Sophie

Leila’s eyes glowed like two blue moons when she found me waiting outside her room on the windowsill. I just hoped the blue wouldn’t dull when she heard what I had to say.

“Leila!” A sharp noise rumbled through me, and my speck of a body swayed on the window’s edge.

“Leila, are you home?”

And then I was falling.

I dropped towards the garden two metres below like I was a pebble being flung down a waterfall. I tasted the pollen as I brushed past a cluster of lavender, and the sweet scent remained as I neared the bedded ground. But I wasn’t frightened. The closer I got, the more my stomach played me an invigorating song.

I shot upwards. My golden wings became whispers of air, carrying me higher and higher and further away until Leila was just a shining speck in a wooden square. I carved a path through the forestry surrounding her cabin and met the open sky. My wings glowed as they guided me down to the adjacent lake, and I slid my hands into the crisp water. A chill ran through me as a mist of liquid covered my cheeks, drying no later with the touch of the wild breeze.

I shifted my gaze to the piece of land on my right. An electric green blanket covered the length of the island, and a rainbow of colours were scattered like crumbs across it. The arms of trees caressed the land every few meters, and I didn’t miss the twinkles of light hidden amongst them.

My stomach buzzed when I took in the sight. As it always did. But it also twinged in a way that made my heart dig into my chest.

I lowered my eyes as I turned my head away from the Isle of Fae, my old home, and returned to Leila’s window frame.

Leila’s guest must’ve left because when I arrived back, her bedroom window was open. “Sophie.”

I found her standing underneath her doorframe, palm outstretched. Her smile set her gold hair alight.

I remained at the window.

“I’m sorry about before, that was my mum.” Her voice grew brighter, “Seeing her this time was different. I didn’t actually want her to leave.”

I smiled before flying inside her bedroom, landing on her palm. My eyes lifted to meet her own and the blue in them was shining.

I was going to miss them.

After a moment I whispered, “I’ve decided to go back.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Sophie –”

“I’m sorry, Leila.” I shifted my gaze away. “I am so glad that I could help you with your mum, and I don’t regret being here to do so. But I also can’t stay.” Her features softened. “I don’t understand. Why now?”

“I miss being a guardian fairy.”

“But you’ve been guiding me.”

I gave a slight smile. “You don’t need me anymore. Not in that way.” “Sophie, wait –”

The wind swallowed the rest of her words as I flew away.

I felt the stroke of a weeping willow on my shoulder when the high fairies found me on the Isle of Fae. The light was low on this part of the island, where branches replaced the sky and trunks the size of large boulders filled the surrounding space.

The court of the high fairies.

As they stood before me, their wings were like shining flags in the wind, yet their faces were stone.

“You are no longer welcome on this land, Sophie,” their leader said. “You knew the consequences when you chose to leave.”

“I have come because I understand my mistake now. I wish to be given a second chance.”

“A second chance?” She eyed me all over, lips twitching. “Your wings tell a different story.”

I glanced down, and my eyes widened. No longer were my wings glowing like those of all fairies, but instead, they were dark shadows, drooping like blown-out candles.

I shifted them behind my back, cheeks heating. “I don’t want to lie to you,” I said.

“Then don’t.”

“I – I don’t know why this is happening.”

Only the wings of the most mischievous fairies flicked between light and dark. And from the way the leader’s eyes studied me, I knew she now saw me as one of them.

“We cannot have you making more promises that you won’t keep. Not after you made your presence known to Leila as her guardian.”

“I only did that because I knew I could help her. And isn’t that our purpose?”

She narrowed her eyes on me. “We do not interfere with their lives. We are to protect them from the evil in our world that threatens their own, not assist with their human troubles.” She lowered her voice. “You know this, Sophie. Just as you know it is a rule we cannot bend.”

I stumbled back as they flew away, my face stinging with the breeze of their departure. I rubbed my eyes before I too, flew upwards, brushing past the great arms of the willow and into the sky.

Night came quicker than I could flutter my wings and without my usual glow, I had no hope of leaving the island in the darkness.

But that wasn’t the reason for what happened next.

I plummeted downwards, my wings like tissues with the muscles beneath practically non-existent. As I neared the ground, I scraped my body on every branch in sight until at last, I caught one. Everything in me burned as I gripped onto it, just before I collapsed onto the nearest trunk. I relaxed my body against it and didn’t move as my cheeks turned wet.

They were still damp when I closed my eyes.

“Sophie.”

Heat prickled the back of my neck, and I nestled deeper into my position. “Sophie.”

I jerked upwards, and my balance was ripped from beneath me before I went flying from the trunk. Not again.

My eyes closed, and I waited for the inevitable impact, but it never came. When I opened them again, I was nowhere near the ground, but high above it, in the arms of a high fairy. Maria was her name. I marvelled at the smile in her eyes, the sight a stark contrast to the iciness she held when she stood with the group of high fairies just last night.

Last night.

I looked down and my stomach dropped. My wings were still as dull as dirt. A piercing heat shot through them, and I peered up at the sun, glowing so bright it burned.

Maybe it stole their shine.

We came to a clearing on the other side of the island, and Maria set me down. “Why did you come back, Sophie?” she said before I could thank her.

“I told you last night.” My legs began to wobble, and I stumbled forwards into her arms. “Why is this happening to me?”

“Our bodies don’t agree with deception.”

I was close to collapsing onto the ground. “But I didn’t –”

Her eyes softened. “I don’t think you did either. Not really.”

Before I could reply, a thud sounded from just behind me and Maria’s eyes widened at the presence.

I twisted around to find the leader of the high fairies, her dark gaze making my knees buckle. “You aren’t meant to be here, Sophie.”

“I know, I tried to leave.” I lowered my eyes. “I realise I made a mistake thinking it was right to return last night.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What exactly is it that you want?”

“I –” I paused. “I think I want to guide humans in their world. I was more use to Leila when I spoke to her, not hid from her.”

“That makes little sense. Fairies aren’t meant to guide humans as anything more than shadows. We are to protect them from harm, nothing more.”

“I could both protect her and help her at once. I don’t think it is foolish to want more.”

“No. It is when you want more than what your gift permits, that you are being foolish.”

“A label is different to a gift.” I glance at her wings, brighter than ever. “You are lucky because you believe what you are saying. But I don’t. And I don’t want to lie to you.”

I shifted my gaze to Maria. “I need you to take me somewhere.”

We landed on a cluster of lavender outside of Leila’s window, and I peered up to see her blue eyes wandering over a book she was reading at her desk.

“Thank you,” I said to Maria.

“If this is what is right for you, I respect it. You wanted to do more for her, and you succeeded.” She shifted her gaze to Leila. “I hope the next time I see you she will not be the only one.”

She left me in the garden, and I felt a light beam from around me. I didn’t need to look to see where it was coming from.

I smiled.