Ren crossed his feet, staring off into the distance.  “A few weeks ago, Mom was helping negotiate for some new witches to come to town.  People have to register with the council – so we know what supernaturals are in the city – and sign an agreement before moving in, because they have to agree to certain things to make sure they stay peaceful and don’t start fights or risk revealing us to humans, that sort of thing.  Apparently one of them got into an argument with Mom, which is a tad weird since Mom’s more like the peacekeeper.  It’s not her rules, she’s just explaining them, and even witches, who are notorious for being more interested in money and mayhem than peaceful coexistence and hard work, generally work well with fae.  They get some of the ingredients they need for potions and stuff from us – we’re the only ones who can grow some of what they need.  So I don’t know why, but whatever happened during that disagreement ended with the witch taking a very personal grudge against Mom.  I suspect Mom said something she shouldn’t have, but she won’t admit it if she did.  She claims the witch just got upset with the necessary restrictions and blamed Mom.  I dunno, it seems extreme for that, but then on the other hand, would Mom really lie to us?”  He paused, musing to himself, before shaking himself off a bit.

     “So anyways, after that we started to have issues.  We figured the witch complained to whatever coven they joined and the coven decided to take revenge.  Mostly petty stuff at first, upending our trash, letting air out of the tires, that kind of thing.  Annoying, but not enough to get our police involved.  Not until they cursed me, anyways.  That’s extreme stuff, it could get you banned from the city.  I’m not even sure how they got away with it with the covenants they have to take to stay here.  Sorrel thinks they maybe have someone staying here illegally, hiding without registering with the council first.  Otherwise there’s no good way for them to place a curse like that since it’s a curse that would have killed me if not stopped.

     “They might not have intended to let me die, to be honest.  They cornered me on my way home from school and cast the curse.  I know they were surprised when I ran away before they even finished casting and they weren’t able to catch me.  Then I saw them hanging around, looking for me.  They can’t see cursed invisibility, either, but with their magic they can see the shadows of those with cursed invisibility.  So they were hanging out near the house, watching for my shadow.  And since we can’t always tell if someone’s a witch or not, my family couldn’t be sure if any of the people nearby were witches watching for me.  I mean, I could tell which ones were, at the time, since I realized they were watching for my shadow.  But that just meant I couldn’t go back home in case they caught me – although I’m not sure what they intended to do with me if they did catch me.  I assume use me as a hostage to get Mom and the council to reduce restrictions on witches.  Something like that, at least.

     “When I ran away from them after being cursed and realized what had happened, I went to Sorrel’s clinic first, like I said, but even the animals there couldn’t see me.  Animals can sometimes see people with normal invisibility, and I was hoping they would sense me, too, but no luck there.  I couldn’t remember at first exactly which café Honey worked at so it took me longer to find her place, and you know what happened from there.  Err, mostly.  I guess.  After we left your place, we went home, my parents were thrilled I’d been found, and then Mom ran off to yell at the council about why they hadn’t been more helpful in dealing with the witches when it was clear I’d disappeared.  No one wants to start a war in the city – well no one reasonable, at least – so I get why they didn’t want to just go question all the witches in the city until they found out what happened to me, but anyway Mom was pissed about the whole thing.  We might be peaceful and fairly gentle for the most part, but angry fae, even without going dark, will cause a whole lot of random side effects just by standing there, not even actively using magic, things like food and drinks changing temperatures rapidly, briars growing outside – random annoying things.  People at the council really don’t like it when Mom gets angry so I guess they tried to appease her some but she’s still angry about the whole thing, feels like they didn’t help enough.”

     He sighed.  “The witches haven’t tried anything since then but we have to figure they’ll start up again.  I mean, if they’re smart, they know the council and police are involved now.  Cursing someone isn’t an ignorable offense.  If they try again and get caught, it’ll mean exile from Avenglade, at minimum.  We have to figure they’re laying low until some of the heat dies down before trying again, but when they try again, they’ll be extra careful.  Not a lot to look forward to, but that’s our problem.  And the whole story about what happened and why I was running around invisible yelling at Honey.”

