The Changelings Part 29

"First, congratulations on making it through the test to the end. We are all very proud of you, as we are well aware of the obstacles you faced."

I snorted at that. Obstacles, my a.s.s.

Dardennes continued, pretending he didn't hear me. "You have all not only succeeded in completing the test and earning your five hundred dollars, you have also qualified for the special bonus that was mentioned by my colleague Celine on your first day at the lodge."

My ears perked up at the word 'bonus'.

"Before I share the details of that with you, it's important that I give you some background. Without it, the bonus would make little sense to you. I hope that you can remain patient with me." He gave me a particularly pointed look, to which I responded with a good rolling of the eyes. "I ask that you hear me out and give my colleagues your due attention as well. We have some history to share with you."

He paused, looking to each of us for some sort of response. We all nodded, now at least curious. History wasn't my favorite subject, but I had a feeling this history lesson was going to be different than the ones I was used to hearing in school.

"Many years ago, thousands of years ago, in fact, there was a special species of human-like creatures on the Earth. Today this species goes by many names, but we call it 'fae'. This species is very similar to the human species, with some key differences, one being that the life spans of the races that make up this species are much longer a for some as long as several thousand years a and another difference being that they all have what you would call supernatural abilities. These abilities are supernatural to the human species, but are in fact, quite 'natural' for the fae species." He paused to take a drink of water and let his words sink in.

I felt like Alice must have felt when she fell into the rabbit hole. Yes, when I was in the forest, some next-level freaky s.h.i.+t was going on. Yes, I was now talking to trees. And yes, I just saw an army of orcs being attacked by an army of ... fae. But it wasn't until sitting through this little history lesson that I finally, finally felt like I was in another dimension. That shows you how f.u.c.ked up in the head I was at this point.

Dardennes continued. "Within the fae species are many fae races. You have already met some of them: the werewolves ... "

At this, the pack of guys who I a.s.sumed now were the werewolves who had treed us the other day, bowed their heads to us.

" ... the gnomes ... "

Gilly and Gander bowed low, and once again I was thankful I wasn't standing behind Gilly. I saw one of the wolves glance over at the wrong time and quickly look away, swallowing hard. That'll teach him to look at the a.s.s end of a gnome with a miniskirt on.

" ... the sirens ... "

The Lady of the Lake looked at us, without making any gesture at all, but we knew who he was talking about.

The big door opened and the guy I had nicknamed Robin Hood stepped through, nodding to Dardennes as he took his place among the fae.

" ... the Green Elves ... "

Robin Hood fae nodded his head briskly at all of us.

" ... the Dwarves ... "

Niles put his hand to his chest over his heart a I suppose it was his warrior salute.

" ... the Incubus and his female counterpart the Succubus ... "

From behind Dardennes stepped the vampire guy we saw attacking Chase. He gave a little curtsy before stepping into the background again.

" ... the daemons ... "

Jared nodded his head at me only.

Dardennes gestured above his head. "And the orcs ... I believe you've met them as well. They're ... a little different ... but obviously not human." He gave us a weak smile, and some of us couldn't help but return it. Mine was of the bitter variety. Yeah, we f.u.c.king met the orcs. One of your little dwarf friends did too, much to his regret.

Tony kicked my seat.

I turned around and gave him my mean look.

His return expression said, 'Give the guy some slack.'

I thought, 'f.u.c.k that!' as hard as I could back at him and stuck out my tongue.

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't forget the old hag posing as Samantha," I said resentfully. She was the first being I'd ever killed and I was still p.i.s.sed they had pushed me into that.

"Yes, she was one of our witches a an unfortunate end, but our colleagues know the risks of partic.i.p.ating in the tests. But we will get to that later. For now, let me continue with our history ... Celine?"

Celine stepped forward and picked up where Dardennes had left off. "You may be wondering how the fae came to have these supernatural abilities and the humans did not. Well, actually, if you believe this, then you are of course forgiven for it, but you are wrong. You see, many humans do have these abilities, but they are too closed off from the source of their power to ever put their abilities into practice. There are some humans who have no abilities, that is true; but you would probably be surprised to know how many do. How can that be the case? Well, it is simple: Many of the humans who inhabit this planet actually have abilities like this because they are part fae. Let me ask you ... have you ever experienced a feeling of deja vu? Have you ever had a dream about something, only to have it or some version of it come true? Have you ever seen someone you thought you knew from somewhere else? Do you ever meet someone and for some reason, get very bad vibes telling you to stay away from them? Do you ever have dreams where you fly above trees or breathe underwater? Did you ever go somewhere new and feel as if you'd been there before? And finally, have you ever felt that you were special, but misunderstood a on the outside looking in? All of these are manifestations of fae ancestry."

We looked at each other. Even Chase swung around to look at me. I wondered if talking to trees meant something. Apparently my friends thought it did.

"Over the years, many fae have lost their connection to the magic that links them to their abilities." She looked around at our faces. "I see that several of you doubt the concept of magic."

