Beyond The Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)

by Lumtrexa

  "We're here." He says eerily. He then releases me and takes a step back watching me.

  I squint my eyes into the dark room. The familiar walls finally register in my line of sight. I wonder how mom and dad are doing? Have they been looking for me?

  I find the courage to leave my room and head downstairs.

  "I'm just going to see them." I tell him from across the hall. He nods his head and sits down on my bed.

  I run downstairs giddily and round the kitchen corner.

  "Mom?" I ask into the empty room. Well it is night time, they're probably sleeping. I rush upstairs and see their door is slightly ajar. Slowly, I pull the handle back and step into their room.

  To my dismay, they aren't asleep. In fact, they're not even in their room. I then run out into the garage to see if their cars are there.

  When I step into the laundry room to get to the garage, I inhale an odd rusty smell. My breathing catches as I match the smell to the old dried drips of blood scattered on the tile floor.

  My mind screams at me to not open the garage door, but I do anyway, I have to.

  The garage is too dark to see in, so I flick on the lights. A scream escapes me when I spot my stepmother face down on the garage door. Her back is covered in deep wounds, it looks like someone slashed her back a few times. The rotten smell of old blood makes it hard for me to hold down vomit. Tears mixed of sorrow and terror spill down my face as I struggle to take in the scene before me.

  My dad's tools and boxes are thrown all over the floor. The garage door has dents all along it. My dad's car is gone.

  I rush back upstairs.

  "You knew didn't you." I choke through tears. His silence fills my answer.

  "Who killed her?" I hiccup.

  "It’s not who, but what." He says with distaste. In this moment, I rather not know.

  "Well I guess we should go back, if Lorcan's waking up or whatever you said." I say numbly while wiping away the uncontrollable stream of tears flowing down my face.

  "I can make him wait, after all I'm the one who's really in control of him. Whether he wants to accept it or not." He replies darkly while sitting down next to me on the bed.

  "R-r-right." I manage to say. I try taking a deep breath, but it just makes my breathing speed up. If I don't calm down soon I might start hyperventilating. I wish I could be stronger.

  Lorcan rests his hand on my shoulder and stays silent. I feel bad for all the hateful thinking and anger I felt toward my stepmom, she really wasn't that bad. Maybe if I had spent more time with her, we could have formed a stronger bond. It's too late though. On top of that, I have no idea where my dad is. Is he even alive? Where would he have gone? A sick feeling grows in my stomach as I contemplate scenarios of what could have happened to them.

  I then get up and walk out of my room. I enter my parents room and stiffly stand over the bed.

  "You should rest." He says sitting on the opposite side of the bed. He then lays down on his side. I effortlessly lay on my back and pull the covers over me.

  Something tickles my shoulder, my wings. When did they come out? Perhaps my emotion has something do with it. I then turn on my side to face Lorcan, his face is intense, I notice his wings are out too. The soft dark red glow illuminates his eyes even more.

  After a while, I stop crying. My face is covered in dried tears, my face feels heavy. Strangely, I seem to have calmed down by just watching Lorcan-Stythe Lorcan or whatever he really is.

  I almost feel like I'm in a trance.

  "I'm going to touch your wings now." He says quietly with a serious face.

  I don't know if I should scold myself for staying still and letting him potentially kill me.

  Despite the risk, I remain still watching him while he reaches toward my wings, not breaking eye contact with him.

  His hand is just an inch away from my wings when a sly smile slowly starts to grow on his face.

  Chapter 27-Firefly

  I hold my breath. The smile on his face drops. When his hand connects with my wing, I watch in awe as the color of my dark pink wings starts to shift in color into a deep red.

  When he waves his hand over my wings, just touching the surface, it creates a soothing sensation.

  "I didn't know they could do that." I say dumbfounded.

  He then jerks his hand away.

  "I want to show you something else, I think it will help you feel better." He breaths against my neck. I make an embarrassingly loud screeching noise at his close proximity.

  "Okay." I reply uneasily.

