A name. The way to address someone or something. It describes more than identifies. If it identifies, it is but a shadow. What we at the Hailbrand University aim to achieve is to find a path to reveal the true forms of our world of shadows. The True Names. The very essence of things.
At Hailbrand University, we do not believe in false names. How are you to learn of the world’s true essence if you hide yours?
Here, you must go by your True Name. But the Fäe rule still applies: you are never to give it to another creature.
The books were heavy in Mona’s arms, yet no matter how many she brought with her, she felt like it would never be enough. She was doomed to be a failure, never to reach her true potential, if such a thing even existed. Miss Dahlia seemed to think so, at least.
“You are quite close, Mona,” she’d said that afternoon after class. “Go over the materials again. If the issue persists, come see me.”
As if she hadn’t done this same thing every day for the past couple of months.
She couldn’t figure out what was wrong. No matter how many times she practiced her magic, everything remained cloudy. She could only see silhouettes in a never-ending mist, shapes with no real distinctive qualities. Her classmates had shouted their assignments’ True Names already. Hers was the only one still unnamed. What was worse was that this was a collective task; no one was to move on to the next assignment without every True Name revealed.
She felt a bump and lost the precarious balance she’d achieved. A mountain fell, heavy stones landing on her toes. Her shout echoed in the library, and several heads turned toward her. The studious silence grew heavier.
Mona turned, finding her classmates Troy, Felicia, and Gregory, looking at her with wicked grins.
“You should watch where you’re going, Mona,” Troy said. “A weak thing like you doesn’t know enough Names to catch yourself.”
“Yes, are you even a faery? Certainly not a proper one,” Felicia added.
“Maybe she’s a shapeshifting gnome,” Gregory said, and all three of them broke into loud peals of laughter. Mona’s fists clenched.
“Very clever,” she said. “You talk to your Queen with that mouth?”
“Don’t get smart with us,” Felicia said. “It’s because of you that we’re so behind on assignments. You’re lucky no one’s hexed you yet.”
“I’d fix whatever it is you’re doing wrong fast,” Troy said. “It would be a shame if you had to leave the university. Your mother would be so disappointed.”
“How about you mind your own business?” Mona said and turned to walk away, tired of listening to the same nonsense. She knew her mother was the reason why anyone still deemed her worthy of attending Hailbrand University. After all, having a daughter of the greatest Priestess of the Fäe as a pupil was one of the highest honors a magic school could hope for.
However, Mona was proving to be the complete opposite of her mother. Her peers openly showed their disdain; her professors felt only exasperation when they didn’t outright despise her. Take Miss Lucilla, who always seemed ready to dump her headfirst into the Storm Caldron. Or Mr. Bright, who barely even spared her a glance anymore.
Mona was really starting to think of giving up.
“You will be one of our kind’s greatest,” her mother’s words would ring as soon as the thought crossed her mind. “I see it. You’ll tap into a Name never before discovered, and you will change the world.”
Will I, truly? Mona questioned herself.
That day, she’d stayed later than everyone in the library. She went through most of the books she’d picked out; her eyes were red and tearing up, and the paper cuts on her hands went unacknowledged. Every once in a while, she would look into the True Realm, and the fog was as dense as usual. She tried walking toward the silhouettes—black forms that looked no different from one another. Mona wanted to scream. What was she doing wrong?
She decided to flip through the final book’s pages but frowned upon seeing the cover. She didn’t remember bringing this one. It felt fragile, with yellow-brown pages and a moth-eaten dark-green cover. The title was inscribed in a language she couldn’t read; the Old Tongue, if the twirly characters were anything to go by. Out of curiosity, she flipped through the pages and was surprised to find that it was written in Novel Tongue. They were a mix of incantations and recipes for potions, most of which she’d never read before.
Mona reached a page with a shadowy form illustrated on it. There was only a white smile on its face. The bold letters read, Little Helper. Intrigued, she skimmed through the text. It appeared to be a spell to summon some sort of entity to help with tasks. Perhaps a brownie? Or a gnome? A sylph? One sentence caught her attention:
There are no limits for the Little Helper. He will follow his master’s orders and fulfill their every wish.
Mona worried her lower lip between her teeth. These sorts of spells reeked of forbidden magic. But this “Little Helper” sounded perfect. Perhaps she’d be able to ask it to make her magic better so that she could finally learn something’s True Name and not be a burden on her peers and professors anymore. Bees buzzed guiltily in her stomach. She was supposed to unlock her magic by herself. But what else could she do? She’d tried everything, and everyone’s expectations were rocks on her frail shoulders.
She voiced the spell.
