The Outcast
Chapter 2: Birthday Surprise

Due to her lack of friends, Lily Rosale’s birthdays were never that different from the one before. She had come to enjoy the birthday treats that her parents made her and the way the cats sang to her so badly.

Her fifteenth birthday came with no new surprises that morning.

“Haaaaaaappy biiiirthday to you! Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” Kiki sat on her forehead and sang in a very off-tone, shrill voice that she was exaggerating. “Now wakey-wakey so we can eat your cakey!”

“Ki, it’s the crack of dawn” Lily groaned, reaching up to push the small cat off her head.

“Yup! It’s a beautiful day! Hey!”

Kiki yelped a little as Lily moved one lazy arm up and pulled the feline down into a hug, partially out of affection and partially to shut her up for a moment.

“Lemme go!” Kiki struggled, wriggling until she was released.

Lily rolled over in her single sized bed and buried her face back into her pillow. But she was not going to receive any freedom from Kiki. The small cat jumped onto her shoulder blade and began kneading.

“Lily, get up! Your dad wants to see you before he goes to work” Kiki whined close to Lily’s ear.

Lily grumbled sleepily into the pillow.

It didn’t take her long, however, to drag herself out of the warm embrace of her duvet. She pulled on her dressing gown which was white with a grey fluffy trim on the interior to keep her warm. The early morning sunlight that peaked through the sky-lights in the hallway made the shimmer of her skin sparkle. It gave her pale skin a silver glow. Yawning widely, Lily walked into the kitchen and smiled as she saw her father finishing off his breakfast of fresh fruit.

“Morning Dad,” Lily mumbled.

“Ah, it lives!” Her father turned his head to smile over at his daughter who resembled him so much these days.

They shared the same silver eyes, pale skin which glittered with silver dust, and white hair; Isa Rosales’ cropped and smart, pushed back in a traditional cut, while Lily’s was messy from sleep and daring to reach her hips. They also had the same slightly rounded chin and long pointed ears. Maybe if she had had wings, Lily would have sported the same white-feathered type as he did.

“Thought you were going to sleep the whole morning away.” He chuckled.

“I was,” Lily yawned again as she sat down on the breakfast bar next to her father. “Kiki woke me up with her screeching.”

“Excuse you! That was my best singing voice!” Kiki commented in mock indignation as she hopped up onto the main kitchen table. She sat herself down beside her father’s companion Felix, a grey squirrel which was cleaning its tail waiting for her father to finish his breakfast.

“Yes, we all heard it too.” Her father chortled, reaching over to pull his daughter into a hug “Happy birthday Lily,” he added in a merry tone.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Oh, you’re up!” Lily’s mother’s voice sounded out as she bustled into the kitchen. Terra Rosales was a slim green fairy with large butterfly wings which were folded up delicately behind her as she walked, carrying a small present in her left hand. “We thought we were going to have to wait till tonight to give you this” She swept over to Lily, her long lime dress flowing around her ankles. Her mother held out the present to Lily, her arm passing by a golden streak of light from the side window making her skin glitter green.

Lily smiled as she took it. “Thank you,” she chimed brightly.

Birthdays for Lily were never huge events where she got presents a-plenty. Usually presents on birthdays came as happily given treats from others in the community; those who could make clothes, jewellery, ornaments, furniture etc, would give them to the fairy celebrating their day of birth.

The community, of course, didn’t want to be seen involved in giving Lily treats like that. But every year, Lily’s parents were able to create something with a great deal of learning and practise. All the companions tried to help as well, usually with fetching materials that could be used for the next present.

Lily’s mother’s companion fluttered onto Lily’s shoulder. Bella was a tiny but brightly beautiful hummingbird with mostly green feathers that matched Terra’s hair. “Open it Lils!” Bella chirped.

“Yeah!” Kiki called with a purr.

“You all know what it is...” Lily chuckled softly, noticing the fond smile that her parents were wearing and the way all companions had turned attention to her. Even Oscar had sat upon the sun-soaked window sill. Despite that comment, she ripped the brown paper off the present and let a delicate necklace drop into her hand.

“Oh… wow!” She whispered out in awe as she picked up the necklace to dangle it in front of her face. It was a thin silver chain that glittered like her skin, with a large teardrop blue-green opal hanging from it. As the sun’s rays hit the jewel it glistened like the surface of a still, unpolluted oceanscape. “It’s gorgeous!” she breathed, her eyes watering a little in gratitude.

