by Lucia Ashta
“I’ve never had any before. Will it cause some strange effect in me?”
Nessa laughed. “No, silly. It’s just tea.”
“The kind of tea sailors drink when they sing about their loves and losses across the ocean?”
“Definitely not that kind of tea,” Fianna said with a wink. “Normal tea.”
Whatever “normal tea” was, I waited for it in silence until Quinn returned with a decked-out tray. Irving glanced at the plastic box a few times, waiting on Naomi, I presumed. But she didn’t appear to be waiting for him inside it.
Quinn set cups and saucers in front of all of us, including Irving, surprising me by the daintiness of the set. With its delicate china and pretty colored flowers, I would have expected it to belong to a woman.
Quinn poured the fairies two-thirds of a cup of steaming hot water each. “What tea do you want? And do you take milk?”
But he straightened from his crouch when he noticed the fairies undressing. Nessa slipped her skin-tight skirt off and was folding it in a neat pile on the tea table, a tiny bare bottom waving around in the air.
“Wh-what are you doing?” he asked as Fianna tugged her top off and tossed it to the side in a flash of crimson red and fairy breasts.
Irving grunted noisily.
“What? What are they doing?” Quinn asked his uncle, but a tiny splash was all the answer any of us needed.
A second splash followed before Irving said, “Having a laugh at our expense, apparently.”
“Not a laugh, a bath,” Fianna said happily, sighing in contentment. “It’s just what we needed after the arduous journey.”
“It couldn’t have been that arduous,” Quinn mumbled. “Selene’s wings only popped out a few minutes before you arrived.”
“Goes to show what you know about fairies,” Fianna said. “We don’t like to be put out.” She closed her eyes and sank into the water all the way up to her neck, the ends of her hair slipping beneath the surface.
“You can say that again,” Nessa said with a sigh, smiling so big her eyes were narrow slits. Gentle trails of steam swirled around the fairies as they sank into their teacups.
Quinn stared, and I stared; I really couldn’t help it. Irving dropped the plastic box on the table with a plop and took the teapot from Quinn to pour his own tea.
Fianna’s eyes opened. “Stop staring, you perv,” she told Quinn, who jumped and quickly turned his attention to me. But then his eyes trailed the curves of my body, moving slowly as if he’d forgotten there were others there with us, before he snapped them to the ceiling.
Irving laughed, the sound thunderous. “Ya know that Selene’s dressed more than most mermaids?”
Quinn flicked his gaze to his uncle and nodded quickly, his head bouncing, his hair jumping along with it. He received the pot from Irving and hurried to pour me a cup.
“How do you take it?” he asked me, staring resolutely at the cup in front of him.
“I don’t know. How should I take it?” I asked. “With cream and sugar?”
Every set of eyes swiveled in my direction.
“I thought you’ve never had tea before,” he said.
“Oh, this girl has secrets,” Fianna said. “I like it. Every girl should have secrets.”
Nessa nodded fervently. “Absolutely.”
“It’s not a secret,” I said, looking at the fairies. I had no problem with their nudity or anyone else’s. In fact, I was finding the top that kept riding up beneath my breasts and the skirt that scratched across my thighs quite cumbersome.
I flicked my long hair over a shoulder, got it tangled with my wings again, and slumped. “My tribe uses magic to view life on land. We get curious. Some more than others.”
“But you obviously don’t know a lot about life on land,” Nessa said, fishing for more explanation.
I shrugged and brought the teacup to my lips. I knew they weren’t for bathing, not for someone my size at least. “I never found life on land all that interesting, what with all that goes on in the ocean. I mostly learned from my best friend Liana. She’s fascinated by it all and would watch a lot, as often as Mulunu would let her. Mulunu’s the only one who can do it. Liana would tell me all sorts of weird things you all do.”
Irving’s beefy hand jerked out to place his cup back in its saucer, then he turned his entire body to face me. “Could you see the supernatural world?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Think, Selene, think.” His fierce eyes were back, rolling like a ferocious storm.
