One In A Million - Chapter 1: Discovering The Fey
by Annabelle

She tossed and turned violently bed. Beads of sweet were forming on her forehead. If someone had walked into her room they would have thought that she was having a bad dream and woken her up. But what was going on her mind was so much more than a nightmare and no one was going to come to help her. She was alone and that was exactly what they wanted.

‘Fiona’

‘Fiona,’ the voice of two people seemed to be calling out to her but at the same time they seemed to be inside her head.

‘Fiona. Listen to me. Listen to us,’ the voices echoed in her head. ‘Open your eyes Fiona. Look at us. Look at us!’

Fiona forced her eyes opened to see that she had somehow ended up outside on a starless night near a lake. Mist was rising off the lake and floating all around her and no sounds came from the woods that surrounded her. Part of her was scared and her heart beat so quickly that she thought it was going to rip through her chest. Another part of her felt a strange kind of peace come over her like she had been to the land before.

‘Where I am?’ Fiona thought as she started to walk around. Everything around her started to swerve and swirl around her, trees were 20 yards away from her one moment and then the next they were right by her side.

‘You are in Avalon child of humanity,’ a male voice spoke that was full of mirth.

‘The land of the fey. Don’t be scared,’ a female voice added.

"What I am doing here? Who are you?" Fiona called out to the air.

‘We are the children of Oberon and we have brought you here,’ the voices spoke as one again.

"Why? I thought it was forbidden for humans to set foot on Avalon," Fi turned around slowly to try to pin point where the voices were coming from.

‘You were right my ladyship, this child knows much about our people,’ the male sounded like he was standing on her left.

‘Have I ever been wrong my dear Puck,’ the female’s voice echoed on her right.

"Why have you brought me here," Fi cried out again.

"Calm down child," Puck appeared before her now dressed in medieval type garb. He wore a purple tunic on top a red shirt with a gold belt. Blue leggings covered his lower half and red boots his feet. He also had gold wristbands, which were carved with intricate Celtic designs. "I am the trickster, the merry wander of the night, Robin Goodfellow, but most of all I am the Puck."

Then a gorgeous female materialized next him. She was dressed in similar fashion to him, a deep blue free flowing dress with the same belt and wristbands, but her hair was a maroon color and her skin was almost a light turquoise. "This is the flower of Avalon, the beauty of the Fey, the daughter of most beloved King and Queen, the-" at this point the young woman, because she looked to be just about her friend Carey’s age or a little older, hushed Puck by covering his mouth.

"I am the Lady Rhylinye, heir to the throne of Oberon," her voice sounded like an exquisite melody.

"I was just getting to that part," Puck pouted a little at her. "Besides you forgot one very important piece of information."

"Yeah," Fi interrupted him, "The part where you tell me why I am here."

"I am sorry child," Rhylinye’s voice soothed Fi’s nerves and she felt her heart beat slowed to a more normal pace.

"That was not what I was talking about," Puck sounded highly offended.

"What it is not like you said anything about it," Rhylinye laughed a little at him and then turned to Fi. "Come and sit with me child and I will give you all the answers that you seek." Rhylinye took her hand and guided her to a log that suddenly turned an elegant bench.

For some reason Fi was not at all surprised by the magic bench. She knew that she was not dreaming but everything that was happening seemed so familiar to her and when Rhylinye held her hand she felt the peace that had originally fallen on her grow to an even more intense level. She had never felt so at ease as she did at that moment.

"Look at you," Rhylinye said with a glowing smile once they were seated comfortably. "You are quite grown since last I saw you. You must almost be a woman now," Rhylinye reached out and stroked Fi’s hair.

"I am sixteen," Fiona wonder for a brief moment what her Ladyship had about seeing before now but the thought left as quickly as it entered her mind.

"In the time of the Great King you would be married by now," Rhylinye let her flowery laughter grace the air again. "The time of Camelot is long past now. Those were our days of glory." A sad smile fell on her face. "But let’s not talk of that for that is not the reason we have brought you here. Would you like to enlighten her or shall I."

