The Fae Book 2: Burr and Daisy

Prologue: Daisy

You never wake up on the days your life is going to change and know something major is going to happen to you. For instance, my life had changed seven years ago, when I was eight, and my mom had left me with her sister. Permanently, as it turned out, but it was a few days before we realized she'd completely abandoned me. 

My aunt had no choice but to take me in or release me into the custody of the state since my mom had run off my dad when I was seven. From the time I was four, I remembered their scary, bitter fights, mom's refusal to let dad see me and be a part of my life because she hated him for something he'd done -- his unforgiveable mistake, as she'd referred to it as she screamed at him. They say children don't remember anything when they're really young, but watching my mom and dad have knock-down screaming fights every month made an impression on me. When my dad had stopped coming by when I was seven, I always wondered where he had gone, why he hadn't fought harder to see me, why he didn't take mom to court, why he didn't want me enough to go through mom to get to me. That was the first time I wasn't enough. The second time was when my mom left me.

Although my aunt was single and didn't have a great job, she did her best by me and provided me with food, clothes and shelter. If she wasn't overly affectionate, that was fine. I hugged her as often as she'd let me, and I smiled at her all the time, hoping she'd smile back. Sometimes she did, but most often she'd point her finger at me and shake her head. 

"You're going to learn that there's not a lot to smile about in life, Daisy."

Even at a young age, I never believed her because, in addition to my best friends Harmony and Raine, I had discovered two things that gave me great joy and filled the happiness well inside of me.

The first was cooking and baking. As soon as we realized my stay with my aunt would be extended at best and permanent at worst, she told me I had to pull my weight. She tossed the Super Cheap Meals On a Budget cookbook at me and told me she expected dinner on the table when she got home every night. Maybe she thought she was teaching me a lesson about the drudge of the daily grind, but when I opened that cookbook, I felt like I'd walked into an alternate universe where you could combine different ingredients and create something delicious. The first meal I made, my aunt looked up at me after her first bite, surprised. 

"This is good, Daisy. Really good."

That's all it took. One simple compliment -- maybe the first in my life -- and I was launched on repeating that high. School didn't come easily to me, so my grades were mediocre at best. Forget sports -- I was always the last one picked for teams in PE or at recess. But I owned the kitchen. As I became more confident, I branched out into baking, where I truly excelled.

If my mind was focused on baking and cooking when I was inside, when I was outside in the garden, my mind was free to wander, imagine, dream.

I dreamed up fairies in the backyard. From the time I was eight until I was thirteen, I had imaginary fairy friends conjured by my very active imagination. My fairy friends hid among the flowers in the garden, and although they looked like dragonflies with shiny purple, blue, yellow and orange wings, they weren't. Sometimes they would sit on the flowers, sometimes they would act silly and make me laugh by wearing leaves or flower petals as hats, sometimes they would show me gifts of hearts - a leaf, a stone, a petal. They never talked out loud, but I heard their conversations in my head and they called me princess. 

When I turned ten, they dropped the princess for some reason and began calling me queen. That was when they would flit closer to me, and I always felt such a rush of happiness when they would settle on the hand I held out or perch on my knees. One memorable time, one stood on the tip of my nose for a minute.