by Dean Murray
He bit his lip. “I hadn’t thought about that. You’d better. Your body is still human, so you need the nourishment. I wish you would consent to the bonding. It will be hell trying to keep both types of food around. It’s illegal to smuggle fae food into the human realm. I could get in real trouble if the wrong people find out.”
So did the fae have the same kind of police force as humans? I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to get off track. “How can trolls get away with it?”
He grunted. “They are technically not in our jurisdiction. They were here before we were.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
Zach fell lazily to the couch, lifting an arm for me to slide under. I couldn’t do that yet. I sat on my bed instead.
He looked away, but I could see I had hurt his feelings. He walked to the window. “There are five houses of fae. The power to control the basic elements has been divided. One cannot exist without the other, but we have begun warring for supremacy. Some of us have been around longer than others.”
“You don’t come from the same place?”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “There were several waves once word spread that my kind could reside on Earth.”
I leaned forward, hoping for some real answers. “What kind is that exactly?”
He turned around. An eternal sort of pain carved his face. “The fallen.”
I gasped. “You mean you followed Satan in the war in heaven?”
He smiled, looking utterly amused. “We are not from your universe, but you are not far off. The struggles for good and evil on this world are neither supported nor discouraged by my people. We cannot interfere with the fate of the souls of men. We are allowed to influence but never to coerce openly.”
I snorted. “I guess that doesn’t apply to Elementals.”
He moved back to the couch, picking at his nails. “You are correct in your assumptions.”
I plopped a piece of candy in my mouth. “But aren’t we human, too?” I had no idea if he could understand what I said.
He grinned as though he was looking at a child. “You are mortal, but not human.”
I slurped down the sugary sweetness. “How exactly did that happen?”
He grabbed a throw pillow and placed it behind his head as he lay down. His calves rested on the arm of the couch. “As I was saying before, Faine changed the course of your life by the decisions she made.”
“Stupid girl.” I hit the mattress above my head. I would have punched her if I could have. “So how did you all get here in the first place?”
He looked over at me, his expression dubious. “Some arrivals are mentioned in the Book of Invasions although it is full of inaccuracies. We tried to blend in with humans in the beginning, but our differences were too great. We could not go back to living like barbarians, and we could not introduce technology so quickly as to overwhelm the race. That was when we decided to separate the realms completely. There are only a few entrances into the borderlands, and it is unlikely anyone who finds their way into them would ever come out again. We have no way to control the creatures that govern that place.”
I thought about that for a minute. The fae had once lived among us. “So how long had you been here before Faine decided to completely mess up my life?”
Zach threw a pillow into the air and caught it, laughing. “Several centuries. Most of us had lost interest in humans, but we sent patrols occasionally to check for adequate progress.”
I rolled onto my elbow. He lay there comfortably as though nothing abnormal had happened between us. It would have been so easy for me to do the same. I reminded myself of how he had lied to me, how he compelled me to get me to trust him. I wished he was holding me, but I stayed where I was. “You said that Faine chose this life. Why?”
He shrugged. “She followed a newcomer into the borderlands. He was so stunned she could see him that he took her to the counsel instead of returning her to her home like he should have.”
I began to ask another question, but he stood. He stretched and yawned. Had he been up all night?
I peeked up at him, trying not to let my mind wander to what else we could be doing together. “Thank you for getting me more food. I do appreciate it.”
He knelt in front of me and brushed my arm with gentle fingers. “I would do anything for you, Rayla. You are my world.”
Hearing those words come from him did strange things to my heart. He wasn’t using compulsion, but I almost felt as though he was. I looked away shyly. “Zach,” I said, not sure how to ask him what I wanted to know. “Why are you different than the other lords?”
“How do you mean?”
I studied his handsome face but didn’t dare continue while I said what I wanted to. “Don’t get me wrong. You are absolutely gorgeous by human standards, but they are…”
Zach laughed. “Look at me.”
I raised my eyes and gasped. Standing before me was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, fae or otherwise. His face was a study in symmetry, every angle complementing the next, the golden ratio epitomized. His pale-blue eyes shone like a summer sky. His body would have even made Da Vinci weep from the absolute perfection of it. A soft glow emanated from his every pore. He was only slightly different if I was being absolutely truthful, but the little changes added up to a huge problem for me. Wayward comet meet black hole. I backed away from him. “Whatever you did, turn it off!”
He frowned. The glow radiating off his tawny skin only intensified. He glistened like an avenging angel. “You don’t like it?”
My heart was hammering, my pulse racing. If he had asked me to do anything at that moment I would have happily complied. I forced myself to say the words. “No. I. Don’t.”
A knowing chuckle escaped his lips. He knelt in front of me, pulling my face around to his. His strange eyes swirled with a happy light. I gulped hard.
“This is what I would have become,” he said softly.
I narrowed my eyes, breathing methodically, attempting to keep myself focused on something other than what I wanted to do to him. Or worse yet. What I wanted him to do to me. “What do you mean?”
