by Lexi C. Foss
I supposed, in her shoes, I’d react similarly. The world around her was nothing like the one she’d grown up in, her version of a forest a destructed beast due to humanity’s lack of understanding. Fae, however, embraced the wilderness, allowing it into our homes and living peacefully with nature rather than against it.
“Claire, I’m telling you the truth,” I tried again, my voice soft. “I meant to ease you into this, to bring you here of your own free will, but burning down the bar forced my hand. Your powers are awakening now that the charm has finally worn off, and you need to be among your kind.”
She laughed harder, sitting on one of the roots on the floor, her arms wrapped around her middle. “Oh God, seriously. This is the most fucked-up dream I’ve ever had.”
“Because it’s not a dream,” I replied through my teeth. “You’re in the Fae Realm.”
“Uh-huh.” She wiped at the tears beside her eyes. “Because fairies are real.”
“Not fairies. Fae.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes. Fairies are a myth. Fae are real.”
“Oh. Okay. That clears it up.” She fought a smile and lost, her lips curling again as another laugh fell from her mouth.
Gods, give me strength and patience; I’m going to need it. “Let’s try a new path,” I suggested, thinking out loud. “Tell me about your parents, Claire.”
All signs of mirth disappeared, her brow furrowing. “What? No. I don’t want to talk about that at all.”
“Too bad. I want you to tell me about them.”
“And I don’t want to,” she countered. “Fuck off.”
“Not a dream, Claire,” I told her, yet again. “Can’t just make me disappear. Tell me about your parents.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to,” she repeated.
“That’s a shitty reason. There are a lot of things in this life I don’t want to do, such as be here with you now, but we all have a sense of duty, a purpose we can’t ignore. And I want to talk about your parents. Specifically, your mother, Ophelia.” A cruel tactic, yes, but it seemed to be breaking through some of the fog in her mind, because her pupils contracted, her focus astute.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” she whispered.
“What do you know about your mother?” I wondered, ignoring the petulant turn of her mouth. “I’m guessing not much since you grew up in the Human Realm.” And her father died shortly after Ophelia’s demise. “What did your grandparents say about her?” That was who had raised her in Ohio, the mortals seemingly oblivious to Claire’s natural birthright. “Because you look just like her, Claire. Did they tell you that?”
“Stop.”
I didn’t. She clearly needed a push to realize this wasn’t a dream, to truly grasp her surroundings and purpose. To grow the fuck up. “She placed a charm on you, a hex of sorts, that dismantled your true nature. It finally unraveled yesterday, on your twenty-first birthday. Do you feel it? The gift of energy flooding your veins? Your affinity for the elements? You asked me at the bar who I am, remember? You recognized my essence. Because you’re one of us. You’re a fae. Your mother—”
“Stop.” She balled her hands into fists, her gaze narrowed. “Just. Stop.”
“I can’t.” And I wouldn’t even if I could. “You need to hear this, Claire. You need to understand who and what you are. And unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time to ease you into this since you’re already in the Fae Realm. Your mother—”
A blast of wind blew me backward into the wall, my head knocking against the vines with a snap that I felt all the way down my spine.
Claire gasped, her hand flexing before her. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.” She jumped to her feet, tripping over the root behind her and landing on her ass. “Oh God!”
I wheezed, pushing away from the wall. Definitely has an affinity for air, too.
“This… this…” she stammered, her hands feeling around on the floor, her eyes taking on a wild gleam. “This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. I need to wake up.” She pinched her side, causing me to frown.
“Does that ever actually work?”
“Stop talking to me,” she demanded, hurling another blast of wind at me with her fingertips.
My jaw snapped to the left from the localized blast, reminding me of a punch to the fucking face. “Ow.”
“Oh, fuck! I’m… Shit!” She scrambled toward me, then backward, then froze with her hands beneath her. As if that would stop her.
