Changeling; Chapter 7

Everything hurts and everything is blurry. I think I can see black spots. I can definitely hear voices.

I manage to lift my hands to my eyes, attempting to rub the fog from them. My muscles groan in protest, my arms feel so heavy it seems like a minor miracle I can keep them in the air as I rub my eyes. It takes a second for me to realize that my hands aren't bound. By the time I do, the voices have gone silent.

Slowly, I lower my arms. My vision is now clear, and I can make out the dull gray domed ceiling above me, gently arching left and right. From what I can tell, it follows the gentle arch until it falls sharply down, like an airplane. I glance right. A short row of chairs stares back at me, but no one is there. Was I on a plane of some kind? More importantly, where was I?

I jolt upright. That man and those other strangers. Those voices. Had they been them? And where were they? Behind me.

I turn, legs sliding from the bench I'm on, readying to stand. I can't though. The man stands before me. Caught off guard, I've no choice but to fall back onto the bench, hands leading to help brace my fall.

My heart races as I sit there, frozen in place, watching as the man stares down at me in what looks like might be bemusement. This room was closed off to my right and their voices had been to my left now. In a choice of fight or flight, flight was out of the picture. My only option was fight, but with him standing over me, I doubt this time I'd get the drop on him again. And even if I did. . .

My eyes flick left. Sure enough, the other man is watching from a doorway. I don't see any sign of his staff from last time, but considering the hard set of his eyes, it's somewhere he can reach before I reach him. There was also the possibility he didn't need his staff to do whatever he had done to knock me out again.

"No," the man before me muses. That accent. I've heard it before, but where? "That wouldn't be wise." My attention is quickly back on him as he moves. Gracefully, he lowers himself beside me on the seat. "I believe it is time we've had a proper introduction." He easily offers his hand to me. "I am Calix. And you are?"

I stare at him for a moment. Was he mad? If my understanding of what had transpired in the barn was correct, he had bought me from my kidnapper. And now he was going to act as if I wasn't a prisoner? My eyes narrow to a glare. I open my mouth to tell him to go to hell, but just like in the barn, no sound comes.

My frustration comes welling up again, growing stronger at the man's apparent amusement as his hand drops.

"Apologies. I needed to make sure the silencer was working. Jul mux." I swear I hear a light buzz in the air, but no one else reacts to the sound. "Now, your name- just your name." He warns, eyes darkening. "I do wish to speak with you, but I will keep you silenced if I must. Do not test me on this."

The urge to tell him to go to hell rises up again, but this time, I manage to bite it down. I don't doubt his warning not to cross him. "Kaelynn."

"Kaelynn," he repeats my name slowly, head cocking to the side. "I'm told you have the gift of charm."

I quickly shake my head. "I don't even know what that means!" Please let this man be more reasonable than that psycho who kidnapped me.

"Not the best argument I've ever heard. For all I know, you're lying to me."

I can feel my frustration rising. I just want to go home. "I don't know what she told you, but she's wrong. I don't know what this gift of charm is, but I don't have it."

Calix begins to nod then stops. He looks sharply to the other man. I follow his gaze. The man is nodding. When I look back at Calix, his eyes are back on me and narrowed.

"I'm not convinced," he tells me, rising from his seat. "I'll make you a deal though. I'll give you one more chance to convince me you're a normal human. Do that, and I'll take you home."

I study his face for a moment. "And if I don't?"

"Then I let my scientist settle the matter."

Something tells me that's the worst option there is. I don't know how they'll make that determination, and I've no interest in finding out. This needed to be settled here and now. But how?

I had told him and he still hadn't believed me. He almost had though, at least I had thought he did. Why had he suddenly changed his mind?

"How else am I supposed to convince you?" I ask. "I already told you, I don't have whatever this charm thing is. What else do you want me to do?"

Calix thinks for a second. "Sing something."

"What?"

"Sing something, then tell me again."

"That isn't going to prove anything," I can't help the growl of frustration that rises up.

Calix shrugs. "Then I hope you're comfortable."

"Fine." I open my mouth, and once again, nothing comes out, but this time it's on me. I knew so many songs, yet none were coming to mind. Of all the times for my mind to fail to pull something from my repertoire.

"Stage fright?" Calix muses, though considering his smirk, it's supposed to be a taunt. "How about something emotional? With feeling?" My immediate response is a glare, which he ignores. "Something about home?"

That was defiantly a taunt.

And yet, it does stir a memory. One of my earliest memories: sitting curled in Mom's lap as she gently rocks in the rocking chair by the fire, singing along to the song playing- a disk Dad had picked out. She's off-key, but I'm falling asleep and I can hear Dad humming along as he lies stretched out on the sofa. It was Mom's favorite song from the disk, one of the first I had ever learned. Caledonia.

It's been a while since I've sung it, yet the words come as easily as ever. I let my eyes drift shut as I sing. The memory envelopes me as I sing. I feel calm again, as calm as I had felt back then, safe in Mom's arms, knowing Dad was nearby, her hand gently brushing over my hair, the fire gently crackling behind the music, and Moxie's snoring. I just had to do this and then I'd be on my way home.

I let the silence hang at the end of the song for a moment before opening my eyes. I immediately pull back in surprise. There's no sign that Calix has even moved, but his ears are pointed now. His head tilts to the side curiously as my reaction. Was this some sort of test?

"Are you waiting for something?" His voice is soft and low.

I quickly shake my head, trying to focus. "I did what you asked. Please. I just want to go home."

He's nodding as he leans forward. I fight the impulse to pull away again as his hands reach for me. His fingers brush my neck, gliding along to its back, under my hair.

"Why?" He asks, voice now a whipser.

He's now close enough that I can see that the point of his ears isn't because of some special ear cuff. His ears are actually pointed.

"I'm human," I whisper back.

He tenses at my words. For a moment he's perfectly still, then he's pulling back; just enough to slip his fingers under my chin, forcing my head up. I force myself to remain still as he stares me down in amusement.

"You don't act as well as you sing, niochbel," he purrs, a smile crawling across his lips.

"I'm not- I don't-"

"I didn't drop my glamor," he says softly, rising from the seat beside me, careful to keep my chin in his grip. "And yet you can see through it now, can't you?"

"I don't know-"

His hand tightens on my chin as he growls at me- actually growls at me- baring his teeth in a snarl as he does so. And I can't look away. His canines lived up to their name and then some, extending past the line of the rest of his teeth coming to a sharp point, much like in depictions of vampire fangs.

The snarl softens to a satisfied smirk. "I believe that you don't know what you're doing, but that's about it. If you really are human, it just makes you all the more a curiosity, niochbel."

"I am!"

"But certainly not a normal one. The gift of charm and the ability to see through glamor."

He wasn't going to take me home. "Please-"

"Jal mux."

My mouth continues to form the words of my plea, but no sound comes. Calix finally releases my chin.

"You may not be aware of what you're doing, but you have a rather powerful charm. I can't have you accidentally charming my guards or me." He turns away and scowls, snapping something in that other language. Then he looks back at me, flashing a smile. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable."