Rose slowly stepped around the cot and walked over to the men. “Lead the way.”
She watched as they moved into the night. If they were wearing makeup, it was flawless. Their skin was smooth, no seams where prosthetics would be, and the points of their ears were so slight and shallow that earpieces couldn’t have created the shape. Everything indicated that these people were, if not exactly what they’d claimed, surgically altered or wearing makeup that was far more convincing than what was used in the movies.
This was all so strange, and while it seemed real enough, she was ready to believe that at any moment she’d wake up in her bed and all of this would’ve been a vivid dream. Rose’s mother would have been quick to say this dream was a result of all the nonsense Grandmother spouted. From there she’d go on to criticize Rose’s choice of novels and movies. After all, magic didn’t exist, and pretending it did changed nothing.
Rose dismissed the negative thoughts. If this was a dream, it was one she wanted to explore until she was forced awake, and even then she wanted to remember it for years to come. This might be as close as she ever got to magic.
Outside, floating globes of light drifted through the air, illuminating a dirt path that was worn down from the passing of feet. The surrounding trees looked just like the ones in the park near her house, though there were more of them here.
Silverlight glanced at her a couple of times as she walked. “It’s beautiful here,” he said eventually, “and there’s always a plant to help or an animal to heal.”
Rose nodded, her eyes locked on the lightning bugs flying around. At first they had seemed like the ones back home, but then she noticed that they glowed various colors. There were blues, reds, greens, purples, pinks, oranges, and the traditional yellow. They moved around the trees, making them look like they were decorated with Christmas lights.
“Our settlement is called Veles.” Silverlight spoke quickly. “Many of the creatures of human lore are real. They live here, and if you stay you’ll be able to meet them.”
“Silverlight,” Waterfall said, a warning in his tone.
Silverlight stopped talking, and Rose tore her attention away from the lightning bugs. Moths darted near the floating lights before flying away. A few of them looked like the kind of moths that would’ve been at home in her front yard, but others were glowing in greens and bold purples. One had long pointed wings and was as big as a dinner plate.
“Don’t be frightened,” Waterfall said to her.
“Of what?” Rose asked, looking around. Something zipped past her shoulder and was lost to the night.
“Of that.”
Rose started to ask what had flown past her, but she closed her mouth when a small white dragon flew overhead again and hovered in front of her. Its wings were flapping quickly, and its tail was curled. The dragon’s ears swiveled, and it sneezed before flying away.
She gasped. “Was that an illusion?” She hoped it wasn’t. She had always wanted to see a real dragon.
Silverlight looked hurt. “No. We do not trick people into joining us.”
Waterfall whistled and the dragon came back. It looked at him for a moment before flying over to Rose. She reached out a hand, and the dragon moved until her hand was on its head. Rose gently rubbed her fingers over the top of its head.
The dragon’s skin was cool and dry, with the edges of its scales providing the slightest bumpy texture. It snorted, and Rose pulled away. When her hand was by her side once more, the dragon flapped lazily and landed on her shoulder, curling its tail around her neck and leaning against her head. Her heart stopped beating as she reached up carefully and brushed her fingers against its side. The dragon sighed and leaned against her more heavily. It was only because she could feel the creature’s warmth that Rose believed this was happening. She was petting a dragon.
Silverlight smiled. “Pearl likes you.”
“Pearl. A fitting name for a beautiful creature,” Rose said. The dragon’s tail brushed her cheek.
“Rose, we need to continue," Waterfall said. "Pearl will stay, or not, as long as she desires.”
“All right,” Rose said. She took a step forward, certain that Pearl would return to the air, but the dragon seemed happy to stay perched on Rose’s shoulder.
Rose tried to look around, but her eyes kept being drawn back to Pearl. Even in her most fantastic dreams she’d never come up with something this magical. She wondered what else this place had to offer.
A moment later Silverlight pointed off into the woods. “Most of us live over there, in the Field.”
“If you look that way,” Waterfall said, pointing the other way, “you can see the glowing mushroom. I believe it is unique to this side of the Slit.”
“The Slit? What’s that?” Rose asked.
“As you may have noticed, you are no longer in the human world. Silverlight brought you here through the Slit, which is a portal that allows travel between our world and yours.” Waterfall could surely see her mind forming more questions. “This is not the time. Please, explore this world.”
She nodded. It was clear that he didn’t want to discuss the Slit, but he had mentioned a unique fungus. Rose turned to look at the mushroom but froze when Pearl shifted. She didn’t want to upset the dragon; this was too amazing to end so soon. Pearl simply readjusted herself, lying across the back of Rose’s neck and heaving a sigh. Reaching up, Rose stroked the end of Pearl’s tail, and it curled around her fingers. With the dragon settled, she turned her attention to the mushroom. Her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the green glow emanating from an ankle-high, flat-topped mushroom.
She knelt down to examine it more closely. The top was the size of a saucer, and thick ribs lined the underside. The glow was the brightest around the top, slowly fading to nothing where the stalk met the ground. While she was studying it, a moth landed on the mushroom. With the tan edges on its moss-green wings, it matched the mushroom. The moth flapped its wings, and they began to glow the same color as the mushroom.
