Birthright

by E.J. Stevens

  “Is it over?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Kade said.

  “You have wings,” Ceff said.

  I bit my lip, and my heart started to race. I couldn’t tell from Ceff’s voice what he was thinking, and from where he was standing, I couldn’t read his face.

  “Are they…hideous?” I asked.

  “They’re a bit like a damsel fly’s wings,” Torn said.

  “Aye, they’re shimmery, and kinda skinny,” Skillywidden said.

  I swallowed hard. Don’t panic. It could be worse. They could be leathery like a bat’s wings. Insect wings weren’t all that bad.

  “They are beautiful,” my uncle said. “You are beautiful, and you are one of us. Welcome to Faerie, Ivy. Welcome home.”

  Chapter 27

  A buzzing filled my ears, and soon dozens of voices were roaring in my head. I put my gloved hands to my temples and moaned.

  “What is it, Princess?” Torn asked.

  “Ah, she is unprepared for the psychic connection she now has to the wisps here,” Kade said.

  “Psychic connection?” Ceff asked.

  “Yes, until she can control it, the voices will be overwhelming,” Kade said. “Our wings act like an antenna, amplifying the thoughts and voices of wisps in close proximity.”

  “How do I make it stop?” I asked, squeezing my eyes shut tight.

  It didn’t help. My back teeth were vibrating with the voices screaming in my head.

  “I can help with this, but it will take training,” he said. “Until you are more skilled, I suggest you retract your wings.”

  “And how do I do that?” I asked.

  “The process is similar to releasing your wings, but do not worry, it will not hurt like before,” he said.

  I focused on my back, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes, and shook my head.

  “Come,” he said, gesturing toward the nearby water’s edge. “It will be easier if you can see your wings, at least until you become accustomed to them. It is easier to visualize what you have seen.”

  “Makes sense,” Torn said with a shrug. “As kits we look at our paws when we practice extending and retracting our claws. Same general concept, I suppose.”

  I struggled to my feet, and raised an eyebrow at Ceff.

  “I am sorry, I cannot relate to this,” he said. “My transformation is very different.”

  I suppose he was right, though his words set my stomach churning. This was just one more difference for us to overcome. I’d known from the beginning that we were different from one another, but I had no idea that I was some winged wonder with voices in her head. I winced. I was pretty sure that bug wings and hearing voices weren’t attractive qualities.

  I turned, and followed my uncle to the pool of water. My eyes widened at the woman I met there. Her hair was matted with sweat, and her luminescent skin was pale and dotted with drops of blood, but she wasn’t ugly. She wasn’t hideous. She wasn’t a monster.

  With the glowing skin and translucent wings, she looked almost fragile. I suppose in a way that was true. I survived my first transformation, and it had changed me. For all intents and purposes, I was a newborn faerie.

  I took a deep breath, and turned to get a better look at the wings that sprouted from my back. Skilly was right. They were more slender than a dragonfly’s wings, but with a similar shimmering quality, like an oil slick on water.

  My wings twitched, attracting a handful of wisps. Glowing orbs appeared in the mirror surface of the puddle, and I started to smile. If you ignored the blood and sweat, it was nearly a fairytale scene from a children’s book. But fairytales rarely have happy endings.

  A cacophony of voices joined the buzzing in my head, and I gasped.

  “Mab’s bones, make it stop,” I said.

  “Open your eyes, and look at your wings in the reflection,” Kade said. “Ignore the voices, and focus on the wings.”

  I blushed, heat rising to my cheeks, and I opened my eyes, staring at my reflection. I hadn’t even realized that I’d squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Ignoring the voices was easier said than done. Thankfully, I was no stranger to pain. I’d been experiencing skull crushing headaches for years as a result of my psychic abilities. Now those years of suffering might just pay off.

  I grit my teeth, and pushed the voices and my emotions into an icy cage. I focused on my wings, twitching in time with the beating of my heart.

  “Good, now imagine your wings slowly curling from the tips inward,” Kade said.