A knock on the door had her petrified gaze flying sideways as Vape’s deep tenor floated through the wood. “Everyone all right in there?”
“Just getting acquainted,” I replied through my teeth.
“Sounds like she’s kicking your ass, son” was his reply.
I snorted. “Because I’m fighting with both hands tied behind my back.”
Claire’s eyebrows shot up. “Where am I?”
I couldn’t help my resulting sigh. It wasn’t like I hadn’t said this about a hundred times already. “The Fae Realm.”
“The what?” she squeaked, shaking her head. “That’s not a thing. That’s not real.”
“It’s very real and you’re currently inside it.” I massaged my jaw, stretching my neck to loosen it. She lifted her hand again, forcing me to add, “Hit me with another blast of air, princess, and I’ll retaliate.” I wouldn’t hurt her, but I would pin her. Our first lesson? Control.
Her lower lip trembled, but her teeth audibly clenched. “What the fuck is going on?”
Did this woman have a hearing problem? Because I swore we just went through this. “It all relates back to your mother, Cl—”
Energy quaked around me, causing the bed to collapse to the floor, the headboard disappearing into a pile of ashes as flames erupted around us.
Claire screamed.
I cursed.
And tackled her to the ground.
Claire
This isn’t real.
This isn’t happening.
Everything will be fine when I wake up.
I just need to—
“Claire!” The furious growl came from the man on top of me, his striking blue eyes glowing with fury. “Focus on me, on my voice.”
I’d really rather not.
I just wanted to go home.
To wake up.
To escape.
To be anywhere other than here, with this man who kept talking about my mother, the woman who abandoned me as a child, who shattered my father’s spirit. Grandma always said she killed my dad when she broke his heart. He never recovered.
I hated my mother, couldn’t stand to hear anything about her. Childish, yes, but it was how I survived, how I escaped my reality.
My memories of my parents were nonexistent, having been too young when she left us, too young when my father died.
I shook, tears of the past clouding my eyes. Remembering hurt. Thinking about them hurt. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to hear about her. I just wanted to wake up, to be done with this horrible nightmare.
“Breathe,” the man on top of me demanded. “Come on, princess. Listen to me. I need you to calm down, to breathe, to focus. Search for the tranquility inside you, call on it, pull it into you and use it.”
What the fuck is he even talking about? It could be a different language, for all I knew or cared.
“Claire,” he whispered, his lips dangerously close to mine. “Please, sweetheart, I need your focus, or you’re going to burn the house down. I’m still exhausted from earlier. Just close your eyes and think of a peaceful place. Describe it for me.”
A peaceful place? I thought hysterically, nearly laughing. “Not fucking here!” I shouted, warmth flooding my insides, spilling through my fingertips and raging around me. “Let me go!”
“I can’t do that,” he said, his palms on my face, forcing me to look at him, to see him.
My eyes widened. “You’re on fire!”
“I’m aware,” he gritted out, wincing. “Just… breathe, Claire. Breathe for me. Slowly.”
“You’re on fire,” I repeated, my heart galloping in my chest. How was breathing going to help? If anything, it’d make this worse, right? Smoke inhalation?
Except, nothing but clean air met my nostrils and mouth.
My brow furrowed.
How is that possible?
And why am I not burning?
I actually felt quite cold, not hot. Because the flames were so intense I was freezing? No, that couldn’t be it.
“That’s it,” he whispered, his forehead falling to mine. “Relax.”
“Relax?” Some strangled combination of a laugh and a cry escaped my mouth. “This is… insane.”
“You’re an Elemental Fae coming into her abilities for the first time.” The words were low, his voice utterly calm despite the inferno soaring around us. “It’s not normal for someone this age to access her elemental gifts. Most fae are taught as children. But I can help you, Claire.”
I shivered beneath him, my skin slick, my throat dry. “Help me?” I whispered, my gaze flickering to the wildfire behind him and back to his face. “This is a nightmare. It has to be.”
