Fae Star (7 page)

I hid behind a tree every time I heard a sound. Everything was going pretty smoothly. I was almost to the castle when I saw the last person I ever expected to see. I had thought Ian would be tied up or in a dungeon somewhere, but here he was pacing back and forth on the castle grounds. Ian didn’t look so good. His hair was messed up and it looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Was this a trap? A hallucination?

I didn’t care. I ran up to Ian and threw my arms around him. “Ian, you’re okay!” I said, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Don’t
touch
me,” Ian said, pushing me away, “after what you did!”

I was so stunned that I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. I ran through all of the times that I had been rude to Ian. He hadn’t seemed mad about it then, so why was he acting like this now?

“Um, what did I do?” I asked.

Ian laughed, but it was a crazy, maniacal sound, not a laugh of happiness. I realized that his eyes looked a little insane too.

“Like you don’t know,” he said, dragging out each word, “You broke my heart.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about!” I said, my voice rising.

Ian reached toward me, and I could tell that he was going to jump me somewhere, but I held out my little needle from the sewing kit. I was still a little fast from the blood I had drank from Ian a few days ago, and I was able to jab Ian’s finger with my little needle at the same time that I dodged out of his reach. I licked the blood off the needle as Ian watched me in disgust.

I felt the familiar rush of energy filling my veins as I ran toward the castle. I had a hunch that
Arthas
was the one who had altered Ian’s memories. If I wanted Ian back,
Arthas was the one that I would have to face.

Made giddy by fae food and blood, I yelled Arthas
’ name as I ran up to the castle door.

“State your name and business,” a guard said. There were two of them. One was tall and heavy, the other was skinny and short.

They didn’t know I wasn’t fae. They didn’t know I could lie.

“I found this,” I said, holding up a button from the sewing kit, “It is very special to Sir Arthas
. I’d like to return it to him.”

“Very well,” said the short guard, “I’ll make sure he gets it.”

“No!” I said, trying to think on my feet, “I heard there was a reward…”

The bigger of the two guards looked at me skeptically before opening the door to the palace.

I tried to look confident as I walked through the door.
Arthas was standing in the throne room, speaking in hushed tones to the king and queen.

“What did you do to Ian?” I demanded of Arthas
.

“Why, don’t you know, Erica? I simply restored his memories to their rightful state. I can’t make anyone believe anything that they don’t fear has some truth already.”

“Change him back!” I shouted.

“Or what?” Arthas countered.

“Or this!” I yelled, charging at Arthas
with my tiny sewing needle. I poked his hand hard, and blood started
dripping out.

“Y-you thought you could hurt me with that little needle?” Arthas
said, laughing so hard he could barely talk. I licked the needle and felt more of the fae energy that I had before. I was now much faster than
Arthas
, and I poked him again, taking blood from his other arm. I went back four more times after that, hovering over him like a giant mosquito.

“Stop! Enough!”
Arthas
said, “Guards! Seize her!” except that by then I had enough blood to outmaneuver all of the guards, dodging all of their approaches. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, I would use my needle and get more blood from the guards.

Just to get on Arthas
’ nerves, I took a couple more drops from him. Soon afterwards, I felt something in my brain shift. At first I thought I was going insane from all the fae food I had eaten. (I pilfered even more food on my way into the castle.) I felt like I could see various “slides,” or pieces, of each person’s mind. After a second, I realized that I was seeing their memories. I concentrated on the mind of the guard currently attacking me, and I noticed that he had a memory that was different from the others - altered. It was of
Arthas doing noble things and rising into power until he was
the king’s advisor. When I focused on this memory specifically, it shimmered. I was contemplating how to get rid of it, and the more I thought about
it,the
smaller it got. Finally, it disappeared. The guard looked up, confused.

He stopped attacking me and looked around, as if he had forgotten where he was. Another guard took his place. This guard had the same altered memory as the first, and so I simply erased it. After creating confusion among several of the guards, I turned my attention to
Arthas.

“What have you done?” he roared, “Only I have the power to add false memories!”

“Yes, but I have your blood,” I said, “and a whole lot of fae food.”

I wondered if I could change Arthas’s
memories. I looked into his eyes and I knew that he was about to change my memories too. Since I had my star power going for me, I was faster. I needed to come up with a memory that would make
Arthas
feel like he needed to leave right way. I knew I was short on time, so I added the first thing that popped into my head - a memory that he had to meet up with a loved one at
Gelsey’s
cabin right away.

Arthas
laughed, “Leave in the middle of a fight to meet with a dear friend? That is something I would never do. It has to be believable - like this!” I could almost feel
Arthas scrolling through my memories, trying to decide what false memory to add.

My blood froze as I waited for the memory to appear, but then it was my turn to laugh. I suddenly “remembered”
Arthas rightfully gaining power in the fae realm, and that I had become his servant.

“I’m supposed to obey you as my ruler?” I asked, “Like I’d ever do that!”

The thing is, memory spells aren’t nearly as effective when you know someone is casting one on you and you’re just waiting for a false memory to appear.

“I give up,” I said, “I’m going home. This isn’t my fight anyway.”

“Don’t let her get away!” Arthas shouted at the remaining guards he commanded.

I was way too fast for them to catch me, but I didn’t leave the castle. Instead, I hid behind a very large potted plant where no one could see me and waited for the commotion to die down.

I watched Arthas
from between the leaves in the plant and looked through his memories. As I concentrated on
Arthas
’ memories, I quickly realized that my magic hadn’t worked on him before because he had no loved ones. He only cared about power. I would have to try a different technique. Hoping for the best, I inserted the memory that
Arthas
had heard of a great fortune to be earned by the person who could heal the royal family and servants of their madness. I made sure that in the memory, the person giving the reward was a royal ally who lived really far away. So if
Arthas
believed the memory, he would have to heal the royal family himself and then travel to the other side of the world to earn his reward. It was a long shot, but I knew that
Arthas would do anything for fame and fortune.

