The Twisted Tale of Faerywood Falls

by Blythe Baker

  “Whenever you see me, you think of her now,” I said.

  He nodded. “That’s precisely it.”

  Silence fell between us for a few moments, the lulling tick of the clock and the crackling of the fire the only sounds.

  “Cain…whatever was between us, I…I’m sorry,” I said. “But it’s just not – ”

  “I know,” Cain said. “As I told you, losing my sister changed something in me, and I will miss her every day of my life. Not only that, but as a faery, who knows how things would work out between us?”

  I swallowed hard, looking away.

  “But it’s not just that…is it?” Cain asked in a soft voice. “Your heart truly belongs to another…”

  My face flooded with color. “Yes,” I said.

  Cain sighed heavily, his fingers drumming against the smooth, ancient table. “Yes, well…I assumed that. As much as I didn’t want to believe it…”

  To hear him say that so openly was enough to make me blush even harder.

  “I’m sorry, Cain…” I said. “You are important to me. I do hope you know that.”

  “And you are to me, as well…” Cain said. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get my act together.”

  “You don’t need to apologize,” I said. “I’m just…glad things have worked out between us.”

  Cain gave me a tight smile.

  “So…this brings me to why I needed to talk to you in the first place,” I said.

  “The monster,” Cain said. “Yes. What of it?”

  “Are you familiar with it?” I asked.

  “Not well, no,” Cain said. “I know it’s been killing a great deal of the forest creatures, and I’ve heard rumors that it’s gone after humans now, too.”

  “Yes,” I said. “It killed a friend of mine.”

  Cain’s gaze hardened. “This goes deeper than the hunting of some animalistic creature, doesn’t it?”

  For what felt like the hundredth time in the last few days, I told Cain about the meeting with the council of eleven, what Zara told me, what the monster itself told me when I found Mitch’s body, and what I’d seen in the shard from the orb of ages.

  “So the time has come to set the forest right again, has it?” Cain asked.

  “You’ve seen this before?” I asked, my heart leaping with hope. If it had been done once before, then how hard could it be to do again?

  “Not me, but someone in the clan has,” Cain said. “The monster manifested itself before like this, several hundred years ago…that member of my clan has since died, might I mention, but he told me a bit about it before he did…”

  “But the Light won last time?” I asked.

  “I believe so,” Cain said. “Well, this certainly explains the downturn of things in this small town, doesn’t it?”

  “The darkness that everyone had warned me about…” I said. “The presence I was told about…it must have been this monster, right?”

  “Certainly,” Cain said. “And you say that you saw me at this fight with the monster?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I did.”

  Cain’s face became stoic, but his green eyes never left mine.

  “You have my word, Marianne Huffler, that I will be there with you at the final fight. I will do my best to protect you so that we may prevail against the darkness.”

  “Thank you, Cain,” I said.

  He walked me to the door a short time after; there was no sense in delaying the inevitable, especially when we’d distanced ourselves from one another intentionally.

  “Be on your guard,” Cain said as he stood with me beside my SUV, the vehicle he’d given me. “This fight is not going to be easy.”

  “Yes, I know…” I said. “At least that’s what I keep hearing.”

  “And Marianne?” Cain asked.

  I looked up at him.

  He reached out to brush some of my hair from my face, but he stopped short, and lowered his hand again. “…Make sure he takes care of you,” he said in a low, quiet voice. “You deserve nothing but the very best.”

  “I will,” I said.

  As I drove away, I found myself crying. Not because I felt I’d made the wrong choice, but because I felt deep remorse about what might have been, but couldn’t be now.

  That didn’t matter, though. I had to put those thoughts behind me if I was going to keep a clear head to fight this monster.

  I now had the shape shifters on my side, as well as the vampires.

  It still felt like an uphill battle to get to where we needed to be, but we were on our way.

  I gripped the steering wheel harder, and gritted my teeth.

  “We have to win. We don’t have any other choice.”

  9

  Preparing for the fight of my life wasn’t nearly as constant as I expected it to be. For the most part, life was still pretty much the same around me.

  Aunt Candace still needed help at the Lodge, though not as much as she used to, since she’d finally bit the bullet and just hired on some new staff. Guests still needed fresh towels and coffee with their breakfast in the mornings, and with my mind as full as it was, I was really all too happy to do something to try and distract myself.

  The town of Faerywood Falls itself didn’t seem to notice that I was gearing up for this unknown fight, either. People still went about their daily lives; stopping at the gas station to fill up their vehicles, pushing grocery carts with their little ones who were all bundled up, laughing and talking like everything was alright.

  Even my own job was relatively normal. I woke up the morning after going to see Cain and had a perfectly normal breakfast at home with Athena. Then I went into the antique shop like I usually did. Abe seemed to notice I was more stressed than usual, but aside from that, everything was normal.

  And for some reason, the normal just infuriated me.

  I didn’t know what this fight would lead to, but I didn’t like to entertain thoughts of it much. Sure, winning sounded great, and more than anything, I hoped we would.

  …But what would happen if we didn’t win?

  What if we lost? What would that look like?

