“I'm dreaming. That's got to be
it...” Her voice trailed off as Diana felt her translucent
gossamer wings with the back of a claw-tipped finger. The veins of
fibrous tissue reminded her of a monarch butterfly, but the thin
iridescent surface reflected a rainbow of colors ranging from a
pinkish orange through a deep purple. She felt numb, stunned into a
trance as she flexed them to arm's length. They quivered and the
water from the tub misted off. They couldn't be real, but they sure
felt like it.
There was a knocking on the wall
in the vicinity of her blaring alarm clock, probably her brother
trying to add percussion.
She ran over to the bedside
table, her claws clacking on the hardwood floors. She shut off the
alarm and grabbed a towel to dry off. “This isn't happening. This
isn't real. I don't have claws and wings.”
She dried off, wrapped the towel
under her arms and shivered as she stared at her hands. She tiptoed
back to the mirror and looked at the creature in the reflection. Is
it makeup? Maybe a killer practical joke? If it was, then the
joker had gone to a lot of trouble; even coloring her hair and
putting waves in it? She pulled on one of her pointed ears. “Ow!”
She swallowed back bile. “I
can't be this. I can't be this.” She closed her eyes, willing
herself back to her old body. She peeked, and nothing had changed.
She squeezed her eyes shut as
hard as she could, and clenched her clawed hands in fists. She
formed a picture in her mind of what she had been yesterday, and
focused. “I'm Diana Jean Morgan. A normal girl. No wings, no
claws, no funny ears. Conjure that!”
She felt a strange tingling all
over her body, and she slowly peeked from one eye. Straight,
brown-black hair, normal eyes, and normal hands reflected in the
mirror. No wings.
She gulped and stared at the
mirror. “Okay. What the hell was that? Am I going insane? That
was seriously freaky-”
“You almost ready sis?”
Bobby called from out on the walkway in front of their rooms. “Come
on! Mom said we need to go to the main house for breakfast.”
“Be right there!” She
yelled, almost choking on the words. She staggered to her suitcase,
her body shaking all over. She pulled on whatever clothes were
closest to the top, not even thinking. She toed into her black Uggs,
and took another look in the mirror. Denim shorts, black halter. It
actually matched with her dark hair. She looked... mundane.
She took a shaky breath and left
the room for breakfast.
“Diana, are you sure you want
seconds? You never have seconds.”
“I'm just really hungry, mom.”
Diana said, adding another two slices of bacon to the second helping
of eggs.
“Who are you, and what did you
do with my daughter?”
Diana's hand stopped in mid-air,
the fork starting to tremble as her stomach sank. The fork clanked
on the plate as she dropped her hand and stared at her mother, who
had moved on to chiding Bobby about his manners.
The horrible feeling in the pit
of her stomach swelled, and she swallowed. “Um, can I be excused?
I don't feel so good.”
Her mother turned back. “I
didn't think you'd want seconds.”
“Are you alright honey? You
look pale.” Her father said, a look of concern on his face.
She slid her chair out, and stood
on shaky legs. The ringing in her ears kept her from hearing what
they said as she ran out the door and headed to the vineyard. All
she heard was the echo of her mother's question: Who are you, and
what did you do with my daughter?
Diana ran to the vineyard, and
sat in between the rows of plants. She stared at her hands,
wondering if what she'd seen in her room was real. Had she dreamt
the creature in the mirror? Was she dreaming now? “Who am I?
What did I do with-”
Diana started to hyperventilate,
her head spinning. What did you do with my daughter?
The breeze shifted and she leaned
back against a vine, feeling the leaves caress her as they danced on
the gentle wind. She smelled the sweet perfume of ripening grapes
and their soft leaves, the bitterness in the soil, and tried to
relax. She closed her eyes and tried to forget everything wrong in
her life.
“Sweety?” Diana's dad
approached, and squatted down in front of her. “Are you worried
about this Troubled Teens Workshop? You said you were okay with it
when we were back at the school. You don't have to worry. We'll be
there with you every step of the way.”
She thought about what had
happened, wondering what to say to her father. Is it possible he was
like her? That they all were? Was this a huge family secret?
He rubbed her arm and picked up
her hand, sandwiching it with his. “It'll be okay, princess.”
She looked up at him, her eyes
pleading. A tear dripped down her cheek. “I don't care about the
workshop. I have bigger things on my mind.”
He stood and crossed his arms.
“Is that so?”
“Do you secretly have wings and
pointed ears?”
He couldn't hold back his laugh.
“Not last time I checked.”
Diana swallowed. That left only
one other option. “Was I adopted?”
He knelt and pulled her into a
hug, kissing the top of her head. “No, my darling trouble-maker, I
watched your mother give birth to you. The nurses washed you and put
you in this beautiful Scottish tartan, and you were only out of our
sight while your mother rested and they did some tests.”
“Right, I was born in Edinburgh
when you were travelling through on a business trip.”
“Though it was strange that
they wrapped you in a tartan. None of the other babies got one.”
He rubbed her head. “Why do you ask?”
“Something...” weird
happened, like I sprouted wings Dad. No, can't say that.
Sometimes she hated the fact that she could never seem to lie to her
parents. But she just couldn't tell him the whole truth. Not this
time. “Something mom said... Is it possible I was switched at
birth?”
“Listen-” he stopped and
recalled the conversation. His wife's 'who are you and what did
you do with my daughter' comment clicked into his mind. “You
know she was kidding, right?”
Diana took a shaky breath and
nodded. “But what if I sprouted wings and pointed ears?”
He laughed. “Hmmm. Then you'd
be my little fairy princess, like on Halloween when you were eight.”
“I'm being totally serious,
Dad. If I sprouted wings and pointed ears, would you still think I
was your daughter? Would you still-” she shook through her tears.
“Would you still... love me?”
“Diana-” he said, taking her
face in his hands and kissing her forehead before staring into her
eyes, “I will always love you. No matter what. You could sprout a
third eye and you'd still be my little princess. But we need to get
going. We made a promise.”
She took a deep breath and rolled
her eyes. “You know, the injustice that I have to do this, when
Chelsea gets away with intimidating everybody, totally blows.”
Her dad stood, and pulled her to
her feet. “I know. But just think about your karma. Where did
you find a frog, anyway? I'd been meaning to ask.”
Heather said it was magic, but
Diana couldn't force herself to believe it. “I guess it was just
luck.”
“They turned the school upside
down trying to find that frog.”
Diana swallowed, wondering what
it meant. She tucked herself under her Dad's arm as they walked. “I
love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, my little
fairy princess.”
The ringing in her ears started
again, and an idea struck. Fairy? Faerie? Fae? As they approached
the house, she felt a desperate need to learn more about everything
Fae. “How long before we have to leave?”
“About fifteen minutes.”
That was plenty of time for an
internet search. She shrugged out from under her dad's arm and
started running toward her room, and her laptop computer. “I'll be
at the car on time. I promise!” She decided she needed some time
with Google and Wikipedia.
(Go to Chapter 4)
