Dark Promise (Between Worlds #1)

by Julia Crane

  Adam shrugged. “Wasn’t just me. It’s a team effort.”

  “Uh-huh, stop being humble. We all know you lead the team,” Emma teased.

  “We need to order. I’m starving,” I griped, and waved the waitress over. I loved my boyfriend, but if I let them go on any longer, I wasn’t going to get to eat.

  As I listened to them banter after we ordered, I realized my headache had returned, and it was worse than before. Now I really was concerned.

  The doorbell rang.

  I glanced over at my clock. It was nine o’clock at night, kind of late for visitors. I made my way to the top of the stairs, curious as to who it was, and I heard the door open. “Mrs. McCallister?”

  “Yes?” my mother answered. I could hear the question in her voice, indicating it wasn’t someone she knew.

  “I need to talk to you and your husband about your daughter. It’s important.”

  What? I snuck further down the stairs. There was a beautiful lady with long light blonde hair standing at the door. She was young and lovely, and looked like she could be a runway model. I wondered why in the world she wanted to talk to my parents about me.

  My father was at the door now. “What is this in reference to?” he asked, his voice all business.

  “Please, may I come in? This isn’t something I’d like to discuss outside.” The woman glanced over her shoulder as if looking for someone.

  My parents looked at each other, but I couldn’t see their faces clearly, and then my father nodded. “Okay.” They both stepped aside to let her in.

  Although this lady seemed familiar, I didn’t know her and didn’t like the fact that she was here because of me. I continued down the rest of the stairs and followed behind them.

  My mother led her into the living room. The lady’s piercing green eyes rested on me, sending a chill down my back. My father followed her gaze. “Rylie, do you know this woman?” Dad asked.

  “No.” I shook my head slowly. “I’ve never seen her before.”

  “Rylie, maybe you should go to your room,” Dad suggested, his gaze demanding I do as he said.

  “No. If this has something to do with me, I want to hear it.” I crossed my arms and sank against the back of the couch.

  Mom and Dad exchanged a worried glance, but turned back to the lady on the couch. “Please, go on.”

  Without taking her eyes from me, the lady calmly stated, “My name is Azura, and I am Rylie’s birth mother.”

  My father, who was always a level-headed man, was on his feet in seconds, his face hard. “What are you talking about?”

  I felt like I had fallen into some kind of parallel universe. Did this woman just say she was my birth mother? How could she be my birth mother? That would mean I was adopted, but wouldn’t my parents have told me something like that?

  My mother shook her head. “Birth mother? Rylie isn’t adopted.” She reached over and took my hand. “Believe me, I’ll never forget the eleven hours of labor.”

  The woman sat perfectly still in the blue armchair across from us, with her hands clasped on her lap. “I know it’s hard to accept, but it’s true. Your daughter died shortly after she was born. I switched the infants. Rylie is mine.”

  The wind left me as if I had been punched in the stomach. I couldn’t breathe, and the room spun. I gripped the pillow next to me with my other hand as I clung to my mother.

  Silence filled the room for a moment, and then my father exploded. “You need to leave now!” He pointed to the door. “Get out of this house and don’t come back without a court order.”

  The lady smiled sincerely, her face still as calm as it had been when she walked in the door. “Please, hear me out. I realize this is a lot to take in.”

  “No! This is preposterous! Nobody died. Rylie is ours.” Dad’s voice was like thunder.

  I studied the lady. She seemed so honest and soft-spoken. Why would she pretend something like this? Why would she ruin our family if it weren’t true? And if was true, why was she coming clean now? Something in me believed her even though I didn’t want to. I swallowed hard and rubbed my sweaty palms on my shirt.

  “Let her talk,” I said hoarsely.

  “Rylie, you can’t believe her.” Dad looked stricken.

  “I’m curious as to why she thinks I’m her daughter. Let’s hear her out.” I crossed my arms and scooted closer to my mother, comforted when she wrapped an arm around me.

