The Summer Queen

The Mortal Boy

Troy needed to get away from the city.

            Alison needed to know that his life would not end just because she turned him down for a date because she needed to catch up on her volunteering hours at the daycare center. He could have helped her, but she didn’t let him. An hour later, he heard that she didn’t volunteer and merely ate sundae with Kevin.

             “Damn her,” he murmured as he beat the leaves he come across in his path with his walking stick. He needed this time alone. He needed silence, away from the beeping cars and the noisy chatters at cafés. And no one comes into the woods in the middle of the afternoon during the last day of summer. He didn’t even go to the beach party that his best friend, Lance, has organized because then he has to face Alison who is also going there with Kevin.

            So he just jogged to take it all away from his mind.

He took a deep breath and looked up to the sky, protecting his eyes from the blinding rays with his hand.

He continued walking while drowning with his thoughts until he heard a girl scream.

            Troy froze. He recalled the haunted stories that happen in the woods. He could have gone back and drink a beer or two at Lance’s beach party, but his curiosity prompted him to search for the voice. He took his Swiss knife from his pocket and held it in front of him.

            It must be Alison’s turning him down that ignited his courage or rather foolishness in risking his life. But he knew that he needed to. He skipped and leaped over rocks and dead trees.

            “Ms.! Ms.! Where are you? Are your hurt?”

            Despite his voice echoing throughout the forest, no one answered him. He continued searching until he comes across a stream.

A few meters away from the stream is a bundle of a girl.

            He silently walked towards her while observing his surroundings.

            He was taken aback upon closer look. He couldn’t tell what was lying in front of him. She looked like a human being but with odd features that he haven’t seen before. Her curly golden hair filled with little flowers in each strand were thrown all over her face. And her skin is as pale as a sheet of paper.

 And her ears! What kind if shapes were they? Her elfish ears have got him even more curious. She’s wearing white all over, but the cloth isn’t silk and yet it glows under the sun. She was draped with odd-looking leaves that resembled a sweater. And what are those? Are those wings? Wings! Has she come from a costume party?

She groaned a little. He stepped back and bent a twig.

She suddenly opened her eyes and screamed at him. “Who are you?”

It was a language he couldn’t understand. She was speaking gibberish, but he didn’t mind it. What he minded were her eyes. It’s neither blue nor green but golden. What on earth did he find?

“What are you?” he asked, dropping his walking stick.

Adelaide looked at the being in front of her.

She noticed that he isn’t golden-haired like a Summer fairy or pale-haired like a Winter fairy. He doesn’t have auburn hair like an Autumn fairy or green hair like a Spring fairy. She looked at him with his odd clothes, his trousers the color of the sky and his upper clothes didn’t have sleeves. His eyes were blue. His skin isn’t pale either.

His ears are oddly shaped. What kind of ears are they? She has never seen those kinds of ears before. There is no trace of a summer vine, a spring flower, a winter snowflake, or an autumn leaf around him. He looks so odd…she was beginning to think that he’s mortal.

Wait, she thought. His eyes are blue. Only mortals have blue eyes

She thought of Demerek. Her heart ached. He didn’t make it through with her. She thought of General Esiah and Demerek. She prayed for them to be alive. She will come back with an army and reclaim the Summer Kingdom and her people from King Osmond.

King Osmond. She could have not invited him to her father’s funeral. She could have believed in the rumors circulating around the four kingdoms about the proud and merciless Winter King. But she doesn’t even know how he managed to attack the kingdom.

            “Are you hurt?” The mortal asked. Looking at her leg with golden blood spurting from it.

            She knew he was asking about her leg, so she nodded.

            “Are those…. wings?” he asked, pointing at her wings.

            She couldn’t speak his language, so she merely nodded again.

            He chuckled a little, a look of awe and curiosity filled him. He touched her wing, and she winced of pain.

            “Oh! Oh! I’m sorry,” he apologized, putting his knife down to the floor at the same time. “I think it’s broken. What happened?”

            She knew that he’s asking her questions, but she couldn’t understand a word he was uttering, so she merely pointed at the woods. He followed his gaze to where she was pointing. He still didn’t understand anything. She sighed. She thought mortals are knowledgeable about where fairies come from.

            “You came from the woods?” he asked.

            She nodded.

            “Are you sure?” he asked again.

            She didn’t answer anymore and silently cried, pulling her legs toward her chest. Everything came crashing back into her memory: her father’s death, escaping with Demerek, leaving Demerek wounded, and running through the portal. Now she’s here in front of a clueless mortal who doesn’t even know what she is. Without the Summer Army, without her father, without Demerek, and without a kingdom anymore. But she has escaped the Winter Army. She made it through the portal.

            Troy dug his phone from his pocket and dialed the emergency number.

             Her tears have been falling to the ground, but she noticed that there are no more flowers growing from the ground anymore. Demerek has been right. Her powers weakened in the mortal realm. She merely watched the mortal who is pressing repeatedly at his black box device.

            Troy stopped pressing numbers and stared at the strange creature. If he would call the emergency number, they would have marveled at the creature he’s with. They’ll send her to laboratories and tinker with her, trying to understand what she is or what she is made up of.

            He changed his mind and then canceled his phone call. He placed his phone back inside his pocket. He approached him and offered his hand.

            “Let me help you.” The mortal lifted her slowly and carried her in his arms. She sobbed silently.

He smelled of peppermint. She touched his chest and felt something heavier that he is carrying deep within him. His heart is heavy as a winter snow. She pressed her palms unto his chest, wondering if she could heal him a little with a ray of sunshine from her palm.

            He felt the heat coming from her hand as she touched his chest. The heat flowed throughout his body, making his heavy heart lighter to carry.

 Her leg is still weak and bleeding but isn’t freezing anymore. She looked into his eyes and silently reveled for having him take her away from the forest. She could have been found by a winter soldier or another mortal who takes fairies and kills them. She knew that he wouldn’t kill her. He must have done it the first time he saw her.

            “I couldn’t understand what you are or where you came from, but all I know is that you’re hurt, and I need to help you,” he said. “Helping you is a lot better than partying at the beach during the last day of summer.”

            She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but she knew that she’s safe in his arms. She slowly closed her eyes and let the mortal take her wherever he would.