Page 307 of Blood & Betrayals

My heart skips a beat, and I roll to my side, pulling my twig from Faerie out and holding it to my chest. “Please.”

I hear the stranger exhale as if he had just lifted something heavy, and suddenly, my room is no longer my room. I sit up in my bed and look around at the forest now surrounding me. Blue and white fae lights line the pathway between the trees, and the canopy is so thick that barely any natural light penetrates. There is the faintest scent of evergreen and pine, and I eagerly sit up and move to the edge of my bed. I put my feet down, expecting to feel the soft soil of the outdoors, but I can still feel my plush rug.

Fae wander through the trees and go about their business. I have never seen anything more beautiful than this place. Tucked back into the forest, on the outskirts of the town, I can see magical little houses with wicker roofs and stone paths leading to their doors.

“I wanted to escape, and it was easy to slip away here.”

The stranger’s voice grounds me in the present, but my attention is on a young boy running across a grassy meadow. He’s blurred, and I can only see enough to know he’s maybe around eight or nine. There is a muffled shout, and the boy looks back. Whatever he sees propels him forward, sprinting as fast as his young legs can manage.

I watch, completely captivated, as he gets deeper into the forest and slows. The boy stops in front of a towering trunk and stares up at it. Though I can’t see his expression, I can feel his awe at the sight of the great tree. He reaches out and presses his small hand to the bark, and I gasp when a door appears. He looks around furtively before slipping through, and I eagerlyfollow him on his journey. The path is dark, but he traverses it with confidence, and I gasp again when the tunnel opens to reveal what can only be described as a magic library.

The Great Library of Faerie.

“I knew the great library was there, but I never knew how to find it. I’m unsure why it opened for me, yet it did, and it was the most incredible sight I had ever seen. To this day, it remains one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen.”

After the darkness of the path, the light is blinding for a split second before everything comes more into focus. Trees have molded and wound around the books, forming shelves, supports, and nooks. Their branches are adorned with words in Ancient Daoine Sith as if the books and the words within have become fully entwined with nature. Fae lights bounce through the stacks, illuminating titles written in every color imaginable. I catch sight of something written in Elder Daoine Sith, and I gasp and squeal at the same time. The boy and I stand together, looking around in awe.

This library is a living entity.

The boy walks through the library, ignored by the few fae inside. He explores the stacks, taking in the ornate beauty of the tomes. The projection is so potent that I swear I can smell the musky, heady scent of old books. The boy stops, and I feel his confusion as he stares at a pedestal in the center of the library. It glows, faint and then bright, pulsing as if it is the heartbeat of the library.

“I couldn’t resist,” the stranger’s voice croons as the boy walks closer.

The book is one that I immediately recognize. It is the one the stranger gifted me at Yule, the one I have yet to destroy. The one still burning a hole in my wardrobe.

The boy’s fingers tremble as he reaches for the book. He is expecting pain, but the book just continues to beat steadily. Hepicks it up, and the pulse starts to slow. It feels like something is dying. The boy panics and clutches the book to his chest, running from the library in fear.

“I was afraid I would get in trouble. So I kept it.”

The boy runs back through the woods, and I can see his legs are threatening to give out. A spike of fear shoots through me when I see a tall, blurry figure in the distance. The boy falls to the ground, landing hard, and the whole world starts to shake. He looks around, and I can feel the surge of his fear. The tremors grow more intense, and I imagine I can feel the vibration through my feet. The ground directly beneath the boy’s hand cracks and parts, the very fabric of Faerie eroding around him.

I cling to the twig, a tear sliding down my cheek as grief and fear tear at me.

“I should have stayed close. I shouldn’t have gone exploring by myself.”

I hold my breath as the story continues to play out. The world rocks again, and the boy lets out a scared yell as he gets to his feet and starts running again. In his panic, he runs into a girl not much older than him, with light blue eyes just like mine. She’s holding a bundle of blankets, and she looks at the boy, her chest heaving. She says something, but I can’t make it out. The boy concentrates on something, but this memory is fractured, and I can’t tell what is happening.

Suddenly, my room looks like my room again. I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding. The stranger is silent on the other side of the line.

“What happened then?” I ask, feeling like the story ended on a cliffhanger.

“I don’t know.”

I look down at the twig.

“Little fae?”

“Hm?”

“I just thought… you should see a glimpse of your home.”

We sit in silence for a long moment. “Stranger? How did you know to call me?”

“It’s almost an instinct. I felt like you needed to talk.”

I return the twig to my drawer and lie down again.

“It’s weird. It’s almost like hearing your voice in my head,” he says thoughtfully.

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