Wings

FOURTEEN

“DID WHAT?” LAUREL’S VOICE ROSE.

“You have to promise not to get upset.”

“You cast some kind of spell on me and now you expect me to just smile and tell you that’s okay? Well it’s not!”

“Look, it didn’t even work very well…never does on other faeries.”

Laurel crossed her arms. “Just tell me.”

Tamani leaned back against his tree. “I enticed you.”

“Enticed me?”

“I got you to follow me here.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You had to listen long enough to hear the truth.”

“So…what? You threw faerie dust in my eyes?”

“No, that’s ridiculous,” Tamani said. “I told you — real faerie magic isn’t quite what you’re thinking. There’s no pixie dust to make you fly, no waving magic wands, no puffs of smoke. It’s just things we can do that help us in our roles in life.”

“How does enticing help you be a sentry?” Laurel’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but Tamani continued explaining as though he hadn’t noticed.

“Think about it. I can chase an intruder away with my spear, but what good does that do? He’ll just run and tell his friends what happened, and they’ll come back looking for us.” Tamani spread his hands in front of him. “Instead, I entice him away, give him a memory elixir, and then send him off. Ever heard of a will-o’-the-wisp?”

“Sure.”

“That’s us. After a human drinks the elixir, all they remember of the whole incident is following a flash of light. It’s peaceful that way. No one gets hurt.”

“But I remembered you.”

“I didn’t give you an elixir, did I?”

“You still used your magic on me.” She refused to give up so easily.

“I had to. Would you have followed me if I didn’t?”

Laurel shook her head, but in her mind she knew that wasn’t quite true. She might have followed Tamani anywhere.

“Besides, like I said, it doesn’t work very well on other faeries — and it doesn’t work at all if they know what’s coming. You broke it pretty easily when you thought about it.” The half-grin was back.

“What about today?” Laurel asked before the smile could hypnotize her.

“Are you afraid I used it on you again?” he asked with a grin.

“Kind of.”

“Nope. All this charm and charisma comes naturally.” His smile was confident now. Arrogant.

“Promise me you’ll never try it on me again.”

“That’s an easy one. Now that you know, it wouldn’t work if I did try. And I won’t,” he added. “I like it better when I can bewitch you without my magic.”

Laurel hid her grin and sat back waiting for the comforting feeling around her to melt away.

It didn’t.

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Stop it. You promised.”

Tamani’s eyes widened in confusion. “Stop what?”

“That enticing thing. You’re still doing it.”

Tamani’s confused expression shifted to a warm smile. Satisfaction hovered around his eyes. “That’s not me.”

Laurel glared at him.

“It’s the magic of the realm. It seeps in from the world of the faeries. Helps the sentries feel at home when we can’t be.” His smile was calm and serene now, and a trace of satisfaction hovered around his eyes. “You felt it before — I know you did. It’s why you love this bit of land so much. But now that you know what you are and you’ve blossomed for the first time, it will be stronger.” He leaned forward, his nose mere inches from hers. Her breath caught in her chest as his nearness made her whole body feel limp. “It’s the realm calling you home, Laurel.”

Laurel tore her eyes from the endless depths of Tamani’s gaze and concentrated on what she was feeling. She looked into the foliage around her and the feeling intensified. The pleasant sensation seemed to emanate from the trees, and the air reverberated with it. “Is it really magic?” she asked breathlessly, knowing it couldn’t be anything else.

“Of course.”

“It’s not you?”

Tamani laughed softly but not mockingly. “It’s far greater magic than a lowly Spring faerie could even attempt.”

She met his eyes and for a moment couldn’t look away. His bright green eyes held on to hers. He looked mostly human, but there was something — she couldn’t quite put her finger on it — that seemed to indicate he was much more than what he appeared to be. “Are most faeries like you?” she asked quietly.

