by S L Mason
“You wanted all the human children, all your people. These were the humans in the castle and now there are none.” He replies.
I don’t say anything. It seems too good to be real, too easy. Deston wants me, I’m not sure what for, but I know he wants me. The way he said my name, almost as if caressing me, made my skin crawl. He still believes Janice works for him, and I still believe Janice works for him.
The clickity-clack of the horse hooves on the grounds is lolling. I find my eyes drooping. The last thing in the world I want is to fall asleep, not here in the open in a carriage. I rub my eyes, pushing the sleep back. It’s a feeble effort. I pull air deep into my chest and push it out. Oxygen can awaken you. The wakes in the carriage hold no undertone of deception. It’s plain exhaustion, nothing more. I hum, it’s a nonsensical tune. The one I always heard my mother hum as she cleaned, it keeps me focused and awake. The lassitude recedes from my mind.
“Where did you learn the song you’re humming?” Janice inquiry jars me back to our reality.
“It’s something my mother always hums whenever she cleans house. She’s kind of a neat freak. You know, a nervous cleaner.” I play my fingers across my knees, keeping my eyes out the window for trouble.
“That is a song of cleaning—it’s a Fae song.”
Our eyes meet, and I tear them apart. What’s he talking about?
He continues, “I told you before Fae possess their own music. They sing their own songs. The one you were using is a song of cleaning. Has your mother ever disappeared or gone on a long trip and no one saw her for a period of time?” His voice is inquisitive.
“No, my mother’s a boring, nervous, stay-at-home mom. She’s not really the adventurous type. I don’t even think my mother went on an adventure even when she was young enough or stupid enough to want to. My mother’s biggest adventure was meeting my dad and falling in love.” I laugh at him, shifting my attention from the window to his face and back.
“Humans do not accidentally stumble upon our songs or music.” His demeanor is intense.
“Are you suggesting my mother is Fae or knew someone who’s Fae?” I scoff at him.
“What I am suggesting may be as simple as your mother met someone or knew someone who knew Fae. The song you hum, humans do not learn by accident. It is on purpose with repeated use. Someone taught it to her, or she picked it up through contact with the Fae world.” His ambry hair sways with the rocking of the carriage, but his eyes never move.
“My mother is the most boring person in the world. She’s nervous and jumpy and doesn’t even like to sleep in the dark. She sleeps with a night-light for god’s sake.” I continue to laugh at his assertions. Mom, a friend to Fae. What a joke. She doesn’t even like Tinkerbell.
Olive sits ramrod straight next to me, swaying in time with the carriage. Her unseeing milky eyes bore into the wall. I take her hand in mine, so small and soft. Children have perfect, smooth supple skin. Mine looks no different. Only the light iridescent quality singles me out. That and a light outline of day-glo design starting at my mid-arm. It glows just under the skin.
Janice’s face shines with his marking everywhere the Fae light reaches. Two small lines between his brows are followed by two dots and arched tribal swirls up onto his forehead and down around his tilted almond eyes. It’s an attractive combination. The purple-ish blue glow enhances the violet of his eyes, adding to the deep hollow of his cheeks. His eyes match my own in assessing each other. I turn away to stare out the window.
CHAPTER 20
I look down at Olive’s glazed eyes. I feel terrible. It is the only way to get her out of the castle. The last thing in the world I need is for her to scream my name or give anyone a reason for a closer look as if I hadn’t already given them one anyway. Taking away someone’s free will is terrible. Their eyes glaze over, their mouth goes slack, the body relaxes. All facial expressions wash away along with their personality.
At some point, everything you don’t want to happen ends up happening anyway. Your intent causes it. That’s life. You must make a choice, or one gets made for you, not always the one you want. I had to make a choice. It wasn’t the one I wanted, but it was the only one that was gonna get Olive back to Zoe like I promised. If only I can get Arty and be free of this place.
If I’d done my job to begin with, I wouldn’t have had to come back here at all. I shake my head and look over at Nick. I whistle the enchantment away. His eyes brighten and then narrow as they lock on me. I fill him in. “I need you to do something for me, Nick.”
