by Zoe Parker
Zag turns his head to her and says, “let me make myself clear, your familiar isn’t strong enough… and it will die when it dutifully tries to come to your rescue. Now seeing as I’m her familiar I dutifully came to hers. Not that she needed it. Had she reached any of you, I’d be feeding your corpse to Fluffy right now.”
Zag has a form of flowery speech that you rarely see anymore. All old school, my Dragon. Amused, I lean against the seat and let him work his word magic. Plus, he’s stroking my ego a little by insinuating that I would win. We both know that I wouldn’t, not this time.
Yes, if I can reach them it’s guaranteed for me to win. But against magic, I’m toast.
I hate when Ciar is right.
Nothing can be truer than Fairy wisdom. It is as true as sunbeams. ~Douglas Jerrold ( Specimens of Jerrold’s wit- Fairy Tales)
When I turn the corner after leaving the shambles of a bathroom, with a grouchy Dragon perching on my shoulder, I catch myself before I run right into… Lucinda—I think her name is.
Catching her when she unbalances, I pat her shoulders and release her. She smiles at me shyly and looks at the floor before raising her eyes to mine.
“The rumor mill is saying that you and the three witches had a… situation in the west bathroom.”
I blink several times and look over my shoulder before turning back to her. That happened like two-seconds ago, how did they find out about it already?
Apparently, she saw the question on my face. “Magical place and all, news spreads fast.” Oh, duh.
Laughing, I don’t think anything of it when she falls into step beside me. She’s a nice girl and I’m guessing she doesn’t have many friends either. Looking at her out of the corner of my eye I wonder why they pick on her. It’s obvious she’s stronger than all of them, so why let them push her around.
I ask her just that. “Why do you let them push you around when you can kick all their butts?” She laughs and even I admit the sound is a bit musical and pretty and contagious. I laugh with her.
“My family is about finding other ways of vanquishing our enemies rather than outright violence.”
They’re pacifists, that’s awesome.
“I saw you leaving music class, are you part of the performing group at the Mixer?”
“Yeah, are you going to it?” It’ll be nice to have a friend there that isn’t a grouchy Puca or bossy Dragon. Heck it’s nice to have a female friend period. Women can be catty and awful to each other sometimes, I see it all the time, but we also like each other’s company whether we admit it or not.
I haven’t had a friend that wasn’t Sluagh, ever.
“Have you bought a dress yet? Ciar told me that there’s a Fairy dress shop in town and I love Fairy clothing.” To my own ears, my voice sounds shaky, but I know it’s from being nervous. Who isn’t nervous when getting to know a new potential friend?
Especially someone like me who doesn’t do so well with people, in general.
“You want me to go with you?” Why does she sound so surprised? Who better to shop with than another woman?
“Yeah, we can get some dinner too, we’ll leave around four o’clock. I’m not sure what they have there, but I’m sure something good.” I offer.
“That’d,” her voice starts out loud but lowers as she speaks, “be great.” She smiles again, holding out her cell phone.
I always forget I have one. Fumbling mine around I manage to hand it to her and take hers. Staring at it for a full ten seconds like a dork I reluctantly admit I have no idea what I’m doing. Laughing, she takes it from me and with a few swipes of her finger adds me to her contact list
“See you in an hour.” Handing back my phone and snagging hers, she waves and heads down another hallway, singing to herself.
Shaking my head, I walk towards the room. I need a shower before trying on dresses, I’m covered in bathroom water.
Of all the minor creatures of mythology, Fairies are the most beautiful, the most numerous, the most memorable. ~Andrew Lang
When I walk into the room, the vision of Ciar, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, leaning back on his bed greets me. He has his phone out and is probably playing a game.
“Your bathroom problem is resolved?” he asks, without looking up from the phone screen. Rolling my eyes, I dig through the dresser and the clean clothes that someone—Gertie for sure—put away neatly. While I’m thinking about it I put an entire box of Berry Drops on the dresser, it’s the last of the ones I brought with me but she deserves them.
