Bittersweet (Book #1 Evening Wings Trilogy)

Chapter 26

26

The fey were treating me differently.

It was almost as if the doors to the most elite club had swung open. It felt normal, but it had that bizarre aftertaste that I could not shake. I was at home with my natural kind, but something told me I was off kilter, because I wasn’t really one of them… not anymore. Sure, I looked like Seelie, but I was not.

On top of that, Shaquire had left the school.

Her work was done.

There would be no slaying of unnatural breed, an impurity on their livelihoods. Xander’s family would be spared the melancholy of warfare and slaughter. In a way, I had saved them, but then again, I had not.

Naida’s troop was growing and with each successive member was an even more grotesquely bizarre appearance. Of course, I knew why they were here: to find the solstice circle and open the ancient portal to Avlis. I wouldn’t let her do that and I wouldn’t let her take Xander from me. I’d have to do what he had planned from the beginning. Naida had to die.

Of course, I felt a pang of guilt thinking that, it was only my nature, but a part of me craved it. I wanted Naida dead so she couldn’t hurt anyone anymore, especially those who were close to me.

Lorelei wholeheartedly agreed with me. She even asked if she could help.

While she scouted the forests, I had Seelie territory. I was considered one of them now and it made a lot of sense. I made it my priority to study with Zaria after school. We were both barely getting through Chemistry and we needed major help. We tried to make what we could of it together, which also gave me time to inspect their community and find out many key things about them.

Tonight we were studying at Taylor’s house.

It was an old style Victorian at the very top of a suburban neighborhood in the middle of the vast community.  Z parked her car on the curb and rolled up the windows. Taylor appeared on the doorstep, wearing nothing but a tight T-shirt and boxer shorts and Zaria nearly died with giggles. We gathered our Chemistry books and got out of the car.

Together, we jogged up the drive and into the house, slinging off our coats and hanging them up on the rack. I closed the door and followed Z through the house until we came across a large dining room. Z dropped her books onto the traditional style oak table and pulled out a seat for herself.

“Hey ladies,” said Taylor, coming from a room just off this one with three soda bottles in hand. “You guys ready to study until your brains burst?”

Zaria rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get Chemistry over with.”

We spent the next two hours poring over our Chemistry textbooks, trying to solve chemical equations—or at least understand them. Taylor’s mom had given with a plate of assorted cookies and we were close to finishing them.

Taylor took the last one and Zaria sighed.

“That’s not fair Taylor!” Zaria whined. “You had the most!”

Taylor gave a guilty smile and shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth. Then he wiped the crumbs away from his golden chin and returned to his textbook. Zaria gave a furious growl.

While Zaria argued over the last cookie, I silently took the bowl and soda bottles out of the room and into the adjoining kitchen. Taylor’s mom was doing the dishes. She smiled at me as I kicked open the recycle bin and chucked the soda bottles into it. When I came over with the ceramic bowl, she took it from me with a smile.

For a moment, I just stood there while she squeezed some dish soap into the bowl. As I turned to leave, a wet hand secured on my arm. I looked back to find Taylor’s mom staring at me, her eyes probing me silently.

“Elizabeth,” she said. “We need to talk.”

She put a dishtowel in my hands and handed me the ceramic bowl.

“I know you’re not Seelie.” She said. “You may be by birth, but many a thing has changed since then, won’t you say Elizabeth?”

I gulped.

“I know Xander’s a Lichen my dear,” she sighed, looking up at me.

“What’s a Lichen?” I asked. “Isn’t that a plant?”

“Indeed; a plant that extracts the life from its host to get the nutrients it needs. They get their name from the specific race of Unseelie called Lichens. Soul stealers.” Taylor’s mother smiled darkly. “You didn’t know that did you?”

I shook my head. “They preferred to keep me in the dark.”

“I know the dark side is very potent and beautiful to you Elizabeth. I once was there myself. However, you have to see, that you are no longer pure now. This is what our people have been fighting for, for ages.” She sighed. “It is one of our oldest legends, when Seelie blood mars with the evil of Unseelie blood, the solstice moon seeks him or her out.  During the month of the solstice, this particular changeling must protect himself or herself from the moon. It could help you, exploit the better side of you, curse you—or kill you.”

I stiffened.

“I’ll keep your secret Elizabeth, but I must warn you, doing so comes with many complications. You’re the daughter of the most powerful enchanter we’ve had for one thousand years—which makes you an immediate threat.”

My throat had gone bone dry.

“There will be many who won’t rest until you are executed. You pose a major threat to the Seelie community. We have not had a changeling in years, for no one would dare to mar the bloods of the different courts. And it doesn’t make it any better that you are our next enchantress.” she sighed. “You are at a risk. The Seelie will take whatever precautions to protect the lifestyles, secrets and portals to the fey plain. I am putting myself at the risk of death to protect you. You already know too much.”

“Please—” I began. “Don’t help me; it’s not worth any of it.”

“I cannot.” Mrs. Meriwether chuckled grimly. “I’ve already protected you—hid your secret in the court—if they were to find out now, you’d be dead, and so would I.” she touched my cheek. “But Elizabeth, you look so much like him—your father. I can see his strongest attributes copied in you. But still…”

“What?” I asked.

She looked poignantly at me. “Your best option is to run—or die.”

I shuddered at a loss for words, knowing that she was right.

If I did not leave New Hampshire, I was dead. The Seelie would hunt me down and kill me, not to mention everyone else that had unwillingly realize that they were protecting me. Mrs. Meriwether, her son, Z, mom…

“Hey Mrs. Meriwether, do you have any more of those awesome cookies—” Zaria said coming into the kitchen. “Whoa, what up guys?”

Staring at her with the innocently arrogant expression on her gothic features made me realize that I had no choice.

If leaving here would keep everyone I had grown close to, safe, and spare any innocent bloodshed on my part, then I vowed I would do it.

I’d have to run.