Kaleidoscope (Faylinn Series) (9 page)

“Morning, Dad,” I breathed. Things had thawed out between us since we bonded over the swing. I was grateful for it too because he was the only one who knew the truth. The only other person I could rely on.

“How did you sleep last night?”

“Great,” I replied as I rummaged through the fridge for breakfast.

He cleared his throat so I turned to see what he wanted to say. “Have you noticed any. . .” he broke off and thought about how to phrase his question, but before he could finish, Mom walked in.

“Good morning, sunshine!” she sang as she curled her arm around my waist. “You want me to make you some breakfast?”

“Uh. . .sure. What are you offering?”

“Well Dad and I had some waffles earlier if you want the same I still have some batter left over.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I sat down at the kitchen table and waited until he peered at me over the newspaper. I knew he wanted to ask me if I’d noticed any changes in my appearance so without saying a word, I simply shook my head.

He nodded discreetly and gazed back at the paper.

How was I going to explain where I was going?
Oh, I’m just going to go disappear in the forest for a few hours. Don’t worry about me.
No, I had to be secretive about it. I could tell my dad so at least he knew my whereabouts, but I had to do it when Mom wasn’t in earshot.

“No work today?” I asked as I finished my plate and Mom did the dishes.

“I have a few things I need to do from home, but I don’t have to go into the office today.”

“Well, that’s nice,” I said. And I did feel that was nice for her, but it was going to make it that much more difficult to get out of the house.

She nodded and smiled, finished the dishes and headed back to their bedroom to work I presumed.

“I’m going to go see Declan today,” I said quietly, wiping my mouth. “I wanted to let you know, so you don’t worry about me.”

“I don’t like it, Calliope.” He kept his eyes on his newspaper.

Well, I didn’t like that he had kept this gigantic secret for years.
Tough
. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it. After all this time, I deserve more information.”

His eyes peeked above the edge of the grey paper. “If you want, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

I shook my head. “It’s not the same.” I knew he would leave stuff out. Declan and Kai were the only ones who had been honest without being haggled. Well, without needing much haggling anyway.

He folded the paper and placed it down on the table while giving me the eye. That eye parents give when they don’t like what they’ve heard or seen. “So, that’s it. You’re just going to go hide in the trees all day long? What are those boys even doing so close to here?”

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? Are they not allowed to be?”

My dad sighed. “There is no ruling against it if that is what you are asking. I just don’t like it. They might have been around all this time, but I never knew and it felt better that way. Ignorance is bliss. I believe that’s the human saying. I liked it that way.”

I thought
I
was the one who had to come to terms with all of this. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Dad. You were the one who was basically telling me I needed to embrace the whole faery thing and now you want to hide it from me all over again.”

My dad heaved a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. What did he honestly expect? He knew I couldn’t hide from them either. Not anymore.

“It’s not that I want to hide it from you. It would simply be easier for you if you didn’t get so involved with them.”

“Dad, I’ve talked to them like once. I’m not running off and marrying one of them today, just having a simple conversation.” I decided to make nice. “Can I go? Please?”

“Do as you wish. I won’t stop you.”

I kissed him on the cheek and rinsed off my dish. “I’ll be back later. Just tell Mom I went out for some fresh air or something. You’ve had plenty of practice omitting the truth over the years.”

He rolled his eyes, but mustered up a smile to let me know he knew I was only giving him a hard time.

• • •

I tried to follow the same trail I took the last couple of times. There was no manmade trail, so I had to follow landmarks that stood out to me before: a moss covered log that looked like an alligator, the tree that looked like it was dancing. The sound of the stream needed to stay at my right.

“Calliope.” When I heard my name I spun around to see Declan smiling at me. “You came.” He sounded relieved as if he hadn’t believed that I would actually come.

“Of course I came. I don’t back out of promises.”

