Nine
“My queen,” the glowing boy says in a low monotone. He holds out his hand and bends at the waist in a bow.
I raise my hand and he grasps it gently. He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles.
As he stands straight, he begins to smile, the warmth from his body flowing over my body. “Who are you?” I feel myself asking.
“My name is Kodama. I am you, from a previous life.”
I step back from Kodama in surprise. “I am…reincarnated?”
Kodama chuckles. “In a sense, yes. But I am not the one to tell you of our people. Someone was sent to you to do so, Fayette. You must not let them pass you by.”
“Who?”
He shrugs. “I do not know. But you must find out soon for our people are in danger.”
“Our people?”
Kodama looks around nervously. “I must go. I should never have come.” He begins to walk away. “I’ll leave you with this. Trust no one but your valet. Looks can be deceiving.”
“What are you talking about?” I almost scream.
Kodama begins to move away from me, his feet moving backwards on the grass. “Good-bye, Fayette.”
I awake with someone shaking my hand. “Fay,” someone whispered. “Wake up!”
I opened my eyes, and then blinked a few times at the sudden light. “What’s going on?” I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. Feeling the empty space beside me, I knew Warren had left, if he was there at all.
“I had a really weird dream,” Fawn said.
I moved over in my bed to allow her to lie next to me. She shoved her feet under my covers and lay back on my pillow.
“There was this guy. I don’t remember his name. But he was telling me about you. He was saying a whole bunch of crap that I didn’t understand.”
Sudden images of the boy from my dream came to mind. “Was he gold?”
“What?” Fawn asked. “How did you know?”
I shrugged. Fawn and I rarely had freaky twin moments, but when we were little, we would have the same dreams. Mostly, they were scary and we never really remembered everything, but it was weird.
“His name is Kodama.”
“Yeah!” Fawn exclaimed. “He told me you had to help his people or whatever.” She paused for a moment. “He kind of looked like a fairy.”
*
Mom had stayed quiet that entire day. I wondered if she knew, if somehow she had overheard the intruders in my bedroom the night before. Maybe Fawn had told her about our dream. Or maybe it had nothing to do with me at all. I was praying it was the last one.
Whatever it was, she waited until dinner to tell us what was on her mind. She sat Fawn and I down at the table.
“Girls,” she started. “I have some news that may or may not be a big surprise.”
Mom had her course brown hair pulled back into a messy bun at the crown on her head. A few strands fell down to frame her makeup-free face. Her wide brown eyes darted from my eyes, to Fawn’s, then back to mine as she spoke.
“I have been seeing someone.”
She paused, as if waiting for some big reaction from my sister and I. When it didn’t happen, she continued. “His name is Glen. He and I work together…sort of.”
I shook my head. “Whoa, wait. Glen Glen?” I stared my mother down. “As in ‘my boss is such a hottie’ Glen?”
My mother smiled and nodded, unable to keep her happiness in. “I know! It is crazy. We just went out for dinner one night when we stayed late at the office and hit it off.”
“Wow,” Fawn said.
My mother was a lawyer’s secretary. Glen’s secretary. They had been working together for about five years before they decided to hook up. And when I say ‘hook up,’ I mean…
“There is even better news!” Our mother took each of our hands into hers. “I’m getting married!”
Simultaneously, my sister and I belted, “What?!”
In one quick, breathless slur, she tried to explain. “I know it is sudden. We haven’t even set a date yet. Nor has he actually asked me, but he wants to get a ring first. We’ll probably wait until you two are off into college before we make the plans. What do you think?”
Fawn and I were both speechless.
“Well, I’ll let it sink in for a while. Let you think on it.” Our mother sounded off when she spoke, as if we had disappointed her, like she wanted us to jump up and down with joy.
I had never known a home with a mother and a father figure. It had always been just the three of us. Could it work? Would we like him?
Why was everything changing?
As I was cleaning off my dinner plate and about to place it in the dishwasher, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Fawn yelled, even though we were all in the same room.
My mom and I exchanged a look that asked, “Were you expecting anyone?” I shrugged and followed Fawn down the hallway.