Her father, now getting up from his seat, walked over to Lily and gave her a very tight hug and kissed the side of her head. “Happy birthday Lil. I’ll see you tonight” He walked over to his wife and kissed her softly with a smile “See you later Terra,” he said softly before glancing at Felix and motioning to the door. The squirrel hopped off the table, and after a detour onto the kitchen counter to nuzzle Lily’s hand and get a kiss from her on the top of his head, Felix jumped after her father and headed out of the front door.

As the front door shut behind them, Lily’s mother started to clear up the bowl that her father had been using. “We’re going to have a huge meal tonight, I’ve managed to get a few favours in from the harvest and I’m going to make strawberry and lime cheesecake,” She said as she cleared the dish easily with water magic.

“Really? Awesome!” Lily grinned. Strawberry and lime cheesecake was her favourite dessert, but usually, they couldn’t get enough strawberries to use them all for one dessert.

Her mother glanced back at her daughter and chuckled “Here, let me.” Lily had been fumbling to try and get the necklace open and around her neck. She took the silver chain and walked around the counter. Once Lily had bundled up all her white locks and pulled them up out of the way, her mother quickly and easily hooked the necklace around Lily’s pale neck.

Lily looked down at the jewel twinkling against her chest, it shone more than her skin and she couldn’t help but grin at the sight of it. Her parents must have taken most of the last year to perfect making something like this.

“It’s really beautiful Mom!” Lily raised her hand to run her fingers over the jewel as Kiki jumped up on the counter to look at it closely. Oscar wasn’t as bothered, he had probably been the one who had patiently sat with her parents in the finishing process being asked his opinion. Even to her parents, Oscar was sometimes brutally honest, but it was always with Lily’s best interest in mind.

“It suits you, I’m so glad we chose that opal. We debated a ruby or amethyst, but Oscar thought the blue colour of that would suit you better” Lily’s mother mused as she stepped back and looked at the necklace with a fond approval before heading over to the large, overflowing fruit bowl and began to pick various fruits out for her and Lily’s breakfast.

“I love it Mom,” Lily exclaimed as she observed the trinket around her neck before getting up and walking over to Oscar when he sunned himself “Thank you, Ozzy.”

“Only the best.” Oscar purred gently.

“It’s so pretty,” Kiki complimented.

Giving Oscar one last affectionate scratch behind the ear, Lily turned to walk back to the counter and sat herself down as her mother placed a bowl in front of her. An array of mango, orange, banana, kiwi, pineapple, and pear sat chopped inside with a generous amount of sweetened evaporated fugacapra milk. Lily’s mother always made sure that they had enough milk for her to create many kinds of food for all of those within the house.

With a soft thank you, Lily dug into her breakfast. It may have been early but getting up on her birthday always succeeded in making her feel more confident even if just for the one day.

This year, her birthday had fallen on a day when she didn’t have to attend any form of learning. Lily was tempted to spend it on the far edges of the kingdom, out by the thin bridges that connected them to the other cities that came their way for information from the elders. The bridges were simply a very thin stretch of the barrier which reached out to another part of the woodland where more fairy homes were situated. Generally, these bridges were void of people, and so Lily could sit with Oscar and Kiki, watching the movement of the large woodland beneath her or experimenting with another idea of what she could make happen with her magic.

She didn’t have to worry about River, her gang, or anyone else bothering her there.

“Oh, bloombursts!” Lily’s mother suddenly exclaimed, causing Lily to look up from the spoonful of mango she had picked out as her next mouthful. “Your father forgot his lunch” came the explanation.

She was holding a small box of food that had been prepared for Lily’s father. She glanced over to the window as though to judge the position of the sun in the sky. “I’ll have to dash to get it to him before I get to the harvest today.”

“I could drop it off to him?” Lily offered helpfully. She didn’t really like visiting her father at work. He worked in the central hall, where the elders often held their meetings.

“Are you sure?” Her mother sounded apprehensive. She knew that the reception Lily got in their main city hall was not a pleasant one, and she didn’t like the idea of her listening to such things on any normal day, let alone her birthday.

Lily nodded, however, putting on a brave smile “Yeah. I was going to head to the bridges anyway, so I can drop it in while I go past.”