He blinked, and she managed to look away. “That depends on what you mean,” he said. “If you’re referring to my charm and wit, no — I’m as charming as they come. If you mean my appearance…” He paused to look down and take stock of himself. “I guess I’m fairly normal. Nothing real special.”

Laurel would have to argue with that. He had the kind of face even movie stars only got with airbrushing. But if he was right, maybe all faeries looked like him.

With a start Laurel wondered if she looked that way to her peers. Her face seemed normal to her, but then, she’d seen it in the mirror every day for her whole life.

She wondered briefly if what she saw when she looked at Tamani was what David saw when he looked at her.

The thought made her a little uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and began digging in her backpack to cover it. She pulled a can of soda from her bag. “Want one?” she asked absently as she popped the top.

“What is it?”

“Sprite.”

Tamani laughed. “Sprite? You’re kidding me.”

Laurel rolled her eyes. “Do you want one or not?”

“Sure.”

She showed him how to pop the tab and he tried it tentatively. “Huh, isn’t that something.” He scrutinized her for a few seconds. “Is this what you usually drink?”

“It’s one of the few things I like.”

“No wonder your hair and eyes are almost colorless.”

“So?”

“You never wondered why mine aren’t?”

“I…guess I wondered about your hair.” That was an under-statement.

“I eat a lot of dark-green stuff. The moss down by the river, mostly.”

“Eww.”

“Nah, it’s good. You were just raised with human ideals. I bet you’d like it if you tasted it.”

“No, thanks.”

“Suit yourself. You’re pretty enough as you are.”

She smiled shyly as he raised his can in her direction before sipping.

“I eat peaches,” she said suddenly.

Tamani nodded. “They’re good, I guess. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, personally.”

“That’s not the point. Why don’t I turn orange?”

“What else do you eat?”

“Strawberries, lettuce, and spinach. Apples sometimes. Basic fruits and vegetables.”

“You eat a variety, so your hair and eyes don’t pick up on any certain color; they just stay light.” He smirked. “Try eating nothing but strawberries for a week — that’ll give your mother a shock.”

“Would I turn red?” Laurel asked in horror.

“Not all of you,” Tamani said. “Just your eyes and the roots of your hair. Like mine. Back home it’s a fashion thing. Blue, pink, purple. It’s fun.”

“That’s so weird.”

“Why? Don’t half the humans’ stories say we have green skin? That’s a lot weirder.”

“Maybe.” Laurel remembered something from the last time she’d met Tamani. “You said there’s no faerie dust, right?”

Tamani inclined his chin somewhat, apparently in agreement, but his face was unreadable.

“Last time I was here, you grabbed my wrist and later there was this sparkly powder on it. What was that, if not faerie dust?”

Now Tamani grimaced. “Sorry about that; I should have been more careful.”

“Why, was it dangerous?”

Tamani laughed. “Hardly. It was just pollen.”

“Pollen?”

“Yeah, you know.” He studied his hands as if they had suddenly become very interesting. “For…pollinating.”

“Pollinating?” Laurel started to laugh, but Tamani didn’t look like he was telling a joke.

“Why do you think you grew a flower? It’s not just for looks. Although yours was very attractive.”

“Oh.” Laurel was quiet for a few moments. “Pollinating is how flowers reproduce.”

“It’s how we reproduce, too.”

“So you could have…pollinated me?”

“I would never do that, Laurel.” His face was deadly serious.

“But you could have?” Laurel pressed.

Tamani spoke slowly, choosing his words with great care. “Technically, yes.”

“Then what? I would have a baby?”

“A seedling, yes.”

“Would it grow on my back?”

“No, no. Faeries grow in flowers. That’s one thing the human stories generally get right. The…female…is pollinated by a male and when her petals fall off she’s left with a seed. She plants it and when the flower blooms, you have a seedling.”

“How do you…we…you know, faeries pollinate?”

“The male produces pollen on his hands and when two faeries decide to pollinate, the male reaches into the female’s blossom and lets the pollen mix. It’s a somewhat delicate process.”

