Xana I

Chapter two

Xana I

I walk in the door of our coven house with Fleur behind me. Aleen is holding Cecile’s hand and she greets me with a smile. Aleen like all other light faeries has sun-kissed tan skin, big round yellow eyes and yellow hair. She has an aura around her that glows in yellow light. Cecile is the opposite of bright Aleen. She has dark black hair, super pale skin, and dark almond shaped eyes. And the aura around her seems to suck the light around her like a black hole. I guess that’s why they like each other. Opposites truly do attract in this house. “Hey sunshine, how was your checkup?”

I wave my hand at her and answer, “Good.”

She smiles wider. “Well that’s good! Isn’t that good dear?”

Aleen elbows her girlfriend in the ribs. Cecile nods. “Yes, it is good,” says Cecile in her usual robotically flat voice. Her blank black eyes drift to mine. “Welcome home Xana.”

“Thanks Cecile.” I sniff the air and smell something completely foul. “Oh nixie, its Starling’s night for dinner isn’t it?” I moan.

Aleen frowns and nods gravely. She leans close to me. “I think its tofu again.”

“Aw heck no! I’m going to help her ‘make’ dinner.”

Fleur grabs my arm, well my mechanical one anyways. I look at her. She really is a pretty girl with orange hair braided with flowers of every color and big grass green eyes. Even her ivory skin has a green tint to it. “Um, why don’t you let me do that Xana. I’m afraid you’ll go ninja on her.”

I shrug. “As long as there’s meat with dinner I don’t care.”

Fleur smiles. “I’ll make her reconsider the tofu, don’t you worry.”

I can’t help but to smile at sweet little Fleur. “Thanks. I guess I’ll go hang out in my room until dinner.”

Aleen smiles and her teeth almost blind me, ok not really, but they are really white. “Ok, I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“Thanks Aleen.” I wiggle past them and trudge to the lift. Now you might think that when I say “hallway” you think of a long passageway with doors lining the walls, and I laugh at you, but seriously, no, it’s a huge opening in the ceiling; a tall, upward hallway with doors in the middle of the walls. I beat my wings and soar up to my door. It just so happens to be the door at the top of the house. In all the other houses this room is left untouched, barren, which is a shame; it’s the most beautiful room in the house. I close my door and rest my forehead against it. The cold ice feels good on my skin, it calms me. I stand up straight and turn around to face my room. My room is a literal ice box. Ice lines all the walls and the floor and snow collects in the corners like dust. Frost patterns the icy walls like floral patterned wallpaper. Snow floats down silently and majestically. Icicles act as wall decorations as the hang on the corners. My bed is sculpted of ice and has the same winter white swirls in it that my wall has. The covers on my bed are made of white Glory of the Snow petals and my bed is just regular memory foam. Surprised? Yes, that’s right us faeries order Sleep Number mattresses, though clearly not Demetri.

One complete wall is a mirror. I stand in front of it now. My dark blue, skin tight dress clings to me perfectly. It’s a sleeveless high collar dress with a diamond opening on my back. The front and sides of the skirt of my dress are short and loose like an ice skaters competition costume only shorter still. At the back the skirt curves down on both sides and then flows straight down making a sort of flowing, hanging train. The loose blue fabric flicks as the heels of my ice-pumps kick it when I walk. My dark blue wavy hair topples down my shoulders and reaches to my butt. My eyes glow white, no pupils or irises like humans; just completely white and glowing outlined in dark blue eyelashes. My skin sparkles like microscopic diamonds are implanted in my porcelain skin. I look to be sculpted of opal. My cherry red lips stand out shockingly on my pale skin. My diamond like wings cast rainbows in the light. I must admit, I am beautiful. But I am a broken jewel; a chip in the glass. I look down at my mechanical arm. It really is unique; Demetri worked hard to make it nice. He made it so it fashioned like a real arm; work-wise and shape-wise, but he couldn’t do anything about the fact that it stands out.

I still remember the first time Fleur came to a maintenance checkup. She took one look at my stump and ran out of the door. I see children look at me funny, mothers guiding their young ones away. Even among the veterans of the Ice War, I am an odd ball… well so much anymore. Once Izo is gone, it’ll just be me. I was nine when the war was going on. There were only a few other young ice faeries at the time, but now I’m the only one left. All those other survivors are dead now, all taking their lives one way or another. Izo is about fifty-years old and his wife would have been forty-six if she lived through the war; he tells me this every day. I am the youngest. And not only that, but I am the only one that has a mechanical prosthetic. Most, if a limb is lost, leave the stump covered in bandages, some have other means for prosthesis, but none are as good as Demetri’s finest work.

In a nutshell, I’m proud to have this arm and wear it like a badge of honor (not that I deserve it), but it saddens me and is just another reminder of how useless I am.

