Iron & Wine

Chapter Twenty Six - Halloween

"Avery, stop staring at yourself, people are going to start showing up soon, and I need your help out here," yelled Julie from the kitchen. I gave myself one more look over to make sure my costume was perfect and strolled out to the kitchen.

"Wow," Julie commented when she caught sight of me. She was decked out in a complete Cleopatra outfit with a stunning makeup job, looking like she was about to step onto a movie set for an Egyptian film. "You look amazing, Ave! That costume is awesome!"

"Yeah, you think so? I kinda like the feeling of having wings," I laughed. "Jules, you must love it. I'm kind of jealous!"

She blushed and smiled. I'd told her a hundred times how beautiful she looked as a fairy. I compared her to an angel once and she'd been modest about it ever since. "You know, seeing you in that outfit, I think that you'd make a very pretty fairy," she claimed, trying to divert attention from herself.

I rolled my eyes. "I wish. How amazing would that be, a fairy?" I beamed at the thought. I lived among so many magical creatures; sometimes I wished that I were one of them. But, I considered myself lucky enough that they, for some reason, chose to have me in their lives at all. I mean, there were people out there who could only dream of traveling to magical places or meeting a mythical creature. I was fortunate enough to have fairies for my two closest friends and vampires who had bonded themselves to me.

"Well, have you ever considered changing?" Jules simply asked.

"What?" I gasped. "What do you mean 'change'? Can normal people become fairies?" I knew vampires could turn people but I'd never heard of fairies being able.

"Yes, any form of being can, actually, and it's pretty simple too, I think," she started as she headed back over to the kitchen to finish preparing the party snacks. I followed behind her, intrigued. I sat on a stool by the island, careful not to squish my fake gossamer wings.

"You basically just have to pledge yourself to a monarch, according to books I've read. I mean, it's what Moya did."

"Really, that's it?"

"Pretty much, well there's also some drinking of wine and a dancing ritual, but you already do that all of the time anyway."

"Wow, I never really thought about it. I mean, I was so thankful to even be part of your world at all."

"It's not something that you should decide on a whim. And don't let curiosity sway your decision," she cautioned. "It's kind of a forever deal. You can't change back, and you would have to choose a court to belong to."

"Yeah, like the Summer Court?"

"Sure. Or there's the Winter Court. Don't even consider the Dark Court, you definitely wouldn't belong there. Then, there's always the option of being solitary fey like me and Lattie, but belonging to a court is apparently so much better. You're connected to everyone. The court grows stronger with more fey, and, the stronger the court the stronger you become too."