Chapter I

I walked across the rain-splattered asphalt, with a dotted yellow line, the ancient road disappearing as it curved into a bend about a half a-mile down. I held the wicker basket my Nana taught me how to make when I was nine. It was filled to the top with a mixture of rowan berries and heather. I sloshed past the broken fence that separated the road from the dense Oregon forest beyond. I tugged at my jacket nervously, and pulled my hood further over my eyes. I didn't want to see the shadows of the people flitting lithely around me, making sure I didn't lose myself in the endless expanse of foliage. I heard nothing but the pattering of raindrops on the leaves surrounding me (or were they footsteps?), and a faint roaring sound. No, not roaring. It was like laughter bordering the edge of hysterics.

Nana and Mom had all but pushed me out the door, reassuring me that I would have the time of my life. I repeatedly tried to tell them that 'the time of my life' was best defined as a day spent at the mall with my friends or better yet at the prom tonight with Allen Schreiber as my date, instead of tromping through the mud in the rain. But they rarely listen to me. Instead they shooed me away with commands such as "Have a good time," and "Don't you dare eat a thing, young lady, or I'll tan your backside!" "Don't fall asleep," and "Don't kiss anyone!" The way the said it, pointing out obvious things, as if they were attempting to bring it to my attention, made me a little suspicious, but I waved it away.

The faint laughing noise grew louder, and as I walked a few more steps I saw its source. A creek coursed its way through the far side of a clearing, and dancing around its center were shadows. I heard a series of whispers, and it almost resembled a melody, the shadows keeping time with its tempo. Around the clearing was a ring of wild flowers and mushrooms… a faerie ring.

I smashed some of the dark red rowan berries in my hand, and shredded the heather, just like Nana had taught me. I held my hands out, and even though I'd been told what would happen, I was still shocked when a tall, blurry shadow danced over to me and touched my hands. The shadow pushed my hands to my face, and I closed my eyes. The wet rowan-and-heather concoction were smeared over my lids, and rubbed in my ears and lips.

I gasped suddenly and my eyes popped open.

I was drenched with water, to the delight of many enthusiastic voices. I beheld the owners of the voices with awe. Some were tall and lean, but muscular at the same time, and had long pointed ears and eyebrows that curved upward too far at the ends. Others were much smaller and wore spider webs and they're faces were like those of children, and yet others had the legs of goats and the torsos and heads of men. And in the creek, I saw the bobbing heads of water folk. They were beautiful.

I stood in a gathering of Aes Sidhe; The Fae. The whispered melody I heard before was transformed in my ears, and the sound of flutes, bells and drums replaced it. The Faeries danced around, with partners and in friendly circles. A faerie man stood beside me, and blew on me. I immediately felt warm and dry, and realized that it was not raining here, though if I looked beyond the mushrooms and flowers I could see a curtain of water pouring. The faerie man skipped away to join the dance, and I saw that he had been the shadow that had touched my hand. His ears were long and pointed; an Elf. I was bewildered. I glanced around the circle, trying to be inconspicuous. Nana had said that a human staring at anything too long in the company of Fae was considered highly impolite.

My eyes were drawn to a row of baskets, and the aroma of food entered my nose. It smelled better than anything I'd ever smelled before. Reluctantly I turned away. I didn't want to be stuck here, which was what would happen if I ate or drank anything from here; I had been warned. Instead, I looked at the dancers. A mask-wearing dancer caught my eye and, laughing, swept me into the dance.

I was surprised to find my feet knew the steps, and was even more surprised to find I really wasn't surprised about it at all. It seemed as natural as breathing, nothing strange. For the first time, the sound of mirth escaped my lips and the dread I had felt in coming here was gone, and I spun and stomped and clapped lightheartedly. The scene blurred and the sound of the music moved through my veins in a successful attempt to keep my body swaying to the beat. I didn't notice the moon creeping up higher into the sky, or the crackling fire that had mysteriously conjured in the center of the clearing. All I knew was the happy dancing, circling, round and round…

My cheeks where hot, flushed with excitement, and I could literally feel my eyes sparkle with tears of merriment. I would have danced longer, but my legs grew too tired. I dropped out of the circle of dancers, trying to catch my breath. Directly across from me, beyond the dancers, a tall elf leaned against a tree. His skin was a peculiar color, like it was trying to decide whether it wanted to be white or pale lavender. His hair was long and silvery, and he wore a red mask with intricate black designs that covered the upper half of his face, and his eyes were blue and emitted light. It was a feature common among his species, I'd noticed. He was staring at me, and I grew uncomfortable.

