Faeries of Delusia

Chapter Two

Do you believe in magic?

Neither did I, until I met this freaky girl named Trista.

It was like I was dreaming and suddenly I woke up, back to reality, but it was quite the opposite. I blinked and I was no longer in my town anymore, I didn’t know where I was. We were in a forest; a little one, because I could see out of it. There were trees but very sparse. It wasn’t chilly like it was only a few seconds ago. It was suddenly overpoweringly warm. I slid off my jacket.

Trista grabbed my wrist again and began to pull me. I tugged back, slinging my jacket over my shoulder.

“No.” I demanded. “I need an explanation.”

“I already told you-,” she began.

“No.” I interrupted. “I know we are in ‘Delusia’ or wherever you said, but how the heck did we get here? Only a few seconds ago I was standing at an intersection of my own town. Now I’m in a forest and the climate made a dramatic change.”

As I explained this to Trista, she rose up on the heels over her boots. Wait—boots? Just a second ago she wasn’t wearing any shoes. I examined the girl again, and she wasn’t in the beige rags I previously saw her in. She wore a one piece dress that came to her knees. It was a violet color with a bow tied around her waist. She now wore black boots that laced up the front, they came to about her knees.

Trista caught my glare and realized the confusion that lingered in my expression. She began to explain.

“Faeries look different in the human world.” she told me as if it were no big deal. She shrugged it off. “Simple as that.”

“Simple?” I gasped. “You’re a—a Faerie?” This wasn’t making sense to me as I wished it would. I was actually wishing I would wake up any moment now to find I passed out on the street or something—anything but be in a new world with a girl who was telling me she was a magical, mystical creature.

She nodded, now realizing how big of a deal this was for me. Obviously she wasn’t used to socializing with humans, or whatever I was called to her. Had she ever spoke to a human before? Had I just been sucked into a world that only consisted of magical beings? I was afraid to look around.

I took a peek behind her back. No wings. I thought Faeries could fly?

“Where’s your wings, Tinkerbelle?” I asked curiously. She hadn’t caught my reference to Peter Pan. Obviously it wouldn’t be funny anyway. Faerie’s weren’t just in Faerie tales anymore.

She sighed melodramatically, as if disappointed in herself for some reason. “I don’t have mine yet.”

“Yet?” I became interested.

“A Faerie has to earn his or her wings. They aren’t just given. They’re like awards, I guess.” She shrugged. Apparently she wasn’t too sure about the whole ‘wing’ thing herself.

The word ‘his’ caught my attention. “Guys can be Faeries too?” I always pictured little girls with wings who sang and fluttered around, giving off glitter, living in trees or flowers . . . But guys?

She raised an eyebrow, unsure of what I meant, so she answered, “Uh, yeah.”

I felt utterly stupid. “Sorry, I didn’t know that.”

She laughed it away. “Of course you don’t. Humans don’t know anything. You should hear the crazy stories they come up with about Faeries! Oh wait, I guess you would know.” She giggled. “Anyway,” becoming more serious, “We need to get out of here before they realized I came back. I guess it’s sort of a good thing you came with me, because they probably would have captured you too. Faeries aren’t allowed in the human world, but if Lunar Faeries do, they usually take people as their prize. Some even get turned into Faeries themselves. It’s hard and painful though, you should be glad you weren’t caught.”

I started to walk beside her. Obviously she was getting impatient with me lagging us behind. “Hard, painful?” I asked. “People can be turned into Faeries?”

She nodded, keeping her gaze on the ground in front of her. “It isn’t common though.”

“So they kidnap people?”

“Usually girls, I don’t know why. It isn’t up to me.”

“How sexist.” I shuddered. I always hear about little kids gone missing and never found. What if one of those kids were actually kidnapped by Faeries instead of being dead or missing? That thought made me quiver in fear.

“Are all Faeries bad?” I whispered.

She took that as an insult. “Definitely not! Just look at me.” She spun around, her dress fluttering open and spinning with her, then falling back into place around her legs.

I shrugged. “Sorry.”

And then, within only a few seconds, something happened.

I felt the earth shake before the initial shock. An earthquake? No, worse than that.

In the distance, a dark explosion could suddenly be seen. A tower of smoke rose in a mushroom shape, like an atomic bomb. The boom followed the image of the explosion. It shook the ground beneath us and our bodies followed along. I covered my ears, but Trista simply watched, as if this were a daily occurrence

Before I could speak up, Trista responded, as if reading my mind. “The Lunar Faeries.” She stomped her left foot on the ground. “Darn them! They have to destroy everything!”

I watched as Trista went off in a moment of rage.

When I felt all was safe, I decided to ask the question that certainly confused me. “Whom are the Lunar Faeries?”

“Not whom, more like what. They don’t even deserve to be called Faeries.” She folded her scrawny arms across her flat chest.

“Why do you hate them so much?”