He coughs, closing his lips and whipping the drool away.
“I said I’d help you save your sister,” I say. “I need you to go back with Olive and take care of the kids.” It comes out weak, not the strong divisive voice I’d gone over in my head.
“No.” He scowls and turns away from me, looking out the window.
“Even if I promise to save your sister myself?” I’m pleading with him.
“Nobody will take care of my family like I will. Sorry, Sarah, but I’m not saying you’re a liar or you wouldn’t try. I mean, obviously, you made a promise to Zoe and Olive, but it’s my job to take care of my sister, not yours.” His fingers comb through his hair.
“There’s something bigger going on here than just your sister or you or what you want, Nick. If the Fae keep killing at this rate, this could end up being the extinction of the human race. Do you think the gangs on the surface care about the next generation?”
Janice’s voice cuts through the air like a knife. “The human race will not go extinct. The queen won’t let it happen.”
I scowl over at him, making sure to inject as much sarcasm as possible into my voice. “Yeah, sure. Your fairy Queen? You mean like the one in all the stories? The one that’s supposed to be so wonderful and loving and kind that she helps humanity?” I shoot Janice a cocked eyebrow.
“You know nothing about that which you speak, Sarah. If you did, you wouldn’t say those things.” His tone is cool and steady. It grates on me.
“I know enough about Fae to know your fairy Queen is an asshole. Instead of stopping her people from murdering the humans and treating us like cattle, she’s probably sitting on her ass somewhere, eating fruit and having some stupid Fae do her hair. Then watching some humans run through a maze to kill each other. She was there watching all those girls die, wasn’t she?” Acid rolls around in my belly and rises in my throat. The vision of that girl being chewed apart by the thorny vines fills my mind. I have to swallow back vitriol.
“No, Sarah. She wasn’t there, and she wasn’t watching. A true queen would never enjoy such sport.” Janice retorts through his teeth.
“Yeah, sure. I know you’ve said you’re vassal tied to me, or whatever it is you creepy bastards call it. But the truth is I haven’t seen anything about you that’s noble. You may be used to kneeling down in a knightly fashion, but you’re just as happy to stab me with the sword as to look at me. I’m still wondering why you didn’t.” My retorts aren’t helping us, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Nick cuts in. “Yeah, why didn’t you stab him, Sarah?”
I ignore Nick’s jab.
“Maybe I’m growing weak in my old age,” Janice mutters his droll reply.
I scowl and look the other way. No, I’m not just partners with Nick, but I’m starting to act like him.
We pull up along the side of the road where we’d left the Marines. I’m not sure if they are still there. They might have wandered off and found something to kill. On cue, they jump out, stopping the carriages.
“Looky what we got here. Sarah brought us lambs for the slaughter?” Tom’s finger taps at the trigger, dancing over the safety and trigger guard.
I open my mouth, but Nick jumped in before I can speak. “She made a deal with the devil.”
I shoot him a dirty look. “I didn’t make a deal with the devil.” I round on him. I see their eyes. It doesn’t matter what I say. My shoulders slump. “Okay, so maybe I made a
deal with the devil. I’m going to do whatever he wants me to do in exchange for all the humans in his castle and in Puca’s stables.”
Jake shakes his head. “You know you can’t trust these guys? They’re going to stab you in the back as soon as they get a chance. All he wants, is you?” Jake inquires.
“Yeah, me and my cooperation. They need me for something. I’m a contender of some kind...” I wave my hand at Janice.
Jake’s eyes go wide. He blinks at me several times. “What do you mean you’re a contender? In what?” he scoffs.
“Why don’t you ask tight ass Janice? I’m sure he knows, but he can’t tell me.” I cross my arms. “He’s not allowed to. I know it’s some kind of contest or something. I think they’re really just using humans for entertainment. It’s not like I didn’t make it through one of their tests or whatever the hell it was.”
