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Chapter 42: Turkey Road Mall

We arrived at the mall about a half hour later. We travel east and up into New Hampshire to get to The Turkey Road Mall. I could tell as soon as we were getting off the exit that it was going to be total chaos. The parking lot was almost completely full and there were people everywhere.

"That's a lot of people" Ian muttered as we started circling the parking lot looking for a space.

I've never really been a fan of crowds but the prospect of shopping for Christmas presents, particularly presents that I might get was very exciting. Ian was not nearly as enthusiastic as I was about all this but he trudged along as we walked into the mall.

It was pandemonium as thousands of people were flocking the stores.

"Okay Dust, you have your phone?" my mom asked

"Yea" I said

"Here, take this money and meet me back here in an hour, if you are still shopping or need me just call my cell" she said

"Okay" I agreed and we set out.

As soon as we were separated I actually looked at the money she gave me and realized it was almost fifteen hundred dollars.

"What the fuck" I said out loud, not able to help it.

"We've never really been rich, but we've done okay. But never in my life has my mom ever just thrown over a thousand dollars at me and been like `have fun shopping'

I hastily put the money in a tight inside front pocket of my pants and Ian didn't seem to notice the money or my hasty actions.

"You alright?" I asked him "you seem distracted."

"Sorry" he turned and looked at me "My dad always tried to make Yule special for me, and..." he trailed off holding back his emotions "this is really hard, I guess there are just a lot of things on my mind."

I reached out and took his hand not caring if anyone saw

"I love you, and we will get through this" I said and he smiled a little

"Thanks" he let go of my hand "shall we" he directed

We set off into the mall looking at a bunch of different shops and stores. We passed a jewelry store and I really wanted to go inside but Ian was with me. I found some nice clothes for my sister and some golf clubs for dad and a new coffee maker and some cooking things for mom. Our hour was up so we went back to our meeting spot, mom was already there.

"All done?" she asked

"Nope" I said

"Me neither" she laughed "let's get all this junk in the car." She said and we unloaded all of our stuff into the car and we headed back inside.

"You boys hungry?" she asked and I realized it was getting kind of late and I hadn't eaten yet.

"Yeah I'm starved" I said

"Well here's twenty bucks, have fun in the food court" she said

"Mom I got more than enough money" I said and she just gave a little smirk

"Well give it to Ian then" she said and I handed the money to Ian who just looked at it in his hand, he just stared at it not moving

"Ian are you alright? I asked and he seemed to come out of his trance

"Yes I'm fine, I'm..." he trailed off

"Dustin" my mom said firmly and I looked up at her

"Yes?" I asked

"Go to the food court I need to have a word here with Ian" she said and from the tone of her voice I knew not to mess with her. I nodded and headed off towards the center of the mall and I passed by the same jewelry store again. I peeked inside and then eventually went in and looked around.

"May I help you?" a friendly voice asked and I looked up to see a rather large man with graying brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard looking down at me.

"Yes..." I stammered "I'm looking for something for my boyfriend" I said and I mentally cringed expecting this big masculine man to say something but instead he smiles broadly and says

"That's very sweet of you" he smiled "what type of piece were you thinking of" he asked

"Well..." I answered "I was thinking some sort of ring."

"Well how serious are you?" he winks at me "a promise ring, engagement ring, wedding bands, birthstones?" he asked

I hadn't given it that much thought.

"I'm not sure" I said

"Well then I guess I will have to show you everything" he said directing the way to a particular display case. I looked down and saw many different types of rings.

"These here are promise rings" he said "and these here are Claddagh rings" he said

"What's the difference?" I asked

"Well a promise ring is a simple ring that can be engraved with anything you want. The Claddagh is a special ring amongst most Irish or Scottish or even English families used as pre-engagement rings. Claddagh designs consist of a heart and a crown held together by two hands. The heart represents love, the crown represents loyalty, and the two hands represent friendship." He said

Just as he was saying this my eyes were drawn to a particular ring in the case. It was a Claddagh ring. It had a gold band with a silver band within it, the crown was silver and the heart in the center was a light blue sapphire the same color as Ian's eyes.

