Almost too peaceful to believe, but I did anyways. The hazy surroundings and the closed off distances kept my mind ignorant, letting me see only what I understood.
There was a warmth to this place. Wherever I was…
My head turned to either side, in search of something other than the constant yellow-orange glow that took over the earth. I thought I sensed a breeze riffling over my skin, but when I sniffed the air through a long drag of breath, there was nothing. My heart barely beat—making my body sluggish and overbearing—and my hands twitched anxiously at my sides.
I could feel something. It felt so real and familiar it was almost as if its presence consumed me. My eyes narrowed through the haze as my mouth opened to call out…but nothing escaped. Throat getting tight and eyes puckering, I reached up to wipe away my tears. But my hands weren’t tangible. Nothing was tangible and so my tears just fell.
“Mom!” My head cried, echoing through the unseen lands. Then, all at once, colors began to appear, bright and vivid in all shades of greens and blues.
Once again, the sense of peace washed over me.
Wobbling a little where I stood as I took a blind step forward, a phantom wave of wind pushed me back.
“Stay where you are child.” A sweet, caring, and soothing voice licked at my ears. The ground beneath my feet could be heard suddenly as that wind from before became real and sent a soft brush of thin grass to dance near my feet.
“But where am I?” I called back and my throat became sore, my voice cracking at the end. My hands went up to my throat and I grasped it tight.
A soft outline of a figure appeared before me and my mouth parted in awe as the shape of the being looked so feminine. Could this be my mom? I seemed to ask myself. But something in me told myself that this all was just a trick. Why would my mom want to me to stay where I was in the forest? With a Reaper and two Firebirds that claimed Faeries were real?
I shook my head and the world bounced in and out of view, causing my eyes to cross and my brain to swell slightly.
“Don’t leave me.” The voice was clear and I found myself crying on the ground, touching the grass before myself. “They’ll harm you…”
“Who will harm me?” I shouted up to the sky. The figure stepped closer, my breath seizing as terror flowed through my veins.
The figures arm stretched forward slowly and I watched with wide eyes as the hand of the figure passed the haze. “The dark ones will hunt you child. They are coming and want your heart.”
I shunned away from the hand and fell onto my back. “My heart?” I shrilled with a raspy voice.
A stomp sounded next to my ear and I looked to my right to find a foot, beautiful and painted like marble, had landed right next to me. I looked up cautiously to find the hem of a dress dangled before my breasts. “Don’t give him your heart child. He’ll twist it and take your purity.”
“I don’t understand!”
The figure’s knees bent and the elongated torso of the apparent female, leaned forward to show me a faceless face. I screamed in terror as its hand reached out and grabbed my neck. “The ring is your way out!” The figure growled as its face vibrated when it spoke. Twisting its neck from one shoulder to the other and snapping it back all in one fluid motion, the face slowly began to transform. “Don’t give him your fidelity.” The figure whispered with an eerie undertone. “The crown has fallen and must be repaired. The dark ones have planned to use your blood as the silver to change the crown. Your life belongs in the hands of your foe, your life—”
A shrill and gurgle of vomit and blood split my nightmare in half as the pressure that was on my chest was torn away from me.
My eyes flashed opened instantly to find the Reaper holding a knife to an animals neck. Or so I thought it was an animal…
“What is that?” I shouted and the Firebirds stirred from where they slept, but neither of them woke up.
“Who sent you?” Amadeus growled into the thing’s large and pointed ear. It’s astonishing almond sized topaz eyes scanned its surroundings quickly, almost as if coming up with an escape route.
I pushed myself up and onto my knees, staring at the creature before me. It’s body was a grey-blue, smooth and speckled with white shimmering dots up along the slides of its body only. And when I looked closer at the exposed body, I found two small lumps on the chest. Realizing the thing was a female-thing, I stood up quickly on my feet.
“Reaper!” I shouted shrilly.
Amadeus looked up at me with a flash of his eyes. The thing in his arms smiled, parting the thick luxurious peach colored lips it possessed. It began to chuckle. “Reaper?” The thing asked with a vivid smile that reached her eyes. She craned her neck to look up at Amadeus as he pressed the knife closer to her. A snake of blood drooled down her small neck.