She was including me in this observation, because her explanation was entering the 'too far fetched to be believable' zone. Actually, we had pa.s.sed that zone a loooong time ago, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I guess I drew it at the word 'magic'.

"Humans call sleight of hand and illusion magic. This is a misnomer. Magic is not a trick or something that fools your eyes. Magic is an energy present here on this planet and out in the universe. It is the energy that binds all of us together and to other living things a and even to things that are not living, or that are only in a partially living state."

"The fae have a natural ability to tap into this magic without effort. It is, practically speaking, an automatic, involuntary connection that they use without thinking. The magic provides the energy for them to express and use their natural abilities a or as you would call them, their 'supernatural' abilities."

She stepped closer to our table, looking at each of us in turn. "Our species has a division in it, one that has existed for as long as our recorded history goes back. Each of the fae is on one side or the other of this division. There are the Light and the Dark; so we say there are 'Light Fae' and 'Dark Fae'. Some races of fae as a whole tend to belong to one division over the other a for example, the wraithes. They, almost to the wraithe, belong on the Dark Fae side. There have been some Light Fae wraithes, but it is rare. Sprites, on the other hand, usually tend to be Light Fae. Again, there are some exceptions, but they are rare. Finally, there are fae that equally go to the Light or the Dark. For example, there is nearly a perfect division of numbers for the witches a half of them are Light Fae and half are Dark."

"Some, or I should say many, of the fae actually survive off of humans in one way or another. Some need human energy, some need human blood, and some, human meat. The main difference between the Light Fae and the Dark Fae is that they have opposing opinions about what our role among humans should be and how humans should be treated. The Light Fae believe that our survival depends on anonymity, not revealing our existence, and protecting our own kind, as well as protecting the humans from destruction by fae-kind."

She saw our looks of horror and quickly responded. "Don't get the wrong idea here a we're not talking about the stuff of horror movies. The Light Fae value human life. They don't take human lives to satisfy their cravings or even their needs."

"Now, the Dark Fae believe that the fae are superior to humans, and as such, believe the ultimate goal for all fae should be to take over leaders.h.i.+p of the world and essentially 'come out of the closet', as they say. They don't agree that to maintain the safety of our races we should live in anonymity and in harmony with the humans, with the humans remaining ignorant to our existence. If the Dark Fae were to have their way, humans would eventually be enslaved to them, and used for whatever they could give to the fae a including energy, blood, and meat."

I looked at my friends' faces and they mirrored the revulsion I felt. Humans as sources of meat? Disgusting. I thought about the dwarf in the orc camp.

"Apparently, the orcs don't just like to eat human meat," I said.

Celine sighed. "Yes, this is true. There are some ... creatures ... that have turned to eating their own kind; just as there are some humans on the planet who practice cannibalism."

Dardennes took over the history lesson. "We have reached a critical period in the history of the fae. Our numbers have dwindled, particularly in the Light Fae division. All of the fae you see here today are members of the Light Fae."

That little nugget made me feel a little bit better. I could see on Finn's face he felt the same. I looked at Jared and he met my stare, not looking away. He was proud of who he was, that much was clear.

"The Dark Fae are willing to use certain, shall we say, unsavory methods to maintain their numbers. Since we, on the other hand, have such high regard for our fellow species a the humans a we cannot do these things; it is against our moral code. Therefore, we have had to devise other methods to find and recruit members of our species, that is to say, humans who may not know that they, in fact, are members of our species. Certain individuals of our kind are suited for identifying and recruiting possible candidates." At this he nodded to Jared who nodded back and then looked over at us.

Chase turned around in his chair again, first looking at me and then at the others. Tony was nodding his head in comprehension, along with Spike.

Finn and I looked at each other with questions written all over our faces. What exactly does this have to do with us?

"We have found the best way to identify those with fae blood in their veins is to test for fae abilities in controlled studies ... tests such as the one you have pa.s.sed a with flying colors I might add." He held up each of our flags.

Oh, the irony.

"Based on your performance over the past three days, you have been identified as very likely having fae blood and therefore, fae abilities."

What?

Spike raised his hand.

Dardennes smiled. "Spike?"

"Yeah, uh, so what you're saying is that I ... all of us ... are fae?"

"Not exactly. What I'm saying is that it is likely that you have fae blood somewhere in your ancestry."

"So, how do you know for sure?"

"We won't know unless you choose to partic.i.p.ate in the next step."

Here it comes a I knew it wasn't going to be this easy.

"So ... what's the next step?"

"Once all of you know the story, know what you could be partic.i.p.ating in, you will be given a choice. We have in our possession certain ... amulets ... imbued with qualities that will essentially awaken or charge your fae blood and race-specific abilities. If you choose to use the amulet, and you are of the fae, the amulet will bring about your change. You will become a 'Changeling'. Should you choose not to awaken your fae blood, you will be given the money you have earned and sent back to Miami, or wherever you'd like us to take you."

"So, what's the catch?" I asked.

"There is no catch."

