Santea

“You remind me of my daughter,” the old woman exclaimed as she clutched onto her empty family scrapbook.

“You don’t have a daughter, Mrs. Carpenter, or I think I would know.”

“Perhaps you would know of her Jenny,” said Mrs. Carpenter, “if the fair-folk hadn’t taken her from me many years ago.”

Jenny looked confused. Her nose scrunched up and her eyes moved from side to side as if she was waiting for someone else to say something. “But,” Jenny said, “the fair-folk don’t exist either. They’re only real in stories.”

Mrs. Carpenter laughed. “Oh, but my dear girl, they do! The fair-folk are everywhere, even here, you just have to allow yourself to see them.”

Jenny was a young girl, perhaps twenty years old and nothing more, but Mrs. Carpenter knew that this girl had more knowledge than she could possibly imagine.

“Well,” Mrs. Carpenter said, patting Jenny’s hand, “I ought to be getting to bed now. It’s getting late.”

Jenny sighed with relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Mrs. Carpenter’s company, but at times it felt as though she was being interrogated and forced to remember things that she couldn’t possibly know. She had started volunteering at the Oak Ridge Senior living Community last summer, and that’s when she met Mrs. Carpenter. It was as if something had come over her, something powerful, but she knew that in the first moment of seeing Mrs. Carpenter, that they were somehow connected.

It was nine pm and time for Jenny to help Mrs. Carpenter get into bed before she ended her shift for the night, but she couldn’t help but stare at the fire in the fireplace. Something strange was happening. She could feel her eyelids becoming heavy and her legs losing balance. Since childhood Jenny had always loved fire. She admired its spirit and it’s desire to destroy, but also it’s willingness to be contained.

Jenny jumped as a hand placed itself on her shoulder. “Dear,” Mrs. Carpenter said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I must be going off to bed now, my eyes are battling my mind to stay open.” Mrs. Carpenter laughed, but there was something in the sound of her laugh that gave Jenny the impression that she was proud of something. Jenny looked at the clock again and noticed that a whole hour had passed since the last time she looked at it. Was there something wrong with the clock?

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Carpenter,” said Jenny, flustered, “I don’t know what came over me.” Jenny rubbed her blurry eyes and when she opened them again she gasped. What seemed like a firefly flew by her face, but when its wing grazed her skin, she winced in pain. “Ow! What was that?” She touched her face where the malignant creature had come into contact with her skin and realized that she was bleeding.

She looked over at Mrs. Carpenter’s face and realized that something wasn’t normal. “Hurry!” Mrs. Carpenter yelled. “We must get to my room, now!”

Mrs. Carpenter tried to get off of the couch, but her static limbs wouldn’t grant her the satisfaction. Jenny began to look into the captivating fire once again, this time noticing that another firefly had exited from the flames. “Jenny!” Mrs. Carpenter said, raising her voice, “we have to go!”

10 minutes went by as quickly as one minute should have lasted, but Jenny hadn’t noticed. Frustrated, Mrs. Carpenter leaned over the couch to reach a glass of water that Jenny had gotten her over two hours ago. She fell off of the couch and knocked over the nightstand, sending the glass of water to the ground and shattering her hopes of getting through to Jenny.

Jenny’s stiff body stood in front of the fireplace, the flames glowing in her eyes. She was under its spell, and if Mrs. Carpenter couldn’t put it out, Jenny would be forced to go through the flames.

Mrs. Carpenter tried to crawl across the floor, but her legs wouldn’t work. She tried her best to turn her neck to see what was happening with her legs, and to no surprise, she saw Megaroth and Vitala binding her legs together with spider webs.

“Stop this right now, Megaroth! You can’t drag her back with you unless she wants to. You know the rules!” Mrs. Carpenter yelled, trying to shake her legs free as best as she could. However, the webs were too strong, and her magic had been stripped over twenty years ago.

Megaroth instructed Vitala to stay behind and watch the girl as he made his way to Mrs. Carpenter.

“Santea, it’s a tangled web we all live in, quite literally for you,” he smirked, “We’re all connected, but sooner or later, the spider attacks its prey and devours the ones who are too weak to run. You’ve been running for too long, Santea, and now the spider is coming for you and for all those half breeds you rescued.”

Megaroth took a closer look at Santea and peered into her silver eyes. His long, slim fingers grasped at Santea’s gray hair, stroking it as though he was appraising its value. “Well, Santea,” he said, “you still have your fae eyes, but your skin has turned to leather, and your once beautiful black hair is now the color of ash.” He walked around her frail body, attempting to anger her. “I would say I feel sorry for you, but I don’t, not anymore. You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance. Now look at you.”

Megaroth prodded Santea with his boot and scoffed. He walked away and joined Vitala. Santea reacher for her neck as she remembered that when she first moved into Oak Ridge, they had given her an alert button. She pressed the button and waited for someone to answer.

“Mrs. Carpenter, are you hurt? Where are you?” A nurse’s voice emitted from the button. Megaroth and Vitala snapped their necks around to look at Santea and Megaroth asked her what she had said.

She pressed down on the button and responded to both the nurse on the button and Megaroth and Vitala. “I said, we’re in the living room.”

“And your point is what, Santea?” Megaroth questioned.

“There is no point, I just thought you would like to know.”

“If you’re trying to trick us Santea,” he said, “I’ll have you know that we will kill the girl right here if we have to.” Megaroth put a blade to Jenny’s throat, proving his point. A droplet of blood hitting the ground.

“You wouldn’t do that, Megaroth,” Santea said, testing him, “it’s against the accords.”

