Twelve-minute read
Allison's POV
That evening, Annie and Allison walked down the streets in companionable silence.
"When do you plan to tell him about everything?", Asked Allison.
Annie understood, "Soon"
"You can't keep the truth from him, you know, I've known him six years now. He's pretty serious about you."
"You think so?", Asked Annie, a twinge of hope lacing her tone.
"I know so"
"Promise me you won't tell him before I do"
"I didn't plan on it"
"I'm worried that he'll look at me differently"
"What do you mean?"
"What if he doesn't like me, as what I really am?"
"If he doesn't like you for what you truly are then he isn't meant for you" replied Allison bluntly.
She let the words sink in. It was a block later that Annie spoke again.
"He asked me out for Tule day, I don't know what I'll wear... I didn't even plan to go to Tule"
"It's okay, you can borrow my dress"
"It won't fit, I'm four inches taller than you"
"You'll look so pretty that he won't need to look at your feet"
Annie looked forward, a slight pink tainting her ears.
"Don't worry, we'll do something about it. Meet me Sunday?"
"Near Bottlework's"
"Done"
They rounded the corner to a bus stop. The evening bus came to transport students, workers and the weekly shoppers to the hilly suburbs of Greenfoot. Annie climbed up its steps, and Allison waved at her as the bus sped off down the road.
January morning, six months ago, Allison had gone to the farmer's market for an early errand. It had been cold enough that she'd regretted her decision. Yet the thought of fresh fruit at wholesale had been attractive.
She'd passed through various stalls, apples, eggplants and onions hanging from a tote bag on her shoulder. Allison had scanned the market for oranges, only to find a familiar set of steel grey bespectacled eyes. Even then focused on a book.
Annie Aar had sat on the cold floor of the market that freezing morning, her younger twin brothers huddled against her on a threadbare blanket. One of whose fingers had turned a slight shade of purple.
Gone was the high end makeup and designer bags. The girl she'd taken to be a strutting peacock had sat as meek and vulnerable as a cat.
Annie had looked up then, mascara stained eyes widening behind her reading glasses as she recognized Allison, Sam's best friend.
She'd stood up, idly wrapping up her brothers when she saw Allison make her way towards her. For a fleeting moment, Allison had felt as though she might make a run for it.
Before the two of them could come closer, Annie's mother brandished an orange towards Allison. Claiming them to be the sweetest in the market.
The truth registered in Allison's mind.
Annie Aar was a farmer's daughter.
She'd quietly bought one dozen tangerines and a grapefruit, and had sat down beside Annie and her brothers.
They'd shared the fruit, and had been good friends since.
It turned out that most of Annie's clothes were gotten as hand me downs, from charity or goodwill and sometimes, sometimes even stolen from the wealthier upper class.
Walking away from the bus station to the Azizia Street and entering Sycamore lane, Allison smiled at the memory. At the many memories she'd made here, with all of her friends.
Her yellow sneakers screeched to a halt at the pavement outside her house. Standing in the driveway was a black Mercedes Benz.
Her heart pounded uncomfortably.
Even from the pavement she could make out the license plate, it was a San Tokisco vehicle. She lost all feeling in her legs. Flashes of a world she'd long forgotten ran through her mind.
Burning embers and a scream, people pointing in streets, kids sneering at her face and newspaper headlines. So many headlines.
Her breath hitched and she felt light headed. Unable to grasp the reality of the situation before her, she began heaving for air.
Hold yourself together, whispered a small voice inside her.
Yes, she had to hold it. Like she had for six years.
Allison forced herself to think straight. Rational. Immediately she jogged over to a tree and stood behind it. She took out her phone, maybe her mother had texted her. Maybe her father.
No calls. No alarming messages. No sign of argument inside the house.
Yet her feet remained unwilling. She clung to the bark of the tree. What if they'd come to take her? Execute her somehow? After all, a living Fae connection in the human world was too much of a vulnerability.
Not caring whether the Fae inside could hear her or not, she scaled the tree. Five carefully placed steps had her midway and fifteen feet off the ground. She waited then, waited for them to leave. To give up.
Half an hour passed. The minutes stretching to infinities. Her fear grew with each passing moment.
An hour passed. Something coiled and vicious moved in her gut at the thought of what could be happening inside.
Two hours later, the fear had mostly subsided and replaced with wariness. Maybe she'd been wrong, maybe her father had brought a new car.
It wasn't the best explanation but she accepted it. Relief flooded her veins, a deep breath escaped her lips and she made her way to the front door.
