Once Untold

A chill crept down Gwen’s spine, and her eyes could not refocus fast enough. She clutched fistfuls of Rosemary’s quilt, instinctively preparing to throw herself under it if there was a monster lurking in the dark. Gwen wasn’t afraid in the normal sense of the term, but her heart raced as she noticed the boy sitting on the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

The chair rocked with a squeak as he stood up from it. Walking slowly toward the window, he came into view as he entered the moonlight. He stared at Gwen, and she stared back.

His eyes were steady in their intensity, but impish in all other manners. They impulsively surveyed the room, never lingering on any particular aspect of it, but always coming back to Gwen. A vine of ivy was wrapped around his waist and strewn across his shoulder like a belt and sash, just barely holding his tattered shirt and shorts to him. His clothes seemed held together with bits of twine and magic. He moved fluidly in his own skin. Gwen wasn’t even conscious of how much she envied his playful motion. Even with his gangly, broad shoulders, he stood tall with a childish sense of confidence.

Gwen wasn’t sure, but he looked like a freshman. He couldn’t have been younger than fourteen.

He wore hemp bracelets and braided jewelry around his wrists; pine-cone chips and wooden beads were woven into his necklace. They jangled as he walked.

“This is your sister?” he asked, his question seemed rudely incredulous. “Hollyhock, let me see her.”

Before Gwen could make sense of this remark, an exploding light burst from an inexplicable place in the darkness. Gwen was disoriented when the light came so quickly at her. Circling up around her, the golden light left a trail of fast dissolving glitter that rained down on her. What little of it touched her glowed faintly on her skin before disappearing. It felt like a pins-and-needles numbness in the best possible way.

The bright light that radiated from Hollyhock’s little body half-blinded Gwen in the otherwise dark room, but Hollyhock flitted in front of her, and Gwen caught a glimpse of the creature. Her eyes were unusually wide, and her massive irises were an otherworldly color for which Gwen had no name. Her itty-bitty lips and nose were hardly there at all, but her sunny hair was pulled back in two long, dangling braids. Her limbs were like twigs, and she wore a leaf draped over her like a tunic. Gwen didn’t need to be told that she was looking at a fairy.

“Huh,” he responded, sitting down on the hardwood floor of Rosemary’s room. “You said your sister was a kid.”

“She is, Peter!” Rosemary defended. “I told you—she’s a big kid.”

Finally addressing her properly, Peter spoke to Gwen in a condescending tone. “I expected you to be younger.”

“As did I of you,” Gwen curtly returned.

Peter, the young man, shrugged with his eyebrows and looked away, indicating that he was not going to bother engaging a hostile girl.

Gwen didn’t care. She couldn’t have cared. While Hollyhock played in the fish mobile above the bed like an aquatic merry-go-round, Gwen clutched Rosemary close to her. “Rosemary, we were so worried! Thank God you came back.”

“I had to come back, Gwenny,” Rosemary told her. “I had to come back for you.” Hollyhock, tiring of the mobile, zipped back down and buried herself in Rosemary’s hair, poking her head out of it and trying to part it like curtains. Rosemary giggled, taking Gwen’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“Whoa, wait, no.” Gwen grabbed hold of Rosemary’s arm. “We’re not going anywhere. Mom and Dad are worried about you. The cops were here… You can’t go—where?”

Hollyhock, on Rosemary’s shoulder, said something that sounded like a sneeze and a hum. Rosemary translated the one word she had already learned in the fairy tongue. “Neverland.”

We all met in the captain’s lounge just after the transport ship had safely landed. My father wore some sort of military uniform, and he was completely dashing, as always.

“Girls, you both look lovely.”

I smiled up at him. “So do you, Daddy,” I said, and he patted my cheek.

My mom fluttered up to us in a cacophony of lime green lace and feathers. A large gold medallion was pinned to her breast and she had on the crown she’d worn for the nightly news. She reached for our hands, tears swimming in her eyes.

“I have something for you,” she said, her voice trembling. Captain Augustus stood behind her, looking just as handsome as my father. He held open a wooden box. Inside were two small, yet perfect, tiaras.

I gasped. “Diamonds.”

“These are not your true crowns,” my mother explained. “Those went missing during the confusion when we were trying to escape. These are just a substitute until we can find something better.”

