I stare out at a black lake, stretching out to where the horizon is marked by grassy cliffs. The water flows in small impossible rivers, like veins through the land, up and down the cliff. I stand on another such cliff, on the very edge. Looking down at the water splashing down on the cliff face disorients me; it feels like it's coming closer, and I stumble, but Malcolm's hand closes on my arm and jerks me back. The water shoots up in a solid wall in front of us, so close that five seconds ago, I would've been drenched.
"Where are we? What the hell is this place?" I yell over the rushing and retreating water, pulling my arm out of Malcolm's grip.
He looks back at me, unruffled, a far cry from the frantic face I got a glimpse of before. "This is the Lesser Feywild. It's an old, secret place. Important to the Sidhe once, but forgotten now. Natalie," he stares at me, green eyes taking on a supernatural glint, "You cannot tell a single person you've been here, ever, nor an animal, or even a blade of grass. I can't stress to you enough how important that is."
I nod. "Yeah, okay. That still doesn't tell me where the fuck I am or why."
"I was getting to that. Your grandfather's wish to become Sidhe had an unexpected side effect. You're part fae. The fact that you can even be here now is testament to that. You should've just been left where you were when I tried to take you here," he says, staring right through me with the same glint in his eyes.
I sigh, rubbing my eyes to fight away sudden exhaustion. "You're more of a pain than the stone is. I'm still half-asleep, couldn't this have waited? And since when have you been Mr. Talkative?"
He shakes his head, smiling for the first time today. "You've got a bad habit of asking too many questions at once. I brought you here because the Sidhe realized what I did. That you've got the potential to be special." His smile grows a little wider and he kneels down to the ground, digging his fingers into the earth and pulling a solid length of dirt up, watching me all the while. A quick shake of the surprisingly strong patch of earth changes it, and in his hand he holds a broadsword in a jeweled scabbard. "One of the many secrets of this place." He grips the middle of the scabbard and holds the hilt out to me. "Take it."
Scowling, I examine his face, but there's nothing but a smile. I still don't like him, I think, shuddering. A quick tug doesn't move it an inch, and I blush, pulling the broadsword free. It disappears with a small flash before I can even get a look at it, along with the scabbard. Malcolm's smile widens, resembling more and more a shark's grin. "As I thought."
"What just happened? And you still haven't told me where I am. It's a special place, blah blah. Why is it special?" I demand, glaring at him, though it doesn't do much.
"Because this is where Sidhe children learned to control their powers. And where you'll learn, too."
