❝You and me, darlin', we're gonna have a whale of a time...❞
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Tamsyn James has her first encounter with the Fae - a deadly group of beings from a place called the Otherworld. Not long after finding out she's one...
It was well after midnight, and the party was finally winding down.
Catching sight of a familiar face outdoors, one I had a feeling no one else could see, I followed him behind the lakehouse, to the edge of the woods.
"You can't be here. People will think I'm talking to myself."
The Sorcerer smirked. "We didn't finish our conversation. You said your mother was ill. What happened to her?"
I sighed and folded my arms. "She got in a car accident. The doctors say it might have been a brain injury. She hasn't talked since."
"For that I am sorry. You're Fae, Tamsyn. And you've got one less parent to watch over you. How will you fare on your own against Faerie kings and queens? You're not but a wee child."
"I'm not a child!"
"You are to me. But we can be useful to each other. Give me the box and I'll help you. I'll look after you, like your ma would."
"Yeah, well, thanks but no thanks. I don't want your help." I turned to walk off, cursing when he cast us into the gray. "What is your deal?"
"This." Blue light gathered around his hand. He waved his fingers and I was lifted off my feet, hurtling upwards at breakneck speed. Arms flailing, I screamed, unable to tell the difference between rising and falling. After a few seconds, Westley gave it a rest. I came to a sudden stop, then fell the last foot, face-planting into the ground.
I flipped onto my back, groaning in pain. Westley walked over, hands in his pockets as he nodded his head side to side.
"Look at ye. Can't even defend yourself. How will you protect your friends and your family from what's coming? Maybe you should start by protecting them from you."
"No." I shook my head. "I'm not dangerous. I'm not like you and the Fae."
"Then you will die. Because you're weak. And your friends and family? They'll die with you."
"Unless what?" I snapped, sitting up in anger. "Unless I give you the box?"
"No, wee girl. Even if you give me the box, even if you learn to defend yourself from magic, your friends and your family--they'll surely perish, and quicker if you stay. But if you don't give me the box, everyone dies. This world will end, and others with it. So tell me, Tamsyn--what future do you choose?"
"Neither." I climbed to my feet, jaw clenched in anger. "I don't know how you know my mother, or why you gave her your dumb box--and I don't care. All I care about are my family and my friends." I took a fierce step forward. "Maybe you'd understand what that's like--if you had any."
Westley snorted in anger, then released us from the gray. "You're sweet--but you'll learn. A Fae's kindness is cruelty. You can't have feet in both worlds. You can't be this and that!"
"Oh yeah, Dr. Seuss? We'll just see." I turned on my heel, stalking towards the cabin.
"You're not Human, Tamsyn," the Sorcerer called after me. "You're not like them. They'll never understand you."
Fists clenched, I breathed in rage. A white-hot flash of anger surged and a vicious wind picked up, nearly cracking the trees in half.
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