  Suddenly, he jumps off the bed and yanks me up with him. I follow him downstairs and out the front door, barely avoiding tripping over my own feet.

  When the harsh cold air smacks me right in the face, I immediately flinch, goosebumps crawl up my arms.

  I turn around and glance back at my warm house. My backyard brings back memories, I follow the fence to see my garden is well hidden in the shadows.

  Lorcan urges me on, I walk up next to him looking over the rusty iron gate. He pushes it open effortlessly, the gate swings open with a squeak. The crunching of the frozen grass beneath me makes me cringe.

  "Watch me." He says.

  He faces me, then his wings twitch and before I know it, he's gone.

  He wouldn't leave me out here would he? Its freezing out and almost pitch black out. Was I supposed to know where he went? I should probably wait, even if this is "Stythe" Lorcan or whatever, he wouldn't leave me out here. Would he?

  Letting out a sigh, I sit down on the small bench by the pond. A strange humming noise passes by me. A flash of red? I twist my head around in the direction it came from, spotting nothing, I roll my eyes at my paranoia.

  I start to think about my stepmom, but I try to draw my thoughts away from it for now. Outside in this freezing cold would not be the best for me to have another mental break done. I shudder at a sudden breeze and hug my myself. My teeth chatter, I consider going back inside.

  A small ripple in the pond's murky surface catches my attention. When the water stills I let out a scream.

  The silhouette of a tall figure with bright eyes stands behind me, I jump up and turn around to face Lorcan.

  "Where did you go?" I clench.

  He lets out one of his psychotic laughs, then suddenly he stops laughing and his face becomes serious.

  "What?" I ask defensively.

  His silence infuriates me, so I decide to make my way back to the house.

  However, my arm is yanked back and my body feels...fuzzy.

  He cocks his head at me, watching me with an amused look in his piercing red eyes.

  "What-" I say concerned, but my question is answered as I watch the ground become closer to me, and my legs get soaking wet through my cloak. Lorcan looks to be shrinking...wait...we're shrinking!

  An aura of red surrounds his flaming red hair. I finally connect the dots and realize Lorcan was the flash of red I saw. I have no idea how I even shrunk, how will I go back?

  Not to mention I'm a million times more cold now that I'm soaking wet. Never in my life did I think grass would ever grow taller than me!

  "Come on. Lorcan says with a sly smile and I follow after him quickly. The last thing I would want is to be left behind, this grass is like a maze and I can't even see over it.

  We end up underneath one of the fences in my yard. Lorcan sits down on a small rock and I sit next to him. He stares at me, I start to wonder if there's something on my face. That would be ridiculous though, we're in the woods and I'm sure I've had crap on my face before.

  "You should see your glow." He says with a low voice.

  "I'm glowing?" I say in amazement.

  "Yeah, it suits you." He says bluntly. I blush, thankful for the darkness of the night.

  "Thanks. Your glow matches you well." I say automatically. He looks pleased with my comment and lays on his back.

  "This is nice. If I weren't an ice cube right now, it'd be even better." I mumble. He drags a finger ove
r the edge of my wings and my face turns on fire.

  "Are you still cold?" He says with fake innocence.

  "No." I reply quickly. Yes his touch strangely really did make me warm, but it caused another warm feeling too.

  "Are we going to fly?" I ask eagerly, much like a child. The stars in the sky still look just as amazing even in my small form, I can't help, but wonder what would simple things look like when you're this small. What would it be like to fly through my mother's garden and see the detail of the flower petals and brush over their soft texture.

  "Yes." He says vaguely.

  I can tell he's waiting for something, so I wait silently watching the far away foliage above slowly shift back and forth in the night breeze.

  Lorcan suddenly points his hand to the right of me. I jump back startled as a huge yellow glow emerges from between the grass blades. The glowing yellow orb then transcends into the sky where I'm able to finally get a good view of it.

  A firefly.

  "Wow..." I say quietly. It still amazes me how different everything looks when your this small. The soft glow of the firefly illuminates a yellow path where it graceful floats off to. The contrast of the soft light against the night sky is truly beautiful.

