by R. G. Angel
I looked at the clock, it was only one a.m. My eyes wandered to my bookshelf and I slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle my scream.
There was a Post-it stacked on some books on the middle shelf. It was not there when I came back! That was something I was positive about; I was not crazy!
Someone was in my room! I quickly glanced around as a cold shiver ran through my spine. My heart was beating so fast in my chest that it was getting painful.
I took the Post-it, and I recognized the handwriting almost immediately. It was the same as the mysterious note that was on the box of my Halloween costume.
At the bottom, another note was added in red, but it was in a language I didn’t know.
“That’s it!” I snapped, looking frantically for my cell phone in my bag. Nick told me to call him if anything strange happened to me. He must know more than he let on when I was leaving.
“Fuck…” I mumbled with anger now, completely emptying my bag on my bed. My cell was not there. I quickly looked on my desk and nightstand… No phone.
I almost whimpered with exasperation and weariness. Nothing was going my way these days. Nick had to come and stay with me or convince my parents to take me away. All in all I was not staying here alone.
I grabbed my wallet and decided to make the call from the pay phone. It was not like I had security in my room anyway. I was very organized. I didn’t lose anything; somebody had taken my phone from me!
I took a deep breath and glanced up and down the corridor before tiptoeing to the phone. I felt a little safer by being in a common area. At least if anyone tried to hurt me, I could still scream. There would be at least one or two guys here on the floor that would help… right?
I picked up the receiver and hesitated for a second before composing Nick’s number. It was four a.m. back home, and even if I was in danger, what could Nick do? He was more than three thousand miles away and not a superhero. It would take him hours to get there, and I knew that this time if he offered to come, I’d agree.
I quickly dialed his number, my back against the wall, keeping my eyes fixed on the corridor.
“Who’s the fucking dumbass calling me?!” Nick snapped with his angry sleepy voice.
“It’s your baby sister,” I replied, not able to keep my voice from shaking.
“Fay?” he questioned “Fay!” he exclaimed this time with a much clearer voice. “What’s… Is everything alright?”
“Actually, no, I—” I started, then the phone was ripped out of my hand.
I looked to my right, utterly dumbfounded. Tamlin was here, the hand on the talking part of the receiver. I was so focused on the corridor that I never looked at the door to Tamlin’s room.
“Tell him you’re okay. That nothing is wrong,” he whispered urgently. “If he comes here, he will be in danger.”
My eyes filled up with tears as the pieces started to fit together. Tamlin was the person who was trying to hurt me… My hero was my enemy.
“Fay? Fay, talk to me, damn it!” I could hear Nick roar on the phone.
“Tell him!” Tamlin urged briskly, giving me back the phone.
My heart was breaking in my chest when I took the phone with a shaky hand. How could I be so wrong? The only person that I actually felt safe with wanted to hurt me.
“Fay, if you don’t answer me this second, I’ll—”
“Sorry,” I croaked with tears in my voice, keeping my eyes on Tamlin. “I just got one of my grades back, and it’s bad… really bad,” I added with a small sob.
“I…What?” he asked, and I bet he would have slapped me on the back of the head for getting worked up for something as trivial as a grade. “You’re bullshitting me, Fay. You are no drama queen.”
“You have to lie better than that, Fay,” Tamlin warned me, standing even closer to me. So close, I could smell his woodsy aftershave.
“Yeah, I’m just lonely, and that grade… Well, it depressed me.” I whimpered, looking away from Tamlin. I should be scared now, but I still felt safe with him despite everything. Could I be stupider?
“And you got that grade at…” Nick was silent for a couple of seconds, probably assessing the time difference. “One in the morning?” He snorted. “I may not be as brainiac as you are, but I’m not retarded. Stop lying, sister.”
I looked up at Tamlin, his face set in a serious scowl. “He broke my heart, Nicky. I didn’t see it coming but he did, so thoroughly,” I whispered as my voice broke, but now, facing Tamlin, these words were nothing but the truth.
