Blood and Beasts (23 page)

“Okay, maybe I did…” she admitted
and gave Seph a wry grin reminiscent of Rodney
’
s.

“Okay, and maybe the thought did
cross my mind when you all were mentioning how powerful he was and how powerful
I was…” Seph rambled on, and Francesca studied her a moment.

“
What do ya mean?
” Francesca asked curiously.

“
I dunno
… genetics, I guess?” She suggested,
and now Francesca looked completely confused. “Think about it… most powerful
vampire… most powerful wizard…” She started, ruffling her straight hair
anxiously.

She was hoping fervently that
Francesca would eventually catch on to what had automatically crossed her mind
when Linda had mentioned that fact earlier.

“Okay, ya, I
’
m sure you two would make pretty interesting babies,”
Francesca said off-handedly, scouring some leaves before pausing to actually
think about it. “They would be really interesting, wouldn
’
t they? Think about it. The most powerful wizard and
vampire getting together? You should really consider this, Seph,” she said enthusiastically,
and her best friend shoved her playfully.

“Francesca,” she rolled her eyes,
pushing her friend through some brush.

They stumbled into a sylvan glade,
emerald-green boughs overhanging their heads as mint-green grass crunched
underfoot. Blinking several times, they looked around them. Where had this
place come from? Then they spotted him.

“Silo!” They both exclaimed
together, and the small, liberated, red and black dragon halted in its attempts
to catch and eat a small, dancing fairy to blink at them.

“GREETINGS!” A little voice piped
up by their ears, and both girls jumped a foot, noticing the little blue light
of a fairy beside them now. “MY NAME IS DEWDROP! WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES?” She
shouted at them in her little fairy voice.

“
Persephone. Seph,
” Seph said cautiously.

“Francesca,” the other girl
answered just as warily.

“OH MY! SUCH PRETTY NAMES! WHERE DO
THE PAIR OF YOU HAIL FROM?” She asked, her little voice squeaking annoyingly.

“The magic school, back there,”
Seph pointed offhandedly. “Monster Aca- Zephyr Hall,” she explained, and the
little fairy nearly squealed with joy.

“ZEPHYR HALL!? MAY I ACCOMPANY
YOU?! MAY I!? I TRULY TRULY TRULY WANT TO! I HAVE GROWN VERY DISINTERESTED OF
THE FAIRY COLONY OF LATE! I DESIRE AN ADVENTURE! SOMETHING NEW! SOMETHING
STUNNING! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ALLOW ME TO COME!” The little fairy begged, and
they nearly just said yes so that she would be quiet.

“
Well
…” Francesca started, and Seph cut her off swiftly.

“Why not? As long as you hide
yourself because you
’
re not technically supposed to be
there? You
’
ll have to stay in our Room-
hideout,” she explained, and the little fairy squealed with delight, nearly
rupturing their eardrums.

“WONDERFUL! I CANNOT WAIT! SHOW ME!
SHOW ME! SHOW ME!” She continued to squeak, and Francesca raised her hand to
shush her.

“Okay. Okay. Okay. Just… stop
shouting,” Francesca said, and the blue light radiated even brighter,
indicating that the little fairy girl inside was smiling broadly.

“What about this fairy colony? Can
we see it?” Seph asked, and her light dampened drastically.

“OH! YES, YOU MAY! BUT ONLY BECAUSE
YOU TWO ARE ALLOWING ME TO LEAVE!” The fairy squeaked back before buzzing away.

They padded after her swiftly, and
Seph pulled Silo along with them telekinetically, forming a type of telekinetic
leash around his neck. The fairy, Dewdrop, led them to a ring of toadstools,
and then she floated in the middle of them. She dinged in the air importantly,
sounding like a pair of chiming bells.

“FOLLOW ME!” She said, and slowly
the two girls stepped into the circle.