  I did as he said, and my jaw dropped as my wings began to curl behind my back. I sighed as the muscles in my shoulders relaxed.

  “Now draw your wings inside your body,” Kade said.

  I swayed, listening to the musical quality of my uncle’s voice, but I couldn’t recall the words. My body was light, and the air caressed my fevered skin. If it wasn’t for a distant humming, I could have closed my eyes and fallen asleep on my feet.

  “Ivy?” Ceff asked.

  “Hmmm?”

  “She looks drunk,” Torn said.

  “Aye, drunk as a clurichaun on payday,” Skillywidden said.

  “It is what happens to our children when they are learning to use their magic,” Kade said. “I believe she is intoxicated by the power running through her veins. She will become accustomed to it, in time.”

  “This is not her first time using her wisp powers,” Ceff said.

  “I do not know what my brother did to her, but it is obvious that her magic has been shackled,” Kade said. “When she arrived in Faerie, she was barely fae. Now she is closer to her true self.”

  “It hasn’t had an effect on any of us,” Torn said. “Is it because she’s half human? Is Faerie stripping her of her humanity?”

  I wanted to tell Ceff and Torn to stop worrying. The pain was gone, and except for a heaviness between my shoulder blades, I felt great, better than normal. Heck, maybe being human was overrated.

  “I do not have all the answers,” Kade said. “I do not know what sorcery my brother used. All I can say is that she is evolving into the faerie she was always meant to be.”

  “So we must wait and see,” Ceff said.

  “Yes, but first she must complete this,” Kade said. “Ivy?”

  “Mmm?”

  “You have done very well,” Kade said. I smiled. My uncle thought I’d done well. “But there is one more thing you must do before you can rest.”

  I frowned, and tried to focus on his swimming face.

  “What now?” I asked.

  My lips felt rubbery, but the words came out clearly. No slurring.

  “Your wings are curled, now you must pull them inside,” he said. “Can you do that for me?”

  “Mmm hmm,” I said.

  I took a breath, and pulled. I frowned when they got stuck partway, but I didn’t give up. I wanted this over with, wanted to rest…and to please my uncle. I knew that latching onto my uncle, a total stranger, was probably unhealthy, but I didn’t care. I’d had a gaping hole in my heart my entire life, and if he could help to fill that emptiness, then I would do everything to make him proud of me.

  I raised my arms, rotating my shoulder blades until the wings finally fit. With a grunt, the wings were gone. If everyone hadn’t already been staring at me, I might have thought it was all a dream.

  “Better?” Kade asked.

  I nodded, a tentative smile on my lips. I was more fae than I’d been when I woke up this morning. I now had wings, a new psychic connection with wisps, and an uncle I hadn’t known existed. I wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, but I was in Faerie and I was alive.

  Better didn’t cover the half of it.

  Chapter 28

  I wouldn’t let them carry me. I hadn’t experienced a vision since stepping foot in Faerie, and I didn’t plan on starting now. So I chugged a Red Bull that had somehow managed to remain in Ceff’s satchel unscathed, and followed Kade into a nearby cave that he c
laimed was the entrance to Tearlach, home of the wisp court.

  I may have daddy issues and a desire to be loved by my uncle, but that didn’t mean I was a fool. I kept my eyes open, weapons handy, weight on the balls of my feet, and forced my body to stay alert.

  I gripped my blades as I entered the stygian darkness. These tunnels might lead to the wisp court and answers to my father’s whereabouts, or certain death. Either way, it was best to be prepared for the worst.

  “How…far?” I asked, voice still shaky from the wing ordeal.

  The euphoria inducing endorphins that had flooded my bloodstream were dissipating, slamming me with fatigue and a plethora of body aches.

  I stifled a yawn, blinking rapidly, struggling to stay on my feet. Steel-toe boots had saved me from crippling my toes, but stumbling over rocks was likely to pitch me face first into Torn, who was walking ahead of me, and that was one round of visions I did not need.

