Only a moment later, they heard Kayla’s voice.
It was weirdly distorted, like listening to an album on the wrong speed: the pitch was uneven but high, and everything was so fast it was hard to process any word before falling three words behind. It was possible to follow it but only with intense concentration and a certain degree of extrapolating missed syllables.
“Heya! I’m Kayla. Erica’s coming. As completely counter-intuitive and irrational as it may seem, all evidence I’ve had since life got weird says that it’s completely safe to step across that doorway. And Riley can’t hold it long.”
“I suppose we don’t have a choice.” That was probably Adam’s voice.
“Weird isn’t necessarily bad.” That was definitely her grandfather, briskly. It was easy for Erica to imagine him coming through, and Adam following hastily. “And your sister needs us.”
“Welcome to the island,” Kayla said. “It doesn’t really have a better name, since the person who created it is dead and the people who stole it are no longer in charge. I’m not sure it really needs one. So what did Riley tell you?” The distortion faded rapidly, and by the time she finished, her voice sounded normal again.
“That my grand-daughter vanishing was not by her own choice, she’s now safe but she and some of her school friends were brought here, and the situation is complicated.”
“Well, that’s all true, but ‘complicated’ really does not begin to cover it. Highly important bits first. I gather from what Erica tells us that you’re familiar with the idea of fae.”
“The green people and their kin? I’ve been seeing them my whole life. Stayed friendly with them but not too familiar. They like their privacy. Never met anyone else who could see them.”
“Yeah, um, they are absolutely real, and surprisingly common. Also, the overwhelming majority are female. Probably has a lot to do with a whole lot of folklore, really. This means that they sometimes mate with humans to have children, and sometimes the children grow up with their human parent. Best guess right now is that you can see them because you have a fairly recent ancestor who is fae.”
“Just seeing them means that?” Adam asked. “I can’t. Erica can’t.”
“Ah... Erica now can, because she had latent fae genes that got woken up. She is absolutely okay, I promise. One of the friends who’s been through all this with her is one of my two dearest friends and I’ve been good friends for a while with a couple of the others, and I give you my word, they’re all handling that fae gene thing much better than their loved ones are.”
“Not going to call that a lie,” Adam said. “I know what I’ve seen, even if it’s only effects. Erica and I used to talk about this stuff all the time and at one point as kids we both made up a lot of wild fantasies, so sure, why not? Right now, if you don’t mind, I would like to see for myself that my sister is here and safe.”
“That is really easy to do, but it’s also going to be a bit of a shock. Having fae genes wake up doesn’t just mean being able to see things. She now looks like a green fae.”
“She what?”
“Calm down,” her grandfather said. “Green fae have a lot of looks. I’ve seen tiny ones and tree-sized ones.”
“Really?” Kayla said. “Huh. Actually, come to think of it, I’m not sure that surprises me. Just like the rest here, she’s about human-sized, but she looks a bit plant-like. With all of them, I’m finding, no matter what kind of fae they are, you can sort of squint and look at an angle and still see how they used to look. However, she’s now taller than I am, with curves like absolute wow. A major frustration is that she can’t talk out loud. So there’s another friend with her, one of her old friends, who can hear her and relay things. Her name is Alison.”
“I’m sure I’ve heard the name,” Adam said. “Although less often than others.”
“JC? Des? Possibly Theo?”
“Theo, that’s the radio DJ. He drove her home after a dance once when the boy who had asked her to go got rude. After another friend stepped in and protected her from her date.”
“Ah... does the name Zach ring a bell?”
“Possibly. It was a long time ago.”
“That was it,” her grandfather said. “Basketball team captain.”
“Yeah, figured that might be him. Zach’s here too,” Kayla said.
“And Des and JC are names she’s mentioned often. Them too?”
“Them too. I live with Theo, I went to high school with his husband.”
That was a detour, but Erica thought it was smart—get everything grounded in real, familiar people, give things some context.
“So,” Kayla said. “Erica’s nearby, but Ali’s going to have to talk for her. Alison, however, is basically a sort of two-legged centaur. So that might come as a bit of a shock. Also, she’s big. But no matter how things look, or how impossible it should be for them to not look human, it’s absolutely for real and they’re still Erica and Alison. We just need to go that way, and they’ll find us pretty quickly I bet, because Erica really wanted you to come but she’s also scared of the effect on you.”
