I’m tempted to approach her audience; everything she is doing wants to lure me in.
“Eliza Rose? Am I right?” a flamboyant British voice says from behind me.
I whip around to see a tall caramel-skinned fairy watching me carefully. He has to be in his twenties; he doesn’t look like the king here.
“Yes?” I am fascinated by how he looks. His rainbow markings glow on and off in time with the bass of the thumping music.
“Nice to finally meet you. My name is Warren Vasaloff. I’m the King of Fairies. Do you have my rose?” He moves around with the beat, waving his arms around him. There’s a golden ring on his ring finger.
I dig for the rose in my coat pocket and hand it to him. He twirls the rose’s stem between his fingers. He’s checking his nails; his sharp wings brush against one another; he’s now floating in front of me. Yeah, I think Miss Canary was right about them being extrovert. Warren glances behind me and then back to the rose.
He is wearing black short shorts and a black crop top. Around his stomach are his fairy markings, traveling down around his right thigh, and two placed on each hip; he’s barefoot.
“I love it when witches stare. It gives us fairies a chance to kill them.”
The smell here is so sweet, and the temptation to dance, to kiss, and to drink is taking hold of my mind. His skin is mouthwatering, clean shaven, and his eyes are shifting through the many colors of the rainbow. Fairies are much different than any mystic I’ve faced.
“Welcome to Faevil,” he says, then twirls around in the air and flies to the girl on the stage.
I watch Warren dancing on stage in front of me. My coat slides off, and I turn around to see who removed it. In front of me is a floating fairy. He isn’t that tall for the average male, but that’s the thing—he isn’t average…he’s a mystic. His coal black hair shines, reflecting against the honey brown roots above us. I forget I’m inside of a tree for a second.
“Do I need to take off your shoes too?” His voice is soft and beautiful.
I gaze at the light and dark green vines that hug his slim body, and his glimmering rainbow tattoos. I crook up a smile, letting the soothing music flow into my ears and his scent to invade me.
“Less clothes the better?” I say wryly.
“That’s kind of the point. Call me Aeron.” His eyes change color.
“Liza…”
Aeron flies around me, touching my skin with the tips of his fingers. He’s much different than Warren, calm and reserved.
“You’re getting zoned, aren’t you? I’ll be right back.”
I want to go over and dance with the other fairies here. My mouth is open and I’m extremely dizzy, but it’s amazing. I stumble over to an edge. The tree gets deeper; if I keep walking, I’ll be in the pit with the dancing fairies.
I don’t care. I want to dance too.
“Whoa, pretty face, careful there.” His hands wrap around my wrist, pulling me back.
I mumble something embarrassing, smiling up at him. “You smell so…delicious.” I sniff his skin, rubbing his chest. “Why are you laughing at me?”
“Cause you’re zoned, Liza.” He’s holding a green drink in his hands. “Here drink this. It’ll help you.”
I push his hand away from my mouth. “I-I might be awesome, but I’m not that awesome,” I moan, pressing my index finger on his chest. “Back up you mystic.” I move my hips, dancing with the beat. He grabs my sides, turning me around to face him, and presses the glass to my mouth. “Hey! Let go of me, pixie.”
The music completely stops, and he steps back a bit. The eyes of the many fairies glare up at me from their dance pit. I don’t know what I said for them to stop having fun.
“Continue on with your—the moving of the hips and the stuff.” My voice is a slur.
The fairies proceed to dance around, a roar of mumbles filling the wide space in the tree.
Do they know I’m a witch? Someone born to kill them?
“Open your mouth before you say something else stupid.”
“Fine.” I open my mouth, stick my tongue out, and say, “Ahhhh.” At first it tastes like sour green apple, then it starts to burn on my tongue like hot sauce. I swallow, waving my hands around in Aeron’s face. The music is lowered, and the sweet smell in this kingdom dies down.
“Thank you…”
“Don’t mention it.” He flutters over to a table, placing the drink down. “You’re a witch. What are you doing here?” He resumes floating in front of me.
I stand silently, struggling to find words to respond to him.
