by Lucia Ashta
“It doesn’t matter what your name means,” Fianna snapped.
“And why doesn’t it?” I tilted my chin upward in defiance, staring hard at the fairy, who hovered at eye level right in front of my face.
“Because we have far more important things to figure out.”
That was true, sure, but I’d always found comfort in that one connection to my father, the angel I’d never met and never would.
“Tell us about your father,” Fianna said.
“I’ll be the one asking the questions here,” Irving growled, then pinned me with those eyes that reminded me so much of the stormy ocean. “Tell me about your father.”
I shrugged. The wings moved at my back in the strangest of sensations. This would take some getting used to. “I don’t really know anything about my father, other than he’s an angel, and he and my mother fell in love.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Nessa piped up. “Angels aren’t able to love anyone.”
“Well, my father did.”
“Whoa.” Nessa held her little hands up, a cascade of silver bracelets clinking down both forearms in a rush of musical tinkling. “You don’t need to get all defensive here.”
I was pretty sure I did. “My father did love my mother. Actually, he still does.”
“All right,” Nessa said. She was trying to placate me, obviously, but her tone came off as condescending instead.
“They still talk.”
“How do they talk?” Irving asked.
I wished I could do more than shrug. “I’m not really sure. My mother says they talk through their hearts.”
“Aw, isn’t that sweet?” Fianna said, making it sound entirely unsweet.
“Actually, it is. My parents love each other.”
“I’m sure they do, lass,” Irving said. “Your father doesn’t come down to see ya or your mother, however, is that right?”
“Not that I know of. My father heard her siren call and fell in love with her beauty from afar. Their hearts merged in a wave of passion, and I was borne from that love.”
“Hearts merged, right.” Fianna snorted, and I glared at her. She put her hands up in surrender, but didn’t retreat from my personal space, continuing to buzz and hover too close to my head. “I’m just saying, supernaturals like to get it on.”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but I was certain I didn’t want to continue in that direction.
“It sounds like a beautiful story,” Quinn said as he stepped closer to me, and I didn’t miss that even he implied that it was nothing more than a story.
“It’s true,” I said, digging my toes into the cold, rough paving stones beneath my bare feet.
“I’m sure it is.” He patted my shoulder, working around my wings. I shrugged off his touch, and when he pulled back I immediately wished I hadn’t. It was just … why didn’t he believe me?
I scowled at every single one of them and pursed my lips shut tight. I wasn’t about to tell them anything more if they were going to question every single detail. My mother had told me the story of how my father and she fell in love a thousand times at least. It was the only connection I had to my father.
“The ocean has been known to harbor stranger happenings,” Irving said, the only one who looked as if he might believe me. “I’ve seen things upon the seas that I scarcely believed.”
“You?” Quinn asked. “You’re the most believing person I’ve ever met. You even believe in Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.”
“Of course I do. If we exist, if they exist”—he pointed at the fairies—“if a half-siren, half-angel exists, why shouldn’t they?”
No one replied. It seemed like a pretty strong point to me, especially since it had never occurred to me to disbelieve anything. Life was so much more pleasant believing in its magic. Why would anyone want to doubt it?
Irving stared at me, but this time his attention was softer, friendlier, as if he’d discovered that he and I had something in common, though I couldn’t imagine what. After all, he’d just aptly described me as a half-this, half-that freak.
His eyes grew hazy, as if he were far away, before he blinked the memories or longings away, and asked the fairies, “How d’ya know to come here, exactly? The owl told you, but how’d he know she was at this house?”
Nessa gestured toward me with a snap of her head and a bounce of bright blue hair. “We told you. Her magic flared, alerting the Academy. We knew exactly where to find her.”
“I have the least magic of all my people,” I said, sounding as sad about it as I truly was. That had been almost more difficult than being too different to really belong. Even Liana had more power than I did. Everyone had lots more power than I did. Mother especially did. My shoulders drooped beneath my wings and Quinn took a hesitant step back toward me, though he didn’t reach out for me.
“Well, you have enough power to set off the Academy’s alarm,” Fianna said.
“It doesn’t seem right that you have alarms about others’ magic,” Quinn said.
“It is when it’s our responsibility to make sure no supernatural poses a risk to themselves or to the community at large. The Enforcers police the supernaturals, but we train and monitor them; that’s just as important, if not more. You know the others can’t learn of our existence.”
“Obviously not.”
“Wh-why not?” I asked. “My tribe never hides itself.”
“The Kunu Clan makes its home far away from civilization,” Irving said, “that’s why. You probably rarely see people.”
“But when we do, we don’t hide.”
“But do ya serenade them and change their perception of reality with your song…?”
I didn’t answer. How did he know so much about my tribe and our ways? No, not my tribe. It was hard to remember. I had wings. Right. I’d been sent away … to this mess.
Nessa crossed her legs in front of her while she hovered. “Non-magical people aren’t equipped to know about us. They’d kill us.”
I gasped and brought a hand to my chest. “Surely they wouldn’t! What reason would they have to kill us?”
Nessa shook her blue head and actually looked sad. “Such a shame to have to inform someone so naïve of the true nature of humanity.”
