by Cameron Jace
Pickwick waited for Charmwill to tell him more about the island but it was clear that he wasn’t going to, because he was there only for the boy.
The parrot watched the magical world with his eyes almost bulging out. He was looking for the characters Charmwill always mentioned in his stories, but he’d found none; so he assumed they were still asleep like Charmwill had explained.
Then Pickwick saw the mermaids in the Missing Mile. They were so beautiful they almost took his breath away; swimming gracefully between the ships, giggling, whispering, and splashing water at Charmwill. They jumped out of the water like dolphins, welcoming the old man and his parrot to the Missing Mile. Wishing he could play with them, Pickwick squawked instead. The mermaids giggled again, covering their mouths with their wet hands as if they weren’t supposed to be in the presence of old man Charmwill.
“It would be better if you don’t stare at the mermaids too long,” Charmwill warned Pickwick. “I know they’re beautiful, but they can read your mind if you let them stare into your eyes. They’re curious about the secret stories you keep inside you, and eyes are windows to the soul.”
Pickwick fluttered his wings with obedience and closed his eyes, straightened his back, and pulled his chin high, away from the mermaids.
“Good parrot,” Charmwill said then wet his forefinger with his mouth and held it out to test the wind. “It’s a beautiful day in the Fairyworld.”
Charmwill continued rowing toward a Dragonship surrounded with floating glass coffins, which were half-filled with water. He stopped near a specific coffin and looked at a black, wavy shadow of a boy inside. The shadow had been chained as if it was capable of escaping, and the coffin was guarded by two mermaids. Pickwick shrugged. He had never seen such a thing before. The shadow seemed in pain, trying to free itself.
“The Boy Who is a Shadow,” Charmwill muttered as he climbed the zigzagged dragon’s tale up the ship’s deck—which was the dragon’s back. Sometimes, in the middle of sailing, dragons needed to take a nap, and that was when they came to a stop in the water. Pickwick wondered if they breathed fire when they snored.
Following Charmwill, Pickwick saw an old woman sitting on the deck. Her skin was tanned and her hair was a mesh of black-and-white. She had a weary look on her face, and it looked like she hadn’t been properly introduced to a comb before. Pickwick thought Charmwill should lend her his golden comb, but couldn’t tell him. It struck him that this might have been why Charmwill had turned him into a mute; maybe Pickwick talked too much.
The woman on the deck was blindfolded, sitting in front of a scale that carried apples on one pan and snakes on the other. Although the apples outnumbered the thin snakes, the snakes were still heavier, pulling the scale down to their side.
“Charmwill, my dear,” the woman welcomed them as a playful mermaid splashed more water, somersaulting from one side of the ship to the other. The woman shushed it away. “Those annoying, giggly Mermaids, all play, no work,” she muttered.
“Godmother Justina,” Charmwill bowed his head, paying his respects.
“Who’s your friend?” Justina asked, adding an apple to the scale, which still leaned toward the snakes. “Never saw you with a parrot before.”
“That’s because it’s been a hundred years since we last met. I found him and enchanted him years ago,” Charmwill chuckled. “I call him Pickwick.”
“I am Pickwick,” the parrot squawked. “And I am mute!”
The mermaids in the sea laughed again.
“Interesting,” Justina said. “A parrot that is mute, but actually isn’t. Is that one of the riddles you amuse the children with, Charmwill?”
“It’s the only phrase it can say,” Charmwill explained. “Other than that, it is mute.”
“And may I ask why you’ve bestowed such misery upon your parrot?”
“Because it’s also my Book of Beautiful Lies,” Charmwill said. “Parrots tend to talk too much, so I thought I’d enchant it with eternal silence.”
Pickwick folded his wings like humans fold their arms in front of their chest. He looked away, displeased.
“Then you shouldn’t have chosen a parrot in the first place,” Justina mused. “But you’re charming Charmwill. You always do things your way, and I won’t argue with you. Nice to meet you, Pickwick,” she nodded toward the parrot as if she could see. “I am the Justice Godmother of the Fairyworld, but as you see I’ve been blinded by the dark forces, trying to spread evil into our world,” Justina sighed at the irony. “I’m blindfolded, and you’re mute. We might be the perfect match.”
