An: I decided this is the last chapter I'm going to post of this story, unless I get a lot more reviewers. Also, for copyright reasons. Despite those who say this story won't get stolen, it could happen, you know? I'm only in the process of getting this story edited and will feel better when it's in stores and can't be stolen. But, I want to know your guys' critiques, what you like/dislike, and if you would buy this off the shelf! Thanks for reading :D
The forest was strangely quiet; I couldn't even hear the wind or an owl. The trees loomed over me menacingly, and I shivered from the cold. What was lively and bright before was dark and threatening. What was a festival mere seconds before was now a desolate waste; there wasn't even a trace of a dance in sight.
"Can we just get her home?" A familiar voice snapped through the air, clearing my head of the confusion. The fuzzy voice I noticed earlier suddenly became clear, and I cried out in despair. I was certain that I was hallucinating or perhaps it was the rock I hit, but my mom was NOT standing in front of me. I mean, this woman was unrecognizable from the pictures, but I knew it was her.
Midnight colored hair framed her face, but it was short now, and she wore it spiked, like the pixie hairstyle that was seemingly popular these days. Emerald pearls looked down at me; there was guilt and relief that played in her expression. Her dress was of material that I had never seen before; it looked like it had come from the very forest itself. It was long and flowing and green, and there was only a strap on one shoulder. She was barefoot; I remember her never wearing shoes when she could help it. "Mom?" I asked weakly, pushing myself up in a sitting position.
Killian tried to push me back down, a look of distress masking his face, but I waved him away as my anger flared. The very woman that just got up and left was sitting right in front of me, and she expected me not to get angry? "Where the hell have you been?" I asked, my arms folded across my chest. My head was pounding with throbbing pain, but I ignored it and continued to glare at her.
Mom looked around anxiously, as if someone was listening in. Her figure became stiff, and out of nowhere she bolted to her feet and lunged towards me. I cringed away. I mean, the woman was obviously crazy. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "Hurry child. These woods are not safe at night, especially for someone like you."
Killian nodded in agreement. "I have business to attend to, now that she knows," he said to my mother, his eyes showing her the hidden meaning that was lost to me. I wanted to question him, but with a flip of his long hair, he had disappeared in thin air.
My head swam with all the new information, my anger for my mother gone. It took too much work to be angry with her. I now knew that the fairy tales were true, at least bits and pieces of them. I also knew Killian was part of the Fae folk. That's why he couldn't go in cars and could disappear in a matter of seconds; he was Fae.
I let my mother lead me out of the forest. At the speed we were going, I was sure that we were going to trip over the humongous tree's roots, but, surprisingly mom knew just the places to place her feet as to avoid the roots. The music seemed to be the only thing lingering in my brain at the moment, most likely because of Killian's voice.
Once we arrived at home, it was nearly dawn. Mom bit her lower lip, hesitating on going inside. It seemed like a presence there was keeping her from walking over that door frame. Then I realized that dad must be home. I patted her on the arm awkwardly. I mean, what was I supposed to do, give her a hug? I hadn't seen her in thirteen years. She shot an appreciative smile in my direction and then took a deep breath. "Wait here. I need to speak to him," she told me, letting go of my arm and walking determinedly through the door.
I could hear the TV going on in the front room, and a few minutes later all I heard was silence when my dad muted the TV. Then a crash, and more silence. I bounced from each foot, nibbling on my lower lip anxiously as I waited for the yelling. I knew my dad was going to be pissed. When it didn't come, I was about to rush in there; maybe something was wrong. However, when I reached the door, I saw that mom and dad were in the kitchen, locked up in each other's embrace, both with tears running down their faces.
I grinned in extreme happiness; this is how I always wanted it to be, how I longed for it to be. Ever since I was six, I had fantasies about it being the three of us once again. The wind started up, and my hair whipped around my face. I shivered and pushed through the doorway, not being able to stand the cold any longer.
