Changeling

“Come with us, little changeling. We came to take you home.”

Lexi stood frozen by the man’s icy smile as he walked towards her. She watched as one of the clones turned to Dillon, broad sword in hand. Another turned back to Roger, readying his fists. The third took another step towards Lexi, leaving another copy of himself to deal with Margeux.

The man held his hand out to her, smile growing wider as she looked down at his dirty skin and unclipped nails. “Just take my hand, dear, and we’ll be on our way.”

Sven stood between them. “Get away from her.” His voice seemed calm, but his wings were still and tense. It was as if Lexi could see his emotion in the way that the vines tightened along his back.

“I think that’s for the lady to decide.” He peeked around Sven as if she were a child playing a game. “What do you say, miss? Ready to go?”

She looked up at him then. He was still smiling at her, still, like she were kid hiding behind her parent, but she wasn’t a child. She didn’t need that man, or anyone else to treat her that way. She could make up her own mind. Yes. It was her choice to decide. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He chuckled. “No?” His grinned darkened once more, brow furrowing. “I’m afraid that’s not the right answer, dear.”

Lexi could feel the air under her as he launched at her, but she was above him then, being carried in Sven’s arms. “You have to get out of here.” He told her, wings fluttering quickly as he carried her down the hallway.

She saw the attack before she could speak. A spear flew through the air, piercing through the vines and pinning the fae against the wall. She fell from his arms, hitting the floor hard as his head knocked back against the wall he was pinned to. The weight against his wing was too much to hold as it ripped along the spear’s blade.

She pushed herself to her feet, trying to force herself to move, but without his energy, she was caught in place by the spell surrounding them. “Sven!” His wing finally gave way to the pressure as he fell to the floor. Lexi couldn’t even reach for him, she could only lie there, staring at her friend, battered and unconscious on the ground next to her.

She could feel as the footsteps made their way towards her body, unable to move away from him. He stared down at her, shadows dancing across his face as he spoke. “A bit tired hm? I think it’s time this party came to an end so the princess can get some sleep.”

A flash came from behind him as Margeux sent another bolt of lightning from her fingertips. As the light faded, Lexi ran. She hadn’t known she could until the moment her legs began to move beneath her. The man was in front of her, blocking the only way out of the spell around them. She didn’t have time to glance behind her, pivoting on her heel towards another way out.

She thought back to the doors she’d passed the night before. The room with the curtain door. Perhaps she’d be free from the spell there.

The curtain felt like lead to her as she pushed it to the side. The room was dark except for the small amount of light creeping in from the hallway. Magic pulled heavily against her legs, as if she were wading through dense water. “Trapped little mouse.” He’d snuck up behind her. He was having no difficulty moving like she was.

Lexi stumbled, tripping over a piece of furniture. She reached for something. Anything that might be of use to her as a weapon. Her hands touched smooth glass. Of course, a fake psychic would need a crystal ball. She gripped it, quickly finding that the weight was unbearable to lift.

“What are you planning to do with a glass rock?” He chuckled.

She pulled feebly at the ball as he made his way closer. “Come on now.”

“Lexi!” Dillon was in the doorway, panting heavily. In his hand was the man’s broad sword, shimmering against the light in the hallway.

Lexi grabbed the man by the wrist, letting his energy surge through her as she lifted the ball above her head. She didn’t have time to aim before she threw it, not waiting to find out if the attack landed. She ran to the doorway where Dillon stood. “Are you okay?” She looked up at him. “Is Sven?”

He nodded, catching his breath before pushing her out of the way. The man had dodged her assault. His smile glowed in the weak light from the hallway as he approached them. She saw a shimmer in his hand. His hand came down quicker than she or Dillon could react. With him came the shards of glass against the younger elf’s cheek. Dillon was too stunned to defend himself before the man’s fist came up against his gut, sending the brunette to the floor.

Lexi couldn’t speak. She looked back at the two still fighting the last two clones before looking back at Sven at the end of the hall. Her eyes finally made their way to Dillon, unconscious with glass imprinted into his cheek, bleeding onto the floor.

“No one here for you now, dear.” The man smiled, holding out his long bony fingers to her again. “Come with me, I’ll take you to who you really need.”

She blinked, eyes leaving his hand and meeting his cold smile once more. “No.” She could see the muscles in his jaw clench in annoyance. “No I don’t need him.” Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t need you either.” There was a rush in her veins she’d never felt before as a breeze came by her.

“Come now, you don’t mean that.” He took her by the wrist once more. “You need Warren, don’t you?”

