Lizbet started to laugh, "Really, cows again?" but the painful buzzing flared up in the back of her head as she did. She stepped toward him and reached up to wrap her arms around his shoulders and laid her aching head on his chest.
"It's okay, James. It's just like you to do something so nice for someone else. Six months isn't that long to wait. Morgan waited fifteen hundred years for Myrddin to return. I can wait a couple of months for you." She didn’t add, by then, Mom might even consider letting me leave the house again.
Afterword
Thank you, dear reader, for making it all the way through ‘till the end! I hope you enjoyed the story. If you did, please consider writing a review. Without reviews, an independently published author's books are virtually invisible on the retail sites. Let other readers know what you thought!
Want to continue reading in the series? Book Two, Queen of the Fae is now available. You can find it on iTunes here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/queen-fae-book-two-in-fae/id887329721
The book continues the story from Fae Day and features Lizbet, Bobby, James, Thomas, Tanji, the fae Morgan, and everyone's favorite gruagach, Eamon. Lizbet has a lot to deal with now that she has an unexpected pair of wings and raging headaches. She's not the only one: there are lots of surprises for all of her friends as they begin to adapt to their new abilities.
If you'd like to know when I publish a new book, please visit my website at faeunbound.com for news or sign up for the Jill Nojack New Books Notification Newsletter. I'll also let you know when the books go on sale. Please note: I'm not much of a marketer. You won't get huge numbers of emails from me! You will never get more than one email per month, and you will usually get far fewer than that.
The Fae Unbound Series continues with Dragon Tender, also available now at all retailers once you're ready for it. The fourth book in the series, tentatively titled Wizard's Wrath, will be released in 2015. I'm unable to give a publication date, but I'm shooting for making it ready for publication in the early summer.
I'm also nearing completion of the Bad Tom series for adult readers (I would give it a PG16 rating for the same level of violence as Fae Unbound but more adult themes and some mild cursing). If you enjoy urban fantasy with witches and bewitched cat-shifters, you may want to keep an eye out for that one, too.
Again, thanks so much for reading!
Jill Nojack
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jill Nojack is a writer, musician and artist. She has traditionally published several short works (stories and poetry) in small press. The Fae Unbound series is her first set of published novels. She expects to complete and publish the additional planned books in the series by the end of 2014.
When she isn’t exploring her creative side, Jill enjoys laughing too loud and long in public, long bike rides, and talking about herself in third person. She resides in the great American Midwest with a long-suffering cat.
Avoidables
Episode 1
Rachel Medhurst
This episode is dedicated to all those that feel discriminated against because of the way they look.
You are beautiful!
Copyright © Rachel Medhurst 2014
Description
My name is Hope and I'd like to introduce you to our world. Earth is full of two races, the Avoidables and Perfects. I'm an Avoidable because I only have one arm. I was born that way apparently. Because of my defect, my mother had to move to the Lower Side. The Perfects are humans that have no physical flaws. They live in luxury, while we live in filth.
Avoidables have defects ranging from looks to unexplained gifts. Some of us are half breeds. Dragons and animals were known to have bred with the human race thousands of years ago. We all live in cities, usually divided in two. The Perfects live on the Upper Side, while the Avoidables inhabit the Lower Side. We've been consumed by hate for a race that rejects us so heartlessly. We've become dangerous. All we want is the Perfects to love and respect us.
I like to sneak over to their side sometimes. It's fun to watch how they live. To watch their perfect gorgeous faces react to the one armed freak. Until I met Jason anyway. He ignored the fact that I had one arm, even daring to touch my shoulder stub. What happened when he did, blew my mind. I was no longer an ugly Avoidable. I was much, much better than any Perfect.
Chapter One
‘SHE'S ONLY GOT one arm,’ the man cried and backed away, bumping fast into the dancing crowd.
Everything had been going so well. I was lost in the music, swaying and thumping my good hand in the air. The man had looked over at me as I’d glanced up from the floor. He was handsome. As our gazes clashed, a grin spread over his clean shaven face. I let the corners of my lips sink into my cheeks as I circled my hips in a mating dance. He swayed over to me, but as I turned in a circle, his eyes locked onto my shoulder and that’s when he’d started shouting.
Everyone around me turned to stare. I laughed loudly as the others started to back away from me as if I was a freak. Shaking my head, I noticed the guards coming from the direction that the gorgeous man had just gone.
Why had I been so careless? All I wanted to do was dance. The loud music ran up and down my nerves, making me want to move with it.
‘Come with me,’ a deep throated voice shouted as a strong hand gripped my forearm and pulled. I turned to see the familiar purple eyes and grinned.
It was my best friend, Purple.
Although, I wasn’t sure if it was better to be caught by him or the guards. I allowed him to pull me through the crowd and out the back entrance. We ran towards the river and started over the bridge. Mid way over, we stopped and looked back. The guards stood by the end of the bridge. They wouldn’t come any further. They wouldn’t risk it. I did a little dance and stuck my middle fingers up at them.
