Foster rose out of his bed later than everyone else. His body ached, specifically his wings. They lay awkwardly across his back. To put it in perspective, the concept was sort of like having an extra set of arms, but he didn't know how to use them, or how to get them to stay down the way the other fairies had them.
His glasses were on a table next to his bed.
He grabbed them and put them on, releasing a heavy sigh. It bothered him that his eyesight hadn't improved. If he was a fairy, then why couldn't he see better than before?
Oh, well, he thought.
Sylvan has glasses, so maybe fairies need them sometimes.
The boy left the room and walked through the hallway. He had expected his new wings to be sort of heavy, but they weren't. They were facing the floor now, pressed to the point of near flatness against his back.
When Foster entered the kitchen, he walked over to where Lily and Kara sat.
He looked at Kara, watching as she slowly ate some eggs that the fairies here must've made for her. Her fiery hair concealed her face from view. She didn't meet his gaze, or maybe just didn't notice him.
Either way, Foster still felt awful about what he'd done.
He shouldn't have questioned Kara about Shade. Clearly nothing had been going on between them, but now it was too late to gain back her trust.
He'd lost her, all because of a little jealousy. The boy sighed and picked at the food that had been set out for him.
Sylvan appeared, almost out of nowhere, and came to him first. "Um...Foster, was it?"
"Yes," Foster mumbled. "What do you want?" Sylvan was shocked by his harsh tone, but she didn't say anything about it. "Oh, well..Peony, Oren, and I were going to..rid you of your wings. After all, you don't want to be a fairy forever, do you?" Foster practically choked on the eggs he had been forcing down. Forever? He hadn't thought about that. "No," he said instantly. "No, of course not. What do you have to do?" "It's simple." Sylvan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of his chair into an upright position. "Just come outside with me and the others, and we'll do our best to help you." She turned to Kara.
"That's alright, isn't it?"
Foster looked back at her.
His former girlfriend was slow to answer, keeping her eyes on her plate.
After a moment or two, she looked away from them both and spoke. "It's fine. Just take him."
Sylvan nodded, her cobalt eyes brighter than before. "Good. Let's go, then."
Foster watched as she went outside through the front door.
He followed her, but cast one last glance at Kara before leaving entirely.

Outside, the fairies Sylvan had called Peony and Oren were waiting for them.
A circle of leaves and various flowering plants lay before them, and they surrounded it.
Sylvan had gone to join them, her gaze trained on the center of the circle.
She saw him and gestured for him to come with them. "Foster, step into this circle."
Foster was suddenly uneasy.
He wanted nothing more than to run back through the forest until he was far away from these fairies. However, he knew he couldn't do that. The word forever was still fresh in his mind. He didn't want this. He never did.
It was what that weird demise beast had wanted. "Okay."
Foster stepped inside of it.
A greenish blue wall appeared around him, making the fairies surrounding the circle vanish. Foster began to panic. He put his hand against the wall and then drew it back. It felt like a leaf would, but more sturdy. "What is this?" he cried. "Why is there a wall?" "Calm down," a female voice that wasn't Sylvan's said. "The wall is there to contain the immense amount of magic that will be needed for this ritual. You will not be harmed." Foster was incredulous. "Really? You're completely sure?"
The voice answered him. "Yes. The flowers that are in this circle will lessen any pain you should feel to a tolerable level. Don't worry. The more positive you are about this, the better it will work." Foster swallowed hard. Despite her comforting words, he didn't know if he could do that. "Um...alright. I'll try." "Thank you. That's what I like to hear." The fairies suddenly came back into view as the wall dissipated. Foster held out his hand, but was met with a hard surface. The wall hadn't disappeared at all, it had merely become invisible. Foster had no time to ask why they had done this before the fairies around him began to chant. The words were in no language that he knew, but they sounded interesting. Pain stabbed through his arms, and he winced. It wasn't all that bad, but he still didn't want to be sore again.
This continued for a few minutes, until the chanting stopped.
Foster glanced back at his wings.
They were still there, no smaller or less awkward than before.
The boy cast a glare back at Sylvan.
"What about the wings?"
"We're doing that now," Sylvan explained.
"We removed the venom from your system first." Their chanting started again, but it was more intense this time. Wind swirled around Foster, a cold, brisk wind that threatened to toss him around like a tornado might. Terror seized him, but he didn't try to move when pain shot through him again. He gritted his teeth as he felt his wings recede into his back, rapidly being replaced by his regular shoulder blades. The wind died down, and Foster was fairly certain he was himself again. Unfortunately, this certainty didn't last long. His back ached, then throbbed. Foster screamed as his wings returned, tearing up his back again. He fell to his knees, and darkness covered him as, in his mind's eye, he saw a figure advancing towards him, one with horns and a laugh like the clanging of bits of metal hitting each other.
He blacked out.