FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #5

         A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. The angry grey sky matched his stormy grey eyes and eerily white hair. Only dressed in shorts, the rain had no effect on him, or the parrot, though it poured relentlessly. Chalk white skin glistened with rain droplets, but he walked on, head held high. Encountering an overhang, he saw an old woman huddled under an awning, dirty shawl pulled tightly around her rail thin shoulders. Though her face was lined with the wrinkles of age, her hair was jet black and a twisted mess of medusa-like snarls. For all appearances, she was just another of Seattle’s homeless, hiding from the weather. But that wasn’t all she was, nor was the boy all he seemed to be. The closer he came to her, the louder her ranting became until she was cursing at him, waving her bony hands like claws animatedly and losing grip on her shawl. Before it could be taken by the storm, she snatched it from the air and rewound it about her shoulders again.

         “Crone,” was the only word that passed the boys thin lips, though he didn’t turn to look at her. She silenced immediately, and then cackled a dry, sick cough like autumn leaves fallen dead to the ground.

         “You’re Honey’s boy, ain’t cha?” she called out. When he still didn’t turn, she rose and hopped toward him. “I know you. I know you! Skylar. You’re the boy who’s got the blood, ain’t cha?” She crowed and laughed until her thin frame shook with coughing. 

         The wind picked up fiercely as Skylar’s hands clenched into angry fists. His parrot fluttered her wings with agitation. “Hush Pepper,” he murmured softly, and her wings settled again against her sides. The rain turned to sleet and drove towards the woman, driving her back. It was childish, he knew, but couldn’t resist. Though she was the Crone, his kind had never acknowledged him, never wanted him. He was an anomaly: a boy with witch’s blood. The Crone shouted at him once more, but her howling mingled with the frozen wind and soon Skylar was once again alone with his dark thoughts.

         Ahead an alley broke off, looking more undesirable in its dark cramped state than the storm. Skylar glared at it with baleful unease, then turned purposefully down the alley, counting his steps until he reached a building about to crumble into the ground. Apprehension washed over him, his breath leaving him. There was no attempting to go back after this; it was against the laws to comingle with Vermin. There was no pretending he would be part of the witch’s Society. His mother – The Mother – the Crone: all would be lost to him. But the Maiden… she might be here. The three pillars of witch Society, only one left to him as refuge. His shoulders sagged with despair. The place he came to was known as a Sanctuary, where all intermingled.

Taking a deep breath, Skylar drew on a trickle of power, letting it bleed through him until the runes on the door glowed before his eyes plain as day. The place was warded with forgetfulness; anyone passing by wouldn’t even notice it, and if they did, they would find themselves being inexplicably guided away from it. Knowing the power swirling through him would attract attention, Skylar raised his fist to knock on what he could now see was the real door. Just before his hand connected a slit opened and fiery, feral red eyes glared out at him.

         “Who be ye? Be gone.” The voice growled and the slit closed again. Skylar drew on more power and actually knocked. The slit opened and this time violet eyes looked at him, though they were tilted and seemed to be swirling with different shades of purple, as if Skylar would fall into space if he stared into them too long. The eyes were deep with suspicion, though not unfriendly. 

         “I seek Sanctuary,” he said in a mellow voice. Pepper, still perched on his shoulder, hopped closer to his neck to crane her head in order to see the person through the hole. The slit closed again and Skylar heard locks tumbling before the door opened. Hesitating only briefly, he stepped into the gloom.

         And realized it was another ward. It wasn’t gloomy at all. In fact, the whole hallway was surprisingly lit with hundreds of tiny lights. No one awaited him in the hallway, so he shut the door behind himself and followed it. It sloped downward and to the left slightly. Doors were dispersed along the corridor. One was gilded, with curling grape vines adorning it, seeming to move if viewed from the corner of the eye and seeming to smell sweetly. He shook his head and continued on. Another was no more than a small, small hole in the middle of the wall surrounded by a wreathe of ivy. Again he shook his head. Yet another reflected the stormy sky outdoors, grey and turgid with lightning and an angry ocean.

         Still, Skylar followed the hall, never deviating from its course. Sounds drifted around him like wisps of smoke, none making particular sense, but there nonetheless. Finally the hallway ended in a dead end. A red velvet wall that pulsed with magic held a single, rather bland mirror.  Pulling in energy was harder now, but he managed, and what he saw literally took his breath away.

         The mirror was, in fact, a door. He could see the beautiful weaves of spells, layer upon layer, laid on the mirror like a delicate tracery. The entire mirror was covered in so many interlocking spells, Skylar could hardly tell where one left off and the next began. A sense of vertigo overtook him and when he put out his hand to catch his balance, the spells in the mirror crawled up his hand, over his wrist and pulled him through.

