Rapture (2016)

[exiledfae]

Last week, when Nate stopped coming to the coffeehouse for the usual latte and bitch session, we assumed he was busy getting ready for his big drag night debut. But when he missed drag night on Saturday, we knew something was wrong.

 

"Nicoletta," says the light, its voice echoing strangely. It almost sounds like we're underwater. I shiver and scramble back on my bed, against the corner. I feel five years old again.

 

Nate wouldn't have run away, he wasn't the type. Yet his cell phone was permanently 'out of the coverage area'. I called Pete, who worked the club where the drag show was held. He's friends with Nate. Pete hadn't seen him either, not for days.

 

"I'm going over to his apartment to check on him," Pete said. That's the last I heard of Pete. He never came back home, according to his roommate.

 

"Nicoletta," it says again. Nobody calls me Nicoletta anymore, not even my mom.

 

I struggle to find my voice in between frantic heartbeats, but all I can do is croak a cry for help as my fingernails claw at the wall behind me.

 

The glow moves closer, and a combination of light and shadows forms the shape of a woman. As my eyes adjust to the brightness I can see her face, features oddly resembling one of the many virgin Mary statues my Catholic grandma used to have.

 

One of the larger statues always creeped my best friend out, and I'm beginning to understand why. Lee's gone too. I went into his room this afternoon expecting to find him engrossed in the latest World of Warcraft expansion and instead I found his night elf sitting in the AFK position and his can of Mountain Dew sweating on the desk.

 

"Nika," the woman with the perfect oval face says, and her lips curl into a barely-there smile.

 

"Wh-who are you?" My throat is so dry it hurts to talk, but my palms are like wet sponges.

 

"My name is Ardyth," she says. Her voice carries an impossible undertone of crystal chimes. Her skin is the color of the moon, and her white dress clings to curves I would be drooling over if I weren't scared out of my damn mind.

 

"What did you do with my brother?" Alex was the last to disappear, at some point between me leaving for Lee's and returning in a panic.

 

"I saved him," she says, her head tilting slowly, as if she were made of soft and delicate wax. She takes another step forward and a cry escapes my lips. My feet push at the covers frantically as I try to meld with the wall, melt through the paint and plaster and disappear. My stomach lurches sharply.

 

"I'm here to save you." Her movements flow more naturally as she raises a hand to run through the silvery-black hair. The motion reveals a pointed ear-tip.

 

I'm frozen, my chest heaves and that's all the movement I can muster. She blocks my escape route, and I can't help but think of Alex, who most definitely would have fought for his life and obviously lost. What chance do I have? "Save me from what?"

 

When she sits on the edge of the bed her color bleeds slowly from silver to white and finally a creamy beige. On her back I can almost see a flittering of color, movement, but I can't quite make out what I see. The moment I think the words 'butterfly wings' the movement stops and the colors vanish. Only Ardyth remains, turning toward me, sliding one knee up on the bed so she can face me. As if she were just another girl dropping by for a chat and maybe more.

 

When her eyes lock onto mine, I wish for more.

 

I gasp. Can't think this way. This woman, this...elf or fairy or whatever stole all my friends.

 

"This world is so cruel to you," she says, tears glistening in her eyes. They're pure silver, a very thin dark ring separating the iris from the white. She has no pupils.

 

My heart skips a beat at her earnest expression of sorrow. Still I don't quite trust her. I don't move from where I'm backed up against the corner. I will fight her if I have to. "Bring them back," I growl, all clenched teeth, clenched stomach that's still threatening to revolt all over my sheets.

 

"So they may suffer? I can't allow that." She holds her hand out to me; I watch it as if it were a coiled snake. "Such beautiful, brave souls. You shine like diamonds among hateful pieces of coal."

 

"But where have you taken them?"

 

"To a place where they will no longer be hated for who they love or how they are."

 

"No..." I shake my head rapidly, unwilling to believe the assumption my brain makes. They're dead. This alien bitch has killed them in some twisted attempt to end their suffering.

 

Her hand wavers in the air between us, glowing faintly. "I assure you, they are safe and happy."

 

"No." Alex would wonder how I am, and where I am. He wouldn't just take off with some glow-in-the-dark wench.

 

She makes her hand into a fist, facing up. "Nathaniel will never be ridiculed for wearing a dress in my home."

 

I blink rapidly against the tears.

 

"Lee will never be called a girl again."

 

"Oh god..." I shut my eyes and try to control my breath. I try to take control of my mind, to banish the apparition by sheer force of will. I don't see her move but all of a sudden I feel her hand on my shoulder and an electric jolt whip-cracks my spine. I let out a moan, and heat rises to my face in embarrassment.

 

"Come with me and you will see them again." Her voice is so close to my ear I can feel her breath against my neck. My spine shivers, the spasm slamming my hip against the wall. When I open my eyes she is so close that I see her eyes clearly. They aren't simply silver on silver; there are shades and facets, like a rare gem set into a brightly polished base.

 

"Nobody will ever tell you you are less than perfect," Ardyth whispers. "You are precious and wise and so full of courage." Her hand cups my cheek and I'm a bundle of nerves rubbing against each other, sizzling, crackling with the electricity she left in my body. "I love you all."

 

It's as if she can draw that current back out of me so, so slowly. Her hand slides inch by inch down to my neck and all I can do is try to stay somewhat upright, propped against the wall. No woman has ever paralyzed me this way.

 

"You will be safe, and you will be able to learn magic you have only ever imagined."

 

She's seducing me on two fronts, leaving me with my mouth hanging open, chest heaving as I do a fair impersonation of a fish out of water. It's quite likely that Alex fell for her wiles. Lee as well. But Nate? Pete? They don't like women that way at all. My brain is spinning so fast I can barely string a thought together, and my panties are getting uncomfortably damp.

