Mercury jumps up on the bed and settles down in amongst the opulent luxury. She curls up into a ball and closes her eyes—just like a regular cat. Oh, now she’s decided to be silent?
A door to the side leads into a large bathroom with a gold, claw-footed bathtub. A door on the opposite side leads to a walk-in closet that is bigger than the entire kitchen area.
And it is fully stocked. Every shelf and hangar space is packed with clothes of all different colors and styles. One entire rack is full of the same white shirts and blue checked skirts—the uniform here, I presume.
I’ve never owned this many clothes before. I’m still waiting to either wake up or work out where the catch is to all this stuff. Nobody just offers a room like this without wanting something in return.
“Is there anything missing?” Doug asks. I’d forgotten he was still here. I was too busy trying to keep my eyes from bugging out of their sockets.
“I think this is enough,” I reply. I haven’t checked out the underwear situation yet but I’m sure it’s covered based on the abundance of everything else.
He continues to stand there and we spend a few very awkward seconds looking at one another. It dawns on me that he might be waiting for dismissal. If I were a real princess, that might be the only way he should feel okay about leaving.
I turn to him, once again dazzled by his bright blue eyes. I’m definitely going to be checking out the baseball and soccer teams.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I say. “I’ll settle in and see if anything is missing.”
He bows. Actually freaking bows. “Yes, Your Majesty. I hope it’s not too forward of me to say how much I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too?” I can’t help it sound more like a question than a statement. I am so far out of my element here that I have no idea what’s going on.
“There is a phone in the kitchen if you require someone to attend to you.” He takes a step backward toward the door and I nod, hoping that’s enough for him to know to leave.
He does.
I close the door behind him and lean on it for a few moments as I try to take everything in. Only a few hours ago, I was lying in my bed, dreaming of hot guys and sunshine.
Now, I’m somehow underground but aboveground too, in a posh school, living in a suite so big my old house would fit inside it, and I’m a princess?
Talk about a head spin.
I wander through the rooms and run my hand over the objects to make sure they aren’t an illusion. I can’t get over how lovely everything is—like I’ve stepped into a magazine or something.
When I reach the bedroom, I collapse onto the bed and into a cloud of pillows. Mercury opens one eye and then closes it again.
“You’re not getting out of this that easily, cat,” I say. “You need to tell me what’s really going on here. You dragged me here, this is the time to explain.”
She looks up at me with those big green eyes and sits up. “You’re a Fae Princess.”
“I’m going to need more than that. Start at the beginning.”
If cats could roll their eyes, I’m pretty certain she would have done that right now. She’s acting like she’s speaking with an idiot. Surely anyone in this situation would be just as confused as I am right now.
I mean, all this is great, but what the hell?
“The Fae have been around for millions of years, existing right next to the human world. Sometimes, very rarely, Fae have the need to enter the human world. When they do, they have to be careful so they aren’t seen or captured.”
“So we’re in a sort of alternate dimension?”
“Yes. The tree we came here in, and the tunnel, they are part of the border that blurs the line between our worlds. That’s how we were able to pass through into this place so easily.”
“So anyone can travel between the two?”
She shakes her head slowly. I still can’t believe I’m talking with my cat. I must have gone insane. “No. Humans cannot come into this world but Fae can go into the human world. It’s like a one-sided border crossing.”
“Okay, so Fae exist. Just say I believe that—”
“Fae are real,” she interrupts.
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “Okay, fine, Fae are real. I’m apparently a Fae. Why do these people think I’m a long lost princess?”
“There has been only one true royal family since the beginning of time. However, it used to be a very large family. There were always several spare heirs in every generation. Nobody would rebel against them because of their sheer numbers.”
“Did people want to rebel against them?”
“Not their own people, no. But other beings, like the Orcs, yes.”
“There are other beings?”
“Many.”
“Are unicorns real?” I have to ask the question. The five-year-old version of me would be delighted to know. I had the biggest obsession when I was little.
“That’s your question?” She gives me a look of disbelief. I never realized my cat was so sassy. But then I also thought she was a regular old cat.
“Yes, is it.” And I will defend my question to the death. It is very important that I know about unicorns. It can’t be any more absurd than everything else that is happening.
Mercury sighs. “Yes, there are unicorns. I know what your next question is and yes, I will show you one at a later time. Once you’ve settled in here.”
I. Can’t. Wait.
She continues, getting back on the topic. “Over the generations, the royal family gradually split into two separate groups. The Fae of the Light and the Fae of the Dark.”
“Good and evil?” I guessed.
“In a way, yes. The Fae of the Light believed in democracy and ruling with a gentle hand. The Fae of the Dark wanted complete control of their people and kingdom. The two very different styles of leadership led to unrest in the family.”
“Which one is still ruling now?”
“It’s the Fae of the Light that has had control for many generations now.”
At least I’m a good Fae. “Do the Fae of the Dark ever try to take over the throne?”
“In a word: yes.” She pauses while that sinks in. “For some reason, the Fae of the Light have had trouble having children over the last five generations. That has put significant pressure on the royal family.”
I try to piece together what Mercury is saying so that it all starts to fit together. Maybe I’m going to have to believe this is real now. No dream is this vivid and specific.
I’m really a Fae Princess.
Chapter 3
“Let me get this straight,” I begin, sitting up straight on the bed so I can make sense of it all. “If I’m a Fae princess, do I have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. You are an only child,” Mercury replies.
“Are my birth parents on the throne at the moment?”
“Yes.”
“So that makes me the next Queen?” Even saying it out loud sounds ridiculous.
The cat nods. “Yes, it does. The entire future of the Fae rests on your shoulders.”
So no pressure then.
“Why was I in the human world?” I ask. I remember someone mentioned something about a changeling but there needs to be more to that explanation.