“That’s for sure,” Irving said, surprising me. I thought he’d been starting to appreciate me.
The fairies and the shifters shared a moment I didn’t fully understand before Irving addressed the winged folk. “So her magic set off some sort of alarm. You received your orders and flew straight here. Ya discovered the wards down due to her magic and proceeded to attack my nephew. Do I have it right?”
“Not precisely,” Nessa said, but didn’t bother to correct him … because he had it right.
“We didn’t ‘fly’ here,” Fianna said.
“Yeah,” Nessa said. “We magicked ourselves here.”
“That’s awesome,” Quinn said. “I wish I could magick myself places.”
“Don’t confuse them for friends, Q,” Irving warned. “Fairies are some of the most mischievous and duplicitous of magical creatures.”
“I take offense to that,” Fianna said, but didn’t deny the charges.
Nessa’s wings flapped so quickly that I made out no more than a blur of them as she sat in mid-air right in front of my eyes, no more than a foot from my face. At this range, I noticed everything about her. Though tiny, the woman was extremely beautiful, with pleasant features and body. Her mischievous nature was, however, as plain as her bright blue hair. “How long have you had wings?” she asked.
“I got them only when the ward was trying to kill me.”
“So your wings appeared when you were near death?”
I nodded.
“Hmm. I’m sure Naomi’s ward could have killed you, so it’s a good thing.”
“Her ward isn’t supposed to kill anyone,” Irving said. “It’s only supposed to incapacitate till I can figure out what to do with the intruder.”
Irving grumbled, but a look of doubt settled across his face, half hidden by all the bushy hair. He reached for the plastic box on the outdoor couch where he’d tossed it. Would this very small Naomi still be inside it? Or would she have magicked herself away as the fairies apparently could?
“Your wings had never suggested themselves before?” Nessa asked. “You’d never sensed anything there?”
“Nothing. I always looked just like the other sirens,” I said. “Even if I didn’t feel like one of them.” The admission pained me, but the others didn’t seem to notice.
“Of course you wouldn’t fit in,” Fianna said. And Nessa asked, “So you had a tail before, what, just popping up here and sprouting wings?”
“Exactly. Mulunu sent me here, and, well, here I am. No tail.” I gestured at my back. “Big wings.” In the bright midday sunshine that shone down on us in the open clearing amid so many trees, my wings were a startling white. I caught Quinn staring at them and hoped he wouldn’t think me a freak.
“Amazing wings,” Nessa said. “I wish mine were like that.”
“You’re so much smaller than me, the size of a fly,” Fianna said. “You can’t have wings like that.” Nessa was only smaller than Fianna by a smidgen, but Fianna didn’t appear bothered by her exaggeration, though Nessa did—plenty; I suspected that had been the point of it. Apparently Fianna liked to annoy. How … odd. Why would anyone choose to be a bother? My whole life all I’d wished for was to make things easy for everyone around me, and I’d been different enough to cause problems no matter what I wanted.
Fianna tilted her red head this way and that, peering at my wings. “The sprouting of wings could have been the burst of magic that called us. The first time any creature shifts, it alerts us.”
“It could’ve also been her own magic fighting the ward,” Nessa said.
“True. Either or.”
The fairies scanned my body up and down, like I was some kind of odd specimen. Apparently, that didn’t cease once I reached land.
“You’re saying you have no clear answer?” Irving said, pushing up the sleeves of his thick sweater.
“Not in this regard,” Fianna said.
“Then you’re of no use to me or her. Get out.” And though Irving’s beard, mustache, and eyebrows were gray, and his dark hair shot through with silver, his voice contained enough vigor to make the fairies startle.
“Oh, wait. You misunderstand,” Fianna rushed to say. “We have plenty of other information you’ll want to know.”
“Good,” he grumbled. “Then let’s get inside where it’s safer.” He scowled at Quinn. “You should’ve never brought her outside.”
“Sorry,” Quinn said, and I opened my mouth to claim responsibility for his actions. He shook his head gently, his dark hair shining as it moved beneath the sunlight, and I shut it. Right, we probably didn’t need one more thing to distract from the answers I—we—needed.
“Get in,” Irving said, and Quinn wrapped an arm around me to lead me inside. His skin was warm, making me realize I was cold. My body was used to being immersed in water. How long would I need to be away from it? When a single shiver ran through me, he pulled me closer, pressing the warmth of his torso against my side. Hmm. That definitely helped.
“And us?” Fianna asked Irving. “You’re inviting us inside?”
“For now. Don’t get comfortable. I’m liable to kick you out at any moment.”
“How wonderful!” Nessa gushed. “He’s invited us in.”
If the fairies took “for now” as an invitation, then I supposed what I got from the cantankerous old man wasn’t too bad.
And at least when I crossed the threshold of the back sliding glass door into the house, dark when compared to the brightness of the outdoors, nothing tried to kill me. That was an improvement. My standards were apparently appallingly low.
6
I claimed the seat on the couch I’d rejected the first time around, but trying to find the way to sit without damaging my wings I fussed like a fish chasing its own tail. I hadn’t paid attention at the time, but the outdoor couch had a gap between the bottom cushions and the top ones, wide enough to allow my wings to slip right through.
