A Shattered Song ✔️

Chapter Ten: Primrose

CHAPTER TEN: Primrose

With a gasp, Evelyn's eyes flew open.

Melody watched her calmly. "Welcome back, Evie." She said, smiling slightly. "Did you have a pleasant dream?"

"I wasn't dreaming." Evelyn informed her. "People don't dream when they're awake."

Melody blinked. "They do here."

Evelyn snorted. "Whatever." She said, grabbing a pillow from her bed and hugging it to her chest. "Want me to keep going with the story?"

Melody nodded silently, appearing to be politely interested, an expression Evelyn was sure she'd perfected long ago. She crossed her tiny legs, one over the other.

Evelyn swallowed, uncomfortable. "So, a couple years later, some of the little girl's horrible friends came back and stole the other little girl. And...they hurt the other little girl's friends..."

"The first girl's friends aren't horrible." Melody suddenly seemed stern. "Don't say that."

Evelyn glanced up from her fidgeting hands, surprised. Had Melody made the connection...? "Yes, they are." She said carefully. "They're not nice at all."

"No!" Melody's face flushed. "They took the second little girl for a reason!"

"And what reason was that?" Evelyn asked her, blank faced. "Why would they take her?"

Melody went silent.

"Well?" Evelyn prodded. "You tell the story now."

"Fine." Said Melody, dropping all pretenses that it was just a fairytale. "She took you to save us."

Evelyn froze. "But you don't need saving..."

"Yes, we do." Melody didn't meet Evelyn's gaze. "Several years ago, a plague called Glimmering Fever took over Faerie. Several of our years, at least. To you it would be more like a couple of decades."

Another little tidbit of information Evelyn didn't need, but it distracted her nonetheless. Decades.

"We couldn't come up with a cure." Melody continued. "It was terribly contagious, and almost everyone it contacted died. Only, we noticed a pattern- those who had been to the human world previous to getting sick didn't. Die, I mean.

"So we began searching there. Many parents sent their children into your realms, hoping it would keep them safe."

Like Melody, Evelyn realized with growing horror.

"And it did. It did keep them safe. So Faerie representatives began to hide in human hospitals, watching, hoping for a miracle.

"But there was none. So they thought, maybe the cure is humans themselves."

Melody looked up now. "And so they grabbed you."

Evelyn didn't move.

"Lady Briar's sister is sick." Melody murmured finally. "Wouldn't you do this as well, if it was the only way to save your family?"

"No." Evelyn said, pretending not to notice the brief hesitation she'd suffered before the words flew past her lips. "Of course not."

Yes, but is that true? The little voice in the back of her head whispered.
"Her name is Primrose." Melody continued, as if she didn't hear. "And she's one of my very best friends. But-" Tears suddenly welled in her eyes, and Melody swiped her hand across them, shoving them away. "She's getting worse. And Evie, what if she dies?"

"Who cares?" Evelyn had to force herself to say. "She's a Faerie! And her sister kidnapped me!"

"I kidnapped you." Melody reminded her. "You really are like everybody else, aren't you, Evie?" She stood abruptly. "I have to leave now." She moved towards the door, yanking on the handle as soon as she could reach it. As it opened, Melody stumbled out. "Have a nice-a nice-" Her voice choked. "A nice night."

The door closed behind her.

Evelyn should not have felt guilty.