I look away from the mirror and shuffle to my bed. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to squeeze in a good two hour nap. I collapse on my bed and nuzzle my face into the nice cool pillow.

Knock knock knock

Are kidding me?

Moaning I get off my nice cool, comfy bed and answer the door. Aleen floats in front of my door, smiling with her hands behind her back. I blink my eyes rapidly. Honestly the girl should wear darker clothing tone down the glow, not sparkly gold dresses. Where does she even find those dresses anyways?!

“Dinners ready. It just so happened that Sora was already in the kitchen making chicken nuggets when Fleur went in to help.” She gets so distracted by her story that her wings start slowing and she begins to sink down. “Not only chicken nuggets but hot dogs too, so we’re pretty set.” She realizes he descent and flutters her wings harder. I try not to laugh. “Anyways lucky us, dinner is served.”

“Uh, Sora! That girl is a lifesaver!” I close my door behind me and Aleen and I walk to the dining room together, or well I walked and she skipped.

Our coven home, like all the others, is round and a lot like a sorority/frat house. There are eleven rooms, one for each faerie of each kind. That’s how every coven is grouped; by selecting a faerie of each element and sticking them in a big house. From the age of ten you are paired with all your coven sisters or brothers and you never leave them until the age of twenty. Even after then you’re never really spilt up from your coven siblings. After living ten years together you’re all deemed as a dream team; a family. It’s been seven years I’ve lived with my coven sisters and I know that after another three years we’ll be inseparable. And then I’ll have Draco and Asher and all my other friends around too. And I’ll have Demetri. I seriously don’t know what I’d do with him. He’s my best friend; someone like a real brother to me.

“Xana!” Kiri snaps me out of my thoughts. Everyone is already at the table. Kiri bounces in her very seat making her curly brown hair spring. Dead leaves and twigs are stuck in her messy hair. I’m not sure if she put them there on purpose or if she rolled down a hill. Her green velvet dress wavers light like a waxy leaf. “Hey Kir,” I say with a smile.

Aleen skips up to the chair beside Cecile, pecks her on the lips briefly and sits down. Sora sits next to Starling, her wind-blown perfect brown hair with the bleached pieces in the front and her lovely caramel skin make her look like an African princess. Starling is a strange creature. She’s a complete vegan when it comes to food, but she wears fur non-stop. She looks like a batty… I don’t even know. With her lizard skin shirt, black alligator skin skirt, and raccoon hat she seems to be half screwy swamper and half rogue Russian. She’s weird, but no one does weird like Jinx. The girl has pretty pink hair she happens to have in lopsided pigtails. She wears a white and blue Japanese style school outfit. It sort of reminds me of a girly sailor outfit. It would be cute if she didn’t have these weird buttons all over. One says, “Roy Mustang for Fuhrer!”, whatever that means and another says, “SoMa 5ever!” Thought the ones that intrigue me the most is “I’ll ship it in HELL!” and “My ship will be canon!” I thought she liked all those anime stuff, not ships and canons! I don’t know. Thought then again by the way she gushes over all of it I guess maybe if I gave it a try I might like some of the stuff she reads and watches, but I haven’t yet.

Nerina fluffs out her aqua hair and dabs her finger in her blue lipstick as she looks in a mirror of water. She looks up at me with her watery eyes and winks. I flip her the middle-finger and she giggles a watery giggle. She fixes her shimmering aqua dress and pretends to tease me with a kiss into the air. Trying not to laugh, I lick my teeth. Nerina snorts into laughter and ducks her head into the crook of her elbow on the table. Adana rolls her brown eyes at us. She, apart from me, is the most stubborn girl you’ll ever meet. Her natural, earthy vibe seems to be one of the only calming features of our crazy bunch. I do adore Adana just as much as my other coven sisters, but she’s more of the mother figure in the house. I guess every coven house has one, and Adana is just that. As a matter of fact we call her the “earth mother”. She wears her usual olive green cotton dress and clay bead necklace. She’s a no nonsense sort of gal. She indicates for me to take my seat beside Fleur and Sora. I hold my hands up in surrender and shuffle over to my seat.

“Let us pay our respects,” says Adana in our routine before-we-start-eating ritual. It’s tradition we faeries do, like how humans pray before they eat; we pay our respects to the Faerie Queen. All ten of us bow our heads in unison. “Our lovely Queen Titania, we commend you whole-heartedly,” says all the girls, but one. I bow my head, but say nothing. None of the girls question why I do this, and I’m thankful for that. But there is no way in Hell I am joining in on their worshiping. “Thank you for this meal and this safety you bestow so graciously upon us. Your beauty is one that shines on the outside and the inside-”… blah blah blah. Honestly the rest of the extolling is just about how wonderful she is and how lucky we are to have her as our queen.

