by Julia Crane
“So what do we do first?” I was eager to get started. The quicker we got things back in balance on the planet the faster we could return home.
“First we eat, and then I want to take you to the laboratory so we can get to work on the experiments.”
She wasn’t wasting any time, was she? What if we could fix the planet on our own without having to breed my DNA with a humans? I’d at least like to give it a try first. What she was asking of me was a huge commitment.
“Mother, I’d like to meet this boy before I agree to go forward with the splicing or whatever it is you called it. I need to know whose genetics I’ll be sharing. Even though you make it sound abstract, this will still be part of our lifeblood being joined. They will be my children.”
My mother stopped in her tracks. Her head snapped in my direction. “No, you cannot think of it in such a way. You must think of it in the same way as if you were to give your energy to heal a tree. Nothing more. These beings will not be your children. They will be your energy helping Earth. Nothing more.”
I wrapped my arms around my body, suddenly feeling cold. This was so unlike my mother. She had to realize that if we created life forces, we should be responsible for them. Even if they didn’t have a long life like we did. And I really wanted to meet Michael. What if he was a creep? If I didn’t approve of him, would my mother let me search for another potential mate? I should have some say in the matter. Shouldn’t I?
“What made you so sure of this human boy? You’ve been looking for a match for quite a while now. Why him? What makes him so special?”
We continued walking down the hallway into an open kitchen, which was surprisingly clean and welcoming. It was a stark difference from what I’d seen of the rest of the building. Obviously, some work was put into making it enjoyable. Thank the stars. If there was one thing faeries liked to do almost as much as dancing, it was to eat.
I watched in awe as my mother made her way around the kitchen with ease, as if she’d always taken care of herself. It might sound strange, but we were royalty, and the thought of fixing our own food is unheard of. We’d always had countless chefs and assistants taking care of our home. What really surprised me was how happy my mother looked while cutting the fruit and tossing eggs into the frying pan. Even in this crumbling planet, she’d managed to find peace. I’d always envied that about her. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever find an inner calm like that.
“You’ll have to teach me how to cook,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t think I would enjoy it like my mother clearly did. But I wasn’t about to go hungry.
“It’s relaxing,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Don’t you miss our world?” I asked, with interest. The thought of being stuck here filled me with unease.
She glanced away before nodding. “Very much. But what we must do here is our highest calling. Eventually we will be able to return home. Just not anytime soon, I’m afraid.”
I leaned forward, rested my forearms on the table and lowered my voice. “Don’t you worry about us both not being there to rule the lands? What if there is an uprising?”
A musical laugh escaped her full lips. “Oh, daughter I worry about a lot of things but that is not one of them. I check in often, and the council is doing a wonderful job in my absence. If anything were to happen that they could not take care of on their own, I would return. No one will try to dethrone me.” She continued chopping, before adding. “They wouldn’t dare.”
A shudder ran through me at her words. Deep down I knew she was correct. But the thought of being left here alone if for some reason she did have to return… let’s just say I really hoped that didn’t happen. I couldn’t imagine being stuck here without my mother or any friends to speak of.
Once she set the food down before me, I realized she’d never answered my earlier question. She’d always been very good at evading issues she’d rather not talk about. “You never told me why you picked this boy.”
Without meeting my eyes, she said, “He’s got great genetic markers. Athletic and intelligent. Honestly, he’s the best we could find. The pickings are pretty slim, I’m afraid.”
Great. Sounds promising. I plopped a large grape into my mouth. The taste was slightly off but still delicious.
We finished our meal, mostly chatting about our realm. Mother was curious but also distracted. I could tell her heart wasn’t into the conversation. When I told her how I’d left things with Aiston, she barely glanced up. “He was never to be anyway. I knew he was just a passing fancy.”
Well it sure didn’t feel like a passing fancy to me, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Just thinking about the breakup hurt my heart and my ego.
Chapter Five
As soon as we were done eating my mother whisked me off down a very long staircase into the basement. After walking down a long, dark corridor, a door was suddenly pushed open in front of us. It took me a second to realize it must have been one of her guards. That was going to take some getting used to.
Slowly, I cast an appraising glance around the large open area. The laboratory sparkled and shined with bright white and stainless steel. I’d never seen a place so clinical in my life. There was something almost enchanting about the clean lines. Where I came from, medicine was practiced in nature. This was something completely foreign to me. If I was honest, it kinda freaked me out.
Everything was spotless, untouched. The only thing that was in disarray was the man standing behind the microscope. His hair was a wild mess of dark curls, his skin a deep mocha, and his glasses only had one lens. His jacket was crumbled and he had papers sticking out of his pockets. He’d barely glanced up when we walked in.
My mother cleared her throat. She wasn’t accustomed to being ignored, let alone by someone from the opposite sex. Her voice rang throughout the room. “Henrek, this is my daughter. The one we talked about.”