Puck was still sulking a bit and waved his hand in such a manner that Fi laughed him. Now normally the Puck did not take kindly to being made fun of but he knew how important the matters at hand were so he did nothing but glare at the girl for a moment. He then stuck his head a bit higher up in the air.

Rhylinye ignored him and let the warmth of her demeanor wash over Fi again. "You are such a special girl Fiona," Rhylinye reached out to grab Fi’s hand and held it with such care and love. "You have been since the day you were born. I am sure you have always felt that you were a little different from the others around you, maybe not your family, but your friends."

Fiona nodded at her Ladyship’s remark, "I have always had this uncanny knack for finding odd happenings. Being able to talk to spirits and things like that. Well I used until it became dangerous to my family. I gave my gift up, I closed my door to the spirit world."

"Yes you did, but you didn’t seal the door."

"What do you mean," Fiona looked at Rhylinye with concern. She thought when the Will o’ Wisp had convinced to give up her gift that her family would be safe from the spirit world and nothing would hurt them again.

Rhylinye squeezed Fiona’s hand gently, "Don’t worry, your family is not in any danger at the moment. However that might change."

"I don’t understand. Will o’ Wisp said that by giving up my power that my family and I would be save forever," Fiona’s voice trembled a little.

Puck punched a near by tree and the force of his rage made the tree split down the middle. Fi jumped back a little but Rhylinye did not flinch. "That little traitorous little spunkie. He would betray his own mother if the price was right, I swear it Lady."

"Hush now Puck," Rhylinye threw him a look that either scared him so much that he decided to shut his mouth or calmed him into thinking rationally again. "The damage has been done and there is nothing we can do about that but we can undo the damage. We can help you understand your gift Fiona and help you understand why there are others from this world who want you to give it up."

Fiona just nodded at what Rhylinye was saying because she did not understand. She had no idea what was going on and why any of this was happening. If there were those who did not want her to have the gift that she gave up then why was it so important for her to try and use her gift again. Why would she be more save with her gift then with out it?

"Fiona, how much do you know about your father?" Rhylinye seemed to become cheerless when she asked the question. Her faced almost aged with the weight of her words.

"I know that he loved my mother and would have given his life for his family. I know that he was a good man and a kind one. That he would never raise a hand against anyone without good cause," Fiona left the tears start to swell up in her eyes as she spoke. Her voice was uneven from straining to keep the tears back.

Puck moved to stand behind Rhylinye and placed a hand on her shoulder. The Lady herself who was normally very controlled with her emotions started to have the most unsettling feeling. A feeling that she and the other fey only experienced very rarely. Rhylinye felt a huge sadness fall over her and she was not sure how to handle it. "Puck I cannot," Rhylinye choked on her words.

"It is alright my Lady I shall continue," Puck looked at Fiona and started to speak. "Fiona there is no easy way to say this so I will just be blunt. Your father did die for you family," he paused as Fi gasped to hold back a sob. 

"Your father was the Lady’s older brother. When Oberon called for the gathering your father refused to come. He did not want to leave the family that he had started. Oberon was furious with him. He told your father that we all had people that we had to leave behind, that was part of our lesson in humanity. But your father would not listen so Oberon sent his guards after him. Your father was the heir to the throne and it would have looked good for Oberon if he could not control his own son.

"We were all so happy when your father returned. None of us knew of the trouble Oberon had gone through to get him back. Once he was back Oberon started to soften to him and would allow him to visit your family once a day. Rhylinye and I would sometimes journey between worlds to visit with you and your family as distant cousins, but we could never stay long because Oberon said that we had to be present as more of our brothers and sisters came home.

"Then on the night of the first great feast of the gathering your father would not come back to Avalon. Oberon had to again send his guards out for him and when the brought him back he struggled. They had to put chains on him and he still would not calm down. Your father was brought into the dining hall screaming Oberon’s name at the top of his lungs. He damned Oberon in front of everyone and spat at his feet. 

