by Elle Casey
“Come closer.” I motioned for everyone to move in for a huddle. I didn’t want anyone else listening in; I had no idea who was friends with who in this place.
“I was in the bathroom the other night, getting ready to come out, and I heard voices in the hallway. They stopped right in front of the door, so I was able to hear what they were saying – something about me being the one they were looking for maybe and that they needed to eliminate some people. Something about how certain changelings or fae couldn’t be around when they started something.”
“Started what?” asked Finn.
“I have no idea.”
“Are you sure they mentioned you, specifically?” asked Spike.
“Yes, they said, ‘the changeling Jayne’. That part I do remember, very clearly.”
“And they used the word ‘eliminate’?” asked Finn.
“Yes. It freaked me out. I thought they were talking about ... ,” I bent in closer and lowered my voice even more, “ ... killing someone or someones.”
Becky’s eyes bugged out. “Maybe they meant us. Like us changelings.”
We all looked at each other, simultaneously exchanging worried glances.
A familiar voice rang out in the room, interrupting our discussion. “Thank you all for coming, if you could please find a seat so we can begin, that would be appreciated.”
“Let’s talk about this later tonight at dinner,” said Finn.
We all nodded our agreement, walking towards the aisle that cut through the center of the amphitheater. When we got there, we realized there weren’t any seats left, so we all stood behind the back row.
I looked around at all the fae gathered in the room. They were all shapes and sizes. Some looked just like my friends and me. Others were obviously not human – fae like Gander and even Niles. He could pass as a human dwarf, but all his commando gear made it less likely that he’d be able to blend in. A couple fae were standing next to the head table; I didn’t need a fae identification table to know they were ogres, like Ivar. They were huge and had big eyebrow ridges. I looked up at Chase who was standing to my left. He wasn’t as big as them, but I could see how Dardennes might have wondered if he had some ogre blood. He looked like a Viking ogre or something, if there was such a thing, with his blond hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones. I tried not to let my gaze linger on his amazing body, but it was hard. He was like a male model – the athletic type. I had to force myself to look away so I wouldn’t put Spike on alert again.
All of the fae wore moccasins and some sort of tunic over their pants, but that’s where the similarities of dress ended. There had to be at least ten different colors of tunics and several different types of pants too. I was wearing jeans, but some of the fae had on stretchy pants; some even wore tights. I looked at Spike, and for the first time realized he was wearing all black as his fae uniform. It suited him perfectly.
Some of the fae also wore jewelry; the sprites especially had the most beautiful necklaces. I noticed for the first time that these tunics we had on were great for low-hanging chains. I wondered if I could get Netter to find me a cool necklace.
I saw Finn lift his head in greeting at a green elf who was sitting in a group of fae, all wearing the same dark green tunic Finn had on. I wondered if he was one of the elves I had whammied earlier.
As soon as Dardennes began speaking again, the room became instantly quiet.
“Fae friends and family. Thank you for coming to this meeting on such short notice. We have some important business to attend to and some things to discuss. We decided after some events occurred today, that it could not wait for our regularly scheduled assembly.”
Dardennes looked to the back of the room and locked eyes with me. “Changeling Jayne, will you please come to the front.”
I panicked and grabbed Chase by the arm. I had a terrible feeling that I was in trouble. This was like going to the Vice Principal’s office, only with a huge audience of people watching, some of whom I’d recently put into near-comas. There’s no way this could be good.
Chase peeled me off his arm and enveloped my hand in his big, strong, warm one. He began walking up the aisle bringing me with him. My heart was fluttering in my chest from the apprehension, but I felt much better having him with me. Screw being a strong, independent woman. I wanted my daemon with me.
“Thank you Chase, but you may remain in the back,” said Dardennes.
“No!” I said a little too loudly. Then in a calmer voice I said, “He stays with me.”
I looked up at Chase and he nodded, squeezing my hand to let me know he was okay with it.
“As you wish.”
We arrived at the front of the room, facing the head table full of who I assumed were the elders of the fae council we had heard mentioned a few times. Only one seat was empty – the one in front of Dardennes. He remained standing, facing Chase and me and the rest of the fae in the amphitheater, the head table between him and us.
Dardennes leaned forward a bit and spoke in a low tone, just for me. “Jayne, please turn and face the attendees.”
I turned nervously, looking out at all of the faces in front of me. I felt like I was on trial. I don’t know what I would have done if Chase hadn’t been there with me. Probably peed my pants or puked on myself. I tried not to squeeze his hand too hard.
“Today, the changeling Jayne attended her first day of training. We suspected, taking her into these sessions, that she is an elemental.”
Some whispering started but then calmed down when Dardennes continued.
“We have confirmed that she has a strong – or I should say very strong – affinity for Earth.”
A fae stood at the back of the room. I couldn’t see who it was because he was too far back. “How did you confirm this?”
Céline stood from her chair at the head table. “I personally submitted myself to a test of her connection. I can verify that she communicates with The Green ... ”
The murmuring around the room began before she finished, so Céline raised her voice to be heard for the last bit, “ ... and The Green does her bidding.”
The roar of voices that burst forth was unmistakable. These fae were pissed.
