She had managed to force herself to stop right just in time to prevent herself from running into him, into that Fae. He was coming back up the stairsâmore like floating back up the stairs. Shirlee herself jerked to a steady halt, remaining stilled and upright with no notable issues, unlike her Fae . . . companion of circumstance, so to speak. Silence lingered upon her person, she said nothing, thought nothing and did only what it was she did best in situations like this, when it was she was face to face with a Fae, merely, she focused all her attention upon her Sight, absorbed all it could offer her. Yes, this was that same Fae whoâd lingered within her classroom for some time earlier that day, seemingly just observing them, the human students of her school as some Fae did occasionally. His eyes were gold, and his hair whiteâno mistaking him given that. Shi-Shi wonders if heâs not a part of all this . . . he has been haunting the school all dayâperhaps he is a stake-out?
The girlâs thoughts wondered as she remained still, and stone-faced, simply staring down the flight of stairs at the Fae who had managed to trip up midair and go tumble downward onto the cement and tile steps below. Even Shirlee couldnât help the slight flinch that overtook her face at the sound of hitting that hard surfaceâit was something she knew well from experience, after all. When it was that the inhuman creature finally came to a halt on the stairs below, on the second floor, he looked upward from where he laid, seemingly confused, Does Shi-Shi see some anxiety in his eyes? Could she had scared him? Certainly he had heard her earlier battle cry, her declaration of war upon these Fae and creatures which had declared their own war on her school. It wasnât as if humans willingly busted out into the fray of situations they couldnât fully wrap their heads around, and, it wasnât like any of the Fae on campus at the moment were yet privy to the fact that she was Sighted, that she could see through their trickery and devious magics.
Certainly, she was an anomaly, she had just launched herself overhead those inky, shadow creatures which writhed as if they were all one. . . . The light-haired Fae was glaring up at her, likely angry that she had almost run into him. Is he going to wonder why Shi-Shi stopped like she did, and managed to keep herself from plowing into him?
It was at this point that she noticed it, a faint shimmer overlain him, before it vanished into air again, leaving him looking as he did before to her. That shimmer however, was something she recognized well, it was something she could see through without any issue or fault, the Fae had shifted and made use of his innate Glamour, likely making himself look human so that he could reveal himself to her without giving up his secret. Shirlee herself crossed her arms over her chest and took a more casual stance for the moment, while it was the Fae managed up to his feet, looking irate and irritated, while she herself just maintained a . . . nonexistent expression. A few times, she blinked, while Fae-boy stomped up the stairs, Shirlee knew well the expression he carried. He was going to try to go on a tirade toward her, if that was what he wanted, then so let it be, when he finished, she would bolt off again and go look for Brooke, to get her out of this . . . mess, this attack, this, whatever it was.
No matter what manner of Fae this boy was, it didnât matter to her, the fact alone that he was trying to use his Glamour to disguise himself as a human to her meant that he wasnât going to exact nameless, attempted unseen revenge against herâwhich quelled a few doubts that Shirlee possessed about him. If he was a part of this whole mess, a part of the Faevasion, then he wouldnât be showing himself to Shi-Shi in any form. That much meant that he was at least a neutral enough party in this. . . . However neutral a stray, hapless Fae could be, of course, even with the slightly negative aura that he seemed to carry.
Shirlee simply stared at him, he at her side, while it was all anger or trace or irked expression was lost upon his marked, undeniably inhuman face. She stared at him with her usual wide-eyed expression, letting him go. This was how you wanted to handle Fae, just let them be till they were done with you, well, thatâs how it went in casual situations. The notion which travelled across his face though, was one of misperception, realization that maybe he wasnât so sure of himself anymore? Shirlee waited though. . . .
Until finally he managed out some bungled up words, definitely not what, what sheâd expected to hear from him, or really, any Fae. It was a sort of timid, âIâm lost.â and, that was it. Shi-Shi just blinked, her own mind a bit . . . perplexed at what the Fae had just said to her. Lost? Did Shi-Shi hear him right? Did a Fae actually just tell her that he was lost? Well, that definitely settled it. This guy really was just some stray, hapless bystander of a Fae whoâd gotten wrapped up in whatever was going on at the moment, no different than anyone in the school. Oi, poor weirdo.
