Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

A constant beeping drew me slowly from the blackness of sleep. I'd never been a deep sleeper so it's surprising that sound didn't wake me up sooner. Guess I was really tired because I couldn't feel anything but the dryness of my lips.

Trying to open my eyes and locate the sound, everything remained black. Trying again, they still wouldn't open. My blood ran cold. Regardless of how hard I tried, nothing moved. Not my feet, my fingers… There was nothing but that blasted sound.

"This better be good Ivan, wake up!"  A woman’s voice cut through the beeping. It was breathy and seductive like a cat's purr, but also cold and distant.

Sharp footsteps shattered the silence, coming closer and closer until passing me. It stopped and she looked at me. How do I know? Well, you know that feeling you get when someone is staring at you? That prickliness on your skin, almost as if you're set to be devoured? That's what it felt like, just magnified.

Someone groaned, a masculine voice. "What-what time is it?" they muttered groggily, releasing a drawn out yawn. The accent was familiar, but my brain was foggy and wouldn't process it. There was some rustling, followed by what sounded like a handbag being opened then shut. Some more scuffing, and after a quick flickering, I smelled a cigarette.

"Christ Elena we're in a hospital!" he said. There was further scuffling proceeded by a sharp stomp on the floor. Then silence... and beeping.

It hit me then—Mr. Stokaya! This woman, Elena, had called him Ivan, but it was Mr. Stokaya. The accent was unmistakable when he said we were in the hospital.

Suddenly cognizant of his words, the flood gates in my mind burst open. Memories of what had happened brutalized me. Remembrance of the pain and the hunger and the sound of my bones breaking... I really was paralyzed.

Elena huffed irritably. "What's this about, Stokaya?"

Mr. Stokaya sighed. Soft yet cutting footsteps clicked a few steps then stopped.

“It’s about her," he murmured dreadfully.

"And who is she that you were dumb enough to call me? Us here together is not a good idea." Finally there was some emotion in her voice aside from irritation and indifference. They seemed to merge into utter discomfort.

"Her name is Charlotte. She's one of my students." He sighed, a helplessness in his tone. "I didn't know who else to call Elena. I think she's had a breakdown."

"Then how about a shrink?" Her irritation returned. "I don't see how calling a psychic—"

"Not a nervous breakdown—” he snapped, but cut himself off. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he said, “I mean she tried to kill me."

Even though I couldn’t feel my limbs, I did feel my chest cave. I know what I did to him, and to Jaime, but I would never try to kill someone willingly. I’d never felt as trapped as I did in that moment. All I wanted was to run away, far away from him, from her, from myself.

"Then you call the police!" Elena hissed in return.

"And tell them what? That a faerie tried to suck the life out of me?"

I forgot how to breathe, and the awkward silence that followed told me I wasn’t the only one. A faerie?

High heels clicked in my direction, preceded by a bold honeysuckle scent. Something cold and soft touched my cheek followed by a sniff.

"I can't smell anything Ivan. If she were Fae I would know. Hell, so would you. You would've smelled her before you even saw her."

"That's the point!" Ivan's sighed exasperatedly. "She sat in my classroom—she bumped right into me, and I didn’t smell a thing! Next thing I know, she's glowing and—"

"Glowing?" Elena interrupted with a ting of curiosity. But then spoke and dismissed it all. "Fine, maybe it was glamour—"

"In human form?" Ivan asked.

Elena paused. The tension between them was so thick I could almost feel it saturating my dry lips. The desperation to move swept through me, but on the same token, I wanted to hear more. They obviously had some inkling as to what happened to me.

"That's not possible. You would have seen her true Fae form. Her wings at least, depending on what realm she's from. Maybe you're confused."

I was.

"Dammit Elena! I've been around long enough to know what I'm saying. I know what I saw. I know what I felt! She started feeding on a boy in my class and if I hadn't used a binding spell—"

Elena gasped. "You used magic!" Her heels clicked around the bed, beside Ivan. "Are you crazy?! No, no, no I'm out of here!" Her footsteps moved away quickly. Mr. Stokaya followed, then both stopped.

