The rest of the flight I spend trying to calm down. It’s hard, I tell you, but I manage to keep my cool.

I always feel out of place among humans. I don’t belong among them. Barbarians. In the airport, I can swear everybody was staring at me. They weren’t really, that’s just my paranoia kicking in.

I go to the car-rental area. The parking lot, not the desk. Why actually rent a car when you could steal one? Add another Grand Theft Auto onto my record please, ma’am. But no matter where I am or what crime I’m committing, I’m always stylish. I steal a Viper. That’s me, Ms. Low-Profile. I speed away from the parking lot. A well-done crime all in all. No one sees me.

I pull off the main highway and onto the gravel drive. I ditch the car on the side of the road, knowing very well that there is at least one camera trained on my car. I take a deep breath, roll down the window, and disappear.

My brand of disappearing act isn’t like shielding. When normal fairies shield, they just vibrate too fast for the human eye to see. When I vanish, I literally vanish. I don’t know exactly how I do it, I just do it. It’s some convoluted scientific jargon-related thing having to do with atom orientation. Whatever. The point is, I disappear.

I climb out the window and begin to walk down the drive. But no matter how softly you walk, invisible or not, gravel crunches. I wince as each foot lands loudly on the crushed rock. It takes ten painstaking minutes to reach the house. And what a house. It’s huge! Just to be sure of the layout, I case the manor. After I’m done, I stand back and try to see if anyone is upstairs. There is a young boy at the window of one of the rooms. He looks like something out of a vampire movie. That must be Artemis.

While casing the house, I find the alarm box, hidden uselessly behind a row of rhododendrons. I pull a pair of wire cutters out of my back pocket and snip a few wires. Red, blue, then green, and yellow. All of the LED lights flicker off, and I grin. That is a good bit of professional work.

I tiptoe to the front door and, surprisingly, it’s opened. I looked around and step in.

The only problem with disappearing is that it’s harder to control body movement. You feel like you’re underwater all the time. But I’d done it many times. It came in handy when I lifted that Van Gogh.

I peek around for a few minutes, to make sure no one’s coming. I don’t see anyone, except for a huge man standing at the kitchen sink. I suppose that’s Butler. It’s one of those times that I’m so glad no one can see me. That man must be at least six and a half feet tall and he has muscles like a Michelangelo statue. He could break my neck without trying.

I climb up the banister of the oak stairway. Who knows how many pressure pads are hidden under the runner? I’m not taking any chances. Maybe, just maybe, if I do this right, Master might let me go.

I come to the door of the room I think is Artemis’s. Sure enough, I hear a tapping that sounds like a pencil on a desk. I remember to appear again, then I rap on the door.

“Yes?” comes a youthful voice. “Butler, is that you?”

“No,” I reply, and open the door. Sitting at a desk is a boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen. He’s typing something on his computer.

He looks up. “Who are you and how did you get past the alarm and Butler?” His voice is icy and clipped. Was he like this all the time?

I clear my throat. It is till sore from this morning. “I’m Lilia Brown. One of Juliet’s friends? I’m spending the night and I just wanted to meet you.” I can’t tell if he bought it or not.

He looks skeptical. “Miss Brown, I’ve never met you before. You say you are one of Juliet’s friends?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get in?”

“Well, Juliet let me in!” I say. Duh, were all geniuses this stupid?

“It’s a Wednesday. Juliet isn’t due home until Saturday, and yet you say you are spending the night with her. If you are really doing what you say you are, then where is Juliet?”

Damn. “Juliet is in her room. She’s just told me so much about you that I had to meet you personally. You sound amazing!” I gush.

