How many times can someone say that they got thrown out of a kids play barn because they were too big to climb the 'Magical Ladder?' Celia sat on the curb in front of the small building clutching her opened jacket to her chest. She muttered a series of colorful words as the guards in red jackets and clown shoes slowly hobbled back inside.



Mom, I got kicked out... Again. Her thumb pressed the send button on her cheap flip phone and she waited for her mother's response.


Again? Celia, I told you not to follow your sister up that ladder! Celia sighed and stood from the curb gripping her phone tightly in her pale hands as the cold, night air nipped at her skin. What could she say? She had an eye for trouble. That's what her mother always told her at least. but it wasn't always her fault. She mostly thought it was a curse that followed her since the age of seven. Her phone buzzed again and she opened it up to another text from her mom.


Just walk home. We'll be there in an hour. Celia slowly made her way out of the parking lot and onto the deserted road. Knowing that she might freeze to death before she even made it to the next stoplight, she quickened her pace as leaves crunched beneath her boots. She thought about what happened five minutes before and a sharp chuckle escaped her lips.


Three times of getting kicked out of that place and she started to think that she might not really have a problem getting back in next time. As long as she stayed away from the ladder. She didn't particularly like causing trouble but the curse that took over her life didn't really give her much of a choice. At least she could get a good laugh out of her system after such things happen.



She finally turned down her street hoping her brother was home so he could open the door for her. She could make out her bright yellow house among all the white ones lining the sidewalks. She quickly opened her phone and messaged her brother to open the front door for her. Suddenly she heard a shrill scream down the street and jumped dropping the phone from her hand.


"Stop! Help!" The voice yelled. She knew that voice. It was her brother. He was only fifteen, just old enough to stay home by himself as mother would say. Celia didn't bother checking to see if her phone was okay. The next thing she knew her feet were taking her as fast as she could towards her house. Only a few more yards! She stopped at the walk way that led to her opened front door. A Man stood just inside the door clutching her brother, Justin by the throat. His feet were lifted off the ground as his fingers clawed at the man's dirty hands. The man had dark skin and his long black hair was tied in a knotted ponytail. He wore brown jeans that tucked into his knee high boots. a sheath wrapped around his torso with daggers strapped on each side. He also had a bow on his back and a quiver with arrows strapped securely on his shoulder.


"Where is the girl!" The man growled with an inhuman like deep voice. Justin's face began to turn purple as no oxygen reached his lungs. His lips moved but no words came out making him look like a fish out of water.


"Justin!" Celia screamed regretting it as soon as the words slipped out. The bulky man dropped Justin on the ground and turned at Celia. Her eyes grew wide as fear coursed through her veins.


"You!" He pointed with wide, blood shot eyes. "Onye a bụrụ ọnụ" What? He began to run at her pulling a dagger from his sheath. She turned to run but slipped and fell onto her hands and knees. Her feet pushed against the concrete as she struggled to stand and run. Once she was on her feet she took a step forward but was yanked back by her hair. She screamed in pain as her hands trembled on top of the man's trying to get free. Her brother began to shout but was suddenly cut off.


"Please! Don't kill me!" She pleaded as tears streamed from her eyes. Yep she was definitely cursed. He brought her close to him and pushed the sharp dagger to her throat. "When I'm done with you you'll wish I killed you." He whispered into her ear. An accent seeped from his voice but she didn't know what kind. He dragged the dagger down her bicep and left a trail of blood to follow. She screamed as a sharp, intense pain shot through her arm.


Suddenly the beast dropped her hair and she fell in a heap to the ground. She held her bloody arm and squeezed her eyes shut forcing more tears down her cheeks. "Let's go." She heard a different voice filled with the same thick accent. She felt a strong hand grab her cut arm and she cried out. The man lifted her from the ground and planted her on her feet. "We must go now, Miss." He dragged her behind her house and to an alley behind a bar her mom occasionally went to.


"M-my brother." She stuttered trying to keep up with his fast movements.


"He'll be fine, dear." He said with a blank face. She heard a loud roar behind them and just as she was about to turn around an arrow flew past her head and stuck in a utility pole a few yards ahead of them. The man's gripped tightened on her still bleeding arm as his feet started moving quicker.


"I can't keep up!" She yelled trying but failing to keep up with him. He let out a sigh grabbed her other arm with his free hand and swung her around only to have her land on his back. Celia Wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped his shoulders until her finger nails dug into his skin. Another arrow flew past them but from the opposite direction.


