Nadia

Looking at Aidan lose his mind on a mess of guards, I couldn’t help but shake my head. “You know, two weeks ago, that boy would’ve pissed his pants if he was on the second to last step of a ladder,” I said turning to Serena, a look of shock on her face as she watched Aidan rampage.

Still hanging on to my shoulder, Noelle slumped down a little more while I attempted to keep her held up. “Now, why couldn’t I get super strength like everybody else?”

Serena quickly moved to the huge opening in the wall before turning her head slightly to speak to me. “Okay, you might freak out when I do this. Just letting you know so you don’t faint.”

The scoff that left my mouth couldn’t be helped. “Girl, please. I done seen so much in the past week, ain’t nothing you can do to shock me. You see that big, scary bastard out there? Last weekend, that freak attacked me with worms. Huge ones with huge teeth. He meant nothin’ by it, but them things was straight up nasty. So, you go--.”

Out of nowhere, Serena’s body started getting massive. One second, she was this petite little caucasian thing, and the next second, her body was growing, twisting, and changing colors. Less than a minute later, she was a bird the size of a house.

I had no right to be surprised since she had already warned me, but that had never stopped me before. “Lawd, girl! How you learn how to turn into Big Bird?!”

She turned her big beaked mouth to me and spoke like it was nothing. “It’s kind of a long story involving some weird hallucination visions, but I spent the last fifteen, or so, years practicing. And,” she actually giggled. “Actually, Big Bird is a Lark. I’m a Crane.”

I looked at the chick like she was crazy. “Wait. What was that about hallu—you know what? Screw it. That’s a conversation for later. Come on, Noelle.”

Serena perched down low and helped by using her wing to lift Noelle onto her back. It took a moment to get Noelle settled, as she could barely sit up on her own. It then dawned on me that we had another issue. “Crap. How we gonna keep her from falling off? She catatonic. We need some rope or something.”

Serena’s huge, feathered head moved from side to side as she looked around at what was near us. “There’s a bunch of vines on the ground. We could try using those.”

A grin spread across my face as an idea. I quickly laid Noelle down on her back. “You alright, sis?” She didn’t say anything and just stared up at the sky. We’re almost out of here, I thought taking a deep breath and stepping back. “Alright, Serena. I ain’t never done this before. We should be good, but maybe just don’t move for a minute…or breathe.”

Using the same focusing techniques for fire and lightning, I envisioned what I wanted to happen. The energy that flowed through me was different than flames or electricity. I connected to everything around me, from the stone of the walls to the greenery covering them. There wasn't exactly sentience to them, but I could feel the life inside of the plants. It was like they were waiting for a command from me.

I locked my eyes on Noelle. “Here we go,” I said before raising my hand. It was clear I underestimated just how much the Fae dimension was juicing me. Every single vine and tendril as far as I could see sprang from their spot and quickly bound themselves around Noelle and Serena's bodies.

Just when I was about to congratulate myself, Serena turned her head to me with a strained tone. “Too tight. Hard to breathe.”

I sucked at my teethe because I had already dropped my focus. “Uh, hold on girl. Maybe I can loosen some of these things up.” My hands were just a few inches from the vines when they began to slither.

Serena let out a big sigh. “Yeah, that’s a lot better.”

Thankfully, she couldn’t see the look of total confusion on my face. “Yeah, girl. You kn-know I got you.” I took one more look at Noelle who was still just staring up at the sky before I turned to the opening. My eyes rolled when I saw Aidan laughing as he ripped apart guard after guard. Lana and Chris, on the other hand, were flying side by side with their own set of wings. They looked bored out of their minds. “Okay, you see the two people who ain’t actin' a fool out there? Head for them and tell them to take you back to where we first arrived.”

Serena nodded her big bird head and started to lift her legs, or whatever birds had for taking off, but then stopped. “Oh, sorry. I almost forgot. Go ahead and get on.”

I took a deep breath and stepped back. “Nah, chick. I gotta make sure none of this ever happens again. Y’all go on. I won’t be long. Oh, and tell Lana and Chris out there not to worry about Aidan. I'll get his crazy ass when I’m done.”

Serena gave me a quick nod and took off. The blowback from her wings knocked me on my ass. “Okay. That was my fault for standing right behind the hoe.”