Rose didn’t know of any moths or mushrooms that glowed like this in the human world. Even if they did exist, she didn’t think the mushroom would be able to share the glow. This place, this magic, was what she had been looking for all this time.
“The moth is feeding off the energy emitted by the mushroom,” Waterfall said, as if reading her mind.
“Feeding? But moths eat things like insects, don’t they?”
“Here you will find flora that make your flytraps and air plants seem normal.”
Captivated, Rose trailed a finger down the stalk. It felt just like the mushrooms back home. Only this one produced light and was playing host to a moth.
“Come along,” Waterfall said. “There is more to see.”
Rose slowly got to her feet, not wanting to disturb Pearl. As they continued down the path, she did her best to look at everything around her. At first glance this place had seemed so like home, but the more she looked, the more she found things that were similar but oh so different.
When they passed a maple tree, Silverlight removed two leaves. He offered one to her. “Try it.”
Rose held it awkwardly, unsure what he meant until he took a bite out of the leaf. She rotated the stem, getting a good look at it. As far as Rose could tell, it was an ordinary maple leaf, but she didn’t know anyone back home who would grab a leaf for a snack.
“I’m not sure about this,” Rose said.
“Please try it. It’s good. It won’t hurt you.”
Rose nibbled on the edge. As soon as it touched her tongue, she tasted maple syrup, but it was the essence of the flavor, without any of the sugar. She eagerly bit a chunk off the leaf. Rose rotated the leaf and was ready to bite into the other side, when a white snout snatched it out of her hand.
“Hey, that was mine!”
Pearl slurped it down and rubbed her head against Rose’s cheek.
Rose watched the dragon out of the corner of her eye, laughing. “Very cute, but that was my l
eaf.”
Pearl licked Rose’s cheek, looked around for more, and pushed off Rose’s shoulder, lazily flapping the few feet to a branch covered in leaves.
“I guess she has a sweet tooth,” Rose said as Pearl tore a mouthful of leaves off the tree. “Wait, is it winter here? Back home it’s winter, and maples don’t have leaves this time of year.”
“Our seasons line up with yours, and we have similar weather,” Silverlight answered. “However, these maples do not shed their leaves. Many things you learned about nature in the human world will not be true here.”
Rose looked around, seeing for the first time how many of the trees around here were pines and other varieties that kept their leaves all year. The darkness and unique fauna had hidden the lack of foliage on the other trees.
A moth glowing blue and purple flew past, and Rose suddenly knew this place wasn’t a figment of her imagination, a dream born of too many stories and too much want. It was too vivid, too detailed, and too fantastic to be a dream. Grandmother had always said that if you believed enough you could find magic. She’d been right all this time.
“You keep saying I can stay, but what is this place? What’s the catch?” There was always a catch with fey, or at least Grandmother’s stories always included one. Rose was willing to bet that there was a cost to enjoying this type of magic.
Waterfall seemed to select his words carefully. “You can stay. Would you like to see more or return to the pavilion and discuss living here?”
Rose slowly pivoted, taking in everything around her. There was more to discover here than she could take in tonight. If she could stay, it was worth learning the cost and weighing if it was worthwhile. Though Waterfall had said this was a different world, and that could mean she wouldn’t be able to see her family often.
“Let’s go back to the pavilion.” If that’s where the discussion was going to take place, Rose wanted to get it over with. This could turn out to be a trick, and it would be better to find out now before she got attached to this place.
Waterfall took the lead, and Silverlight motioned for her to fall in behind him. As they walked away, Rose heard a rustle and looked back to see Pearl flying after them with a hunk of maple leaves in her mouth. The dragon dropped onto her shoulder, still munching. As she settled in, she held out a paw clutching a single leaf.
“For me?”
Pearl nodded.
“Thank you.” Rose took the leaf and bit into it, savoring the rich flavor. Pearl made a happy rumble and kept chewing. Rose tried to etch the experience in her memory.
Waterfall looked back and chuckled. “You should feel honored. She doesn’t normally take to people like this.”
Rose finished her leaf, trying to figure out if there was some special meaning in his words. She hadn’t done anything to get Pearl to like her. The dragon had decided to curl up on her shoulder before they’d had more than the most basic interaction. In fact, Rose had scolded the dragon when she’d stolen the maple leaf. Apparently, in Pearl’s world, bickering over maple leaves equaled friendship.
It was surreal to have a dragon perched on her shoulder. If someone had asked Rose this morning what she would have done if confronted by a dragon, she would’ve said she’d run for the nearest fireproof shelter. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought of one riding on her shoulder. Even Grandmother’s stories hadn’t included dragons that were friendlier than most house pets.
A hiss sounded in Rose’s ear as some creature flew close enough that she felt the air swirl around her head. Ducking, she ran forward a few steps. The movement upset Pearl, who took to the sky with a grumpy rumble. Rose hoped the dragon could understand what had happened.
Pearl was still gaining altitude when the creature passed by again, and this time Rose was able to get a better look. While the wings and body matched that of a wood owl, the face was that of a cat, and the hiss was distinctly more feline than avian.