“Oh, Fay…” Nick lamented. “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to get your heart broken.”
I took a deep, shaky breath. “You know I’ll be okay. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Anytime, I love you, little sister.”
This declaration brought tears to my eyes. “I love you too. I’ll call you in the morning,” I added, hanging up.
I looked around and assessed if I could break into a run or just scream. Screaming seemed like a very good idea right now.
“Listen to me,” Tamlin soothed, raising both hands in surrender. “It’s not what you think.”
My vision of him started to blur as tears filled my eyes. “You want to hurt me,” I whispered, starting to back away slowly, hoping that I could make it to the staircase.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I’m here to save you,” he said, mirroring my steps.
“Help me!” I shouted but nothing moved.
“They can’t hear you. I made them sleep.” He said it so calmly that he gave me the chills.
“Sleep? Oh my God!” I brought a shaky hand to my mouth. “Like in forever?”
“No, not like in forever!” he snapped and I could hear the exasperation in his calm voice. “I won’t hurt you. please, Fay, believe me… Please. Let me save you.”
I looked into his eyes, and unless he was the best comedian in the world, there was only genuine concern in his eyes.
He slowly extended his hand toward me. “I’ll explain everything, Fay; you have to believe me.”
“I’m not crazy,” I assured myself, letting the tears fall quietly down my cheeks. “There is someone that is trying to hurt me.”
“I know.” He nodded. “That’s why I’m here. Please believe me. I would never hurt you.” He extended his hand a bit closer. Now I had the doorknob leading to the staircase in my hand ready to break into a run.
“If you want to run, I won’t stop you, but, Fay, look into my eyes,” he said, stopping a foot away from me.
I looked up and got lost in his greenish-golden eyes as I did so many times before.
“You know me; you know me well.” He smiled slightly. “Don’t you think if I ever wanted to hurt you, I would have done it already?” he added matter-of-factly. “Can’t you feel it? The bond we share?”
Of course, I did feel it! I thought. The first time I locked eyes with him, it felt as though I'd known him my whole life.
“You’ll tell me everything?” I asked tentatively.
“I promise, Fay… Everything,” he confirmed, keeping his eyes on mine.
I reached for his hand and as soon as my icy skin touched his burning palm, he sighed in relief.
“Everything,” I repeated as he held my hand tightly.
“Everything,” he agreed. “Let’s go back to your room.” He pulled me down the corridor.
I grimaced slightly, and he probably felt my fears because he squeezed my hand a bit tighter and pulled me closer to him.
“Nothing bad can happen to you, Fay. I’m with you,” he affirmed so fiercely that I couldn’t doubt him.
Chapter 10
Once we walked into my room, my heart jumped to my throat at the sound of Tamlin locking the door. Was I making a mistake? I trusted him when all logical evidence led me to think he was a creepy stalker that probably murdered my entire floor and now, I was taking him back to my room. Idiot!
As I turned around, I immediately spotted my cell phone resting in the middle of my bed; I q
uickly looked around, half expecting someone to jump on me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, tense, taking in the room.
My life, I thought, but I just pointed to my bed. “It was not here before. I— I didn’t have it. It’s…” I choked and met his questioning eyes. “I’m losing my mind.” I crouched on the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs, resting my forehead on my knees.
After a minute, Tamlin crouched in front of me.
“You’re not losing your mind, Fay,” he soothed, resting his hand on my arm. “I… I should have talked to you before, got you ready but…” He sighed. “I was not supposed to.”
I looked up. He seemed so tormented. He gave me a small, sad smile.
“You know what is happening to me, don’t you?” I asked, still crouching.
Tamlin nodded. “I’m afraid I do.” He stood up and reached down for my hand.
This time I took it without hesitation. He said it before, if he had wanted to kill me, he could have done it every time we were alone together or even easier, could have just stopped saving my life when I needed to be rescued.