     Ren looked over at me, surprised to find me looking at him – almost as surprised as I was.  I hadn’t realized I’d slowly turned to watch his face during this whole spiel.  Jumping and internally scolding myself, I immediately looked back down at the ground in front of me, hoping he wasn’t upset.  No wait, they always got upset if I looked at them.  Almost always.

     I held still, waiting, and for a few moments he seemed to do the same.

     Then he shrugged and returned to talking.  “They shouldn’t bother you, if you’re worried about that.  It’s a personal vendetta against Mom, they have no reason to go after you.  If anything, they’d probably go after our friends that visit us on a regular basis, or even Dad’s clinic’s patients.  Although to be honest, most supernaturals won’t even touch the family of whoever they hate – it’s pretty taboo, because then it puts your family in the crosshairs, too.  But bottom line is you’re safe from them.  Actually there are rules against harming humans.  Err, usually.”

     He hesitated, then spoke more slowly.  “See, mostly we try to be unseen by humans, or, more accurately, just blend in and make them think we’re human, too.  In this city, we have a larger percentage of the population that is supernatural than most places, but worldwide, supernaturals are vastly outnumbered by humans.  Most humans have no idea that we exist and those that do are either protected by a supernatural or, are, um, Hunters.”

     Hunters.  That’s what Sorrel seemed to think I was, that’s what some of them had accused me of being before.

     I was curious about what they were, needing an answer, but I didn’t dare ask, so I was thankful when Ren continued.

     “Hunters are I guess about what it sounds like – they hunt our kind.  Supernaturals, I mean, all of us – not just fairies.  They don’t distinguish between the peaceful ones of us and the ones that want to harm humans or kill them.  They just see everything non-human as bad and to be killed.  So usually, if a human knows about our world and isn’t a protected human – associated with and protected by a supernatural of some sort – they’re a Hunter.  Which is why Sorrel was worried, because you are human, you seem to know about us, but you’re not associated with a supernatural.”

     I drew a sharp intake of breath.  Hunters.  After all these years, I finally had an answer for why.  Why they wanted to know who I worked for and what I knew when they realized I could see them for what they were.  They were scared of me.  Scared that I was a Hunter going to kill them.

     It made my head spin.

     Then I realized Ren was kind of implying a question there, one which I should probably answer before he killed me.

     “Um, no, I’m not a Hunter.  I don’t think I know any Hunters and if I do, I don’t know that they are such.”

     “Yeah, we kinda figured.”  He admitted.  “Honey was adamant you’re harmless and based on your reaction the other day we decided you didn’t seem to be gathering intel for Hunters or anything like that.  Plus Hunters usually hate us and have very particular feelings towards us which you didn’t display.  Okay, I admit, Sorrel was not entirely convinced it wasn’t a trick but I, on the other hand, saw how you responded to me initially, and all of us after they got there – pretty sure that wasn’t acting.  If it was, you deserve an Oscar or something.”

     He turned to face me more.  “So…what do you know about our world?  And how could you see me?”

     I thought about just not answering him, but I was weirdly almost comfortable here, after listening to his long speech talking about his family and witches.  He didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt me.  He seemed friendly, curious, gentle, even.  I wanted to believe he was what he appeared, even if my past experiences were trying to remind me that they could never be trusted.

     I took a deep breath, ignoring the warnings screaming in my head, and decided to answer his question.  “Nothing.  I don’t know.”

     He seemed confused by my answer at first before slowly realizing I had answered both questions.  “Wait.  Wait.  Wait.  You don’t know anything about our world?  At all?”

     I shrugged slightly, keeping my eyes trained firmly on my toes.  “I know what I see.  I know non-humans exist, but I don’t know what any of them are called or anything about any of them.  I just know what I see.  I don’t know why.”

     It took Ren a moment to process this.  “So…what do you see?”

