Midnight Cove

Chapter Sixteen: The Portical

Deciding to shift focus onto a new and less conflicted question than the one I was currently thinking, I asked, "Well, my second question has to be how did you know I needed rescuing? How did you save me?"

Answering my questions with yet another question Phoenix then asked, "What did my brother tell you of Dark Faeries? Tell me, what do you know?"

"Not much," I confessed. "Cove said that Dark Faeries were selfish tricksters that used humans for their own selfish entertainment."

"Oh, really? That is all he said? He didn't say anything about our capabilities, or our duties?"

"No," I said. "Oh wait! He did say that while Fate Faeries dealt the most closely with humans, Dark Faeries only had contact with people after they died. You deal with spirits, which is what the Underworld is, isn't it?" I was excited to finally learn something about the other realms of the faeries.

"Yes, the Underworld is where spirits go once they pass away from this plane of existence. Good," he nodded in approval, "What else?"

I tried to think back to the first morning Cove woke up in my apartment. "He had said that the Dark Faeries were called Daemons or Siths sometimes, and that they can change shapes. But only to certain animals," I said recalling our conversation in my kitchen.

"Exactly," he said looking triumphant without adding anything more. For the first time ever he waited patiently, his face expectant as I tried to piece together what he was trying to tell me.

"You said you rescued me, but there wasn't anyone on the beach. You couldn't have been there it was impossible. It was too dark. The only way you could have seen me was if you were already down there. And, the only place you could have been if you were down there was in the water. But that's crazy!" I looked at him incredulously. To be in that water would have been insane. "You said I hit you with a rock twice today? I didn't. The only other thing I hit with a rock was," I paused in realization. "You were the seal. You were, weren't you? Remarkable," I couldn't help but feel in awe of his powers.

"Very good, Coral. You weren't kidding about being more than a pretty face, your mind is quite sharp." Phoenix sat back leaning against the rock wall for support, a satisfied smile plastered on his face.

"Well, now that that's settled. What are we supposed to do? I mean how are we going to get out of here? And where exactly did you take me?" I felt relief now, knowing who I was with and how I got here, not to mention some very juicy details about Cove that we were definitely going to discuss once I got back home.

"That's it then, huh? You don't have any more questions? You don't want to know why Cove hates being a Dark Faery, or why he ran away from the Underworld?" Phoenix's eyebrows raised in mock astonishment.

The uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach started to churn. I knew I shouldn't ask anymore questions, I was going to regret it. As the old saying goes, 'Curiosity killed the cat' well, that was me. I just didn't know how badly I was going to regret hearing the answer to my next question.

"Okay, Phoenix. You've got me. Why didn't Cove want to be a Dark Faery anymore?" I tried to be casual about it, but I don't think he was buying it.

Phoenix just smiled as usual, his beautiful, impish grin peering out from under a set of devilishly handsome dimples. He was relishing how thoroughly he was about to destroy my naive view of things. He had spun a beautiful web with his words and now I was about to become prey to the way of things. He looked at me gleefully, "His wife, Coral. He left the Underworld because of his wife."

That was when my heart broke. If it could have made a noise it probably would have sounded like a small puppy getting run over by a pickup truck. I just sat there. No noise, no audible sobs, just an unending supply of tears rolling silently down my face. I felt a shadow pass over my heart. My whole world became darkness. I was nothing.