The Kingdom of the Fae

Chapter 4

Short Summary of What's happened so far:

Drew Holder had lost her family in a house fire while she was in her second year at University doing an undergrad in Math and science that her strict father had forced her into. Along with having to deal with the loss she realized that she could no longer afford to complete the degree and dropped out and went to live with her ostracised and outcasted Aunt Georgina who gave her two weeks notice to find a job in exchange for a place to stay. Luckily, a strange woman who never spoke referred to by Drew as "Beads" led her to apply for Arts Director at the Verundin Theatre, however there is very little to be said about how Human everyone there is. In the most recent chapter, Drew finds out that the lead actor in the production of Hamlet, Lucas Morrigan, is one of the Fae, and that she herself is a changeling named Brigid. 

CHAPTER 4

Aunt Georgina always sat on the porch and smoked when there was really nothing good comnig on TV, none of her poker friends were free or simply when she needed to think. And Drew, who could not sleep, who did not know what to think, kept checking in her mirror for any traces of white iris. Finally, she could not take it anymore and quickly pulled on a sweater and headed out through the front entrance. And not to her surprise, found Lucas leaning against a lamp post nearby. He stood almost a foot taller than her and she had grown used to his eyes, either blue with felcks of white or the other way around she didn't know. Drew tried to keep some distance from him, in fact she kept more distance than two normal people would. 

All of a sudden, the shadows slithered toward her again. It seemed as though the only way that they stayed away was when she was in the house. She was beginning to see them more and more. 

"Hello Lucas" she said, "I need to know more about this portal thing. What I mean to s-say is" one of the shadows was on her foot now. Her toes suddenly became freezing cold. 

He moved a little bit closer to her, "Thanks" she whispered, because the shadows moved away from him, hiding in the cracks of the sidewalk that they had seeped out of. 

"If I go along with this Fae idea, does this explain the shadows?" She tried not to sound too crazy.

"The Shadows are just the Fae from the other realm. They get to most mortals, take their youth, make them old. But the fact that you can see them, attracts them more, because they are angry, they think you have the Sight"

"Do I?"

"If you did, I would have to kill you" he smiled, but Drew knew that he was serious.

He looked over his shoulder and put both hands in his jacket pockets before he whispered to her, "We have to wait until the Winter solstice, hopefully you'll remember everything by then love''

Drew blinked and he was gone. 

She turned around to walk back into the house but she saw that Georgina was waiting for her at the door. 

''Where did you say you worked again?'' she asked. 

Drew walked up the stairs and in through the front door closing the screen door behind her. 

''At the Verundin Theatre. As an Art Director, I thought I told you''

''No one has been to that place in ages dear. No one goes in, no one comes out.'' Suddenly, Aunt Georgine needed to grip the counter to steady herself before she reached into a drawer and pulled out a strange looking ornament. It was a necklace with a tiny gem, the colour of Drew's necklance but in the shape of a crescent moon instead of a star. Georgina put it around her neck. 

''Drew I know you don't believe in Fairy Tales, but look here, the reason your family disliked me so much is because when you were just five years old, I was the only one who saw you being kidnapped, and the only one who saw them bring you back. And I'm still the only one who knows that they didn't really bring back my Drew at all.''

The lights in the house began to flicker as the shadows clouded the windows trying to come inside. There was something about the house that wouldn't let them in. 

Drew moved closer to Georgine and the two women, who had never before exchanged any form of physical contact other than the occasional forced embrace at reunions now were even further apart as Georgina backed away from Drew as if she were a monster. 

''You aren't really Drew. I've seen you do it, but your mother wouldn't believe me because she couldn't see. When your eyes changed colour suddenly as a child. When you were tall one day and then shrunk the next, when you accidentaly froze things you touched. When your skin gained a different texture. When you spoke in strange languages.''

Drew still stood near the screen door and Aunt Georgina was clutching her necklace as tight as possible. It was a dark house. A cold house. A lonely house. When even Drew realized she had lost her last bit of family. And as if to rub salt in the wound, Georgina added. 

''It was only your father that was blind to the fact that you weren't Drew. No wonder you killed your family. No wonder I know that you're going to kill me now. You. Are. A....Fae''

And with that word the banging on the windows grew louder. The Fae knew she had the sight, like Lucas said, any mortal with the sight would be killed. 

''Aunt Georgina! I'm not going to hurt you! I'm just me! I'm Drew!'' She knew what was the cause of this. She touched the star shaped pendant around her neck and tore it off throwing it far away. 

The shadows disappeared. 

The lights came back on. 

The warmth returned to Drew's body through her fingertips, seeping under her skin. 

And although Aunt Georgina would not let Drew touch her, but she eventually fell asleep and Drew put a pillow under her head and a blanket over her. She understood why other people in her family did not behave in a similar way, because they could not see Drew for who she was. It was possible that Aunt Georgina only let Drew stay because she was afraid of her. 

The problem really started the next day. When the bus stopped at the Verundin Theatre again, it looked very run down. Drew assumed the storm had done its work. The Gardner was still there, tending to the flowers in the front. She shot him a smile before she headed inside. 

The carpet was gathering dust an inch thick. The sunlight pouring through the windows illuminted cobwebs lining the walls.There was no one there.

Apparently, there had been no one there for some time. And that was when Drew realized that she had been working with Fae and ghosts this whole time.