I don't know what to say, honestly. "Just keep your chin up, and smile at wit's end." That's what my mother would always say to me when I was younger. She had recited it like an anthem every night before bed. It was sort of a tradition before my parents…died. It's the only thing I remember from them. They went when I was nine. I don't know how they died, nobody tells me. I'm now staying with my Uncle Nick in France. Lyon, to be specific.
Nick is alright. He's about 5"9'. He has short and stout brown hair, and he always seems to be wearing a full suit. The color of it depending on what mood he's in. He walks with a cane, although he's only thirty-five. I don't know what's up with it, he said it was some accident back when he was a kid. He's the only family I have left, and really, the only friend I have left.
I'd always been...different. My parents had known why, yet they never bothered to share the secret. It wasn't until I turned thirteen, was I told what I really was. I'm a fey, or in laymens terms, a faery. It's also in my name, too. Allison Fey. It's almost like a sick joke. The day I turned thirteen was the day I got my wings, what a surprise that came out to be, although apparently, they're just my 'child wings'. I don't get my adult set until I'm eighteen, figures.
They sort of get in the way of my hair, it's about shoulder length, and the dark tones contrast with the bright white of the wings. It's sort of awkward, and why I keep my wings hidden from view. I'm sixteen now, and I attend the Collège Fénelon, which is just the local high school around here. Nick pulled some strings to get me into all honors classes, which is more burden than honor if you ask me. He says it's to get me in the right crowd of friends, yet it just makes me more of an outcast than I already was.
I'm the only girl who, at least to my knowledge, is half magical creature. And now I'm the new girl who is too smart for her own good, or whatever the rest of the students are saying. I spend the rest of my days learning under Nick's tutelage. Although he is not magical himself, he is still a fey in name. My father was a fey, and taught all he knew to Nick. He's trying to help me make sense of my powers and heritage.
My story begins here, at another one of Nick's lessons. Something about keeping cool around guys or something, I'm not really paying attention. I'm too busy trying to catch up on sleep from a long day of school. I sit alone, I work alone, I am alone. My dreams are my only solace. My vision of the real world fades, and all goes blank.
"…And when you finally learn to control them, you'll be…Ally, are you even listening to me?"
I am jolted awake. I don't remember what I was dreaming about, but it had to be better than the lecture I'm about to get. He hobbles over to me, cane in hand and sighs.
"Ally, I'm here teaching you for a reason. You can't be dozing off now!" He's obviously annoyed.
And so am I. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired. I had a long day at school," I say, with my hand being my headrest.
"Well, this is important…I think this is high time for a quiz."
I groan, Nick's quizzes are always about the most out of place things. Once, he asked me to order the periodic table by weight, backwards. I may snooze for a bit, but this is just cruel.
"Okay, this quiz will be one question…" he says, with a snide grin on his face. These are the toughest quizzes, as he often chooses a near impossible question. "Describe the symptoms one would face when injected with Soporil-β."
Yep, confusing as usual. "Sopawhatta what now?" I ask, in complete confusion.
"Time is ticking, Allison." He's pointing to his wrist as if there was a watch there.
"I don't know! Okay? I have no idea."
The grin disappears, and he just stares straight at me, into my very soul. "You would have if you paid any attention. Class dismissed." He walks out of the room, and I just lie my head down on the table. Too tired to do anything else, even react when Nick walks back into the room, and throws an envelope down beside me.
I lay for another full minute before I lift my head up, and take the envelope in my hands. "Whose it from?" I ask.
"Why don't you open it and find out?" I chuckle a little, and rip open the envelope. "Just try and preserve what's inside this time?" He remarks.
"Yeah, yeah…" I continue ripping through the paper like a child on Christmas morning. I don't ever get mail, much less anything like this. My smile instantly turns to confusion as I read what is inside. It's a single sheet of paper, and on it in bold red text are two words.
"FOUND YOU."
"What? What does that mean?"
Nick must know, because he instantly turns white as he takes a peek. "U-Uh, let me s-see that, Ally." He snatches it away from me, and looks at it feverishly. I see that on the back, there are some strange letters I missed.
"What…is that?" I point to them.
"Oh…it seems…what?!" He looks like he's seen a ghost.
"What is it? Uncle Nick?!"
He paces around for a moment, and he finally faces me, his hands on my shoulders. "Listen, Allison. You have to go pack your bags, now."
"Not until you tell me what it is." I stand my ground.
"Άλισον," He says it smoothly. It even sounds foreign. It's my name, just...accented weird. There is a lot of strain on the "li". I don't know how he does it, but I'm at full attention by the time he is done saying it. It's like…there's a certain pull to the word. A silent guide, pulling me towards it. "It's…it's your fey name. The name your parents originally named you. You're a lucky one…it translates so easily into English," he explains.
"F-Fey name? Is there anything special about it?"
"Yes, one major thing..." He says, hesitantly.
"If one calls out your fey name, they can summon you to their presence and force you to do their bidding."
"What?!"
"Luckily…you do not have your adult wings yet, the ones that come with the ceremonial day. So it isn't at it's full...power."