She heard an earth shaking roar and looked over her shoulder. The beast had the arrow stuck in his shoulder. He ripped it out and pulled back on his bow. just as he was about to release another arrow stuck in his head. His eyes turned a cold black and he fell to the ground causing a big crack to split through the concrete.


"Let's Go!" She heard in front of them. A tall woman stood at the mouth of the forest holding a bow in her right hand. She waved at us to hurry up and turned disappearing into the midst of the trees. Celia lied her head on the strange man's shoulder suddenly feeling weak and helpless. The adrenaline slowly fading she closed her eyes and let the darkness take over.

~~~~~


Celia heard shuffling around her and fluttered her eyes opened. As soon as she did so she squeezed them shut blinded from the bright light flooding through the tops of the trees. She moved her hand to rub her eyes but slowly cringed back to the position she was in. Pain throbbed in her arm as she held in a scream biting her tongue to keep from doing so. "You are awake." Celia opened her eyes to see the woman that shot the beast standing above her. "You were injured." I didn't know that! Celia thought, an unpleasant look taking over her features. "We had to give you antibiotics"


"Okay." Celia tried to sit up but the woman rushed forward and pushed her down. "Don't touch me!" She smacked the woman's hand from her shoulder.


"You must rest, Child." Who is she calling child? Celia sat up anyway brushing off the woman's commands. A wool blanket fell from her shoulders and that's when she realized she was laying on dirt and branches next to a fire pit.


"Where am I?" She asked. She could have sworn last nights events were a dream but now she was praying that they were. She had so many questions. What happened to her brother? What about her sister and her mom? Where's the man who saved her life from the horrid beast?


"Right now we are in the forest." Does this lady always state the obvious. "I only stated the obvious because you asked a stupid question." She said pulling some grapes out of her pack and popping one in her mouth. "And it'd be kind if you stopped thinking rudely about me because may I remind you, child, I did save you life."


"I-" Celia stopped herself from talking, too shocked to speak.


"Aric is out getting fire wood." The woman popping another grape in her mouth.


"Who?" Celia almost face palmed. She knew that was the man who saved her.


The woman laughed and stuck out her hand, "I'm Faylinn, Aric's commanding officer, though, he'd rather me not tell people that." Celia hesitantly took Faylinn's hand and shook it. Faylinn retreated her hand and tossed Celia a cluster of grapes from her pack. "Eat up. You need your strength. We're heading out early tomorrow morning."


"Where are we going?" Celia hoped She'd say 'We're taking you back home, of course! Another dumb question might I add!' But she knew that was not going to be the answer and only prayed that her family and home was all in one piece. For all she knew those monsters have completely invaded her city and her family is either dead or in captivation. Sonia, her little sister was probably scared to death.


"We're heading to the fae village. It's our Haven. Keeps us safe from those beasts." She sneered the last word. "Your family is fine. We had a few of our guards retreave them and bring them to safety." Faylinn put the remaining grapes back in her pack and set it beside the log she was sitting on.


"Why were those things after me?" Celia felt like crying. She was so confused and scared. Everyone at school knew not to mess with her. She was never scared. everyone was always scared of her but this was so different and she didn't know what to think of it.


"Because-"


"Because nothing, Celia. Faylinn You must learn to keep your mouth closed." Aric stood behind Celia holding about four short logs in his arms. He walked around her and set them in the fire pit.


"Excuse me? I have a right to know, mister." Celia said trying to stand. Aric turned to her and smirked noticing how hard it was for her to get to her feet.


"You will find out soon, but it is not our duty to tell you anything. We were just required to save you." He turned back to the fire pit and kneeled down.


"Says who? You? Because last time I heard you're not the one in charge, Your commanding officer here is." Aric tensed as his grip on the two rocks in his hands tightened. Celia smirked as she finally raised to her feet knowing she'd gotten under his skin. "Not going to tell me? That's fine. But I will get it out of Faylinn" She smiled at Faylinn who looked stunned and walked off onto the dirt trail that led through the trees.


Celia walked as far away from the camp as she could without loosing sight of it. She sat one the rough dirt ground and crossed her legs Indian Style. This was her chance to leave, to bolt and not come back. But did she realy want to go back and risk her life? What if Faylinn was lying about her family being brought to safety just to get her to go with them? She couldn't leave her family home by themselves. She thought of many ways that a situation like this could turn out.


She could run. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe Aric and Faylinn actually wanted to hurt her. But if they did they would have done it already. Which brought her back to them most likely tricking her to going with them to a dangerous place. She could not trust these people. Celia looked over at the camp to see Aric turned away from her still trying to make a fire and Faylinn had some papers resting atop of her knees looking at them.


If she wanted to leave she'd better do it now. She jumped to her feet and ran. Ran like lightning, or so she hoped. Sticks snapped beneath her feet as the wind pushed her long red hair behind her shoulders. She dodged in and out of trees not caring to look back to see if they had heard her and was following her.

She didn't know which direction she was heading in and didn't know where the forest would end but all she cared about was getting away... for now. She finally took the chance and looked behind her after a dreadfully long run. No one in sight, no one following her. Just big redwood trees. She stopped suddenly and put her hands on her knees taking in long, careful breaths.


Celia raised her head after a few minutes and looked around. Some how she had made it into a clearing with a big pond and tall grass with different kinds of flowers growing from the ground. Now that she had worn herself out she lied down in the soft green grass and closed her eyes. She willed herself to stay awaking know that someone could easily find her here but for some reason it was getting harder and harder to stay concious. Finally she gave up and fell into a deep sleep.



