The Last Light
Haley Phillips
Copyright 2014 by Haley Phillips
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
I leapt at him, my hands almost closing around his throat. I felt arms wrap around my waist and yank me back. Someone was screaming, maybe me, and I felt myself begin to slide back under.
“Leigha, not yet. I promise you can, just not yet,” I heard Claire say, but my rage blocked out the meaning of her words.
“He deserves to die!” I shrieked, some of my strength returning, but still all I could do was glare at the evil, smirking man.
“I know, but not now! When you’re stronger Leigha, but not yet,” Claire said.
“He deserves to die now!” I shrieked, pushing forward and feeling a surge of pain near my rib cage. I put my hand against it to find I was bleeding..
“Leigha, please!” Claire screamed.
Then, I was falling, falling so fast and so far I thought I should have already hit something, but also feeling that I would never land. I could still hear them talking, but their voices were getting harder and harder to hear. They all kept saying my name, but I just wanted to sleep. Why couldn’t they let me sleep? I blocked out the noise and wrapped myself in the warmth of a distant light, pulling myself towards it.
I’ve never felt so much peace, I thought, it’s almost as if I’m dying.
Chapter One
Have you ever faced death so definite, you were sure there was no chance you could survive? Or been absolutely terrified, not just for yourself, but for your family? Or so worn down that you thought you wouldn’t last, but something kept pushing, kept you holding on, kept you alive?
My family and I have faced it. We live in a world of constant battle that always has an ending goal of “peace.” This “peace” is for people who like destroying all the good in the world. It’s a backwards peace, a peace for people who revel in war.
Now, I’ve forgotten one very important puzzle piece: the thing that creates real peace. Creatures of the Light, I’m one, my whole family is. Specifically, we’re fairies. Of course when people hear “fairies” they think “Fairies, how cute. Just like in a little girl’s fantasy.” Forget everything you thought about fairies. We’re more similar to the Fair Folk from A Midsummer Night’s Dream than the common storybook misconception. We’re not tiny and cute and plastered all throughout story books. We’re just like humans except taller, thinner, and much stronger. We’re very little like our story book wannabe’s. Most of us are trained warriors and could take down an army single handedly, though we wouldn’t unless it was absolutely necessary. If you don’t despise us and are on our side, Creatures of the Light are important.
Now that you have some history I can get to the rest of my story.
My family and I lived far from people. In our version of the world Creatures of the Light are wanted. Five of us lived together in the house. Only two of us were actually related, but the way fairies tend to band together in groups we call families. The youngest of us is Alex, whose set age, which is the age a Light creature grows to and then stays at in immortality, is twelve. but she’s really closer to 200, then there’s Marie who ‘s set age is fifteen. Cece and Claire, my sister, both have set ages of eighteen. Lastly, there’s me, Leigha, and my set age is twenty.
That’s the whole family and, like our story book fakes, we fly. Flying got my family into a serious problem, though. All fairies are born with a love for flying; almost a need. However, it’s a dead giveaway to who we are and an easy way to get arrested.
A few months before everything changed, my whole family was swinging on the tree swings in our yard. We deemed it safe to fly were all still continuously checking for any danger before we took off. The area appeared clear, so we began to fly. I was the last to make the leap.
I pushed off my swing, my wings catching the air under me and pushing me up. I laughed as my waist length golden hair caught in the wind, flying in my face. Even with the hair in my eyes I was able to see a shadow moving through the trees, a shadow much too big to be a squirrel and much too clumsy to be a deer.
Chapter Two
“Let us in! We have the house surrounded!” Shouted an angry voice.
A few months of freedom had given me a false sense of security about being caught. The Dark Siders, the Creatures of the Light’s evil counterparts, were here now, though. It suddenly dawned on me through the bursts of knocks why we hadn’t been arrested sooner. They’d been too busy catching other Light creatures. This wasn’t good at all.
Alex ran up to me with a hopeful look, “We can fly out, right?”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. They have ‘bots that can fly now. There’s no way out of this one.”
I had already decided the ones chasing us were the police robots, or, as we called them, cop ‘bots. The monotone, electronic voice was unmistakable. They had started using robots immediately when they found out how quickly we could defeat humans. We had a very slim chance of escaping them. Opening the door was the only choice we had.
“Cece!” I called, “Open the door!”
“Bu-,” she said.
“Just do it.”
I heard the door open and shame washed through me. I had failed every order I’d been given. My mother had told me to keep them safe no matter what, but now we were caught. Once we opened the door we would be captured, whether they had proof or not. The cop ‘bots would know it by the way we looked and if we used magic to cover our appearances their sensors would detect it.
I took a deep breath. This is it, I thought and I walked to the door.