The mermaids let out a sympathizing whistle.
“Any luck with balancing the good and evil in the Fairyworld?” Charmwill wondered. He knew the apples resembled the good, and the snakes represented evil.
Godmother Justina kept silent for a moment. She had been trying her best to balance good and evil, but the evil in the Fairyworld, however little, caused a lot of mischief.
“So tell me, Charmwill. What brings you to the Missing Mile?” Justina asked, rummaging in a basket next to her for a healthy apple to balance the scale.
Charmwill put his hand-held glasses back on, walked to the edge of the ship, and looked down at the coffin with the shadow of a boy in it. “I came to free the boy,” he said.
“What boy?”
“The Boy Who is a Shadow,” Charmwill looked back at her.
“Loki?”
“Yes, Godmother,” Charmwill nodded. “I came to free him from being shadowed, and give him a second chance in life.”
“And why would you want to do that?” she wondered. “You know this boy has great darkness in him. That’s why he was banned from Fairy Heaven. He’s been sentenced to be shadowed for eternity.”
“Eternity?” Charmwill narrowed his eyebrows.
“When an immortal, particularly a half-angel, sins, his soul is turned into a shadow as punishment. Forever. His shadow is very strong though; that’s why it’s chained.”
“I can’t believe you did that to a fifteen year old boy,” Charmwill said.
“It was the right thing to do, or the darkness inside him would have taken over his soul, and the consequences would be irreversible.”
“He is mentioned in the prophecy,” Charmwill said. “This boy is going to help save the Fairyworld. How could the Council of Fairy Heaven do that to him?”
Pickwick had never seen his master so upset.
“It looks like the prophecy was false,” Justina said, adding half an apple to the scale. Still, the snakes won. “The boy has proven that by defying the Council’s orders. You know what he did, Charmwill.”
“I don’t care what he did,” Charmwill said. Pickwick was curious as to what the boy did to be punished. “He was one of the best Dreamhunters ever. He killed many demons, defending the Fairyworld.”
“That was before he fell in love with a demon girl,” Justina said. “Disobeying the Council of Heaven is the worst thing a half-angel can do,” Justina sighed. “In Loki’s case, the phrase ‘like father like son’ proves to be true.”
“Are you saying that because his father also fell for a demon girl?” Charmwill asked.
“Although his father was a pure angel, we both know that he defied the Council of Heaven, too, when he married Loki’s mother, a demon girl as well,” Justina said. “Can’t you see it runs in the family?”
“I still have faith in the prophecy, Godmother. I still want to free the boy,” Charmwill said.
“You don’t understand,” Justina said as she rummaged in the basket, desperately wanting to balance apples and snakes. She had picked the ripest, red apple from a basket to create a balance, but without success. The problem was that the snakes grew bigger and heavier whenever she added an apple to the scale. It made her mission impossible. She found a rotten apple in the basket with a worm climbing out of a hole in it. Pickwick thought she knew about the apple from the way it smelled. Or was it that the Godmother Justina was cheating, and that
she wasn’t actually blind? “This boy you’re trying to save is like this rotten apple,” she sighed, about to throw it away.
“Wait!” Charmwill said. “I see you’ve failed to balance the scale with the ripe apples. Would you accept a suggestion on my behalf, Godmother Justina?”
“And that would be?”
“Why don’t you try using the apple in your hand?” Charmwill said.
“You mean this rotten apple?” Justina shook her head, “no way.”
“Just trust me,” Charmwill said. “You compared it to the boy, remember? What if it balances your scale? Would that change your mind about him?”
“Charmwill, Charmwill, Charmwill,” Justina exhaled. “You’re always trying to see the ripe in the world, even when it’s rotten. I will do it, only to prove you wrong.”
The Godmother added the rotten apple to the scale. It didn’t work. But before she could comment, Charmwill shushed her and pointed at the worm climbing out of the apple, gliding over to the snakes. Surprisingly the little, helpless worm freaked out a couple of snakes, scaring them out of the pan, and balancing the scale in turn.
“Some worm,” Justina said.