"Oberon had no choice, what your father did was an act of treason. So while his mother and sister wept your father was sentenced to a slow and painful death. The Lady Titania however did not just stand by and watch her son die. She managed to get Oberon to compromise in his punishment. Your father would be poisoned with iron but would be allowed to visit his family one last time before his body would become one with Avalon."

Fiona turned away from both of them. She stood up and looked out the night as her body started to shake. She felt the tears come at full force but she did not try to stop them. Fi could not believe what was happening. After all this years of wondering and searching for answers she finally found out the truth. Her father had died because he wanted to be with his family and he was willing to give up everything for them. Then another emotion started to come over her and she felt heat rise in her body. Anger started to over power her and her hand involuntary made a fist.

"Fiona," Rhylinye spoke softly as she placed a hand on Fi’s shoulder. She knew that she was using her powers against Fi but it was the only way. If Fi decided to go up against Oberon everything would be lost. "Fi please look at me."

She turned at looked at Rhylinye and Puck. Her faced tear stained and red, "He had no right!"

"He had every right. What your father did was wrong. I am sorry Fiona, you don’t understand the laws of Avalon because you were not raised here, but your father knew the laws, he lived and breathed them at one point in his life. He knew what would happen if he dishonored Oberon in front of the entire court of Avalon," Puck tried to explain but he knew that he was not helping her to understand.

"Fiona, all children of Oberon are to obey him without question, it is the way it has been since before we can remember and it is the way it will be until the throne is passed on. Then we will all obey our new ruler," Rhylinye knew that Fi would not understand. She was not from a place were people respected their rulers above all else. "It is the only way to keep order here. Otherwise everyone would be running around using their powers to ruin humans’ lives."

Fi started to believe what they were saying then she remembered how many spirits and other creatures had caused her family problems over the years. "What about creatures like the Will O’ Wisp? He has tormented me time and time again."

"Oberon does not control all of the spirits of this world," Puck sighed. He had hoped that this process of talking with Fiona would only take a few minutes. Now she was asking questions and for explanations, throwing the whole structure of Avalon society, which had worked for generations, into question. "There is a Dark Lord and his subjects are the ones who cause you and others pain. Will O’ Wisp was once one of Oberon’s children, but he deflected to the Dark Lord. Oberon can do nothing because the wisp is under the Dark Lord’s protection."

"Fi the reason that Will O’ Wisp wanted you to give up your powers is because he knew that you and your family are going to play a big part in the upcoming struggle between light and darkness," Rhylinye was starting to feel desperation crawl into her voice. "But he did not have you perform the spell that right way so your magic is leaking into the mortal realm like a bucket of water with a hole in it. Soon you and your brother will start to become dangerous to those around you."

"What do you mean," Fi’s eyes started to grow wide with fear. It was bad enough that she had gotten herself into another mess with the spirits but now Jack was being dragging into this mess as well.

"Both you and your brother are part fey. You are not as powerful as a full child of Oberon but you very close to it," Puck tried to explain in more detail. "If you don’t learn how to control your magic you will end up hurting others around you. The Will o’ Wisp may have said and thought that he was helping you by using the spell that he did but because he didn’t have you perform the spell correctly it caused more harm to you and your loved ones."

"How . . . how do I fix this?" Fiona was still unbelievably confused by what was going on. She did not understand how something like this could be happening to her and her family.

"You let us train you and then help us convince your brother that he needs training too," Rhylinye’s tone was hopefully, believing that Fi had decided to listen to her fey relatives.

Slowly Fi started to process what Rhylinye and Puck were saying. They had something about her family and the great struggle between light and darkness. What were they going to ask her to do if she agreed to let them help her? Would she be able to find another way to train her and her brother so that they would not end up hurting others? She walked away from the fey beings and tried to think more clearly. Then after a moment she spoke, "If I let you help my brother and me what would we have to do to repay you?"

