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When I saw Savannah laid out on the bed, I felt my stomach drop. She wasn't moving and from this distance, I couldn't see if she was even breathing.
"Go," Gerri urged me.
I crossed the large room quickly and looked down at Savannah.
Her hair was thick and shiny like it used to be when she first got to town. There was a tan on her skin once again and the circles were gone from beneath her eyes. I couldn't begin to understand what she had gone through, but these past couple of weeks, we could all see that she was looking less and less like her old self.
"Hey," I whispered and put a hand to her cheek.
Savannah opened her eyes and for a minute, they were a faint violet color, like she was fae too. Then she blinked and it was just those familiar warm brown eyes of hers.
"Hey," she whispered and smiled.
I sat down next to her on the pristine bed and gathered her up in my arms. "You had us worried."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm not – I'm not sure what happened, exactly," she confessed.
I tighten my hold on her and rubbed her back. I thought briefly of how Azolata held Billie in much the same way.
“It's okay. This wasn't your fault. I just wish that you hadn't gone wandering off without telling us where you were going," I said.
She laughed and it sounded like she was crying just a little bit too. "I won't do it again."
"What do you remember?" I asked.
She pulled back but took one of my hands in hers. "I was out in the forest. I don't know exactly how I got there. One minute, I was asleep in my bed and the next, I was out the window and in the forest. I heard voices. They sounded like us, calling for help. I followed them. Then someone had me. She was so strong. I couldn't break free from her, no matter what I did. She was laughing and laughing and then Gerri showed up. She took one look at me and said that I was sick. But I fell asleep again and when I woke up, you were here."
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Great. For the first time in a long time, it feels like my brain is mine again."
She looked around then and saw that she was in an unfamiliar place. She stared at Gerri and Azolata for a moment and then looked around the room. I couldn't sense any fear in her, more confusion than anything else. "Where am I?" She asked.
I gripped her hand and told her what happened. When I was finished, her confusion seemed to only deepen.
"No. I was only gone for a few minutes," she insisted.
"You've been gone for a full day," I said quietly.
Savannah took a deep breath and held on to me. "How do I know it's you? I have these dreams –"
"The first time you met Artie, you try to shoot him. The first time you met Dante, he took you out for coffee. One time, you cornered me in a dark alley and threatened me with the horrifying legend of the werewolves of Glenwood Lock," I told her in a rush.
The suspicion cleared from her eyes and she wrapped her arms around me. "It is you."
I held onto her and words caught in my throat. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was for not knowing that she was in so much pain. I felt a strange sense of responsibility towards her like we had been siblings lost at birth. "Are you ready to go home now?" I asked quietly.
As soon as I said those words, fairies appeared and descended upon us. Only a second earlier the room had been empty but the four of us. Now there were dozens of them, pulling me away from Savannah and whispering words that I couldn't quite understand. I was roughly pushed away from Savannah. She was also pulled off the bed, more gently than I was, and led to the other side of the room.
When I was able to stand, I saw that Savannah was on the other side of the room, surrounded by at least a dozen of the fae.
One particularly large man stood in front of me and his eyes flashed. He was practically daring me to try to get past him.
"You don't know how lucky you are that my other friends aren't here," I said and dusted myself off.
I looked around but Gerri and Azolata were nowhere to be seen. I fought against the instinctive panic that was raised within me.
"She is not yours to take," the man snarled at me.
I looked up at him. "And you think she belongs to you?" I asked.
"Your family has only brought pain down upon her. You do not deserve someone like her," the man said.
I blinked at the word family. If she wasn't pack already, then she would be, eventually.
"I think you have something mixed up. I'm not related to her. We aren't brother and sister. But she does belong with us," I said slowly.
The man stared me down and even now I wanted to flinch away from those cold violet eyes, I didn't.
"I have never known an insect to show such bravery. Is there something wrong with you?" He asked.
"Probably the same thing that's wrong with you. I can just back it up," I said.
The man looked curious and cocked his head. I took a step forward, toward Savannah and the others, and he pushed me back.
