The Overt Operation (Department of FAE Book 2) Read online

  The Overt Operation

  Renee Greene

  To my sister, Rebecca, who helped develop this idea, and my husband and boys, who encourage me to write

  Copyright © 2020 by Renee Greene

  DeBokton Book

  Cover background picture from Pixabay.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher or author.

  This is a work of fiction and the imagination of the author. Any similarities to actual people, places, or events is strictly coincidental.

  ISBN: 9798596072723

  Chapters:

  Chapter 1: Vanessa Learns that First Dates Can be Disastrous 5

  Chapter 2: The Twins Learn that School is Even More Boring After an Adventure in a Fairy Land 13

  Chapter 3: Vanessa Learns Why People in Movies Oppose Arranged Marriages 24

  Chapter 4: Dylan Learns that Training Hurts When Your Teacher is Better than You 37

  Chapter 5: Vanessa Learns that Pleading Princes are Hard to Refuse 47

  Chapter 6: Dylan Learns How Poison Affects Him 59

  Chapter 7: Bryan Learns that Evil Men are Cowards 69

  Chapter 8: Dylan Learns that he Should be Wary of Fighting Lessons 80

  Chapter 9: Rayne Learns that an Immaterial Man Can be Knifed 92

  Chapter 10: King Dakarai Learns Fardoragh is a Traitor 105

  Chapter 11: Dylan Learns that Dungeons are Cold 113

  Chapter 12: Dylan Learns Escapes Plans Aren’t Easy 125

  Chapter 13: Dylan Learns What a Piñata Feels Like 139

  Chapter 14: Rayne Learns a Hard Lesson 153

  Chapter 15: Nea Learns Where Her Plan had Weaknesses 161

  Chapter 16: Dylan Learns He is a Fool 173

  Chapter 17: Dylan Learns He Can’t Get a Break 186

  Chapter 18: King Giles Learns that Women are Trouble 200

  Chapter 19: Niall Learns How Stupid Rayne was Following Fardoragh 209

  Chapter 20: Bryan Learns Some Slick Moves 217

  Chapter 21: Alex Learns Bryan has a Girl 225

  Chapter 22: Alex Learns Trina Got a New Princess Nightgown 230

  Chapter 23: Nea Learns She Like Mexican Food 240

  Chapter 24: The Twins Learn they are Interesting to Scientists 254

  Chapter 25: Mahon Learns the Limits of Mutations 262

  Chapter 26: Dylan Learns Choices have Consequences 269

  Chapter 27: Dylan Learns that Irony Isn’t Always Funny 280

  Chapter 28: Dylan Learns Princesses Can be Helpful During an Escape 289

  Chapter 29: Dylan Learns How Ugly War Is 305

  Chapter 30: Dylan Learns of More Trouble 314

  Chapter 1: Vanessa Learns that First Dates Can be Disastrous

  Given that agents from the department of Eccentrics had just that day tried to blow up the library at Vanessa’s house to get in, and they were spying on Elliad, the fairy land beyond the magic archway in the library, Dylan couldn’t think of any place to take Vanessa on a date that would be safe. He’d been attacked enough times and injured enough that he really wanted a calm date where he didn’t have to fight. Unfortunately, nowhere was safe.

  They were at FAE headquarters. FAE stood for the department of Fairies, Aliens, and Eccentrics. Dylan’s father, Agent White ran the department of Fairies, and Dylan worked for him, even though he was only seventeen, because he was very strong.

  “How about I take you to a break room and we find a board game to play and then watch a movie?” Dylan suggested. “There are games and movies in them for when people have a long wait on something around here. This place is pretty full. We even have a gift shop.”

  Vanessa agreed, so he took her to an elevator and swiped his badge so they could get in.

  The elevator was glass, so as she went up to the third level, she could see how elaborate the department really was. Seriously, she thought places like that only existed in the movies.

