Lust

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “The Blood Moon. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A festival dedicated to the blood moon.”

  “That red thing?” I pointed into the sky.

  “Yes. It’s our blood moon. It only comes once a year.”

  “Oh. Good timing I guess.” Or bad. Maybe they had a festival to appease negative things. Hopefully there was no sacrifice involved.

  “You’re Dryads.” Owen shook hands with the girl. “I’ve met some of your kind.”

  “The Dryads of your world are nothing like us.” She crinkled up her nose.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Because they gave up most of their power. They left their home realm.”

  “And you get power from your home realm?” I asked.

  “Yes. From our trees of course.” She crossed her arms.

  I filed away that information for later. “We wouldn’t want to impose on your celebration. If you could send us in the direction we need to go, we’ll be out of your way.”

  “Having an Allure at our festival would be an honor.” One of the girls, I was pretty sure her name was Donna said.

  “Even a new Allure who’s just now changing?” I still wasn’t sure what my standing was.

  “Of course. We’d love to have you come.” Adrian smiled.

  “I need to keep Owen with me.”

  “He can come if he behaves.” Adrian narrowed his eyes.

  Owen glowered. “Dryads answer to the king where I come from.”

  “But you’re not where you come from. We don’t answer to any king here.”

  “Who is the leader then?” I asked.

  “The Elders of course. Isn’t that why you want to find them?”

  “Yes, but I thought maybe there was something on the local level.” I was grasping at straws. I was in so over my head it wasn’t funny.

  “Are you hungry?” Donna asked Owen.

  He shook his head. “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

  “We have plenty of food in the village. Why don’t you come with me?” She beamed up at him.

  He smiled, but moved closer to my side. “I’m staying with Daisy.”

  “She’s going to be fine right here.”

  “We stay together.” I wasn’t giving in on that. This time it wasn’t for my own security. It was for Owen’s. Who knew what would happen to him? He was incredibly strong, but I had absolutely no idea what these creatures were capable of, and we were severely out numbered.

  Donna smiled at me. “Are you hungry too? Do you still have an appetite?”

  “Not much of one, but Allures can still eat.” I’d seen Allures eating several times.

  “They can, but usually they are picky. Our simple foods don’t usually appeal.”

  “I like simple.” I had always been the least picky of all my friends and family.

  “Then you’re still human. You won’t want simple later.”

  “Not every Allure is the same.” Violet and Hugh were completely different from one another.

  “No, but simplicity isn’t in your makeup. You like grander things, which is fine by us. We all have our place.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Owen needs to eat, so I’ll come with him.” I was tired of this conversation.

  “I have a better idea.” Sky popped up on her toes. “Want to see Roland’s house?”

  “His house?” Violet must have been literal when she said she’d take us to her home. Or not. She had ditched us the second we arrived, unless the Dryads were to be believed, and they’d been transferred to the Force.

  “Yes. Maybe that would be the best way to find him. I doubt he’s with the Elders. No one stays on Mount Majest long. You either get an audience or you don’t.”

  “Daisy and I are staying together,” Owen interrupted. “I’m not hungry. We can go to the house first.”

  “But then you won’t see our festival.” Donna’s face fell.

  “How far away is his house?” Owen asked. “Can’t we do both?”

  “In theory, yes.”

  “In theory?” I was still trying to figure out what to do. I’d been told over and over again that the Elders wouldn’t see me if I simply showed up, so maybe finding Roland would help too, especially if we couldn’t find Violet and Hugh. The Dryads had gotten strange when Taylor came up. Was it only because she was a missing Allure, or was there more? Something told me finding out would be important.

  “You’re going to get distracted, and he’ll never come back.” Donna looked down at the ground.

  “Why do you care so much whether he goes to your festival?” I sized up the tiny Dryad.

  “Because we never get non-fairies here.”

  “So? You like him because he’s exotic or something?”

  Owen laughed under his breath.

  “What about you? Why are you with him?”

  “Because I—” I stopped. An Allure couldn’t love. I had to be careful. “Because he’s protecting me.”

  Adrian smiled reassuringly. “The change is making you emotional, but don’t let Donna get to you. If she bothers you, hope that you never meet a Nymph.”

  “Nymphs? They really exist?” I remembered the name of the mythological creature from school. Unless I was mistaken they were also the source of the modern day term “nympho.”

  “Oh, yes.” Owen nodded.

  “And you know them?”

  He held up his hands as though in defense. “Not in any of the ways you’re thinking.”

  “Are you sleeping with Roland?” Sky asked.

  I coughed. “Uh, no.”

  “Really? That happens a lot.”

  “Not with us.”

  “But Allures like sex.”

  “Don’t most people like sex?” I was going to lose my temper if we didn’t start moving soon. Why did these Dryads keep moving the conversation in circles? It was as though they were purposely sabotaging us. Maybe they were.

  “Yes, but you guys mostly live through other people’s emotions. Sex is supposedly still good though. I guess the physical feelings are real.” Adrian smiled.

  “Great.” I glanced all around me. I’d have left if I had an inkling of what direction to go.

