The Imp Prince

by Kat Lind (ed)

  Thanking the Goddess Danu, she placed both her hands on his chest and closed her eyes. Within moments, a golden glow surrounded her hands. Strands of light spread around Leander’s body, weaving a blanket around him. Soon, his wounds began to heal at a rapid pace. His breathing became more pronounced and regular.

  With a loud cough, Leander’s body jerked up. Sputtering and shaking his head, he sat up.

  “Gentille,” he moaned as his eyes fell on her figure beside him. “How am I still in one piece?” he asked, bringing his hands close to his face.

  “It is midnight,” she said.

  Looking around, he spotted the burning corpses around them. Turning his gaze back to her, he asked, “Did you do this to them?”

  “Yes. I could not forgive them for hurting you. They almost killed you,” she said with tears in her eyes.

  Standing up, he walked toward his car with Gentille following close behind. Turning around, he faced her.

  “I think you should go home now. I no longer have one where you can stay. I’m sorry,” said Leander.

  Placing a hand on his shoulder, she said, “What do you mean, Leander?”

  “I’m pretty sure that those men were sent by my aunt. It was probably revenge for me hitting her son last night. She’s often done this in the past, but she never went as far as to kill me. I think it’s time I moved away. I will miss my uncle, though.”

  “I can’t leave you,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “Why not? I really can’t help you anymore,” he said, punching the side of his car.

  “Because of this,” she said, pointing toward the emerald on her forehead. “Only someone who truly loves me or cares for me can see it. You’ve been able to see it from the day you met me. So you must understand why I can’t let go of you, no matter what. You’re more than just a friend to me. Aren’t you?”

  He remained silent for a while but then he released a long breath. “I do want you to be with me,” he said in the end.

  A smile broke on her face. “That’s wonderful! And that’s not all, Leander. I’m the kind of fae who can gift you a fortune for all the help that you have given me. You can buy yourself a house and more with it,” said Gentille.

  Leander gave her a sad smile. “Thank you, but I already have money. My own fortune that my parents left me.”

  A frown appeared on her face as she thought more about his problem. “If you don’t want riches, I can gift you some of the qualities of a fae.”

  “What sort of qualities?”

  “You can pass through walls, be invisible, and travel to any of the realms at your will!”

  Leander stared at her, his curiosity taking over him. “How would I be able to do all that?”

  “With this,” she said, conjuring a sleek top hat with a large green feather.

  Leander chuckled. “How about something less Victorian? Like a beanie, maybe?”

  “I suppose,” she said as the top hat changed its shape. “As long as it makes you happy.”

  Doubting whether it would work at all, Leander thrust the hat on his head where it crashed against his unruly curls.

  “I’m not sure I like it too much,” said Gentille, with her head tilted to the side.

  “I’m more interested in seeing if it works. Let’s say I want to get inside that building,” he said, pointing to a locked door.

  “I can understand why you would doubt magic, but go right ahead!” she said with a smile.

  Walking toward the solid door, Leander closed his eyes and placed both his hands on its surface. He expected to feel the hard exterior, but instead, he stumbled forward.

  Opening his eyes, he found himself inside an unfamiliar hall. Behind him, stood the door through which he had entered.

  “Wow,” he whispered.

  In the same way, he made his way through the solid door on the other side of the street. He jogged toward Gentille with a wide smile on his face. “It worked! It really works!”

  With a start, his smile vanished. The joy in his eyes was replaced by a deep sadness.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Gentille.

  “None of this is going to fill the void and hurt,” he replied in a bitter voice. “I have lost my family.”

  “I will burn them for you,” vowed Gentille in a low voice.

  Raising his eyes to her’s, he straightened up. Keeping his gaze steady, he said, “You will not harm them, Gentille. Do you understand? They’re my family.”

  Shaking her head, she stomped her foot. “They must pay. They wanted to kill you!”

  “I know,” shouted Leander, tears falling from his eyes. “But my uncle loves them. He doesn’t know how twisted they are. So, please, let it go.” Leaning on the hood of his car, he broke down. Gentille gripped his shoulder to lend him her strength, but the healing of the heart was something that was beyond her powers. Only love could heal such a soul wound.

  “Leander, you have to do something to repay them the betrayal. Perhaps, they could be hurt in some other way? Unharmed in body but tortured in their minds just as you? Can you think of nothing?”

  Brushing the tears away, he gave a hoarse laugh. “It’d really kill Frieda if something happened at her tea party this weekend where she’s invited her gang of social crows.”

  “Then we do that!” cried Gentille, clapping her hands together.

  As the thought took shape in his mind, he began to think of all the ways he could disrupt his aunt’s party with his new powers to cause her pain by humiliating her.

  “We do that tomorrow, then. I can cut off ties with them after this and decide what I want to do with my life,” said Leander.

  “What is it that you’ve always wanted to do?” asked Gentille.

  “I‘d love to travel, but I guess I’ll do it your way. No airport authority can track me that way, and I can disappear off the face of the earth. Maybe I’ll leave a letter for my uncle telling him not to worry about me. It’d hurt him less if he knew I was okay.”

