Chapter 20

                                    

                                          
"What are you two doing in there? You've been talking for at least half an hour now, and breakfast is ready."
                          
Rowan and her grandmother share a glance and a tense smile before they stand from their seats. Aisling leaves the room first and Rowan moves to follow. She stops though, when she feels eyes on the back of her neck. She turns toward the window, frowning. The feeling of someone watching her disappears. But for a brief moment, Rowan almost sees a flash of curling gold. But when she blinks, it's just the sunlight shining right into her room, gilding the tips of the distant trees. Rowan shakes her head and leaves her room, letting the door click shut behind her.
                          
Rowan jumps in surprise. Her grandmother is standing in the hallway just outside the door. She frowns at Rowan's expression.
                          
"What's wrong, Rowanberry? You look worried."
                          
Rowan shakes her head. "It's nothing. I'm fine, Gran."
                          
"Rowan, tell the truth."
                          
Rowan sighs. "Fine. I thought someone was watching me for a moment. That's all, I promise."
                          
An odd expression crosses Aisling's face. "I have something that we should do later."
                          
"What's that?"
                          
"You'll see."
                          
~~~
                          
After breakfast, Rowan isn't all that surprised when her grandmother procures a box full of hundreds of iron nails from somewhere. She isn't even remotely surprised when she is told they are for protection. But what does surprise her is the fact that her grandmother wants to nail them into the wall surrounding their house and beneath the gates to create a supposedly impenetrable barrier. If it's impenetrable to faeries, there is a good chance it will hurt all of her family to cross it They have faerie blood, and iron repels faeries. Wearing an iron bracelet irritates Rowan's skin. So what will going back and forth across a line of iron do?
                          
"Gran, are you sure about this?"
                          
"We need more protection."
                          
"This might hurt us, Gran."
                          
Aisling scoffs. "Why would it hurt us?"
                          
Rowan sighs. "Gran, we have faerie blood. The iron bracelet irritated my skin. It would stand to reason that having to cross over an iron barrier every time we left the house would do something to us."
                          
"Can we at least try it? That's all I ask."
                          
"Fine, Gran. If you promise to take it down if it hurts."
                          
"I promise. Now let's get started."
                          
Aisling scoops up a handful of iron nails and grins. Rowan manages to smile weakly at her, plucking a few nails out of the box. From beside the box, Rowan grabs a hammer. She starts to lay them out at the front gate, placing the tips in the dirt and striking them with the head of the hammer. There is a shout from her grandmother, who is doing the side wall.
                          
"Make sure they overlap!"
                          
Rowan calls back, "Alright!"
                          
When she is done with the nails beneath the gate, there is a long line of dark metal, like a threshold. Rowan is tempted to step across it and see what the iron will do to her, but she doesn't want to hurt herself. She moves away from the gate, starting to position the nails in the wall. Shew isn't quite sure how she's going to create an unbroken line here, but her grandmother seems to sense her confusion.
                          
"Place a nail in every crack in the wall, every point where the stones interconnect?"
                          
That still doesn't make much sense to Rowan, but she shrugs and places the first nail against the wall. She doesn't even really need to use the hammer for this one, it slides in so easily. When Rowan pulls her hand away, she is momentarily afraid that it will slip right back out again. But it doesn't, it shines against the gray stone with a dark light almost entirely its own. There is a sound from behind her and Rowan jumps, twisting around. It's just her mother, poking her head out the window.
                          
"What are you two doing out here?"
                          
Rowan calls back. "Gran wants to add some more protection, so we're sticking nails in the walls. I don't think it's a good idea, but she thinks it will be fine."
                          
Arwen sighs. "Really, mother?"
                          
"Yes! We need protection from the faeries!"
                          
Arwen shakes her head. "They aren't-" She abruptly stops speaking, looking out into the trees. Her mouth parts and her eyes narrow in confusion and disbelief.
                          
"Mum?"
                          
Arwen shakes her head. "What?" She lets out a little laugh at Rowan's expression. "I'm fine, sweetheart. I promise."
                          
Rowan doesn't argue but she does look behind her towards the trees. There's nothing there but leaves, a patch of them waving in the wind as if a gale had struck instead of a gentle breeze. Rowan shakes her head to clear her thoughts and returns to her task, slowly slipping nails into the wall. 
                          
When she is done, her hands are red and puffy, raw-looking. Rowan winces with every movement. She hides her hands from her grandmother, she doesn't want her to worry. Rowan just slips into the kitchen and grabs some ice before she goes into her room.
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Do you think someone was watching Rowan? Who could they have been? What did Arwen see? Tell me your thoughts!
                          
Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!
                          
~ Goddess of Fate, signing out.