They finish and I dig in. Starling is a good cook, it’s just… I hate tofu. I take a few chicken nuggets, not wanting to hog them all. As we eat Sora slyly gives me her chicken nuggets. I love my coven sisters. I eat in silence listening to my sisters, mostly Kiri, blab about their day. Adana asks me how my checkup went and I answered with a simple, “good”.

Right after dinner I make a bee-line for bed. No one calls after me or comes looking for me which works out fine for me; early night in.

�-–

“Hello Izo.”

He looks over to me lazily. His white eyes are duller than two days ago. His frosty hair sticks up messily and he hasn’t shaved in a week. Dark bags hang under his eyes. He is handsome for a man of his age. It’s like looking at Carlos Bernard, a depressed Carlos Bernard. “Hello Xana.”

I smile at him. Being kind to him is all I can do. Hopefully it will remind him of how much his life means to us, but I fear I’m still too late. “It’s a beautiful day for work isn’t it?”

He looks up to the sky. His skin sparkles like mine, like the surface of freshly fallen snow. His wings are large, and pinned together. I look away from him and up at the sky. The sun shines brightly and the leaves on the huge oak tree are orange, yellow and red and are falling. Wind faeries are blowing the leaves away from the houses and shops at the base of the tree. “Yes, it is a beautiful day. My wife liked this sort of weather.”

“I’m sure she did Izo,” I say kindly. I look around the sky. Faeries are all busy at work. Wind faeries blowing cold air harshly above all the houses, flower faeries putting all the seasonal flowers to sleep, light faeries are making sure the sun’s heat isn’t too hot, dark faeries helping them, tree faeries taking care of the oak tree, magic faeries checking the magic walls around the city, earth faeries making the soil cold and too hard for plants to grow, animal faeries helping little critters into finding homes and food for hibernation, water faeries slowing the flow of water in the creeks. I see none of my sisters, there are too many to really spot which one is which. Though it can’t be too hard to find me. I stand on the Great Open Pavilion with Izo. Ice faeries are always stationed here for work, there’s no way they can miss us from all the way up there.

“Shall we start?” I ask Izo. He grunts and gets ready. I do the same. I stretch my arms down, cross my wrists and press the palms of my hands together. It seems unnatural, but it’s the most natural thing to me. “One, two, three.” I close my eyes, inhale and then exhale. A weird feeling in my gut pulls at the icy energy in my core. It’s a comforting feeling; the feeling of me using my powers. I open my eyes. Frost blasts from my hands and explodes around me like a giant, super intricate snowflake. The edges disperse like icy mist and travel into the atmosphere. The absolute chill of the iciness sends adrenaline through my veins and I close my eyes once again. I tilt my head up and let the sun shine on my face as I Oh, how love the cold!

Throughout the rest of the day Izo and I stand like that, in a sort of meditation, as frigidness pours from our cores and chills the air.

“Xana!” My heart skips a beat. I snap my eyes open and my concentration breaks, drawing my powers back into me like a rubber band. I turn around to see Demetri waving from across the Great Pavilion. I wave back to him. Be cool. Be cool. “It’s the end of the work day,” he calls to me. “Want me to walk you home.”

I almost squeak in glee. “Yeah, sure,” I call back. “Just hold on a minute.”

“Take your time.”

I turn back to Izo. His dull eyes are cast on the sky once again. I join him and gaze upward. The sun is setting making the clouds pink and orange. I rub my stump; it’s been achy all day. “It’s going to rain tomorrow,” I inform him.

“My wife loved thunderstorms,” he says listlessly.

“So do I.” I pause for a moment as we watch clouds roll by. “Do you think we’ll have work tomorrow?”

“In all my years, no; in all of history has there never been an ice faerie with as much power as you acquire.” I snap my head towards him in astonishment. “You possess the power of all our fallen sisters and brothers; you just don’t know your strength.” He looks at me, his eyes blazing with seriousness. “Take care of yourself Xana. I’m curtain you will make the right decision when the time comes.” Stunned, I nod at him. “Go now Xana and have a nice rest of the day.”

I just stare at him for a while. He has never said such a sensible thing since the day I met him. He’s always been cracking jokes, since day one. Has the madness turned him wise somehow? “Go now.”

I blink hard, nod again, and turn away. “Goodnight Izo.”

“Goodnight Xana.”

I walk away from him, not daring to turn back. Demetri smiles at me as I approach. My heart kicks up a notch at the sight of such a lovely grin. His tan skin is smudged with dirt, his perfect light brown hair his tousled to the side, his chocolate eyes sparkle in the receding sunlight. His wings are like thin dead leaves, the veins stand out against the almost see-through wing. It’s funny looking at him now than when I did as a child. He’s grown much, a good few inches taller than me, and his shoulders are much broader. I can even faintly see the definitions of his muscles against his shirt. His jaw sticks out flawlessly and his face is one of a human male supermodel’s. “Ready to go Xan?”

