Synchronized snores woke Faye up. A sliver of light came through the only window in the room, just enough for her to see her surroundings. She tried peeking through the bars, but couldn't see anything to the side. The source of the snores came from where Kern and Roark had been seated, so Faye figured it was safe to assume the two had fallen asleep. She sat up, rubbing her bare arms. Then, pressed at her bandage. Her eyes landed on the cages in front of hers. What looked like a lynx was curled up asleep in the one directly across from hers.
"Psst," a voice from above said. Faye spotted a troll-like creature, skinny fingers hooked through the bars of the cage above the lynx. "Your name is Faye, right?" the creature asked in a croaked voice. Faye nodded. "And your wing..."
"Damaged, I know."
"No, I recognized it. Your last name... Is it Albion?"
"I don't know," Faye said, brow furrowed. "I was dumped at an orphanage as a baby. Nobody knew anything about me."
"Ah, yes. That's usually the case," the spriggan said. "You're from Acren, correct?"
"Yeah. How did you-"
"I was the one who swapped you."
"Swapped me?"
"I'm a spriggan," he explained. "Swapping ugly fae babies for human ones is my specialty."
"Ugly fae babies?"
"Sorry, I mean... Anyways, it was your mother who put me up to the task. She wanted a pretty, human baby, and offered me a handsome sum-"
Faye's eyes widened. "Are you saying... I'm a... changeling?"
"You didn't know? Why else did you end up in that orphanage? Nobody wants a changeling."
"No..." Faye whispered. "I can't be."
"But you are... Faye Albion." The spriggan grinned.
"Quiet!" Kern shouted.
"No fun allowed," Roark added.
The spriggan said no more, leaving Faye to her thoughts. A changeling. She couldn't be. Surely someone at the orphanage would've mentioned it? No, nobody at the orphanage would even accept a changeling. Unless they didn't know. Faye furrowed her brow, but all she knew, was that the orphanage's staff woke up to her on the doorstep. She shook her head. No, she couldn't be a changeling. Changelings were cursed beings, causing nothing but bad luck.
Then again, her life was but a series of bad luck.
But how was he able to recognize her, as an adult, when he last saw her 20 years ago?
Faye waited for the snores to start up again before asking the question. "How are you able to recognize me as an adult, when I was a baby when you last saw me?"
"Magic," he said. "Any changelings made by me are imprinted with my own, individual magic. I sensed it on you the second you entered this room."
The thought disturbed Faye, but it did make some sense. How else would he know where she came from?
"It's like there's an aura around you," the spriggan continued. "One only I can see. You're the only one I swapped that had a damaged wing."
"Great Odis in Afterlife shut up already!" a deep voice above Faye groaned.
"You shut up!" the spriggan spat back.
"No, YOU!"
"Shhh.... You're gonna get us in trouble," a new, timid voice said.
The snores came to a halt, followed by a pound on the wall hard enough to rattle the cages. "We said silence!" Kern shouted.
Everyone fell silent, even after the snores continued once more.
Faye tried falling back asleep, but thoughts of what the spriggan said plagued her thoughts. As if she didn't have enough thoughts to ponder. She had wondered about her birth family from time to time, but only in passing. She tried to get comfortable, but the aluminum felt hard and cold on her back. And she couldn't stop picking at the bandage around her arm. A temporary reminder of Jyri's secret life. Her heart ached, and she forced her mind back on the spriggan's words. A changeling. It did explain a couple things. Right as she drifted off, the sound of a door opening jerked her awake. Loud swears followed.
"Watch what you're opening," Roark spat.
"Don't block the door then," Dr. Kirksen's voice shot back.
"King Lyon told us to," Kern said.
"I don't have time for this." The door clicked shut, and footsteps approached Faye, trousered legs and shiny shoes appearing in front of her. "Where's the half-fairy?"
"Ruska moved her to the bottom," Kern said.
Dr. Kirksen kneeled down to look at her. Faye scooted as far back as she could, which wasn't very. He smiled. "Today's going to be a good one. I've always wondered what magic fairies held in their wings."
Faye swallowed a lump in her throat. Chuckling, Dr. Kirksen stood up, and moved to a cage near the spriggan. Opening the latch, he pulled out a man shorter than herself, and carried him past her cage, into the operating area. Faye tried to see what was being done, but the silver encasing of her cage prevented it.
She examined the cage door. Escape was near impossible to even attempt with Kern and Roark keeping guard, so she hadn't bothered trying. The latch seemed easy enough to get undone, but her fingers were too thick to fit through the holes of the cage door. If only she could use her magic.