Silo came in as well, of his own
accord. He was curious also, no longer attempting to snatch the dancing blue
light with his ivory teeth. It seemed he did not want to eat the fairy, so much
as just catch her or maybe learn about her? Silo was a very interesting, little
dragon. Seph looked down at the dragon and saw a sense of intelligence as well
as understanding behind his coal-black eyes. She released her telekinetic leash
on him. Upon noticing this, the small dragon flexed his neck a few times before
proceeding to tramp around the circle once. He came back around to stand
directly beside Seph. She smiled down at him. He was learning. 

“FOREST! WE GIVE THANKS TO YE FOR
MANY THINGS! WE THANK YE FOR THE RAIN. IT WASHES AWAY ALL OF OUR PAIN. WE THANK
YE FOR EACH FLOWER. THEY RADIATE SUCH AWESOME POWER. WE THANK YE FOR THE
CREATURE. EACH A STUDENT AND A TEACHER. WE THANK YE FOR OUR FAIRY QUEEN, AND IN
HER REIGN, LET HER DEEM, THESE VISITORS WORTHY, OF ENTRANCE TO OUR LAND, BUT
YOU FOREST, I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND.
A
’
erimo j
’
eet!”
She shrilled, and suddenly, a
peaceful, green light began to swim around them.

It encompassed them, swirled over
them and through them. Seph watched in awe as a bright yellow butterfly started
to flap by her face before slowly disappearing, as did the rest of the forest
background. Green light was everywhere. Green light was in her. Green light was
her. It was the oddest sensation she had yet to experience.

Suddenly, they were standing in the
same ring of mushrooms, but they were looking out at an entirely different
landscape. Instead of close forest trees encircling them, they were gazing out
onto a great lavender mountain escarpment. Dewdrop buzzed in front of them,
blue light twinkling in the faint light from the same, almost full moon.

“FOLLOW ME!” She screeched, and the
two shocked girls nodded before pursuing their little fairy friend.

They followed her up a narrow
mountainous path, slippery with thick, green grass. Seph had never seen grass
so green, so verdant. It felt plush and springy beneath her clad feet. The
pathway wound its way up to a small plateau. Fairies were everywhere, flitting
about and buzzing all around them. Francesca and Seph stared as the fairies
began to decorate them without a single word. They brushed their hair to a high
gloss, intertwining daisies and other flowers in it. The two girls were
becoming very flustered. Francesca started to bat them away, but they began to
angrily chime at her, and she stopped.

Directly to the right of them was a
cute, gingerbread-looking house. It was adorable with its cream trim, pink
exterior, and green window shutters. Dewdrop led them through the tiny doorway
into an equally tiny room. They ducked down, eyes scanning the simple but cute
surroundings.

“W-What are those?” Francesca
stammered out, eyes gaping at the pearl-colored cocoons that a particularly
large fairy hovered over in the back of the small, quaint room.

“They are my children. Do not use
such a tone when addressing them,” the snippy, overly large fairy snapped,
golden light emanating from her.

“
I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY, FAIRY QUEEN
MAYBELLE! THEY DESIRED TO SEE THE FAIRY COLONY! THEY ARE GOOD PEOPLE! THE
RED-HAIRED ONE IS A VAMPIRE, AND THE BLACK-HAIRED ONE IS A WEREWOLF!
” She squeaked, and the fairy queen
winced at the other fairy
’
s high-pitched voice.

 “Oh! A vampire and a werewolf?
Visiting our little colony? That is wonderful! Welcome! Welcome!” Suddenly, the
fairy queen became very kind, fluttering over to them.

Her powerful protectiveness over her
cocoons was tucked away, though not entirely gone.

“Welcome!” A tiny, pale yellow
fairy piped up from beside the fairy queen.

The fairy queen
’
s light dampened just a little when
she turned to the tiny fairy.

“This is our newest fairy,
Sundrop,” Fairy Queen Maybelle introduced none too happily.

“Hiya!” It squeaked, and she hurt
their ears even more than Dewdrop.

“Feel free to walk around. Do not
harm anything. You may visit the shops. See if you would like to buy something
or not,” the fairy queen suggested, and they nodded, each giving a slight bow
of the head.