"How much for that one?" I asked and pointed to the ring I wanted

The man frowned but said

"Four hundred and eighty dollars" he said

"And how much to get it engraved?" I asked

"Fifty" he said

"Can I see it?" I asked and he pulled out the ring and set it in front of me. I reached down and picked up the ring and something inside me told me I just had to get it. I could feel a chill inside me as my magic flowed into my hands as I held the ring.

"I'll take it" I said slipping it onto my finger and to my surprise it fit a little loose. That meant it would probably fit Ian perfectly

"Super" he said "and what do you want it to say in the engraving?"

"Eternal" I said and he nodded

He took the ring back into the shop and returned about five minutes later.

"Normally we ship these out to be engraved but the engraver was here testing one of the machines so I had him do it for you special.

"Thanks" I said

"Well you're welcome, it's the Christmas spirit after all" he said and then he leaned down and whispered "plus I know it'd make my husband happy" he said with a wink

"You're gay!" I exclaimed

"Shhh" he hissed "Ms. Temptress over there" he pointed to a woman browsing at earrings "hasn't clued in yet, she's been buying stuff all week on the premise of asking me out." He said with a soft groan

"How long you been married" I whispered

"Several years now" he said reminiscing "but we were together much longer, we have a couple kids we adopted they are just the sweetest things." He said

Suddenly it became clear to me and I just had to know...

"Is your partner Trap Willis?" I asked and I saw the flash of recognition pass his face.

"How did you... you're the boy!" he exclaimed "Oh my gosh! This is fantastic!" he reached over and shook my hand then wrapped me in a hug which he lifted me right off my feet.

"I'm sorry I..." he wiped his eyes "Trap told me all about you, no names of course... but I'm so happy to meet you, so you found someone... oh Trap is going to be thrilled" he exclaimed

"Tell him I said hi" I said "The name is Dustin"

"Dustin I'm Dale" he said

"Nice to meet you" I said and he smiled back at me broadly

"Well let's get you finished up now shall we?" he asked and we went over to the register

"Total is $325.00" he said and I raised an eyebrow and he smiled at my puzzled look.

"Employee discount, take it kid it's the best deal in town" he winked at me and I fished out the money and handed it to him.

"Dustin" he said "you take care of yourself you hear... and take special care of your friend there. Love is... well it's magical, I hope you have a truly wonderful Christmas" he said

"You too" I said with a smile and I took my purchase.

I paused in the doorway and I pulled out the ring.

I twirled the beautiful Claddagh ring in my hand as I examined it every curve and shape. I was mesmerized. Finally I closed my fist around it and closed my eyes. Warmth spread through my body and a cold chill passed over me and I felt my magic welling up and I felt it drawn into the ring and get absorbed by the metal. I felt my magic surge through me until a felt a bead of sweat on my brow but I kept going until I felt weak in the knees. I opened my hand and the ring was still there but the sapphire seemed to glow. It was imbued with my magic. I hastily threw it back into its case and into my pocket and headed to the food court.

I got to the food court and looked desperately for any signs of my mom or Ian. Oddly I couldn't find either one of them. After about five minutes of looking I decided I had to pee and I wandered off into the bathroom.

I was standing at one of the urinals when my magic surged through me and my senses became heightened as my magic was warning me of danger. I tried to look for any elves or magic but there were too many people around and I was having a hard time staying focused.

I finished peeing and washed my hands and was headed back to the food court when I saw him. My world seemed to slow down and I looked into the eyes of a person who I haven't seen in months.

He looked at me and I knew he saw me. Instantly he came forward and grabbed me by my shirt and pushed me into the back of the bathroom into the furthest stall.

