humans when you get your,” he cleared his throat and tried gesturing to me.
“Dad,” I scolded.
“Well. . .it’s sort of a rite of passage,” he said. “Your mother and I thought you were out of the woods. But there really is no telling. You don’t age like a faery, but you don’t age quite like a human. You are in between.”
“So I’m half faery.”
He heaved out a deep breath. I could tell by the way his eyes grew sharp and weary that his head hurt. “What you are, Calliope. . .it shouldn’t be.” He scratched his head the way he did when he was unsure of answers, but wanted to give some sort of information. “I had assumed you would be immune, but the fae blood must still run inside of me. I guess I was wrong. I had a feeling I was going to be wrong.”
“You think?” I nearly shouted.
“Please don’t be upset, Calliope. There was no way of knowing this.” He sunk back further in his seat, troubled. A million emotions passed across his eyes as he sat there, thinking. I wanted to crawl inside his head and know everything he was thinking, everything he was holding back.
I wanted to run. I wanted to get away, to be far from the forest, far from my father, far from my thoughts. I just wanted to be me and nothing else.
“I need some air.”
He didn’t stop me as I bolted for the garage door and headed for my car. I pulled the top down and started the engine, backing out of the driveway.
The world passed by me as I drove. Wind blew through my hair and flapped in my ears. Where was I even going? I couldn’t go to Cameron and I couldn’t go to Lia. What would I even say to them?
Hey, guess what? I’m a faery!
I didn’t want to go back to the trees with the bickering twins. So I just drove in circles. For hours.
Have you ever had the fear of drowning? I haven’t, but I have a feeling it would feel a lot like this. My lungs were closing in, making it hard for me to breathe while my mind was thrashing about trying to keep afloat. On the outside I might have looked calm, probably scary calm like the kind before the storm, but inside I was like a loose cannon ready to blow at any minute. I only required a trigger.
I drove without direction until it was dark out. When I got back home it was after seven and my mom still wasn’t home. All of my questions were starting to come to a head like lava in a volcano and if I didn’t ask them, I was going to erupt.
• • •
I found my dad in the same place I had left him, blank stare plastered to his face as he looked out the windows from the kitchen.
“This other world,” I said softly, getting his attention. “Your faery world. How long ago did you leave?”
He peered over at me and guarded his words. “When I met your mother, over twenty years ago.”
“So you left to be with Mom?” As surreal as it was, it was romantic.
He nodded.
I had so many questions. Everything I wanted to say, everything I wanted to ask jumbled all together, making it impossible to form a logical question.
“How can faeries do what you did? Faeries can simply choose to be human?”
He eyed me, choosing his words carefully. “Under special circumstances,” he said in all seriousness. “It’s not easy. It’s not as if one day a faery can just say, let’s be humans now. Most faeries don’t want anything to do with the human world. Some faeries find the idea of even becoming a human blasphemous.”
I took a deep breath. “What does all of this mean? If I’m a faery, what will become of me?”
My dad patted the seat beside him at the table. Once I was situated, he folded his hands, leaning his mouth against them, contemplating my question. “We’ll wait and see.”
“Wait,” I said. “Wait for what? For me to turn into a freak show? Will I have to live in that world? The faery world?”
“Faylinn.”
“What?”
“Our kingdom, our homeland, is called Faylinn,” he said.
Anger boiled under my skin when the thought of being lied to my whole
“Dad,” I scolded.
“Well. . .it’s sort of a rite of passage,” he said. “Your mother and I thought you were out of the woods. But there really is no telling. You don’t age like a faery, but you don’t age quite like a human. You are in between.”
“So I’m half faery.”
He heaved out a deep breath. I could tell by the way his eyes grew sharp and weary that his head hurt. “What you are, Calliope. . .it shouldn’t be.” He scratched his head the way he did when he was unsure of answers, but wanted to give some sort of information. “I had assumed you would be immune, but the fae blood must still run inside of me. I guess I was wrong. I had a feeling I was going to be wrong.”
“You think?” I nearly shouted.
“Please don’t be upset, Calliope. There was no way of knowing this.” He sunk back further in his seat, troubled. A million emotions passed across his eyes as he sat there, thinking. I wanted to crawl inside his head and know everything he was thinking, everything he was holding back.
I wanted to run. I wanted to get away, to be far from the forest, far from my father, far from my thoughts. I just wanted to be me and nothing else.
“I need some air.”
He didn’t stop me as I bolted for the garage door and headed for my car. I pulled the top down and started the engine, backing out of the driveway.
The world passed by me as I drove. Wind blew through my hair and flapped in my ears. Where was I even going? I couldn’t go to Cameron and I couldn’t go to Lia. What would I even say to them?
Hey, guess what? I’m a faery!
I didn’t want to go back to the trees with the bickering twins. So I just drove in circles. For hours.
Have you ever had the fear of drowning? I haven’t, but I have a feeling it would feel a lot like this. My lungs were closing in, making it hard for me to breathe while my mind was thrashing about trying to keep afloat. On the outside I might have looked calm, probably scary calm like the kind before the storm, but inside I was like a loose cannon ready to blow at any minute. I only required a trigger.
I drove without direction until it was dark out. When I got back home it was after seven and my mom still wasn’t home. All of my questions were starting to come to a head like lava in a volcano and if I didn’t ask them, I was going to erupt.
• • •
I found my dad in the same place I had left him, blank stare plastered to his face as he looked out the windows from the kitchen.
“This other world,” I said softly, getting his attention. “Your faery world. How long ago did you leave?”
He peered over at me and guarded his words. “When I met your mother, over twenty years ago.”
“So you left to be with Mom?” As surreal as it was, it was romantic.
He nodded.
I had so many questions. Everything I wanted to say, everything I wanted to ask jumbled all together, making it impossible to form a logical question.
“How can faeries do what you did? Faeries can simply choose to be human?”
He eyed me, choosing his words carefully. “Under special circumstances,” he said in all seriousness. “It’s not easy. It’s not as if one day a faery can just say, let’s be humans now. Most faeries don’t want anything to do with the human world. Some faeries find the idea of even becoming a human blasphemous.”
I took a deep breath. “What does all of this mean? If I’m a faery, what will become of me?”
My dad patted the seat beside him at the table. Once I was situated, he folded his hands, leaning his mouth against them, contemplating my question. “We’ll wait and see.”
“Wait,” I said. “Wait for what? For me to turn into a freak show? Will I have to live in that world? The faery world?”
“Faylinn.”
“What?”
“Our kingdom, our homeland, is called Faylinn,” he said.
Anger boiled under my skin when the thought of being lied to my whole
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