Faeries of Delusia

Chapter Seven

I woke up to Mitsoki’s voice, the last person I wanted to see right now.

“Stinkin’ human, who’s paying me to do this?” he mumbled to himself, unaware I was conscious now. “All for that stupid Vampire. What has she ever done for me?” Mitsoki was pushing me gently to get me to wake up. “I have to follow this brat of a human around. She’s gonna get herself killed and that means everyone will point fingers at me!”

“Uh-,” I managed to grumble.

“Oh finally kid, you’re awake. I was getting—uh—worried.”

No he wasn’t.

I rubbed my head as I struggled to sit up. “Wha—what happened?”

“Uh, you passed out, dah.”

Suddenly I remembered. I looked around. I was still in the shop. “Who works here?”

“I don’t know, but it’s closed. I don’t know how you got in here, wasn’t it locked? Why were you even here? I was looking for you last night . . .”

“You left me!” I yelled, getting to my feet. I remembered I was angry with him. “I stole your stinking food and you were gone! I had to sleep in a little hole last night and get help from crazy spider things!”

“Crazy spider things? Oh man, don’t listen to them, anything they told you about me.”

“I already know about you and I’m not surprised. You’re a trouble maker. I don’t need your help anymore. This is what I think of you.” I got up and trampled over the three Razzlenuffs. They were already dirty, I couldn’t return them if I wanted to. The fillings squirted up at Mitsoki and he jumped back.

“What gives?” he asked in a high pitch.

“This!” I picked up one of the squashed Razzlenuffs and threw it at his face. His reaction wasn’t fast enough and it splattered all over him. That made me laugh, something I hadn’t thought about doing in a long time now.

“So not funny!” He bent over and grabbed another one and threw it at me. I was too busy enjoying myself I didn’t get to block it.

“Hey!” I yelled in anger, but then realized I was actually having fun. Mitsoki and I nearly fought for the last one. It ended up squirting in both of our faces and even Mitsoki let out a brief laugh.

“You sure you don’t need my help?” he asked as if I was going to realize he was the best thing in the world. I was suddenly frustrated again.

“Yes, I am very sure and I won’t change my mind. You have done nothing to benefit me so far. I will find someone else to help me-,” before I finished my sentence I mentally remembered what I came here to do. “I need magic, that’s all. Once I find that Demitra can fly me out of here! But wait-,” I stared at Mitsoki with his sand color wings. “Can’t you fly me out of here? You are bigger than Trista . . .”

“Ha ha! Definitely not. Just because I’m older does not mean I am stronger! Well maybe I am, but not to lift a human!”

“You already flew me in the air when that Ocean Dragon wet the whole town.” I pointed out.

“Yeah but to fly you back to the human world? Humans weigh ten times more than Faeries. We weigh practically nothing due to magic and to help us fly!” He fluttered his wings and floated a foot or two up in the air.

I plopped down to the ground. “I just want to go home and forget about this mess.” I said aloud unconsciously.

Mitsoki sat beside me and it almost seemed as if he felt sympathy for me.

“Sorry kid, you can’t just click your heels together three times and wake up in your own bed.” He put his hand on my shoulder as some sort of gesture of comfort. At least he wasn’t nagging me or teasing me. I wasn’t in the best of moods for taunting. “I guess I can’t help you any further. You can take it from here. You’re still a stinking human, but you made it this far, you can manage to pull through a little longer.”

I looked up at him, unsure of how to respond. I searched for the right words. “Thanks.” That’s all I could pull out of my vocabulary. “See you around then, maybe.” I said getting up and exiting the shop.

Where in Delusia was I going to go next?

I was still caught in a daze as I walked out onto the dirt road. I didn’t notice the gathering of people pushing themselves back up against the walls of the shops. They all gasped out as I began to walk forward. The sound suddenly snapped me back into a reality.

In a blink I felt Mitsoki’s hand cover my mouth and his feet wrap around my waist. Struggling, he flew me over to the side and scotched himself in between two creatures. One looked to be a heavyset woman, but she was pink with each ear about one foot long, The creature on the other side had gray hair and two horns like a goat. I looked down and it has hooves also, but everything else was human like. His skin was unusually white too.

Mitsoki let my waist go but still kept his hand over my mouth.

“Don’t say a word. The prince is coming through the village. If you close your eyes, he won’t see you.” he explained into my ear in a whisper. I looked down the road and saw a huge carriage, almost the size as one of these shops, with two large horse-like creatures pulling it. One horse was yellow, the other green. They each had three horns on its head. Of course nothing could be normal here.

“Hurry, close your eyes!” He let go off my mouth and I shut my eyes. I was way too curious then. I wanted to know what the prince looked like. Feory was his name? I couldn’t remember . . .

I heard the hooves of the horses go past and the voice of Prince Feory saying hello to everyone. I couldn’t see anything, I could only feel Mitsoki to the right of me, his arm around me, grabbing onto my left shoulder. His grip became tighter and tighter as the prince made his way past us. I thought he had passed us already, but instantly found I was wrong when I made the wrong decision to open my eyes.

The prince suddenly ordered the men riding his horses to halt the carriage and stared straight at me. Everyone around me moved away, except, surprisingly, Mitsoki.

To my surprise, the prince smiled at me. “And who is this?”