“Doesn’t sound very romantic.”

“There’s nothing romantic about it at all,” Tamani replied, a confident smile spreading across his face. “That’s what sex is for.”

“You still…?” She let the question hang.

“Sure.”

“But faeries don’t get pregnant?”

“Never.” Tamani winked. “Pollination is for reproduction — sex is just for fun.”

“Can I see the pollen?” Laurel asked, holding her hands out for his.

Tamani pulled his hands back instinctively. “I don’t have any right now — you’re not in bloom anymore. We only produce pollen when we’re around a female who’s in bloom. That’s why I forgot and left some on your wrist. I haven’t been around a female with a blossom in a long time.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a sentry. There are always other sentries, but the ones here are all male. And I don’t go home too often.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“Sometimes.” He looked at her again and something changed about his eyes. His guard was down and she saw deep, mournful sadness. It almost hurt to keep looking, but she couldn’t turn away.

Then as quickly as it had come, it was gone — replaced with a careless grin. “It was more fun when you were here. You got me into big trouble, by the way.”

“What did I do?”

“You disappeared.” Tamani laughed and shook his head. “Boy, we’re glad you came back. When you—”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“You didn’t think I was the only faerie here, did you?”

Laurel played with a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “Kind of, yeah.”

“You won’t see us unless we let you.”

Despite what Tamani had just said, Laurel glanced around at the trees. “How many?” she asked, wondering if she was surrounded by legions of unseen fae.

“Depends. Shar and I are almost always here. Ten or fifteen others usually rotate through for six months or a year at a time.”

“How long have you been here?”

He looked at her for several silent seconds with an unreadable expression. “A long time,” he finally said.

“Why are you here?”

He smiled. “To watch you. Well, till your disappearing act.”

“You were here to watch me? Why?”

“To help protect you. Make sure no one found out what you are.”

Laurel remembered something from her research. “Am I a…a changeling?”

Tamani hesitated for a second. “In the loosest sense of the word, yes. Except that we didn’t steal someone and replace them with you. I prefer to think of you as a scion.”

“What’s a scion?”

“It’s a plant that’s taken from one plant and grafted into another. You were taken from our world and put in the human world. A scion.”

“But why? Are there lots of…scions?”

“Nope. At the moment, there’s just you.”

“Why me?”

He leaned forward a little. “I can’t tell you everything, and you have to respect that, but I’ll tell you what I can, okay?”

Laurel nodded.

“You were placed here twelve years ago to integrate into the human world.”

Laurel rolled her eyes. “I should have known. Who else would put me in a basket on someone’s porch?” Her eyes widened when Tamani laughed. “Did you do that?”

He laughed harder now, throwing his head backward in his amusement. “No, no. I was too young. But when I joined the sentries here, I pretty much got briefed on your whole life.”

Laurel wasn’t sure she liked that idea. “My whole life?”

“Yep.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Did you spy on me?”

“It’s not exactly spying. We were helping.”

“Helping…right.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Really. We had to keep your parents from finding out what you are.”

“That sounds like a really seamless plan.” Her tone turned sarcastic. “Hmm, how should we keep these two humans from finding out about faeries? Oh, I know, let’s plop one on their doorstep.”

“It wasn’t like that. We needed them to have a faerie child.”

“Why?”

Tamani hesitated, then pursed his lips.

“Fine, Mr. I’d-tell-you-but-then-I’d-have-to-kill-you. Why didn’t you send me out here as a baby?” She chuckled a little awkwardly. “Trust me, I’d have fit in the basket better if I wasn’t three.”

Tamani didn’t smile this time. “Actually, you were quite a bit older than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fairies don’t age the same way humans do. They’re never really babies. I mean, they look like human babies when they first blossom, but faerie babies are never helpless the way humans are. They’re born knowing how to walk and talk, and mentally they are about the equivalent of…” He considered for a moment. “Maybe a five-year-old.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Then they age a bit slower physically, so by the time a faerie looks like a three-or four-year-old, they’re actually seven or eight…and mentally they act like they are about eleven or twelve.”

