The Fey Conspiracy: Part 2

Author's note: The ending is lackluster, but I'm honestly not sure how to condense what I wanted to express within a short story. My idea for this actually expands into a novel and it's not really a novel I wanted to write. The conspiracy idea (and the title) came out of left-field, so resolving it isn't really something that I know how to do. This story is put on hold (and most likely finished) for the time being.

I welcome any and all criticism.

1,000 words

-

She stands over me, her hands on her hips, and her head cocked at a weird angle. “Seriously, like, didn’t picture you to be the twin who would invite their fetish to work. I can’t get enough of the werewolf ladies, but I certainly don’t invite them to this hellhole of a gas station.”

The weight of the vampire on my chest is restricting, so I shove him off. I worry, just for a second, that maybe I could accidentally injure him further. I stare at him for a second, waiting for him to breathe, but it looks like the stake that impaled his chest actually killed him. I can’t tell if that’s a shame or not, but at least I’m alive.

Holly reaches her hand out, and I take it. She lifts me up and laughs. “I’m sorry for joking — I just didn’t expect to see you in such a compromising position.”

I laughed. “I didn’t expect a crazed vampire to try and kill me,“ I stare down at his Party City outfit and guilt twinges in my stomach. “Thank you for killing him, though. I don’t think I would fair well as a vampire.” Blood pools out from under Dil onto the floor that I cleaned this morning. I’m vaguely reminded of my duties working at this Beacon gas station, but I feel just sick enough to throw up. Apprehension and worry courses through my body, like someone has switched the adrenaline pump with a fear pump.

I lean into Holly and she stands there, a study structure of comfort in a whacky situation. She’s warm in contrast to my lack of self-regulated body temperature.

“This is a good enough catalyst to quit?” She puts her arm around my shoulder. “I’ve been wanting to quit for months.”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

-

There aren’t a lot of changelings who survive to adulthood, so I guess I should count myself lucky. I may not know everything there is to being fey, but I do know how to keep my Shift up and how to navigate in the general human world. I’m lucky to have a family that didn’t try to bake me in the oven, although that’s because Holly wasn’t switched with me.

My fey parents dumped me outside of the doorstep, not even caring to take Holly in exchange. Perhaps they didn’t want children.

I try to not let this fact sting.

-

Holly rests her head on the steering wheel, not even ready to look at me. “A fey conspiracy? Come on, little bro, I highly doubt you could go searching for something like that.” Her voice is a mixture between bemused and a bit weary, although I don’t really blame her. We both just quit our jobs on the spot and there’s no guarantee that any other place will agree to hire us together.

“You don’t know if I’m your little brother. I could be centuries older.”

She stays quiet.

I look around the empty gas station parking lot, and then I drop my shift. My dirty reddish hair lightens back to Holly’s color, my nose becomes more defined, my face becomes less angular. The binding for my breasts becomes a bit more uncomfortable too, adjusting to the switch in my body’s size. Now I’m an almost perfect replica of Holly, just without pupils. There’s a reason I refer to her as my identical twin.

Some energy returns to me since I no longer have to put in the effort to keep my shift up. Really, if I wanted, then I could probably just change my eyes to match Holly’s and then parade around life as her actual identical twin. But I don’t entirely feel like living that big of a lie.

Holly finally turns to actually look at me. “Are you really running out of energy? It’s almost 2pm. Our work shift doesn’t really end for another couple of hours.” Concern is etched across her face.

I smirk, “You try nearly being killed.”

She straightens up and peers out of the car window into the gas station. “Do you think our old manager will notice the dead body on the floor? Will she call the cops? Should we call the cops?”

“You’re not typically the nervous twin,” I remark. I look like her, but my voice definitely doesn’t sound like hers. Thank heavens. Still, I understand her worries. “They’ll probably look at the footage and realize that you killed him in self-defense. Plus, it’s not like there’s much justice for vampires.”

She groans, “Don’t remind me. I always worry about you and something happening to you.”

“I’m not a vampire.”

“You’re fey.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

She turns the key and the engine turns on. “Where to, Mason? Back home to begin the job search or should we have an adventure?”

“Let’s head down to the forest. Maybe my parents will answer this time.”

“Don’t you mean our parents?” Holly tends to constantly switch between othering me and than forgetting that I’m not her actual twin but it’s a welcome sort of dissonance.

“Fey, Holly. Maybe they have something to do with the conspiracy.” She rolls her eyes at me and backs out of the parking space, keeping her eye on the surroundings as I close my eyes and lower the windows. The wind sweeps through my curly hair and relaxation is somewhat possible. The hum of the engine and Holly’s nervous chattering grounds me.

Our world is a whacky and wild one, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.

-

Holly and I have gone on many different adventures since I was dropped onto her doorstep. We’ve played with pixies, riddled with gnomes, befriended werewolves and vampires, and we’ve tried to navigate my fey ancestry with upmost care.

We did not expect to get lost in the woods, riddled by my fey birthparents. We did not expect to unlock a conspiracy. We did not expect to nearly die.

But what’s life without a little risk?