Queen of the Freaks

“Woah, woah, woah. What do you mean I’m sharing my powers with my evil twin brother? I don’t even know him!”

The unicorn continued to walk and as he did the world continued to get more grey. All of the colors disappeared around us. I looked down and saw that my clothes still had color, it was just the forest that had been drained of its’ looks.

“Um, did we suddenly step into a black and white TV or something? What the hell is going on?”

He stopped, so I stopped beside him.

“I wanted to show you what your brother plans on doing with this world if he takes over.”

I looked around. Everything was still living and butterflies were still flying around, but nothing had color.

“He plans on making color disappear? It’s a little odd, but I don’t know if it should be classified as evil or anything.”

“On the surface it looks like that is all he has done, but most of us believe it is much worse than it looks. We believe he has found a way to remove magic and harness its’ energy.”

“Remove magic? How the hell could he do that?”

“At this time we are unsure of his methods. We are quite certain, however, that he’s stealing the magic so that he can use it for his own purposes, perhaps to have the ultimate power and be the only magical creature in this realm.”

I thought back to the mysterious guy who took me to Amy. He didn’t seem overly magical. Or overly evil. Was he capable of stealing magic and making objects turn grey? I went over and touched a leaf. It was still a leaf, it had a droplet of water on it and was attached to a branch on the tree, but it was grey. The whole area was just a mixture of all different shades of grey. The leaf was lighter than the tree trunk and it was the strangest feeling to be holding such a bland-looking leaf. I wished it was green again, rubbing my fingers on it before letting it go and stepping back.

“So you never answered my question about the sharing powers thing.” I turned to look at the unicorn, about to demand an answer, when I saw his eyes widen. I looked in the direction he was staring and saw that the leaf—the very one I was just holding—was now green. One perfectly green leaf in a world of grey.

“It is true.” The unicorn said quietly as he and I both continued to stare at the bright green spot.

“What’s true? How’d that happen? All I did was touch it.”

“You are meant to rule our world. You are able to bring magic back. What your brother takes away, you can give back.”

I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

“Those are some serious expectations Mr. Unicorn. Let’s not get too excited, I’m not even sure I want the job position.”

“But you must!” His voice resonated through my entire head. “You must defeat your brother, become queen and restore order in our world. You’re our only hope!”

Ah shit.

“There you are!” Finn’s voice was behind me. I turned around and was surprised to see Finn looking tattered and worn out. His designer clothes were ripped and singed from fire and there was dirt and blood smeared on his face. His hair was sticking up all over the place and I could see some kind of yellow slime in it. I didn’t even want to know what the slime was.

“We need to get you back to the human world NOW.” He grabbed my arm. I looked over my shoulder to say something to the unicorn but he was gone. Finn mumbled some words that I couldn’t understand and before I knew it the world was smearing into a grey swirling mess. The last thing I remembered seeing amongst the swirling greyness was the bright green leaf.

I closed my eyes during the painful squeezing process and when I opened them again Finn and I were by the bench in the park.

My legs felt wobbly and my head was pounding.

“Come on, we’re going home so you can rest.” I didn’t even have enough energy to argue with him when he picked me up in his arms, walked us to the Jeep and drove us back to my apartment.

The next time I opened my eyes I was laying in my bed. I glanced at my alarm clock, which told me it was the next evening. What the hell? How long was I asleep for? Ginger was at the foot of my bed, staring at me.

“Tianna sleep for long time. Better?”

I sighed. “Yes, I’m better Ginger.” I spoke inside my head to her. “But I think I could use some of my special juice.” I rolled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen, praying that someone had left some sushi or something even better in the fridge for me.

“Morning sunshine!” Finn called out in a voice that was way too cheerful for my mood. He showed no sign of the fight from the night before, he was cleaned up and looked like he stepped out of a clothing advertisement. He also had a couple of bags of blood in his hands. I lunged for them, thankful he had already popped a straw inside each bag.

I slurped down the sweet goodness and then walked over to my couch, grabbed a style magazine off the coffee table and sat down, flipping through the pages silently.

“What, no interrogation this morning?” Finn joked. I ignored him. “Where are all the questions? You’ve been awake for all of five minutes so by now you should’ve asked about fifty questions, sworn a dozen times and insulted me at least twice.”