Megaroth laughed. “I don’t care about the accords, Santea, look what they did to you!” He yelled. “They turned you into a human and you’re still pushing for the law!”

Megaroth turned to Vitala and asked if the girl was almost ready to transport. “She’s almost ready, but she’s still fighting against the spell,” Vitala said. Santea stared at both of them. If transporting Jenny was so difficult, why didn’t they just kill her there like they claimed they could? Was there something else she didn’t know about?

“Mrs. Carpenter!” A nurse exclaimed, “how did this happen?”

The nurse approached Santea and the elves. “Stop!” Santea yelled, “bring me some water.” The nurse began to protest, but Santea was adamant.

“What are you planning, Santea?” Megaroth roared. “Shove the girl through the flames, Vitala!” Megaroth hit the back of Jenny’s legs, and she fell forward, still unconscious.

“But Megaroth, she’ll die if she goes in now,” Vitala said exasperated.

Megaroth rubbed his temples and groaned in frustration. If Santea was planning something, the operation could fail. He made his way back to Santea and straddled her body, placing his dagger in front of her throat.

The nurse returned with the glass of water and began to set it on the ground.

“If you do anything,” Megaroth said, “you and the girl die.” At that moment Vitala brought his blade to Jenny’s throat and waited for Megaroth’s instruction.

The nurse couldn’t see anyone besides Santea, even Jenny was glamoured by the elves. She motioned to help Santea off of the ground, Megaroth still on her back, but she was stopped by Santea’s hand. “Grab the water,” Santea ordered, “and put out the fire now!”

The nurse was frightened, but she did as she was told.

“No!” Megaroth yelled, pushing the blade into Santea’s skin. He could either kill Santea or stop the nurse. Megaroth jumped off of Santea’s back as she held onto her bleeding neck, and she was reminded of a promise she made long ago. She wouldn’t let Megaroth get his way again, she just wouldn’t.

“Now! Throw the water now!” Santea yelled at the nurse.

The nurse threw the glass of water into the fire before being tackled by Megaroth. She fell to the ground and hit her head, knocking her unconscious.

Megaroth smiled, thinking that he had stopped Santea’s plan, but as he turned to face the flames, the water hit the fire. The red tentacles of the fiery beast leapt into the air and the face of Santea’s enemy appeared; Golgar.

As the fire dissipated, Megaroth and Vitala were sucked into the portal, and a laugh escaped the fireplace. A deep, thunderlike voice said, “I’ll see you soon enough, Santea.” And then the fire was gone, only leaving behind a cloud of smoke.

“Jenny!” Santea said sharply, “Wake up!”

Santea heard Jenny groan, and she smiled knowing that at least she was alive.

As soon as Jenny realized that she was on the ground, she hurriedly got up and brushed herself off. “Mrs. Carpenter! What happened?” Jenny asked, flustered.

“Come, come, child, help me up and I will explain everything to you,” Santea replied.

Jenny noticed the nurse’s body on the ground and gasped. She asked if the nurse was okay and Santea assured her that she would be fine. Jenny reluctantly agreed and made her way over to the woman she knew as Mrs. Carpenter, and began to help her up.

Santea had almost forgotten that she had been bound by webs, and so when she tried to stand, she couldn’t move her feet. Jenny helped her sit back down on the couch and she said, “Jenny, give me your left hand.” She placed Jenny’s hand in her own and then instructed the girl to place her right hand over her feet and close her eyes.

Santea had been stripped of all of her faerie powers, but she was still able to perform simple magic like any other living thing. Despite not having her powers, she still knew all of the spells and all she needed was a magical vessel to perform them. Jenny and Santea were now physically connected, making their already existing connection even stronger. Santea began to recite a spell. “To this tangled web I wish to leave, River wash it clean, for in your power I believe, power I have seen.”

A surge of energy rushed from Santea’s body and made its way to Jenny’s. They both began to shake as the power flowed through them and with the last surge, Santea’s legs were set free.

Jenny helped Santea to stand and under Santea’s orders, they walked to the small room at the end of the hall and walked inside.

“Turn off the light,” Santea directed, “they mustn’t know we’re in here.”

“But what was that Mrs. Carpenter? What happened out there?” Jenny asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

“We must get to my closet, Jenny. You remembered to grab my scrapbook, didn’t you?”

Jenny nodded her head as she showed Santea the book.

“Good. That’s good. Now follow me,” Santea said, leading Jenny to the closet.

They walked over to the closet in the back of the room and walked in. There was no light in the closet, just clothes and mothballs, but Santea still insisted that they sit down.

“I don’t understand, Mrs. Carpenter,” Jenny said. “What’s going on?”

“Call me Santea, dear. I’m not Mrs. Carpenter, I never have been and I never will be.” Santea said, looking into the eyes of the girl she had grown to care for like a daughter. “Now, take my hand again, it’s important.”

Jenny grabbed Santea’s hand once again, and to her surprise, an orb of light appeared. When Santea released Jenny’s hand, the orb stayed between them.

“I-” Jenny began.

“Shhh!” Scolded Santea. “I know you don’t understand. Just listen to me, ok.” Santea opened up her scrapbook, the one that Jenny knew for a fact was empty, but this time there were thousands of words and sketches scattered all across the pages. Jenny gasped.

“I’m going to need you to listen very carefully,” Santea said, “never stop listening, or you could die.”

Jenny bobbed her head up and down. The orb of light became brighter when Santea turned the book to a page entitled: Where it all began.

“It all started,” read Santea, “with four faeries, four families, and four deaths. Four deaths caused by humans...”