Andre rubbed her forehead. There was something behind her eyes, inside of her mind now. “I don’t know.” She turned to their guest. “Um, Shae . . . can you please tell us what you are? We kind of need some information here.”
“I am She.”
“She?” Andre cocked her head.
“She. Shae,” Shae said unhelpfully. Andre stared at her in the dress. She had read an old superstition once that it was improper etiquette to gift clothing to faeries and hoped Shae didn’t mind.
Ben continued to play compulsively, drumming the soundboard and bobbing his head.
“I will go back to the woods now to look for the Unseel,” Shae said, pulling open the sliding glass door. She was strong for her size, Andre noted.
“Oh yeah, she said there was something out there,” Ben said, setting his guitar down. He turned to Andre as they followed the faerie back outside and through the gate. “A ‘dangerous’ one.” He made quotes with his fingers. “She says it followed her here.”
“What?” Andre asked sharply. “You’re just now telling me this?”
“Sorry. She . . . didn’t seem all that concerned. I forgot. I got distracted when she broke the law of gravity.” He swallowed. “Sorry, I’m feeling a little crazy right now.”
“What else did she say?”
He frowned. “That’s it, I think. She went to look for it but didn’t find it.”
“She didn’t say what it was?”
“She’s not especially forthcoming if you hadn’t noticed. Guess we’ll find out.” Ben sighed. “Maybe someone else—” He was interrupted by a call. “It’s Mateo.” He silenced the phone and put it back in his pocket. “Maybe someone else will find it, or maybe it will wreak havoc all over town, and we’ll hear about it on the news.”
“I don’t know how this is going to work. We’re going to have to tell Amy.”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at him warily as they picked up their pace to keep up with Shae.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it. I’m just not sure we should. I mean, she did say not to tell anyone about her.”
Andre followed a bird with her eyes. “Yeah.” She sighed. “And when a magical creature requests that you keep their existence a secret, I feel like you should listen.”
“It would blend in,” Shae said over her shoulder when they caught up to her. “The woodwalker is stupid, but it knows how to hide.”
“So, it’s hiding from you?” Andre asked. “Is it safe to be out here?”
Shae half walked, half floated moving swiftly, the balls of her feet lightly bouncing along the ground. “I would know if it was close. It will become weaker the longer it is here. It is not supposed to be here. It cannot adapt.” She slowed then and turned to face them. “I am supposed to be here.” She tore off the shirt-dress, and her wings sprang out. She pumped them a few times but continued walking.
Andre pinched herself.
“This world smells awful,” Shae said. “Metal stink and poison.”
Andre thought this day seemed particularly clear and beautiful. Perhaps Shae just needed to get acclimated to this world and all its pollution. She studied Shae. Her wings worked to propel and steer her. When she pumped them back together with force, she shot ahead swiftly. She turned suddenly, “I’m going up to look.” With that, she glided quickly away from them, rising into the trees, free, and then shooting north towards the Shellara. Ben was right; she did not seem to fly so much as to resist gravity, as if there was a switch she could turn up and down.
When Shae was out of sight, Ben turned to Andre. “Well, there isn’t anything to say about that, is there?” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
Andre laughed. “Maybe this is just the beginning. Maybe things are about to get even weirder.”
“Honestly, I kind of hope that’s not the case? I don’t need to see anything more fucked up. I don’t want to see that Unseeling or whatever the hell she’s looking for.”
“Unseelie,” Andre said quietly. “I think she’s saying ‘Unseelie,’ like the dark faeries.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In some sources chronicling the faerie world, there are the Seelie and the Unseelie courts. I don’t know how it all works, and depending on where you’re getting your information from, it can be different, but generally, in British folklore, there are the good or light, faeries—the Seelie, and then there are the bad or dark ones, the Unseelie. And then some references have them sort of overlapping.”
Ben didn’t say anything to this, and for a few minutes, they walked in silence. He kicked at a rock. “I don’t like the way she just shoots off like that. Imagine if she comes across some hikers.”
“Yeah. But maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible,” Andre said. Ben gave her a look, and she continued, “I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to prevent her from being seen, or that it couldn’t be problematic, but, you know, not everyone would have a terrible reaction.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think people can handle this. We should try and keep her out of sight.”
Andre fell a little behind and watched him. She got a text from her mother, Lydia. “Hope you’re having a good week, sweetie. Miss you. Max got first place in his swim competition!” She sent an image of Andre’s little brother smiling with damp hair.
“Neat.” She texted back. “Tell him congrats.” She caught up to Ben. “I bet there are people like us, too.”
Ben shrugged.
“Okay, people like me then, since you are so anxious about this situation. I’m sure of it. So many people would be thrilled to know she exists!”
Ben slowed down, drummed his sides, his eyes searching the sky. “It could destroy religions and break the fabric of society.” He pulled out a cigarette, pausing to light it.
Andre smirked. “Maybe not entirely a bad thing?” She stretched her arms up and felt her phone vibrate and knew, without having to look, that it was Ryan. She glanced at his message. He’d returned from his work trip. She texted him back quickly and pocketed her phone.
It happened when the girl came back. I’m not exactly sure what I did or how, but the second quarry is shot. I snagged her mind, and we are linked. And now, up in the trees, scanning and sniffing for Gray Man, I can feel the prettier one—the girl, talking to the serious one. They are discussing me. Concerned about whether other people should see me and what would happen if they did. I am not worried about this. The masses will never discover us. It is not part of the plan. And the plans of the court are foolproof.
I consider the serious one. He plays the music. I have to do hardly more than look at him, and he gathers up those strands of melody with ease. I do not understand how my connection to the girl is a gift. I don’t like to think about it. “You, little one, will change.” Change. Changeling? No. Never that. Neither of us is a child, and it is usually human babes or children that are given such a gift. And faerie babes that are cursed and offered as a sacrifice in reverse. I am myself . . . although, I don’t have my name. There is that.