         There was unending darkness, sporadically pierced with sound, and light. His young mind could make no sense of it. Pain, sharp, hot and fast, arched through him, and then cold, languid and slow, stole through his limbs. Heaviness clouded his thoughts, making them move so slowly but so quickly he couldn’t grasp them. He wasn’t sure if his eyes were opened or closed, wasn’t sure which way was up. Blindly, able to endure no more, he reached with power for Pepper, and the chaos stopped.

         “I think he’s conscious.”

         “Dammit. I wanted to eat it.”

         “He’s not for eating.”

         “What is it?”

         “It’s a boy.”

         “Yes. But what kind of boy?”

         “Oh look! His eyes are opening!”

         “Who cares?”

         “Shush Fox. Go back to the craps tables.”

         Skylar opened his eyes slowly and found he was lying on his back. Around him were gathered an array of… people. A weight on his chest drew his attention to a 12 inch tall, perfectly proportioned person with iridescent dragonfly wings. She was cooing at Pepper animatedly, alternately clapping and bouncing up and down. Above him he saw the same fiery, feral red eyes that had first glanced through the door, but now they were placed with a face. A strong square jaw housed slightly curling ebony tusks in burnished copper skin. His thick eyebrows were drawn down over those eyes and his arms were crossed over his barrel chest. Skylar was immediately and unabashedly intimidated by him. The second set of eyes from the door was only a few feet away. The violet eyes no longer seemed to be swirling, but everything else about her was so incredible, he could only stare in shocked awe. Her skin was like a shell, shimmering with hues of indigo, cerulean, and turquoise. Her hair was a long curling waterfall of every shade of purple that reached her ankles.

         “Um… Hello,” Skylar said, his eyes still circling dizzily among the different people. Finally, the one on his chest – Whisper – rose and he was able to sit, Pepper resuming her perch on his shoulder.

         “I am Eyevi,” the violet one said in a voice like music. She tilted her head as she studied him. “The door did a number on you. How are you feeling?”

         “Fine I think,” he replied in a bewildered tone. “I’m Skylar.”

         “Nice to meet…” Eyevi started.

         “I know who you are,” an ice cold voice spat venomously. The final person to make up the circle observing him stood back a ways and stared at him with hostile, ice blue eyes. Her hair was short and flared out in all its pink glory. Low cut jeans hung from skinny hips. The blouse she wore slid from one shoulder and rode high on her stomach. Where skin showed on her torso, you could see tribal-stylized tattoos and a series of teardrop rubies hanging from her belly button. All around her upper body was a large snake, its head rested on her breast, tongue occasionally flicking out at the room. “You shouldn’t be here. What do you want?”

         Eyevi’s eyes went wide as she looked up at the girl. “Can you be civil for once?” she asked mildly.

         “No. I don’t want him here.”

         A sigh whispered through the air, smelling slightly of violets, and then it was gone again.

         “I seek Sanctuary,” Skylar said for the second time. The girl came closer and Skylar could feel the rising power around her.

         “Seek sanctuary someplace else,” she hissed.

         “Monique hush! You are so rude for one so young,” Eyevi said. Skylar glanced between the two.

         “So you’re Her,” he said quietly. Monique seemed to quiver with rage, her hands balling into fists, the body of her snake curling and writhing.

         “It’s none of your business!” she spat.

         Skylar stood, as did Eyevi. Whisper took to the air, hovering about a foot in front of his face. Monique stalked forward and grabbed one of Skylar’s arms, dragging him off to the side of the watching group with a baleful glare behind her.

         “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here!” she spat.

         Skylar pulled his arm free, face falling in disappointment. Everything he had hoped he would find was turning out to be just as bad as everything he’d left. The Maiden wanted him around about as much as the Society did.

         “Why are you here?” he asked defensively. “You have a home. They want you back there. They appreciate you. You’re accepted. You’re normal!”

         She tilted her head and studied him. “They want me to be something I’m not. I have no free will. I have no opportunity to do anything else,” she finally replied.

         Skylar snorted. “So you ran away like a spoiled child. At least they want you there. I can’t believe I thought you’d be this great person. You’re just a brat who couldn’t get her way.”

         As Monique’s mouth fell open in surprise, Eyevi drifted closer. “Skylar,” she started in a melodic voice, “have you eaten today?”

         Skylar turned to her, disgustedly dismissing the Maiden and everything he’d hoped to find in her. “No, I haven’t.”

         Eyevi smiled and Skylar felt as if he were standing beneath a warm summer sun, the full force of Faery and all its mysticism upon him in that one smile. She held out her arm in an old-fashioned gesture and waited for him to take it. Skylar hesitated a moment. He really knew nothing of the Fae, or the rules of interacting with them. He’d only heard rumors. But she was beautiful, and more, she seemed to want him around. He stepped forward and took her hand in the crook of his arm, though he let her guide him around the bar and scattered tables where people stopped to stare at him to a small doorway off to the side of the room that led to a kitchen filled with warm cherry wood. The floor, the cabinets, the ice chest – everything was wooden and glowing. Sitting at the small wooden table, Skylar jumped with surprise as there was a shriek of laughter and a blur of color came hurtling into the room past his head to land on the table before him. Whisper looked up at him with her hands on her hips.

