Changeling

The caffeine brought some clarity and he focused on the mistaken identity problem. Humans said everyone had a twin, so this could be a huge coincidence.

 

But Kheelan, though raised in a fairy realm full of what humans would find extraordinary, didn’t believe much in coincidence. Was it possible Kyle was supposed to be him? When the detestable spriggan fairies stole human children they replaced them with the body of a Fae child enchanted to physically mimic the look of the stolen child.

 

Kheelan warmed to his theory. By the fairy’s own records, his parents were alive and living in this area. If Kyle was a fairy abandoned from the Fae world, it followed that he might have problems thinking and functioning like a mortal. Maybe that explained his obviously low reading level. He hadn’t been raised among his own kind, never told about his true nature. That was bound to lead to problems, especially since the exchanged fairies were often swapped children because they exhibited some oddity in their Fae state.

 

The bells at the front door jangled abruptly and two husky guys entered.

 

“Skye! It’s closing time, fun time,” one of them said. His deep voice echoed throughout the store.

 

The redhead looked up and beamed, walking over to the newcomers. So her name was Skye. It suited her. Kind of quirky and new agey. Skye hugged them and the lingering cocoa flavor in his mouth deteriorated to a burnt sugar aftertaste. He wanted to ignore the threesome, but instead he became acutely conscious of their every word.

 

“All work and no play sucks. We’re kidnapping you tonight,” said the shorter one.

 

The tallest one, the one Skye paid particular attention to, added: “Come out and get the full college experience for once.”

 

“Meaning alcohol and the opposite sex?” Skye asked.

 

The shorter dude clasped his hands over his ear. “I don’t want to hear my little sister talking about sex, thank you very much.”

 

The tall one laughed. He grabbed Skye around the waist and lifted her.

 

Kheelan was out of his chair and across the store before he could stop to think. The way Skye’s eyes sparkled when she was picked up grated on him. When he reached them, she gave him a smile.

 

“Kyle, you remember my brother, Michael, don’t you?”

 

He nodded, looking only at the other, who still had an arm draped over Skye. Her boyfriend?

 

“This is our friend, Tanner. I don’t think you’ve met him before.”

 

Tanner raised an amused eyebrow at Kheelan, then took his arm off Skye and extended his hand. Before he could shake it, Skye shook her head slightly at Tanner.

 

“Kyle doesn’t like to shake hands with someone he’s just met,” she said.

 

He didn’t? What was up with that? Before he could react, someone came up behind him.

 

“When is Melissa coming to get you, Kyle? I’ll be glad to give you a ride if you need one.”

 

He turned to see Delia and his mind leaped at this chance. There was no better way to find out who this Kyle person was than to see where he lived. He nodded. Whoever Kyle was, he must not be very talkative because he hadn’t said more than ten words in the past couple hours and no one found it odd.

 

“Sure, a ride.” His voice croaked, as if fallen into disuse after only one afternoon of silence.

 

“I’ll get my coat,” Delia said. “Come back to the kitchen with me and help me close up.”

 

Kheelan followed; glad to escape Skye before he made a fool of himself. He’d had no business interrupting her conversation. What had come over him? He hadn’t even properly activated the crystal to search out and pinpoint exactly where the bad Fae might be in this place. Well, he could always lie and tell Finvorra the shop had closed early and he needed to return tomorrow. Finvorra was too lazy to check out his story.

 

Skye waved to him on his way out. “See you Friday, Kyle.”

 

Tanner was flirting with Glenna, and Kheelan caught Skye’s tight-lipped annoyance as she turned her back on the spectacle and went to the crystal display case.

 

Each one of the crystals came alive with light and color, like huge kaleidoscope chips, shifting to new angles and patterns. Hundreds of them glimmered around her in waves of purple, red, green, pink, an entire spectrum of chromatic wonder. Skye herself had a brilliant aura of rainbow colors. No one else noticed which astounded him further. He didn’t even need to activate the fairies’ cross crystal hidden under his shirt to see her aura. He knew what it meant.

 

She was The One of Sidhe legend.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

Pixies in Dixie

 

 

 

“Skye, have we got any more of those astrological calendars?” Glenna called out behind the front counter.

 

Skye thought a moment. She’d seen them recently – oh, yeah—the box near the bottom steps of the storeroom. “Yeah, I know where there’re some. Be right back.”

 

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