Fae Queen

by Jen Pretty

  “You ok in there, Lex? You’ve been in there a long time.”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Hot water is just the best thing, ever,” I said as I turned the water off and wrapped myself in a thick robe. I had found some small sticks in my hair from my time running through the forest. I had thought they were all out after my swim in the lake.

  I opened the door, and Roman was sitting on the end of my bed, waiting for me. I felt nervous, and butterflies circled my insides, sloshing around with the alcohol I had consumed to make an interesting happy, slightly queasy feeling.

  He stood up and walked over to me. “I won’t give up on you, Lex. I promise.” His hand cupped the side of my face for a moment, and then he walked out and shut the door behind him. I sighed. A moment later a harsh quack proceeded my door being opened again, just wide enough for Daisy to squish through, and then the door shut again.

  Daisy and I curled up on the bed. Between the long days of running and walking through forests and the alcohol, I was asleep before I knew it.

  I was standing in a forest, again, but this one seemed different. A man was walking towards me, and I recognized him as one of the elders from the table at dinner. They had each introduced themselves to me quietly before our food had come around and this one was Theo, the dream walker like Luke.

  “Hello, young Queen,” he said with an easy smile.

  “Uhm, hi, am I dreaming?” I asked, moving into the clearing towards him.

  “Yes, this is dream walking. I wanted to speak to you in private. I understand that you are missing most of your memories.

  “Yeah, except I remember Luke. He was stuck in a tree.”

  Theo smiled kindly at that. “I’m glad you are starting to remember. I have set up our private jet to take you and your warriors and hunters back to your home. It isn’t far from where you may cross into fae homeland. I hope it will jog some memories. Our people have been without a queen or king for so long. You have brought us so much hope. Sleep tight, young queen.”

  My eyes opened slowly. The duck using my face as a pillow startled me, and I shimmied out from under him. Daisy just curled up and went back to sleep.

  In the main room of the suite, people were busy moving luggage back out the door. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but Luke was sitting at a small table with a covered dish and a pot of coffee. When he saw me, he filled a cup and motioned for me to sit down before uncovering a tray of light breakfast foods; fruit, muffins and danishes.

  “Hey, cousin.” I smiled.

  “Good morning, Lex, you ready to go home?”

  “Yes, I don’t remember my home though.”

  “You live in a condo. It won’t look the same though because you had it renovated.”

  I sipped my coffee. I didn’t remember having renovations done, but I remembered my friend V. That opened a whole part of my life. I set my mug on the table, my hands shaking so hard I was afraid I would drop it. I remembered my parent’s death and my condo and V, my friend. I hadn’t seen her yet. I remembered the nightmares I used to have. My memory cut off somewhere after V picked me up from the hospital, but I knew who I was and where I came from.

  “Oh, man. I remember my life in the city, my condo and my friend Vanessa.” I said. “I would like to stop in and see V if we are going there.”

  Luke’s usually easy-going expression fell into a frown, and he bit his lip.

  “What is it?” I asked, already dreading his reply.

  “She passed away, Lex.” Luke kept his eyes down on his hands as he fidgeted. His words stole the air from my lungs. Her face flashed through my mind. Except her eyes were bright red and her jagged teeth were aiming for my throat. I stood up so fast I knocked the chair over behind me and froze Luke and the house staff who were moving out our things.

  I let go of magic and righted my chair. Everyone in the room was staring at me. I glanced at Roman who had clearly been eavesdropping on our conversation. He looked worried but stayed where he was.

  “I remember,” I whispered. “She became a vampire.”

  Luke just nodded.

  “She tried to kill me.”

  “She didn’t know what she was doing. An evil vampire was leading her.”

  I glanced back at Roman, but Luke put his hand on my arm, bringing my attention back to him.

  “You killed that bad vampire, Lex. The new vampire in charge has changed everything.” He noticed when I glanced back at Roman and said, “He’s not bad, Lex. You loved him.”

