What did you do? (Infatuated fae #2)

24. The Past

24

THE PAST

Caly

“ M eet me back here at three or you’ll sleep in the alleyway again,” Commander Von barked out the window of the rusty Buick LeSabre.

The lights from the yellow and purple neon signs glinted off his shaved head, my own mousy reflection staring back from his aviator sunglasses. Responding only with a solemn nod, I stepped back, into a puddle where the glistening black asphalt had crumbled away.

The large fae removed his hands from the steering wheel with an emphatic drop to his lap.

It had only been a few months since Commander had taken Cecelia’s place in the home, but I had already learned not to give him access to my back.

He looked out over the top of his aviators in a silent dare as I glared at him.

“What did they do?” I asked hesitantly.

This had been the first hit I had struggled with. It was a double tonight: two elves who had done something to cross the queen, what I didn’t know. That wasn’t the part I was struggling with though. It was an elderly couple that ran a bar in a less-than-ideal part of the city.

Pain radiated across my face, and I fell back onto the gritty pavement with an animallike cry.

“It’s not your job to know why; it’s your job to know their weakness and how to kill them. Do not question the queen’s reasoning again.” Commander pulled back the hand that had just punched me in the face and wiped it across the front of his shirt before driving away, leaving me curled up in a fetal position on the ground. The late-night drizzle had picked up once again, slowly covering my black dress in a heavy dampness.

“Hey!” the scary fae shouted only a few feet from where he’d taken off. “Bring me back her tongue, or I’ll use yours again!” His deep, throaty laugh traveled on the wind as he drove away.

I lay in the puddle and cried. For how long, I had no idea. Time had been different ever since Mom and Adrianna left me. Everything felt endless and long. It was getting harder and harder to stick with the plan, but every time I felt like crying and breaking, I knew I couldn’t.

I would never get back up, and then I’d die a dopey human.

I thought Saracen had started to have doubts about me going to Seelie. Last week she had shown up right when I was dragging that Peter kid’s body into the woods.

“I didn’t order this hit,” she said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

“I know—he said I didn’t have any parents because I was so ugly,” I responded flatly.

“We agreed that you would stop killing everything that looks at you sideways once training began. That was the deal if you wanted to be my assassin here. I had no idea what a vicious, little thing you were,” Saracen scolded. “I’m starting to wonder if you are a demon of Tartarus, instead of a peaceful Artemi! I thought you were just angry about your mother’s and sister’s deaths. It was a great idea for me to have an assassin here, and I thought it would help you let out a little anger, but I’m starting to worry you’re too dark, child. When your powers come, you will be an absolute weapon of destruction if you continue like this. You’re ten and already have the countenance of some of the most horrendous fae I know . I could never trust that you wouldn’t turn your powers and hate against me.”

I froze. I had thought this would work.

“I’m only practicing. I just want to get better so I can go to Seelie with you and Eli,” I said flatly. Too flatly—I needed to make sure to put more emotion in the next words. “I would never hurt you. I love you.”

“I don’t know, Calypso. They aren’t just going to let a bloodthirsty Artemi wander around Seelie. They would send me to the Elysian Fields before I could even empower you to be an official Seelie royal,” she said, sitting down on a tree stump.

“Elysian Fields? You seem sure you won’t be going to Tartarus,” I grumbled under my breath as I kicked leaves over Peter’s arm.

Saracen let out a snort of laughter. “I agree. I’m likely better suited to go to the fiery pits of Tartarus.” Her head shook slowly. “Thank the Fates, all Seelie royals automatically go to the Elysian Fields, regardless.”

I dropped the rope I held. “I’ll complete a huge test. Something that all of the people will be affected by, so they know I fight for Seelie only,” I said frantically. “I’ll do anything you ask! Whatever it is, I’ll do it, and then you can empower me as an official Seelie royal. I couldn’t turn on Seelie then.”

“That still doesn’t mean you won’t turn your powers on me once you get them,” she said as her body shifted away from me.

“I’ll—I’ll give you my heart!” I cried out.

“You’ve been near Commander Von too much. I have no cannibalistic tendencies, my dear,” she replied with a grimace.

“No—no! It’s an Artemi thing. I’ve heard about a witch who can split your heart in half. It’s an option when the power bestowed on the Artemi is too great and they can’t bear it any longer. Usually if there is a lot of power, they get it before they’re eighteen and able to use it. I’ll find a witch and she’ll take the half with the dormant powers and give it to you! You’ll have full control of me until I’ve proven to be a part of your family and court.” My chest rose and fell with excitement.

She wrinkled her brow at me. “Why have I never heard of that before?”

