The Seelie Queen

Chapter 2

    “Jaelyn. Are you ready to go?” I looked up with a gasp, startled, only to smile warmly at my mother. I sighed, looking at myself in the mirror once more as I finished pulling my hair into a bun. I wore a simple gown, white and brown, a commoner's dress. My long pure-white hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail behind my head, wrapped into a bun, only a few strands falling around my face. I could see the fear in my dark blue eyes, and turned to look at my mother. I looked nothing like her, or my father. Her honey-colored skin, black hair that curled as it fell down her shoulders in waves. Her left eye was blind, a scar cutting over her face, while her right eye was brown and warm, a soft glow as she looked at me, her hand held out for me to take it. I nodded at her, standing. There was nothing more I could do, to make myself more presentable. It was a pity, though, since I was going to meet the Fairy Queen, my grandmother, today. This was to be the first time I've ever been to the fairy realm, or met my grandmother. “Jareth and your father are already downstairs waiting,” She finished as she folded my hand into the crook of her elbow. 

    I nodded at her and walked with her down the stairs, giving my room one last look. I barely ever left my room, unless I had to. It wasn’t that I was scared to, it was just, the only place I felt like I belonged. When I went out into the town, or the markets, It felt like I was living the life of a stranger, and I had always been wary of it, feeling like there was more out there for me. I was saddened by my life, suffocating in it, which was why I was so surprised when my mother told me we were to meet my grandmother. I saw her once, when I was twelve. I had gone downstairs, that night, for a glass of water. I didn’t sneak out anymore, not since that night, when I was five. My past, it remained in the past, and because of it, I never ventured out in the moonlight again. I never danced again. I shoved my inner music deep down inside me, suppressing it, refusing it, refusing everything about me that was Fairy. I was startled, and had instantly hidden behind the wall when I saw the beautiful woman. A white light was surrounding her. She was remarkably beautiful, and undeniably a fairy. I was startled, and knew I should have left but I was frozen there behind the wall, watching, waiting. My mother was standing there staring at her, and she was normal. She called the beautiful woman her mother, and I was surprised by it. But I saw it, in the way her eyes stared into my mother’s, the soft serene features on her face. She looked panicked, but I couldn’t hear her from where I was standing. All I saw, was a beautiful white orb, sitting on a flimsy-looking stick. She held it up, and it glowed. The glow was bright, startling, making me have to close my eyes against it. Once I was sure the glow was gone, I opened my eyes in time to see my mother sigh, her shoulders sagging as if she was holding the weight of the world on them. My grandmother handed her an object, I couldn’t see what it was, but the sphere was gone. My mother accepted it, determination in her eyes as she nodded. I watched in confusion as she placed the object in her pocket, and my grandmother faded away. 

    “Jaelyn, you look lovely.” I snapped my head up, clearing my mind from my thoughts, and gave my father a soft hesitant smile. I doubted it was true, but the smile on his giant face made me feel warm, ever like the little princess he had always treated me. He was as giant as he always was, tall and muscular, shaped like a mountain. His long straight black hair hung down his back in braids, and his brown eyes smiled warmly at me. 

    “She is wearing commoner’s clothes, father, how is that lovely?” My brother, Jareth said with a laugh. He was sitting on the chair, his hands folded in his lap. He looked more like father, his short black hair that rested on his forehead and his darkened tanned skin. But despite that, he had the same dark blue eyes I had. 

    I looked nothing like anyone, with my creamy skin. Mother said I was her little snowflake, since Jareth’s and my birthday came in winter. She would say he was as dark as a tree, tall and strong, sturdy as it stood ever unchanging through the seasons, while I was her snowflake, fragile and beautiful, precious and unique. “You’re right, she’s missing something.” My mother whispered, making me turn to her in surprise. She pulled the necklace she always wore around her neck off, and clasped it around mine. I stared down at it in wonder. 

    It was a beautiful necklace, and one I remember my mother having for a while. I assumed father bought it for her, or she had gotten it from the markets. It was a white heart on a chain, an intricate design woven onto it. It was precious to my mother, I knew this because she never took it off. I looked up at her with wide eyes, confused. “But mom, this is precious to you, I couldn’t possibly,” I started to say. 

