Sookie POV
"You get to choose when" he finishes. His skin glows as he folds the piece of paper and wipes his nose in a very un-fae manner.
I remove my chin from my hands and place them palm-down on the kitchen table between us. My mind is buzzing with the information he has just thrown at me. I can't even remember his name. He came in just as I was sitting down to lunch, introduced himself, and started reading the letter. A letter so surprising that I quickly forgot his introduction. Gran would flay me; no matter what happens you should never forget a person's name, especially within ten minutes of meeting them!
I take a deep breath and address the nose-wiping fairy, "So, let me get this straight. Niall has foreseen that because of my involvement with him, I will soon be captured and tortured beyond all reckoning."
Nose-wipe nods, looking bored.
"And, in order to avoid this he has now invoked an ancient and unprecedented magic to send me back in time to a place, and erm, a time, of my choosing… where I will retain all of my memories?"
Nod. Wipe.
"Yes, it is all as I have explained," he says, his voice impatient. He taps the paper he just finished reading from.
"The only requirement is that it must be before the first time Niall contacted you, and that when he does approach you, you give him the second letter." He pulls out a second letter from some kind of invisible pocket in the area of his chest. It's sealed with what looks like an ancient crest, and glows slightly.
"You will need to keep the letter on your person at all times. Any change in your actions will cause changes in what comes next. Things will not occur exactly as they have in this timeline. He may contact you in a different way, at a different time. You will need to be ready."
"Ooookay," I say as I reach for the letter with an unsteady hand. My mind is reeling at the possibilities. He covers the envelope with his hand in a protective gesture.
"This is a powerful magical artifact, not a groceryshop-food-list to be thrown in your ugly satchel" he sneers.
I glance down at my battered tan purse, feeling sorry for it. It didn't know when I chose it this morning it would suffer the censure of the fae-fashion-police.
Nose-Wipe-Fashion-Police produces a ring from his magical chest pocket. "The letter may be stored in here." He holds the letter up to the ring.
He waits to make sure I am watching and says "Abdo."
I almost laugh, the letter zips into the ring in the exact same way a document looks when it is minimized on a desktop (Amelia set to work almost immediately after she moved in to make sure I had a tutorial in basic computer operation).
"Simply say 'Aperio letter,' to retrieve it." As he speaks the words the letter reappears in his hand.
"Neat," I comment without thinking.
"Yes, it is a very clean and efficient way to store solid matter" he nods as if I have finally said something worthwhile.
I decide to forgo mentioning the lesson he needs in colloquial human English as he continues.
"You may also store other objects. Given your… history, it would not be remiss to put in a stake, some silver and whatever humans use to kill other humans. Simply say 'Aperio' and the name of the object and it will appear in your hand."
I think about this for a moment before asking, "Are there any size or weight limits?"
He nods again, pleased with the question. "The ring is actually a portal to a rented-out space in another dimension. Nothing is actually stored in the ring itself. You could store this entire house in the ring if you wanted, the only draw-back being that when you call it back, it would crush you." He wipes his nose again, and I wonder if there is such a thing as a fae runny nose… or fae coke.
"I, wait, what does this letter say?" I ask.
He stands up, looking impatient.
"That is none of your concern. The Prince is giving you a great gift; all he asks is that you deliver this letter. Think of the exact date you would like to return to, I will be back in one hour." And with that, Nose-Wipe is gone.
I take a moment to take it all in. I can go back in time.
My first inclination is to simply return to the night Eric brought me to meet my grandfather, deliver the letter, and have that be the end of it. Mission accomplished. But my mind keeps turning over the words:
"Any change in your actions will cause changes in what comes next."
Meaning… I could change the future… well, past. Whatever, I could save Gran! I could steer clear of the whole messy business with Bill! I could avoid all this supe drama before it even happens!
I could even go back to high school and have a maybe half-way decent time of it now that I have my powers under control. Uhg, no, going back to high school sounds like the seventh circle of hell, actually.
I quickly exit the kitchen, grab a handful of paper from Amelia's printer, and start to plot out the events of the last two years.
I could change it; I could change it all.