People of Fae

by M.M. Gavillet

  Lyssa

  Wes squeezed Lyssa’s wrist so hard she felt her fingers go numb. She thought of Zoey as she tried to repress tears. The maze of low tree limbs and underbrush seemed like a blur to her. She didn’t want to leave Zoey’s side and even less-be alone with Wes.

  She looked back every so often to see if there was a glimpse of Zoey behind them and listen for her to call her name. There was only darkness.

  “Stop doing that.” Wes hissed tugging on her arm.

  Lyssa jerked her arm back and stood still.

  “I’m seeing if Zoey is coming,” Lyssa said in a calm tone.

  Wes gave a huff. “You idiot. Didn’t you see those things back there? Those nasty little things are Landmerrows and I can’t fight them off by myself. Zoey said for me to take you.” Wes peered down at her.

  Lyssa didn’t reply, she only thought of Zoey, and something inside of her didn’t feel right. She peered into the darkness looking away from Wes.

  “Look, sorry I called you an idiot. Don’t cry.” Wes’s voice suddenly turned sympathetic.

  Lyssa slowly turned. “I’m not crying and I really don’t care what you think of me.”

  Wes had a surprised shocked look on his face, like a girl had never said this to him before.

  “What if Zoey is hurt? We should go back.” Lyssa had other concerns than Wes right now and hoped she would hear them coming any second.

  “We can’t take that chance. We are just about at the Pavilion.” Wes’s voice still had a lingering shock to it.

  Lyssa felt a pang of something not right in her. Zoey should had come by now. Lyssa couldn’t stand it anymore and pulled away from Wes. She ran into the tangled limbs with Wes cursing behind her. Lyssa was no running match for Wes and he quickly caught her shoving her to the ground.

  Lyssa felt his weight on her and his strength as he lifted her from the mellow ground.

  “Now I am going to call you an idiot and mean it this time,” Wes said with leaves stuck to him. “Zoey said I am your protector now and you will listen to me.”

  Lyssa stared at him. “You are not my protector and you won’t tell me what to do!” Lyssa’s words slightly echoed through the trees.

  She took a step past Wes when a pain ran through her right ankle. She caught herself and cursed at her ankle. Before she could look at it, Wes had her on the ground examining it.

  “It’s just twisted, probably caused from you running away.” His words were scolding towards Lyssa.

  “More like when you tackled me.” Lyssa cringed slightly through the darkness as he wrapped it tightly with a piece of cloth. “It’s fine, leave it alone.”

  Lyssa got up and her ankle throbbed, but she didn’t let Wes know and pushed him away when he offered to let her ride on his back.

  She kept looking behind her until the sound of sweet music filled the air. Yellow lights flickered on tall slender poles lining several pathways. Wes crouched behind the thick, thorny underbrush and gazed at the large block stone building with tall trees, fountains and sculpted gardens all around it.

  Lyssa could see many Faes all dressed in sparkling, flowing dresses and their hair adorned with glittering stones. It looked like something out of a fairytale ball. She could hear the voices echo with laughter as the music played nonstop.

  “The Muses’ sure know how to throw a party.” Wes’s eyes pierce the crowd in front of them. “It looks like an all nighter.”

  “Shouldn’t Zoey and the rest of them be here by now?” Lyssa craned her neck to look behind them into the darkness.

  “Get down!” Wes hissed jerking her to her knees. “We have a job to do and Zoey can take care of herself.”

  Lyssa felt like she wanted to cry and pushed the lump that was forming in her throat down. Wes gazed at her for a moment as she darted her eyes at him and pushed her chin upwards.

  Wes snickered in amusement as he continued to scan the sea of Faes below them.

  “Keyes to enter dark places,” Wes said under his breath. “Never are they in expected places.”

  “What did you say?” Lyssa recognized her poem right away. Her insides began to burn. “Look, you read my diary, that is an invasion of privacy, but don’t rub it in by quoting from it.” Lyssa wanted to smack Wes.

  “Calm down.” Wes burrowed his eyes. “I’m not trying to woo you; something about that poem means something. I think it’s a clue.”

  Footsteps came from the darkness behind them. Wes quickly pushed Lyssa behind him and quietly expelled a palm scepter. Slowly a faint light flickered through the tree branches until a tall, slender silhouette stood before them.

  “Wes?” A female voice questioned. “Is that you …hiding in the bushes? Didn’t you get an invite or are you going to sneak in?” She giggled slightly as Wes discretely put away his scepter.

  Lyssa peeked from behind Wes to see a blonde haired girl with an almost liquid like blue dress covering her curvy body. An orillion dangled on a silver chain from her delicate hand. Her sapphire eyes suddenly fell on Lyssa.