  Lorcan seems to be enjoying my reaction. One by one, more fireflies emerge from the grass beside us and the trees above.

  "Now we can fly." Lorcan says.

  Without another thought, for once I grab onto his hand and giggle like a crazy person. Lorcan smiles widely as I pull him towards the edge of the rock. We hop off the rock and fly up towards the glowing gentle bugs.

  I float around the tree and circle around the illuminating bugs. I follow after their trails effortlessly spreading my hands out freely, feeling the wind rush through my hair. Lorcan teases the bugs by getting in their way of flight and...blowing glitter at them.

  "Won't that bother them?" I ask.

  "No they like it." He says with an evil smile. The bugs don't seem to be bothered by it. At least they're the ones getting sprayed with glitter and not-

  "Hey!" I shout wiping my eyes of the annoying red glitter. I narrowly avoid running into one of the slower fireflies.

  I devise my own plan. I have to time it perfectly. I wait for the right timing to hide under a firefly. Then, I wait for Lorcan to fly in front of it. When he goes in front of the bug I fly out from below it and quickly blow glitter at his face before he can get away. A strange deep purr like noise resounds from him.

  He looks hilarious with the pink sparkles coating his face. He quickly wipes it off with one hand, a sinister smile forms on his face. He zooms after me, I let out a loud hearty laugh and fly as fast away from him as possible.

  "I'm going to get you for that!" He yells from right behind me.

  "Oh no you won't!" I fly as fast as I can around a tree. Thinking I lost him, I land safely on a high tree branch.

  It's quiet for a moment, then the wind is knocked right out of me.

  Strong shoulders crash against my back sending me crashing against the tree.

  "Told you!" Lorcan breaths heavily in my ear.

  I push him off me, but his arms won't give. I look up at him and glare, he releases me with a creepy chuckle.

  The view of the fireflies from this branch is perfect, I sit down towards the edge. Lorcan sits next to me, I can feel him watching me, it use to be unnerving to me, but now I guess I'm used to it.

  "This is so beautiful." I say watching the fireflies float delicately in the dark night sky. I'm really grateful he showed me this.

  "Yes it is." He says eerily from beside me.

  Unconsciously, I look over my shoulder at my wings. My eyes widen in shock when I see that Lorcan's wings are right behind my wings, his wings extend past mine and the edges of his wings playfully skim over the edges of my wings.

  His wings aren't just behind me.

  His wings are protecting me.

  Chapter 28-Soaking Wet

  Day light stings my sleepy eyes painfully. The cold ground makes my back ache, then I remember last night. Lorcan is probably back to himself by now. From the looks of it, we're back to where we were before. I guess I must have fallen asleep when he took me back here.

  "Wake up human, we will be coming upon a town shortly. We want to get there early, I'm meeting someone." He snaps while stomping out the last of the dying fire. Yep, this is definitely not "Stythe" Lorcan.

  Yawning, I wipe the dirt off my cloak and brush my tangled hair back behind my shoulders. I then jump to my feet and nod my head. Surprisingly, today feels warmer, even though winter is coming upon us. Then again, I'm not sure if the weather in this place is even like the weather back at home. I'll have to ask Lorcan about that later because right now he seems to be in a bad mood.

  After about an hour of walking, we reach a small busy town. The air smells of moldy hay. The small wooden houses all have iron railings. The young fae run around the busy streets freely with their arms reaching out towards the sky. Most of them have pointy ears and...webbed feet. Their eyes are cunning and sharp. I automatically compare them with mermaids, but they have no fins or tails. Plus they aren't in water either.

  "Lorcan what kind of fae are these people?" I ask him.

  "Most of the fae here are half mer. It's said this area use to be a lake and their people evolved after a drought, but no one really knows their history. Mers don't talk much. They're very intelligent and...sneaky." He says, while avoiding running into an older mer who is pushing a cart full of what looks to be some sort of black fruit.

  Maybe this town is avoided by outsiders, there's not many different fae here besides the mers.

