Evils of the Night-Chapter 6

Enter Moon Queen

Brett and Sylvia danced a lively reel together a little later that night. All of a sudden, in the middle of the song, the music died away. Everyone stopped dancing and parted into two masses. At one end was the door, the other end was Frederick's chair. The door was open, and a beautiful creature walked in. She was an elf, but she had wings. Sylvia elbowed Brett.

“What?” he whispered.

“The water woman.” she hissed back.

“Shh!” hissed Fuchsia.

The water woman walked in solemnly. As she passed, elves and fairies alike bowed. When she passed Sylvia and Brett, they bowed, but she didn't pass. Instead, she put a hand on Sylvia's shoulder and took her with her on the rest of her solemn march. When she passed Jayden, she did the same thing. Then three fairies—two guys, one girl. The five of them followed her to Frederick's throne.

“Frederick.” she said, as he rose. Each bowed to the other, and the old elf climbed from his seat. The seven of them all went into Frederick's moon room.

“We lack an elf.” the woman said.

“She is due to arrive at the next full moon, your majesty.”

The woman, who was obviously a queen, nodded. “Once she arrives, contact me. I must speak with the six of them together.” she turned to her five subjects and smiled. Sylvia thought it was a sad smile. “You know by now that you are the most powerful of all your clans. You have been bestowed the power color of purple. It is a wonderful gift, but a heavy responsibility. I have come to teach you the deepest secrets of the color purple. Frederick? Do you have the purple book?”

“I have it, your majesty.” Jayden said quietly. “Frederick let me read it.”

The queen smiled. “This is good. He was right to do so. However, for the benefit of you who have not read it, I will tell you some of what you must know about purple.” they all sat down on the floor of the moon room. “Purple is the color of royalty. In the human world, it represents magic and mystery. That is what your inner powers are. All of you have a mystery that everyone would like to solve. You all know about your outer powers—the powers given to you as a magical being—but you don't know about your inner powers. These are the powers that I will teach you when the final elf comes next full moon. In the meantime, work with your outer powers. Perfect them. Learn to control them. I will visit you soon.”

As Sylvia lay in her bed that night, listening to the crickets sing, she thought about what the queen had said. Quietly, she got out of bed and walked into the main room. The purple lights were dimmed, but still lit. She slipped out onto the balcony. The moon was no longer full, but it still hung in the sky as clouds drifted lazily past it.

“Trouble sleeping?” Damian was behind her.

“Yeah.”

“The moon queen's coming was rather unexpected. She doesn't typically come to her subjects' gatherings.”

“That was the moon queen?”

“Yes. As night elves, we are her most loyal subjects. Of course, the night fairies are too, but for simplicity...”

“Yeah.”

“There's something special about the night beings.” Damian said. “We're more controlled. Perhaps it's because we're used to the night, when everything is quiet and serene.” he gazed out across the forest.

“I've always loved the night time.” Sylvia said.

“You were destined to be a night elf.” Damian said.

“Damian? The moon queen said I had a mystery.”

“You do.”

“What is it?”

Damian came and stood beside her. “From what I gather,” he said, “it's that sadness in your eyes.”

“What sadness?” Sylvia asked, looking away from him and back toward the forest.

“The sadness that's there whenever you should be the happiest. It was there at the ball tonight.”

“So that's why Jayden was staring at me.”

Damian smiled to himself. “Perhaps.”

“What's Jayden's mystery?”

“That is for you to discover. Jayden is an expert at hiding things. If he reveals something to you, it's because he chose for it to happen. He'll be a tough nut to crack. But Sylvia, don't think about it too hard.”

“Alright.” she said, then gave Damian a hug. “Thanks, Damian.”

It was a long night for Jayden too. He knew Sylvia's mystery, and the moon queen was right. He did want to solve it. He wanted that sadness to leave Sylvia's eyes, but he didn't know why it was there to begin with.