Bittersweet (Book #1 Evening Wings Trilogy)

Chapter 27

27

The long winter was wearing off as May ended and June began.

According to Mrs. Meriwether, June was the month of the solstice moon, which was also the month of my own birthday. She explained that it was because I had inherited the enchanter gene from my father, but I still needed to be careful of the moon.

It could make our break me. Destroy me forever.

I had made up my mind that I was going to leave.

I could do it so easily, change my name, sneak out during the night and fly wherever I wanted to go. It would be so easy, yet so heartbreaking. Therefore, I told no one of my plan, my plan to abandon everyone forever.

I slouched through school, only just realizing that this was my senior year and instead of going to college like the rest of my classmates, I’d become a runaway, someone running from the truth, hiding from the people who wanted to exterminate me perpetually.

“Hey Liz, are you going to the June Formal?” Z called.

“What’s a June Formal?” I asked.

She shrugged. “We’ve never had one before, but the graduation committee needs more money, so June Formal it is. Four guys already asked me out.”

“Oh…” I said. “Good for you.”

I guess it was not fair that guys threw themselves at Zaria instead of me, but maybe they were just scared. They had been scared of me since fifth grade, who said they wouldn’t be now? I guess everyone still thought I was Xander’s property.

I sighed. “I don’t think I’ll go Z, I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

“Oh come on,” Zaria whined. “Don’t be a baby! Plus it’s being held on the twentieth—the same night as the solstice, can you believe it?”

I stiffened. “So—solstice?”

“Hey, why do you look so freaked?” Z asked.

“I’m sorry…  I feel really sick.” I turned on my heel and sprinted up the stairwell to the bathroom. No one was in there and I headed to the sink.

I really did not feel well.

I panted, fingers sinking into the vinyl countertop. I looked up at myself, reflected in the mirror and gasped in utter shock.

My eyes were black—inky and midnight hued, a dot of white reflecting the incandescent bulbs above me.  Black veins yawned under my eyes, long and black—like fingers. With my curls splayed over my face, I cried out, just as the bathroom door swung open… I darted into the nearest stall.

“Liz?” a French accent ran through the sour stillness of the bathroom.

“Lorelei?” I whimpered.

“What’s wrong?” she called to me.

“You need to help me,” I said, unlatching the door, and watching in pain as her eyes widened considerably.

#

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Lorelei said, slamming a worn book onto the table, shaking her head furiously, and black hair flying back and forth.

I had explained it to her in the car, and watched as her eyes widened in shock. Now we were standing in their vast yet very ancient library, with a stack of olden books, Lorelei sneaking glances at my black eyes with the yawning veins that kept creeping beneath them.

“What kind of book is this?” I asked randomly, to cease the silence that filled the room.

“It’s a Grimoire,” Lorelei said quickly. “When I was a jeune fille, I was involved in some very dark things. Standard when it comes to the Unseelie court. I got myself in a lot of—let’s just say trouble.” She flashed me a tiny grin. “This Grimoire is over two thousand years old, ringed with time, full of magical power. It could help us… or kill us.”

She flipped it to the correct page and her fingers followed the strange symbol writing, murmuring what they meant in a harsh language.

“Oh no,” Lorelei cried, clapping a hand over her mouth. She stared at me. “June twentieth is the solstice… you’re a Halfling. Blood of darkness and blood of pure…” she snapped out of it and took my shoulders in her hands. “Elizabeth, the solstice moon could kill you.”

“I know.” I replied. “I’ve been trying to… protect myself, but it’s getting worse.”

“I can’t let you die… Xander would just…” she sniffed and rifled through some drawers and pulled out something silver. A necklace? “This is a very sacred moonstone. It is centuries old and… I think—maybe it could help. The protective properties will help you keep your cosmic balance. It’ll help you stay alive.” She fastened it around my neck. “Never take it off.”

I nodded.

“You have no idea how powerful a solstice moon is Elizabeth,” Lorelei said, busying herself about the library, replacing her ancient books.

“Taylor’s mom explained to me what happens. She also told me that if I don’t leave, the Seelie will hunt me down, and kill me, not to mention kill everyone who ever loved me.” I said, feeling the inky black slide away from the whites of my cornea.

She paused as she replaced another thick book. “And what did you say?”

I froze, silent the guilt washing over me as I played with the moonstone amulet. “I said I’d go.”

Something shattered beside me and suddenly Lorelei was gripping the lapels of my jacket between the vises of her skinny fingers. “How dare you!” she spat, her eyes inking over in black, along with her fingernails and the veins that pulsed under her pale skin. “You promised you’d help my brother. And I helped you,” she gripped the moonstone between her hard hands as if she were going to break it. 

Instead, she picked me up by the shoulders like a rag doll and threw me.

I flew to the side of the room, slamming into the hard brick wall with a force that could have killed me had I been human. I scrambled off the floor, only then realizing that I had broken a glass vase painted in pretty daisies.

She skulked over to me, as if she wanted to kill me.

“No Lorelei!” I cried before she pounced. “I’ll help him! Please… just don’t kill me, he’ll hate you forever.”

Lorelei’s veins shrunk but her eyes did not lose their malevolent darkness.

“That’s if he lives forever.” She hissed. “You made a promise. You’ll stick to it if you don’t want to die at the hands of real malice.”

She collapsed to the floor, panting heavily, exhaustion weighing her down. The darkness disappeared leaving those familiar, beautiful blue eyes. Nevertheless, under this light, they were not that beautiful anymore.

Coldness passed over my trembling body.

Author's Note

Sorry this one is so short :/