Queen of the Fae: Book Two in the Fae Unbound Series (Fae Unbound Teen Young Adult Fantasy Series) (4 page)

Lizbet woke to the sound of her alarm, exhausted rather than well-rested. Every morning now she felt like she’d hardly slept at all. She didn't know how much longer she could keep going. The headaches, the exhaustion—and yesterday she'd blanked out completely, waking up to find herself standing in the garden, holding a couple of gnomes upside down, with Bobby standing in front of her looking terrified.

Why can't it just go back to how it was?
she thought as she headed for the bathroom. She remembered why as she caught the first glimpse of herself in the mirror. Because of the freaking wings.
I'm marked.

It's not that they weren't pretty. They were gorgeous; not too big, not too small, feathery and mostly blue, tipped with colorful "eyes" like a peacock tail. They shimmered where the light hit them. She understood why Tanji liked them so much, but when Lizbet had imagined fairies as a child, she'd imagined their wings as small, gauzy things, not at all like the solid, muscular protrusions set in her upper back. And comfort? Sure, there are
lots
of comfortable ways to lie down or sit when you've got wings. Thinking about leaning your back up against a wall? Forget it.

Her wings were about one and a half feet across when fully furled, as they often were when she was angry, upset, or the headache was at its most painful level. They were not really broad enough to be terrifying to an attacker even if she had also grown talons and a sharp beak. No, they were just big enough to distract people from what she was trying to say. Sometimes her father could barely look at her.

It might have been a little more okay if flapping her wings actually produced a little flight time, but she had tried and...nothing. She’d felt like she might take off a couple of times when she'd tripped and been off balance, but she couldn't manage to fly even a couple of feet with a running start. She looked fae, but she didn't control her magic. Magical things sometimes happened around her, but she never made them happen.

Lizbet took a quick shower and got dressed. She would have liked to have dressed in something new for her first day of school, but it's difficult to shop when you have to accommodate an extra set of appendages. It seemed to be part of the magic she inherited that her clothes would re-tailor themselves to fit over the wings, but she'd had to pay for a few things she didn't want when they re-tailored themselves in the store. They weren't even things she could see herself wearing. They were too mature and fancy for her. She was happy with jeans, yoga pants, baby tees, or cotton button-downs over a cami. She didn't need the glam dresses in fancy fabrics she’d felt compelled to try on.

Being in the mall had made her feel like she was on display. People pointed, gawked, and turned to friends to talk about her. It had just been too much. She'd eventually turned and asked her mom if they could just go home, and she hadn't tried going to the mall again. It couldn't go on that way forever. She would have to get new clothes eventually, but she hoped that before her clothes weren't wearable anymore, she'd have lost the fairy extras.

But today, right after breakfast, she had to face going to school in last year's clothes with a brand new, shiny set of wings.

"Hey, Moore! Take off your backpack and show me your wings."

Bobby turned around to see who was yelling at him. It was one of the big boys from fifth grade. The boy started to move fast toward where Bobby stood on the sidewalk in front of school.

"I don't have wings. That's my sister."

"Yeah? I don't believe you. Gimme your backpack and let's see," the older boy said as he grabbed the strap of Bobby's bag and tried to pull it off of his shoulder. Bobby hung on, his small body tight with the effort, but the boy was stronger than he was, and he pulled the bag away with a couple of strong tugs.

"Give it back! It’s not yours!" Bobby yelled, but the boy pushed against Bobby's chest and held the bag away from him with his other hand. 

"Show me your wings, Moore. Come on!" 

Then the boy screamed. Gurrdenn had gotten the zipper clasp undone, crawled out of the bag unto the boy's arm, and dug his teeth into his wrist.

Bobby laughed aloud. "Gurrdenn! When did you get in there?" Gurrdenn kept right on chewing.

The boy dropped the backpack, screaming and slapping at the gnome, "Get him off me, get him off me."

"Stop, Gurrdenn! He let it go," Bobby told the gnome, and Gurrdenn dropped to the ground, making room for the boy to run quickly away. 

"And don't ever pick on me again, or I'll have all my gnomes come after you!" Bobby yelled at the fleeing boy's back.

"Girl, you're beautiful, you're strong, and you can do this," Tanji reassured Lizbet as Tanji carefully pulled the car into a narrow space in the school parking lot. "If anyone says anything, you just give them that trademark Moore snark right back."

"If you say so. But Tanj...I'm just so tired."

