by Mindy Hayes
Chapter Twelve
I noticed that the more time I spent in the woodlands, the easier it was to keep the yearning at bay. It was satisfied as long as I made an appearance in the trees. That discovery was a relief, but it also made me feel trapped. I’d never be able to live a day without the trees. I was tied to Faylinn for better or for worse.
Every day I anticipated my wings’ arrival, but they didn’t show. Would they look like butterfly wings? Or maybe a flower? Were they going to glitter or shine? Or would they be gossamer and sheer? What if they were going to be too huge to cover up? If they were, my dad would surely be more worried about it and have said as much. But then again, there really was no telling what information that man was going to give up.
The four of us sat on the lawn for lunch. Cameron and Isla sat next to one another, cross-legged, sharing chips and whispering to each other. The whispering stopped getting old and now it was just another day with the lovebirds. It’d been a week and Cameron kept my secret so far.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lia snag a hand full of grass and yank, tearing the strands to bits.
“Don’t pick at the grass,” I reprimanded.
Lia looked at me, puzzled. I wasn’t sure why I said it. It wasn’t as if I thought plants had feelings or anything, but the thought of nature being torn and picked apart twisted my gut. Nature was my home no matter where I went. I was turning into such a faery.
“Whoa, hadn’t realized I would offend anyone.”
“You didn’t,” I retracted. “I don’t know why I said that. Pick all the grass you want.”
Lia eyed me curiously. “I have to go to the bathroom.” She sighed, getting to her feet. I wanted to follow, but at the same time I knew I needed to keep my distance. Why did I have to say that?
“Oh, me too,” Isla chimed in. “Wait for me.” She stood up and grabbed her backpack. They walked side by side to the school doors.
“Do you plan on ever telling Lia?” Cameron’s voice was slightly reproachful, as if he knew he was treading treacherous waters.
I looked over to him. “Cameron, I wasn’t even going to tell you. I can’t keep telling people.”
“But you spend more time with her than me now. And you don’t really hide the fact that you’re changing very well. It’s not just your appearance anymore, which by the way, is definitely noticeable. Half the guys in the hall are stopping just to watch you walk by.” There was a tone in his voice I couldn’t place. A tone he’d never used with me before.
Was it jealousy?
“Whatever,” I said, blushing a little, but brushing him off. And he was wrong. I hadn’t been spending more time with Lia than him. I’d been spending more time with the Keepers, but I didn’t correct him. “It’s a need to know basis. I’m going to involve the least amount of people necessary. The necessary being my dad, you and the Keepers. It’s safer this way.”
“The Keepers?” Cameron squinted, unfamiliar with the term that had become a part of my daily vocabulary.
“Yeah, Kai and Declan,” I said. “They’re the faeries that introduced me to this world in the first place.”
“A couple of dudes, huh?” he said, half chuckling.
“Well, someone’s got to help the women procreate. Did you think all faeries were just a bunch of girls flitting about in frilly dresses?”
He shrugged sheepishly. “I just never pictured a dude with wings.”
“They don’t have wings,” I retorted. Since when did I become so defensive about the fae?
“How do they fly then?”
“Faery magic,” I said blandly. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen them fly. I don’t think they do fly. They can just jump really high and far, like an acrobat or something.”
“Will you be able to fly?”
It suddenly dawned on me how little I knew about being a faery. Did they fly? Would I be able to use Enticement as well? Did they have any other abilities? What kind of houses did they live in? The questions were piling up and I knew my head would explode if I kept thinking about them.
“I don’t know. We haven’t gotten that far in my faery education,” I said dryly, but my weariness shined through.
Cameron chuckled. He could obviously see my discouragement because he said, “Callie, it’ll all come to you. You’ll learn everything eventually. Give it time.”
I heaved a sigh. “It’s like being born all over again, but instead of having years to learn how to walk and eat and talk, I’m being throw into a world that I know nothing about and am expected to know everything right away.”
“I wouldn’t be too worried about it. You have time, right? It’s not like you’re being quizzed about it or have to move to your faery kingdom tomorrow.”
I glared at him, silencing him just in time for Lia and Isla to come back.
“It’s getting chilly, Cam. Can we go inside?” Isla asked.
“Sure.” He stood up and dusted off his pants. “We’ll see you ladies later.”
