Serial Saturday: "Fairies Under Glass" Part 12

Part 12

"An Audience With The Queen"

Lewis didn't hesitate as he marched right past the long buildings full of classrooms and lecture halls.
"If anybody asks," he muttered under his breath, "I spent a long time cleaning after the arrival of the new installation, and that's the reason I missed my afternoon classes today."

Ashwyn, meanwhile, was beside herself as she flew in crazy, glittering patterns all around his head.
"I can't believe it! We've actually done it! We're going to save them all, I just know it! The Queen--she'll be so proud of me! And once she can tell us where the Phantasmagyth is, we'll get it back, open the portal... I'll get to see my home again!"

Lewis felt the keen sting of self-consciousness wash over him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Ashwyn!" he hissed, pulling aside the edge of his vest. "Get in here before somebody sees you!"

The little fairy obediently zipped into his pocket, and Lewis crossed the final intersection to reach the student accommodations.

Finally, in the privacy of his own room, he plopped the backpack on his bed and sank into his desk chair with a sigh of relief. Eyeing the black, lumpy bag beside him, Lewis mustered up just enough willpower to open the zipper.

A tiny hand presented itself, stiff and lifeless, except for the fact that the covering held it shape better than clay, and carried more texture than minute amounts of silicone. Lewis tugged that out, revealing one of the wingless figurines he'd seen before.

"An elf," he reminded himself, setting that one aside and bringing out another. One by one, he laid them out on his desk. Ashwyn noticed what he was doing almost at once and flew out to watch, from the roof of her little house on the nightstand. Among the numbers of "fairykind", as Ashwyn called them, Lewis found the canvas-wrapped Queen, and put her at the front of the desk, to free her first out of all of them.
A thrill raced through him as he picked up a pair of scissors and went to work on the back of the canvas, gently breaking the small threads without cutting the fabric itself. So intense was his focus that he nearly jumped out of his skin when something fluttered against his palm.

Lewis immediately dropped the bundle, and the canvas fell away from the grand, gleaming figure that emerged and rose into the air.

She floated over the still-trapped figurines, her ire rising by the minute. "Oh, my poor kin! Ruthless, heartless--how dare he! Look at what he's done!"

Lewis opened his mouth to speak, but at the slightest noise, the Queen whirled upon him and shone her brightest light in his face as she hovered angrily.

"You!" She seethed. "Are you in league with him? How many of our kind does he hold captive? You think I will consent to be used as bait for my own subjects? Ha!" She veered off as Lewis could only sit frozen in shocked silence. When the Queen returned, she'd fashioned one of the staples from a trapped fairy into a makeshift sword. She boldly slashed him across the nose with it. "I will be your worst nightmare, human! I will exact my revenge on you and your terrible master--"

"Your Majesty!" Ashwyn's familiar wind-chimey voice cut in. A second ball of light joined the Queen, and Lewis nearly went crosseyed as Ashwyn went so far as to insert herself between the Queen and the front of his nose. "He is not to blame! He saved us--he's going to save us all!"

The Queen's wings fluttered as she hovered, and landed on top of Lewis' desk lamp. Even so tiny, he could feel the fury on her face as Ashwyn dropped to the desk and curtseyed.

"You're one of the common fairies," the Queen identified Ashwyn coldly. "A Fielder, if I'm not mistaken. And you vouch for this human?"

Ashwyn kept her head ducked as she stood. "He saved me, and he has promised to find the Phantasmagyth and use it to send us back home."

"The Phantasmagyth is gone!" The Queen snapped bitterly. "The Hunter has claimed the red-horned unicorn, and Phantasm is vulnerable." She switched her gaze up to Lewis' face. "How do I know you have my people's best interest at heart? Perhaps you are only interested in fairykind who are of some use to you." She alighted from the lamp and flew over the various fairies and elves laid out so stiffly on the desk. "Free them, by whatever powers you possess to overcome that which the Captor used to enchant us, and then we will talk."

Lewis nodded, and under the watchful eye of the Queen, he commenced wiping away the thick paint coating and pulling the staples from each little figure. Even Ashwyn flew around to help slip the staples out of their holes. It took them the better part of an hour, but when they were done, six fairies zoomed around the room, and eight little elves crawled into every nook and cranny.

"Oooh, look! He has books!" Squealed a fairy. "Such big ones, too! I'm sure they hold lots of information about this world!"

"Hey, what's back here?" called an elf, as he and two others pushed their way through a crack in the baseboards. "Whoa, it's like a spooky cave!"

Lewis did his best to not let his aggravation show, as he turned to the Queen and asked, "Is that enough for you?"

The Queen's voice barely exceeded the noise level of the chattering fairykind. "I see that you have good intentions, but I am still unconvinced that you have the clout to be able to strategize well enough to be our savior."

An elf shouted from the bathroom. "Check it out! He's got his own private lake in here!"

A trio of fairies excitedly flew in, and Lewis could hear the tap running in the bathtub. "Well, I--"

Knock-knock-knock. "Lewis?"

Alarm radiated through Lewis' body as he recognized Quincy's voice just outside.

"Ashwyn!" he hissed under his breath. "Get everybody hidden!"

"Okay!" The little fairy snapped a salute, and began zipping all over the room, herding elves and fairies into the small closet. "This is just temporary," she told them. "Everybody get comfortable, and stay quiet. We cannot let other humans discover us!"

Lewis, meanwhile, tossed all the staples and canvas scraps into the trash, and did his best to make it look like he was just in his room alone. Once the coast was clear and the closet firmly closed, he threw open the door.

"Hi, guys!" he said, as Quincy and Jesse stared at him from the hallway.

Jesse snorted. "Where were you today, man?" he asked. "Quincy didn't see you at Math today, and you missed the first few Environmental Sciences presentations--we're on for next Monday, remember? Hope you don't forget that one and leave me in the lurch!"

Lewis bobbed his head. "Oh, yeah, I just--I had a lot to do at Moulton House today, I got special dispensation because they're setting up a new exhibit."

Quincy grinned and toyed with her dark braid. "Ooh, what is it this time?" she asked. "Did he make a dragon?"

I suppose there could be worse things than a giant girl, Lewis thought to himself, and responded, "No, it's a macro sculpture of a sleeping girl. You guys should go see it sometime."

"Macro, huh?" Jesse mused.

Lewis nodded. "They had to take out a portion of the wall to get it in, that's how big it is."

Quincy eyed the boy standing next to her. "Have you been to Moulton House yet?"

Jesse shrugged. "Never really been my thing--but I'd be interested to see how good the artist's attention to detail is. From what Quincy says, the artwork looks pretty realistic on a miniature scale."

