by Mindy Hayes
Chapter Ten
I dodged my parents all day Sunday. My excuse was that I had a ton of homework I needed to concentrate on and shouldn’t be disturbed, which was a bunch of bull. I locked myself in my room. What I really needed was to test different hairstyles to figure out the best way to cover up these babies. There was no way I could do that if my mom was constantly coming in and out of my room. With every creak and every thud, I jumped, thinking there was someone at my door.
At midday I heard a faint knock on my door and the sound of my dad calling my name. It nearly made me fall off my chair.
“Come in,” I said and pulled my hair down around my ears in case Mom was with him.
He peered around the door and stepped inside alone. “Is everything okay?” I gave him a helpless look and he rushed to my side. “What changed?”
I pulled my hair behind my ears to reveal the tips. Of all things I was expecting, a smile was not one of them, but it formed on his face as if I just told him I got a 4.0. Was that pride in his eyes?
“Dad?” I prompted.
His voice was quiet as his bottom lip quivered. “I haven’t seen those in so long I almost forgot what a faery looked like,” he said softly
Sentimental. Really. He was getting sentimental on me? “Dad,” I repeated, my voice reprimanding him.
“I’m sorry.” He swallowed, blinking back tears. “Right. Your ears.” He couldn’t stop looking at them. “It won’t be easy to hide those.”
“You think? I can’t keep these from Mom.”
A deep breath of air flowed from his mouth as he ran a hand over his face and his faded green eyes finally met mine. “You’re going to have to try.”
“But, Dad—”
“She’s got a lot on her plate right now, Calliope,” he interrupted. “I cannot add this to it.”
“You say that as if it’s her burden to bear.” I threw my hand to the closed bedroom door.
“This affects us all, Calliope,” he chastised.
“Oh really. Because the last time I checked, your ears looked pretty rounded and normal to me.”
The stern look that crossed his face made me shut my mouth. I’d never seen my dad so wound up. He was normally the laid back one in the house. Zen. Which made sense now that I knew he lived in a forest for the majority of his life. But why was it so important to keep this from my mom? I understood that this case was a big deal. I understood that it could completely rock her world, but this was a lot for me to process on my own. And I didn’t want to live a lie. I wanted to be able to live and talk freely in my home.
“I’ll tell her. Just not yet. We have to wait for this case to be over. If her concentration is tampered with, she could lose and this vile criminal could get off. This case is really important to her, Calliope.”
I sighed. I knew it was. She’d been building this case for months and months. It was the case. The one she had fixated on for years, doing everything in her power to keep this man behind bars before his trial. I saw his point, but it was going to be far from easy. Not that any of this had been easy thus far. Nothing was easy anymore. Everything was complicated. I was spinning more webs full of lies and if I wasn’t careful I was going to get caught in one of them. I didn’t want this.
“Just give it a few more weeks,” he pressed.
“As if I have a choice.”
“Thank you, Calliope.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Hair looks good by the way.”
I laughed without humor and offered him a smile. “Thanks.”
Luckily, the next morning I slipped out of the house undetected and made my way to school. If my mom had been around, she would have figured something was up. I hadn’t gained control of myself yet. I needed to get my bearings before being able to confront her without suspicion.
I made my hair extra curly and braided it in two, making sure not to tuck it behind my ears. I hadn’t braided my hair since I was twelve. It was probably a horrible idea to go to school in the first place, but I had to go. I couldn’t not go to school ever again. I still had a life, a human life that I was going to cling to for as long as I could. I would not go to Faylinn and be forced to live among the Nesters as a slave to Favner. My body was not his to use as an instrument for reproduction. That was going to be decided by me and the future Mr. Whoever when the time was right.
My nerves were spiraling in chaos underneath my skin. Every eye that I caught in the hallway was judging me. Examining my every move. I touched an ear nonchalantly, self-consciously. It was safely nestled underneath my nest of hair, as I was sure it would stay if I would just stop touching it.