    I stopped, noticing her right eye closed, her blind eye shining at me as her face took on a childlike glamor. She giggled, a singing giggle that sounded like a child as she smiled at me. “It’s yours Jaelyn. You’re so beautiful, and you’re destined for such wonderful things.” She whispered, running her fingers through the strands of hair hanging beside my face. My brother merely sighed as he stood up from his seat, walking over to us. Mother is a seer, a Fairy princess, royalty. In a sense, Jareth and I were a prince and a princess of Fairy royalty as well, but mother is a second daughter and our line doesn’t matter. Her older sister is the one to take the role as queen, not her, and not me. We remained in the human world with our mother, who wanted to desperately stay with my father. We were content living the lives of werewolves. Especially since Jareth and I had turned eighteen two years ago, and only Jareth shifted into a werewolf. He was more than comfortable living the life of a half-fairy prince and a werewolf, while I was just...nothing. Not a princess, since I never accepted my fairy side. Not a werewolf, I was just...ordinary. At least, that’s what I was. Deep inside, I knew without a doubt there was more for me, so much more that I had in store for me. We didn’t know what was wrong with me. Everyone assumed since both of my parents were werewolves, that I would be one as well. But mother said sometimes the fairy side was stronger, especially for women. Not for her, since she had a wolf, but for me. Why was it stronger for me? I didn’t question it further, I pushed it away, all thoughts of it, all cares of it. Everything Fairy, I pushed away. Ever since that night, when I was five. 

    Until now. Mother told us grandmother was in desperate need to meet us, to talk to us, and I couldn’t refuse. The look in her eyes as she begged me to go with her to the fairy realm, I knew it was important. Out of everyone here, mother always seemed to know just how I felt. She was the one who had ties to the fairies the most, but she was the one who never pressured me. She never spoke it, but I wondered, more than once, if she knew what happened that night. The night I refused to tell. I wondered if she saw me, dancing with the other fairies in the grove. Walking to the little boy, and falling with him over the cliff. I shivered as I looked at her again, taking in her childlike dance as she giggled and twirled into my father’s arms. He smiled at her, kissing the top of her head, and all I could do was watch. She was getting worse, staying like a child for longer and longer, even if she wasn’t telling us something about the future. She told us when we were younger it was a possibility, that only royalty fairies had Seer blood, and the Seers tended to go crazy when they got older. I never expected it from my beautiful, level-headed mother, so sweet and kind, but now that I was twenty, I could see it. She was slowly fading away, the serene woman I’ve always admired, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her giggle. She was happy and loved, surrounded by people who understood her. So what if she was like a child? As long as she was happy, then I didn’t mind. Father still stared at her like he was falling in love with her, again and again, every day, and that’s all that mattered to me. “Are we going? I’d like to be back before it’s too late. Sage wanted me to go hunting with him.” Jareth asked, annoyed. 

    He wasn’t always so annoyed with mother, and it saddened me how sometimes he looked embarrassed by her childish nature. She couldn’t help it, after all, and I wished he’d accept her the way father and I did. Mother stiffened in father’s arms and I sighed, watching as she stood up straight again, her eyes both opened as she looked into my father’s eyes. “We’ll be back, my love.” She whispered, standing on her tippy toes. He was automatically bending down, his arms wrapped around her waist as he held her close, kissing her deeply. Of course, Jareth looked away, a blush on his face, but I watched them unabashed, noting their love, how innocent and beautiful it was. The love everyone wished they’d have, deep down. The love I was sure I'd never have. After all, I didn’t deserve it. After what I did, how could I? Even if it was an accident. I clenched the white heart hanging on my neck tightly in my hand as I took a deep breath, looking up the stairs at my closed bedroom door once more. I wished, more than anything, that I’d be able to go back up there, hide under my blankets, and stay there. 

    I looked at mother once more, seeing the white light surrounding her, cutting through the room as a soft wind blew through the room. Jareth muttered the word “Finally” As he walked into the portal, disappearing from us. Mother turned to look at me as father kissed me on the cheek, his strong hands guiding me to mother’s waiting hand. I looked at my room once more, stifling a sigh, my heart racing as I looked at mother again. I had a feeling, as I took her hand and let her guide me through the portal, that something amazing was going to happen. That the destiny I felt like I had waiting for me was coming closer, and as exciting as it was, I was scared. I closed my eyes, allowing mother to pull me the rest of the way through, and took a deep breath, before opening my eyes in wonder at the beauty before me. I was scared of it, but at the same time, I was ready.