Suddenly, he looked away from me, turning his attention to a beautiful elf woman who had approached him. She leaned in towards him and he said something to her which I couldn't hear. Her glowing eyes flickered to me as she said something back. I looked away from the pair just in time to see the string of dancers before I was trampled underfoot.

"Ahem," I heard a small cough from below, and I looked down to see a short, yellow skinned faerie. "I believe it's time for you to go, Miss; the sun is about to rise. Lorcan! Humph, where is that confounded— Oh! Lorcan, come on, it's time to take Miss Roselyn home." He turned his attention to me. "Of course you will come again tomorrow night,, as the Kings guest. You are such a pretty girl." He smiled proudly at me, and I smiled back, dizzy and confused.

The elf, Lorcan, grasped my elbow. "Miss Roselyn," He murmured. He handed me my basket, and led me to the edge of the ring. As soon as I stepped over the necklace of mushrooms and flowers, I was consumed in blackness, and silence. I was about to turn back when I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "Don't look back, Roselyn." Lorcan whispered and gave me a little push to get me walking again. It had stopped raining, but the ground was still swampy. Lorcan helped me along, picking me up every once in a while to carry me across a large puddle. I felt like a burden, but I didn't complain.

We made it to the edge of the forest, and I could see the light from the front porch burning brightly, and the sky was turning a lighter shade of blue by the minute. I could faintly make out Lorcan's large frame beside me. "Tomorrow?" He asked me. It took me a moment to understand.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll come."

"I will be back for you at twilight." His voice faded as he spoke; He was leaving.

"Hey, wait!" I called. No answer. "Thank you," I said weakly. I wasn't sure if he was still here or not.

"Mmm," the distant answer reached me. I smiled and stumbled towards the house. When I was in, I locked the door behind me and glanced at the clock. 5: 47. A light flipped on in the hallway and Nana peered from behind her bedroom door. "Rose, you made it!" She said, sounding a little disappointed.

"Well, duh. I wasn't going to stay there forever, Nana." I said, trudging past her to my room. She wished me goodnight and shut her door, and I shut mine.

School dragged on like never before. Everything seemed ten times duller that yesterday. Ellie, my best friend, rambled on and on about trivial things. Did she do this everyday? In math, Allen smiled at me as he handed he me tonight's homework. I waited for the butterflies in my stomach to wake up and flutter like crazy, but—nothing. He struck up a conversation, and we talked for a few minutes. I never realized before just how boring he was.

I walked the dry road home as a rare sun and clear blue skies shone down on me. I was taken by surprise when I walked through the door and was pounced on by Mom and Nana. They dragged me to the vanity and began fixing me up. Nana pulled a dress from the closet that was thin and white and all but ordered me to put it on. Mom pulled a blue shawl around my shoulders and handed me a basket of roses. "They don't get many of these," she said smiling. She hugged me tightly, and Nana gave me a kiss. Then I was pushed out the door and waved on by an overly eager grandmother.

When I reached the woods, I was met by Lorcan. He gazed at Mom and Nana for a moment, and I thought I saw a look of regret cross his pretty face, but it was gone in an instant. "Come on," He said quietly and motioned me into the dense greenery ahead.

Once again, I found myself in the bright, joyous ring .There were more faeries dressed in elegant court clothes, and they wove through the crowds with their partners. I found myself searching for someone in particular…

An arm hooked through mine and yanked me around. The beautiful woman who had whispered to the elf king last night stood in front of me. I was shocked to see that her mouth was twisted into a look of contempt, marring her lovely features. What had I done to deserve this woman's anger? I broke into a cold sweat.