The couch inside the house was a solid, overstuffed piece of furniture that bulged at the seams. No wing-friendly gaps.
I looked behind me, trying to see my back, when Fianna laughed. “What a pitiful sight. Girl, don’t you have the faintest clue how to handle yourself?”
Now, I was usually gentle. Had Liana been here, she would’ve said I was too timid for my own good, as meek as a minnow. I’d allowed the younger merpeople to torment me largely without comment because I wasn’t a fan of confrontation. Today, however, was unlike any ordinary day.
I whirled on Fianna, pinning her and the fairy who flew next to her with livid eyes. The fairies’ wings hiccupped and they dropped a couple of inches before righting themselves. Clearly, they hadn’t expected my reaction.
“No,” I said, my tone more dangerous than it’d ever been. “I don’t know how to handle myself. Would you like to know why? Though you didn’t bother to ask, you just gave me attitude, because that’s all you apparently like to do. I had a tail for eighteen years. Eighteen years! That’s a long time to get used to one way of being. Today, I no longer have a tail, I have legs. I’ve never had legs before. And I have wings. Wings. I’ve never had wings before either. I’ve never been on land before. So no, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t think there’s a single thing wrong with that. So please excuse me when I tell you to back off!”
Fianna and Nessa blinked wide eyes at me as if they were the most innocent of fairies, something I was beginning to suspect might not actually exist. Quinn shifted from foot to foot, waiting to help me settle my wings around the couch. Irving just looked on, expressionless.
The old me would have suffered immediate embarrassment from my outburst. But I didn’t figure I was the “old me” anymore. I sure didn’t look much like her.
I went back to trying to tuck my wings in somehow, tangling my long violet hair in their feathers and bumping into the dark wood of the tea table that edged the couch while I turned, when one of the fairies hooted.
I snapped my head back around and opened my mouth to let the fairies know exactly what I thought of their mockery, when Fianna spoke first.
“Woo! Finally. It looks like this girl will be interesting after all,” she said.
“My name is Selene.”
“Name’s aren’t all that important. No need to remind us.”
“Actually, names are incredibly important. A creature’s name is very valuable when casting magic that relates to them.” I nibbled at my lip. I probably shouldn’t have told a single person on land my real name. I could’ve been anyone else. Hell, I would’ve welcomed the fresh start. Why’d I tell them my name?
“We know all that, silly,” Nessa said. “That’s why we never tell anyone our real names.” She smiled self-importantly and I had to resist the urge to swat at the blue-haired little woman—she was buzzing just within reach.
“Still,” Fianna added, studying me. “It’s good that she knew that. A sign that we’ll be able to make something of her yet.”
I nearly snarled at the crimson fairy before taking a deep breath. I couldn’t let these little women get to me. Sure, they were probably speaking of me as if I weren’t there just to bug me. It seemed like the kind of thing they’d do.
As if Quinn was aware of my turmoil, or maybe they were annoying him too, he reached for my wings. “Here, let me help you.”
“Such a gallant boy,” Nessa said.
“You should be able to tuck them in or something,” he said, fumbling behind me. “Move them together.”
I did, but it didn’t help.
“All right, let’s just have you hang them over the couch. That should work, right?”
he asked, but how would I know?
Apparently my face said it all, because he held my wings away from my body while I sat. It hurt when he pulled on them, but only a little, and if I could manage to sit and get all the attention off of me, it’d be worth it.
I landed on the couch with an oomph, and my wings didn’t tear off. Progress.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him, and he returned the smile while he sank into the couch next to me. His eyes sparkled like the inside of an abalone shell. I didn’t want to look away.
Irving took the seat on my other side, leaned back, and crossed his arms over his chest, making the muscles in his arms bulge against his sweater. The man was thick and stocky; I suspected he could be as unmoving as one of the trees outside when he wanted to be. His lips disappeared into his bushy beard while he stared at the fairies, who buzzed above the tea table.
“Oh, are you waiting on us?” Fianna asked. The room was sparsely furnished, a couple of armchairs occupying opposite corners of the room from the couch and little else. There was nothing else to distract Irving.
“I am,” he said. “You told me you had information I’d want to know.”
Nessa giggled a bit maniacally before Fianna flew over and elbowed her. “Of course we do,” Fianna said. “But we’ve had a long journey over here. Surely you could offer us some tea before we get into it?”
I waited for Irving to tell her to take the next current, or whatever the land equivalent might be, out of there. But it was Quinn who said, “I thought you ‘magicked’ yourselves here?”
Nessa giggled again, unhinged tinkles, before she slapped a hand to her mouth.
Fianna glared at her. “We did, obviously we did, because we said we did. The journey was quite exhausting, however. A cup of tea each would hit the spot and allow us to relax and better remember all we have to tell you.”
Fianna and Nessa batted their pretty, tiny eyelashes at Irving, who finally huffed and threw his hands in the air. “Fine. Get them some tea, Q.”
Quinn cast the fairies a wary glance before asking me if I’d like some tea as well.
