Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite

Chapter 5: Aurora Borealis (Part 2)

The tavern was still bustling, and Cassie guided them to a free table by the back wall, one of the few available. Regardless of her efforts to shield them from direct view, their entry attracted attention anyway. Fairies stopped talking to their neighbors. They rested their forks and full drinks on the table with loud, echoing clunks.

Chris selected a chair across from his brother, and they both slouched in their seats. Cassie was the only one who seemed at ease. She stood by the end of the table and waved to a redheaded fairy drying dishes at the bar. The fairy, when she noticed, zipped over and they embraced like old friends meeting by chance after a long separation.

"See, I told you I'd be back in no time," Cassie said to her. "Christopher, Joseph, this is Vela. She keeps me out of trouble."

"I try to anyway," Vela said, snapping at a few capable-looking male fairies by the entrance. They stepped outside and appeared to take up posts for watch duty. "I'm glad all of you made it here in one piece, especially you, Miss Cassiopeia." She leaned toward Chris and Joe. "She thinks she can take on our world's treachery singlehandedly."

"It wasn't singlehandedly," Cassie claimed. "I followed a truly inspired plan put together by a number of exemplary individuals, and everything fell into place accordingly."

"Inspired? You do realize, my dear, who you sound like. You have obviously been spending too much time with Pierre," Vela said with her hands on her hips.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Vela contorted her lips to the side in response to that. She didn't seem the type to hold back, ever, but in this rare case she let the matter rest. "You must be famished," she said instead. "I'll get the boys in the back to whip you up something special. My treat."

"All right, Princess," Joe said as soon as Vela flew away. "I can't take it anymore. Why are we here? And by the way, why is everyone in this establishment staring at us? Still?"

"Well," Cassie said as she took a seat in the chair beside Chris, "those questions are related. People are staring at you because of who you are and what you represent."

"And what do we represent exactly?" Joe pressed on.

"You represent the hope that Pyxis will be free from tyranny someday."

"That's a bit heady. And I'm guessing this has something to do with our father, since the angry queen bee wants to find him so badly."

"Precisely. Rigel challenged my family, the Sauvageaus, those who've ruled Pyxis for centuries. Not only that, he crippled them, and unlike anyone else who ever posed a challenge to my family's sovereign rule, he made it out alive."

"Rigel?" Joe asked.

"Yes. You know your father as a human named Scott MacRae, but he is a Modifier, one of the most influential and notorious of all time, and among the fairies he is known by the star name, Rigel," Cassie said, pausing for a moment to let her words sink in. "Both of you have four black dots at the back of your neck in the shape of a diamond. That is your fairy mark, and it signifies that you are of your father's kind."