“The fortune shall be mine!” Arthas
said out loud to himself. I could hear him as he walked around the castle, repairing the memories that he had destroyed and saying, “I,
Arthas, have healed you of your madness.”

After a while, I could no longer see the memories in the heads of the people, and I realized my power was fading.

I followed Arthas
as best as I could, moving from one potted plant to another so I wouldn’t be seen. Finally,
Arthas got to the king and queen and restored their memories, so that the king looked less angry and the queen looked less sad.

I held my breath when Arthas
reached Ian.

“I, Arthas, heal you of your affliction!” he said, and Ian stopped looking devastated and instead looked confused.

“I’m off to claim my fortune!” Arthas said.

Chapter 16

Once Arthas
was gone, I slipped out of the shadows. Ian saw me, but he didn’t say anything. I started walking toward him, but he turned his back to me and took off in the other direction.

“Wait!” I called out, but it was too late. He disappeared, and I knew he had jumped to who-knows-where.

Was he still mad at me about whatever fake memory Arthas
had given him? That wasn’t fair!

Ian wouldn’t leave me in the fae realm,would
he? I decided the best thing to do would just be to sit down and wait. I walked through the castle, noting the lack of comfortable chairs. Most were made of gold, or wood, stone, and I was looking for something of the sofa variety. Finally, I discovered a big arm chair with plenty of cushioning. My eyelids got heavier and heavier until finally, I stopped fighting against them.

When I woke up, Ian was standing over me, and it took me a moment to realize that I was still in the castle.

“Well, look who it is,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and fixing him with a cold stare. I wouldn’t let him have power over my emotions again.

“Erica,” he said, looking at the ground nervously, “I just stopped by to apologize for how I acted earlier. You know that wasn’t the real me.
Arthas
had been toying with my mind. He made me think you did things you didn’t really do.”

“Here’s the thing,” I said, “Arthas
can’t make you believe something unless deep down, you think there’s some possibility it could happen. So you must think I’m capable
of some pretty bad things, huh? Well, maybe I am.”
I got
up and walked out of the room, slamming the door in his face.

Ian just jumped into the hallway I was in now and continued talking like nothing had happened, “Arthas
preys on our fears,” Ian said, “And deep down I’ve always know that I cared about you a lot more than you cared about me, so it wasn’t that hard to believe you could betray me. It’s what I’ve been fearing all along. That you would fall in love with someone else…”

The whole issue made me feel kind of awkward, so I changed the subject, “Are we still ‘Promised,’ or whatever?”

“Yes,” Ian said, looking up at me for the first time since he had gotten there, “Is that okay?”

“You tell me,” I said, my voice softening against my will.

“Erica,” he said, “You know that if it was up to me, we’d already be married.” His voice broke, and he swallowed hard. I had done my best to stand firm, but my resolve wavered. I threw my arms around Ian and held him close to me.

“One more thing,” Ian said, “Now that Seth’s back, I may not ever become king. Is that okay?”

I laughed so hard that I could barely speak, but I finally said, “Ian, I’m not marrying you for your
title
. I don’t care about the throne.”

“I’m going to stay with you in your world,” Ian said, “I’ll have to go back every full moon for the royal congress, but other than that…”

I didn’t respond at first,and
he misinterpreted my silence for reluctance. He continued, “I could still spend nights in the castle. I can jump there. And it’s not like I’ll
hover over you - I’ll give you your space. I think you’ve proven that you can handle attacks by the fae in this world.” I think Ian and I realized at the same time that I didn’t need him as my protector anymore, “And in return,” Ian said, “I’ll help you with your family, and you can stay at the castle whenever you need a break.”

“Deal,” I said. For all the trouble they had caused me, I missed my family, and I was glad that I didn’t have to go back to the fae world anytime soon.

“I’m going to take you back to your family,” Ian said, “but after that, I need to go clear my name.”

Even though I knew Holly-who-looked-just-like-me would be there, I still jumped when I saw myself lying across my bed, thumbing through one of Julia’s Vogue magazines.

“Thank goodness you’re here!” Holly exclaimed when she saw me. She snapped her fingers and the other me was replaced with a short,
slender woman
with long, flowing red hair.

“Those kids are brats,” Holly said, “No offense. I don’t know how you put up with them.”

“It’s not always easy,” I said, “but it’s what I’m used to.”

“Sorry about the house,” Holly said, “I did what I could.” She walked out of my bedroom and left me expecting the worst. I hesitantly stepped out of my bedroom. My brothers were wrestling, there was a small fire in the kitchen garbage can (which I quickly put out), and Julia had some boy with multiple tattoos hanging out in her room. The whole house looked like a frat party had been thrown there.

“Enough!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. My brothers stopped fighting, Julia came out of her room (without the boy), and they began to clean up the mess they had made, with a little prodding from me.

“I thought you said you didn’t care what we did anymore,” Stephen said.

“I changed my mind,” I said.

After several hours, the house was clean and life went back to what it was before.

Ian showed up a few hours later, knocking on the front door so that my siblings wouldn’t wonder how he had entered the house.

“How convenient, you showed up right after we got done cleaning,” I said, “Did you find out what happened between you and Seth the day you went horseback riding?”

“Yes, and Arthas
must have had this whole thing planned all along. He kidnapped Seth, knowing he was the heir to the throne. Then
Arthas
altered Seth’s memories so that Seth would trust him and think we were the true enemies.
Arthas planned to become Seth’s advisor when Seth went back to the castle years later and claimed his throne.”