In a New York Myth

My name is Caer.  People think I’m beautiful, but I never saw it.  I remember when I was growing up, looking in the mirror and wondering how anyone could stand to look at me.  I was a dorky looking child, awkward and ungainly.  At sixteen when everyone else was ”blooming”, I felt like a weathered dandelion waiting for someone to blow away my fragile puffballs into nothingness.  I don’t see it, I have blue eyes so blue they make me look alien; Father says it’s that deep blue the ocean gets just before sunset. 
Mother says that I hide myself behind my gold hair because she forgot to give me my confidence when she was pregnant with me. My hair is actually gold, not blond, but gold like those heavy gold bars they have in the Federal Bank except it’s softer than any hair you may have ever felt.  The hair  comes with being a full blooded Sidhe, the confidence usually comes with that as well, guess I got in the other line.           
I have upbringing, I even had a coming out party.  I was raised in the Crème de la crème of high society, in the outworld of course. I had equestrian lessons, violin and piano lessons, and tennis lessons.  I went to boarding schools, private schools and finishing schools.  You would think that that would make me stuck up and self absorbed but instead it made me the complete opposite.  I was that stupid horse that was brought to drink and then I was tossed into the deep end to drown.
I used to wish that I could have grown up in Faerie, but my parents don’t think much of the Queen and if you don’t think of the Queen, it benefits your health to stay away from her.  I only spent the first eight years of my life in Fairie.  The only reason that my parents are still alive is that they have three children.  Children in the Sidhe are few and far between so when they had my sister they were immediately married.  It was thought that one was all they would have, that’s what’s usual for our species, but then 50 years later my brother and I were born. Twins, a boy and a girl my parents are said to be favored by the Goddess herself.  So you see they have this sort of built in, stay out of dead free card.  The only way the Queen could kill them is through a hope for a convenient “accident”.
My family is wealthy, the VanSincklens of New York, old money that has been passed down from generation to generation. The family business keeps the money flowing within the family.  Once my great uncle tried to make the business public, but my grandfather stopped it and disowned him.  Tradition is everything to this family, along with money and breeding and status.  I never really cared about any of it, so now I’m the black sheep of the family, the sens figuré réprouvé.  Oh I forgot French lessons as well. 
I have a job now, my mother is mortified that I actually work.  I’ve added a little extra bit of embarrassment by working in a blue collarish field.  I’m a detective for the Police Department, Bureau of Preternatural Crimes.  Mother thinks it is dangerous and unseemly for a daughter of the Sidhe to work.  My mother believes that I should be with her, going from society meeting to society meeting planning fund raisers and charity events.  Daddy’s proud of me.  He sees this as a character building experience, he thinks that by working and making my own way I have a better chance of succeeding than my brother and sister.
Aranwen and Cadeyrn are my older sister and twin brother.  Aranwen is a lot like Mother, very concerned about her appearance and status.  Aranwen is all about high fashion and high class and well, anything that can get her high.  Our parents don’t know about her habit, the only reason I know is because I walked in on one her famous Mother and Father are away for a month parties, and saw her shoving cocaine up her nose.  I never said anything to anyone about it because I know my sister and it would just make her more determined to get high; she’s one of those secret rebels.  I think she just does it to prove that she can, or at least that’s why she started. 
She came to me once and asked me what it was like to pick up junkies in the street; I think she was scared that that was where she was headed.  I told her that it was sad and that the people I picked up had lost their hope.  She looked completely confused; she asked me, “Hope for what?”  I said for everything and anything.  She didn’t say anything, she just left the room.  That’s as close as I ever came to talking about her drug habit, she never brought it up again. Aranwen still uses drugs, but it’s some consolation that narcotics doesn’t have quite the same effect on the Sidhe as it does on humans.  They can still be devastating but not as quickly and not for the same reasons.
