by R. L. Weeks
“You’re changing, Malia, to adapt to your new world. Here,” he says, gesturing toward the stream, “look.”
I look into the stream and take in my reflection. I’m beautiful. I never really thought I was ugly, but now, I am beautiful. I mean, I still look like me but in an exotic sort of way. My skin is flawless, my cheekbones more pronounced. My lips are luscious and full. I don’t look like a seventeen-year-old girl anymore but more like a grown woman. Even my hair has a luster to it that I never had before. It is almost as if it glows.
I look at my clothes and realize I am no longer wearing my school uniform. I am now wearing a black leather bodysuit with boots that go all the way to my knees. The back of each boot is laced from the ankle all the way to the top. They are the coolest boots I have ever seen. A deep-purple, Victorian-styled jacket with a V-shaped neckline and high-brimmed collar trimmed in black leather adorns my upper half. The jacket is long behind me, and the black taffeta at the bottom reaches the floor. My sleeves are wide with lace trim, and the same lace trim covers my exposed skin at the neckline. A beautiful Victorian choker in black velvet adorns my throat, with a cameo dangling from the front. Although, this isn’t your average cameo with the normal silhouette of a woman on it. My cameo appears to have a dragon. I’m a vision and definitely look badass. A girl could get used to this.
“So what happens next?” I ask.
“Nothing. You live here peacefully, happily, and without a care in the world—that is until I come to collect.”
“Yeah, about that—”
“My dear, now don’t you go worrying your pretty little head about it. You could live here an entire lifetime before anything happens. No need to ponder such things now.”
I decide to blindly follow his advice and don’t give it another thought.
Part II
Five years later
My mom and I have been living in Nysa for almost five years now, and I have to say, we absolutely love our new life. Mom was not happy with me at first, but when I explained to her everything that happened, and she saw how beautiful it is here, it didn’t take her long to embrace our new world. She doesn’t have to work so hard anymore to make ends meet for we don’t use money. Everything, all our needs, are provided somehow.
I find I have new powers every day. I can do so many things, from the simplest of spells, like making a drink appear when I am thirsty, to something more complex, like changing a griffon into a dog or even into a man. The coolest spell is turning myself into a dragon. Yes, I said a dragon. A real fire-breathing dragon. It’s totally awesome. I am the only fairy in this land with this capability, for I am the most powerful here.
One afternoon as Mom and I are having tea on our favorite veranda that overlooks the forest and the stream, the man who sent us here suddenly appears. It’s the first time I have seen him in the whole five years I have been in Nysa.
“Hello, Malia,” he says.
“Hello,” I reply.
“Malia, do you know this man?” my mother asks.
“Yes, Mom, I do. This is the man who made all this happen.” I gesture to our surroundings. I told my mom about him and his promise, but I never told her that someday he would come to collect. I never told her there would be a price to pay. I realize now I probably should have because I know in my heart it’s what he’s come for.
He winks at me and says, “It’s time to collect, Malia.”
“What is he talking about, Malia?” my mother asks.
Before I can answer, the man responds, “Malia and I have an agreement. Don’t we, dear?”
I nod.
“I gave Malia and you all of this—this world, this life for a price. And now is the time for her to pay up.”
“And what is the price?” Mom asks.
He turns toward me. “I shall tell you.” He gives me a devilish smile, and my heart sinks. “You see, Malia, it seems that King Philip of Illyria and his new bride are about to have a blessed event, after many years of praying for a child.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“King Philip has been a thorn in my side for a very long time. I do not like the man nor do I trust him. He has caused much harm to the fairies and people in other kingdoms as well as my own family, and the last thing I want is for him to find any sort of happiness. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I still don’t understand how any of this concerns me?” He’s being cryptic, and it’s beginning to annoy me. I could just turn into a dragon and be done with him.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, he says, “Tsk, tsk, Malia, shame on you. Your magic will not work on me, so don’t even think about it.”
I’m disappointed by his words. I guess I should have known I would not be able to destroy the one thing that made this all happen. “So what am I to do?” Please don’t make me kill the child, I plead to myself.
“Now you are learning.” He smiles. “And no, I will not ask you to kill the child. But you will curse the child. You will show up at the celebration party of her birth and place a curse on the sweet baby Rose.”
“You know her name?” And how can you read my thoughts?
“I know everything, Malia, and yes, that includes your thoughts.” He’s cunning; I’ll give him that. My mother is completely floored by this conversation and remains silent. I think for the first time in my life, I clearly see her disappointment in me. It breaks my heart.
