Chapter 3
Nell
“Okay, that guy is bat-shit crazy, right?” I ask the second the door closes behind Kaelisar.
All three look at me with expressions that range between compassion and discomfort. The tall woman, Althea, rubs her hands together. Now I'm certain that small orange sparks jump between her fingers.
“Unfortunately, everything he said about magic and the Fae is real,” she responds with that strange accent I noticed when she chased me. “And Kaelisar is extremely dangerous. Just crossing dimensions like he did requires tremendous power.”
“Well, pretty crazy, yes, he is,” Sylara adds almost in a whisper as she gathers her green braid and places it over her shoulder with an elegant gesture.
“Great. So I've gone from having a shitty life to having to work for a very dangerous lunatic who you say comes from another dimension or whatever, right?” I sigh, letting myself fall back onto the couch. “And you all believe all that crap? About him being my father and all?”
The three exchange glances.
“Most of what he said about the Fae and elementals is true,” Sabina responds with that almost musical tone of voice that hypnotizes you. “But the part about being your father... we all know Kaelisar is capable of saying anything to manipulate people.”
“Oh, really? I barely noticed,” I say, shaking my head. “Hey, what about the pointy ears? Are they real or just a trick to impress me? Now you're going to tell me it's true that you're an elf?”
Sylara doesn't take offense. A slight smile appears on her thin lips as she extends her open palm toward an empty vase on the table.
Before my eyes, small green shoots begin to emerge from nothing, growing until they become brightly colored flowers.
She plucks one and offers it to me with a smile you could die for.
“My ears are as real as these flowers,” she adds with a wink.
Althea narrows her eyes and shakes her head.
“Always with the damn flower routine,” she grumbles, though I can see there's affection in her gaze when the elf creates beautiful flowers from nothing.
The scent they give off is spectacular. They're real, completely real.
“Okay, let's say the ears are real, they're cool, by the way. They give you a very elegant vibe. And the flower thing, wow, that's awesome, you could put on a magic show no problem. What about you two? Are you also... not human? Do you have powers or something?”
Sabina laughs, a sound that recalls the murmur of a stream.
“I'm a siren.”
“Come on,” I scoff.
She pulls a small vial from her pocket and touches the liquid with her fingertip. For an instant, her skin seems to acquire an iridescent glow under the light.
“Though I prefer to maintain a human appearance on land. It's more... practical, you know. I can also get people to do things, manipulating their will.”
“Seriously? And you come with the typical fish tail and everything?”
“When I'm in water, yes,” she responds with an amused smile. “Though you should be more worried about the mind-control part.”
“And you?” I ask, turning toward Althea. “Let me guess... You're a dragon? I saw you shooting sparks from your fingers when you got nervous.”
“I'm a Kobold. Dragons don't exist,” she corrects, pulling a small piece of obsidian from her pocket and rolling it between her fingers. “We're fire elementals who live in the depths, near the Earth's core.”
“Of course, how could I not know that?” I respond. “And you work out a lot from what I can see.”
Althea frowns. She hasn't caught my irony.
“Okay. So to sum up, I'm half Fae, that psycho wants me to steal magical things for him, and you three are...”
“Your companions on this mission,” Sylara completes. “Though the half Fae thing, I'm not so sure about. The power I sense in you is great, even if you have no idea how to use it.”
I open my mouth to protest again, but I stop when I notice the building around us begins to vibrate slightly. The walls seem to ripple, like the world is built with a semi-liquid structure instead of solid matter.
“What the hell is happening now? An earthquake?”
“It's time to go,” Althea announces, grabbing me by the arm and lifting me into the air, though carefully so as not to hurt me. “The palace is returning.”
“What is doing what? What palace? I don't understand anything you just said.”
“We'll explain outside,” Sabina insists, heading toward the door.
The four of us rush out of the penthouse. As we descend in the elevator, I feel a strange pressure in my ears, like when you get on a plane, though I've only done that once in my life.
When we step onto the street, I turn to look at the building. For an instant, it seems to glow with a strange light, its contours blur like it's a mirage in the desert. Then the effect disappears, and it's just a normal skyscraper in the middle of the city again. A pretty ugly skyscraper, actually.
“What just happened?” I ask, rubbing my eyes.
“Kaelisar doesn't live here,” Sabina explains as we walk down the sidewalk. “He brought a piece of his palace from the realm where he's exiled and disguised it as this building's penthouse. Now it's returned to his home.”
“He can do that? Bring buildings from other... dimensions or whatever? Damn, that's wild.”
“He can move between some realms, but he can't return to Aifshara, the original home of the Fae,” Sylara clarifies. “That's why he needs the artifacts.”
My stomach growls, reminding me I haven't eaten anything since before the heist. Despite all the questions bubbling in my head, I can't think on an empty stomach.
“I need food,” I announce. “And if we're going to continue this conversation, I'd rather do it sitting down, because my head could explode any second.”
“You like burgers?” Althea suggests.
I nod, and we walk in silence until we reach a small place with dim lights and tables worn by time. At this hour of the night it's practically empty, which works perfectly for us.
“Please don't order fish,” Sabina sighs and something in her gaze tells me she's serious.
Abundant food has always been my response to stressful situations, so I order a triple burger, though it's nothing compared to everything Althea plans to eat.