The keys dropped twice before she inserted the purple metal key into the lock and opened the door. The grandfather clock across the short, wide reception hall read half past eight.
Allison walked over to the living room, her balance nearly toppling as she halted herself. Sitting on the blue couch beside the fireplace were two suited men. Opposite to them sat her foster parents, Brad and Jane Grynn.
She gulped.
"We've been waiting quite a while for you Ms. Grynn"
*
Kaufman's POV
Jan Kaufman, Minister for Intelligence Services, stared at what he seemed to deem as the worst trained secretary in history.
"You sent Josh Rydzinski and Niklas Hubbard to retrieve an 18-year-old Fae girl?"
"Sir, it said on the case file that she has no extraordinary powers whatsoever", replied Mrs. Leanna indignantly.
"I don't give a darn what that ruddy report said, you sent two of my best field men, on who's volition?"
"Sir, you said she had to be retrieved for Mission 1123"
"When I don't specify details, you can't make your own decisions. You've misused my authority for", he counted on his fingers as he spoke, his anger building up, "Dispatching officers, issuing orders, providing a cover vehicle, giving the location and detail of a highly sensitive subject, all without informing me"
"Sir I-", before Mrs. Leanna could provide an explanation to save her skin, the telephone on Kaufman's mahogany table gave a ring.
He picked it up.
"18-year-old Fae female requires entrance, permission to enter?", Said a hoarse male voice.
Kaufman glared at Mrs. Leanna.
"No, shift to Beginner's Class A5"
He set down the telephone.
"Sir, I didn't know they would bring her here, it's not on my orders"
Kaufman let out a low, dangerous breath. The danger of having a Fae girl come to IAP headquarters, one who could raze it to the ground, was phenomenal.
"Leave, and send those two baboons to me when they arrive back from A5"
Mrs. Leanna nodded, walking in her polished black court shoes to the door and shutting it behind her.
Kaufman contemplated the risks of having a Fae girl live in such close proximity to normal human cadets. Yet she had lived six years in Penillo, she would be well-versed in human manners. He resolved to provide extra guards around the normal cadets and with the Fae girl, Grynn, as well.
Kaufman opened the case file Mrs. Leanna had placed as she had left the room. The picture showed a brown haired girl with green eyes, her face high cheekboned. The marker above her head read 5'2". Alyson Grynn, named Allison in Penillo. No wings peeked behind the shoulders. Yet it was the unnerving ivory sheen beneath her pale skin, the varying shades of green in her eyes that showed her Fae blood.
He had once read a book on the physical characteristics of Fae that had described them as creatures that seemed to have definition in each feature. An amped up definition to their color, their features and their senses.
He examined the wingless girl in the photograph, the one whom he had supposed could really be the most likely candidate for Mission 1123.
Even if Mrs. Leanna had not done it by the book, she'd done the right thing. They were desperate enough to arrest an 18-year-old Fae girl that had crossed borders to live here, and uphold her for giving her sanctuary.
*
Allison's POV
Allison Grynn had been arrested. Arrested. For trespassing borders. The two men had handcuffed her in iron, the irony of the situation hadn't passed her.
Iron didn't work on Fae. It was a made up concept to keep humans feeling safe.
She'd barely said goodbye to her foster parents, the people who'd so lovingly taken care of her all these years.
"I'll call you everyday", she had promised,"I promise I'll see you soon, mamma"
Tears had lined her father's eyes. He was a retired soldier and it had been a shocking first to see him tear up.
They'd hugged closely, till the officers had beckoned her to get in the grill lined backseat of the car.
Even now as the Mercedes drove down the Club Road, she spotted the slightly blue headlights of the white Honda on the side mirrors.
She saw the world she knew pass from her darkened window. There was the farmer's market, and at that corner sat Bottlework's, the usual spot they all gathered on at weekends by the third lamppost.
Allison felt like as the car lurched forward, bits and pieces of her came loose and floated back to places she knew. The car's movement away from home felt like a forceful parting with it.
She felt alone like she'd never felt before. Tears welled in her chest but she reined them in.
She was away from home now, away from people who knew her and protected her. Away from Annie and Sam and Duha. There was no one watching her back.
That last thought, as they hit the highway, made her back straighten. She could no longer rely on people's words and actions, she had to be their judge.
Her parents had followed the black Mercedes till it drove to the opposite side of San Tokisco, bypassing the huge city by a bypass road. Their car had halted outside a large walled, building compound that had Sector A5 written on a dimly backlit board.
Brad and Jane watched the black Mercedes enter the military college. Assured they had not taken her somewhere else. Then they'd driven back to Greenfoot.
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