         “You made her sooooooooooo mad! You’re my hero,” she said in a voice like bells. Skylar smiled a little and glanced sideways at Eyevi as she drifted around the kitchen.

         “Thank you…?” he said slowly.

         Whisper laughed again and glanced at Pepper, who was also watching her. “Can she come sit with me?” she asked, twisting her small hands before her. Skylar shrugged and guided Pepper onto his finger, then set her on the table. Pepper squawked at the demi-fey and hopped closer.

         “May I have some?” Whisper asked shyly. When Skylar nodded she grabbed a piece of melon as big around as her head and started taking small handfuls of it. Eyevi shook her head, chuckling slightly and sat across from him at the table.

“So Skylar,” Eyevi said, returning to the table with a plate piled high with fruits, bread, and cheese. “I was wondering, what are you planning on doing now? From what I could not help but overhearing, there is really no home for you to go back to,” she said delicately. Whisper’s wings drooped and Pepper hopped towards Skylar as she felt the sadness in him.

          “I’m not entirely sure. I was hoping that being here would at least give me some time to figure it out, but it seems like that’s really not an option…” he let the sentence fade, not looking for sympathy, simply falling into his thoughts.

          “But we’d like to keep you!” Whisper said fiercely. Eyevi merely studied him with a level gaze as he smiled sadly.

          “I like you too, but I can’t stay here,” he replied sadly. Whisper rose to eye level on a flurry of wings, her hands on her hips again.

          “Neither can I. I don’t feel so good if I’m in the city too long. There’s too much metal,” she shivered delicately and looked at Eyevi beseechingly. “Please can we keep him with us?”

          Eyevi lifted one shoulder. “That is up to Skylar and Caoimhe, you know she makes those decisions here.”

          Skylar watched with fascination as Whisper moved closer to Eyevi and started speaking to her too rapidly for him to follow. Finally Eyevi smiled a brilliant smile.

          “That’s a wonderful idea!” she said happily. “While you’re finishing eating, we’ll go run a few errands” – she tapped a finger to her lips – “maybe we should wait and just have you come with us. I don’t think we should leave you here without us, and Whisper can’t stay without me, and I can’t let her run the errands because some of them need a bigger person; no offense Whisper.”

          Skylar leaned back in his chair. “I’m really not sure about all this,” he said suddenly, “I’m an outcast, a freak among my own people. There may not be any place for me, even with you.”

          Whisper landed on the table and put her hand on Skylar’s. Suddenly he became calm and completely accepting of the idea. There was nothing more natural than to go with the two Faery. Everything would be okay when he met Caoimhe, and he would find a home among the Faery. Although this was exactly what he want, his mind rebelled. Everything was tooeasy. He knew magic when he sensed it, though this was a more delicate magic than any he’d ever encountered. But for once he just wanted things to be easy. Instead of fighting the compulsion or glamour or spell, or whatever it was, he embraced it wholeheartedly.

          “It will be like I will be enough,” he said softly. Whisper glanced up at Eyevi, who was looking at him with worry drawing her brow low.

          “Enough Whisper,” she hissed. Whisper backed up, eyes wide. Although she was no longer touching Skylar, his eyes stayed glazed over and a small smile played upon his lips.

          “I won’t be lonely anymore,” he said. Whisper gasped and covered her mouth with small hands, shaking her head back and forth.

          Eyevi reached out hesitantly and touched Skylar’s bare shoulder, once again noticing the cold pallor of his skin. He turned his head slowly to look at here.

          “Caoimhe will let me stay, right? I can stay with you and Whisper always?” he asked, eyes large with pleading with unshed tears.

          “By the Goddess,” Eyevi said in a hushed voice, “he’s Faery struck.”

          “But I didn’t mean to! I just didn’t want him to be so sad anymore! I wanted him to be happy,” Whisper wailed. Eyevi stood.

          “Stay with him. Don’t let anyone come near him. I’m going to collect our things, find a cloak for him, and contact Caoimhe. He’ll have to come with us now,” Eyevi said with a little sadness in her voice, to see him bedazzled by them was a little disconcerting. The sadness in her voice washed over Skylar, making his hopeful face fall and his heart seize in his chest. Suddenly feeling rejected, tears welled in his glazed-eyes.

          Whisper rung her hands but nodded as Eyevi breezed out of the room. “Don’t cry Skylar,” she said, though she stayed back from touching him again, “You can stay with us.”

           For Skylar, he knew that he didn’t need to worry anymore. He knew that he was safe, that Whisper and Eyevi would take care of him. If he ever woke from the daze he was in, it would be too late, for everyone knew those who dined with the Faeries were theirs forever. 

 

back to Contest #5