We twisted over and over in a circle so fast that all I saw was darkness and distorted images like we were in the center of a tornado. My stomach clenched into a throbbing pain. My head felt like it was about to explode. Wiz’s grip tightened around my arms. He pulled me in closer to him. My body smoothed against his. I hid my face into his chest so I wouldn’t get dizzy enough to be sick.
And then it all ceased.
A bed lay under me, so soft I almost closed my eyes and passed out. I forced them to stay open and concentrated on steadying my breaths. Red stones that were lodged into a black ceiling glittered above me. I sat up. A huge trunk stood before me. A pile of books lay next to it. On the other side were pictures of me, from birth to present day. Hundreds of them. I filled with terror. He’d been serious the whole time.
H
e really watched me all my life?
Chapter 19
Wiz sat next to me, quiet and staring at the pictures of me on the wall. “I used to sneak in your apartment after your mom and you fell asleep and take the pictures. At first I told myself it was my duty to keep you safe, but as you got
older, it became the best part of my day.”
I glanced around
the room, not ready to deal with everything he was saying. The red stones above us sparkled. Dark blue paint covered the walls. A door lay in the floor.
I turned to him.
“We’re in the room above your bed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“This is where I kee
p all of my secrets.” Although his hands trembled in his lap, the rest of his boy remained as stiff and frozen like a statue.
I rose from the bed, walked over to the opened trunk, and knelt down in front of it. Vanity lay inside as if the dagger had never left
, even though he’d called the weapon in the courtyard miles away. Wiz’s other dagger rested beside it. He barely used it, unless it was for a job. The trench coat materialized right inside, neatly folded and I assumed he must have magically told the coat to return. I glanced over my shoulder. I was right. Wiz now only wore jeans. The stone’s light from the ceiling gleamed on his muscular chest.
“
How long have you been able to make things magically appear and disappear?” I asked.
“
Since I was born.”
“
Is this Fortimer’s trunk?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get it?”
“It’s a long story.” His jaw muscles twitched. He was avoiding the answer. He hadn’t violated the blood promise, but he didn’t answer me either. I had to word the questions better
or he’d just cheat the rest of the time.
“Yes or no, were you born in Santeria?” I turned to him.
He scowled. His eyes gleamed. The right side of his lip lifted into a sneer. “No.”
“Yes or no. Were you born in the Fairy realm?”
He paused for a second and then muttered, “Yes.”
My whole body shivered in fear. I
grasped the silver beaded material of my dress in my hands. I needed to hold something, to brace myself somehow and not get lost in the sea of mind-blowing revelations. I gulped down my dread and continued. “Do you know Fortimer, yes or no?”
“Yes.”
My mouth dropped open. I gripped the beads harder. He turned away and rubbed his face.
Wiz is the King’s assistant?
He had to be. It made a lot of sense. He possessed the flesh-eating birds that were discussed in the book. I thought back to the stories from the books I’d read. The King’s assistant had aided Fortimer in escaping by using his birds to kill everyone in the castle. Wiz used them in the habitat a lot too and ordered them around like they were his. He knew lots of spells, and even more I was slowly realizing. And surely the King’s assistant knew thousands of spells. Wiz also possessed the power that I assumed a king’s assistant would wield—he’d shifted his clothes, called objects to him with ease, and moved faster than any species inside my supernatural city. Plus according to that new article Eight showed me, Wiz didn’t age much. He very well could have been hundreds of years old.
“You’re nose is twitching like it always does when you’ve come to some theory or idea.” Wiz rose from his bed. I had to admit that now I figured he was the king’s assistant, real terror burst through my pores. He was dangerous, powerful, and possibly
insane. I mean he’d watched me for years, snuck into my house getting pictures.
But why?
He said before I was meant for something else. I didn’t like the possibilities a powerful magician could have conjured in his mind.
“Come on, Cameo. You’ve been bothering me all night with question
s. I answer a few and you’re shivering in that sexy dress.” He put his back to me. “You’re all ready to run aren’t you?”
“Did you help Fortimer escape?”
He snapped his attention back to me and quirked his eyebrows. “I didn’t get in his way.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“That’s a difficult question. I could answer it, yes or no and furthermore the blood promise wouldn’t touch me if I did.”
“Meaning
?”
He smirked. “Next question.”
“Is the Bearded Dragon from the fairy realm?”
“Yes.”
I tapped my hand against my leg and tried to come up with a better question. “Yes or no. The Bearded Dragon is Fortimer?”
He chuckled to himself. “I wish.”
