CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Three

[KINDLE'S PoV]

In the ten years I've known her, Faye has made quite a habit of getting herself into odd predicaments and coming to me for help. This, however, was by far the oddest of them all.

She fidgeted in place, twisting her long black hair around her fingers and staring up at me with hopeful teal eyes.

I leaned against my bedroom door and heaved a sigh, shaking the hazy cloud of sleep from my mind. Faye had been at my door with the rising of the sun. I wasn't used to starting my day this early. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I thought I heard you say you had a human in your work shop?"

Faye chewed her lip and nodded. "I've had a lost human in my workshop for roughy a week now. She's really sad and keeps asking for her 'cellphone,' whatever that is. And she hasn't been eating much for the past few days... I'm really worried."

"Yeah, Faye, so am I," I hissed. I glanced down the hall then pulled her into my room. If Faye really had brought a human into the Order's manor, and if Lydia found out... I didn't want to think about what that could mean for Faye.

I sat her down on my bed and stood in front of her, arms crossed. At twenty-six years old, Faye was four years my senior. Why oh why did she insist on acting the opposite? "Alright. Talk slower. Explain."

"Last week I found a human just wandering the lower levels of the manor. She was kind of out of it, and dressed very strangely... She's just a scared little girl, Kindle. I don't think she's a threat to us. I don't even think she knows what we are."

Something in her tone caught me off guard. "What do you mean, 'what we are?'"

Faye touched the dark green scales on her temple. "She asked me why I wear sequins on my face. I don't think she's ever seen a mermaid before."

Strange. And not really something I wanted to deal with first thing in the morning. But it didn't look like Faye was going to leave without my help. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed again.

"She's in your workshop now?" I asked.

Faye nodded quickly. "Yes, she's still asleep. I've been letting her use my bed."

"And where do you sleep?"

"In my chair, or on the floor." She shrugged. "I have a lot of fabric laying around, so it's decently comfortable."

This was going to be a problem. A few years ago Faye decided to adopt a unicorn. She managed to hide it for nearly half a year— I thought she'd just developed a sudden interest in hay, which strange as it sounds is not out of the realm of possibility for Faye— It was harmless for the most part, until the thing kicked her sewing machine and I had to fix it for her. A human, though smaller, would most likely cause a great deal more damage.

"Alright, lets go see this human of yours."

I had to remind Faye to keep her voice down several times during the walk from my room to the other end of the manor where her workshop was located, but she continued to babble on about her new pet. "She says her name is Maggie, but I've taken to calling her Magpie."

"Why?"

Faye smiled. "A term of endearment. To let her know I mean no harm. Cute, isn't it?"

"You've been giving her food, letting her sleep in your bed, and probably talking her ear off for a week. I think she understands that your intentions are pure." We stopped outside Faye's workshop. I paused with my hand on the doorknob, turning to look at Faye. "She speaks Luminous, I take it?"