Nature's Rivals: A Fairy's Mission

Date Day

NICKI FAY

What could you be doing deep in warlock territory, you beautiful fairy? It was Seth all along. His voice in my mind startled me, but I tried my best not to let it show. Growing up we were told little about warlocks as they were so secretive of their identities and extremely rare to encounter. I knew that they could cast all sorts of spells, way more powerful than the charms we could inflict, but I was completely unaware they could enter minds... could he hear what I’m thinking?

He laughed, and I noticed belatedly that he had inched closer to me and was using his thumb to draw small circles on the back of my hand, which I also realized I had not yet removed from his. With his other hand he swept my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear, just as he did earlier when the wind blew. He was gentle and had a sweet wistful smile on his face. His fingers lingered a moment in my hair, and I wondered why I wasn’t feeling scared for myself despite the close proximity.

Talk to me, Nic, his voice whispered. Your face is betraying the conflict in your thoughts. Are you afraid now?

“No,” I said, hating that my voice came out cracked. I pulled away from his touch and pushed at his chest. He stumbled a bit backwards and I saw that there was surprise and hurt in his expression. For a moment I considered apologizing; I considered telling him how sad I was to know it was him all along, and how all I really want is to cry in his arms at the cruelty of the fates in denying me any sort of reprieve from the misery of this life.

There was that turmoil in my head. I’m glad he couldn’t hear my thoughts, but I wasn’t about to let him use any of his other powers against me. Had he been luring me all along? Is that why he’s been so nice to me?

I clenched my fists and looked around. There were students milling here and there, far from where we were but still within sight if they looked our way. I drew a sharp breath and with an exhale called to the earth. The ground shook a little bit as I willed the acacia tree to sprout from the ground where Seth was standing and watched it snake its strong roots around his foot, ankles, and shins. It made its way all around Seth’s legs and around his waist, immobilizing him to his spot. From afar, it would just seem like he was standing very very still. He looked at his entangled lower body with a frown but made no move to retaliate.

“You said you trusted me,” he said a bit sadly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“You’re a fool,” I said with as much venom I could muster, but really I wanted to scream at the universe. The anger was welling up inside me, so much that I wanted to just run away from it all - from Lia, our mission, Paradise Valley - all of it.

“You don’t mean it,” he said. He sighed, which annoyed me even more. He was standing there immobilized, for Mother’s sake! Yet he seemed to care so little, as if belittling my spell. I hated it. Out of everything Lia and I went through, traveling from one state to another, leaving our home, our families – out of everything I sacrificed in the past 6 years, he’s just sighing at this slight inconvenience! This stupid warlock!

“You have no f*****g idea!” I screamed at him. I could feel the magic leaking from me in uncontrollable torrents. I couldn’t help it – I was so mad! At who or what, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly, but Seth was standing there at my mercy so he was the easy target of all my hate. The sky darkened as angry clouds covered the sun in what would be an unusual rainstorm in an otherwise sunny Paradise Valley. The wind whistled in my ears – or was it my own rage resounding in my head – and it was whipping stronger than ever in Seth’s direction, so much that he had to lean his torso forward and shield his head with his arms. Gleefully I noticed that he now had worry distorting his good-looking features, breaking his calm. He winced as the roots of the acacia tightened their wrap around his lower body. I didn’t try to stop or control the magic wanting to release itself. If the mother willed for Seth Warren to be crushed today, then so be it. He was a distraction to the mission – his easy smiles and comforting words, his likeness to home. I needed none of them!

“Nic!” he shouted, trying to grab my attention. Stop calling me that! I wanted to cry at the term of endearment that was not meant for him to use. His worry had turned into panic. “Nic, stop this! I just want to talk!”

I couldn’t help the tears streaming down my face. My feelings were coming undone – 6 years of repressed hate, frustration, and false hopes spilling out of me through magic and tears. Thunder rumbled in the distance. It was probably only a little past noon, but the sky was dark as night. “You stop it! Stop acting like you care you f*****g warlock!”