Once in view of our guest, I froze. Why was he here? Did last night actually happen?
“Fayette,” my twin called. “It’s for you,” she said in a sing song voice.
I turned, seeing the excitement actually on her face. “Do you know what he wants?”
She shrugged. “Whatever it is, I’m okay with. You two looked cute together yesterday.” She walked around me, smiling as she went. My mom did a little squeal before following Fawn.
I sighed and stepped outside, pushing Warren out of my way as I did so.
“Hi,” I said softly.
He looked at me. “I wanted to apologize for last night.” He paused for a moment, and then continued. “I shouldn’t have let him get so close. I don’t know what I was thinking. Please forgive me.”
I almost wanted to laugh at the sincerity in his voice. “So that was real?”
He nodded. “I’m really sorry, Fayette.”
I held my hands up. “It’s okay.”
He smiled again. “I was also wondering if you’d like to take a short walk with me.” When I didn’t say anything, he added, “Fresh air would do you some good, Fay.”
I smiled then. “Sure. Let me grab my sweater.”
I walked back inside. My mother and sister were standing there expectantly. I grabbed my sweater off the coat rack, still looking at them.
“I’m going for a walk,” I said slowly. “I’ll be back soon.”
The both turned to each other and slapped hands.
*
“Have you worked on your short essay?” I asked, trying to break the unnerving silence between us.
Warren was walking with his hands in his grey sweatshirt pocket. He looked at me from time to time out of the corner of his eye, but stared straight forward the rest of the time. We walked down my street, the cool fall air was nippy and I could feel the tip of my nose getting red with cold.
“Is that due anytime soon?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Oh. Crap.” He paused for a moment. “I think I prefer curved objects. But I can’t be sure.”
I laughed and he smiled a little. “So why did you really bring me out here, Warren?” I wanted to tell him about my mother, but figured he wanted to talk about our situation, not my mother’s.
He slowly stopped walking and turned to me. I was a few steps ahead, not realizing he had stopped.
He sighed. “I picked the wrong twin.”
I rolled my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“When I was assigned to come here, I didn’t realize you had a twin. I was sent here to protect you and instead, I spent all my time trying to protect Fawn when she wasn’t in any real danger.”
I nodded slowly. “How’d you figure it out?”
“Fairies,” he started. “We are like penguins.”
I laughed. “Penguins?”
He smiled a little. “You know how they have a song? Like, they attract their mate by singing a certain song.”
“I guess.”
“Well, that’s kind of like what we have. Our queens and kings always sing. And their voice is noticeable and we have no choice but to stand in awe in their presence, do their bidding, and love them.”
“That’s why you thought it was Fawn. You heard me sing the first day of auditions and thought it was her.”
“Exactly!” he exclaimed, excited that I understood.
“But what does that have to do with me?”
His jaw dropped a little. “Everything, Fay. You are our queen.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah. Good joke.”
“I guess you weren’t following the bouncing ball as well as I thought you were.”
I shrugged. “Sorry.”
“A long time ago, fairies only had one king. He was actually the only one of our kind. He did all the work of the four courts alone and was pretty good at it, until he fell in love with a human.”
“Kodama,” I whispered.
“Ah,” Warren said. “I see you’ve met him.” He sounded completely unsurprised.
“A few times, in my dreams. He’s shown me a woman who was being horribly harassed by these boys. They almost killed her.”
He nodded. “That was his love. They treated her like a witch then, because she did not conceive children with her husband. Kodama tried to save her and instead got her killed.”
“How?”
“I guess I should just tell you the entire story.”
I smiled up at him as he was deep in thought.
“When Melinda was twenty, which was rather old in those times, she had married a very wealthy man in her village. After they had been wed for quite some time, talk began to spread throughout the villagers that the married couple had yet to consummate their marriage. The rumors worsened with time as the imagination of the villagers grew. They began to accuse poor Melinda of witchcraft. When Melinda confronted her husband of her growing problem, clearly inappropriate to be so forward with a man in such times, he just turned his shoulder. It would seem as if he had fallen out of love with her.