I'm sure to him it was a gentle nudge, but I flew backward and slammed into the wall behind me. A flare of pain went through my head and I fell to my knees. For a moment I was worried. I knew that my power came from Glenwood Lock and I didn't know how far that power could travel.
I forced myself to stand up and narrowed my eyes at him.
The man laughed at me. "Humans and their ideas of love and fidelity. I have never heard of anything more amusing in my life."
"I'm sure you have. Because you've been around for a very long time haven't you?" I said.
The man sneered at me. He was just as beautiful as all the other people I had seen here, and he knew it.
"Yeah. I can tell. There are a few gray hairs up there and a few wrinkles around your eyes. Don't worry, it makes you look distinguished. Not old, no matter what anyone says," I whispered.
"How dare you –" he started and stormed towards me.
It would be funny if I died here at the hands of a fairy.
Funny.
But I had grown up with Marcus and he had unwittingly taught me a few things about fighting. One of those things is that if the guy is bigger than you, you can bet that he is slower than you. I prayed briefly to the ancient Norse God of battle. I swore that I would haunt Marcus for the rest of his days if this didn't work.
As the man approached, he swung one large fist for my face. I ducked underneath it and gave myself a push up using my magic and the back of this guys calf. I found myself clinging to his back and then put one hand to his throat.
It was a good plan. Too bad I hadn't thought beyond this point. As my hand wrapped around his throat, I knew immediately that I had no chance of choking him, not even into unconsciousness, let alone death.
I lashed out with my magic and performed the first spell that came to mind.
The man was gone and I fell to my feet and looked down.
The other fairies gathered around Savannah, gasped.
As I continued to stare down, Gerri and Azolata joined me. Their eyes were also glued to the floor.
"Did you just turn my brother into a frog?" Gerri asked, that polite tone unwavering still.
"I thought that spell was meant for Marcus," Azolata said.
"I panicked," I said.
"I can see that."
At our feet, there was a large frog. He croaked and then hopped his way out of the room. I looked up at Gerri. "It was a mistake, I swear."
Gerri remained silent and watch her brother leave the room. Her mouth was trembling and I couldn't tell if it was rage for something else. Finally, she turned to me and looked me in the eye. "It seems like an improvement to me."
Then I realized that she was trying not to laugh.
The fae around Savannah left her side one by one. They came and joined us and once again, I felt their fingers tracing my back in my arms and my face.
"So much power..."
"And one so young. Imagine him older..."
"He is sweet and unclaimed. Might we have him..."
I looked over to Azolata who seemed amused by my discomfort. He shook his head and then gestured for me to come closer to him. As I inched my way over to Azolata, their hands fell away.
"Brothers, sisters, I ask that you leave us," Gerri said.
The left, giggling and whispering to each other, throwing looks over their shoulders at me. I considered climbing on Azolata's back.
"We have something to discuss," Gerri said.
I hated the way that sounded. I felt like I was about to be dumped.
Gerri gestured to a table that had not been there a moment ago. There were four chairs around it. Savannah, who had been lingering on the other side of the room, joined us. She seemed unsure of herself and I gave her the chair closest to Azolata even though I was worried about other fairy coming in.
"I'm sure that you are aware that Savannah is not well," Gerri began.
I nodded.
"When she was attacked in the forest by my sister, I found her. She was unconscious and barely breathing. She was dying," Gerri said. I appreciated the fact that she did not sugarcoat things but it still hit me like a punch to the chest.
I looked away.
"There is a deep conflict within her. The manner in which she was raised has left a mark that cannot be erased. There is no magic, not even from you, that can change that," Gerri said.
"Can I do anything?" Savannah asked quietly.
Gerri stared at her from across the table and she seemed to be searching for the words this time.
Gerri reached across the table and took Savannah's hand in hers. "Yes. You can do something. You can make a choice."
Savannah stared at her, unsure of what she was saying.
"Choose to stay here or choose to go back home," I muttered.
Gerri didn't take her eyes off of Savannah but she nodded.
"I don't even know where this place is. I don't know who you are or why I'm here," Savannah said.