"I know, but you can make it through today, I know you can. Look, my life was complicated enough being half black and half white. The white kids know I'm not one of them, and once the black kids meet my dad, suddenly I'm not black anymore, either. Throw being half fae into the mix, and try to tell me that things could be more complicated! So, we're both freaks. Who cares? Let everybody get a good gander at you, and then it can only get better from here."

The two girls walked up the steps toward the school door. One of the boys who leaned up against the railing made a flapping movement with his arms and yelled out, "Nice pair!" The other boys in the group laughed and high-fived him. 

Tanji kept her eyes straight ahead as they walked and said quietly, "Ignore it. If you'd ridden your bike to school, one of those jerks would have said, 'nice rack' when you were locking it up in the bike rack. You know that. They're fools."

 The two girls continued up the stairs and into the open doorway, and as they walked down the hall to Lizbet's locker, everyone got quieter as they approached, elbowing their friends and turning to watch Lizbet and Tanji as they came down the hall. Then, as they passed, they heard the whispering start behind them.

Tanji suddenly raised her hands above her head in a flourish and slowly turned in a circle. She'd worn her hair up so that her elvin ears were clearly visible. "Alright, alright, I know you're all looking at the ears, going 'mmmhhhmmm, wish I could rock me a set of ears the way that girl rocks 'em’, but you
know
nobody can rock 'em like me." Tanji struck a series of glam-girl poses while the other students either laughed along with her or turned away, suddenly embarrassed that they'd been staring. Several people shouted encouragement with "you go, girl" and "looking good!" 

Tanji hooked her arm through Lizbet's and pulled her down the hall, both of them laughing so hard that they were gasping for air, ears and wings forgotten as they just enjoyed each other's company.

They got to Lizbet's locker, and when Lizbet was able to catch her breath, she said, "Tanj...you are a freak, but you are
my
freak."

Sheila Moore felt like she was back in grade school as she sat in one of the kid-sized plastic chairs in the elementary school Principal's office, waiting to be called in for her appointment. She had never had problems with either of her children's behavior at school, so the experience was something new for her. She couldn't imagine that Bobby would start a fight with another child. Despite his blazing red hair, he was never temperamental.

Sheila stood as gracefully as she could when the secretary advised her that the Principal would see her. Bobby was already in the office, looking like he was about to cry. Her boy was so tender-hearted. There was no way that sweet child would have gotten into a fight if he had any other choice.

Principal Connors stood up and gestured to the empty seat next to Bobby. "I'd have liked to have met you under different circumstances, Mrs. Moore. Normally, Bobby is such a well-behaved student."

Sheila replied, "I understood from the secretary who called my office that Bobby was in a fight?"

Bobby quickly chimed in, "I didn't fight anyone..."

Principal Connors looked over the top of her glasses at him, "Bobby, it's my turn to talk now."

Bobby folded his arms and lowered his head.

"Yes, technically, Bobby didn't fight anyone. He brought a gnome to school to do his fighting for him. One of the fifth grade boys has some very nasty bites on his arm. I'm sure he's going to need a tetanus booster and possibly rabies shots."

"How terrible! I'm so sorry..."

"I have no choice but to suspend Bobby for the next week due to the seriousness of the issue. You can pick up each day's work after school, and he can complete it at home."

"But he's never done anything like this before. And I don't think the gnomes actually listen to anyone. Even if they did, Bobby wouldn't have told a gnome to attack another child."

"We don't allow violence or
magic
in this school, Mrs. Moore. You may have different rules at your home, but we have high standards here. He's suspended for one week. If he brings a gnome or any other magical creature to school again after that, he'll be expelled."

Sheila stood up, "I understand. Lizbet will pick up the work from his teacher after school each day, if that's okay."

"No, it's
not
okay for Lizbet to pick up his work. As I said...there is to be no magic in the school. Your daughter has wings, Mrs. Moore. She is clearly practicing magic."

"Fine," Sheila said, beginning to burn on the inside but quiet on the outside, "His father or I will pick up his work. Come on, Bobby."

On the way to the car, Bobby told his mother, "I didn't fight anyone. The kid tried to take my backpack 'cause he said he wanted to see my wings, and Gurrdenn jumped out and just started biting him. I didn't even know he was in there."

"I believe you, Bobby," Sheila said curtly, still working hard for control.

Bobby couldn't hear everything his mother said to his father when she called him at work, but he knew that she was angry—maybe even angrier than she'd ever been. Bobby hid around the corner in the hallway while his parents talked on the phone.