Changeling

When most girls are very young, they love to learn about princesses. Their mothers would read to them all of the stories of the average girl growing up to become a beautiful princess like Cinderella. Or the stories where they grew up in a castle, waiting for their prince such as Sleeping Beauty. They would watch all of the movies about every princess they could find and try to pick their favorite of the bunch. When they got tired of learning about them, girls wanted to be the princess.

Little girls would take anything they could find, be it an umbrella, cane, or anything else, and let it be their scepter. They would take their father in to be their faithful knight, and the father would graciously accept the honor bestowed upon them by their little girl. Some even doubled as the faithful steed for their princess, allowing them to ride upon their backs across the princess’s land of her bedroom, or the entire kingdom, their house.

Lexi couldn’t help but wonder if she ever wanted to be a princess. Thinking back on it, she couldn’t remember. She didn’t know if her father ever kneeled in front of her as her noble knight, or helped her onto his back to gallop around the house. She didn’t know if her mother read her the stories of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. She couldn’t remember even what the king and queen of that past life looked like.

She thought back to what she could remember; of her life with Warren. Did Warren ever read her the fairy tales of famous princesses? Did he ever accept the honor of being her knight? Would that have been enough for him? Or would he always want to be her king? She didn’t recall ever asking him to be any of that. She didn’t think she ever wanted to be princess, let alone the queen of a nation of fairies and elves and witches and who knows what else. All she ever wanted to be was Lexi. She had dreams of being a chef, not royalty. She wanted to be in the kitchen, not on a thrown.

So why was it that Warren took her in to make her the queen of a country that, until only a few days ago, Lexi didn’t know existed? She’d never even been a princess, did she deserve the role of queen?

“Lex?” Dillon waved his hand in front of Lexi’s face. “Hellooo…Earth to Lexi.”

Lexi blinked suddenly, glancing up at him. “Sorry, what?”

“I was asking if you’re alright.”

“Oh.” Lexi smiled softly, nodding. “Yeah I’m fine. Sorry. Just zoned out.”

The elf nodded. “So I guess that solves that question. He wanted you as his bride when he took you in.”

The teen’s eyes narrowed suddenly, arms crossing over her chest. “I’m not marrying him,” she told him, stubbornly.

Dillon couldn’t contain his laughter, doubling over to hold his stomach. “Well I don’t expect you to.” He looked up to meet her eyes with a toothy grin plastered across his face. “That’s why you’re here, remember?”

“Good.” Lexi’s defiance never faltered. “When do we leave for the realms?”
“It’s going to be a day at least, with the fairy in the next room screaming and all. I don’t think you all want him in a car for hours.” Margeux told them, sitting in the chair previously occupied by the dark elf that had attacked them. “I muted him for the moment. Not because I want to downplay his pain, but because I don’t want the cops to come in here asking what’s going on.”

The teenager nodded, knowingly. “I’m surprised they weren’t called earlier,” she said, softly.

“The neighbors called me. I told them I was watching a horror movie and I turned the television up too loud.” The blonde took a quick glance toward the hallway. “I’m not entirely sure if he’s still awake. He might have passed out again.”

“I’ll go check.”

Dillon took her arm. “Are you sure?” He waited for her to nod before letting go. “I’ll go with you. I want to make sure he’s alright.”

Lexi led the way down the hall, preparing herself for what she might face. She couldn’t imagine the blonde’s face, broken into a muted scream. The thought of it made her heart fall into the pit of her stomach. Somehow she got the courage to make it to the room, and place her hand on the knob before taking a deep breath.

Sven had passed out again. Roger was asleep as well, and in the bed with the boy.

Sven had fallen asleep on his stomach, wings lying limp against his back. Lexi could see where the vines had been growing from the base, creating a brighter newer shade of green. His head was lying in Roger’s lap, one hand gripping the man’s shirt on Roger’s side, the other across his lap, and his eyes clenched painfully shut.

Roger’s head was leaned back against the wall, sweat gathered across his forehead. One hand was tangled in the boy’s blonde locks as they slept, the other tangled in the fingers of Sven’s free hand.