With the necklace hanging against her chest, Lily felt like she could ignore whatever the whispers said for a brief visit into the city hall. She would have a free day and then a fantastic dessert tonight to look forward to. Plus, it would only take a moment to drop off a box and leave again.

Still, her mother hesitated, a pang of resigned guilt moving over her features. Finally, she gave Lily a strained sort of smile and placed the box down on the counter “Thank you, sweetheart.” She kissed her daughter’s temple lightly “I’ll see you tonight ok?”

“Yup!” Lily chirped, making sure to keep any concern about going to the city hall off her face. She didn’t want her mother to feel any guiltier than she already did; her parents were always doing their best to keep Lily out of the community’s line of fire. Not that they could protect her from everything, but Lily knew how much they had altered their lifestyles since her birth.

Another quick kiss and her mother had bustled back into the bedroom she shared with Lily’s father to get ready for work. It barely took her any time, having only needed to get her hair into a braided bun so it was out of the way and to pick up her harvesting gloves, and soon her mother’s green butterfly wings were unfolding themselves while she walked through the entrance.

“Enjoy your day sweetie!” Her mother chimed.

“Thanks, Mom! Have a good day!” She called after her mother who waved to her from the kitchen door before heading out of the front door, Bella the hummingbird following quickly.

Silence fell over the room, only Oscar’s satisfied purring on the windowsill could be heard alongside the clinking of Lily’s spoon hitting the bowl as she scooped out the last few mouthfuls of evaporated milk.

“You didn’t have to offer,” Kiki commented in an off-hand voice. “I know you always want to do what you can, but River and her gang are bound to be there, making themselves out to be more important than they are.”

“I know, but it’s just a quick visit. We’ll be out again before anyone can say anything.” Lily said, getting up to wash her bowl up “Besides, they can’t do anything physical to me somewhere that public, they have their façade to keep up.”

“Yeah, they have to pretend to be such perfect children” Oscar grumbled from the window “Otherwise their parents would get schtick for raising the little rats the way they have!”

The larger of the two cats was always very cold to the topic of the Elders and their children. Ever since that day they had sent Lily off one of the highest branches in the kingdom, he had shown no care to hide his opinion of them.

“Exactly,” Lily agreed. “If we ignore them, we won’t have any problems. I’ll go wash and change, then we’ll go out early; maybe they won’t even be there this early.”

Inwardly, she hoped with everything she had that they weren’t. Lily knew that even if she didn’t react to their jibes, the words still drove the pain further into her soul. In the last few years, she had been mocked over so many little things that they had affected her even if she didn’t say it. The most obvious was the fact she no longer wore dresses; because her panties had been mocked so many times from that day of her fall, she couldn’t face giving anyone else another chance to flick up a skirt or dress.

When Lily came back from bathing and changing, she was wearing a pair of white cotton pants, loose and easy to manoeuvre in, and a dark green vest top. The necklace was tucked just under the neckline, hiding the trinket from view so it didn’t catch any unnecessary looks.

“You guys ready?” She asked, finishing tying her hair as she walked into the kitchen again. She had pulled the now brushed hair over her right shoulder and was binding it into a tight braid to stop it from catching on anything outside.

Both cats bounded off their respective surfaces and trotted over to her, Kiki nuzzling against Lily’s bare ankle as Oscar walked over to the door. With a smile, Lily walked over to pick up her dad’s lunch as well as her own and placed them in a small green cotton bag she took from the first drawer on the left of the sink.

The day outside was beautiful. It was a day in early autumn, with a warmth that crept even into the shadows. A yellow hue had begun to show on the leaves outside of the magical barrier, giving the canopy a beautiful glow as the sun shone against and through them. Within the barrier, the leaves retained their green colour, sustained by the magic of the community to keep them optimal all year round.

The moment Lily opened the front door, she placed out a hand and, with next to no concentration, grabbed hold of a vine which grew down from the branch above. She had become rather adept with all magic which could help her get around the community, and most importantly, save her if anything dangerous happened to her again. Lily hung from the vine long enough to let the cats fly out and to shut the door behind them, then she silently willed it to pull her up onto the solid branch.

The moss on the bark was soft and spongy against her feet. The sun had given it a warmth which made her unable to resist curling her toes into the embrace of the green folds.