“Okay, let's start with the basics,” I say, trying to put some order to my thoughts. “Why are you working for that lunatic?”
Another round of uncomfortable looks.
“It's not like we have many options,” Sylara responds, her rhythmic voice marking pauses between phrases, like she's measuring time. “Kaelisar... has something that each of us... needs. It's the same thing that's happening to you.”
“What does he have on you? Okay, if you don't want to, you don't have to tell me.”
“I'm looking for information about my brother's killers,” she responds, and her voice is tinged for the first time with something like emotion. “Kaelisar has those names and will give them to me when we complete the missions.”
“Your turn,” I say, pointing at the Kobold with my chin.
Althea sighs, and for a moment, I could swear the air around us heats up.
“My mother was dying,” she explains, the obsidian now spinning faster between her fingers.
“Kaelisar is one of the few Fae with exceptional healing powers.
He agreed to give her a healing potion in exchange for me working for him for five years.
I still have three years left in his service, and it hasn't been easy so far.”
I look at Sabina, who seems suddenly very interested in stirring her coffee.
“He has my sister,” she murmurs finally. “He only lets me talk to her on rare occasions and always under surveillance.”
The waitress returns with a mountain of food, mainly for the Kobold, interrupting the tension. I, for my part, try to process the information while devouring some fries.
“So basically you're all screwed, just like me,” I conclude with my mouth full. “And how am I supposed to help? How will we find that arrow?”
“We have a pretty good idea where it is,” Althea responds. “But we need a plan to get it.”
“Okay, and why me? I'm not trying to be offensive, but I look out for myself, it's a habit I've had since I was little.”
Sylara pins me with her gaze.
“Kaelisar doesn't do anything randomly. He chose you because you're good at what you do, I mean stealing. Though I suppose mainly because you're an air elemental. They're not easy to find outside of Aifshara, and even there they're scarce.”
“And what does that mean exactly?” I ask, taking a bite of my burger while drops of grease run down my chin.
Sabina leans forward, her green eyes seem to glow as she wipes me with her thumb and Althea grumbles again and rolls her eyes. The contact lasts barely a second, before she pulls her hand back abruptly, like it burns.
“Sorry,” she murmurs, rubbing her fingers. “Prolonged contact makes me feel...” She pauses. “Going back to your question, it means you can control and channel air,” she explains. “Manipulate oxygen content, create currents, even amplify your natural physical abilities. You're a wind whisperer.”
“You think a normal human can escape from me that easily?” the Kobold scoffs. “You can run faster, jump higher... and that's without controlling your powers.”
“Exactly,” Sylara confirms. “It's no coincidence you're so good at climbing or escaping complicated situations like when Althea was chasing you. Your body has been using your elemental magic instinctively, though in a very limited way due to the seals your mother put on.”
“You mean I can fly now?”
“No, not fly,” she responds calmly.
“Yeah, yeah, I was just joking. Damn, you three have no sense of humor,” I complain.
“Speaking of which,” she adds, rummaging in her backpack. “Kaelisar asked me to give you this book.”
She places a thick book on the table. It looks ancient, leather-bound, with strange symbols carved into the cover. It weighs so much it makes the table vibrate when she drops it.
“What is this, the Fae Bible?” I joke, though nobody laughs.
“It's a compendium of knowledge about air elementals,” Sylara explains very seriously. “Spells, techniques, history... everything you need to know to control your power.”
I open the book to a random page. It's full of strange symbols mixed with what looks like an ancient language. Some parts are in modern English, as if someone added translations.
“I'm not a big reader,” I protest, closing it with a sharp thud. “Isn't there someone who can help me? You know, in the movies there's always an old master who teaches you and stuff. Nobody learns from books.”
“This is all you've got,” the elf sighs.
“Kaelisar will expect you to know how to use some of your power before the mission,” she warns with a severe tone.
“And, frankly, it'll be much safer for all of us if you learn to control it.
Using magic without training is very dangerous.
You could drain your life energy. There are elementals who've died doing that.”
“Well, that makes me feel so much better,” I mutter through my teeth.
“You don't want to cause a storm every time you get angry,” Sabina adds with a half smile.
“Can I really do that or are you messing with me?” I ask, suddenly interested.
“You can do that and much more,” she responds, and the smile she gives me makes my knees weak.
I wonder if she's flirting with me, but soon I ignore it. She's gorgeous, though I'd rather imagine the possibilities of what she just said. Creating storms to escape from the police after a heist. Suddenly I'm very interested in learning everything in that book.
After dinner, I climb the stairs to my apartment, praying Colt is asleep so I don't have to give explanations. Luckily, he's not even there. He left me a note saying he'll spend the night at some girl's place.
I let myself fall onto the bed, exhausted. Part of me wants to pretend this day never happened. Go back to being simply Nell, the thief with a natural talent for escaping danger.
But another part, one I've never noticed before, stirs with curiosity. If what they say is true, there's a whole world of possibilities I've never explored. Powers I can't even imagine.
With a resigned sigh, I open the book and start reading the first page. The words seem to move, reorganizing themselves until they form sentences I can understand. My heart races when I read the title of the first chapter.
“The Breath of Wind: Basic Control for Air Elementals.”