Anointed

‘Is it going to hurt, miss?’ the scared little girl in front of me asks, her eyes shining like they were about to cry.

It was finally my turn to round up my assigned group of six year olds to receive their powers. The Anointing Ceremony. 

‘Oh no, honey, you won’t even feel a thing. Quick, it’s our turn.’ I lied as I gently turned her back around to be in the proper line, giving her a quick reassuring squeeze on her shoulders.

It wasn’t extremely painful, but you can definitely feel your brain kind of expand, like an electric shock – at least that’s what I had felt at mine. I had always been appreciative of the people who had lied to me when I was their age so I vowed to do the same thing when my time came. There was no need to encourage fear, plus they truly would be fine, better than they were before in fact. I fluttered my wings, trying to shake off the nerves, as my line was ushered up towards Her. This was my cue.

I quickly flew up to the front of my line, right up to Mother herself. I offer up a deep bow, motioning to the little boy that was first to do the same. I watch as he bows and picks himself up off the ground with his small, still growing wings, flying right into Her arms. She has never spoken, and only appears on Anointing Day, July 2nd of every year. No-one can even successfully describe what she looks like, and every single fairy has been embraced by her. She is a bright light, not quite golden, but also not quite pure white. Mother is a blinding, all-knowing God that holds the power of our very existence. And grants everyone with a power that She believes will help develop our way of living. 

The boy is soon let go and he retreats to the left with the others who had gone before him. I keep silently hovering, watching Her embrace each child. It is impossible to look away, I’m stuck in awe. So much goes into this day – I have been preparing for months. She conceals herself in a white marble temple. Every other day of the year the doors are closed, but Mother has gotten rid of them completely, just for today. We have grown plants that scale around the pillars, which Mother makes bloom whenever she pleases. Today, you cannot see the green of the stems or hardly any marble at all in fact, as she has covered the temple with every kind of flower and colour you could possibly imagine. And this morning, the guardians showered the temple with fairy dust so it shimmers and can be seen from miles away. There is a crowd that has formed below, at the entrance of the stairs. Everyone wants to be able to sneak a glimpse of Mother on Anointing Day. 

Now, it is the last little girl’s turn, and she has managed to keep her tears in, and I feel a sense of pride. I did not want to be the embarrassment of the volunteers who couldn’t keep their group of children well-behaved. Especially in front of Her. But as the little girl bows, Her light flickers. Just for a second. 

Mother’s light flickered. No-one else seems to have noticed. The little girl picks her feet off the ground, ready to fly towards Her, but Her light flickers again. This time everyone has noticed. I can hear murmurs from the crowd below, and I quickly rush towards the little girl and nudge her to go faster. Mother embraces her and then she is ushered to the rest of the group. I let out a sigh of relief. Mine was the last group, so every six year old child has been embraced. Everything is fine. Mother is perfect. 

Until a sudden wind picks up and I am pushed forward. Right into Her.

And She embraces me.

~

I wake to a pounding headache. I don’t open my eyes right away, I can feel them throbbing inside their sockets. A never ending stream of words swirl through my mind and I can’t seem to make sense of them. They are not my words, or even my thoughts, but they are pounding through my head like I own them.

Power, why, deliberate, criminal, purpose, Mother, volunteer –

Each one has a different voice attached and I have to focus on the pounding of my head to try and drown it out. It doesn’t work, but the words are a little bit muffled. I slowly open my eyes, and make myself sit up. I am sitting on a metal bench in a prison cell. The unmistakable metal bars with a very outdated gold lock are between me and a dark corridor. How did I get here?

WHAT DID LOLA DO?

A voice screams inside my head and I wince at the sudden loudness. But the voice feels familiar. I hear murmurs of voices in the room next door but I should not be able to understand them. The walls around me are solid stone. I look at the gold lock and I can feel the mechanisms inside. I could twist them around and open it. But I feel as if my telekinesis might not exactly be welcomed in this situation, someone wants me to stay put. 