Her mouth opened, as she was ready to say something to the Fae, to get on with her pseudo-rescue mission to save her sister, Brooke. But . . . it was then that something travelled through her, some sort of strange unsettling chill, a sentiment laced with toxic fear that sent chills through her small body, it was enough to silence even her. Shirleeâs eye widened a bit, her face became even more pallor from the shock and the false weight that the vibe sent through her, while her mouth remained slightly agape. That was new, totally new. Not once in her short life had she ever felt something quite like that. Her violet eyes traveled over to look at the Fae next to her a moment, by the look on his face, she wasnât the only one whoâd experience that sentiment. Even heâd been affected by that. Thatâs enough to tell Shi-Shi that somethingâs coming, that whateverâs coming, it doesnât discriminate between human or Fae. A tiny gulp came to be from her at that.
It took a bit of a swallow to calm her heart, which at some point had started to try to beat free of her chest, before Shirlee realized that the Fae was talking to her again, definite terror lining his voice. âYou shouldnât be here, I shouldnât be here. Oh god, nobody should be here! What am I doing here?!â
Sheâd uncrossed her arms, and locked away that toxic sensation from before, that fear thatâd been artificially instilled in her by that unseen, far away force. Whatever that was. Control, she had to stay controlled for nowâshe had to be ready to fight to Brooke, against the Atomic Blueberry below, and those shadows---Ink-babies. Sheâd fight through them and get her sister home to Mama. Lightning flashed again, and Shirlee jerked her head upward, to look out the nearby window above. The clouds in the sky seemed to start to stir, as if they were brooding. Something was definitely coming, for what reasons and why, it didnât matter.
âListen, listen.â the Fae-boy started again, causing Shirlee to look at him. âBad things are happening. You can see that right? Of course you can see that. You donât look blind to me.â Shi-Shi can see far, far more than Fae-boy knows. âAnyway, anyway. What Iâm trying to say is, we canât stay here. You uh- Those things down there will tear you- us!- apart, limb from limb, like, uh . . . like alligators! Those are real right? Yeah, yeah. Like those giant lizard things that live in swamps. They eat people. Those things down there eat people. Similarities.â
Could he be more awkward to the fact that he wasnât human? She knew he was a Fae, okay, of course she did, but, had she been some ordinary human girl, who did not possess the Sight, no doubt sheâd be questioning him in total for now, wondering if alligators were real. . . .
He rubbed at his face with a guttural groan before continuing on his rambles again, âWait, wait, that isnât what I meant to say. What I mean is, we should do something. I mean, right?â he looked at her as if he were doubting himself, his own already twisted Fae sense of morality. This caused one of Shirleeâs delicate eyebrows to raise, a bit flabbergasted by the fact that a Fae was suggesting doing . . . something? Did he mean to try to help the students of the school? Odd. âThat was rhetorical. Forget it. The answer is: yes! Yes, we should do something. I have ideas.â he held up an index finger, âOne. I have one idea. We kill the one causing the bubble blocking the schoolâyou saw that right?âand make a run for it. Everyone else should be good to go from theââ he stopped talking and before he did anything, Shirlee already knew why.
Her gaze was cast upward before anything, and above them thereâd amassed a gathering of the Ink-babies. They had to move, pronto! Shirlee was ready to move before the Fae had even bothered grabbing her hand, pulling her along down the stairs right after him while it was those shadowy wraiths gave chase, writhing so unnaturally as they did. She had no time to think about what it was the Fae-boy had suggested, killing whatever was causing the barrier around the school. She had no time to think on any of it, to even consider or bring herself to care about itâthe Ink-babies, whatever they really were, they werenât biased. They were intent on not just getting her but even attacking a Fae. . . ? Shirleeâs eyes opened as widely as they could, and even though she moved along, aimlessly guided by the Fae who grasped onto her hand so desperately, going down the stairs and through the building, her body began to tense instinctively as something within her began to crack apart and her composure and her mindset began to rearrange herself at the realization that whatever was going on did not just affect humans it seemed.
Whatever force guided the monsters, those shadowy wraith-like creatures, it did not distinguish between Fae, or human, it cared not for anything, save for itself and its own likely twisted goals and aims. Shirlee knew what her mother would think of this, she would command both herself and Brooke to hide away in the dark again, to become the shadows she tried to raise them as. Her mother would flee from this in fear, completely understandable fear. Brooke would listen to their mother because she never knew better, she could never See like either of them could. She was completely normal. . . . But, Shirlee wasnât like her mother or like her sister.