I stayed where I was for a few minutes to see Serena, Noelle, Chris, and Lana off. When they were out of sight, I cracked my neck and placed my palms on the floor. The ground connected to my hands like we were magnets drawn to each other. My mind’s eyes rushed through the floor and saw everything it touched.

After a few minutes, I found the creepy bastard that had kidnapped my sister. I wasn’t leaving without getting mine. I see you, and I’m com--. The floor straight up absorbed me into it. I dissolved, or something, but one second, I was my fine self, and the next, I was intangible, moving through the floor towards wherever that bastard was.

Being nothing was a weird experience, but not terrible. It felt like the time I did whip-its, but without my brain going stupid numb. And much like whip-its, it didn’t last very long. I could already feel my shape starting to form again as I neared my target.

He was in what was clearly the throne room sitting on an ivory chair that probably belonged to me, being queen and all. My body rose up from the ground, but before I could get running at him, he shot a tiny glowing seed at me. I didn’t even have time to form a thought. Luckily for me, the vines covering the chamber reacted to my panic and whipped in the seed’s direction, knocking it away.

The bastard on my throne started to stand, but I didn’t hesitate or hold back. With a scream, flames erupted from my body and soared through the air towards him. There was a brief moment of satisfaction before I saw a large icicle flying through the air at me. By the time I noticed it, not even the vines could have saved me. The ice impaled my torso and pinned me to the wall.

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My hands were shaking and my eyes were bulging at the mass of ice sticking out of my abdomen. I was afraid to do anything, including breathe. That’s when the realization hit me. I could breathe just fine. The ice didn’t feel like it was hurting me so much as it felt like it was coalescing with my body. Becoming a part of me.

A smile started to form on my mouth but quickly disappeared when I saw the creepy bastard heading in my direction. If I was going to get some answers, I needed to keep it together. Or, rather, not keep it together at all.

I went back to freaking out, shaking my hands, and even hyperventilating. The closer he got, the more I could see how badly burnt he was on one side. The impulse to laugh worked to my advantage. I just pretended like I was crying. In all fairness, I would have been crying, but purely from laughing so hard at how messed up his face was.

Doing my best impression of Sally Fields from Steele Magnolias, I got the waterworks going. “Why? I wanna know why!”

He rushed right up to my face and startled me by actually speaking. “You wanna know why? Because you ruined everything! Because this kingdom was supposed to be my own!”

I didn’t have to fake the confusion on my face, or in my voice. “What do you mean? I’ve never even been here before.”

He made me all kinds of uncomfortable as he moved a few inches closer to my face. It looked like his face was going to split open any second from the amount of rage forming on it. “Do. Not. Lie! To. Me. I know not how you have returned, Melinoe, but I can feel your essence inside of this new body.” Like a child throwing a tantrum, he started punching the wall next to my face and yelling at the top of his lungs. “You ruined everything! Until you,” he said pointing a finger at my face. “Came along, I was next in line. My aunt and uncle couldn’t even have children. My mother and father made sure of that! The king and queen spent everyday grooming and preparing me for the throne. Then, by some so-called miracle of the Blood,” he stepped back, crazy-eyed and pulling at his hair. “The queen conceived you! Their precious little 'Orchid.’ And everyone forgot about me. Suddenly, I was supposed to be some sort of advisor? Some sort of hand to the princess?” He gestured at me with a look of pure disgust on his face. “No. I, Gancanagh, was meant to be king. I was born to be king!”

Gancanagh? What kind of weird—oh crap, he been talking for a while, I thought realizing it was probably time I pretended like the light was fading, or I was heading towards the light. Something like that.

A couple of wheezes with some rapid eye blinks seemed to satisfy the psychopath since it made the creepiest grin spread across his face. “For centuries, I watched the entire kingdom dote over this pathetic little princess. So, when I heard of Amon building an army, I wasted no time in joining his faction. We struck a bargain. I would let him destroy the Fae Kingdom as it was, and when he had finally taken command of Earth, he would remake this dimension in my image for me to rule.” His face twisted as the rage continued to mount inside of him. “But you ruined that as well! So, I was left with this desolate waste of a dimension. Left with nothing, but the remnants of magic that still runs through the veins of this desiccated empire. And like a final blow, you took my chance to kill you when you sacrificed yourself to save some mewling little boy.”

Oh my god! This guy goes on forever. Alright, I’m gonna have to speed this up. It was clear this crazy dude wanted an audience, so I acted like he was losing his by closing my eyes and taking shorter breaths.

