In the Woods Somewhere

Chapter 5

A few weeks later, Navdeep, Imani, and Jen were swept in with the beginning of spring classes. I'd gotten my exam grades back from the last semester, and though I was pleased with them, I knew I could do better.

Fannie's exams came back flawless, she was on top of her class and on the Dean's List. Though Humanities wasn't what she was expecting, she excelled in them, relishing in new opportunities to help humankind.

I admit, I was jealous of my beautiful elven friend, she radiated warmth and charisma, she was naturally good as her studies, and was a thoroughly gracious and kind person.

But then I remember her brother, and his words to me,

"You and my sister are one in the same, aren't you. Both of you are running away from what you were meant to be."

He was right. Fannie and I were the same. We were both running away from wretched families, wretched destinies, wretched pasts. Perhaps we were wrong, uprooting ourselves to be born anew. But being wrong didn't make Fannie's brother right. We may be wrong for running, but he was wrong for chasing after us.

It was mid February when I saw Fannie's brother again. He was standing in front of the gate to the woods, his expression somewhat menacing.

Perhaps he could be handsome, if his features weren't as sharp as knives, and his mouth weren't always pursed in an impenetrable line.

He seemed to be waiting for me, his eyes boring holes in mine as I began to walk towards him. I hardly could control myself, even with my socks inside out and my rowan berry ring, the enchantment he put on me lured me all the way to the gate.

"You can't force me through the Boundary, your magic is too weak here," I told him once we were face to face.

"I know that, and I was not planning on it. I just wanted to talk with you. May I have your name?"

I started to laugh, "Wow, you must think I'm an idiot. No, you may not have my name. You may not have anything of mine." I said.

He looked unaffected, "It was worth a try. What can I call you?"

"You can call me Ainsel," I said.

"Clever. Not even a real name. Well, Ainsel, I need something of you."

"No," I said.

"You have not even heard my proposition yet," He glowered.

"I don't need to. It has something to do with your sister, and I'm not going to be a part of it."

"Listen to me, Ainsel, daughter of man. I love my sister, more than I could ever say. There is no one else to me."

"What about your father, the King?" I asked.

"My father is a fool. Quick to anger, which often sparks the flames of ill-judgement. He will not be King for much longer, I assure you."

I raised my eyebrows, wondering if I just overheard a conspiracy to overthrow the Unseelie king, but then I shoved that information to the back of my mind, because it had nothing to do with me.

He continued, "Anyway, my sister is all I have, and I would do anything to protect her. Even conspire with a mortal to get close to her."

"I'm sorry, you're not talking about me, are you?" I snorted.

"You shouldn't laugh like that. It's unbecoming, and yes, I am talking about you. You're going to help me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you have the upper hand. Anything you want, I'll do whatever is in my power to achieve it. All I want in return if for you to convince my sister that her endeavors are for naught, and that she should come back home."

"That's not going to happen," I cried, irritated now,

"You don't understand. That boy she's pursuing cares nothing for her. He called her a freak, the only reason she's going to this blasphemous school is to gain his favor. She does not know that she will never be accepted by him, not how she is. He will never love her, not with the blood that runs through her veins, not with the blood that makes her my sister."

I never knew that. I always assumed that Fannie's relationship with Cal was mutual. The way she talked about him, as if he could pluck the stars from the sky.

Faeries couldn't lie, so Fannie's brother had to be telling the truth.

With that information, it would be wrong to let Fannie go on like this, it would only mean her destruction. No wonder her brother was so adamant that she come back home.

However, it wasn't her brother's decision to make. It wasn't mine either.

"Look, I understand where you're coming from, and I want to help you. But it's Fannie's choice. If she wants to pave the path to her own destruction, by all means she should."

"You don't love her as I do," The Faerie Prince said.

"I don't, but I love her enough to know there is not stopping her. Not anymore."

"So what do you suggest," His voice was a deadly sort of quiet, "That I just watch my sister destroy her life. She's my twin. Are you aware how unheard of that is among my kind. Siblings are rare, but twins. We were the first in millennia."

"I have a twin. I love her very much," I said.

"But you left her, just as my sister did to me."

"I did, because being around her toxic perfection was destroying me. I loved her, but not enough to let her break me down into someone I'm not."

"Are you suggesting that's why my sister left?" He hissed.

"Faerie Princesses aren't free, are they? Perfection is expected from them, and maybe that's something she just couldn't achieve. Maybe she decided to fall in love as an excuse to leave."

"If that's true, that means her love for the mortal boy is weak enough to fall apart."

"Maybe it is. Maybe it'll fall apart on its own. You can hope for that. Just don't force it apart with you own hands, or she will hate you."

"I don't like you. I like you better than before, but it's still a prominent dislike." The Faerie Prince told me.

"I don't like you very much myself."

"Do not tell my sister I was here."

"I won't tell anyone."

I didn't either. It wasn't hard. When I got back to the dorm, and Navdeep asked me why I was so pale, I just said I was cold. When Imani asked me why I was so distracted, I said I was just tired. When Jen asked me why I was so fidgety, I said I was anxious about exams.

And when Fannie asked me why I was so sad, I said it was because I missed my sister.

I never lied. I meant all of those things. But even I knew how how cruel omission could be.

Which is why I decided not to stay silent any longer.