Mitsoki took a large gulp and cleared his throat. “This is, uh-,”

The prince shifted his gaze from me to Mitsoki and frowned. “She can speak, can’t she?”

Mitsoki nodded. I could feel him shaking next to me. To my knowledge, he probably wasn’t the prince’s favorite Faerie. The prince’s eyes returned to mine. “What is your name, dear?”

I quickly glanced at Mitsoki. “Um, Jamie.” I replied. I didn’t seem very polite or formal, but I was so nervous and confused I couldn’t think of anything else. Suddenly all eyes were on me.

The prince scanned all around him, glaring into the eyes of everyone he ruled over. Was he looking for their reactions to me?

“Would you like to come for a ride with me?” he asked friendly. A lot of people gasped in shock and amazement.

“She’s gonna stink up the place . . .” I heard someone mutter. “This is a mistake . . .” somebody else sneered. “What is Prince Feory thinking?!”

“Quiet.” he ordered the crowd, then turned to me. “Will you come with me?” He held down his hand.

“No, Jamie!” Mitsoki whispered to me. “It’s a trap, don’t do it! I might not be that bright but he is a Lunar Faerie!”

“Yeah, and the prince.” I whispered back.

“Don’t listen to that blabbering idiot.” Prince Feory commanded in a deep, dark tone, then his mood lightened as quickly as it had darkened. “Please, come with me.”

I took one last glance at Mitsoki; his expression was literally worried. I couldn’t refuse the prince, though. I wanted to stay on his good side.

“Okay.” I said, reaching out to take his hand. He lifted me effortlessly into his carriage and closed the curtains. Even from in here I could hear the crowd gossiping again. I was the news of their town.

I used to be boring and plain and simple. Nobody cared about me or where I was or what I was doing. Now it’s like everyone is constantly watching me, like I’m going to turn evil and destroy them all. But—I kept thinking about how I smelled. Obviously to the people of this world it wasn’t a good scent, so why was the prince doing this? What did he have up his sleeve?

I’ve never experienced true awkward silence until just that moment. I sat beside the prince, scared as anything, shaking in my own shoes, as he sat back and relaxed, putting his feet up.

“So . . . what brings you to Delusia? I must say it isn’t every day I get to speak with a—a human.”

Why was everyone here so hesitant to speak the word human?

He was almost amused at my tenseness. “I came here on accident.” I admitted.

“Of course you did. What human would come here willingly?” He let out a laugh.

“Right . . .” I couldn’t think of anything to spark this conversation.

“How old are you?” he wondered aloud.

Should I tell him? I wasn’t sure what age was measured in because everything else was wacked out. “Uh—sixteen.” I finally grumbled. I could barely hear myself over the intense pounding of my heart. It seriously needed to calm down.

“A young one . . . I see.”

“Where are we going?” That question lingered in my mind for longer than it should have. When kids are young they are taught never to enter a car with a stranger, and that is what I just did. Yeah, I’m sixteen, but I’m still a kid, and this was a guy, an older guy. He looked to be in his twenties. Young twenties. Just because this was not the human world doesn’t mean the same rules don’t apply. I needed to be more careful! Why hadn’t I listened to Mitsoki for once?

I couldn’t believe I actually thought that.

“Just for a ride. Where would you like to be dropped off at?”

I wasn’t sure why the prince wanted to just take a ride with me. Was he simply curious? Was he even going to drop me off someone or maybe just kidnap me. Maybe even turn me into a Faerie! I’m sure nobody around here for care or even notice. No! I had to get out of here!

“Back at that village if you don’t mind.” I stated.

“Why would you want to go back there? It’s so old and dirty . . .”

“My friend is there still . . .” I objected.

“That Mitsoki guy? He’s a low life, you don’t want to hang around him, trust me. Shouldn’t you be back on your way to your own world?” It was as if the prince was trying to force me to leave or something.

“Is my presence in this land a bother to you?” As I asked that, I thought mentally that I really shouldn’t. The expression on his face went pale and looked directly into my eyes.

“Why in Delusia would you think such nonsense?” He attempted to sound offended, but I knew the answer to my previous question. He wanted me out, and he was trying to get me to leave without being rude, because God forbid the Lunar Prince be rude.

“I think I want dropped off right here if you don’t mind.” I sounded quite bossy and stubborn, but we had chit chatted long enough, there wasn’t anything else he needed to know about me.

“But I’d like to get to know you some more.”

“Maybe some other time . . .”

“Are you in a hurry? Is there somewhere you need to be? Am I keeping you from an important meeting?” he interrupted forcefully in an offended tone. He put his legs down and sat closer to me. “Please, if there is something making you feel awkward, let me know.”

“I’m fine really, I just—I need . . .” I had no idea what to say!

“You need . . .” He encouraged me to finish my sentence.

“I need magic.” I admitted in a small voice. I couldn’t look directly at him. Would he laugh at me? Was my request too much to ask?

He thought for a moment. “Hmmm. Well I might have a way for you to have all of the magic in Delusia that you want.” He was beginning to propose an idea, I could hear it in his calm, too-dark, voice.

I raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. If he had a way for me to get my hands on magic, any magic at all, I would definitely be in.

“Jamie, have you ever been a princess?”