“Because it’s a transfer of powers, and they don’t want anyone to know that they can do that. Artemi can even give weak elders small bits of their power if they get sick or need it. There are lots of things no one knows,” I stated.

Now, in the dirty street, blood had poured from my face down to my dress. My nose was broken and throbbing, pain radiating from my eyes and head. I just wanted to lay in the puddle a little longer and pretend I wasn’t here. What was I doing? I was only ten. I’d nearly flunked science last year and gotten Ds in everything else. Why on earth had I thought I would be able to pull off this plan? I wasn’t smart, I wasn’t strong. I was nothing.

I looked over at the alleyway, where a small black cat was sitting and watching me.

Adrianna had loved cats. Every shirt she owned had kittens on it. She had even managed to get Mom to iron on little cat patches all over her book bag.

The place where I guessed my heart might be already felt hollow. No matter how much I lashed out, it never filled.

No, I wouldn’t let them down. I wouldn’t let myself stop until the person who killed them died.

The black cat coiled around my legs, shoving its soft, little head at me until I was forced to sit up in the parking lot so the cat would stop pushing against my swollen face.

A car slammed on its brakes, honking and veering right before hitting me. Had I been lying down, they would have never seen me.

“Agh! It’s a ghost, man,” the driver shrieked to his passenger as they screeched away.

“Thanks,” I said to the cat, patting its raised rear end.

I knew why the cat was drawn to me, but it was still weird. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it. I didn’t want to.

The dainty feline started to walk down the alley, but then stopped and came back in a huff to shove my legs.

I needed to get to this bar and kill my marks or a broken nose wouldn’t be the half of it. Commander dressed me in the usual, a cutesy dress and a pair of tights. If I showed up like this, they would probably run from me like that car had, and I needed them to let down their guard.

I stood up and grabbed my pounding head as the rush from standing caused more blood to gush from my nose. I had to get cleaned up a little.

“All right, I hope you’re taking me somewhere with a sink,” I muttered, following the pleased cat down the alleyway.

We continued down several long side streets and corners, scaring every person in the alley who was attempting some sort of nefarious activity and sending them screaming and running the other direction, until we eventually came to a small hole-in-the-wall shop with a flashing neon sign that said “Psychic Readings.”

The cat pushed open the cracked door and snaked in as a bell jingled loudly. It was as good of a place as any to get cleaned up, so I opened the door and walked inside to find the cat coiled up on a purple-haired woman with at least four facial piercings.

“Well, well, well. Look what my cat dragged in,” she said with a stern look. “Tell me who to put a hex on while I clean you up, little girl.”

“You’re a—a witch?” I asked, glancing at the cat and hardly believing my luck.

“Yeah, honey, but don’t worry. I’m not the scary kind like in the movies.”

The cat leaped down from her lap as she stood and moved behind the beaten-up glass counter of the register.

“Seelie.”

Startled at my words, the witch whipped back around to me, recognition filling her brown eyes.

“I knew you were a real witch,” I muttered triumphantly as I hugged the little black cat.

“Well, this makes more sense,” she said, tossing me a cloth with strong-smelling oils all over it.

“Can you split my heart? I need to give it to someone, and it’s important that I can physically hand it to them,” I pleaded, deciding on taking the blunt approach.

“Split your heart? Body modifications like that are incredibly unreliable and difficult. There’s a reason why you never hear about it being done, kid, especially when it comes to vital organs. That’s why those witches in Hanabi got burned for splitting those Marongs’ hearts once their powers started killing them. Besides, it only lasted a short amount of time.” She grimaced at my blood-smeared face. “Here, let me help.” The witch slowly moved toward me, as though she was afraid of scaring me, and grabbed the cloth.

If she only knew.

“How long does it last?”

She stared at me for a second. “Depends on what you are, but usually only until the red circle passes the moon.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

She laughed. “No one knows what it means unless you’re a witch. It’s about twenty years.”

“Please, I need you to try on me. I have to hand her my heart,” I pleaded. “Please.”

“I’ll have to call my grandma. She’s better at?—”

“No. No one else can know I was here,” I said, cutting her off. I needed to make sure this didn’t get back to Saracen.

“Okay. Then it’s going to cost you,” she said with a smile.

I giggled appropriately and palmed the karambit in the pocket of my cardigan.

Unfortunately, it was going to cost her a good bit more.

“What are you? I can’t see your ears under that hat. Elven? You know, over two streets, there are the sweetest husband and wife who are elven. They own the Hobbit Hole Bar on second street,” she said warmly.

Moving aside a deep red curtain that acted as a door behind her counter, she paused and waited for my answer.

“Okay,” I said with false intimacy, “but you can’t tell anybody.”