Starlight

by Lauren Jade Case

  She wanted to hold her own heart, to will it to calm. “What would that include?”

  “I’m glad you asked.” He grinned, stepping from the shelves he hadn’t really been trapped against. “You would learn who you are as an individual and as a Creature, see you can do, all about your Purpose and how to fulfil it.”

  She raised a critical eyebrow. “You mean like learning to fight Monsters?”

  “That is our Purpose.”

  “What about your training?”

  “Fairy, we’ve done nothing but train for this since we could first walk. For us, this is the real world, the bit where we fulfil our Purpose by actually fighting the Monsters with our gifts.”

  “But…” Natalia trailed off, unable to keep up with her own crashing thoughts.

  “You’d be learning from the best of the best.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Who?”

  “Me.” He smirked. “I’ll put on a good show to prove it.”

  “I expect nothing less than the best! It’s the only way I could get a clear and concise study done. I’d also need comparisons. Especially if you want me to be combat ready to actually fight and fulfil this duty too.”

  Jasper gave her an approving nod. “You don’t seem so bad.”

  Natalia threw her arms in the air. “I’m glad you have that settled,” she said, stepping away. Joking with Jasper seemed easy. It was like he’d known she needed a moment and this had been his way of giving her that without allowing her to sink to the ground. She rubbed her temples. “As to your offer,” she continued, “I don’t know.”

  “What part are you struggling with?” His voice was smooth, as if her answer genuinely intrigued him.

  She removed her hands from her head and saw the bronze that coated her fingers. “Like this.” She shoved her hands towards him. “What is this? How can I be doing that?”

  He touched her wrists, fingers wrapping carefully around them to hold still. “That’s Fairy dust.”

  “See,” she pulled from his grip, “you’re saying all this stuff, but I don’t think you realise how it sounds to me.”

  Jasper cocked his head to the side. “How does it sound?”

  “Nonsensical! Fairies… I can’t be one.”

  He nodded slowly. “I know it’s a lot to understand all at once, especially since you had, what? Eighteen years,” Natalia nodded so he continued, “without any of this being in your life. But, the thing is, you’re not Human. As much as it might seem unreal or wrong or nonsensical, it’s quite the opposite. You can spend your time wasting away in disbelief, but I can swear on anything you want that this is real.”

  She stared. He was being patient, more patient than she thought he would’ve been – a clear misjudgement on her part. His hands were in front of him, leaving his body was unguarded, though his eyes watched her cautiously.

  There was no gain for Jasper on this. There would be no reason for him to lie or make this up. The only gain to be had was hers.

  Natalia’s heart and body jolted. They were the walls Jasper was trying to break through, the walls that would allow her mind to open and accept herself. Accept a life that was more complicated than just being Human, a life where stories of Creatures and Monsters were real – A life that should be exciting, but would also be dark, for their Purpose in being born to kill the evils of the world made it so.

  “I have no evidence against it,” she said. “But—”

  “But nothing,” he argued, stopping her mid-track. “You’re just trying to contradict everything because a Human life is all you’ve known and it’s been cosy. I know that if you start to believe your world will shift, you’ll feel like you’re giving up control, but that will be momentary. All I can say is that it’ll be for the better, in the end.”

  “Can you be certain?”

  “No.” He grinned. “But it’ll be the truth. Your truth.”

  Jasper waited for her reply but there wasn’t one. Natalia had nothing to fight against. If she was being honest with herself, there hadn’t been anything for a while. She’d seen the dust on her face. And there was no denying the wolf, the giant scorpion, or the fire-breathing polar bear any longer.

  She’d lost track of how many times she’d tried to ruin the images now burnt into her brain. There was no more time for denial. As Jasper had called it, it was the truth, and in her gut she’d always known it.

  “Those things really happened, didn’t they?” Her eyes locked onto Jasper’s face as she said it, searching for a lie she knew she’d be able to sense somehow.

  “All of it,” he confirmed, nodding.

