Seeking the Fae: Daughter of Light, #1

Chapter One

Iwas pulled from a deep sleep by someone shaking my shoulders. My eyes snapped open. Trissa was hovering right over my face, her lips pulled into a frown, eyes wide with terror.

Lily, you must get up, she hissed and yanked me forward.

Bleary-eyed, I looked outside to see the moon was still high in the sky.

What’s wrong? My voice was thick with sleep. Trissa’s face was a mask of fear, nostrils flared.

Anxiety spiked through me as I started to become more coherent and realize my mother’s personal guard was waking me up in the middle of the night.

Where’s my mom? I demanded, throwing the blanket off of me as my heart jackknifed in my chest.

Trissa just grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the door. I stumbled, trying to run after her while still half asleep. Shaking me awake in the middle of the night … something was gravely wrong. It was only then that I noticed her pale blue t-shirt was soaked with crimson blood.

Trissa, daughter of Bethany, inform me of my mother’s condition right this moment! My voice shook and she must have recognized I was near total panic because her entire body stilled. We were halfway out of my room when she stopped and faced me.

Holy crystals…

She was … crying. Trissa Hart didn’t cry. Not when she nearly lost her right leg on a mission, and not when her husband left her for another Fae who lived three cottages over—and had four kids, all with different men. Trissa was made of steel. She’d trained me in Earth studies and deadly weapons since I was three, and I’d never seen her shed a tear. Ever.

Your mother … has fallen. Her voice broke and the room spun around me. She won’t make it … but if we hurry, you can have a final word.

Fallen. Won’t make it. Her words slammed into me like bullets and I wasn’t prepared for the shock. A shriek left my throat, my knees gave out and I sagged forward into her. Grief and panic crashed into me with equal measure, weighing me down like I carried a truck upon my back. My gossamer wings wilted with the news as I no longer had the energy to keep them upright.

Call a healer! I thundered, trying to think of how I could save her.

My mother’s guard clamped her hands around my arms to steady me, forcing me to meet her big brown eyes. "The healer is with her now. She’s the one who sent me to get you."

Oh fuck.

My whole body felt like it was made of iron. Surely I would pass out any moment. But without another word, and for fear of wasting any more time, I allowed her to pull me in the direction of the front door. I felt like I was sleepwalking; Trissa just yanked me this way and that, while I forced the sobs down from my throat.

Stepping outside to the moonlit streets of Faerie, we took to the skies, my wings fluttering through our small village. We flitted past my best friend Elle’s cottage, and then Nikola the blacksmith’s, before quickly reaching the jagged cliff that butted against the raging river. I craned my neck to look at our one source of fresh water. A clear glass-like magical dome cut right into the middle of the crystalline blue river, as five feet of black water from the other side smashed against the protective wall. The black water lapped against the protective shield, keeping what was left of Faerie from drowning in darkness.

I’d lived my whole life in this dome, like an upside down salad bowl covering what was left of the faerie. Everything outside of it was… too horrifying to even think about. Even seeing a passing shadow of the creatures that lurked on the other side gave me nightmares. Coming to the edge of Faerie was always a frightening and humbling experience. One crack in the dome shield and…

Trissa yanked me towards the ground and snapped me from my thoughts. We walked right up to the blue door cut into the cliffside and I stilled. My wings quivered at the thought of going through it.

I looked at Trissa with shock. The blue door … am I … ready?

I’d wanted to open this door since I could talk. It was a privilege and responsibility given only to the females of my lineage. Only to seekers. "Our work, our purpose, my mother would say, is done beyond the blue door. I never knew what lay beyond and my mother never told me. When you’re ready," she’d say and leave it at that.

My mother and I were the last seekers left in all of Faerie. Any object you desired, we could find. A relic, a treasure, a book, a lost family heirloom, a person. Nothing was off limits to my seeker magic. What my mother searched for day after day, on the other side of that door … I had no idea. I just knew that it was of utmost importance to Faerie and that one day she would tell me.

Trissa spun and took my face into her hands. All trace of tears were gone. That hardened gritty soldier I’d come to love and trust was back.

Listen, Lily, this wasn’t how she wanted to hand things over to you, but you must pull yourself together and be strong when you present yourself to her. Understand?

I realized then that I was openly sobbing. Tears stained my nightshirt and my cheeks. My eyes must be blotchy and red. If my mother was going to greet my ancestors in the realm of the dead tonight, I wouldn’t want her to depart this plane with worry and fear for me.