“We’ll manage,” her grandfather said firmly. “Let’s go.”
Erica traded glances with Alison, who closed a hand around Erica’s and squeezed.
Already next to the path that led to the Gate, they really had nowhere to go; they just waited.
Alison took a step forward, making sure that she was going to be the first one visible. Erica stayed where she was. It was probably just as well to let the brunt of the initial shock fall on Alison, someone her family didn’t know, rather than herself.
She could still see them past Alison. Her brother was barely average height for a man and solidly built, in good condition from all the work at the greenhouse and his fondness for long hikes in green areas, currently in the good blue jeans and oak-green greenhouse-logoed t-shirt and short laced brown boots he usually wore to work. Her grandfather bore a strong resemblance to what her brother would probably look like in another forty years, maybe a bit taller than Adam, still physically powerful despite his age, face bearing deep marks from sun and wind and laughter and pain, hair largely gone; he was wearing blue jeans too, but they were worn pale in irregular areas and streaked with soil, and he had a short-sleeved tan shirt open over a dirt-streaked chocolate shirt that was probably sleeveless, so he must have come in from working outside in expectation of that video call and never changed.
Both stopped when they saw Alison clearly, though her grandfather recovered first.
“I can’t recall any of the green folk I’ve seen looking that striking.” He strode directly up to Alison and offered a hand. “Alison, I gather?”
Alison nodded. “And thank you. I know it’s... startling.”
“More startling to live through, I’d bet. Adam, snap out of it.”
“Um, sorry,” Adam said. “I’m not used to actually seeing those green folk, remember.”
“It’s okay,” Alison said. “Trust me, we sympathize. We’ve just had time to learn to get used to the idea.”
“Time? Erica hasn’t been gone all that long, I got an email from her yesterday!”
“Ah... time moves more quickly here,” Kayla said. “Thirty-two times as quickly, in fact. So eighteen hours in the real world has been twenty-four days here.”
Alison nodded. “We’ve had time,” she repeated. “Sorry. I know you’re Adam. I suppose we could all keep calling you Erica’s grandfather, but you are...?”
Her grandfather laughed. “Hollis. But I’m also good with Grandpa from my grand-daughter’s friends. Speaking of whom, you’re doing a bad job of hiding, there, honey. C’mere and give me a hug. We were worried about you.”
Erica glanced at Alison, and didn’t even have to silently verbalize it before Alison said, “She’s sorry about that. We didn’t really have a choice but we all feel bad about what the people who care most about us have been through because of this.”
“What matters is that you’re okay now. All of you.”
Erica stepped sideways, out of Alison’s shadow and into clearer view. Her grandfather, without hesitation, offered both hands and drew her in for a fierce hug. She was substantially taller, and made sure she didn’t use her own full strength in returning it, but it still felt good.
“Adam,” Alison said for her, “Erica wants to know how you’d feel about her working in the greenhouse back end, because she’s going to have some trouble with her old office job these days. She costs more than cream and cookies to set out but she’s worth it. It’ll take time to re-learn how to type but she still has all those clerical skills in her head.”
Her grandfather chuckled. “If he won’t, I’ll drag you out to the farm, love. We’ll figure it out. I’m less sure what to do about the rest of the family.”
“Apparently,” Alison said, “most faelings can eventually learn to change back to how we used to look for at least short periods. But we don’t know how yet. Too bad, it would make reunions easier.”
“Helpful.” He let go of Erica. “You okay, there, Adam?”
“Um, trying to realign stuff in my head,” Adam said. “It isn’t going to happen as fast as I might want.”
Erica met his gaze and gave him a wry smile and a nod, then held out both hands.
More hesitant than their grandfather, he laid his over them, and let her step closer for a careful hug.
“Why can’t you talk?” he asked.
She freed one hand to twine a leafy tendril from her hair around one finger, then let go and rubbed that finger against her own cheek.
“What?”
She tapped her cheek again.
“Look closer at her skin,” Alison said.
Puzzled, he did. It took him only seconds to notice what she finally had: the soft brown of her skin was, under close examination, a fine mosaic of several shades of brown and green.