Faye tugged at the bands around her wrists, and inspected them. She rubbed her finger over a small hole. A lock?
Her pocket knife pressed against her thigh. Nobody had thought to search her, before throwing her in. She didn't want to risk being seen with the knife out, but maybe she could try picking the lock when the opportunity came.
Piercing screams interrupted her train of thought, causing the hairs of her arms to stand on end.
"SILENCE!" Dr. Kirksen's voice rang through the room.
The screams stopped, and turned into groans. Faye found herself grateful that she couldn't see what was going on. Especially when the screams started up again.
She shared a look with the wide-eyed lynx across from her. His ears were back, and he had his paws over his head.
There was a loud bang on a table, causing something to rattle. The screaming ceased. Dr. Kirksen swore.
The door swung open, and in walked King Lyon with guards. Faye pressed herself against the bars for a better look. She spotted Jyri among them, wrists shackled.
"I heard screaming," Lyon said, his tone high. "I hope that means progress has been made."
"Actually, your majesty, I..." Dr. Kirksen paused.
"Don't tell me you killed another one."
"I'm not... entirely certain."
"Please tell me it was just an elf."
"It was."
"Good. Our supply of those are unlimited." Lyon's voice perked up. "But we won't have to worry about that with Dr. Ruska here."
Jyri held out his hands for a guard to unshackle. The guard pulled out a key, and did just that.
"Now, back to business with that half-fairy."
"Changeling," the spriggin hissed.
Lyon and his guards turned to face him. "What was that?" Lyon asked.
The spriggin fell into a coughing fit.
"Pathetic creature," Lyon muttered, turning to Jyri. "Get to work."
As Lyon and his guards, aside from Kern and Roark, walked out, Jyri bent down to open her cage. Faye didn't budge. Thoughts of what was to be done to her plagued her mind, rendering her paralyzed.
"Come on out," Jyri said, his voice gentle. Almost like he was coaxing a timid dog.
Almost patronizing. Faye scowled at him. "I'm not a dog."
"Faye..." Jyri let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I don't want to do any of this, but King Lyon hasn't given me much of a choice."
"Just make up some excuse about my arm." Truth be told, it did hurt a little.
"What's the hold up?" Dr. Kirksen asked, stooping down to look at Faye.
"Her arm still hurts from yesterday," Jyri explained.
"Cry me a bloody river." Dr. Kirksen reached his arm inside the cage, and yanked Faye out by her shirt collar, shoving her aside. "Get on the table."
Faye's chest filled with rage at the man. She decided right then and there that, whatever he wanted her to do, she would not cooperate.
"I said to get on the table!"
Faye straightened. "No."
"Excuse me?"
"She doesn't want to," Jyri said to him.
"She doesn't have a choice." Dr. Kirksen picked her up by the torso, and sat her on the table. "Stay."
Faye dropped herself off the table, and was met with a slap to the face. Rubbing the sting on her cheek, she scowled up at Dr. Kirksen.
"Don't hit her!" Jyri shouted.
"She needs to learn her place." Dr. Kirksen picked Faye back up, and put her on the table. She made a move to jump down again, but Dr. Kirksen raised his hand, and she hesitated. Dr. Kirksen smiled at Jyri. "It's working already."
Her cheek still stung, but she jumped down again out of spite. Jyri grabbed Dr. Kirksen's arm before he could slap her again. "Faye, please get on the table. And stay there."
Since it was Jyri who asked, she reluctantly obeyed while glaring at Dr. Kirksen, who yanked his arm away from Jyri's grasp.
Jyri gave him a glare of his own. "There was no need to slap her. And seeing how she's my patient, I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out of this."
"King Lyon ordered me to help you," Dr. Kirksen said. "And now I can see why..."
Faye tuned out the rest of their conversation to formulate an escape plan. Her eyes swept the room, and landed on the window behind her. It was small, but she might still fit through. She squinted at it. Yes, it looked just her size.
"Faye."
The bickering must have ended. Faye turned, and saw Jyri holding a syringe with a tube attached. "I'm going to draw blood," he said. "The needle will sting at first, but-"
"Get on with it already." Dr. Kirksen snatched the syringe from Jyri and, yanking Faye's arm, stuck it into the vein on the inside of her elbow. Thankfully it only felt like a pinprick. Pinpricks were nothing compared to what was done the previous night.
