Page 12 of Fairies Don't Fall

He leaned over me to open the door, then followed me out, hand still on my shoulder. He was really good at hanging onto me so I couldn’t slip away. Not that I would. I had a better chance of keeping his people alive if I was one of them. Also, his grip was gentle for being so firm, and he had kept me from falling over countless times.

He pulled me to the car’s front window, handed the guy a black card, then took it back, pocketed it, and walked me towards the double doors of the building. It wasn’t that short, it just seemed to be compared to how sprawling it was.

Inside was even less inspiring. Everything was gray, except for the pads on the floor, which were blue. There was machinery on one end with a mirror attached to the wall. When I saw my reflection, I froze. I looked… What is the word the opposite of magical? I was the midnight fairy, the princess of the moon and the glory of all nocturna, but I looked like some goblin, a messy, slightly sparkly goblin with bad hair, gray skin, dull eyes, and a whole aura of exhaustion that made me want to drop to the floor, curl up in a ball, and sleep until everything went away. The trails of dark glitter from the corners of my eyes across my cheekbones didn’t help. I looked dirty. Maybe I was dirty. It had been a longride from Fairyland to save the werewolves and my people. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even save myself.

Max squeezed my shoulder, his warmth soaking through me. “We’ll set you up in a corner on a mat. I’ll spell it quiet and dark so you aren’t disrupted by the others.”

I let him drag me through the others, which were apparently five kids, all boys except for Ruin who gave me a slight wave before ducking her head. The boys wore scowls as I passed through them.

“Ruin, why did you have to try and steal an owl egg? You’re such a bonehead,” one of the boys said.

She shoved him, knocking him flying. “You’re the one who dared me!”

Max sighed. “But you should have known better than to take a dare. That shows a lack of wisdom as well as a weakness of character. If you can’t say no, what can you do?” He shook his head and kept pulling me towards the corner with a stack of the blue pads. “Here you are.” He released my shoulder and gestured towards the floor.

I stared at the blue, shiny pad, then at him. Why did I feel weird without his grasp on my shoulder? I rubbed it absently. “Here I am,” I agreed. “Now what?”

“Now, you lie down, close your eyes, and sleep.”

I grabbed his sleeve as he was about to turn away. “And you’ll make sure no one is poisoned while I’m sleeping?”

He covered my hand with his. He was so warm, strong, capable. “I will make it a priority. Rest.” His eyes twinkled, and he smiled in a soft way that made me take a step away from him and nod, staring at my filthy feet. I should have shoes to keep them clean. I went to the furthest corner, curled up on the pad that was not at all close to soft, pulled the blanket over my head, and slept.

I was out so fast and so hard, I barely noticed soft, furry bodies crowding around me. They were warm, and I was cold.

I woke up shivering in the dim light, cold and aching all over down to my bones. Ruin was sitting in front of me, frowning at me.

“You can’t read?” she asked like an accusation.

I wrapped my arms around myself and sat up, slowly, because it was so hard, and my head pounded, and everything was wrong. “No? Why…”

She held up a bright book with an illustration of a smiling wolf wearing glasses. “The librarian sent this with the other books Max has. Can he really read all those pointless languages? But you can’t read anything? What does this say?” she asked, pointing at some shapes at the top.

I frowned at it, but my head threatened to explode from focusing too hard. “I don’t know.”

“The Wolf Wore Pajamas. It’s a children’s book they make for all the light species who are afraid of sleeping because fear of us keeps them awake. It didn’t keep you awake. You slept like the dead. Did you notice the pile-up? Have you seen Max’s wolf yet? That would probably give you nightmares. Why are you shivering? Oh,” she said, leaning close and whispering. “I put your invisibility cloak in a small cave on the side of the cavern. No one should find it. Thanks for that.” She straightened up and gave me a slight smile. “You took a lot of hits for me. I owe you one. I didn’t think the owls would be that vicious. Sometimes I wonder if Max is actually right about the big one being magical.”

I blinked at her. She’d said a lot of things. “It does seem magical.”

“Do you think it would let you ride it? You’re so little and light. Fairies are supposed to have an affinity with animals, right?”

I blinked at her. All these questions. Where to start with answers? Should I answer her questions? She was a werewolf, the enemy, but at the same time, she reminded me so much of myself when I was young and unaware. “Some fairies are good friends with the forest creatures, but I’m not that kind of fairy.”

“Oh. What kind of fairy are you?”

Broken. Stupid. Helpless. I smiled brightly. “I’m a midnight fairy. I have an affinity with all the night creatures, particularly moths. I can make them large and then ride them. I have wings, of course, but they aren’t in the greatest shape. I should grow a new pair and see if they’re better. There’s a fairy with wings in a moth pattern, so my mother thought that he’d be my consort, but he doesn’t approve of me.”

She leaned closer, eyes large. “Consort? What’s that? And why doesn’t he approve?”

“Oh. Consort is like mate, I suppose, only fairies don’t have mates like werewolves. And he doesn’t approve because I don’t know how to read.” He probably didn’t approve of it, anyway. I wasn’t getting into all the multitudinous reasons Vervain had for holding me in contempt. Probably his biggest issue was that I refused to be queen. Yes, that was definitely his biggest issue. I should declare myself queen, take the mantle, the burden, and power, instead of dodging it like the coward I was.

She wrinkled her nose at me. “I mean, reading is useful, like reading signs and texting, but he sounds like a snob. If he doesn’t think you’re good enough because you can’t read, then he should just teach you. Seriously, boys are so lame.”

I nodded soberly. “So lame,” I echoed, then smiled slightly.

She grinned back at me and opened the book to the first white page, with large text in the middle. “I’m just going to read it to you, with my finger under the word that represents what I’m saying. Then I’ll teach you the alphabet. By the time I’m done with you, your fairy boy will be so impressed, and then you’llhave to get a new boyfriend, so he’ll be jealous and regret the day he dissed you.”

I smiled and in spite of the shaking, the shivering, and the aching, I felt a slight glow of warmth. “Thanks. Vervain will rue the day.”

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