She watched him hit the wall on the far side of the crystal ball room. “I don’t need him. And I don’t need to tell you again!” A whirlwind peeled the room apart, books and glass trapped in it with the man. She watched as the shards tore at him and the furniture beat him. She watched him try to gain control and cling to anything that would steady him. She watched him go limp as he gave in to the winds around him. But she never felt the remorse that should’ve followed.

A pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind. “Lexi. Lexi focus!” She blinked. Roger was yelling in her ear as he held her.

The wind fell, bringing down the glass and the books and the furniture with it to the floor. Time had started moving again around her as she came to her senses, eyes focusing on the body in the floor, covered in cuts and bruises.

“Did I…” she wouldn’t have been standing if Roger wasn’t still holding her up. “Did I kill him?” She looked up at the man slowly, unsure on how to feel.

“No.” Margeux climbed through the clutter into her room. “But you destroyed my crystal ball room.” The blonde kneeled down to the elf on the floor, examining him carefully. “He’s going to live. And he’s going to answer a few of our questions when he wakes up.” She sighed as she took a look around the room. “I can’t believe this…”

“I’m sorry…” Lexi meant it. For both the room, and for the beaten man lying on the ground. “I don’t understand how it happened.”

Roger let go of her, sure that she could stand on her own again. “No time to explain that. Help me get the guys upstairs.”

Dillon’s wounds weren’t as extensive as she’d feared. With the glass gone from his cheek, it looked like nothing more than a deep scrape as she half dragged him with Roger’s help to the couch in the guest room. Sven’s wound, however, concerned her much more. His vines hang limp from his back as Roger laid him on the bed.

“Is he going to be okay?” She traced the vines with her eyes all the way to the harsh cut where the spear had hit them. “His wings…are they going to be okay?”

Roger nodded. “His wings will grow back. He just needs time. He’ll wake up soon, and he’ll be in a lot of pain.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked down at the floor, unable to focus on the injured friends around her. “You told me to stay and I didn’t. It’s my fault they both got hurt.”

“You’re right.” Roger stood straight. “We’ve been taking care of you for three days and you couldn’t listen to one order we gave you to keep you safe, and it resulted in all of this damage. If not for you the three of us would have finished him off, sent him running back to who knows where and the two of them would be perfectly fine.”

His words stung deep inside her, but she remained silent as he scolded her.

Roger took in a deep breath as he looked between the two boys. “Link with Dillon.”

She blinked up at him. “What?”

“Link with Dillon. He could use some of your strength after that fight and apparently you have a good bit of it. I’m already linked with Sven still.” Lexi looked at the boy lying in front of her and tried to think back to what it was that Sven and Roger did to link. “You have to touch. Since you aren’t sharing energy you could probably put his hand to your forehead instead. Then just relax and let him take in some of that energy.”

She nodded slowly and kneeled down next to Dillon’s side. Taking his hand gently, she pressed her forehead to his palm. She didn’t feel a thing at first. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did. I’m sorry, she thought, right as the energy drained from her body. It felt as though she were letting out a deep breath as she let him take the power from her.

“Lex.” She looked up with wide blue eyes meeting with his dark green. “Thanks.”

Her smile was painful. “It’s my fault you got hurt anyways. And I got Sven hurt.”

His hand moved up to ruffle her hair softly as he smiled. “You’re right. But thanks for trying to fix it. It’s more than most people would do.” He pulled her chin up to look at her gently. “I don’t regret stealing you away for one second.”

She laughed softly, trying to keep from crying. “Thank you.”

Margeux peeked in the room at the group of battered and worried. “I have him tied up for when he regains consciousness.” She glared at Lexi. “You’re cleaning that up before you leave.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Though I’m pretty surprised you could do anything in that spell seeing as though you’re only human. A changeling at most.” The blonde leaned against the door frame as she thought on the matter.

“Was it yours?” Lexi looked up at the witch as she asked. “The spell. Was it yours?”

Margeux shook her head. “It was his. It froze time inside of it so that the humans around wouldn’t see what’s going on. I suppose after getting caught by the human police, Wren has caught on that he has to be a little quieter in his actions.” She sighed dramatically. “Now the rest of this building is almost half an hour older than the downstairs of my shop.”

“The wind, though…”

“All you, chick.” Margeux crossed her arms. “You are the sole being responsible for that storm down there.” She shrugged. “The type of power is to be expected for a changeling of a sky fae, like Wren. The power behind it is confusing, however. Changelings aren’t meant to be strong.”

“She was suppressed for 13 years.” Dillon told her. “She couldn’t release any magic the whole time.”

The witch’s eyes narrowed. “Why would he do that? It’s more of a risk to make her hold back that long than to just let her throw a few breezes around here and there.”