“What a day!” Oscar said as he landed beside her and made his wings vanish as usual. “Lunch on that sunny bridge is going to be luxurious!”

“Feeling like napping today?” Lily chuckled.

“Well, I was out hunting last night in the main woods,” Oscar said with a yawn. “I didn’t replace anything cool enough to bring back though.”

“The woods aren’t well travelled enough to replace anything that cool” Lily reminded him as Kiki landed on the other side of her. “But I wouldn’t mind lying in the sun for a while,” she added, setting off up the branch with careful and light-footed movements.

Compared to any other fairy, Lily was obviously used to moving through their home on foot. She was graceful as she climbed what she could, and her magic was seamless to aid the three of them over gaps and up elevations that were too large for her reach. Lily had slightly more muscle than the average fairy now as well, giving her a toned look as she pulled herself up onto the thick branch protruding out from the main trunk where the city hall was situated.

The central tree of the fairy city was a large oak tree whose branches reached out to entwine with the trees surrounding it. The trunk was thick with a maze of official rooms within. There was a door to this internal city hall on every bough that protruded from the trunk. The quickest one to take to see her father was the third up from the bottom on the east side of the trunk. Lily had to swing across on a vine to reach the east side of the tree, but it was a better choice than walking through the whole set of rooms within. Once she was inside, all she would have to do was walk past the Elder meeting room and up the small set of stairs to her father’s office.

Pulling the door open, Lily stepped inside.

The city hall wasn’t lit by much natural light as most homes, instead, there were balls of light magic hovering on the walls of the corridors. It was like looking at stars in the night sky, though the amount of them made the walkways and rooms bright and welcoming. Lily never felt welcomed, but she did appreciate the beauty of the light magic.

Her bare feet took her quietly over the smooth wooden flooring. She was as silent as the cats’ soft paws which pattered along beside her.

“They’ve started already?!” A voice suddenly sounded from the door Lily was passing. Lily stopped in her tracks. She recognised the sullen voice of Jared Linwood’s mother, Layla Linwood, the Shadow Elder. Lily’s silver eyes glanced to the door behind which the voice had sounded; the last thing she wanted was for them all to be leaving the room while Lily was in the line of sight.

There wasn’t any sound of movement within, only firm voices. The urgency seemed to make it harder for Lily to keep herself walking past, she couldn’t help but be curious what the pressing tone was about.

Stepping closer to the closed door, Lily raised her finger to her lips telling the two cats not to make a noise.

Inside the five Elders seemed to be alone in their discussions.

“My companion followed a pair, they were headed to a large building protected by magic.” A gentle voice sounded. That voice belonged to Clara Lior, the Light Elder. “He couldn’t go inside but he watched for a while and saw more entering.”

“There are still a few years before the century is up though?” The plant Elder, Douglas Irving said.

“They will need to make sure all their youths are ready for it though. Were those entering young?” Water Elder, Livius Barrett’s stern voice added in. There was a moment of silence before he continued, whoever he had addressed must have simply nodded. “They must be setting up a training facility to make sure they make the most of this century.”

“You think they would make their young join in?” Clara’s voice seemed wary of thinking such a thing.

Outside, Lily’s brows had furrowed a little. Who were they talking about? Could it be that they were discussing the first sign that this century’s massacre, there were still five years till that was due? As far as she was aware, that was the only thing that could be related to in terms of centuries.

“Witches don’t care about age.” A new fifth voice spat. That must have been the Ice Elder, Lily thought, having never actually met that final elder. “They will want as many people gathering wings as they can get.”

A heavy silence fell over the room. Lily could feel the tension mount on her shoulders even from outside the door. Her silver eyes glanced to the cats either side of her, the fear she felt in that moment reflected out of their eyes. Everyone had hoped that this would be the century where it just didn’t happen.

Lily went to move away, but the voices starting again inside caused her to stop again.

“Do we have any idea which city within the kingdom they are starting with?” Livius asked.

“If we did, maybe we could increase the defence there and reduce the casualties?” Douglas added.

“No,” came Layla’s voice “If Clara’s companion is right, there’s no chance of getting inside their gathering to replace that out. They would pick out a fairy companion in an instant, and our wings would give us away.”

“We’ll have to keep a watch from the outside and see what we can observe.” Clara agreed.