I heard a thud and pain sliced through me as a dart lodged into my good shoulder. I gasped and spun towards Purple, wincing when I saw that they’d hit him too. I was going to be in so much trouble for this.
~*~
‘Why were you on the Upper Side?’ The guard asked as I sat against the concrete wall.
‘I wanted to dance,’ I replied, bringing my knees up and resting my arm on them.
‘You know Avoidables are not permitted to enter Upper Side.’ The tall good looking guard was sitting in a plush chair, brought in just for him.
‘I just wanted to dance,’ I sighed.
‘You will be escorted back to the Lower Side and you will be confined to a cell for three days punishment.’
The guard got up and came over to me. Bending down, he ran his hand over mine. I tried to struggle, but he pulled and yanked my t-shirt up over the end of my stubbed shoulder. He looked in fascination and I had to bite my lip. Perfects were so often surrounded by good looking people. I cringed away from him, trying to grab at my shirt.
‘Let her go,’ came a quiet, but deadly voice from behind us. Purple was a master at escaping. I was glad that he’d forgiven me enough to come and get me before he left. The guard started to laugh as he fisted his hand and sent it flying into my stub. I cried out before Purple grabbed the man by his throat and threw him across the room.
‘We need to get out of here,’ he said.
Holding onto my throbbing shoulder, I stood up and went towards the door.
‘No time,’ Purple said, grabbing me and jumping us up through the ceiling. The smash of plaster deafened me as we landed on the outside of the building. A siren went off inside. It was illegal for Avoidables to use their powers on the Upper Side.
‘Oh man, I can do without this right now,’ I said, tucking my t-shirt back over my stub.
‘Why couldn’t you just stay over on the Lower Side?’
I grinned at Purple. He was crazy. Why would I want to stay where there were so many misfits? The men over here…
‘You’re mad,’ he said, reading my thoughts…literally.
‘Get out my brain, Purple.’ I punched him in the arm.
‘Are we just going to stand around here all night?’ He took my arm, but I shook free. I had unfinished business. I’d been enjoying myself until that handsome weasel had ruined it for me. I turned and as I started to run, I heard Purple curse behind me. He could never catch me when we ran and he was too well behaved to use his powers on the Upper Side, unless he had to of course. Me, on the other hand, I didn’t care.
I was back at the club within a few minutes. Just in time. It was almost closing time, but I could hear the music still pumping. Climbing in through the toilet window, I sneaked back inside. There was one guard left on the door, but he was talking to the gorgeous girls dancing in front of him. There he was, the good looking creep…it was payback time. He was sitting at the bar. I walked up to the man and sat next to him on a stool. He turned to me. He was all smiles, expecting to see a perfectly formed face I bet. Only beautiful people lived on the Upper Side.
‘What the…?’ he started when he saw me there. His mouth stilled as I looked him directly in the eyes. I showed him my soul. See, these people believed that the Perfects were beautiful, but their souls were dark and cold. Outer beauty didn’t last a life time. The soul however…did.
He gasped and reached a hand out to me. I batted it away and stood up, gesturing for him to follow me. He was in a daze as the pure love that radiated through me penetrated his cold chest. Like a puppet, he followed me into the toilets, through the window and into the alley outside. I had to be quick. Purple was nearby. I could feel him.
‘What…?’ he started. I was going to kill him with beauty. I started to smile, but he reached out a hand and gently lifted the sleeve of my t-shirt. I froze. Never had one of the Perfects looked at me with such wonder. He may have freaked out earlier, but now, he gently brushed his fingers over my puckered skin.
‘What are you?’ he whispered. Our gazes met and I couldn’t speak. A Perfect was speaking to me. A handsome, good looking, perfect person actually wanted me to speak to me.
‘You really want to know?’
The fingers that were caressing me sent shivers over my sensitive skin. No one had ever touched me there before. I could feel a strange sensation shifting in my shoulder. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him and it seemed that he was just as stuck as I was.
‘Yes, I want to know. I’ve never met an Avoidable before,’ he whispered, his face coming closer to mine. I realised that my soul was still showing in my gaze and I shut it off. He blinked a few times, but didn’t back away.
The sensation in my shoulder came from the bone and I gasped. The man took his hand away as a slight movement started to shift. I stepped back and started to breathe heavy. I had no idea what was happening.
I’d never experienced this before. I’d been born with just one arm, but my powers had not fully developed yet. Suddenly a tearing sensation had me on my knees. I grasped my hand over my shoulder stump and gritted my teeth. If the guards found me here, they would probably execute me. Something started to come out of my shoulder. It was quick and painful. That’s all I was aware of. And him.
He was still there, standing in front of me. I felt a splitting sensation in my good arm. I closed my eyes and bent forward almost rocking, while he stroked my back. The pain grew. I tried to focus so that I could call Purple to me, but before I managed it, the pain eased and I sprung up into a stand. The gorgeous man was knocked to the ground. When I looked down at him, his eyes were wide open. The look on his face was pure lust, or was it love? I looked down and noticed that I had an arm where there hadn’t been one before. I could feel something heavy on my back too. The splitting feeling hadn’t come from my other arm; it had come from my shoulder blades. I felt tears prickle my eyes as I reached behind me to feel the massive wings. I heard a gasp as Purple finally came upon us. The young man came to me.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he said, stroking my wing.