  “I’m really a Fairy?”

  “Yes.”

  She breathed heavily. “There’s no going back, is there?”

  “To your Human life? No. That was a false existence anyway.”

  She glared at him. “That’s not helping.”

  Jasper held up his hands in surrender. “I’m not here to upset you.”

  “I know.” She dropped her gaze.

  “You’re not blindly believing in anything. Somewhere in you, you can sense I’m telling the truth.”

  “How?” Her eyes once again flicked to him questioningly.

  “Fairies have this thing where they can tell if someone is lying.”

  “My stomach squeezes,” she blurted.

  Jasper’s green eyes illuminated. “See! What more proof do you need when you already feel it? Do you need a skeleton to jump out of the ground and tell you all in interpretive dance? What about a plane writing in the sky? Another Calefaction? I’m sure I could arrange for most of those things if it meant you gave in.”

  She couldn’t help herself, she laughed. “I don’t want any of those things.”

  “Are you sure? They sound awfully fun. Except maybe the Calefaction.”

  She smiled slightly, and he returned it. “I might not understand, but I think I do believe. I think I have for a while. Since that storm. When I first saw you?”

  “Alex saw you that day,” Jasper admitted. Natalia remembered the brown wolf – Alex. “She was convinced there was something about you. She wanted to come get you. I suppose we did, just a day late.”

  I’m a Fairy! Her mind screamed. A Fairy! Of all the things!

  She knew, if she asked, Jasper and his family would help her to understand everything.

  Her heart thumped at the thought of their acceptance. A calm melody ran through her blood, singing along her veins, and dancing all around her body in a tune only she could interpret.

  Jasper hugged her, albeit a little awkwardly, but he let go quickly. “Welcome to the real world, Fairy.”

  “It’s Natalia,” she smiled. “Witch.”

  He stared at her and she wondered if she’d done something wrong. Soon enough his smile returned. “I know this isn’t going to be easy. You have a life to leave behind. But you won’t be caught in a lie any longer.”

  Natalia pulled a face. “I have a lot to learn, don’t I?”

  “Better late than never.”

  “Even eighteen years late?”

  “Even eighteen years late,” he confirmed. “So, how about you come over after work?”

  “My dad—”

  “I’ll speak to him.” The way Jasper’s face morphed, Natalia could’ve sworn he was excited. “Peri and Mum will want to look over your wounds anyway. Though, you should be able to do that on your own.”

  Natalia’s face contorted as she remembered the rancid smell and state of her leg. She swallowed back the rising bile. “I should?”

  “Fairies are excellent healers. Or so I hear.”

  Is that why she’d done so well at school, why her exams had felt like they’d gone by breezily? Was she really a natural in more than one way?

  Jasper walked past her to the door and she stepped under his arm to block the exit. “What other things can Fairies do?”

  He grabbed the handle beside her hip. “Those powers, or gifts, will be explained.”

 
“Not now?”

  “You’re at work,” he reminded her. “This isn’t the time or place.”

  “And later will be?”

  He nodded and Natalia relented when her stomach didn’t squeeze, moving aside. Once Jasper was outside, he turned to her. “You smell, by the way,” he said charmingly.

  “Walking a fine line there, Witch boy.”

  Jasper laughed. “I think it’s your dust. You smell like burning wood.”

  “Is that good or bad?” She tried to smell her clothes and found nothing.

  “I’ll talk to your Dad and meet you at the House later,” he replied before walking into the streets without looking back.

  Natalia closed the door after him. Her chest and shoulders felt lighter, higher even. But she still needed to understand – what she was, what gifts she had and what she could do with them, what this Purpose meant exactly. A whole other life full of beautiful and devastating Creatures and Monsters awaited her, if she wanted it.

  What have I gotten myself into?

  5

  Bronze, Gold, and Green

  The jij crumbled into a heap with a squeak. The little bugger had jumped Jasper who was unprepared for an unsolicited attack. Its arms had wrapped tightly around his neck, choking him, so he’d fought back.

