I reached the portal and pictured the beach gateway described in the parchment. The gateway Ava and I had been taken to by Drendor the dragon. The sand was almost white, glistening in the human realm sun. The crystal clear water lapping at the edges of the island. The gateway, standing almost on its own, except for the few palm trees that spotted around it. It was beautiful. The gateway went from solid to liquid and I knew my pathway was open. I reached my hand in and took one final look back at the Feydom. The Tanzieth guards frozen in place, the muted but still glistening gold sky... a pale blue spot against the gold that was steadily growing...
Jax.
I turned away and stepped through, closing the portal behind me. The sand was soft and the heels of my boots sunk in, sending me tumbling sideways.
Didn’t think that one through, did you?
I pulled them off and quickly looked around. There was nothing in front of me but trees, sand, and water.
“Grace?” I called, immediately regretting my decision. A black mist rose at the water’s edge, swirling in a funnel of darkness. It grew higher and wider before dissipating, and there sitting on the sand was Grace. Her hands tied behind her back, her head dropped low to her chest, but her shoulders rose with each breath she took.
I ran to her. Dropping to the warm sand by her feet, I lifted her head in my hands. “Are you okay?”
“Des, no. You shouldn’t have come,” she whispered, and I reached around her to untie her hands.
“You are my family. I couldn’t not come.”
She winced as I pulled the rope and it tightened against her skin.
“I can fix that,” I said, bringing the combined magic to the ends of the fingers of my right hand. Little rainbow sparks shot towards the rope, slipped under the twists, and unworked the knot.
“Here, let me help you up.” I took her arm and pulled her up with me.
“You shouldn’t have come, Des,” she said again, lifting her gaze to meet mine. Her skin was ashen and her lips were cracked and dry like she hadn’t had water in days.
How long has it been? This time thing sucks.
I immediately pushed out the magic inside me towards her, but it bounced back.
“You took the potion?” I asked, dropping her arm as the world around me went hazy. “What’s happening?” I fell to my knees, my hands sinking into the soft sand.
“You shouldn’t have come. You were the one he wanted. Not me. He couldn’t take it from me. But he’ll take it from you.”
“Take what?”
“Your magic. He will take all of your magic, Des.”
“No...”
A black shadow drew towards me and I scrambled to get away, but the beach and the trees were all out of focus. Besides, there was nowhere to go. The gateway loomed behind me, a blurry black wall, too far to reach from where I was, and closed off to anyone who didn’t know its location. Which was everyone.
I closed my eyes and focused on my magic. The fabled magic swirled inside me but out of time with my combined fey magic. My fey magic clung to me, whereas the colors of the fabled’s all swirled away running through me to the tips of my fingers and toes. My own white light surrounded the Tanzieth magic as it clutched onto the edges of the fabled strands, but then something snapped and the fabled magic disappeared, my white light and the Tanzieth magic retreating to my core.
I blinked open my eyes and there he was. Not a demonic black mist, not a sunken skeletal creature, but whole. And fuck me, that asshole was actually smiling.
Traflier.
“How?”
“Oh, Desmoree.” The way he said my name made my stomach turn. “I never knew what a gift the yowies could be. But you... you discovered how to use them, and now I have what was left of them.” He raised his left hand in line with his thin mouth. He opened his hand and blew a fine sprinkling of ash into the air.
How am I going to get us out of here?
“Now what? You kill us?” I asked, eyeing the island quickly to look for something that could help.
He shrugged. “Why not? You killed me.”
I shifted a little towards Grace who stood with her back to him, her head buried in her hands as she leaned on a palm tree.
Traflier’s eyes went to her, then back to me. “What? You think I won’t hurt my own daughter? I would have her magic already if you hadn’t have figured out a way to block me. But now I have all your power. All your magic. I could crush you now like the weak human you are.”
He thinks I’m human. He doesn’t know I still have my fey magic. My necklace grew warm against my skin.
Salameesies? Is it still protecting my magic?
“And after I watch the life drain from you, I will suck the life from your beloved daughter.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, then lunged forwards to grab Grace. She resisted at first, but when she saw it was me, her eyes went wide and we ran hand in hand towards the portal.
“Where do you think you are going, pesky little human? Grace never could master the gateways, you aren’t going anywhere.”
“Wanna bet?” I called back to him as my hand touched the portal and I thought of Jax, of home. The surface immediately changed from a solid mass to the glimmering waves of onyx.