He smiled, the glory of a thousand suns. “If I had stayed on the path of progression, this is what I would have looked like, eventually.”
Was I glimpsing a fraction of the divine? I closed my eyes, unable to take his perfection. “Please change back.”
He sighed, suddenly back to himself. It didn’t matter how he looked now. I would always see him that way.
He gave me a conspiratory smile as though he knew what I was thinking. He was doing that a lot lately. “I will return in a few hours. Promise me you will not leave the building.” He stood by me motionless.
I licked my lips, not sure if I really wanted to let him go. He began lowering to a knee.
“Okay. Fine,” I said. “I’ll stay here.”
He nodded before he left. I rolled onto my stomach, pounded the mattress and screamed into my pillow. Finally exhausted, I cried myself to sleep.
*****
The room was dark. Whispers flooded into my ears. My muscles tensed as my brain computed what was being discussed.
“Your highness,” said a low, gravelly voice. “Please come away. You cannot be here. I have this under control. I have done what you have asked.”
“You are a deceiver.” In spite of the harshness of her tone, the woman’s voice was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. “You had no intention of bringing the other one to me. I had to pretend to be a human to even get in here.” She spat the word human at him as if it were rotten meat.
My eyes finally adjusted to the moonlight streaming through the window. The two shadowy figures stood near the couch: the one shapely and tall, the other, squat and boxy. The woman that I could only guess was Ainessa lowered a dainty hand to the top of the troll’s balding head. Standing rigid as a statue, he wrung a hat between stubby fists. His beady eyes were trained on the ground.
A p
ale purple fire erupted from Ainessa’s fingers, coiling around his body in thick bands. He convulsed but did not look up. Even though he kept quiet, the set of his shoulders told me he was in severe pain.
“Gibbit, this is your last chance. See that she comes to me willingly. I need not remind you of the consequence should you fail.”
His feet shuffled as though he wished to bolt. “No, my la…your highness.”
She vanished without another word. The strange little creature started pacing the room. He seemed to trip on something and lowered toward the floor. He gazed at the round, shiny orb dispassionately.
I had missed one. I shot out of bed and was on him faster than he could stand up. “Give it to me!” My whisper was louder than I had intended. I took advantage of his surprise and snatched the morsel from his box-like hand.
His orange gaze rose to mine. He was exactly as Cassie had described him: short with rough lilac skin, sunken button nose, and thin lips that hid two rows of pointy white teeth. His scalp was nearly bald except for the white stripe of waist length hair that circled the bottom of his head. He stepped back a few paces, grabbed his hair with one fist and shoved it through a hole in his cap. It stood straight up. Had I not known better, I would have thought he had a full head of hair.
“No need to get physical,” he said, rubbing his hands together like an arthritic. “There’s more where that came from.”
I put the candy in my mouth. Nothing on earth could compare to the rich flavor or pleasing texture. “What does that woman want from me?”
He shuffled uneasily, letting out a low grumble. “I need a different job.”
I bent to my knees. His eyes were still a little lower than mine. “Please. I have to know what she wants. I need my journal back, too.”
His grin showed chipped, rotting teeth that were still plenty sharp to do some damage. “I’d be happy to trade what I have for something better.”
“You’ve already used that line on my best friend.” I took hold of his shirt collar. “I need her stuff back, as well.”
“Begging your pardon, miss, but that’s not how this works.” He wriggled slightly, testing my hold on him.
“I would rethink your resolve if I were you. All I have to do is tell the lord who is courting me that you are a problem. He will be here in a few minutes…” I let my words hang there for a while, hoping he would concede.
“What lord? Mistress didn’t tell me of no lords.” He looked me up and down. “What they want with the likes of you?”
I cocked my head. “And just what ‘likes’ would that be?”
His nose pulled inward with his breath. “I’m not trying to offend you, miss, but they don’t usually go after their own kind.”
I wrinkled my face at him. “You should get some glasses. I’m not fae.”
He gave me a serious once over. “Oh yeah, what are you then?”
I stiffened uncomfortably under his gaze. “An Elemental.”
His eyes flew wider. “Of course you’re an Elemental.” He laughed. “Why not? It’s not like I would know the difference.”
Chapter Nineteen
I started where Cassie had left off. “Listen to me, you little thief. I am not fae, and I don’t have access to their stuff. So forgive me for not having anything to trade with you.”
His gaze went rigid. “How’d you come by that book then?”
I shrugged. “I found it at someone’s house. I have to return it. It isn’t mine.”
His lip curled back. “You should have thought about that before you brought it here.”
My fingers ached from holding onto him so tightly. I loosened my grip a bit. “What right do you have to steal from students? Why are you here anyway?”
His smile nearly covered his face. “This is my domain, little miss. I’m the one that decides what you gets to keep, and what I takes for the inconvenience of having you on my property.”
I laughed. “Your property! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. And who you calling little, shrimp?”