“What do you want with her, Seer?” He asked the thing and she turned her head towards me and gave me a pouty look.
“Did your mum die?” She asked me with a thick accent and I looked at her in bewilderment.
“You?” I whispered and Amadeus raised an eyebrow as he shifted where he stood and brought the Seer closer to him.
“Ooo,” the Seer cooed as a mischievous grin took over her face. “Want to get closer with me Reaper? Or how about with the Half Blood?” She snickered and the Reaper went still.
“I don’t know what you mean.” He cooed right back in her ear as he loosened his grip a little. I looked at the two of them and then towards the Firebirds. How are they sleeping through this! I wondered, astonished and slightly buggered by it.
“I saw your dream.” The Seer hissed, taunting the Reaper and I felt uncomfortable as his mouth turned into the shape of a snarl.
“Just answer my question!” Amadeus barked and the Seer raised her hands in the air.
“I was just passing through—”
Amadeus stuck the blade a centimeters length deep into the nape of her throat and I gasped. He held out a hand in my direction to stop me from charging over there as he said: “Lies. Seers don’t wonder the forest, they stay in the castle under the kings watch.”
“Alright!” The Seer flashed her hands in the air in a quick motion of waving her hands. Amadeus slightly removed the blade from her throat, blood oozing all over her perfectly tinted body in high contrast. I shouted his name at the sight of it and he gave me a shut up look with his eyes. The Seer gulped and more blood trickled down. “The king sent for me last night. The Firebirds were late—and I can see why,” she rolled her eyes. “He told me to bring the girl to him. I got here at dawn, if I’m to be honest,” she placed a wicked grin on her face. “And I thought I’d play around with your dreams.”
I growled and threw my hands in the air. “So my mother wasn’t really there?” I sounded angry but I was mostly hurt.
The Seer looked at me with an aggravated look. “Of course the feeling was and before I entered your mind and saw what you were seeing.” She looked at me then from the tip of her round nose with a curious gleam beneath her irises. “But I couldn’t fight my way all the way through. I couldn’t shift into your dream like I did with his.” She giggled as she looked up at Amadeus.
In disgust, Amadeus tossed her aside. The Seer yelped as she stumbled onto the ground. This time I didn’t even worry about her wellbeing. “What do you mean you couldn’t see her dreams?” He pointed the knife in my direction and I took an instinctive step back.
The Seer rubbed her bald head. “I don’t know why. Ask the little Half Blood why she was shielding me from her thoughts.” She raised an eyebrow as she added: “Ask her what she’s hiding.”
“I’m not hiding anything!” I said defensively as I shook my head as my heart thundered. How was I supposed to tell them what my apparent mother had told me. “Wait,” I said as I raised a hand half way up my stomach as a thought occurred to me. “Were you the twisting thing?”
The Seer looked at me like what the hell? But then seemed to nod her head. “Oh. Yes I was. That was me fighting your—well, whoever was in your dream.” She picked herself up carefully from the ground.
“My mother was—or seemed to be—the one speaking to me.” I licked my lips as my hands twitched at my sides.
The Seer shook her head. “If it was your mother I would have been able to sense her presence.”
“What?” Both Amadeus and I asked, confused.
The Seer sighed. “I’m a Alohi, a death Seer.”
“But then how could you enter our dreams?” I asked.
The Reaper turned his body towards me as he explained, “It doesn’t matter what type of Seer you are, any of them can enter minds, dreams, or even manipulate your thoughts.” He glared at the Seer.
“Wait, so how many of you are there exactly?” I looked at the Seer to see she had her arms crossed over her chest.
“Far too many to count.” She huffed and I cut a glance at Amadeus to see him nod his head.
“Wow,” I murmured and just then a gasp came from where the Firebirds were.
We all snapped our heads in their direction as Gael shook Olive awake. Her mouth was moving fast and close to Olive’s face, obviously whispering something to her as she slowly awakened from her slumber.