  Would I have to watch the monster kill those closest to me? Would I have to suffer an excruciating death myself, knowing that I’d failed not only the forest, but all of Faerywood Falls that would likely fall to the monster?

  These thoughts alone were enough to keep me up at night, and make me refuse my usual daily coffee since I was already jittery enough.

  Every chance I got, I read through the book Zara gave me. Some spells were useless to me; warm water for doing dishes, or magic sunlight for working late at night. But the ones I thought might be helpful, like the manipulation of the matter around me sorts of spells, I tried to force my brain to learn as many as I possibly could.

  I also found myself checking the shard of the orb of ages every so often. The image never changed, though. The same monster, the same forest around us, the same people on either side of me, most of whom were still blurry. I kept hoping that I’d recognize some of the people standing with me sooner or later, but I just couldn’t make their faces out.

  I wore the satchel around my neck to keep the shard close to me. I knew that most people couldn’t use it, but it was still a magical item that needed to be protected.

  I just wish I knew when the fight was happening, I told Athena with my thoughts as I sat in the back room, picking at a sandwich I’d packed for my lunch that day. If I knew that, at least I’d be able to properly prepare, right?

  Maybe, Athena said. But isn’t it sort of like knowing about your own death?

  I turned on the stool I sat on and glared down at her. You don’t think we’re going to win this fight, either?

  I never said that, she said. You’re right. Maybe being prepared would be best in the end.

  I sighed heavily, shaking my head. Too bad the crystal shard couldn’t tell me anything else…

  I ran my fingers over the velvety soft bag, feeling the lump of crystal
inside it.

  It had become almost an obsession for me to look at what it was showing me. Every moment I could, I’d pull it out and allow the image to fill my mind. I kept telling myself it was so I could try and make out who else it was that was standing there with me, but that wasn’t really the truth. More than anything, I just wanted some clue, some sign that we were going to win in the end.

  And I just never found anything to give me that peace I was looking for.

  “Marianne, I’m heading out soon.”

  I snapped the book Zara had given me shut and tucked it away behind the register as Abe appeared in the doorway from his apartment. I furrowed my brow at him. “Where are you going?”

  He straightened as he reached to grab his hat from the top of the coat rack beside the back door. “My daughter’s taking me to my appointment,” he said. His own brow creased as he looked at me. “Are you alright, Marianne? You look like you’re not feeling well.”

  “Oh, I’m alright…” I said, more heavily than I’d meant to. “I just have a lot on my mind, is all.”

  “Well, don’t let yourself become too bogged down,” he said, shrugging his jacket on over his warm, thick sweater. “Christmas is coming, you know.”

  A chill ran down my spine. Would I even make it to Christmas?

  “See? There’s that long face again…” he said, coming over to me. “Did something happen? Did Valerio say something to upset you?”

  “Lucan?” I asked. “Oh, no, nothing’s wrong with him. I just…”

  Abe searched my face as I looked hard for the words to say. But none would come to me.

  “I don’t know. I just have some pretty big stuff coming up that I don’t really know how to handle,” I said.

  “What, like a test or something?” he asked, pulling gloves from his pocket and sliding them onto his hands.

  “…Yeah,” I said. “A test.”

  Abe shrugged. “Well, the best thing you can do is just study hard for it, and prepare as well as you can. That’s all anyone can ever ask, right?”

  I blinked at him, his words sinking in.

  Study hard, and prepare as best I could.

  I could do that, right?

  I had the book Zara had given me. I had been seeking the help of the other Gifted in the area. I was doing what I should to prepare, for sure.

  I gave Abe a small smile. “Thanks, Mr. Cromwell,” I said. “I needed to hear that.”

  He patted me affectionately on the shoulder.

  His daughter came and grabbed him a few minutes later, leaving me alone in the shop with Athena.

  I knew I needed to keep up with my obligations, even if that just meant dusting the shelves and straightening some of the antiques. For now, my responsibility was here, and I couldn’t let Abe down.

  I kept running through some of the easier spells that Zara’s book had taught me, and practiced them on some of the items around the shop. I had to be careful, though, since one of them ended up being a potent steam spell that I’d expelled, and shattered a delicate glass flower.

  I cleaned it up, my face scarlet.

  It was almost three in the afternoon when the bell over the door sounded. Just like before, I quickly snapped the cover of the book shut and hid it away before whoever it was that had come in would see it.

  “Good afternoon,” I said, walking out from around the back counter, a smile on my face. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  My eyes widened as I walked around the corner of one of the shelves and saw a woman standing there, her head covered with the hood of the thick, blue, wool traveling cloak she wore. She had leather boots on, and jewels glistened on her fingers.

  She looked like she’d just stepped straight out of a fairy tale.

  “Um…can I help you?” I repeated, walking closer to her.

  The woman turned her face up toward me, and I caught a glimpse of her beneath the hood.

  My eyebrows squished together. “You look familiar…have we met before?”

  The woman reached up and lowered her hood from her face.

  And then it hit me.

  “You’re Lady Margaret, aren’t you?” I asked, recognizing her as a council member from the Hollow.