“Witches can’t get into the tree. There’s a force that prevents non-mystics and corrupt beings from entering.”
Then how come Christian didn’t leap inside with me? It’s perfectly fine here, just the extreme temptations and whatnot overwhelmed me. Maybe Christian was too scared to even jump.
Aeron glares at me in pure confusion, throwing my coat on top of a large glowing flower, and floats into the shadows. I turn around to see the girl who was dancing on stage…standing, not floating in front of me, with her arms crossed. Warren staggers from behind her, approaching the two of us.
“Follow me,” he says. “Kara, watch the entrance.”
Her eyes glimmering a light green color and then fading into pink, she flies above me. Her fresh flowery scent whips across my face, and I smile. These smells really remind me of the time Dawn got attacked. I really hope she’s been safe while I’ve been lost in this strange mystical world.
Warren plops to the ground from mid-air, strutting toward a large cave-like entrance, his wings twitching with each step.
The fairy king is a few feet ahead of me, and if I don’t catch up to him, he’ll eventually be gone. He obviously doesn’t care if I follow or not. I grab my coat and check to see if I brought my bar with me. I search around my coat for the weapon, but it’s gone. I must’ve left it back up at the entrance. The only thing I have to protect me from the mystics in this place isn’t here with me. I know I can’t trust anyone…not even Warren.
I start to head back toward the tree, trying to not act stupid like Donovan would call me.
“The king’s chamber, I believe, is that way, sweetie.” Kara glances toward the entrance behind me.
“I need to find something,” I murmur.
“Your broomstick? You’ve no need to lie, my dear.” She chuckles. “It’s not over here. Trust me, I would have seen it.”
She walks toward me, her eyes glowing different colors. She has the same smell that crawled off of Dawn from her attacker in the alley. Kara’s giggles taunt me in the background as I get caught in my hopeless reverie. I need another sip from that drink Aeron gave me.
“Kara, leave the poor witch alone,” someone mutters.
“She’s so innocent, it’s killing me inside,” she says. “Aeron, mind your business.”
I blink up at the seductive fairy and turn around to see Aeron kicking the gravel with his hands in his pockets, his markings glowing. I guess my grandmother was a bit wrong or whoever wrote in our family grimoire that elves and fairies aren’t alike. They’re manipulative freaks. However, from what I saw, back at Ellevil the elves focused more on combat training and evasion techniques.
Here at Faevil…well, it was different. The fairies focused more on partying, and they were free spirited.
I pat my head, trying to soothe the headache that’s bound to come.
Aeron starts to walk toward me. I focus on the king’s chamber, avoiding eye contact with the fairy. He stops me from passing him, turning me around to face him.
“Be careful with Warren,” Aeron says. “He might come off young and all, but he’s way older than you. There’s a reason why he’s our king.” I hear flapping wings behind me.
“Eliza? I’ve been waiting in my chamber for you. Did I really have to come out to fetch you?” Warren eyes Kara as she flies away, and Aeron wanders off to the bar.
I follow the king, trudging inside the dar
k alley Warren steps into. Golden circular lights float in the air above us. I brush the tip of my fingers against the flowery moss walls and tuck a single strand of my now blonde hair behind my right ear.
“In here.”
I can sense Warren not too far ahead of me, and I see his glowing skin art gleaming across the dim cave-like alley. The music fades away, and I follow his wings through darkness. He lands in front of a large hole to our right that’s stuck into the wooden walls. He glances at me and sighs, pulling out the golden rose I was told to deliver, then walks inside the hole.
I enter the king’s room. In front of me, a large sparkling mirror is hung. Inside the mirror a reflection of a teenaged girl with blonde hair and vibrant green eyes stands awkwardly. I place my palm against my neck, while watching the girl do the same. I remember how the transformation changed my appearance. I have most of my markings covered, so I don’t know if they’re glowing or not. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up freezing or burning if they are.
As for the king’s room, it isn’t sparkly or anything; it’s really dirty and dull with a bunch of dusty books. The only sort of color is Warren and the golden rose in his hand. The fairy flutters silently in front of the mirror, watching me.