Rain splattered in the mud as the Seelie Courts army marched forward towards the Faery Peak. Hadleigh Anwyll, King to the Fae-folk, marched in the front lines with his men. His armor was no different from theirs and his stride never faltered. He was marching into a war that would be the turning point for all beings of magic. His court, the asylum for all creatures of magic, was being challenged by a new reign of power: The Crown.A group of Faeries that fractioned themselves from the Seelie Court, called themselves the Crown. They considered themselves a new way of governing the creatures of magic and their land by ripping peace and prosperity into ideals of war and discrimination. A once whole and beautiful land was now being plagued by the Crown—and it was happening faster than Hadleigh Anwyll had anticipated.Hadleigh Anwyll felt his heart heave as he knew what was about to come of this war. His court would be taken over, and he had to some how be okay with that for now. Him and hi
Aziel held his hands up in defense and I almost pitied the older man. “They’ll pay me and I’ll be able to get a job and build a new house for you to live in and then you can come—”“I’m never coming back here. Especially not to see you.” I said through the tumbling tears that scorched my cool cheeks. How could this have happened? How could my mother’s own brother sell her dead body to the bottom feeders of our world? The Reapers are cruel and will dehumanize my mother if they lay a hand on her…“I’m not letting you give her to them,” I said suddenly.Aziel had the audacity to crack a smile at me. “I’m the owner of this house now Delaney, it doesn’t fall to you and I can do what I want to with what’s in this house now.”And if I ever thought I couldn’t open my mouth any further, I did. “How dare you!” I hissed.The gleam in his eyes was new to me. It scared me and when he took a step forward, I stumbled backwards. Tripping over my own feet, I cried out as my heel caught on a loose nail
I wondered why I hadn’t come along a single home during my run…I knew the answer to that right away. I’d been running blindly, led by fear. But why come here?I stopped and stretched my neck to fully look up at the sky. The sun filtered in like glowing stars that were shooting downwards to bless me with their light warmth. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. At last I was calm…A twig snapped behind me and I jumped, shaking in my spot and I whirled around to face the incoming person.My eyes widened and then blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here?” I asked the Reaper that had been from my house. He stood there between the trees, tall and daring with his chin upturned slightly as he peered down at me from the slight incline.“I followed you.” His voice was so strong, I had to take a step back to get out its blast.“H—how?” I stuttered and he tilted his head to the side.Pointing down at my feet he said, “Your blood.”I looked down at my feet and then had to smile. “You mus
My feet dragged behind me as my fatigued body hunched forward. My eyes dropped slightly as I forced my head up. I was sure I looked like a troll still gowned in my torn night clothes, hair knotted, and a day’s worth of grease slicking several strands. Dirt spots covered portions of my exposed skin, and I had to hobble for fear of my wound getting infected.“Don’t worry about them.” He assured me but the fist in my gut told me otherwise. They were cunning and wicked at the same time. Not to mention their blood was purely liquid fire that they could use to malign anyone who got in their way. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t ever the one to get in their way.I nodded my head as my heavy tongue moved to roll across my teeth. I clicked my tongue before asking: “Do you think we could pause and have a drink?”The Reaper stood up from his bent stance. I hadn’t even noticed that he had moved to place his eyes level with mine until he did so. The man had honor and pride, but he also had kindness.
“I’ll go search for her after we get you healed and dressed.” He told me as he faced me once again and led me into the shadows with his torch stretched wide into the darkness.“Is the forest always this…eerie?” I shivered and my hands went to close on either arm across my body.The Reaper set my pack down on the ground once he found a spot behind a tree. “Yes. That’s why I told you earlier to come with me.”“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.” I picked my way carefully through the fallen leaves, twigs, fungus, and small patches of moss. The Reaper sat down across from the tree where a large rock was. “But I guess I trust you now.” I added as I noticed the small fallen tree trunk that was hidden next to the covering tree. I sat down from across the Reaper and his eyes looked at me with a strong gaze.“I wouldn’t trust anyone, especially me.” He laid out an open faced hand on his knee and I slowly raised my foot to drop it into his hand.“Why not you?” I hissed as his finger accidentally gra