Cadeyrn is uh, Cadeyrn often,… hmmmm; I’m not quite sure how to explain my brother.  You would think that being twins would give me a little bit of insight to him, but most of the time I’m clueless as to what he’s up to or into for that matter.  The one thing I know about my brother is that he tries very hard at everything.  Our parents think that he has a death wish; I think that he has a life wish.  Cade is into a lot of extreme physical stuff.  He climbs mountains without rope, he BASE jumps off of things, he competes in bikes and skates, he skydives.  I think that he’s a bit crazy, but mostly I think that he loves to live his life and that doing all of this stuff makes him feel alive.  Cade is one of the only people in my family that understands why I work and why I chose to be what I am.
My brother is also very fond of not working.  It cuts into his other activities.  That’s were I differ from my siblings, I have this insatiable need to do something useful with my time.  My brother and sister have this insatiable need to do only for themselves.  They are Sidhe to their core, able to understand that charity is necessary, but not why it’s necessary.
My Grandmother is the other person in my life that is not only proud of me but encourages me in all I do..  She is more like a mother to me than my mother ever was, God I sound bitter.  Vala, my grandmother, is the queen’s sister and the one true Queen of Fairie.  Yup, I’m related to royalty and third in line to the throne.  No I didn’t get the math wrong; my mother will never be queen because the Sithen doesn’t like her.  The Sithen is were Faerie exists, it’s home and it’s in Upstate New York.  To be Queen or King, the faerie mound has to basically cuddle up next to you and make nice.  The last time my mother set foot in the Sithen it turned her clothes into bees, actual buzzing, stinging, angry bees.  Oh yeah, the Sithen does not like my mother and trust me the feeling is mutual.  No one knows why the Sithen takes such a special interest in my mother, no one except my mother that is. 
         Anyway, so far the only Sidhe that the mound has ever showed a positive interest in is me, my brother and the queens only daughter, Kelar.  Trust me when I tell you that the competition is only real to Kelar.  That brown haired, horse faced witch has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember.  We were born four months apart, and if it wasn’t for dumb timing I would have been second in line instead of third behind my brother.  As it is, Kelar has her dirty little sights on either marrying my brother or killing him, I’m not quite sure death is a bad idea compared to the other choice.  I’m not third behind Cade because of birth, I’m older by twenty five minutes.  I’m third because I haven’t come into Power yet.  Kelar can cause localized earthquakes and she can make you insane with a touch.  Cade can heat anything to melting point, but that’s his only Power, but it’s a doosy don’t you think.  Imagine being able to melt a person as slowly or as quickly as you want, leaving only a pool of goo when all is said and done.  Like I said, a doosy.  I don’t have a Power yet and trust me when I tell you that I am getting really annoyed about it.
Kelar’s own mother can’t stand her, she tried to get my grandmother to take her as her own child, but Vala surprised everyone, she not only made her sister take care of her own brat, my grandmother relinquished the throne to her sister.  Once again, no one knows why except for my grandmother, the queen and their mother.  I never asked Nana why she didn’t want to be queen and to be honest I don’t think I want to know. 
         When I was a child I over heard my grandmother and her sister arguing about who should be queen next.  I remember the screaming, but what I remember the most was that they were using Power.  Not really using it but letting it go without any control.  I could feel it choke the air, it was so thick and harsh that I passed out and fell into the room.  I almost died that day, I was sick for weeks later.  When I got well, I knew that if their anger was so intense that it caused Power to flow unchecked, I never wanted to know why they argued. After that, my grandmother became very protective of me, she seemed to understand me more.  The down side of that is that the queen hates me, well at least I think she hates me, I’m not especially sure.  She’s had these moments when she’s looked at me with what seems to be longing.  All I know is that she hates Kelar more and that’s suits me just fine.
         Like I said, the queen’s daughter has been a curse for me for as long as I can remember.  Most people would think that I was blowing things out of proportion because of some unresolved jealousy issues, but that’s totally and completely untrue.  When we were both children, I don’t remember how old, someone told us that one of us would be queen if the other one were dead.  I didn’t believe it, but Kelar took it to heart and started trying to kill me. 
When you’re a child growing up in Fairie, you learn that weakness is an invitation to disaster. I took that to mean that you just discover how to defend yourself and you will be left alone.  Kelar thought that meant you needed to take a more active roll against your enemies, perceived or otherwise and she went on the offensive.  So we became enemies and she’s been trying to kill me ever since.