Pickwick really wished he could talk now, and scream that Justina could not be blind. How did she know about the worm? Instead, Pickwick occupied himself with the rotten apple healing itself afterwards. The apple looked so juicy and delicious now, having been cured of the worm that was infecting it. Pickwick licked its lips.
“See? I told you,” Charmwill said, and pulled out his pipe. He felt proud, puffing Dragonbreath in the air. The ship shook slightly when he did, and Pickwick wondered if it was the dragon’s time to wake up. “Like the apple, you should give the boy a chance. All the apple needed was to get that worm out of it. In fact, the darkness inside the boy could be the weapon he could use against evil if nurtured and taken care of, if you only let me show him the way.”
“Alright,” Justina gave up, waving her hands in the air, almost blushing. “I’ll free the boy, but under the three conditions of the Council of Fairy Heaven.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Charmwill winked at Pickwick with victorious eyebrows, still drawing on his pipe. Pickwick winked back.
“Rule number one is that the boy will be sent to the Ordinary World as a mortal, which means he could die like any other human,” Justina said.
“Agreed,” Charmwill said with the pipe in his mouth.
“Rule number two: the boy will be sent to the Ordinary World without previous memories. He will not remember anything about his past. You will have to tell him that he’s a half-angel that used to live in Fairy Heaven, though.”
“That’s a bit contradictory,” Charmwill commented. “Why would I torture him by telling him he was banned from Fairy Heaven if he was destined to live as an amnesiac mortal?”
“Because of rule number three, which is that he has a choice to continue living as a mortal in the Ordinary World or seek forgiveness and go back to Fairy Heaven.” Justina said. “In that case, erasing his memories is for his own good, so he doesn’t think about the girl that got him banned.”
Charmwill rubbed his chin, “I thought that he was doomed not to be forgiven. What has changed?”
“Your desire to save him is what changed,” Justina said. ”If someone as prestigious as you decided the boy should be saved, why not give him a chance to repent? As Justice, I believe in wrong and right, but I also believe in strong willed hearts.”
“And what does he have to do exactly to be forgiven if he ever chooses to return to Fairy Heaven?” Charmwill said.
“He has to kill ninety-nine vampires in the Ordinary World,” the Godmother raised a forefinger in the air.
“Ninety-nine vampires?” Charmwill’s heart missed a beat. “That’s an absurd amount to kill for a mortal without powers.”
“These are the rules upon which I am allowed to unshadow him. You will have to teach him to be a mortal vampire hunter, and if he desires returning home, free and forgiven, he will have to do as I said. It’s the only thing that’d cleanse him of the darkness he has inside him.”
Charmwill considered the offer for a moment, looking down at Loki’s chained shadow. “Like I said, I accept,” he nodded back at the Godmother who signaled to the mermaids to pull the coffin up to the ship.
The mermaids opened the glass coffin, hypnotized Loki by staring at his shadow a tad too long, and freed him from his chains. Charmwill knocked on Pickwick’s beak, tic-to-tic-tac-toc, and it turned into a book, which he started drawing in. As he drew, Loki began to come back to life, taking the form of the human Charmwill designed in his book.
“You’re not planning to change his looks in the Ordinary World, are you?” Justina asked.
“Not at all,” Charmwill said, turning the book back into Pickwick. “I only gave him black hair, instead of blonde, as the prophecy reads.”
One of the mermaids wrapped a thin necklace made of seashells around Loki’s neck and kissed his mouth, murmuring something about the second life the boy was just given. It was part of the waking ritual. Everyone stared at the unconscious boy in the glass coffin because he looked like a male sleeping beauty.
Within minutes, the mermaid’s kiss would wake Loki up for the second time in his life. He was going to be reborn, and have another chance in the Ordinary World. The mermaids couldn’t stop staring at him. There was something mysterious about Loki that made them believe that he would save the Fairyworld from the imminent evil that was prophesized. Pickwick was sad that Loki would wake up in the Ordinary World, oblivious to all of this.
“What are those black tattoos he has on each shoulder?” Charmwill asked.
“They are black stars,” Justina said, “it’s how the Council of Heaven brands banned angels—or half-angels in his case. It will stick with him until he kills the ninety-nine demons or dies as a Minikin.”