Xan. I get goose bumps every time he calls me by my nickname. “Yeah, let’s go.” My wings flutter wildly, as does his as we fly away.

“I see you and Izo worked really hard today, it’s a good four degrees colder.” He rubs his arms just for the effect.

I feel the air. “Hmm, yeah I guess we did; it’s 67 degrees now.”

He looks at me funny. “Sorry, but that’s weird.”

“What’s weird?!”

“You can tell the temperature without a thermometer. No wait, you are the thermometer!” He wiggles his fingers in front of my face.

“Shut up you.” I smack his hands away from my face.

“Ow! Must you do that with your metal arm?!” He shakes his hands out.

“Ohh,” I try to say without laughing, “sorry about that.”

He shrugs. “No big deal, I can take it.” He puffs out his chest dramatically.

I snicker loudly. “Sure you can. Wait a second, is that…?” I get closer to his face. He gives me an odd look as I get closer. “Is that a tear in your eye?” I tease.

He frowns. “Is not.” He pushes me away. My wings stutter and I drop in the air as I giggle. “You’re so mean.”

“Aww, baby Dem can’t take it?” I coo.

“See, mean.” He points a finger at me and nods enthusiastically.

I smile. “You know I only tease ‘cause I love ya.”

He tries to hide a smile. “Yeah yeah, don’t get all gushy on me now.”

“Why not?” I pout.

He pauses. “Well, you know what? Don’t stop. I like it when you act like a girl.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Is that supposed to mean something?” I ask dryly.

His head snaps towards me, his eyes wide. “No no! I didn’t mean it like that! All I meant was-”

I clap my hand over his mouth. “I’m just going to stop you there before you dig yourself deeper in that hole of yours.”

“Mmarmeee mann,” he mumbles against my hand.

I let him go. “What’d you say?”

“Sorry, Xan.”

I smile. “Now you don’t get all gushy on me.” He grabs me around my waist and crushes my side into him. He makes kissy noises in my ear. My cheeks immediately blush. “Get off of me,” I laugh.

“What’d you say?” he says in between kissy noises. “I’m sorry I can’t hear you over all my gushing.”

“Cut it out!” I push his face away; with my real hand mind you I’m not that cruel, but he keeps going. “Quit it, will you!”

“Fine fine, I’ll stop if you let go of my face.”

I snicker. “Deal.” We let one another go. I look ahead and see my coven house up ahead. I zip to the door with Dem right behind me. I grip the doorknob and turn towards him. I smile awkwardly. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The corner of his mouth twitches into a smile. “Ok.”

“Alrighty then, uh, bye.”

“Yeah bye.” He ducks his head and backs off the porch.

I turn the doorknob and open the door. I look back one more time to see him hovering by the porch. “See ya,” I say awkwardly.

“Yup see ya!” And with that he takes off.

That couldn’t have gotten any more awkward.

�-–

Flashes of scenes flicker in my head. I see myself withering on a marble floor as I scream in horror and pain and hold my stump as blood pours onto the floor. Then the scene changes to me stumbling through the streets of Fey City with a newly lost arm as rain pours down making the blood cover the whole right side of my body and paint a trail in the street. I remember sheer terror being the only thing keeping me from passing out. Then I see me opening my parents’ door to see them lying dead on the floor with imps eating the flesh off my parents’ bones. I screamed, even louder than when I lost my arm and ran. Nix, I remember running so fast and for so long. I was so frightened all I knew what to do was run. I even killed a few imps without even looking at them. Then the scene changes and I’m standing outside of Demetri’ shop. His father opens the door with Demetri hiding behind his back. I remember crying in the rain while he stared at me. Demetri’ mother screamed so loud it was heard at a few homes nearby. Her scream echoes in my head as I sit up quickly in bed.

 No it wasn’t her scream. The scream is mine. Tears streak down the sides of my face as the scream turns into tortured crying. I roll onto my side and curl into a sweaty ball.

“Xana!” Someone unlocks the door from the outside and my coven sisters pour in. Someone takes my hand as everyone gathers around; I’m not sure who though. “Get out of my way.” Adana pushes through my sisters and comes to the side of my bed. She leans over me with her face scrunched together. Did I tell you how she’s the mother figure in the house? Yes? Well then this won’t come as a shock to you.

I reach up and hug her. I cry into her shoulder and she runs circles into my back. “It’s ok dear,” she says calmly.

“They took it,” I sob.