Mona was lying in bed, still awake. She couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong this time. No “Little Helper” appeared. She’d read the spell again and again, louder each time, so much so that Miss Evadina kicked her out of the library. “I can’t have you bothering the Tomes!” she’d said. Mona had gone straight to her room, feet dragging over the marble floors. She thought of packing her things in the morning. It was hopeless. She had no magic in her. She’d never heard of a magic-less faery. Perhaps that was what her mother had meant, when she said she’d be unique among their kind.
The moon chimed with every passing hour. Sleep evaded her still. She’d tried to stifle her cries as much as she could; the walls weren’t thick enough for the sound to go unheard. She’d long lost count of the moon rings. The night felt endless.
“Is Master going to keep crying like that?”
The voice was high pitched like a squeak. Mona jumped out of the covers, and her eyes went wide as what looked to be a four-winged rabbit stared at her with large lilac eyes.
Mona screamed.
“Argh! Please do not make those loud noises, Master, my ears are sensitive!” the creature said, its fluffy black ears lowering.
“W… What are you?” Mona said, grabbing her wand and pointing it at the creature.
“That will not be effective, Master. You’ll find I’m immune to most Fäe contraptions,” it said before bowing. “You summoned me, Master. I am your Little Helper.”
“My… my Little Helper?” Mona blinked and a smile bloomed on her face, “So it worked? I can’t believe it. It worked!”
“Yes, quite,” the Little Helper said. “You can call me Jack.”
“Oh, my stars, this never happened! This is the first successful spell I’ve cast. What should I do?”
“Well, you can start by telling me what my orders are.”
“Your orders?” she asked. “Oh, yes, that’s what you do. What are you exactly?”
“I’m a Little Helper,” Jack said. “I’m here to do your bidding.”
“So, I can ask you anything?”
“Anything!”
“Anything at all?”
“Yes!” Jack winked. “There aren’t many things I can’t do.”
“All right.” Mona rubbed her hands together and tried to quell the burning flames licking her chest. “I want you to help me reach my full magical potential.”
“Oh, exciting!” the Little Helper jumped on the bed. “A powerful Priestess in the making, are you?”
“What?” A stone fell in her stomach.
“Don’t be surprised, Master, I can see it.” Jack laughed and it sounded like bells. “I can also see your Name, but I need you to give it to me so I can help you.”
Dread and a prickling of regret buzzed in Mona’s head. The soft glint in its eye and the sharp smile like the one in the picture made her think that maybe it wasn’t as innocuous a creature as it looked. What had she summoned?
“I sense your hesitation,” Jack said. “Understandable. It is, after all, your most prized possession. But let me ask you this: what would you rather happen? Keep on failing every task, until you’re eventually cast out of the Fäe, doomed to live in the Wilderness with the sprites, and the hobgoblins, and the ogres?” Jack extended a paw. “Or would you rather make a deal and be the faery your mother wants you to be?”
The mention of her mother left Mona conflicted. Ever since the first days in her cocoon, she’d felt her mother’s wish for her to follow her footsteps and become the next great Priestess once her mother’s powers wilted and she had to Move On. Mona’s fate was branded to her heart, and every day, she felt the burns of it aching. If she failed, how could she face her mother? What would she do if she was to be a magic-less faery? Would she be thrown in the Bottomless Well where dragons and great serpents were said to dwell? Would she be sacrificed to the stars? Sent to a human village to be hunted?
There really was no choice.
“I will give you my name,” Mona said. Jack’s grin widened, teeth sharp as fangs.
“Perfect! Your wish is my command.
Jack hadn’t left Mona’s side since they’d made their agreement. He’d said that was part of it, that Mona was absorbing his essence so her wish could be fulfilled.
“Is that not dangerous to you?” she’d asked.
“On the contrary,” Jack said. “Your name gives me all the sustenance I need.”
Despite her reservations, she couldn’t deny that Jack’s power was having an effect. The mist that always surrounded the True Realm grew clearer, and soon she was able to read her first True Names. Her classmates and professors had been speechless. How could a hopeless pupil suddenly show such progress? Many of her peers began asking Mona for advice on their studies. Some even looked up to her, the living proof that no matter how long it took, they would triumph in the end. Others, however, weren’t as taken by her improvement.
“How did you do it, freak?” Felicia said one day. Jack was giggling in Mona’s bag, and she hoped it went unheard.
“How did I do what?”
“Don’t play dumb!” Felicia screamed. Mona could feel the heat of her rage from where she stood. “How did you get so powerful? Two weeks ago, you couldn’t lift a feather to save your life! Did you make a deal with a sylph or something? Are you even Mona? Did she hire a shapeshifter?”
Felicia was getting ever angrier, fingers alight in orange flames. She was the daughter of a King and a very skilled faery, one of the best in their class. Despite her fast growth, Mona wasn’t sure if she could take her in a fight just yet.
