The Spirit Stalkers

 My name is Inara, and I live in a small township called Serenity Springs. It is a beautiful place where the flowers are always in bloom, every tree to blade of grass is always green. We have streams all around our town, and some with little waterfalls, and the trees are so massive. The air smells clean and fresh with the hint of flowers in the air. The town consists of all kinds of fairies and a few outsiders, from the human world, who pass through for our artwork, crafts, spices, and jams, which the humans think have special powers in them, but really, it's just natural and fresh ingredients from the land. They buy, sell, and trade goods. Sometimes we get some interesting things, but when it comes to food items, we are really more natural from the land, even our animals we eat are all fed from the land. Yes, we eat meat. Some humans seem to think we are all woodsy and vegetarian, but we care and love all things and treat the earth with respect.

We live among the human world, and yes, humans know about us but generally stay away because they are afraid of what our powers can do, and they do not like the unknown. Sometimes humans will come to visit, but it's really rare. We are in a land deep in the forest and surrounded by nature, and the fairies here rarely leave. There are other fairy towns spread out, and they interact more with human society, but they are closer to towns; we are really hard to get to, so we tend to see fewer visitors, which is fine because we have fewer problems than the rest of the world. Everyone lives in harmony with each other, and everyone gets along with each other, or so the Elders would have you believe.  Every so often, when a human comes by to visit, and they fall in love with a fairy and leave together as fairies cannot live with humans in the fairy lands, and when they have kids, normally their kids do not have powers as they have less fairy blood in them, vs a full-born fairy would.

Fairies all have different kinds of powers, from all the elements, earth, wind, fire, and water, and even manipulate objects. We are all known as Earth fairies here in our town. Others have darker powers, but we don’t see them often, and we avoid them as their powers do not come from the natural elements of the world, and dark fairies try to steal other fairies' powers for greed or to do harm. I was raised by my mom, Elvina, and she and I live in a small home by a creek bed on the furthest point of town. We don’t live too close to others, as my mother is kind of branded from having me. I don't know much about my father, but I know he was not a fairy, and he could not take me, so the elders allowed me to stay when I was born.

My mom has these amazing water and earth powers, and most fairies only have one, which makes her different, and in the town we live in, the others don’t like different. It was hard growing up in a town where everyone is almost perfect, with their amazing abilities, and then there's my mom and me. I, with no powers, and she with her amazing water and earth powers, she makes water dance and move, and the earth comes alive under her; she almost looks like it carries her as she walks, and though she is older, she looks amazing. She has pale white skin and dark hair, but her eyes match the sky.

  I turn 18th in two weeks, and we normally have our powers at 16, but mine never came. I knew nothing of who my father is or where he is from. I just thought he was a human because when my 16th birthday came and went with no powers, I started getting headaches instead. My mom says I am a late bloomer, which, if that is the case, I am the only one that I know of that lives here with no powers, but I know she is not telling me everything. Every time I bring up the past, she always says leave it lie and that where we are now in life is where we are supposed to be. It must be something bad for her not to tell me; we are very close, she and I, so I know if she is not ready, then she is not ready. Everything has its own time here, so I just have to wait.

The kids at school whisper about me, and it's like they know more about me than I do, and once I got called a half-breed. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but with no powers, I know now. When I was little, I asked my mom questions and told her what they were saying about me, and she said everyone is scared of what is different. She would always say, when you're 18, we will talk about the past and more of who I am, more of my dad.  I would always ask if he was close by or if he was even alive. Why am I so different?  It’s been hard, I have no friends really, there is one girl in my school who talks to me every so often, but to do so would be social suicide for her. 

Everyone knows who my mom is, and the girls at my school never seem to surprise me with the horrible things they say. I have lost count of the number of times that I have tripped in the lunch room or been locked out of school, so I can’t get in. Their biggest trick is dumping things on me, as fairies can use their powers, and I can not.  I can not wait until I am 18 to get answers and leave. I want to study in college and see the world. I have a love for art, and I am not bad at drawing, but I really love pictures. I love taking still shots of everything, including people when they are not looking. It's like it freezes time and traps that moment forever, so I guess that would be my superpower. My mom got me a camera a few years ago, and it became something I love, my art. 

 Twice a year, in the spring and fall, we will travel to other fairy towns, and they round up all the single females and males and have a mating dance to meet prospective mates. I went in the spring as kind of a coming out with my mom and others from our town. I met a lot of amazing new fairies, but once they got to know me, the real me, well, they could not get away from me fast enough. Being asked the question of what kind of powers you have and telling them you do not have any, well, makes them not interested. I do not blame them; it would mean our future kids would not have powers as well, and the bloodlines would become more human than fairy for generations to come.

Fall is a few months away, and then I will attend again, but I am not looking forward to it. News travels fast, like when the wind blows, taking all our secrets with it and sharing them with others, so I know when I get there, I will be sitting at a table alone. No one wants to sit with a half-breed after all, as if I would wash off on them or something. It’s not that I don’t want someone to share my thoughts and life with, but finding someone who is not looking at me with disgust would be nice. I always wanted to be like the other girls in a way that the boys would actually talk to me. But I know that going to college will be my best option for a normal life among humans, with no powers, I actually will blend in for a change, and no one would know who I am.

Sitting here dreaming of what college life would be like has been my only obsession for the last few years. I hate the idea of leaving my mom, but finding a place where I fit in has been my dream for a long time. I read all about the human world, and yes, some places scare me, but the idea of seeing some place I have never seen would be amazing. Plus, I do not look like all the other fairies, so I think I would blend in more, from what I have read in the books. I also cannot wait to try more human food. Once a year, when the human merchants come through the town, they bring so many new species and chocolate, which I love. My mom is a great cook, so we are always trying new things in the kitchen. I just have to keep focused and tell myself I have one month to go.

I was so consumed with my own thoughts that I actually forgot I was in class. I do this a lot, daydream away, and thinking about the school year almost being over, and my life can begin. I am a bit on the nerdy side and smart. I actually could have graduated 2 years ago, but the Elders said I would be too young for college and wanted to see if my powers would come later, so I just went through the motions. I am in the most advanced classes I can be in, so I am always bored. None of the teachers really says much to me because I am at the top of my class, and I read so much that I could probably teach the lessons in my sleep. I think my least favorite would be math, and of course, physical stuff like they make us take up a sport of some sort. I chose golf; it is the safest option for me. I love language class. I have managed to go through all the ancient languages for a lot of the different creatures in the world. I just love the history of it all, seeing how things used to be and how