“Thank you, Lilia. But I find your story highly doubtful. I have reason to believe that you are not one of Juliet’s friends, but a criminal who has broken into my family’s place of residence. There are several reasons. Our security system emits a beeping noise every time a door to the outside is opened. I did not hear this when you came in, for you have disarmed our alarm. Second, Juliet’s car is not in the garage. Third, Juliet and Butler call my cell phone when they are leaving or coming home unexpectedly. I did not receive a call from Juliet. And since you have revealed yourself to me, perhaps you have come not to rob me of my possessions but to harm my person or even kidnap me. Lilia, If that really is your name, I would advise you to leave the house at once or I shall call my bodyguard to detain you for questioning.”

I try to keep my cool, but it’s hard. I’m practically shaking in my boots. I breathe deeply a few times, then try to laugh it off. “What are you talking about?” I giggle. “I could call Juliet on my cell phone right now,” I reach into the pocket of my jacket and feel the butt of my dart pistol, “and let her talk to you.”

“Really?” He strides over to a white panel on the wall and pushes the button below it. “Butler, it seems as though we have a small problem.”

“Really, there’s no need to-” I begin hurriedly, but he silences me with a glare from his steely blue eyes.

I will myself to keep my body under control. Believe it or not, that’s actually hard when you can hear the sound of a 300-pound bodyguard pounding up the stairs. But they can’t know. I have to keep my cover at all costs. I concentrate hard and review the situation. There is little left I can do. But maybe I can shoot the boy and reload in time to get the bodyguard too. I cock the pistol and raise it slowly, taking careful aim. I only have one shot.

Something cold and hard presses up against my back. I have no doubt in my mind what it is. “Lower the gun, Miss. Move one muscle and I will not hesitate to shoot.”

Man, I am in some deep doo-doo. I drop the gun and turn slowly to face my assailant. God, he looks even bigger up close. Like, ten feet tall. And his blue-black eyes show absolutely no hint of mercy in the future. My eyes jump wildly around the room, looking for an escape. The door is out of the question, as it’s guarded by a massive Eurasian man with a gun. The window is my only chance. It’s a long fall, but I can survive. Artemis seems to know what I’m thinking. No surprises there.

“You cannot expect to survive a fall out of a three-story window, Miss Brown. Butler will detain you before you reach it, anyway.”

“That’s what you think,” I snarl. Actually, I think that I could reach the window before either of them have time to react. Fairies are way faster than humans. Before Artemis can reply, I’m off like a shot towards the window. I running as fast as I can. Just dive through the window and you’re home free.

I’m almost to the window when I hear a pft noise and something sharp punctures my neck. How could he have hit me? Only the best marksmen could hit a fairy on the run. I know what’s in my neck. I stop and pull it out of my neck before the sedative can enter my bloodstream. It’s a hypodermic dart. But it’s too late. I can feel the knockout cocktail coursing through my blood, slowly shutting me down. And it hurts like hell.

I fall slowly, like I’m hindered by water. The sedative begins to shut me down, bit by bit. It feels like someone hit me repeatedly over the head with a bat. I can feel my disguise slipping away, morphing back to my original body. Oh bad, oh bad, oh bad. This whole thing was doomed from the start. It had gone from illegal to very dangerous in less than a minute.

Artemis crouches down near my head and touches my neck where the dart punctured. I look down and see my blonde hair fanned out around my head. The magic gone that quickly? That must be some powerful anesthetic. Then the boy touches my face. “Get your grubby hands off me, you twerp,” I whisper.

He seems to ignore me. “A Shifter,” he breathes. He knows I’m a Shifter? This can’t be good. Not good at all.

“Well, Lilia. It seems you were hiding something from me all along.” The boy grins. I see Butler loom over me. He looks rather pleased with himself.

I feel my strength slip away. I’ll be unconscious in a few seconds. “My name…isn’t…Lilia. It’s… Trance.”

“Well, Trance,” he says quietly, standing up. “Welcome to Fowl Manor. You’ll be staying with us for a while.”

 

 

 

 

 

Some other stories by 1crazyhollyfan:

• Still here.
• Heaven at Christmas
• "Foaly's Visit" announcement
• The Long Awaited Part 3 of The Breakup!
• In the Face of Hardship

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