Finding Fae

I was grateful that Malachi decided to start my training with something not overly demanding. He sat me down on an old stump in the middle of the backyard and told me to meditate. Find the peace in the middle of the chaos. It was easier in theory than practice, but I enjoyed being left the hell alone for a while.

Since I made that stupid Call, it’s been nonstop with these guys. One or more is always with me. It was nice at first, but a girl needs her space, fellas. Back off a few steps or something, sheesh.

I didn’t exactly notice I had fallen asleep on that stump until Malachi woke me up to come eat dinner. It was past dark now and I had no idea when that happened.

“It’s normal to fall asleep in the beginning,” he said when I apologized. “You, of all people, have a lot going on, so the process of getting through all of it, even if you aren’t dealing with anything, it gets to you.”

“It doesn’t help any that Tinkerbell keeps waking me up at unholy hours of the night,” I smirked as I flopped to the chair across from Ben.

“Why Tinkerbell?” Malachi groaned again. “Of all the things you could call me, why that?”

“I don’t know, but it makes you uncomfortable,” I laughed. “That’s a good enough reason for me.”

“You really are mean, you know that?” he rolled his eyes.

I shrugged and started eating.

“So, aside from not knowing anything about fae,” Malachi said between bites. “What’s the biggest concern we have?”

“We have no clue what kind of Fae I am,” I said.

“That’s solved when you get through the Awakening,” Ben said, waving his hand. “I would say the unknown origins.”

“I disagree,” I said after a moment of thought. “Did you forget about why Gary had me moving all over the place? I’m being hunted and I have no idea by who. Well, I might have had an idea when I was four, but that was a long time ago.”

“Okay, who was it when you were four?” Malachi asked.

“Elite Guard,” I said. “No clue who hired them, or if they’re still tracking me. I would say that the easiest way to find out would be to wait and see.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Malachi and Ben both said.

“I’m not a tactician,” I rolled my eyes.

“Clearly,” Malachi said. “If you’re that bad at checkers, I’d bet your ever worse at chess.”

“I will stab you,” I pointed my fork at him.

“Rule one, Fae. No bloodshed,” Ben laughed.

“You’re lucky,” I glared at Malachi, making him laugh and hold up his hands.

“So, the whole being hunted thing seems like a problem,” Malachi said when I went back to eating. “I’ll put in a word here and there in the Sidhe and see if anyone knows anything.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Ben asked.

“My old man may be 90% useless, but he has connections in the Sidhe that could prove to be... informative,” Malachi shrugged.

“Would they know anything about smuggling?” I asked.

“Why?” Malachi asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Well, I was more than likely born in the Sidhe, right? If they were being tracked, how did Ricca and Gary get me here?” I asked. “Also, during the reading, there was something that pointed towards Gary buying something “illegal”. I think he might have been giving me something to make it harder to be found.”

“I may be able to, but I’d be putting a lot of pressure on people,” Malachi frowned.

“And this, my dearest Fae, is why I’m here,” Ben grinned. “It would seem Mal’s contacts are more formal than mine are, so I’ll put the word out and see if anything bites.”

“Mal?” Malachi groaned.

“Would you prefer mine?” I asked and he recoiled like he just got electrocuted.

“Mal works for me,” he said.

-------

The days passed by, falling into routine. Along with school work, I was given lessons of the various types of fae. Their characteristics, most well known traits, even diet. Blaine still refused to tell me what he was and I hadn’t even started guessing on Mal, but I was far too busy.

After school, I would train with Mal. Mostly, it was meditating, as I was still trying to find the calm in the midst of all of this mess. Sometimes, we would have a small match, mostly hand-to-hand. I knew he wasn’t actually trying to hit me but he moved just a little faster than I did so I was reeling more often than not.

Blaine and Zane showed up after their “fight” looking like a cat got a hold of both of them, but they were on decent enough terms now. Zane still hated Mal, but he at least pretended to try to be civil. It failed quite often, but he was at least coming to terms with him being there all the time.