"Oh, it totally is!" Quincy inserted. "Anyway, Lew," she turned back to the young man. "We just wanted to check on you because we didn't see you today, and..." she craned her neck, squinting to examine the room behind him. "Why did it sound like a ton of jingle-bells just before you got to the door?"

"Oh, is that what that sound was?" Jesse cut in. "I thought somebody was watching a bell-choir rehearsal or something."

Lewis noticed Quincy's foot inching forward, and he backed up a step. "Oh, yeah, I was... Watching some of the performances from the Academy's bell choir," he waved nebulously toward the room, as if he had a computer of some sort in an out-of-the-way spot. "Just looking over my job options for next semester."

Quincy stopped and stepped back, tilting her eyebrow at him in dubious amusement. "Bell choir, Lewis?"

He couldn't say anything, but nodded. "Like I said, just exploring my options."

Jesse snorted. "Whatever, dude. See you in class tomorrow?"

Lewis nodded quickly. "Yeah, I should be there." Unless Mr. Schlimme misses a whole bunch of fairy displays and gets suspicious! he added inside his head.

"Okay, well," Quincy seemed reluctant to leave, for whatever reason. "Goodnight, Lewis."

Lewis closed the door and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

The flutter of multiple wings and a chorus of shushing sounds issued from the closet. Two orbs of light emerged from the slightly-open door: the Queen and Ashwyn.

Her Majesty declined her head graciously as she alighted on Lewis' outstretched hand. "Ashwyn has informed me of all that you have done, including your efforts to truly understand and communicate with us through the use of fairy dust," she said. "I will tell you as much as I know."

The three of them gathered at Lewis' desk, and the Queen relayed the tale of how things began going wrong when the first human arrived on Phantasm.

"Before then, there had been no outside presence in our world," she said. "We had not so much as seen a human, for they are not native to our world. I know not by what magic he was able to cross the dimensions, and at first, we kept ourselves hidden, because we did not know his purpose. But the longer he traversed through our lands, only taking small samples of the flowers and grasses, perhaps a rock or two as a souvenir, the more we relaxed our guard and ceased to view him as a threat--and that was the hour of our downfall." She shuddered.

"Ashwyn mentioned that he used some sort of gas to paralyze all the fairykind," Lewis said. "But what sort of chemical would work so effectively?"

The Queen sighed, clasping her hands in her lap. "It is a species of poisonous flower native to Phantasm--all creatures avoid it, and we teach our offspring never to touch it."

"Why not destroy it?" Lewis blurted. "If it's so dangerous, why not just eradicate all traces of it?"

The Queen stared up at him. "We may be fairies," she said, "but we have no more control over which plants grow and flourish and which do not than we can control the very sun in the sky. We do not know how this plant, the flowering bush we call venim," she pronounced the word with emphasis on the second syllable, "came to be, but the more we try to destroy it, the more it comes back--so we just avoid it wherever it is found." She sighed and wagged her head. "That being said, the unscrupulous Hunter found it to be a very effective paralytic, once he distilled it into a gas, and so he would disperse it over entire areas and wait for it to freeze us in our tracks. He..." She shuddered, sending a flicker of light through her wings. "He came to the Fairy Glen one day, sitting so peacefully. He looked so innocent and docile, just exploring and curious. I came to him and began speaking, and although he didn't understand me, nor I, him, he could guess my meaning, and I could just listen and investigate this new creature. He showed me a jar that seemed to have a few fairies sleeping inside, and I grew worried as I saw them, and flew into the jar to wake them up--"

Lewis pictured the scene, guessing Mr. Schlimme's next move. "And that's when he released the gas in there and froze you in place."

The Queen nodded. "I didn't notice at first, I was too busy trying to wake my kin, but as it turned out, they were only shapes made of clay, they had never been alive at all--but by the time I realized that, the venim-gas had already taken effect, and I couldn't move or speak. From there, I was the bait to lure other faithful fairies into his grasp. He even hid in a field and sprayed the venim-gas into the air as the red-horned unicorn was galloping by. The poor thing! I watched him struggle, bucking and kicking and rearing his magnificent head... but in vain."

Lewis recalled the way that Schlimme had the unicorn "posed"--perhaps the gryphon as well, had been in the act of trying to strike at him when it was paralyzed, not some attacking enemy, and certainly not the Guardian of all Phantasm!

"What about the Phantasmagyth?" Ashwyn asked. "The Hunter didn't get that, did he?"

The Queen leaned back, running her fingers over the grain of the wood beneath her. "I cannot be sure. One moment, I saw the unicorn fighting against his captors as the sunlight glinted off the chain around his neck--and by the time it was over, his neck was bare."

"So... maybe it fell off?" Lewis asked, scratching his head. How did they expect him to retrieve something they'd inadvertently left behind?

The Queen drew herself up with an indignant air. "The Phantasmagyth is definitely here, or we would not be speaking right now--but it is in two parts, otherwise we would all be beholden to whoever bears the Phantasmagyth."

Lewis considered the options. "Okay, that just confirms that Krasimir Schlimme--the man you know as the Hunter--doesn't have it, otherwise he wouldn't have to keep you all paralyzed with this venim-gas stuff. So... Where could it be?" Maybe it was somewhere in the storage room with all the creepy creatures Krasimir was saving.

"I believe the Hunter at least has one part, and it's got to be the Gyth," the Queen answered. "That is the gemstone part of the complete Phantasmagyth. I heard him speaking one day to his henchman about a magical crystal and the fact that he couldn't get it to work."

"That won't stop him from trying, though," Ashwyn said with a shudder. "So he's got the crystal--but what about the Chain?"

"Only one creature knows where the chain is," the Queen said. "And that is the red-horned unicorn himself. We must ask him what was done, if we stand any chance of rescue and a return home."

Lewis raised a finger. "Okay, but here's the problem with that: Schlimme has him on display inside a case made of solid glass. There's no way I can break into that without, you know, breaking it."

Ashwyn jumped to her feet in a flounce of purple gauze, and began pacing. "I remember seeing it," she said. "But it looked like the whole thing just rested in some grooves on the wooden base, it wasn't fastened down or anything."

The young janitor snorted. "Yeah, because that thing is heavy--it would take a motorized winch with the power of five men just to lift it!"

Ashwyn stopped pacing and looked at him. "Say that again!" she challenged.

Lewis frowned and repeated himself. "I said, it would take a motorized winch just to lift it--"

"No, no," she waved her hand and ran over to him. "The part about the five men. You say it would take five humans to lift it... but what about a giant?"

Lewis felt his heart skip, and his face went cold at the idea. "You mean... No! Oh no, absolutely not!"
In the midst of his objections, Ashwyn explained to the Queen how they had just confirmed that Schlimme had captured a female giant in much the same way he had gotten every other fantasy creature.