  Dad turned back to the woman called Azura, and his frown deepened. “Fine.” He sat back down in his seat and glared. “Talk.”

  “Thank you. I’m going to tell you something not many humans know, and I have to trust you to keep it secret for Rylie’s sake.” She addressed the statement to my parents.

  Humans? Who talks like that?

  Her eyes rested on me. “Sixteen years ago tomorrow, you were born. When you arrived with a birthmark, your father and I were overjoyed. To us, it meant you would have special abilities. But then temptation came, and your father, being weak, succumbed to it. I had to hide you. I had to keep you safe. So, I went to the hospital in search of a baby who was dying. There is a special aura around people who are about to die, and I found a baby with that aura. I switched babies, leaving you and taking the dead baby girl with me. After duplicating the birthmark, I passed her off as my own and buried her.”

  Mom’s hand flew up to her mouth.

  I was dumbstruck. “But why? Who was your child in danger from?”

  “You were born with a powerful gift, one that many would like to get their hands on.”

  I rubbed my temples, hoping the headache that had started earlier would go away soon. This was insane. This lady must be crazy. In danger? A baby? I took a few deep breaths. “I still don’t understand. I can assure you that I do not have any special gifts. I’m boringly normal. I think you have the wrong person.”

  “Rylie, she’s lying. This woman clearly has mental issues.” Dad walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s probably just seeking attention or money.”

  “I assure you, sir, I’m not seeking either one of those. You can get a DNA test to prove what I’m saying, but there are things you all need to know before tomorrow.”

  “What?” Mom’s voice sounded weak.

  “Rylie and I…we’re not human.” She looked directly into my eyes.

  What the hell did that mean?

  “Now I know you’re insane!” Dad raised his voice again. “Get out of our house this minute.” He strode to the door and flung it open. Cool night air rushed inside.

  “We’re faeries,” Azura continued, “and tomorrow, Rylie will finish her transformation.”

  “What are you talking about?” Mom asked shakily. She glanced between me and the lady calling herself my mother, wiping tears from her eyes.

  “You’ve been having headaches,” Azura said simply, her gaze resting on me with a familiarity I didn’t like. “Backaches. You’ve been tired and sleeping a lot. Maybe you noticed little changes in the mirror. You know something is happening to your body. Tell me, am I wrong?”

  My mouth was dry. I couldn’t answer her in words, but I nodded in agreement.

  “Oh, c’mon. This is ridiculous!” Dad threw his hands up. “Get out of our house before I get my gun and make you.”

  “Rylie, you will look different. And unless you use glamour, everyone else will see the changes, too.” Suddenly, the lady changed right before our eyes. She was the same person, yet different. Her ears were pointy, and her green eyes brighter. And then there were the wings. She actually had wings. Sparkly, beautiful wings a shade of light green I had never seen before.

  That’s when the room started spinning again, and I passed out.

  “Rylie, wake up.” My mom was shaking me. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on her. It all came crashing back. I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked around. My mother and father were huddled around me, and the woman who claimed to be my birth mother was watching us intently. She l
ooked human again.

  “Did I imagine that?” I looked into my mother’s eyes, hoping for an answer I knew I wasn’t going to get.

  She shook her head, her face pale, and softly brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m afraid not. We all saw it.”

  “It has to be a trick. There are no such things as faeries.” My father’s eyes narrowed in Azura’s direction, and his fists were clenched at his sides. He resembled some kind of vengeful god, towering over our unwanted guest as she sat demurely on the couch.

  She smiled angelically and dropped her glamour once again, her wings flapping. It wasn’t any easier to see the second time around.

  “We’re real,” Azura said, her voice still eerily pleasant. “I’ve been watching Rylie grow up. You have done a wonderful job. I obviously picked a good family to raise my daughter.” She turned to look at me. “I want you to know, giving you up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It eats me up every day, but I know it was the right thing to do.”

