“You’re changing, Malia, to adapt to your new world. Here,” he says, gesturing toward the stream, “look.”
I look into the stream and take in my reflection. I’m beautiful. I never really thought I was ugly, but now, I am beautiful. I mean, I still look like me but in an exotic sort of way. My skin is flawless, my cheekbones more pronounced. My lips are luscious and full. I don’t look like a seventeen-year-old girl anymore but more like a grown woman. Even my hair has a luster to it that I never had before. It is almost as if it glows.
I look at my clothes and realize I am no longer wearing my school uniform. I am now wearing a black leather bodysuit with boots that go all the way to my knees. The back of each boot is laced from the ankle all the way to the top. They are the coolest boots I have ever seen. A deep-purple, Victorian-style jacket with a V-shaped neckline and high-brimmed collar trimmed in black leather adorns my upper half. The jacket is long behind me, and the black taffeta at the bottom reaches the floor. My sleeves are wide with lace trim, and the same lace trim covers my exposed skin at the neckline. A beautiful Victorian choker in black velvet adorns my throat, with a cameo dangling from the front. Although, this isn’t your average cameo with the normal silhouette of a woman on it. My cameo appears to have a snake-like dragon. I’m a vision and definitely look badass. A girl could get used to this.
“So what happens next?” I ask.
“Nothing. You live here peacefully, happily, and without a care in the world—that is until I come to collect.”
“Yeah, about that—”
“My dear, now don’t you go worrying your pretty little head about it. You could live here an entire lifetime before anything happens. No need to ponder such things now.”
I decide to blindly follow his advice and don’t give it another thought.
Part II
Five years later
My mom and I have been living in Nysa for almost five years now, and I have to say, we absolutely love our new life. Mom was not happy with me at first, but when I explained to her everything that happened and she saw how beautiful it is here, it didn’t take her long to embrace our new world. She doesn’t have to work so hard anymore to make ends meet for we don’t use money. Everything, all our needs, are provided somehow.
I find I have new powers every day. I can do so many things, from the simplest of spells, like making a drink appear when I am thirsty, to something more complex, like changing a griffon into a dog or even into a man. The coolest one is that I can turn myself into a snake-like dragon, just like the one on my cameo. Yes, I said a dragon. A real fire-breathing dragon. It’s totally awesome. I am the only fairy in this land with this capability, for I am the most powerful here.
One afternoon as Mom and I are having tea on our favorite veranda that overlooks the forest and the stream, the man who sent us here suddenly appears. It’s the first time I have seen him in the whole five years I have been in Nysa.
“Hello, Malia,” he says.
“Hello,” I reply.
“Malia, do you know this man?” my mother asks.
“Yes, Mom, I do. This is the man who made all this happen.” I gesture to our surroundings. I told my mom about him and his promise, but I never told her that someday he would come to collect. I never told her there would be a price to pay. I realize now I probably should have because I know in my heart it’s exactly why he’s here.
He winks at me and says, “It’s time to collect, Malia.”
“What is he talking about, Malia?” my mother asks.
Before I can answer, the man responds. “Malia and I have an agreement. Don’t we, dear?”
I nod.
“I gave Malia and you all of this—this world, this life—for a price. And now is the time for her to pay up.”
“And what is the price?” Mom asks.
He turns toward me. “I shall tell you.” He gives me a devilish smile, and my heart sinks. “You see, Malia, it seems that King Philip of Illyria and his new bride are about to have a blessed event, after many years of praying for a child.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“King Philip has been a thorn in my side for a very long time. I do not like the man, nor do I trust him. He has caused much harm to the fairies and people in other kingdoms as well as my own family, and the last thing I want is for him to find any sort of happiness. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I still don’t understand how any of this concerns me?” He’s being cryptic, and it’s beginning to annoy me. I could just turn into a dragon and be done with him. But something tells me even my dragon will not make him go away.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, he says, “Tsk, tsk, Malia, shame on you. Your magic will not work on me, so don’t even think about it.”
I’m disappointed by his words. I guess I should have known I would not be able to destroy the one thing that made this all happen. “So what am I to do?”Please don’t make me kill the child, I plead to myself.
“Now you are learning.” He smiles. “And no, I will not ask you to kill the child. But you will curse the child. You will show up at the celebration party of her birth and place a curse on the sweet baby Rose.”