“The few times I looked, I never saw anything but people without magic. But I can’t be sure no one else saw the supernaturals. Liana at least never mentioned anything. She was always so intrigued by all the gadgets the non-magical people come up with to try to replace magic.” I shrugged. “Who knows what Mulunu sees? She’s creepy and probably more powerful than every merperson in the entire tribe put together.” Including my mom. I fake shivered until it became real, a wave of cold sweeping through me.
Irving pursed his lips and scrunched up his face, his thick mustache and beard meeting. “We need to find out.”
“Why?”
“Because the supernatural community is in a frenzy,” Fianna said, sounding bored. “It always is.”
“Not like this, it isn’t,” Irving said. “The shifters usually get along better than this.”
Nessa sat up in her bath. “Shifters are a fickle bunch who’ll fight over anything, anything at all. It’s no surprise you’re at war with your kind.”
I gulped. War? Had Mulunu really sent me into a war? “Does this war concern me?” I asked. Please say no, please.
“Unfortunately, now it does,” Irving said.
My heart sank, and Quinn scooted another inch toward me, whether to protect or comfort I couldn’t tell, but he was the friendliest of all of them, so I welcomed it. I longed for comfort, for the familiar, no matter how awkward my life back home had been at times.
“And if this lot could feel your magic”—Irving gestured to the fairies—“we might not have that long before someone else comes looking for you.”
“Lots of someones, more like,” Fianna said, but the fact didn’t seem to bother her.
“Tell me what you know.”
“Oh, that?” Fianna said, and Nessa giggled madly again before clamping her little lips shut.
“Yes, that. The reason you’re sitting inside my home taking a restful bath.”
“You’ll want us well rested and happy. Because though we don’t exactly have information to share—”
“Like you said you did.”
Fianna smiled generously. Only Nessa looked nervous. “Exactly,” Fianna said. “You definitely want us in your corner. We’re good in a fight.”
Nessa nodded, eyes sincere. “We’re great in a fight.”
“Now that Selene is our duty, we’ll fight with all we have to protect her and get her back to the Academy. And we’re an enemy no one ever sees coming.” Fianna closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the teacup, arms stretched along its rim, wings hanging over the side.
Soon after, Nessa did the same. The fairies appeared pleased as clams both at their bath and their news—the announcement that I didn’t think really counted as news.
I expected Irving to growl something nasty at them, but he didn’t. Even Quinn seemed pensive, his fingers playing with the fabric of the couch that separated us. I surely was missing something. After all, I knew absolutely nothing about war. My clan had been at peace since Mulunu ran it. No one dared mess with her, not even the more violent surrounding clans. Our warriors still trained, just in case, but their skills hadn’t been called on in centuries.
I looked around, but no one met my unspoken questions. Quinn stared at the wall ahead, where I was certain he couldn’t be all that interested in the sole painting that adorned the flat surface, though I loved it. The image was of a stormy ocean, dark and moody and blue. Much like Irving. I was sure he must have picked
it out.
“Well…” Irving slapped his hands on his thighs. “I guess we’ll take all the allies we can get, even if they’re pint-sized.”
“Smart man,” Fianna said, her red lips extra bright against the white porcelain beneath her. “Now, be a dear and top us off. This hot water is heaven.”
I didn’t bother to hide my shock as the cantankerous man, lost in thought, reached for the teapot to do her bidding.
He topped off the baths for both fairies before reaching for his own cup and sipping distractedly.
So I sipped mine, enjoying the hint of bergamot in my tea and the way it combined with the cream and sugar. I’d never had something so sweet.
I took in the painting of the ocean across from me, wishing I could dive into those frothing waves. Who knew how long it would be until I could return?
War. What had Mulunu done to me? And more importantly, had she done it on purpose?
7
I’d tried to figure out this whole war situation on my own, but remained at a loss. “I don’t understand. Why would the supernatural community care one bit about me? Why would anyone come after me for anything?” No one had mentioned what would happen once these hypothetical pursuers caught up with me, but I had the impression it wouldn’t be pleasant.
