Fair Deception

Chp. 3, Part I

I gasped quietly for air as the frightened tears streamed down my face. My clenched teeth were chattering, my body shaking, but I didn't want Jenna to find me like this so I wrapped my arms around my torso and bit my lip to stay quiet. After the worst had passed, I shakily stood up and made my way upstairs. By the time I had reached the landing, my tears were barely a trickle and I could concentrate on getting to my room silently. I carefully pushed down on the door handle, slipped inside and then shut the door behind me.

Thankfully my curtains were already closed, so I unzipped my playsuit and let it fall to the floor. I grabbed pjs from my drawers and pulled them on, wrapping my fluffy dressing gown around me for good measure. I sat on the bed and systematically took out the clips in my hair, brushed it through, wiped off my make-up and moisturized my face. Once that was done, I went into my bathroom, sat on the edge of the bath and washed the grime off my feet under the shower attachment. As the dirty water slowly turned clear, I let myself think over the events of the night and felt my hands start to shake for the millionth time.

At least they were all okay. It was frightening, but everyone was okay. I hoped that they had all arrived home safely but I wasn't ready to check my phone yet to see if I had any messages. Knowing Kalen and Miranda, I would have a lot of notifications to scroll through. I took a fluffy towel, dried my feet and then put on my warmest slippers.

Padding back through my bedroom, I went out onto the landing and knocked softly on Jenna's door. I listened carefully and then knocked again before opening it ever so slightly. "Jenna, I'm home," I whispered, fulfilling my promise to let her know when I got home safe.

"Okay sweetheart, thank you for letting me know," she mumbled back, half asleep, and I shut the door.

Now that was done, I looked at my hands again and they were still shaking. Was I in shock? I tried to muddle through the thoughts in my head and squeezed my eyes shut as if that would force the images away; maybe I was in shock. I went back to my room and located some chocolate in my dresser drawer – sugar was good for shock. As I started to eat it, all wrapped up in my duvet, I felt a little dramatic.

I still wasn't sure what I'd seen that evening in the club, or what Seelie and Unseelie were, so I grabbed my laptop off my dresser and fired up Google. A few minutes later, I was trying to keep down almost hysterical laughter - apparently Kalen and his friends were fairies. Fairies.

I picked up my phone, ignoring all the notifications and messages, and shot Kalen three words and a laughing emoji: 'You're a fairy?' The whole thing was too ridiculous to even comprehend. I laughed nervously again, feeling like I was walking a very uncertain line between mirth and insanity. Then I realised, despite my text, I did not want to deal with Kalen tonight so turned off my phone and threw it onto the chair in the corner of my room. Speaking to him would definitely tip me to the insanity side of the scales.

I carried on my Google search into the Seelie first and was a little relieved, if still incredulous, to discover that most sites stated they were the 'good' or 'light' fairies. However, one site reported them to be 'like summer and spring with a twist of subtle evil,' which I wasn't so keen on. What is subtle evil? I tried to think of Kalen and the others – had I ever noticed them being subtly evil?

I decided to do an image search for Seelie fairies instead. None of the results looked anything like Kalen and the others, although I would have loved to see Kalen with the colourful, glittery wings of one animation. When I followed the images back to their host sites, they were linked to stories and tales rather than anything which looked like factual information. However, the sites all seemed to suggest that fairies were unable to tell lies. I could think of several occasions where Kalen hadn't told me the truth so that was also a load of rubbish.

I switched tact and ran an image search for Unseelie fairies. Hundreds of dark, cruel images appeared on the screen. In one, glowing eyes stood out eerily in a twisted face, half hidden by shadows. In another, warped, contorted figures could be seen hiding behind blackened trees, their gnarled fingers clawing into the mutilated bark. The stuff of my nightmares seemed to be gathering on the screen in front of me. Despite my dressing gown and duvet, a chill seemed to crawl goosebumps onto my skin. I changed to a normal Google search and began reading about the Unseelie.

Apparently, the Unseelie court was the opposite of the Seelie court in many ways. The bad to the good, dark to the light, and while the Seelie were 'subtly' evil, it appeared the Unseelie 'delighted in malicious and evil pursuits'. I scrolled further down the page, reading about the horrific activities and punishments of the Unseelie, until I came to a picture.

The small box in the corner of the page held an image of a tall figure with twisted horns, pointed teeth, indigo lips and eyes glowing like embers. Underneath the box was a small caption that read: Satyr, Unseelie: Fond of music, mischievous, sexually driven, ruled by passion and prone to violent mood swings. With the slightest of provocation, they may explode into a torrent of fury.

I stared at the picture and flashes of Zeph's transformation in the club came unbidden into my mind. I looked at the picture one more time and then shut my laptop harder than I had intended. This was ridiculous. I placed my laptop on the desk in my room and plugged it into the charging port. I couldn't understand this on my own but I fought the urge to turn my phone back on and call Kalen – he was part of the problem.

After a brief pause, I snuck into the main bathroom, took a couple of sleeping tablets from Jenna's cabinet to help me settle, and then got back into bed with a book. I was okay. I was safe. I felt like I was going insane.

As the tablets kicked in, I slipped into a deep sleep, ravaged by twisted horns and feral eyes.