I saw the back of Cameron’s head by our lockers. Maybe it was because I was so conscious of my ears now, but when my eyes found him they went straight to his perfectly round ears, his blonde hair brushing the tops. Isla wasn’t with him, thank goodness. The fewer people I talked to today the better, at least until I figured out how to hide these things better.
“Hey,” I said, breathless, and hid behind my locker door, searching for my English book.
“Mornin’,” he replied, still rummaging in his locker.
I focused on my breathing. That was where I would keep my composure. If my hyperventilation didn’t slow down, it was going to make me faint and cause a very unnecessary scene in the middle of the hallway. I was being paranoid. Cameron wasn’t going to notice anything was different if I simply acted natural.
I heard him close his locker door. “Isla’s still throwing up.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Tell me about it.” He sighed and came to stand on the other side of my locker door, in view of me. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t want to seem flustered or out of character. I continued to sort through my locker, hoping he’d leave so I wouldn’t have to have an actual conversation with him. “Calliope, you’ve got something in your hair.” He lifted his hand, pointing.
My hands flew to my ears, fluffing my hair out over them. My other ear. The wind had moved my hair just enough for a point to barely poke out through the blonde curls and I missed it. I knew people were looking at me funny. This was going to be harder than I thought.
“Cal,” he prompted. “What was that?”
I attempted to play stupid. I knew it wouldn’t work for long, but I stalled to think. “Oh… I don’t know,” I said, clipped, closing my locker. “Must have been a leaf or something.”
He chortled. “Oh, c’mon. That didn’t look like a leaf.” He reached out to touch my hair and I stepped back.
I was supposed to keep this world from Cameron, but he was making it very difficult. And I was doing a terrible job at seeming normal.
He laughed again. “Take a chill pill. What’s up with you today?”
I’m becoming a faery. There wasn’t any denying it anymore, as much as I wanted to. As much as I didn’t want it to be true, it was happening, just as Declan and Kai predicted. If there was one person I needed more than ever now, it was Cameron. I had proof now. He’d probably scream like a girl at first, but he would know what to say to me. He would know what to do.
“Cam, meet me after school.”
“What?”
“Just meet me after school,” I persisted.
He sighed and pressed his shoulder against the lockers. “Cal, I told my dad I would head straight to his shop after school. Just tell me now.”
“This is important, Cameron,” I said seriously. “Please?”
His misty blue eyes grew uneasy as reached his hand out, setting it on my arm and rubbing reassuringly. “Are you okay?” Hearing the worry in his voice made me want to cry, a feeling I stifled until now. I’d been tough, but no one had shown any sympathy until now. I’d simply been expected to accept this. Why was it that sympathy sparked the need to cry?
I bit my lip. I didn’t want to make him anxious for the rest of the day, but I couldn’t say I was perfectly fine either. He could read the discomfort clearly on my face.
“Cal?”
&nbs
p; I shook my head and tried to assure him. “It’s nothing that can’t wait until later. I just really need you to meet me. Say you will, please?”
“Of course. I’ll tell my dad I’ll be a little late.”
“Thank you.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Just meet me at my car.”
He nodded, but the look of concern never left his face as I walked away.
The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. I was constantly fussing with my hair, making sure my ears were covered at all times. When I awoke this morning and checked my ears, the points had become more prominent. They were definitely faery ears now. I wasn’t even sure when they started to form. I don’t think Declan would have missed them if they were there Saturday morning, but maybe they hadn’t been big enough to notice. Cameron wouldn’t have known to look for them at dinner. It scared me how fast they grew. Were my wings going to be the same way?
“Is it just me or did Jake Winter sprout into a Greek god over the summer?” Lia asked as she took a bite of her sandwich at lunch.
“Jake, really?” I followed her gaze to a group of guys punching each other and goofing off without a care in the world.
She shrugged meekly, so unlike her.
“I’m sorry, but do you remember what Jake said to you the first time you met him?” She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming. In my best Jake Winter voice I said, “Hey, are you lost? Because heaven is a long way away from here.”
