Page 63 of Bewitched By the Werewolf
“Okay, well from now on, let's do that.”
“Not a problem. Why don’t we talk about what you really came here for?”
I perk up and forget all about being embarrassed that she knows basically everything that’s gone on between me and Ryder behind closed doors. Because I’m about to see my first fairy.
“Yes, please.”
“Ryder told you what kind of fairy I am?”
“He said you were a moon fairy but that’s all. He’s not very descriptive, other than you have wings.”
Larken gives Ryder another disappointed glare but continues. “Yes, I have wings, and for the most part, I am physically the same. Just a few minor differences.”
“Like what?”
“It’s easier to just show you.” Larken looks over her shoulder to check if anyone is watching. There’s no one around and when she’s satisfied no one is watching who shouldn’t be, she turns back to face us.
Like rippling water over the surface of an image, her body shimmers and slowly her creamy skin shifts. Black sparkling blotches like ink blots appear, moving and growing on her skin. Some moments the black consumes more of her than the white but the next second shifts like shadows and sunlight. The black of her hair becomes even darker, absorbing the light rather than reflecting it. Tiny flicks of starlight twinkle in the bottomless black. Those grey eyes darken to a liquid silver matching the shifting stars in her hair.
Finally, the pies de resistance of all fairies, her wings, blink into existence behind her. Fluttering softly and almostgossamer, black dotted with silver. Their shape is somewhere between a butterfly and a dragonfly, stretching at least a foot taller than Larken.
My mouth drops open in admiration. I thought seeing a shifter was cool, but this is so much cooler. She’s beautiful in her glittering darkness.
“Wow. That’s amazing.” I sound like a child seeing Santa for the first time. That’s how much in awe I am.
“Thank you. Compared to some others I’m rather boring. I don’t have any horns or a tail, flowers don’t grow from my hair, and I can’t speak to fish. But I think I’m pretty cool.”
“You are definitely cool. Even without being a fairy,” I tell her, wanting her to know it’s not her being a fairy that makes her cool to me.
“I know.” She smiles at me, and I pull myself together and stop drooling over my new friend’s secret identity.
“What kind of powers does a moon fairy have?” The other type of fairies Ryder told me about were pretty self-explanatory, earth, animal etcetera, but I couldn’t figure out what a moon fairy is.
“Do you see how my skin shifts between black and white?” I nod and take a closer look at her outstretched arm where the black practically engulfs her entire skin. “I can control it and completely cover my entire body in the black, which allows me to disappear into the shadows and darkness. But I can also do the opposite, shifting my skin to white and reflecting the light creating a blinding starlight affect and when done properly I can even become practically invisible. I can also see perfectly at night, fly, of course, and I always know the astrological positioning of the sun, moon, stars and planets.”
“And I thought being able to distinguish north from south without a compass was a talent,” I joke.
“It’s not the most useful of talents, but I guess it’s okay.” Larken shrugs and in the blink of an eye her human glamour settles easily back in place and she’s once again the stylish cool human I met at the Closet Carousel. “I also have the ability to know exactly how to style a person’s clothing. Some think it’s a fairy ability, I just think I have good taste.”
I laugh because I would agree with those who consider it a magical ability. My fashion sense is made of up black leather and combat boots.
“How exactly does this glamour thing work?” I wave one hand at her now original human appearance. “You just think‘turn back into a human’and it happens?”
“Basically, yeah. Some have more trouble with it than others, ones with less magic.”
“Like Daisy,” Ryder adds. He’s been quiet through Larken’s whole show and tell but slips easily back into our conversation. Even if he acts like he doesn’t like to talk, he has plenty to say once he gets started. “She’s half human, half earth nymph and can’t hold a glamour for very long.”
“So, she looks like a nymph all the time?”
“Half, yes. She has a lot of human characteristics that make it a little easier for her to blend in, in a crowd. But places like Snowberry make it even easier for her to live without fear, since she can’t conceal herself at all times.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Since there are so few sightings of non-humans, I figured they were just really powerful or good at concealing themselves. Perhaps it’s that they’re also good at hiding in towns like this. Places where others help conceal them from the rest of the world. One more reason not to reveal Snowberry.
“Can non-humans see through the glamour, or do you see her human form too?” I ask Ryder, curious to no end about how it allworks. I suppose there will be things that have no explanation. Until he answers withI don’t know, I’ll keep asking questions.
“If I want to, I can see her human form, but otherwise I see her as she truly is.”
“And there’s no way for me to always see her true form? Like a magic potion or spell or something? Maybe a special candy I can eat?”