Has she been planning this? Why did Mother actually embrace her?

Again, two different voices as if two different people are talking to me but there is no-one in here with me. I cover my ears with my hands and close my eyes again and try to remember how I even got here in the first place. 

Mother’s light flickered. A rush of wind pushed me forward. She embraced me. She embraced me. I feel the faint memory of a shock in my brain.

She has given me another power.

I hear footsteps and the clicking sound of metal rubbing against metal. I look up and see a guard opening the lock that they think is keeping me inside this cell.

‘Come with me.’ He says as he slings the comically large key attached to a rope back around his neck.

So she doesn’t have telekinesis anymore?

But he didn’t say the last part out loud. His mouth didn’t move. But it was his voice. Am I going crazy? I do what I’m told and slowly stand up and follow him out of the cell. He grabs my arm to guide me. Wait – no, to keep me from getting away.

If I die on Anointing Day, at least I will be remembered.

The guard’s voice rings through my head and I look at him sideways.

‘Why would you die on Anointing Day?’ I ask.

His eyes open wider and he tightens his grip around my arm.

Did she just read my mi-

He pushes the doors open and I am overwhelmed.

LOLAISHEREWHATDIDSHEDOWHATHASHAPPENEDTOHER –

My eyes close and my legs crumble underneath me as I try and break my arms free from the guard to put my hands back over my ears. But he is strong, and keeps me upright. Meaning I only manage to cover one ear and am tilted sideways so my right ear is pressed into my shoulder. I focus on his nails digging into my arm and the words seem to calm down, but again only a tiny bit.

I open my eyes to see a room full of officials. There are men on the left and women on the right, all wearing their government official royal emerald robes. More official than usual of course, because it is Anointing Day after all. Their wings have all been embroidered with our gold vines, with the initial of their family name adorned on each side. They all stare at me, all standing with a long table in between them. Not one person is saying anything but I can hear them all. 

Why is she covering her ears? A few voices scream through my mind at the same time.

The sound of a cane cracks on the ground twice and I watch as the two doors on the other side of the room are opened.

King Angus and Queen Indigo walk in holding hands. They are also dressed for Anointing Day. They wear pure white suits with gold embroidery sewn throughout the blazer, with the Queen wearing a huge gold tiara with emeralds embellished into her one long, auburn, braid draped down her left shoulder. This is what I should have been seeing after the ceremony, they were supposed to bless the volunteers with a personal sprinkle of fairy dust. I would have bowed and they would have been impressed. Instead, I am still holding my left hand over my ear with my right ear still pressed into my shoulder.

One by one everyone starts bowing. I wince again as I release my hand from my ears and stand up straight. I attempt a small bow, but the guard does not allow me to move much.

What will they decide? Will Lola be banished? She had to have done it on purpose. Why else would she wait until everyone had gotten their powers? I hope they banish her. Why was she positioning herself like that?

Everyone’s voices rush through my head louder, but I keep my focus on the King and Queen. I have not heard their voices once.

‘Well, please sit everyone. I trust you all know why I have called you here.’ The King ushers his hand down as he takes her own seat next to the Queen at the head of the table.

‘You can unhand her, Damien, she would have gotten herself out of that cell if she really was a threat, I think. Let her sit at the table so we can properly discuss the situation.’ The Queen nods at me, and laces her fingers together in front of her on the table.  

Damien lets my arm go and I feel the pinch where his nails had been. There is one seat left at the end of the table. I recognise the chair’s weight as I push it back with my mind and take a seat. I regret using my power when I hear a gasp as I move the chair back in.

So she still has her telekinesis! No! Mother should have taken it away!

I continue to stare straight towards the head of the table, at the King and Queen. I think I can hear people’s thoughts. Did Mother give me telepathy?

‘Lola Write, please explain to us what happened at the Anointing Ceremony.’