Bullying had, predictably, increased significantly, but after Mal nearly choked someone out for slamming me into a wall, things got to the point where I could predict when, at least, something was going to happen.

It was the beginning of winter break now and I was glad for the vacation from juggling so much at once. I loved learning new things, which delighted Nando when he started clean up of the backyard that first weekend after my Call. I wasn’t a great potion master, but I was able to identify herbs and plants and use them to make teas and ointments that kind of worked.

I rolled over on the cot and stretched out my body. This thing was making my body hurt the more I used it. The daily lessons with Mal weren’t helping either.

Eventually, I got up and went downstairs to rustle up something to eat, which was easier said than done. Five teenage guys practically living here saw my food supply run low super fast. Yet, oddly, I never went to the grocery store, unless it was for my own needs. Poor Zane looked like he was going to have an aneurysm when he insisted he get whatever I needed and I told him feminine products. Ben and Nando still hadn’t let him live it down.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Mal greeted me.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, noticing the eerily quiet house.

“Went home for a bit,” he said, flipping through a book that had been brought from the twin’s parents. “It’s the holidays. Yule is a big deal for us, you know.”

“How’d you end up with babysitting?” I asked as I made a cup of coffee.

“My parental units aren’t home and won’t be until mid-January at least,” he shrugged.

“Isn’t Yule a big deal?” I raised my eyebrow as I went back to the living room to sit no the couch next to him.

“Well, my family isn’t much of a family,” he said. “Here. Have you read this one yet?”

I looked at the book’s cover and nodded, making him sigh and drop it back on the table in front of us.

“I hate holidays,” he said after a while.

“Join the club,” I took a sip of the go-go juice in my cup. “I never drank coffee much before coming here. Trying to keep up with you guys is turning me into a middle aged woman.”

“There are worse things,” Mal laughed as his phone chimed with a message. He read it and frowned a little. “It’s the group message.”

“Frowns are always a great way to say “good news!”,” I rolled my eyes.

“I love your sarcasm. It’s adorable,” he smirked. “No, it seems like everyone is stuck with family for a few days. They’re all asking you to join them, of course.”

“I love that people actually care, but I think I’m going to use the time free of most of my tyrannical teachers,” I said. “I need to breathe.”

“Zane’s going to love this,” he smiled wickedly as he started typing.

“Behave, Mal,” I rolled my eyes.

“But... it’s fun,” he looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

“If he punches you, I get to tell you “I told you so”,” I shook my head.

“If he can land a punch, I’ll deserve it,” he snorted.

“Just when I think you have some redeemable qualities, you end up saying something like that,” I laughed.

“You just focus too hard on my flaws, princess,” he winked as he tucked his phone back. “So, since we’re still on the guard for who or what ever was tracking you and Gary, you’re stuck with me for the holidays.”

“More like you’re stuck with me, Tinkerbell,” I snorted.

“One of these days, I’m going to make you pay for that,” he glared at me.

Then, it hit me and I gasped.

“Oh my God!” I shouted. “Are you a fairy?!”

“I hate you, right now,” he pouted.

“You are!” I squealed as I put my cup down and moved to face him, smiling like an idiot.

“You’re far too happy about this,” he said suspiciously.

“How can I not be? This is freaking cool!” I clapped. “Are you elemental?”

“Noble,” he said slowly, still suspicious.

“No kidding! Well, it certainly explains a few things,” I admitted. “What about your family? Are they all noble?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he rolled his eyes. “Why is this so exciting for you?”

I smiled and took of running for my bag upstairs and grabbed my sketchbook before running back down and slamming into the couch with a huge grin on my face.

“Easy there, Killer. No need to break the furniture,” he laughed. “I’m a little concerned about it’s integrity already as it is.”

“The couch will be fine.,” I said and handed over my sketchbook. “If you laugh, I’ll break your nose.”