"I...I felt it's pull when you said it. Like it was calling for me." I reply. Ah, yes. I'd forgotten all about the ceremonial day. It's when a fey turns eighteen, they get their full powers, at least…that's what Nick says. I can't really have anyone tell me from experience. "So, I'm like…safe until I'm eighteen? Does that mean this person can just whisk me away the second I turn eighteen?"
"There's a limit to this power. You need to be within a certain range of the fey, of course. I don't know the exact parameters, but I assume it is pretty close. This is why we have to pack." He sounds panicked again.
"Do you know who sent this?"
He hesitates for a second. "I have a hunch. They're known as the Yōsei."
"Yo, say what?"
"This is not the time for jokes, Allison, I'll explain once we are on the road, go on. I need to pack myself. Only bring what you need."
"Where are we headed?" I'm met with silence as he quickly heads off into his room to get himself ready. Well, it looks like it will be a story for another time. The walk back to my room is a slow one, I mentally say goodbye to all the things we are just going to drop and leave behind. I wonder if Nick is going to put me back in school, hopefully it will be in some normal classes.
Up in my room, I gather my mother's old suitcase from my closet. I can practically smell the dust it's buried in. It's not the prettiest, but it'll do. The dull browns and gold remind me of her…so much.
No! I can't think about that now, I need to focus. Somebody is after me, for some reason. I need to focus on packing. Ten minutes later, I'm finished pushing down the suitcase so I can zip it shut. I take one last look around my room, and I step out of the door. I'm headed down the stairs, suitcase in hand. I see Nick zipping down the hall, his suitcases in each arm.
"C'mon, Allison! Are you ready?" I can see the sweat beading down his forehead.
I sigh. "You promise you'll spill the beans what's going on?" I ask.
"Once we can get some distance, yes. I'll explain everything. Right now, we need to move." He says. He motions me to follow him, and he opens the door.
I follow, and we reach the hallway of our apartment. Kind of a disappointment, huh? The first thing I get in my mind when I hear the word "France" isn't really a shabby apartment. You'd really expect something…grand, or marvelous, right? That's my life. We reach the parking garage, not even alerting any of our landlords of our leave. I assume it's so we can leave without any hassle. I don't think it's really wise, but then again…what would be at this point? The garage is deadly silent; it usually is at this time of night. I easily spot our car, it's what we call The Clunker. It's as if you went back in time to the early 20th century, took a car, and threw it right into this garage…and then smash it up. A lot.
We load up our suitcases into the puke green death machine, and I hop in shotgun. Nick follows suit, and he puts the keys into the ignition, and The Clunker roars to life…Okay, I lied. It didn't do that, it was more like it was coughing up a lung, and then decided it wasn't it's time to die yet. We pull out of the garage at a fast paced, heart breaking ten miles an hour.
"Alright, you want to let the cat out of the bag, now?" I ask, inquisitively.
"Well…you're going to have to learn sooner or later." He lets out.
I turn to him. "Sooner would be preferable." I say bluntly.
"I never did tell you how your parents passed, did I?" He asks with somewhat a twinge of guilt.
"Don't ask, it'll only cause grief" I recite, mimicking Nick's voice.
Nick only lets out a sigh. "These Yōsei, they're faeries."
"Hm? Faeries?"
"Think of the Fey as…a gang."
I try to stifle my laughs as I try to imagine a group of Fey wearing leather jackets trying to look tough.
"Oookay…"
"These Yōsei are the rival gang, they've been in existence almost as long as the Fey clan." He says with a straight face.
"Clan? Are we some sort of cu-"
"Allison, I need you to take this seriously." He interrupts. "They were the ones who killed your parents, and the ones who wish to cause harm to you now."
"So…they sent the note?" I ask, but I already know the answer.
"Yes. I do not know the full extent of their plans, but I assume they wish to use you in their nefarious deeds. Hence your name on the back of that note." He explains.
I take in all of this information. This news of my parents' killers. Of our recent threat. I turn my head and stare out the window, and I notice it's begun raining. I watch each individual drop fall alongside the window. Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. "So…" I say, my gaze still on the raindrops. "…Where do we go from here?" I ask, sort of afraid to know the answer.
"Well, I have a safe house prepared in Machault." His eyes refocus on the road.
"Where's that?"
"It's a small suburb a little ways off in the North East."
"I see we're devolving from cities now." I say.
He chuckles. "It'll be harder for us to fit in, of course."
I look back at him, with a confused look on my face. "Are you trying to get us killed?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "I wasn't finished. It'll be harder for them to fit in too." He then winks.
"You seem to have forgotten that first part, though…I fit in like a rhino in a classroom."
"…I take it the honors classes didn't work out so well." He mumbles.
I cross my arms and look out the window again. "Hm, good guess, what tipped you off?" I say, sarcastically.
He sighs deeply, and shakes his head. He is silent for the rest of the ride, I don't mind it. I return my gaze to the falling raindrops, and take notice to one strange occurrence. They are…spreading apart. They fall on the windshield, then they seem to have a mind of their own, I look up and some are even floating up the side of the window. "W-What?" I ask, in utter confusion.
Nick takes a quick look at the windshield, and then focuses back on the road with a grin. "Y-You know something about this, don't you?" I say, accusingly.