“You were in deep thought,” he says, dropping his eyes down to the flower. My eyes wander from the sea of dusty books back to his reflection in the mirror. Warren chuckles. He stops floating and drops to the wooden floor.
“I can tell that you’re worried about something. It’s all over your face. Witches are so predictable; it amazes me, really.”
“Okay, well you’ve got your flower Miss Canary told me to deliver.”
“Oh, so she’s going by Miss now? So strange, you have no idea who you are to her.” I don’t know what he means by that. He licks his lips and walks deeper into the room. “Do you understand why this flower is important to my kind?”
“Yes I do.”
“Don’t lie to me.” He grins.
“It’s to keep your kingdom hidden from non-mystics.”
“Oh…is that so? Then please tell me how are you here?” Warren chuckles once more, walking toward a carved circular window. “My power is as strong as Terese’s, and a witch was able to dive into my portal.” He turns around. “Makes me wonder what else you might be.” He lifts the golden flower, which cries golden sparkles onto the floor. Warren turns back around, facing the carved window. There is a droopy blue flower on the sill. The color is fading, the stem is bent, and the flower looks like it’s dying.
Outside this window, there’s bark of the tree from the inside, and the flower’s stem is stuck in the wood. Warren yanks it out and snaps it in half. Immediately the music and cheer from outside of the king’s room becomes awfully quiet. Disturbingly so.
I’m on the verge of crying, and that isn’t the only feeling surging throughout my body; it’s also anger, jealousy, embarrassment…I’m becoming crazy.
Warren’s wings appear once more, but they aren’t the color of the rainbow. They are dark red and fluttering rapidly. His tanned skin starts to glow from his green markings. He turns around to glare at me; he looks exactly like the corrupt fairy Dawn and I encountered. A second later, he places the golden rose into the carved window’s hole.
Everything is silenced, and my mind stops raging. Warren snaps his fingers to make them vanish. He glances at his golden rose.
“What was that?”
“Without a protective charm in my kingdom, I’ll lose control of my mystics and we’ll all become corrupt. See, it’s not only to hide away from non-mystics, creatures, and witches,” he adjusts his crop top, “it’s to keep us from becoming mindless killers.”
It’s come to mind that he must be the only fairy in his kingdom able to remove the charm, facing its corrupt state, and then successfully sticking a new rose in. No one else would place the new charm in, and they’d all become killers.
Aren’t they already?
I remember how Kara reacted to me entering the kingdom, knowing I was a witch.
“So again, I ask you how is it that you can come into my kingdom…passing this powerful protective charm?”
“I don’t know. I guess Miss Canary blessed me or something, allowing me to enter.”
“That’s not in her magic. Elves aren’t the only powerful mystics. This is my kingdom; I have that kind of power. I protected my kingdom from having witches like you disturb our peace, so please, how did you bypass my charm?”
“I’m sorry if I disrespected your powers, but I honestly don’t know myself. I was told to deliver the rose to you.”
Was this some sort of trap to get me killed? I wouldn’t think otherwise from how strange Christian and Miss Canary were. I don’t have my weapon to protect me, so I search the room for something sharp. To successfully kill him, I need to puncture his two hearts.
Warren stands quietly watching me, and I can tell he’s trying to figure out how I entered his kingdom.
“Liza?” The sound of footsteps comes from behind me. “Sorry to interrupt you, your majesty.”
I turn around to see Christian standing politely outside of the room. He finally jumped into the portal. He looks worried and distressed.
“May I come in?”
“Yes you may.” Warren flicks a long piece of hair from his eyes.
Christian walks over to me, stopping for a second a few feet in front of the king and me, glancing at the rose. He holds out something to me. My broomstick becomes visible, the red button appearing first and then the silver swirly lines wrapping around the base. I squint to make sure I am right about the object in his hand. He’d break his little dream world game by giving me my weapon? Is this all real or some sort of illusion? This must mean that he could have Donovan’s too. I’m losing focus; Donovan told me to keep playing the part of his interest. I can’t lose character right now.
“I don’t need it.”
Christian’s eyes snap up to me in shock that I’d refuse to take it from him. Warren is also confused. He steps in between us.