They began to speak about possible rotations of who could observe the witches from the outside without gaining too much attention. Small companions seemed to be the best bet, they would be able to linger just out of sight but hear what occurred outside of the gathering building.

Outside, Lily jumped as a small cough sounded behind her. Her face pulled tight into a grimace as she turned to look over her shoulder. River Barrett stood there, her arms folded and a sickeningly gleeful look on her face.

“Eavesdropping?” She hissed in delight.

“No…I…” Lily stammered.

“You’re going to try and deny it?” River chortled derisively “You really are such a pathetic little rat. No, don’t get up. You should live on your knees.” She added, reaching out her bare left foot to knock Lily back down as she attempted to stand up and away from the door.

Lily couldn’t have even pretended that she felt rage over such actions any more. Instead, she seemed to accept that being on the floor was where she now belonged. This was punishment for listening to things she was never meant to hear.

The excited look in River’s eyes was terrifying. Lily couldn’t even bring herself to look up at them properly. She was going to report her, and Lily was going to have to deal with the wrath of all five Elders. Whatever she was thinking to bring that cruel glint into her eyes couldn’t be something good for Lily.

“Come here!” River snarled, reaching down to take a painful grip on Lily’s upper arm. Ignoring the hisses from the two cats in protest, River pushed the door open and strode in, dragging a paling Lily with her.

Before a word could be uttered, River chimed up, still gripping Lily’s arm very tightly. “She could be disguised to get inside.”

Her stomach felt sick the very second the words left River’s mouth. Was she insane?!

“What?!” Lily yelped.

That thought seemed to be shared by the Light, Water and Ice Elders, though Layla Linwood and Douglas Irving seemed to look at her without any care for what she had to say.

“Don’t be stupid, girl. Get out. This had nothing to do with you” Layla waved her hand dismissively as though trying to banish a servant from the room.

“I would ask you not to speak to my daughter like that.” Livius Barret growled towards the dark-haired fairy, his butterfly wings quivering in a dangerous fashion. Layla Linwood simply glanced at him coldly.

“Well, it’s a ridiculous idea,” She stated blandly.

“Not really.” River’s hummingbird companion piped up as he fluttered from her shoulder and sat on the table before the Elders “Logically, it’s a pretty good option. Not only does she not have wings, but she has two cats, a typically witchy companion.”

“Wait… no…” Lily started.

“And she’s of the right age.” Everyone seemed surprised to hear Clara’s deer companion cut Lily off as he trotted over to Lily and looked her up and down. “If her hair and eyes were changed and the shimmer on her skin was lost, she looks just like the ones I’ve seen going inside.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“But, I don’t…” Lily started again pitifully, but no one was listening.

The chatter among the Elders and their companions became excitable at the factors pointed out and they turned to each other to discuss the new prospect.

Lily darted a glance at River who looked triumphant. It was apparent that she would have done anything to put Lily in a tough and potentially dangerous situation for the fun of it. But Lily couldn’t believe that the Elders were even entertaining the idea!

Were they going to jump at the chance to get someone inside the witches’ den in order to give them insight into the coming storm even if that meant sending a socially anxious fifteen-year-old?

I seemed that way from the phrases which caught Lily’s ear.

“Magic could easily cover her shimmer and change her hair,” Clara was saying.

“It would be easy for one of her cats to bring information to the woods” The Ice Elder was adding in a logical voice.

“And,” Layla Linwood added darkly “If she got caught, it’s not like she knows much.”

“Or her loss matters...” Livius Barrett interjected almost venomously.

His words caused Lily to shudder slightly; something about their lifelong attitude towards her told her that this was going to be quite a big factor in the decision. If she failed and never came back, the community wouldn’t miss her.

‘My parents would’ Lily reminded herself as the sinking feeling of pointlessness came down over her like a wave of darkness.

It was a painfully numbing feeling that seemed to plunge her heart into ice. She had become used to the blank feeling where all thoughts puttered out into nothing and her inner voice became too pathetic to be able to argue through that silence. Though, that was better than when the other little voice came up; in this state, it would have perhaps queried whether her parents really would miss her. That voice was the toughest to deal with.

None of the Elders was paying her any courtesy now. They were talking avidly among themselves. Lily wondered quietly if she crept back out of the room, would they just carry on without her attendance? Maybe if she wasn’t there, they wouldn’t be encouraged to discuss this senseless idea and would contemplate something much more appropriate.