  “I loved him?”

  “Oh, honey, you were over the moon about that vamp, and he is killing himself by holding back from you.”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me that?” I asked, while peeking at the vampire who was now anxiously running his hands through his hair.

  “This has been overwhelming for everyone. Let’s get going, we can talk on the plane.”

  “Ok.” I got up and went into my bathroom, hopping into the shower and washing my hair as fast as I could so I didn’t hold everyone up. Then I got dressed and walked back out to find everyone watching TV. It was in Italian, but Puck of all people was translating for them. I cleared my throat, and they all jumped up and started for the door.

  Time to go home.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The plane ride was excruciatingly long. Puck freaked out the whole time, pacing up and down the aisle. Unsurprisingly, Daisy was ok with flying. Roman said the trip was longer the first time when we flew commercial, but I couldn’t imagine a longer flight. The hunters watched a few action movies while Luke and I played some card games. Roman came and joined us for a little while, but about five hours in, I curled up awkwardly in my seat with the tiny pillow and nodded off.

  I woke up screaming in a cold sweat. My heart was racing, and I tried to bolt out of my seat, but the seat belt stopped me. My panic set off every person on the plane. Someone yelled, and suddenly there was a unicorn standing over me. Thankfully, Daisy kept it together. A dragon would probably do some damage to an airplane.

  I dreamt of V attacking me. Her eyes were red, and she had sharp teeth. The look of pure hatred on her face was terrifying. In my dream, I watched my sword come up, killing her. I wished I could scrub my brain with bleach. I remembered my old nightmares of my family’s murder, but this new one seemed a lot crueler. I hoped to hell my dream wasn’t a memory, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask anyone in case I didn’t like the answer.

  Puck shifted back and scowled at me like I had some control of the nightmares. Luke could control them, but I looked around, and he was nowhere in sight. A glint out the window caught my eye and I saw we had already landed at the airport.

  The skyline beyond the airport was home. I would know it anywhere. I unbuckled myself from the seat and walked down the aisle to the door. I took a deep breath and it even smelled like home. That wasn’t saying much about the air quality but being somewhere I knew for the first time drained all the tension out of my muscles.

  Armond led the way through the airport and out onto the street where a bunch of SUVs were waiting to take most of us to my condo. Armond would take half his hunters to the hunter mansion, and the rest of us would follow along behind, after seeing my place.

  The city thrummed in a way that was alive and unique to this place and I was perfectly in tune with it. We coasted down the busy streets and pulled up to my condo.

  The doorman, Clive, held the door for us. His familiar face was welcoming and bright.

  “How are you, Clive?”

  He bowed his head as I approached, and panic struck me. Had he been Fae all along?

  “Thank you for asking, Your Highness. I am very well.”

  I looked back at Luke who shrugged and encouraged me forward through the door. Once we were in the elevator, everyone started talking at once discussing who Clive could be, but Puck was the loudest.

  “He is an elf!” he shouted, and everyone stopped talking.

  “Why would he bow to me? I’m the fae queen, right?”


  Puck snorted, “You are the elf queen, the fae can call you what they want, but you were our queen first.”

  Things just got even weirder. I think we all recognized it because we stood in silence until the ding of the elevator broke it. The doors opened, and I immediately pushed past the giant hunters and took a right. At my door, I realized I didn’t have keys.

  Luke held out my keys, jingling them for a second before putting them in the lock and opening the door. “You left them with me, so I could help with the contractors while you were away,” he added.

  I smiled and walked in. It looked nothing like my old apartment, but it was charming. It was like something out of a magazine V had once sent me and I wondered if that is where the inspiration came from. The sadness of losing her crept up on me again and a sneaky tear crept out.

  “You don’t like it?” Luke asked.

  “No, I love it, it’s just that it reminds me of V and I can’t believe she’s gone. She would have loved this.”

  Luke wrapped me in a hug and whispered “You wanted it to be a memory of her. I’m sorry, Lex.”