At that last statement, Seth’s light brown eyes flashed hazel as I saw his lips move, muttering something under his breath. He extended both his arms out, and in an instant my footing was yanked from under me and I was lifted forward in his direction. It wasn’t forceful but was enough to jolt me out of my trance. I was inches from his body when he caught me by the wrists in a clearly restrictive grip which felt icy to the touch, and as swiftly as it came my power ebbed away. The skies began to light up once again and the roots of the acacia slowly scaled down his legs.

“Nic, enough,” he said sternly, his eyes still an iridescent hazel, glowing in his own magic. But when he proceeded to hold both sides of my tear-stained face in his hands, ever so gently wiping tears away, I instinctively leaned into them and let my eyelids flutter in exhaustion. His light eyes searched my own with such deep worry, as if pleading for me to be okay, anxious about my sudden outburst. It was the most comfort I had felt in the nearly six years away from home. Not even Lia had touched me so gently, during the days the strain of fulfilling our mission became unbearable. I wished to the Mother in the past to not let Seth be a warlock, so that I may enjoy his company and know him as just an ordinary boy in my ordinary high school, in my not so ordinary world. Now that there was clear evidence that he was far from ordinary, I didn’t know how I could bring myself to hate him.

There were many things about my life I hated, but I couldn’t hate him. Before I knew it I was clutching at his shirt, leaning my forehead on the crook of his neck, sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of Seth Warren.

SETH WARREN

What happened? The message came from Alex who linked my thoughts when he spotted me as I walked along the hallway on my way to the last class for the day. He was leaning his right shoulder against the locker beside Jenny’s, who was busy unpacking books from inside her bag. Jenny was Alex’s girlfriend, a beautiful but shy and soft-spoken girl – she and Alex were complete opposites, but somehow it worked. I felt a strong energy, he said.

It was me, I lied.

I saw his brows furrow from a distance, all along never keeping his gaze away from Jenny who was chatting to him about something I couldn’t catch. Alex would smile at her whenever she’d look his way, mastering the art of fake attention. What was it about? he asked dubiously.

I felt a strange energy coming from the eastern border, I said. Our school was located near that border and knew that Alex would bite at the excuse. I fortified some of the spells just in case.

When I passed by Jenny’s locker I saw him nod my way in acknowledgement, apparently accepting the lie. I sighed inaudibly at my huge predicament. As I turned the corner to a narrower hallway where the door to my next class was located, I replayed the events of lunch period again in my head. The beautiful eccentric girl from English class is a fairy, I lamented. She was indeed magical, in all sense of the word – but what was she doing so far away from home?

Alex and I studied extensively about all sorts of magical beings from a young age, training to be the future heads of the clan. I know that fairies are tied to their home, from where they derive their magic. A “mother”, I mused, which was a deity they gave honor and homage to in exchange for the fruit of their land, their magic, and the protection of their territory. Fairies were peaceful and reclusive. They could be born, live, and die without ever leaving the protection of their mother’s land, only ever using their powers in their everyday lives – never to harm humans, always avoiding conflict with other magical entities. Which means that Nic and whoever that lady guardian she was with (I was about 99% sure it wasn’t her actual birth mother) are here for an important reason – enough that they would risk delving into uncharted territory with weakened abilities.

I remembered the outburst of magic Nic displayed earlier today, sure that if it had prolonged I would be limping to class with more than one fracture in my lower half. Weakened abilities my ass.

Entering the classroom, I took my seat at my usual spot next to James. The class had yet to start and the whole room was abuzz with conversation. “What’s up, man? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you today,” he said to me, abruptly ending the conversation he was having with the brunette girl leaning awkwardly over his low desk (I’m guessing trying to flaunt her very full rack that perked up inside her tight tube top). She rolled her eyes, offended by James’ dismissal and walked away without another word, her heels clacking on the floor in protest.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” I confessed.

“And you haven’t been telling me?” he said, incredulous. “I’m your best bud, man! What’s going on?”