  “Oh, I see you have a date. But I see only one, don’t you still like pairs or don’t you have enough of you to go around anymore?” Her voice was playful with a tinged of mischief to it.

  “It seems I have lost my invite and was hoping to meet a pretty girl to escort me in.” Wes was like a peacock slowly fanning his bright and very gaudy feathers. “Nessa it is so good to see you again.” He gently kissed her on the hand.

  “Well in that case I would be honored.” The girl stepped forward and then looked down at Lyssa. “What about you’re little raggedy girl over there?”

  Wes glanced back at Lyssa. She crossed her arms and glared at him.

  “She evidently isn’t in to parties or…well anything where you have to use too many social skills.” Wes shrugged his shoulder in an empathic way.

  Lyssa combined a huff and a growl in anger and disgust towards Wes’s arrogance.

  “See.” Wes looked back at Nessa who only tilted her head to the side uninterested in Lyssa.

  “In that case, Wes, I would be honored for you to escort me.” She held her hand up for Wes to take.

  Wes smiled at her and then bent down to Lyssa.

  “Stay here, and I will be back.” His eyes filled with seriousness as he dropped a palm scepter discreetly on her lap. “Soon,” he whispered.

  Lyssa listened to them laugh together as they walked down the hill to the lavish party. She then looked at the metallic disk in her palm. Zoey told her about palm scepters and even though she had one, she didn’t know how to use it.

  Lyssa sat and peered through the branches at the party below. She tried to find Wes, but lost him to the sea of people. The music echoed through the forest along with the many voices. She tried to make out some of the conversations, but the voices seemed to intertwine with one another into one.

  “Lyssa.” A voice as soft as a summer wind surrounded her.

  She held her breath; it was just a figment of her imagination. Then, it came again this time louder and stronger.

  “Zoey,” Lyssa said as loudly as she felt safe. She looked all around her.

  “Lyssa, it’s me.” The voice formed into a male voice, it was unmistakably her dad.

  “Dad, where are you?” Lyssa slowly stood up and looked around.

  “Come closer.” His voice came from the shadows of the forest. “The Muses, they had me and I escaped…Lyssa, I’m hurt, come help me.”

  Lyssa jolted into the darkness with the laughter and music slowly fading behind her along with Wes. She called out her dads name again with no reply until suddenly, a beam of light exploded in front of her. Nearly blinded, she stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Lyssa,” Her dad’s voice said. “I have been looking for you. You shouldn’t have left my home.” The voice that started as her dad’s slowly turned into the deeper voice that was Orzan’s.

&
nbsp; “Where is my dad?’ Lyssa looked at the dark caped figure. She felt fear blossom in her, but wasn’t going to back down when she felt the palm scepter in her hand. If only Zoey could’ve shown her how to use it.

  “I am right here in front of you.” He bent down smiling at her as the light caught the sharp angles of his face. “I really do wish you wouldn’t have left my home. There is so much I want to show you.”

  Orzan lifted his arm like a wing and tried to wrap Lyssa in his cape when suddenly, she flipped her hand and from it extended a silver blade no lighter than a feather. Lyssa didn’t even have time to swing it when Orzan grabbed her wrist throwing the scepter from her hand.

  “You shouldn’t play with sharp things, you might cut yourself.” Orzan’s words were cool but not filled with anger.

  Lyssa jerked her hand away from him. She felt her skin burn and thought of running and calling for Wes, but she knew she would never make it. She had to be cunning.

  “Don’t fear me daughter, I have no intention of any harm.” Orzan stepped back slightly.

  “Then why are you trying to kill me?” Lyssa didn’t let her eyes leave his.

  “Kill you?” Orzan’s voice had a humorous disbelief to it. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. I am trying to protect you. There are many who want what you have that are not properly experienced enough with magic as I am.” He stepped closer and smiled down at her. “You hold the key Lyssa to a door that has been closed for too long. There is no other that cares for this world and can manage it for the endless years to come. When this world was created there were flaws to it that should have been taken care, but they weren’t. The Everspell is my only way to create the perfect Fae society.”

  Lyssa knew she had to do something and fast. She had no other weapon and she wasn’t sure if another weapon would even help her. Then she remembered the wand that Lizzi had given her.

  “The Everspell isn’t in me anymore.” Lyssa boldly stated. Orzan’s eyes flickered. “It’s in here.” Lyssa held up the slender wand in front of Orzan.

  “Impossible,” he said under his breath. “What do you think? I am a fool.”

  “It’s true, Zoey took it out of me and put it in here. I am the only one who knows the word to command it.” Lyssa made up and tried to sound convincing as she went along. “You can have it when you give me my father back.” Lyssa slipped it back in its holster.