     Was it okay to tell him?  He didn’t seem to be upset.  I took a moment to pause, to really think about this.  If I was just looking at this objectively, without my preconceived fears, this entire time Ren and Honey hadn’t made a single statement or movement that, on its own, seemed to suggest they’d hurt me.  They had been kind, grateful, friendly.  If I wasn’t so concerned with seeing what I’d always seen in them, I had no reason to think either he or Honey would hurt me.

     Was it okay to try to trust one of them?  Even a little bit?

     My brain screamed no.  It reminded me of the scars on my body, the constant pain in my left arm, every bruise, every broken bone.

     And yet – and yet.  I wanted to understand what I saw and for once in my life, someone might be able to explain it to me.  Wasn’t the possibility of getting answers worth the risk?

     So even knowing that this was very likely going to backfire and he might decide to harm me after all, I decided to take that risk – to hope that, for once, one of them actually wasn’t going to hurt me.

     “I see your wings.  Honey’s wings.  I see scales instead of skin, I see eyes that glow, I see people with bark for skin or people who are continuously dripping water.  I see people with goat’s feet, people with pointy ears, people who look like things out of fantasy books.  I see people with wings like yours, or bat wings, or bird wings.  I see people with the heads of a wolf, or a bear, or a cat.  I see people with the ears and tails of a fox or panther.  I see people glow, people spark with electricity, people with auras, people with animals following them around.  I see ghosts, I see invisible people.  I don’t know why.  I’ve never known.”

     He stared at me, and even from the corner of my eye I could see his jaw had dropped open.  “Wha – how – that’s not even possible!  There’s no spell and no species that can do that!”  Then he paused, processing what I’d said before speaking more slowly.  “And you don’t know anyone from this world?  So no one’s ever explained what you’re seeing?  No supernatural has ever explained?”

     I flinched at even the thought of asking one of them for an explanation.  “I learned long ago to try not to show I saw anything.  It never ends well, asking.”

     “What do you mean, it doesn’t end well?”  His tone was sharp now, concerned.

     “It just – it doesn’t end well.”  I wasn’t willing to say anything more and apparently he got that.

     “No wonder you’re scared of us,” he murmured low, probably low enough he thought I couldn’t hear him.  Then he shook his head a little and spoke at a normal tone.  “So you’ve seen all that, but never known what was going on?”

     I shook my head.  “Sometimes I’ve thought I was crazy.  My mom did.  But I was always reminded it was real when – ”  I stopped, unwilling to finish that sentence.  Unwilling to say I knew it was real when the pain was real, when I was lying on the floor of my bathroom in my tiny apartment, trying not to throw up blood, trying to just breathe even when every breath felt like I was being stabbed in my chest.  Yeah.  The pain reminded me it was real.  And the scars reminded me the pain was real.

     Instinctively, I crossed my right arm across my chest and gripped my left arm tightly.  The arm that never fully worked again, that always hurt no matter what.  It was the biggest reminder that this wasn’t all just in my imagination, that I wasn’t crazy.

     “Sheesh,” Ren murmured, “I can’t imagine seeing all that and having no idea what was going on.  I’d probably think I was crazy, too.”

     Then suddenly he turned to me and, before I realized what he was going to do, took my shoulders gently in his hands and made me face him.

     “I don’t have answers for why you can see what you can, but I do know you’re someone I can trust.  You’re kind and good hearted, willing to help someone you don’t know even if it puts you at risk.  You saved my life, at least.  So, I want to make you an offer.

     “Will you accept my protection?  You wouldn’t be seen as a threat anymore, even if people realize you know about supernaturals.  You’d be viewed as a protected human, knowing about this world because of your relationship with me.  People don’t need to know you knew before you met me.  They’d know you’re protected by a fae and you’d be safe.”  He took a deep breath.  “I’ve never offered this before to a human, partially because I’m not really that close with any, but please, Riven, let me help you.  Let me protect you.”