 

Ardyth smiles then, her gaze darting down and back up as if she sees what's happening. Her eyes catch the light and reflect back half a dozen different colors. "Leave this world with me and you will be loved by all my people."

 

I swallow a lump in my throat and bring my hand up to quickly grab her wrist. Her skin is warm, feverish, if fairies get fevers at all. She turns her hand and takes mine into hers, fingers slipping in between my own. It should not have been so easy for her to slip my grasp. "Nika, let me save you."

 

I believe her, somehow. I believe that she understands what she couldn't possibly have experienced: what my friends and I go through all the time. When we're not bullied to our faces, we have to deal with pundits and politicians on TV wishing we would cease to exist.

 

I see her world in her eyes, woodland cities as far as one can see, and her people, dressed in riots of color, dancing, laughing. Happy.

 

"Come with me, Nika." Her voice echoes, it's not human at all.

 

And I'm there, in a clearing surrounded by tall, ancient trees. Music drifts from somewhere in the forest, fiddles and pipes and drums. My socks catch on twigs in the ground as I move towards the music. "Ardyth?"

 

I walk faster, ignoring the pebbles and twigs stabbing the soles of my feet. I hear happy voices, laughter. I call for Ardyth again but I listen to the voices for signs of my friends or my brother. The light grows brighter, reflected off a growing stream snaking into the forest. I follow the water to the gathering, the dancing figures casting kaleidoscope shadows on the trees.

 

And there she is, sitting by the bonfire, watching my approach.

 

Before I reach her, a stranger's hand takes my own. "Dance with me!" says a fairy in a green dress, dragging me closer to the fire. The warmth tickles my arms. She pulls me closer, pressing her small body to mine, her hips against mine. She's warm, warmer than the fire, as warm as Ardyth's touch, and she smiles at me and butterflies riot in my gut

 

"Who are you?" I ask, my hand stroking the small of her back, the satin soft against my palm.

 

"They call me Firefly," she says, and her eyes glow green for a second, the same shade as summer fireflies. I've never used the phrase 'cute as a button', never really understood what buttons have to do with cuteness, until now. She has the face of a happy child who grew up into a non-jaded teenager, a child who never lost her spark. A magical girl.

 

"I think I love you," I blurt out, then bite my lips. Why did I say that?

 

If rainbows and glitter made a sound, they'd sound like her laugh. "I love you too, m'lady." She kisses me, and her lips taste like honey and pomegranate. She smells like freshly cut grass and a spring sunrise. It's too much. Too fast.

 

I pull away and take her hand. Laughter escapes from my lips, almost hysterical. "I want you to meet--" My brother, I was about to say. I take a step away from the fire and look around. I scan the faces around me as quickly as I can. Everyone is beautiful and happy, with bright clothes, brilliant eyes and pointed ears. They dance and laugh without a care in the world. But none of them are my friends. "Have you seen my brother?"

 

Firefly presses her body close to mine again, gives my hand a squeeze. "What does he look like?"

 

I look again at the reveling fae, with their not-quite-human faces. "He looks like me. Except, taller, and...scruffier."

 

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere, everyone came down here for the party!"

 

I don't look at her, though. My eyes lock on Ardyth, still sitting on a high-backed chair made of branches and twigs, trimmed with leaves. Grape leaves, with a few small bunches of grapes hanging from the top. "Is this real?" I ask, walking towards her. I'm no longer holding on to Firefly, but she is holding on to my hand. She's slowing me down.

 

Is this what happens when you're taken by the fae? Is Alex somewhere in this forest, seduced by a pretty boy or girl with pointed ears and gemlike eyes? "Take me home!"

 

Ardyth's head tilts to the side, and her face shifts to a look of confusion. "Aren't you happy here?"

 

"I can't," I try to shout but it's barely a whisper.

 

Disappointment mars her perfect features. "Why not?"

 

It's tempting, a life away from the homophobes and the hateful politics. Away from fear.

 

Away from my parents, and my straight friends. Away from the coffeehouse and my magic teacher and new episodes of my favorite shows. "We belong there." My voice is stronger this time. "It's our home." I know Pete would never leave his best friend and would crawl to the ends of the earth to be with him. Nate took too much perverse pleasure in making fun of clueless straights and why would he give that up? My brother would be tempted to explore a whole new realm, but deep down, he would miss our family.

 

A tear slides down Ardyth's cheek. When it lands on the bed it looks like a tiny diamond catching the glow before it disappears completely. We're back in my room and I didn't even feel the changing wind. For a moment, there is a great big Firefly-shaped hole in my chest, but it's already mending, filling back up with the safety of home and the promise of family.

 

"Bring them all back who wish to come back."

 

Her eyebrows furrow together and she lets go of my hand. She brings her hand to her chest, where her heart is if she's built at all like me on the inside. "So much pain."

 

Does she mean herself, or us? If she cares so much about us she would know we'd be sad without our families. Without our friends. "Please," I say, and tentatively touch her shining arm. "We're needed here."

 

She meets my gaze, sighs with a sound like a breeze in the woods of her home, and nods. "It is done."

 

My fingers shift and fidget against her arm, hold tightening and loosening nervously. I can't quite control my own hand. I want to thank her, even though she caused the whole thing to begin with. I want to thank her for trying.

 

I draw closer to her, press my lips against hers. That electric whiplash seizes me again as her soft skin burns into mine. It's like kissing the sun for one brief moment, and then it's gone. The light blinks out, taking Ardyth back to her world.

 

In the deafening silence, my phone buzzes loudly on the nightstand, and for an instant I doubt the past few minutes were more than a dream. I see the name on the screen and yank the phone to my ear. "Alex?"