  “If you are too tired to walk…” Kade said.

  “No, no, I’m fine,” I said, waving a hand. “Lead on. I just wish I could call up enough anger to light the way.”

  I hadn’t realized that I said that last part until Kade came to a halt, nearly causing me to collide with Torn after all.

  “Why would you need anger to light the way?” he asked. “Is this a colloquialism? Except for indirect communication through the Unseelie Court, I have long been out of contact with the human world.”

  “Her anger fuels her wisp magic,” Ceff said. “With…unpredictable results.”

  That was putting it mildly.

  “Is this true, Ivy?” Kade asked.

  “Um, yes, it’s not like I’ve had any training,” I said. “My father took off when I was just a kid, going so far as to lock away my memories of his existence, and it’s not like I can ask the other wisps.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Because,” I said with a weighty sigh. “Until their voices flooded my skull today, I’ve never been able to communicate with other wisps. Not that I’ve had much practice at that either. Like I said, I didn’t know I was half wisp until a few months ago. And I’ve only run into wisps twice since then.”

  From the memories of my childhood that had begun to return in fragments, I could piece together memories of wisps floating around me protectively like tiny fairy godparents. But if I’d been able to communicate with wisps as a child, I’d lost the ability along with my memories.

  I’d encountered wisps at the cemetery who seemed to understand me, but we’d only been able to communicate through rudimentary yes and no gestures. And after the Danse Macabre, they hadn’t stuck around. My only other exposure to wisps before entering Faerie was facing the iron sick wisps at Jinx’s father’s junkyard—and that hadn’t gone well.

  In fact, that was another reason why I was here. There was so much I needed to learn about my powers.

  “Interesting,” he said. “Perhaps your non-wisp blood is more powerful. It is not unusual for fae to have a dominant side.”

  “Great,” I said. “If my human side is more dominant, that would explain why my night vision sucks compared to the rest of you.”

  “Do you truly require light?” Kade asked.

  “It would be helpful, sure,” I said.

  He let out a musical chirp, and my eyes widened as the tunnel filled with glowing wisps. Now that was a handy talent.

  We started walking, and this time I was able to keep up. Even my fatigue was soon forgotten as my eyes traced the details of Tearlach. We were entering the heart of my father’s realm. Hopefully, this place would soon reveal his secrets. As it was, I’d learned more about wisps in one day with my uncle than I’d found in all of the books in Kaye’s library.

  “Can you teach me that trick you did, with the wisps?” I asked, hurrying to reach my uncle’s side.

  He was much taller and more slender than me, which gave him a speed advantage. I’d never thought of being human as a deficiency before now, but walking at my uncle’s side, I suddenly wished that I’d been born with more of his naturally grace and agility.

  He arched an eyebrow, but continued to stride along silently, as if dancing above the rock strewn floor. When I finally thought that I’d offended him into silence, he tilted his head, focusing his amber eyes on my matching ones. I’d never met someone else with amber eyes before, and it sparked even more questions, but I held my tongue. I wasn’t going to become that annoying student who nagged the teacher incessantly with questions.

  “It was no trick,” he said. “All wisps can speak with one another, though it takes practice when communicating between wisps in different forms.”

  “You mean we have different forms?” I asked.

  Okay, so much for not badgering Kade with questions.

  “Of course,” he said. “At least, those of us with adequate power can shift between our larger and more diminutive forms. The smaller wisp form is invaluable for stealth and scouting…”

  “He means spying,” Torn said.

  “But it leaves us vulnerable to attack,” he said, ignoring Torn. “Never underestimate the danger from a hungry bird when in that form.”

  He pointed to one of the wisps floating ahead of us, and I swallowed hard.

  “So can I become small like that?” I asked.

  “I do not know,” he said. “You were born with the power to do many things, but that was before your father’s meddling.”

  “Can all of these wisps become full size?” Torn asked, pausing to examine the wisps that darted around our heads like excited fireflies.

