Nature's Rivals: A Fairy's Mission

Discovery

SETH WARREN

I’m not sure what came over me that morning. I wasn’t normally so daring or candid with friends, let alone girls, more so one particular girl that I should be keeping a careful eye out for instead of flirting with before first period. Did she see it as flirting, I wonder? Was she flirting back? I really couldn’t tell, but whatever that was, I was only speaking the truth. She was different from the other girls and was a force to be intimidated by.

She strode into the cafeteria by herself, but the crowd that was gathered near the entrance parted before her as she did, and she didn’t even need to pause her stride, knowing that no one dared stand in her way. Her gait oozed confidence, her posture tall, shoulders held back, straight black hair swept behind her like a veil.

I stood up to meet her, leaving James and the rest of the team behind at our usual cafeteria spot, with a distant ‘Hey! Where you going man?’ coming from James. I ignored him, drawn to Nicki, and giddier than I should be when I noticed her stop near the lunch line to look around the room, looking for me? I smiled at the thought. From under her plain blue men’s cap that did nothing to hide her beautiful features (as I presume was her intention in order to blend in with the humans), her deep blue eyes flitted from one table to the next, trying to find the face she was looking for. She bit her bottom lip in the process, which she did a lot earlier this morning as well. She should really stop drawing attention to those lips of hers… When I was near enough to where she stood her eyes finally landed on me.

“I was looking for you,” she said, a small smile playing on the lips I hadn’t stopped staring at.

“I wasn’t sure you really wanted to have lunch with me,” I said, returning the smile. I was feeling shy all over again and rubbed at the back of my neck, looking at no particular thing at the space above her head. She’s so beautiful, this is insane. “I’m glad you’re here though.”

“Our conversation was interrupted earlier so I figured I’d give you the honor of being able to compliment me some more,” she joked easily, a mischievous little glint in her eyes. “But I’ll buy myself my own lunch, thank you.”

After she bought lunch from inside the cafeteria we decided to head outside to enjoy the gentle breeze while eating them, and we settled under a large acacia tree in a small clearing a little walk away from the cafeteria building. There were hardly any other students nearby, most preferring the airconditioned rooms and their comfortable dining spaces than the rugged outdoors, but our spot was nice and cool, and Nicki had no qualms sitting on the grass at the foot of the tree. She plopped right down despite having worn only shorts and ballet flats that day. The bare ground on her legs and calves didn’t faze her. It must be a gift, to be so well put-together and feminine while at the same time being so sharp, unaffected, and cool.

“You look right at home there,” I said as I sat beside her on the ground, leaning my back on the wide trunk of the acacia just as she did.

“I love the outdoors,” she said enthusiastically, “I feel like a kid all over again. Like I have no problems to think about and can nap under the trees uninterrupted for hours.” Her eyelids closed wistfully for a moment, before a soft giggle rocked her chest and made her smile. “Before my sister would run screaming at me again for always running away from her.”

“No problems,” I mused along with her, “It’s been a while since I’ve had no problems.”

“That sounded so loaded,” she laughed. “You do not strike me as a kind of person who has many problems in life. On the contrary, you look like the world’s easiest person to be around. Mr. Boy Next Door, and all that.” The naughty glint back in her eyes.

“The more I talk to you the more I realize how judgmental you are,” I teased, but mildly amused that she had made observations about me – like she was interested.

She shrugged, “I prefer ‘opinionated’ over ‘judgmental’.”

I rolled my eyes. “How did you become the way you are? I’ve never met anyone so… sure of herself. Were you born wildly ‘opinionated’ and indifferent or is that what constant compliments throughout the years add up to,” I said, propping my knee up so I can lean my elbow on it and stare at her from a better angle. She had taken off her cap and the gentle breeze blew strands of her black hair. She looked at me with a peaceful expression on her face as she leaned her head back on the tree’s trunk. Her mood took on a different air out here under the shade. She looked at peace, even more beautiful than when she was her normal, poised and distant self.

“Okay, first of all, Seth,” she said, emphasizing my name as if about to chastise, “I am not constantly complimented, and actually often find myself lacking any company to keep at all. And secondly, we were talking about your many problems in life, not my origin story or what have you.”

I ignored her attempt to direct it back to me. “I doubt very much that you lack the company to keep,” I said, “guys must throw themselves at the very ground you walk, and James in particular can’t shut up about you.” My tone in saying that last bit had an unintended edge to it, but Nicki didn’t seem to notice.

“He’s a sweet-talker, but not at all smart, that one,” she said harshly. “None of them can really count as genuine friendships,” she continued absentmindedly.

“Them?” I asked.

She paused, her eyes widening just for a while. Had I not been looking at her that very moment I wouldn’t have caught it. What did she mean by them? People like James? Those she used her magic on?

“Jocks trying to get into my pants,” she said after a while.

I laughed. “Don’t I count as a jock?”

“Are you trying to get in my pants?” she asked pointedly, while she took a huge bite of the apple she was holding.

“I have an urge to beat the crap out of anyone who tries,” I admitted. I don’t know where I was getting all this honesty and confidence from. I had never had a crush this intense, but the very thought of someone trying to trick Nic into s*x had already gotten me mentally flipping through the most painful curses I had learned throughout the years. Maybe set his underwear on fire and permanently damage his junk or haunt his dreams daily with images of getting his member chopped off with a kitchen knife.

She wasn’t shy about the admission. On the contrary, her smile grew, turning a little wicked, like we were playing around, seeing who can out-charm the other. Honestly, I didn’t mind playing along. “Alright since you’re so keen on it, this can count as friendship. But only if you tell me about the problems you keep trying to avoid talking about,” she said, taking another bite from her apple.