"That will certainly work!" the Queen voiced her approval. "Waken the giant just like you awakened us, and she will help you access the unicorn."

Lewis shook his head. "I can't! It's too risky!"

"But it's our only chance!" Ashwyn pointed out. "We can't access the unicorn without her help, and we need the unicorn to secure the Phantasmagyth."

"Then it's settled!" The Queen clapped her hands. "Human," she pointed at Lewis, "you must awaken the giant at the next available opportunity."

Lewis sat back and folded his arms. "Don't call me Human," he grumbled. "My name is Lewis. And you're not in charge of me."

"Please, Lewis," Ashwyn begged, coming up to cling on his arm. "I know you're scared--I would be too, if I had to revive a human and I didn't know what they were. But at least can you assure us that you'll try?"

Lewis huffed and fidgeted with his hands. He didn't even know if he could find a way to revive the giant--it wasn't like she was stapled to a massive canvas--and what if she was too big for the room and broke something? There was no way he could cover up a mess that big!

"I'll... I'll try," he muttered under his breath.

"Thank you, Lewis," said the Queen. "We will withdraw." She signaled to Ashwyn, who scurried over to lead the way to the little house on the nightstand.

When Lewis opened the closet to retrieve his pajamas, he noticed the beginnings of several more little houses like the one Ashwyn had mysteriously "made"--but where did the fairies get the materials for these things? None of his own belongings seemed mislaid or missing, so he simply shrugged it off and went to bed. He had bigger things to worry about than fairies living in his closet.

Bigger, as in how to feasibly wake a giant without destroying a building.

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Serial Saturday: "Fairies Under Glass", Part 11

Part 11

"The New Arrival"

Lewis spent the evening going over multiple iterations of some kind of plan with Ashwyn, trying to figure out how he could smuggle the Queen out of the museum. He knew he wasn't going to be able to use that hallway again--but what other option did they have?

"Wait a minute," Lewis mused to himself, studying their meager list of options. "There was a truck beside the building once--they would use their own doors, wouldn't they?"

"You mean, there's another way to get into that room?" Ashwyn asked hopefully.

Lewis slumped on his bed. "I don't know... maybe." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Ashwyn came to settle on top of his alarm clock. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Lewis sighed and lay down. "I just... I have lasted this long without getting into trouble, and--" He stopped and cast a worried glance out the window. "If I'm caught now, what will that do to my chances?"

The little fairy leaned back and kicked her dangling feet. "Are you so sure you will get caught?" she mused.

Lewis felt sleep tugging at the back of his eyelids as he reached up to turn out the lamp. "Trust me," he murmured. "I'm terrible at being stealthy."

In the darkness, Ashwyn's wings flickered briefly as she moved over to the door of her little house. "You were stealthy enough to rescue me," she murmured as the boy drifted off to sleep. "I think you'll find a way to save us all."

------------

As it turned out, Lewis didn't have long to wait before figuring out what to do about rescuing the Queen.
Right after his first class of the day, Melanie stood waiting for him, with wriggling, barking Keats at her side. The puppy yelped and dashed over to Lewis as he approached, and then, just before he was in arm's reach of the boy, the little dog stopped dead in his tracks.

Lewis laughed and reached forward, but Keats dodged his hand.
"Hey," Lewis muttered. "What's the idea?"

Keats yapped, jumping toward Lewis' chest, but still evading any touch from his hand. When Lewis gave up and stood back, Keats darted back to Melanie and curled his body around her legs.

The young woman gave a light chuckle, staring at her dog in confusion. "That's strange... usually he's more friendly and sociable than that. Go on, you goof," she stepped aside, giving Keats some reassuring pats. "You know Lewis; say hi!"

The puppy yapped a few more times, but refused to leave Melanie's side. The faculty aide sighed. "Oh well, so much for that." She beckoned to Lewis. "Come on, I'm supposed to bring you to Moulton House. You're needed for some heavy-duty cleaning."

Lewis fell into step beside her, the anxiety climbing in his chest. What sort of mess could have been made in a single night that qualified as "heavy-duty"?

He arrived at the museum to find Exhibit Hall G roped off by barriers of yellow caution tape. The doors had been removed, and a good portion of the wall as well, three feet on either side of the door well and all the way up to the twenty-foot ceiling.

Lewis had to stop and stare, fully aware that his mouth was probably hanging open, and yet too preoccupied to care.
"What... the..."

"Oh, heavens! Grant's here, good," Whimpered a voice, and a very disheveled-looking Mr. Gilroy emerged from one of the far hallways and headed straight for Lewis. "Why are you just standing there? It's so incredibly rude of him to go over my head like this--I thought this museum was for temporary exhibits, not permanent alterations that risk compromising the structural integrity of this building! Go, go, go, my boy!" Gilroy rounded Lewis and gave him gentle, insistent taps on the shoulder. "Get your uniform on, quickly! It's a disaster area in there, and I don't want to know what Herr Schlimme might charge if any of his artwork is ruined on our account!"

Lewis peeled his eyes away from the bizarre sight of the all-but-gutted room, and his mind buzzed with curiosity as he rushed to the hallway and dashed for his locker.

The moment he whipped his vest off, Ashwyn burst from his chest pocket.
"Oh, boy! That was a close one!" she jangled, diving for her customary shelf in his locker. "What's going on? Something amazing, I'm guessing!" Her wings shimmered in the shadows. "I can feel it in the air!"

Lewis paused in thought as he pulled his jumpsuit around his shoulders. "Hm, that's funny," he mumbled.

"What is?" Ashwyn stood on the edge of the shelf where he could see her.

Lewis shrugged. "I guess I've gotten used to you by now; once I started Lit class this morning, I completely forgot that I carry a fairy around in my shirt pocket."

"Yes, well," Ashwyn huffed, "I hope you're not claiming that as your excuse for the way you let that monster attack me!"

Lewis furrowed his brow. "What monster? We weren't attacked by any--"

"You know the one!" Ashwyn persisted. "It smells bad, and it's noisy, and I think you called it Kees or something--"

"Keats?" Lewis corrected absently. "The dog? But he wasn't--oh!" Suddenly, the rambunctious puppy's strange behavior made a whole lot more sense. Lewis laughed. "Sorry about that whole thing earlier; dogs are pretty harmless creatures, but he probably smelled you in my pocket and freaked out because he didn't know what he was smelling!" The way Keats had focused so intently on Lewis' vest--Lewis himself couldn't tell if fairies had a scent, but a dog certainly would!

More banging and shouts issued from the museum floor outside, so Lewis quickly loaded up his cart and left--barely noticing the fact that Ashwyn still waited on the shelf when he shut the door of his locker and hustled into the hallway.