Pickwick raised his eyebrows because he didn’t know what a Minikin was.
“We call ordinary people who aren’t related to the Fairyworld, Minikins,” Charmwill explained to Pickwick. “’Kin’ means ordinary human in our fairy language, and ‘mini’ means small and helpless. So, why does he have two tattoos, and why are they on his shoulders?” Charmwill turned back to Justina.
“They’re placed where he should have grown wings if he’d passed the age of sixteen without breaking the Council’s rules, and would have been promoted to angel,” Justina explained.
Charmwill didn’t comment. He ordered the mermaids to move Loki to his canoe so he could sail him back through the fog to the Ordinary World.
He is also not allowed to use his last name,” Justina said. “Will you choose a new one for him?”
“Blackstar,” Charmwill smiled, looking at a sleeping Loki. “Loki Blackstar. I like it,” he added as he turned around to walk away, “sounds badass.”
“What did you just say, Charmwill?” Justina looked furious.
“It’s just a word I learned in the Ordinary World,” Charmwill blushed. He wasn’t supposed to say such words in her presence. “It means…nobleman.”
The mermaids and Pickwick snickered for they knew that the word meant otherwise.
“Yes, he’s going to be badass,” one of the mermaids agreed.
“Oh,” Justina said. “One last thing, Charmwill,” she said. “Can I ask you why you’re doing this? Really? Saving a damned boy? There must be another reason than just believing in a prophecy.”
“Of course, there is, Godmother Justina, and it’s very simple,” Charmwill said stepping down the zigzagged dragon’s tail. “No one deserves to die before knowing who they really are.”
Charmwill climbed into his canoe and rowed away with Pickwick and the Boy Who was a Shadow. Soon enough, the boy would wake up and Charmwill would have to teach him a lot of things. He raised a finger again to test the wind and commented on how the day had gotten even better. A smile landed upon his face as he puffed the pipe again.
“I hope the G
odmother doesn’t find out that I enchanted the rotten apple. It’s a little magic I learned,” Charmwill told Pickwick. “She thinks she can balance the good and evil in the world by sitting on her lazy butt next to her scale. Little does she know that it needs hard and dedicated people and strong hearts to outsmart evil in this world. I have a feeling only two kids in the world can do that. One of them is Loki Blackstar; the Boy Who was a Shadow.”
2
Deadly Ever After
The screaming Cinderella ran up the stairs. She held the rim of her blood-spattered dress while the wooden steps creaked underneath her. Her predator, a Prince Charming with fangs, climbed after her with a chainsaw.
“I love you, and can’t live without you. Kiss me or die. Mua, ha, ha!” Prince Charming proclaimed.
Cinderella threw him a flirty look over her shoulder before he caught her by her dress and pulled her a step down to him. He rolled her back into his arms theatrically and embraced her. Instead of killing her with the chainsaw, or kissing her, Prince Charming bit Cinderella on the neck, a true love’s bite.
Everyone at the party cheered happily. Boys and girls saluted the couple on the stairs, raising their half-filled glasses in the air while pink silly-string poured from the second floor. The bass in the music throbbed like a mad frog, croaking from inside the walls, and everyone danced frantically. A girl’s dress, smeared with blood-like red syrup, hung loose like a crescent moon from the ceiling. It had the party’s theme written on it:
Deadly Ever After
And a little below, it read:
Dead is the new cool.
The masquerade party bustled with teens at the secluded Haunted House at 112 Ocean Avenue. The place was decorated like the setting of a cheap horror movie. Everyone was disguised as a fractured fairy tale character mixed with unusual vampires and other legendary monsters.
“Silly Minikins,” Loki mumbled, gazing at the kissing couple up the stairs. They were making out now; biting was only an appetizer. “Who believes in that lame true love fairy tale kiss?” Loki was leaning against the kitchen door with tensed up shoulders, hands in his pockets. He was trying his best to avoid the girl who’d spilled her drink on him minutes ago. “Why did they have to ban me here in a world where I don’t belong?” he sighed, staring upward, which he often did when he had no one to talk to. The ceiling never replied.