  Though Jijs were similar in size and colour to lawn flamingos, they had three legs instead of two and the physique of a garden gnome. Despite being agile, they weren’t usually the climbing type – according to the open records, they hated heights. Mostly they groaned and moaned from the ground, spitting wherever they went. Biting was this particular Monsters’ tactic; a way to transfer venom to their victim. It wasn’t toxic enough to kill Creatures, or even Humans, but it did give a killer headache and flu-like symptoms.

  How this one had gotten the better of Jasper was unclear, but it annoyed him nonetheless.

  Blood the colour of wet mud slid from the Monster’s chest, pink smoke dissipating from the wound. Jasper’s magic had popped its heart on impact.

  No one wanted a prolonged death, so Jasper gave mercy. Flexing his fingers, he slammed another small bolt of pink magic into the Jij. The Monster squeaked, then took one last breath and disintegrated into a pile of black ash.

  The smell of blood clogged Jasper’s nostrils. It didn’t matter how long he’d been doing this – though he had little “real world” experience, more classroom theatrics and teachings – he still didn’t like the smell of a Jij.

  The walk home was short. Jasper had been minutes away from the door when he’d been caught unawares. He climbed the short stone steps and knocked on the front door, eyes drawn to the patterned glass.

  His mother’s face appeared when the door cracked open. “And where have you been?”

  “I went shopping.” Proving it, Jasper raised the bag he carried. “Then I stopped at a bar, did some body-shots, and drunkenly signed up for a sky-diving class.”

  She sighed, her resolve melting, and stepped aside.

  He closed the door with his foot once in the warm. For February, Venderly seemed unnaturally cold. Was it like this everywhere on this plane, and world, of existence? Jasper was used to the year round warmth of Home City – though it was part of this plane, it wasn’t part of this world, it was sealed off from the inside, separating it.

  Jasper’s mother grabbed him to kiss his cheek. “Never change,” she said. “Not for anyone.”

  Smiling down at his mum, he still felt like a little kid. Would that feeling ever stop? “I wasn’t planning on it,” he assured. “Not a full personality change.”

  “Might do you some good.”

  Jasper whirled round to see Peri gliding down the stairs. “I see you didn’t drown this morning,” he quipped.

  “Shame, isn’t it?” she quipped, winking.

  Peri disappeared into the living room, Jasper’s mother on her heels, and Jasper made for the creaky oak staircase. He shut himself in his bedroom, throwing his bag onto his bed.

  From the beginning, Jasper saw how juxtaposing this house was; the newly refurbished kitchen and dining area below contrasting the bedrooms that seemed to have been decorated two centuries ago. His especially.

  Dark green wallpaper met dark wooden panels halfway down the walls. A four poster bed, complete with tied back rich red curtains, though missing a “roof” segment, was pushed against the wall so Jasper could see into the hallway. An old writing desk sat against the adjacent wall, opposite the en suit – the only other one in the house besides his parent’s. In the far corner was an out-of-order stonework fireplace and between it and the en suite, a dark wooden wardrobe.

  After changing out of his sweaty clothes and into something better, he ran downstairs. By the time he touched the bottom step, noises echoed from the living room.

  Curious, he followed.

  The door swung open, unhindered. Gold stood in the centre of the room proudly flashing off his new gold-lined blue jacket. When he spun, the setting sun caught the precious metal in blazing glory.

  Meeting Jasper’s eyes, Gold broke into a grin. “My boy!”

  Jasper didn’t even blink as he was yanked into the room. He was put beside his mum, whose eyes flickered between them. Jasper cursed his breathing for probably being what caught him out, but what was her problem? He’d warned them of Gold’s arrival.

  “I didn’t get a proper look at you last time,” Gold said, unsubtly eyeing Jasper up and down.

  “I’m sure I felt your eyes on me,” Jasper replied, grinning. “Especially my arse.”