“Gre... oh, no way, humans can’t photosynthesize.”
She gave him an exasperated look.
“Yeah, uh,” Kayla said. “That’s not a useful yardstick around here.”
“You’re right on the photosynthesis,” Alison said. “It’s inconvenient in ways. Fortunately, I developed an ability that lets me hear her... sort of telepathically. I generally prefer to keep that private but if I don’t tell you I can’t translate for Erica.”
Adam cupped one hand around Erica’s cheek, eyes searching her face. Erica waited, eyes lowered to give him the opportunity without pressure to look for whatever he needed to see.
“Some big brother I am,” he sighed, eyes closing as he hugged her much harder. “Not there when you needed me.”
“Yeah, we’re all feeling like that,” Kayla said, echoing the sigh. “Among a lot of other intense and complicated emotions. It gets a lot worse, unfortunately. Shall we find a place to sit down and we can get you caught up on everything that’s happened? Including how Erica and six friends were so freakin’ clever and determined and good at working together that they overthrew bad guys who looked like they had all the cards?”
“They did what, now?”
“We didn’t have much choice,” Alison said. “Or I suppose we did, but the alternatives were unbearable.”
Her grandfather, despite being in good shape, would have trouble getting up after sitting on the ground for long. They weren’t terribly far from a place Kayla had probably not seen, and Alison might not have either, since it was tucked into a quiet spot where it was hard to see from any distance. Possibly it had even been built as a place to chat with visitors.
Erica beckoned, and led them away from the path and the Gate.
“Where are we going?” Alison asked. “Gazebo? I didn’t know there was one.”
Erica nodded and gestured in the right direction.
“Okay. You’ve spent more time exploring than I have.”
“While walking,” Grandpa said. “Bad guys? All the cards?”
“Okay,” Kayla said. “This is going to be frustrating at moments because it’s complicated and won’t all seem like it’s relevant. Fastest version I can. There’s a kind of energy that’s basically magic but sometimes called aether. There are magical physicists called wizards, not many of them. There are people trying to reduce the social friction, called mediums. There are fae who are intrinsically and always deeply connected to magic or aether or whatever. There are places where aether is stronger and it’s easier for fae to interact with humans, called nexi. A nexus builds up aether and releases it periodically, which semi-activates fae genes in anyone who is recently born or just about to be, and without that, it’ll never wake up. Obviously there was a flare around the time Erica and the others were born. Fae genes have some influence but personality and environment and all that are also hugely important. Potential faelings normally stay close to their own nexus, or come back if they leave. With me so far?”
“I think so,” Adam said.
“So far,” Grandpa agreed.
“Wizards and fae have had wars before, and while wizards can win battles, they never win the whole war. Two wizards, one of them younger and fucking psychopathic, one old and rather senile, and a medium decided to steal this island—we aren’t sure but they might have killed the previous owner—and started kidnapping faelings whose fae blood was just about to wake up. There’s some slightly contradictory info as to how that happens, but in our case, we helped an old lady the night of the blackout, which was apparently caused by a nexus flare, and she turned out to be a fae who blessed us all to be who and what we really are. Not so bad for the humans present but that triggered our faelings, who got kidnapped by the bad guys around midnight, sending the rest of us into a panic. Theo never came home from work, Zach’s wife Heather called us because Zach was only supposed to be out briefly to run to the store for milk, Wade got home from working nights and Alison was gone, Suzi was taking the dogs for a short walk and her husband found the dogs, scared, but no Suzi.” She looked at Alison.
“We were here,” Alison said. “In what’s called midway phase, halfway between how we used to look and how we look now. They tried using drugged food to keep us docile and wipe our memories, but Erica and JC caught on and that failed. We were doing garden work and housework and cooking, but we found ways to work around the bad guys and their four henchmen so we could figure out what was going on and stay fed. After a few days...”
Erica spotted the fox trio just before one of the girls sang out, “Hi, Kayla! And Alison and Erica!”
Erica waved a greeting.
“Hi, guys,” Kayla said. “Headed for the house to collect the bounty?”
Crimson nodded. “We chased down four between us.” She hefted two spies by the tail-end, and Clover and Vester each displayed one. “Now we’re tired and hungry. We thought we’d take them to the house and see if JC has more cookies.”