“See ya,” I said.
“Bye,” Lia said. When they were back in the school, Lia turned to me. “You and Cameron have been getting chummier since they started dating. I told you phase one would eventually start to fade.”
I almost forgot Lia’s relationship theory. “He’s still head over heels, but it’s okay.” I shrugged, taking a sip from my water bottle. “I’m getting over it.” And I was. Well, at least to the point of realizing I had bigger things to worry about than my love life.
She laughed. “If that’s not the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth I don’t know what is.” I shifted my gaze to her. “I might not be telepathic, but I wasn’t born yesterday either. You still look at him the same way, Callie. You’re still one hundred percent smitten.”
“Great,” I said. “Glad I haven’t miraculously been nominated for an Oscar for my acting skills.”
She snorted and shoved me. “Don’t worry. As obvious as it is to me, I don’t think he knows. He’s charming, but he’s not a jerk. He wouldn’t string you along if he knew about your feelings.”
“I know. How else do you think I’ve been able to keep my friendship with him for this long?”
“He loves you, you know?”
I nodded. Just not in the same way I love him.
“Going with pigtails today. I like it,” Dad said when he materialized in my doorway. I leaned against my headboard, working on an assignment for calculus.
“I figured Pippi Longstocking wanted her braids back.”
He chuckled. “I don’t mind the braids. They remind me of when your mom braided your hair when you were little.” He regarded me with that you’re-growing-up-too-fast look before breathing a sigh. “Your creativity is becoming noticeable though. Mom mentioned it last night,” he said regrettably.
“Well, I can’t risk just leaving my hair down like I used to, Dad. You know that.”
He came to sit at the end of my bed by my feet. “Have you put any more thought into going to Faylinn?”
“No. Why would I?”
He sat wordlessly for a moment, considering something before he spoke. “It might make things easier,” he commented softly.
“Easier for who? Don’t you think Mom would notice if her only daughter went missing?” I expressed myself with a little more attitude than was probably necessary.
“Easier for you,” he said gently. “And I would obviously tell your mother before anything progressed that far.”
He didn’t know what he was saying. He couldn’t possibly think I would want to live in Faylinn under the ruling of someone like Favner. It was no wonder my dad left in the first place. It wasn’t just romantic. It was smart, maybe his only way of survival.
“Dad, Favner… Favner is evil. I don’t want to live in a place that—”
“Favner?” Dad said the name like it was foreign on his tongue. “Favner is ruling Faylinn?”
“Has he not always?” Did I know more about Faylinn than
my dad?
Dad shook his head, but didn’t say anything more.
“Well, Favner is ruling now and everyone is divided up and forced to work these tiresome jobs—day or night, rain or shine. They’re slaves and I would have to become a Nester.”
“What do you mean have to?” The look in my dad’s eyes was unreadable. “What’s a Nester?”
“How do you not know this? Nesters are ordered to carry the seedlings. Do you know what that would mean for me?”
The look on my dad’s face shifted from unreadable to furiously confused. “What do you mean Nesters are forced to reproduce? What about Craftsmen and Keepers? What about Sowers?”
Why didn’t he know any of this? What had it been like when he was in Faylinn? “They have their duties to focus on. Favner couldn’t afford for all jobs to be overlooked, I guess.”
“What if a member of another colony gets pregnant?” he asked, a heated undertone lacing his voice.
I hadn’t thought far enough to ask that question. But if Favner’s way of ruling was any indication, I didn’t want to know because I could only imagine the measures Favner would take for punishment. I shrugged timidly and shook my head.
“I don’t know,” I said.
He stood up from my bed and began to pace. In all the years of my life, I’d never seen my dad this angry. He didn’t say anything more. I sat silently until his pace slowed and his breathing was back to normal. My dad finally looked at me, and if I wasn’t mistaken I saw his eyes glisten as if tears were threatening to spill over.
“Dad, I can’t live in a place that would turn me into a slave,” I said quietly.
“And I wouldn’t ask you to. We’ll find a way to keep you safe.” He turned to the door, but before he exited my room he said, “Don’t stay up too late, Calliope. Six thirty will come around before you know it.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me because I couldn’t force my mouth to make any more words. I didn’t know what to make of his reaction. What had it been like when my dad lived in Faylinn? Who ruled then and why wasn’t he ruling now?