After a glance at River who was watching the Elders with a greedy look on her features, Lily took a couple of slow steps backwards with trepidation. However, the narrow black eyes of Layla Linwood flicked to her and she scowled.

“Where do you think you are going?” She snarled. “No one said you could go anywhere.”

At these harsh words from the Shadow Elder, Lily stopped moving and hung her head down, her icy eyes looking at the spot of her shirt under which lay her new necklace trinket. River giggled at the scenario, clearly receiving a great amount of pleasure from the fact they may actually be sending Lily out of the community.

Lily didn’t register the rest of the conversation occurring between the Elders. Instead, she stood, her eyes transfixed on that one spot of her shirt while berating herself mentally for stopping to listen at the door. If River hadn’t caught her there, she wouldn’t have had a chance to think up this foul idea!

After what felt like an hour, the talk seemed to die down and Lily was addressed once again.

“You will do this task, Lily Rosales.” The Ice Elder, whose name Lily still didn’t know, concluded. “At least for preliminary information.”

Lily gulped. Had she just had her death sentence signed?

Out of the corner of her eyes, as she looked up, Lily could see the way River’s mouth was twitching at the edges. She looked like she was trying to conceal an obvious look of glee, as though all her birthdays had come at once.

The Ice Elder turned to her own companion, a chunky beaver who looked like he was rather spoiled with his food intake, and Clara’s deer companion. “Go and fetch Mr and Mrs Rosales; so, we can tell them where we are sending their daughter.”

Without argument, the two animals bounded off, the door which Lily had entered through opening automatically to let them pass.

“You’ll have to use a different name, yours is far too floral to get away with” interjected Livius Barrett with a grumble as though he didn’t want to provide her with any ideas which would allow her to survive for long. His face softened as he looked at his daughter with an adoring smile “Thank you for providing us with a solution River. Was there anything else you came for?”

“I just wanted to pop by and say hi before I went off with the others” River smiled sweetly at her father.

“As sweet as always.” Livius smiled. “You don’t need to stay, so you go enjoy your day.”

“Thank you, Daddy! See you tonight!” River glanced at Lily and the sweetness turned to triumph before she turned fully, her long blue dress flowing around her ankles as she left.

The silence that fell was brief, but Lily felt like it was crushing her. She retreated to staring at her necklace again. It was the door clattering open again that broke the silence quickly. Lily’s father was power walking through with angry worry etched on his face.

“Lily!” He strode over to her and spun her around, looking down at the teenager “Do not tell me you’ve agreed to this!” He had obviously been told the decision that the council had come to, but the beaver that waddled in after Isa Rosales appeared to have not told him that this was River’s idea and Lily had not spoken a single word yet.

Even now she couldn’t get the words to dislodge from her throat. So, she settled for shaking her head.

“No, she hasn’t!” Kiki called from her side, finally replaceing her voice “She hasn’t said a single thing, but they are signing her up for it anyway!”

Her father’s eyes turned to her, and then to Oscar who nodded his head gravely to confirm the little feline’s words. His icy eyes flashed dangerously as he straightened up and pulled Lily closer to his side with one arm. She had never felt smaller; but she felt safer pulled there, like a baby bird still tucked under its mothers’ wings before it was ready to try flying.

“She will not be going!” Lily’s father snapped defiantly.

“She has no choice.” Layla Linwood spoke coldly, as though his words meant nothing to her.

“She’s fifteen!”

“Exactly, the perfect age to be going over there and not being discovered.” Douglas Irving cut across him. “She is the only one of us that can do this, and the needs of the community greatly outweigh one teenager.”

Lily’s father looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You lot wouldn’t do this if it was your own children” he spat accusingly to the gathering before him “You wouldn’t dare let them wander outside the barrier!”

Behind them, the door clattered open as Lily’s mother barged in looking flushed from the speed she had flown.

“Isa! What is this rubbish I’ve just been told?!” Her voice was high and frenzied as she strode over to her husband and daughter who had both turned to look at the entrance. “This rodent said that they’ve decided to send Lily off to some witches coven to spy on them?!”

“Rodent?” The beaver companion had caught up now and looked thoroughly indignant as he walked back to the council table “How rude!” He muttered as he tapped his wide tail against the table top in an annoyed fashion.