“It’s not.” The words were a breath against my lips, his body hard and heavy on top of mine. “Please, Claire. Let me help you.”
“How?” I asked, unsure of all of this. Of him. Of this place. Of the erratic energy threatening to burst out of my chest. “How?”
His nose brushed mine, his fingers sliding into my hair, his mouth trailing over my cheek. His gentle caress set off a flurry of butterflies in my abdomen, a direct conflict from the warning rioting in my mind. The man was on fire. Yet he seemed perfectly at ease, his strong form a comforting blanket over mine.
What is happening to me?
My eyelids drooped, exhaustion taunting the edges of my thoughts.
I don’t want to sleep.
“Picture your happy place,” a deep voice whispered against my ear. “Somewhere that makes you feel calm, at peace. For me, it’s the lake behind my old home. So warm and tranquil, and I swear the water tasted of the finest spring you could ever imagine. Swimming is my serenity, where I go when I need to think. What about you, Claire? Where do you go?”
“I…” I swallowed, hesitant. “Camping. Beneath the stars. I love the night sky.” Why am I telling him this?
“The stars here are beautiful, too. You’ll see them tonight.” His lips touched my throat, my pulse soaring in response. “Where did you go camping, Claire?”
“In Ohio,” I whispered, frowning. My grandparents used to take me to the woods, saying I needed to be closer to nature, to enjoy the fresh air and clear my head. I always loved it, feeling almost at home surrounded by the elements.
Wasn’t that what this man had called me? An Elemental Fae?
“What’s an Elemental Fae?” I asked out loud, my limbs tensing.
“It’s what we are.” He went to his elbows on either side of my head, causing my eyes to flutter open. He was no longer on fire, the room around us just as green as before.
What the hell is going on?
“Shh, stay in that calm place,” he said, his thumb drawing a line across my cheekbone and down to the column of my neck. “I’m strong, but you… You’re exhausting me, Claire.”
My brow furrowed. “I’m exhausting you?”
“Yes.” He cocked his head, his blue irises taking on a heady glow that stole my breath. “Your… Ophelia… was a fae. A pureblood of Spirit. That makes you a Halfling. A very, very strong Halfling.”
“Ophelia?” I repeated, frowning.
“The given name of your…” He trailed off, raising a brow.
My mother, I realized. “My mother was a fairy?”
“A fae,” he corrected, his lips curling down. “Fairies are tiny little figments with wings, and they don’t exist. You’re a fae. As am I.”
“And fae are…?”
“Supernatural beings with affinities for the elements.” He sounded so nonchalant, as if this type of topic were discussed every day. “Ophelia was a Spirit Fae, like me. And—”
“Spirit Fae?” I repeated. “What the hell does that mean?”
“A fae who connects with life and death.” He balanced on one arm, lifting his palm. “Try not to freak out.”
“Okay…”
He eyed me for a long moment, then refocused on his hand. It glowed, energy shivering over my skin, as a gorgeous lily appeared, blossoming into the size of my head, with big white petals.
“How did you do that?” I marveled, awed.
“Life,” he said, tucking the flower stem behind my ear. “You, too, have access to the same gift. And with time, I’ll teach you how to use it.”
Uh, right. He’d lost me again.
“You’re saying I can do that?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “In addition, it seems, to several other things.” He stared down at me for a long moment, his gaze dropping to my mouth before flicking back up to my eyes. “I’m going to roll off of you now. Can you try to stay calm?”
He really enjoyed that word. Calm. Relax. Breathe. “Sure.” I could feign calm if it kept the crazy man content.
A flower just blossomed in his fucking hand.
And I’m in a room shrouded in… forest.
I pinched my side again.
Nothing.
This can’t be real.
But it certainly felt real.
“You’re not dreaming,” he said softly, clearly catching my not-so-subtle pinch.
I slid away from him, bracing my back against the tree—yes, a fucking tree—in the center of the room. “Fae Realm.”