It took a moment of taking in the site before Lexi came to her senses. She looked at Dillon calmly, closing the door back without making a sound. “Is Roger trying to strengthen the link that way?”

The elf only shook his head, smiling softly. “Roger’s trying to console him that way.” He chuckled lightly as he turned away from the room.

“Wait…wait I though Roger wasn’t into guys…”

Dillon only shrugged as he continued walking back into the den. “Sven’s asleep.”

“So are you two just going to sit around for the next twenty-four hours doing nothing?” Margeux looked up at them. “Because there’s still cleaning to be done downstairs.”

“Yeah yeah, I know.” He leaned against the back of the couch as he waved her off. “We’ll clean. But first I think it’s important to help Lexi learn more about the world she’s part of now. Including about that wind power of hers.”

Margeux nodded. “I don’t think I can help much with her magic. It’s closer to elf spells. Sven is out of commission but maybe Roger could help?”

“He’s busy,” Lexi butted in, Dillon chuckling as her cheeks flushed. “I mean…he’s helping Sven. So he’s kind of busy concentrating on the link there.”

“Uh huh.” The witch gave Lexi an odd look before turning back to Dillon. “Then maybe the most logical path to take would be to educate her about everything she’s involved in. You know where my office is. I have a good few history books in there you could use until Roger’s not busy anymore.”

Dillon stood from the couch and nodded. “Alright. Come on Lexi.”

Lexi couldn’t resist the pink in her cheeks that came when Dillon took her hand to lead her into the office. Before they reached the hallway, however, Margeux spoke up once more. “One of you is going to be cleaning my work room.” The witch’s eyes narrowed at Dillon as she stood. “I’m sure the girl knows how to read.”

The elf sighed. “Fine. I’ll just show her where your office is…”

Margeux’s office was filled with books. Lexi was surprised at the space of it in an apartment with so many rooms in it. She thought back and realized that, just on the top floor, there were two bedrooms, the spell room, two bathrooms, and the room she was currently standing in. She couldn’t help but offhandedly wonder if the large amount of space in the small building was from powerful decorating skills, or magic.

The books were dusty and aged as Lexi pulled them down from the shelves. She didn’t know where to begin as she read the bindings of each book. She found books about elves, fairies, witches, trolls, goblins, pixies, beasts, and at the bottom of the stack something she might actually be able to work with. Wirtragen: Enduring Through the Ages.

The book cracked at the spine as she opened it, as if it hadn’t been touched in years. Inside, the pages were filled with words and pictures. Slowly, an image formed in Lexi’s mind of the city Roger, Dillon, and Sven had all come from. She could see the sprawling streets lined with glowing street lamps that each lit a different color, depending on the person who lit it and what color flame they used that night. She imagined the elves and fairies walking and fluttering down the sidewalks, not bothering to keep their ears and wings hidden from view.

The buildings in the pictures were all tall and aged, centering the court itself, a magnificent structure covered in a golden dome and surrounded with statues of creatures past that led the court long ago. The inside was decorated with murals along the walls, telling the history and trials that the citizens of Wirtragen faced. A few of the murals were featured in the book; pictures of fae screaming as they were pinned by their wings by villagers, or of elves covering their ears as they ran from a mob, and witches being burned at the stake.

Lexi ran her fingers over the images, carefully examining each one before turning back to the index. She flipped through the back pages before finding her target, and locating the page she needed to see. “Elves, fairies, and trolls have been known to claim humans for many reasons. Though the practice has died down throughout the years, it’s not uncommon for a changeling to be made. The practice is legal under most circumstances, i.e. for marriage or adoptive children or as slaves, however, selling humans for spells, or food, is an outlawed practice and will not be tolerated under rule of the Court. Furthermore, using a human in a spell is outlawed by all creatures.