My dad turned to look at me; a wide grin wrinkled his lips as he smiled at me. He gestured to my mother in his arms, who buried her face into his chest; they had obviously missed each other. My dad nodded his head, indicating he wanted me to join the reuniting. I didn't waste time. I rushed over to them and wrapped my arms around the both of them.
Mom laughed, and all the birds in the vicinity burst out in chirping of their own songs. I shook my head, my laughter joining hers. We made music with our laughter; it was something that a normal human could hear. Dad soon joined in, and we all stood there, in the kitchen, letting out everything that had been bottled up for the years. All the tears, the pain, the guilt was released through our laughter.
"I've missed you both so much," my mother finally ceased to laugh and said with a serious expression splashed across her face. Her bangs fell into her eyes, but the flowers that were bound in her hair had survived both my father and my hugs and gleamed brightly against the darkness of her locks. "I'm sorry I couldn't have come to you sooner." Her gaze was cast downwards, and despite the fact my head was pounding uncomfortably and all I wanted was an Excedrin and sleep, I wanted to know answers first.
"Why did you leave?" I asked, my tone sounding slightly too bitter.
"Alea, don't-" my dad started, but my mother cut him off.
"She deserves to know. I was hoping to last another year, but John, she saw." My mother's eyes caught my father's, who lowered his head in defeat. "You won't lose her." She murmured quietly, brushing her palms against my father's face. "Now, why don't you rid your face of this silly hair, and I will speak with our daughter." She pressed her lips to my father's in a loving way and then pushed him out of the kitchen, and he went upstairs hesitantly.
"Mom, what are you both keeping from me?" I barely contained the red hot anger from my voice; the fact that they were lying to me angered me. I noticed fireflies lighting up the forest through the window behind Mom as I turned to look at her.
Mom sighed and extended her hand to the chair, and I sat as she, in turn, turned to the fridge and grabbed the gallon of milk out of the fridge. She poured herself a glass and then grabbed the sugar, pouring a hefty amount into the milk. I had always waved it away as a weird habit, but with everything that had gone on tonight, I wasn't so sure.
"I was just trying to keep you safe." My mom placed her glass on the table and sat gracefully down into the chair, her bright green eyes wide, as if she were struggling to hold back tears. I grunted in irritation; I had heard that one before, but by a person with an amazing singing voice and definitely not female.
"Keep me safe from what?" I said through gritted teeth, and then groaned as I rubbed my temples. Damn, my head hurt. My mom looked out the window for a moment, and then held out her hand.
"Let me see your head."
I shot her a weird look, but something about her facial expression told me not to disobey her. I'm guessing that I hit my head more seriously than I thought. I leaned my head against her warm palm, and felt the pain slowly ebb away from my head. Soon she took her hand away, and I looked up at her, my eyes round with amazement. "How did you do that?"
Mom took a quick drink of her sugary milk, wiping the rim of the glass with her fingertip and licking that away too. She shrugged her shoulders and emitted a sigh through her nose before speaking. "There's no easy way to tell you this, Alea, so I'm just going to come out and say this; I'm a queen, and not a normal queen either. Sweetheart, you saw with your own eyes what was out in those woods." When I looked at her skeptically, her thin eyebrows met in the middle in annoyance. "You weren't hallucinating child! You stumbled upon a Faerie Circle. And it was my council's Faerie Circle, the Ríoga na Sí ciorcal. I am the Queen of what mortals have many names for: Fae, Faerie, Fairy, and Sidhe are a few." She kept talking, but my head swam with the new information. So, my mom was something from the Celtic legends. No way, this was not happening to me. Wait, if she was Fae that meant I was half…
"Alea! Listen to me," My mom's voice snapped through my head, and I flinched horribly. I mumbled my apologies and she smiled slightly in forgiveness. "Tonight you were very lucky to have not stepped into that circle while you had Glamour on, else you would have been pray to the evil king of the Unseelie Court." My mother's voice started turning into a whine of distress, and I held my hands up. Too much information was being shoved into my face.
