Twisted Princess Fables

Wendy on Ever Island CHAPTER 1

The first time I saw Piper I was just a child. Playing on the floor when he slipped in through the window of our 4th story apartment. Surprising my mom and scaring my dad nearly to death. I suspect that was the first time he ever saw magic.

"Wendy!" Piper said, as if he had finally found what he was looking for.

"Piper?" My mother said hesitant, but only for a moment before she got out of her seat and walked over to hug him. My father was still in shock. Speechless in the back ground.

"Why did you leave? Everyone is waiting for you" Piper says urgently to my mother.

She softly giggles like she had long forgotten the event he was speaking of.

"Piper" my mother shakes her head "I'm not going back. When I left, I never intended to return"

"You're joking?" Piper says in disbelief, and a little irritated.

"I'm not" my mother responded very seriously.

Piper took a few steps back. Then put his hand through his messy brown hair like he had just heard terrible news. He was dressed in a tuxedo minus the suit jacket, and was completely sweaty. Looking completely stressed.

"I thought you were OK with this? We all agreed. This is our only option." Piper throws his arms up, and begins to pace back and forth.

When he moves across the room, you can see the magic. Like a soft glitter that follows him in the air.

"And when he finds out you are gone... Wendy, you can't do this. He will kill us all" Piper tries to plea with her.

"Ever Island is at war everyday. Sacrificing myself wouldn't change that." My mom tells him confident in her decision.

"Wendy, you were given a chance to stop the invasion. You can still save us. Are you willing to sacrifice countless lives just because you don't want to marry him?"

When Piper said this my quiet father in the back intervenes going to my mother's side, and putting his hand out for them to stop the conversation.

"Look, friend, I don't know who you are? But my wife is not marrying any other man. I think you need to leave." My father says firmly.

For the first time Piper looks around the room. At me, then at my father, and the pictures of our family across the wall. Realizing just how much time has passed for my mother since the last time Piper and her spoke.

"Piper, I'm sorry, but I can't help... Not anymore" My mother tells him calmly.

"I think it's best you leave" my father says, a bit threatening.

Piper turns to leave out the window when my mother calls back to him.

"Piper... Don't tell anyone you found me. Judas can never find this place"

Piper waited by the window for a moment as he was considering what she was saying. Then my mother said

"Please"

Piper nods his head leaving out the window.

The next time I saw Piper my father had long passed. It was the night before my 16th birthday. My mother and I still live in the same apartment complex.

This time when Piper came through the window he did not look well. Dry blood streamed down his face and neck. His nose was split and swollen. His shirt was ripped and clothes dirty. With a stab wound in his leg.

I was standing in the kitchen with my hand in a cereal box in complete disbelief. I recalled the memories I had of him as a child. So faint I thought it was a dream.

"Wendy," he swiftly walks towards me and I drop the box spilling cereal everywhere.

"Ma!" I yell, and my mom comes down the hallway.

Piper double takes. Looking at the both of us. Then he approaches my mother. She knows something terrible has happened, but not from the blood. She knows because Piper's eyes are welling with tears. My mother pulls him in and Piper begins to cry.

"He killed Mathew. Why would he do that he's just a child?"

"What, why?"My mother says, pulling out of the hug. Looking at him deadly serious.

"Judas has been invading for months now. I was taking a group of women and children to The Koda Tribe to be out of harm's way of the war. We were almost there when he found us. I fought him while they all fled to the border. I didn't know Mathew stayed behind. Judas stabbed me and when we fought over the knife Mathew ran up to help me. It happened so quick. Judas just reacted when Mathew ran up" Piper brakes down in tears, putting his head on my mom's shoulder "He's gone. I'm so sorry."

My mother's face was hard. Angry, but she did not allow herself to shed a tear even though I know she wants to.

"You have to come back" Piper tells my mother.

My mother reaches up and pats Piper on the back. Then she looks to me and says

"Sweetie, go to your room for a moment"

I do as she says, but I was only in there a few minutes before my mom came in with two bowls of cereal, and an early birthday present. I opened it up and it was perfume. My mother said

"I hope you like it! I want you to wear it everyday" and I did.

We ate cereal on my bed and pretended like nothing happened.

The next time I saw Piper he was standing in front of my mother's grave. I didn't know it was him when I walked up. He was dressed in all black. Even though his shirt was wrinkled, I could tell he tried to look nice.

I came and stood beside him looking down at my mother's tombstone covered in fresh roses that he must have brought.

I come here to visit from time to time. My parents were my only family, and now that they both have passed this place is all I have left of them. So when I feel lost and alone like I have no place in this world I come here hoping to find guidance.