“Calm down, Felicia,” she said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “There’s no need for a fight.”
“Calm down?” Felicia shouted. “I’ve worked my wings off to get where I am! I had to learn how to see into the True Realm when I could only cast a few sparks. My father, my entire kingdom is relying on my magical proficiency. What do you think will happen when they learn I was bested by the school’s worst faery?”
“How is that my fault?” Mona said, hot fury suddenly overriding her sense. “You think you’re the only faery with expectations weighing on you? My mother is a Priestess, and she expects me to succeed her! You’re right, I was the worst. How can a worthless faery like me be a Priestess? Don’t you see? I don’t want to be the best just for the sake of it; I need to be the best. And, finally, I feel like I deserve to be here!”
“You never deserved to be here,” Felicia said, venom dripping from her tongue. “Your family’s great fortune was quenched with your mother’s disgraceful deeds.”
“Don’t you say anything about my mother.”
“Or what?” She raised a challenging eyebrow. “It’s true. She’s a disgrace to Hailbrand University. We’re supposed to keep the secrets of our great magic, and she went and spread it around like the stars-damned sentimental fool that she is, all because she couldn’t take the deaths of a few miserable creatures.” She stepped closer. “You think anyone respects her after that? The only reason she’s still alive is because people fear her.”
“Maybe you should,” Mona said through gritted teeth. “And you should also talk about her with more respect. You might regret it otherwise.”
“What, are you threatening me?” Felicia barked out a laugh. “Oh, that’s cute. It would be one thing were it your mother making that threat. But you? Please, I could scorch out your soul with just a snap of my fingers.” A click, and a flame sprang out in the palms of Felicia’s hands, her eyes blazing a fuming red.
“Oh, yes?” Mona said, and before she could fully process what she was thinking, her mouth was saying, “Jack, take her powers!”
“What?” Felicia could only let out a confused whimper as Jack jumped out of Mona’s bag and lunged at her, barbed teeth sinking into her throat.
Felicia’s screams echoed in the hallway as moonlight shone through the stained glass and the first chime of midnight rang. Mona trembling hands covered her mouth as the color in Felicia’s body was drained, washed down until her skin was like a gray raisin. The shrieking stopped, and the empty body fell with a heavy thud.
Mona couldn’t mouth any words, her vision growing fuzzy. Jack went back to her, licking the blood from his teeth. Mona screamed.
“What, Master?” Jack said, startled. “Was it not to your liking?”
“What the hell was that?” Mona demanded. “You were supposed to take her powers, not kill her!”
“How else do you think I’d take her powers?” Jack said with a grin. “What, never seen a faery’s powers wilt before?”
Mona couldn’t breathe and took her hands to her throat as she gasped for air.
“Now, now, don’t be alarmed,” said Jack. “You have one less nuisance to worry about.”
“I didn’t want to kill her!”
“Didn’t you? That’s not what I saw in your mind.”
“That’s… I was… I was angry!”
“Yes, and when you’re not angry, you still want her to die. Her two friends as well,” Jack said. “If you ask me, she had it coming. Faery Princesses are always so … entitled.”
“Oh, no, this is bad…” Mona gripped her hair, wings buzzing nervously behind her. Felicia’s corpse stared at her, and the room was suddenly too tiny and too big at the same time. “I need to get out of here…”
“Hmm, and what’s going to happen when they find her body?” Jack said. “You’ll be in trouble. Maybe you should order me to take more powers.”
“No!” Mona shouted. “You won’t take more powers!”
“Then, what are my orders?”
“Nothing! You will do nothing!”
“You seem to not know what our little agreement entails,” Jack said, still with that unnerving smile. “You have to have orders for me, or else I’ll be allowed to roam free.”
“What? Since when?”
“Since always.” Jack laughed. “What, did you not read the fine print? Little Mona, you have much to learn before you’re Priestess. In any case, you’d better find some orders for me, or else I’ll find orders for myself.” His grin grew even more wicked. “And remember, it’ll be all. Your. Fault.”
Mona felt a shiver grip her. He could read into her; he knew what her worst fears were. He’d played her like a fiddle, and fool as she was, she’d given him her name, broke the most important rule in the Fäe realm. Oh, how could she have been so stupid? All because of her selfishness and desperation.
“Indeed, you were quite the fool.” Jack laughed. “And now, you’re stuck with me. So, what will it be, Mona? Do you have orders for me?”
Mona was paralyzed body and soul, but still forced a reaction. “Yes,” she said. “Right now, you will get rid of Felicia’s body.”
“Easy,” he said, and his small mouth opened into a big, spiky pit. He swallowed the body whole, and it was like nothing had happened, the marble floor pristine again and the quietness returning to the hall. “Now what?”
