Kaleidoscope (Faylinn Series) (14 page)

“It’s not that they are all deceitful it’s that they can’t grasp the idea of our existence,” Declan intervened. “They could become fixated or violent. It’s not pretty either way.”

“You sound as if you know from experience,” I said.

Declan rubbed the back of his neck, seeming uncomfortable. “I’ve heard stories. We’ve had a few situations occur with male faeries luring human woman. They didn’t do it maliciously, only out of curiosity, but things got a little out of hand.”

“Well that was the faeries own fault for using Enticement,” I exclaimed.

“Enticement doesn’t work on humans. Humans simply can’t resist us,” Kai said.

“Cocky much?”

Kai chuckled, but didn’t deny it.

“It’s true, Calliope,” Declan backed up Kai again. “Or from what I’ve heard anyway. It’s why we tend to just stay away. It’s safer for all parties.”

“Well Cameron is different. He hasn’t become fixated with me.” I would have noticed and I wouldn’t have minded if he had.

“You forget. You’re only half. It might make you affect humans differently or not have an effect at all,” Declan said.

“Can’t you put on some enchantment that does the opposite of Enticement or something?”

They both chuckled, which made me feel foolish. They couldn’t expect me to know everything. “We can do a ruse here and an enchantment there, but we’re not all-powerful. We can’t do whatever we want,” Declan clarified.

I sighed. “Well, I told Cameron and I can’t take it back, so now what?”

“Nothing,” Declan said. “We just have to hope that he’s one of the few humans who can be trusted.”

It really got under my skin to hear them question my best friend. They didn’t know him. They didn’t know me. It didn’t matter that they had watched me for years or whatever. That meant they knew my routines and basic information, but they didn’t know me. I knew they had their reasons, but if anyone could be trusted with my secret it was Cameron.

“So this is it? For the rest of my existence, I’ll be a faery and no one else can

know about me?”

“I’m sorry, Calliope,” Declan said.

I clenched my fists and exhaled. “All right. Teach me everything I need to

know.”

I
noticed that the more time I spent in the woodlands, the easier it was to keep the yearning at bay. It was satisfied as long as I made an appearance in the trees. That discovery was a relief, but it also made me feel trapped. I’d never be able to live a day without the trees. I was tied to Faylinn for better or for worse now.

Every day I anticipated my wings’ arrival, but they didn’t show. Would they look like butterfly wings? Or maybe a flower? Were they going to glitter or shine? Or would they be gossamer and sheer? What if they were going to be too huge to cover up? If they were, my dad would surely be more worried about it and have said as much. But then again there really was no telling what information that man was going to give up.

The four of us sat on the lawn for lunch. Cameron and Isla sat next to one another, cross-legged, sharing chips and whispering to one another. The whispering stopped getting old and now it was just another day with the lovebirds. It had been a week and Cameron had kept my secret so far. It wasn’t hard to, I suppose we rarely hung out, never giving him a chance to accidently spill the beans.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lia snag a hand full of grass and yank, tearing the strands to bits.

“Don’t pick at the grass,” I reprimanded.

Lia looked at me, puzzled. I wasn’t sure why I had said it. It wasn’t as if I thought plants had feelings or anything, but the thought of nature being torn and picked apart quirked my nerves. Nature was my home no matter where I went. I was turning into such a faery.

“Whoa, hadn’t realized I would offend anyone.”

“You didn’t,” I retracted. “I don’t know why I said that. Pick all the grass you want.”

Lia eyed me curiously. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she sighed, getting to her feet. I wanted to follow, but at the same time I knew I needed to keep my distance. Why did I have to say that?

“Oh, me too,” Isla chimed in. “Wait for me.” She stood up and grabbed her backpack. They walked side by side to the school doors.

“Do you plan on ever telling Lia?” Cameron’s voice was slightly reproachful, as if he knew he was treading treacherous waters.

I looked over to him. “Cameron, I wasn’t even going to tell you. I can’t keep telling people.”

“But you spend more time with her than me now. And you don’t really hide the fact that you’re changing very well. It’s not just your appearance anymore, which by the way, is definitely noticeable. Half the guys in the hall are stopping just to watch you walk by.” There was a tone in his voice I couldn’t place. A tone he’d never used with me before.