         I don’t take it personally anymore, I really don’t.  At least I’m not in my brother’s shoes.  When she’s not trying to seduce him, she’s trying to either convince him that I’m poison to his blood or she’s trying to kill him to.  The only person that has nothing to fear from Kelar is her mother.  At least that is what the queen likes to believe, but I wouldn’t put anything past that two faced, back stabbing witch.  See, nothing personal at all.
         So I’m a fairie princess, with no Power and a detective in New York City for preternatural crimes, state division.  I’m also considered one of the best, a real badass with the stats to prove it.  So why am I sitting here at my desk playing solitaire? Well for some reason the supernatural criminals seemed to have taken a vacation and I’m stuck in here with nothing to do.  Yet somehow the phone can’t seem to stop ringing
         “Yo, Caer! Pick up your phone will ya.”
         “Jeez Frank I can hear you. No need to scream at the top of your lungs.  Besides, your closer to the phone than I am, you get it.” 
I didn’t see any reason why I should interrupt a perfectly good solitaire game.           I could tell I was pissing off Frank a little, but what is a partner for if not to raise your blood pressure once and a while.
“You know laziness does not become you Squeak.”
I cringed at the nickname.  The first year I worked with Frank, I was dusted by a pixie and I had a severe sneezing fit, that name has stuck ever since. 
“OPC, Therman speaking. Hang on.”  Frank grabbed a pen from our desk and started scribbling.  He was doing a lot of uhhah’s and yeah’s,  quite the liturgist.  When he finally hung up, Frankie didn’t look so good.  It had to be a case. I stood up and walked over to Frank.
“What do we got?”
“Sit down Caer.”
“What’s the matter with you Frankie? You look sick”
“That was the local police in Warren County.  They just fished a body out of Lake George.”
The Mound is near Lake George, about four miles away from the lake.  For some reason I suddenly remembered all the times that I used to hike out to the lake just before my parents decided to leave.  I remembered I was going to miss that place and that someday going back would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do.
“The body they found was Sidhe.  It’s the Queen.”  I heard what Frank said and understood what the words meant but for some reason I couldn’t say anything.  All I felt was searing white hot pain in my head.  I heard screaming and only vaguely understood that it was coming out of my mouth.  The pain ran down my spine and into my arms and the screaming got louder and just like that I came into my Power.

Chapter 2

I was on the floor of the squad, at my partner’s feet.  I was still blind from the pain, but I could smell his stinky feet through his ratty old shoes.  I could hear voices and the urgency in them.  I could make out my partner a little, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying.  Someone touched me and it brought me back to reality.
“Caer, you in there?”
What kind of dumbass question was that to ask. 
“Frank…”
That didn’t sound like my voice, tried to sit up, but my body didn’t want to cooperate, I settled for just opening my eyes.  I tried to move my eyes to look up from my position on the floor without moving my head and for some reason my eyes wouldn’t cooperate.  I had to move my entire head to look up at Frank.  It was then that I realized that I could see Frank a lot clearer, I saw the lines on his forehead that I never noticed before, I even saw that he was wearing a not so clean shirt.  I also noticed that he seemed a lot bigger than what I remembered.
I finally looked down at my hands, I didn’t have hands. I had wings.  Actual wings with feathers and everything.  All of a sudden I didn’t feel so good anymore and I wanted very much to sit up. 
“What’s happening Frank?”
“Uh Caer, that is you, right?”
“ Of course it’s me dammit.  What is going on?  Why can’t I sit up and why in the world do I have feathers?” And why are you staring at me?”
“You tell me, you’re the elf.”
He knows I hate being called an elf. It’s so derogatory.  I finally got my legs to work and when I stood up I only came to Frank’s knees.  I started screaming again.
“CAER!! Quit doing that!”
My scream sounded a lot like a falcon’s cry.  It was then that Aiden walked through the door and picked me up and put me on the table. Aiden is the equivalent of the CIA, NSA, FBI and the secretary of State all rolled into one beautiful looking package.  He went down on one knee after he carefully put me on the closet desk.
“ I am honored to have been witness to the manifestation of your Power, princess and I would privileged to escort the heir to the throne back to Fairie.”
