New World Order

by Elle Casey

  I walked up to Dardennes, who looked down at me smiling. “Jayne. So happy to see you here. And wearing our gift.”

  “Well, jury’s out on whether I feel the same way. But I’m here, so ... what? Is there like a secret handshake I have to do?”

  Dardennes chuckled. “No. Just please, have a seat next to Céline and Red.”

  “Red?” I asked, glancing over at the old man. “Oh yeah. I forgot that’s the witch’s name. What’s that short for, anyway?”

  “You’ll have to ask him,” said Dardennes, mysteriously.

  I scowled at the thought. “No thanks. Red it is.” I went over to sit between the two council members.

  “Welcome, Jayne. I’m so happy to see you here,” said Céline, warmly.

  “Thanks. Uh ... glad to be here. Kind of. Not really.”

  The old witch coughed out a loud bark of something, making me jump in my seat. I looked at Céline in a questioning way, but she just looked out in space, her eyes a little wider than normal. I leaned in close to her and whispered, “Did he just laugh? Or cough up a lung?”

  She whispered back, “I really have no idea. I’ve never heard him laugh before.”

  I giggled. “I think it was a lung.”

  She smiled, even though I could tell she didn’t want to.

  I turned my attention to the crowd, now full of fae clumsily trying to find their seats while also unabashedly staring at me. I saw a few of them actually trip, unable to see where they were going because they were too busy gawking. I busied myself with finding my friends.

  Spike had settled into the back row with his two beauties, Felicia and Theresa, one on either side of him. They were all smiling like crazy, the two girls busy chatting back and forth in front of a very happy Spike who didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t even looking at him. His head swiveled back and forth as he tried to keep up with their conversation.

  Finn was with his green elf buddies; he nodded at me as he caught my eye. I also noticed Robin looking at me and smiled as he gave me his fist-to-chest salute. Several of the other green elves noticed me looking and joined their leader in showing me their respect. All the attention made my face go warm, and I willed myself to look away, for fear that their admiration was going to make me too nervous. I was already feeling the edges of panic building up around the boundaries of my conscious mind. I couldn’t go into full freak-out mode now that I was on the council. None of them ever freaked out. I could feel my palms starting to sweat.

  Tony was sitting with the gray elves, all of them completely ignoring me and the council, too intent on discussing whatever the emerging strategy of the day happened to be. I could see him listening attentively and then joining in the discussion while the others gave him their respectful consideration. I was so proud of Tony, watching him be this important, intelligent, rational fae guy. My mind flashed back to the day in class when he had finally agreed to meet me after school, his proud straight back in front of me. I realized now how that one moment had been a turning point for me, and I hadn’t even come close to understanding how much of an impact it would have on the rest of my life. Something told me that putting on this pretty cloak was going to have a similar effect. It’s weird how something that seems so innocuous can end up being one the thing that somehow defines you later.

  Dardennes’ voice rose up above the noise of the crowd. “Everyone, please, take your seats – the meeting is about to begin.”

  In less than a minute, the fae had followed his directions and only a few sounds of last minute whispers and shuffling could be heard.

  “Thank you,” he began. “First, a round of applause to welcome our newest council member who was selected after nomination by council member, Red. Everyone, please join me in welcoming Jayne Sparks Blackthorn to the Light Fae council.”

  The applause began immediately, rising rapidly to a crescendo that I could actually feel reverberating in my chest.

  I don’t know which stunned me more – the obvious enthusiastic response, or the fact that it was Red who had been the one to nominate me. I looked from Red to the crowd and then back to Red again.

  “Did I just hear that right? Or do I have too much wax buildup?”

  Red didn’t even look at me. He just snorted.

  “You know ... if you’re not careful, someone’s going to think there’s a nice guy hiding under all that mean.”

  He turned to look at me and said without any expression on his face, “I don’t think there’s much chance of that.”

  I smiled. “No. Probably not.”