Puck and Rhylinye looked at each other. They knew that girl had caught on fast. "Well you will not be punished or treated any differently than anyone else on Avalon because of your father. Everyone deeply respected him and misses him so much. Oberon will not admit but he regrets everyday the decision he made."

"You are withholding information," Fiona eyed them carefully.

Rhylinye sighed, "We would like it if you and your brother would join our side when the battle of light and darkness comes. But in all reality we would help you either way. It is the least we can do for you family"

"Okay how about we make some sort of deal?" Fi looked at both of them in the eye.

"A deal?" Rhylinye wondered what kind of deal could be made. Either Fiona accepted their help or she did not.

Fiona nodded her head as she slowly began to form the guild lines of the deal. "I will agree not to make any decision about my brother or I helping you until our training is complete and we have had time to meet the people of Avalon and gotten to know more about this place."

"That sounds like something we can agree to," Puck looked at Rhylinye.

Rhylinye did not nod her head or speak. Instead she threw her arms around Fi. "Thank you," she whispered in to Fi’s ear.

"So when does training begin?" Fi asked a little excited. She never had used magic before. The idea that she had magic inside her was thrilling to her.

"Tomorrow afternoon, you are going to need to sleep once you go home tonight," Puck answered for them.

"What about when I am in school," Fiona hoped that they were going to say that she would not have to go. "If I need sleep after this then I will not be able to do night sessions on school nights."

"She is right Puck. We have to find a way to have her do both," Rhylinye thought for a moment. Fey were not gods, they did not have the ability to be in two places at once. They could fake it but it was really not possible in this case because Fi needed to keep up with her human studies.

"We could have someone go in and pretend to be her," Puck suggested.

"But then how would she get the benefit of her human education," Rhylinye replied.

Fi smirked a little, "My human education is not that valuable."

"Of course it is, it is part of your humanity," Rhylinye told her and Fi just shrugged. Thinking for another moment Rhylinye finally figured out a way for things to work out. "We will send Evintha in and have her disguise herself as Fi. Evintha will record what happened in school and then when she returns she can give Fi a summary of what happened. Eva loves human schools and she will be able to help you with your homework better than Puck or I could."

"You mean I will still have to do homework?" Fi sighed.

"Yes, it is part of your lesson in humanity," Rhylinye nodded firmly at Fi. Fi looked to Puck.

"Hey I never liked school," Puck shook his head.

"Okay, so how will we work tomorrow on my magic," Fi’s voice showed how excited she was.

"We will reach you much the same we did today. The first thing we will do is teach you how to make it seem like you are home in your room when you are really here learning how to use your magic," Rhylinye informed her.

"Well then I guess I will see you tomorrow. There is just one more thing," Fi felt kind of silly about what she was going to say.

"What is that child," Rhylinye smiled.

"How do I get back home," Fi blushed a little as she spoke.

"Just close your eyes, think of your room, and we will send you there. But only this once. After tomorrow you should be able to do it on your own," Puck winked at her.

Fi nodded and closed her eyes, "Okay I am ready." Before she even finished speaking she felt her bed underneath her. She opened her eyes and looked around. "I really hope that wasn’t a dream."

Just then a bouquet of foreign looking flowers flew onto her bed. Fi picked them up and breathed in their sweet scent. She smiled to herself and got out of her bed to look for a vase. She was not really surprised to see one appear on her dresser and the fact that the water was already in it did not bother her either. She placed her flowers in the vase, crawled back into bed, and had first fully restful night of sleep she had in a long time.

Jack woke with a start. At first he thought that something was wrong but then he realized that he just fallen asleep while his mother’s tour bus was still moving. There had been some type of sudden movement and that what was had woke him up. Jack slowly rolled out of bed and stretched and yawned a little. Then he made his way out of the room that he shared with Carey into the community room of the bus.