Is that what this is, my Power manifesting?  What is this Power?
Why did I sound so scared.  I should be happy right, my Power is finally here.  I can become second in line if I can prove myself in battle or in a challenge.  Don’t get excited challenges and battles are metaphorical these days.  My heart was pounding in my chest and I wasn’t sure if it was because I had the heart of a bird or because I was terrified.
“Undo this right now Aiden, so we can talk.”
Aiden looked puzzled.  I know I spoke in English, even though it was high pitched, I know because Frank looked at Aiden expectantly like he should know how to fix his best partner.
“Princess, it is your Power and only you can reverse the effects.” He said.  I knew that, of course but I didn’t know what I did to cause it much less how to begin the process of turning back.  And besides, it had hurt a lot when it happened in the first place. 
I looked down at Aiden on his knees and thought that even in that subjugation, he was unbelievably hot.  He was wearing a Belvest Dupioni double breasted silk suit with a dark blue shirt and a tie that matched the natural color of the suit.  It all stood strikingly against his dark tanned skinned, which I knew was glamour that he used to make himself look more human.  The one thing he couldn’t hide was his eyes, they were two black opals that had the intensity and luster of any jewel.  There was no white to be seen anywhere and that marked him as other.  His hair was as black as his eyes and I knew that it went past his knees.  Currently it was tied in a tight braid and wrapped in elaborate loops at his back.  If I wanted to I could match my glamour to his own and make his skin shimmer and shine to contest my own.  I was so lost in thought that I had no idea that I was being addressed.
“Uh, Caer you can’t stay like this.  I don’t think the commissioner would want to keep you on the payroll if you stayed a bird with a six foot wingspan,” Frank said as he reached to outstretch one of my wings. 
“Gee thanks for the input Frank.  I wasn’t worried at all about my job until you brought it up.” I said as I withdrew my wing to my body.  Frank had the most amused face on and I would have belted him in it at that very moment if I had fists.
“Aiden, I do not know what I did in order to manifest this new Power.  So I have no idea how to raise it again in order to turn back.  So any advice in the matter would much appreciated.  And please get up.”

Aiden rose from his position as if he were never down there and that no stiffness had gain access to his knees.  I had to step back on the desk in order to look up to see him.  The clicking of my claws was unnerving and loud.
“As you wish princess,” he said in his best Princess Bride impersonation.  I hated that title, it reminded of things I didn’t quite understand present company included.  “What were you doing at the moment you felt the Power come over you?”
“Frank had gotten a phone call about the Queen and I was thinking about the mound and when I was a child.”
“Were you thinking about home before or after you heard of the Queen’s death?” he asked.
I had to think, I wasn’t sure about that.  Right now all I could remember was the pain and the screaming.  I never knew that I could scream so damn loud.
“Before, I was thinking about home before Frank ended his phone call.  Then right after he said she was found dead the pain came.”
“The Power of Foresight, but that can’t be.  Pri.., Caer,” he corrected, look at me and tell me what you feel.”  I stepped more and studied him.  By the Goddess he was beautiful, but I knew that that behind that beauty was a dangerous creature.  He could kill all the mortal men in here and not break a sweat.  When I was a teenager, I had the biggest crush on Aiden.  Back then he was just a guard, but he was rising quickly with the politics of the Sithen.  I remember wishing that he was my betrothed, I held on to that wish for a very long time and then one day he was gone and I was heartbroken. 
With the thought of my broken heart I felt warmth ease down my spine and spread to where my finger would have been.  The warmth spread through my body and I felt like I was swimming in a natural hot spring.  It was a wonderous sensation, a feeling that I wanted to bathe in forever.  It was in sharp contrast to the first feeling of Power coming over me, but as I moaned in near ecstasy I knew that this was Power too. 
The moment slipped away and I was left feeling drained and empty and on the verge of tears because it was gone.  I covered my face to hide my sorrow and I found that I had fingers.  What I also noticed was that my skin no longer held the glamour of human skin, but that I was the color of foam forced from the sea on a violent wave.  I was back in my body, sobbing from some misconceived loneliness and completely naked.