This is a story about a girl who is trying to find herself but ends up finding much more than what she was looking for. Faeries and a multitude of other fairytale creatures will appear later in the story.

Chapter One

Lillith Megan Cramer thrashed wildly in her sleep. As the blankets began to constrict her body more and more, sweat dripped down the sixteen year old girl's forehead. A nightmare was chasing away her formerly pleasant dreams. Suddenly, she bolted upright. She instantly forgot the night terror, try as she might to remember it. Finally giving up, she returned to bed, sleep tightening its claws on her as soon as her head reached the pillow. What the girl didn't realize was that she had been having that same dream for some time now, and would continue having it until she followed the instructions detailed in the nightmare.

Lillith, or Lilly as everyone knew her as, awoke in the morning with no recollection of the dream that had plagued her during the night. As she opened her eyes to her bright and cheery bedroom, the only thought in her head was getting ready for school. She sat up and swung her feet out of bed and onto her plush white carpet. Her eyes squinted somewhat in the bright light of the May sun, but they soon adjusted and she got up to get in the shower, passing her many plants along the way. Lilly was a girl obsessed with spring and nature.

When she got out of the shower, Lilly walked into her enormous closet to pick something to wear. As she looked at the myriad of clothes, she contemplated putting on one of the new outfits she had bought a couple of weekends before. Her particular favorite was a brown boho skirt and a low cut green top, bedecked with beads and sequins. She decided against it though. As much as she adored the style, she knew that her peers and admirers would not approve. And although she was very nearly fed up with wearing and doing and saying and acting like others thought she should, she was not quite ready to disappoint everyone. She still cared far too much what others thought. So instead of wearing the bohemian hippie style she so very much wanted to wear, she donned a light yellow sleeveless shirt, an asymmetrical floral printed skirt that fell to her knees, white sandals, and a necklace with a flower on it. She towel dried her hair and ran a brush through it, spritzed herself with a sweet smelling perfume, and stood in front of the mirror.

Regardless of whether she realized it or not, Lilly was one of those girls you had to love, no matter how much you wanted to hate her. She was unequally gorgeous, with grass green eyes and beautiful blonde hair that never failed her. She was not tall by any means, but had a perfectly shaped petite form. There was no visible flaw on her anywhere. But beyond her physical appearance, she was also intelligent, friendly, caring, funny, fairly rich, had a great family, and was the most popular girl in school, other than the seniors of course.

People thought they knew exactly who she was the moment they saw her. She was the pretty, popular, stereotypically perfect girl that always had the Star Jock and Class A friends. But they didn't know everything. In many cases they were dead wrong. Sure, she had a great mother, father, and set of sisters, but they were the only family she knew of. She had never, not once, met any of her other relatives, and her parents never spoke of them. If she possessed any blood relatives other than the ones that lived with her, she was in the dark about them. Also, she was full of longing, for many different things. She had a very passionate and sensual heart that she kept hidden. Her boyfriend of six months, Frank Marlows (yes, the star of the Hillcliff High basketball team), had taken more than a month to kiss her, and during that time she had wanted to die the pain and frustration was so strong. She didn't expect anything sexual from Frank unless she stuck it out with him until marriage. She knew that she probably shouldn't think about some of those sort of things, but she couldn't help it. That was another thing people didn't realize. She was not as naïve and innocent as they believed. But where everyone who met her was absolutely and completely wrong about was the area of friends. Yes, she had some friends that were in the elite group of high school, but her very best friend, the one that she could almost invariably be found with was Georgia Bennett.

Georgia was very rebellious. Her typical uniform was a small shirt and tiny miniskirt or daisy dukes. She always had a boyfriend, and everyone thought she likely had one STD or another. In fact, she was a virgin, but she was constantly on the watch for The One that would take her virginity. In addition to her clothes, she had a mouth on her and was more of an artist than a brain. Lilly loved her though. She saw the things about her others didn't. Georgia was the best friend Lilly could ask for. She was real and honest and loyal. Lilly could care less about the other things.

Not feeling necessarily satisfied with how she looked, but knowing she was not going to change anything, Lilly stepped away from the mirror and headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Around the table she found her two younger sisters eating blueberry muffins. Maeve, who was ten, and Alice, thirteen, looked nothing like their older sister. They both had their mother's copper hair and freckles and father's height. All three girls had their mother's bright green eyes, though. Lilly always thought it strange that her sisters looked nearly identical to her mother while she looked like neither her father nor her mother. She was told she was the mirror image of her mother's sister Noola. She had never met nor seen a picture of Noola, though, because she had died before Lilly was born.

