Chapter Ten: The Fae
Lily's POV
They were soaring over the clouds, each beat of the roc's enormous wings blowing the air around Lily in large circular motions. The clouds below moved, changing shape from the wind of it all.
They had flown for hours, and moved with rapid progress. They were slowly, and finally, starting to descend. There was sudden swoop, and she was dropped deftly onto the top of a tree. "Hey!" Lily looked up, but the roc was nowhere to be seen. For something of that size, it can sure move fast! She started to climb down slowly.
Lily was in what looked like a rainforest. The air was damp, and humid. Large, sheltering leaves and round flowers with curling petals twisted all around her rich in health and in color. It was breathtaking. The ground was right below, and she jumped, landing with a thump. A flittering, chittering sound echoed through the trees. Lily froze. Where am I, and what could possibly be out there?
Lily ran through the forest. The leaves in front of her were stiff, and she brushed them away. Green flew past her peripheral vision. The vast leaves moved aside, revealing a round clearing.
Little people! Lots and lots of them! Each was only a couple inches tall, and were dancing around, in large sweeping circles, waving little fists and flowers in the air. They moved in unison, all dancing to the beat and the melody of some unheard music. Around the edges of the clearing, and in the middle, slowly but surely, a magnitude of flowers and plants were glowing. Lily gasped.
Thousands of little faces turned in her direction. And they scattered. In a couple of seconds, the whole clearing was empty. No! Wait? I have to talk to them, maybe they were the ones I'm looking for. Maybe, just maybe, they could help me get James back somehow.
"Hey! No! I'm not going to hurt you! Please, I need help! Come back out." A couple little heads popped out. A little light flew up to Lily, and hovered in front of her face. She's beautiful! The little faerie was wearing a small leaf wrap, and little bell-like flowers adorned her swishy skirt. In her long hair, green plants appeared to be growing. Her little feet came in touch with Lily's nose, and her miniature, multicolored butterfly wings stopped moving. She touched Lily's forehead, and closed her eyes.
Her little gem blue eyes opened, she looked in my green ones, stroking my forehead compassionately. "You do need our help, do you?" Her voice was lower than I would have thought, but light and airy. "You really need our help, and desperately. That happens, occasionally, that a pure and kind human comes along." She fluttered down, and instinctively Lily raised a hand. She lit down on Lily's palm, and dropped to her knees, curling up. "You may make a wish." She said softly.
"A wish?" Lily asked.
"Yes, that is what you came for, isn't it? That's what they all come for. We are the wish faeries, those who have our blessings, or those who have caught and recognized us, they may make one wish, and that wish will come true. You have an innocent wish. It will become reality."
I can make everything right again! Why didn't Camellia send me here in the first place?
Maybe she wanted me to meet the banshees? Or something had to happen before I made my wish. Maybe she was buying time so that I wouldn't freak out?
"I wish," Lily said in a clear and steady voice. "That I was with James, and Harry, at home, and we're all safe." She closed her eyes.
Lily's skin tingled. She could smell the living room, hear James's deep and comforting voice, and could feel Harry squirming happily in her arms.
Lily opened my eyes, but was still in the forest. My wish!
"Are they at home?" Maybe I made too many wishes at once? "Are they safe?"
The faerie on her hand blinked and looked disappointed. "It didn't work!" she called to the others in shock, and fluttered up until she was eye height with Lily. "I wonder why... oh, THAT's why it didn't work! No wonder!" She laughed.
"What, did we do it wrong? Can we try again?" Lily asked frantically.
"No, silly! We can't use the wishes on ourselves, or on other faeries. You're kin!"
The other faeries crawled out and danced around in their spots. "Kin!" they echoed.
"So that means..." Lily started, upset.
"Shhhhh!" she interrupted Lily. "Listen! You can hear it! Come on, try!"
Lily listened. Faintly, she heard music. It was a catchy, beautiful tune, and it soon filled her ears. "Listen!" some of the others chorused.
What beautiful music! I made me want to... DANCE! I could stop, and dance for a while, I suppose. My problems would just go away if I danced- problems? What problems! Lily leapt up.
The little faerie was right in front of her. "Come along!" she called.
Why is she my height? I mean, I was so much taller then her BEFORE. Lily looked around. Everything looked so big. I SHRUNK! I HAVE REALLY, REALLY, SHRUNK! TO THE SIZE OF A PAIR OF NAIL SCISSORS! I'm TINY! Her surprise faded. Ah, well, all the better to dance, I'm sure. With the others.
Something stirred behind her back. Lily turned around, gazing at her flame colored wings. They were the bright red color of her hair, with bold yellow and orange patterns and little flickers of blue around the edges. She flew up, up with the others. We went through the forest, reveling in the light that filtered through. The rays of sunlight hit Lily's wings, and she felt truly alive.
They found another clearing, and began to dance around on the ground. The chaos was actually an organized string of foot movements and complicated steps, combined with graceful sweeps of the arms and hands. Each movement seemed to say a thousand words, and each switch of the hands was words, expressions, praising the sun and the music.
Lily danced, forever, and ever and ever, and ever. The sun set, and they danced in the light of the moon. It rose, and they praised the sun, just kept going, and going, never stopping as the days passed, and they roamed around, growing the forest, changing clearings and making new trees wherever they went. Time had no meaning, and it was all part of the sacred dance.