  Slipping her fingers into his hands, she said, “I’ll be by your side.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered, bringing her close to his chest to hug her.

  Chapter 7

  The Drummond mansion was in a state of nervous excitement as Frieda stomped around to make sure that the maids had set things up exactly as she had ordered them. The party had to be perfect and better than any that the town’s aristocrats had gone to that year.

  The servants hurried to set the table up with the right combination of flowers and matching china. Generally, the mistress would be in a terrible mood before the start of a party, stressing over each and every detail, but that day, she seemed unusually cheerful. There was a spring to her steps and a constant evil grin that unnerved everyone who knew her.

  “What do you think she’s got planned?” they whispered to each other, for they knew that Mrs. Drummond often used this kind of gatherings to humiliate others or to seek out a particular arrangement with someone.

  “Whatever it is, I’m just glad not to be the one receiving her attentions,” whispered the others.

  Frieda Drummond had successfully removed all obstacles from her son’s path to success and victory. According to her, her husband had no sense of competition, and it was always up to her to make things easier for him even though he remained oblivious to her designs. Six years ago, she had killed his sister who was his partner in the business and held more shares than him. If she hadn’t committed the necessary evil, John would never have become the sole master of the company.

  Leander Drummond was also taken care of now. He would have no claim to her husband’s company. It would all belong to Frederick now. It had always seemed as if the world was against her darling son. Everyone could not sing enough praises for Leander, but when it came to Freddie’s turn, they all avoided him. Could they not see how beautiful and intelligent he was?She thought with passion. It doesn’t matter if it’s only me that he has. I will make him great.

  After years of being s
upervised by their mistress, the maids now knew the expected routine. Frieda had enough confidence in them to know they would follow her instructions to the letter. So, leaving the arrangements to them, she went upstairs to check on her son. He was in his pajamas, watching a movie. The bruise near his mouth still looked prominent. Every time she looked at it, it enraged her.

  “Freddy, honey, you’ll have to let me put some makeup around your lips to hide that ugly mark,” she said, entering his room.

  “No way,” he replied. “If someone asks, tell them that I got the injury while playing soccer. Now that he’s gone, the team will surely take me back.”

  “I’m sure they will. Is your suit ready for the afternoon?”

  He shrugged. “Paul should have it ready.”

  Frieda rubbed her hands in glee. Everything was coming together.

  She headed toward her room to get ready for her party. The hairstyle and makeup that she had in mind would take her at least a few hours. Shouting for two of the maids, she went inside her chambers.

  That afternoon, a series of expensive cars were lined in front of the Drummond mansion. Paul, the old butler, stood by the doorway to welcome each of the guests. Frieda waited inside and kissed her friends on the cheek as soon as they entered the hall. She wore a long fuchsia gown that fell to her ankles, hugging her curves snugly. The women who passed by gave her envious looks which made her grin wider.

  By the time they had taken their places around the table, all was set up for an elegant English tea. Tiers of iced cakes and sandwiches stood proudly with trays of teapots and all the accompaniments. Small bouquets dotted the surface, making the whole arrangement look spectacular.

  Perfect! thought Frieda with a smile.

  Standing up at the head of the table, she lightly hit her glass with a knife to draw everyone’s attention to her. “It’s a great pleasure to welcome you all to my humble home,” she began her speech.

  A sudden scream punctuated her memorized note of welcome.

  “What is it, Betty?” said Frieda, narrowing her eyes at the flummoxed middle-aged woman.

  Looking terrified, Betty pointed a shivering finger at her. Following it, the other women noticed a fat cockroach lazily walking from her shoulder to her chest. Some of them jumped up from the chairs and began to edge away.

  “What is it?” hissed Frieda with a bite in her voice. When she looked down at herself, her eyes widened in shock before she beat it off herself. The cockroach fell on the table and scampered around the plates and dishes, drawing more screams from the women.

  Before they got over the shock, a stream of beetles appeared all over the table, climbing over the dishes of food. Some of the women fled the dining hall, screaming for their drivers to save them, while the others shouted obscenities at Frieda for playing such a trick on them.

  Frieda was too stunned to understand what was happening.

  Fredrick appeared there, curious about the sudden shouts and screams. Reaching his mother, he asked, “What the heck’s going on here?”

  “I don’t know, Freddy. It’s got to be one of these vultures who wanted to ruin my party,” she hissed.

  Paul and the other servants had come in to tackle the problem with sprays and brooms, doubling the chaos in the hall. Some of them couldn’t help but snigger under their masks at the distressed spoiled, rich ladies.

  Just when Frieda thought the worst was over, Frederick cried out.

  “What’s wrong, Honey?” asked Frieda, looking at him with concern.

  Ignoring his mother, he looked around wildly. “Who was that?” he shouted.

  “Freddy, who’re you shouting at?”

  “It’s him, Mother,” he hissed from the corner of his mouth. “It’s Leander.”

  “That’s not possible,” said Frieda.

  “He just whispered in my ear that he knows what I did. What you did.”