  He led her into a break room. It had a small kitchen, a well-stocked refrigerator, several round tables with chairs around them, and an area with couches placed in a semicircle facing a very large screen. No one was in the room at the moment.

  They looked at the games. There weren’t many, and most were strategy games. Usually Vanessa enjoyed strategy games, but she really wasn’t in a mood to have to think that hard.

  Dylan suggested that they get a dessert. Yes, they had had pizza a few hours before, but he was plenty hungry, and she wasn’t a big pizza fan and hadn’t eaten much, so she agreed.

  They each got bowls of ice cream and sat down beside each other on a couch to eat it. She folded her wings in some and leaned a little away from him. Folding her wings made sense; leaning away didn’t.

  “Nervous?” Dylan asked.

  “This is my first date,” she admitted. “My mom isn’t for teenagers starting dating young.”

  “Good plan,” Dylan replied. “I was sixteen on my first date. We played miniature golf.”

  “That sounds like fun,” she noted with some eagerness. “I don’t think that would be safe right now, but I enjoy miniature golf. You’ve dated a lot, haven’t you?”

  “That’s a relative term,” Dylan answered. “I’ve done quite a bit of dating. I try to keep it just fun, not serious.”

  Vanessa relaxed a little but admitted, “It seems odd that I am a little nervous right now. We’ve been through so much together already. I mean, you are sleeping on the couch at my house. We are in all the same classes at school so you can protect me. You’ve fought for me, even enough that you can pass through the portal. We’ve even kissed each other.” She blushed as she said that, then added, “I shouldn’t be nervous just because this has the label of a date.”

  He smiled back at her, and his deep blue eyes had a calming effect. “I don’t bite,” he assured her, “and I will never do anything that could be remotely disrespectful. One thing my dad has hammered into my head is that my strength is always to be used to protect and serve, never to mistreat a lady.”

  “You are heroic,” Vanessa assured him. “I really do trust you. I know I didn’t at first, but I have no doubt that I can trust you now. I guess I’m just confused.”

  Dylan tensed a little, afraid to ask what she was confused about. After all, she and Bryan were fairy-kind. She was a pixie and her brother a wizard. They had magic. He stared for a few moments at her sitting there with her wings out in their world. Before that day she’d never opened them except in Elliad. In fact, it had only been weeks since she first went to Elliad and found out she had them in her back which is why she always had back pain. “Are you confused about me or Prince Rayne?” he finally asked.

  “I’m just confused,” she answered. “I’m still getting used to the idea that I’m a pixie, not just some handicapped girl who people ignore. I mean, I’ve now danced with a prince and I’m sitting here with you. You’re one of the most popular boys at school. I fear I don’t measure up to all your other dates.”

  “Not measure up?” Dylan exclaimed with some shock. “Vanessa, you are a beautiful fairy. You have wings, and you fly. You’re incredible. Yes, I’ve dated a lot. Often girls ask me. I know I sure don’t like rejection, so I say yes unless there is reason not to. I even pay. If we go out more, don’t you dare insult me by trying to pay for the date.”

  “I don’t have much money,” Vanessa admitted. “I don’t have a job.”

  “I do,” Dylan replied. “Obviously I do, and it pays well for a teenage boy
. I’m saving up for a good college.”

  It would surprise Vanessa that Dylan was looking at an expensive college because strong guys were stereotyped as not very smart, but she had most of her classes moved to his for her protection, so he was helping her through calculus. She put her bowl down and admitted, “I really don’t know how to act on a date. I haven’t done this before.”

  “Just be yourself and have fun,” Dylan explained. “You don’t have to try to impress me. I’m already impressed. I know you well. Just pretend it isn’t a date and we’re hanging out at your house. I just want to enjoy your company and hope you enjoy mine.”

  She blushed a nice shade of pink and admitted, “I always enjoy having you around. You make me feel like I’m so special.”

  He winked at her and assured her, “You are.”

  They talked a little bit more, and Vanessa quickly relaxed. Being around Dylan did seem very natural. He joked about how awkward it would be if she went out with another guy and he had to follow her as her bodyguard.

