Impulse

Lull

Unseelie?

I claw my brain for the meaning of the word. Unseelie...didn't I learn about that in mythology class at highschool?

Or did I?

"Ok...any of you guys want to explain that to me before you blow my brains out? I mean" I snort and spread my arms open like I'm the master of the evening opening the grand act for the night "it's not like I willingly brought myself here."

I clearly did not bring myself here.

Alex wavers, straightens up, yet still maintains his icy ball, while Ivan's irises drown in a smoky black, "Oh no, you don't. You Unseelies are tricky bastards. Alex, you dumbshit, don't tell me you've forgotten."

Alex steps away from the both of us, his ball of ice disappearing back into his melting palm "I haven't, but I don't know about her."

By this point, I've had it with them talking around me and at me instead of to me, "This is great and all, but I have a life to get back to, an apartment to pay for, and a job to keep. If you guys are absolutely done fucking with me, I think I'll be leaving now."

I don't wait to hear their protests or anything. It's obvious they just want to mess with me. I think about those young adult fantasy novels I was so crazy about as a teen (and an early adult) and how one of the things that bothered me about those was how people took so long to explain shit. I mean, geeze, you don't want me to go out into the world, but you don't want to tell me shit.

So done.

I stomp away with my arms crossed over the ugliest of blouses, my hair, a mass of tight curls that's going to be tangled by the morning, and my mind as tangled up as my hair. How am I supposed to handle this?

Unseelie?

The voices behind me don't quite register as I find my way out through the many halls and vast atriums in this place. What is this place anyway?

I bite my lip and question everything I've been told. Behind me Alex yells "You can't leave. We won't allow it!"

I don't have a mom, she died when I was five. My dad...has he ever been there? Have I ever seen him?

All I've known is my grandma, and my aunts, and my uncles, and cousins. But no one, no one who would strike me as a supernatural freak.

"Are you even listening to us? We can't allow you to leave Kia! It doesn't work like that!"

"Son, step aside."

I think of high school and how much of a loner I was, but I wasn't a freak...not a supernatural freak. If I had been, I know I would have turned a few of my bullies into Chow Mein.

It doesn't make any sense!

I see the doors, wide enough to fit a horde of elephants and tall enough for a giant or two to step through. I think about what I'm going to do with all of this information, how I'm going to keep my job, when I feel a lull pulling at my conscious. I shake my head to rid the sleepy feeling, and take one leaden step after another.

Alex materializes, "I'm sorry."

"What for?" my voice is groggy and I can't shake the sleep away. I just feel so tired. My legs crumple under me, Alex, hero as usual, breaks my fall with a strong arm.

I smile and remember how he caught me the night before and held me like this. My eyelids flutter. Ivan steps into the groggy picture. He looks at Alex, "You know what you have to do?"

I look up at Alex, my smile wavering, my last bit of understanding slipping away as his pale hand slowly waves over my eyes.

And then, nothing.