“I know they did,” she says softly. “And I’m so sorry they took your arm sweetheart.” She sits on the side of my bed and I sit up still crying into her shoulder. She tells the other girls to go back to bed. None would dare to disobey Adana, so they all file out somberly.

She tries to get me to go back to sleep but I refuse. I’m afraid if I close my eyes more horrific scenes from my past might come back for a lovely little comeback. “I know it’s hard for you Xan,” says Adana softly. “And I know the anniversary is bringing back bad memories. I can’t say I know how you feel because I don’t. But I’d take away any pain if I could. I would take it all away from you, no matter how severe and crushing I imagine it must be. I just want you to know that I’ll always be here for you Xana. Do you understand?” I nod and sniffle. “I love you sissy.”

“Love you too,” I mumble into her shoulder.

She kisses the top of my head. It’s a motherly gesture, which anything motherly I haven’t felt in a long time so it was both comforting and somewhat foreign. “Do you want some hot cocoa? The sun is almost up. How about you take another two days off since tomorrow is the anniversary? I’ll stay home with you. We can even haul Demetri up here too. Sound good love?”

I nod. “Ok.” She peels me off her shoulder and lies me back down on my bed. “I’ll go get your hot cocoa and call into work.” She gets up and walks out of my room silently. I curl my legs up to my chest and get a hold of myself. Images and bad memories dance in my head threatening to drive me mad. I’ve fighting the madness since I was nine, but it seems to always creep up on me near the anniversary. It’s a curse I must live with; a curse I must fight off. I’m not allowed to say who put this curse upon me, not now anyway.

I pick myself off my bed and with jelly legs, walk out of my door. I flutter my wings lightly as I descend through the hallway. I shuffle to the living room and curl up in the corner of the couch. Adana sees me on the couch and comes to sit with me. She hands me my Hogwarts coffee mug. Is that shock I sense? Didn’t think faeries wished they went to Hogwarts? I mean who doesn’t love Harry Potter, come on you guys, get real.

“Thank you Adana.”

She smiles sympathetically at me. “Sure thing sweetie.”

“Adana, you don’t have to stay with me. I’ll be fine alone. Go to work, I know the other earth folk need your help.”

Adana frowns. “I don’t want you home alone.”

I smile as sweetly as I can at her. “I swear I’ll be ok. Go back to bed Adana.”

Her frown deepens. “Are you positive?”

“Absolutely. I’m feeling better already. This hot cocoa was just what I needed. Thank you.”

Her frown lessens. “Alright then.” She gets up from the couch. “I’ll see you in a few hours Xana.”

 I nod and take a sip of the hot cocoa. She flies off to bed and my eyes follow her through brand new tears.

�-–

All my coven sisters left for work already, each leaving in five minute intervals. I’m still curled up in my corner of the couch. Fleur tucked a knit blanket over my legs, Aleen made me more hot cocoa, and Nerina wrapped her favorite comfy sweater around my shoulders. What surprised me most was Cecile. She sat beside me for a while. Her dark aura seemed to suck some of my gloom away. After three minutes she got up, kissed me on the head and then left. I’m not sure what it was she did, but it made me feel a bit better.

I flip through channels trying to find something good to watch. I finally give up and stop on a Twilight movie; New Moon I think. These movies are constantly on. Suddenly there’s a sharp knock on the door. I debate whether or not to get the door, but after another few knocks I get up and answer it. Demetri stands at the door with a crooked smile. My heart skips. His lush brown hair is swept to the side like he was flying sideways. His skin no longer covered in grime and oil; it’s a lovely tan shade, like those of Hispanic background in the human world. His cocoa colored eyes shine as he looks down at me. “Hey Xan, I saw Adana at the field and she told me what happened.” His smile wavers. “I came to keep you company.”

“What about your shop?”

“It’s Monday,” he answers.

I raise my eyebrow. “Isn’t the shop usually open on Monday?”

“Yeah, but not this Monday.” His smile broadens.

I roll my eyes at him. “Come in you slacker.”

“Hey! I’m not a slacker!” he protests as he walks in the door and closes it behind him. I walk into the living room with him trailing behind. I’m about to nuzzle back into my corner when Demetri flops down on the couch. “Aww man! Not Twilight,” he moans.

“I like Twilight. Get over it.”

He looks at me skeptically. “No you don’t. Don’t even try lying to me Xan, I know every little thing about you.” No you don’t.

He maneuvers himself so he’s lounging on the corner of the couch that’s bottom swings out like a recliner and pays the spot next to him. I sit down making sure not to touch him and tuck my legs up to my chin. We sit like that for a moment or two before Dem throws the blanket over me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I relax and lean into him, resting my head on his hard muscled chest. He pulls me closer and wraps his other arm around me. After a while I realize that we’re actually cuddling. When the thought came about I blush to myself.