I couldn’t imagine something better. The tiaras seemed perfect. I leaned over slightly so my mom could slip it onto my head, glad I’d decided to wear my hair up in a French twist. The tiara was beautiful. I admired myself for a few minutes in the mirror before looking at Astra. She and my mother stood side by side, their hair a riot of dark curls, their dresses positively painful to the eyes, and I sighed. I really hoped they didn’t humiliate themselves too much at the ceremony. They looked like clowns from a circus performance.

My father, of course, didn’t seem to notice. He bowed and kissed my mother’s hand gallantly before linking it through his arm and leading her out the door. I could tell it was a very emotional moment for both of them. They were returning to the home they loved after being exiled for so many years. Even I could feel my throat tightening up.

Astra walked up and took my arm. “Are you ready?” she asked, and I nodded. It was time to face the music, or the Vegonians, as the case may be.

We stepped out into a warm, sultry evening on Vega. Lights had been set up all around the landing bay, and we followed my parents to an elevated platform near the ship. People waited as far as the eye could see, and as soon as my parents stepped up to the podium, the crowd roared.

I stood arm in arm with Astra, taking in the moment. The city of Celesta glittered in the light of the fading sun, just beyond the crowd of people assembled before us. It sparkled like it was made of glass. I could see what must have been the royal palace on one side of the city on top of a small hill, and it made me think of Aladdin’s castle, all gilt and white marble. I decided I could definitely get used to living there.

As I stared at the people in front of me, I started to notice something odd. The women here were not at all what I’d expected. Supposedly the most beautiful women in the universe, they all looked a lot like my mother and sister, with short, oddly shaped bodies and large behinds. They also dressed just like my mother and sister, in a riot of colors and patterns.

A quick assessment told me that I was the only pretty girl around, other than Maya, and definitely the best dressed. Maya had been forced by her parents to wear some sort of Vegonian monstrosity made out of a hot pink iridescent fabric. Torture. I, on the other hand, felt like an elegant swan dumped into the middle of a bunch of plump, gaudy, peacocks.

I heaved a sigh of relief. I’d been a little teeny tiny bit worried when I’d heard about how beautiful Vegonian women were. It was good to realize those rumors had been pure exaggeration. No one in this crowd could hold a candle to me.

Another quick look around told me that there wasn’t a single bad looking guy here. I was completely devoted to Adrian, of course, but I couldn’t help but admire and appreciate male beauty when I saw it. The boys were all works of art. It was as if I’d been dropped into a huge candy shop full of the most delicious boys I’d ever seen, and knew I could have my pick. Of course I would never cheat on Adrian, but it felt like a candy shop here, nonetheless.

My joy proved short-lived. None of the boys even looked at me. At first I thought that several of them stared at me, which made me happy, but soon realized it wasn’t me they stared at. They had their eyes locked on Astra with the same sort of enraptured expressions boys usually reserved for me.

A cold wave of shock crawled over my entire body. Boys never looked at Astra like that, especially when I stood right next to her. Something was very wrong here.

I smoothed my hair, which was perfect and didn’t need smoothing. I stuck out my chest and turned my body so they could see my best angle, but none of them even noticed me. Astra had suddenly become the center of attention.

My mother gave a very lovely and heartfelt speech, which I barely paid attention to. The crowd roared and screamed her name, but I hardly even heard it. People waved and cheered with tears streaming down their faces, but I felt numb to everything.

When we were introduced to various dignitaries, everyone said “lovely,” and “a vision,” when they met Astra. When they saw me, they looked a bit confused and then mumbled something boring like “nice to meet you.” Something very strange was going on, and I had to figure it out.

I searched the crowd for Adrian, but he was nowhere to be seen. One sexy, appreciative look from him might have been enough to restore some semblance of balance and order to my universe. But he wasn’t around and I’d been cast adrift in a sea of beautiful boys to whom I was invisible.

“Art thou okay, Princess Starr?” asked Captain Augustus. “Thou art pale.”

I blinked as I digested his words. The Vegonians spoke English, but a weird form of archaic Elizabethan English mixed with modern slang. The only people who had spoken like that on the transport ship were the captain and the crew. All of the Vegonians who been on Earth for the last fifteen years spoke standard, modern English, although I’d heard a few “thou’s” and “thee’s” begin to slip into the language of the older passengers, including my own parents.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

As the captain bowed and turned away, I realized I wasn’t fine at all. I stared around at the sea of happy, glowing, faces, including those of my parents and my sister, and understood that suddenly, and without any explanation, I had become the outsider.