  After the ice cream and some time to talk, they went over and found a movie. There wasn’t a huge selection, as most of what was there was work related videos, but they found a nice action-romance and sat down to watch it.

  Vanessa had sat with Dylan at her house cuddled on the couch watching a movie before, but somehow knowing it was an official date made it different. There was a man with a FAE badge at a table nearby, but otherwise, they were alone. She wasn’t used to being alone with Dylan. Yet, he held her hand and put his other arm around her as they watched the show, and she felt so secure.

  When the movie was almost half way through, another man walked in the room. The man at the table got up, and both of them walked over to Dylan and Vanessa.

  “Do not scream,” one of the men warned as he pulled his gun.

  Both the men were in front of them, so Dylan could see what both were doing. That was likely a mistake on their part to not come from in front and behind. He stood up protectively in front of Vanessa and held his hands in front of him, hoping the man wouldn’t shoot. Both men wore hats and sunglasses, so he couldn’t identify either. “Who are you?” he asked.

  “We’ll do the questioning here,” the first man insisted. “Tell us how you passed through the gate!”

  “Bryan took me through,” Dylan answered. “I did nothing.”

  The other man punched him across the face and hissed, “How do we get through?”

  “I don’t think you can,” Dylan answered, tensing, but not throwing a punch back to keep from getting shot.

  “We need answers!” the first man insisted. “Tell us what you know of the arch and how to get through.”

  Dylan took a breath for strength and replied, “No.”

  Again, he was hit. The same man then went over to Vanessa and felt her wings. She leaned away from him and tried to retract them more, but he didn’t let go. “Go away!” she complained. “Leave us alone.”

  The man leaned closer to her. Something felt really eerie about him. He hissed in her face, “You should work with me. You should both work with me. We could make you rich and powerful, or we can get what we need from you then kill you.”

  Dylan hadn’t fought back because of the gun pointed at him by the other thug, but he couldn’t let the man scare Vanessa like that, so he made a sudden, unexpected move, grabbed the man’s wrist, and stripped the gun from it as he swept his legs and knocked him to the ground.

  He followed through by taking a punch at the man leaning over Vanessa, but to his utter shock, his fist went right through the man as if he wasn’t there, only a projection of a person. That couldn’t be true because the man had punched him in the face twice, hard. It had hurt. The man was real.

  The man turned to him and laughed. As he did, the other thug tried to pick up his gun, but Dylan was expecting that and stepped on his arm. He then kicked the man in the face and knocked him out.

  The other man looked at his partner on the floor and started to back up. As he did, he hissed, “You will work with us or you will regret it. There is no place that you are safe. There is no place where I can’t find you and get to you.” The man then backed up until he hit the wall.

  Vanessa grabbed Dylan’s arm in utter surprise as the man turned around and walked through the wall.

  “What just happened?” she panicked, clutching Dylan tighter.

  “I don’t know,” Dylan admitted. He pulled out his cell phone and called his father, who assured him that he’d be right up. Dylan pulled his taser and started looking around the room, making sure it was secure, and watching for the mysterious agent to return.

  It didn’t take long for his father and half the department to get to the room. They unmasked the unconscious thug. Dylan didn’t recognize him, but his father did. Then they went through his clothing for clues.

  Of course, Agent White told both Vanessa and Dylan that he would need a full report.

  Vanessa clung to Dylan in fear as the agents searched the man and the room, and he held her, trying to give her some security. They took special note of the wall where Dylan said the man had passed through it. There was no sign of anything being unusual about it.

  As soon as Agent White could get free, he came to Vanessa and Dylan and told them it was time for them to come to his office and make a report.

  “Even your office may not be safe, father,” Dylan noted as he walked toward the office holding Vanessa’s hand. “That man walked through a wall. When I hit him, my arm went through him.”

  “It may not be safe,” his father agreed, “but now, no place is.”