The fairies, Irving, and Quinn, all turned to look at me at once, and Fianna said, “Don’t you get it?” I obviously didn’t. “You’re special.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told that a fair share of times, but it’s never meant anything good.” I suspected it didn’t now either.
“Oh, special is good,” Nessa said. “It’s great, actually.” She ran a hand through her bathwater, trailing a tinkling sound across its surface.
I longed to be submerged in water too. Since that didn’t appear to be an option anytime soon, I trained my gaze on the outdoors—so near and yet beyond my reach. There at least I didn’t experience the weight of the walls and the ceiling as if I carried them on my back. The house was large enough to contain several rooms and an upstairs story; every square foot of it seemed to cage me.
“But being special does mean people will try to take your power for themselves,” Nessa continued, “or replicate your magic, or try to nullify your magic so your powers can’t be used against them.” Nessa sounded like she was only just getting started.
“Maybe even kill you,” Fianna said, “depending on what you can actually do.”
“Kill?” I squeaked.
The fairies didn’t have the chance to answer. Quinn’s voice was harsh. “Don’t either one of you think before you speak? Do you really have to freak her out right now? Can’t you tell this has already been a lot for her?”
“No good ever comes from withholding the truth,” Fianna said unapologetically, uncaring that they’d bent the truth several times since arriving.
Irving slid to the edge of the couch, his expression grave. “The shifters and vampires who oppose the Enforcers have been more agitated than usual lately. They’ll pounce at the chance to turn the tides if they find out about ‘er and they think her powers will offer them any kind of advantage. What can you do to prepare her for what’s coming?”
“Oh, we each have different specialties,” Fianna said, glossing right over the mention of shifters and vampires pouncing that had me swallowing repeatedly. “I’ll help her figure out her magic. Mine’s the most powerful. And Nessa’s a brain when she wants to be. She’ll, well...” She peered at Nessa while splashing her toes across the top of her bathwater.
When Fianna deliberated for too long, Nessa glared at her, but I didn’t think Fianna noticed. “Nessa can teach Selene to fly.”
Nessa looked like she was going to complain for a moment, and then smiled instead. “I can definitely teach the girl to use those splendid wings of hers.”
“I suppose that will all be useful,” Irving said, drawing the words out and not looking entirely convinced.
Fianna sat up in the bath and turned her entire body to face him, crossing her arms atop the rim of the cup and leaning her chin against them, peering up at our host. Hair clung to her back and shoulders, the wet red so dark it seemed brown. “And what will you be teaching her, old man, huh? How will you prepare her for the creatures that will inevitably come for her?”
“I’ll let you get away with calling me ‘old man’ this once,” Irving said, but he didn’t sound upset. “Do it again and I’ll rip your wings from your back.”
The fairies gasped. “You wouldn’t,” Fianna challenged.
Irving didn’t answer, and Fianna squirmed. I guessed he would.
Quinn seemed pleased with his uncle, as if he hadn’t liked the fairies pushing him around. I didn’t get the impression Irving allowed anyone to push him around often. And he definitely wasn’t old—at least he wouldn’t be where I came from, where lifetimes usually lasted centuries. He might have been in his mid-fifties, but appeared as strong as Quinn, stronger perhaps because of the power that seemed to simmer within the older man. It was the kind of power that came from experience.
“I’m not sure what I’ll end up teaching ‘er. I suppose much of it will depend on her,” Irving finally said, appearing oblivious to the fairies’ scathing looks. Mental note: never threaten the fairies’ wings.
“Oh, so you don’t know much of anything either,” Fianna snapped, but immediately looked like she wished she could take it back. She bit her lip, deliberating. “I mean...”
“Yes, what do you mean, Fianna the Crimson?” Irving pinned his full attention on the fairy, a dangerous energy radiating from his body, though I didn’t think he’d actually hurt the fairies … much.