I crossed my legs and kept flipping through the pages.

POOF!

I didn’t even glance up when Bob arrived in front of me.

“Tianna, we must discuss your plan for destroying Tristan. I have come up with several scenarios that I think will work if we act quickly and are lucky enough to have a few magical creatures on our side.”

“Where’s Jim?” I interrupted.

“Jim?”

“Yeah, you know, your evil cousin who tried to kill me? Last time I saw him he was tied to a chair in this apartment.”

“Right. Well, about that,” Bob looked over at Finn who shrugged his shoulders at him. “When we received word that you had been kidnapped and taken to the other world, there was a lot of chaos in the room. Our primary focus was to rescue you of course, to ensure your safety, and in our haste I’m afraid our hostage managed to bypass us.”

“Bypass you? Is that British talk for escaping? Jim escaped and is free to kill me again? How convenient!” I stood up. “And FYI, Stan didn’t kidnap me, he helped me by bringing me to Amy, which is more good than either of you two have done for me lately.” I tossed the magazine back onto the table. “Listen up Bobby, I didn’t ask for this queen position and frankly I’m not so sure I want it. Why didn’t you tell me that I could opt out?”

“Your Majesty, it simply cannot be an option. Our world needs you.”

“Does it? Cause the only evil I have seen has been directly connected to me. A dragon tried to kill me,” I checked off each item on my fingers. “Your cousin tried to kill me, my innocent friend gets kidnapped, your cousin tried to kill me AGAIN, and then I get attacked by creatures who are supposed to respect my authority while I’m visiting the world I’m supposed to be ruling. Call me crazy but that doesn’t sound like an ideal career opportunity. None of that stuff would have happened if I would have just denied the position as queen. Amy would be safe at home right now if I knew that I had the option of not becoming a fairy-vampire freak.”

I wasn’t even angry as much as I was confused. More than anything I just wanted Amy safe and for my life to return to normal.

“The only way to get your friend back is to defeat Tristan.” Bob stated in a firm voice. “You’re the only one who can do that, and when you do, you can restore our world to it’s peaceful state and no one will attack you or your loved ones.”

“Is that what you told my mom before she was killed by her own people?” I said quietly.

Bob’s small face went scarlet red and he walked over so that he was directly in front of me.

“Your mother was loved by many and was not killed by her people, she was killed by Dagda and the Unseelie Court.”

“What would stop the Unseelie Court from killing me just like they killed my parents?”

“You would.”

I threw my hands up in the air.

“See? This is what I mean! It’s like you talk in riddles. I cannot physically kill an entire village or kingdom or whatever the hell this Unseelie Court is, I don’t even have full length fangs for fuck’s sake. I am just one, single person in a world I don’t belong in and surrounded by idiots like you who don’t tell me anything useful!”

“Um, Ti, your cell phone is ringing.” Finn handed it towards me. I glared at him and then snatched the phone out of his hand.

It was a text.

U were born 2 follow ur mothers footsteps…all teh way 2 teh grave.

“Oh great, another threat from the bad-spelling evil text monster.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to take a shower and then my plan for the rest of the day is to have a normal, human life. I don’t want to hear about plans or schemes and do not contact me unless you have successfully managed to rescue Amy. I have some thinking to do.”

With that, I took my ragged body to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. The blonde hair wasn’t so bad anymore. I felt sorry for being so mean to Bob and Finn, but I honestly wasn’t sure who to trust. I wished I could just go back to the magical world and spend more time with the wise unicorn. I felt so peaceful when I was there and I felt so irritable and cranky when I was back here. I also needed Amy back. I was stressed out and didn’t know how to get her back. I didn’t fully trust Bob or his intentions so I needed to come up with my own plan for getting Amy back home safely. And to think of a plan I needed time alone. Preferably shopping.

*****

“Oh God, these are beautiful!” The cashier exclaimed while she was wrapping up my new pair of stilettos. With my eyes glazed over in admiration and a goofy smile on my face, I nodded in agreement with her. They were truly a work of art; white patent leather with pink crystals on the back and peekaboo toes to show off my fresh pedicure on the front. I couldn’t wait to wear them.