  We round a sharp turn and fewer fae are scrambling around, there aren't anymore children. Every so often, a mer looks in our direction, I avert my eyes, but I can feel their open stares on the back of my neck.

  Suddenly, Lorcan turns into an ally and I follow quickly after him. He seems to be in a hurry, I've been struggling to keep up with his long stride the entire walk through town.

  I roll my eyes realizing we are going to have to go into another bar. Out of all the places why a bar? Maybe because when they're busy the loud voices of people will drown out secret conversations.

  I wipe the dust covered bar window with my cloak's sleeve to get a better look inside while Lorcan walks up the rotting steps leading to the entrance of the bar.

  When I can finally see through the smudged window, I take note of the many mer people all crowded into the rather large bar room. This bar is surprisingly bigger than the one we were at before. I watch as they drunkenly raise their drinks and greedily gulp them down.

  "Well I take it that this is the place then?" I say.

  "Yes it is." He says pausing before opening the bar door. He seems to be contemplating over something.

  I walk up the stairs too.

  "Well aren't we going in?" I say eagerly, I could really use a glass of water to quench my dry throat. I have to admit, I am slightly interested to see who this person he's meeting is too.

  Lorcan turns around to face me, he looks to his right, then down at me.

  "You're staying outside this time." He says firmly, watching for my reaction.

  "Wait, what? I really could use a drink and I promise I won't say anything. I can just sit at a table while you go talk to them." I plead.

  "No. This time you'll have to wait here and it might be awhile. Besides, you'll just get in my way." He says scratching his head.

  "Oh. Okay." I mumble, gently kicking at a loose nail in the floorboard below me.

  "Just wait out here for a bit. I'll be right inside. Don't talk to anyone. You can put your hood up, sit down there and make it look like your asleep or something." He says pointing below to the right side of the steps. Getting a nap in might not be too bad.

  "Alright." I reply, heading back down the steps. I sit cross legged against the wall right below the window.

  "Thanks. I just think its better if you are out here. In this kind of
town, its better if your not in a crowded place like this." Lorcan says turning toward the door.

  "You're right." I mumble quietly. He then reaches for the doorknob, but hesitates. Lorcan starts to turn his head back to me, but a loud high voice pierces through the air and his attention leaves me. I whip my head toward the door to see a tall skinny brunette, I conclude she must be a mer when I see her blue webbed feet. She wears a tight fitted long purple dress.

  "Lorcan!" She says surprised while giving him a long hug. Lorcan doesn't hug her back. Does Lorcan really know her?

  "Silvia." He says with a wide grin. From what Lorcan has told me about his past, he didn't really tell me much about his friends. I remember Specs, Specs is Lorcan's friend. Perhaps he has many more friends, I'm glad he has another friend.

  When I finally notice the lull in their conversation, I glance back up at them. Silvia seems to have noticed me in my dark shaded spot below them. She points in my direction with a humored look on her face.

  "A beggar. An ugly one too. We need less of those around here." She says casting a disgusted glare at me. Crap, I forgot to put my hood up. She probably is right, I probably do look like a train wreck right now. I'm already aware of my hair being a rat's nest. Not to mention my cloak covered in dirt and who knows what else.

  I immediately avert my eyes from her. Embarrassed, I scoot back further into the shadows, pushing my back flat against the brick wall of the building.

  I feel a little relieved not being able to see them, I can hear Lorcan's voice, but he must be whispering because I can't make out what he's saying. The loud roar of laughter rings in my ears, instinctively I hug my legs to get in the shadows more.

  The creaking sound of the bar door shutting makes me crane my neck up to see the entrance. Sure enough, Lorcan and Silvia are no longer there. They must be inside now. Silvia must be the person he came to meet after all.

  I decide a quick peek in the window can confirm my assumption. I quickly stand up and peer into the rowdy room. I spot Silvia's long flawless brown hair, her back is to me. Lorcan stands in front of her with a deep frown. Silvia then leans toward Lorcan whispering something in his ear. I can tell she's laughing, Lorcan is too. They stand by a table on the far side of the bar.