As he neared Exhibit Hall G, he could hear Krasimir Schlimme's voice booming amid the bangs, crashes, and whirring of sawblades.
"Vhere is ze boy? Ve must get zese pieces out of here! Mein Gott, if he is not coming until his normal hour--"

Lewis ducked under the caution tape and pulled his cart through behind him. "Here, sir! Sorry I'm la--" The words died in his mouth as he came into the room and saw the absolute mess of the place.

The glittering curtain of fairies now lay on a heap in one corner, while the chunks of drywall and brick from the removed portion of the wall lay in various heaps around the open spaces.

Nearly all of the displays had been moved or dismantled, about half of them stacked against the sides of the room while the free-standing walls had all been shifted to the back of the exhibit hall. The space at the front of the room was twice the size of Casey's garage--what did they need such a large open area for?

As Lewis proceeded further into the room, he saw the display case with the red-horned unicorn, and noted that the gryphon had been returned to its original position, posed as if attacking the unicorn.
But if the unicorn is the protector, it wouldn't make sense for the gryphon to show animosity toward it, Lewis thought. Unless the gryphon is somehow a threat to the good creatures of Phantasm. He shuddered, hoping he would never have to find out which side the gryphon was on.

A thick layer of plaster dust coated just about every surface, so Lewis figured he could take the initiative. He grabbed the broom and started sweeping the dust into a pile as Adolf walked in with a stack of crates twice the big man's height.

Lewis glanced over as the burly security guard walked to the nearest stack of artwork and began loading the larger, undamaged pieces into the slots of the crate.

Krasimir finished shouting at the remodeling team and came into the space. "She is almost here! Why do we move so slowly?" he exclaimed frantically. He flailed his arms at Adolf. "Nein! Ve haf no time for care! Mach schneller!" He darted for a pile of broken frames and shattered glass--displays that had not fared so well during the demolition phase. These he began tossing willy-nilly into Lewis' trash cart.
Under the guise of dumping a pile of dust into the cart, Lewis glanced down.

Amid the glass shards and splinters, he could see pieces of backdrop material and twisted limbs--was Krasimir so callous to be throwing away live creatures to end up in some landfill somewhere?

The artist himself interrupted Lewis' musings as he had calmed down somewhat. In his hands, he held a stack of small, undamaged wall displays, and these he perched delicately on top of the full cart.
"Take zem all down at the same time, bitte," Mr. Schlimme instructed, "and if zey are undamaged, put zem vis ze others. If zey are damaged, put zem in ze trash."

Lewis obediently rolled the cart out of the exhibit hall when the full impact of his instructions hit him, drawing him up straight. Schlimme had told him to bring the displays down with the others. That meant he had permission to go to the basement storage area! Feeling like a key character in a heist film, Lewis moseyed straight down the "forbidden" hallway and paused at the top of the stairs. He glanced around for a ramp down to the lower level, but saw none.

Lewis sighed. "Guess I'm going to have to take these down a few at a time," he said to himself, eyeing the stack of displays.

He began transporting them down a few at a time. No sense in risking the wrath of the artist if any of these displays got damaged after leaving the exhibit hall!

Lewis gently stacked the art atop a closed crate, doing his best to never stack higher than three frames, in order to reduce the risk of crushing. Upon seeing the familiar Queen's Court display, Lewis remembered his original intention for the day--and now here was the perfect cover for it! On one of the last trips down, he stayed in the storage area and searched for the crate containing the Queen. There she was, back in that same slot Ashwyn had found.

His heart thumped wildly as he carried her to the long table at the center of the room. His ears seemed keyed up to the slightest noise as he stared at her glittering winter display. How was he going to sneak her out of the room? Krasimir expected him to leave all the intact displays behind.

Lewis' gaze shifted to the scissors and pliers in a bin at the back of the table. But what if hers was just another busted display? his thoughts inquired.

Lewis gently lifted the frame to access the back panel. Working gently, he removed the fasteners, and the whole back came along with it. inside the wooden frame was a canvas frame, on which the Queen was suspended. Lewis winced as he saw that she wasn't held prisoner by a few large staples, but by dozens of fine stitches--he couldn't free her here and now. Besides, he could hear the shuffling steps and heavy grunts of Adolf walking through the lobby. If he caught Lewis in there...
He had to act quickly.

"Sorry, Your Majesty," Lewis whispered as he took a box knife and cut out the chunk of canvas around the trapped fairy. He piled the scraps of canvas all around her, concealing what it was, and set the frame aside with a collection of other empty frames. He gently cradled the wad of canvas in his hands and had just placed it at the top of the pile of trash in his cart when Adolf rounded the corner and immediately scowled at the sight of him.

"You!" snarled the angry man, getting close enough to Lewis that the boy could smell his horrible breath. "I thought the Boss told you not to be down here--"

"He-He gave me permission!" Lewis squeaked, fighting to keep from shaking all over. "I was just taking out the trash!" He pointed to the cart, almost daring Adolf to try and find fault with a dumb student who was just following orders.

Lewis saw Adolf's nostrils flare. Why was he smelling the trash?

"Well then," Adolf finally stepped back and pointed behind him. "Be on your way," he rumbled.
Lewis felt lighter than air as relief cascaded over him. He was almost home free! He could just imagine how Ashwyn would react when she saw the dozen or so fairies he was able to rescue just by calling them "trash."

"Look out, there! Coming through!"

Lewis stopped in his tracks as he heard the warning, while a sustained, pulsing beep alerted anyone that a "wide load" was on its way--as in through the double-doors of Moulton House, Krasimir Schlimme's latest display arrived:

A giant girl, curled up on a mattress about three feet thick. Lewis felt his jaw drop a second time as he watched them slowly maneuver the massive "sculpture" into the room. They did it feet-first, so that the last thing Lewis watched was her innocent face, seven feet from her chin to her scalp, eyes closed as if in slumber. Her shoulders spanned an additional six feet from the surface of the mattress. Once the Warehouse 31 movers got the bed into place, they started cleaning up around the threshold to replace the doors. 

Only then did Lewis find the wherewithal to shake himself and push through the rest of his sweeping. Once the floors had been cleared of debris, he rushed to the janitor's locker with his cart full of "contraband" fairies. His mind spun. How had Krasimir managed to ensnare such a large trophy, and how did he transport it from Phantasm to this world without anyone knowing? How exactly had he done any of it? Lewis wondered if--should the artist's secret be discovered--he would ever learn exactly how it happened.

