"Raven, come here."
The black-haired fay appeared seconds after
he had been summoned. He
approached the raised dais and bowed. "Yes, my lord?"
"Have you a guest for the party?" Oberon asked.
Raven looked up. "No, Lord Oberon."
The King of the Farie raised an eyebrow. "Really?
Well, then, I suggest you
go find one."
Raven nodded. "I was just on my way to the
mortal world with that task in mind."
Oberon smiled. "Good, but I suggest you hurry.
There isn't much time before the party
begins."
"Of course, my lord." And in a flash of light,
Raven disappered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, what do you think, Dolly? Can we
afford that juice and sandwich?" Katina Daniels
asked her dog.
The Golden Retriver groaned and sank down
to the ground.
The coins jingled as Kat tossed them back
into the can, "I know, I know. You're hungry
too." She slumped against the brick wall.
Dolly nuzzled and licked at Kat's hand.
"We need money, we need food, and we need
a decent place to sleep, but the shelters
are all full. Dammit!!" Kat's stomach growled in agreement.
She sighed and buried her head in
her arms. She had a terrible headache, caused from going days
without food or proper sleep.
"That's a cute dog you got there."
Kat snapped her head back up and found herself
looking at a young man with long black
hair pulled up into a ponytail. He was dressed quite casually,
just a Nike shirt and black jeans, but
there was something about the guy that made someone look at him and
stare at him. It wasn't a
bad thing, but Kat couldn't quite place it...
"Thanks, her name is Dolly," Kat said with
a forced smile. Dolly stood up, her tongue
hanging out of her mouth and tail wagging playfully.
~Wait a minute. How can she do that if
she's so hungry?~ Kat thought, her eyebrows
knitting together in confusion.
The guy kneeled down and patted his right
knee, "Come here girl, come here."
Dolly barked playfully and practically jumped
on the guy. Kat smiled, she hadn't seen
Dolly that happy since two years ago. The only day they had ever
had a decent meal.
The guy looked up and smiled at Kat, "My name's
Ray, by the way."
Kat giggled, "That rhymed."
Ray looked at her with a midnight black eyebrow
raised. "What did?"
"'My name's Ray, by the way," Kat said as
she pulled back an onyx strand of hair behind
her ear.
Ray blinked and then smiled, "Oh yeah, I guess
it did. What's your name?"
Kat's smile dropped off her face. "Why do
you want to know?"
Ray shrugged. "Well, I gotta call you something.
What am I supposed to call you? Girl?"
Kat immediatly felt guilt wash over her, "I'm
sorry, it's just, you never know in this city."
Ray scratched the top of Dolly's head. "It's
ok, I can see why you would be suspicous of
me, but the truth is I don't want to hurt you."
"My name's Katina, but I prefer to be called
Kat."
Dolly whined softly and closed her eyes, relishing
in Ray's scratching. "Kat, can I ask you
something?" Ray asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
Ray's expression suddenly turned serious,
"Have you ever heard of a place called
Avalon?"
Kat frowned. "No, why?"
Ray stopped scratching Dolly's head and stood
up, walking towards Kat. Fear gripped
Kat, her blue eyes took on an almost innocent child look.
Ray now stood over Kat and behind him, Dolly
began to growl. Kat looked up at him,
tears filling her eyes. "What do you want from me?"
Ray's serious expression dropped off and was
replaced by a compassionate one. He
bent down until he was at eye-level with Kat. "I'm not going
to hurt you, but I need you to do me a
favor," he whispered softly.
"What?"Kat said, her lower lip trembling so
badly that she could hardly speak.
"Come to Avalon with me," Ray answered.
Kat blinked in surprise, "What's this Avalon
place you keep talking about? And why do
you want me to go there with you?"
Ray sighed. "My name's not really Ray, it's
Raven. Avalon is an island where my...family,
if you want to call them that, live. There is this party there tonight
and all my kin are supposed to
bring one mortal. I don't have one yet and, so, that's why I
want to take you."
Kat smiled, "Mortal, huh? You say it
as if you weren't human or something." She began
to laugh, but then stopped when she saw Raven didn't find it funny
at all. "You are human. Aren't
you?"
Raven shook his head, "No, not really.
I'm a Fay, I'm also known as a trickster."
Kat's mouth dropped open at Raven's words.
"I guess you're pretty surprised, huh?" Raven asked, his lips
curling up into a smile.
"Well, duh. You think?" Kat asked sarcastically.
"So then, if you're Fay, does that mean
you have magic powers?"
Raven nodded, "Let me guess. You want
food, right?"
Kat smiled, "Could you?"
Raven stood. "No problem." He snapped
his fingers and a huge sub and soda appeared
in mid-air.
Kat's mouth watered at the sight of the scrumptious
food. Dolly barked joyfully and tried
to make a jump for the food. The sub and soda acted as if it
had a life of their own; everytime
Dolly tried to make a grab for them, they skipped
out of her reach.
(to be continued ...)