The feelings of unbelonging I had had as a child all make sense now. I had this in my blood, the yearn for the dance. I had tried to fill the empty space of family with James, and Harry, but this sense of community with the faeries was unsurpassable. There was something else Lily wanted, that her inner self screamed for, but she didn't know what it was. It came in the day when the moon was gone and the only shadows were under the bright glowing leaves. But that's unimportant, the call of the faeries is stronger.
In the middle of the berry-growing dance, Lily noticed something strange in the bushes. Eyes, eyes, what were eyes doing in the bushes? Our bushes? She went over to investigate.
THWUMP! Something jumped at her, out of the darkness of the bushes, and she was slammed against the ground harshly. The injustice! Lily cried out to my sisters and brothers of the fae. They called back, but their voices were fading. Don't leave me!
She was lifted, in a huge set of hands. Someone had taken me! I had been caught! What should I do?
The hands slowly opened, and Lily sat, looking up into great brown eyes. "Wow, it's a fairy!"
I'm not a fairy! A faerie! A faerie! Fairies are bigger, and uglier, if you ask me. And they don't know ho do dance like we do. They don't hear nature's music at all!
"Are you a wish fairy? If you are, I demand a wish."
Caught, and identified. How do you give someone a wish, anyway?
"I wish that Juliana was in love with me! Breck doesn't deserve her, anyway!"
That's not fair to Juliana, is it? A huge ripping feeling tore at Lily, and a sense of happiness went with it. They were taking a part of her, using her magic to make their dream come true! I guess that's how it works, then. She cried out in pain, but the man didn't seem to notice, for A beautiful blond girl was walking through the leaves to his right, and her eyes were right on him. "Juliana!" he cried, and Lily was dropped.
Little faerie hands grasped at her, and she was pulled to safety. The man was grinning, as they left together, he looked back once, and nodded. Then they were gone.
"Don't worry," The faerie, a cream colored one I didn't recognize, said to Lily. The rich chocolate brown spots on her wings fluttered sympathetically. "Every fae has unlimited wishes. You'll feel better soon. Come on, we must move. The dance of twilight will signify the end of your healing, and you will be as new."
Lily stopped. Something was nagging at her, something she hadn't felt in a long time. Was it worry? "I have to ask you guys something!"
Their short attention span turned to Lily. "Will you help me save my husband?" She begged.
They gasped. "Were you stolen? Did one catch you and force you to leave with it? That happened once, long ago. An evil elf took our sister away!"
"No, I married him, and I love him, and he's in trouble!" What happened to me? How could I just forget James like that? "Will you help me save him? From Voldemort?"
"Voldemort?" asked one.
"That's the one with the evil wish!" another cried out.
"Oh yes! His wish was so evil it killed the lilac one with its casting."
"He made a WISH?" Lily asked, horrified.
"Oh yes, that was when he wasn't quite very large yet, a long time ago."
"What did he wish for?" Lily asked, panic rising.
"Why, to be all powerful, of course."
"Stupid wish, if you ask me. He should have wished to join the dance."
"Yes, sensible wish-"
"Will you or will you not help me save my husband from him?" Lily called over their chattering. 'All powerful', the words echoed in her head. Camellia sent me; it must be possible to save James!
"No."
The clearing was silent, and Lily turned to the one who had said it. It was the one who she had wished by, when it hadn't come true. What did she say?
"No. It is not our way to fight. We will not help you."
They turned and flew away, and Lily followed. She wasin shock, but the joy of the dance took her over, and her feet were moving again. Twilight was approaching, but the shadows seemed so welcoming . . . tears were running down Lily's cheeks. Why am I crying? Everything was in blissful oblivion . . .
Lily tore her mind away from them. If I stay until twilight, I will be caught up in the dance again, and I'll probably never be free from it again. She ran back through the forest. It went on, and she would never find an end to it.
How long have I been in the forest? How many days had passed, while James was in danger, and little Harry grew up alone and without me? Without me! I'm his mother! I should be there for him. I should be there for James. What if he's dead already?
No. I will find my way out of the forest, and I will find the elves that are my relatives, and James will be freed with what help I had. How much would the little worthless faeries help, anyway? All they can do is dance, and the wishes don't work for me. And nobody else's true desire is to have my husband safe, so James has no other hope! I will go, and I will fight.
Lily stumbled upon a part of the forest that was flattened, converted into a nest, only the nest was made out of whole trees. In the middle of the nest sat the young roc. He had grown considerably since she had last seen him.
"Did you wait for me?" Lily asked. His eyes opened, and he sat up, surprised to see her. He nodded, wearily, as if he had expected to wait forever.
"I got away." Lily said softly, and he looked into her eyes understanding. He could see how much she just wanted to turn around, and run back to the dance, where they would welcome her.
Somewhere along the way Lily had grown, and her wings were gone. She missed them for a second, but as the call faded she was grateful.
"Do you have a name?" Lily asked the roc.
The roc nodded. He chirped something that could almost be translated into the singing language that the banshees used. The answer suddenly came to Lily, just make his chirp a little more melodious-
"Cortez? Your name is CORTEZ?"
The roc nodded, looking offended.
"Oh, no, it's a fine name. Are you staying with me?" another nod. "Good." I won't be alone, then.
Lily climbed on his back, and they rose. Camellia must have been wrong; the faeries didn't want to help. She must have been mistaken.
Twilight came; the last vestiges of the song went down to a whisper. Lily had a feeling it would always haunt her. She leaned over, and the wind stung her eyes. Lily cried softly for the ones she had forgotten, in Cortez's glossy feathers.