Page 199 of Sigils & Spells

I positioned myself behind the table, and held one of the ping pong balls in my hand. I looked at Maeve’s cup and tossed the ping pong ball which fell perfectly in the front cup with an audible plop. I started around the table back to fish the ball from her cup. “If I were to get my ball in her beer, she has to drink that beer.”

I went back to where I started. “I could also get the ball in like this.”

I threw it again, this time letting it bounce on the table before landing in the same cup as before.

“But it can’t bounce more than once. We cannot touch the ball until it has bounced more than once or missed a cup entirely. Once we are down to five cups, we rerack, and make it into a new triangle. Then again at three. You get one ball each turn. If you get it in you get to throw again until you miss or win.

Redemption is when one of us gets the ball into the last cup. The other player gets to try to get all the opponents cups out in one turn. If you don’t, you lose.

A neutral party will toss a coin and that will determine who goes first. Any questions?”

Silence greeted me, and I felt my face flush a little. It really was a simple game. They were probably used to chess or something equally as complex.

I gave the room an awkward thumbs up. “Thank you for your attention.” and then slightly quieter, “you may stop staring at me now.”

Someone in the crowd laughed. Maeve watched me unreadably.

Before anyone else broke the silence, the huge throne room doors swung open. The room gasped as one, and every one fell to their knees in deep bows. Everyone except me, who had no idea what was happening, and Maeve.

Maeve’s face flashed a sneer before melting into that serene smile again.

“My queen.” She curtseyed.

I was terrified to turn around. The Queen? The fairy queen was here? And she was going to watch me play beer pong for my life?

Slowly, a beer covered ping pong ball still in my fist, I turned to the doorway.

Titania was tall. That was my first impression. A good ten feet tall, but that was the most normal thing about her. Her skin was a translucent white, covered mostly by a complex pale blue dress. The bottom of the dress seemed to disappear into mist. Her hair was long and silvery white. But it was Titania’s face.

A humanoid nose, and humanoid lips, and two black eyes, but around those eyes, two huge butterfly wings grew. They grew flat, as if she were wearing a mask. They were the same blue as her dress, veined with black. They moved just a little, as if there were a butterfly resting on her nose. But the wings grew from her skin. They were sectioned butterfly wings like those you find on the bigger butterflies. The lower set grew from her cheek bone, just under her eye, and the upper grew from her brow bone. Behind her, huge versions of the same butterfly wings rested, but they were as big as sails.

I found myself bowing too.

“Rise, my fairies.” Titania trilled. She had a kind sounding, almost familiar voice. And it didn’t sound like she was hiding her malice that way Maeve’s always seemed to bubble below the surface. Though I remembered what Ruby said. Titania may be kinder, but she still wasn’t trustworthy. No fairies were.

“You’re highness.” Maeve’s voice was strained. “What brings you to my Hearth?”

“Do I need a reason to visit an old friend?” she asked, a laugh in her voice. “I want to see the game.”

“I will have him explain the rules again.” Maeve looked at me, and I opened my mouth, but Titania waved one of her huge, pearly hands.

“No need. I know how the game works. Proceed.”

She walked into the room, and the Fae Folk stood, watching her with unreserved awe. I found myself doing the same. She seemed to glow. She stood in the front of the crowd on one side of the table, right between our competing sides, her hands laced politely in front of her.

This was going to throw me off. Playing in front of a crowd was one thing, but a literal queen? I felt like I was going to be sick. No time for that, Julian, I chided myself.

“Are we ready then?” I asked, sounding braver than I felt.

“The coin toss.” Maeve nodded. “Your majesty, would you like to do the honors?”

Titania smiled. “My pleasure.”

She pulled a large silver coin from seemingly nowhere. “Julian, you are heads, Maeve you are tails.”

She flipped the coin high into the air, and I watched its arch as it landed back in her palm. She flipped it onto the back of her other hand.

“Heads.” she announced. “Julian, you shoot first.”

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