All That Shimmers [Seungmin]

14

We went to bed. We'd each been unwilling to argue anymore on the subject, knowing the other's mind wouldn't be changed. He believed us to be soulmates. I believed him to be nothing more than a fairy who I was stuck with.

Unfortunately, the second I got to bed I was snapped out of it and thrown into a slippery well that ended with me standing in front of the King in my pajamas beside Seungmin who had a toothbrush in his hand.

"Well..." the King waited impatiently.

Oh, forgive me for taking half a day to grieve the loss of nearly my entire family instead of worrying about telling you we'd found the lake you shouldn't even have access to.

Seungmin glanced at me apologetically before speaking, "She found it. Fairies can't access it though. We may have to figure out another way."

"How do you know fairies can't access it? Is it the same way you can't fly or a real issue, son?"

Seungmin looked hurt at the words and simply elaborated, "The hybrid didn't want fairies to have it."

"Well, if she can see it, then she can prove it's the magic we suspect and we can work to create more resources from there."

My chest tightened. He wanted to create more hybrids to work as laborers for him to collect the water from the lake? Everything he did was for his own personal gain of power.

"How can she prove it when we can't see it? Even in her mind when she thinks about it, I'm locked out."

I raised my eyebrow. I hadn't known that, but it was an interesting detail. So if I thought about slapping him in the lake would he know?

I tested it.

"It just shows me a forest, but no lake," he mumbled to his father.

A smile tugged at my lips. So he could see me slap him but only in the woods. Interesting...

"We'll send her to collect a sample. Once we are sure it's what we think it is, we can set up a team to collect more."

"And if I refuse to help," I crossed my arms. Why should he get to decide what I do? Was freewill unheard of in fairy land?

The King snapped his fingers and Seungmin was suddenly surrounded by a glass cage. I knew it must be similar to the one in his attic that locked out his powers based on how scared he looked.

I wondered if he could still hear my thoughts.

He nodded.

What number am I thinking of? I flashed 2 in my mind, and he held up two fingers.

Interesting...

"She's not going to care that I'm in here. She can't feel the connection the way I do because she's not a fairy."

"Good to know," his father snapped again, and my mother appeared. She was alive. My instinct was to feel joy for her wellbeing. But then I worried about what the King would do. He could kill her.

Her hands were already bloody and burnt, and she looked at me with wide, surprised eyes. She began to run towards me but the King pulled her back with some magical force.

"Aerin," she shouted, desperate to reach me.

"Mother!" I cried out. She looked so broken.

"Let her go!" Seungmin demanded.

"I will. I'll send her back, make her forget this little meeting, but first," he turned to me, "do you agree to go?"

"Yes, yes I'll do it. Just let her go! Please!" I cried out right away as I stared at my mother who was gagging and pulling at the invisible strains around her neck.