"I told you. I rescued you. I brought you here to make you better, but it is only in this place that you will remain better. If you choose to go back to earth with your friends, you will get sick and then you will get sicker and then you will die," Gerri said.
Azolata cleared his throat and I looked over at him. "Are there any other choices?" He asked.
Gerri looked over him and there was a slyness to her that made me wonder if she had our best interests in mind. "This is why I don't deal with the ancient ones. They are too smart."
"What are the other choices?" Savannah asked.
Gerri patted her hand and leaned back. “There are a few. You can go back to earth and ask a vampire to turn you. You can ask a voodoo doctor if they will take you in. You can even ask Artie if he can teach you."
"You know about Artie?" I asked.
"Of course I do. Who do you think brought his book to him?" Gerri said.
I sat back, stunned.
"I can't ask Celia to turn me?" Savannah asked.
Gerri looked impossibly sad for a moment. She shook her head. "You cannot. The magic that sustains the wolves is tied up in the forest and the earth. It is only your humanity that has allowed you to hold on to your sanity this long. If you join the pack, if you become a shifter like them, it will only open the floodgates wider and you won't even have a chance at becoming part of their pack. That magic will eat you alive."
Gerri spoke only in partial truths. She was only telling us part of what we needed to know and I was becoming frustrated with her.
"But if she doesn't have the talent for magic, then she won't be able to wield it," I said.
Gerri nodded.
"So she can't be taught by us," I reasoned.
I turned Savannah and she met my eyes. "Do you want to stay here? Honestly. If you want to, I understand and I'll tell everyone else. But it has to come from you and no one else."
Savannah looked down at the table top, the same sparkling white is the floor in the pillars.
"I cannot begin to thank you for your generosity, and the time you have given me, but I have lost one family already. If I was supposed to die when my sister shot me, then I would like to die with my family. They'll take care of me. I know that Celia will make sure that it's easy, in the end," Savannah whispered.
I felt a lump growing me in my throat. I looked away and out the window and glared at the waterfalls, forests, and birds in colors that I didn't have a name for were out there.
I hated it.
"Stay here. We can become your family," Gerri offered.
"I can't. I don't belong here. You can feel it and they can see it. I can't live like this forever, it's not fair," Savannah said.
"You know that if you go home, you will die. And it won't be a matter of weeks or months. It will be days," Gerri said.
Savannah didn't reply but when I looked over, she was nodding, her eyes still on the table.
"Why?" Gerri asked.
"Because when they should have hated me, they didn't. They gave me shelter and they helped me as best they could. There is a kind of grace in that. I want to see it again. I want to live the rest of my life in it. I don't care how long it is or how short it is."
I covered my face with my hands.
I heard Gerri sigh heavily. "You have to be sure."
"There isn't another way?" I asked in my voice cracked. "There isn't any other magic that can live in her?"
Gerri was silent.
I sat up and looked at her. "Is there another magic they can live in her?" I asked.
Gerri nodded. "There is. But it comes with conditions."
"What kind of conditions?" I asked.
Gerri looked over at Savannah and then leaned forward. "If you take this offer, your life will only be partially yours. You can go back to your family and to your friends but if I do this for you, it is a favor that I have granted no one. It is a favor that I have never even considered granting anyone, let alone a human."
"What is it?" Savannah asked.
"I can make you half of what I am. I can give you half of what a fae would have. You would have half our power, half our strength, half our life. But with that, half of you is owed to me. Half of you belongs with me."
"What does that mean?" Azolata asked and leaned forward.
"She must return here, at certain points during your year. If she does not, then she will revert back to human and she will die."
"Yes."
Azolata and I turned back to Savannah so fast that my head spun.
"Don't you want to think about this?" I asked.
Savannah shook her head. "It's the only way. And she'll let me go back. I can see everyone again, I can be of more use. I can live."
It was her choice and I couldn't stand in the way of that. When I looked back at Gerri, she was holding an apple in her hand. It was bright red and perfectly round.
"Then eat. And when you are done, I will take you home," Gerri promised.
As I watched Savannah sink her teeth into the apple, I couldn't help but think of another young woman and another apple and the poison that lay within she never knew about.