8.

The vines had taken us to an infirmary. While Alvar was busy tending to Lucius, I was dragged away by short green skinned Fae with pointed ears and short furry legs. The periwinkle disappeared once we had entered the infirmary, fluttering off into the sky without a word. I didn't resist as I was stripped from my clothes and shoved into a bath, the Fae working my body over with mint soap and strange oils. The ointment was stripped from my neck and feet and my small cuts sprayed with a pink mist. My body became numb as my muscles relaxed in the water, kneaded under the women's firm hands. They dressed me quickly in a white t-shirt and pants, asking no questions. I was thankful none of the workers dared to talk to me; my brain a mess of cut wires attempting to upload important information.

It must have been hours later when I was finally brought back to the infirmary. I searched for Alvar's face amongst the Faeries only to find he had disappeared.

"Lucius!" I called out, running to his bed.

He murmured in his sleep, but did not wake. I frowned, and raked my fingers through my newly washed hair. Everything felt abnormally clean, even the oil from my roots had disappeared into the special soap.

"Lady Lyra?" A sharp voice sent me swivelling around, nearly losing my footing on the tiled floor.

"Yes?" I responded after a moment, eyes wide as I took in her appearance.

She embodied the perfection the human race strived so hard to achieve. With long straight blonde hair and delicate blue eyes, the woman before me was both young and beautiful. A small straight nose centred her thin arched eyebrows and oval face. Her pale skin showed no blemish, no scar, and no speck of dirt. She smiled, and that is where the difference showed. Lining her gums were a set of terrifying sharp teeth, tinged pink with pieces of gore stuck between the crevasses. The smile on my own lips twitched in discomfort.

"Sir Fenrir has been called upon by The King and The Duchess and instructed me to escort you to the living quarters." She spoke quickly, her voice even and slightly high-pitched.

"What about Lucius?" I asked, gesturing to his unconscious body.

"Sir Abaddon will remain here until he is better. I believe both he and Alvar have volunteered to be your guards while you remain here, but for now you must come with me." She turned on her heel, not waiting for me to follow behind her.

Relieved by her words, I quickly caught up to her, surprised at the speed her legs travelled. The vine door parted and we stepped into an abnormally large hallway. There were still no furniture or decorations anywhere within the castle, only long hallways and rooms with strict purposes.

"So, ah, what do you do. You know, like a job?" I asked uncertainly.

"I am one of the Duchess' ladies. I do as she pleases." She replied but did not waver in her direction. She ploughed on forwards, winding us through the palace halls.

"So that includes escorting me?"

"I am not an escort!" She snapped, tossing her long hair over her shoulder, "One of my duties is to oversee the care of the performers if one of the other ladies is busy with other things. I drew the short straw this year."

She was sneering, not daring to look over at me. My lips tugged down at the offense that seemed to be laced in her words. She clearly did not agree with her job description, or at least the human side of it. I was lucky to have been brought up in a school where tanned or dark skinned children did not get teased for their appearance, but I understood racism when I heard it. It wasn't necessarily the words used; it was how they were spoken. I had the feeling this woman did not like humans at all, and if one didn't that meant others didn't as well. Butterflies raged rampant; I found myself wishing Lucius, the devil himself, would wake.

She came to an abrupt halt outside another set of large vine doors. I was beginning to realise how the palace worked; the vines connected everything, almost as if it had a life of its own. Whether it was glamour or a natural phenomenon, it sensed the whereabouts of its subjects. As soon as we approached the doors, they uncurled open to reveal a room straight out of a high-end magazine.

The 'living quarters' was actually an enormous suite. The entire room was tiled the same sandstone colour as the outside walls, with a large couch in front of an open window that looked out across the kingdom. There was a kitchen on the left, a series of doors on the right and books spread in piles around the room. But most importantly, there were people, human people, everywhere. There must have been at least thirty of us, from all ages and backgrounds, lying across the couches, chatting away in the corner, and some coming in and out of the rooms behind the doors. My chest heaved as I released a sigh I didn't realise I had been holding.

"This is as far as I go." The Fae with the sharp teeth snapped, drawing my attention back to her pleasant yet unpleasant appearance. "Your group leader will bring you to the performance room later so you can prepare for tomorrow nights dinner celebration. Your schedule will be given to you on the night."

I nodded and smiled tightly at the woman, glad to be free of Faerie company. I turned to leave, a grin already stretching onto my face, but was halted by her voice.

"Oh and Lady Lyra?" She called. I threw my head over my shoulder to look at her with lazy eyes. "We expect nothing less than perfection during your stay here. Mess anything up and you'll end up like your team leader."

The smile dropped from my mouth and she left me more confused and frightened than before. I licked my teeth and crossed my arms, feeling my confidence and my optimism drop down to reside with my insecurities and flaws.

But there was something in the back of my mind, itching and scratching at my skull, begging for attention. I had forgotten my main task in arriving willingly; Lucas Young: MISSING, YET TO BE FOUND. I turned slowly and was faced with that very fact. Lucas Young wasn't missing; he was in the suite in front of me, standing among a group of human girls.

"Lucas!" I cried out and flung myself at the blonde Asian boy who I had known since birth. The feeling was almost maternal, as if I had found a relative lost for many years only to reunite with them like nothing ever happened. But in this case, something did happen to Lucas Young. I knew as soon as he refused to wrap his arms around me, remaining as stiff and inflexible as an inflatable balloon, that something had gone terribly wrong.

I withdrew from his arms to look upon his face and found a shell. His usual spiked hair was flat, dark circles engulfed his voice beautiful eyes, and his smile was gone-replaced with lips that were both slightly parted and frowning down at me. His shoulders slumped forwards, lacking the cocky stamina of his youth.

"Wha-What happened to you?" I reached out to stroke his arms, but he pulled away from me and slunk down into the couch.

"I serve the King now." His voice sent shivers down my spine; it was not his own. Tongue tied by a possession of the mind; the inner workings of Fae Glamour.

It was pointless to argue with someone who had no consciousness. I stumbled backwards, eyes stinging-the harbingers of sorrow. It didn't take long for my mind to piece the puzzle together. This was my warning. If I screwed up I would end up like Lucas: soulless, heartless, mindless. Who knew what he had done to deserve such a thing, but a year with this creatures had taken its toll.

"I am so sorry." I whispered to him, my arms reaching for my necklace. "I am so sorry, Lucas."

And then I stumbled back into one of the closed rooms, hiding from the only friend who I had truly cared about and the only friend who had truly cared for me. I wept for that loss, but mostly I wept for his losses. He would never return to his family. He would never know love, or care. He wouldn't grow up to be a man of his household. He would never live. He would only exist as the boy on the flyers; permanently missing, never yet to be found. 

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What do you think happened to Lucius?

Publishing another short chapter as a celebration! Just found out I got a scholarship at the university I applied for and am EXTREMELY happy :)))))

Comment your thoughts :)

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xx Charli