Élphame

Chapter Nine

          They say never to judge someone before you get to know them, but Naomi thought it was a pretty safe bet to assume Félix was the very serious, no-nonsense type. If he was sitting there talking about fairies and magic as simply as someone might discuss the rain, what did that say about the validity of his story?

          "Why are you telling me all this?" Naomi asked after a few moments of deep thought. "What does this have to do with me and my Shifts?"

          "Good," Félix said approvingly. "You're asking the right questions. You see, King Oberon didn't want to be like the humans who enslaved and imprisoned his people. He did not want to force any of his subjects to live in the world he had created. He did not want anyone to feel trapped in Élphame. He wanted to give them a choice, a courtesy never offered to his kind by humans. So he made gateways through the Veil, so that travel between the two worlds might not be cut off completely, though he could never have foreseen the consequences of that decision.

          "Though the gateways were a one-way ticket, some decided to take on human form and live on Earth among the humans. They gave up using their magic and tried to live their lives as humans, as they could not pass back into Élphame. They eventually married and had children with humans. But their children were... different, to put it simply. They weren't ordinary children. You see, these children had the ability to change from a human form to a magical one at will. They were also able to pass back and forth between the two worlds as many times as they liked. These children began a new era of magical being on Earth, and they were called Changelings.

          "That is what you are, Naomi-- what we all are. We are Changelings, the children of humanity and magic. Your 'Shifts,' as you call them, are caused by the Oberonian Veil. The Veil is a living thing. It has its own energy that jumps and spikes from time to time. When these energy spikes of magic come, it pulls out your magical form. It is Élphame reaching out to you."

          "What about that blue dirt Darcy threw in my face?" Naomi asked. "After it touched me I Shifted, but Darcy touched it and she didn't."

          Félix turned to Darcy, looking irritated. "You stole my Pixie Dust? The Pixie Dust I explicitly told you not to touch?"

          Darcy shrugged unapologetically. "Maybe."

          Félix stared hard at her. "We'll discuss this later," he promised. Then he turned back to Naomi. "Like the Veil, Pixie Dust draws out your magical form. It reacts swifter than the Veil, but the Change does not last as long."

          "So all those really quick Shifts I had last week..."

          "My guess is you somehow came into contact with Pixie Dust and it forced you into your magical form," he explained. "How you came by the dust, I have a few theories." He shot a hard look in Darcy's direction. The message was clear. He thought Darcy had had something to do with it.

          "I had to be sure you were one of us," Darcy explained defensively when Naomi turned her glare on her. "I couldn't show you all of this if I wasn't positive you were a Changeling."

          "I was worried out of my mind, Darcy!" Naomi practically shouted. "I wasn't going to come here with you because I was worried I'd Shift right in front of you and I'd be dragged away to become a science experiment!"

          "I know, and I'm sorry." She really did sound sorry. "I had hoped the Dust would work too fast for you to find someplace to hide, but I could only use little bits at a time and so the reaction time was always delayed and you were always gone by the time it took affect. Please, Naomi, you have to believe me. I didn't mean to make you worry. I'm really sorry."