“That’s what they seem to be insisting...” Isa Rosales confirmed with a very cold tone.

“Well… I….” Terra Rosales started, her cheeks burning as rage grew in her. Biting her tongue to keep herself from exploding there and then, she looked down at Lily and forced a smile that only made her look intimidating. “Go wait outside Lily” It wasn’t a request.

Lily nodded mutely and pulled herself reluctantly from the safety of her fathers’ side.

“We have not dismissed her,” Livius snarled.

“I don’t give a flying rat’s backside!” Lily’s mother roared at him, causing his eyebrows to raise and Lily’s legs to break out into a light jog until she reached the threshold of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Leaning her back against the door, Lily sunk to the ground with a shiver. “This is not happening” she mumbled to herself.

“It’ll be ok,” Kiki commented, nuzzling into Lily’s side soothingly.

“Yeah, your parents will make them come to their senses!” Oscar added, sitting in front of Lily and placing his paw on her knee. “You’ll see!”

Inside, Lily’s mother had certainly lost her temper now. Lily could hear every word even if she didn’t want to.

“Outrageous!! Have you no shame?!” Her mother was shrieking at the ominously quiet council of Elders. The responses were too quiet for Lily to make out, but her mother’s voice told her that her fury and fear was not being calmed.

“Good of the community my ass! You’ve never cared about her!”

Lily’s chest tightened. Even without them saying it to her parents, they knew that the Elders wouldn’t see it as a loss if Lily didn’t come back from a task like this.

“We can’t even begin to imagine what exists out there! Things will have evolved, beasts… the Macellavir!”

Lily shuddered at the name. The Macellavir was said to be a two-legged beast which stomped through the undergrowth of woods and forests looking for lost souls to feed on. No one quite knew what it looked like, but the stories described a towering form with a wolf skull over its face to keep the true form hidden. They also described how rot and moss would grow over its skeletal body making it look more like a rotting tree when it stood unmoving watching its prey. It came out only in the darkening evenings and nights, which was why they were always told to do their companion ritual in the morning so that they would be safely back by the time the sun began to fall.

“Oh please, that’s an old wives’ tale” Layla Linwood called dismissively over Lily’s mother.

“How do you know? When was the last time anyone of us or our companions was outside the barriers at night when we weren’t doing a companion trial?!” Her father demanded. “And that’s hardly far from the borders!”

“They were never real. They were just a story to scare the kids into behaving, just like the bogeyman.” Livius drawled with a roll of his eyes.

Lily gulped silently, her throat feeling like it was closing on her airways. Oh, the nightmares she had had during her childhood of the Macellavir until she was reassured that it was not real. And now her father stood there claiming they had no proof it wasn’t real… right when Lily was being told to go out there.

She trembled while she looked towards the ground with her silver eyes filled with terror. Oscar and Kiki both moved in closer to her on either side, attempting to comfort her.

“It’s ok. It’s just a story,” Oscar whispered.

“Yeah, they are just trying to make a huge case so they don’t send you to the witches place” Kiki agreed, though Lily could tell that neither was completely certain of what they claimed.

Her parents were indeed trying to make a huge case for Lily not to be sent. They brought up the lack of knowledge they had on witch customs and the dangers of being found out. They brought up the fact that witches needed instruments to perform magic while fairies did not. Everything that could possibly go wrong was raised, and each one sounded like it was met with a solution or dismissal.

By the time the door opened again, Lily’s mind was as numb as her bum while she sat on the solid wood floor. She didn’t even need them to tell her that she was still being sent, and she knew that there was nothing she could add that would help her. None of the Elders cared whether she wanted to do this.

Looking up, Lily saw her parents appear in the doorway and they looked positively anguished. Her mother’s cheeks were drowning in angry tears and her father looked like he had lost any logical thought in his mind.

“They’re foul! How can they?!” Lily’s mother was muttering as she reached down to grab Lily’s arm and pull her to her feet. “She’s not going!”

“No. She’s not!” Her father agreed as he slammed the door shut behind them and led them out of the room and ushered them from the corridor.

“What’s happening?” Lily asked.

“We’re going home, and you are not being sent anywhere!” Her mother snapped stubbornly, walking hastily while ignoring the sounds of the Elders wrenching the door open behind them and yelling after them that it wasn’t Terra and Isa Rosales’ choice.