“Winter is such a tool,” Cameron said as he plopped across from me on the grass. I hadn’t noticed him coming up to us.
“See, even Cam remembers that fateful day,” I said, feeling validated.
He shrugged. “That’s only because that was the day you chopped off all your locks, Cal, and you were bawling your eyes out next to Lia when he came up. He was so oblivious and insensitive that he didn’t even see you crying. He just proceeded to gawk at Lia.”
I looked up at him, speechless, but he wasn’t looking at me. His were eyes locked on the ground, holding something I couldn’t read. Frustration? Uncertainty?
He remembered that?
“Okay. Okay. He’s a tool and I’d never give him the time of day,” Lia said, conceding. “Does that make you feel better?”
“Thank goodness,” I said and turned my attention back to her. “But don’t let me stop you if he’s the man of your dreams.”
She glared at me, but gave a small grin. “Speaking of hair. Yours is especially nice today, Callie. I’m digging the braids,” she teased.
“What’s wrong with the braids?” I lifted my hands to my hair, double-checking my ear’s whereabouts.
“Nothing. I’ve just never seen you wear braids before. It’s very Britney Spears.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Cameron cued in at the wrong time. “You haven’t worn braids since we were in middle school, Cal.”
“I just felt like changing things up a bit. There’s only so much you can do with curly hair.” They eyed me, questioning my poor excuse of an answer. “Lay off the hair,” I commanded jokingly, but I think it came out more like pleading.
Cameron’s eyes read my lies. “Huh, you sure there’s no other reason?” he asked.
I eyed him, warning him not to go any further and mention our earlier conversation. This ended with Cameron. I was not going to tell Lia. If he wanted to get on my bad side he’d keep up with the questioning, but he knew better.
He averted his gaze. “You going to finish that sandwich, Lia?” he asked.
She looked at the unfinished sandwich in her hands and then back at him, handing it over. I didn’t think he even wanted it, but it ended the conversation about my hair.
When the final bell rang I waited in my car for Cameron, more anxious than I thought I was going to be. I shouldn’t tell him. It’d been a battle in my head all day. As much as I wanted to tell him, I could still back out and make up some bull crap story about why I was on edge. I should want to hide this from the entire world, but I felt a lighter thinking I was only moments away from sharing this huge secret with my best friend.
I put the car in drive as soon as he sat in the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” he asked after closing the door.
“Away from the school.”
“Why?” he pressed. “Callie, you’re killing me here. You can’t even tell Lia? Why can’t you just tell me now?”
“Because I have to show you and I can’t show you in the middle of our school parking lot. We need to go somewhere private.” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the canyon.
I looked out of the corner of my eye to see him with lifted eyebrows and a hint of a smirk on his face. “What are you going to show me?”
“It’s better if we don’t talk about it and you just see them for yourself.” I kept my eyes back on the road.
“Them,” he said flatly. “Calliope, are you going to show me something dirty?” he teased.
“What? No, you perv!” I punched his shoulder. “Just prepare yourself, okay? Open your mind to all possibilities. It’s going to be really hard for me to tell you this and I need all of your support.” His stare was even more skeptical now. Before he could say anything, I said, “Don’t ask any more questions. Just sit there. Please. I don’t have the patience to argue with you right now.”
He was silent for a minute, a serious expression on his face. “You’re not dying are you?”
Breathless laughter escaped my lips. It kind of felt like it, but… “No,” I amended.
He sighed. “Gosh, Callie. Don’t scare me like that.”
“You thought I was dying, really?”
“Well, you’re being so secretive. It’s making me really nervous.”
“Then think a little less depressing and more unbelievable, okay?”
He shifted and peered over at his anxious face. I could see the wheels turning in his blue eyes as he tried to piece together what I told him so far. Whatever was flipping through his mind, it wasn’t going to be remotely close to the truth.
“At least give me a hint.”