He smiled, disrupting the beats of my heart. Very few people had ever caught my attention. Maybe I was oblivious or maybe they simply weren’t that interesting. Declan was definitely interesting. Today rather than the bow and arrows slung across his shoulder, he had a thin belt with a sharp off-white dagger attached to his hip. It looked like the tooth of a large animal. The cream top was gone, baring his tanned skin once again. I don’t think the fae men knew the kind of effect a topless man could have on a girl. Or maybe the fae women were so used to it that it had little or no affect at all on them.

I noticed a certain body wasn’t lingering around and I hated myself for not feeling relief, but disappointment. “You alone today?”

He raised his hands to his hips and scanned the branches above us. “I don’t know where Kai is. We don’t always have the same schedule. I was getting so used to it only being me until he found his way over a few months back. I’m sure he’ll show up when he feels like it.”

I nodded, not really sure where to go from here. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but it felt strange to just dive in.

“Come,” he said, pointing to a gigantic rooted tree. “Have a seat.” He perched himself on one side, folding his legs under him and offered me the other root for a chair.

I chuckled. He was so nimble, which amused me because it wasn’t as if he had the body of a skinny dancer or anything. He was tall and burly. But, I suppose if they lived in trees they would have to learn to adapt to their surroundings.
Did they live in the trees?

“What?” he asked, perplexed by my amusement.

“Nothing.” I bit back a smile.

His pitch-black lashes fluttered, contrasting with the vibrant light blue in his eyes that still captivated me. “So you seem to be adjusting a little better than the first time we met,” he observed.

“I’m definitely not completely adjusted, but being the daughter of a faery isn’t something you can hide from. I guess you could say I’ve. . .come to terms with it.”

“So, you are happy to be a faery?” Declan tilted his head, hopeful.

“I wouldn’t go that far. I’m. . .learning to adapt,” I said.

He nodded, but didn’t speak. His eyes didn’t shy away from me. They stayed focused and curious as if I was the only thing that mattered.

I decided to start with the questions. We had sat awkwardly for long enough. “Why are you even here? Why aren’t you in Faylinn all the time?”

Declan blew air from his lips. “Faylinn is ruled by a faery that isn’t the most. . .pleasant faery.” He chose his words carefully. “Not that many faeries
are
pleasant, but he’s brought a whole new level to faery cruelty. Quite honestly, Faylinn is falling apart and he doesn’t even care. He doesn’t even realize it’s his fault it’s falling apart.”

I resituated on the root, getting more comfortable. “What’s happening to Faylinn?”

“A lot of Faylinn’s faeries are slowly dwindling away. Some just disappear without a trace and others are dying, younger than they should. The longer Favner rules the fewer there are of us.” He scratched his head. “No one wants to live under a malicious king, but most don’t want to live in the human world. To have to wear such confining clothes and speak as you speak. To have to learn the ways of money and your human jobs. It terrifies us. Some try to leave, but if they don’t truly want to be human. . .they don’t survive. And no faery can live in the human world unharmed.” The angst in Declan’s voice was apparent. “And those that do survive. . .the ones that come crawling back to Faylinn aren’t forgiven.” He paused as if not wanting to continue. “They are tortured and do not survive.”

I cringed at that morbid thought. What kind of a place did my father come from? “What does he do to make them want to leave in the first place?”

Declan looked sorely thoughtful, trying to decide where to start. “We used to be equals. No matter the season we were born. No matter where we lived. No matter the gender or outward appearance. There was a time when we got to be with our families and thrive in the jobs we were born to do. We were able to pick when we wanted to reproduce, where we wanted to live. We had freedom. But Favner,” he said, taking a breath. “Favner split us up. He tore apart our families and divided us into separate colonies. Now, we are told what to do and when. We are required to do as he commands. Eat, sleep, work, and reproduce.”

“What do you mean by colony?”

“We were each born into a colony: Sowers, Craftsmen, Keepers or Weavers. We were raised in those colonies and taught the ways of each trade. When he became king he created a new colony: The Nesters.”

