IntroductionMy name is Agnes Crumplebottom.
I’m sure you’ve heard all the gossip by now, I’m a grumpy widow who’s wasting her life mourning a man who’s never coming back. Well, you’re wrong. Everyone’s wrong. I’m not wasting my life, and Erik
is coming back.
I’ll start at the beginning, the day he died. It was the second day of our honeymoon in Isla Paradiso. As expected, Erik wanted to go swimming and I wanted to stay reading on the beach, so we agreed to do our own thing and then meet at the hotel that evening for dinner. But he never showed. First I was angry, and then I heard the sirens and an awful dread filled me. He’d drowned, they told me later, an accident that couldn’t have been prevented.
I couldn’t bare it. I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t make sense. Erik was the strongest swimmer I ever knew and he was always so safe. As usual, I turned to my books for guidance. Hours upon hours of research and… nothing! Not one explanation. But I wouldn’t give up.
People began to say I was obsessed, refusing to change out of my mourning clothes, isolating myself, desperately searching for something that didn’t exist. Somewhere around the four year mark, I began to believe them. Then she came.
She appeared before me one morning as I was leaving for the library and stopped me in my tracks. Her wings (yes, wings) shimmered in the light and her face was inhuman in its beauty, but I wasn’t afraid. How could I be, when her smile was so gentle?
“Agnes,” she said softly, reaching out and clasping my hand.
“You’re here to tell me about Erik,” I said, not knowing how I knew, but knowing all the same.
She nodded with a sad smile. “He drowned, Agnes. He’s dead.”
Unless you have felt it yourself, you can’t imagine the deep, aching pain of a broken heart. It catches your breath and crushes your lungs. I could only stare at her, breathless, pleading with all my being that what she was saying wasn’t true.
“He’s dead,” she repeated, “but it wasn’t a natural death, and there’s a way you can bring him back.”
Perhaps you’ve felt a broken heart equal to mine, but I’ll never believe anyone has felt such hope and happiness as I did then.
“What happened?” I asked eagerly.
“Fourteen years ago, Erik met a beautiful woman.”
I was jealous for a moment, then, blushing, I remembered the young university student I was back then.
Erik had come over to speak to my father about something, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from me.
“He fell very deeply in love with her, and she with him," the woman continued with a knowing smile, "but they couldn’t be together. You see, Erik was not a normal man. He was a supernatural being, and it’s against the Supernatural Code to be with a human. So, he made a wish. Ten years with this woman in exchange for his soul.”
I gasped and pressed my hands to my mouth. “Who- Who has his soul then?” I asked shakily after a moment.
The woman looked very grave. “No fairy would grant his wish except for one, Eifah.”
I shivered at the name.
“She granted his wish and made both of you forget. Four years ago today, she claimed her prize and took his soul to the underworld.”
Maybe you think I was naďve to believe her straight away, but how could I reject what I’d been searching for for so long?
“How can I get him back? Tell me!” I cried.
“You must found a dynasty. All of the instructions are in here.” She handed me a thick, dusty book, which I held tightly to my chest. “You must begin, and your descendants must continue. Once it’s finished, you and Erik will be together forever.”
“Yes,” I was saying before she even finished.
“Wait. There are some conditions, a shorter lifespan, a-”
“I don’t care, I’ll read about them.”
She looked at me searchingly, then nodded. “That is your decision, however I must tell you, it will not be easy and if you fail, you and your descendants will all be taken to the underworld.”
I swallowed, clutched the book tighter and agreed.
We stood there watching each other for a long moment, and I felt something like recognition tugging at me. I took a step closer but she leapt back and began to fly away.
“Wait!” I called after her. “Who are you? What’s your name?”
She was already gone.
So now you know my true story. Maybe I am just a grumpy widow, but I know my task. I will get Erik back.