  Before his mother could calm him, Frederick began to scream. As everyone watched, they saw his shirt sleeves catch fire. At the same time, they noticed the stream of liquid pouring from the front of his pants. Even the servants had stopped in their tracks to watch Fredrick jump and scream obscenities at his cousin who was clearly not visible anywhere.

  By then, some of the people had begun to giggle and point at him. Frieda lost her mind at the blatant way they were insulting her son.

  “Get out!” she screeched. “All of you. Get out of my house!”

  “Gladly, dear,” said one old lady. “None of us are ever approaching this infested place again.”

  Suddenly, Fredrick had a large knife in his hand. The crowd gasped, watching with wide-eyed fascination as he swiped the air around him before striking at his own ear. A lump of it fell off, with blood pouring out of the wound. His cry of pain hushed the chaos in the room.

  “What are you staring at?” Frieda screamed at the servants. “Help my son! Someone call 911!”

  “Your son’s a maniac, Frieda. You should have him locked up,” said a woman, walking out of the hall.

  “This is too much to take. No wonder her husband is never around during these parties,” whispered someone else.

  It was a while before they could douse the fire from Frederick’s clothes. For some reason, it had refused to be extinguished and sprang up with a mind of its own, keeping its victim in a state of constant terror and agony.

  By the time there was relative calm, all the guests had left. An ambulance had come by to take Frederick away while some of the maids had to hold on to Frieda to let them take him away to the hospital. She looked crazed with tendrils of hair coming out the elegantly fashioned bun and red-rimmed eyes. One of the paramedics handed Paul a tub of tablets to minister to his mistress before following his crew.

  <<<>>>

  Two figures, unnoticed by all who passed through the door watched the last retreating person from the Drummond mansion. One of them had a strange cap with a long green feather while the other had a twinkling jewel on her forehead. A warm sunset threw golden rays over the dark-haired girl and boy who held onto each other’s hands.

  “That was quite a pandemonium we unleashed on them,” said Leander.

  Gentille laughed. “It was very funny to watch the ladies scream because of the cockroach. I doubted you when you said it would work.”

  “I just wish that Frederick wasn’t so badly hurt,” he said in a grim voice.

  “He deserved it,” said Gentille coldly. “I don’t know how you keep forgetting that they tried to kill you.”

  Gazing down at her, he said, “Maybe, it’s because of you. I’m so happy when I’m with you that I forget about everything else. It just becomes easy to forgive them. Without you, I guess I would be lying dead in a ditch somewhere.”

  “Where would you like to go next?” asked Gentille.

  “I always thought Japan would be a cool place to visit. Interested?”

  She smiled and clasped her fingers through his. Sharing a light kiss on the lips, they walked a few paces away from the mansion and disappeared, like dissolving in the mist that had begun to spread.

  Introduction to The Mechanic Prince

  The interaction and buried hurt that can accompany sibling rivalry is explored in this next story. Although the feelings of an adult vary significantly from those of a child, unresolved hurt can either poison your life or drive you to surmount its danger.

  The talented author from Phoenix Prime that contributed this story obviously understands the interaction of family. The depth of feeling that shows the hurt of unspoken preference and drive for approval from family or friends has been leveraged to create a deep but ultimately optimistic story.

  The Mechanic Prince

  By Taki Drake

  Chapter 1

  At first, there was no sound but those of a normal meal. The clinking of forks and knives on the china plates, the soft chewing of food. Conversation was a lower priority than enjoying the excellent meal. However, even the ravenous hunger of two growing teenage boys will eve
ntually get satisfied. At least, for an hour or two.

  It was obvious that the boys were twins. Both of them were slender and almost 6 feet tall, both with the same square jaw and deep blue eyes. Subtle differences in posture and facial expressions were present, but overall they looked identical.

  “Mom, I spoke to the counselor today about the colleges that he would recommend. He gave me a list of three, and they’re pretty much the same ones that you and Dad suggested I consider. Will you have some time to help me with the applications?” asked the boy to the woman’s right.

  “Of course, dear. I would be happy to do that. It’s so exciting that you’re going to be going to college! I was just talking to my friends, and they were talking about where their kids are going to go, and most of them haven’t even thought about it yet. It’s very smart of you to be thinking ahead like this.”

  The adult male at the head of the table looked up and smiled. Anyone looking into their window would’ve known immediately that this was the twin’s father. He had the same square jaw and deep blue eyes although he wasn’t quite as tall as either of his sons. He was dressed still in work clothes, although he had taken his tie off.

  “I’m really pleased that you are going to continue your education. I want you to do as well, if not better than I have. Getting an education is really important. Also, you will make connections with people that you go to school with, and those will help you get better jobs too. It really is who you know that helps you to get ahead,” the boy’s father said.

  “I know, Dad. That is part of the reason that I’m thinking of those schools. I wanted one that had the advantage of a good business program and also one that has active fraternities. You told me a lot about your fraternity brothers, and I want to make sure that I can make the same connections that you had made over your life,” the boy replied. Turning to his brother, he continued, “Kevin, I really think you should think about doing something more than just hanging out in a garage. You’re smarter than that, and it will really suck if we aren’t together.”