It took a couple of minutes before his eyes finally darted up, focused on us, and just as quickly they went back down into the microscope, as if we weren’t important enough to deserve his time. My mouth hung open in surprise.
“The queen is talking,” I said in a sharp tone. His demeanor was making me angry.
If he heard me, he didn’t acknowledge. Who did he think he was to ignore a queen and a princess?
Gently my mother pulled me aside. “Henrek is unique. We have to have great patience with him. I assure you his beautiful mind is worth the inconvenience. I know it may seem as if he’s being rude, but it’s just his nature. We must honor that in him. Plus, I told you not to mention our station while here.” In my annoyance I’d completely forgotten my mother’s talk on blending in, which I still found absurd.
I gave her a skeptical look. This sort of behavior would never have been accepted back home, but we were not home, I had to remind myself. “Does he know you are queen?” I whispered.
“Yes, he knows. It’s why he agreed to work with me on the project. He wants what we want, a world in harmony.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “So … what, we just stand here until he’s ready to talk to us?”
She shrugged, a half-smile spread, lightening her expression. “You’ll get used to it.”
I merely nodded, not wanting to discuss it any further.
Antsy, I walked around the room. There was a large calendar on the wall with big red marks through the days. The year was 2133, Thursday, June 24th. I’d always found it strange how different our calendars were in different dimensions. The wars between magick and humanity had been going on for over one hundred years. To us it was a blink of an eye, but to the people of Earth it was generations. Their lives were so fragile. I couldn’t imagine living in such a way. Death could come at any time.
I walked closer to Henrek, my hand trailing on the cold steel. “What do you think the life span will be for the halflings you want to create?”
Finally, I’d caught the man’s attention. He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “That
, my dear, is a very good question and one I’m not sure of the answer. I would like to believe we are going to create super humans, so their lifespans will be anywhere from three to ten times the normal lifetime.” He gave a shrug. “But who knows, I could be completely wrong.”
Well that didn’t sound very reassuring at all. I also didn’t like that he called them super-humans. Would they be more human than fae? “Are you even sure this plan of yours will work?”
He grabbed a clipboard, and flipped through some pages before dropping it back down with a clang. Once again he was lost in his own world, oblivious to my mother and me. Frustrated, my voice rose. “I asked, how do you know this will work?”
His glasses were driving me crazy. How could he stand wearing only one lens?
My mother came over and stood beside me. “He knows it will work because humans have long been doing experiments on DNA splicing. This is not something new to them.”
The man ran his fingers over one of his bushy eyebrows. “Yes, yes, that’s quite true, but those were disasters.” He replied bluntly. “None of the species lasted very long. However, this, this is something different. Your regeneration powers are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s nothing short of miraculous.”
Disasters? This just gets better and better by the moment.
“What if this fails?” I looked over at my mother with a raised brow. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was all hypothetical at best. I wondered if she’d avoided telling me how far-fetched this was because she didn’t want to believe it herself.
“Then we’ll try something else,” she admitted wearily. Obviously she wasn’t as convinced as she’d pretended to be.
Something crossed my mind. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it earlier. “Mother, why haven’t you tried with your own DNA? Why do you need mine?”
She gave me a sad smile. ”You know I’m past my prime. I can no longer create life.”
That didn’t sit right with me. “But you said it wasn’t true mating. If it’s just your DNA then it shouldn’t matter. Should it?”
“We need your eggs. We’ve already tried with just the DNA and it was unsuccessful. I would have tried with a random faery, but as you know our bloodline is the purest and strongest in our lands. The oracle told me it had to be royal blood in order to be successful. Believe me, I tried. I really did not want to involve you, but I have no other choice.”
My eggs? A muscle tightened in my jaw. And yet she wanted me to believe that the halflings would not truly be mine? She couldn’t really believe that. Could she?
“I’d feel better if I could meet the boy.” I could practically hear the whine in my voice. My mother shot me a disapproving look.
“The boy?” Henrek pushed his glasses back on his nose, he seemed mildly curious. “He’s right here.” He waved me over.
Confused, I eased around the table to his side. He pushed the microscope toward me. I gave my mother a quizzical look before I dipped my head. I could see many tiny lines of movement but I had no idea what it meant.
My head shot up. “Mother, I sincerely hope this is not all there is to this boy that you wished me to reproduce with?”
A beautiful laugh escaped her lips. “No, my dear. He is a real, living human. But to Henrek we are nothing more than what he can see beneath a microscope.”
Relieved, I let out a breath. If this wasn’t weird enough already. Could you imagine just using something under a slide to make babies? Creepy. The thought made me shiver to my toes.
There was a part of me that was deeply saddened by the whole idea of this plan. I’d always dreamt of someday becoming a mother. The thought of reproducing just for the sake of saving a population and not out of love caused me great unease. I wanted to birth a princess or a prince. Not some freaky experiment.
“If it’s that important to you, I will arrange a meeting.” She was quick to add, “But for now you must give your blood to Henrek. To get the process started.”