I nodded, wiped my eyes and straightened my back, flicking my shimmering crystalline wings up into the air. I’m ready.

My hand shook as I reached out and took the cool brass handle. I’d touched it once, on a dare from my friend Tobin. It had vibrated then and freaked me out, so I’d let go and we’d run off giggling. It did so now too, but much less and I wasn’t scared this time. I wanted to see my mom, to be with her.

The lock was a crystal that sensed my energy and seeker bloodline and allowed me to turn the knob. Without ceremony, I yanked the door back and stepped inside. I don’t know what I expected: a great library; maybe a room full of crystals or rare objects that my mother had collected for the elders; dragon’s scales; pixie dust; anything … but not this. I’d stepped into … a fancy apartment. Purple walls greeted me with shiny hardwood floors, and a siren blared out the window, turning my attention to … a view of downtown New York City. The Statue of Liberty could just barely be seen in the distance. Confusion crossed my face, and then it hit me.

The blue door is a portal? I said almost to myself.

If we wanted to see the human world, we had to swim at the edge of the shield and into the blue lagoon to touch the enchanted shell. I’d been to the human world many times growing up as a part of my seeker training, since objects the elders needed were often in the human world, but I’d never in a million years thought the blue door was a portal. I figured when my mom went to earth she used the enchanted shell portal.

It’s many things, child. This way. Trissa weaved in and out of the living room and past a kitchen with dishes piled high as I followed her numbly. Child was her nickname for me even though I was twenty winters old.

Mother! I seemed to remember my reason for being here and picked up my pace, tearing through the apartment.

I’m in shock. I’m not thinking right. This isn’t happening.

We’re back here! I recognized Kira’s voice and felt a small measure of relief. She was the best healer Faerie had. One of the only healers Faerie had. Just her and her clumsy sister Nika. The rest perished when our lands fell into darkness.

When we rounded the corner and came upon the bathroom, a strangled cry left my throat. My mother was draped halfway out of the tub … a tub filled with her blood. Her normally thick candy-pink hair hung in wet clumps and stuck to her arms. Trissa reached out and grabbed my arm, hard. I was openly weeping again without realizing. The pain on my arm shook me from my grief, and I pulled myself together.

Kira bowed deeply to me. I’ve tried everything. I’m sorry, Lily. She was a healer and her bow was telling me this was it and nothing could be done. That alone crushed any hope I’d had that my mother would be healed.

I fell to my knees as my mom’s eyes tracked the room to find me. She was so beautiful, even now. Hair the color of a puckle flower petal, eyes that shone like stars. My mother was my hero. Seeker of the unfound, giver of life. She was irreplaceable, my whole world.

Lily, she breathed, and it killed me to see the tips of her hair stained red with blood, to see the light leaving her eyes.

She reached for my hand, and when our fingers touched, hers were so cold that I almost recoiled.

I shook my head at Kira. There must be more you can do? Bring her to the crystal bed? Get the elders to lay light over her? Maybe there is an object or potion I could seek⁠—

Lily… Kira cut me off, speaking sternly, and I looked up to meet her face. She simply shook her head and then looked down at my mother’s abdomen.

I followed her gaze and a sob threatened to rip from my throat. Remembering Trissa’s instructions, I swallowed it, biting my tongue. My mother’s internal organs were splayed outside of her abdomen. I hadn’t seen it when I first walked in.

It was too late.

It was a miracle she was still alive.

My sweet … Lily. My mother reached up and traced spirals on my face, causing tears to spill out the corner of my eyes. She did this when I was a child; it used to put me to sleep. I wouldn’t sleep ever again. Not after this.

Mom … I love you so much. I didn’t know what to say, only that I shouldn’t cry. I shouldn’t let her think I was weak and couldn’t handle the responsibility of being Faerie’s only remaining seeker.

She nodded. And I you. My little seeker … the last daughter of light. The only one who— She stopped and turned her head to the side, away from me, spitting up bright red blood.

No! I rushed forward and placed my hand on her heart. I didn’t have healing affinity of course, but I had a small knack like all Fae did, just not like Kira. Still, I tried. I pulsed purplish silver light into my mother and she turned to look back at me, lips stained red.

Lily … you must take up my life’s work. Find my journal … the truth… She winced in pain, then reached out and placed her hand over my heart as mine rested on hers.

Journal? This was all so confusing; my heart couldn’t bear to see her like this. I just wanted her to be free from pain.