Bending down a little, they exited
the little, gingerbread-cut house out onto the main escarpment, a courtyard of
sorts. They meandered around on the springy, plush grass awhile. Fairies
fluttered all around them, and they were ushered into a pale-gold, stucco
building. It was a hotel, according to the name written in very curly writing
above the entryway:
The Rainbow Stone Hotel
.

Both their eyes were huge with
wonder, taking in all the amazing sights surrounding them. They both branched
off, headed in different directions within the hotel. Francesca entered a room
where a bright pink fairy, fairly large for one of the fairy kind, awaited her
behind a rainbow-colored desk. The desk was very strange. It was wooden, but
she didn
’
t know what type of wood it could
possibly be as it shimmered with every color of the rainbow.

“Are you two staying the day with
us?” She asked politely, and Francesca blinked at her.

“This is an inn?” She asked, and
the little fairy bobbed up and down with a nod, tinkling like silver bells.

“But of course! This building
houses an inn, several novelty shops, and a restaurant. You two must try our
food at the very least,” the little fairy persisted, lighting up with hope and
excitement.

Francesca gave her a very wry look.
She knew when she was being worked over by a salesman, or in this case,
sales…fairy? How to be polite about this though?

“Lemme ask my counterpart,” she
responded diplomatically and hurried away from the very forthright fairy in
order to find Seph.

Meanwhile, Seph found herself
drifting around the fairies
’
apothecary. She allowed
her hands to brush over several jars containing unheard of ingredients, or at
least, exceptionally difficult ingredients to come by. There were powdered hens
’
teeth, eye of newt, even fairy
wings. She wondered how they felt about those.

“What would you like to buy?” A
mint-green fairy asked, appearing beside her elbow before buzzing up to her
head.

“Oh!” She jumped with surprise.
“Oh, no. Nothing, nothing,” she said, shaking her head as her eyes hungrily
perused the well-stocked shelves.

“You seem to want something,” the
observant fairy noted, and Seph smiled.

“I
’
m just really curious, that
’
s all. But, when I do start making potions for
whatever, I am definitely coming here for ingredients. I would love to make
potions…” she lamented, voicing one of her many unspoken wishes to this small
mint-green fairy.

“Well! If you want that!” It called
before buzzing off.

“Wait! Want what? Where
’
d you go?” She asked, trying to find
the fairy again.

She searched high and low for the
fairy when she suddenly popped back into the store lugging a very large book
with her. It was a large, heavy book even by Seph
’
s standards, and she was about one hundred times larger
than that tiny fairy. She took a cautionary step towards the green light that
was the fairy.

“This is a Potions Book, a very
ancient potions book,” the fairy explained, slamming the book onto the counter
loudly.

Seph studied it, hands skimming over
the leather-bound cover. The pages were clasped together with a very
stout-looking, brass clasp. It looked practically archaic, a true relic.

 “From the Minuscule to the
Murderous: Potions, by Apollo Wyckham,” the fairy said proudly, flitting over
the cover. “Best potions book ever made, ask any creature, and this is a first
edition,” she tinkled around Seph
’
s ears.

“Really? A first edition?” Seph
allowed her hands to unclasp the cover and slowly open the book, hands grazing
over the thick vellum pages.

“Yes! A first edition! Do you want
it? Do you want it?” The fairy asked excitedly.

The fairy was so eager to sell her
this book, and she really wanted it. Too bad she didn
’
t have any money. She doubted these fairies took human
currency anyways.

“
I don’
t have any money-” she started when the fairy dinged
impertinently beside her left ear.

“I did not ask you if you had any
money! I asked you if you wanted it! There is a difference!” Seph just stared
at the whorl of mint-green light in front of her.

“Yes. Of course I want it,” she
responded, hands still holding the book to her chest.

“Yes! My first sale! Do you want me
to place it in a bag? I can-” Now it was Seph
’
s turn to cut the fairy off.

“I have no money…
fairy. I can’
t pay for this. You can
’
t sell me this. I have nothing of
value,” the fairy looked shocked before coming to realize that Seph did not
know how these things worked in the magical community.

