Free The Emerald Staff by Alison Pensy Page A

she looked down and saw the black pebble on the floor
beside her and reality slammed into her like a wrecking ball.
    “Dad, oh, my God, Dad,” she whispered to
herself as the memories from the party flooded into her brain. She
picked up the pebble, her eyes widening as she noticed the outer
edge had turned a vibrant red.
    She got up off the floor. She had to do
something, though, she admitted to not knowing what. But something
would come to her, it had to. One thing was for sure she couldn’t
do it dressed like a 1920’s flapper girl, not very practical for
hunting down evil fairy princesses and rescuing fathers. As she
moved towards the door that led to the dining room, the blinking
light on the answering machine distracted her. At first, she was
going to ignore it but something compelled her to stop and press
play.
    There was a tongue-in-cheek message from her
uncle, sounding as though he’d had one too many drinks, telling her
father off for leaving the party early with a gorgeous woman. He
hoped that his brother was having “fun” and did he realize that
Faedra and Frederick had also left the party early ‘just a heads
up, mate’. Faedra shot a disgusted look at the answer machine as
she deleted it. Well, her father may have left the party early with
a gorgeous woman but she doubted he would be having any fun ,
and as for her and Frederick , she couldn’t deny the empty
feeling where her heart should be and decided it best not to think
about that right now. At least her uncle didn’t suspect anything
was wrong at this point in time and that gave her a little leeway
before she had to think of an explanation as to why her dad was
missing.
    The next message started to play. “Err,
hello, this message is for Faedra Bennett. Faedra this is Professor
Malley from the university. I was going to wait until Monday but I
have to admit to being intrigued, and… well, I wanted to talk to
you beforehand. I looked up what those words meant. You told me
someone had called you this and I have to wonder why someone would,
especially in this language. You see s amtero kruwos, well,
it means… half blood. Oh, well, I hope you are having a good
weekend. I’ll see you in class on Monday and we can discuss it
then.”
    Faedra’s jaw went slack as she gaped at the
answering machine in disbelief. Suddenly, she knew exactly where to
start her search and get some answers.
     
    Faen stood at the end of the topiary-lined
driveway that led to his parent’s house. Although, to call it a
house was an understatement. The home he grew up in was noble and
stately. The gardens were pristine and well kept. He hadn’t been
home for a while and took a moment to soak in the grandeur of it.
Snapping himself out of his reverie, he started striding down the
majestic sweeping driveway. He could have flown, but, for some
reason, he needed to feel the crunch of gravel underfoot and leave
footprints behind.
    He reached the front door, turned the large
gleaming brass knob to open it and stepped into the marble entrance
hall. The stairs swept up in front of him and split in two at the
top, leading to both sides of the living quarters. He looked up to
admire the ceiling. The intricate gold leaf pattern was still as
vibrant and beautiful as he remembered it. He stood silent for a
moment to see if he could hear any signs of life. Memories of his
childhood came flooding back; he used to love chasing his sister
down those stairs and around the servant’s quarters. His mother
would scold him whenever she caught him but it was always worth
it.
    He blew out a sigh. There was no sound of
life from his vantage point. Knowing his mother she would rather be
outside on a day like this, tending her flowers in the beautiful
garden she loved, than swanning around above stairs and being
waited on hand and foot. She had servants to do everything for her,
but his mother loved to garden, it was her passion. And if his
mother were in her garden, then his father would be