“You’re cheating. Yes or no?” I formed my lips into a straight line.
“No.” He looked into his eyes.
Dread lingered within them. I scrunched my face up in confusion. That didn’t make sense. Fortimer was evil. It’s why the King had imprisoned him. But for whatever reason the King’s assistant had freed him. It seemed in the journal that the assistant thought it was unfair. In the journal entry, the assistant was sad that Fortimer was carried into prison. He entered the people’s minds and realized that everyone else agreed that an injustice had occurred.
I could see Wiz not wanting harm to come to someone that didn’t deserve it, at least the Wiz that I thought I knew. Plus, the Bearded Dragon seemed evil to me with his red scaled skin and power that slipped into my head and filled it with all of my nightmares.
Wait a minute. The King’s assistant could mind read
and the Bearded Dragon did it to me.
I shook my head, not liking where all of this was going as I tried to make sense of all the puzzle pieces bouncing around in my head.
“The Bearded Dragon is the King’s assistant, yes or no?”
Wiz slowly walked over to me and sat down beside me. “Yes, Cameo.
”
“Who are you?”
“That’s not a yes or no question.” He laughed but humor and fun didn’t lace the sound. Instead, he seemed sad.
“
The blood promise didn’t limit my questions to yes or no,” I said.
“Y
ou’ve always been smart, just like him. I think question time is over. Don’t you?”
An electric charge bridged between us. It burst across my
flesh. My scales pushed out of my skin and fluttered back and forth, riding Wiz’s power. I gasped and arched my back his way. The sensation of thousands of feathers caressing my skin smoothed over me.
“I always wanted to know if our magic would bond
together.” He licked his lips. His skin brightened to a white glow.
“What are you doing to me?” I jerked back, but the energy kept me there.
“Giving you something to protect you, just in case I fail.” His eyes illuminated.
His skin tore apart into strips that flapped back and forth.
No blood lay under the flaps. Then they disintegrated into nothing, until I could see what had been underneath. Surprisingly, Wiz’s regular image was underneath in that same tanned skin complexion, except red gleaming stones skittered over his skin in worm shaped lines. They looked like jeweled snakes or ruby worms. They traveled all over his chest, arms, around his neck, and slithered across his cheeks.
“You were wearing fake skin?”
I asked.
“Yeah. Shifter skin to be exact. It’s a complicated spell,
B.D. taught me when I was young. He knew it was the best way to keep the stones on me, but in a safe enough place where I wouldn’t lose them.”
“W-who are you?”
“You know.” He reached for me. I cringed. He frowned and let his hand drop back into his lap. “You said you wouldn’t run away.”
“I’m still here.”
Barely.
“
Say my name.”
My fingers shook.
“Fortimer.”
“Yes.” He blurred to me and pressed his lips against mine. The stones
fled from him and rose to the ceiling. The floated in the air, appearing like sparkling raindrops that flowed up instead of down. Light bounced off of them and onto our faces. The moment would have been magical if not for the fact that in front of me sat a man that even the Fairy King had feared and locked away.
“How much do you know about me?” he asked. “Rich said you read a lot of books on the Fairy King’s prison. Did you read about
me?”
“Not much. I know the King locked you away.”
“Do you know why?”
I shook my head.
“Well you have my whole life story in this trunk.” He gestured toward a pile of books that lay in the corner near the daggers.
“Whatever you read, just understand that it wasn’t my fault at first, and then later I stopped caring. I had no reason to not hurt people in this city, to not take from them, until you.” He leaned my way. I jum
ped out of his reach with a screech. He sighed. “Once you came around, everything I did seemed wrong. I considered killing us both.”
“What?” My body tensed.
“If we were dead, we would transfer to the fairy realm. There wouldn’t be anything to stop us from being together. But, in the end I knew that I didn’t deserve you.”
“Kill us? That’s insane. We would need to be fairies, and why would you kill us?”
I scooted away from him. “I’m sorry. I just need a moment to wrap my head around this.”
“We don’
t have time and I want to kiss you.”
My lips parted, but no words came out. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to kiss him or even be in the same room with him. I still didn’t know where I was in his life and
B.D.’s and couldn’t understand anything he said.
“I think if I kiss you again the blood promise will just take me right now.”
“Then don’t kiss me.” My body relaxed.
“I’m going to put you to sleep.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
His skin brightened even more until the white glow became blinding. I shielded my eyes with my arm.
“Wiz I don’t want you doing anything to me right now.”
“I want to kiss you in our dreams.”
