’t there anymore. I nodded and she started the car after Pyla said her glamour was covering the car. I knew they were watching for cars following us. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was relieved. I knew that if someone was following us Gemma would have headed for the fae lands. They were protected and if you weren’t permitted to be in the fae lands, then the magic would turn you around so you didn’t find them. We went into the restaurant and asked the hostess for a blind menu. It was one of the things that I really liked about fae restaurants. They were always able to accommodate me because many species of fae didn’t have eyes or were born blind, like I was. As we sat down at the table, I picked up the menu and ran my fingers over the raised outlines of food under my fingertips. While I did that the flavors of the food rushed into my mind. It was actually soothing to me. I needed to calm down after what happened with the car chase. “May I take your order?” the waitress asked when she came over to the table. We placed our orders and I asked for a silence spell for the table. I wanted to be able to talk and not draw attention from people who might not be friends. The waitress took our menus and left. “What was that about?” Gemma asked. “I want to be able to talk without drawing attention. Rock did this before and I though it might be a good idea.” The waitress came back with our drinks and the spell. When the area went silent, I knew the spell had been set. That made me relax more. “Feeling better?” Gemma asked. “I know it’s weird and paranoid of me, but it feels like those times when something pops into my head that needs to happen,” I answered. “I get it. That’s your True Sight thing, right?” I nodded. “It is.” “Well, it’s never steered us wrong before. You would have told me if your True Sight said this was a bad idea, right?” “You wouldn’t have been able to get me out of the car if that was the case. I’m not going to ignore the magic that’s looking out for us just to make sure you aren’t mad at me. I think you can deal with your disappointment if it means we stay safe.” We talked for a while about the chase, the things we could remember about the car and what Pyla was able to see, as the only seeing person who wasn’t focused on the road at the time. Gemma had the idea that we should call Trent and have him do a three-way call with Queen Maeve so we could tell them both while it was fresh in our minds, instead of telling them when we got home. As we waited for the call to connect, I couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the car chase than just bad humans. My True Sight was telling me that something was off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.“Hello?” Trent’s voice came through the phone.“Trent, it’s Gemma. I was having a girls’ day with Carmen and Pyla and it got interesting. We just had a car chase. Someone followed us from the mall and we lost them, but we wanted to report it to you and Queen Maeve,” Gemma said.There was a brief pause while he connected the three-way calling and briefed Queen Maeve. Her voice came through after the click. “Tell us everything you remember.”We went through the events of the car chase, giving as much detail as we could. Pyla told them about the glamour she used on the car, and we described the car as best we could. When we finished, there was silence on the other end of the line.“Thank you for letting us know. We’ll look into it and see what we can find out,” Queen Maeve said finally.“Is there anything else you need from us?” Gemma asked.“No, that will be all. Be careful out there and go straight home after your girls’ day is over. Thank you again,” Trent replied.The call ended and we sat in silence for a moment.“I still feel like something’s off,” I said with a sigh. “Well, from what I heard from Ben, that guy who tried to get you to go with him a couple months ago was the member of some weird supernatural cult. They believe in this god and are trying to gather followers to worship him and give him more power. They believe all sorts of crazy things about this god and there’s a ‘prophet’ who is the only one who can talk to the god. It’s nuts,” Gemma told us. “Dear goddess, watch over the fools,” Pyla murmured. “How could they give up on our goddess? She gave us freewill and can’t change everything, but she changes everything she can in order to protect us. We’re her entire life and focus,” I said. “They want someone to give them everything they ever wanted. They don’t realize that sometimes the answer has to be ‘no’ in order to give you what you need, as opposed to just what you want,” Gemma replied. Pyla sighed. “Forgotten deities are not something to mess with. Some live in the fae realm. The ones who didn’t fade entirely, didn’t go to work for the goddess, or didn’t leave the Earth to find a new place to rule. She gave them a place to live safely in the fae realm. They don’t have to stay if they don’t want to, but she won’t let them into the human realm. I heard they are guided from the fae realm to the stars. How did one slip past her protections?” “It probably has something to do with this ‘prophet’,” I told her. “They’re kept safe for us and for them. Goddess only knows how that man is using the god for his own benefit.” “Unless the god is using him right back...” Pyla whispered. “What?” I asked. “Gods have made deals with humans for millennia, Carmen. It wouldn’t be anything new if the god made promises to the ‘prophet’ and offered him something in return for helping him come back into power,” Pyla answered. There was nothing I could say to that. She had a point. I never considered that they could both be using each other. It’s not always user and victim in relationships like that. In a way, that was even more dangerous. I was sure that Queen Maeve and Trent had a plan for dealing with it, but they wouldn’t be able to turn either the prophet or the god away from their plan. By the time our food came, we had turned to other subjects. None of us wanted to focus on something we couldn’t do anything about. If our leaders needed us in on the stuff they were doing, we would be brought in. I could see Pyla being useful or even Gemma, but I wasn’t considered useful because I wouldn’t be able to see anything or sneak around. Not that I wanted to. I liked my life. Managing the office for Rock, spending time with my friends, being with my mate, all of it was perfect for me. It was everything I dreamed of. “So are you excited about your coming-of-age?” Gemma asked. “Yeah, I bet Forrest is excited,” I grinned. “I’m happy I don’t have to go through the whole tradition like other trolls do. It feels demeaning to be chained to a wall and have people come in and choose whether or not they’re going to take advantage of my altered mental state. Forrest says I’m beautiful enough that there would be a lot of men coming for me if he hadn’t been my mate.” “But instead of doing the traditional thing, you’re still going to be chained up but only Forrest will be in the room with you. That’s good if you’re not liking how it’s normally done,” Gemma said. “It really is. I’m happy the goddess guided me to Forrest before I came of age. I can’t believe it’s so close. Once I’m marked, I hope to take Forrest home to meet my family. My father and stepmother will love him,” Pyla replied. That brought me back to thoughts of my own father. He never even gave Rock a chance, but I felt like they would get along if he had. Rock could be goofy sometimes, but he was also a very serious and hardworking man. That was something my father admired in other people. We ate our lunch and talked about everything we were looking forward to. Gemma was looking forward to moving to the pack lands with Austin. Pyla was looking forward to her birthday. I was looking forward to the wedding in May. Everything was coming together for all of us.