“Nothing I say to you will hint at what I’m about to tell you, okay? It’ll only confuse you. Now hush. You’re making me more nervous.”
I drove into the canyon. It wasn’t more than fifteen minutes from school, giving us seclusion and practicality so he could get to his dad before he started to question his whereabouts.
When we pulled up to the trees, Cameron didn’t move. “C’mon,” I prompted as I got out of the car. He slowly exited the vehicle, apprehensive, as I knew he would be. He paused by the passenger’s side of my Cabriolet. I snatched his hand and pulled him into the trees. He unwillingly dragged his feet along the dead leaves and grass. My patience was being tried.
“What? Are you scared of me now? It’s just me. C’mon, Cam.”
“Callie,” he murmured. “Where are we going?”
“To a place where we can’t be interrupted,” I said without looking at him. “Or seen.”
“You’ve officially freaked me out,” he emphasized.
We were deep enough now. I was praying Kai or Declan wouldn’t show up. Not that I’d ever seen them anywhere in the trees except for by my home, but I wasn’t prepared to show them my ears yet. I needed my human moment to freak out first. I faced Cameron. The look on his face wasn’t making this any easier.
“Please, Callie, the suspense is killing me. What’s so important that you had to isolate us from the rest of the world?”
I took a deep breath, unbraiding one braid at a time as I tried to calmly explain. “There have been some changes in my appearance over the last couple days. Some changes that aren’t exactly normal.” I kept my gaze firmly planted on him and gained the courage to pull my hair back, unveiling the new addition to my body.
Cameron’s eyes swelled out of his head. “Calliope, what happened to your ears?”
I dropped my hair and took a step toward him. “Cam, I’m just as freaked as yo
u are right now, so I’d like you to tone down the piercing shrieks just a notch.”
“Calliope,” he said it this time in awe and amazement. “How? What did you do to them?” He gently pushed my curls back, revealing them once more.
“Me?” I pointed at them crossly. “You think I would have done this on purpose?”
Cameron looked at me blankly, completely speechless, but he didn’t retreat. He stayed standing in front of me, my unwavering constant. I prayed he would stay that way after this.
“Cameron, what has pointy ears, wings and is about three inches tall?” His expression twisted as he tried to put together what I was telling him. I waited for some recognition to appear on his face; something to tell me this wasn’t that farfetched. But who was I kidding? This was crazy.
“Are you seriously trying to tell me you’re a faery?”
I sighed; relieved I didn’t have to say the words myself and nodded.
He laughed humorlessly. “You’ve got to be kidding me! What?” Cameron looked at me with a puzzled smile. “Callie, you’re joking with me, right? You got me real good.” He didn’t wait for me to correct him. He laughed easily now, his expression relaxing. “You really had me going. Those are some amazing costume ears. I really thought—”
“Cameron,” I asserted. “Touch them. These are my real ears.”
His face fell and his laughter became uneven huffs of air. I took a hesitant step toward him, measuring his degree of uncertainty, hoping he wouldn’t run away from me and he didn’t. Slow even breaths calmed his amusement. His laughing stopped altogether and he bit his lips. One of his hands slowly lifted to my face. The touch of his fingertips softly trailed up my cheek to my ear. They were cautious as they inched their way up and around the curve. I watched his eyes, so unsure and nervous. He pinched the point.
“Ouch!”
“Holy crap!” He jumped back, stumbling over his feet. “Whoa, whoa, whoa…”
“Cameron,” I cautiously said, his name the only familiar thing that fell from my lips.
His breathing accelerated, his eyes were wild with uncertainty. “I… I… You… You…” He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t look me in the eyes. Maybe this wasn’t the wisest decision. He blinked as if he thought every time he reopened his eyes my ears would be gone. “Cal,” he breathed, shifting one step back. “What in the…”
“Cameron, please don’t run,” I begged, hands outstretched to him. I couldn’t bear to see his back fleeing away from me.