Kayla laughed. “I’m sure Jace and Emma will make sure you get fed and there might still be cookies.”
“More friends?” Clover asked shyly.
“Erica’s family,” Alison said. “Her brother and their grandfather.”
Vester said something that sounded mournful, and Clover sighed and said sadly, “I wish we remembered whether we have those too. Maybe someone misses us.”
“I know,” Kayla said gently. “Those assholes have a lot to answer for. Go get something to eat, okay? Dulce’s in the fountain and probably missing Orfeo and Paz since they went hunting, she could likely use some company.”
“Sounds good,” Crimson said. “Later, Erica’s family!” They continued on towards the house.
“More kidnap victims?” Grandpa said quietly.
Kayla nodded. “Sweet kids. The twins remember virtually nothing. The boy has better memories of a character he enjoyed playing than his real life. And we have no idea right now whether there is any way to get back what’s lost, which is just sickening. We have no way to find where they came from. They wouldn’t know their families if we could, and we don’t know whether this is the kind of thing where exposure can bring back memories.”
“That’s flat-out tragic.”
“Yes. But unfortunately not the worst. Ali?”
“We finished changing, although we’re told that we haven’t completely finished yet and we’re still developing small new things. They stuck our water fae Theo in a lake, our dragon Zach in a cage, our house fae JC in the house, me in a stable, our will-o’-the-wisp Suzi in a swamp with the others like her, and left Erica and our cat fae Des on their own. And we met others who were kidnapped before us. Some of them years ago, local time, although it’s months in the real world.”
“That...” Adam said, his voice shaky, “is horrible.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said. “And there isn’t a faeling on this island who isn’t messed up. Some are friendly, like those adorable foxes and all the house fae and a trio who speak Spanish. Some are cautious, understandably. Some are downright hostile and can be aggressive, especially towards humans.”
“You’re safe,” Alison said. “The hostile ones don’t like coming inside the central walled area, and if they did, Erica and I could deal with most. Even if there were a lot, we could stall until Zach and Des got here as backup. They aren’t all that far away.”
Erica nodded, and guided them past a dark metal trellis covered with climbing beans, and down a slope. The slope had two more bean-trellises, but there was a subtle optical illusion: each was taller than the last, so it looked at a glance like the ground was flat.
At the bottom of the slope was a simple gazebo so overgrown with grape vines that it was impossible to see the structure beneath them. She beckoned them inside.
*Erica?* Alison said privately. *Separate cottages? Or should Suzi bring up the idea to Niko of adding another bedroom if possible?*
*Um... a two-bedroom would be a great option, although I don’t know for sure which they’d prefer.*
*’Kay. Suze? If he can add a bedroom, that’d be great. Thanks!*
The vines grew up the wooden posts supporting the shallow hexagonal roof, but left plenty of open space between. Only one face was open; the other five had benches built along them, against the low lattice sides.
Erica tapped Kayla’s arm and pointed; a small glassy sphere, no bigger than a ping-pong ball, hung from the apex of the roof. Kayla reached up to touch it inquisitively, and it began to glow with familiar soft moonlight-tinted illumination. It wasn’t bright, but the gazebo was in deep shadow, between its position and the approaching evening, and at least it would allow them to see each other.
“Nice,” Kayla said. “Another hexagon, big surprise. Are the grapes safe?”
Erica nodded, ran her long fingers over several bunches of the plump green grapes, and picked one to hand to Kayla. Kayla sat on one of the polished wooden benches and pulled off a grape to toss into her mouth. “Hm, seeds,” she observed.
“Erica says the ground outside is fine. Spit them or toss them.” Alison settled herself with care on another bench, forced to sit near the front edge by her shortened femurs and to fold her legs a bit awkwardly. “Or just swallow them.”
“Gorgeous bit of landscaping,” Adam said, pulling a couple of grapes off the bunch Kayla offered, then sitting down. “You could walk right by this.”
“I have,” Alison said. “I didn’t know this was here. It’s pretty and private and more comfortable than the ground, so I’m glad it is.”
“A good place, complete with snacks, while we hear the whole story,” Grandpa said. “All of it. No hiding things.”
“All of it,” Kayla agreed. “Because if you’re hanging around, you need to know.”