"So, you'll just tell us your big secret, we say 'no thanks', and then you just let us go? How do you know we won't tell anyone?"

"Ah, yes, I did actually leave out one piece of information, thank you, Jayne, for your question. Should you choose not to awaken your fae blood and realize your particular fae race, your memory of this test and everything I just told you will be erased by one of our colleagues who has that supernatural ability."

Finn cleared his throat and sat up a little. "Excuse me, Sir, I don't mean to be rude, but I need to ask: What's in it for us if we decide to do this thing a I mean, not get erased?"

"Another good question," Dardennes answered. "First, you will become what you truly are, the best possible version of yourself. Depending on which race of fae you are a and again we don't guarantee that you are fae, just that it is likely you are a you will have supernatural abilities beyond those which you could scarcely imagine or ever experience without your fae blood being charged by our amulets. The things you saw in the forest done by our colleagues are but a fraction of what is possible for many of you."

Celine stepped forward. "You will join our community which is vast and varied. We are in every state in the United States and every country in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Orient, among other places. You will never again feel alone or lost or wonder what your purpose is. We all live and work together as a team. You will have a job, a place to live, a family."

Niles stepped forward. "Many of you will also be trained to help us in our efforts to build our Light Fae forces and defend our way of life against the Dark Fae when necessary."

Spike spoke up again. "Do we get to choose which race we belong to?"

"No," answered Dardennes. "You have the blood of a certain race in your veins. The amulet merely wakes it up. We can try to guess what your race is by your current human qualities, but we are not always correct a and frankly, some of our races have died out over the years and occasionally we are confronted with a race we've never seen before a one that hasn't walked the Earth in thousands of years. It's not often that this happens, but we have reason to believe it could happen with one of you." With this he looked pointedly at me. So did everyone else at the table.

Great. I'm a freak in the human world, and I'm probably a freak in the fae world too.

Tony reached over and squeezed my shoulder. Chase looked at me and nodded. Spike flashed me his trademark smile. For sure he was going to be an Incubus. There was no getting around those teeth.

Finn was all business. "I think I'd like to discuss this with my friends before I make any kind of decision."

"Me too. And by 'friends', I also mean our friend Becky," I added.

"Fair enough," said Dardennes. "We will leave you to your discussion. In the meantime, food will be delivered and we invite you to relax and enjoy your meal while you talk."

"Ivar wasn't the chef, was he? 'Cause I'm not a big fan of his drinks," I said sarcastically.

Dardennes laughed. Celine and Ivar smiled. "No, Ivar was not the chef. One of our Green Elves was, and I think you will find they have a particularly supernatural skill when it comes to the manipulation of herbs and spices. It will be a vegetarian meal, but I'm sure you will find it more than satisfying."

I was so hungry at this point I would have happily eaten a dried out pig's ear.

A door on the other side of the chamber opened and fae started walking in, carrying trays of food, dishes and utensils. Within ten minutes we all had plates loaded with food in front of us and ice-cold gla.s.ses of soda a and for Finn, a beer. He got a huge smile on his face when one of the dwarves put it down in front of him.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout."

I got an ice-cold soda, which was a little freaky, since I don't remember telling anyone that's what I wanted. They must have a friggin' mind reader in their group. That should provide some interesting entertainment, especially with this bunch.

Dardennes and his colleagues left, as did the servers and others who had put together our meal. We ate in silence for a few minutes, all of us too famished to talk. And I was also too hungry to worry about the food being poisoned. If they wanted to poison me at this point, well they could just go for it.

The door from the corridor opened and Becky stepped in. We all jumped up from the table and rushed over to hug her. She found herself nearly tackled to the floor in our enthusiasm.

"Wow, guys, I missed you too." Her face was all flushed and she was smiling.

Everyone but me went back to their seats. I just couldn't stop looking at her. "Becky ... I ... ," I couldn't get the rest of it out. I started choking up, tears welling up in my eyes.

Becky grabbed me in a super tight hug. "Shhh, I'm fine. I'm totally fine. I didn't die. I just ... had a little swim, that's all."

I laughed and cried at the same time. "I should have helped you. That watery b.i.t.c.h shouldn't have been able to get you. It's my fault."

Becky laughed, pulling me away from her so she could look at me. "It's a good thing I went into that water. I found my fae blood there. I discovered my true race. I'm happy, Jayne. If you hadn't made the choices you made, I may not be here right now. Those awful orcs might have gotten me ... or any number of other things."

"Really?" I said, wiping the tears off my face and the snot from under my nose.

"Yes, really. I'm totally serious."

"So what are you then? A vampire?"

Becky laughed. "No, silly. I'm a water sprite!" Her face broke out in a glorious grin that lit up the whole room.

"I guess I'm not surprised."

"I'm just glad I'm not a fire sprite. That water would have been a big problem for me."

I looked at her aghast, wondering how close I'd come to destroying her fae race thing or whatever.

"Kidding! I'm joking! Just relax, I'm fine, Jayne, geez. Lighten up."

I shook my head, going back to the table. "f.u.c.king fairies."