  Orzan looked at her and smiled. “If it isn’t in you, then why are you still alive?” He laughed with amusement, grabbed Lyssa’s wrist tightly and thrust them both through the blinding light of the portal.

  Toby

  “Zoey!” Lizzi cried out with her face inches from the scrying bowl. “She’s gone.” Her voice whimpered.

  Merlin and Elijah looked at each other, but remained composed as Merlin sat in front of Lizzi on the floor.

  “What about Lyssa?” Merlin’s voice was stern.

  Lizzi stared into the empty bowl at the scenes she could only see. Her face dripped with sweat and tears. Toby watched her as Craig stood beside him.

  “Separated.” Lizzi grunted out, her face now turning red as she hunched on the floor grasping the clay bowl with her white knuckled hands. “Wes is with Lyssa.”

  Merlin and Elijah gave a sigh of relief.

  “They are at a large building…a party…the Muses’ are there. Lyssa is alone.” Merlin relaxed a little as Lizzi continued to gaze into the bowl. “No. A light and a man with many faces took her. Orzan, is dominate the other two have melted.” Lizzi’s voice grew in calmness and her unblinking eyes stared at unseen images. “Another time and place. They seek the Everspell, they seek to rule-forever. A clean society void of any shadow people. They grow together as one…stronger…immortal.”

  Lizzi let her grip on the bowl go with relief. She sat there for a moment taking deep breaths and closed her eyes for a moment.

  “The Muses’ seek immortality. That one has been up there sleeve for some time, I know.” Merlin scratched his chin. “The Everspell will give them the boost they need,” he said to Elijah.

  “With them fused together as one, their power is three fold in one.” Elijah’s voice was low. “We need to go through the portal.”

  Merlin’s dark eyes for a moment fell on Toby and Craig and for a split second, filled with uncertainty. He then turned to Elijah and spoke to him quietly when the portal began to brighten and hum with excitement.

  Elijah and Merlin stood back expelling palm scepters and stepped to each side of the portal. Everyone watched as two figures slowly formed in the misty brightness of the portal. They looked to almost be glued together. Toby thought of Orzan and what Lizzi said about the brothers fused together.

  Toby bent down and lifted Lizzi close to him. If it was Orzan, she would be in the way. She looked at him in surprise and then slightly smiled as he held her close.

  “It is only Deravon and Eli.” Merlin and Elijah put away there palm scepters and helped them through the portal.

  “He has a cut from a Landmerrow. I couldn’t do anything to stop the poison.” Deravon tried to catch his breath.

  Eli had a pale grey look to him as Elijah took him from Deravon and quickly out of the room. Merlin then turned to Deravon.

  “What happened?” His voice was anxiously stern.

  “We were ambushed by Landmerrows.” Toby looked at Deravon. Every time he had seen him he always seemed giddy as well as serious, now Deravon had an unnerved element to him. “Zoey is dead.” His voice strained to stay composed.

  “We know, Lizzi seen fragments of what happened.” Merlin rested a hand on Deravon’s shoulder. “Lyssa is with Orzan, she was separated from Wes.” Merlin’s voice was surprisingly calm. “Deravon, I need you to go back and find them, Wes can’t do this alone.”

  “Send me.” Lizzi stepped forward with no reply only uncertain looks. “Send me,” she repeated.

  “Lizzi, I need you here.” Merlin’s words were firm as he pointed to the ground.

  “But I can fight—just like Wes and Wes might need me.” Lizzi continued.

  Merlin glanced at her before running his hand over the portal causing it to blacken.

  “I am taking Deravon. The portal is secure.” Merlin guided Deravon to the door. “We don’t have much time, especially now. Lizzi I need your scrying skills to assist me. Anything else would only hurt.”

  Merlin shut the door as Lizzi stood there for a moment before she turned around and looked at Toby and Craig.

  “It’s time for my plan.” Lizzi went over to the portal and looked at the blackened void.

  “But what about what Merlin said? I already feel like I’m in trouble for just being here and to have our own plan…I don’t want to be responsible for the downfall of some world I never knew existed,” Craig said and looked at Toby with crossed arms.

  “I have seen pieces of what is to come. They aren’t the future, but the way things are headed and if I don’t do something, then this world will crumble with you in it anyhow.” Lizzi glanced over her shoulder at Craig.

  Craig exchanged glances with Toby.

  “I think we should follow Lizzi,” Toby said with an approving smile from Lizzi.

  They looked at Craig who shifted from side to side uncomfortably.

  “Look, I don’t want to make you go, but Lizzi has been right about a lot of things and I know we have no idea of what’s out there, but we can’t do anything sitting here anyhow.” Toby stepped in front of Craig and looked at him square in the eye.

  Craig sighed releasing his crossed arms. “Do I have time to go and get Mike?”