Chase’s hand stayed dry and warm. Mine went cold and clammy. He squeezed me reassuringly and stepped closer. His big, warm bulk made me feel safer. All I could think was thank goodness he ate all that meat; I’m sure his appetite helped keep him so huge. I was never going to think badly about that buffet of squiggling meat again. As far as I was concerned, he could eat that shit at every meal.
Dardennes held up his hands for quiet. “There was a second test for Jayne today as well.”
Everyone settled down, only an occasional whisper leaking through the hushed silence.
“The Lady of the Lake, Naida, tested the changeling Jayne in her realm. Jayne entered the lake and connected with the Water element. She was accepted into the kingdom of the water sprites. Therefore, we have confirmation from Naida that Jayne also has an affinity to Water. We do not yet know if she commands It.”
There were some angry looks still, but not the outbursts I had been expecting. I guess water wasn’t such a big deal to them. Or maybe it was the whole idea of me commanding the elements that pissed them off.
“And finally, the reason we called you here, the changeling Jayne was given one more test. By the green elves.”
All of the fae were looking over to our right, where the green elves were seated and standing as a group. I recognized one face as he separated himself and came over to stand next to Dardennes at the head table. It was Robin. He looked fine. He was moving a bit slowly, his face expressionless, but he was alive.
Well, I guess that means I’m not on trial for murder.
“I have asked Robin of The Green to give you his firsthand account of this test ... Robin?”
Robin kept his hands on the wood of the bow resting over his shoulder as he spoke. “The changeling Jayne was assigned to our group for the afternoon. S
he was escorted to the training field by our new recruit, changeling Finn. The green elves had conferred with the council and determined our first order of business would be to familiarize her with the mission of the green elves and to determine what her skills could do to enhance or inhibit ours. I informed the changeling of our plans.” He paused and looked first at the head table and then out to the audience before continuing. “That is the last thing I remember saying. My next clear memory is that of waking up inside the compound, in the infirmary.”
Robin finished his monologue, and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. It was silent for a full five seconds. Then the room erupted in yells, murmurs, and the sounds of people getting up and moving around.
I looked out at the fae in front of me. Only a few of them were still sitting. The rest of them were standing, yelling at fae around the room, at the elders at the head table, or at the fae right next to them. It was total chaos.
The blare of a horn rang out across the room. The noises of the fae quieted quickly, and they all took their seats – some of them reluctantly, especially the dwarves.
“Please, friends, we need to determine what happened and what this means for our people. We ask that you listen and withhold judgment until we have all of the facts. That is the purpose of our meeting today. Before we leave tonight, and I mean tonight, not this afternoon, because we will stay here as long as we have to, we will know what we are dealing with and what our plan should be.”
The room was quiet again with only an occasional whisper breaking the silence.
Dardennes addressed Robin. “Who else was present at this event?”
“My first crew, the changeling Finn, and the changeling Jayne.”
“Changeling Finn! Come to the front!” ordered Dardennes.
Finn strode down the middle aisle, head held high. He gripped the wood of his bow that hung over his shoulder, looking the part of a proud green elf.
He turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with me. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it briefly before letting go. Chase still held on to my other hand.
“Does Robin of The Green’s telling of the event match your memory of what occurred?”
“Uh,” Finn started talking, but his voice cracked. He was nervous, but he continued on. “A-hem, um, kinda.”
Niles stood up to speak, cranky as usual. “Did it or didn’t it? It is a simple yes or no question.”
Dardennes looked over at Niles, but didn’t admonish him.
Finn squared his shoulders. “No. It did not.”
The murmuring threatened to rise up again, but a sharp look from Dardennes stopped it from getting out of hand.
“And how was it different from your memory of events?”
“Well, what he said is what I remember to a point. I mean, that’s what the plan was originally, but right before the exercise started, Robin kinda stopped for a second and then said we were s’posed to do somethin’ different than what he told us before.”
Finn eyed Robin nervously. Robin wasn’t looking at anyone. He just stared at the floor, confused, as if he was trying to remember something he couldn’t.
I looked over at the other green elves. They all looked like Robin – like they were wandering around in the weeds in their minds. Something or someone had messed with their heads.
“What did he instruct all of the green elves to do?”
“Well, he said ... he said ... um, I’m sorry sir, but I don’t remember.”
Now Finn was doing exactly what all the other stupid green elves were doing – staring off into the distance trying to piece everything together. Idiots.
“I’ll tell you what he said, if you want. It’s not like I’m ever going to forget it as long as I live,” I said sarcastically, looking at Robin first, then Dardennes.
“Please, Jayne ... enlighten us.”
“Well, first he said what he told you he said; then he closed his eyes, did some kind of meditation crap, and then opened his crazy ass eyes and said, ‘I would like to see your powers of self-preservation,’ or something like that. Then he tells me I have thirty seconds to make a plan. Next thing I knew, all his elf buddies are lined up, putting arrows in their bows, getting ready to turn me into a fae pincushion.”
The looks of shock on the faces of the fae were priceless – including the look on Robin’s face. I couldn’t help myself.