“Thank you.” I gave her a grateful smile. My mother didn’t usually give in so easily. She must not have been too worried about her choice, which set my mind somewhat at ease.
Henrek took off his glasses and set them down on the counter. “Over here. I just need to make sure your blood has the same properties as your mother before we get started.”
I followed him across the room to a small chair. When he brought out a sharp, pointed needle I eyed him with a frown. What in the world was this man going to do to me?
Distracted, she said, “It’s fine, Tulupea. It’s barely a pinch.”
Before I had a chance to reply the man had grabbed my finger, squeezed it tightly, and jabbed a needle into the tip. “Ouch,” I cried out.
A couple of seconds later he dropped my hand. I stared at the trickle of green blood running down my finger. My mother was right, it didn’t hurt much but a little notice would have been nice. Immediately the small dot healed and my blood evaporated.
With a subtle smile my mother reached out her hand for me. I grabbed it and rose to stand beside her. “Henrek, we’ll leave you to your work. Please let me know when you need anything else from me or my daughter.”
Already lost in his own world, his expression intent, he didn’t even bother to look up or respond. He really was a strange one. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get used to his demeanor.
It was hard to believe and a little scary that this unusual man was going to be in control of saving a planet. Hopefully, he was as intelligent as my mother thought he was.
“Mother, you should really make him some new glasses. He probably has a headache from the one lens.”
She laughed, amused despite everything. “I fixed the eye without the lens, he wouldn’t let me fix both of them. He said he only needed clear sight in the eye he used for the microscope. He’s an interesting man. Isn’t he?”
“I guess that’s one way to put it,” I mumbled under my breath while brushing an errant curl away from my face. “Will it hurt when they take the eggs?”
My mother lifted her shoulder. “I’m not sure. But we can counteract the pain, of course, if there is any. I can assure you, it should be easier than giving birth.”
That was probably true. I’d been on hand for more than one birth and it didn’t look like much fun, even with the help of magick.
Chapter Six
The idea of meeting Michael filled me with nervous anticipation, which was not a feeling I was accustomed to when dealing with males, but this was different. He was different. Together we were going to bring life into this world. Real little beings. If I were honest with myself, I’d admit I was terrified of the idea. I knew my mother said I would not be their mother, but I could think of it in no other terms no matter what she said. I would just have to keep that to myself. She might change her mind if she was worried I’d form an attachment. But how could I not? I thought in despair.
I took a deep breath to clear my mind in an attempt to settle down my frayed nerves.
To keep myself distracted I switched gears. What was I going to wear? What did one wear to meet the person who she was going to have children with? The thought was so absurd I found myself laughing. Nervous laughter. The laughter of a crazy person, I thought wryly. Surely I had to be out of my mind to agree to this plan.
Glancing around the dreary room I knew I’d made a mistake by not bringing any of my belongings with me to this realm. I debated returning quickly and coming back, but my mother said we shouldn’t overuse the portals for frivolous things. No one knew for sure if there was a limit to the amount of times the portals would open. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck here.
Thank goodness for our powers. I could pretty much wish anything I wanted into fruition. Closing my eyes, I willed a beautiful outfit and voila, I was now wearing a long flowing purple dress that matched my hair and wings perfectly.
It was a silly thought but I wondered what he would think of me. What would I think of him? I don’t know if I could forgive my
mother if she’d chosen a bad pairing for me. Mainly I hoped he wasn’t a jerk. After Aiston, I’d had my fill.
“How do I look?” I twirled and asked my mother when she appeared in the doorway.
She gave me a slow once over. “Beautiful as ever. You’ll certainly stand out, but that’s to be expected.”
I’d take that to mean I looked amazing, I thought smugly. Of course I didn’t have on my crown, which felt strange. My head felt bare without it. Yet I was starting to understand her concern.
Curious, I asked. “Does Michael realize you are the queen and I am next in line?”
My mother didn’t speak. For a moment I thought she wasn’t going to answer. “No, he does not. I honestly think meeting him is a bad idea. Would you please reconsider?”
I drew a breath and let it out in a short burst. “Why?” Hastily, I added, “What aren’t you telling me?”
A rare frown crossed her face. “Do you recall when I told you there was still a small fraction of people who wanted magick removed?”
I nodded, suddenly feeling queasy.
She looked at me regretfully. “Michael’s parents head the rebellion.”
“Wh—” I stared at my mother dumbfounded. Why in all creation would she choose a boy who hated us?
“Calm down. Just because his parents believe one way does not mean he does as well.”
“So you’re saying he’s not against magick? How did you even find him?” I asked in bewilderment, sinking down onto the edge of my bed.
My mother let out a long breath before sitting down next to me. “It’s a long story, but basically he came to my rescue after his group attempted to take my life.”
“What happened and where were your guards?” I asked alarmed.
“When we first arrived I was convinced I could blend in on my own, and I didn’t want the guards tipping my position. So I forced them to leave me.”
