Free The Fey by Claudia Hall Christian

of
thanks for Jesse’s help then go home.
    But the tears came. Standing back to
evaluate her work, she watched the fragrant smoke blow on the wind.
Then, as if yanked by a rope through her abdomen, she fell forward
onto Jesse’s grave and wept.
    Racked with sobs, she lay against the
granite markings in a heap. Her heart opened and her grief poured
out onto the stone.
    FF
     
    “ Maxie, I have a friend,”
she glowed to Max in their weekly phone call.
    “ A friend?” Max asked.
“You’ve never had a friend before.”
    “ I know. His name is
Jesse. I told you about him before. I met him in basic and now
we’re assigned to the same unit in Bosnia. Oh Maxie you would like
him so much.”
    “ He wants to get in your
pants.”
    “ Max! He’s married to his
soulmate Maria,” she said. “You’re just jealous ‘cuz I have a
friend.”
    “ I have a friend,” Max
said. “I’m friends with my roommate, John Drayson.”
    “ Now we both have
friends,” Alex said.
    “ You’re still my best
friend.”
    “ You’re better than my
best friend. You’re my twin.”
    FF
     
    “ I’m still your
friend.”
    Alex heard Jesse’s voice speaking Spanish.
Gasping, she wiped her face with her mittens and looked around the
monument. She saw no one. She blinked, then rested her head against
the granite. Her fingers traced the familiar sunflower carved into
the granite. She lay staring straight ahead until she heard the
cars moving from the funeral. Gathering her strength, she moved to
get up.
    “ Pumpkin, let me help.” A
male voice came from behind her.
    Alex turned her head to see her father move
across the grass to her. He lifted her from the ground then helped
her with her crutches.
    “ What are you doing
here?”
    “ I try to make it to the
funerals for the soldiers from Colorado,” he said. “More than fifty
so far. It’s the least I can do.”
    He put his right arm around her as they
faced the memorial. He was tall enough to play college basketball
and trim from a lifetime in the US Army. When Patrick Hargreaves
stood with his favorite child in front of the grave that should be
her own, he was all father.
    “ We aren’t supposed to be
seen together,” Alex said.
    “ I asked the press for
some time alone at my son’s grave,” he said. “I came over after
they left. How are you feeling?”
    “ I’m all right,” she said.
“I over did it last night.”
    He laughed. “Most father’s worry about their
thirty-year-old daughters over doing it on a Friday night.”
    “ Simulation,” she
said.
    “ I heard. I also heard
about Erin. How is she?”
    “ They removed her spleen
and a part of her liver,” Alex said. “She should be out of surgery
in a couple hours. Ben?”
    “ He called.”
    “ Does Mom
know?”
    “ No. I thought that Erin
would tell her when she wanted her to know. Was it …”
    “ Awful. I should have
killed him.”
    “ One death a night is
probably a good number for a cartographer.”
    “ There’s no flies on you,”
Alex said.
    “ Two men, M-16s with two
loaded clips, live ammo. They hiked ten rugged miles into the range
through the adjacent National grasslands. No one saw them in the
dark. Alexandra, someone wants you dead.”
    “ You think?”
    Despite himself, he laughed. She laughed in
response.
    “ I received three phone
calls and two email informing me that the Fey has returned,” he
said.
    “ It’s not like you to
believe the press,” she said.
    He laughed.
    “ It’s more like make way
for the gimp,” she added.
    “ It’s difficult to
survive. Have you considered joining another team?”
    “ I like being a
cartographer. It’s interesting and creative. I’m good at it. I get
to come home every night.”
    Patrick looked at Alex’s blonde head and
wondered if she believed what she said.
    “ Yes, the risk of living
again,” he said.
    She looked up at him. When their eyes
caught, she looked away. How did he always know the truth?
    “ I come here every time
I’m