“My gift to you, Gertie.” I say out loud, knowing she’ll hear me, they’re never far away.
Turning I meet green eyes, “What?”
“When do we start training you to use your magic?”
“Tomorrow?” I refuse to admit, to his face, that he was right. “Lucinda is going dress shopping with us,” I call over my shoulder, right before I turn the hot water on.
As soon as the steam starts rolling out I strip, tossing the clothes towards the new laundry basket in the corner of the room, I almost hit it.
“Don’t be lazy now, hit the damn basket.” Gertie’s disembodied voice startles the heck out of me. Laughing at my chicken reaction, I walk over and pick up the clothes making sure they go into the basket this time.
“Yes ma’am,” I mumble, climbing into the gloriously hot shower.
Humming to myself, I go through the normal routine, face, hair then body. The new body wash smells like cherry blossoms. The lack of chemical smell and extra kick proves that it’s Fairy-made.
Rinsing off, I turn to open the shower door and pause. A handprint outline is on the other side even with my chest. I stand there staring at it and find myself pressing my hand to it. I know that hand and soon I’ll know it even better.
Just not yet.
Swiping my hand through the steam on the glass door I see him a few feet away, still in his towel. I know it’s his other nature looking at me right now, so I need to be cautious. He won’t hurt me, but if he touches me right now I won’t be saying no. I realize that my reluctance doesn’t make sense but commitment and forever and… gods he looks good in a towel.
No, no. It has to be when I’m ready to go into it with no doubts, no insecurities. For forever because sex between Ciar and I will never be, ‘just sex.’
“Tell me about you, you know, the things I don’t know,” I say, instead of, Take off the towel.
“That’s a long list, monster girl.”
“I’ve got a lot of time.” Taking a deep breath, I see the minute he relaxes. Smiling, he turns and leaves the room, I’m assuming to get dressed. I’m hoping he’s going to get dressed. For all my bluster, my will is weak, with him in a towel—my will is darn near nonexistent.
I want… no, need to make sure that I won’t let him down. That I can give him everything that this commitment deserves.
Bracing myself, I grab a towel and dry my hair and body in record time. Walking out into the bedroom I regret the choice of not bringing my clothes. I’m not shy about nudity but right now might not be the best time, for either of us.
Amazingly, he’s completely dressed and once again on his phone, his mood completely relaxed. I wish I had that ability. Hurriedly dressing, I sit on the bed to comb out my hair.
I swear the crap is longer today than yesterday.
“I had no parents, not in the traditional way.” I pause in my task and sensing the importance of this moment, force myself to keep going. “I remember the second I was made. Wrapped in this cocoon of warmth and complete safety. A voice steadily whispering in my head telling me who I am, what I needed to do in life.”
Peeking through my hair, I watch him watching me, but he’s seeing another time and another place.
“The world I was born into was different, when Faerie was its own place, and new. Gods Keri, it was beautiful and wild and completely untouched by corruption. When I opened my eyes the Sluagh were there waiting for me and I knew—as the only one of
my kind—even before clawed hands picked me up and cradled me against their furry chest, that I would lead them one day.”
The phone disappears into his pocket and he scoots to the edge of the bed.
“There always has to be a balance to everything. For every true evil born there is true good. For every cruelty there is a goodness. That is why the Hunt came into existence to maintain the balance. For the most heinous of sins, there must be a punishment.”
Moving in that creepy, fast way he does, he’s standing in front of me before I can take a breath.
“I like what I do, Keri. I was created for this task, created to bring justice to the creatures of Faerie. I hope that one day you like what you were created to do.”
“This Fate Caller stuff?” I ask.
“No, the other thing you were created for, Keri.” He parts the hair in front of my face, twirling a bit around his finger in the process. “Loving the Lord of the Hunt.”
Well, fudge.