"Elena—"

"Let go of me! Do you know what you've done! We've spent years hiding out in this pathetic town and you've thrown it all away for some girl! No, I'm leaving tonight!"

"To go where? This is the only place—" He cut himself off, resuming in a lower yet harsher octave. "This has been the only place where we've been able to remain unseen for over 10 years."

"And you've just ruined that! Once they find you—which they will—it'll only be a matter of time until they find me! I will not make it easy for them."

"What we did is irrelevant now—"

"Irrelevant?!"

Even in my state, I couldn’t help but agree. Hiding from 'them' for 10 years seemed hardly irrelevant... and who were 'them' anyway?

"Elena, she's a Fae in a human body or a human with knowledge of Fae magic. I don't know. She was able to control it within her so she can't be a changeling. It's like there are two separate entities within the same body. If she is Fae then whoever bound this spirit to her is using ancient and forbidden spells."

"Who cares! It has nothing to do with us!" Elena seemed close to snapping.

“She’s stronger than anything I've seen since..." he paused with a heavy exhale. "Stronger than anyone I've seen in a long time. And she mastered her glamour. 32 kids at one time under her spell? Even you have to admit that's something worth investigating."

"You're losing your touch, Ivan. Even if she was Fae, we do not interfere! It's the only way we've been able to stay alive for so long. And if she's as strong as you say then how do you know she wasn't sent here for us?"

"Because she would've killed me when she had the chance and she didn't. She begged me to stay away from her." A moment and his footsteps resumed, stopping at my bedside once more. I guess under all that dark and brooding façade, was someone somewhat caring.

Elena chuckled dryly, but what I had heard so far was far from comical. Closer to insanity, really.

"I can't believe this. You used magic," she said laughingly, as if not believing she was actually saying those words.

"I had to. She was—"

"How much magic did you use? And don't lie to me. I already know what spells you used. I just want you to hear yourself saying it so you see what an idiot you've been."

Mr. Stokaya swallowed. "When she refused to kill me," he emphasized, "Her powers turned on her and practically pulverized her bones."

"How much did you use?"

"She was bleeding from her pores—"

"How much did you use?" Elena demanded sternly, slamming her hand down on something solid. A table, I think.

He sighed. "I used a healing spell to repair her body, and some glamour to hide the blood until I was able to go back and clean it. I bound her body to time to speed up the healing spell, and bound her powers."

A part of me died in that second. The ignorant part that knew my life had irrevocably changed—the part that would pick up the National Enquirer at the supermarket checkout, wholeheartedly agreeing that there were aliens and otherworldly beings in the world aside from humans. But to hear that I was one of them…

"Dear God," Elena muttered. "I feel like I'm watching a train wreck."

"There is something special about this girl--"

"Special? Yes, she's special, but maybe you've been under for too long, Ivan."

"This has nothing to do with my human body! Maybe if we find out what she is and what she can do, she can help us and we can stop running."

A soft chuckle escaped Elena. "And that's the only reason?"

He paused. "Don't be stupid. I don't get my thrills from little humans."

"I was kind of hoping you wouldn't say that. Maybe then this madness would make sense. But since you deny it, then you're crazy. The only way we will ever stop running is to either bring Queen Alistrina her daughter back or kill her, neither of which we can do."

I felt like I was the one going crazy. Talk of faeries and magic and bodies and killing queens...

"We don't know that yet. We don't even know what she is"

Elena giggled. "Then why don't we ask her?" she asked in a teasingly.

Ivan exhaled sharply, moving away from me. The sound of leather scrunching signaled his sitting. "She sleeping Elena, let her recover."

"Sleeping?" she taunted. "Tsk, tsk. You're getting sloppy, lover." After a short laugh, high heels clicked closer in my direction. A cool hand swept across my forehead and like springs, my eyes snapped open,

"You only bound her body, Ivan....not her mind. Isn't that right, Charlotte?"