  Gold returned the smile, showing off the golden gem stuck to his right front tooth. If cats were perceived as mischievous then Gold was devilish. “What can I say?” he joked. “Though you are a little young and pert for my tastes.”

  Jasper’s mum cleared her throat. “You didn’t tell me Gold was stopping by.” Her eyes narrowed on him, the message clear; she wanted to have a word with him about inviting guests into her house without her knowledge.

  “I told Archie,” he admitted.

  His mother blinked, stunned.

  Peri cut in, “We didn’t believe you.”

  Jasper remembered Peri being there when he’d told Archie at breakfast. But he had no doubts she knew about the first time he’d mentioned Gold to his brother as well. Jasper sighed. There were no secrets between those who shared hearts.

  Gold took Peri’s hand. “What matters, dear one, is that I am here now.”

  Jasper’s mum looked at Gold sternly. “Why are you here? If you don’t mind. Not that we don’t love having you—”

  “I do not take offense to your words, my dear,” Gold said, offering his other hand to her. “I am here,” as they touched, the doorbell rang, “because of that.”

  ◆◆◆

  Natalia nearly started pacing along the porch. Had coming here been right? Was she making the right choice? Did she really want this?

  Before leaving her house she’d binged on her entire box of Malteasers and had gone for a run, hoping it’d clear her mind. If anything, she’d made it worse. She almost considered turning around but the door opened.

  Too late to go back now.

  Sarah, Jasper’s mother, stood there with a smile as bright as last time. “Natalia,” she cooed, though there was an air of shock in her tone.

  “Did Jasper tell you I was coming over?” Natalia asked. Sarah’s face didn’t change. “If he didn’t, I can go. I’m sorry.” She started to leave. This had been a bad idea after all.

  “Wait!” Sarah called, Natalia paused before reaching the steps, turning back to Sarah leaning out the door. “He didn’t tell us, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to send you away.”

  “Are you sure? Please, tell me if I’m over-stepping or intruding.”

  “Dear,” Sarah smiled. “You’re too good.”

  Natalia didn’t know what that meant exactly, but didn’t ask.

  Sarah pulled her into the house where it was marginally warmer.

  “Fairy,
” Jasper greeted. Natalia spotted him as he entered the hall, windblown hair strewn across his forehead. He turned to his mother. “Are you going to say I neglected to inform you of the Fairy’s arrival too?” Natalia ignored the way he called her out.

  “This time, you did,” Sarah answered sternly.

  Natalia relieved herself of her coat. Sarah offered to take the item but Natalia hung her garment herself. She might’ve been a guest, but she didn’t want or need someone to wait after her.

  Her heart pounded with energy, her body cold and warm all at once. “I… wanted to know more,” she admitted. “Jasper offered to help. He said he’d tell and teach me what I need to learn and know.”

  Peri poked her head around the corner, raising her hand and thrusting it toward Natalia in an obvious high-five. “That’s it,” Peri encouraged. “Another female in the clan.”

  “This isn’t a clan,” Jasper said.

  “This definitely is a clan.”

  “Not yet it’s not.”

  Peri rolled her eyes at Natalia. “What did he promise you to come here? His charm couldn’t have enticed you.” Natalia only smiled.

  “Excuse me.” Jasper sounded hurt, but it was clear he wasn’t. The grin gave him away. “My charm is fine and has gotten me far in life, thank you.”

  “Let’s go into the living room instead of standing in the hallway, shall we?” Sarah suggested, taking control. She fixed her eyes on Natalia and she shivered. “There is another guest with us today.”

  “Way to not make it sound suspicious,” Jasper whined.

  “Who?” Natalia asked as her shoulder blades started itching.

  Sarah walked away without answering. Peri took Natalia’s hand with her own and they followed.

  The evening sun dropped toward the horizon outside. Pinks and oranges livened up the cream walls and the black corner sofa appeared shiny. In the centre of the dark wooden floors was a giant, fluffy, cream rug.

  Someone was stood on the carpet, facing her.