"Remember me?" he asked and I looked up at the angry eyes of Corey Vancil and suddenly I looked down and saw he had a knife. It was pointed right at my side

"Corey" I said "what the fuck are you doing?" I asked

"My father" he said pushing the knife into my shirt coming dangerously close to stabbing. "He disinherited me, and threw me out, you fuck!"

"Corey calm down, do you see what you're doing?" I said in fear. I had to get out of this bathroom

"You fucking faggot, they put me in jail for thirty days. You know what they do to boys in prison?" he asked and I swallowed hard

"Corey I..."

"Shut up you faggot, I got raped for thirty days. Now you're going to turn around and I'm going to give back to you what they did to Me." he said then taking the knife to my throat "Now you're going to stay quiet or I'm going to slit your throat and gut you like the fucking pig that you are."

He turned me around and I felt he pushing me down and I felt the knife on my back

`Oh god' I thought `help me'

I heard him unbuckle his jeans.

`Where the fuck is everyone?'

`Help'

`Ian... anyone'

I felt the knife against my side as I felt his hands on my pants

`No' I thought

I felt him reach around and grab for my belt

`NO' the thought was stronger

`NO NO NO!'

I felt a fire spread throughout me in a burning heat I had never felt before. It spread through me and it spread through my fingers and toes till I felt warm all over. Then the familiar chill came as my magic surged through me and I felt the fire and ice mix inside me and like a pressure cooker it created steam and my magic began to build up out of control.

I looked down and my hands seemed to be almost glowing. Like steam coming off me like someone sweating outside when it's cold. The haze gave off the faintest light and I felt my magic slipping away from me.

"NO!" I said and my magic burst out of me. Like a bolt of lightning my magic shot right out of my back and hit Corey right in the chest. The force of the magic blew him through the wall of the stall and through the air and smashed him against the mirror above sinks. He tumbled to the floor in a heap.

I collapsed to the floor and put my hands over my face. I couldn't protect myself even after all this practice. I thought I had found peace within myself but I was clearly wrong. I shouldn't have been afraid of Corey yet here I was in tears on the bathroom floor.

My magic was still manifesting itself around me as little bands of light emanating off me. I tried to reel it back within me but I was still so freaked out I was having trouble. I heard a voice suddenly call out

"Hurry up Corey, there are some people getting antsy" I heard the bathroom door open and a big dude came inside. He must have seen Corey bloody and on the floor in front of the mirror and then he made his way back to me.

I looked up at him and he looked down at me

"You faggot" he said "what the fuck did you just..."

My magic surged out of me a second time and blasted the big dude right off his feet and sent him crashing through the stall next to me. I got up and my magic reeled back within me.

"Forget" I said feeling my magic work I walked out of the stall fixing my pants and fixing my appearance.

I rushed out of the bathroom and into the crowd in the mall getting as far away from there as fast as I could. I crossed the food court and was heading for the car when I nearly ran face first into my mom. She reached out and grabbed me and I jumped startled at the touch.

"Sorry honey" my mom said looking confused at my outburst "Ian and I just needed to get a little something and it took a few minutes" she said and then paused and noticed I had been crying

"Raven, are you alright?" Ian walked up to me and wrapped me into a hug and I squeezed him back

"I saw Corey" I said and he quickly pulled away from me and looked around

"In the bathroom he came after me but I gave him the slip" I said

My mom needed no further persuading

"We're leaving" she announced and we turned around and headed out of the mall. About halfway through I watched as about a dozen police officers came rushing through.

"What this all about?" my mom said as we watched all the officers rush past us

"Must of heard Corey was in town" Ian joked and I paled and Ian must of seen the look on my face but kept quiet.

We made it to the car and we unloaded our second set of gifts into it and I made sure Ian's ring was still safely tucked inside my pocket when I climbed into the back seat with him and put my head against his shoulder and feigned sleep the rest of the way home as he wrapped me in his arms.

The only place where I truly felt safe

Thanks for Reading

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Cailen