A look settled over Shirlee as it was she and the Fae-boy were finally out of the building, himself tumbling forward onto the pavement of the courtyard. Shirlee did not follow suit, she did not speak, did not move when the boy had finally let go of her hand after finding the safety of the outside. Without a sound though, she moved, turned around a glare etching itself over her usually pleasant features. Her aura had even shifted, seemingly at least twice her diminutive size. The realization that this . . . whatever it was, that was attacking her school, was not bias had caused a flutter in her heart, a sway in her thoughts and goal, moving away from just rescuing her sister. A sentiment of anger, and bitterness swelled within her quickly, along with a desire and an urge to end all of this, to drive out these Fae which seemed not to care for anything, even their own kind. They were commanding the Ink-babies to even attack their own kind. It was bad enough that they were attacking innocent humans, but to even turn on their own kind. . . .
There is no way in hell that Shi-Shi is going to stand for this. She is not going to stand by while this happens. She was human, and, the matters of the Fae world did not concern her even if she could peer beyond the Glamour and disguises of it. Well, that was how it was supposed to be. But, the Fae world had just come and interjected itself into her world, into HER life without so much as a âHowâd you do?â
Shirlee glared at the shadow wraiths that hovered and lingered within the doorway of her school, refusing to come out into the light it seemed while it was she felt the Fae-boy behind her grab onto her shoulders, and duck behind her, opting to use her as a shield against the hesitant Ink-babies. Shirleeâs form and frame shifted to accommodate it, but she remained relatively rigid, not caring, not questioning him or even this invasion anymore. No part of her was even remotely curious about why it was happening, why it was going downâshe didnât care. All she wanted to do was to end it. So it was that her hands tightened into two little balls at her side, fists so tight that her knuckles shown white.
This was not her world, this was not supposed to be her business. . . . But sheâd decided upon her course of action, damn it all, she was making this her business now. She was the only human here who could see, the only one who could see the sides, the innocent, the guilty, and the bystanders. She was the only one who was without biasâso she would be the one to strike the blow to stop this insanity, no matter what it took. She was going to do this, not only for Brooke, but for everyone innocent involved.
Fae-boy was peeking over her shoulder to look at the Ink-babies as they reluctantly slithered back into the safety of the school building, obviously scornful of the light.
This was when Shirlee finally moved of her own accord, brushing the hands of the Fae off her shoulders and stepping away from him in a fluid motion that bespoke of her determination and fearlessness toward the situation at hand. Shirlee looked upon him, her violet colored eyes as obvious as ever as she took in his nonhuman form. To make him aware of Shi-Shiâs Sight, or to have him remain in the dark. . . ? she asked herself. For whatever the reason, this Fae, this bystander of a Fae, wanted to resolve this situationâeven if he was hesitant to do so, such a willingness to do so was abnormal, to say the least. Shirlee didnât entirely know what to make of that, she didnât know if it meant she could maybe . . , entrust him with a secret like hers, the fact that she saw beyond and knew him as a Fae like those who were attacking her school now.
If he was willing to try to help everyone then. . . . Shi-Shi is going to take a chance. If he still wanted to work with her to bring down this insanity, then him knowing that she could See, that was probably better than him not knowing, because, he would know that she saw everything for what it was al ready and yet was still without fear. âStrange, she finds him.â she started, âLike Shi-Shi, heâs an anomaly.â Shirlee pointed at him, already knowing that her third person way of speaking could confuse people easily. âShi-Shi knows already what he is, Fae. She knows that who she looks at is not human, even though he might disguise himself as one to fool her, to lull her into not being afraid of him considering all that is going on around, the other Fae which are instigating this attack.â
To her side did she again drop her arm, stopping from pointing at him, âShi-Shi saw him, floating about in her classroom all day before lunchtime. Watching and idly observing. He thought he was invisible to everyone, but he wasnât to her. She also saw him again while she was lunging overtop the Ink-babies and heading down the stairs, even though he still thought himself invisible, Shi-Shi stopped when she shouldnât have had to, or thought she had to. Even right now, he still must think that he looks like a human to her human eyes.â
Shirlee let herself remain quiet a moment, letting what she was saying sink in, she wondered what he was going to do. âShe knows though, that he is not a part of this attack. He made claims of wanting to help, to stop it. If he still wants to, Shi-Shi will assist, but he should know that she does not fear any of these other Faeâalready, she sees them for what they are. Even the Atomic Blueberryâthe oni. If she runs into it or any of the other ringleaders, Shi-Shi is going to fight them with everything she has, he can hide if he wants to, but he should know that she wonât hide.â