Starlight

by Lauren Jade Case

  Natalia hesitated. Should I tell them? But she shook the unease away. There was no harm. She trusted them with her life, a life they had saved already.

  All of them were patient and quiet while Natalia spoke as softly and concise as she could. She told them everything – why there were no records, how unusual it was, and who her mother could potentially be. Once she’d finished, it felt like a weight had been lifted. She hadn’t noticed the pressure before, but now that it wasn’t there, she could breathe without restraint.

  Archie was the first to talk. His gaze was nervous, unsure. “I don’t want to upset you,” he said. “But we’d guessed who you were.”

  “Your last name.” Natalia looked to the doorway. James stood there. Clearly no one had seen him come in, because they all looked equally stunned. Like the last time Natalia had seen him, he wore a suit and his hair was well-kept. “I told you when we first met that your name was interesting. I’m just sorry we didn’t tell you how interesting.”

  “I understand why you didn’t,” she said, smiling weakly. “There was already so much inside my brain, I’d have been overloaded if you’d told me this too. So thank you for thinking of me, even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time.”

  James smiled back, like a father looking at his sweet new child. “You are more than welcome.”

  “Does my father know? About my mother, I mean?”

  After a moment, James nodded. “He told us when we first met. Don’t be angry with him, either. He didn’t tell you for the same reason we didn’t.”

  Natalia could never be angry with her father. “Thank you again. For everything you’ve all done for me.” She searched the faces in the room. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without your help.”

  “Probably cried,” joked Peri.

  “I can still do that,” Natalia countered.

  “You won’t,” Jasper argued, grinning. “We’re officially the lights of your life. We make everything better.”

  “Speaking highly of yourself again, I see.”

  “The best only speak of the best.”

  Natalia smiled at him and he returned it. His entire self gave off a welcoming pulse that she wanted to gravitate towards. Though he joked, it was his way of lightening the mood, of taking the weight out of things, and Jasper had a habit of doing it at the right time. It made her feel comfortable, like she really did belong here.

  Jasper turned on his heels and left, followed by James, and Natalia faced Peri and Archie.

  When she was certain the others were out of ear-shot, she spoke again, keeping her voice low. “I just don’t know what to think,” she admitted. “There’s so much I have to learn and want to know. So many secrets about this world and my family. Even about myself!”

  “We’ll help you,” Peri declared.

  Archie’s expression was kind. “That’s what we’re here for. Self-appointed guides who will help you through this mess that has become your life.”

  A mess? That was too nice of an explanation of what her life had suddenly become. From her birthday, to where she’d been almost killed by a fire-breathing polar bear thing, her life had been completely ripped out from underneath her until she was standing among the sky.

  “You think we have a better idea of what’s going on?” Peri asked in return. “We’re learning all the time.”

  Natalia could believe that. Still, she frowned. “But you have a trident,” she countered. “You at least look ready.”

  Peri shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s just a little weapon I keep with me sometimes.”

  “Liar,” Archie said, laughter in his smile. “She hangs that bloody thing above our bed. The second she hears a noise, she’s ready to grab and stab.” Peri grinned without a hint of an apology.

  Natalia laughed at them both. “Is that a technical term?”

  “We’ll teach you how to do that too,” Peri promised, flicking the ends of her black bob. “If we’re all going to see the Council—”

  “Wait,” Natalia cut in, stunned. “I’m going with Gold.”

  “Do you really think we’re letting you go with him? Alone? We trust him enough, but...”

  “I’m not alone. My dad’s coming.”

  “I don’t know much about the laws on letting Humans in,” Archie said, scowling. Because of his size, it made him look a little menacing. “It’s a grey area, but if they say he can, the more the merrier.”

  Peri gave him a stern look. “Including us in that equation, I hope.”

  He kissed the back of her hand. “I was, darling.”

  Peri’s eyes made a motion and it seemed to be a signal. Archie left a second later, leaving the girls alone, and Natalia noticed Peri staring at Archie’s behind as he walked. When Peri caught Natalia watching her, she grinned mischievously. “It’s the simple things,” she mused. “Now, how about we start your training?”