‘Don’t touch her,’ Purple growled, coming down the alley towards us.
‘What’s your name?’ the man said, looking from Purple to me and taking my hand in his. I was torn. This Perfect had not only had me locked up, he’d unlocked me too.
‘I’m Jason. Please tell me what your name is?’
He stepped back as Purple approached. The Avoidable’s size was big enough to make anybody take a step back, but the purple eyes and ridges down his arms made them want to run.
‘I’m…’
‘Going,’ Purple interrupted, grabbing my arm and flying us upwards.
‘Wait!’ I called, struggling against his grip. But it was no use. I was too weak and my new wings were getting in the way. Purple was dangling me in the air by my new arm and I could hardly breathe. The scene below us changed from dark nightlife, to water, and then to even darker grimy alleyways.
We were back in Lower Side.
‘What the hell were you thinking?’ Purple said flying us into the window of our flat.
Avoidables lived in groups. We tried to pick people with different abilities that would serve us all. Avoidables were survivors. Lower Side was a cruel and dangerous place made up of all the people that the rulers deemed not perfect enough for their side of the city.
‘I wasn’t,’ I replied, hugging myself with my good arm. I was trying not to cry. My wings and new arm retracted as soon as we landed. Purple sighed and sat on the sofa. I went to the armchair and allowed its softness to cradle my vulnerable body.
‘Did you know?’ He pushed his hand through his long dark hair. It was the softest hair I’d ever seen on any woman or man. It fell to his shoulders and he mostly wore it up when out. He was a handsome man, but he was still from the dark side. The ridges on his arms told of a dragon ancestry as did the purple eyes and flying abilities. He was yet to come into his fire powers. I shook my head, blinking away the tears that started to fall from my eyes.
‘You were stunning,’ he whispered, his eyes going to the spot where my new arm had been. My gaze snapped to him and I saw awe reflected back at me. He wasn’t hitting on me, he was being genuine.
‘My father must have been an angel,’ I said the words quietly. It was rare to have an angel ancestor because most of them had abandoned the planet. They hadn’t had a choice. The darkness had become too much for their light and they’d left. The history books said that it was with regret. They had tried one last attempt to revive the human race, whom they’d loved dearly, but it had backfired.
‘Did your mother never tell you that she’d mated with an angel?’ Purple replied, standing up and pacing the room.
I shook my head. My mother had died when I was young but I always pretended that she’d died only a short while ago. Somehow the lie made me feel closer to her.
‘No one must know about this for now, Hope,’ he said, nodding his head and turning to leave.
‘Where are you going?’ I didn’t want to be left alone with my thoughts.
‘To do some research. Try to get some rest.’ He left without another word.
Chapter Two
THE WORD Half-form kept coming into my head as I crouched on the roof of the building in the Upper Side. We weren’t sure how we had come to be. The Avoidables were ruled by the Perfects. Perfects were good looking normal humans with no inter or cross breeding. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I believed in cross breeding. The Perfects did a test that was a government invented cruel joke. If a Perfect had a child that was less than Perfect looking by the age of fifteen, they would have to take them to be examined to see whether or not they could stay on the Upper Side. Not many people made it through the test. My mother must have failed.
The wings though, they were something else. The story of the angels trying to bring light to the Earth by mating with the humans suggested that the humans could not conceive from light. Maybe they were mistaken.
A noise below cleared my mind. I got low and looked over the side. There he was. Jason. I’d been thinking about him for the last three days. What was it inside him that had brought out my angel side? I flexed my good arm
as I thought about the few moments that I’d had a matching one. I’d never known why I didn’t have two arms, but it was something I was used to.
‘Are you here?’ Jason said, trying to keep quiet. Guards often patrolled the roads, but rarely came down the alleyways. Things were good on the Upper Side. The Perfects were well behaved and never caused trouble. The Avoidables liked to come and stir up the peace sometimes though, so the guards were needed. I jumped down behind him. He spun when he heard my feet thump on the ground. I held my head low, not meeting his gaze. I didn’t know how to feel around this man.
‘I knew you would come,’ he said, reaching a hand towards me. I lifted my head as I stepped back, out of his reach. There it was again. It was like a lightning bolt hitting me in the chest as our gaze clashed. What was it about him? I hated Perfects.
‘Please tell me your name?’
‘Hope,’ I replied, shocked that the word had jumped from my mouth. I had planned to stay disconnected. I didn’t want to have to kill him.
‘Makes sense.’ He tried to smile at me, but when I scowled back, a burst of laughter escaped him. I went to spin away from him, but he caught my hand and held tight. I looked down at our joined hands and felt myself return the pressure.
‘You have no idea, do you?’ I said, shaking my head at him. This was impossible. This was stupid. Why the hell was I here?
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