Mal smirked, both of us knowing there was slim to no chance of me ever catching him unless he was off his guard. It faded when he opened the book and saw the first drawing. It was rough, more of a doodle with intent. But it was the first one I actually felt like it belonged on the paper, aside from the woman in the woods.

It was a pixie. Not the cute kind most people thought of when hearing the word, but the actual kind. The usually mischievous, occasionally vicious, rarely helpful kind. This one was a moss pixie. Green skin the shade of pine needles on the tree, brown and green hair that looked like moss, big, black eyes, pointed teeth, wider than anatomically correct hand ending in wicked looking claws. A single set of, lacy, transparent wings in an earthy tone of green sprouted from his back that looked kind of like a beetles wings.

He was crouched in the moss he tended, much like a mother animal would protect her offspring. Teeth were bared and mouth open in a hiss, eyes narrowed around the edges in a glare, One hand braced himself on the ground while the other was held up, fingers wide and claws ready to do damage. His wings were up and out, spread forward to make himself look bigger than his actual two and a half, maybe three inches.

“Have you ever seen a moss pixie?” Mal asked and I shook my head. “I didn’t think so. They’re pretty secluded. Did you do this by the description alone?”

“Actually,” I pulled my knees up to my chest. “Everything in that book, I’ve dreamed of since the Friday before the Call.”

He turned the page and saw a water nymph. She had long hair that looked like river grass, a slender body and webbed fingers and toes. She had legs, but they were very thin and lacked tone, meaning she spent most of her time in the water. Her gills were flared open as she exhaled, bubbled rising to the surface as she did. She, unlike the moss pixie, was curious rather than defensive. Pale hair and skin, and pale blue eyes made her look washed out, like there was no color to her, aside from the light pink of her gills under the skin of her neck.

“I know you haven’t seen one of these,” he smiled. “They hate polluted water, so they tend to stay away from civilization.”

“A lot of them, I drew before I even knew what they were,” I said as he flipped to the next page. “At first, I blamed this book I checked out at the library. It very well might have been what started it, but it was romanticized crap. None of it was right about what they looked like, how they acted in general. I can’t explain how I was able to see them before knowing what they are.”

He was quiet as he kept turning pages until he paused at one. I peeked and saw it was one of the practice sketches of the woman in the woods. He looked a little taken back as he stared.

“Mal?” I asked and put my hand on his wrist.

“That’s my mother,” he said. “She lost her wings just before she found out she was pregnant with me.”

“How did she lose her wings?” I asked.

“They were cut,” he said. “Noble fairies commonly do arranged marriages. Mom was supposed to marry my uncle. He... wasn’t a good person and chose to be with his mistress over his wife. While my uncle was taking his mistress on trips and to events and places where he should have taken my mother, my father was the one that kept her company, most of the time.

“Over time, they fell in love and that lead to me,” he said, still staring at the drawing. “They weren’t careful one night and my mother was punished for her infidelity. My uncle was livid that she would dishonor him like that with his own brother and demanded her wings for the insult.”

“What happened to your uncle? Your father?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he shook his head. “Even though my uncle was publicly disgracing my mother every time he was seen with his mistress, he was the family heir and could do no wrong. My father was just a victim.”

“That’s pretty messed up,” I made a face.

“Well, it turns out he was beating his mistress,” he snorted. “She killed him a few days after my mothers wings were given to him as payment.”

“So your parents... you look like you haven’t seen her in a while,” I said as he closed the book and handed it back to me.

“She died,” he said. “Without her wings, she was weaker than she should have been. I was born and she didn’t have enough left to recover. My dad married another, because he had to. My mother and father never married, so I’m just a bastard as far as the family is concerned.”

I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry” was weak, being angry for him seemed like it was cliché, and feeling bad for him felt like an insult. So, I stayed quiet.

“The only way I know what she looked like was one portrait done before she married my uncle,” he smiled a little. “It’s small, smaller than a piece of paper, and my father doesn’t know I know about it, but I found it when I was ten. He keeps it tucked away in a drawer in his office. Normally, it’s locked, but I’m good at lock picking.”

