Authors: Melinda Hellert
“Considering what happened last time we were in Chrysantha’s midst, I don’t blame him. Do you?”
That gives her pause. “I suppose not. But he could have warned us.”
“How? I doubt he had any warning himself.” I whisper back.
She never says so, but I think she realizes that I have a point and we go back silence after that.
The day passes with agonizing slowness. Around the violet hour, so named for the beautiful tint of the sky as the sun descends on the horizon, I begin to doze off.
The large room looks all too familiar to my eyes. I have that strange sensation that it is a dream but not really, and in someone else’s' body. Like I’m floating in midair.
Spindly wooden chairs line the walls and they all face one direction, towards one grand chair that’s bejeweled with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies and upholstered with rich and plushy fabric. Sitting on the extravagant throne is none other than Queen Chrysantha herself. She’s talking to a figure kneeling beneath her and her face is livid. You’ve never been afraid of a faerie before you have seen them fully enraged.
“WHO HAS DONE THIS, IF NOT YOU, DEREK NATHANIAL CARSON?” She bellows. “WHO HAS BETRAYED ME? IF NOT YOU?” Her voice echoes with deafening power throughout the room. “TWO PRISONERS MISSING
AND
THE ANTIDOTE TO THE POISON I ADMINISTERED TO THEM, GONE! I MUST KNOW WHO IS RESPONSIBLE!”
“I assure you that it was not me,” Derek says calmly, head bowed. If he is scared of her, he does not show it. He keeps his composure perfectly. “I did not aid those humans in their escape. You are questioning the wrong person.”
“Those “humans” he says. Do you shun your own kind, Derek Carson? Do you not consider yourself human? Do you think yourself
Fey
, like those around you? You fought me when I carried out their punishment. Who better an accomplice than the one who questioned my authority and judgment? Why would you not help your own kind, I ask myself. And it became clear who the culprit was.
You
.”
“My lady I believe you are mistaken. Why would I turn my back on my own family? Humans shunned me so I have shunned them. What would I want to do with those who tossed me off their doorsteps like trash? Sent me to that
place
to rot until someone else came to claim me or better yet; to die. What would I have to give in return to
them
? Nothing.”
“Lies, all lies. Human weakness allows it! How can I believe you when I cannot be sure you are telling the truth? You are just like the other vermin of that world. You spit venom in our faces just like the rest of your kind. Lies!”
“My Queen! I take offense to your words! Do you not trust me? I would never lie to you! How can you say such things? I would never betray you!”
At that her face seems to soften the tiniest bit. “I seem to have overstepped my bounds. Do not take offense, for you are not the only one I have questioned today.”
At that, Derek looks up at her. I can't see his face but I can imagine the look in his eyes as he gazed at her; surprised and a little disbelieving. “Who else have you questioned today?” he asks.
“That is none of your concern.” Sternness is back in her voice. “You may go before I change my mind about you.”
“Thank you, your majesty. Your lenience becomes you, I am eternally grateful.” He bows and stays bent, walking backwards out of the room.
I jolt awake.
“Hey, hey, what's wrong?” Maggie asks from beside me.
“Bad dream. Only I don't think it was a dream.”
“Would you like to explain that, fortune cookie?”
“I— I think I just had a dream or a vision? I was where Derek is and I saw everything that happened. How is that possible?”
“You know, I don't think that's the question to ask anymore. It'd be more productive to ask what
isn't
possible.”
“It is a rare trait among Faery Keepers,” Nyla says, entering my line of view, her wings which she has not made visible before now are unfurled behind her and beating furiously stirring up a warm wind that splays our hair out in an almost halo. They are a beautiful violet with golden veins that sparkle like metal in the sunlight. “But not unheard of. It is said that you have a sort of connection between yourselves where you can enter
each other’s
minds with practice and concentration. Usually it takes years to master that kind of magic.”
“You say that we can enter each other minds?” I ask.
“Indeed.”
“But it wasn't what that was like. I wasn't seeing it as he was seeing it. It was like I was there, in the room with him. Not seeing it through his eyes.”
“Hmm. Perhaps you were projecting your magic there without meaning to. It is strange, I confess. But as I said, not unheard of. For you to have done it while unconscious is extremely rare, and without any practice. I think we can expect great things from you.” Is it just me, or did Nyla actually sound
impressed
right there? I have to be imagining things.
“Well isn't that just
great
,” I mutter as Maggie glances at me with a bit of jealousy in her eyes.
“Hey don't look at me like that, it isn't like I asked for this, I told you that
before
.” I resist the urge to smack her on the arm. “And who knows? You could be all powerful and amazing too; we just don't know it yet.”
“Nice save,” she smiles, poking me in the side. “I suppose we'll find out, huh? Who knows, maybe I'll have twice the power you do.”