There on one of the bench like couches sat Annie. They used to call her the new girl on the bus but she had been living with them for about a year now. Annie was a just about his sister’s age but a bit closer to him in age. She was typing on her tangerine colored laptop. Her fine blonde hair framed her face as she sat slightly bent over her work.

His mom, Carey, and Carey’s mom Irene were sitting at the stable-table playing a game of cards. His mom cheered a little as she won another hand. They smiled at him and asked him to join them. So he sat down at the table for the next round.

"What happened to the bus?" Jack asked casually as he looked at his cards.

"What do you mean honey?" Molly asked her son as she finished dealing out the rest of the cards.

"I felt it jerk. That was what woke me up. Were we gonna hit a deer or something like that?" Jake was not very worried. Ned was driving the bus and he was very skilled at it.

"Honey," Molly looked at her son with a little concern. "The bus did not jerk at all. We all were just saying how surprised we were by the smooth ride since it is snowing a little."

"Hmm," Jack thought as he studied his cards more carefully. "I guess I was just having a bad dream then."

"Are you sure you are okay man," Carey asked. It was not normally for Jack to wake up because of a bad dream or anything like that. Jack was usually a sound sleeper.

"I am fine man," Jack said as he moved the cards around in his hand. As they were talking they had been playing and he and finally gotten the cards that he was looking for. "But I am afraid that I just broke mom’s winning streak. Gin," he laid his cards down and every looked at him with amazement.

"Sorry guys, I think I am going to do something a bit more challenging, like my math homework. See you guys later," Jake said as he stood up.

"See you brain," Carey teased him.

Jack settled down and began to start to try his math homework. He could not concentrate. Something was nagging him but he could not figure out what it was. He knew it had something to do with the dream that he was having but he could not remember what his dream was about. He only knew that had shaken him enough so that he woke up. He rubbed his temples slowly in an attempt to try to gain concentration again. Unfortunately it was not helping and whatever was bugging him only seemed to be getting worse. He could feel his skin start to clam up and his palms were starting to get sweaty.

"Hey Jack," Annie popped her head into his room and Jack almost fell of his chair at the sound of her voice.

"Jeez Annie!" Jack almost yelled at her as he tried to collect himself. "You know you could have knocked or something."

"I did knock," Annie said slowly. "You didn’t answer so I thought something was wrong. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded his head and rubbed his hands together to try to get rid of the build up of sweat. "I am fine, you just startled me that’s all. What’s up?"

Annie eyed him a little bit but decided to leave it alone for now. "Can I sit down?"

Jack felt bad for a half a moment and then he realized she was teasing him. "I don’t know Annie, can you?"

"Whatever Jack. I coming in the room now and I am slowly going to move to Carey’s desk and borrow his chair," Annie held up her hands as she creped into the room never turning her back to him.

"Don’t start Annie," Jack told her giving her a funny look. "I might decided not to help you out with your math homework this week."

"Fine you win," Annie pouted a bit but then grabbed Carey’s chair and moved it so she could sit near Jack. "So really Jack, what’s up?"

"Nothing Annie," he shook his head at her and she titled her had a little at him to single that she did not believe him. "I fine, don’t worry."

"Alright if you say so," Annie looked down at the ground for a second. "Hey have you heard from Fi lately?" She was hoping that changing the subject would put him more at ease.

"No why?" Jack turned away to close up his books. He knew he wasn’t going to get any homework done today.

Annie played with her hair a bit and looked away from him, "Oh no reason. I was just wondering that’s all." Annie knew that Jack was a little jealous of the fact that she and Fi were in more regular contact but the only reason things were like that it was because she needed Fi’s help when weird things started to happen.

"Annie," Jack gave her his warning tone. "You are holding back something."

"Okay fine. Fi e-mailed me today and said that some really strange things were going on but she could not tell me about them right away and she wanted me to make sure that you were okay. She said that she would write more later," Annie spoke really fast because she nervous that Jack would be upset that Fi had e-mailed a message like that to her instead of him.