She looked me up and down for a moment and I watched as her frown deepened. "Miss Roselyn, isn't it? Did you bring us an offering?" She asked, sniffing in the baskets direction and wrinkled her nose. "It will do." She said icily and nodded to a small goblin standing near by. "Take it to the King," She ordered. The goblin obligingly removed it from my arm and scurried away.

The woman glared at me before speaking again. "I am the Daly D'Këlë, But you shall address me as The Dally It means advisor, that is my position, and that is what you may call me when you so need. I am to introduce you to the court, when it is time. Stay out of trouble until then and we shan't need to speak to each other again." She tilted her head towards me and strode away, disappearing into the crowd.

I blinked in confusion. I was always confused when I talked to people here. I felt out of place and yet, somehow, like I belonged. I sighed and tried to distract myself. The table of faerie food caught my attention, and I gradually meandered over to it. What did it hurt to look?

There were many strange dishes, and some I could almost recognize. There seemed to be a weird version of a custard, but it rose in the center and it was decorated to look like a complicated model of a ship full of men battling with sea monsters in a stormy sea. It was amazing, and it smelled really, really good…. I moved away before I could give in. There was definitely harm in looking at good food when you couldn't have it. A tap on my shoulder startled me, and I looked up into the face of the elf I had seen last night, the one who had worn the red mask. He did not wear it now, though, and I was exposed to his comely face. He was very tall, about six foot nine, and his brawny form overwhelmed my petite one. He spoke, his voice husky. "Would you dance with me?"

The expression on my face must have encouraged him, for he led me into the dance without waiting for an answer. He turned me into the slow dance before speaking again, "What is your name?"

"I'm Roselyn. And you are?"

He smiled. "Torin. It means 'chief' in the old language."

"Ah," I said. "My name means 'rose'. Imagine that."

Torin laughed "How old are you, Roselyn?"

"Isn't that considered a rude question?"

"Not in my culture. We don't age like humans do."

I thought about that for a minute. "I'm sixteen. How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Hardly. I know how age works among your kind. How old are you really?"

"A hundred and ninety-something. I lost track after a hundred and thirty. "

"that's not very fair," I mumbled. "You get to live for nearly forever, and I have to die like a good little mortal."

I was joking, but he didn't laugh. The dancing grew faster and faster, and the time flew by at abnormal speeds. Just like last night, I didn't pay attention to how quickly the dawn was approaching. Torin finally halted and I came back to my senses. "Let's get something to drink," he said, and pulled me over to the table. He poured a glass of some red liquid, and handed it to me. I stared at the goblet, unsure of how to proceed. "Uh, Torin," I said, shakily, "I, uh, I hate to be rude, but I can't drink this." I glanced at him, and silently gasped. He was very close, his cheek next to mine. "Can't you?" he asked, reaching over to support the goblet that shook in my hand.

It took me a second to get a hold of my wits. "No, I can't. I have to go in the morning!" Torin slowly took the goblet from me, and took a sip. He looked thoughtfully at me.

"Why? Isn't everything much duller out there, in your world? What's so repelling about staying here, with us? Aren't we far more interesting, more exciting than anything you've ever encountered before? Can't you feel it, the feeling of belonging?" He asked. I looked away, knowing the answers and not wanting to state them.

"I have to go," I said, trying to stand.

"Roselyn, do you remember when you got lost in the woods when you were young? Yet you made it home. Then you caught pneumonia right after that, but you were fine in a couple days. Or have you noticed how you never really connected with anyone besides your family? Ever thought it strange that your family knew the secret of the existence of the Aes Sidhe?

"I led you home, Roselyn. I healed you. You come from a long line of elf-friends. You were promised to us by your ancestors, you know. So were all the women in your family since they moved us from our Motherland to this country, three hundred years ago. "

This was crazy talk. But, then again, hadn't I been raised to believe in faeries?

"Your father is one of us, Roselyn: your part elf. You belong here, with us." He said, taking both of my hands, he leaned in, and kissed me.