Chapter Eleven
When I reached the small clearing that had become our mutual meeting ground, I saw Declan perched on a boulder, his stare drifting back and forth, surveying the area. He was a still silhouette of muscle and dominance. After the conversations we’ve had over the last few weeks, I knew better. He wasn’t all-intimidating or a threat… to me anyway.
“Declan?” He turned and smiled gently down at me.
“You can’t get enough of us, can you, Princess?” Kai emerged from behind a tree, causing me to jump back.
“Must you always appear out of thin air?”
“I like to keep things interesting.” That impish grin formed on his striking face, but rather than irritating me it caught me off guard, causing my breath to catch.
I swallowed and gained my composure before it became too noticeable that he ruffled me. “Well, I guess it’s my turn to make things interesting.”
Declan’s face tilted, intrigued, while Kai cocked an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe I could possibly entertain him. I did what I did for Cam and pulled my hair back.
“I knew they’d come in,” Kai said smugly. “It was only a matter of time.” He leaped behind me, but I chose to ignore his whereabouts and turned to Declan for guidance. He hopped off the boulder and meandered gradually over as if measuring his steps one by one. His cautious strides evoked the nerves in my stomach to run wild.
“Declan,” I encouraged him to say something, anything. He was still too quiet for comfort.
“You’re finally starting to look like you should,” Kai spoke up over my shoulder, covering the silence. “You still look half naked without the wings, but you’re getting there.” He materialized in front of me. I controlled the urge to step back. Of course he’d be the first to check my back for wings. “You’ll get there.” He moved away from me and dropped to the soil, propping his lean back up against a near tree trunk then pulled out some sort of flute, blowing into it, creating a flowing erratic melody.
When I looked back to Declan he didn’t look happy. I sort of expected him to be happy about this. I was becoming one of them. It was difficult to read his expression. Although he wasn’t happy, he didn’t look mad either. He looked… melancholy, as if my turning into a faery was a negative thing.
“Declan?”
“Kai is right,” he agreed. “You’re starting to look like you should. They look as if that’s where they always belonged.”
Declan’s face didn’t look very convincing, unless looking like I should was a bad thing.
“When should I expect my wings?” I shifted my eyes between the two Keepers, steering the topic.
“Beats me.” Kai stopped his melody for only a second and shrugged, then instantly went back to playing that irksome flute.
“There’s no way of knowing,” Declan replied evenly.
“So, they could just show up while I’m at school?”
“Well, I assume it will be a gradual thing like your ears,” Declan said. “How long did it take for your ears to become full size?”
“About a day.”
He nodded. “You’ll be able to feel a difference when your wings come in. It won’t be the same as your ears. You’ve always had ears. You’ve never had wings. I’m not sure you’ll be able to hide them as well as you’ve hidden those, though.”
“What about my dad?” I questioned. “Since he’s not a faery anymore, can’t I do what he did? Can’t I stop the process? Kill the faery inside of me?”
Declan’s face contorted in pain and I realized how morbid that sounded. “I don’t think so,” he said softly. His arms twitched at his side as if he contemplated reaching out to me, but thought better of it. “You’re in transition. You can’t stop the transformation from happening. If you tried, you’d die. Once it’s finished—most likely months from now, maybe longer—if you decide you don’t want this life, you could probably transform back into a human.” The look on his face revealed he hated that idea, but he was trying to remain neutral. “But, Calliope, everything is so unknown with you. It’s possible being half and half keeps you from transforming to one or the other at all. Even if you tried you might not survive the transformation. Would you really want to risk that?”
The flickering hope that burned like a flame inside of me was immediately extinguished as I shook my head. “There’s really no other way.”
Declan was silent now.
Kai got to his feet and walked to me, casually draping his arm around my shoulder. “Oh, it’s not so bad, Princess. It’s actually kind of a thrill to be a faery. You’ll see.”
I did my best to ignore his closeness, the warmth of his sinewy body at my side. “How does Faylinn make decisions anyway? I thought Faylinn was a place,” I said.
I watched Declan look to Kai and his arm around me, sharing a stare that seemed meaningful somehow before he found my eyes again. “It is, but it’s more than just a place. It’s the enchanting power over all the faeries. Faylinn makes us what we are. It’s like the all-mighty power. We answer to it.”
Kai gradually removed his arm as if finding himself and stepped far away from me. I fought against the initial void it left me with.
My eyes flickered to Kai, but he wasn’t looking at me, so I turned my attention back to Declan. “It talks?”
