Futures Unseen (Chasing Titania #2)

Come In

I spotted him by the shore. I wondered if this is where he always was. I took notice of my surroundings. I crept up behind him the best I could.

"You think you're funny, but I can hear you," Alcibiades turned to me with the largest grin.

"I wanted my revenge for you frightening me," I crossed my arms.

"Forrest," he shook his head. "You're the jumpiest fae I've ever known."

"You sound like Nox," I sighed, kneeling down beside him.

"Of course I do," he giggled. "I'm only ever around four Fae. I'm bound to pick up their habits."

I liked the way the sun reflected off his eyes. The way his hair and tendrils floated in some invisible breeze only governed by his heart. It seemed suspended in the air, moving and shifting.

"What are you thinking?" He winked.

"Nothing," I forced myself to look away.

"Come with me," he reached for my hand.

I accepted it. He walked with me around the shore, towards the back of the Blackwater Grund. There was an island in the middle, much closer to this side of the lake. A cavern sprung up from the center. I bet the water fae claimed this. No pixie in their right mind would want to touch water fae territory.

"What's that?" I stared at the colorful pile before us.

"It's all the collective clothes and moonstones and such of the Blackwater fae," he knelt down. "Up for grabs by anyone as long as you return the moonstone at least. Did you guys have something like this?"

"No," I shook my head. "I mean, sure, we had our own docks, but our clothes were ours. We carefully crafted our disguises to tailor ourselves. If anyone touched it, it was considered rude."

"Interesting," Al nodded. "Come on, try some on with me."

"That's weird," I stepped off the wooden planks.

"No, it's not," he set his ring on the dock. "This is normal for my Fae. Watch." He picked up a headpiece. He turned into a fae with long raven hair and purple wings. "See? It's fun."

"Why are all your colors weird?" I picked up a bracelet.

"Y'know, I asked Nox the other day because your question made me curious. So my Fae use bold and impossible colors," he waved to the orange hair and yellow eyes a moonstone necklace had given him. "Because we used to have a town on the shores with businesses and stuff. Despite being exclusively run by water fae, pixies from all over Gaelilleo came to see us. They knew we were water fae, and our disguises sort of dared them to know without really confirming that we were monsters underneath."

"I think that's strange because my Fae try so hard to blend in with pixies. We make our disguises to hide amongst other Fae, like the Nocturne or Everfi or whatever," I unleashed my earring. "We tried to make ourselves like them."

"It sounds like you guys were too scared," Al picked up another one. "Bracelet or an anklet?"

"Anklet," I answered. "And maybe we were," I shrugged, staring at Al's ring in my hand. "We may have had larger numbers than the Blackwater Grund, but we faced massive segregation on Caliope. Some pixies sought to kill us because they thought we killed them."