He shook his head and finally met my eyes. “Run? Callie, I wouldn’t ever run from you. But I mean… C’mon… This is insane.” Cameron’s light sapphire eyes traced every feature on my face.
I stayed quiet. If I gave him a little more time to let his mind process this, just maybe, he could think it was possible. I needed him to believe me. I needed Cameron.
“You have pointy ears,” he said slowly.
I nodded, but he shook his head.
“How… What… How…” I swallowed ready to start explaining when he slowly said, “Your eyes.” His eyes bore into mine. “They are really green. I’ve never seen them so bright.” His eyes squinted as they explored me. The only sound I heard was his quiet quick breaths. “And they’re… bigger.”
My heart jolted. “What?”
“Your eyes. They were never this big. They’re not unnaturally big, but they were definitely smaller before.”
“My eyes?” My eyes had changed, too? Oh no… What if my wings started to grow in? I reached back, but felt nothing, only the smooth cotton of my sweater.
“I noticed something was different on Saturday, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. And I’ve never seen them so green. Maybe it’s the lighting.” He closed his eyes, shaking his head once more. “But you’re not three inches tall…” Cameron was even more baffled now.
“Well, technically no faery is. Or so I’m told. Those are called pixies.”
He didn’t look amused. “Well, thanks for the term rundown. Callie, how is this even possible? How do you know that you’re a faery? Maybe it’s just some rare human deformity.”
“It’s not a deformity, Cameron,” I assured.
“You don’t have wings,” he fought back.
“They aren’t far behind these.” I pointed to my ears. “And who’s to say what features a faery possesses anyway? No one actually believes they exist. The only knowledge everyone goes by is in storybooks and Disney movies.”
“How…” He wasn’t grasping this. I couldn’t blame him. But at least he wasn’t running.
“Would you believe me if I told you my dad was a faery? That he could back up my story. Although, if he knew I revealed this to you, he’d probably kill me.”
“Your dad,” he said skeptically.
I nodded, letting him soak in the information. This might take more convincing than I thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him so soon. I should have waited. He couldn’t deny it if I had wings. I couldn’t deny it if I had wings. But had I revealed myself in full faery form he probably would have fainted and that wouldn’t be safe this far up the canyon.
Cameron didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity. In reality it probably wasn’t more than a minute, but time wasn’t flowing normally in my mind.
“Cameron, speak,” I pleaded.
He breathed out a low huff of air. “Whoa… So what? You’re like half faery, half human? Are you even human at all?”
I lifted my shoulders meekly. I didn’t even know anymore. Was I still a human? Gosh, I still wanted to be human. Even just to keep a sliver of who I thought I was. But as I thought about being human, standing in the shade of the forest, I felt less human than ever. The trees fought for my allegiance.
Cameron must have seen something in my eyes. He stepped towards me and cupped my face in his hands. I wanted to touch him back, but I didn’t want his hands to leave my face. “Callie, you’ve been my best friend for years. Though this makes me question your sanity, I see that you believe what you’re telling me. I want to believe you.”
I felt hope and it pricked the back of my eyes, glazing them with moisture. He pressed his lips together and fixed me with a sympathetic gaze.
“You can’t expect me to take in all of this and automatically accept it, but I’m willing to try,” he said.
I nodded and reached one hand to rest on his waist to save me from my weak knees. “I know… okay.” I could live with that. I could live with even an ounce of hope that I had someone I could go to who never lied to me, who never kept anything from me, someone I could trust one hundred percent.
I swallowed my emotions, reigning in my tears. He must have noticed my shaky emotional state and our very close proximity because he looked down at my hand on him and then went comical on me.
“Callie, this is cool. Own those pointy ears. You’re a faery!” He threw his hands in the air.
“Shut up,” I laughed.
“What else do you want me to say? My best friend is a faery. Who else can say that?”
“Nobody and neither can you,” I stressed.
“Like I would actually tell people. I’d rather not be sent to the loony bin with you.”
“I wouldn’t be sent to the loony bin if anyone caught sight of my fae features.”