“Well, what are friends for?” I ask with a smile in return, wrapping her in an awkward hug. “And you're right, who knows?”
Nyla looks between the two of us and shakes her head. “
Humans
. I will never understand you completely.”
A full hour passes of sitting and waiting before the infamous return of Derek. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually missed the idiot.
He enters in through the back door and we all jump from the sudden noise. But as soon as we see his drained face, we forget about all of that. Nyla is the first to react. What do you expect, he is practically her son. “Derek!” She jumps up with the aid of her wings and gives him a huge bear hug. “Thank the
Fey
you are alright!”
“There is an extent to which my ribs will crack from your strength, which you do have a lot of despite your willowy looks. So you can let go now, Nyla.”
“Sorry,” she apologizes as she lets him go, brushing a stray tear from her cheek.
“Good to see you back,” I say with a small smile.
“Oh, so you
did
miss me,” he grins. “I assume that Nyla told you where I was.”
“You were gone? I hadn't noticed,” Maggie rolls her eyes and snorts. “Duh. You think we wouldn't try to get it out of her? Der, you definitely need to get to know us better.”
“So how did it go?” I ask a little too innocently. I try to fake a cough to cover it up, but it's too late. The damage is done.
Derek narrows his eyes, instantly picking it up. “What do you know that I don't?”
“Nothing,” I say truthfully. “I know exactly what you know.”
He looks flabbergasted. “Would you care to explain that?” A raised eyebrow.
“Um, well. . .” I rub my arm nervously. “I'm not really sure how to go about this but. . .”
“She projected her magic to you while you were with the Queen.” Nyla supplied so I didn't have to fumble for words any longer. “While unconscious, nonetheless.”
His eyes widen. “Wow.” He glances at me then back at Nyla. “Really? I thought I felt something when I was there, but I wasn't really sure given that I haven't been around another Keeper in my life. That was you?”
“I guess so.”
“Well isn't this spectacular?” Maggie grumbles.
I lay my head on her shoulder comfortingly.
“I suppose we should get started on our lessons then, shan't we?”
“First and foremost, you need to know what a Faery Keeper
is
before we begin our training. What is in our job description and what we can
do
. Would either of you like to venture a guess as to that?” Derek asks, looking back and forth from me to Maggie.
We're standing in Nyla's living room all the furniture is pushed to the walls, careful of the plants that sit on top most of it, so now we have one wide open space. Mostly. The curtains are drawn to give us an air of privacy.
“I’m going to take a guess and say that we protect them,” I say, uncrossing my arms. “Would I be correct,
Mr.
Carson
?”
“Please, call me Derek,” he winks. I make a gagging noise at him, and he ignores it segueing into his next sentence without pause. “Yes, you would be right to an extent. But we are so much more than that. Maggie? You've been awfully quiet over there.”
She shakes her head. “Nope, I think I'll just wait this one out for you to explain yourself.”
“Ah, the oh so noble cynic. Well, going with what
Ms. Moore
said, we do protect the
Fey
. But from what you ask? They surely can deal with such dilemmas themselves for they are properly equipped. We, my friends, are here for the
human
threats. Things that deal with iron and humans intent on killing the
Fey
for vigilantly reasons. Or like the current threat, the Zion's, who think one of God's own creations shouldn't be here because they believe they are
not
God's creation. Granted, they do come from both sides of the Heavenly war, but what can we do about that?”
“But if we're here for human threats, what's to say we don't get killed by said humans?” I ask in concern. “I mean, we aren't indestructible. Who's to say we aren't just offering ourselves up as a sacrifice? What do we have that they don't? I don't think reading
each other’s
minds and projecting our powers so we can see other situations are that great of a defense.”
“Well that's where you would be
wrong
. Have you ever watched any war movies? It's always an advantage to be able to see things you ordinarily wouldn't be able to without your powers. At least safely. We could spy on the enemy without actually having to
be
anywhere near them.
“As for reading
each other’s
minds, it gives us
stealth
. We don't have to utter a word while in the midst of battle. Just think it and it's heard. And not just by
anybody
but by your allies, and only them. It has come in handy many times in the past and I'm sure we can use it to our great advantage, don't you?”
“Fair enough,” I allow. “But that can't be all. I mean we can't
possibly
protect them with just knowledge and mind reading. And before you start to argue that we can, please just move on from those two topics.” I hold up a hand before he starts ranting about the positive uses of those two marvelous powers. Honestly? There has got to be something better than that. I mean, he did make Parker forget that we were missing, and probably my mom. But you won't ever catch me asking her about it. That's one thing better off unsaid seeing as she's already antsy to jump ship and take off to Bora Bora for the rest of eternity. Would I bring that on myself? I think not.