  “Where’s Roland’s house?” Owen shared my impatience.

  “I’ll take you,” Adrian offered. “I need to go that way anyway.”

  “I’m coming too.” Both girls said at once.

  “Or you could just tell us the general direction.” The sooner we ditched these Dryads the better as far as I was concerned, and it wasn’t only because of Donna. I didn’t trust any of them. I didn’t trust anyone but Owen anymore. Mayanne had been so insistent I trust Violet. Look at how far that got us. What if the paste she gave me had been fake? Maybe it had only been an attempt to slow me down.

  I sighed. I couldn’t afford to follow that train of thought. I needed to find information on Taylor and somehow use that to gain an audience with the Elders. Whether her fault or not, Violet wasn’t with us. Owen and I were on our own.

  “You’ll never find it alone.” Adrian rolled up the sleeves of his green tunic.

  “You want to see Panna. She doesn’t want to see you.” Sky grinned.

  Adrian huffed. “Panna has nothing to do with it.”

  “No? You just happen to want an excuse to go into the Allure village?” Sky ribbed.

  I caught Owen’s eye. Was it time we cut our losses and searched for it ourselves? “Allure village? There is actually a place called the Allure Village?”

  “Did you think they lived with the rest of us?” Donna shook her head.

  Sky touched Donna’s arm and something silent passed between them. “The Allures are kind of in charge here.”

  “Hasn’t Roland told you anything?” Adrian asked.

  “No. He’s told me nothing.” He hadn’t, but then again it wasn’t his job. It was no one’s job because I didn’t have a maker.

  “And Violet didn’t either?” he asked.

  “She was supposed to, and t
hen we got separated.” Or ditched. I still didn’t know which one it was.

  He nodded, as if in understanding. “We could take you to her house too.”

  “Yes. She actually said she wanted us to go there.”

  “Great. Let’s go then.” Sky grinned. “You’ll find both in the village.”

  “Good.” Owen retracted his wings. “What direction are we going in?”

  “This way.” Sky started skipping across the glade.

  11

  Daisy

  I wanted to laugh. I needed to laugh as I watched this tiny pixie of a girl frolicking across the meadow, but I couldn’t. They may have been little, but something told me they weren’t the kind of creatures you wanted to anger. I guess you never wanted to make any creatures mad. Life was so much simpler when I only knew about humans. But it was all worth it. I looked over at Owen. It was all worth it because I’d met him.

  We’d been keeping our hands to ourselves, I figured letting the Dryads know we were involved wasn’t a good thing. I was beginning to understand Allures didn’t get involved with anyone else. The whole not being able to feel emotion thing probably played a huge role in that.

  Sky led the way through the lush meadow. Every so often a bird swooped through the sky near us, but otherwise it was quiet enough I could hear the wind move through the grass. Well, aside from Donna talking. We walked for at least a mile before we reached another forest.

  “I have always wanted to fly. You are incredibly lucky.” Donna prattled on to Owen. She’d been chatting him up the whole walk.

  “Flight is great, but I’m sure being a Dryad has its benefits.” Owen glanced up at the red moon. I’d been doing the same thing myself. It was a reminder we were far from home.

  I took a few deep breaths, Owen was only being polite. He wasn’t flirting. I’d never been a jealous person before, but now I couldn’t even hold myself together. I needed to calm down before I got us into even more trouble than we were already. An Allure wasn’t supposed to be in love.

  “Ignore her.” Sky fell back to walk next to me. “She’s just excited.”

  “I was making sure she didn’t distract him from his job.”

  “His job of protecting you?” She leaned in. “You don’t need protection here.”

  “I thought I was going to be in trouble. I think I do need protection.”

  “His kind of protection isn’t going to help you with the Force. It could only hurt.”

  “But I want him here anyway.”

  “Listen, you are still human sort of?” Her eyes were kind.

  “Yes.”

  “Then do the right thing.”

  “Which is?” I didn’t actually want to hear the answer because I was afraid of what it would be.

  “Send him back home. Give him a chance.”

  “He has a chance here. We’re both going home.” I clenched my fists together at my side. From jealousy to anger. My emotions were boiling up and mixing together in a somewhat painful way.

  “You already know you want to leave the Glamour Realm? You want to live with the humans?”

  “I’m from the human world.”

  “So? It’s not like you are going to care about anyone there anymore.” Her words weren’t cruel, they were purely a statement of fact, but they clawed at me in a way that made my emotions more confusing.

  She was wrong. That couldn’t be possible. Mom. Her face flashed through my head again. I’d been so focused on my feelings for Owen I hadn’t been thinking about everyone else in my life. No way. I wasn’t losing that feeling of warmth that coursed through me every time I pictured my mother’s face or her voice. Or the way my father could crack me up, or my brother could simultaneously annoy me yet make everything so much more fun. “I’m going back.”

  “You can say what you want to say now. You won’t be saying it soon.”

  “How did you know I was Allure?” The Pterons didn’t know, so it wasn’t obvious to all paranormal creatures. But maybe that was because most of them hadn’t met an Allure before.

  “It’s obvious. True nature types can always tell.” She clasped her hands in front of her.