I was on my way out of the store when I saw him. He was leaning against a lamppost with one thumb tucked through his belt loop and looked like he was specifically waiting for me. Seriously, how did the guy keep running into me? I wasn’t sure what to say so I just tried to act casual.

“Oh, hey Josh.” I waved nonchalantly.

He stepped away from the lamp post and closer to me.

“Hey beautiful. Wanna go for a drive?” He nudged his head towards a jet black Mustang that was parked beside him. I remembered how fast he drove my Jeep on the night of the party and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to relive the experience again. Also, you know when you can hear your mother’s voice in your head sometimes, reminding you not to do stupid things? That’s exactly what happened to me. I could hear her nagging voice in the back of my head telling me never get inside cars with strangers.

But technically Josh wasn’t a stranger. I mean, we had a few moments together. Plus, he was knocked out by a goblin and had his brain re-wired by a vampire all because of me. So I figured I kind of owed him. Plus, he was really hot. Like, really. Going for a drive in a hot car with a hot guy definitely sounded like a good time.

So, away we went (so much for alone time) and I had to admit, it felt good to have everyone on the street watch us as we flew past them.

I tried not to let Josh see how anxious I was about his crazy driving and he didn’t seem to notice. He had the tunes cranked up so loud that my seat was vibrating from the bass. Any time he wasn’t shifting gears he had his hand on my thigh. Yep, it was definitely going to be a great day.

We got to a clearing near the woods and he did a doughnut in the gravel (much to my surprise and panic), and then turned off the car and got out. I followed him.

Damn, his ass was fine!

I thought of how I would describe Josh to Amy and then felt a pang of guilt as I thought of her tied up in the other world while I was about to (hopefully) make out with a hot guy. I really needed some alone time to figure out a plan. I made a pact with myself that as soon as Josh drove me back, I would put on my new shoes and then focus entirely on the situation in the other world.

“So, what happened the other night?” Josh asked as he sat down on a log that looked like it had been rotting in the forest for a hundred years. I didn’t really want to sit on the log but felt dumb standing when he was sitting, so I brushed off some of the dirt and sat down beside him.

“Well, what do you remember?” I had to be very careful about how I answered, because I didn’t want to trigger any memories that Finn had made Josh forget about.

“I remember the party and driving your Jeep. I remember the fireworks going off and then you acted a little…odd,” That was an understatement. “And then the next thing I remember was being at home. Did you slip me some roofies or something? Why don’t I remember anything past the fireworks?” I noticed his hand was back on my thigh. Clearly, he wasn’t overly distraught.

“That’s a good question,” I laughed. “You must’ve had a few more drinks than you thought. I definitely didn’t slip any drugs into your drinks or anything dude.”

“So then, we did get to celebrate the fireworks together? Because I’m pretty sure I’d remember the touch of your skin on mine, but I don’t seem to recall it.” His hand went further up my thigh. “Perhaps you’ll have to refresh my memory.”

Oh my!

I checked out his neck area and I didn’t see any silver chain, thank God! He must’ve seen the happy reaction on my face because he smiled and leaned in towards me for a kiss. His hand went from my thigh to my hip and around to my lower back. Very lower back. His lips found mine and I kissed him eagerly. He shifted his body and ran the fingers of his other hand down my neck, shoulder and met up with his other hand on my back. It gave me goosebumps and I kissed him even more passionately, letting a moan escape while his fingers started to lift my shirt up.

I was totally into the moment and loving how things were progressing when out of the blue I felt the most intense, mind-numbing, blinding pain. I gasped and broke away from Josh, and that was when I noticed he had my hands behind my back. The pain that had seared through the skin by my spine was now burning through my wrists. It was so overwhelming that I thought I was going to pass out.

“You weren’t expecting this little turn of events were you?” Josh grinned at me. “You thought you were safe when you didn’t see the silver chain around my neck, but you forgot to check the rest of me.” He held up his left wrist and I vaguely remembered seeing some non-shiny silver chain wrapped around it as he used his hand to steer the car, but I was so distracted by his right hand that had been creeping up my thigh that it didn’t even register with me that the chains on his wrist could have had iron in them.

“I don’t understand,” I managed to whimper while gasping to catch my breath.

He laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me honey, you don’t seem to understand much of anything.” He lifted my chin up. “It’s too bad I have to kill you, because you’re pretty cute. Dumb, but cute.” He laughed again and ran his finger down my neck and over my cleavage. Bastard! If I could only get loose from the pain chains I would kick his ass so hard his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.

He started walking back towards the Mustang and I tried to muster all my strength together to get the chains off my hands. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain and focus on moving the chains. I had managed to move them just the tiniest bit when I heard him walking back towards me. I opened my eyes and saw that he had a black leather drawstring bag in his hands. He stood in front of me and opened the bag. My eyes brimmed with tears as he hauled out three more thick dark chains and a few other iron instruments, their purpose I didn’t even want to know.

I watched with terror as he took one of the long chains and wrapped it around my feet. I had been so paralyzed with pain and fear earlier that I hadn’t even moved my feet. Now I was feeling dumb for not trying to kick the bastard while I had a chance. As soon as the chains touched my skin it felt like someone was taking a blowtorch to my feet. I screamed in agony as he continued to place chains around my bare legs.

“Is all of this really necessary?” I heard a familiar voice call out from behind me. I was practically delirious from the pain and didn’t even have the strength to turn my head to see who spoke.

“I’m just having a little fun with her before she dies.” Josh said.

“Nobody said anything about her dying.” The voice was calm yet stern. To my surprise, I felt the chains around my legs loosen and then they were removed. A bit of my energy returned and I was able to get a clear look at who was in front of me.

“Stan!” I whispered. He gave me a small nod, but didn’t smile. I didn’t care, I was so grateful to have the chains removed, I would’ve been happy if the devil himself was the one helping me.

I noticed he had on thick leather gloves as he placed the chains back inside the black bag.

“What’s the point of getting this bitch if she doesn’t die?” Josh gumbled.

I couldn’t believe I fell for this guy! True, he had a bad boy look about him, but I didn’t think he really was a guy who would kidnap me, torture and plan on killing me. He made all my other ex-boyfriends look like angels.

“You’re an asshole!” I managed to spit out. The chains around my wrists were still burning into my skin and I didn’t have nearly enough energy to really give Josh a piece of my mind.

“Oooh, did you hear that?” Josh laughed. “Barbie thinks I’m an asshole! Why don’t you come over here and tell me to my face? Oh right, you can’t!” He laughed some more. I noticed Stan had finished placing the chains in the bag but had yet to undo the ones around my wrists.

“That’s enough, human. Learn your place.” Stan’s loud voice cut through the laughter and Josh’s face immediately went serious.

“Sorry Your Highness.” Josh’s voice was quiet and he looked like he didn’t enjoy being reprimanded.

“So,” Stan walked behind me and loosened the chains around my wrists so that they were only wrapped once around my skin. It still hurt like hell but it was bearable. “I see you’ve met one of my employees. I figured you’d be attracted to the rebellious looking type.”

I blinked up at Stan as he walked around to face me. “Your employee?”

“Oh yes, I had to keep an eye on you in the human world somehow. Wouldn’t want my sis getting into trouble or anything. Josh was eager to jump at the opportunity to spend some quality time with you. I hope he was a gentleman, you are my sister after all.”

Stan smirked and Josh snickered under his breath. I thought about how I let him touch my skin and shuddered.

“You had this asshole follow me around and then kidnap me and try to kill me? Your brotherly love is overwhelming.” I said.

“Kill? No no, he wouldn’t have killed you. I wouldn’t have let him. You are my flesh and blood, I would never let this measly human kill you. If you are to die, it would be in a more honorable way, and by a more worthy opponent, you have to trust me on that one.”

“How kind of you. Do tell me, am I going to die?”

“Don’t we all die eventually?”

“Oh, don’t get all philosophical on me, you jerkwad.”

“Spoken like a true queen.”

“Fuck you.” I answered.

“Really, you are so charming. I can see the entire magical world just falling in love with your eloquent words.” He chuckled softly. “Speaking of which, have you made your decision yet?”

“My decision?” I was struggling to get the chains off my wrists but it it seemed useless. All it was doing was wasting the little bit of energy I had.

“My my, how quickly we forget. Your decision to become queen of course. Remember, I told you that it is a choice you need to make. A choice that your friend Bob neglected to tell you about.”