“You made it through one? Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what exactly you did the last time you were here?” Jake’s need for intel and my desire to discuss it doesn’t meld.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I watched a lot of girls die, and I was able to save some kids. The rest is really irrelevant.” I clench my jaw, snapping it shut. No one is going to get me to talk about it. The screams rings in my mind.
CHAPTER 21
I turn my back on Jake. What I did with myself isn’t his concern.
“You don’t know why they want you and you’re just gonna give yourself to them for their little competition?” Jake lets his carbine hang loose in front of him from the shoulder strap as he puts his hands up in frustration.
“Jake, I do not have to explain myself to you. It’s very simple. Would you give your life to save your friends? Would you give your life to save any of the people that you’ve seen murdered needlessly?”
His eyes bore into me. I know he would. We both know.
“The price I have to pay for all these kids is me.” I wave my arms around at the carriages. “They want me. I give Deston what he wants, and these kids get to go free, and you’re going with them. I’ll keep fighting from my side.” I cross my arms. It’s my best ‘I dare you to stop me’ pose.
“You want me to take all the kiddies and go home? I’m not a babysitter,” he shouts.
“That’s exactly what I want you to do. You’re free to do whatever you want, Jake. You and Tom, you guys can hang out around here and kill a few fairies. Maybe get killed yourself. Most likely die because some crazy Fae plant decided to eat you because you got too close. Get caught by Puca and turn into a freaky horse. Or you can take all these kids. I just signed a deal with the devil for you to go back to the surface. Keep fighting there.” It isn’t working. I have to double down. “You both swore an oath to defend the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Those kids need defending. Do your duty.”
Tom leans over and whispers in Jake’s ear. He’s still as a statue. Jake doesn’t like losing. He likes being in charge, in control. I just made a deal, and he had no control over that. It really chaps his hide. “These are it, just these kids?”
I shake my head. “No, Deston agreed to give us all the kids Puca has too.” Yes, I think I got him.
Jake’s mouth snaps with each word. “Are they all going to be fucked up like your little blue friend over there?”
I shake my head.
“No, Deston gave me a key.” Janice cuts in an attempt to seal the deal. “If I unlock the harnesses, it’ll cease their change and most will revert, because they didn’t finish.”
Come on, just a little more.
“What about your little blue friend over there? Can he revert back to a normal human boy?” Tom’s inquiry surprises me.
I bite my lip. I don’t know what will happen to Brad. “I don’t know if this can help, but it’s the best we can do. If we’re lucky, he’ll revert, and if not…” I heave a sigh. How do you tell a bunch of kids, ‘I’m sorry you can’t go back to your normal life’? It doesn’t exist anymore because you look like a fucking freak?
Nick steps closer, keeping his voice low. “You know if they don’t revert, they can’t go back, and I don’t think they’d want to stay.”
I nod my head. They can’t go back unless they’re normal. Nick is right. Nobody’s gonna want to stay here forever with the creepy day-glo plants and the pointy-eared freaks constantly reciting fairytale stories and lines. I wave Nick on.
“My choice is made. Make yours, Jake. You and Tom want to stay here and kill some Fae, go ahead. We’re leaving. Get in the carriage, walk behind, I don’t give a shit.” I climb up onto the coachman seat.
Janice grabs the reins and smacks the back of the horses. The carriages lurch forward. We move on down the lane. The weight of the carriage shifts twice as Jake and Tom climb on. I sigh. Jake and Tom will go. One less burden to worry about.
The large flat plain isn’t much to look at. It’s as boring as the Midwest I’d grown up in. The only thing missing is a few tumbleweeds here and there. But off in the distance, I see the wake lines of Puca’s protection field. The closer we get the barn, the more I realize what I need to sing to get back to the surface. I have an idea on how to protect the kids from the Fae. I don’t know if it would work.
Puca’s protection field automatically parts for the horses. There must be some kind of enchantment on the harnesses or the carriages themselves. It recognizes Deston’s authority and allows him entry.