Mona refrained from crying, “Now, you will return from whence you came and leave me and every faery alone.”
Jack laughed. And laughed. And laughed ever louder. The hall darkened, clouds covering the moon and thunder drily booming. “Oh, Mona. You just set me free…”
Thus far, Jack had looked like a fluffy, harmless creature, with only pointy teeth to hint at any deeper threat. At that moment however, he grew large, claws rising like thorns, his teeth sharpening, and his eyes turning snake-like. Ears became horns, and he grew wings that were leathery and hard.
The creature growled, and the sound went through walls.
“Don’t you know what happens when you free a demon?”
“A… A demon?” Mona shrieked, springing back as “Jack” stomped in her direction, the floor shaking, “I… I told you to return to where you came from!”
“I was free where I came from,” “Jack” said. “Did you think you could get rid of me that easily? Your words bound me; now they unbound me. And I have your Name!”
His laugh made the air tremble, and Mona flew down the hall. She heard the demon give chase and hastened her flight, adrenaline pumping through her veins. Opening a door, she went in quickly.
“Mona… Where are you… You can’t hide forever… I own you!”
“Mona? What is going on?” She’d entered Miss Dahlia’s classroom, and there her professor was, kind, round face creased in nerves.
“Miss Dahlia!” Mona flew to her. “We have to evacuate the school! A demon is running loose!”
“A demon? Mona, what did you do?”
“I accidentally summoned a demon, and…”
“How did you summon a demon accidentally?”
“There’s no time to explain!” Mona shouted, hearing the rumble of faery screams and demonic laughter. “Please, help me!”
“So, this is how you improved so much.” Miss Dahlia shook her head. “I am so disappointed in you, Mona.”
Mona’s stomach dropped, but she wasn’t surprised. “I promise I’ll leave the school after we deal with the demon!”
That was when the wall to the classroom came crumbling down, and both Mona and Miss Dahlia lost their balance. Dust crawled into Mona’s eyes and lungs.
“There you are!” the demon’s voice resounded. “And you’re with that annoying professor of yours. Good. It’ll be amazing to make you watch as I devour her.”
“Mona!” Miss Dahlia screamed as a scaly tentacle burst from the demon’s tummy and crawled around her waist, pulling her directly into its gargantuan mouth.
“Miss Dahlia!” Tears flowed freely down Mona’s cheeks, and her throat hurt from screaming.
“Oh, isn’t it sweet. You really cared about this old hag,” the demon mocked and stepped closer. Mona could hardly breathe, tasting vomit on her tongue and feeling her head so light and heavy that she could faint. She was lost, stranded in an island.
She needed her mother.
“Mommy can’t save you, sweetheart,” the demon said. “You want to know how to put an end to this?”
“How?” Mona said, rage and sorrow alight in her eyes, “How do I stop you? I already gave you my name, what else do you want?”
“Your powers.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“What powers? Everything I did was because of you!”
“It’s truly unfortunate that such great magic should be granted to a fool like you,” the demon said. “Your mother was right. You have immense powers you haven’t even begun to tap into. What I made you able to do is only a fraction of what you’re capable of. It’s wasted on you. Give. It. To. Me.”
The demon stepped closer, and Mona retreated, back against the wall. If what the demon was saying was true, then she couldn’t give up her powers. What else could happen to the school, or the world? How could she stop this, what could she do?
<My sweet dear,> her mother’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind. <Don’t reply, the demon can’t know I’m here. Listen closely: to vanquish the demon, you will have to find its True Name. Look into the True Realm. Don’t stray. Watch where he’s standing. Focus and be calm. Once you find it, speak it and send him away.>
Mona closed her eyes. She could hear the demon approach, but her mother’s soothing voice was like a blanket protecting her from the coldest of nights.
In the True Realm, the moon’s chimes rang louder, but every voice was distant and softer. The shadows were clearer now thanks to the demon’s magic, and Mona hurried to look for its shape. She always felt off-kilter when she traveled to the True Realm, so she fought harder to ground herself. Miss Dahlia’s class was to the east. The demon had come from the left, the southern part. She searched the shapes there, recognizing the Names of the board, the chairs, the desks, and the scattered books that fell from the broken shelves.
A small, floating thing rumbled in the air, and letters were revolving around it. She approached and touched them, struggling to Know their order. She thought of its earthly form, how it hid such a small, frail essence. A shield to cover a ball of glass. Its True Form shook and quivered as it tried to face her with every strength it possessed, stripped of its heavy, menacing mantle.
Suddenly, the Name was clear.
What happens when you find a True Name? One hardly ever ponders this question.
You speak it, gain power over it, and morph reality to your will.
But no one truly knows the full power of a Name.
If you happen to learn the True Name of one of this world’s shadows, will you speak it?