“It’s just…” I wasn’t thinking clearly, my brain being so muddled up with thoughts of Nic and what to do about the entire damn situation. I couldn’t seem to come up with an excuse, which is odd as I’ve spent my whole life basically explaining away magical anomalies – both the ones I’ve caused and those others have caused.

I was suddenly saved when Sandra walked up to the both of us. She was this friendly girl whose family owned and managed the top-rated resort in the whole town. There was a period in time she’d ask me out every week to hangout at their private suite there, ‘My parents are out of town for some business so we’d have the room to ourselves,’ she would say, as if that were the most enticing thing in the world rather than the most horrifying scenario imaginable to listen to her drone on and on about some vapid, shallow topic for an entire weekend. Not that she was unattractive – she was beautiful in that barbie blonde hourglass figure kind of way – but it was nowhere near the attraction I felt for Nic…

“Hey boys,” Sandra chimed, her voice brimming with excitement, “So as you guys know it’s my birthday this weekend.” We didn’t know, actually, but she went on, “And I pulled some strings with my daddy and we’re having the entire poolside area at the resort to ourselves!” She squealed in excitement.

“Nice one, Sandy!” James said, giving her a high five. She grimaced at the wrong mention of her name but didn’t correct him anymore.

She turned to me. “Seth? You’ll be .there right?”

“I’ll have to check, Sandra,” I said, addressing her properly. “I’m not sure if my dad needs me for anything this weekend.” It was a lie – my father hardly asked me for anything or pays me any mind at all. That honor fell upon he of first birth, Alex Warren.

“Oh, I’m sure uncle Ricky can spare you if my dad asked him to,” Sandra said. Our parents were in the same town council together.

“No!” I exclaimed, horrified. “There’s really no need for that I—”

“Pleaaase, Seth, as my birthday gift?” she took a hold of my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, pleading. From this close her strong perfume hit me and I almost coughed. It’s like she dumped the entire Chanel No. 5 bottle on herself or something.

“Yeah, alright sure, I’ll be there,” I said, slowly taking her hand away from my arm, and giving her a reassuring smile. Really all I wanted was for her to leave my nostrils alone. I miss Nic’s smell of pine wood and flowers. God, everything reminds me of her.

“Really?” Sandra said, excitement plastered on her face. She started bouncing a little on the balls of her feet and said, “We’re gonna have so much fun – this is gonna be the best birthday ever!” before giving me a quick hug and skipping back to her seat.

“Dude, she totally has something planned out for the two of ya when you go to that party,” James said, laughing. “Stay strong, my friend.”

“That stuff really doesn’t tempt me,” I said absentmindedly, my thoughts already elsewhere. I wonder if Nic would be my date to the party if I asked…

The teacher hadn’t arrived yet and the seconds seemed to tick by in an agonizing pace. Lunch period ended on a stiff note a while ago. After having cried her eyes out and when her frantic heaving calmed to a shallow breath, Nic give me one last squeeze before letting go of our embrace. Her eyes were puffy and tired as she looked at me with so many conflicting emotions running through her face. Her nose had turned slightly red from the crying and her lips were glistening – her entire face glowing somewhat. She was still so distractingly beautiful.

The bells chimed from the distance, signaling our needed return to reality. She didn’t break her gaze, trying to read me just as I too was trying to figure what she was thinking of. After a while she said softly, “I’m going, Seth,” before turning around to walk away. I tried to stop her and grab her by her wrist, but just as I was about to touch her a root had quickly shot up from the ground and entangled my own wrists in a painful bind, restraining me from moving my hand further. She didn’t turn around as she muttered meanly, “Don’t bother getting in my way.” I didn’t anymore, understanding that she needed to sort everything out on her own. I just watched her leave, long slender legs taking confident strides away from me.

“Okay, I’m really getting bothered now,” James said, snapping me out of reality. He had his hand on my shoulder and was shaking me. “You’re clearly not telling me something important. Just f*****g spill the beans, Seth!”