"Mornin' darlings," Lilly's mother said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. Morgan was born and raised in Ireland and her accent was obvious proof. The family liked to make fun of her because she was completely incapable of saying some words or phrases. Lilly's father, Ben, especially enjoyed lightheartedly teasing her. Being from the Midwest, Ben had a very small drawl in his voice, making him someone who people easily walked up to and talked. He was also very handsome, with brown hair and chocolate eyes, and height that rivaled trees.

"Hey there! It's my four favorite girls!" he exclaimed happily.

"Morning, Dad," the sisters chorused. Lilly added, "I have to get to school. I love you all!"

"O' course, dear. But did yeh get some breakfast?" asked her mother.

"I'll eat a muffin on the way, Mom," Lilly replied as she kissed each family member good bye. With a wave of her hand she was off to school. She grabbed her bag and purse by the door and hopped into her a car-a fabulous new Mustang GT. As she belted in, her hand immediately traveled to her cd collection, selecting Maroon 5 as if on auto drive. She loved their music. It unleashed in her something wild and uncontrollable, something almost primitive. She became a girl independent from the expectations of others, a girl free to be herself.

All too soon the beautiful Mustang pulled into the school parking lot and the music was turned down to a soft hum, a stark contrast to the blast from only moments before. She sighed as her eyes landed on the huge imposing building that was her high school, Hillcliff High School. It was a very old building, supposedly one of the first public education high schools in Ohio. The bricks were old and dark, a color almost like that of blood. Although it was very rare you saw one of the bricks, so covered with vines was it.

As Lilly stopped her car and got out, many faces smiled at her on their way to their respective classes. A charming smile plastered on her own face, she greeted everyone congenially. A few people stopped by her car to chat for a minute or two. It was completely mindless conversation. The girls wanted to know where she got the adorable skirt or if she and Frank would both be going to the annual end of the year celebration. The boys jokingly asked her when she was going to dump Frank and go out with them or if they could take a quick spin in her "'Stang". Lilly kept the smile firmly in place, laughed off the uncomfortable questions, and answered the others. Finally the people were all gone and she reached into the back of her car for her bag. She had a free period first period so she didn't really need to be at school so early, but it was expected that she make her appearances.

"Well if it isn't our reigning queen, Miss Lillith herself," a deceptively sweet voice said behind her.

"Oh shush, Gee," Lilly answered without looking up. After snatching her bag and turning around, her assessment was correct. Georgia stood leaning against Lilly's car, a wicked smile on her face.

"Well it's true, isn't it. You rival the Q.E.II herself, missy. I saw that your loyal band finally dispersed and I thought I'd come and greet you, Ma'am," she said, bending low to the ground in a curtsy made very awkward by the fact that her skirt was unimaginably tight and nearly as stunningly short.

"I'm serious, Gee. Please stop it. It's bad enough that I have to deal with other people. You're supposed to be my release."

"I am your release. I'm the one that accompanied you to the mall last weekend so you could buy some hippie chic. I see it's still hiding in your closet, though, eh?"

"It wasn't last weekend. And I can't wear those clothes to school, you know that."

"Of course you can wear them. You just won't. Anyway, I don't see the big deal. Those clothes are plastered on tons of fashion mags and hordes of people wear them."

"Yeah. But I'm not supposed to. Remember? I'm the sweet, innocent little virgin girl. I'm not supposed to even suggest anything other than that. People might die of the shock and disappointment."

"One could only hope."

"Georgia! That's an awful thing to say!"

"Yeah, well, I don't have to keep up the image that I'm sweet and innocent. People already know that I'm not. Ooh! By the way, I think I've finally found him, The One!"

"Gee, you always say that," Lilly said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but this time I'm almost positive he's It," her friend responded, flipping her long dark brown hair and linking her arm through Lilly's.

"So you're sure this time?"

"Of course not!" Georgia laughed spiritedly. "That's the fun of it though, you know? If I was sure, there'd be no adventure. This way is so much more thrilling!"

"I guess. So tell me about your new prince."

"Oh he's hardly a prince," Georgia snorted as she pulled Lilly down underneath a huge tree on the courtyard. "But his name is Todd and he's a friend of Bryan." Georgia looked intently at Lilly, watching for any reaction at the mention of that name. Bryan Elliot was one of Georgia's friends, a skateboarder. Georgia knew Lilly was crazy about him in spite of Frank. "Anyway," the girl continued, "he has light brown hair that curls at the ends-so cute. His eyes are this chocolatey brown that seem to go on forever they're so deep and caring. I'm serious, I feel like I can see straight into his soul each time I look in them. And he's tall, tall, tall!"

