Nature's Rivals: A Fairy's Mission

Friendship

NICKI FAY 

Right after school, I told Lia about Seth Warren and she and I both drove back to the resort we were staying at (there's actually a lot in Paradise Valley), figuring out the quickest and easiest fix we could think of for us to recharge ourselves. We couldn’t seem to find proper accommodations for a long-term stay here so we had no choice but to live in a resort for the time being. Though the amount that meant was significant, it was chump change for Lia’s accounts, considering the significant allowance we received before we left home almost 6 years ago, which was far from depletion, and also considering the numerous sponsors that have showered Lia with all sorts of luxuries throughout our travels.

When the moon rose high and the area was relatively empty already, we both took a dip in the pool. We were in our element, finally. Lush greens were familiar and comely, the earth was a wonder, but the water was life itself. I loved the water, I loved everything about it.

While under, I took a moment to watch the water bubbles forming around me, rising to the surface. There was a spring near our territory back home where I used to lounge with my sister for hours at a time. I could go under and lose myself to the inaudible sounds from the surface back then. “Your mother will be looking for you two.” I hear him again. From where I was in the center of the pool, I could almost imagine myself back in that spring. “Nic? Where are you? Come on, you’ll make me worry.” I used to stay under a few minutes longer despite hearing him, hoping he’d dive in in search of me – he always ended up doing so, even if he hated getting his garments wet. “She’ll harp on me for having to wash these out again, you little trouble maker,” he used to scold playfully, carrying me on his back on our way home, all as I laughed and wrapped my short little arms around his neck, resting my chin on the top of his head, looking up at the night sky with all the beautiful stars that always twinkled brightly from the forest. 

I calmed my mind, tapping the magical energy from every part of my body. Then I called to her. I called to our Mother. The Mother of everyone of our kind. She lived in the center of our forest, a great guardian spirit that made the earth abundant with life, that warded the curious onlooker, and gave us the magic that connected us to her. Mother, I called to her, give me the strength that I so need. So that I may find what is rightfully yours and take it home to you.

The water warmed around me. It flowed and swirled, creating little waves in the otherwise calm pool, and then I felt our Mother charging every cell within me with her power. I felt the connection to home, as if I were under the fresh water spring back in the forest. When it was over and everything settled back into place, I swam back to the surface, where Lia had already settled down onto a beach chair. The pool looked calm again. It was nowhere near as refreshing as a direct connection would have been like, but I felt at least more than half charged now, nonetheless.

"I'm better now," I confirmed to her, "Not fully charged, but I have enough to try Mystifying Seth again tomorrow."

 She sighed. "For our sake, let's hope it doesn't work again and he is a part of that damn warlock race."

 I sighed too. He reminded me of home too, of a certain someone back home, to be specific. The thought that he might be a warlock saddened me. Please Mother, I found myself begging, I don’t want to make an enemy of him. If he looked at me with hate, I think it will finally take my sanity.

SETH WARREN

When she smiled at me during Lab, the wish started growing in me that hopefully she didn't mean any harm to our town, and that maybe our kinds can live in peace. That's all we really want. The chief warlock family was established for two reasons: to keep the other warlock families from warring with each other, and to keep the warlock land peaceful. Peaceful: meaning no supernatural entities causing chaos.

 I was attracted to her, I can’t deny it despite my best efforts. I think that if she weren't supernatural, that I'd have asked her out on a date – something I’ve never done before. But she is supernatural. And it makes all the difference in the world. Because when you're supernatural, you can disrupt the peace, and when you disrupt the peace, it's our family’s job – my job – to end you.

My brother and I are reminded of this every time. 

"Seth," my dad called at the dinner table.

"Yes, sir?" I said.

"What of the being in your class. Have you taken care of her?" he didn't even look at me while he was speaking. He just kept on slicing at the meat on his plate. I hated how distant he was. I hated how he acted more as the leader of the clan than a father to me.

"I'm getting to it."

He looked up then, not with a fatherly expression of love but with brows furrowed, lips pursed, and thunderous eyes. "I'm expecting you to have ended this little problem by now. What is her business in our town?" Paradise Valley had grown rich and coveted throughout the years, in large part because of the interest and dedication my family placed in keeping it small, secure, and a proper base for the head warlock. My father took it as his life mission to lead with an iron fist and dealing with any problems swiftly and without remorse.