“That’s weird.”

“You need to remember that we’re plants. Nurturing helpless young is what animals do. Not plants. Plants produce seedlings and those seedlings grow on their own. They don’t need help.”

“So what, faeries don’t even have parents? I don’t have faerie parents somewhere?”

Tamani bit his lip and looked at the ground. “Things are very different in the faerie realm. There’s not much time to be a child and not enough adult faeries to just sit around and watch kids play. Everyone has a role and a purpose, and they take on those roles very early. We grow up quickly. I’ve been a sentry since I was fourteen. I was a mite young but only by a year or two. Most faeries are practicing their profession and living on their own by fifteen or sixteen.”

“That doesn’t sound very fun.”

“Fun isn’t really the point.”

“If you say so. So, I couldn’t come as a baby because I could walk and talk, right?”

“Yep.”

“So how old was I when I did come?”

He sighed, and for a moment Laurel didn’t think he would tell her. Then he seemed to change his mind. “You were seven.”

“Seven?” The idea was a little shocking. “Why don’t I remember anything?”

Tamani leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. “You have to understand before I answer that, even though you don’t remember, you agreed to all this.”

“All what?”

“Everything. Coming here, fulfilling your role, living with the humans, all of it. You were selected for this a long time ago, and you agreed to come.”

“Why don’t I remember?”

“I told you I can make humans forget they saw me, right?”

She nodded.

“That’s what they did to you. Once you were at the age that you could pass for a human child, they made you forget your faerie life.”

“Like, with a potion or something?”

“Yes.”

Laurel sat stunned. “They made me forget seven years of my life?”

Tamani nodded solemnly.

“I…I don’t know what to say.”

They sat in silence for several minutes as Laurel tried to comprehend what this meant for her. She began adding up the years Tamani claimed she had lost. “I’m nineteen?” she asked in amazement.

“Technically, yes. But you’re still just like a fifteen-year-old human.”

“How old are you?” she asked, anger heavy in her voice. “Fifty?”

“Twenty-one,” Tamani said quietly. “We’re almost the same age.”

“So they just made me forget everything?”

Tamani shrugged, his face tense.

Laurel’s tight clutch on her temper came loose. “Did you guys even think this through? A million things could have gone wrong. What if my parents didn’t want me? What if they found out I don’t have a heart, or blood, or that I don’t hardly have to breathe? Do you know what most people feed three-year-olds? Milk, cookies, hot dogs! I could have died!”

Tamani shook his head. “What do you take us for? Amateurs? There has rarely been a time in your life when you didn’t have at least five faeries watching you, making sure everything was going smoothly. And it wasn’t like the eating thing was a problem. That’s why you were selected in the first place.”

“Didn’t I forget what I was supposed to eat?”

“That’s the cool thing about Fall faeries. Part of their magic is knowing intrinsically what is good and bad for themselves as well as other faeries. They have to, in order to make their elixirs. We knew you wouldn’t eat something bad for you of your own free will. The only thing we had to watch for was that your parents didn’t force-feed you. Which they never did,” he said before she could ask. “We had everything completely under control. Well,” he added reluctantly, “till you left.”

“Till I left? If you were watching me so closely, you should have known we were moving.”

“We stopped watching you as closely a few years ago. I insisted. I’m…kind of in charge of you right now. You weren’t a child anymore. In terms of faerie age, you were more than an adult. The signs of you being a faerie weren’t as obvious. You didn’t fall down very often, and your parents were used to your eating habits. I felt you deserved a little more privacy. I thought you would appreciate it,” he added morosely.

“I probably would have if I had known,” Laurel conceded.

