not giving in.
With every bit of energy I have, I stretch my arms out as I build up my power. I open my eyes, seeing that we are hovering above the trees. Finn looks like he is sitting in the stars themselves, and he is glowing with shadows and darkness. I’m sure both of us are.
He smirks just before pushing more power into his magic, and I have the feeling he is going easy on me. A small cry leaves my lips as I am forced to let go of the magic I have built up, and it explodes around me. The trees break and snap as I scream, and then my mind is no longer my own, and instead, I’m forced into a memory.
* * *
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” the woman, who smells like cherries and has pretty red hair like my mother has, asks me. She leans down, her eyes running over my dirty clothes and the monkey sitting on my head. I don’t know how I got here from the beach, but I’m cold and tired. I don’t know when I last ate anything, and this village is the only thing around here. I don’t even know where I am in the mortal world.
“I’m lost. I need help,” I say. Mother always said if I got lost in the mortal world to find an adult. They would help a lost child.
“Are you human?” she asks, looking at my eyes in the dark night.
“No…I’m a reaper and I’m fae,” I answer proudly, though I’m sure my purple eyes would give me away the moment she got close to me with a light on. Her eyes widen, and she stumbles back, shaking her head, prayers to some god whispered harshly under her breath.
“Get away from here, you monster! Go away!” she screams at me, and I jump backwards. Earth is not like the Otherworld. The humans aren’t full of compassion and kindness like my uncle and mother said, they are mean.
I turn and run…and I never stop.
* * *
The memory disappears as Finn gets out of my head, stopping me from reliving the memory he wanted to find out. As I open my eyes, I become aware that I’m in Finn’s arms, and he is slowly flying us down to the ground.
“How dare you!” I grit out. Honestly, I’m embarrassed. I was a stupid kid, and I knew nothing about humans nor their hate for supes. I ran for a full day until I passed out, and a passing demon woman took pity on me, giving me some food and water. Five days after that, my demon boss found me, and it was somewhat easier to stay alive after that.
Alive but not happy. Not free anymore.
His piercing eyes search mine, seeing far more than I wish them to. “I will give you one of my memories in return.”
“Why?” I question.
“Because I believe you need to see how alike we truly are,” he comments as we land on the ground. He lets me stand before surprising me by placing his hands on my face. His magic washes over me, a mixture of dark and light magic, and his memory plays in my mind.
* * *
“What is wrong with you?” a woman demands, standing over a little boy who I instantly know is Finn. He can’t be more than five, his blond hair is short here, and his big gold eyes are filled with tears. Finn’s clothes are torn and old, littered with food and oil stains. I glance around the old farmhouse we are in, the broken sink and dirty sides. This place is falling apart, and it stinks of damp. The woman is human, I suspect, with large hips and curly blonde hair. “I don’t know why I took you in. You are nothing but a nuisance to me. Get outside and feed the chickens, and don’t come back for a long time.”
Young Finn cries as he runs outside, and I jog after him as the memory fades. I don’t see a demi-god when I stare at the little boy standing in the middle of a stone courtyard.
I just see a lonely boy. A lonely boy, when I was a lonely child too.
* * *
The memory fades, and I open my eyes, seeing Finn staring right down at me. Remembering what Poppy said to me earlier, the words leave my lips. “You’re not alone anymore.”
“My adoptive aunt said I was born to be alone, and I am yet to