  I let the tears fall for a few minutes. The hunters who had stayed with us backed off and gave us some privacy.

  When my tears finally stopped, I let go of Luke and wandered around the condo. It was beautiful. It screamed V, in every room. My new bathroom was stunning too, with a giant whirlpool tub.

  When I had seen everything there was to see, I found my laptop and popped it open. I had emails from my father’s corporation, just updates on various things including the new expense and income statement from the private security business I had started but didn’t remember. According to the memo, Armond, of all people, was the manager of the division. I’d have to ask him about that.

  I flicked it off and we trailed back to the elevators and down to the main floor. Not only was Clive there, but my old boxing coach, Snazzy, had come by, too. They both bowed their heads as I walked off the elevator.

  “Seems you have a lot of elves around here,” Puck snickered.

  “Lord Puck, thank you for guiding our queen home,” Snazzy said in a formal tone I had never heard from the gruff, ex-marine before. He seemed nervous, though I couldn’t imagine why.

  “Yes, well, she can’t stay. We are heading for a vacation in the fae homeland. Apparently, there is an old fae who will grant me entrance. It should be an interesting trip.”

  The two elf-men shared a look and then Snazzy spoke up again. “We would like to take her to our new home.” I looked back at Puck as he narrowed his eyes. There was some serious tension in the room. There was some history between the elves and Puck

  “She has much to do before that. I will keep her safe in her travels. However, she has some unsettled business in the new land. Some things must be done to protect all of us from the same fate that fell on some of us all those years ago.”

  “I understand.” Looking back at me, Snazzy said: “Thank you, queen, for saving us.”

  “Uhm, no problem, Snazzy. I better go.” It was all too weird. My whole life had changed in such a short time. Hopefully, something will trigger my memories and the pieces will fit nicely together. They bowed again and I awkwardly waved goodbye.

  The next mansion we pulled up to, back in a secluded forest, was slightly less ornate than the elder's palace, though this one was teaming with hunters. Armond led a large group of hunters out to greet me. They all bowed down onto one knee. I pretended I couldn’t see them and walked into the building.

  The scent of stew and cookies greeted me. It was almost overwhelming, but a nice change after travelling with big, burly hunters and a duck.

  I followed Daisy, figuring the duck could probably find the kitchen before I could. His radar for baked goods was far superior.

  “Oh my god, Lex!” I didn’t recognize the woman rushing towards me, but I let her hug me anyway. Her blond hair and small stature made her look vaguely like me, but she had a motherly air to her. She released me but kept ahold of my shoulders inspecting me at arm’s length.

  “You have lost way too much weight,” she declared. “Let’s go. I made your favourite and Darla has baked you a ton of cookies. That will put the weight back on you.”

  This woman brought back memories of my mother. I swallowed the sadness that thought brought with it and followed her to the kitchen where I found Daisy already eating some toast.

  “What’s your name?” I asked her as I sat beside Daisy on the small counter. I felt deja-vu sitting up here. I strained to try and remember, but the memory wasn’t there.

  “Oh dear, I almost forgot, Victor said you had lost your memory. My name is Margot. You know it’s strange I never saw this coming. I have been watching you in my foresight. You have been on quite the adventure.”

  Wow, that was weird. Knowing someone had been watching me in their mind. It was one of the magical talents that Armond had told me about.

  “Ok, well, uhm thanks anyway, I think.”

  “This is Darla,” she said introducing an older plump woman who just waved a mixing spoon at me and went back to work. Not big on words, I guess. “She makes the best cookies,” Margot whispered to me. I put the pieces together and assumed it was her cookies I ate in the forest.

  “I think I’ve had some. They are amazing,” I whispered back.

  Margot went across the room and ladled some stew into a bowl and set it down on a small table near where I was sitting on the counter. I hopped down and sat properly. It didn’t have the same feeling of familiarity that sitting on that counter did, but that was ok. I was starving. I gobbled up the fantastic stew, and when she set a second bowl in front of me, I was able to appreciate the delicious flavour a little more. I scraped the bowl clean and was so full I could hardly move.

