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My head throbbed the second I became conscious. Well, the pain might’ve been what brought me back to consciousness, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that there were woodpeckers chipping away at the inside of my skull, trying to burrow their way outwards.
Light hurt. It wasn’t even that bright out—I could tell that it was overcast, the clouds blanketing the sky and giving everything a faded out sort of feel, but the light that shone through did nothing to alleviate the woodpeckers.
Squinting and shielding my eyes from the nonexistent sun, I surveyed where I was. Trees stripped to their bones, their once green skin now brown on the damp forest floor. I got the feeling I was somewhere in Europe. How am I going to get back this time? i thought.
The last thing I realized—which, i admit, should have been like the second thing i noticed—was that I was sitting upright. Well, I was rather slumped to one side of the chair I was on, but that’s not the point. I wasn’t flat on my back in the middle of an alleyway like the last few times this happened to me.
I pushed myself up from the seat, headache worsening as I clambered carefully down along the steps that seemed to be carved into the old tree trunk.
Once at the bottom, I turned around to look at the chair I’d materialized in. The steps were carved into a centuries-old tree stump, overgrown with moss and sporting some flat-topped mushrooms.
Lifting my gaze upwards, following the path i’d just taken to the forest floor, I saw a throne of wood. It had faces carved into the fronts of the armrests, along with an intricate design on the back portion where I supposed a cushion would be. The back of the throne also came up high enough so that, when i sat in it, I was sure my head wouldn’t peak over the top.
“Woah,” I breathed.
I hadn’t really meant to say anything out loud and, to my surprise and a little bit of horror, someone responded. “I know, right?” Their voice was light as a feather and a little bit squeaky, but I definitely heard them. “So, who might you be, m’lady?”
I glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice, but they seemed to be talking from everywhere at once. My splitting headache was fading, but still causing me issues.
“Down here, m’lady!” I spotted some movement on one of the steps up to the throne. There was something small waving to me from the top of a patch of mushrooms. “My name is Evie. I’m a Fae. You name, please?”
I knew how to deal with fae, fairies, whatever you wanted to call them by now. “You may not have my name, but you may call me Ophelia.” It wasn’t my real name, since you never want to reveal your true self to beings like the fae, who are masters of trickery with half-truths.
“Ophelia, a lovely name.” Evie smiled as I leaned towards her, flashing pearly white teeth that i could swear where sharpened like a wolf’s. “How did you get here?”
“I don’t actually know…” I replied, trailing off as I tried to think. “I was…I think I was in Vancouver? And I must’ve hit my head because it really hurts right now.”
“You’ve been chosen!” the fae exclaimed, lighting up and fluttering her wings in excitement. “Queen! Queen! A new Queen has arrived!”
Before I knew what was happening, hundreds of fairies flew out of the damp autumn forest, all helping to carry various artifacts. It took about fifty of them to carry a deep purple cloak and drape it over my shoulders, pinning it with the golden clips in front of my neck. Twenty others handed me a sceptre of purple and gold, the top laden with a black crystal.
“Up! Up, Queen. To your throne!” Evie called over the noise of now a thousand wings fluttering about.
I obeyed because, what else was I supposed to do? I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know how to get home, and I didn’t want to anger the fae in any way.
Once sitting atop the throne, feeling regal with my clock and sceptre, Evie hovered a few feet in front of my voice like a hummingbird. “We will take care of all your human needs. That’s a promise.”
That was when I knew I wasn’t leaving—the fae had promised to take care of me. “For as long as I live?” I asked.
“We will take care of you forever.” Evie smiled again and it only served to unsettle me more.
Evie waved frantically to what must have been a small swarm of fae behind me. I felt the wind from their wings beating against my hair as they lowered something onto my head.
“All hail Ophelia, Crowned Queen of the Forest!” Evie shouted, her shrill voice carrying in all directions. Every fae, maybe every being in the forest echoed Evie’s statement before she turned back to me and said, “We will take care of you forever. That’s a promise. Do you promise to protect our forest from other humans?”
How could I say no? I said two words to seal my fate. “I promise.”