A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps

I have about a dozen missed calls from the mayor and several text messages. I don't waste my time reading them. I'll have to call him either way and dad has already warned me what he's calling about. He found out that Ashton is a prince. I bet he's wishing he was friendlier to him now. Not that he was rude to him exactly, at least not when he knew that Ashton could hear. I bet he's also regretting letting me be his guide rather than some lackey of his. I doubt he's going to believe me if I say I had no idea, but I'm going to have to insist anyway to avoid making it obvious how much I was keeping from him. When all else fails, play dumb. I his the call button and wait for it to ring. Surprisingly, it doesn't ring for more than half a second before he picks up the call.

"Miss Fall. Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been trying to get ahold of you!" Mayor Simmons demands grumpily.

"Oh sorry. I wasn't feeling myself this morning and I slept in. My phone was on silent. I didn't notice you were calling until I checked my phone just now." I tell him, my tone apologetic. I'm not sorry, not really. He's not entitled to my time or attention, as much as he might think otherwise.

"In the future, I would appreciate it if you would keep your phone turned up." He says bluntly. I roll my eyes.

"Why? Are you planning to call me a lot? I can't think why you would." I say, faking obliviousness.

"Yes, well..." The mayor changes the subject.

"The first two fae criminals you and those fae caught weren't very talkative, but this last one... He's been telling everyone all sorts of things. Did you know that Ashton Rallowend is actually a prince? The heir to the throne if this fae child is to be believed. You didn't happen to hear anything about that did you?" He asks suspiciously. I automatically want to shake my head, which is stupid because he can't see me. I can feel my face rearranging to pointlessly form a guileless expression, all wide eyed and innocent.

"A prince! Wow, no way. He didn't say anything like that. Oh my gosh I can't believe I've been working for a prince. That's... That's so cool!" I gush the words like a ditsy fae fangirl. I doubt that the mayor will believe me, but maybe he will believe that I'm so lovestruck, I didn't notice any secrets that Ashton might have been keeping? The mayor sighs, clearly annoyed by me.

"Have you learned anything useful about the fae in all this time? I find it hard to believe they didn't tell you anything." He complains.

"I don't know, they mostly just talked about finding the criminals and asked questions about humans. I didn't want to be nosy so I didn't ask much. It's rude to pry you know." I say, as if confiding a secret. I can't help but laugh under my breath, covering the microphone of the phone so the mayor doesn't hear me. I'm about as nosy as it gets. The mayor gives an exasperated sigh.

"Of course it is. Fine, can I speak to Mr Rallowend then? Better yet, bring him down to my offices for a meeting. I want to talk to him." He insists. Wait, does he not realise that Ashton and Fin have left already? I guess dad is the only other person who knows, and if the mayor didn't ask then dad wouldn't have told him. For just a slight moment, I'm glad Ashton isn't here. If only because I get to answer the mayor.

"Oh, sorry. Ashton and Finvara went home last night. They said they caught the last of the fae so there was no need to stick around any longer. I mean, I'm pretty sure they'll send someone to pick up the criminals at some point. Maybe you could talk to them about it?" I suggest, unhelpfully. The mayor actually curses and I have to fight the urge to giggle. There is just something so fun about annoying him. Maybe it's because he's so demanding. He just expects that I'll do what he wants so it's satisfying being able to say no. I don't actually think he's a bad guy, but I don't feel any particular sense of loyalty to him. I can understand why he might want to know more about the fae, and if they were a threat to us then he would be totally justified pressuring me for information, but they're not. As far as I can tell the fae mostly have very little interest in bothering us. A few of them like Fin might be interested in our technology, but more for the novelty of it than because they want it for themselves or anything. Really, I'm far more loyal to Ashton or Fin than I am to some middle aged man who just expects me to tell him everything. At least they were considerate of me. "Why didn't you tell me they were leaving? You had to know that was important information!" he objects angrily.

"Oh, well it was late and they made the decision pretty last minute. I figured you would be asleep. Then like I said, I slept in this morning. I was calling to tell you now." I say innocently. I just know this is going to piss him off but whatever. I'm miserable, why should he be happy? Misery loves company right?

My call with the mayor lasts a while longer. He complains about my lack of useful information and then tries to convince me to come to the office. He wants me to do some kind of interview so he can try to work out exactly what I do know. No thank you. I'd better not mention how much time Lucy spent with them or he's going to be dragging her down for an interrogation next.

"I really don't know anything." I insist for the fifth time.

"And you don't know when they might be back?" He confirms again.noveldrama

"No idea." I repeat.

"And they didn't leave you any way to contact them?" he asks. Ouch. That kind of hurts. But no, they didn't. If they did then maybe their leaving wouldn't be so painful.

"No, nothing." I answer quietly. This phone call suddenly isn't so funny anymore.

"Hey, I think someone is calling me. I need to go." I lie.

"Wait, Miss Fall, I wanted to ask if-" I hang up the phone before he can finish his sentence. Rude? Maybe. But much more of that and I'm going to burst into tears. I doubt he would enjoy dealing with that and I don't want to explain myself to him either.

I want to cry again but I'm fighting the urge. I can't just burst into tears every time I think about Ashton, it's ridiculous. I don't understand what's wrong with me. I've had crushes before, although admittedly not on gorgeous fae princes, and I've never felt so... So lost when they came to nothing. Not only do I feel lost, but I feel gross too. Even though I've showered I just feel blah. My self esteem is at rock bottom. My clothes feel wrong, my eyes feel scratchy, I have a headache even though I've slept plenty, there are shadows under my eyes and I STILL have awful regrowth in my hair. Actually, that's one thing I can fix and control at least. I force myself out of bed and into the bathroom where I get my hair dying supplies out and start touching up my roots. The cut on my arm aches a little every now and then with me holding my arms above my head so much, but it's practically nothing and a closer look shows me that it's healing well. It isn't red or irritated and it's not particularly tender to touch either. I bet it'll be gone completely in a few more days. An hour and a half later my hair is freshly dyed and drying. It looks pretty much perfect and I start to cry again, sitting on the closed toilet seat, because even after taking control of my hair situation, I still don't feel better, not even a little bit.