Fuck it, I thought, standing up abruptly, the legs of the chair scraping the floor in a loud screech. Several people from the class stopped talking to stare at me. f**k it, I need to see her. I began striding out of the room, hearing James exclaim, “What the hell, man! Why do you keep bailing today!?”

I ignored him for the nth time today, exiting the room in quick strides, taking the opposite direction from where I came from, to the direction of the parking lot. It’s only once in a lifetime I would ever meet a woodland fairy. Only once in my life that I’ve ever met someone as interesting as Nic. There’s just more to her that I need to know about. Earlier today she kept saying I had no idea, I had no clue. Then make me understand, Nic! And what do you mean by you’re going? Leaving Paradise Valley? Getting away from me? I know that would be best for everyone – my family and hers – if she left town and kept the peace in check, but God I just wanted more time to have my questions answered and to get to know her. Where are you from? What made you leave? Where will you go?

I exited the school building and traversed the short walkway that connected it to the parking lot. No one had called out for me other than James. If there were teachers who noticed, none of them bothered me or told me to turn around. My father was very influential in town and was generous with his yearly donations to the school – which I figured was a huge reason why faculty and administrators never stood in Alex and I’s way whenever we had to urgently leave or got into some sort of trouble.

Regardless, I wouldn’t have heard or listened to anyone that dared stop me. If Nic was indeed leaving I needed to at least see her one last time. I wanted to see her again, and continue seeing her if that were possible. It was consuming my mind and all I could think about would be how much I would regret it if I were the one who ended up driving her away. Upon reaching the parking lot, I made my way directly to the brand new sedan my mother had bought me last summer, already narrowing down the resorts in town I knew that could have a penthouse suite to Nic’s needs as a fairy. 

I was so focused and lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t realize there was someone standing near my car. I accidentally knocked my arm into the person’s shoulder and heard an exclamation of annoyance. I didn’t bother looking at who it was and just quickly said sorry, my focus set on leaving. As my hand reached out to grab the driver’s side door handle and pulled it, I noticed something wrong when the door didn’t open. I tried opening it again, and again a third time, but to no avail. The lock was jammed despite having unlocked the same using the car keys.

“You knock into me and you don’t bother greeting me?” I heard a familiar voice say. I quickly turn my head to her direction. Her delicately manicured pointer figure was pointed at my door, which she had hexed, and her beautiful green eyes glowed slightly around the edges because of the use of her magic. Before me stood my lifelong friend, Daphne Gray, in all her glory. She was clearly not amused. Her long red hair was pulled up in a bun today, stray wavy strands tucked behind her ears. Her girls’ uniform and tie was perfectly pressed, her black school shoes perfectly shined, her porcelain legs peeking from a mid-thigh maroon skirt that bore the signature tartan pattern of the most exclusive girls’ school in the whole South-western part of the country.  

“Daph,” I said out loud, unable to contain my surprise. s**t, I thought, suddenly remembering what day of the month it is.

She dropped her pointer finger and I strode towards me, her low heels clacking oddly on the parking lot pavement, her wealth and elegance strangely out of place. I towered over her by a whole head, but throughout my entire life I’ve only ever thought of myself as looking up at Daphne. She had a knack for putting people in their place – which was usually somewhere way beneath her strata of the world. 

“Going somewhere?” she asked, fluidly raising a perfectly made brow.

“I was – uhh,” nothing ever escaped Daphne’s gaze and I felt that she was seeing right through me. “I needed to meet a friend,” I managed to say truthfully.

“During your last period?” her other brow joined its sister to form an even more incredulous expression. “I was willing to wait for an extra hour by your car knowing that you weren’t dismissed until late. Who is this special friend of yours that has you skipping class?”

I rolled my eyes internally. Of course she was onto me like a cat cornering a mouse. I couldn’t help the smile that had formed on my lips. “Daph,” I began to explain, holding both sides of her by her arms, “I didn’t know you were going to be out here waiting for–”

She cut me off and shoved my hands away from her. “Seth,” she said angrily, “Please do not tell me that you forgot it’s date day today. Did you?”