  “I’m not your daughter. These are my parents.” I moved into the warmth of my mother’s arms, and glanced up at my dad for support.

  It hit me that I looked nothing like either of them, and panic rose in my chest. How could I have missed it all this time? I had fair skin and eyes, and my parents had dark hair and darker skin. They even both had dark eyes.

  This can’t be happening.

  Without a word, I bolted up the stairs to my room. My parents’ voices called for me, but I ignored them. I couldn’t deal with it.

  Rushing into my bedroom, I slammed the door.

  I stood in front of my dresser and stared into the mirror; I’d been doing that a lot lately. I got as close as I could to my reflection, so close my nose almost touched the glass. Physical changes? I knew I had noticed some things recently, but would I really look like her? Her ears were pointed, not just a little pointy, completely pointed. And wings? Could that be the reason my back had been hurting? Wings? Oh my God! Would I really have wings sticking out of my back?

  “Calm down, Ry,” I told myself. I put both hands to the smooth, cool surface of my dresser and looked away from my own reflection. This woman had to be crazy. Right? Maybe she spiked our food, and now we were hallucinating? I took several deep breaths.

  Tomorrow, Rylie will finish her transformation. The woman’s words echoed in my head. What did she mean? What else would happen? There was no way I was going to sleep tonight. Maybe if I stayed awake, none of it would happen.

  There was a knock at the door. I didn’t want to answer it. I didn’t want to talk to my parents or that woman. She said we could take a DNA test, but that would take time, and if she was telling the truth, I didn’t have that kind of time. I’d be a…faery…tomorrow! My stomach turned.

  Another knock was followed by my mom’s voice. “Rylie, can I come in?”

  “Go away!”

  “Rylie…please.”

  I stomped over to the door and threw it open. “Is that even my name? Or is that your baby’s name?”

  Tears welled in Mom’s brown eyes, and I immediately felt guilty. “Your name is Rylie. We didn’t settle on a name until minutes before we left the hospital to come home. And it was only after looking at you for a couple of days that we decided. So don’t you ever wonder about that.”

  I looked down and muttered, “Sorry.”

  Mom wrapped her arms around me. “You are our daughter. Nothing will change that. Even if what this crazy woman is saying is true, you will always be our little girl.”

  She sounded so sincere, but I wondered if that would be true even after I “transformed.” “I don’t want to be Tinkerbell, Mom.”

  A musical laugh came from out in the hall, and I realized Dad and Azura were standing there just beyond my line of sight.

  “You will not be anything like Tinkerbell,” the lady assured me, her hands clasped in front of her as she came closer. My dad stood behind her with his cop face on.

  “Am I going to shrink?” I asked, my voice shrill.

  “No. We’re not tiny. You’re thinking of piskies.”

  “Piskies? I thought it was pixies?”

  Azura nodded. “Depends on what area they come from. The pronunciation can differ.”

  “Interesting,” my mother said, much more calmly than I expected.

  It was surprising. I could barely believe anything of what was happening, but my mom seemed to be taking it as it came.

  I swallowed hard. “What else is going to happen to me?”

  “Well, one thing the folklore has correct is that you won’t be able to tell a lie. Ever. You will use glamour so humans cannot see your true form. I can teach you how. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it.” Azura paused, eyeing me. “Every faery has their own special ability. I’m not sure what yours is, but you’ll soon find out. And because you’re an Aurorian faery, your ability will be much stronger than most.”

  “What do you mean ability?” I wrinkled up my nose and stared at the stranger standing in the hallway outside my bedroom. It was too close for comfort to my safe zone.

  “My ability is air manipulation.” Her gaze never faltered, but a low whistling sound filled the house, and suddenly the papers on my desk flew into the air like a little mini tornado. It only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed longer.

  I watched the papers fall back onto my desk in a messy pile. “Whoa.”