“And I want answers.”
“Do you know that the whole time I watched you all your life, I slowly fell in love, and I don’t even know why?” Tears streamed from his eyes.
Tiny
red gems swam in his tears and those glittered tears swarmed to me, for a few second and then floated up to the sky to be with the other stones. He raised his hand. My body lifted in the air. A current of wind swarmed around me. I wagged my feet and arms, trying to grab the wall or anything to balance me. It felt like invisible hands were holding me. I had no control.
“No, Wiz!
Stop. Don’t put me to sleep!”
“Goodnight, my only love.
We’ll meet again in the Fairy realm under lavender stars and silver butterflies.”
“No
!” My eyelids drooped. I battled with them to open, but they fell down over my eyes. My shoulders slumped forward. I lost control of my arms and legs. They went slack and limp. A yawn left my lips. Second by second, Wiz’s citrus scent drifted my way and slumber devoured me.
Chapter 20
Wiz and I flew on fluffy clouds of cotton candy so pink like blushing roses on the first dawn of spring. My hair danced on the wind. Not any amber strands or blonde. T
o my dismay they were my bushy tresses. My scales coated me. I ordered them to go inside of my body, but they remained out and free, fluttering with the breeze.
I tried again to shift into something else, but I remained the same—pale skin, scales, and wild white hair. I frowned.
Wiz turned his face to me. “What’s wrong, my only love?”
“I’m me.” I gazed down
at the silver beaded dress I wore. Something nagged at the back of my head, but I could barely focus on what it was as I battled with changing. I knew there was something I should remember, but I couldn’t. “I can’t shift into my dream form.”
“That’s it?” He clasped his hand onto mine.
We rose higher, soaring past a silver sun that heated my toes. Pulling me into him, he captured my lips with his. They were so soft. Sugar nipped at my tongue. “Why do you need that form?”
I whimpered when he moved t
hose succulent lips away. “I feel pretty in that image.”
“Then you should learn to feel pretty in this one.” He twisted around and glided through the air on his back. Wind blowing through his hair.
He wore no shirt, just black dress pants that wavered in the wind.
“
Don’t you care what I look like?” I swam through a cloud, kicking my feet to propel me faster and taking bites of clouds.
Wow. The clouds are really cotton candy.
It melted on my tongue.
When I burst out of the cloud Wiz floated in front of me in a standing position. “You’re so funny
, my love. Let’s dance.”
“You didn’t answer me.” I placed my hands in his.
He leapt up onto stars that were tiny but expanded as huge as his foot once his shoe made contact. Laughing, I followed him. A chill floated from the stars. They tickled my bare toes as he twisted and dipped me.
“What was your question?”
“Don’t you care what I look like?”
“I prefer this form.” He twirled me again. “Always.
This is what I’ll be thinking of when we’re far away.”
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re my dream lover. You’ll always be in my dreams.”
“I’m not sure if that’s true, but I hope so.” He finished twirling me around and then drew me into him until there was no space between us. “If we do come back in this dream state, remain in this form. I love your petals and your silky hair.”
“Why?”
“You’re my Ice Princess.”
I paused. “What?”
He released my hands and lowered his lips into a frown. “Will you ever forgive me?”
The sky darkened to black. All of my memories rushed back to me.
Crimson red bled through the pink clouds and dripped down on the world below us, a world that I could now see was all black and bottomless. The silver stars and sun darkened along with the sky. Wiz looked up, down, and around, taking in the shift in scenery. “Do you remember?”
“I’m in your room?”
“Yes. Your other form is laying on the bed.”
I st
epped onto a cloud. Hot blood pooled around my feet. Its coppery scent flooded my nostrils. I covered my nose to protect myself from the stench.
“
I’m glad I kissed you earlier,” he said.
“Is this even a dream?”
“They never were truly dreams, Cameo.” His image withered a little. Parts of him transformed into mists. Other parts appeared solid. His voice sounded far away, even though he stood before me. “At least not what your concept of dreams is. You and I are special. Only beings like us can do things like this in our mind. And on top of that we’re connected. The magic that flows inside of you, moves within me too.”
“What do you mean where the same? What type of magic?”
“You have a whole life time to read all about it in the books inside of my trunk. There yours now along with everything else inside of it—”
“I’m not interested in those magic trinkets.” I snapped. “I want to know what’s going on!”
His whole body turned to mists. I could still see him, but barely.
“
Those trinkets will get you a lot of money with the Fairy Council more than you’ll need for several years,” he said. “However, the shadow stones in the ceiling are for Rich and his sister. Promise me that you’ll give them that.”