He didn't have long to wonder about this, though, because as soon as he opened his locker door, Ashwyn darted out and began zooming around the room, jabbering at a million miles an hour.
"Let me tell you, it is not exciting to be shut up in a tiny room with only your clothes and books for company! Why didn't you let me out? Did you really not want me around? Just say the word, and I'll leave you forever, if this is the way you're going to treat me! After all the secrets I've explained to you? After all we've been through together? This is what you do to friends? I won't have it! I--" She stopped as Lewis reached into the cart and lifted out the wad of shredded canvas with a grin on his face.

He sat on a nearby bench and began unfolding it. Curiously, the fairy perched on his knee as he pulled open the last bit of fabric, revealing the paralyzed Queen.

"Oh!" Ashwyn gasped, dropping to her knees. "You did it! You saved her!"

Lewis nodded, gesturing to the bin. "And there are more."

Ashwyn's irritation at being left behind evaporated as she dove into the mass of paint, scraps, splinters, and shards. "Oh! You wonderful human! I can't believe you've done it! This isn't everybody, though?" She asked at last, climbing out of the tangle.

Lewis sighed. "No, but at least Krasimir is not going to miss these."

Ashwyn settled on the side of the trash cart. "Why was he just going to throw all these fairies away? After everything he did to capture us--and now we're suddenly garbage to him?"

Lewis rubbed the back of his neck. "Ashwyn, are there giants in Phantasm?"

She smiled. "Oh yes! Many of them are friendly, even. Fairykind don't have much to do with the giants, though, because we're so small and they're so large, and that--oh!" She gasped and jumped to her feet, the purple skirts flouncing. "You mean he has one?"

Lewis nodded. "Sleeping, and probably paralyzed like you all."

Ashwyn wrapped her arms around herself. "Oh, this is terrible! First the red-horned unicorn, now a giant, too? Please, Lewis," she scurried along the side of the cart to put her hands on Lewis' arm. "You've got to help us!"

Lewis huffed. "I'm trying!" he complained, and his thoughts added, But every moment, the situation just gets more and more complicated!

Ashwyn's wings twitched. She pointed to the cart. "We can help you! Can we free all of these now?"

Lewis checked his watch. His shift was ending soon, and he would need to get back to his building to receive a list of the assignments he missed so he would be able to stay on track. "Not here," he said. "But if we can fit everyone into my backpack, I can carry them back to my room where we can free them all in privacy."

"On it!" Ashwyn curved a loop in the air. By the time Lewis' shift ended, Ashwyn somehow packed all of the paralyzed fairies safely and securely inside the backpack. As it turned out, there weren't quite as many as Lewis thought--a few fairies and elves didn't survive the process, either from suffocating as an art piece, or too badly injured in the process of taking them off the wall. Ashwyn shed a few tears for them, as Lewis dutifully emptied his cart into the big trash bin headed for the dumpster.

In the end, Lewis calmly trudged out of the front door of Moulton House with a backpack brimming with fairies. He was committed now, no doubt about it!

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Serial Saturday: "Fairies Under Glass" Part 10

Part 10

"Sworn Duty"

It took all of Lewis' concentration to head down the hall toward the main cafeteria for breakfast the next morning.

Act natural! Act natural! His brain kept screaming. Meanwhile, he could feel all six inches of Ashwyn's body curled up in his shirt pocket, under the itchy wool vest of his Academy uniform. To her credit, she managed to stay perfectly still as he selected a tray and filled his plate with scrambled eggs, waffles, and sausages.

When he sat down to eat, her chiming questions pelted his ear like the soft tinkling of distant wind chimes.

"What smells so amazing? Can I try a bite? It's hot in here; can I come out, just for a little bit?"

Lewis calmly broke off a piece of his waffle, and--checking to make sure no one was staring right at him--casually slipped it under the collar of his vest. Ashwyn's happy jingle at seeing the morsel brought a smile to his face.

He finished his meal in peace, and checked the day's schedule in preparation for heading out to his classes.

9:30 CHEM--Quarterly Quiz

That one terrible word sent a spasm of fear down Lewis' spine.

"Whoa!" Ashwyn murmured from her hiding spot. "I just heard your heartbeat speed up really fast! What just happened?"

Lewis quickly ducked down an empty hallway so he could whisper to his pocket in peace.
"Nothing," he murmured. "Just a quiz today, which means everybody around me will be very quiet and you're going to have to sit very still for a long time--can you manage it?"

"I'll try," Ashwyn promised.

Forty-five minutes later, Lewis stepped out of the Chemistry classroom feeling more relief than ever.

Ashwyn wriggled against his chest. "Is it over?" she asked softly.

Lewis laughed. There was no one around, so he could talk freely. "Yes, it's done," he said. "Now we just have another lecture, then lunch, then it's off to Moulton House!" For once, he actually felt excited to return there again. Judging by the excited quivering in his pocket, Lewis guessed that Ashwyn just might be feeling the same way.

The excitement lasted right until Lewis crossed the threshold of the museum. Ashwyn almost flew free from the pocket, except that Adolf came out into the lobby at the same moment. Lewis had to grab his pocket and make sure the little fairy stayed put as the burly security guard stared at him with suspicious, narrowed eyes.

"What're you doing here?" Adolf growled, advancing on Lewis with measured, stalking steps.

Lewis kept his arms folded over his chest, to further conceal Ashwyn's presence. "I'm here to do my job!" he said loudly, in the hopes that either Krasimir or Mr. Gilroy would hear him and come out there, in case Adolf tried something.

The tall, swarthy man didn't take his eyes off Lewis, but he made sure to stay an arm's length away. Lewis noticed his nose twitching, and heard a small huffing sound.

Was Adolf smelling him?

"Ah! Lewis! Right on time, m'boy!" Mr. Gilroy's voice never sounded so welcome as it did just then. Lewis turned his back to Adolf and waved to the jovial curator, and when he turned back again, Adolf had disappeared.

"I'm going to change into my work uniform and get started," Lewis said, and Mr. Gilroy nodded.

"That's what I like to see!" said the older man. "It's clear regard for efficiency and an understanding of what must be done that makes an effective worker."

Lewis absently nodded his head and wandered into the hallway where the janitor's storage closet was located.

Ashwyn burst out from under his collar and landed on a small shelf in his locker. "Whew! That was a close one!" she sighed.

Lewis released a heavy sigh. "Boy, I'll say! Way too close, if you ask me!"

Ashwyn shrugged. "But look at it this way: you did it once, and they didn't suspect a thing."

Lewis pulled on his coveralls and smirked. "Well, Gilroy didn't, for sure; but Adolf..." He shuddered at the memory of the look the man had given him. "I just think we should be extra-cautious around the two men who would know the most about you."

Ashwyn gave a small quiver that made her wing-lights flicker. "Oh, good point," she jingled.

Lewis got his cart set up with all the tools and equipment, and then he paused to pull open the chest pocket of his jumpsuit with an inviting glance toward the little fairy.