That last hiss had been directed at Pearl, who gave an irritated grumble and shot a tiny flame from her snout. The flame seemed to scare the other creature, and it flew away. Whatever was going on, it was between those two and didn’t involve Rose, for which she was grateful. She wouldn’t know what to do if a cat-owl hybrid attacked.
“Not nice, Esmeralda,” Silverlight corrected.
“What was that?” Now that it was clear that she wasn’t under attack, Rose was more curious than alarmed.
“Esmeralda? She’s a creature unique to the fey world. We call her a fevian.”
“Do all the animals have names?” Rose asked.
“Just the ones who spend most of their time in this area. Not all the creatures want to be around fey, but as you can see, Pearl likes the company. If you stay you will come to know them.” Waterfall started walking toward the pavilion.
Rose followed him, wanting to believe that this place could be her home. However, she had doubts. There was always a price to pay for magic. Grandmother’s stories had been very clear on that point. This was a decision that could affect other people. She needed to consider her family, her friends, her entire life.
Those were not the only factors. What if the cost was too high? What would she do then? More importantly, could she be happy back home, knowing she had given up a chance to spend her life surrounded by magic? This was a place where she could actually experience magic. To people like her mother that might be a silly reason, but she’d wanted to live in a place with magic since she was a little girl listening to Grandmother tell her stories.
While the magic was a huge attraction, it was far from the only one. In this world she would have the chance to live an adventure few humans were invited to experience. Rose could escape from the parts of life she disliked, get away from the place she didn’t feel she belonged, and build the life she had spent years fanaticizing about.
Esmeralda swooped by again, and Rose got a good look at the fevian’s ears. They were a seamless blend of an owl’s feathery tufts and a cat’s points. The fevian snatched an unsuspecting mouse off the ground and carried it away. The light wasn’t good enough for Rose to see if there was anything unique about the mouse, but from the squeaks it sounded ordinary. Though ordinary was relative here.
They rounded a turn in the path and were back at the pavilion. Waterfall stepped to the side and motioned for her to go ahead of him. The other two adults on his committee—What’d they call it again? The treis?—Summersky and George, were sitting in their chairs behind the small table. Rose searched for another place to sit, but it was the cot or stand. She picked the cot. Silverlight followed her into the pavilion and stood a few feet from the end of the cot while Waterfall returned to his seat.
He looked at the others and nodded. Summersky turned her attention to Silverlight and said, “Do you still wish to offer Rose a place here?”
Silverlight’s voice was steady. “Yes.”
Summersky nodded and focused on Rose. “You are welcome here.”
“What if I want to go home?” Rose asked, not wanting to hear the rest of what Summersky had to say until she knew what would happen if she went home.
“Then you shall be returned to your home, with no memory of this night,” George said.
Rose blinked. It would be as if this night had never happened. She would never know that the magic was real, that there was a place with a dragon small enough to ride on her shoulder and creatures that were strangely beautiful blends of two species. There would be no memory of maple flavor filling her mouth from biting into a leaf, or of a dragon-and-fevian spat, or the colorful wings of the moths that put even the most exquisite butterfly from back home to shame.
All of that and the chance to do and see anything else would be gone, and she’d be back to a life of boring high school classes and bickering with her mother. Who knows, when they took the memory, they might also take the desire to experience the magic, and Rose could end up as obsessed with the practicalities of life as her mom, unable to look up and see beauty and mystery, even
when it was in her own garden.
“And if I stay?” Rose was afraid to breathe. Everything hinged on their answer.
Summersky spoke this time. “You will move into your mentor’s dwelling, take classes, learn our way of life, and study magic. You will enjoy a longer life and other benefits of being fey. Once you have adapted to this world, you will take your place in our society.” Summersky paused. “If you choose to stay, you will not be able to return to the human world for one hundred years.”
“But…what about my family?” Rose sucked in a breath. Not only would that put her family through the heartbreak of losing her but also, by the time she could return, they would be dead. They would live their entire lives not knowing what had happened to her, full of regret and worry.
There wouldn’t be any more afternoon teas with Grandmother, or family dinners, or nights heckling shows on the television. Rose wouldn’t be there when Paul got married, or when her parents celebrated an anniversary, or to see the next painting Grandmother finished. She would miss their lives and be unable to properly mourn their deaths.
“How could you ask me to put them through that pain? To put myself through that pain? How does anyone agree to leave their family?”
“We are not as cruel as that. Their memory of you would be clouded and your absence dismissed. They wouldn’t think of you or miss you. To the humans, it would be as if you were a dream, not a person to be missed and mourned. As to your pain, if you returned after spending time here, they would see the changes in you. We cannot allow that.”
“So I couldn’t go back? I’d never see them again?”
“No,” Summersky said gently. “You would never see your family again.”
Chapter 4
The words seemed to hang in the air.
Rose stared at them. Magic or family. It was that simple, and that wasn’t simple at all. She could finally get the chance to experience everything her grandmother had described and more, or she could stay in the world that made her wish for more, with her family and no memory of this night.
Fey Hearted Page 4