Why are they even asking? We know what happened! She is a traitor.

But I don’t know what to say. What did actually happen at the Anointing Ceremony? I clear my throat, trying to ignore all the disapproving looks from around the table.

‘I, uh, it was an accident. There was a-,’ a small smirk creeps onto the Queen’s face, ‘sudden wind.’ The smirk is gone.

‘Preposterous!’ one man who I recognise as Sir Edwards, the head guardian shouts.

This causes everyone else to shout out their fears. But I can hear their real opinions, the ones they would never dare to say out loud. Especially in front of the King and Queen.

She is too powerful now! She has more power than the King and Queen! She’s a threat to our world. What new power does she have exactly? And did Mother actually want her to have it?

I’m getting used to the voices now, the thoughts I can recognise as a little bit blurry, there’s a slight shake to them. And it clearly can’t be everyone’s every thought, I would never be able to understand anything.

‘Quiet!’ The King yells and the room immediately goes silent.

Except for me and the now low murmur of their thoughts.

‘A sudden wind? That’s all you have to say for yourself?’ He asks me directly. 

I look into his eyes. I can’t hear his voice in my head. Or the Queen’s for that matter.

‘It was truly an accident. I never meant for any of this to happen.’

‘And did Mother give you another power? You clearly still have your telekinesis.’ The Queen asks, her voice sounding cold and sudden. She gives a nod to Damien – she has run out of patience for me.

Do I tell them? I start nervously twisting the butterfly ring on my pointer finger as Damien takes a step towards me. 

I swear she could read my mind just before. 

‘If She did, I don’t know what it is.’ I blurt out. 

I’ll already be known as the fairy who Mother embraced twice. I don’t want to be known as the only fairy who has two powers. I can keep it to myself, it’s not like it’s a power they can see anyway. I don’t see why Mother has given it to me in the first place, it seems more annoying than good. I don’t want to know what people think about me. 

‘Right. And we should trust you because?’ Sir Edward asks. 

He is right. They have no reason to trust me, and I don’t know how I can make them.

‘I truly, truly, did not want any of this to happen. I was just trying to do my part by volunteering. I have always looked up to the ones who did since my own ceremony. Being that close to Mother is such an honour, but I never, never meant to get that close.’ I sit up straighter, hoping my composure, although forced, will work in my favour.

‘Polly, can you read her aura?’ The King looks at the woman sitting next to me on my right. 

She is an older fairy, her gold embroidery on her wings, while still just as shiny, shows a little bit of wear and tear. She has clearly been voted into the court for years and years. I try to remember the politics class I did two years ago, in order to place her position but my brain can’t place anything with everyone else’s thoughts still swirling. 

She’s lying. It’s such an obvious trick to volunteer just to get to Her. But she passed the test before being accepted to volunteer, right?

Polly stares at me silently, and politely,  and she gives me a small smile.

‘I can see black with a mixture of indigo. Which means she is nervous, but sensitive in the way you are vulnerable. There is a slight flicker of white; she means what she says. With my judgment, I believe she is telling the truth – she did not mean to touch Mother.’ She leans forward and slightly touches my shoulder, I think as a way of comfort. I smile back at her.

What a disaster she has gotten herself into, the poor child.

If only I was actually still a child. My uncle would have had to be here, and he would have vouched for me. I miss him.

‘Hmph,’ The Queen replies and everyone turns to her, finally not all eyes on me. ‘Well, we can’t just let you go without some punishment, or I mean, consequence. We cannot encourage this type of behaviour.’ 

Her green eyes pierce through me and I stare back. Why can’t I hear her thoughts? She whispers something to the King that I can’t hear. Strange.

‘Anyone have any suggestions?’ The King looks towards the men.

Everyone starts talking to each other, while the Queen just keeps her eyes on me. She is not what I expected. I keep fiddling with the rings on my fingers, suddenly feeling very nauseous. Will she banish me?