With those words he straightens and gives me that sarcastic smirk. “Hurry up, your friend is here.” Crossing to the door he opens it. She’s standing on the other side with her fist in the air, her mouth open in surprise.
Laughing, I slip on some flip flops that I’m guessing are an extra pair of Ciar’s, since he’s wearing some, and push them both out the door. A protesting Dragon lands on my shoulder and Fluffy calls forlornly from under the bed.
“Sorry buddy, maybe next time.” Him in a dress shop is a big no.
Shutting and locking the door, Ciar put some kind of ward on the door. If I had to guess, I’d say a ‘do not disturb’, which alerts him if someone tries to breach our room. I turn and practically drag Lucinda along. She laughs breathlessly.
“You’re very excited to get to the shop.”
“Keri is obsessed with anything Fairy. Hang around her long enough you’ll see.” Ciar comments, walking like he’s taking a stroll through the park but somehow keeping up with our hurried pace easily.
“It’s not an obsession.” Okay, it is, but she doesn’t need to know that.
‘Don’t scare her off.’
‘Look at how she looks at you, there is no scaring that woman off.’
Disbelieving, I look over at her and she’s looking over at me with a silly smile on her face. Oh. At least it’s not the other kind of smile. I love women, I think they’re beautiful but—not in that way.
A female wouldn’t be part of my Triad and since I’m alone in my head now, I only have room for my Triad in my life at the moment. Ultimately, if I have sex with someone who isn’t in my Triad, there’s a good chance that Ciar will kill them. Our bond is too deeply embedded now for him to respond otherwise and only requires one more component to be forever.
It’s the way of such a bond. He might share me with the Triad without qualm but anyone outside of that and the hunt is on, pun intended. I accept it and have no issues with it. Now all we are waiting for is for me to stop being a chicken.
I’ve heard of bonds like ours, they’re unique and rare. Plus, I understand a reaction such as that, for the truth of the matter is, if he touches another intimately, I’ll gut them. Just the thought makes a flicker of rage churn in my stomach. Very unlike me, but considering what I am, not so strange overall. As the saying goes, I am Fae hear me roar—or at least our version of it.
‘Monster girl, this way.’ Realizing that I’m not paying a lick of attention to where we’re going I make a face and drag Lucinda with me as I fall in behind him.
“Why are you starting the Menagerie so late? I’ve been here since I was 13.” Lucinda’s shyness is wearing off to ask a question like that.
“How old are you now?”
“Twenty-four, my parents are freaking out because I haven’t Awakened. I’d give anything to do it.” She casts an envious look at my purple hair.
“What’s it been like here for you?” I ask her, and just like that I don’t have to answer her questions. It’s not like I have good answers for her anyway.
“All of my siblings have either Awakened or became part of a Triad. I’m the last one left, the middle child, so I don’t have the excuse of being the youngest, you know? My parents told me if I don’t Awaken this year I’m going to end up being something normal the rest of my life. Can you imagine that?”
I like the idea of being normal, but I don’t have that choice anymore.
“You still have five more years, Lucinda.” They don’t kick anyone out until they turn thirty, if kicking them out is what they do. I’m not really sure about the process. They say they put them into a, productive environment. When you think about it, that can be a lot of things.
“You’ve been here a few weeks and already Awakened. I’ve been here for eleven years.”
There’s bitterness in her tone but also sadness.
“I’m twenty-five, Lucinda.”
She frowns at my words and then her face broke out into a brilliant smile. “I thought you were younger.”
Shaking my head, I focus on the stores we’re passing, she’s awful happy about my age. I guess if my family really pushed the Awakening thing and I found out there’s still a chance for me, I’d be happy too, yeah?
‘They do not think the way we do, Keri. Awakening is everything to them, they base their value as living beings on their power. Not on who they are,’ Ciar explains. This is why I don’t understand the way the world works the way it does.
A person should be judged on their actions and by who they are, not how much power they have.
“Did you have a rough Awakening? I’ve heard that it’s incredibly painful. What did your Calling turn out to be?”