"Father, I can't just attack her or tell her to leave. She might not even mean any harm," I tried to reason.

 "Whatever she is, by virtue of her supernatural draw she will eventually upset the peace." We locked eyes for a long moment, him trying to get his message through. "Alexis."

"Father," Alex answered, with a barely indecipherable sigh in his tone. Clear as day, he wanted no part in this quarrel I always had with our father. Alex never lorded it over me that he was the favorite, but neither did he side with me. I can’t blame him, our father was a hard person to cross.

 "See to it that Seth deals with it by the end of the week."

 "I don't need a supervisor," I declared, my utensils clattering on my plate as I threw them down. I hated him even more when he makes he makes it apparent what a huge disappointment I am compared to Alex. For some reason, tonight I didn’t want to hear any of it. All action around the table stopped and everyone looked to father, anxious of his next move. Mother, who was sitting beside me, put her hand on mine soothingly.

"Stop it, Seth," she said, "don't talk back like that."

 Father took the napkin beside his plate and wiped his mouth with it. He stared at me then, his dark, shadowy eyes boring holes into me. "Boy," he said menacingly, "Prove me wrong first."

NICKI FAY 

"Good morning."

I looked up from the book I was reading and nearly fell off my chair in shock. Sitting beside me was Seth wearing a friendly smile on his face. He sat on James’ seat beside me. It was our first class of our day and we were back in the classroom where we had first seen each other – on that day I had idiotically overlooked him in favor of Mystifying James.

Looking back, I don’t know how I could have missed him. Today he donned a simple white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, white sneakers. He looked good, not needing anything fancy to turn heads. So much of you is similar to him, I thought. Though to be sure all his clothes were branded basics. Everyone in this part of the State was loaded.

“Hi,” I said, trying to recover from the welcome but unexpected intrusion. I nibbled on my lip nervously, suddenly acutely aware that I didn’t bother brushing my hair that morning or putting on any sort of makeup – not that I ever did since Lia would always put a cap on my head anyway or wipe off any lip gloss I’d apply before leaving her in the car as she dropped me off. Why do you even care to look pretty for this guy? I asked myself. Humans found me effortlessly attractive even if I didn’t try.

"Well that definitely is not the assigned reading for the week" he joked, motioning to my copy of Cooking for Dummies. We had a few minutes before the bell was scheduled to ring and Mrs. Gilbert, our English teacher, would walk into class. 

"Just learning how not to burn down the suite," I managed to say. 

"Oh, you’re staying at a hotel?" he asked, eyebrows raised and all, as if this particular information was interesting news.   

"A resort. Penthouse suite, I guess is more specific." I bit my lip right after I said it. Why am I divulging information about myself to him? I should always be the one controlling the conversation. And to a human, of all things! But then again, I'm not yet sure if he really is human. I have to find a way to touch him. I stopped at the thought, feeling flustered. Get a grip, Nicki.

He let out a low whistle. "The next time we wanna have a party I'll be sure to remember that," he said, but his eyes were inquisitive rather than playful. For some reason, I can’t imagine him as a party-hosting type. For some even weirder reason, I felt as if he didn’t care at all about whether or not I lived at a penthouse suite. It’s like he had other questions behind his eyes he was more interested in knowing and was hesitating to ask.

I pride myself in knowing people’s personalities quite easily. It’s something I picked up throughout the years we spent digging around people for warlock business. So it was with ease that I concluded that Seth’s kind face spoke volumes of his kind personality. Even if he did turn out to be a warlock, I had a feeling he was not like the rest of them. I noticed distractedly that he had two dimples placed diagonally at the bottom of his mouth; one for each side if he smiled wide enough. If that isn’t the most trustworthy feature in a person, I don’t know what is.

His furrows scrunched up a little bit. “Is something wrong?” he asked. My eyes widened, realizing I had been staring too long. I felt blood rushing to my cheeks. Good Mother, I needed to Mystify him fast and get this over with.

“Nothing that concerns you,” I replied, matter-of-factly, hoping it came off confidently. 

He laughed, revealing the little dimples I had discovered earlier. “By the way you were staring at my face, I’m pretty sure it does.” There was nothing arrogant in the way he said it. Just that he was amused, knowing I had tried to save face. I couldn’t help but smile in return. I was getting excited by him.

“Okay fine,” I admitted, smiling sweetly. “You interest me.”

