The Foolhardies 6 First Contac

I expected her to be angry at me for ruining her big reveal, the wringing of hands, the naming of insults—even just a regular frown would have sufficed. However, I received none of these responses. In fact, she seemed delighted that I figured it out. At least that's what I assumed from the smile showing on her face.

"I knew you were smart, Dean," she said, in that honeyed voice that seemed like music to my ears.

It was glamour. It had to be. I was still under her spell and was definitely not responsible for the star-struck vibes I was giving the woman who I knew was my enemy.

No. I was wrong. She wasn't a woman at all.

In the span between her giving me a compliment and my internal monologue about how captivatingly beautiful she was, the fairy doctor changed shape from a woman in her early twenties to the slender teenage blonde who was walking over to where I stood inside my circle of salt.

It was the same blue-eyed face except her glasses were missing. She replaced her lab coat with a sleeveless midnight blue dress that reached past her knees. Her feet were bare, but she didn't seem to mind the soft earth she stepped on.

"U-um," I swallowed.

She was close enough to touch now. Only the salt barrier kept her from walking right up to my face, and at this distance, I could say with certainty that she didn't need glamour to woo me.

"Yes?" she asked.

The golden hair that fell across her milky white shoulders seemed to be shining with its own inner light, and peeking out of these golden locks were two extrlong and pointed ears.

"Uh… well…" I said, lamely.

She leaned forward. "What is it?"

Inwardly I wondered if she hadn't realized yet how her proximity was overloading my brain, or maybe she did, and she was using it against me. This thought was like pulling the trigger of a gun aimed right at my hormonal teenage-boy-brain, reminding me of what was at stake. The anger returned, and with it, my resolve.

Although the summoning pamphlet warned the summoner of stepping away less the fairy they summoned feel insulted by the gesture, there was no other way for me to create the space I needed to bow my head in greeting.

No, I didn't want to bow to her, but this was how the ritual was done and I needed things to go perfectly.

"Might this humble personage ask the name of the fair folk who has deigned to grace this mortal realm?" I asked, with my head bowed.

I was not channeling Shakespeare. It was necessary to show proper respect to receive the fairy's favor later. At least that's what the pamphlet claimed.

As I sneaked a peek at her face, I watched her smile transform into a slight frown, and I guessed it had something to do with my sudden change in attitude.

"I am Aurana Trickhaven, first daughter of the Trickster Pavilion, the noblest of the fay clans," she answered in a stately tone.

I let five seconds pass before I raised my head to her eye level. Her smile was back, and now that I was thinking clearer, I understood that she was using her charms to test my resolve once more.

We stared at each other, she with her captivating smile and me with my frosty grin. Neither of us allowing the other a foothold, until, after what seemed like an eternity, Aurana rolled her eyes at me and laughed. It was the kind of laughter that could evaporate someone's anger. In this case, mine.

"You are very stubborn, Dean Dapper," she said.

"Um, thanks?" I answered, uncertainly.

"Shall we dispense with the formalities?" she suggested. "I didn't travel all this way just so you and I can try to outwit each other."

This wasn't how the pamphlet said things would go. Either it was dead wrong about what to expect or this fairy before me was an oddity.

"If that is what the fair one desires," I said. I kept up the pretense in case she was trying to con me.

"We're not in one of your human plays, you know," she giggled. "Why don't you just call me Aurana and I'll keep calling you Dean."

"Seriously? We're just dispensing the ritual's rules just like that?"

"I didn't think you were one to care too much about rules, Dean."

Her blue eyes were staring right into mine, and I was afraid I might get lost inside their depths.

"Besides, I'm not fond of mind games, and if this continued, I have no doubt you would have beaten me completely," she admitted.

She certainly wasn't as I expected. She seemed so open and honest. Not at all like the wicked monsters that stole children in the dead of night.

"You're wondering if you can trust me." she guessed.

"Can I?" I countered.

Aurana shrugged. "That's up to you. I won't try to persuade you… but I'd rather we lay our cards on the table. Enter into this relationship with full transparency."

My ears pricked up. "Relationship?"

Although I was certain she didn't mean it to sound anything like what my hormonal brain was thinking, the thought of any relationship with Aurana was making my cheeks turn a red shade similar to my hair.

When Aurana saw the redness on my face, her own cheeks turned a shade of apple.

"I meant something like a business partnership… a mutually beneficial one," she quickly corrected.

"Oh, yeah. I knew that…" I replied just as quickly.

Seconds ticked by into a full minute before Aurana thought to continue our conversation. It seems she needed the time to get over her embarrassment.

"All cards on the table, yes?" She asked.

"Yes," although I said this without hesitation, I wasn't completely smitten by her. A part of me was still on guard and still waiting for the other shoe to drop. "So… how can we help each other?"

"First thing's first. You need to know that a fairy trade is binding to both parties. It cannot be undone or bamboozled or forgotten. We must both uphold it less great tragedy strike the rule-breaker," Aurana recited as if she were reading from an invisible textbook.

"Sounds serious," I joked, lightheartedly.

"It is," she responded. "We call this the Rule of Equivalent Trade, and it is the one rule no fairy can break."

"Why not?"

"It just isn't done. Not in the last five hundred years…"

I placed both my hands in the pocket of my jeans.

"I assume you're telling me this to prove you won't go back on any agreement we make tonight?" I guessed.

Aurana nodded. "Fair trade. That's what I can promise you."

"Great, cool, thank you," I said, as a sudden panic began to fill my thoughts. After all, it was now or never. Do or die. "I would like to make a deal."

"I assumed as much." Aurana smiled. "So, you would like me to heal your mother's sanity—"

"What — no!" I interrupted her.

Aurana frowned at the interruption but said nothing.

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"Hold on… you can do that?" I couldn't help asking. Mom seemed so far gone that anything short of magic might not make her better again. "You can just… heal her? And not just temporarily like last night. I mean, really make her better again?"

Aurana was still frowning when she answered, "Yes. It's why I was there last night… to show you it was possible."

Now, she looked smug, and I have to say, her face was very expressive.

"But in order for me to heal your mother, I would need equal—"

"No, thanks… that's not what I want." I said, quickly.

It was tempting. It was very tempting. Honestly, I would have said yes in a heartbeat if there wasn't something even more important I needed to ask for.

Aurana's face, crunched together as it was at that second, was the textbook definition of bewilderment. "are you certain?"

I shook my head before I finally revealed the reason I summoned her. "Luca. I want to trade my life for his."

That was my moment of truth because even I wasn't sure I could say it. To sacrifice myself for someone else—even if it was Luca—that took guts I didn't think I had. Not until that moment.

"You know about my missing brother, right?"

Aurana nodded slowly. Her face was smooth impassivity, and I wondered how long she could maintain it.

"Were you the one who took him?" I asked.

"No," she blurted. "It wasn't me."

I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing her answer. It would have been infinitely harder to work with the fairy that was responsible for my family's recent problems.

"But you know who did?" I prompted.

Despite how honest she seemed, I reminded myself that the pamphlet warned summoners from completely believing the fairy they summoned as they were experts at bending the truth.

"I do," Aurana said, after a pause. "One of my clan's elders took Luca to the Fayne."

My eyebrow shot up. "What is the Fayne?"

"It's our word for the realm we call home," Aurana revealed.

Chapter end