“Is it that bad? Am I going to be sick or explode or something?” Lexi looked between the two of them curiously.

Margeux laughed. “That’d be even more interesting. No. You’re not going to explode, but your powers will just as they did before, but only until you release the excess.”

“So I have wind powers or whatever.” She was half speaking to herself as she thought the idea over.

“And you need to learn how to not destroy with them. Quickly.” Margeux looked over at Roger. “Where are you all going next? Because you can’t stay here forever. I can’t have people barging in here trying to kill me at all hours, it’s annoying.”

“Yeah yeah.” Roger was sitting on the end table beside Sven’s bed, running a hand through his dark hair. “I was actually thinking of heading to the realm.”

“Really?” Dillon sat up in his seat to look at his uncle. “You really think that’s the best idea?”

“No.” He sighed. “I think that’s the only idea I can think of that makes any sense. If we stay here he’s going to get sloppy and a lot of humans are going to get injured. In the realm he might keep on his toes a little. Enough for us to have time to think, at least.”

“Wait a minute, hold on.” Lexi looked at the men, puzzled as they spoke. “So we’re going to Germany?”

“Oh. No, no. I doubt we have nearly that much time on our hands.” Roger didn’t explain more than that, leaving Lexi looking at Dillon for information.

He chuckled at her as he started. “The realm isn’t one place. It’s more a type of place, spread out across the globe. It’s just that a majority of us have accumulated in the home realm in Germany. That realm is called Wirtragen. Which is roughly translated to mean—“

“We Endure.” She finished, letting the name settle in her mind. “What do you endure?”

Dillon shrugged. “Hiding I guess. In the early days, when humans were more superstitious a lot of us were killed and tortured. Fairies had their wings ripped off by men who thought it would turn them human. When the realms were created it provided a place where we could all live as who we are without being chased.”

Lexi looked over at the fairy whose vines lay limp in the floor, imagining if they were ripped off and thrown to the ground like weeds. The name suited that realm. They had endured. They continued to endure.

“But there are other realms.” He continued. “There are many here in this country actually. Normally at least one in each state, sometimes more. They tend to be a bit more…segregated though. A lot of the ones here are witches, who like to be left alone. There’s one near the mall actually, mainly fae.”

She nodded slowly. “So the realm we’re going to…is it close by?”

Roger looked up at the witch against the doorframe. “Is it close, Marge?”

She shrugged. “I guess. About two hours away. You should probably interrogate changeling’s victim here first though. Maybe even take him with you in the trunk.”

“We aren’t taking him with us.” Lexi had to admit she was relieved at Roger’s response to her. She couldn’t imagine sitting in a car with the man she’d been running from not a half hour beforehand. “After we’re done with him you can just make him appear somewhere else. And don’t say it’s going to cost us because if you want we’ll just leave him here.”

Margeux glared at the man. “Fine then. But she still has to clean my room back up. With it in that state I won’t make a dime.”

“Can’t you make money in other ways besides pretending to be a psychic? I mean why can’t you just sell potions to people.”

“I can’t just sell people working potions. I sell fake ones all the time but if I use my powers to get money from humans I could be arrested by the guard.”

“What about reading people’s pasts to get them to believe you. Isn’t that using your powers?”

Margeux laughed. “That’s what they tried to say a few centuries ago but the case was thrown out. People aren’t paying me for reading the past, only the future. I just happen to see a bit of the past before I tell them what they’re here for.” She smiled innocently at her loop hole. “Understand?”

Lexi shrugged. “I guess.” She took one more look over at Sven before standing up. “When is he going to wake up?”

The witch shrugged. “No telling. But you’ll know when he does because he’s going to hurt a lot.”

“I know.” Lexi sighed. “Won’t your herbs work for him?”

She shook her head, almost revealing her pity for the boy in her eyes. “It only works on wounds of the body. Wings don’t count for some reason. I found that out a few decades ago unfortunately.”

“So he’ll have to just bare through it…” Lexi held her arms around her tightly as she looked at the boy. “And it’s all my fault.”

Roger sighed deeply. “It’s not all your fault. He’s the one that decided to go down there with you. We told him to watch you.” He looked next to him at the pale form on the bed. “And going for a fae’s wings is a low blow. None of us would have anticipated that kind of attack.”

Lexi nodded, but couldn’t let the blame fall from her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her form, going for another distraction. “I’m going to go start cleaning.”

Dillon pulled himself off the couch. “Let me help.” She glanced back at him before he continued. “It’ll be easier in twos.” He stated simply.

She wanted to protest; to say she’d rather be alone. But she didn’t. Because she didn’t want to be alone. And she honestly wanted to believe her guilt might just be easier a bit with him around.