“What are the colonies for?” I leaned forward now, painfully immersed in the world of Faylinn. Declan looked too upset to talk about it, so I stopped him before he started. “I mean. . .you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay. You’ll need to learn about it sooner or later.” He paused before continuing as if debating how to reveal the information. “The Sowers are the gardeners and hunters so to speak. They produce all of our food by hunting or farming. But instead of farming when it’s time, they are forced to harvest from dawn until dusk so there is always an abundance of produce. Not that an abundance of food is a bad thing, but a lot of it goes to waste. To a faery, being wasteful of nutrition is almost sacrilege.”

Being wasteful of nutrition should be sacrilege to anyone.

“The Craftsmen build the dwellings and repair them. They construct whatever the king wants. And it must be done rapidly. If the king wants a new tower on his castle, the Craftsmen are commanded to build it in a day. Granted faeries are swifter than humans, but they aren’t
that
swift. Which causes more issues.”

“So the Craftsmen are basically the manual labor.” I grew tired at the thought of physically working constantly. “They must be exhausted all the time.”

He nodded. “They are. They are worked to death. That is the only way we are allowed to stop. We serve until death takes us.”

I had to lean back against the tree now for support. “What about the rest of the faeries?”

“The Weavers provide clothing, blankets, curtains, all things that require material. They weave the fabric and create anything you might need. They always supply things like jewelry, wreaths and baskets. They are very good with their hands.”

“Like a seamstress.”

He nodded. “The Keepers are the protectors. They keep the boundaries of Faylinn guarded to ensure no one intrudes and they keep the peace inside the kingdom. The Keepers have the most leniencies with their job. They are allowed to have the most rest because Favner wants his guards alert at all times. They can rotate more often and have a little more flexibility for free time. He really wants his guards well taken care of. Apparently we have something important to protect. I think Favner is just worried someone will come and overthrow his reign as king.” Declan bowed his head and focused on the ground. He shook his head and blew out a huff of air.

“What about the Nesters? The new group Favner formed,” I prompted.

“Nesters.” I could tell this was the one that bothered him the most. “The Nesters bear seedlings. No other colony is allowed to reproduce because
apparently
the other jobs are too important to be put on hold for reproduction. But as a result the Nester fae are dwindling away. Bearing a new seedling is tiring. It takes only a month not nine months like humans, but as soon as one seedling is born, another must be created. And the process is repeated until the faery can no longer handle carrying another. They don’t survive long. Nesters are never not expecting.”

“So not every woman gets the opportunity to have children?” That thought churned knots in my stomach. Declan shook his head without meeting my eyes. “How did Favner decide who was meant for each colony?”

“He needed to keep our kingdom populated so there was one Nester selected from every family. They were the first to be picked. And then he divided us up from there as he saw fit.”

Divide them, as if they were game pieces to be dispersed among players.

Another thought twisted my stomach as I thought of the possibilities. “How are...seedlings. . .?” I didn’t know how to phrase this. Did faeries procreate the same way we did? And if so, did that mean they were forced to create with one they didn’t love?

“How are seedlings created?” Declan let me off the hook.

I nodded, trying to keep the blush from my cheeks.

“How is anything reproduced?”
Did he really want me to answer that question?
“The fae are made the same way that a human is,” he simplified.

“So they have to. . .with others that they don’t. . .” I couldn’t bring myself to follow-through with my questions.

Declan merely gave me a look, affirming my now deepest fear. “They do get to choose who they create with, but I suppose that doesn’t really make it any better. There were several couples who were separated, forced to create with another.”

I shook my head. I was specifically stuck on the Nesters now because unless I had a sibling I didn’t know existed, which was highly unlikely, I was the last in my family. The only one who could. . .create.

“Each colony used to bond within their own colony, but since Favner forbids bonding. . .”

“Bonding?” I questioned.

“Marrying,” he clarified. “I believe that’s what humans refer to it as.”

“You have to marry within your own colony? You don’t get to choose from anyone in the kingdom.”