“No.”
He snarled. The dark world quaked. I rocked back, lost my footing, and crashed into a blood soaked cloud. The hot liquid smeared my face and hands.
“Promise me, Cameo!”
“Yes! For Shango’s sake. I promise.”
“Good.” His image disappeared.
I jumped up and searched the space around me with my hands. “Wiz, wait! Wiz!”
I opened my eyes.
A bed rested under my body. Numbness filled me. I wiggled my toes and moved my fingers. My nerves woke up. Blood rushed through my veins. My skin tingled. My scales flipped up and down, and then slid into my skin. The ruby ceiling hovered above me. I sat up, understanding I was back in the room above Wiz’s bedroom by myself.
Where did he go
?
I jumped off the bed. My thigh muscles strained with the energy
. The door rested a few feet from me and was stuck inside the door. I rushed to it and tried to turn the doorknob. It wouldn’t budge. I jiggled it, banged the wood, and kicked the door, but nothing happened. A slam sounded underneath, down in Wiz’s room as if someone was just leaving and shut the door.
“Wiz! Rich! Anybody!” I pounded against the door and then listened.
Nothing but silence. I tried the same tactic again, banging, pounding, and screaming out names. Finally, when rawness burned my throat and my screams switched to screeches, I gave up and slumped down on the area next to the door. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. My present situation was not ideal, to say the least. Wiz was Fortimer. I sat trapped in a room. Shadow stones swirled around me and at times made me itch under my skin. And apparently Wiz would be dead soon.
“Will you ever forgive me?” he’d said in the dream.
I’m not sure.
I crawled to the trunk and rummaged through it, only spotting the daggers, bag of gateway stones, and his trench coat. I turned to the pile of books
. Leather bound all of them. The pages seemed old as a tan shade tinted each page.
The first book’s title read, “The Unusual Occurrence of Fortimer.”
I opened t
he book. A drawing of a baby boy lay on the first page with chubby cheeks.
Baby Wiz.
I flipped the page and read it.
“
The Fairy King so wished for immortality that he had his queen take away his shadow and split it into two. With the two shadows flickering in and out the King’s assistant formed them into a man and woman and named them shadow stones due to their thick skin being as real as any other creature. They breathed with life and glittered with soft white scales that allowed them to shift in and out of any image the King desired.
He presented them to the entire court and let them dance, sing, and perform plays for all the royalty that were lucky enough to be around on that magical night.
But entertainment wasn’t the King’s true intention for them. The next night a bed sat in the center of the royal courtyard. Servants guided the King’s shadows to the bed. Their bodies shifted in and out of forms until they both landed on the original male and female forms from the earlier night. At the King’s assistant’s command, the shadows laid together and made love in front of the whole realm. It went on for a few minutes. The male shadow rocked into the female until his glittery seed filled her. Witnesses claimed it was a glorious sight indeed, the highest display of magic ever to occur.
When all was done, t
he male shadow drifted back into the King, while the female remained outside of him. The seed merged with her eggs. Her belly grew as she walked the realm, carrying a living being inside of her. Four armed guards protected her at all times because many attempts of murder had happened. Lots of people in the realm believed that she would birth a monster, something abnormal and dangerous.
The King ignored the opposed part of the court and remained in his resting area most of the time the female shadow was pregnant.
In these days the King was his weakest. For no Fairy creature can live too long without its shadow. Magic could slow down the process of death, but eventually that being would die.
I skipped a few pages and stopped at the title that read, “The Birth of Fortimer.”
The baby left the female shadow and appeared in every way to be a regular fairy infant. The king named the child Fortimer Theosiphix, meaning “formed of my shadow.”
No one noticed at first how the objects of power trembled around the child when he giggled or how everyone experienced fatigue in his presence. It took a week for the court to realize that” was drinking of everyone’s power.
The King was alarmed. Fortimer was to simply be a body that the King would step into, not some creature that siphoned people of their power. So the King declared Fortimer evil and carried him into a cell, where he would starve and eventually die away.”
A
phone rang. I jumped. The ringing sounded from below, but it wasn’t in the room.
“Hello
!” Fin’s voice also came from below.
Wiz’s apartment
.
“Eight calm down. I’m searching dang it,”
Fin said. “I don’t know where her or Wiz is at. Stop calling, freak.”
“
Fin!” I yelled and banged the floor. “Fin! Fin!”
“Holy Shango,
I think I heard her, Eight. She’s in the freaking ceiling!”