Ashwyn zipped over and dove inside, and the two of them set out into the long hallway toward Exhibit Hall G.

Walking through the doors nearly felt normal to Lewis--until he heard the clanging bell sounds issuing from his pocket.

He glanced around carefully, checking the angles to make sure there were no security cameras in sight.

"You can come out," he whispered. "We're the only ones here--but just make sure you stay close to the displays, in case a camera is nearby."

Ashwyn needed no second invitation. Lewis hadn't even finished talking before she was out and zooming between the walls, hovering up near the ceiling with the still-strung "curtain of fairies", and down below where others were on display behind panes of glass.

"Oh my dragons!" she gushed. "It's so much bigger than I ever thought possible! How are things so big, and yet they only take up barely any space in your world, everything is just so big!"

She paused at the window, a glimmering speck barely visible on the high sill. "Oooh!" Lewis heard her sigh. "The trees are red! What makes them red? Why are some of them yellow and orange? I didn't know trees could be so many colors! Back on Phantasm, we just have green trees. That's it. Just green, green, green all the time! But look at how pretty these ones are! And look at all the palaces!"

Lewis snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you there," he said, "but those aren't palaces, they're just buildings, mostly filled with classrooms and lecture halls."

"But they're so big!" she sighed again. "Oh, my friends are going to love this!"

Lewis paused the action of wiping down a display of a young boy in overalls sitting next to a creek with a fishing rod--although with what he knew now, he almost felt pity at the way the poor fairy's limbs bent at odd angles in order to lie flat; how uncomfortable that must be! Yet with the paralyzing agent, the small creature could not resist. He did frown after a few moments; it could be his imagination, but he didn't see wings in this particular display, and there weren't too many bits of material added to the backdrop to conceal anything.

"Ashwyn," he asked. "Come here a minute."

She flew toward him. "I'll come--but what's a minit?" she asked.

Lewis waved his hand. "Never mind; is it just me, or does this fairy not have any wings?" he asked.

Ashwyn paused beside the frame, her body language communicating a forlorn aspect. "This isn't a fairy, actually," she explained, placing her hand on the glass as if she could rest it on the captive's shoulder. "He is an elf; collectively we're all Little Folk and we generally live together, but elves don't have wings. Only fairies do."

Lewis shuddered to think where Krasimir might have needed to place the staples, since this elf didn't have wings to help pin him down. "Oh, that's interesting," he mumbled. Lewis tried to move on and continue cleaning, but Ashwyn followed him at a more subdued pace.

"So..." she chimed softly. "Are you going to save more of them?"

Lewis sighed. "Not yet," he admitted. "I think I need to find out more about this Phantasmajig you mentioned last night."

"Phantasmagyth," Ashwyn corrected. "It's a magical gem, almost as big as the height of a fairy, and it hangs from a golden chain." She fluttered gently through the air behind him, reciting the information like a dutiful schoolgirl. "The magic emitted by the Phantasmagyth protects us all--every Phantasmian. The Guardian of the Phantasmagyth is the red-horned unicorn."

Lewis stopped cold and his eyes darted for the large display case that wasn't lit up just now. "Red-horned, you say?" he asked.

Ashwyn cut a neat circular figure. "Yes, there's only one born in a generation. The color of a unicorn's horn depends on what area they are assigned to defend. Silver-horned unicorns protect the mountain regions, golden-horned unicorns protect the villages, green-horned unicorns protect the forests, and blue-horned unicorns protect the lakes and rivers--but only the red-horned unicorn can bear the great responsibility of safeguarding the Phantasmagyth's magic. That's why there has to be only one of them--others may have specific regions they defend, but the red-horned unicorn protects all of Phantasm."

Lewis felt his palms grow slick with sweat as he thought about the ramifications of someone unscrupulous like Krasimir Schlimme having the red-horned unicorn in his possession. "So... You were saying earlier how the Phantasmagyth must be around here somewhere?"

Ashwyn made a strange snorting sort of noise from behind another wall. "Well, that's what I thought at first, because I can't think of anything else that would explain how the poison could wear off so quickly... hmm, not her either... But if the Phantsmagyth is here, that would mean that either the Hunter has slain the red-horned unicorn and taken the gem for himself, or it's--" she stopped, and Lewis knew exactly where she would be. He made his way over to the glass case containing the unicorn.

"Here," Ashwyn finished quietly. Lewis felt her land heavily on his shoulder. "I... I don't believe it!" She stammered. "Our one hope of ever being able to return to Phantasm was the notion that the red-horned unicorn would be there to welcome us back, that our world would be safe because at least he was still there..." There was a small hitch in her voice, Lewis concluded she must be crying.

"Ashwyn," he whispered. "I still want to help; what can we do now?"

Ashwyn let out a loud sniffle and rose into the air again. Her voice carried a resolute tone as she said, "Well, ah... The Queen. She would know what to do. We must find her."

Lewis nodded. "I know exactly where she is," he said, pointing the way around the display cases and walls.

They arrived in front of The Queen's Court, and Lewis pointed. "So, do you think I can revive her the same way I did for you?"

Ashwyn flew close to the frame, checking the edges carefully. "Um, this is not the Queen."

Lewis furrowed his brow. The rich clothing, the delicate jewelry... "How do you know?"

Ashwyn darted off in another direction. "Because I know, Lewis! Hang on."

Lewis finished sweeping the area by the time Ashwyn returned to land on his wrist. "She's not here! But she was the first one caught! The Hunter used her as bait to lure the rest of us into following her into those big jars he had! She has to be here, this can't possibly be everyone." She flew in an anxious zig-zag.

Lewis shrugged. "This is only part of Krasimir's collection. He's got more fairies down in storage." He recalled the sight of the broken frames and cast-aside displays.

Ashwyn zoomed closer to his face. "Storage? What's that?" she asked.

Lewis scratched his head. "I don't know where exactly it is," he admitted, "but I know it's in a place underneath... if we can find some stairs, those probably lead to it." He glanced around, "But it's almost the end of my shift, and I don't know if I have time--"

"I can help you find it!" Ashwyn cut in brightly. "I am able to sense the presence of other fairies--If the Hunter has other fairies hidden away, I can find them!"

Lewis tightened his lips and stared hard at his cart with the handy checklist hanging from it, weighing his options. Finally he nodded. "Okay, we'll do this... but you're going to have to give me directions from inside my pocket. I don't want you getting caught out in the open if anybody sees us."

Ashwyn didn't hesitate to dive inside. "All right, let's go!" she trilled softly.

