His entire bedroom set, a miniature duplicate of mine, sat on top of my dresser. I wrote a note and put it on the floor next to his bed, telling him we’d be meeting with Dardennes – the head of the council – and the council members. I wrote as tiny as I could to make it easier for him to read. I knew he’d be mad when he woke up, because without his wings he’d be stranded in my room. But it was safer having him on the dresser at this point because being on the floor and that puny made it too likely he’d get stepped on.
I opened my top dresser drawer a little, the second drawer a little more, the third one even more and finally the last one all the way. If Tim really wanted to get down, he’d be able to by climbing down the stairs I’d just made; but I was hoping he’d stay put until I got back. Last time he lost a wing, when he voluntarily gave it up to save Chase, he was in serious pain for a couple days and it took a month for the thing to grow back. So even though I doubted he’d climb down, I wanted him to know he had the option. Tim was tiny, but he could get mighty cranky when he wasn’t happy. He had a condition I termed ‘pixie complex’ which meant he had a chip on his shoulder about being little – kinda like Napoleon, but much worse.
Someone knocked at my door, interrupting my fussing over Tim. I opened the door to find Gregale standing there alone. I grabbed his arm and pulled him in, shutting the door quickly behind him.
“Hello, Jayne,” he said, flustered by my casual attack on his person. He was a gray elf, very intellectual, and not used to having much physical contact with other fae. Plus, I had once purposely burned him with my weapon, The Dark of Blackthorn – otherwise known to me as Blackie – the dragon fang that was currently strapped to my leg, so he was always a little distrustful around me. I couldn’t blame him, even if I did end up giving him the notoriety of being the only gray elf ever to be burned by The Dark of Blackthorn and then healed by The Green.
“Hey, Gregale. I need your help. Desperately.”
“So I gathered,” he said wryly.
“I’m in big trouble, and you’re the only one I know with the brains to get me out of it.”
I could tell he was trying not to preen, but his attempts were mostly unsuccessful. “That must be some pretty big trouble you’re in.”
“I don’t have time to give you the long version. I’m going in front of the council in about five minutes. They’re going to accuse me, I think, of breaking some fae laws. I’m not even sure what they are, but I need you to help me get off, number one, and number two, get the council to see reason and allow my friend Tony to become a changeling.”
“Wow. That’s quite a tall order, especially when I have only five minutes to prepare. Perhaps you’d like me to work out a plan for world peace over dinner?”
“Stop screwing around, Gregale, I’m serious.”
“So what exactly have you done that needs my help so emergently?”
“Geez, is that even a word, Gregale? Shit, never mind. What happened is I took the private jet and went to my hometown and stopped a Dark Fae from taking my friend Tony, and then I brought him back with me. In the process, the pixie, Tim, got his wing burned off by that Dark Fae. He’s recuperating now.” I gestured to his tiny bed.
“What Dark Fae did this to him?” He was bending over, looking at Tim’s white face.
I pulled back the quilt so he could see the burned nub. Gregale caught sight of it and flinched, his face showing disgust.
“A guy named Ben. He was able to pull Fire into his hands and use it against us. I think he rode the wind too. He appeared in a breeze that blew through the window. I think he’s some kind of demon. He mesmerizes people too.” I nodded to convey the seriousness of my accusations. I was pretty sure about that mesmerizing part.
Gregale got a scared look on his face. “This is serious. Very serious. I need to involve the other gray elves.”
“Okay, but first you have to help me! I don’t want to go to prison and Tony can’t be sent back. Ben will take him.”
“What was Ben doing there? Do you know?”
“I’m not sure. I thought he’d just recently moved to town, but I saw a picture I had from a year ago and I think he was in the picture. If I’m right, then he’s been hanging around my hometown for over a year, watching Tony and me. As soon as I was gone, he moved in and became Tony’s best friend. He said stuff to try and turn Tony against me. He took over his life.”
“Did he attempt to make him a changeling?”
“No. That’s the weird part.”
“Do you know anything about his motivations? Did you speak to him?”
“Yes, I actually had a sit-down with him in a restaurant. He told us a few things about his plans and his philosophies about humans. I don’t know. I’m too freaked out to remember all of it now; but my friends were there too. They can tell you more.”
“So, it’s not just you who needs my help; it’s all of them. All of your friends joined in this little escapade of yours.”
“Well, yeah,” I said, suddenly flustered, “but this whole thing was my fault, my plan. I’m not going to let them take the fall for it.”
Gregale nodded as he thought. Then without a word, he turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“I must look into some things and speak to some colleagues. I will see you at the assembly that’s been called.”
He walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I stood there in the middle of my bedroom, wondering if involving Gregale was a wise move. We had started out as enemies when I’d first arrived, when I had called him a traitor after overhearing part of a conversation he was having with another fae. He didn’t appreciate me almost letting Tim, the very dangerous pixie, out of the bell jar where Dardennes had him imprisoned. At the time I didn’t know that pixies could take out an entire community of fae with their slap-happy pixying stuff, but neither Gregale nor any of the other fae seemed to know that Tim didn’t realize his pixying wasn’t appreciated. So after we got our differences ironed out and were assigned to train together, we’d reached a form of friendship, mostly based on mutual admiration of the other’s talents. I had shown Gregale the power of The Green. Gregale had shown me that gray elves were not only very intellectual and very involved in planning the strategies of the impending fae conflict, but they were also able to travel into the Gray, the space between our world and the Otherworlds – known to humans as Heaven and Hell, but known to us fae as the Overworld and the Underworld.
Another knock came at my door. I opened it to find all of my friends waiting there, Jared out in front.
“Come on. Anton is getting the council together. We need to go.”
I took one last look back at Tim, adjusted Blackie on my leg, and joined them in the hallway. “Let’s go then.” I nodded at Spike, Finn, and Chase. Becky smiled at me and blew me a friendly kiss. She was always so damn happy, even when I was practically being led to the gallows.
I followed Jared’s lead, walking next to Tony. He kept wiping his hands on his jeans and stealing glances at me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. I didn’t trust myself to talk then; I was nervous too.
Jared led us to the big doors that I knew were for the assembly hall. This was the biggest room in the compound that I’d been in; big enough to hold most of the fae who lived in and around the place. There was one elevated head table in the front that was now occupied by members of the council. All of the other tables were arranged in semi-circular fashion, facing the head table and the space in front of it.
I had stood in that space before, when I first arrived at the compound. That was just after I had caused nearly thirty elves to go temporarily into la-la land after zapping them with the energy I had called up from The Green. I had done it in self-defense when the elves began to attack me – under the influence of some Dark Fae witch we never successfully identified – so ultimately my time in front of the assembly of fae didn’t end up with me going to jail or whatever. But from that day forward, a lot m
ore fae got involved in my training and the questions about who I was and who I might be began swirling around.
These questions remained unanswered though. I was either just another fae girl, an elemental with a supernatural connection to the elements of Earth and Water, or I was The Elemental, the one they call Mother – the one I had always referred to in my human life as Mother Nature. Someone they’d been waiting for, for like two thousand years or something. This idea – that I, of all people, could be this amazing, long lost fae goddess – was pretty unbelievable and ridiculous if you asked me; so I just functioned under the assumption that I wasn’t her. I was just me. A girl who needed to help her best friend Tony find his place in the whole fae mix.
The horn that tells everyone in the assembly hall to shut the hell up started blowing and so they all quickly found their seats and came to order. My friends and I walked up to the back row of seats, standing in the center aisle. The chamber was packed with no places left to sit. There was no point in sitting down anyway – I knew we were going to be called to the front.
Dardennes gestured with his hand for us to come forward. For now, it was just Tony, Chase and me. Chase was good like that – never letting me go in front of an angry mob without him. Until today, I had just assumed that was part of his job, since he was my daemon – my warrior protector. But when Maggie said that was a lie, and she’s pretty much never wrong, it caused me to have some doubts. Right now, though, I had bigger problems to deal with, so I put that out of my head as stress to unglue over later.
Tony and I stood in front of the council, Chase behind us. The crowd became silent, with only the little sounds of people moving in their seats left to be heard.
Dardennes began speaking, loud enough so everyone in the room could hear. “The council and fae have gathered for this general assembly to hear the charges against you, changeling Jayne Sparks. The council has been informed that at some point in the days prior to this, you left the compound with Jared Bloodworth and returned with Tony, a former changeling candidate who previously refused the change.”
“Yes,” I said, my voice ringing out around the room. The acoustics in this place made it possible for sounds to move in circles or something, because I could even hear my voice behind me now.
An old man on the council who I didn’t know spoke next. “Who gave you permission to do this?”
I glanced at Dardennes whose face revealed nothing. He hadn’t technically given us permission to do anything, but he’d been pretty clear he wanted it done. But I wasn’t going to throw him under the bus; he’d made it possible for me to rescue my friend.
“No one. I did it myself.”
“You did not do this yourself. You had help!” he accused angrily, banging his fist on the table.
“Well, someone flew the plane and drove the cars for me, but they weren’t involved in my plan to get Tony. I used them.”
There was some grumbling behind me from the gathered fae, but I ignored them. I had done what was right and I wasn’t going to apologize for it. Even Ivar, the fae I liked least in this room, was getting a pass from me. No one was going down for this one, but me.
“You willingly dragged other fae into your scheme to take an action that this council has forbidden.”
“I wasn’t aware that I’d broken any laws.”
At that moment there was a disturbance by the doors. Several fae were moving around, angry looks on their faces.
“What is the meaning of this interruption?!” demanded my questioner, his face now assuming a mottled red color.
I saw Gregale’s face emerging from the crowd at the door and breathed a sigh of relief. If I was going to have any help at all, it had arrived. I was hoping he had good news. I took Tony’s hand in mine and squeezed it, not letting go. He squeezed mine back; I noticed it was cool and clammy.