I had already eaten with James and the gang before Nicki had walked into the cafeteria, but I was perfectly happy sitting right there under the acacia tree, watching her take bites out of her apple as she waited for me to speak, the skin of the fruit only a few shades darker than her plump pink lips.

“Since you said you don’t really keep company around, does that make me your only friend?” I asked, again ignoring her attempt to direct the conversation.

“You’re evading the question. You must have very serious problems, Seth. Should I be concerned?”

“But then again you said you have a sister, so it can’t be completely lonely for you,” I continued. She stopped the banter, which makes me think I’ve hit a particularly tough spot again. I felt guilty all of a sudden when she turned her head away from my gaze, and I could’ve sworn I saw unshed tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, did I –”

“Yes I guess you are my only friend,” she suddenly said, cutting me off. She turned back to look at me, all semblance of sadness gone from her face; all semblance of warmth and friendliness gone as well. My heart sank. “No, I don’t have a sister anymore.” I didn’t know what to say to that, but she looked like she was trying desperately to keep her cool and not break down. The guilt intensified. She kept going, “You’re lucky. You’ve probably lived your whole life in this place, made all the friends you can make. Popular, even. Your folks are rich, of course, like everyone else’s around here. I heard James mention you have an older brother… You’re lucky, Seth. I can’t imagine you ever having the problems I’ve had to face in the past few years.”

“Nic, I’m so sor –”

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile, but we continued the rest of her meal in silence. If not for the sounds of the outdoors, the silence between us would have been deafening. Somehow though, I could sense her mood returning to normal without us having to speak.  

“I’m sorry, Nic,” I said, eventually, looking at her. The wind had caused a loose strand of hair to stick to the bottom of her full lips. I put up the barrier that repressed my magical energy before sweeping the strand to the back of her ear. I almost lost it at the touch. Her face was so smooth under my fingers, and all semblance of sadness seemed to have left the deep blue of her eyes. I wanted to hold her face in both my hands and know what that would feel like. I dropped my fingers. “I never meant to cross a line. What I really wanted from today was to get to know you. Like I said this morning, I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re right – I have lived here my whole life. And it’s… rattling, to be around someone so different from the people I’ve known since birth.”

She stared at me for a while, “Can I trust you, Seth?” Her eyes were probing.

Can she trust me? No, she couldn’t. I belong to a family of warlocks, hell-bent on making sure our home is safe and free from all threats – sometimes even if it took extreme measures. I have seen my father execute vampires feeding in our town, helped him and my brother drive away werewolves from the border by casting a boundary spell that forced them to painfully shift over and over again if they dared cross, and have ratted out fellow warlock families who had in the past attempted to rebel against our family’s rule. Despite all this, I replied “Of course.”

Because I truly believed Nic meant no harm. She was suspicious and hesitant, to be sure, but I wanted to trust her too. I hadn’t seen her do any wrong. It’s been over a week since she arrived, but James and the others who seem to be entranced by her are totally fine. I just believe she’s good. By the way her entire demeanor changed, I’m almost a hundred percent sure she derived her powers from the nature, and the children of the forests were never real threats.

“Well then we have all the time in the world to get to know each other,” she said. “You being my only friend and all.” The amusement danced at the edge of her lips. She stood up from her seat, dusting the back of her shorts from the dirt that may have clung there. She reached her hands up to the air and stretched her whole body upwards as a strong breeze whipped past her again. Her black knitted top clung to her body, her aroma wafted towards me. She smelled of pine wood and flowers, a scent that you can lay your head down on to rock you to sleep. Where did you come from to have such a smell? She looked down, still with that small smile on her face. I’ve been daydreaming of her face more frequently in the past few days. “I didn’t mean for the conversation to get so serious. My sister – I miss her terribly. Maybe someday I can tell you more about her.” Nic smiled sadly.

She held her hand out to me, offering to help me stand up from the ground.

I knew what it meant. My mind flashed back to James taking her hand during her first day in school and I remembered the wave of magic that hit me, the blank stare James had afterwards, and his changed demeanor towards her ever since. I also knew it would do nothing to me. We were masters of magic, capable of dispelling any curse or enchantment easily with a counter-spell – it simply would not work on us, and she probably knew this. She was searching for warlocks.

I could have put up a barrier against myself, as I did the other day to prevent discovery. Though at the back of my mind I felt that it would not work this time around. I could have cast a spell on her mind with so much magic, enough to knock her consciousness. I could have called Alex for help by connecting to his thoughts – even then I could easily locate him in my head. He was in the men’s restroom beside the cafeteria. He could have made it to my location in a matter of minutes. But I didn’t. I fought with myself over the matter and decided that I couldn’t do it. There was just more to Nicki Fay that I wanted to discover on my own.

So instead, with the friendliest, least aggressive smile I could muster, I locked my eyes to hers, hoping she could sense my genuine desire to be her friend. I took her hand and, just as I expected, let her magic envelop my body.

Pine wood and flowers. Her signature was in every strand of her power, the one that attempted to Mystify me, I realized. She only meant to get into my thoughts using a charm so powerful that it left the ordinary human momentarily dazed and doing what the one who cast it asked, answering anything they wanted to know.

I resisted the spell easily, pushing her magic away from me. There was no shock in her eyes, only excitement upon realizing her Mystification won’t work. She wasn’t scared of me although I was probably who she was searching for all along, which was good. If she didn’t fear warlocks it meant that she didn’t know what we were really capable of. So I decided to show her. I edged my own magic into her space, taking her mind and connecting it to my own. I could have hurt her, made her brain cells pop one by one or tormented her with images that would frighten anyone. Instead, I whispered gently to her thoughts: What could you be doing deep in warlock territory, you beautiful fairy?