  “Is an Allure a nature type?” Violet hadn’t told me anything about what an Allure was, only what they did.

  “No. They are a type all of their own. Well, you are. I shouldn’t talk as though you aren’t one of them.” She straightened up. “They are not tied to the land or anything in nature.”

  I wasn’t one, and I wouldn’t be I reminded myself so I wouldn’t fall to the floor in despair. The possibility of stopping the change was the only thing that kept me moving. “But they live in your realm.”

  “They predate all of us,” Sky puffed out her chest.

  “Oh.” I glanced over at Owen. He was still deep in conversation with Donna. Perfect.

  “And the Allures all descend directly from the gods.” She picked up her pace.

  I hurried to keep up. “People keep saying that, but I don’t understand.”

  “I’m not the one to explain it.”

  “Great. Another question to wait for an answer to. ” My shoulders slumped.

  Out of the corner of my eye I watched her studying me. “Did you know what you were agreeing to when you accepted the gift? Did you consider what you would lose?”

  I shook my head without thinking.

  “That’s a capital crime.”

  “What is?”

  “Changing someone without giving proper information.”

  “But I wasn’t changed. Well, not in the way you’re supposed to be.” I couldn’t keep up the ruse anymore. I was going to get everyone hurt. A capital crime? Roland didn’t deserve that.

  “Wait. Before Owen interrupted you were talking about a witch. What did you mean?”

  So she had picked up on that. “Forget it. Just know Roland did nothing wrong.”

  “You are lying about everything.”

  I looked down. “I don’t know what’s true anymore.”

  “If you don’t level with me, I can’t help.”

  “I don’t know you.”

  “You do.” She stopped in her tracks. “I’m Sky.”

  Clearly I’d offended her. “Knowing your name doesn’t mean I know you.”

  “Except it does. Our names define us.” She glanced up at the red moon.

  “For Dryads?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “But I’m an outsider. I can’t see the meaning the way you can.”

  “Roland didn’t change you.”

  I glanced back at Owen again. And then at Adrian. No one was listening. “No. I was given a potion in the form of a paste.”

  “A paste?”

  “Yeah… from a witch I met in New Orleans. I thought it was a joke, but well, it wasn’t.” I looked down at my body as though there was a physical manifestation of a change.

  “Were you really with Violet and Hugh?”

  “Yes. They were supposed to be helping me.”

  “Helping you with what?”

  I debated. I’d already spilled lots of the beans. “To stop the change. They said seeking an audience with the Elders was the only chance I had.”

  “That’s impossible,” she hissed as we continued across the meadow. “If she said it was possible, she lied.”

  “I have to believe her. The other option is something I can’t accept.”

  “The Elders aren’t going to help. The Allure numbers are dwindling. Very few humans can accept the gift anymore.”

  “I don’t want to accept it.”

  “You love him?” She looked at Owen.

  I nodded. I loved him more than I believed possible, and it only got stronger each day.

  “Always a complication.” She waved her arm around.

  “It’s more than a complication.”

  “I don’t know why Violet got your hopes up. There is nothing you can do.”

  “I refuse to believe that. There is always something.” I clung to confi
dence I didn’t know I had. I couldn’t lose Owen after all this.

  “I hope you keep this personality.” She looked off into the distance.

  “Keep it?”

  “Yes. If you try really hard you can hold onto it.”

  “Changing takes away your personality?”

  “Not at first, but as the years go on. It’s the nature of things.”

  “How old are you?” I’d learned that someone’s appearance said nothing about their true age.

  “Older than I look. Although I’m not immortal. Only Allures and one other creature have that gift.”

  “You should call it a curse.” A gift was supposed to be a good thing. I was curious about the other creature, but I didn’t ask.

  “Most gifts are also curses.”

  I sighed. “I wish I knew Violet’s plan.”

  “Not to make things worse, but what if this was her plan?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. What if the plan was to drop you here? Bring you home, so to speak, while you wait things out.”

  “She wouldn’t.” I shook my head. I’d considered the same thing myself, but that didn’t mean I was ready to admit it out loud.

  “How well do you know Violet?” Sky glanced back at the others and then back at me.

  “I know her.” I didn’t. Not really. She’d told me almost nothing about herself, and the only hint of her past I had was from Lonnie’s story about an old ball. That wasn’t much to go off.

  “Violet is one of the oldest Allures I’ve ever met. She’s not the type to come up with crazy schemes to help someone.”

  “She has a plan.” The question was did the plan involve saving me from the Allure fate? I pushed away my doubts. The alternative was that I gave up everything. Violet had a plan to get the Elders to help me. I needed to figure out what it was so I could execute it myself.

  “We’ll be there soon,” Adrian called up to us. Owen and Donna had fallen behind. I looked back and caught his eye. He gave me a slight smile.

  I forced a smile back even though I didn’t want to give one. I was feeling frustrated, terrified, and annoyed that he was talking to that Dryad so much. I’m not doing this for Owen I reminded myself. I’m doing this for me.

  “Here we are.” Sky gestured in front of her. “The Allure Village.”