I thought about Bob. And Finn. They were annoying as hell but I knew that they would never, ever tie me up with iron chains. All doubts I had of Bob and his intentions went out the window.

“Your brainwashing isn’t going to work this time dude. Bob is a good man…well, gnome. He may not have told me all the details but he he would never kidnap me like you have.”

“I didn’t kidnap you sweetheart. You willingly went on a drive with Josh here, and then HE decided to have a little bondage fun with you. He does seem to have a kinky mind.” Josh grinned at me like he was proud of himself. He made me want to puke. And punch random things.

“Well if you’re such a nice brother who has swooped in and saved my life like one of the good guys, why haven’t you untied the last of the chains?”

“You’re right. I am a nice brother and I have swooped in and saved your life like one of the good guys. Don’t ever forget that.” His voice changed as he said the last line. It gave me the chills. Creepy.

“But,” He continued, this time more light heartedly. “I’m also not dumb. I don’t want to hurt you unless it’s absolutely necessary, but I also don’t want you to try anything stupid like running away. That could have some very dire consequences and I really wouldn’t want that to happen to you.”

“I’m getting pretty bored with all these riddles and games of yours.” I blurted out. “Just tell me what you want from me and be done with it already.”

They both laughed. I didn’t find anything I said funny. The anger was bubbling up inside of me. I really needed to get out of these chains so that I could kick their asses.

“Help is coming. Stall for time.” The voice in my head surprised the hell out of me and I wanted to look around to see what animal gave me the good news, but I didn’t want to tip off the bad guys so I did my best impression of a straight poker face.

“What I want from you, darling sister, is your decision.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what he meant.

“Wow, you really are a dumb blonde.” He said exasperatedly. “Let me explain it to you in small words. I have your friend Amy.” My eyes widened as I remembered my BFF was being held captive as well.

“Amy is unharmed, just as I told you she would be.” He continued. “If you decide to decline your role as queen, I will let you and your friend Amy go home safely, without so much as a scratch, where you can go back to your normal lives as rich, spoiled human girls. I am even willing to erase your minds so that neither one of you will have any recollection of any of this…unfortunate situation.”

My mind raced. How much time did I need to stall?

“What about the money?” I asked.

“What money?” He seemed irritated.

“The unlimited trust fund that Bob told me about. If I decline as queen I want at least half of the money.”

“Do you understand what I’m offering here? A chance at freedom and a normal human life once again. Your friend’s life restored and unharmed!”

“I want the money.” I insisted.

Stan laughed again. “You know, you and I would make a good team. The myth makes you sound like this good, honest, and kind princess-in-waiting who will come to kill me and take over the world, but the truth is you’re just as evil as I am. Too bad you have half of my powers or I might consider keeping you as my partner. A family business, you know?” He laughed again.

“I would never be your partner.”

“No, sadly, you never would. I need to have all of the powers in order to complete my goals as leader of this world, and that means that you need to give your powers up.”

I had to come up with more questions, more things for him to waste time on.

“You never told me what would happen if I don’t choose to decline the position.” I asked, trying my best to sound innocent. Yeah, I had an idea of what would happen. My slow and painful death, yada yada. Sleeping with the fishies, yada yada.

“That would be a very, very poor decision. I wouldn’t advise it. The only way I can get your powers is if you decline your position as queen, or if you die. I really don’t want to have to kill my only sister. What kind of an impression would that leave on the magical world? And of course if you’re dead, Amy would have no reason to return to her human life. I might choose to spare her though and keep her as a blood slave.”

“A blood slave?” I was horrified at the sound of it.

“Think of it as a walking snack. Drain her until she’s just about to die and then let her get healthy again only to suck the blood out of her all over again. She might last a couple of years as a blood slave before her body simply dies out of exhaustion.”

Holy fuck, how could I be related to such a disgusting being? I was ready to be rescued NOW. Where the hell was that help??

As if on cue, I heard rustling in the trees. Josh and Stan heard it too because they instantly became alert and took on an attack stance.

“We’re here to rescue you, your majesty!” A cute, high-pitched voice spoke inside my head. I smiled and turned my head so that I could take a look at my rescuers.

Imagine my surprise when I saw an army of Bambi’s and bunnies.