I walked to my desk and gave him the little Post-it that made me freak out.
“I’m sure it was not there when I fell asleep, but it was here when I woke up… Someone was in my room, Tam and… and…” What could I say? I just walked to my bed and sat down heavily on it.
“Eich bywyd a marwolaeth yn fy nwylo. Dewis yn ddoeth, tylwyth teg ychydig.” Tamlin looked up at me before whispering, “Your life and death are in my hands. Choose wisely, little fairy.”
“What?”
“That’s what the note says. It’s Welsh.” Tamlin put the note back on my desk.
“You speak… Welsh?” I said in awe, and I probably had my ‘what-the-hell’ face. What were the odds that both my attacker and rescuer spoke Welsh? Unless… Unless they were the same person. The doubts started to creep in on me again.
“We all do,” he replied dismissively. His eyes were locked on something on my wall.
I followed his gaze to the flower crown I wore for Halloween. I found it so pretty that I put it on the wall to decorate the room because it was pretty bare since my ‘Martha Stewart’ moved out.
“You all do?” I asked, confused. “Who are you?”
Tamlin concentrated on me again. His eyes were troubled, as if he was trying to decide what the right move was. How could he limit the damages? “I’m… You’re not supposed to know anything before your majority.”
“I’m eighteen! I turned eighteen in June.”
“The majority in our world is on the winter solstice after your eighteenth birthday so…” He took a deep breath. “I was supposed to wait till after December twenty-first.”
I was getting more and more confused. “You said you were going to explain to me, and now… I’m even more lost! You have to tell—”
“I’m a fairy,” he blurted out, standing straight in front of me.
“You are a fairy?” I repeated, and saying it out loud didn’t help me grasp the concept. It was just ridiculous! The most ridiculous thing I ever heard.
Tamlin nodded.
“Well, I know some girls that are going to be very disappointed!” I snorted, deciding to mock him as much as he was insulting me.
“Girls? I—” He stopped, realizing what I meant. He rolled his eyes. “It’s not a joke, Fay! That’s what we are! You are a fairy too!” he added, keeping his eyes on mine to show he meant it.
It was clear that he didn’t lie so the only logical explanation was that he was delusional. Of course, I had to fall in love with the crazy one! The guy had to suffer from some clinical issue… of course he did.
“Of course…” I trailed off.
“It’s no joke, Fay. We are fairies!” he insisted.
“Yeah, we are.” I stood up. “Well…” I looked at my bare wrist as if I was checking a watch. “I’m sorry, but I have to go, my unicorn is double-parked and she gets depressed when she gets a ticket stacked to her horn. Plus, I’ll end up late for my tea party with Tinkerbell.”
Tamlin twisted his mouth with both humor and disapproval. He stood in front of the door, blocking my way out.
I looked at him. Okay, that’s it. He is crazy, maybe even has a split personality, and he wrote the crazy threatening note without remembering it.
“You know it’s true… deep down, you know it.” He ran his hand through his silky hair. “Be honest, you always felt on the edge, like you didn’t belong here.”
“Yeah, like what? Ninety-five percent of the teenagers! I mean, come on!” I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. “The feeling that you don’t belong, it’s like the main feeling of adolescence!”
“Yeah, well… what about the kinship?”
“What kinship?” I asked, frowning.
“You can’t tell me that you didn’t feel it when we met in the hall. Didn’t you feel something different? Something you didn’t feel before.”
I looked at him, startled. Did he feel it too? That feeling that we had met before?
“Yeah, well, you’re hot,” I simply stated as I didn’t want to follow him in his craziness.
“Oh, really?” he asked, trying his best not to smile. “You find me hot?” He arched his eyebrow in a very cool way.
“I…” I blushed furiously. Why couldn’t I just keep it shut? “Well… it’s not like… you know… Oh, come on! Like you don’t know.”
“It’s nice to know you think so,” he said with a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You still don’t believe me?”