"Whoa, mom, please slow down. What's all this about a Glamour?" I asked, my head tilted to the side in confusion. I had heard about Glamour's in the old Celtic folklore's, but I had already had enough lies in my life; I didn't need my appearance to be one too.
"You don't really look like that." My mom loved to put things bluntly; I had heard that the Sidhe couldn't lie, but she didn't have to be that blunt about things. After a hard stare and a few blank ones from my mom, she finally caught on I didn't appreciate all this harsh news and grasped my hand in hers. "I'm sorry I've kept this from you, sweetheart. I had to. I wanted you to be able to decide. Since you're a Halfling, you get to decide which world you wish to live in. I was going to wait till you were an adult and could make wiser decisions, but your curiosity left me no choice but to improvise.
"If you would have waited one more year…" she paused, her expression thoughtful. She shook her head, waving whatever idea she had plotted up away, and continued the conversation. "See, I don't get to rule forever, just a certain number of years or when I die. The first is the usual outcome, because we don't pass to the void very easily."
I let my mom's words sink in. "We don't die?" I asked quietly, my father on my mind. He would die, but my mom would live for an eternity. My mom confirmed my fear, and my heart sank; she would be so sad. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if I lost Killian. "Will I eventually die?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer to my own question.
My mom bit her lower lip, and then said, "If you wish to continue living your human life, you will die whenever you choose to, or when your human heart fails. When you decide what path you take, the half of you will be locked away, always to remember but never to live on with you. If you decide to stay behind in the human world, you will live like a human. Choose your Fae side; you live on forever. You choose which on your eighteenth birthday."
I stared at her long and hard. "Can I see what you actually look like?" I finally asked. I wasn't stupid; I knew all I saw for the little time I've seen her was her Glamour.
She faltered for a long while, and then she nodded and her lids descended over her eyes. There was a wavering to her body, and then suddenly there was an unrecognizable person sitting across from me. She was a creature of inhuman beauty. I don't have words to describe the extent to her gorgeousness, but I could still see traits of my mother in her. She still had black hair, if not longer and extremely smooth and shiny. She continued to shine with internal light, and her eyes were still emerald colored. She was slightly taller and her frame was of perfect form. I gaped at her, my jaw dropping
She smiled at me, dazzling me with her perfectly white, straight teeth. The only thing that slightly creeped me out was the fact that her skin was blue. It wasn't an ugly dark blue or anything, but rather a very light, sky blue. It was both beautiful and alien at the same time. "What are you?" I breathed, staring at her with tears in my eyes. I can't believe this was my mom.
"Some incorrectly label us as mermaids, but we do not have fins, as you can see." She flailed one of her perfectly sculptured legs around to prove her point. "I am indeed a water nymph. We can breathe in both water and air, and I have translucent wings." She turned to the side and I could see a faint outline of a pair of wings, but mostly a bluish glow was present. I attempted to press my fingers to the wings, but they just passed through. "They're made of energy not understand by mortal lands or mortal eyes yet," Mother explained, and I nodded.
"So I'm half?" I asked. I had always known there was something different about me; the love for nature, the dreams that I've had ever since I was little about little flying creatures, and my inability to lie, it was all because I wasn't totally human. My mom hesitated again; and my heart sank. She was going to tell me she wasn't my real mother or something, I just knew it.
"Yes, you're a Halfling, like I said earlier." She assured me by pulling me into a hug; she now smelled like wild berries and spices. I must have misinterpreted her expression, because she didn't seem at all hesitant now. I sank into her hug and allowed the weariness to overcome me. "Sleep, child. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow." I heard her voice, but I was already slipping into dreamland, so my response was muted. I wasn't exactly sure what tomorrow was going to bring, but tonight, I was going to dream about Killian, and nature and my life right now.