Fianna gulped and ran her hands through her bathwater nervously. “I mean that … this is a situation none of us has been in very often, and so it makes sense that none of us would know exactly which is the next best step.”
“The best thing to do would be to take her to the Magical Creatures Academy,” Nessa said.
Fianna grimaced. “We’ve already discussed that, Nessa. Irving here doesn’t agree on letting her go right now.”
“Ever,” he interjected.
“Sure,” Fianna said, sounding far too compliant. “We can always revisit that later on.”
Irving’s look said he wouldn’t be revisiting it ever, just as he’d said.
I didn’t like Fianna behaving so nervously. It didn’t suit her; it made me more nervous than I already was.
I couldn’t stand the tension. I said the first thing that entered my mind: “What makes anyone think I’ll have any sort of powers worth having? I haven’t my entire life. Seems unlikely that things would suddenly shift, doesn’t it?”
“You’ve never had wings before either,” Quinn said, shooting a meaningful look at where they were hanging awkwardly over the couch.
“Sure, but I had a tail. I’ve only replaced one for the other.” Look at me acting all logical like! That was a good sign. Maybe I wouldn’t lose my shells over this after all. “It’s not like I’ve taken on the form of an angel and a siren.”
Fianna tsked like a know-it-all and I instantly missed her hesitant demeanor. “Just because you don’t have both a tail and wings at once doesn’t make you any less of a siren-angel.”
Nessa nodded her azure head. “What we reveal on the outside is only the tip of the iceberg of what we possess on the inside. No matter what you look like, you’re the child of an angel and a siren. As far as I know, there’s never been another one of you.”
Fianna was nodding. “You can take Nessa’s word on that. There’s no one brainier in the world of the fae than she.” I suspected Fianna was only saying that to placate the smaller fairy. Plenty of stories of the marvels of the fae had reached my clan over the years.
“You’re absolutely certain there’s never been another siren-angel?” Irving asked.
“In all my studies, I’ve never run across another,” Nessa said.
“And the girl reads more than anyone alive,” Fianna added.
“I doubt that,” Quinn muttered under his breath. He turned to his uncle. “You’ve never come across another entry of a siren-angel?”
Irving stroked his beard while he gazed at the same painting of a wild ocean that kept capturing my attention. “Never. I’ve never even come across the suggestion of the new breed. Angels aren’t supposed to come down here to procreate.”
“She is a new breed, the first of her kind,” Nessa said. Her cobalt eyes widened excitedly. She clapped her hands, her movements making ripples in her bathwater. “That means we get to name her.”
“Hey!” I said. “I’m right here and I already have a name, one that I like very much. One that symbolizes my parents’ love for each other.”
Nessa rolled her eyes. “Not that, silly. The name of your breed. You’re a new race, see?”
“Maybe I do see, but that doesn’t mean I need to be named like I’m some kind of specimen to be labeled. I’m a... I’m Selene, and that’s all we need to know for right now.” I tilted my chin high, but my bottom lip trembled a bit, overriding the effect I was going for.
Quinn edged closer and I wished he’d touch me. His fingers were outstretched toward me, occupying the space between us on the couch, but his skin didn’t meet mine anywhere. I was in the middle of a house, in the center of a bunch of creatures, and I’d never felt more alone.
“You’re a sirangel!” Nessa gasped, as if I hadn’t said anything to the contrary. “Ooh, I like that.” The fairy clapped small wet palms together, agitating the water so that it sloshed over the edge onto the saucer. Rays of sun filtered through the sliding glass door to reflect across the water that pooled on the plate.
Fianna surprised me by being the one to say, “Not now. She’s had too much for one day. And no one’s even tried to kill her yet.”
“That witch’s ward sure did,” I grumbled, rubbing at my chest as if the pain were still present. “Let me get this straight, because I’m still not really understanding…” Fianna looked at me as if I were about as intelligent as a sea slug, but I powered on. “Why do these other supernaturals want my power so much? Don’t they all have their own?”