Developments

"The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveler to the shore.

And the tide rises, the tide falls." 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hi everyone. This is Bree. Sorry it's been so long since we've updated.

It's all Blakeney's fault. She's been busy and blah, and as a result none of us have had much time to blog. ;-)

First of all, we wanted to thank our readers for nominating us in the AGPT Academy Awards Best Writing category! We are really honoured! Whether or not we win, we're grateful to be nominated. :-)

If you want to vote, click here. All the other nominees are excellent bloggers, so you can't go wrong no matter which one you choose.

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Now, on to news!

Did I make contact with the fairies about helping us defend against the vampires who call themselves The Elders? And did I get eaten by the fair folk in the process?

The answers are yes and no respectively... although I guess the "not eaten" part is kind of assumed because I'm typing here.

It took us awhile to find them. The first time we met the fairies, it was by accident. Fiona and I stumbled upon a fairy circle and danced with them, and by the time we called the others, they'd disappeared. We didn't know how to find them on purpose. We tried walking through the woods to see if they showed up, and they didn't. (Evelyn wonders if it was too cold and they had gone underground; she may be right.) We tried leaving notes under rocks and tied to trees. The notes usually vanished, but there was no other sign the message had been received, so maybe they just disintegrated in the weather or blew away. Or maybe they did get what we were saying, because two days ago, we found another fairy circle while we were hiking in the woods.

Inna and I went to the centre of the circle and waited. Nothing happened for a long time, so we started telling jokes, and she taught me a fairy song. Hours passed. I thought no one was coming after all. The sun began to set, and in the half-darkness of dusk, the in-between time between day and night, suddenly there were people standing all around us. Some of them looked like regular people, just beautiful and... glowing somehow. Some had skin that was blue or green or purple. Others had horns or hooves or wings.

They looked at us for awhile, and then a woman stepped forward. "Why did you come?" she asked.

Inna explained the situation, and the fairies started to speak to each other in low voices. I could barely hear what they were saying. Then the fairy woman said, "This is none of our concern. Why would we be involved in the affairs of the bloodsuckers?"

Which I thought was a little unfair, since Inna had told me some fairies eat people too. I didn't say that, though. I said, "They're in your territory, and we think they're trying to take it over. They're trying to clear out the local vampires. Maybe it's just out of the goodness of their hearts to protect the humans, but..."

But no one really believed that. We knew better, and so did the fair folk.

"We will discuss the matter," the fairy woman said. "In two days time, we will tell you what, if anything, we will do."

I was going to say more to try to convince them, but Inna nodded and said, "Thank you." I guess this was one of those fair folk etiquette things she was telling me about before. I guess you don't outright argue with them if you want to have any hope of success.

Today, there was a leaf in our mailbox, a broad one from a maple. It was still fresh and green, like spring. On it was written, "We will do you a favour. You will owe us one in exchange." It wasn't signed. It didn't need to be.

Inna seemed grim, but not surprised. I think she expected there would be a cost. Now we're waiting again, to see what the fair folk do about the vampire problem... and what we'll have to do to pay them back.

Love,
Bree