“We have not made proper
introductions. My name is Sage,” she started, pausing for Seph to respond.

“I
’
m Seph, Persephone Black,” she replied, and the fairy
’
s light grew brighter as she smiled
at her.

“Greetings, Persephone Black. In the
magical world, we have no currency. We usually sell things by way of bartering
or trading or sometimes the exchanging of favors. From you, for this book, I
want one favor and one pint of your blood. Vampire blood…” the fairy glowed
with anticipation, which Seph found to be very disconcerting.

“A favor? That sounds a bit risky
and a bit binding, Sage. As for my blood… there
’
s nothing special about it. It
’
s just a mix of all the bloods I
’
ve been drinking. I
’
m kinda hungry too. That will only make me hungrier-”
Sage tinkled indignantly as Seph rattled on.

“Fine, no blood! But I want my
favor!” She shouted at her, and Seph stepped back from the fairy
’s loud voice.

It sounded very risky and very
binding. The term magical contract rang a bell. That was when Dewdrop swooped
in.

“YES! SHE SHALL ACCEPT YOUR GIFT IN
EXCHANGE FOR ONE FAVOR, AND SHE HAS ALREADY DONE IT!” The little, mint-green
fairy
’
s light dampened a little at the
sight of the bright, blue Dewdrop.

“Oh? And what is that, Dewdrop?”
She asked, dislike lacing her tone.

“SHE IS TAKING ME AWAY FROM THE
FAIRY COLONY! I AM LEAVING TO STAY WITH THEM AT ZEPHYR HALL FROM NOW ON! WE
SHALL NO LONGER AGGRAVATE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. I SHALL NOT PESTER OR ANNOY YOU
ANY LONGER,”
Dewdrop
’
s light dampened a little as Sage
brightened up significantly.

“Really?! She is!? Why, yes then!
Yes, you have already done me a favor! You can have this book, and all the
ingredients you shall need for the first potion you make! Please! Please!”
Dewdrop glared at the fairy as Seph dazedly picked up her book, the old tome
heavy in her hands.

“What was that all about?” She
whispered to Dewdrop on their way out.

“I
’
ll tell you later,” Dewdrop whispered back, speaking
more in a normal voice than a whisper when she attempted to whisper.

“There you are! Did you know that
they have an inn here where you can stay the night or day? What
’
s that?” Francesca asked, coming up
to her and noticing the large book in her hands.

“It
’
s a potions book,” she said bluntly, not elaborating on
the subject.

She wished she had somehow managed
to hide it. She had never told anybody about her passion for potions or lack of
experience in that department. It was almost like she was afraid to try it, in
case she was bad at it.

“Potions?
You
like potions?”
Francesca asked in a voice that Seph didn
’
t
much care for.

“Ya,” she responded quietly as
Dewdrop led them towards the building
’
s
exit.

“Would ya like some grub?” A very
low-voiced fairy called, fluttering out of a somewhat set back tavern.

“Um… I
’m guessin’
it costs somethin
’
, and we
’
re kinda low in the money department,” Francesca
replied smartly, but the fairy tinkled with dismay.

“Y
’
all are newcomers! Yer first meal is free o
’
charge, o
’ course,
” she replied gruffly, and the two
girls looked at each other before shrugging with agreement.

“Why not?” Seph asked, and they
followed the deep purple fairy into the tavern.

Sitting at a small table, Dewdrop
buzzed between the two girls as they were first served a loaf of dark bread
studded with nuts and raisins. It was absolutely delicious. The two hadn
’
t noticed how ravenous they were
until that very moment. Truth be told, Seph didn
’
t have to eat real food anymore, but she didn
’
t mind it. It tasted good, although
it didn
’
t quench that gnawing hunger of
hers, wrestling trolls in the pit of her stomach.

Next, they were served carrot and
leek soup, rich with celery, carrots, leeks, onions, and all other kinds of
vegetables. After that, the fairy set down a whole wheel of cheese in front of
them, ripe with age, and also studded with nuts, berries, and herbs. It was
very good too. Francesca was full within seconds of devouring the cheese. Seph
’
s stomach was full, but her hunger…
her thirst… was not quenched.