“Yes.” He drew his knees upward, wrapping his forearms around them. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and you still don’t believe me, but you’ll see.”
“And if I want to go home?”
He shook his head. “You can’t, Claire. Your powers are too much for the mortal realm. You destroyed that bar.”
My brow furrowed. “What bar? When? I don’t…” A vision tickled my thoughts. One of him in his leather jacket, sitting on a stool, his lips a hairsbreadth from mine. And then flames, like the ones that had adorned his back only moments ago, encircling us and expanding. “No… That… No.” That couldn’t have happened. It couldn’t be real. “Tell me…” I paused, swallowing. “Tell me that’s not… Tell me it didn’t…” But I felt the truth of it somewhere deep inside, heard the reminiscent screams as everyone bolted into the night.
Oh God…
“Tell me I didn’t…” I couldn’t finish, my hand covering my mouth. Rick, Brittany, Amie…
“I’m sorry,” the stranger whispered, his expression one of sorrow. “Your power burst out of you too suddenly for me to anticipate. I tried to save as many of them as I could, but the destruction was too much.”
“I destroyed the bar?” I whispered.
He hung his head, as if he blamed himself. “Yes.”
“And my friends?”
His eyes lifted to mine, the answer lurking in his gaze.
“Who?” I demanded. “Who?”
“The boy,” he said.
“Rick?” Oh God… I pinched my side again, but it was futile. I would never dream this. Not even in a nightmare. “I killed Rick?”
“It’s not your fault, Claire. You didn’t—”
“Not my fault?” I shrieked. “You said I burned down the damn bar!” I jumped to my feet, mindful of the roots in this stupid, tiny, forest-laden room. Such a lie. It felt like I was outside, but I wasn’t. And the air closing in around me proved it.
I needed to be free.
To run.
To be in the clean air.
Not locked in this little greenhouse with…
Fuck, I don’t even know his name!
Fae Realm.
Powers.
Fire.
Burned-down bar.
I spun, not hearing whatever
he was trying to say beside me. Not caring to hear another word. This was too much.
I killed Rick.
Did I? What if he’s lying?
Why would he lie?
I don’t know. I don’t fucking know!
His palm was too hot against my forearm. I twisted out of his grasp, needing space, needing air. And as if hearing my call, it whirled around me, blowing him into the wall again with a grunt. His pained expression struck me in the heart, causing me to falter.
I don’t know him.
I don’t belong here.
“I can’t,” I breathed, staring at the window, watching as the glass blew out with a breath from my lips. “I’m sorry.” I followed the breeze on instinct, letting it carry me down to the grass below, not pausing to think about the how or the why, just needing to run.
There had to be a way home. A way back to the bar. A way back to Rick. To my friends. My family.
I couldn’t stay here. This wasn’t my place. This foreign land of endless trees and flowers and vines. Oh God, where am I even going? It doesn’t matter. Just run. And I did, sprinting through the fields and beneath the canopy of leaves, then across and more fields, past lakes, and continuing into unending nature.
The sun moved overhead, illuminating my journey, aiding my attempt to escape.
But nothing new crossed my path. Only more and more trees, denser with every step.
I whirled around, mystified, tears rolling down my cheeks.
“Where am I?” I breathed, falling to my knees in the thick underbrush. “Where the fuck am I?”
I collapsed to my side, my exhaustion finally overcoming me. My legs were bleeding, my feet aching, my heart… broken.
“I don’t belong here,” I whimpered, curling into a ball of despair. Leaves seemed to fold around me, cocooning me from the elements, soothing my spirit in a way I could hardly comprehend. But I allowed it. Because what else was I supposed to do?
“Who am I?” I asked, a sob ripping from my chest.
Claire… My name whispered on the wind, my vision blurred by the flutter of butterflies overhead. Claire…
I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear another word, refusing to acknowledge this insanity any longer.
This is not my home.