The significance of my words flashed in his eyes and he nodded. “You’re right.” He looked at me in all seriousness. “You’d become someone’s science experiment.”
The thought made me cringe. To think of myself as anything but normal—human. And to think if my identity was put into the wrong hands that my own kind would turn against me and view me as a freak, merely something to experiment on. I would no longer be a someone, but an it.
He said firmly, “I won’t ever let that happen to you. You don’t have to worry, Cal. You know your secret is safe with me.”
I nodded and breathed through my consuming panic. I knew I could count on Cameron. It was touch and go for a moment, but I knew I loved him for a reason.
“Thank you, Cam.”
His eyes drank in my appearance, studying all my new features. I couldn’t say I hadn’t done the same thing to myself. Every time I looked in the mirror I stared for a few moments before it clicked that it was me, like a drastic new haircut you’re not used to. When his eyes met mine again he asked, “Now what? How long have you known?”
“That faeries exist or that I am one?”
“Both! How long have you kept this from me?” He was offended now. I hadn’t expected that emotion.
“Well… I’ve known about them for a little less than a month now. They’ve been telling me I’m one for about the same time, but I didn’t truly believe it until Saturday night when I saw these.” I gestured to my ears.
“Saturday? I was with you Saturday,” he realized.
“My hair was down. I didn’t notice them either.”
He shook his head. “You can’t hide those forever, Calliope. Someone will eventually see them.”
“I’ll just have to be very careful. I was able to do it all day today. I’ll figure out how to do it every other day.”
Cameron looked unconvinced. He folded his arms across his chest, taking a strong stance. “I don’t like the sound of that. That wouldn’t last forever. I noticed them this morning. There’s no telling who else could.”
“I know,” I sighed in frustration, throwing my hands up. “But what am I supposed to do?”
“You’re a faery. Can’t you disguise yourself or something?”
“No,” I said, discouraged. “At least not yet. But if I did I would have to make myself invisible. You wouldn’t be able to see me unless I wanted you to and what’s the point in that? I wouldn’t be able to live a real life.”
“There are others,” he stated, deadpan.
It didn’t surprise me that Cameron trusted me enough to believe me, but it was unexpected how well he was taking it. He accepted it a lot better than I did, that’s for sure.
“I’ve met two so far, but supposedly there are thousands more.”
A blank stare crossed his face as if he’d just seen a pig fly and then he was back in problem solving mode. “Don’t they know anything you can do? Can’t they turn you back into a human?”
“They are faeries, Cameron. Not wizards.”
“But your dad… he looks human. Why can’t that be you?”
My dad. Why hadn’t I thought of that? He left the faery world to be human. I just needed to ask him how he did it.
“That’s it, Cam. You’re a genius! I don’t know why my dad and I hadn’t put that option together.” Surely, we were smarter than that. But maybe he didn’t put two and two together because it wasn’t possible. My hope instantly dwindled.
“Let’s get you back. Your dad is going to wonder what’s taking you so long. I don’t want you to have to lie more than you already are.”
“My dad can wait. I want to help you.”
“I mean it, Cameron,” I said, walking back toward my car. “We’ll set up another time to talk about this. If you don’t make it to help your dad, he’s going to want to know why and I don’t want to be the reason you have to lie.”
He snagged my arm and turned me to him. “C’mere.” He grabbed my shoulders, pulling me to his chest and enveloped me in his warmth. “Take a breather, okay? You’ve got yourself all wound up.”
I chuckled. “You try finding out you’re a faery and take it completely rationally.”
He laughed into my hair. “I’ll try that.”
When I got home, all was quiet. It was a little after four and I hadn’t expected to see my mom, but after just getting my ears I wouldn’t have put it passed my dad to be sitting at the kitchen table anxiously waiting for me to come home. Maybe he thought better of it today and decided to give me more space. Since I couldn’t ask my dad about getting rid of the faery genes, I turned to the next best thing. I just hoped they were around.