Lewis settled his cap over his head and pushed his cart out into the main hall. He stopped by the janitor's closet to put his cart just inside the door, in case anyone came by the exhibit hall while he was gone. They would see it mostly clean, and assume he'd done a little bit of work and left for the day. Back in the narrow hallway again, he whispered, "Okay, Ashwyn, where do I go from here?"

Ashwyn used tugs and movement to indicate a left-hand turn. Lewis followed the indication and headed toward the main hall again. This time, instead of just going toward the front door, he turned down the hallway in front of Exhibit Hall D, and rounded a corner. Halfway down this new hallway, there was an opening, a descending stairwell. Lewis grinned. "There it is!" he whispered, scurrying across the slick tile floor to the waiting stairs. He stopped and listened, his heard pounding furiously in his ribs. Still nothing, so Lewis took the steps one at a time, pressing himself against the wall, as if that would conceal him.

Voices rose and fell out in the lobby as tour groups came and went, but so far, nobody seemed to suspect the young man creeping down the stairs into the basement storage area. Lewis entered an open, darkened space, with only sparse light scattered around, and many shelves full of crates, sculptures, and framed artwork swathed in packing material. There was a long table on one side of the room, decked out with multiple desk lamps shining bright-white fluorescent LED bulbs on the table--but no one else seemed to be down in that space.

"I wonder who works down here," Ashwyn mused from inside Lewis' pocket.

Lewis wagged his head. "Not our problem," he said. "We need to find which part of this room Krasimir keeps his artwork." His collection of captive creatures, his thoughts added.

A moment later, Ashwyn tugged his attention off to the right. "There!" she clanged.

Lewis stared into the corner of the room, his heart beating at the sight of the massive shadowy form looming over him, draped in a huge linen tarp. All around the huge figure were stacks of crates just like the ones he'd seen before, stamped with the "WAREHOUSE 31" logo. A few of them stood open, and Lewis crept over to peer inside.

He just about jumped out of his skin when Ashwyn flickered her wings and her light reflected off a pair of gleaming yellow eyes! But Lewis stared long enough at the figure to make out the shape of a squat, warty creature with a big nose, a round belly, large hands and feet, and leathery skin.

"That's a goblin," Ashwyn explained. "Look, there are more of them."

Lewis let her out of his pocket, and Ashwyn flew over the crowded space, shedding her light over the dark, terrifying creatures: squat goblins, an assortment of man-sized ogres and hags, and even some furry shapes that appeared to be wolves. "We don't have plain wolves in Phantasm," Ashwyn explained to him as she huddled on his shoulder. "The only wolves that exist are actually werewolves."

Lewis shuddered and rolled his eyes. "Wonderful! Why does he even have all these things? You don't suppose he's going to try and set them up in his art exhibit upstairs, do you?"

Ashwyn bobbed up and down nervously. "That would be a terrible idea if he did! These are Underworlders, they live in caves and caverns under the surface of Phantasm, and they almost never come up to bother us, especially not when the Phantasmagyth is activated!" she exclaimed. "Let's find the fairies quickly and get out of here!"

Lewis nodded. "All right, which crate are they in?"

Ashwyn searched nearby until he heard her call, "Here they are!"

Lewis joined her, and Ashwyn resumed her place in his jumpsuit pocket, giving him flickers of light as he searched through the frames and display boxes for the elusive queen.

Finally, she cried out, "There she is!"

Lewis pulled out the frame, which depicted a "Snow Fairy In Winter." This one used a lot of white paint and glitter, but as Lewis brought the frame over to the long table, under the bright lamps, he saw the eyes shift ever so slightly.

"Sorry," he mumbled an apology, and tried to angle the frame just right so that the beams of the lamps weren't shining right in the Queen's unprotected eyes. Was it just his imagination, or did he see her tiny fingers trembling just a little bit?

"You know who this werewolf reminds me of?" Ashwyn asked him from back over in the spooky corner. "If you took off the fur, and stood him upright, I think he'd look a lot like--"

"Adolf!" Lewis yelped. He had stepped away from the table to find Ashwyn when she was talking, and spotted the wily security guard among the shadows once his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Luckily, Ashwyn's light was nowhere to be seen, and Lewis felt her crawling under his hand and into his pants pocket, not moving her wings to remain invisible in the darkness.

Adolf's eyes gleamed as he scowled at Lewis. "What are you doing down here?" he snarled, sounding very much like a wolf just then.

All semblance of words left Lewis' brain in his fright, and he could only stammer, "I--I... I was.. I j-just..."

"Now where is that light--Oh! Here we are!"

Light flooded the room with a muted thud, and Mr. Gilroy descended the steps.
"Now, Adolf, what was it you--Lewis?" The old curator stopped in his tracks and scratched his head. "I thought you'd left for the day. What are you doing down here?"

"It's obvious what he was doing!" Adolf snapped. "He was snooping! Were you planning on stealing Mr. Schlimme's artwork?"

The space of time it took for Adolf's comment was enough for Lewis to come up with a plausible excuse. "No! I just... I needed to use the bathroom and I took a wrong turn, and I was hoping there would be one down here!" He dared not turn his back to Adolf as he edged toward Mr. Gilroy's protective presence. "I see I've made a mistake, it won't happen again!"

"Well, I sincerely hope it doesn't!" Mr. Gilroy replied with a chuckle. "Unauthorized staff aren't usually allowed down in this space, you know--especially not students! Remember that from now on."

"Yes, sir," Lewis nodded his head emphatically. He tripped and stumbled his way up the stairs, down the hallways, out the doors, and did not look back. He would have to figure out some other way to rescue the Queen!

Back in the storage room, Adolf remained long after Mr. Gilroy returned to the main floor. Several minutes later, Krasimir Schlimme came storming down the stairs.

"Adolf!" He commanded. "Report! What happened?"

"The boy was down here," Adolf grunted. "The janitor. He claimed he was looking for the bathroom."

Krasimir frowned. "Down here of all places?" His eyes narrowed as he glanced around his rented space. "You don't think he knows, does he?"

"It's impossible to tell," Adolf replied. "He doesn't seem aware enough to be suspicious at all." The security guard snorted. "He does smell funny sometimes."

Krasimir waved him off. "All boys smell; continue monitoring our spaces, and notify me if you see any more suspicious activity. I'll need you to make sure nothing goes wrong with tomorrow's installation." He glanced toward the table, where one of the painted fairies lay out in the open. Had he left it there? Why? Kraismir approached the table, his keen eyes searching for cracks, deformities, or any other indication that something was amiss. The piece appeared intact, so Krasimir gently returned it to its proper crate and left the room.