Was it jealousy?

“Whatever,” I said, blushing a little, but brushing him off. And he was wrong. I hadn’t been spending more time with Lia than him. I’d been spending more time with the Keepers, but I didn’t correct him. “It’s a need to know basis. I’m going to involve the least amount of people necessary. The necessary ones being my dad, you and the Keepers. It’s safer this way.”

“The Keepers?” Cameron squinted, unfamiliar with the term that had become a part of my daily vocabulary.

“Yeah, Kai and Declan,” I said. “They are the faeries that introduced me to this world in the first place.”

“A couple of dudes, huh?” he said, half chuckling.

“Well, someone’s got to help the women procreate. Did you think all faeries were just a bunch of girls flitting about in frilly dresses?”

He shrugged sheepishly. “I just never pictured a dude with wings.”

“They don’t have wings,” I contended. Since when did I become so defensive about the fae?

“How do they fly then?”

“Faery magic,” I said blandly. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen them fly. I don’t think they do fly. They can just jump really high and far, like an acrobat or something.”

“Will you be able to fly?”

It suddenly dawned on me how little I knew about being a faery. Did they fly? Would I be able to use Enticement as well? Did they have any other abilities? What kind of houses did they live in? The questions were piling up and I knew I would make my head explode if I kept thinking about them.

“I don’t know. We haven’t gotten that far in my faery education,” I said dryly, but my weariness shined through.

Cameron chuckled. He could obviously see my discouragement because he said, “Callie, it’ll all come to you. You’ll learn everything eventually. Give it time.”

I heaved a sigh. “It’s like being born all over again, but instead of having years to learn how to walk and eat and talk, I’m being throw into a world that I know nothing about and am expected to know everything right away.”

“I wouldn’t be too worried about it. You have time, right? It’s not like you’re being quizzed about it or have to move to your faery kingdom tomorrow.”

I glared at him, silencing him just in time for Lia and Isla to come back.

“It’s getting chilly, Cam. Can we go inside?” Isla asked.

“Sure.” He stood up and dusted off his pants. “We’ll see you ladies later.”

“See ya,” I said.

“Bye,” Lia said. When they were back in the school, Lia turned to me. “You and Cameron have been getting chummier since they started dating. I told you phase one would eventually start to fade.”

I had almost forgotten Lia’s relationship theory. “He’s still head over heels. But it’s okay.” I shrugged, taking a sip from my water bottle. “I’m getting over it.” And I was. Well, at least to the point of realizing I had bigger things to worry about than my love life.

She laughed. “If that’s not the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth I don’t know what is.” I shifted my gaze to her. “I might not be telepathic, but I wasn’t born yesterday either. You still look at him the same way, Callie. You’re still one hundred percent smitten.”

“Great,” I said. “Glad I haven’t miraculously been nominated for an Oscar for my acting skills.”

She snorted and shoved me. “Don’t worry. As obvious as it is to me, I don’t think he knows. He’s charming, but he’s not a jerk. He wouldn’t string you along if he knew your feelings.”

“I know. How else do you think I’ve been able to be friends with him for the last six years?”

“He loves you, you know?”

I nodded.
Just not in the same way I love him.

• • •

“Going with pigtails today. I like it,” Dad said when he materialized in my doorway. I leaned against my headboard working on an assignment for calculus.

“I figured Pippi Longstocking wanted her braids back.”

He chuckled. “I didn’t mind the braids. They remind me of when your mom would put braids in your hair when you were little.” He regarded me with that you’re-growing-up-too-fast look before breathing a sigh. “Your creativity is becoming noticeable though. Mom mentioned it last night,” he said regrettably.

“Well I can’t risk just leaving my hair down like I used to, Dad. You know that.”

He came to sit at the end of my bed by my feet. “Have you put any more thought into going to Faylinn?”

“No. Why would I?”

He sat wordlessly for a moment, considering something before he spoke. “It might make things easier,” he commented softly.