Jyri opened his mouth, probably to yell at Dr. Kirksen, but the door opened. Dr. Kirksen slid the needle out as a plump man in a white coat squeezed in past Roark and Kern, who showed more interest in each other than anything else in the room. The man brightened at Faye, and strode over to her. "So this is the half-fairy?"
Faye didn't answer, and looked to Jyri, who had grabbed a hand towel and dabbed at her arm, jaw set.
The man looked at Jyri, and smiled. "You must be Dr. Ruska."
"This is Dr. Hekell," Dr. Kirksen said flatly to Jyri. "He's another tester."
Jyri nodded, but continued pressing the towel down on Faye's wound, though the bleeding had long stopped. Dr. Hekell bent down to her eye level, cupping her chin with pudgy fingers. "Peculiar eyes." She tried to pull away, but Dr. Hekell tightened his grip, forcing her head to move as he inspected her facial features. Jyri finally put a stop to it when he pulled her lip up to check her teeth.
Dr. Hekell apologized to Jyri. "I've never seen a half-fairy before. Fascinating creature." He reached out to touch her bad wing, but Jyri stuck his arm out, pushing him back.
"Hands off." Jyri gave him a dirty look. "She's mine."
Dr. Hekell raised his hands up defensively. "Fine. I've got better subjects to test."
Dr. Kirksen looked at him. "I hope you don't mean right now."
"Of course I do."
"There's not enough room in here to work on two at a time."
"It's been done," Dr. Hekell said.
"With elves," Dr. Kirksen said. "Not wild animals."
Jyri looked at them curiously. "Wild animals?"
Dr. Hekell smiled. "It's amazing. Let me get it."
Jyri and Faye shared a look, although Faye had a feeling what the "wild animal" was. Sure enough, Dr. Hekell, leash in hand, squatted in front of the lynx's cage, and pulled it out, clipping the leash onto it's collar.
Next to her, Jyri let out a gasp. And Faye couldn't blame him. Although muzzled, the lynx came up to Dr. Hekell's waist. Massive, but emaciated, the lynx let Dr. Hekell lead him towards the group. Faye noticed that the collar the lynx wore appeared similar to her anti-magic cuffs.
"This," Dr. Hekell said, "is a shapeshifter."
Jyri stumbled forward and fell to his knees, in front of the lynx. He wrapped his arms around it, burying his face into its fur. The lynx wrapped its huge paws around him, as though hugging him back. Jyri let out a sob.
The two doctors stepped back, frowning down in confusion. Faye's feelings matched their expressions.
Dr. Kirksen cleared his throat. Jyri looked up. "Do you know this creature?" Dr. Kirksen asked.
"No," Jyri said quickly, getting to his feet. The lynx raised its lips at him.
"If you don't mind," Dr. Hekell said, "I've got tests-"
"You're not testing on him!"
"We have to. We need to create a potion that will-"
"No!" Jyri made a move to grab the leash, but Dr. Hekell pushed him back.
"Get back to your fairy."
Jyri dropped down and wrapped his arms around the lynx, pulling him against his chest. Dr. Hekell yanked the leash, but Jyri unclipped it, and struggled to his feet, lynx in arms. "No one is to lay a finger on him!"
"But we need to know how to force a shapeshifter into its human form," Dr. Hekell explained. "It's important-"
"No!"
Dr. Hekell snatched the lynx's collar, and Jyri pulled back. He lost balance and fell to the floor, landing on the animal, who yowled.
Faye jumped down from the table, and followed Dr. Kirksen over to Jyri, who refused to get off of the lynx. Faye fell to her knees next to Jyri. "Who is he?" she asked.
"He's my brother," Jyri whispered, eyes filled with tears. "I won't..."
Dr. Hekell, bottle in hand, kicked Faye aside. Before Jyri could stop him, Dr. Hekell pulled an eyedropper from the bottle, and dropped a few drops into its ear. The lynx shook his head, but the damage was done.
Jyri sat up, clutching the lynx to his chest. "What is that?" he asked, voice filled with panic.
Dr. Hekell stared at the lynx, frowning. "It's supposed to turn back into a human."
The lynx growled. Jyri rubbed his back, scowling up at Dr. Hekell. "That better not have harmed him."
The lynx let out a sound that sounded like a mix of a groan and a roar, almost like violent retching, but without vomit. Everyone except Jyri jumped back.
"He's transforming!" Dr. Kirksen cried.
Arms still wrapped around the lynx, Jyri fumbled to remove the muzzle, and the lynx transformed into a human before their eyes.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