He rushed forward and grabbed my face to look him in the eyes. “I’ve been here for thousands upon thousands of years, mourning and raging. So, when I felt your soul return, it was as if the Blood itself had given me another chance at revenge. I followed your essence to your home. Watched you and waited. Unfortunately, my guards made a few inaccuracies, not only mistaking another for your likeness but the other girl as well. It would seem she contains Fae magic as well. And it does not bother me that either of them has escaped with your band of abominable allies. All that matters to me.” His voice slowly lowered to a whisper. “Is that I get this moment to watch the light fade from your eyes.”

Oh, that’s my cue. I locked eyes with him and took one last sharp breath before letting my eyes slowly flutter close. If the bastard had ever seen a movie, and I mean ever, he would have known this was all nonsense. I was a dancer; not an actor. It was amazing how stupid a thousand years of hate could make a person or, uh, fairy.

From what I could hear, it sounded as though Gancanagh was slowly stepping away. Through the vines in the throne room, I was able to see him. The entire time he was talking, I was letting the power build inside of me, waiting for the right moment. And it was finally here.

As soon as Gancanagh turned his back to me, I let myself be absorbed into the floor again, before reappearing in front of him. I felt no shame in admitting that the look of pure shock on his face sent tingles all the way down to my nethers. With a quick clench of my fist, the vines in the chamber swiftly tied themselves around Gancanagh’s limbs binding him from moving an inch.

It didn’t stop him from screaming and yelling like a child in need of a serious spanking. “Kill me all you like! It won’t stop what's to come! You can’t stop her. Amara will destroy your world and everyone in it. I am glad to not be here for when she opens the gate and brings forth every Labiru Istens!”

I rolled my eyes at him before flicking a finger in his direction. The vines acted without hesitation, quickly wrapping around his mouth to finally get him to be silent. “Come on, man! If I had known your clichéd villain speech was going to go on forever, I would’ve skipped the whole ‘oh, woe is me. The pain and how am I am dying’ mess. I mean, damn! I got people waiting on me. You can’t be taking up people’s time like that!” I moved the hair out of my face and took a deep breath. “Whatever. At least now I know you was definitely working with Amon and Amara. And apparently, that hoe is planning on bringing over, what was it you said, again? ‘Labia isn’t it?’ What is that? Is that like the Vagina Monologues?”

My hair was still giving me issues, and pulling it back wasn’t doing me any good. “This busted jungle dimension with its never-ending humidity. At least we get a stiff breeze in New Orleans. Y’all ain’t got no A/C here? Lawd. That’s the first thing I’m taking care of when I get back to reclaim my kingdom and my throne.” I stepped forward and looked Gancanagh right in the eyes. “You hear me, little boy? I will be back to rule up in here.” My gaze moved across the throne room as I searched for one last thing. Thankfully, my new friendly vines were all too willing to help. One thin, baby, tendril vine found what I was looking for and graciously brought it right over to me. “Thank you, my baby. You is smart, you is kind and you is important. Now, go on. Mama don’t want you getting caught up in this mess.”

Serving my most regal presence by straightening my back and pursing my lips to accentuate my cheekbones, I slowly stepped towards Gancanagh like the queen I actually was. “Now, your old ass should know better than anybody else around here to never screw with Mother Nature. Cause she will mess you up. I mean, have you seen your face?” I lifted my hand and revealed the tiny seed he had used to once trap my previous incarnation and nearly succeeded in doing so to me just moments ago. “Now, I will be back. Okay? To take back my kingdom, and to deal with you. But until then, I’m gonna put you in a much-needed time out.” I let out a maniacal laugh before something else occurred to me. “Oh, by the way, I’ve actually met the Blood. He a cool dude and the whole reason we stopped Amon in the first place.”

The seed began to glow before gently lifting from my hand and moving towards Gancanagh. It mirrored my desire to act slowly rather than quickly. A loving smile warmed its way onto my face. “This must be what it feels like to be a proud mother.”

I reveled in the way Gancanagh’s eyes kept switching between pain and anger. Once the seed was fully inside of him, his body took on a glow until all that was left of him was the seed. I took a moment to talk to it before allowing it to nestle itself into the floor. “Now, listen, baby. I want you to keep all of that right inside of you until I return. If you do what mama says, I’ll promise to have a special treat for all of y’all.”

The seed’s glow grew and I could feel a small spark of joy within it. I think I’m gonna like being a mother.