“What is the curse?” I ask reluctantly. I’m beginning to wish I never made the deal with this man.
“I want the king and queen to enjoy their daughter. I want them to fall in love with her, only to lose her in the end. I want them to know what it is to suffer real loss. So on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die.”
“But, sir, the child is innocent.” I can’t hold my tongue any longer. “I won’t do it.”
He gives me a stern look. “You will do this, Malia. This debt cannot be cancelled. If you don’t, then I will begin to take everything you love. Your mother dies first. I know how much you love your mother, and I also know you would never allow her to die to save your own conscience.” He walks toward me and caresses my cheek. “So you will do this one thing I ask of you, and when it is done, your debt with me will be paid. There are no choices in this matter. It’s as simple as that.” And with his final words, he disappears.
I look at my mother in disbelief.
“Malia, what have you gotten yourself into?” The disapproval in her voice rings loud in my ears.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. He said there would be a price. He said it could be many years, a lifetime before I would have to pay it. I didn’t think. I didn’t evaluate the consequences. I just wanted a different life. A life away from Carter and those awful mean girls.”
“That’s right, Malia, you didn’t think.” She pauses. “And you know what? Now, by your lack of concern for consequences, you have become one of them.”
“I don’t want to be one of them.”
“Then let him kill me.”
“You know I could never do that.”
“Then you don’t have a choice.”
My mother was right. He is making me do this with my mother’s life in the balance. She is everything to me, and no matter how much I loathe the task he has put before me, I could never, ever jeopardize her life. She would always come first.
***
Months later, King Philip and his wife were indeed blessed with a daughter, Princess Rose. They planned a big celebration, just as the man had said, and many subjects came from different lands to rejoice in the happy occasion. The three good fairies from Nysa are also in attendance, and as I watch from the rafters above, they begin to bestow their gifts on the princess. The first gives the gift of beauty, the second the gift of song. I decide I am going to make the curse now so that perhaps the only saving grace I’ll have is if the third fairy can bestow her gift in such a way that the princess will not die.
Just as the third fairy is about to bestow her gift, I produce a gale wind that blows through the great hall, and I appear in front of the child in a cloud of purple smoke. Everyone in attendance gasps at my appearance, for most of them do not know who I am. It’s really not important for me to tell them as the only thing I want to do is this horrible deed in which I have been tasked to do and get out of there as quickly as I can. I cast the curse on the child with tears in my eyes and then disappear in another cloud of smoke.
When I return home, my heart is broken. I cannot believe I have condemned an innocent child to die. I await word, praying the third fairy was able to change the curse. I look for my mother, but she is nowhere to be found. I need her comfort. I need her to tell me, like she has always done in the past, everything is going to be okay.
When I get to her room, all evidence of her existence is gone. No clothes and nothing to indicate she was ever here except for a single note left on the dresser. It sits there like a blaring neon sign, and I am fearful for what it says. I know in my heart she has left. I open the note and read:
My dearest Malia,
Thank you for saving my life. I am beyond grateful, as I know you were put in an impossible situation. Although you are my savior, you are another’s destroyer, and as much as I love you, I cannot stay. I’m sorry, darling, but you are now one of them.
Your loving mother
I fold the note back up and sit on the bed and cry.
One hasty and selfish decision on my part put me here, and nothing will change that. I am now destined to this life, and there is no turning back.
I have become the one thing I truly loathe.
I have become the bully.
I have become maleficent, productive of harm and evil.
The End.
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Beneath the Crimson Cloak
By Jill Ramsower
Chapter 1
Consume—to waste or burn away.
It is said that hatred can consume a person. In my experience, hate is the fuel that strengthens the fire already burning inside. Hatred doesn’t consume me; I consume it. Just as a hummingbird drinks nectar, hate fuels my existence.
My flame would not be smothered, no matter how hard Merlin tried. For nearly a month he had kept me imprisoned with the intent of rehabilitating me of my wicked ways. Granted, my prison looked more like a posh mountain resort than Guantanamo Bay, but I was equally as trapped.
Sometimes he stopped in to attempt conversation, but much of the time I was left to my own devices—or at least what little I could do without my magic. The iron cuffs he’d banded onto each of my wrists ensured that I was as helpless as a child. Between the cuffs and the impenetrable walls surrounding my luxury prison, escape was seemingly impossible. My one consolation was the freedom to roam the vast acreage of forest where I was being kept.
Not just any ordinary forest.
These were Seelie Lands.
Despite the extensive wards Queen Guin had used to keep me out of her Seelie kingdom, Merlin had managed to smuggle me in—a feat I had not managed after centuries of attempts. I was closer than ever to my objective, and yet everything I yearned for was still out of my reach.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to strangle Merlin or send him a thank you card.