“That was delicious… What was your
name again?” Francesca asked of the deep purple fairy, and her light brightened
with a smile.

“Indigo,” she responded, and they
both smiled at the appropriate name.

“Well, thank you very much,
Indigo,” Francesca said as they both rose from the sturdy, oaken table.  

Exiting the golden stucco hotel,
Dewdrop showed them around as they stared at the resilient, purple mountains
encasing the plateau. Rounding a little bend as they followed a trail, they
found themselves at a seashore? Perhaps it was a lakeshore, but there was no
land in sight at the edge of the faraway horizon. A bright green fairy was
there, tilling the land or sand, as it were. What did they grow here? What
produce could possibly grow in sand?

“
Hello, I am Grass,
” the bright green fairy said, not
halting from her constant work.

“What are you plowing the land for
here, Grass?” Seph asked, brow furrowed.

“Sand-berries,” Grass replied
matter-of-factly. “They are a strong and thriving berry that always grows, even
in sand. We grow them just in case. The bad winter…” the little fairy paused a
moment, light dampening as she shuddered.

Dewdrop
’
s light had also dampened. However,
Grass soon regained her high spirits and continued tilling the land methodically.
Dewdrop brightened a little, but she still looked a little dim.

“HAVE YOU SEEN EVERYTHING YOU
DESIRED?” Dewdrop squeaked, and the two girls winced as they walked off the
pearly-white, sand dunes back to the trail towards the main colonized area.

“Dewdrop, you don
’
t have to shout,” Francesca
commented, rubbing her smarting ears.

“WHAT?” The loud-voiced fairy
shouted, and they both winced again, headed for the exit of red and
white-spotted mushrooms in a ring.

“You
’
re shouting, Dewdrop,” Seph rebuked her gently. “Maybe
you don
’
t realize that you
’
re shouting, but you are. Maybe you
should just try whispering all the time because when you whisper, it
’
s like you
’
re talking in a normal voice,” Seph suggested, and the
fairy
’
s light dimmed.

“You dislike me?” She asked,
stopping.

They both turned around, feet away
from the toadstools.

“No! Of course we like you,
Dewdrop!” Francesca exclaimed.

“Why wouldn
’
t we?
” Seph added, and the fairy
’
s light brightened a little.

“REALLY?!” They both winced again.
“SORRY! Sorry,” she repeated, and they smiled, turning back to the mushrooms.

Seph paused feet away from the
circle.

“Where
’
s Silo?” She asked, and Francesca froze, slowly turning
to look back at her best friend with horror in her eyes.

“OVER HERE! Over here. He was
entertaining Sundrop,”
Dewdrop
’
s light brightened as Silo slowly
ambled over.

It was as though the fairy had
called him over in some unknown language. Maybe it was a type of telepathy? He
looked up at Dewdrop as though she had called him.

“Hey there, Silo!” Seph said with a
much happier attitude towards him than usual.

Little Silo snorted with glee,
entering the circle, and Seph stepped in after him. Francesca moved in quickly
as Dewdrop swirled around them. Silo nudged Seph
’
s leg affectionately.

“
A
’
erimo j
’
eet!
” Dewdrop cried out, and bright
light surrounded them as an intense ringing penetrated their ears.

Suddenly, they were back in the
same glade as before. Seph and Francesca blinked several times, shaking their
heads a little and staring around them. An enemy could sneak up on them easily
right about now. Seph gasped as a bright yellow butterfly just finished
flapping by her face. She turned to stare at the bright light that was Dewdrop.

“Time didn
’
t pass here, did it?” Seph stated more than asked, and
Dewdrop
’
s light brightened at Seph
’s quick observation.

“No! You could stay a week in our
fairy colony and not miss a moment here!” She seemed chipper about that.

Seph didn
’
t know what to think about it. She was unsure if it was
a good thing or a bad thing. Just how old were the fairies?