  He turned to the crowd, back to ignoring me.

  I turned to face the crowd, smiling and nodding my thanks.

  “Perhaps, Jayne, you can stand and say a few words,” suggested Dardennes, evidently at a loss over this response and how to manage it.

  I stood nervously while Tim chanted in my ear, “You are the woman! You are a beast! Give ‘em hell, Jayne! Take no prisoners!”

  I cleared my throat, surprised for a second by how well my voice was being amplified out into the audience. It was as if I had a microphone in front of me, but I didn’t. There was nothing on the table there but some water glasses and a pitcher with clear, icy liquid inside.

  “Hello,” my voice echoed across the room.

  The crowd quieted down.

  “Uh ... thanks.”

  A few cheers rang out, one of which I recognized as the signature redneck hoot of Finn.

  “I just wanted to say that I ... appreciate the council’s vote of confidence in me ... even if I’m afraid I don’t share that confidence ... ” that got me a few laughs, which encouraged me to continue, “ ... but I want you to know that I’m going to do whatever I can to earn this ... uh cloak and the spot at the table here. And I will try really hard not to put any of you into a coma.”

  The crowd starting laughing again and I sat down, apparently giving them the go ahead to start clapping again – only this time the clapping included a standing ovation joined with some hollering too. The happy kind.

  My face flamed up and I kept my eyes on the table. I was embarrassed beyond belief.

  Tim on the other hand, wasn’t. He was eating it up. “That’s right! She’s aaallll that! Allll that and a bag of peanuts, baby! Demon slayer! Butt kicker extraordinaire!!”

  “Shush, Tim,” I said nervously, wishing they’d all stop. I hated being the center of attention like this.

  I felt Céline’s calming hand close over mine on the table. I looked at her and she nodded, smiling at me. “You’re doing just fine. Relax. They won’t always be this happy with you – enjoy the moments they are.”

  She was right. As a member of the council that made the hard decisions for the entire community – a community, I realized as I noticed all the strangers out in the audience, which existed all around the world – I was sometimes going to have to make unpopular decisions. And that was going to suck. Céline was right; I might as well enjoy this experience while I could. Who knew how long it was going to last?

  I held up my hand in acknowledgment, pumping it a few times for effect, and everyone cheered louder in response. I put my hand down and looked over at Dardennes.

  He nodded back at me and then faced the crowd. “Thank you. Thank you, everyone. That was very nice. I can see that you agree with our decision. Now, if we could get back to business ... ”

  The rowdy enthusiasm of the crowd died down after a few seconds, but I could still feel the excitement in the room. Lots of the fae were ignoring Dardennes and staring at me instead. I tried not to squirm under their scrutiny.

  “As you know, we are faced with a war against the Dark Fae. That is not news to anyone here. Neither is the fact that we have many philosophical differences with them that have, for many, many years, kept us from being able to live in harmony or share our lives with them.” Dardennes cast his eyes around the room and then came to rest at our table, staring specifically at Céline.

  She nodded her head at him slightly, as
if giving him permission to proceed.

  “In fact, many of us have lost family members and other loved ones to the Dark Fae over the years.”

  Tim let out an indelicate snort, right in my ear. I know he was thinking of his wife, Abby, long since defected to their side. Along with their son, apparently. We still hadn’t talked about it, and I knew if I didn’t bring it up, we never would. Tim was terrible about sharing, but I was going to make him talk later. No more messing around.

  “What many of you probably do not know, however, is that it has come to our attention that there is another enemy out there. One that is an enemy of all fae, Dark and Light together.”

  The whispering began again, softly, but I could see worried looks on the faces of the fae that had now all but forgotten my pretty cloak in favor of hearing Dardennes’ bad news.

  “Over one thousand years ago, a breach appeared between the realms, allowing many creatures from the Underworld to enter the Here and Now.”

  I saw heads nodding around the room.

