The Land in the Sky

8

A/N: I don't take any credit for the photo above! Also this chapter is a draft and will be edited.

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"My mother and I had a weird relationship after she became ill," I told my only friend. His golden locks framing perfectly chiseled features. I did my best not to look at him while I continued on, "Around the time I was 18, she ran from the house in the middle of the night, and didn't return for two days. When she finally came back home she said the faeries were out to get her so she went to the forest to kill them.

"After that she was diagnosed with Paranoia Schizophrenia and institutionalized. For a couple years everything was fine, until tonight, five years ago." My voice broke. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. The memories of that night replaying in my head. "I got a call from the psychiatrist from Seattle Springs where my mom was a patient. He said I needed to come over ASAP. And so I drove as quickly as I could, and was greeted by two police officers.

"They said my mother had disappeared that night, and that they hadn't found her all day. She had done this many times before, but they believed this time was different." I gulped, burying the emotions that boiled to the surface.

"Did you kill your mom?" Eric's faze moved from the newspaper articles to search my face for some sign that what he said was the truth.

My hands immediately reached out to touch him, "No! No, of course not! But I know what happened to her. At least I think I do."

Without realizing, our hands interlocked, his ocean pools gazing at me with such affection, "What happened, Rae?"

I closed my eyes, my body moving closer to Eric on its own accord, "After the cops investigated me for almost three hours, I finally went home, and my mom was waiting for me.

"She was having one of her episodes, screaming at me about Faeries and how they were coming for me now instead of her. I didn't believe her until. . ." I stopped suddenly, tears now cascading down my face, my sobs being muffled by Eric's firm chest. I felt his large hands palm my back, rubbing it in a comforting gesture.

"Every night I have the same dream," I mumbled against him, "and it started the night before she disappeared. Every night I walk into the woods and I dance with these people, eventually I can't stop dancing, I beg them to help me. But then everything changes. They aren't people but creatures. Creatures that are enjoying my misery. It's horrific." A shudder trickled down my body, "and my mom knew about it. When she realized what was happening, she dragged me out my house and into the woods with her."

"She did what?" His hands froze against my back, pushing me away to look down at my face. I had never been this close to Eric before, but I liked it.

A warmth I had never felt erupted inside me, almost an intoxicating feeling, and I wanted more of it, "she pulled me into the woods with her and I saw something."

His fingers brushed against my cheek, butterflies fluttering throughout my stomach as he whispered, "What did you see, darling?"

"Faeries," I finally admitted, the words poisonous against my lips.

"What did they look like?"

"Magical," the words floating out of my mouth, almost like it was being pulled out of me. And it didn't stop there, all the thoughts I kept inside, my mouth began speaking, "They pulled us into dance, their hands gripping us so tight. And my mom. . . She was able to control herself unlike me. She moved closer to the leader, the king as they called him."

"What did she do?" His lips touched my ear, tingles erupted, the hairs along my body, standing on edge.

I felt my pulse quicken as my brain screamed to move away, but I didn't listen. My body craved Eric's warmth as I told him my darkest secret, "She tried to kill the king and I watched them pull her away inside an invisible gate. But I couldn't stop them. I couldn't get to her!"

"Why not?"

"I couldn't stop dancing," my body collapsed to the ground, too many emotions consuming me. I let the sobs rack my body, the gut wrenching truth of that night finally spilled from my lips after five years of denying everything, "It wasn't until the sun began to rise that I woke up in my bed. For a couple days I thought it was a dream, until I was cleaning my house and found something."

Gripping the silver locket from underneath my shirt, I pulled it out to show Eric, "This was my moms. She left it in my nightstand with a note. She told me to run and never look back. She told me, she would find me when the time was right."

Blinking the tears from my eyes, I met his gaze. A feeling of dread fell over me the minute his body no longer touched me. It was like a splash of cold water as I crawled away from Eric, "What did you do to me?"

He moved slowly towards me, "What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything to you?"

"Don't lie to me," I spat, picking myself off the floor, and continuing to keep distance between us, "Who are you? Better yet, What are you?"

He breathed a sigh, before his whole body shimmered and the man I knew as my best friend, transformed. My stomach convulsed, as Eric's features changed, his smile becoming wider, almost abnormally so. His tired eyes took on a vibrant glow, as the blue became metallic in the light. The golden locks, shiny like real gold as his skin grew pale. The lean muscles underneath his white shirt made the Eric I knew almost obsolete.

But what caught my eye, were the white antlers that poked slightly above his head, embedded into his skin like they grew as he did when small.

"What are you?"

"I'm the Autumn King of Aos Sí," The new Eric explained, the vibrato of his voice, deeper almost husky, "What you guys call: Faeries."

"Wh-how-wh-what?" I stuttered, my eyes wide with terror. My brain couldn't form a complete sentence as my anger began bubbling to the surface.

Every emotion from the last couple day finally tearing open the resentment for his kind. Never had I felt such a hatred, as I looked at the creature my best friend used to be. No who I thought he was.

I whipped towards my nightstand, grabbing the first solid thing I could find. My hand wrapped around the object as I swung with everything I could, all my emotions exploding as the lamp smashed against the creature before me.

"How dare you!" I screamed, shoving him and kicking as hard as I could, no longer thinking rationally, "You have been here what? Watching me for FIVE YEARS?! Why? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

The supposed King of Faeries, pulled me in for a hug, the warmth from before finally smothering me like a blanket, all the negative thoughts and emotions fading as his fingers danced along my skin, calming me to oblivion.

"I promise, Rae, I'm here to help." He whispered  soothingly.

"How am I supposed to believe that?" My brain begging to pull away from him.

His arms hugged me closer as he muttered quietly in my ear, "Believe me when I say, your mother sent me."