Tamani sighed. “But I pulled back too far and we totally missed you moving until the movers showed up. I wanted to go extreme and stop everything right then. Dope the movers, take you back to the realm, call the whole damn project a wash. But…let’s just say I was outvoted. So you and your parents took off in the car and then you were just…gone.” He laughed humorlessly. “Boy, did I get in trouble.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You came back. Everything’s all right now.”

She looked at him warily. “Are you going to follow me home and move into my backyard since you apparently like to watch me so much?”

He laughed. “No. We’re fine right here, thanks. Mostly we were worried about you blossoming and having major problems with that. Luckily, you managed just fine.”

“So I’ll live there and you’ll just keep living out here?”

“For the time being.”

“Then what was the point of me being a…a scion? Was I just an experiment?”

“No. Not at all.” Tamani let out a loud, exasperated breath, then looked around the clearing quickly. “The point of sending you here was to help protect this land. It’s…an important spot for faeries. It’s imperative that someone who understands be in possession of the land. That’s the main reason you were placed with them. When your mom’s mother died, your mom got really bitter and immediately put this place up for sale. She was nineteen and I guess it just held too many memories.”

“She’s told me about that.”

Tamani nodded. “Things got better when she married your dad, but she never did stop trying to sell. That’s when the Seelie Court came up with the idea of adding you to her family. Worked even better than they had hoped. After your mom really bonded with you, she stopped trying to sell. Other than an occasional buyer who comes through now and then, that part of our job has been easy. It seems to be pretty much all downhill now.” Tamani leaned back with his hands stretched behind his head. “We just sit back and wait for you to inherit.”

Laurel looked down at her hands. “What if I don’t inherit? What if — what if my parents sell?”

“They can’t sell,” he said matter-of-factly.

Her head jerked up. “Why not?”

Tamani smiled slyly. “You can’t sell a house if no one remembers it exists.”

“Huh?”

“Seeing us isn’t the only thing we can make humans forget.”

Laurel’s eyes widened as she understood. “You’ve been sabotaging them! You made people forget they’d even seen the house.”

“We had to.”

“And the appraisers?”

“Trust me, it would be too tempting if your mom found out how much this land is worth.”

“So you made them forget too?”

“It was necessary, Laurel. Believe me.”

“Um…it didn’t work,” Laurel said quietly.

Tamani’s face turned wary. “What do you mean?” he asked in a low, serious tone.

“My mom’s selling the land.”

“To who? No one’s come out to look. We’d have taken care of it.”

“I don’t know; some guy my dad met in Brookings.”

Tamani leaned forward. “Laurel, this is very important. You can’t let her sell.”

“Why not?”

“For starters, because I live here. I wouldn’t really appreciate being homeless. But—” He glanced around and growled in frustration. “I can’t explain everything right now, but you can’t let her sell. Whatever it takes, you need to talk to her when you get home and do anything you can to convince her to tell this guy no.”

“Um, that could be a problem.”

“Why?”

“The offer’s already in. They’re drawing up the papers soon.”

“Oh, no.” Tamani pushed his hair off his forehead. “This is bad, this is so bad. Shar’s going to kill me.” He sighed. “Can you do anything about it?”

“It’s not really my decision,” Laurel said. “I can’t tell them what to do.”

“I’m just asking you to try. Say…something. We’ll try to figure it out from over here too. If you knew how important this land is to the realm, you wouldn’t sleep until it was safe. I don’t know that I’ll be able to sleep until you come back and tell me it’s safe.”

“Why?”

He released a breath in an exasperated hiss. “I can’t say — it’s forbidden.”

“Forbidden? I’m a faerie, aren’t I?”

“You don’t understand, Laurel. You don’t get to know everything just because you’re one of us — not yet. Even in the realm, young faeries aren’t allowed to enter the human world until they’ve proven their loyalty — if at all. You’re asking me to reveal one of the greatest secrets of our species. You can’t expect that of me.”

Several seconds passed in silence. “I’ll do what I can,” Laurel finally said.

“That’s all I’m asking.”

She forced a smile. “My parents are going to think I’m nuts.”

