The Stolen Children (book#1)

new friends

Alora POV

Well, that was nothing I thought I'd ever see, and I hope to never see it again.

Mermaids are real. They are real, and I was blown away at first with how beautiful and nice she was, Nixie the nice mermaid just how I imagined mermaids would be. But little did we know mermaids are not like fairytales at all, not nice and loving but evil and scary, dragging unsuspecting prey to the depths of their prison with no escape.

My attention was taken from Poppy and Nixie to the flying ball of light that was trying to stop Poppy from going forward, and it was a split second to us losing Poppy forever.

When Poppy was just near that horrible being it grabbed her hand just as Liam had, luckily, because I know if it wasn't for Liam always being weary and over cautious, Poppy would be dead, lost in the water.

That evil b***h almost got our sweet sister Poppy to the water, she had changed completely all colour, all life seemed to drain from her and she wanted the same for Poppy...

We tried so hard to pull her free but was losing until all I could see was beautiful balls of light everywhere all bright and different colours, the one that first came was the brightest there. We were being pulled from behind and pushed from the front which was able to give us the boost to free Poppy from the clutches of that horrible nasty mermaid.

If I never see a mermaid again it would be too soon.

Who would have thought that the beautiful mermaid so full of colour and life would be a soul sucking demon.

We had followed the flying light into the forest, and if I'm being honest, it was either that or stay behind with the screeching from the lake.

We neared the light that was on a branch, and before we knew it, the light dimmed, and their stood a fairy.

I felt at ease, but with what just happened, I'm not sure I should because how do we know we can trust her also. This world is very confusing.

We all had our eyes wide open except Poppy she was afraid and hiding behind Liam clinging to his top.

I walk to her, taking her hand in mine, trying to reassure her as much as possible.

"You're a fairy," Kylie said with shock. It does make sense to be a fairy rather than a talking light, but I, for one, wasn't expecting a fairy.

"Yes I am, I'm Zoene, when I could see that Nixie, queen of the mermaids, had snared your friend I couldn't leave you to the fates" she said confusing us all "snared her, what do you mean" I asked, we all knew that she must have used magic but she didn't say anything. I thought she would have to sing just like the fairytales tell it, but she hadn't.

"When a mermaid stares into the eyes of their prey, they are put in a daze, a daze that has them doing what the mermaid wants even going to their deaths" Zoene explains "ok that makes sense" Liam said keeping his eyes fixed on the fairy watching her every move, while holding Poppys hand behind him. She clings to Liams hand and his top. I know he feels even more protective now, especially towards Poppy we all do.

"I mean no offence Zoene but are you good or bad" I ask, I know it's probably a silly question because if she were bad I doubt she would say 'oh yes I'm a bad fairy and your all doomed' but the question slipped out, causing the fairy to burst into tinkering laughter. It was like listening to a soft ringing bell.

"Well, I'm a light fairy. We bring peace and harmony, spreading love and happiness. We love life and all beings, but there are dark fairies. They are surrounded by a fog, not light.. they are our opposites, they bring darkness and wickedness, spreading chaos and sadness wherever they go leaving sadness and heartbreak in their trail" Well that is good to know, everything learned will help our little group in the future and I do feel like I can trust her deep in my gut.

"Oh well that's good then" I said a little unsure of what to say "well then thankyou for helping save my sister" Liam said as Poppy peeped round his side, not sure if she should be trusting or not.

"You're welcome, I could see you deserved to be saved," Zoene replied, and all it did was raise more questions, but looking at the sky, it was getting darker, and we needed to leave.

"How could you see we deserved help, don't you help everyone that goes there" Poppy asks shyly but Zoene shakes her head not taking a minute to think on what to say before she started "we light fairies can see if a being has good inside them, we see it in colours surrounding you. Like when I looked at you all, you were glowing in greens and yellows. Those colours mean you are trustworthy and also filled with good but sometimes there is a lot of bad beings that mean harm to all around them, their colours are black and dark reds, we don't interfere with those it sounds bad I know but we can't stop everyone because we also know that the mermaids in the lake need to survive. They normally survive on stray animals that get close to the water, but sometimes they also eat beings, " as she explained, her nose scrunched in disgust at the thought.

"Wow... that wasn't what I was expecting," Poppy said, and I can relate as it was never the response I thought we would get.

"It sounds harsh but if I tried to save everyone there would be an uproar from the mermaids and we prefer not to have that especially as it means getting rid of the bad from this world and keep the peace" Zoene went on to explain and I can understand that but what if they got it wrong " I understand what your saying but what if the person looks bad because they are just confused or angry at a situation" I ask concerned but when we didn't get a reply I realised she didn't know us that well so probably won't answer. As I looked around I can see that we have been chatting for a while and it's got darker and the anxiety starts to build inside me , what are we going to do where are we going to stay. After a while of stood panicking, I decided to explain a little more about us, hoping she would take pity on us for the night, but she didn't know us. Maybe she won't.

"It's getting dark, can you help us to find somewhere safe to stay the night, we are new to this world and I think you probably knew that from todays events but we could really use some help please" I say in a rush but maybe she won't, maybe she doesn't trust us and I wouldn't blame her. "I was going to offer you a place to stay, the forest isn't safe at night especially if you're new here" she said smiling and we all released a breath of relief but her smile faltered making me worry "I would like to ask one thing though" she said looking around our little group as we nodded yes "ok it's just I don't know your names" she said and burst into laughter as we chuckled along with her, I didn't even think of that at all "I'm sorry I hadn't even thought of introducing us even when you introduced yourself" I said smiling "my name is Liam, my sister Poppy and our big sisters Alora and Kylie" Liam said holding out his hand like a proper gentleman causing me to smile.

We all chatted and laughed as we made our way towards Zoene home.

I'm so tired and hungry, I'll be happy to stop and sleep, maybe even eat if we can, but we are very, very low on food.