"Well you can tell her I am fine," Jack smiled at Annie and then turned back to his books. Maybe he would be able to get some work done after all. If Fi said that strange things were happening to her it meant that she was happy and all would be right with the world. Well at least in Fi’s mind it would be.

"That’s it?" Annie was totally baffled. "You aren’t gonna get mad because Fi talked me instead of you?"

Jack looked at her and thought for a moment. "Look Annie, I know that you and Fi are really good friends and I think it is great. It is nice for her to have someone to talk about the supposed ghosts and stuff like that. I mean you guys must not feel as crazy when you talk to each other." As he was finishing his sentence Annie started to hit him playfully. "Hey stop it Annie," he told her laughing a little.

"I am crazy huh?" Annie didn’t stop hitting him. "I’ll show you crazy." Annie stopped hitting him and reached out toward his desk to try to get a hold of his homework folder.

"Oh no you don’t," Jack grabbed her hand and stood up quickly whipping her hand behind her as he moved to pull her out of chair.

Annie lost her started to loose her balance when Jack forced her to stand up, "Jack stop! I’m gonna fall!"

"Serves you right for trying to mess with my homework. I have been working for weeks on that paper and you were gonna mess the whole thing up," Jack laughed at her. "You know what I just got a great idea."

"Jack Phillips, if you are thinking of doing what I think you are thinking of doing then you better stop thinking about it because I will not forgive you. I swear it," she tried to twist free of him.

"Oh I am really scared," Jack laughed at her. Just then the bus did jerk forward a bit and Annie fell on top of him. She let out a small scream as she fell and the both grunted as the hit the floor.

Carey had been walking back to his room when the bus jolted a bit and he heard Annie’s scream. It only took him a moment to regain his balance and he almost bolted to the room. "Hey is everyone okay?" He asked in a worried tone as he came into the room. He took one look at the two figures on the floor and laughed and shook his head. "I just was coming back here to tell you guys that we reached the city that our gig is in and are about to pull into a motel for the night. Hey Annie if you want to stay in Jack’s room it’s cool with me," He kept laughing at them.

"Carey that’s not funny," Jack said in a serious tone as he helped her up. "Annie just lost her balance when the bus jerked."

"And fell right on top of you," Carey laughed. "Now that is comedy. I would have liked to see how you guys managed to pull that one off, the bus didn’t move that much."

"Carey!" Annie was starting to blush a bit.

Carey just kept laughing and left the room. Jack shook his head but then this awkward silence fell over the room. "Well I guess we should get our stuff together. Mom said that we were going to be here for a week or so."

"Yeah. See you later Jack," Annie left the room without making eye contact with him and almost ran to her’s.

"Damn," Jack mumbled under his breath. It was so much easier to travel with Annie when he had been going out with Gabe. Now though things were different. "I just have to concentrate on my studies. I have that big history test this week. Big test," Jack kept mumbling as he packed his things up.

In her own room Annie was having a similar conversation with herself. Except she kept asking herself how she could believe that Jack might be interested in her. That Jack saw her as a little sister and nothing else, that was the reason he was so protective of her. He had transferred his drive to protect his sister to her and that was why he was always trying to make sure that she was okay. Annie closed her suitcase with a forceful slam and then flopped down on her bed. What had she been thinking, she had just lost all reason for a moment. She convinced herself that she was just going to have to avoid being alone with Jack for the next few days and then everything would go back to the way it was. Annie closed her eyes and waited for the bus to pull into the motel.

Author’s Note: This is the first So Weird fan fiction that I have written. I hope everyone likes it. I will try to update as much as possible, but just to warn you, I am slow writer and I am working three different stories right now. There is one trick into getting me to write fast though. Feedback, I live on it. Feedback is a drug for me. Hope to give you more to read soon! Oh yeah, English is not my first language so please forgive any spelling and grammar mistakes.