  Armond walked in and laughed at me, leaning back in my chair rubbing my swollen stomach.

  “I see you have found your favourite place in the whole house,” he chuckled.

  “Whatever, have you had Margot's stew? It’s the best stew I have ever eaten.”

  “Yes, I have, and you have too. Margot is well known for her cooking. And Darla is well known for her baking, although you only referred to her as your favourite kitchen lady.”

  “Whoa, that’s a bit rude,” I scolded myself.

  Darla walked over and set down a mug of coffee and a plate of cookies, and I found a tiny space for them in my stomach.

  “I don’t mind,” Darla said before turning back to her baking.

  “I might have to change your name to cookie God,” I said, stuffing a third cookie in my mouth.

  Armond just laughed and wandered back out into the dining room where everyone else was eating. Except for Daisy, who had found a warm spot on top of the refrigerator and was napping.

  When I waddled out of the kitchen, fifteen pounds heavier, Armond led me to my room, where I collapsed on the bed. I wasn’t tired anymore though. My nap on the plane had revived me and more than anything I had pent up energy to spare. I wanted to explore, but my overfull stomach objected to that plan, so I settled on a hot bath.

  Hands thoroughly pruned, and food mostly digested an hour later, I wandered back down to the central part of the house and followed the voices to a set of stairs going down even further. In the basement of the giant house is where I found everyone. In a large gym, surrounding a fight that pinned unicorn against vampire. Idiots.

  “What are they fighting about now?” I asked a tall hunter with arms thicker than my waist.

  “Your Highness, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.” He pushed through the crowd, clearing me a path and saying, “Out of the way for Her Majesty,” every three seconds which only served to make me angrier.

  When I finally got to the front, I could see both Unicorn and Vampire were bloody.

  “What the fuck?” I said, putting my hands on my hips and narrowing my gaze at them.

  Roman had the good sense to stop fighting, but Puck took it as an opportunity and drove his horn through Rom
ans stomach, pinning him to the ground. He bore down on him like a wild mustang set on killing his competitor.

  “STOP!” I yelled, and the unicorn flew across the room, smacking into the far wall of the gym.

  Everyone in the room froze, but I wasn’t using my magic to keep them still. One by one, the idiots who had been watching the disgusting, bloody display dropped to their knee and bowed their heads.

  Roman got up and dropped to his knee, too. Puck didn’t get up, but I could see his chest rising and falling, so I figured he would be ok.

  “I have to go,” I muttered, before turning and high tailing it out of the room and then out of the house. I ran into the woods a little way and sat down against a tree.

  The tears fell. I was terrified by what I had just done. The power was way out of control. My whole life was out of control. I had nothing to cling to in this world of magic except one memory of Luke in a fucking tree. I hit myself in the head with my hands a couple of times trying to dislodge some memories, but that didn’t work at all.

  “You know, one day I found you out here,” Armond said as he walked up in front of me and crouched down. “You had beat the shit out of a tree, your hands and feet were a bloody mess, and I had to take you to homeland and have a healer fix you.”

  “Why would I beat the shit out of a tree?” I asked wiping my face on my sleeve.

  “You felt like you do right now; Out of control and scared. The story of you assaulting a tree was pretty good for a long time. I hope you remember it, so I can get back to teasing you about it.”

  I snorted. “That’s not very nice. It does sound like a pretty low moment in my life though.”

  He nodded and then sobered, “What you did to Puck, you’ve never done that before Lex. That is your new power. I hope we can help you in homeland. I spoke with your doorman on the phone, and he thinks you will need the help of the elves. They want you to go to their hidden world.”

  “I still can’t believe Clive is an elf. He seems so normal.” I shook my head. “I want to go see the tree. Luke’s tree. Then we can go do whatever you guys think is best.”