“She was on her own. Melinda began to fear for her life. The women of the village shunned her and the children through garbage at her. She was forced to find hidden paths in the forests around her village where she could move about in peace.
“Her husband would no longer share their bed. He began to accuse her of witchcraft as well. His voice began to rise with his temper. Even at home, she was no longer welcome. When she left her home one night after a horrible fight with her husband, she took a stroll in the wood. It was dark and she couldn’t see a thing, but she knew the paths so well, she didn’t rely on her sight.”
I looked up at him. Warren was looking down at me, searching my face. “He was so cruel. She did nothing to them.”
He nodded. “Things got better though.”
When he didn’t continue the story, I pressed, “go on.”
“Off in some distance she saw a brilliant light. Coming from the light was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. It drew her in. She began to follow the lovely tune and vibrant light. The light moved quickly, bouncing around the brush. She called out to the light but there was no answer. She moved as fast as she could until finally, she had caught up to it.
”The light was not the lantern or candle she thought it to be. Instead it was a person illuminated, as if he glowed. Melinda tried to catch the attention of the glowing figure, but it continued to flutter among the undergrowth singing its enchanting song. After a few moments, Melinda gave up and fell to her knees. Somehow, the failure she had just experienced with this figure caused all of her sad emotions to come out in a flood of tears. That got the figure’s attention.
I asked, “it was Kodama?”
“Yes.”
“Did he help her?”
He smiled. “Be patient. I’m getting there.”
I giggled, getting lost in his voice. “Please continue.”
“Why, thank you.” After a moment, he went on. “The figure moved towards Melinda and she stopped sobbing in shock. The figure spoke to her, but never moved its lips. It said, “Why are you so sad?” She told it of her troubles in her village. When it asked what she needed to be happy, she replied, “children.”
”The figure smiled at her and leaned towards her to touch her belly. Later, she described the feeling as warm and filled with life. And that is exactly what the figure gave Melinda, life.”
“He just touched her?”
“Yes.”
I stared forward, pondering. “That’s strange.”
“That’s love.”
“He loved her already? He didn’t even know her.”
Warren shrugged. “Kodama didn’t need to. He knew in his heart that she was true and caring and he loved her. It’s really that simple.”
“Oh.”
“The figure never went away. Melinda didn’t mind however, because her belly began to grow. She was pregnant. Everything changed with the villagers after that. They began to respect her and she was accepted back into society. Except she wasn’t accepted back into the marriage bed she once shared with her husband. He all but spat at her whenever he was in her presence.
“As Melinda’s children grew in her belly, her husband began to talk crazy. When she wouldn’t tell him how she suddenly became pregnant, he would threaten to go to the village council and report her adultery. She stayed confident and ignored her husband. She never spoke of the glowing figure from the forest. Her husband began to drink and blame Melinda for all of his problems. It really wasn’t healthy.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Kodama was always around, though. At night, he’d come out of the woods and they would talk for hours and hours. She finally fell in love with him as well. And soon, the time came. As it turns out, Melinda was blessed with four beautiful babies, two boys and two girls. Melinda named them Maxwell, Donella, Ella, and Adam. They were perfectly healthy human babies.
”That was until Melinda’s husband decided to open his mouth about his wife’s secret. He ran out into the middle of the market screaming about love affairs and bastard children for all to hear. After that incident, Melinda was arrested. She was deprived of a proper trial and was just brought to the center of the village. Waiting there were all of the people of the village and a large stake surrounded by firewood. They tied her to the pole and she watched the men as they placed her miracle babies among the wood.
“The crowd cheered once the wood was ablaze. The children’s cries were drowned out by the roar of the crowd and the flames. Melinda stood frozen, unable to work up any kind of sound. She looked past the crowd and searched the forest in hopes to see that brilliant glow to save her yet again. She saw nothing. She and her four children died a very painful death.”
I gasped. My eyes began to tear. I felt as if I knew her, that she was a close friend or relative. I felt heartbroken.
“Once the fire had completely died, it was almost dawn. The people of the town decided not to put the fire out once Melinda was dead. They wanted to make sure her soul was gone as well.