“No. No, it’s nothing like that,” he chuckled lightly. “It’s simply a state of being. It’s just there, like the wind and the air we breathe. You can’t see it, but you can feel it.”
“Are you guys a bunch of hippies?” It would make sense as to how they dressed, all natural and simple.
“A hippie?”
“Yeah, you know… love, peace and harmony.” I held up two peace signs.
“Well, of course we want all those things. Who wouldn’t?” Declan held up his fingers and Kai followed, trying to make sense of my hand gestures.
“What are you trying to do with your hands?” Kai asked. “Bunny ears?” He wiggled his fingers.
I shook my head. “Never mind. You two are hopeless.”
“Calliope, we’re from different worlds,” Declan said, dropping his hand. “Of course we’re not going to understand every little detail about one another, but that’s what we’re here for. We want to help make sense of our world, so you know what you are. Where you come from.”
“But I don’t want to be what you are. Doesn’t anyone see that?”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you life isn’t fair?” Kai sounded like he was scolding me. “Get over it, Princess. You’re a faery.”
I wanted to scream, but I held it inside. I could be mature about this. But he was just so… so…
“Calliope,” Declan prompted before I punched Kai in the face. Good timing. “I’m sorry this isn’t what you wanted. I understand that it’s hard to accept something that your whole life you’ve been told is a tale. But, I would like to help make it right, help you understand that being a faery isn’t a curse.”
It was easy for him to say. He hadn’t been told he was faery only a few weeks ago. But I kept my negativity to myself. He was right whether I wanted to admit it or not. It was time to start learning about faeries. It was time to stop wallowing in self-pity and accept what I was.
“Thank you, Declan.”
He shrugged. “It’s what I’m here for.”
“I told my best friend Cameron,” I blurted. I wasn’t sure why I felt like I needed to confess that, but there it was. Out in the open.
“Calliope.” Declan placed his hand over his face and sighed.
“Faery basics, Princess,” Kai said. “You don’t reveal our species to humans. Has your dad taught you nothing?”
“No, he did,” I rushed on. “But Cameron saw my ears and I couldn’t hide them from him. He won’t tell anyone. I know it,” I tried to plead my case. “He’ll do everything he can to protect me.”
“Did you tell your dad that you told Cameron?” Declan asked.
“I haven’t gotten the chance yet, but I don’t think he’d be t
oo happy with me if he knew.”
“How do you know Cameron can be trusted? Humans can never be trusted,” Kai emphasized every word.
“My mom’s trustworthy. Why do humans have to be deceitful? It’s not as if you faeries have been the most forthcoming.”
“It’s not that they are all deceitful. It’s that they can’t grasp the idea of our existence,” Declan intervened. “They could become fixated or violent. It’s not pretty either way.”
“You sound as if you know from experience,” I said.
Declan rubbed the back of his neck, seeming uncomfortable. “I’ve heard stories. We’ve had a few situations occur with male faeries luring human woman. They didn’t do it maliciously, only out of curiosity, but things got a little out of hand.”
“Well, that was the faeries own fault for using Enticement,” I exclaimed.
“Enticement doesn’t work on humans. Humans simply can’t resist us,” Kai said.
“Cocky much?”
Kai chuckled, but didn’t deny it.
“It’s true, Calliope,” Declan backed up Kai again. “Or from what I’ve heard anyway. It’s why we tend to just stay away. It’s safer for all parties.”
“Well, Cameron is different. He hasn’t become fixated with me.” I would have noticed and I wouldn’t have minded.
“You forget. You’re only half. It might make you affect humans differently or not have an effect at all,” Declan said.
“Can’t you put on some enchantment that does the opposite of Enticement or something?”
They both chuckled, which made me feel foolish. They couldn’t expect me to know everything. “We can do a ruse here and an enchantment there, but we’re not all-powerful. We can’t do whatever we want,” Declan clarified.
I sighed. “Well, I told Cameron and I can’t take it back, so now what?”
“Nothing,” Declan said. “We just have to hope that he’s one of the few humans who can be trusted.”
It really got under my skin to hear them question my best friend. They didn’t know him. They didn’t know me. It didn’t matter that they watched me for years or whatever. That meant they knew my routines and basic information, but they didn’t know me. I knew they had their reasons, but if anyone could be trusted with my secret it was Cameron.
“So, this is it? For the rest of my existence, I’ll be a faery and no one else can know about me?”
Declan solemnly nodded his head. “I’m sorry, Calliope,” he said.
I clenched my fists and exhaled. “All right. Teach me everything I need to know.”