I nodded, tears filling my eyes. I will honor your name, always. I didn’t know what her life’s work was or what the daughter of light comment was about either, but I would do whatever required so that she could die in peace. I was three months away from my twenty-first birthday and my blue door ceremony. She would have told me everything then.

She looked fierce all of a sudden and her eyes glowed with light. "You must protect Faerie from the Sons of Darkness."

Sons of Darkness?

I looked to Trissa. Maybe my mom wasn’t thinking right. Trissa simply nodded as if in agreement with my mother.

Okay. I will. My voice was stronger than I thought it would be.

Daughter of light, Sons of Darkness, why was I just now hearing about this? My mother’s life work involved protecting Faerie? Protect from whom? That was my assignment?

I found six of them. My mother’s hand shook and her legs trembled, splashing the bloody bathwater around. But you will need to return the rest.

I had no idea what in the hell she was saying. I will, Mom. I’ll do whatever is needed of me. Don’t worry. Tears streamed down my face and she nodded.

Trissa will … take you to Mara. She will teach you the way.

Mara. My mother spoke of her often. She was the keeper of the blue door, and her most cherished friend.

Okay, Mom. It’s okay. I’ll be alright. I recognized that there was no saving her. I wanted her to go in peace. Nothing about this was okay, but I needed to pretend it was. Her body trembled as threads of blue light eked out of her hands and wove through the air. With the last remaining force she could muster, she ripped off the locket my father had given her before he died and gave it to me.

If ever you are in peril, use my essence to … heal. Her words were shaky and she wasn’t making sense. All of her blue light now flowed into the necklace that I clasped between my hands.

It would absorb her light, like a healing talisman. I’d seen one of these before; they were very special, but I didn’t want it. I wanted my mom.

Mom… I whimpered, not ready to say goodbye.

Love you, Lil, she breathed in a rasp, her blue light quivering in arcs around her body, shaking the locket between my fingers.

Not wanting my mother to leave this world in sadness, I began to sing.

When the blue waters… My voice was strikingly crisp given the circumstances. Rush onto the land.

My mother’s lips turned up into a smile. She was the one who taught me this song after all.

When the sun goes down on the sand… My voice shook as my mother’s eyes rolled into her head. Blue tendrils of light swirled in the air as they sought out the magical locket between my fingers. My skin tingled as my mother’s light magic poured around me.

Kira stepped up behind me and white light poured from her palms, saturating my mother’s body.

May the ancestors welcome you with grace and ease. It’s been an honor to serve as your healer. Kira’s final death proclamation had the song dying in my throat.

When my mother’s eyes drifted shut and her hand fell from my chest, a scream ripped from my throat, my body collapsing backward into Trissa. Her arms came around me and held me tightly, while the world crumbled around me one blue thread of light magic at a time.

My mother was my link to this world, my nurturer, my best friend. Now I was a ship without an anchor.

Chapter Two

Ilay there for what felt like hours, but must have only been a short while.

Kira knelt to pick me up. I’ll take her back.

Trissa shook herself and I pulled my body up from the floor. My limbs felt like sandbags, but nothing quite matched the misery in my heart. I took one last look at my mother.

No. Trissa’s tone was firm. She must meet with the elders and begin her training.

My jaw popped open. My mother just died. There will be a month-long period of mourning and the people⁠—

Lily, I’m following your mother’s orders, the elders’ orders. You are our last seeker. You will be trained at once. Your mother will be laid to rest at sea and you will carry on her work immediately. Her face was hardened and the coldness in her tone shocked me.

How dare she talk to me like that. My fucking mother just died!

Who cares about the humans or Earth—or whatever she does! My mother’s work can wait, I yelled, hot tears springing the edges of my eyes.

Trissa sighed, reaching up to rub her temples. I didn’t want to be standing in the bathroom with my mother’s dead body any longer.

Because … your mother’s work involves saving Faerie. If you don’t pick up where she left off immediately … we fall.

Kira’s sharp intake of breath matched my own.

What? How can that be?

Trissa looked one final time at my mother’s body and then led me out into the small living room.

Come, the elders are calling you. She weaved through the small space until we reached the backside of the blue door we’d come through.

The elders.

My stomach dropped out. I saw them only a few times a year, once at the midsummers festival and once at the winter solstice. If you saw them outside of that, you were probably in trouble. They stuck to their land at the very back of Faerie, near the Tree of Life, and read books all day or did whatever it was elder Fae did. My mom dealt with them a lot, I knew that, but they kept to themselves when it came to everyone else.

When we exited