Jake, Tom, and Nick all leap off and dart into the barn. The stall doors slam. Various young men come running out of the stables with a wild, animistic roll in their eyes. It reminds me of Brad before his change, like the rolling in his eyes, the way the pupils on the irises became bigger and blacker, and the whites became smaller. Janice grabs each one in turn by their harnesses and unlocks them with the key.
When it comes time for Brad, I want to pray and cross myself like they taught in church. I’m not Catholic, and I’m not sure it’ll do any good, but I’ll do it if it helps. The magic will wear off or it won’t. Brad still has human characteristics. Maybe the magic will fade. Maybe it can be like taking a shower where you just wash the dirt off.
Tom hands me the torn shreds of Brad’s belt. Wakes still flow from it to Brad. It isn’t changing him, but its power is still tethered him.
I touch the key to the lock, and it releases. His color lightens, becoming flesh toned, and his shape changes slightly. He doesn’t revert, his form still half man half horse. He isn’t human. The wake lines of enchantment wave around him digging into him. They aren’t changing. They’re weakened, but they’re still there. There is enough residual magical energy to hold him.
I look at Nick. He shakes his head. I turn hopeful eyes to Janice. He pierces his lips, clenching his jaw. Fairies aren’t as nice as humans. I don’t believe they feel empathy like we do. Their whole existence is about disdain and selfishness. His black-tipped hair whips over his shoulder as he turns and stalks away.
My gun pulls easy from the holster. With the cool of the steel in my hand, I snick the safety off and raise it to Brad’s temple, holding it there. My hand shakes, and I lower it, only to raise it again. I can do this. This isn’t what he would’ve wanted. My eyes close, and all I can see is that day at the creek when everyone was swinging from the rope and dropping off into the water. Brad’s laughing with our friends and then diving in through an inner tube. It could’ve been yesterday. The lump in my throat takes over, and the burning in my eyes race to my chest. The cold butt of the gun presses the side of my temple. I didn’t even realize I’d moved it.
A warm hand lies on my shoulder, and soft words drift to me. “You don’t have to kill him. As long as he’s enchanted, he’ll never understand what happened. He can stay here in Fae and live.” Janice’s words are gentle and soothing in my ear. He came back just to stop me?
“Back off, fairy boy.” Nick shoves Janice away from me. The heat from his body radiates onto my back and the ache there. Nick’s large hand covers mine o
ver the gun. Nick’s breath warms my ear, tickling down my neck. “You don’t have to kill your friend, Sarah. I’ll do it. It’s okay. No one would want to live like this.” He finishes.
I shake my head, feeling his face in my hair. I take a deep breath. The pain from my teeth digging into my fleshy lip tastes like copper. I’m going to live like this, changed by Fae. I’m no different from Brad, only I’m awake. It’s a band-aid. Pull it off fast, and it will hurt less. I place my hand on the side of Brad’s horse-shaped face. His eyes have returned to the blue I remember, no longer that soft horsey brown animal eye color. I pat his furry cheek, but the vibrations of the magic push me away. It doesn’t want to be interfered with. But it must be stopped.
Something in me demands I touch the other side of his face. I relinquish the gun to Nick. The slide pulls back and locks into place.
“Move your hand, Sarah!” Nick’s strong and determined words pour down my back like water on a duck, never touching me.
Of their own volition, both of my hands clasp Brad’s elongated cheeks. If I could just pull it out of him or off of him, like sucking cobra venom from a wound. Or like it’s a virus infecting your body and the right amount of antibiotics could kill the infection. I just need to provide the antidote. Closing my eyes, I don’t need to see the wake waves to know what they look like. I feel them digging into him. Weaker than before, I pull them like a string in a seam. When you pull, the fabric separates as the seam unravels, falling apart. I feel the snapping here and there, and with each wave that snaps the magic falls away. Soon, the messy tangle of magic wrapped around him disappears. Falling to the ground dead inert, the wake waves locked in place. The spell is dead.
I open my eyes to a normal human face, Brad’s. With blurred vision, I wrap my arms around him, hugging him. I had to sing the unlocking song and end the enchantment. By freeing him, maybe I could free myself.
“Brad, do you know who I am?” I ask.