He scowled at me, his body stiff. Surprisingly, he thrust a finger in my face. “It’s my right to make the rules here. I’ve owned this land since the world began.”
How could a troll own property in the human realm? “If that’s true, why is there a school here?”
He shifted uncomfortably in my grip. “That’s complicated, and I don’t have to explain nothing to you.”
His reactions hadn’t been what I thought they would be. “Why aren’t you afraid of the lords? I thought they ran all things fae.”
“They do, but you wouldn’t really know that. Would you?”
Had he really seen through my bluster? “I know more than you think.”
He eyed me disdainfully. “Were that the case, miss, you’d have told me there were five lords courting you, not one. So don’t mind me if I don’t believe you can command them at your leisure.”
“The others could be here any moment. None have relinquished claim to me. Since you seem to be having trouble believing the truth, I dare you to stick around.”
He pulled at my forearms. “I don’t do nothing I don’t want to.”
“Of course you don’t. You seemed to have everything under control with Ainessa.”
He let out a gasp that was more of a hiss, glaring at me as though I were the stupidest person alive. “Didn’t no one ever tell you not to use the names of royalty?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly taught about this stuff when I grew up.”
His whole face sunk inward when he inhaled. “What do you mean, grew up?”
I gave him a smirk. “It’s the time between birth and now.”
He lifted his chin. “Fae are not born.”
What was wrong with this creature? “Hence why I am not one of them.”
He shook his head. “But you are, miss.”
I put a hand to my hip. “You are mistaken.”
He looked me over again. “It will take more than words for me to believe such a thing.”
“Good. He will be here momentarily.”
He grumbled out a laugh. Something jingled softly. Several jeweled objects hung lazily from his belt in a cluster. Cassie’s dragonfly was one of them. I didn’t see the charm bracelet though. Was that my ruby ring? I reached for it. He swatted my hand away.
“That’s mine,” I screeched.
“Not no more.”
“If you’re going to keep my ring, you need to give me back the book.”
He looked like I had punched him in the stomach. “We made no bargain.”
“No matter. Zach will make you give it back.”
He laughed, his orange eyes welling with moisture. “Now I know you’re full of it. Ain’t no lord named Zach.” He smiled wryly before a popping noise erupted like a thousand kernels exploding in succession all around me. In a flash of blue light, I was holding onto air.
It wasn’t as late as I thought, so I went to see what Jessica wanted. Without even waiting for me to knock, she pulled me through the door and motioned for me to sit. She looked horrible.
The sweet smell of vanilla hit me the moment I passed the threshold. Furniture and plastic containers crowded the room. These girls had as much space for four as Cassie and I had between us. They didn’t have a bathroom, either.
I sat on the floor and leaned up against a nondescript dresser. I bet they had fun in here even if it was cluttered.
“Do you have a candle burning?” I asked because I didn’t know what else to say.
Jessica gave me an irritated look. “How are you still here?”
“What?”
“That lord you were with earlier. You should be falling all over yourself to be with him by now. Why hasn’t he taken you?”
I gaped at her. “I’m supposed to take care of my affairs. You know, make sure no one misses me. How did you know he was a lord?”
She looked different somehow, almost pretty. Her hair was shiny and her skin glowed where it was
usually sallow.
“Rayla, you have to tell me how you did it.” She sat on a metal folding chair and leaned forward, her knee bouncing like a piston. “I think one of them knows I’m an Elemental.”
“What makes you say that?” I would have never guessed.
She shrugged. “He saw me when they took Cassie away in the ambulance. I’ve been hiding here ever since. They’ve been all over you, and miraculously, here you sit. So I ask you again. How?”
I thought furiously, not knowing how to answer her. “I don’t want them to take me.”
She jumped to her feet. “That’s it? No supersized magic ring or shielding spell?”
I rubbed my nose on my sleeve. My eyes were watering. I was pretty sure I was allergic to her air freshener. “Jessica, I hate to tell you this, but I’m not exactly a vat of information. I didn’t even know the fae existed until I came here.”
She smacked her tight lips. “Oh. You’re one of those.”
I tried not to be offended. If she was asking me for help, we both had problems.
She pulled a backpack from under her bed. “Sister Mary Margaret is working to get me out of here, but I haven’t heard from her in a long time. I’m worried.” She opened a drawer, shoving clothes in her bag without even looking at what she was doing.
“I’d be willing to help if I could go with you.”
She shot me a withering look. “I can’t risk it. The lord that saw me was from my house. I’ve never met one of them before. I’ve seen a group from a distance, but there isn’t anything like being close to one that holds your element. I felt so drawn to him even though, until the last moment, he was completely unaware of me.”
I knew the feeling, only I had to deal with all five of them, Taylor included. “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m supposed to meet someone in the tunnels, but I don’t dare go alone. I need you to come with me to Sister Mary Margaret’s office. She has a key to the underground.”
Why should I put myself at risk to help her? She hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to help me. “Why don’t you have one of your roommates do it?”