“Excuse me, council members, fae community,” said Gregale, pausing to nod in their respective directions, “I am Gregale, of the gray elves. I have come to stand as Reasoner for the changeling, Jayne.”
There was a bit of grumbling at the head table, the old man who was questioning me obviously not happy about this. I took that as a good sign. The fae in the audience also began to whisper among themselves.
Gregale reached my side and I leaned over to talk quietly in his ear. “I hope a Reasoner is like a lawyer.”
Gregale looked at me quizzically, but I decided now was not the time to explain the concept or make the translation.
Dardennes cast a look out to the crowd, immediately quieting things down.
“Has the changeling been accused of violating any fae laws?” asked Gregale to the council.
“Not yet. We were getting to that,” said the old man, sarcastically.
“Oh. Please forgive me. By all means, continue.”
“Why thank you, gray elf. We appreciate your graciousness.”
Gregale’s face went a little red. I’m not sure what the protocol was around here, but it looked like maybe Gregale had just put his foot in it. Great. My lawyer was Vinny in ‘My Cousin Vinny’. I just hoped he could get the same ultimate results.
“The changeling Jayne has admitted to taking the jet to her hometown and bringing her friend Tony back with her to our compound. He is a human boy who has previously declined the change.”
Gregale leaned over and whispered in my ear. “So far, no laws broken, just bad choices.”
I rolled my eyes at him. He sounded like my mom.
“The law is that no human shall be given a second chance to make the change once that opportunity has been declined.”
There were a few comments from the assembly that sounded like agreements. I guess some of the fae really liked that rule. Selfish bastards.
“May it please the council, the human Tony has not been changed, therefore, this law has not been broken.”
“Correct. But we understand that Jayne intends to break this law,” challenged the councilman.
“Intent to do something is not a violation of the law, technically speaking, sir.” Gregale cleared his throat, obviously not entirely comfortable with being confrontational.
I smiled. Gregale was kicking ass. I could tell the old fart on the council was getting pissed. I leaned over and spoke quietly to Gregale. “I want them to change the law. I want Tony to be a changeling.”
Gregale leaned in to whisper a reply. “There is very little chance of that happening. That is a very old rule and has been on the books for hundreds of years.”
“Well, it’s time for a change. We have a war coming. Tony is a resource. He’s either ours or theirs. Ben has made it clear he wants Tony. If we don’t have him with us, he will be against us.” I put my hand on Gregale’s sleeve. “And if he goes, I go.”
Gregale’s eyes opened wide in shock. “You don’t mean that you would leave us?”
“Yes, I do mean that. I’d go Dark Fae all the way and wear the damn t-shirt if it meant saving Tony’s life. I can’t look out for him if he’s there and I’m here. We stick together. We’re a team.”
Gregale shook his head, looking at the floor.
I couldn’t tell from his expression if he was pissed or sad. I was probably asking for the impossible, but I didn’t care. This is how it was for me – black and white. If they weren’t with me, they were against me – scary to think I was quoting Ben’s words now. I’d made some friends here, that was true. And I didn’t wish any of them ill will, and I’d never do anything to hurt any of them. But, if I had to choose between them and Tony? It would be Tony every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the council,” Gregale nodded to the council members and then turned and faced the assembled fae, “Ladies and gentlemen fae ... the changeling Jayne would like to put forth a petition – a petition to change the existing law as it relates to the humans agreeing to accept the change and become changelings.”
Everyone immediately began talking, some of them pretty loudly, out in the assembly.
I noticed several council members leaning left or right to confer with their neighbors.
“What does she propose, exactly?” asked Dardennes. He was watching me closely, his expression giving nothing away.
Gregale leaned over to me. “I think it’s best that you do the talking on this one.”
I cleared my throat and began, nervously, still holding onto Tony’s hand while facing the council. “It’s true that Tony has once decided not to become a changeling. He was then erased and sent home. But after he was sent home, he was contacted and befriended by a powerful Dark Fae by the name of Ben. I knew there was something wrong, so I went back for him. Even though only a month had gone by, this fae had already exerted a lot of influence over Tony. Ben and I faced off, and Tony agreed to come with me.” I turned to face the assembly. “You have to let him make the change. If he leaves here, Ben will take him over to the Dark Fae. He’ll be lost to me forever.” My voice caught on the last word. I couldn’t help it. The idea of losing Tony? Too much.
An older woman on the council spoke up. “We have all lost loved ones to the Dark Fae. We cannot save them if that is the choice they make.”
“But this isn’t his choice!” I argued back. “He’s choosing the Light Fae as his family! But we’re denying him that choice.”
“He had his chance and he rejected us!” yelled someone from the crowd. Some other fae cheered him on, obviously agreeing.
“He didn’t reject the Light Fae, you idiot – he rejected the fae in general. He’s a pacifist. He doesn’t like war.”
Gregale touched my arm and whispered loudly, “You may want to refrain from insulting those whose support you seek.”
I whispered back, “I feel like I’m talking to a bunch of children.”