”The figure made himself and his anger well known to the village. It appeared out of the trees. Its glow was replaced with fog. He conjured a thunderstorm and the rain killed any ambers still lit. As he approached the burnt bodies, a crack of lighting shot overhead. Tears of pure gold fell down its cheeks and he collapsed to its knees in front of the ashes.
“The figure closed its eyes and placed its hands on the ground in front of the four corpses. Once it made contact, the ground began to glow. The golden glow spread to the four children. The crowd began to form again with sleepy villagers.
“They stood and watched in awe as the bodies of the children started to come back to life. This time, however, their appearances were altered. Each child was a different hue. Their skin tinted an array of colors. Their short dark hair matched the color of their bodies. Donella’s turned white, Maxwell’s turn blue, Ella’s turned green, and Adam’s turned red.
“The figures glow had completely disappeared. It turned back to the crowd and spoke for the last time without moving its lips. “You have disgraced my family. You harmed children of mine and for that you will be severely punished. They will grow to the age of twenty years then live for ever in that state. They have all of my powers and will care for the elements. They are immortal elementals. These four children will go on living, but you will endure the same sentence you gave to them. They are mere children! You people do not have the right to continue on.”
“And with the little power it had left, the figure created a fire in its palm and thrusted it upon the villagers. The fire enveloped their bodies and they all burned to death.
“The four children grew and stopped aging just like the figure had said. They cared for the elements for years before they grew lonely. They fou decided to separate and create different worlds among the humans.
“They began stealing humans from their homes and turning them into creatures just like the immortals. These creatures, however, were different. They didn’t live as long as the immortals and they grew wings out of a small lump on their backs. The creatures that were created by Donella were tinted white and cared after the air. Creatures created by Maxwell were tinted blue and cared after all bodies of water. Ella’s creatures were tinted green and cared for any form of life on earth. Adam’s creatures took care of all weather and fire and were tinted red.”
With a little humor behind his voice, he finished his story by saying, “and now we have fairies.”
My jaw had dropped. Could this even be true? It couldn’t. It’s not possible.
“If what you say is true. Then you are supposed to be white. But you aren’t white. You are completely tan.”
He shrugged. “We use glamour to blend in. Would you have befriended someone with white hair? How else was I to get this close to you?”
“Show me,” I pressed.
“I can’t do that. I wouldn’t be able to turn the glamour back on unless we were in Breena.”
“That was a really sad story, Warren. But I still don’t really understand. How am I involved in all of this?”
“The immortals are fading. They aren’t going to make it another year. That’s where you come in. You are our queen.”
“As in, Queen of Breena? Why me?”
“You were born a fairy, but the rogues sent you here. You see, they are completely okay with having the kings and queens just die off. That way, everyone will be equal. But what they don’t understand is if there is no one in power, then the world will ultimately come to an end.”
I gasped.
“You hear about global warming and all that? Well, that is because they are loosing power. We need you to right this heavy wrong.”
I forced a laugh. “No pressure there.”
“You don’t need to make any decisions now. You still have time. But we are secretly praying to Kodama that you choose to be queen. And while you are still undecided, you are unsafe. Which is why I am here.”
“Then why is Foster here?” I asked before I could even think.
Warren’s eyes widened. “How did you know he was a fairy?”
“His eyes,” I said quietly. “They turn colors. They were purple once. Does that mean he is a rogue?”
“He is. But I don’t know why he is here. He seems to be on our side. But with rogues, you can never tell.”
“I had a dream about the water fairies.”
Warren chuckled. “Good ol’ Kodama. He lightened the blow a little, didn’t he?”
“He showed me a woman who was telling the water fairies that she will send a rogue to talk the future…I mean me, out of being queen.”
He nodded. “The water fairies feel that they are the most powerful and can easily overthrow any of the other courts. I’m not really surprised.”
“Do you think that was why Corrigan was in my room?”
He shrugged. “Corrigan is definitely a suspect and is being investigated.”
“Wait. He’s not dead?”
“Not exactly. But we can talk about that another time. I should get you home. It’s not really safe right now.”
I looked around. The street was dark, but I couldn’t see anything dangerous. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say, Corrigan was being sweet last night.”