  Vanessa squeezed Dylan’s hand tightly and grabbed his arm with her other hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “This wasn’t how I’d hoped our date would end. I’ve been on many dates, but this is a first.”

  She forced a smile and joked, “At least I have one heck of a first date story.”

  Chapter 2: The Twins Learn that School is Even More Boring After an Adventure in a Fairy Land

  Monday morning, Dylan, Bryan, and Vanessa returned to school.

  A swarm of girls surrounded Dylan. The captain of the cheer-leading squad, Sydney, ran up to him and hugged him. She told him that she really wanted his help getting things set up for the pep rally that day, as they were doing a kick-off for the fall sports season. She also told him that she was having a party at her house on Friday night and invited him.

  “Sorry, but I probably have to work on Friday,” he told her. “My job is rather hectic right now.”

  “You can’t ask for the night off?” she pleaded. “Please, come to the party.”

  “I seriously can’t take the night off,” Dylan tried to explain. “I’ve talked to you before about my job being something like helping the police. Well, there is a huge situation right now.”

  “Is that why you were in that fight in the parking lot?” she asked. “We were all amazed at how you beat those men and saved Bryan. You are strong.”

  “I can’t talk about it,” he responded. “I’m sorry, I can’t take the night off of work on Friday.”

  “But you can take the time to come to school,” she pointed out.

  “I am working now,” he corrected. “Seriously, I can’t explain what I do. I’m sorry that I can’t come.”

  “Can you make it up to me with a date when you get the time?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dylan answered. “I have really enjoyed the dates we’ve been on, but I’m dating someone now.”

  Sydney gasped. “You are dating someone? Since when do you date someone? You have dates with different girls all the time.”

  “Often true,” Dylan explained. “Yet, right now, I’m sticking around Vanessa.” He took Vanessa’s hand and held it up so Sydney could see their hands together.

  Sydney huffed, “You would date that freak over me? She can’t do half the things I can. You will seriously lose popularity if you date her.”

  “Perhaps,” Dylan replied
, “but I’m keeping her around. Thank you for the invitation to the party.”

  Sydney huffed, “You only like her because you saved her. You are too good for her, so the relationship won’t last long.” She then walked off angrily.

  Dylan walked off with Vanessa the other direction. He kept an eye on Bryan as he did, as he needed to protect him too. Bryan was just on the other side of Vanessa. Of course, Bryan didn’t really need protection. Bryan could protect himself quite well if he would be bold enough to use his magic.

  Dylan also looked around the school carefully, as he was still disturbed by the man who could walk through walls and could become immaterial enough that Dylan couldn’t hit him. School didn’t seem a safe place with someone like that after them. Of course Vanessa’s house wasn’t either, as the man could get in easily. That’s why Agent White and Gail decided the twins and Dylan should go to school. It was less likely there would be an attack in such a public place.

  “Why didn’t that man pass through the wall into the library?” Dylan asked, thinking out loud.

  “Because he can’t,” Bryan answered.

  “But why not?” Dylan asked. “If they could blow up the wall, why couldn’t he pass through it?”

  “Explosions aren’t magic,” Bryan insisted.

  “But the man who passes through the walls likely doesn’t have magic either, does he?” Dylan asked. “I’d guess he’s an eccentrics, and that’s a genetic mutation. No fairy can do that.”

  “He’s not a fairy,” Bryan agreed. He again twisted his hair and tried to explain, “Humans aren’t magic, but mutations sort of are, but…. Oh, you just don’t understand magic.”

  “Sorry,” Dylan apologized. “I don’t understand magic.” He looked over at Vanessa. He was still holding her hand.

  They were walking down the hall to class when Griff came up to them. “I see you two got fully suspended last week,” he mocked.

  “That’s not why we were out,” Vanessa tried to explain.

  Dylan saw Bryan clench his hands together, which meant that the situation could end badly. “Enough,” Dylan warned Griff. “Don’t start something today. I am in no mood for games, and I could seriously hurt someone if pushed too hard.”