Why must he do this every time are alone like this? He all of a sudden seems irresistible, but I know I could never be. You only marry those of the same elemental race. So in this reality I’ll never marry and have children. “Hey Xan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we change this?”

“Nope. I’m going to make you sit through this entire movie.”

“Aw man,” he groans. “You’re lucky you have me as a friend, anyone else and they’d punch you in the head and change the channel.”

I snort. “Oh I’m sure they would if they wanted a broken hand.”

He smiles and tightens his arms around me. “That’s my girl.”

We sit there and watch all of New Moon. Demetri even listened to me rant about how dependent Bella is and crap like that. At some point he told me to “praise it sista”.

When the credits roll Demetri gives a great sigh. “You wanna go out?”

I know what means, he’s hungry. “Are you paying?”

He hums in thought, more for the theatrics of it. “Yes I’ll pay.”

“Well then great! I’m starving.”

His eyes sparkle and his smile widens. “Who would have ever thought you’d be such a gold digger, making me pay.”

“I’m over it.”

�-–

Walking through Fey City with a guy earth faerie, you get a lot of stares. I guess that’s why Aleen and Cecile keep their relationship strictly inside the coven house. Though their relationship is a bit more... I guess, scandalous. Being gay or lesbian in the faerie community is... well it’s not spoken about. Me and my sisters, we don’t mind it and I’m positive there are others who don’t mind it either. I actually think they’re a really cute couple. And hey, if you’re gay, well then I congratulate you. I’m happy that you found your right type. I hope you find someone to live your life with and same with you straights. Love for all!

There’s my insightful thought of the day. Anyways, we get lots of stares walking through Fey City together, even though we’re not together together; got me? I lean into his shoulder when he makes me laugh, I even link my arm with his for a small time, but other than that we act like regular teenage friends hanging out.

We’ve just eaten lunch and he even took me to the movie store to pick out some good ones to watch later. We spent way too much time looking through movies and joking around and then looking through old vinyls next door that we arrived back at the coven house a few minutes before five. My sisters will be home soon. I crash through the door giggling and trip on the rug. Demetri catches me at my waist. I snort as Demetri cracks up. “You’re such a klutz,” he laughs.

I laugh. “And you’re going to have to deal with it.”

“Oh please,” he says with a smile. “I’ve been dealing with it since you could walk.”

I snort and put the plastic bag of movies down on the table by the door. I turn around and look up at Demetri. He’s a good five to six inches taller than me. He wears his favorite black pants with the frayed holes at his knees and a tight brown shirt. He looks really handsome in the evening sunlight.

“Hey Xan?”

“Yeah?”

He shifts his weight to another foot nervously “Do you think the times will change soon like our parents predicted?”

I know what he’s talking about. When we were kids our parents said that one day soon we’ll be able to love who ever we want. You can only marry those of the same elemental race. So in this reality I’ll never marry and children. The thought saddens me. Growing up I’d always see myself in the future with a husband and children, but it’s not a possibility for me now. I play dumb. “What do you mean?”

His cheeks redden. “That we’ll be able to love whoever we want?”

“With Titania as Queen... I’m not sure Dem; why do you ask?”

“Uh...” He tugs in the collar of his shirt, his face almost completely red. “Well you see, I sort of like a faerie and she’s a- well she’s not an earth faerie.”

“Oh? Then what is she?”

“Special.”

“How special?”

He pauses for a moment and bites on the insides of his cheeks. “This special.” Quickly he takes my face in his hands and kisses me. I gasp against his lips and my eyes almost bug out of my head... but then it goes away. Everything just seems to melt away. My worries, my shock, my madness; it all leaves my brain and sinks to my toes. I suddenly feel stronger. I feel indestructible. It’s suddenly just me and him.

Without even thinking about it, I kiss him back, our mouths moving endlessly and effortlessly. My eyes flutter close and I lean closer into him. I wrap my arms around his neck, tangling my fingers in his hair and grabbing hair at the nape of his neck. He holds me close, crushing me into him and pinning my wings to my back.

It’s all over now. I’m his. It’s official. He’s won. One kiss is all it took for him to win me over. I’m his forever.

He breaks away from me, lips rosy and eyes shining. We share a few breaths. “Yeah she’s really special.”

“Well lucky her.” I rise up on my tippy toes and pull him down again to kiss him some more.

Hmm... wow. I’m sorry to spring this on you so suddenly. I wasn’t planning on this. I mean it was probably bound to happen anyway; I’ve fancied Dem since I was fifteen. But I honestly didn’t think it’d happen so quickly in my story. Oh well. Personally I’m perfectly fine with this, so I guess you’re just going to have to deal with it.

It’s funny how much I realized I’ve been missing out in all these years; Demetri is a really awesome kisser.