“Thou art in hell, Starr Valentine,” I murmured to myself.

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Without looking away, I grab the cereal and milk and pour them into my bowl. She takes another bite of her cereal, never taking her eyes off mine as I put the spoon in and taste it.

And then we sit and eat … and stare.

“Okay …” Winston says, and he grabs a newspaper and sits down on a stool in the kitchen and blocks us out while reading.

I don’t care. I’m not talking and neither is she. I’m not going to give her any more excuses to make a run for it, and she’s not telling me what she really thought when she saw me, so …

SMACK!

Something’s stuck to my face.

Sticky … milky … cereal.

And her face. It turns from a full-on frown to full-blown laughter.

She places her hand over her mouth, but it can’t hide her sly smile.

Grinding my teeth, I wipe my face off with a napkin and cock my head at her.

Slowly, I put the spoon back into the bowl, watching her stare as I bring it up to my face.

And then I quickly turn it around and catapult it at her.

It smashes right into her forehead.

I grin as it drips off her, and the smile is wiped off her face immediately.

“Motherfucker,” she growls, and she grabs another spoonful. “Oh, it’s on.”

Suddenly, we’re in an all-out war.

Cereal and milk flies everywhere. Spoons too.

“Hey! Watch it! I just bought new China,” Winston says, putting down his newspaper.

“Eat shit!” Alexis yells, throwing her entire bowl at my face.

I only barely manage to catch the bowl, without its contents … which are now splashed over my chest and the floor.

“Oh, now you’ve done it,” I growl, and I pick up my bowl, stand up, walk toward her … and throw it over the top of her head.

She squeals as the cold milk runs over her body, which only a thin nightgown covers. Her instantly hardening nipples catch my attention. They’re hard to miss, and I swallow back the emerging lust.

“Fuck. You’ll pay for that.”

Her fingers are on my chest before I know it, twisting my nipples.

“Ow! Fuck,” I scream, grabbing her wrists. “No, bad Lexi.”

“Woof,” she says, laughing.

I shake my head, laughing too.

I’m fucking angry she threw her food at me, but it was fucking fun too. I can’t decide which one is more important to feel right now.

But when I look into her eyes, everything ceases to matter.

“Tell me the truth,” I say, my fingers digging into her skin. “Tell me I’ve treated you badly. Tell me how I’m an animal. A monster. Someone who everyone fears. Who deserves no love. Prove me I’m right.”

She hesitates and then stops fighting me. “No.”

“Don’t tell me a lie, Lexi. I don’t wanna hear it. You don’t have to seduce me anymore. I’m done playing games.”

“I’m not …”

Her breathing captures me so much, I bring one hand to her throat. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the fear that I saw, driving me to insanity, wanting to prove to myself once and for all that I’m truly that monster I see in the mirror. Or maybe I’m wrong, and I want to remember what it was like to touch her for the very first time … that first encounter, where neither of us knew who the other really was.

“Do you hate me?” I whisper in her ear, my tongue briefly darting out to lick her earlobe.

Even when she fears me and wishes to leave, I still want to have her more than anything else in the world.

“How can I not?” she says, swallowing.

“Exactly … how can you not,” I growl. “But you’ll never hate me more than I already do. But you know what’ll also never change? How much I fucking want you. How much I fucking need you. I’ve never wanted a girl as much as I want you.”

Her pulse races under my fingertip, her throat muscles clenching as I speak into her ear.

“I can’t let you go, Lexi. You’re my obsession. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. Can’t eat. Can’t stop wanting your body … seeing your eyes light up … that foxy smile. I want it all.”

A tiny gasp escapes her mouth as my hand snakes its way around her naked belly and pulls her closer to my body. “I hate that too … just like you. You’re so different. So unlike anything I expected. I like it.”

I gently press a kiss to her neck, and it makes her clench the hand that’s around her throat. But she doesn’t attempt to take it off. Instead, she only presses harder.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she whispers, her eyes closing. “I shouldn’t have come. Shouldn’t have stayed.”

“But you did … Even when half of the time, the door isn’t locked.” I grin against her skin.

“I can’t …” She moans when I bite into her shoulder, leaving a mark.

“Stay with me, Lexi. Don’t be afraid of me. Or you’ll prove I’m the monster you said I wasn’t.”