The Fall Of Astraea

17. Meira and Melantha part 1

I flew as quickly as I could. My anxiety was killing me and was probably slowing me down. All I could think about was the little human boy. Did he see my wings? Did he see me transform into my fairy size? If he did, I was so dead. Father would lock me up for good and probably get me married immediately to that jerk. I was so into my thoughts that I did not see who was ahead of me, and we hit each other with full-on force, making us both fall down and transform to our human size. I winced as my head was in so much pain. I definitely needed a healer after this. I wanted to leave before the person would stand up from where they fell, but I was too late.

"Can you watch where you're going, you....." I looked at the person and gave them a sorry smile. "Sister?" She asked.

"The one and only," I said as I stood up. Her green eyes trailed over me as she examined me. I hoped she couldn't tell that I was in the human world. I was glad that she didn't inherit her mother's abilities to read minds. Her black curly hair had leaves in it, but the tree branch markings on her face were glowing, meaning that she was already healing herself. Lucky her.

"Don't tell me...." She said in an annoyed tone.

"What?" I asked.

"Mei! You went to the human world!" She shouted, and I shushed her.

"No, I didn't," I said, and she rolled her eyes.

"What's that on your feet?"

"Oh," I said as I realized I had forgotten to take them off. But I did and showed her. "They're called shoes! Humans put them on their feet to walk around. They say it helps by not hurting your feet, Mel." My little sister looked at me and frowned.

"You need to stop doing this. The few humans that know of our existence usually hunt us down. If mother and father found out...."

"They will not, okay? Just be careful around Mother." I told her, and she sighed.

"Fine." We flew back to our kingdom and turned back to our fairy size. I sighed as we landed on the castle grounds and walked towards the castle. I was Princess Meira and the crowned princess. But I could only become Queen once I married on my twenty-first cycle. Melantha was so lucky. She did not understand why I was fascinated with humans. Their world was marvelous. I always visited Mrs. Walker and her grandson. They knew what I was but they were still nice to me. We were told to stay away from the humans or they would eat us, as if they were trolls and ogres. Being with them made me forget my duties a little bit, bringing peace to my soul. Not all humans are horrible.

"Mother is coming," Mel whispered, and I sighed.

"Where have you been?" She asked.

I was playing with the baby unicorns. "Reading in the library," I said.

"Princess Meira, are you lying?" she asked. I apologized and admitted to playing with baby unicorns, which I knew I did not do. I had to keep on repeating it in my head that I was so my mother would realize I was "lying." My punishment was to clean my room instead of having the maids do it. I never really minded doing it anyway. I bowed to my mother and left her. Mel followed me immediately.

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I flew in Mrs. Walker's window, but she wasn't there. I didn't expect her to. She was probably making their afternoon meal that they call lunch. I turned into human size. I heard her grandson crying in the main room and headed towards there, but I stopped when I heard other voices. " I am not a witch!" I heard Mrs. Walker scream, and I tried to contain my gasp. What was a witch? Whatever it was, the humans did not like it. I took the water from thin air and tried to make a mirror to see what was happening. Two men in knightwear were questioning Mrs. Walker, but not excellently. They soon left after Mrs. Walker assured them she was not a witch. I let the water evaporate. When Mrs. Walker saw me, she gasped and told me to stay quiet.