  “For those of you who were not here then, especially the changelings who have likely not heard the stories, I will tell you that a group of very talented and brave witches were able to surround the orcs that came up from the Underworld and encase them in a group of trees in the Green Forest. Thanks to them, and the sacrifice of those trees, not to mention the lives of many honorable fae, we were able to end the uprising that threatened our people and the humans as well.”

  I started to feel my face burning again, as the dots started to connect in my mind. He had to be talking about the orcs that I had released from the trees in the Dark Forest, turning it green again, once the orcs were out. But I thought the elves and dwarves had taken care of those orcs, leaving only a few strays here and there, like the ones I had encountered outside of the Infinity Meadow.

  “Our newest council member, Jayne, and one of our wrathes, Tony, were recently lured back to their former human homes by creatures from the Underworld. These creatures killed Jayne’s human mother – may her soul find everlasting peace in the Overworld – and attempted to take Jayne from us for their own nefarious purposes.”

  Nefarious purposes translation: For disgusting demon sex and the birth of the Devil incarnate. Nice. I could have lived without that reminder for the rest of my life.

  “We have had some discussions recently with ... ”

  I heard the doors to the assembly hall open, which was strange, because normally once an assembly started, the doors stayed shut, everyone already inside.

  “Oh, good. They’re here.”

  Every head in the place swiveled around to see who had come in. My heart leapt into my throat as I saw who it was. Moving from the door to the back of the room, near the center aisle, were Chase, Becky, and Ben, accompanied by six ogres who I recognized as Light Fae.

  Chapter 27

  I stood up without thinking. I so wanted to run and meet them, to give Chase and Becky super big hugs – and to very possibly give Ben a super big slap on the face, just because he had brought his Dark Fae ass into my house after having convinced my friends to stay with him. I didn’t care that they were only staying temporarily. I still resented him for it. But I was a council member now, so I had to act all mature and cool about it. I slowly sat down, schooling my features as best I could, trying to adopt the unaffected gaze of Céline. I hoped they were going to come up to the front so I could send Chase and Becky some looks that would translate as much as possible into those hugs. Ben, well, I could just shoot daggers at him.

  “Chase, Becky ... please, bring your friend to the front with you.”

  I snorted loudly. Friend. As if.

  I saw Red look at me and scowl. I guess I was already not measuring up in his eyes. Oh well. That didn’t take long. I smiled. Now that I’d blown it, there was no longer a need in my eyes to keep trying to make him happy. It was kind of freeing, really.

  The grumbling around the room started, as the fae began to realize who was in their midst.

  “Before any of you jump to any conclusions,” explained Dardennes, “I will tell you that I was contacted by a former member of our compound, Chase the daemon changeling, and he asked for an audience. He also asked that he be permitted to bring Ben with him, the Dark Fae elemental you see before you now. Dardennes held out his hands for silence as the assembled fae began talking louder, unhappy about the visitors and not afraid to show it. “Please. Be assured that they were not given open access to our compound. They were escorted in blind by the ogre guards you saw enter with them, and they will be escorted out that way as well.”

  Becky held up her hand.

  Dardennes raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing, looking away and back out to the audience. I could see he intended to ignore her and continue to speak, so I interrupted him.

  “Becky? You have something you want to say?”

  She looked at me, first in confusion, then in shock, and then in happy surprise.

  “Um, wow, hi, Jayne. Nice cloak! Yeah. I do. I wanted to say that I want to stay. I’m not Dark Fae. I was just there being healed by their medical team. I want to come back. I want to come home. I’m all better now.”

  Red slammed his hand down on the table next to me. “Impossible!”

  I glared at him. “No! Not impossible!” I yelled back.

  He looked like he was going to say something – I could see his chin trembling with barely concealed anger – but Dardennes kept the conflict from going any further.

  “Of course, if Becky is able to pass the loyalty tests of our witches, she shall be permitted to return, as is her right.”

