Nature's Rivals: A Fairy's Mission

NICKI FAY "And you are?" Lia said as she brushed her cheeks with color and checked herself out in the vanity. Today was the first day of school, and she was getting ready to drop me off and discuss matters with the principal. I recited, "I am Nicolette Fay, fifteen years old. You are my mother, Lia Fay. We moved in from Chicago two weeks ago, and I'm starting to like Phoenix. I never knew my father, and I don't know any other relatives. I'm not into sports, music, or any other extra-curricular activities. Basically," I added, "I'm boring.  "Lose the attitude," she said strictly. Lia walked up to me, brushed my hair neatly and placed an ordinary snapback on my head. "You have to blend in. You know this." It was Lia's mantra to me. "That was kind of hard to do in the last school I went to. And the one before that. And the one before that. So on, and so forth." I rolled my eyes, a human habit I had quite liked and adopted. "Let's face it, Lia. Our kind stands out too much to the humans." I took off the cap, and threw it on the far end of the queen-sized bed that I was seated on. I was tired of this. We've been keeping up the charade for 5 years now and I was tired.  "Nevertheless, we have to try.” She sighed, picked up the discarded cap and handed it out to me, wordlessly ordering, wear it right now or I will glue it onto your head. With a grunt I picked it up and put it on. “I mean it, Nicki. If we don't succeed, we won't be welcomed home." "How sure are you that it's here?" I asked for the hundredth time. "I'm sure. It makes sense that the leading warlock family will have it. They would only trust the most powerful of their kind to safeguard something so coveted. So we're here. No complaints." She walked out of the bedroom, fully expecting me to follow. I sighed and looked out the window of our penthouse suite in one of the resorts that littered the place. Paradise Valley, Arizona. Aside from the insufferable heat, the place wasn't so bad. To be honest it’s one of the prettier places we’ve lived on among the humans. Everyone here is either in the entertainment industry, sports industry, business, or politics. But something was off with the pristine perfection of it all. I've been sensing bad mojo since we first got here.   SETH WARREN She came in my English class casually, as if unaware that every eye in the room had turned to her. She had on this simple cap that looked like something a dude would wear and ordinary clothes that stood no competition to the branded stuff the girls around here wore, but everyone still saw plain and clear. Dark hair as black as night, blue eyes that were vast yet solid, cheeks dusted in a natural pink, and round, full lips; features that had everyone staring. She was absolutely, undeniably, ridiculously gorgeous. That was the first hint that she was supernatural. The other clue was when we locked eyes and I felt the air become denser all around me, closing in on my presence, as if another magical being was surveying the surroundings, checking for signs of threat. I pulled my reins and forced my power to condense into me, making sure I remained undetected. It lasted only a second, before she broke her stare without suspecting anything.  "Dude, did you see that?" James asked from behind me.  "What?" I said, not bothering to look at him.  He slapped my shoulder.  "Dude!" I faced him, incredulous. "She was totally looking at me," James said, giving me the 'oh-yeah-I-got-game' look, eyebrows bouncing up and down suggestively.  "You're sick," I said. James was good looking, sure, but this new girl...  even on non-human standards she was breathtaking, to say the least. My friend then did the stupidest thing in his whole 16 years of existence. He leaned back onto his chair, put the tip of his thumb and pointer on his lips, and wolf whistled.  Several people giggled and I snapped my attention to the lady to see if she would take offense and do something stupid as well. Like maybe growing inhuman claws and exhibiting wolf-like attack qualities, baring her vampiric fangs and draining James’ blood, or maybe shrinking to elven size and sprouting wings. Luckily, all she did was smile, a sort of challenging smirk. I couldn’t tell if she was actually into James but by some weird compulsion she strode straight to the seat beside him and sat down. I was close enough to hear their conversation but made sure to keep my eyes slightly averted away. God, she was gorgeous. Up close I could see her features with more clarity. I couldn't tell if she wore make up, maybe she did, maybe she didn't. But there was something mesmerizing about her full, pink lips. They lifted around the corners in a small, coy smile. James lifted an eye when she said cockily, "All that attention wasn't at all necessary. If you wanted to introduce yourself, you could've just said so. I'm Nicki." She held out her hand. James was clearly taken aback by the candidness of her greeting. "James Hall, " he said taking her extended hand. Clue number three sent shivers up my spine. The moment their skin made contact, I felt the air around me shift once more. The magical energy was so unguardedly present that I looked in alarm at James, but it was already too late. She did something to him. He looked at her with glassy eyes in this weird way, as if he was seeing past her. Nicki’s smile dropped instantly and she had already dismissed James, pretense falling from her face like a kid done playing dress up. I whipped my head back to the front of the room, careful not to release signs that I had just witnessed the creepiest exchange of names between this magical entity and my best friend. Damn it. What the hell did she do to him?  I tried stealing glances at James, but he was just looking on stupidly at Nicki, like a lovesick puppy. She, on the other hand, had completely lost interest and proceeded to unpack her notebook and pen from her school bag. She caught my eye and stopped. Nicki smiled at me in that pretty way she did, all lips and rosy cheeks. I quickly broke the gaze, feeling the room temperature rise, feeling unsure if it was some supernatural charm or my nerves making my heart pump at the speed of a bullet train. The lecturer for the first period came in, and the rest of the class went by normally. Except for the fact that there were now two anomalous beings in the room.