I don’t know what I did but suddenly our kiss becomes more frenzied; a beautiful clash of lips, teeth, and tongue. My fingers trace the hem of his pants, the fingers on my left hand skimming the warm skin of his hip. He growls deep in his throat and clutches at me. He’s not gentle with me, and I don’t want him to be; he knows that I may be an ice faerie, but I’m hard as steel. He runs his hands down my sides trailing his fingers across first the sides of my ribs then my torso and then my hips. I moan as he drags one hand down my hip and grabs my thigh lifting up. With a few flaps of my wings I swing my legs around his hips. He growls again and slams my back against the wall of the small hallway. My wings are splayed out and at the opening in my dress, the coolness of the wall seeps through my skin heightening my adrenalin even more. He keeps me up by the sheer pressure of his body against mine and his hands pressed against the bottom of my ribs. Now with my legs around his waist, I’m higher than him. He kisses my jaw and I quickly catch a breath before making him move back to my lips. He tilts his head up as he kisses me mercilessly. The bottoms of my upper arms, near my elbows, rest on his shoulders as I run my fingers through his smooth, thick hair. I seriously... I don’t even know how to explain it; we’re either not close enough or I’m just not getting enough of Demetri.

I’m so absorbed in our kisses that I don’t hear the giggles of girls outside the door and suddenly the door crashes open. “Oh my FEY!”

Demetri and I snap our heads toward the door. All nine of my coven sisters stand outside of the house frozen in shock, each with wide eyes and open mouths, even Cecile. Nerina drops her favorite blue lipstick on the ground halfway through putting it on. “S**t,” I mutter so low that I’m sure I’m the only one that heard it. I slide down from the wall and stand up right refusing to look at my sisters. “Uh, you should go,” I breathe to Demetri.

He nods slightly and slips away from me. He awkwardly walks to the door and squirms past the girls standing outside. Kiri hops like a bunny on crack and silently squeals. A few in the back watch him go, including Starling who wolf-whistles.

I start to feel uncomfortable with all the stares and rock back and forth on my heels. “So...,” I drag, “how was work you guys?” My heart is still racing and I’m panting a bit as I speak.

All eyes slowly focus primarily on me. I laugh nervously. “How ‘bout I make dinner?”

No reply.

“Yes? Great, I’ll get started now.” I back away from them and run into the kitchen. Quickly I take out a few random ingredients and a bowl or two and pretend like I’m making something.

“Holy mackerel!” sheiks Nerina. Suddenly the kitchen is filled with all ten faeries. I’m bombarded with questions like, “Holy cow, how did this happen?” and “Spill the dets!”

I ignore them all and continue to pretend to make dinner. Then I hear, “How was it?” I freeze and so does everyone else.

“Great.” Kiri and Starling squeal. I turn toward them, leaning on the counter and trying to hide a smile. “It was brilliant, fantastic, magical, magnificent, perfect, phenomenal.” I laugh. “I didn’t even mean for that to be in alphabetical order! It-I can’t even think of anymore words, my head is so scrambled.” I look up at them with the widest grin I’ve worn in decades. Fleur has tears in her eyes as she clasps her hands in front of her chest. Kiri and Starling hold hands as they hop up and down. Aleen holds Cecile’s hand in hers and presses the back of hers to her chest as Cecile smiles at me. Adana even has a proud grin on. Jinx jumps in the air and jells, “My OTP is canon!!”

I don’t even know what that means but I start laughing anyways. I’m thrown questions again and I do my best trying to answer all of them. Then Cecile comes up to me. She’s a dark, short, pretty girl. She smiles. “I’m happy you finally found out your feeling for Demetri. I know he’s just what you need. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have Aleen.”

Aleen’s eyes shine at that moment. I fight back the urge to “aw”. Instead I hug her. “Thanks Cece.”

Adana tilts her head. “Xana, do you love him?”

I panic. Do I? “I mean, I don’t know. Uh, not yet?”

Nerina laughs irritably. “Bullshark! Stop being such a guppy and think Xan. I know that look on your face and heck I know exactly how you feel. I felt the same way when I started dating Gill.”

I snicker. “Ok fine,” I surrender. “I’ve liked him for a few years now.”

“You’ve been dating for a few years?!” shrieks Starling.

“No no no! That was... well that was our first kiss.”

“That was some first kiss,” mumbles one of the girls. A few snickers follow, but Aleen gasps, “And we interrupted it!”

“No no! Ok so that wasn’t technically our first kiss ‘cause we stopped for a moment and talked and then I kiss him again.”

“So you kissed him first?” asks Fleur.

“Well, no. He kissed me.” Jinx squeals.