How he had managed to get me past wards specifically designed to keep me out, I had no idea. But that was Merlin. He appeared in places he could not be and knew things no one else did. I trained as his apprentice for years but had only learned a fraction of his knowledge.
His teachings had been enough that I was able to master a way into the Twilight Realm and seamlessly transport myself between the Wilds of Faery and Earth. It hadn’t been enough to get myself on Seelie Lands, but I’d been able to spend years in Paris, Rome, and several other cities on Earth. Inevitably, the need to finish what I’d started would call me back to Faery.
That was what I’d been doing when Merlin yet again found a way to spoil everything I had worked toward. Somehow, despite his vast understanding of the universe, he had managed to stay sickeningly humble and compassionate. He had no particular loyalty to Guin, no reason to protect her. His power far surpassed hers, so he had no reason to fear her. What should the lives of monarchs matter to a man who had achieved an almost godly status? They shouldn’t matter.
Guin shouldn’t have mattered to him, and yet she did, and I hated him for it.
The home where he had imprisoned me was typical of Faery nobility. Not nearly as ostentatious as human royalty, but a far cry from the standard wooden cottage most Fae lived in. No grand gardens or landscaping, the home was secreted away in a dense forest. As far as I had been able to tell, the property went on for miles in every direction.
In my endless search for possible escape alternatives, I had discovered that a thick wall bordered the property. Had the ten-foot monstrosity been all that was keeping me inside, I would have been freed long ago. True to form, Merlin had also placed a ward along the wall that kept me from getting anywhere near it.
Instead, I explored the numerous paths that wound throughout the property. A few circled back around to the house, and some ended at the wall, but none so far had lead me to anything of consequence.
While my walks had not been productive, they had at least been enjoyable. The Wilds where I had been living were similar to Seelie Lands, but not quite as densely vegetated. It had been so long since I’d seen the vast variety of plants and creatures in the Seelie kingdom that I often found myself distracted by the wonders around me. Lush green plants in every shape and size filled the landscape that was peppered with gnarled tree trunks, and the sky overhead was hidden from view by a curtain of leafy branches. The air itself was teeming with life.
Despite living most of my recent years in large cities, I found myself oddly at peace in the forest. Even more so in the nighttime hours beneath the iridescent glow of the Faery moons. Without my magic to protect me, I shouldn’t have explored at night, but the forest transformed in the darkness. It came alive, and me along with it. Insects chirped, and small animals rustled the leaves as they scurried about. I doubted Merlin would have left me unprotected and helpless in a place inhabited with dangerous creatures, so I was relatively confident that I was safe.
It had been a month since my capture when I decided to take one of my frequent nighttime strolls. The moon was nearly full, and its soft glow filtered through the canopy of leaves above me. I had been unable to sleep and had ventured outside to calm my racing thoughts. I wore soft-soule
d shoes to keep my steps muffled, and a long red cloak to keep out the cool night air. While the days could be uncomfortably warm, the nights had a biting chill.
Aside from my desire to escape, my walks had a secondary purpose.
Merlin was keeping my mother somewhere nearby.
I walked in search of her, night and day, but found no signs of life outside of the jungle itself. The day I was imprisoned had been the day Merlin informed me that my mother was alive, after centuries of allowing me to believe she was dead. His big reveal made me hate him even more than I already had. It wasn’t helping matters that he had implied I would be allowed to see her but had yet to follow through.
Knowing my mother was being kept somewhere close was maddening. As I searched the property for her, my memories of her abduction replayed on an endless loop.
I was ten years old when Merlin’s twin sister, Mab, came to our home to unleash her wrath on my unsuspecting mother. Regardless of the centuries that had unfolded since, I could remember that day as if it had just happened.
I would never forget again.
My mother had fallen deeply in love with Merlin almost as soon as they’d met. From that moment on, for years he was a regular part of our lives. He stayed with us whenever his work allowed, and he became like a father to me.
I had met his sister Mab at a couple of social gatherings, but as a child, I had not paid her any mind. Just like Merlin, Mab had white-blond hair and glacial blue eyes. However, where his eyes crinkled in the corners and spoke to his unerring compassion, hers bore evidence of a frozen heart.
She was striking, regal even. Ruling over the Unseelie Wilds, she had made herself queen of what few others had the power to control. Even as a child, I could sense that the woman was not to be trifled with. When she appeared on the doorstep of my home, fear formed a leaden pit in my stomach.
