The Ephemeral Bride

Explained- Hope

Hope:

I bet you're wondering about the dog incident. I have mentioned it a lot in the past.

It was sophomore year, at Jackson Epp's homecoming afterparty. Jackson's dad was always out on business trips, so Jackson was constantly home alone, making it the perfect party house.

It had been a stressful night. Taylor had torn her expensive dress, and was acting psycho the whole night. She was constantly yelling, even Cordelia had the brunt of some of her anger, which was rare.

I decided to do what I always did when I was feeling vaguely unpleasant. I drank a fuckton of alcohol.

The rest of the night was a huge blur full of odd moments of clarity. Taylor and Cordelia getting into a fight, Cordelia crying, Zahra yelling, and then, I was holding a dog to my chest and we were walking through the Mirthwood.

We got to the Other Side, somehow. Zahra spoke to her father, a handsome knight with deep umber skin, and obsidian hair, and he had white tattoos spanning across his arms. I think I said something to Zahra about her having a hot dad, which was embarrassing.

Soon enough, Taylor was human again, pale and shaking, but human. I wasn't sure whether she had been shaking with anger, or fear. I like to think it was anger, because I hated to think about Zahra as someone to be afraid of.

I think that's when things shifted between the four of us. Taylor forgave Zahra, but sometimes I would catch Taylor looking at Zahra strangely, her face full of something like dread. She would look at Cordelia oddly as well, but with a different expression, one that, try as I might, I couldn't define.

One day I asked her about it, and she said, "They're different."

"What do you mean?" I asked

"We don't ever talk about it. No one here does, but the two of us are fundamentally different from the two of them. We're going to die one day. They'll keep on living. We can leave Dinsmore if we want. If they do, they'd be recluses, unable to touch the iron that is woven into everything in human society. Do you ever think about why we wear rowan berry necklaces, or earrings?"

"Everyone wears rowan berry jewelry, it's cute." I defended.

"Yeah, but it started with humans wanting to protect themselves from fairy glamour, and fairy magic. If I hadn't ditched my rowan necklace because it clashed with my outfit, I wouldn't have been turned into a fucking pomeranian."

I didn't correct her on the dog breed, I just let her go on.

"They're dangerous to us, and we're dangerous to them. If we were to go into their world, we'd be killed. If they were to go into our's, they'd be poisoned. Maybe this town was a bad idea."

"Shut up, Taylor," I snapped, "I won't ever be able to understand what you want through, but you need to understand that this place has allowed so much love to blossom."

"And pain," Taylor added, "The fey live forever! What happens when we die, and Zahra and Cordelia live on. Forever."

"That's so morbid Taylor, and I really don't want to talk about this."

"You're just mad because I'm right! Yes, we love each other, and yes, Dinsmore allows us to coexist, but humans and the fey are from two different worlds! Are we really supposed to coexist?"

"Fuck you Taylor, you don't get it because you don't have any fey in your family."

"I have Cordelia!"

"You two are just friends!" I cried.

Something in Taylor's eyes flashed, and in that moment I think I realized the emotion displayed on Taylor's face when she looked at Cordelia.