  The woman was lovely, with dark blonde hair that looked more like burnished gold than hair. It was tied in a loose braid that hung over her shoulder. Her eyes looked strangely familiar, too…like I’d seen them a lot more than before now.

  “That I am,” she said. As she brushed some of her feathery hair away from her face, I noticed her ears were pointed at the ends like Zara’s. “It appears that Faerywood Falls has changed a great deal since I was here last.”

  “And when was that?” I asked.

  She blinked her large eyes. “Oh…more than seventeen years ago now, I believe.”

  “That’s quite a long time,” I said. “So…what are you doing back here now?”

  Lady Margaret pursed her lips, and a sudden sadness came over her. “Someone very important to me was killed…by that monster you spoke of.”

  My eyes widened as she took a moment to regain her composure. “You…believe me?” I asked.

  Lady Margaret nodded her head, wiping her eyes with a delicate brush of her hand. “I do,” she said. “When you were caught in the archives, though…I didn’t. To be quite honest, I was frightened by the idea of something like that. Certainly, there were stories about a creature manifesting itself from the darkness, especially in a place where the magic is so dense and pure…but to actually believe it?” She shook her head, her hand resting against her heart. “I never would have imagined it to be possible. Not in a million years.”

  “What changed your mind?” I asked.

  “I….am Mitch Riley’s sister.”

  It was like I’d been struck in the chest. “Mitch?” I mumbled, having a hard time catching my breath. “His sister?”

  Lady Margaret’s eyes filled with tears. “I found out he was killed, and when I came home to see, I – I just couldn’t believe it. The police wouldn’t tell me anything. My brother’s wife and children are just beside themselves…they don’t know what to do without him…”

  I gave her a moment to cry, knowing that I didn’t have anything to say, knowing that if I tried, I’d likely end up in tears as well.

  “He was a good man,” she said, regaining her composure, pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbing the corners of her eyes. “And the very best brother a girl could ever ask for. I just wish…I wish I could have been home for him now. There was so much I missed. His children, my nieces and nephews…I’d never met them until today.”

  I felt lost. Should I offer her something to drink? Should I find a chair for her to sit in? I felt like I needed to be doing something, anything to stop the terrible pressure inside my chest.

  She sniffed, wiping another freshly fallen tear from the apple of her cheek. She looked up at me, her eyes that were so much like Mitch’s, bloodshot and pleading. “You were his friend, right? His wife said…said you were the one to find his body.”

  My throat tightened, and it took me a moment before I gathered enough strength to nod my head, knowing exactly what conversation was coming next.

  “I was…” I said. “Mitch never believed in any of the Gifted stuff…and yet, you’re his sister. How did that happen?”

  She gave me a tired sort of smile. “That was rather simple, really. My mother is a spell weaver, too, though I didn’t know it until I started to show signs when we moved to Faerywood Falls when I was a teenager. Mitch was a few years younger than I was, and so when I started to train, we just told him I was going to a new private school. He bought it, and for the last seventeen years, he thinks I’ve been living in a small town in France. We’ve written many letters back and forth to one another, but communication became lesser and lesser as he got married, and then started a family. For all he ever knew, I was working as a chef overseas and learning how to perfect my recipes…” she gave a sad, lit
tle laugh. “I suppose that’s not entirely wrong. My specialty is in alchemy, after all.”

  “Well, I think he was starting to believe in it all a little more,” I said. “The night he died, he called me all freaked out. We met at a meeting about paranormal activity going on in Faerywood Falls. He was clearly a skeptic, and I was posing as one myself so I could gather information, and so that’s how we met. But that night, he called and said he saw something really weird, and he couldn’t believe it. He sounded – ” I hesitated.

  “No, it’s okay,” Lady Margaret said with a firm nod. “I can take it.”

  I swallowed hard. “He sounded terrified. He asked me to meet him after work so we could discuss it, and when I got there…”

  Even I didn’t want to think about what I’d seen.

  “…I saw his truck,” she said. “And saw the blood everywhere…”

  “It was the monster,” I said, not wanting to reflect too much on it. “The monster was the one that killed him. When I got there, the monster was there, and it – it spoke to me.”

  Lady Margaret’s eyes grew wide. “It…spoke?”

  “That surprised me, too,” I said. “I think it went after Mitch because it knew I’d go to him if he needed help. And it must have been following him…”

  Lady Margaret’s shoulders hunched, and she seemed to withdraw in on herself. “I saw the monster, too…” she said. “When I was leaving Mitch’s home, there was this – this large shape, almost like a man, but it was so much bigger. Its arms were massive, and it hunched over as if ready to pounce. But it was strange, because it was as if I couldn’t quite see it. It was blurry, and distant, and the night has brought a cold mist with it – ”

  “Your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you,” I said, shaking my head. “Something with that monster makes it so you can’t exactly see it. I don’t know what it is, but there is some kind of enchantment on it that makes it so it’s impossible to see.”

  Lady Margaret’s brow knit into an angry line. “I thought something seemed strange… Why is it targeting Mitch’s family?”