“I’m a scientist, Tamlin, and fairies don’t exist! Along with Santa, the Easter bunny, and honest politicians.”
“I don’t know why you are being so hard to convince, especially with the thing you are able to do yourself.” He was keeping his stance in front of the door.
I would have started to consider escaping by the window, but staying on the fourth floor, I immediately dropped the idea.
“What thing?” I asked, taking the bait.
“You’re talking to animals, and they listen. You feel what people are all about like a sixth sense, and you can influence people's wills to a certain level.” He smiled knowingly “You can’t control fairies’ wills by the way.”
He made me blush saying that as I remembered trying to make him kiss me.
“How—” I was about to ask how he knew that, but it would have been like acknowledging my differences.
“How did I find out?” he asked, chuckling. “I can do it too, that’s how. Along with a lot of other things, like putting people into a deep sleep.”
“Right…” I looked away.
He sighed heavily. “You are making it a lot harder than it ought to be.”
He reached for the crown of my Halloween costume. He walked to me, so I could look at it.
He put his hand on top of it and gently brushed the plastic flowers. My eyes widened as I saw the flowers morph into real ones as he moved his hand around.
“Is that proof enough for you?” he asked, handing me the crown of fresh flowers.
“Holy mother of Frankenstein!” I gasped, taking two steps back. “I… It’s impossible!”
“Please don’t freak out,” he pleaded, raising his hands in surrender. “I needed to prove it.”
“So you are not human?” I asked, and then I thought stupidly that he was too hot to be human anyway.
“Neither are you.”
“I…” I sat on the bed again, looking up at him helplessly. “I’m a fairy?” I asked, not able to come to terms with the idea.
He nodded, looking at me wearily.
“What about my parents? They are fairies too?”
“No… No, they are human,” he replied in a hushed tone.
“So how can—” My eyes widened with understanding. “They are not my parents!” I shouted, standing up.
“Hey, calm down” Tamlin caught my wrist.
“Calm down? Calm down? I just learned that my paren
ts are not my parents and that I’m not even human.” The last word came out in a hiss. “And you want me to stay calm? Sorry, can’t do!”
“You were not supposed to find out that way, not now.” He rested a hand on my shoulder.
I shrugged it away. “Why did I ever have to find out? I was just fine the way I was!” I knew it wasn’t true. I always preached for the truth… How hard and cold it was.
“No, you were not fine.” He was getting even more passionate. “You were in danger and you know that. I tried to keep you safe, but someone found you.” He pointed to the crown.
“The crown?” I looked at it before looking at Tamlin again. “What about it?”
“It is made of monkshood.”
“Okay…” I trailed off.
“The monkshood has a very particular meaning, you know. It means that the danger is near, that a deadly foe is near.”
“Oh… That’s why you took me to the ball then?” I asked, and I knew it was downright stupid as I just found out that my parents were not my parents, that I wasn’t human, and that someone wanted me dead, but I couldn’t help but be hurt by the fact that his interest in me was only motivated by my protection.
“I… No, of course not.” He seemed sincere enough.
“You always knew who I was, right?” I sat back again, feeling defeated.
He nodded sheepishly. “Yes. I was supposed to keep an eye on you, make sure you’ll be safe.”
“So the scholarship…”.
“It was our way to make sure you’ll come here.”
“I need to sit down.”
“Umm, you’re seated,” Tamlin pointed out with concern before sitting beside me on the bed. “Are… are you alright?”
“Peachy!” I marveled sarcastically. “Why wouldn’t I be?” I took a deep breath. “But— but why would anyone want to hurt me? You are a… fairy too.” It was still hard to say the word. “Why don’t they try to hurt you instead… no offense.”
“Yeah…” Tamlin winced, and I could see that he hoped I wouldn’t ask that question. “See… ummm.” He scratched his head. “You are not a normal fairy.”
“Of course I’m not!” I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. “I mean, what was the challenge of being a mythical creature, huh? I need to be the freak of my world!”