“How in the world did you find that?” Warren says stiffly.
“Here you go, Eliza.” Christian walks over, forcing me to take my weapon. Is he really that afraid of the fairies around here? Does he trust me to hold my weapon with him being around me? There’s no way I’m going to let him walk out of this kingdom with me. This is my chance to escape, rescue Donovan, and get the hell out of this place. I conjure up a strategic plan in my head, a plan to kill Christian. I grasp my broomstick, and my silver markings begin to burn as the lines on my weapon glow.
Don’t be stupid, Donovan’s voice chides.
I swivel my head around, wondering if he’s here with me. What’s so stupid about killing Warren and Christian here at the same time? I bet I could do it fast enough. Activate the whip to wrap around Christian’s neck so that he can’t hallucinate me and then kick Warren’s face while I find something in his room to puncture his two hearts. Who am I kidding? Such a stupid plan already.
I wouldn’t have enough time, and Christian would get out of the whip’s metal too fast for me to react. I would end up trapped with him or dead. Not going to act stupid: check. The two mystics look at me, wondering if I would do something since I now have my broomstick. There’s a thick lump in my throat. I swallow, tucking my broomstick into my pocket. I sense Christian’s emotions; he’s relieved I didn’t try anything. Maybe this was his plan to get us out of here?
“Witches aren’t allowed in Faevil. The magical force from outside of my tree is too powerful…one would simply incinerate as they fell down the hole.”
If witches can’t enter Faevil, I would have been dead already, so I too questioned how I entered the kingdom. Warren definitely has a point.
“If my fairies see that broomstick here in their home, they’ll go crazy.”
“I’ve already placed it away.”
“I think we’ll be going now,” Christian said. “You have your sparkly charm already.”
&n
bsp; The king’s nostrils flare and his eyes narrow. “Don’t come back.” Warren slaps his hands together in the air, and a gust of wind whips across my body and blows Christian and me out of the room.
The air surges around us, causing our bodies to float in the air. It feels like I am Dory from Finding Nemo in that fast water current scene. The air zips us through the tunnel and passes the dancing drunk fairies. I see noticed Kara and Aeron fluttering by the entrance of Faevil. I wave at her and she grins. Christian’s holding my waist as we shoot up the large hole, back into the darkness.
“Why’d you give me my broomstick?” I ask. I can’t see him, but I can feel his arms around me. We land hard on the ground, and dirt crumbles inside my mouth. “Gross,” I spit.
“I was so freaking worried about you.” Christian helps me up and hugs me. “Are you okay? Were they monsters? What did they do to you?” He checks my entire body and makes me twirl around for him.
“You weren’t really there, were you?” I realize what he’s done. He tricked Warren into thinking he was with me. It feels warm outside, and the moon’s light relaxes me.
How has the weather changed so drastically?
“You wouldn’t have been able to get out if he saw your broomstick.”
“What are you talking about?” I rub my face; there’s a big headache coming.
“I’m saying you were going to get zoned again, and they would have eventually killed you.”
I guess that meant drugged. I did feel a little loopy down there with Aeron. I glance behind me at the glowing portal; it disappears and the bark of the tree becomes visible. It is amazing being able to do all of these things without Donovan protecting me. I’m coming into my own with my witch powers.
“You fell into that portal and I was blocked by some heated force. I couldn’t jump in after you, I was freaking out…”
I remember what Warren told me about who can’t enter the kingdom. Corrupt beings and witches. Christian isn’t a witch, so that can only mean he must be corrupt. I kind of figured he is, even how nice he might be acting toward me now. I won’t forget that he’s tried killing me since I’ve been here, and I will never forget the eyes I saw the time he was in my room. I continue to play my character. I touch my pocket; my broomstick is still outlined. So it wasn’t an illusion; he really gave it to me. Maybe I’ve had it all along and he played with my head, making me think I’d lost it. I chuckle to myself, realizing this continuous trick and should have known about it. It’s always been with me. I could kill him now, but I’m not.
Mythical (The Mystical Series Book 2) Page 12