“These humans, over time, are known to pick up the abilities of the one that cares for them. These abilities are what classifies the human as what is known as a Changeling. It is also common for humans to never adapt to their keeper, and they will never claim any abilities, and live a normal human lifespan. True changelings, however, have been known to have extended life spans, extending their lives from 80 years human average, to 250 year average. The oldest known changeling was Sara Knowles, who lived to be 347 years and 254 days old.”

Lexi read over the information carefully. She was positive, after the havoc she caused against Garrow, that she’d adapted abilities from Wren. So did that mean she’d live around two hundred and fifty years? She shrugged, at least there was one upside to this new life of hers. Actually there had been quite a few upsides to her life. Without Wren taking her, she wouldn’t have met Celia or Allie. She also wouldn’t have met Sven, or ever stood a chance of meeting Dillon. And despite the troubles they’d come across since running away with Dillon, she had to admit it was probably one of the best choices she’d made.

Flipping through the pages, Lexi read all about the Court, which was apparently run by one elf, one fairy, one witch or wizard—currently a witch—one troll, and one dwarf. She also learned about dwarves, fairies, and gnomes, before finally landing on a page that caught her interest again. “Hildebrandt Larstings. Also known as Hilde.”

Lexi leaned into the book to take a peek at the photograph. Hilde was beautiful. Her long dark hair reached her waist. The black was so dark it almost looked blue in some pictures. Her eyes were a brilliant sapphire, even shining through the pages as the teen examined her. In pictures from her younger years, her smile was bright and warm. Somewhere along the way, however, her smile became cold and taunting.

Lexi didn’t know—couldn’t know—what would turn this beautiful woman into the murderer she was known to be. At first, Lexi couldn’t believe she’d found the right picture, but upon reading the last of the article, she was unable to deny it. “Hildebrandt Larstings, after ten years of terror with her group, known for killing off members of the Court and their subordinates as well as any bystanders, was captured by the Court. After nine months of debate, Larstings was set before the court as witches, fae, and elves worked together to strip her of her longevity, leaving her as nothing more than a mere human. Sixty-three years later, on December 12th, 1832, Larsting’s body was found by the morning guard, and was taken to the prison crematorium. She has no known living relatives.”

Lexi took in a deep breath as she finished the page. There was only one more thing she wanted to look up. Needed to look up. She flipped back to the index, then to the page titled “Wren Goltyer”

The first picture, the picture of the man with the warm smile and green eyes, was the man she’d grown up to love. The description of him, though matching what Margeux had told her about him, seemed foreign to her. She couldn’t grasp the man in the picture to be responsible for so many deaths, or to have caused to much pain. There were only two pictures of him in the book. The last picture, ending the page, was when he was arrested. His eyes were dark, his smile wide, his hair disheveled. He wasn’t a man Lexi’d ever seen before.

The book described his status as “incarcerated,” which didn’t surprise her. She’d already realized that the court had no idea that Wren had been free for, at least, thirteen years, and the book seemed older than she was, so it was quite possible that when the book was released, Wren was still in prison.

She shut the book, taking a breath. That was enough about him for one day, she’d decided. Lexi turned to the stack of books she’d gathered, picking up one about fairies, and began to read. She’d never thought she would study for anything so much in her life. Even her exams at school didn’t cause her to read so much non-fiction. At the thought of fairies and elves being”non-fiction,” Lexi had to laugh a bit.

“Studying isn’t supposed to be funny.”

The figure in the doorway drew her to her senses as she looked up at him. “Hey.” She smiled at Dillon as she stretched. “Did you get all of the cleaning done?”

He nodded, walking over to sit against the desk. “I figured you could use a break. Margeux ordered Chinese.”

“I’m starving.” Lexi smiled up at him. “Thanks for saving me. These books were attacking pretty hard.”

Dillon laughed, ruffling her hair like a child. “I’m sure they were. Come on and grab some dinner. Roger’s awake, he’s going to join us. Maybe he can give us some tips on tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? I thought we weren’t leaving for another day.”

“We aren’t.” He smiled warmly. “But you have to learn how to keep from destroying things when you use your powers. And how to defend yourself. So tomorrow…” His smile widened as he turned to face her. “You’ll be learning how to fight.”