  I barely suppressed the urge to stick out my tongue at the crusty jerk next to me. I decided then and there that I had to get my hands on their council rulebook somehow. I didn’t like being at a disadvantage, not knowing what was allowed and what wasn’t.

  Becky smiled and then gave me super-cute thumbs up with both hands. I winked at her but didn’t do anything else, still trying to be cooler than I was really feeling inside. I didn’t know how Céline did it – just sat back and rolled with everything the way she did. Must be her thousand years of practice or something.

  Dardennes continued. “As I was saying, Chase requested an audience with the council which we granted, with some conditions. One of them was that he actually agree to address all of you, not just us. We felt that whatever information he wanted to bring needed to be heard by everyone – therefore, we would appreciate your careful consideration of what he has to say; after he has finished, we would also like to get your feedback.” Dardennes turned to Chase. “Please, Chase. Proceed.”

  Chase gave me a quick look, no smile, and then turned to the assembled mass. When he began to speak, it pulled on my heartstrings. It was almost physically painful to have him so close and to hear his voice, but not be able to be with him. I noticed Spike looking back and forth between Chase and me. The expression on his face told me he was putting two and two together. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the stupid look off my face whenever I laid eyes on the blond, muscled daemon standing in front of me. I was totally giving myself away – at least to Spike who had a knack for sensing my sexy thoughts. And it was impossible for me not to have thoughts like that when Chase was around anymore. I think having him gone and out of reach, making him nearly unattainable, had made him that much more attractive to me. I’m such a masochist.

  Chase began with, “Thank you for allowing me to come and bring Ben with me today. It’s of critical importance that I share some information with all of you, so I appreciate your ability to set aside your feelings about the Dark Fae for just a moment.”

  A few heads in the audience nodded, but nowhere near all of them.

  “I have come to find, in my time here with you as Light Fae and also in my time with the Dark Fae since suffering an ... injury here ... ”

  I heard Tim’s wings buzz nervously by my ear.

  “ ... that there is a bigger issue at hand, which yo
u need to be aware of and for which you need to be preparing yourselves.”

  He looked up at Dardennes who offered him a nod of encouragement.

  Chase looked back to the group and continued. “As you are aware, several orcs have been spotted out in the Green Forest. The Dark Fae, once they became aware of them, began hunting them down; however, even when they were able to do this, more arrived. We have not yet discovered how or where they are entering your realm.”

  “Maybe they’re coming in through a door in your compound, Dark Fae daemon!” yelled someone from the audience.

  That someone was lucky I didn’t know his identity, because I didn’t appreciate him attacking my guy like that.

  “No, they are not. I am not Dark Fae, but I have spent a considerable amount of time in their compound and have investigated extensively.”

  At this, Ben stepped away from Chase, looking at him in confusion. I could see that this was news to him, which made me glow with happiness for some reason. Maybe because it told me that Chase was not totally wrapped up in Ben’s bullshit like Ben thought he was.

  “If you’re not Dark Fae, what are you doing in their compound, bringing their elemental to see us?” yelled a dwarf I remembered as being one of Niles’ friends.

  “I had to go there for healing. The situation presented itself for me to learn more about this problem all of the fae are having and I took it.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “I do not apologize for doing what needed to be done.”

  “I trusted you,” said Ben, angrily, before he thought to keep his emotions to himself and replaced his angry face with one of cold indifference.

  “I have not betrayed your trust,” said Chase, matter of factly. “What I have done has been for your best interests – as it has been for the Light Fae as well.”

  Red stood up, full of righteous indignation. “You cannot be serving both interests at the same time. Do you take us for fools?!”

  I stayed in my seat, not yet sure how I could defend Chase to these fae. Unfortunately, Red made more sense to me right now than Chase did, which was seriously depressing. I was starting to wonder if my fantasy relationship with Chase was going to remain just that – a fantasy. I sighed in frustration. Guys totally suck. Why can’t they just make sense for a change?