Chapter 7

"Sophie, I love you," he breathed as he held both my hands a leaned in. He was two inches away from my face when he put one hand in my blonde hair.

"I love you too…"

Then I woke up. I raised my head to find a think layer of fog over the meadow where we camped. The fire Orin had made was now only small embers and the ground was covered in a thick layer of dew. Orin was not resting in his mat, and was no where to be seen. I got up and stretched out my arms and legs and picked up a small twig. I poked the dead fire dully and my mind wandered to the dream I had. Too good to be true. That is when I noticed my hand.

A fleck of skin on my left hand right near my knuckle was shimmering gold. I looked at it for a moment. What is this? I touched it with the tip of my finger and it spread. Now all of my knuckles were shimmering gold. Don't touch it! I thought, but I had to. Oh, me and my impulsiveness. I touched it again and it just chipped off more of my skin to reveal a gold shimmer. Now my entire hand was gold.

It did not stop chipping either. All of the skin on my fore arm crumbled off; my veins being traced with metallic silver. My finger nails grew longer and turned to a silver color as well. The peeling of my skin stopped at my elbow to reveal my entire fore arm glowing in the dawn's sunlight.

Get. This. Stuff. Off. Me.

I rubbed my fore arm harder and harder but my skin only crumbled away into gold. My entire left arm was glittering, but I kept rubbing. It just won't come off! I tried to rub off all the glitter, but soon my entire chest was breaking away into dust. I looked like glitter eye liner gone terribly wrong. After I started to rub on my neck, every piece of my skin collapsed. My head, arms, legs, and torso was all shining a bright gold. My blonde hair grew longer, and my feet became slightly smaller, with toe nails like my fingers. The dirty dress I had been wearing was ripping near my stomach to show a golden belly button.

My face.

I sprinted over to the pond near our camp, climbing over a small bit of brush and weeds. My reflection was astounding. My eyes had grown double their normal size, and my face was the same color as my body, but with rosy cheeks. My eyes were the same bright green, but my pupils looked huge. What has happened to me? A quiet laughter came from in front of me.

"Come, child. Would you like a ride on my back?"

A huge black horse was staring at me a couple of yards away. Its mane was pitch black, and it had fiery red eyes. Its mane was dripping wet, with reeds tangled in it. Its coat was smooth looking, much like a seal, and its beauty was breath taking. Just one ride, maybe?

I started to lean towards the water, the horse's eye's staring down into mine. It moved towards me, gracefully, causing ripples to form and more water to cascade down its neck.

My fingers had just touched the water, when a bright silver sword came out of no where, and sliced into the horse's neck. The horse roared and reared backwards as crimson blood oozed out of its face. The blade came swooping down again, this time catching the rim of the horse's eye and cutting down its neck. It reared again, this time moving back into the depths of the water. A hand pulled me back from the edge of the water, and into the brush next to a huge oak.

"Too many times I have saved your life, Sophie!" he said, breathing heavily. I looked up at him, my hair falling away from my face, showing my gigantic eyes and shimmering body. He gasped and drew back for a moment, studying my face and body. He was checking me out.

"What am I?" I asked. Tears started to well up in my eyes, but I didn't dare cry.

"No… You've must've stayed in Chaos too long. Your mother… now you?"

"What am I?" I asked again.

"You're a faery. Your mother was a faery, and your father being of such fantastic human power, must've made you a half-ling. You have been in Chaos much too long, so you are starting to change. Have you ever been in Chaos before this?"

"N-no. I've been t-told not to go near it," I said shakily. I could not hold the tears back any longer, and they streamed down my face. How could this happen to me?

Orin put a hand to my face wiping away the tears with his thumb.

"Your body must've sensed the magic and Fae, which triggered this. It's not your fault Sophie. It's sort of pretty, actually."

He took his hand out of mine and lifted my arm, examining the golden diamonds that sparkled on my skin. He traced my metallic veins, and put my arm back down.

"How will I make it go away?"

"You most likely cannot. Glamour might cover it up to make you look human, but I'm guessing this is permanent."

"You said I was a half-ling?" I asked as he pulled my away from the tree by my hand and led me back to camp.

"Yes, a half-ling; a person born of the Fae and the humans. You might have some characteristics of a human still. There are billions of people like you, still unaware that of what they are, are born of a faery, or know faeries exist at all."

He sat me down on my mat, and looked at me in the eyes.

"Sorry for being careless again," I said. "What was that thing?"

"A kelpie, a water-horse that lures its victims into the water it dwells in, only to kill them. Many live in ponds much like this. I warn you to never go near one again, okay?"

"Okay."

He sat up and looked ahead at the forest in front of us.

"We should start to get a move on. Hopefully we will be at the gates of the Spring Seelie Court by sundown." He said, never moving his gaze from the woods. He got up and picked up his sword from off the ground. He placed it in his hilt and waved his hands over his mat, concentrating like before. Suddenly it turned back into a dead log. He pulled me off my mat, and he waved his hand again, and another log appeared.

I surveyed my clothes for a moment. My long dress was torn in many places, including my stomach, and my legs and the dress was filthy. Mud was strewn over the bottom of the dress, and my feet were covered in dirt. I took the bottom of my dress, and ripped off the bottom to just a little bit above my knees.

"Do you mind making me a pair of shoes?" I asked.

Orin smiled and took two sticks from off the ground. He performed the same magic he did last night; his hands and the sticks glowed and soon a pair of black boots formed. I took the leather boots and put them on my dirty feet.

We walked over to the edge of the woods, and he stopped right in front of me. He looked back at me for a moment, and the way the sun hit his eyes in that precise moment, made his bright green eyes, form a ring of yellow around his pupils which looked like solar eclipse. His eyes had captured the sun.

"Shall we?" he asked.

I nodded in reply, and he took my hand as we stepped into the brush once more.