A Shattered Song ✔️

Chapter Fifteen: Unorthodox

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Unorthodox

Two days later, there was another knock on that cursed door.

Evelyn had been expecting it. In a way, she had almost been hoping for it. After what she'd let slip, Ivy had clammed up again, becoming completely unresponsive to Evelyn's many questions. And Melody...well, she was the only one left to ask. So, Evelyn was ashamed to admit, she didn't hesitate in calling out, "Come in!"

But it wasn't Melody who entered.

Evelyn scrambled backwards at the sight of the stranger before her. He was tiny - everyone was so much smaller than her - but still, the sight of his impassive face had chills racing up her arms. "You aren't Melo..." She broke off at the stranger's expression, wisely falling silent.

"Lady Briar has requested you." Said the stranger. He had light green skin, like one might expect from a creature come from a child's storybook. But his eyes...wide and black, unforgiving and depthless. They held her attention so completely that it took her a minute for his words to sink in.

When they did, Evelyn very nearly broke her silence, but a flash from those cold, frozen eyes had her sealing her lips even tighter.

"Come." He ordered. So, gracefully, Evelyn unfolded her legs from beneath her and danced over to him.

The action was not her own.

Melody had not controlled her. Melody had given her the chance to do it herself, first. But this...the creature looked irritated, as if this was boring and taking up his valuable time. She probably was. She, after all, was human, and...

And why did she think there was something wrong with that?
She wondered if Kayleigh's funeral had already passed.

She wondered at the speed at which she traversed the hallway. She leapt from side to side, toes pointed as if she were a seasoned ballerina, hands fluttering, hair blowing, the epitome of chaos and fae grace. Only, she wasn't fae, and her feet were tiring and she was tiring and even if her hair seemed to defy the rules of gravity, it was tangled and she was too. A tangled knot of truth and lies.

The faerie-creature was a bit in front of her. His steps never faltered. It was unnatural.

She wondered how it was done.

She wondered if she was dead already, only she didn't realize it.

She wondered why, then, Kayleigh wasn't here.

Kayleigh wasn't here.

So she wasn't dead, then. Or maybe Kayleigh had reached a different place than her.

"Stop." Ordered the stranger. So Evelyn's body did.

They were standing in front of an open doorway. Inside were flowers wrapped around small white beds. In the far corner was a larger bed, draped with finery in a million shades of blue. Periwinkle, sky, aquamarine. The silks shimmered where they caught the sunlight.

There was sunlight. There wasn't a sun.

Old Evelyn would have questioned this. New Evelyn did not.

"Evelyn Anderson?" A voice questioned that she didn't recognize. Evelyn nodded slowly, noticing the absence of the glamour her guide had cast over her. She was in control again.

A part of her wished she wasn't.

"Good." The same said warmly.

Evelyn didn't bother turning. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Mirage." Replied the voice.

Clever, Evelyn realized abruptly. No one here had given her a full name, but they all - they all - knew hers. Wasn't there something about giving a faerie your name? Eating their food?

Well, Evelyn had done both.

"Evelyn Anderson, will you lie down on that bed right next to you, please?"

The voice was honeyed, sweet. Evelyn nodded once more perched lightly on the edge of the mattress. Earlier, she would have protested, but she could no longer remember why. And anyways, the bed was soft. Why should she fight?

"Lie all the way down, Evelyn."

Sighing, Evelyn lowered herself onto her back before waiting expectantly. For what, she wasn't sure.

Quite suddenly, her chest seized up.

For who. The green stranger had mentioned the Lady Briar.

She wanted to leap right back up again and run, but she found that she couldn't. She was under a different glamour now, this one sickly and sweet and smelling of flowers. "Evelyn, I'd like you to know that you are very lucky." Said the Lady. "Most don't get this chance, and if it works, you'll be saving thousands of lives."

Evelyn bucked slightly, and the glamour tightened. "No, Evelyn. Don't."

Her vision flickered slightly as Briar went on. "After all, if we succeed in making you Fae...well. We'll succeed in making Prim- the other sick faeries human. And that will save them. And once they are better, we'll change them back. Even if you die, you will be a hero."

If she died, she would be with Kayleigh, wouldn't she?
Evelyn stopped struggling. She laid there placidly as her eyelids fluttered shut.

"Think of that, Evelyn."

Darkness.