“Easier for who? Don’t you think Mom would notice if her only daughter went missing?” I expressed myself with probably a little more attitude than was necessary.

“Easier for you,” he said gently. “And I would obviously tell your mother before anything progressed that far.”

He didn’t know what he was saying. He couldn’t possibly think I would want to live in Faylinn under the ruling of someone like Favner. It was no wonder my dad left in the first place. It wasn’t just romantic. It was smart, maybe his only way of survival.

“Dad, Favner. . .Favner is evil. I don’t want to live in a place that—”

“Favner?” Dad said the name like it was foreign on his tongue. “Favner is ruling Faylinn?”

“Has he not always?” Did I know more about Faylinn than my dad?

Dad shook his head, but didn’t say anything more.

“Well, Favner is ruling now and everyone is divided up and forced to work these tiresome jobs day or night, rain or shine. They are slaves and I would have to become a Nester.”

“What do you mean have to?” The look in my dad’s eyes was unreadable. “What’s a Nester?”

“Nesters are ordered to carry the seedlings. Do you know what that would mean for me?”

The look on my dad’s face shifted from unreadable to furiously confused. “What do you mean Nesters are forced to reproduce? What about Craftsmen and Keepers? What about Sowers?”

Why didn’t he know any of this? What had it been like when he was in Faylinn? “They have their duties to focus on. Favner couldn’t afford for all jobs to be overlooked, I guess.”

“What if a member of another colony gets pregnant?” he asked, a heated undertone coating his voice.

I hadn’t thought that far to ask that question. But if Favner’s way of ruling was any indication, I didn’t want to know because I could only imagine the measures Favner would take for punishment. I shrugged timidly and shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I said.

He stood up from my bed and began to pace. In all the years of my life, I had never seen my dad this angry. He didn’t say anything more and I sat silently until his pace slowed and his breathing was back to normal. My dad finally looked at me and if I wasn’t mistaken I saw his eyes glisten by the light as if there were tears threatening to spill over.

“Dad, I can’t live in a place that would turn me into a slave,” I said quietly.

“And I wouldn’t ask you to. We’ll find a way to keep you safe.” He turned to my door, but before he exited my room he said, “Don’t stay up too late, Calliope. Six thirty will come around before you know it.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me because I couldn’t force my mouth to make any more words. I didn’t know what to make of his reaction. What had it been like when my dad lived in Faylinn? Who ruled back then and why wasn’t he ruling now?

S
everal weeks had passed and the paranoia began to wear off every time someone looked at me. Either that or I stopped paying so much attention. I think I had mastered the art of ear coverage with my creativity. It was even a little comical the way I was complimented by others at school when I came with a different style. If I were smart, I’d tone it down to keep the attention from me, period.

“Do I get to meet your faery friends or are you ashamed of your human friends?” Cameron asked, matching my pace as I strode down the crowded hallway to English.

“Meet Declan and Kai?” I stopped, stepping out of the way.

“Yes. Meet them,” he said as if I was slow, as if it shouldn’t make me uncomfortable.

I shifted from one foot to the other. “I don’t know. I guess you could, but I’m not sure if it’s all that good of an idea. They might not even want to show themselves to you.”

“They make themselves invisible to humans?” I nodded. “But they appear to you,” he clarified.

“I’m not completely human,” I said, hushed. “They don’t have to show themselves to me. I just see them like I see you.”

“Cool. So when do I get to meet them?” he persisted.

It was one thing to reveal that I was a faery to Cameron, but it was a whole other story to combine the two worlds. They would crash and burn.

“Are you sure you want to? I mean, they aren’t exactly the friendliest and I’m not sure bringing an outsider into their territory would make them very comfortable.” I tried to deter the idea in his head. I could only imagine the remarks Kai would make and the look on Declan’s face.

“You spend all your free time with them,” he said. “Of course I want to meet them. I want to know who you deem worthy of spending time with. I want to make sure I can trust them.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that I deem them worthy. They are just the only ones I know.”

Cameron and I walked side by side down the hall, hips bumping, as we had to squeeze through others’ conversations. It felt so good to be just him and me again. This was how it was supposed to be. Just the two of us.