I looked over to the man standing beside me when I immediately recognized his face. It has been nearly ten years since I last saw Piper and he hasn't aged a day. I look back down to the grave now feeling very awkward.

This man has always been a hat full of unanswered questions in my life. An odd experience. One that every time I've had I question if it is reality, and now he is here. I felt the urge to talk to him but I stayed silent.

"Was she happy?"He asks in a deep voice.

"Always" I respond recalling beautiful memories.

He lets out a breath that almost seemed like a sneer.

"It better have been worth it" he says, and goes to walk away. When I call back.

"Hey! Don't you think that is a little rude? I'm grieving"

He turns around like he is absolutely livid. He practically stomps to me. With each step he showers a fine glitter that dissipates into the air. Then he says

"No I don't. You are not the only one that has lost her, and recently I have lost a lot more then that. Important people in my life that Wendy could have saved. But instead she decided to run when her people needed her most."

My jaw was dropped and I was speechless. I have never been spoken to with such a harsh tone by a man before in my life.

"I'm sorry" he immediately apologizes as he sees my reaction.

"It's just Wendy... She..." Piper shakes his head, trying to push away the built up anger.

"I am sorry my mother has hurt you... But there is no point in dwelling over what she has done. She is gone now. The only thing left alive of her are the memories you are willing to hold on to. I suggest letting the bad ones go." I turn to look back at her grave.

"Try to remember the good" I say kindly.

I stood there for a few moments when Piper came to join my side. Crossing his hands in front of him. We stayed there a long time in silence. Occasionally I would look up to Piper's face, and see him in deep thought. Every once in awhile he would let out a soft chuckle like he was recalling a memory.

I didn't know much about my mother's life. She had no family she spoke of, and rarely talked about her childhood other than in passing. I never thought anything of it, but now that she has passed I have always been curious. Could my mother have family out there? Maybe I'm not alone. I knew this man seemed to have known my mother longer than anyone else I have ever met, and I wondered what information he might hold.

"How did you know her?" I ask. Breaking the silence.

"She never told you about me?" Piper asks, surprised.

"No. She never spoke of you." I tell him.

"Ouch, that hurts."

I laughed and that seems to make Piper let out a chuckle as well.

"We grew up together. We were chosen as candidates for the next Alpha at a young age. And when we turned 12 they moved Wendy, Bella, and I into the Alpha's pack house to start our training. That's when I met her" he smiles like it is a fond memory.

But I was just completely confused. I knew there was something unnatural about this man, inhumanly, and the way he speaks like he is of a mythical race gives me chills. But the oddest thing is he talks as if my mother was apart of it. A leader? I'm so confused I want to dig for more info. But how do I bluntly ask who the hell are you?

"You look so much like her. Like I'm standing before a ghost" Piper says, looking down on me with his eyebrows together. He reaches his hand out to introduce himself.

"Piper" he says, and I take his hand.

"Wendy" I introduce myself and he goes rigid in my hands.

"Named after your mother." He pauses, stuck in a thought " It's almost like I am meeting her all over again" he goes on to say slightly squinting his eyes and then let's go of my hand.

"If I didn't know better, I'm not sure I would be able to tell the difference" Piper says, like he is considering something for a moment. He glances over to my mother's headstone and the expression leaves his face.

We stood again in silence, but I was itching to ask more questions.

"Piper, what did you mean when you said my mother was a candidate?"

He paused, surprised at my question and then asked

"What did she tell you?"With his eyes squinting at me.

"Tell me about what?"

"Her life?" Piper's eyes jot back and forth when he asked, but I didn't answer his question fast enough so he said "On Ever Island?"

I lift my eyebrows and shrug my shoulders not knowing what he is referring to.

This seems to upset him.

"Well if she didn't tell you it was because she was ashamed, and didn't want you to know the truth." He says spitting fire.

"What's the truth?"

For a second, he debated on whether to answer and then said

"Your mother never intended for you to know, so I won't be the one to tell you" he looks down on her grave and says

"I won't make your same mistakes" and then he turns to leave. As he walked away, I yelled back

"Hey! I... I have questions for you!" But he didn't listen and kept walking.

I was so mad I stomped my foot, and a dust of sparkles came up from the grass in a cloud. The ground was covered in glitter where Piper stood. I reach down to touch it. When it came in contact with my fingers, the sparkles rushed to me like I was a magnet. It absorbed into my skin, and it felt like it unlocked a door hidden deep inside me. With a beast ready to emerge behind it.