  Natalia blinked. “What?”

  “Not the physical training,” Peri assured quickly. Natalia, honestly, hadn’t expected to start any form of training for a while. “That’ll come later. Your leg is still healing. Maybe in a few days we’ll get you doing simple stuff, like balance training?” Peri tossed the ends of her hair. “What I meant was how about we start training you on the basics of what Creatures are and their gifts and abilities? Help you settle in before you meet the Council.” She stepped closer. “Where do you want to start?”

  Natalia’s cheeks flamed. She touched the skin and pulled her fingers away, twinkling bronze dust coating the tips. She wasn’t aware she needed to know anything for the meeting with the Council, yet Peri was making out like she did.

  Peri stared intensely at the dust as if she’d never seen it up close.

  “At the beginning,” Natalia said, wiping her hands on her clothes. “That’s always the best place to start. Unless it’s a horror story.”

  Peri’s expression shifted. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Natalia dismissed. “I’ll eventually need to know everything anyway, so why don’t we start somewhere and fill the gaps as we go?”

  “Are you sure?”

  Am I sure?

  The answer was easy this time. There was no more running and hiding and wishing all this gone, because she no longer wanted to send it away. This was her life and, like her mother, she would accept it. Her heart and head were in agreement over what she wanted at last.

  “Yes.”

  6

  Where Blood Lies

  Peri crossed her legs underneath her. “Ready?”

  “How’re we doing this?” Natalia asked.

  “There definitely won’t be essays,” Alex established. “How about a pop quiz? That’s what they’re likely to do, if they do anything remotely like this. Which there’s no chance they will.”

  Natalia nodded, swallowing her nerves. “I think that sounds best.”

  Alex lowered onto the other barstool so she and Peri sandwiched Natalia in.

  The last few hours had been spent going over all Natalia might need to know. To Alex, it didn’t sound like they’d fed her enough. But it didn’t matter to the Council how extensive anyone’s knowledge was. Every meeting was about what the Council wanted to know and hear at that time.

  Whatever the Council wanted from Natalia was guess work. Hopefully it was just as she’d said, that they wanted basic information on her.

  Alex only hoped the Council would be less cold with Natalia than they had been with her. They were known for their welcoming tones or kindness on any count. However, Natalia wasn’t seemingly in any trouble, unlike Alex, who had come to their attention by picking a fight with a Werewolf – the very Werewolf that had turned her as a result.

  “Archie?” Peri called.

  He wandered into the room seconds later and stopped round the opposite side of the island counter, leaning on his elbows. “You rang?”

  “Pop quiz,” Alex explained loosely.

  Archie looked taken aback. “On me?”

  Alex didn’t try
muffling her laughter. “No, you Kifflegger,” she said. Peri snorted.

  “Kifflegger?” Natalia questioned.

  Archie narrowed his green eyes at Alex, causing them to darken. “A rather low level Monster. They have floppy tails and scuttle on six legs. They’re blind and usually deaf. Mostly harmless. It’s an insult, like calling us dumbasses or brain-short,” he answered. “Thanks, sis.”

  She winked. “Always, bro.”

  “Are not all Monsters dangerous?” Natalia asked next.

  Peri pulled a face. “Not in the way we think. But just because we don’t see the damage, it doesn’t mean there isn’t some in other contexts. They might not hurt Creatures, but they might hurt Humans, animals, or something else.”

  “Monsters,” Archie moved his gaze to Natalia, “want to take life and souls. Ever since the Veils opened, they’ve had a taste for this world that they can’t seem to ignore. A taste that has them craving it and others that flourish. Most seem to have no purpose other than destroy. Actually, I’ve never seen any with a bigger purpose. They seek nothing more than destruction; a world they can destroy and turn into their new Hell. They live off it.”

