The Kingdom of the Fae

Chapter 5

It's hard to say that Aunt Georgina fully remembered the events of the night before and Drew did not go home to find out if she did. She still hadn't fully taken in the fact that the Verundin Theatre was actually not really a theatre at all. Infact, as the gardner had put it, no one but him would step on the property for fear of a curse, everyone said it was because the building was ill maintained, but really they were afraid of what would happen to them. A couple of mayors ago, someone had tried to get some contractors, tear down the theatre and build a mall. But all that could be accomplished were some injured workers, and a lot of scary rumours. 

Drew sat down on the bench, and she noticed that even the children, on their way to school walked faster past the theatre. There was a group  of boys standing near a hedge that had grown unchecked, snaking around the fence. The windows were boarded up and an icy chill sat around the whole place. 

The littlest boy was trying to pull his friends away from the fence. His glasses kept sliding down his nose and Drew could tell he was having a hard time getting their attention. She was far enough away that they couldn't fully see her, and close enough so that Drew could see them. 

"C'mon guys, my grandma says its not good to be so near here"

"Your grandma's a freak you little twerp"

"Don't. Call. Her. A. Freak!" he tried to punch the taller boy but the older boy could clearly hold his ground put one hand on the younger boy's forhead while he punched away at thin air. 

The other boys laughed at him. 

"Yer such a loser. Bet you can't even go inside the Old Theatre"

"Can too! I'm braver than you are at least"

And that was how with uncertain steps, the little boy started to make his way to the theatre. Whatever it was, Drew didn't like that. Drew didn't know what would happen. She started to follow him but there was someone who held her wrist and stopped her from following the little boy. She turned around and saw Lucas holding her hand, now both her hands. He looked so worried. 

"Let me go Lucas. I don't think that little boy should go in the Theatre. It doesn't look safe for him"

"You don't trust our kind?"

He said our kind. And ofcourse she didn't! From what she knew the Fae were not to be bothered. Perhaps it had been the fact that she was part Fae that somehow she'd gotten away alive, but that little boy...

She looked back at him. "Lucas let me go!" But it was like trying to break out of a metal grip. 

"Listen Brie, I mean Drew, they want you to go through the portal. If you step back into the theatre, you'll be taken! Nothing's going to happen to him. They don't want him. He's too old to be a changeling now anyways"

Drew stopped moving, there was that word again. 

"You need to tell me everything you know. I know you were hiding things before! I had to find out from Aunt Georgina! She nearly killed me last night! ....There were other people trying to kill us too"

Lucas's face changed, and for a second, Drew could see on his face the anger of the Fae that she had read about in the ancient legends. She could also see there was some frailty.

"But the only way that a Fae can be killed is through a broken heart" started Drew. It was all falling into place, "You need me to open the portal so you can get back to whomever you loved because your heart is breaking!" He let go of Drew's hands and she started to pace. 

"And the entire theatre and the people, that was, oh what's the name, glimmer that's right! It's called glimmer. There is one class of Fae that are trapped here in the mortal realm, and you all want me to open the portal so that the Fae can come and go from the Kingdom as they please. So that you can terrorise whomever you like!" Drew understood everything, why Lucas, and the Director, and Molly, and all the staff why they treated her like a friend. She was becoming friends with them. But that still didn't explain something.

Lucas tried to speak over her, but she cut him off, "the necklance!" she exclaimed, " the necklac" she said as she searched through her bag, "is the reason that I could see anything at all, why I could see everyone's eyes change and the shadows all of a sudden through the glimmer"

 "Listen Drew" he said louder now, putting both one hand on either side of her head when she was up against the wall. She was beginning to be afraid of him. His irises were clear and white, there was no blue. He was becoming more and more angry. The worst thing you can do is piss off a Fae. 

"Drew, no not Drew, Brigid, if you would focus on trying to actually remember something, you would know that..." he pulled his hands off the wall and put one on his waist and one on his eyebrows. Clearly upset. "I'm sorry" 

"What is it Lucas?" He looked at her again, his beautiful face almost smiling. 

"I love you Brigid, and I just can't pretend anymore" 

"What?" I gasped, "So you weren't just...using me to open the portal?"

"No Brie. There's no one waiting on the other side for me, just your memories. We were supposed to be married when they took you away"

It was all so overwhelming, so different. Drew hadn't thought much about a second date let alone a marriage in the past, awkward as she had been in high school.

She felt her knees shake and her head spin. Then he moved forward and kissed her making it real, sealing her fate. She remembered this at least. She remembered a familiarity that might carry her to save this person, even if she might have to pretend to be someone else for a little while. Even if she did not love Lucas in the same way he her, she couldn't break his heart.