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Bookish Blog Hop April 2022--Day 5: "A Book Set In The Past"

Louisa Smith - www.epicbooksociety.com

I have been obsessed with Cassandra Clare since I was at University when I read The Mortal Instruments series. When I heard she released a new series, The Infernal Devices trilogy, set in Victorian-era London, I knew I had to read it. The first of the trilogy is Clockwork Angel, which introduces Tessa, then a teenager from New York who comes to London in search of her brother. What she finds is the supernatural world of shadowhunters, vampires, warlocks and werewolves. She finds allies in Jem and Will, two shadowhunters from the London institute, where they are soon up against an evil society, the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of downworlders equipped with a magical clockwork army, intent on destroying mankind and all who get in there way…

Clockwork Angel was full of suspense, action and a romance love-triangle. If you enjoyed Cassandra Clare’s young adult novel series, The Mortal Instruments, then you must certainly add The Infernal Devices trilogy to your reading list.

Jo Linsdell - www.JoLinsdell.com

I love historical fiction so there’s lots of books I could pick for this but I’m going to go with one I recently read, The Girl From Venice by Siobhan Daiko which was an amazing 5 star read for me. 

The book is set in Venice in 1943 during the war as Germans occupied Venice. It tells the story of Lidia and how she had to flee the city to save her life. 

Lidia joins the partisans in the Venetian mountains, where she meets David, an English soldier fighting for the same cause. As she grows closer to him, harsh German reprisals and Lidia’s own ardent patriotic activities threaten to tear them apart.

Decades later in London, while sorting through her grandmother’s belongings after her death, Charlotte discovers a Jewish prayer book, unopened letters written in Italian, and a fading photograph of a group of young people in front of the Doge’s Palace.

Intrigued by her grandmother’s refusal to talk about her life in Italy before and during the war, Charlotte travels to Venice in search of her roots, There, she learns not only the devastating truth about her grandmother’s past, but also some surprising truths about herself.

Leslie Conzatti (Me!)

I would have to say that one author in particular whose books are all set in the past, (compared to my current times!) is Michael Crichton–but in particular, one of my favorite books of his would have to be The Great Train Robbery, which was actually set in the relative past for him as well, being set in Victorian-Era London. The premise is this: a steam locomotive pulling a load of gold is considered the most secure transport available, with contingencies upon contingencies to ensure the protection of its valuable load. Regardless, the train leaves one station with a full shipment of gold, and arrives in the next station completely empty. Who has managed to rob a moving train? How has he done it with none of the modern burglary tools or technology that so many heist films rely upon? Only Crichton could craft such a creative and intriguing plot!

Becki Svare  abookloversadventures.com

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

This was my favorite book that I read in 2021. This book is a historical fiction that takes place mostly in a bookshop in London. This book felt like a love letter to books. It showed the power that books & storytelling have in our lives and basically it’s just a beautiful story.

This book will bring on all the feels. It will make you smile, dream, cry, and sigh.

Summary:

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and blackout curtains that she finds on her arrival were not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.

Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.

Kriti @ Armed with A Book

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My latest favorite is A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande - Must read historical fiction to expand your historical knowledge beyond the World Wars.

A beautiful book about the love for one another, love for our country and standing up for our morals. I learned so much! There are two main characters: John Riley is an Irishman and actually existed in the flesh. He decided to join the Yankees army, hoping they would keep their promise of better pay and promotion, promises that the English had so easily broken back home. Ximena won my heart. Renya shares at the beginning of the book how she read this poem that mentioned a woman named Ximena, letting the people know that the soldiers were coming and that scene sparked this character. A healer and wartime nurse, even before the Mexican War, Ximena’s family was part of the conflict when Texas separated from Mexico, years prior. 

Immigration is the one of the themes I least expected to find in A Ballad of Love and Glory. While immigration is an integral part of wartime conflicts, it is usually portrayed in the sense of the ones being invaded moving to safer territories. I have never read immigration in terms of soldiers from other countries helping and potentially moving to a country they were hired to fight. Through John’s experiences in Ireland, we also glimpse religious tensions and the role they play in making people abandon the groups that disrespect them.

A Ballad of Love and Glory, in a heartbreaking manner through Ximena, is able to convey the effect of changing boundaries and how our perception of where we belong is rooted in our knowledge of history.

Related to immigration is invasion. A Ballad of Love and Glory is the most detailed book I have read in terms of sharing what happens on the battlefield. This is no longer limited to finding a wounded soldier, but actually the physical acts of organizing and training soldiers, working with ammunition, understanding military tactics and formations. This book is more real than most historical fiction I have read because it is about a soldier and a nurse working at the battlefield. Reyna researched this very thoroughly and, in the process, has been able to expose aspects of history that remain buried to people.

For the remaining themes and an in-depth look at the main characters, read the full review on my blog. I also interviewed the author and you can read the interview here. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads and Storygraph.

Valerie - Cats Luv Coffee https://catsluvcoffee.com

I’ve always been interested in the history of the Titanic. With the massive cruise ships of today, it’s hard to imagine how exciting the launch of the British passenger liner RMS Titanic was. Its maiden voyage was a transatlantic sailing from Southhampton, UK to New York, USA carrying some of the richest people in the world as well as hundreds of immigrants seeking a new life in America. Four days into the crossing, it hit an iceberg and disappeared under the −2 °C (28 °F) water three hours later. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew onboard, more than 1500 died–most of cardiac arrest within 30 minutes due to the frigid temperature of the water. Around 750 people survived and were carried on to New York by a passenger steamship. 

That’s where Alma Katsu’s The Deep comes in! In her fictional portrayal of these real events from that fateful night, Annie Hebley is a maid serving the first class passengers. Those on the Titanic are convinced that something treacherous is at play, though from paranormal means and not physical. Of course, we know what happened to the Titanic. Years later, Annie is working as a nurse on the HMHS Britannic, requisitioned as a hospital ship in 1915 during WWI. She stumbles onto a wounded soldier that she knows from the Titanic cruise, but he can’t possibly have survived the sinking. 

I’m about halfway through The Deep and it’s been fascinating but not in the way I expected. I thought it was more of a horror novel, but I’m finding myself interested more in the characters and the way Katsu has layered fiction on to fact. 

Vidya Tiru @LadyInReadWrites  (Instagram | Twitter | Facebook ) 

Some of my favorite reads are historical fiction, so it is tough to pick one for this theme. So I decided to settle on one I featured in my favorite reads of last year: The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles.

Book Description: Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.

My Thoughts: A book about books and libraries; about WWII, and dual timelines. This combination is a surefire win for me! I enjoyed the read a lot and overall, the obvious love of books and the passion to share that love shines throughout the book, and kept me reading to the end.

How about you? What is a book set in the past that you would recommend? What do you think of the books in this post? Comment below to join the conversation! And don't forget to stop by CatsLuvCoffee tomorrow for the next topic!