~~~~~


The shaking of Celia's shoulders awoke her from her sleep but not entirely. She couldn't open her eyes or move her limbs but she knew she was awake. "Celia, darling, you must get up." She knew that voice; It was Faylinn. Celia tried to speak but her lips would not move. "Aric!" Faylinn yelled sitting on her knees. Celia heard hooves stomping from a distance and she began to get frightened. Fayliin yelled for Aric again but there was no response. "Okay. Celia, I'm going to try to lift you. I apologize ahead of time if I drop you" Now Celia was really scared. "Ready, on three." Faylinn pushed her arms under Celia's back, "One. Two. Three!" Faylinn miserably failed at picking her up only succeeding at pulling Celia into her lap. "Change of plans. Honey, I hope you can still hold your breath." Oh my God! The stomping got louder as Celia's fear only heightened.


She felt her arm being pulled and and her body being dragged slowly through the grass. She suddenly started feeling bad for all the blind and paralyzed people. When she told her mom that she wanted to be ill and not go to school she didn't mean like this! Now it's like blindness and paralization teamed up and decided to make a package deal. Yep she was definitely cursed. Celia felt the ground begin to shake as she heard water lightly splash behind her. No! No! No! She then felt two arms wrap around her waist and she was turned around feet first into the freezing water. Celia felt a cup like object be placed against her nose and lips. "Breathe, darling."


She took in big breaths through her nose as her body began to feel tingly. She finally could wiggle her toes and the movement went up from there. She sucked in a sharp breath from her purple lips and her eyes flew open. "Sh!" Faylinn put a finger to her lips. Celia looked up and noticed the tall grass was just cover the tops of their heads. She kept the cup pressed to her face and watched as the beasts that invaded her home rode their horses into the clearing. The horses were huge. Biggest horses she'd ever seen. The one in front had a black mane and a white and black spotted coat. The eyes were a bright emerald. Like her's. They almost looked like human eyes. There were about ten horses and riders that she could count.


"I kwuru na onye a bụrụ ọnụ ebe a!"The one in the front yelled in the same language as Celia heard at her house.


"enye ama, Sir,"The beast behind him said.


"Ị na-edina m ihu. Ị bụ na-abaghị uru ma anyị na-agakwaghị abụ mkpa nke gị ọrụ."The beast in front turned his horse around, whipped out his sword and just quick enough for Celia to blink he severed the head from the beast clean off. Celia eyes grew wide and she nearly dropped the cup from her face forcing Faylinn to help hold it there. The now riderless horse bucked and kicked letting out cries that his rider was dead. The same beast with the sword looked deadly at the horse. Celia knew what was about to happen and before she could turn her head he brought the blade down with no restraint right into the back of the horse. The sword went cleanly out the other end of it's chest and the horse dropped like a sack of rocks.


Celia screamed before she could think. The rider looked over just as Faylinn pushed them both under water. Water began to seep into the cup. Celia took as many gulps of breath as she could before the cup was completely full. She pulled it from her mouth and looked up at the surface the light shining beautifully above her. The rider walked over to the edge of the pond and scanned his eyes over it. He stood there for a moment his face crumbling into a mask of distaste and anger. Finally, as Celia's lungs burned for oxygen, the rider waved his hand and took off with the beautiful green eyed horse. Faylinn grabbed Celia's arm and pulled her above the water sucking in air just as she reached the surface. Celia coughed a few times and watched as all the beasts rode away, the ground shaking tremendously.