"I'll explain at the safe house." He says as his grin grows.
I'm about to argue, but I realize the rest of the ride will be just us arguing over this point. I decide to save my breath, and concentrate on the gravity defying water. Another small note takes my attention; I see it on the road. I even wipe my eyes to make sure I'm not seeing things. Well, I am seeing one thing…the water at the ground is following the car, like it's some sort of magnet! It's not so much, but it follows about an inch off of the ground. I'm surprised that The Clunker is able to keep it's traction on the road with all of this water. Then I see what looks to be an old warehouse come into view. It's about as pretty as The Clunker…scratch that, The Clunker looks better.
Nick pulls up to the side of the warehouse, and he steps out of the car, his arm over his head to shield himself from the rain. He motions me to exit the car too, so I get ready for a mad dash. I grab the suitcases, and kick open the door of The Clunker. The door flies off of its hinge, and I cringe as it falls two feet away.
Nick shoves it off as a project for later, and I crawl out of the large opening I made. It's weird, because this would be the part where I get soaked from all the rain. I'm completely dry. I look up at the endless drops as they pelt my skin, and feel them alongside my arms…yet I don't get wet.
"N-Nick? What…what is this?" I walk into the warehouse, and I set the suitcases down on the nearby pile of tires. I look upwards, and it takes me a few seconds to find the ceiling of this gargantuan building. It's definitely bigger on the inside than the out. It's got dividing walls set up all around the place, and I can see boxes piled up from pretty much every angle. Some labeled "Food". Others labeled "Clothes". "Is this where all our money went?" I joke.
"Yes." He says bluntly.
"Woooooow." I say in awe and disappointment all in one.
"So, you wanted to know about how you weren't getting wet, or how the water seemed to be floating upwards, correct?" He asks with an eyebrow raised. I look up at him. "That…That is your Inheritance."
"My...My inheritance?" I ask, turning my head to one side as if I were an owl.
Nick turns towards me and smiles, as if he's been waiting for this moment for quite some time...Maybe he has.
"I haven't spoken about it with you...because I wasn't sure myself when it was going to happen, if it was at all, " He says, looking downward.
"Why is that?"
"He comes over towards me and places a hand on my shoulder. "I was told...that if you had turned eighteen and not yet gotten your inheritance, you wouldn't get it at all." The leftover rain from his soggy hair drips down onto my skin, and shamelessly falls to the ground.
"So...what? I'm like...immune to getting wet now?" I ask in confusion.
"Hydrophobic, is what it's called." He says, perking up.
A grin forms on my face, and I can't hold in the laughter. "So, water is afraid of me?" Nick lets a grin escape, but then he returns to his solemn, sombre self. "So, this is my inheritance. Does that mean I just get whatever powers or whatever my parents had?"
I hop up on one of the giant food crates behind me and dangle my legs off of the side, in anticipation for the answer, what other secret potential lies in wait. It is sort of making me giddy.
"No." Nick then simply grabs his cane, and hobbles off to the back of the warehouse. I follow him, desperate for answers.
"Hey, I'm not finished with the questions yet, mister." I chide.
He looks at me, visibly annoyed, and sighs. "Well...I guess I do owe you an explanation about the Yōsei, now don't I?"
I listen intently, as he tells me of the ancient fights between the Yōsei and the Fey, their constant struggle for dominance in the Ethereal World. That is the combined human and mythical being's world. Normal humans don't have The Essence within them, so they can't see us as we are. The Essence was created long ago, by the ancient Faery leaders back when fairy tales were history, and it was used to shroud the Ethereal World, so humans would not destroy us, and almost vice versa. I say almost.
One faction of the Faery clan was horribly opposed to letting the humans stay, they had preferred a world where Faery kind ruled dominant, and this had caused a lot of internal conflict within the clan. This led to the creation of the Fey and Yōsei Clans. The Fey led by our Matriarch, Ami, and the Yosei led by their General, Darke.
Ami and Darke had been husband and wife, but their struggle over the fate of the humans had caused their permanent separation. Throughout the years, Darke had sent for the murder of human and fey alike. This leads to today, where I had been found by one of Darke's sentries. Darke had vowed the death of all human and traitorous fey, and plans on seeing it through.
"And that is why we had to get out of there as fast as possible," Nick kept on explaining.
Honestly, my head sort of hurt from all of it, so I decide to distract myself. "So, Nick, what's the nearby school like?"
He looks over at me, and notices I want to change the subject.
"Ah, yes, yes...I believe that's enough grim tidings for now. You'll be starting in the morning, Let me get started on the paperwork right now." He says, then begins to hobble off. He stops midway, and turns to me. "So, I take it...No AP Classes?" And slighty winks.
I take a quick breath and nod my head. "Well then, you better head off to bed, wouldn't want to be late for your first day." He then hobbles off to a desk that is off in the corner.
I look around, and find my suitcase on the crate behind me, and grab it. "Shit, what the hell am I going to sleep on in this dank warehouse?" I whisper, quietly. I shrug, and I get out my blanket from my suitcase and curl up beside a crate, and let the drowsiness take me away.