She scrunched her eyebrows together. “You are obviously new around here.” She began to walk, and I immediately followed. “Ask anyone in this land about them and they will surely scoff in rage.” she explained. “The Lunar Faeries are like Hell on earth, literally. They are evil. You understand?”

I nodded, still curious. “Why do they destroy things, like you said?”

She shrugged. “Don’t ask me. No one knows the reasons for why they do the things they do. The only thing I know is that their leader is the prince of this land.” She nearly spat the words in annoyance. I listened and tried to follow along with her story and put the pieces together mentally so I wouldn’t have to ask any more questions that would cause her discomfort.

“That’s why it’s not good to be seen in certain parts of this land if you are a ‘good’ Faerie, like me. The Lunar Faeries are capturing all of the Solar Faeries. I was running from the Lunar Faeries when I found you. I didn’t think they would actually come to earth . . .”

“You mean we aren’t on earth anymore?” I looked around, desperate to find any hint to give away where we actually were. I didn’t remember Delusia being on any map. What country were we in?

Trista simply laughed in amusement. “You will answer your own question when you meet some of the folk that live here.” That was it? That was her answer? Did she like to speak in riddles? I wasn’t the best at puzzles!

After laughing, her smile quickly faded as she examined me. She frowned and plopped down on the ground. “I’m so sorry.” she began, suddenly changing the mood. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. I was just so attracted to the light you gave off—and you were the only one around. I don’t know why I thought you could help me. You’re only a human.” She continued to blabber on about more nonsense, almost like speaking to herself instead of me. I felt that I wasn’t even there anymore, just a ghost. I sat down beside her.

“I take that as an insult. Just because I’m a human—what does that have to do with me helping you? How does that affect anything?”

She shook her head at my obliviousness. “You have no idea where you are. I already told you, Jamie. We are in Delusia. Humans do not occupy this land, they only do if they are kidnaped here, andeven then they are turned into Faeries or, well, killed.You don’t belong here. You will surely die.”

Well that was a nice thought to keep in mind.

“Sorry for being so brutal, but I tell only the truth.”

I sighed, then breathed in deeply. “Just tell me how to get out of here so this can all be forgotten.”

“You don’t understand-,” Trista began, but cut herself off. “I’m so stupid! Why did I bring you here! Did I want you to be killed?”

“Are you talking to yourself again?” I nearly murmured.

“Jamie if that was a joke this is no time for laughing. A human has never been here before and left. I don’t know how to get you back.”

With that last sentence, my heart nearly stopped and I had to think to breathe again. “What—Are you serious?”

“Like I said, I tell only the truth.”

“Well—uh—how did you get to earth?”

“My friend flew me there, but I lost her when we entered the human world. She’s probably still stuck there. You can only get there if you fly, and you can’t fly, and I can’t fly, so therefore we can’t go back.”

I sighed. “There’s no way you can get me back?”

She chuckled. “Even if I could fly, you need magic to get out of this land, you can’t just fly out, or else everyone would be flying out!”

I thought about that for a second. “So you’re saying everything in this land is literally magical?”

She shrugged. “If that’s how you want to put it.”

“And I’m the only odd one out.” I confirmed.

“You’re the only humani know of.”

“Yes I realize that, please stop referring to me as that.”

Back at home, where “humans” live, no one is called a human because we all are one. Obviously Trista is a Faerie and probably knows nothing of earth.

“It is forbidden for us to go to earth anyway—expose ourselves to hu-I mean, um, people.” She breathed in. “That’s another reason why Feory has his guards after me.”

“Feory?” A new name mentioned.

“The prince . . .”

“Oh.”

Trista suddenly stood up abruptly. I was taken aback. I watched her.

“I’m gonna find a way to get you back. I don’t know how, but I will. You stay here, don’t go anywhere.”

My blood began to race at an extreme rate. I stood up, stumbling a little, feeling woozy and not able to feel my legs. “Wait—uh, no. Please don’t go. Don’t leave me here alone!”

“Don’t be scared.” Trista comforted me. “Just don’t make a sound. If you hear anyone, if you see anything, knock on a tree three twice with five seconds in between each knock, okay?”

“I don’t understand!” I complained.

“Just remember what I said.” She looked in all directions around her. “Now is the time I wished I had my wings!” She suddenly took off running. She ran at the speed of sound, I didn’t even know which direction she went.

All I knew was that I was now alone in a dark forest in the middle of a nonexistent land surrounded by trees that swayed in the wind. At every hint of noise I heard I nearly jumped out of my skin. I decided to curl up into a ball beneath a nearby bush with odd berries growing on it. They were multicolored berries, mostly pink and blue. They looked delicious. I decided to try some because when I saw them my stomach rumbled. I smelled them for purposes I wasn’t sure of, and decided they weren’t poison. And if they were, who cares? I felt I was already on the brink of losing my mind.