“That’s okay with me.”

Laurel looked at him for a few seconds before reaching out to smack his shoulder.

Tamani just laughed.

Then he sobered and stared at her. Hesitantly, he slid closer and let his fingers run down her bare arm. “I’m glad you came today,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”

“I…I think maybe I missed you too.”

“Really?” Hope shone in his eyes so raw that Laurel had to look away and laugh nervously.

“You know, after I got done thinking you were a crazy homeless guy.”

They laughed together and Laurel marveled at the soft, tinkling quality of Tamani’s voice. It made a warm tingle shiver up her back. She glanced at her watch. “I…need to get going,” she said, apology heavy in her voice.

“Come back soon,” Tamani said. “We’ll talk more.”

Laurel smiled. “I’d like that.”

“And you promise you’ll talk to your parents?”

She nodded. “I will.”

“Will you bring me news?”

“As soon as I can. But I don’t know when that will be.”

“Are you going to tell your parents about all this?” Tamani asked.

“I don’t know,” Laurel said. “I don’t really think they’d believe me. Especially since I don’t have the blossom to prove it anymore. That’s how I convinced David.”

“David,” Tamani said with a scoffing tone.

“What’s wrong with David?”

“Nothing, I guess. But are you sure he’s trustworthy?”

“I’m sure.”

Tamani sighed. “I guess you had to tell someone. I don’t like it, though.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s a human. Everyone knows humans can’t be trusted. You should be careful.”

“I don’t have to be careful with him. He wouldn’t tell.”

“I hope you’re right.”

They walked slowly, Laurel leading the way down the familiar path. They stopped at the edge of the tree line. “Are you sure you have to go?” Tamani asked quietly.

Laurel was surprised by the emotion in his voice. She had sensed in their conversation that he liked her…a lot. But this seemed like something more. Something more personal. She was a little surprised to realize that she was reluctant to leave as well. “My parents don’t even know I’m here. I kind of snuck away.”

Tamani nodded. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered.

Laurel laughed nervously. “You hardly know me.”

“I’ll miss you anyway.” He met her eyes. “If I give you something, will you keep it to remember me by — and maybe think of me just a little more?”

“Maybe.” Tamani’s dark green eyes seemed to see through her — into her.

He snapped a thin piece of string from around his neck and held out a small, glistening circle. “This is for you.”

He laid the tiny sparkle on her hand. It was a shining gold circlet, just bigger than a pea, with a minuscule crystal flower on the top. “What is it?” Laurel asked in awe.

“It’s a ring for a seedling,” Tamani replied. “You know, a baby faerie. Every seedling gets a ring when they are young. If you wear it, it grows with you. Winter faeries make them. Well, Spring faeries make them, but Winter faeries enchant them.” He held up his hand to show her a plain silver band. “See, this is mine. It used to be as small as that one. You’re not a seedling anymore, so it won’t adjust to your finger, but I thought maybe you’d like it.”

The tiny ring was exquisite, beautiful in every detail. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“To help you feel more like one of us. You can hang it on a necklace.” He hesitated a moment longer. “I just think you should have it.”

Laurel looked up at him in question, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. She wished she had more time to draw secrets from him. “I’ll wear it always,” she said.

“And think of me?” His eyes held her captive, and she knew there was only one answer.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

She started to turn, but before she could step away, Tamani grabbed her hand. Without breaking eye contact, he raised her hand to his face and brushed his lips over her knuckles. For just a second, his eyes were unguarded. A spark went through Laurel at what she saw there: raw, unbridled desire. Before she could look any closer, he smiled, and the flash was gone.

Laurel walked toward her bike, her breath shallow as she tried to stop the warm flush that was spreading through her body from the place Tamani’s lips had touched. She kept glancing back at him as she rode toward the highway. Every time she turned, his eyes were still locked on her. Even when she pedaled onto the bike path along the road, she could feel them following her long after she could see them.