The sea of ‘bots parted when I arrived at the door next to Cece. Being the good,obedient girls I’d raised the others were hidden. A man stood at the end of the aisle the ‘bots had made. I smiled to myself, we could take this idiot.
“I am the First Obliviator, fairies,” he announced in a deep growl of a voice that revealed him to be anything but human.
It sent my mind reeling. There were two types of magical entities, the good (the Creatures of the Light) and the bad (the Dark Siders). I am a Creature of the Light, one of the pure, good creatures being captured. The Dark Siders were taking over the humans’ home: Earth. They poisoned it with their evil and captured the things that stood for good. Some of the Light were kept for information, but if they found us useless we were killed or tortured. The thing that ha
d sent my mind reeling was that right in front of me stood the most powerful of all the Dark Siders.
“Hello,” I said, snidely, “Selling Girl Scout cookies? Sorry, we’ll have to pass.”
“Stupid fairy,” he said, laughing. “Why would I, the most powerful of the Darks, sell Girl Scout cookies?””
“The most powerful, hmm? What have we done to deserve the honor of you arresting us?”
“It’s me who’s earned the honor, the honor of capturing the last of the Light,” he said, striding towards Cece and I as he pulled off his gloves.
I wanted to kill him for saying that, but it would get me killed. At the same time, my mind was reeling. There was no way the five of us were all that was left.
“You can’t get rid of us. You don’t know how,” I growled, stepping off the front stoop towards him.
The Obliviator circled me, hands clasped behind his back. “Oh, precious girl, I can. You just have to tell me where the queen’s shrine is.”
“How should I know?” I spat.
He raised his hand, bringing it down across my face. “Don’t play games with me, girl. I know all of the Light creatures know where it is!”
I almost laughed, but my face was stinging and there was blood pooling in my mouth. Whoever he was getting information from was wrong. Only one of the Light could find the shrine without having been there before. Of course, I’d been there, but he didn’t need to know that.
I spat the blood in my mouth onto his pristine shoes before saying, “Why should I tell you?”
“Give me a minute,” he said, turning, “Do they have them yet?”
A moment later more cop ‘bots swarmed out of the house from behind me, holding Alex, Marie, and Claire.
“That didn’t work,” I muttered.
“I’ll show you how we’ll make you talk,” he said, as he walked down the line of my family, examining each girl. “Her,” he decided, pointing at Alex before turning back to his car.
The ‘bots grabbed Cece and I and held us, as well as Marie and Claire, so we were forced to see what they were doing to alex. A ‘bot lifted her up and another grabbed her arm in both hands. I winced, bracing myself, and he pulled her arm sharply, sending a sickening crack echoing through the air.
I sucked in sharply as I watched Alex’ sbrave face. Her lip quivered, but she didn’t scream or cry. They were going to torture my family if I didn’t five them what they wanted. If I did tell them, we’d all die anyway.
The ‘bots carried us to a truck and threw us roughly into the back. Alex winced as she landed on her broken arm and I knew I had to find a way out as soon as I could. I just needed to form a plan.
Before any plans could be made or even a word said, a sickly, sweet smoke filled my mouth and nose. I passed out almost instantly.
Chapter Three
I woke up in a cold, damp cell. Despite the dim lighting, I could still see fairly well. Claire’s worried face hung over mine, her concerned eyes relaxing as I opened mine.
“You’re the last to wake,” she whispered, “We were getting worried.”
“I’ve always beenone for sleep,” I replied.
“Leigha?” someone whispered.
“I’m right here and we’re all safe,” I said as I pushed myself up.
“What about Alex?” Cece asked, cradling a tired Alex in her arms.
“Claire can work on her arm later, but first, we need to ma-“
The opening of our cell door cut me off.
“Come,” the gruff, deep voice of a guard said, pointing a finger at me.
As soon as I stood and got closer to him it became obvious he was human and that the Darks weren’t treating him well. That piece of information had the potential to be useful, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. If he was human that meant it was very unlikely there were robots. Using a human to escort a fairy wasn’t the smartest idea and any dark and most humans that worked for them knew better. Whoever was in charge must have had something bigger to keep in the prisoners.
The guard brought me to an office guarded by two more human guards who stepped aside to let us in.
“Hello,” said a man with an accent that was undeniably human.
There were so many humans. It was extremely unusual and if the cause didn’t have to do with something bigger to keep prisoners in, it meant there weren’t enough ‘bots to go around. Either they had more Light creatures captured than ‘bots or there were still enough free Lights that the ‘bots were busy tracking them down.
“You are Leigha, yes?” the man asked, breaking off my thoughts.
“Last time I checked. Unless I’ve somehow turned into the cookie monster since I last looked in the mirror.”
I was going to be a perfectly frustrating subject and he was already irritated with me.
