The gift of Fae

Running

Directing myself and Mum through the forest, all the similar feelings of unease come flooding back to me, this part of the forest really does have an affect on the mood. Reaching the tulip field with the dead stump in the middle, I confidently knock on the bark this time, feeling a lot more confident about seeing Madam Prea again than I was the first time. Not sure if it's because I have Mum with me or because I feel more connected to Madam Prea as she is also my now family. 

The bark opens and Mum looks at me with worry in her eyes, "it's not that scary down there I promise" I tell Mum to try and lighten the mood. "We need to go in at the same time though, or the doors will close and one of us will be stuck on the outside" I let her know. We both reach in and squash ourselves next to one another at the top of the ladder, it's pretty snug that's for sure. I start heading down and gain some personal space back, then she follows after. 

Watching Mum's reaction to the surroundings and the view of the yellow door is fascinating, I wonder if I too showed  such wonder and curiosity when I first saw this place. The yellow door opens and I see Madam Prea is already sitting on the couch this time with a pot of tea and two cups set out in front of the couch opposite her, she knew we were coming? Is that a Fae thing? 

"Come in my dears, take a seat, we have much to talk about" she warmly greets us. Feelings of instant safety return and I find myself wondering if it's Madam Prea's presence that causes that or if it is another Fae ability. So many things I don't know...yet. 

Mum cautiously follows me and takes a seat, staring at Madam Prea, she seems like she doesn't know what to say. "Hello Catana, I know we never met, but my David had only kind and wonderful things to say about you, I see you as my family, there is no need to be frightened of me" Madam Prea tells Mum in her soft gentle old lady voice. So calming. 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know what David was, I didn't know what Dominic was going to do, I didn't know that Felicity was David's child, I don't know how I was so oblivious to everything it seems" Mum apologizes with every ounce of her being, like she is pleading with Madam Prea for forgiveness. "It's okay my dear, everything happens for a reason, I have faith that things are happening as they are supposed to" Madam Prea responds in all her wisdom like glory. 

"I need your help protecting Felicity, the pack will reject her in less than a week when she doesn't shift into a werewolf... They will want her dead..." Mum says that last bit quietly.  It dawns on me that she is right, my reality just got a lot scarier, my life is actually hanging on the line here, hers probably is too. The idea of my life being over sent chills down my spine, I'm only seventeen, I can't die yet, I haven't even had my first kiss. 

Of course my inner teenage girl has only one thing on her mind, kissing a boy. 

"Your right Catana, you are both in great danger here, I know that David mentioned seeing Liana to you many years ago, she is the Queen of the Fae, he was going to take you to her and plead to let you into the Fae community as you are because you were the love of his life" Madam Prea paused, "You need to take Felicity to her and she will be able to read her Fae lineage and accept her into the Fae community where she will be safe... I am unsure if she will also accept you because of your werewolf status" adding that last part in while staring at the ground. 

"I don't want to be in the Fae community without my Mum, she is my everything" I blurt out, the thought of being separated from my Mum is little too much for me right now. "I know my dear, it is never a nice feeling being apart from your parent, or your child... You will need to make this clear to Queen Liana and plead your case for you both to join the Fae community, if that fails, your only other option is to flee the country" Madam Prea says as she lays out the path forward for us. 

"Then that is what we will do, we have to get back to the castle tonight, to ease the suspicion I believe Dominic has of us, but tomorrow morning, first light, we leave to find Queen Liana" Mum declares to Madam Prea and myself. Looking proud at the decision she has made and confident that we have a future. 

Giving us a map of the forest on the edge of London and written instructions on how to access the Fae community that is hidden behind magic, Madam Prea wishes us luck and sends us on our way. 

Along the journey back to the castle, I can't help but have this heavy feeling that Madam Prea herself is in danger for helping us.  This feeling in the pit of my stomach is saying I should warn her to be careful, but we are too far gone now and we would be late back to the castle if we turned back, and if we are late back to the castle who knows what Dominic might do. 

Arriving through the gates back at the castle at 5:30pm we both let out a deep breath as we stepped in the doors, as if we had both been holding our breath the last stride back in fear of what would happen if we were late. 

"Felicity, you are going to have to be very careful with what you say to Dominic, he can not get even the slightest hint that you are worried about your birthday.... We both need to be very ordinary at dinner tonight" Mum whispers to me quietly as we make our way to the dining hall where no doubt Dominic is waiting for us. 

And there he is, standing just inside the entrance of the dining hall, like a tiger ready to pounce the second we arrived. 

"So nice of my special ladies to join me tonight" he quite rudely bellows our way while we were walking towards him. "We wouldn't miss dinner in the hall on your first night back at the castle honey" Mum says very casually. Her grace while under this much pressure is astounding. 

Sitting down on our own private table, my mind is racing a hundred miles an hour as I am trying to think up what responses I'm going to have to the questions Dad is going to fire at me, at any moment... I mean Dominic... 

"So Felicity, are you getting excited for your birthday yet? Not long now, I can't wait for you to feel the power of the beast" He says so roughly, like he is already the beast. "So excited, I can't wait to experience everything that Nicola keeps telling me about, she has me so prepared, it's great" I lie through my teeth with a fake smile plastered on. He seems satisfied with that though, I did think mentioning the soon to be Queen of the pack would win him over. Guess I was right, all he seems to care about is the power within the pack and if I'm close with the next Queen, then he is. 

Mum walks me back to my room after dinner just to discreetly organize what time we are going to be up and out of this place in the morning, and to reassure me that dinner went as well as we could have hoped and that we are safe.

As soon as Mum leaves to go back to her room and I'm left on my own, I'm not so sure.