I’m actually having fun talking to my sisters. Usually I exclude myself from conversations about boys and stuff like that because A: I’ve never had a boyfriend and B: I’m not allowed to marry anyone, but you know, I’ve always been one to break the rules. And in this house, rules of love don’t apply.

I feel like the Grinch, my heart swelling in happiness.

I should have seen it coming. I mean I know the extents of the curse, but I was so happy for once I let my guard go.

I gasp as clips of my past dance in my head. The evil smile of a beautiful woman; the pool of blood at my knees; blood dribbling off the chins of imps. “May your past haunt you and drive you mad, may you never know true happiness again and may you die the death of an ice faerie! Only until the day you are truly loved will the curse be broken.” My hand immediately goes to my shoulder, but...

My eyes widen and my hyperventilation quickens. I move my hand away from my arm and stare at it. There’s blood dripping off my fingers and down my wrist. I swiftly look down at my arm. Blood flows down my mechanical arm from my stump like a slow waterfall. I scream. In a pool of blood ay my feet I see visions of my parents’ flesh hanging from the sharp teeth of imps, their blood splattered on the walls of the home I grew up in, their blank dimmed eyes. I close my eyes and scream again.

“What the hell?!” I hear one of my sisters scream.

Pain; a pain so immense I can barely keep myself conscious. White spots chase each other around in my vision and black gathers at the edges of my vision like a vignette picture. The pain chokes off a scream and buckles my knees. I collapse onto the floor. I hold my arm and scream bloody murder while withering on the floor. Someone means over me. My sisters yell at another in panic. “Adana! What do we do?!” yells Fleur.

“Everyone shut up!” yells Adana from above me. She takes my shoulders and shakes me. “Xana! What’s wrong?!”

“My arm!” I cry. “Oh Nix it hurts!”

She lets go of my right shoulder. “There’s so much blood,” I weep. “Make it stop. Please.”

“Uh,” panics Adana. “Starling!”she snaps. “Go get Demetri! NOW!”

Starling sprints away, swings the door open and flies out the house. A wave of pain makes me scream and wither again. “I’m bleeding!” I scream.

“Xana!” Adana shakes me again. “Xana there’s no blood!”

“It’s all over. My stump is bleeding.” I’m starting to see black spots.

“There’s no blood! Snap out of it Xana! You’re fine!”

“It hurts.” I look up at Adana’s face. “Please,” I plea weakly, “make it stop.” And then it’s all black.

�-–

“May your past haunt you and drive you mad, may you never know true happiness again and may you die the death of an ice faerie! Only until the day you are truly loved will the curse be broken.”

I’m shuddered out of my haze by the memory of the curse being put on me. I’m half awake; weightless and paralyzed. There are two people with me.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Adana softly. “One moment she’s smiling and happy and then the next she’s screaming at the top of her lungs and having illusions that her... stump is bleeding”. She has difficulty saying stump. “I mean I’ve never seen her so elated and then... the tables turned completely.” I can hear Adana pacing nervously.

“She’s never done such a thing before,” says Demetri from above me. “I’m worried about her. Tomorrow is the ten year anniversary. Maybe that’s why she’s acting like this.” He doesn’t say the last sentence with much confidence.

I groan and turn over in my bed. Demetri holds my hand; his warmth seeping into my skin. I open my eyes slowly. Demetri leans over me, his lush brown hair falling over his face. His brown eyes look down at me sadly. “Demetri?” I moan.

“Hey Xan, how are you feeling?”

I don’t answer him. Instead I reach over my bed and grab Demetri’s waist. I wrap my arms around him and pull him towards me. He seems surprised at first but then he starts rubbing my back. He bends over me and whispers soothing words into my ear.

“I’ll leave you two.” Adana paces out of my room and closes the door silently behind her. I’m surprised she did so; two teenage faeries, of the opposite sex mind you, aren’t allowed to be alone, that’s why Fleur takes me to Demetri’s for checkup. Though now that I think about it, she, plus the rest of us, leave Aleen and Cecile alone a lot. But that’s different again, those two can’t get pregnant together, but Demetri and I... Whatever I’m just surprised.

He untangles my arms, sits me up and crawls into bed beside me. He sits up with his back against my fluffy pillows and I rest my head on his lap. He puts on the TV and plays The Little Mermaid from on Disney Channel. His nimble fingers comb through my hair at my temple.

As we watch the movie I start to make connections. I am Ariel, though twisted and on the verge of insanity, and Demetri is Eric. Our love is not meant to be, but it still burns bright. King Triton is the faerie Queen’s marriage laws; the only thing dividing Demetri and me. Ursula is my subconscious telling me that I can make it work somehow though I know in the end it will just betray me. The end of the movie is a happy one, but I can’t predict that my ending will be like that. That’s as close as I get to get because I fall asleep.

Author's Note

I know it's a bit scrambled but I'm still rushing