“Yes, it’s painful.” That’s all I say. She doesn’t need to know I received my Calling. I’m not about to tell her that Ciar held me in a bathtub of ice cold water to ease the pain.
“My siblings are Awakened but none of them have their full Triads… yet. My mother does but she works with plants…” She chatters away, and I nod in the appropriate places.
My gut cautions me about answering too many questions. Maybe it’s because I’m a little paranoid because of my childhood or maybe it’s instinct, but either way I’m not going to what I can do.
“And here we are, ladies,” Ciar says, with a flourish of his hand towards the rather nondescript storefront. Unlike the others around it there aren’t flashing Ley-lights or neon colored paints. It’s a simple brick front building.
My inner Fairy-lover has a feeling that walking in this door is going to be like opening a Christmas present. It’s so right! Pinks and purples of gauzy fluffy heaven greet my wide-open gaze. Hands over my mouth I look around me in absolute covetous wonder.
“Greetings, I’m Adelle, how may we be of—oh, tinkletots you’re a marked one. How fabulous that you’ve come to our establishment.” The petite Fairy with translucent pink—oh my Faerie yes—wings greets me with a smile of pure welcome.
She barely comes up to my waist, her hair is long and wavy and as pink as her wings. Her eyes are huge in her delicate face, a brilliant green haloed with long dark lashes.
My mouth snaps shut as her words hit home. Marked one? This is not the first time a Fairy has used this term with me and I have no idea what the heck it means.
“What do you mean marked one?” I ask as she grabs my hand and leads me towards the back of the store.
“A Fairy put a mark on your Aura that says you are to be protected by Fairy kind. It’s nothing to worry about, sugar, only Fairies can see it—and that handsome Puca who is watching me like the sexy monster he is.” Before I can stop myself, I bare my teeth at her. Smiling, she pats my arm, “There, there, I have no want of your Puca. I’m too delicate for the likes of him.”
True facts, if mating with him didn’t kill her, I would. Gods, what’s wrong with me? I see the self-satisfied smile split Ciar’s face, he’s happy with whatever it is.
‘Out of my head, dog-breath.’ His chuckle gives me goosebumps as he takes a seat in a c
hair, facing me.
“Now, what type of function do you need to be dressed for, sweets? We can provide any type of clothing you desire.” She steers me towards the pedestal they measure you on and disappears in a cloud of glitter only to reappear seconds later.
“A Mixer at the Menagerie,” I tell her, staring openly as tape measures start twirling around me like snakes.
“You’re a tall one, but it suits you. Now we need a dress that shows off those long legs of yours.” Muttering numbers and measurements she starts flittering around me, adjusting my arms and legs as she sees fit.
Fairies wings look tissue-paper delicate and, in some ways, like a butterfly’s wings. They even have dust on them, just like butterflies. Also like them, Fairies come in all different sizes and colors. Giggling I wink at Lucinda who’s still wearing a bright smile and a look of awe on her face as she looks around the store.
I’m sure I look the same way, probably worse when we first walked in.
“Do you have a particular color you wish to request?” Adelle asks, watching the steady marching line of fabric as a sheath of it stretches out beside of my head.
“Not really, I figure you’re the one who knows the most about that. You know, the purple hair and all?” She pauses in her task and smiles up at me.
“Now then, is your friend also seeking a gown?” I look over at Lucinda who nods while clapping her hands in excitement. I climb off the pedestal and go to sit beside Ciar.
“Keri, does your family live in town?” Lucinda asks, and instantly I shift in discomfort.
Clearing my throat, I say, “they used to.”
“Oh, does that mean they still own property here?” That’s a good question and something I wouldn’t ask someone, but I guess this is part of the getting to know each other phase of friendship.
“Yes, but it’s been a long time since I was there.”
“We should totally go there one day, you can live off campus and just think of the freedom you’d have in your own home.” Blinking slowly, I shift in the chair my shoulder resting against Ciar’s.