  There was a beat of dead silence.

  “You…did that?” my dad finally said.

  Mom and I turned as one back to Azura. The faery just nodded.

  “You said I was in danger. From what?” I left the doorway to fall onto my bed. My knees couldn’t hold me anymore. I just wished everyone would leave me alone, and we could act like this day never happened, because I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.

  “Yes, what exactly is the danger?” my father agreed.

  The three of them entered my bedroom—even Azura. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but it wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

  My mother joined me on the bed, and my father stood beside us, while Azura stayed by the doorway. Her stance was relaxed but somehow light-footed, as if she could run if need be. “The fey are divided into two groups, if you will. Light faeries and dark faeries. The name comes from their source of magick. We are light faeries and get our magick from the sun. The dark faeries get their magick from the moon. They offered my husband access to their magick in exchange for our daughter.”

  “What did they want with Rylie?” my mother asked.

  “Her ability. They want her on their side.”

  I barely paid attention to Mom’s question or Azura’s answer, because I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. “My father was going to trade me?”

  “I’m sorry, I have no excuses. I was foolish and in love. I didn’t realize he was such a—” She stopped herself. Clearing her throat, she said, “He always felt inferior because of his ability.”

  “Which was?” I probed.

  “Making fragrances. It’s a wonderful ability to be able to decide what something is going to smell like, but he was constantly teased about it. He often talked about getting access to moon magick, which is what the dark faeries have. He thought that maybe he’d get a better ability from the moon. So when the dark faeries offered a trade, he jumped at the chance.”

  I let my head fall into my hands for a moment while I processed the information. When I looked back up, I asked, “Where is he now? Does he know I’m alive? Is that why I’m in danger?”

  “No, baby, he doesn’t know. He thinks you died. He disappeared that day and I haven’t seen him since. Nobody knows where he is.” For the first time since she walked into our house, I heard true emotion in Azura’s voice. Despair.

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “I know this is a lot to take in,” Azura said softly.

  “Ya think?” I glanced up at my real parents, the people who raised me and loved me. My father had his hand on my mother
’s shoulder. I felt a sudden pang of sadness for them. I couldn’t imagine what they were feeling.

  “I’m not leaving my parents.” Or Adam. My heart raced at the thought of him. What would he do if he found out I wasn’t human? Would he love me anymore? Oh my God! I couldn’t lose him.

  “Honey, you’re not going anywhere. I don’t care who this woman says she is. She’s not taking you from us.” My father moved to put an arm around my shoulders. I felt a little better, because my dad was a man of his word. I always felt safer when he was around.

  “You might not have a choice, I’m afraid,” the faery said softly.

  “The hell we don’t,” my mother practically yelled. Her calm demeanor had left her, and now she was visibly shaking, her fingers digging into the comforter on my bed as if she’d rather it were Azura’s neck. “Even if what you’re saying is true, she’s been fine with us. There has been no danger. We can keep her safe from whatever it is you say could hurt her. Which, by the way, you have completely avoided giving us a straight answer. So tell us, Mrs.-I-can-tell-no-lies, what does my daughter have to be afraid of?”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me directly. The deal Oleander’s father made—”

  “Oleander?” I balked.

  Azura blushed. “I’m sorry. It just slipped out. Your faery name is Oleander.”

  “What? Oleander? Are you kidding me?” It took everything in me not to burst out laughing.

  “We’ll talk more about that later. The dark faery that your father made the deal with is not a nice man. Varwik is a very evil faery of our kingdom. He controls the dark land. Everyone fears him. I cannot allow him to get his hands on you. The danger lies in your transition. Once your transformation is complete, other faeries will be able to spot you. Other faeries will be able to see your faery self even when you use glamour. Once Varwik knows you are alive, he will expect us to give you to them.”

  “It’s unlikely this Varwik will ever know she’s alive,” my mother remarked dismissively. “We’re quite safe here in a small town.”