He ignored what I said and moved on. "We have a fairy expert who will question you. You will answer honestly and answer or we will force you. He knows how to tell your lies apart from the truth. Your fairy tricks won't work on him, so I wouldn't even try." Someone knocked on the door. "Ah, luckily, he's here, so I won't have the pleasure of spending anymore time with you."
I smiled falsely and said, "Good job! That's called sarcasm!"
The door opened and the man's "fairy expert" walked in. Something in the hall felt off, I felt it when the door opened and the feeling stayed even after the door closed behind the first man as he left. The feeling tingled against my skin and made me uncomfortable. I examined the new stranger closely, wondering if he'd brought this feeling in.
He wasn't human. It'd taken a moment for me to realize it, but he was a fairy. His appearance would easily trick a human; it had managed to fool me. I sighed to myself, even the good magic went to the dark side sometimes.
"Hi, uh, Leigha."
Very smooth.
"Hello, traitor," I said raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms, daring him to protest.
"Actually, it's Luke," he said, also crossing his arms. Then, he laughed. He laughed at me and said, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You do realize you're saying this as you work for the Darks?"
An uneasy look crossed his face, but it passed quickly. "I can help you."
"Oh, sure. How am I supposed to know you're even a real fairy?" I asked even though I could already tell he wasn't faking anything. I just wanted to know how far I could push him.
"I'll show you," he replied and he spread his wings.
His blue-tinted translucent wings unfolded smoothly. His wingspan was huge, probably the biggest I'd ever seen, but his wings were beautiful. A tiny piece of me shifted towards trusting him and that piece had the potential to grow much larger if I knew his Light name.
"I'll explain, but I can't have them hearing me."
"I'm not coming any closer."
He folded his wings back in and shrugged. "Then you may never know."
I sighed and shifted slightly closer to him.
That caused him to laugh. "Is that supposed to be closer?"
I huffed, then walked all the way over to him.
"I'm a spy, of my own making," he said quietly. "Humans raised me because my mother found me, beaten and abandoned because of what I was, when I was ten. It didn't take her long to figure out that I’m a fairy, but my father wasn't around much when I was young so it wasn't hard for her to hide it until I could do it myself. She sympathized with us, one of the few humans who did, and my father killed her for it, but he still doesn't know what I am. He just thinks I'm smart."
"How'd he find out?" I asked softly.
"What?"
"Your father, how'd he find out your mother was a sympathizer?"
"She got caught, warning a group of fairies that they were about to be ambushed."
I remembered that day clearly. My family had been trying to make it back to our house after escaping prison for a third time. We knew there would be hunting parties out for us, but we were willing to take the chance. Suddenly, a woman had come to us
and warned us that there were 'bots just around the corner waiting to ambush us. We'd thanked her and run the other direction, but we weren't too far to hear her screaming. I'd wanted to go back to save her, but Cece held me back. The woman would've already been gone.
"I'm sorry," I told him.
“My job as a spy here is to take all the information they want and twist it, but only so much. I can’t change it to much or they would notice the difference from other sources. I also get all the information I can and send it away. No one here has figured it out and it seems to work. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”
“What’s your set age?” I asked.
“Twenty-one.”
I stood contemplating him for a moment. Trying to decide how much of his story I believed and whether I trusted him. The story changed things, if he was telling the truth. So, I did something I avoided most of the time: I read his mind.
All fairies have different powers mind reading, or really anything to do with the mind, was mine, so I opened up my mind to hear his thoughts.
Why won’t she trust me? Was the first thing I heard, then, I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t lie to another fairy like that, although a Dark fairy would. I’m pretty obviously not one, so why won’t she trust me?
Luke was frustrated and part of me was enjoying watching him squirm. The most important thing was that he wasn’t lying and my faith in him went up slightly. Another, darker part of me still was untrusting enugh to wonder what his Light name was and that part took control of my mouth.
“Tell me your Light name,” I blurted out and realizing what I had done I said, “so I have more reason to trust you.”
I saw Luke’s hesitation. It was a big deal to give up a Light name. It would show me all the magic he’d done, his feelings, and the whole of who he was. Giving up a Light name was giving up your identity, giving someone else the power to control you, and trusting the person you gave it to wouldn’t turn and tell someone else.
He sighed wearily, “I’ll consider it…if you show me your wings.”
“No!” I said immediately.
“Fine,” he said, raising one shoulder in a shrug. “I won’t tell you my name, then,”
Could I do it? Show some stranger my wings, a stranger I barely trusted? I didn’t like showing my wings to people; it was a much more intimate act to me than it was to most people. “Fine,” I finally grumbled and stepped back, so I’d have room to spread my wings. I thought to Claire, You’re going to kill me. Yes, I can send thoughts too, but I do it less than I read minds, except with my family.