“No!” he called and I pulled Grace through with me to the other side.
“Jax, thank the Fey,” I said, barreling into him as we came through. “Quick, get ready. If the portal changes again be prepared to blast.”
“Blast what?” the Nazieth guard who had tried to stop me asked.
“My father,” Grace said. “He’s back, and he will be coming for us all.”
11
THE COUNCIL MET IMMEDIATELY after our return. Grace was tired, but some tarontie tea helped her recover a little.
“This complicates things a bit,” Madie said, looking around the table. “Grace we are happy for your return, but we now must decide who will take the place of Harold and who will no longer hold a seat on the council.”
I stiffened in my seat. They couldn’t really vote to keep Crow over Maylea could they?
“Bella and Maylea, you will abstain from the vote. The rest of the council will write their choice on parchment and Tai will read the results.
“With Grace back, the seat should belong to Maylea. Grace is from Sayeesies, Maylea from Baldea,” I said.
“This is true,” Grace began, looking from Crow to Maylea and then landing her gaze on me. “But with the situation what it is, we should think about who will serve the council best. We are about to go to war. The Feydom is united under this council, therefore no origin should determine the council position. Simply the merit of what they bring to the collective.”
There was mutual nods and hums of agreement from the rest of the council.
“Then I’ll vote on behalf of Harold.”
“Very well,” Grace said, signaling to Tai to pass out the parchment.
When all of us had written down our choice we handed the pieces back to Tai. He placed each one inside the wooden box I had made for Marx the first time we met. It seemed like forever ago.
Has it really been that long ago?
“Bella,” he said, placing the first scrap on the table. “Maylea,” he said, placing it next to the first. One by one he called the names and placed them in their piles. It was like watching an episode of survivor, except I wanted Maylea’s name to be called out. When the fourth scrap was called for Bella Crow, I thought I might get to choose myself. A tied vote became my choice. But the fifth name called was Bella, and my heart sank.
What are these idiots thinking?
“Tai, no need to continue, the vote is passed. Bella Crow shall remain on the council. Maylea, thank you for your time. You will still retain the chief sage position.
“Thank you,” Maylea said, rising from her seat at the table and leaving the room.
“This isn’t right,” I said, and my father placed a hand on mine all the while shaking his head.
“Desmoree, the co
uncil have voted, your objection is acknowledged, but we have bigger things to worry about. Tell us what happened at the beach.”
I went to open my mouth, but Grace beat me to it. “Traflier took her magic.”
They gasped. Max squeezed my hand. “Desmoree, is this true?”
“Not exactly. He took all the fabled magic. I still have the Tanzieth magic and my own.”
“Really?” Grace asked, a crease deepening in her forehead as she appeared to puzzle it out.
“That’s how I got us back, I opened the gateway. How did you think we got back?”
“I assumed Jax opened it. I mean, he was there on the other side when we arrived.
“He didn’t know where the gateway was.”
The crease softened and she continued with her recollection of what happened. “He tried to take my magic, but I had consumed the potion Desmoree made for the Tanzieth.”
“So the potion works? He can’t take the magic from someone who has consumed it?” Bella asked, leaning forward on her arms and blocking my view of Grace entirely.
“It appears so, but he did take the fabled magic from Desmoree. He will be coming to take all our magic now, and with yowie fur and her fabled power he just might be able to.”
“Did he say anything about why he wants this much power?” Max asked, and Bella shot him a glare.
“Does the why really matter?” she asked. “How do we stop him? The barrier won’t go up...”
“Why won’t it? I mean why won’t the protective cast you found work?” I asked.
“The cast was old,” Grace began, laying her hands palm down on the table in front of her. “We found all the ingredients needed but the wording of the cast is incomplete. We sent word to the elves for help completing it, but we haven’t heard back from them yet.”
“How long ago did you ask for help?” I asked, my heart jumping to my throat.
“Only a few hours,” Max replied.
“And Ava is okay?”
“Last I heard from King Blake, she is enjoying her time there immensely. She is learning about their history, their magic.”
“Desmoree,” Grace called, and it was like being caught talking in class. My cheeks flushed and I bowed my head. “Sorry, what?”
“Can you project a barrier until the elves reply?” Grace asked slowly.
“I can try, I should be able to, but I could probably show Crow and the Nazieth how to do it too. Jax has almost mastered it. Then they can work together and it might be stronger.”