  “And it’s our Purpose to ensure life lives on.” Natalia’s voice was quiet, but in the silence of the kitchen it was clear.

  Alex nodded. Though she’d not grown up for the first fourteen years in this life, she’d learnt enough since.

  Souls deserved to live. To thrive. To prosper. Monsters were incapable of allowing such things, purely for their own greed and need to ruin. And they never went down without a fight. But neither would the Creatures. They’d been gifted a higher Purpose by the Gods eons ago; to kill Monsters and ensure souls lived.

  It seemed odd that Creatures had a Purpose only because Monsters lacked one, yet here they were. They would fight until the last breath was taken, until the war was won for good.

  “Except,” Peri continued. “There are a few who seemed to have broken free from their mental absence.”

  Natalia blinked, shocked. “What?”

  “Some Monsters work with us, help us to learn about their kinds, even fight with us. They’re vetted by the Council and are kept under strict rulings.”

  In the absence of sound, Alex could hear every heart in the room.

  “About that quiz?” Archie prompted.

  Natalia sat straighter. “Right.”

  “You’ve got this,” promised Peri.

  “Does she need a cheerleader?” Archie responded, grinning. “Are we all going to have to get those short skirts and pompoms?” He looked like he was imagining it there and then, though who he was picturing inside his head was unclear. Alex was just glad her sight didn’t include mental images – at least, not with those outside her own kind, if at all.

  Peri’s grin was devilish. “You’d pull them off spectacularly, amore.”

  Archie laughed like he’d never heard anything more ridiculous. When he was done, he focused his attention and energy on Natalia, though laughter remained in his eyes. “We’ll call out Creatures and you tell us what you remember,” he said, keeping his tone as serious as he could. “We’ll fill in the gaps or correct you as we go. Only if we have too.”

  It’s better than what I had, Alex thought.

  Alex had gotten no preparation whatsoever before her meeting with the Council and at the time she’d been freshly torn to pieces. She’d looked like she’d bathed in blood. Now she carried the scars along her back and chest. At the time, she hadn’t immediately changed to a wolf. Nor had she been adopted into an accepting family. A lone wolf caught in a shine of a new moon.

  But she had her pack now, even if they weren’t all the same, and it was time she helped someone else enter.

  “Let’s start easy?” Peri suggested. “Fairies.”

  Alex watched Natalia’s chest rise and fall slowly. “Fairies create their own dust. It usually either trails behind them or shines on their cheeks as a Human might blush. All dust has magical properties. It can be used to create shields that can protect the ones creating it or others.” She sounded like a robot reading from paper.

  “You don’t always have to be together to do that,” Archie intersected. Natalia flashed him a quizzical look, and Alex copied it. “Say you’re separated from us in a fight, but we’re in the more immediate danger. You can throw a shield around us without putting yourself inside it.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s not easy to do,” he told her frankly.

  Natalia took another deep breath and continued. “Fairy dust can also be used to dismantle some Witch’s spells and reverse some of the effects of Monsters. It can even reverse some injuries caused by them. The colour of the dust depends on the individual and it doesn’t run similar with others in the same family. Furthermore, the colour of the dust is usually the same as the individual’s wings. In my case, they’re likely to be bronze.”

  Alex stood from her perch, moving to click on the coffee machine. Archie instantly seized the opportunity to sit beside Natalia.

  No one mentioned what was left unspoken – that none of them had yet seen Natalia’s wings. They were meant to look like a butterfly’s; four sections completely coloured with the same colour as her dust. All Fairies were born with them, but Natalia’s hadn’t presented themselves. Was it just taking time? Would they then arrive naturally once she was comfortable with her true form?

  Whatever the reason, Alex couldn’t deny her concern at Natalia’s current lack of wings. They’d come eventually. They had to.

  “Some Fairies have the ability to turn invisible,” Natalia continued, still speaking as if reading from a text book. “It takes skill, practise, and power.”

  “I don’t know of any Fairy that’s capable,” Alex commented.

  Archie narrowed his eyes at her. “You haven’t been in our world long,” he said, not unkindly.

