Free Emerald City Dreamer by Luna Lindsey Page B

software giant; and Shelly, a suburban housewife. All were regulars, all believers in fae, all survivors.
    Sandy was conspicuously missing, as usual. Jina really wished she would have come this time, especially after the rose incident.
    The door opened in response to the 'Come Right In' sign taped to it. Jina leapt up. "Trey, I'm so glad you could make it!" She shook his hand warmly and then showed him to the table. As she sat, she introduced him to the group, first names only.
    She noticed he still wore that intriguing chain around his neck. It was something sentimental, then. Jina couldn't think of anything more intimate than learning about a person's secret sentimental objects.
    These meeting barely needed moderation. Everyone knew and respected the rules: Be respectful, no crosstalk, anonymity, and so on. Jina read a few lines from a book she'd assembled with relevant inspirational paragraphs lifted from other kinds of support groups. Then she quickly opened the floor for sharing.
    Gretel began with what sounded like an invocation, her tale emphasized by her accent.
    " I was only a girl, too young to even struggle, when they took me. I watched them place another child in my stead. This child was not me, but an ugly thing, twisted and deformed, infantile.
    " They led me down the faerie furrow, a path to the underworld. I remember it like yesterday. I did not try to flee, for I assumed I would return in the morning, none the worse. The visions, they were not so frightful at first. Elves, sprights, gnomes, all as if from my picture books, peered at me as we passed ancient stones, trees, cottages, and streams. Then some of the faces began to frighten me, ugly, like the thing they'd left in my trundle bed. Ghostly, like things dead. The trees loomed darkly and had faces of their own.
    " If only I'd had breadcrumbs, like my fairytale namesake.
    " How quickly I set aside my fears when a castle appeared at the end of the elfin road. So magnificent, so bright. The Lords and Ladies there, such shimmering creatures of beauty.
    " They offered me the richest foods. With the war rationing... I was but a child, and could not have known the dangers of eating the faerie food. I partook of the feast, eating more than I had ever eaten before.
    " They dressed me in finery, in princess gowns that every girl dreams of wearing. And I danced without stop the whole night long. In repayment, I found myself the next day, dressed in rags, cleaning the ashes from the hearth."
    Gretel reached out and took a tissue to dab her eyes. "I would never see meine mutter again. At first, there were the kitchens to clean, day after day. At night, I would once again wear the finery and dance, without rest.
    " This, it was bad enough. Until they began to have their fun on the bodies of lesser fae, for punishment or sport, I am not sure. My eyes were too young to have witnessed such atrocities and perversions. Animals, too, small furry beasts they had abducted, dogs and rabbits.
    " These bled, and it was I who carried the bodies outside to bury them in a tiny graveyard. It was I who scrubbed the bloodstains from the floor the next day, so that it would shine again to welcome the guests and to accept more blood the next night.
    " It was said the unseelie court had no scruples, and I wondered, if the unseelie were to be judged by such as these, what things they must do in those darker realms." Gretel shuddered.
    " The first two days, I thought to protest or whimper. I was harshly punished. After that, never once did I complain, for I could easily myself be subjected to such sport.
    " I grew older, my child body developing into a young woman. A very, very young woman. Only then did I learn my true purpose. I was to be concubine to Der Erlkonig.
    " No longer did I spend my days cleaning; now I spent my nights sitting at Der Erlkonig's feet, waiting until the moment when he led me to his chambers."
    She paused for a long, long silence.
    " I have told this tale many