"Georgia Marie Bennett, I do believe you may be in love," Lilly said, pretending to be aghast. "What shall we do with you?"

"I don't know. And I barely even care," Lilly's friend sighed.

Lilly couldn't respond to that. As she looked at her friend, she realized something really had changed in her. Yes, she was still the same crazy, reckless Georgia, but there was something noticeably different about her. She was in such bliss that it was as if it were leaking out of her. Lilly smiled, delighted that someone she loved so much could find such a huge amount of happiness. But as her thoughts came to her own love life, the smile evaporated completely. She didn't feel full of bliss with Frank. In all honesty, she never did. She had been very attracted to him and held great admiration for his athletic skills, and so when he asked her out she figured she'd give it a try. But she soon learned that he was horribly boring and very full of himself. She had been completely ready to end the relationship after that first date, but somehow half the school found out that they had gone out and were very much in favor of the relationship. Not to mention, Frank was one hundred percent infatuated.

"Hey you, what's wrong?" Georgia asked, concern bleeding through her voice.

"Nothing," Lilly said cheerily, plastering on the smile she normally reserved for everyone other than Georgia.

"Don't you dare give me that, Lil. I know you better than the others. That doesn't fool me at all. Now tell me what's wrong."

"It's stupid, nothing, I swear."

"Then why do you look like someone's died?"

"Because I feel like I'm the one dying," she whispered.

"Lil! What the hell are you talking about?"

"I don't live for myself, Gee. I don't do anything for myself. You are completely happy with being you. You have the guy of your dreams and…and…happiness. I don't even feel like I truly have that. I feel like I'm living a lie."

"That's because you are. You've got to stop this. I mean it, Lil. It's tearing you apart. Tonight, you are going to break up with that idiot of a boyfriend and come out with me."

"That sounds nice," Lilly said, her voice devoid of emotion. She wasn't lying. Everything she had told Georgia was true, and she really did think that what Georgia said sounded nice. She just wasn't sure she could do it. She wasn't a strong willful fireball like her friend. She didn't possess that quality to disappoint. Georgia didn't care. She disappointed them from the start so that they accepted that and came to like it even. But it was different with Lilly. She was that dainty angel that everyone looked up to and revered. To disappoint them felt like a sin of some sort.

After school that day, Lilly got a phone call from Georgia. Georgia was adamant that Lilly would feel no relief until she got out of that shell of a life she had cooped herself up in. She gave a seemingly infinite pep talk that by the end really did give Lilly some much needed courage. Lilly hung up the phone feeling a sense of power that, although somewhat weak in all rationality, livened her up. Right away, she dialed Frank's cell.

"Hey Sweetie," he said by way of a greeting. Lilly winced.

"Hi," she said, her nerved starting to leave.

"What's up?"

She took a deep breath and grabbed hold of her courage. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, sure. Is it about the party? Cause I pretty much figured we go together."

"No. It's not about the party. It's about us. I think we should break up." There. She'd said it. Now all she had to do was wait for his response. But none came. There was complete silence on the other end.

"Are you still there?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I just. I don't understand. Why are you breaking up with me? Did I do something wrong? I mean-"

"No! Frank, of course you didn't do anything wrong. I just don't think we're a good fit anymore. I think we are better off as friends. I mean, we just didn't have any spark, did we?"

"Well…not a life altering one. But I really care about you, Lil. I think I may even love you."

"I know, but I don't love you. And it's not fair for us to keep going out if we don't share that."

"But couldn't you love me at some point? I mean if we waited things out."

"I don't think so. Not in that way, anyway. We just aren't the right fit, Frank. We really aren't."

"But we are!" he yelled, desperate. "Everyone says so!"

"I know."

An hour later, Lilly was stepping into her new brown boho skirt. She was feeling pretty proud of herself for holding firm against Frank. She hadn't backed down, not even when he had started crying. Maybe there was a tigress in her yet. The phone rang and she walked over to answer it.

"Lil? Are you almost ready? I'm gonna come by so you can follow me, k?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll see you in a few, Gee."

Lilly hung up and continued getting ready, humming to a new tune. It was Friday night. She was finally single. A wonderfully free skirt was hanging low on her waist and she was slipping on an awesome shirt that didn't quite cover all of her navel.

After she was finished dressing, Lilly admired herself in the mirror for the second time that day. Only this time, she felt completely satisfied.

I hope you liked it so far. Please review. I love to hear what everyone thinks! I'll be waiting for your opinions!