  “Alright Mr I’ve-been-here-all-my-life,” Alex mumbled, pouring the coffee. “Tell me if you’ve seen or know of anything different.”

  “I can’t say she’s wrong,” Peri said honestly.

  After a moment, Archie agreed. “Neither can I.”

  Alex faced them again, using her mug to hide her grin. Her eyes landed on a patient Natalia. “What do you know of Werewolves?”

  Natalia’s brown eyes gazed directly at her. “They can be created—”

  “Made,” Alex cut in. She’d always preferred that word – it made it sound like there was a choice behind the action.

  Natalia accepted the change and begun again. “They can be made,” Alex nodded approvingly, “two ways. They can either be bitten or scratched enough that their blood or saliva is transferred, or they can be born into it. However, if they’re bitten, the change will be less controlled throughout the first few months. Eventually, they shift entirely by their choice. Except on a fully moon. No one can escape a full moon unshifted. Even those born that way.”

  “Those random initial shifts tend to happen when moods change,” Alex expressed. She sipped her coffee, finding it sour despite the amount of sugar she’d spooned in. “Angry, sad, even hungry. I sneezed once and it happened. It’s pretty painful at first too.” She sighed, remembering all too well how her bones cracked in and out of place as they lengthened or shortened or, worse, fused. “It does get easier, and yeah, you do get to choose eventually when you want to change, but even after a full moon as a newly made, you still shift uncontrollably. For months. It takes a while to settle.”

  “Aren’t there Crystals to stop it?” Peri asked.

  “Vampire Crystals?” Natalia chirped. Incredulous eyes flew to her and the poor girl seemed to shrink into her seat. “Gold mentioned them when he was here,” she explained. “It was how he found me, or at least knew where I’d come to be.”

  “Different Crystals have different properties,” Alex said. “Moon Crystals, if worn by a wolf, can hinder the change on a full moon, or even a first transformation for some turned younger. That’s if you can pay the high
price for one.”

  Alex had learnt about Moon Crystals too late. After her first transformation. And the second on a full moon. After she’d completely thrown care to the wind, paving the way for bloodied revenge. By that point, a Moon Crystal wouldn’t have suppressed her rage or confusion. There was no Crystal on any plane that could’ve done that.

  It was her fault after all. She’d picked the initial fight that left her bitten and turned, and then she had been the one to seek revenge. So, to Alex, the Crystals were pointless. Especially now that she was comfortable in her ever-shifting skin.

  “What else?” she asked, wanting to rid her mind of the terrifying memories.

  “You have heightened senses: hearing, smelling, tasting,” Natalia continued. “Once you’re a wolf, you can communicate with others through your mind. They can be in your pack but they can also be random individual wolves with practise. Your body temperature is naturally higher than all other Creatures and you can heal most injuries instantaneously, except when attacked by some Monsters and silver. Silver wounds don’t heal, nor do they kill instantly, but the element burns and can kill if not treated.” Alex shuddered at the thought.

  “As for the Monster thing?” Peri added. “Make a note that most Creatures take time recovering from their injuries.”

  Alex caught Natalia glancing down as she said, “Right.”

  “Though, it hadn’t been in a dire state like I’d expected.”

  Natalia looked like she wanted to contest that, but Alex stopped her. “Though Werewolves can heal quicker when Monsters are involved, Creatures in general heal faster compared to Humans. However, sometimes Humans are completely unaffected by certain Monster attacks when us Creature’s aren’t, and vice versa.”

  The Fairy grabbed the sides of her head. “Talk about brain ache.”

  “Say the word and we’ll stop,” Archie told her.

  “Please,” she half-begged.

  Just then, Natalia’s phone began to ring, buzzing along the counter. She picked it up and hobbled out of the room. Alex followed the girl with her eyes. Her heart reached out for her, knowing how hard and confusing learning all of this nonsense could be. Especially after a trauma. Out of everyone, Alex could sympathise best.