“Yeah, you heard me right. Those shitheads were going to kill me. What I did, I did in self-defense. They had it coming.” I nodded my head for emphasis. No way was I going to be sorry for trying to save my own ass. If they thought they were going to get an apology out of me, they were nuts.
The green elves were staring at each other, horror written all over their faces. Some of them even had tears in their eyes. Tears! Man, were these elves sensitive or what? How the hell did they consider themselves to be warriors of the forest if they were going to cry over one nearly worthless changeling? They must’ve had a real pity party over all those dead orcs.
I think some of the other fae in the room where in agreement with me on that one. They were all looking over at the green elves like they were cuckoo or something. Sucks to be Finn, I guess.
“Excuse me, changeling Jayne, but did you say something about meditation?”
This question came from a little wrinkled guy at the head table. I don’t remember ever seeing him before. He reminded me of the hag – old and wrinkly, wearing a gray cloak.
“Yes. I said that Robin had, like, a zen moment. Right before he gave the kill order.”
Robin grabbed his chest when I said ‘kill order’, like he was having a heart attack.
“What do you mean by that? What did he do?”
“He closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, sat there a couple seconds, then looked straight again and opened his eyes back up. And when he did, they were all screwed up.”
“In what way?”
“In what way were they screwed up?”
The little man cleared his throat. “A-hem. Yes. That is what I meant.”
“Well, his whole eye, the color part, was black.”
Robin’s head dropped to his chest. The other elves joined him in this solemn gesture. So did Finn.
I leaned towards Finn and talked out of the corner of my mouth. “What the hell is wrong, Finn?”
“Shame,” is all he would say.
The wrinkled interrogator said one word. “Witches.”
The room exploded with noise again. People on the left side of the room were yelling at people on the right. A group of people in gray tunics at the back of the room were waving their hands around wildly, some of them brandishing staffs above their heads. It was starting to look ugly.
The horn went off again, and everyone settled down, reluctantly this time. Man, I had to get one of those horns. I wondered if Netter could find one. What would I call it? The ‘shut the fuck up’ horn? That seemed to fit.
Dardennes began speaking again. “I think it would be fair to say that today we had some interference with the test by an outside source. I will assume for now that the outside source is Dark Fae.”
Someone in one of the gray tunics stood up in the back. “The Light Fae witches deny any involvement in this incident!”
More murmurs now, some even from the head table.
“How is she standing here now?” yelled a voice from the crowd. “If the Dark Fae witches interfered and the green elves were given the order to kill her, how did she survive? We all know that no one escapes the warriors of The Green.”
Hmmm. Some respect for the green elves. Can I get a whoot whoot! These fae were crazy. The green elves might be all super badass most of the time, but earlier today they were crying for their mommas. That didn’t seem all that warrior-like to me. Dammit, I wish Tony were here right now so we could mock these guys hard. Or so I could mock them hard and Tony could smile indulgently. I wonder if he got my email.
“Perhaps Robin can shed some light on that for us,” said the wrinkled
old man at the head table.
“I can help too, I believe,” said Céline. “I believe I had a taste today of what Robin and his men experienced at the hands of our young Jayne.”
She smiled graciously at me, so maybe that meant she wasn’t going to sell me out for nearly killing her. I wondered how many friends she had in the audience. I hoped not too many. I quickly scanned the audience for silver-gray tunics and only saw a couple. Phew.
“Jayne has a connection to The Green that she can call up and link to at will. It is instantaneous for her. She pulls not just from the trees, but the creatures, air, water, everything in The Green. The Green wishes to protect her. It wishes to do her bidding. I felt this power today. It was too much for a silver elf, even an elder such as myself, to manage. I was put into a state of suspended animation – it took two highly skilled witches to pull me back.”
The room was quiet, everyone waiting for more.
Robin raised his head and began speaking. “I do not remember giving an order to do harm, but I do remember a green light surrounding me. I had feelings ... emotions ... things I cannot describe to you; they came over me, took over my consciousness, nearly ripping me in two while smothering me at the same time. At the end, when I thought I could bear no more, I saw her ... ”
He looked over at me. All of the green elves looked over at me. I could see their heads swiveling in unison out of the corner of my eye. Finn turned and looked at me too. And then he went down on one knee.
I got a look of horror on my face. What in the holy hell was he going to do? Propose?
“Finn! What the fuck?! Get up!” I was gesturing with my hand, motioning for him to get off his knees, but he ignored me.
I watched as all of the green elves got down on one knee too. I looked to Robin for an explanation, completely lost for words.
Robin continued, looking me in the eye. “We all saw her as she truly is. The Messenger of Light. She is the one we have longed for, waited for, needed – for all of these long centuries. She is ... Mother.” A tear slid down his cheek and hit his chest. He went down on one knee like the others, bowing his head as he did.
I felt like I was going to barf. I swallowed over and over to keep the bile down. My dirty nails dug into Chase’s hand as I squeezed it as hard as I could. So many things were rushing through my head right then ... Tony with his gun pointed at Brad and the leaves raining down on my head ... the warehouse, singing songs with Spike on the guitar, Jared blowing smoke rings and offering to help us find our way ... the meeting at the hotel and that fucking ridiculous interview question ...