"Are you okay?" Faylinn asked turning to her. Celia nodded her head and tried to climb to land but Faylinn yanked her back in the water. She held up the cup and Celia looked shockingly at her. She didn't remember dropping it or handing it to her. She grabbed it and as soon as she sat on top of the dry grass she put it to her face. "We better hurry back to camp. The anụ ọhịa can come back at any given moment." Faylinn jumped to shore and helped Celia to her feet.


"What does that mean? An- anụ ọhịa?" She pronounced the words slowly hoping she didn't sound as stupid as she thought she did.


"It means 'beasts'." They walked slowly and once they got far enough into the forest Celia removed the cup from her face.


"What were they saying?" Celia really hoped she could get answers out of Faylinn before they came across Aric again.


"The one that got decapitated apparently told his leader that you were there. They were looking for you." Faylinn kept on a blank mask.


"Why? Why were they looking for me?" Celia was desperate. She just needed to know what was going on and she could not be left in the dark a second longer.


"Aric was right. It is truely not our duty to tell you these things. We are just supposed to keep you safe, which you are making very hard to do."


"I don't understand. You were going to tell me earlier!"


"I thought it would be okay but now I realize I was wrong. It will only make you more scared and weak knowing what you are!" Faylinn was getting worked up now as she clenched her fists together.


"Do you really think I could get any more scared being left in the dark like this? For Heaven's sake, I ran away and nearly got killed because I don't trust you guys! What do you expect-"


"Enough!" A loud, deep voice boomed. The crows that were sitting peacefully in the tall tress flew off and squawked loudly.


"I will not tolerate this! We have quite a journey ahead of us and I will not have you two arguing the whole way there. Do you understand?" Aric stood directly in their path with his hands on either side of his hips.


"Yes." Faylinn said letting her head fall dramatically. Celia just nodded curtly and let the two lead her back to camp. Somehow she knew Aric was really Faylinn's commanding officer, not vice versa. Celia shivered and wrapped her arms around herself trying to get as much body heat as she possibly could; Which was not much.


"Not much further, Celia." She heard Aric say in front of her. Thank you, Jesus! As soon as she got back to camp she was going to sit next to the fire and wrap herself in that warm wool blanket. She then heard some rustling in a bush a few yards from them. "Get down!" Aric whisper. Faylinn dragged Celia behind a tree and put a hand over her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and only prayed that it wasn't the beasts. "Looks like we caught ourselves some dinner tonight." Aric's voice scared her as he came around the tree holding a dead rabbit by the ears. An arrow was stuck through the middle of its body as blood oozed from the wound. Aric held a smug grin on his face and handed the carcass to Faylinn.


"I'm not eating that thing." Celia pinched her nostrils together and stepped back.


"Well then, I hope you like starving." Aric then looked at Faylinn, "More for us!" He stomped forward onto the dirt trail. Faylinn shrugged her shoulders, the dead rabbit still in hand and followed Aric back to camp. Celia eventually followed them and when they finally reached the camp she put the blanket around her shoulders and sat on the ground. "Get up, Celia. We're not staying." Aric said putting the pack on his back.


"But-"




"We can't stay. those anụ ọhịa are probably still lurking around everywhere. We must leave immediately." Faylinn pulled her to her feet and patted her back. "We'll find somewhere to rest when night falls. But we need to get a move on while it's still light out." Faylinn also grabbed her pack and walked next to Aric. They whispered lightly in the language Celia could not understand. She hated it. Nothing worse than feeling alone and having no one to talk to about anything. She thought it sucked not to know that stupid language of their's and it really did. So when was she going to learn?


She saw Faylinn walk a little ways ahead so she took that as her chance to catch up with the leader. "Hey." She said once she was beside him. He nodded absentmindedly. "So what's that language you guys speak?"


"Elvin." Aric answered shortly.


"Elvin? Never heard of it." She had actually heard of it in th myth stories her mother used to read to her when she was a child but she thought it be easier for him to say yes to teaching her if she lied on that part.


"Yes, well that makes it easier on us doesn't it." He said smirking.


"How so?"


"You won't know what we talk about. Therefore you won't receive any information from us that you are not supposed to." He side glanced at her and continued with his long forward strides.


"But that won't make me trust you any more if I don't know what you're talking about. What is Elvin from any way?" She knew but she wanted to hear it from him.





"Us, The Fae Kingdom."