“No! You? Lock picking? I never would have guessed,” I chuckled and he smiled. “What was her name?”

“I don’t know,” he frowned. “No one talks about her and the one time I asked my father... It wasn’t good. He loved her. That much I know without a doubt. He still does. His marriage to Bianca is formal and cold, like everything else in his life after I was born.”

“His loss,” I shrugged and grabbed my now cold coffee. “You may be a total jerk at times, but I think you’re growing on me.”

“Thanks for that backhanded compliment,” he chuckled as I took the cup to the kitchen. “You’re awfully passive aggressive.”

“I prefer snarky and full of charming wit and personality, thanks,” I replied with my nose in the air.

“Whatever you say, princess,” he laughed. “So, with everyone having family time, it’s just you and me. It’s a holiday, so I say we ditch the books and play hookie.”

“You, sir, are a bad influence,” I crossed my arms and tried to look serious, but ended up grinning. “Where are we going?”

-------

“When you said, bring a hat and gloves, I didn’t think this,” I said dubiously.

“Oh come on, chicken. It’s fun and no one will see us,” he rolled his eyes as he pulled me out the back door.

“That is not the part I’m concerned about,” I glared at him.

“I won’t drop you either,” he laughed and pulled me to him so my back was against him and his arms were wrapped around my waist.

Before I could gather enough air in my lungs to protest, we were off the ground like we were a rocket. I screamed a little but it turned to giddy laughter as the sudden fear faded to this thrilling exhilaration that turned my stomach into butterflies.

To me, flying was always something done in a plane, not with an actual pair of wings. I have never flown in a plane, but I did ride a roller coaster once or twice and the feeling was similar. Not quite the same, but close. There were no seat belts and hunks of metal holding you on the track, keeping you firmly subjected to gravity while giving you the illusion of flying. This was the real deal.

I didn’t hear anything but the wind rushing past my ears as we shot over the trees and fields. I had no idea where we were going, but I was enjoying the flight too much to care. Despite the cold, it was amazing. Most of the trees were dead, aside from the various evergreens, which, somehow, only made it that much more wonderful.

“I told you it would be fun,” Mal said in my ear.

I just laughed some more as he kept flying until he started to descend a little while later. When our feet touched the ground gently, He leaned around me and put his finger to his lips with a smile. Gesturing me to follow him, he started walking through the woods, barely making a sound.

I was a little disappointed I didn’t see his wings at all during any of this, but that was short lived when he pushed a low hanging cedar branch out of the way and grinned. There was a small clearing and in the middle was a man. Well, he looked about twenty five or so. But he didn’t look like a man. He was a dryad, a tree nymph.

He was in his winter foliage, so the grand display of leaves on his many, many branches was missing. Still, it was quite impressive. His head was a massive wreath of branches, his skin looked like oak bark, he had moss for “body hair”, and he had large trunk like legs that ended with roots instead of feet and toes.

As we watched, he put one “foot” in the dirt and his roots dug in, making a hole. He leaned down and put a small sapling that he had been carrying in his hands like a precious treasure. His movements weren’t rushed and held grace, kind of like the people in the parks doing Thai-Chi. Slow, deliberate, fluidly graceful movements as he planted the sapling and covered the root system. He stood slowly and shook himself, his branched clicking together like a baby’s rattle as he looked to the west.

He walked a fair distance away from the sapling and extended his roots into the soil, reaching his arms over his head. As he moved, his whole body turned into a tree trunk as his arms turned to branches.

“There’s a storm coming,” Mal whispered. “It’s hours away, but it might be wise to head back before the wind picks up.”

We quietly made our way back towards where we landed, give or take, and I couldn’t hold it in any more. I jumped at Mal and hugged him, a big smile on my face.

“What’s this for?” he chuckled as he put his arms around me.

“Today,” I said and stepped away. “You better be careful, though. You’ll lose the title of “Jerk” if you keep this up.”

He chuckled and turned me around before taking off again.