  “No, not all,” Kade said. “In fact, it is very rare. But the ability has always passed along the royal line. Being able to communicate between both forms is a necessary part of ruling the wisp court.” He stopped and shook his head. “I am…sorry, Ivy. That was insensitive of me. I am sure that you came here with expectations.”

  “What, me?” I asked. “I don’t want to rule. If not being able to shift forms is a prerequisite, then I’m glad that I don’t have the ability.”

  “Then why did you come here to Tearlach?” he asked.

  “I came here for answers about my father, and about my powers,” I said.

  “Ah, I was afraid you would say that,” he said.

  Kade turned away, and led us further down the tunnel, leaving me pondering his words. My uncle hadn’t so much as blinked when I’d entered his realm with a kelpie, a brownie, and a cat sidhe, or when I’d sprouted wings and started hearing voices in my head, but when I told him that I’d come here for answers, he looked like he’d swallowed a pixie.

  What could be so terrible about the truth?

  Chapter 29

  I blinked, eyes adjusting to the sudden bright light, as the low stone ceiling of the tunnel opened up into a large cavern. Moonlight shone from high above, the moonbeams captured and transmitted through a dome made up of a clear, amber hued crystalline substance that grew from the stone walls like a latticework of tetragonal fungus. Below the amber crystals, alcoves dotted the walls. Some of these openings were so small that only the smallest wisps could float through, while others were large enough for two mountain orcs to march side by side.

  Tiers of benches that were carved into the stone ringed the room on one side. Opposite the stadium-like seating rose a platform on which stood two ornate thrones. A small pool of water sprouting cattails, lilies, and lotus flowers marked the center of the moss covered cavern floor.

  “Nice digs, Princess,” Torn said.

  “It has its charm, I guess,” I said with a shrug.

  I swallowed hard, and tried to push away thoughts of Jinx and Sparky. Coming to this place only made me miss my friends worse than ever. But I couldn’t return home yet. I might long for my drafty, old loft apartment, but I’d come here for answers, and I wasn’t going to leave without them.

  Too bad the place was crawling with wisps.

  Wisps filled the cavern, some flying through the room on their way to other areas of Tear
lach, while many floated in from the many darkened alcoves to crowd the rows of carved seats, or to hover near the pool of water.

  Ordinarily, I’d have found the scene pretty, maybe even awe inspiring. My family had helped to build this place. My father had ruled here for centuries. But I couldn’t forget the effect that the wisps in the bog had on my awakening powers—and I was in no mood for a repeat performance. My neck and shoulders tightened, and my back ached at the thought of sprouting wings again so soon.

  I grit my teeth, and stepped into the cavern, following my uncle down stone stairs worn smooth by the fae who’d walked these steps before me. I was so focused on holding my power in check, and putting one foot in front of the other, that it took me a few minutes to realize that the cavern had gone silent. All I could hear was the sound of our footsteps—notably the clop clop of my clumsy half human feet, since Ceff, Torn, Skilly, and Kade were all adept at moving silently—and the trickle of water below us.

  I lifted my chin to survey the room for threats, and froze. The wisps had gone silent, but not because of the threat of a predator in their midst. No, the cavern pulsed with light that matched the familiar cadence of my heartbeat. The entire wisp court was responding to my presence, their bodies glowing in time with the beating of my heart.

  When Kade noticed the growing space between us, he looked up at me, eyebrow raised.

  “Are you fatigued?” he asked. “Do you require one of us to carry you, after all?”

  “No, no, I’m fine,” I said, trying to ignore the increasing speed at which the surrounding wisps glowed and dimmed.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “You are welcome to take my arm.”

  My chest swelled, a part of me warming at his offer. He’d been so reluctant to touch me during my transformation. I’d thought his reaction was born of revulsion for his half breed, country bumpkin of a niece, but perhaps my human blood wasn’t as large a barrier as I’d first thought. But as kind as my uncle’s offer, there was no way I’d take him up on it. I wasn’t touching him now, or ever.