It was his turn to stare wide-eyed, his turn to blush.

“I’m sure you get this a lot,” I continued slowly, “but I guess I just realized now that you’re actually really good looking.” I laughed, playing it off casually.

What a blush he had! He turned so pink, the color reached the roots of his brown hair. I laughed some more, secretly very thrilled that I had an effect on him. This is the first time I’ve ever had a man blush at me without my having Mystified him. 

“Damn,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He laughed too. “I genuinely do not know how to act cool after that.”

“What is it with men and having to act cool?” I teased.

“What is it with women only liking the men who act cool?” He teased back.  

“Only a certain woman would fall for that certain kind of man.”

“Isn’t that a bit too harsh on your gender,” he mused.

“Only a little bit,” I said. “I expect a lot from our lot.”

“Such as?” he asked, curious.

“Well seeing as we’re the smarter, more sensible of the two sexes,” I began, “I think women should act like it. Maybe we should be the ones to be cool and collected instead of always being putty in the popular bad boy’s arms.”

“I’m starting to realize that you’re living up to that ideal of yours to the tee,” he complimented. Or at least I think it’s a compliment.

“Is it a compliment?” I asked out loud.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said, laughing, a bit embarrassed? He leaned back on his chair and ran his hand across his head of brown hair, the morning sun turning them a lighter shade. “You’re probably the very definition of cool, Nic.” My heart skipped a bit at the nickname. “I sensed it the first day you walked into class. That you’re different.”

“What, I’m different from other girls?” I continued teasing, “is that the best line you’ve got?”

 We were looking at each other, completely engaged, and I noticed our bodies had shifted in our seats to face each other, so much that with a little movement of my ballet flats I could be toe-to-toe with his clean white sneakers. 

“You are actually,” he said honestly. “But you also know that. You even revel in it, I bet.”

“Does that intimidate you?” I asked, not denying it.

“You intimidate me for other reasons,” he said easily, and the way he looked at me was searching. There was a deeper meaning to it, and it was as if he was daring me to reveal my secrets and at the same time hinting at me that it would be okay if I did. That it’s okay to tell him, or that he already knew all along and was waiting for me to trust him with my verbal declaration of it. At this point my heartbeat was loud in my ears.

“Yoooo, Seth don’t try to steal my seat and my girl will you?” Just then James popped inside the classroom, a minute to go from being late. He strode towards us with a stupid grin on his face, walking lackadaisically like the real i***t that he is. How these two men were friends was a mystery to me. One was a good-natured sweetheart and the other an obnoxious airhead.

 I rolled my eyes. “In your dreams,” I quipped, repositioning my body back to face the front of the room and again opening my copy of Cooking for Dummies.

“Oooof Nicki,” he said, playing hurt and clutching at his chest theatrically, “you wound me yet again. You know I love it when you’re acting like you don’t care.” I saw Seth chuckle from the corner of my eye, clearly amused that James had just exhibited the very topic of our earlier conversation.

“Hey man,” he greeted James. He got up and sat in his usual seat in front of where James sat.

In the time we were talking it had completely slipped my mind to try and Mystify him. It was the perfect opportunity as well, what with our bodies practically inching towards each other the way it did. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of that. I can’t believe anything could draw me away from my mission at hand, but it was his inviting gaze, his friendly smile, his adorable honesty that really got me opening up to him. I wondered if I could ever have the opportunity to get him alone again, both to attempt the Mystification I should’ve been focusing on and to maybe spend a little more time just talking and hanging out… For the first time in almost 6 years, I was genuinely interested in another person.

When I looked over at Seth again, it was right on time to catch him looking at me too. Just like during lab the other day, I smiled at him and he smiled back. This time he didn’t break our gaze. The morning sun was doing wonders to his features. There was honey dancing in his light brown eyes, sweet and delicious. "Lunch?" he mouthed at me, his smile widening, his dimples greeting me good morning for the nth time that day.

Before I could reply, Mrs. Gilbert entered the classroom with a cheery, "Everyone take their seats!" that jostled all of us into a ramrod sitting position.

When we recovered from our initial surprise I stole a glance again, only to see he was still looking back at me, waiting for my response. “My treat,” he mouthed again, pointing at himself with his pointer finger.

I chuckled. How adorable. I nodded my head at him, agreeing to lunch. The start of a beautiful friendship.