“Good, go then. We will reconvene when we have more information.”
We left the council room but Grace asked me to stay back a moment.
“I think we need to have a chat,” she said, moving to a lounge chair that sat against the far wall.
I hadn’t noticed it there before.
“What about?”
“I think we probably should have had this talk a while ago, but how do you explain something like my father?”
“Oh,” I said, taking a seat beside her. She kept her hands folded in front of her and her eyes on her fingers as she spoke.
“I froze yesterday. When I saw his face emerge from the mist... that’s how he took me. I wasn’t strong enough to fight him. To stand against him.”
“You did stand against him. You stood between him and the children of the Feydom.”
“But he still got what he was after. He took the tree, he has all of it’s power and now he has all of the fabled magic too.”
“The tree had power?”
“Yes, the tree had a great deal of power. He won’t stop. Don’t you see? He will keep going, keep taking. It will never be enough. He doesn’t even remember why anymore. Why he started doing all of this.”
“And you do know?” I asked slowly, trying not to push her. It had to be devastating knowing your father was the cause of so much pain, so much death.
Would Ava look at me that way one day?
“I know where it started. My grandmother. His mother. She was burned at the stake in the human realm before his very eyes. It’s how he met my mother. Her family took him in when he returned to the Feydom.” Grace played with the hem of her sleeve as she spoke, still not looking at me.
“He loved her dearly too, my mother. They were best friends before they were married,” she continued. “But then she was taken from him by the humans too and then the Feydom was attacked by beasts. He defended the fey when the elders couldn’t. After that, he became the one people turned to. The one who they looked to for help, for protection.”
They used to look to you for help, for protection. What have you brought them lately besides pain and death?
“Desmoree, are you okay? You look a little pale.”
I shook off the bad thoughts plaguing me and replayed what she had said in my mind. “He was the good guy before he was... this?”
“He was the best. He saved so many of the fey on many many occasions.”
“But then why do this?”
“With every advance he made, there was some greater threat on the horizon. He tried to foresee everything with the help of the seers, but the more he took on himself to try to protect us, the more of him—the real him—was pushed out. And then he stopped coming to see me. It was then I knew something had changed.”
“But you never said anything?”
“No,” she shook her head long after the word had left her lips. “You arrived a few years later and I suddenly saw glimpses of the father I had once known. I had hoped he had been reignited with light. But then...”
“I know what happened next.”
“You killed him.”
“Grace.”
“No, no,” she began looking up at me for the first time since we began our chat about her father. “I understand you had to do what you did. I didn’t mean it like that.”
Could have fooled me.
“He had to be stopped Grace.”
“I know,” she said, nodding her head now. “I really do understand why it had to be that way.”
“Now that he knows there is a potion to protect the fey magic, do you think he will assume I have given it to them all and not come here?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t attacked yet. He must be going after something else first. What can the fabled magic do that fey magic can’t?”
“Grace, he said he was going to go after Ava... we have to get to the Elf Kingdom now.” I jumped to my feet, but she grabbed my arm, halting me.
Shaking her head she said, “No, he can’t. The wards on the Elf Kingdom are solid, he would need a door.”
“The Dwarves make doors, he is going after the dwarves, then.”
“Hold on,” she said, moving over to the desk that Marx and Tai used. She pulled a piece of paper from the draw and held it up. “I’ll send a flame note to Bella Crow, she will send a Nazieth team to track the dwarves, warn them, send them to the Elf Kingdom for protection if need be.”
“They should come here, not there,” I said, my heart racing in my chest. “If they open a door to the Elf Kingdom, he might follow them through.
What if he already has the dwarves and is forcing them to open a door? I need to see Ava.
The blue fire incinerated Grace’s flame note and she walked towards me.
“Desmoree, what sort of things could you do with the fabled magic?”
“It always mixed with my fey magic and kind of boosted it.”
“Like a battery?”
“I guess. Kind of like a supercharge of power and focus. But it took me a while to get a handle on, so hopefully it takes him a while to figure it out too. Buy us some time to get in contact with the elves.”
“Thanks for this, Desmoree. I’m glad we have each other to talk to. It’s important that family looks out for one another, don’t you think?”
“That’s exactly what I think, but now I need to check on my daughter.” I smiled and gave her a hug before moving to leave the room. An image
of Traflier as I drew out his magic, drew out his power and turned him to dust, flashed in my mind. “Grace, if there was another way...”
“Stop,” she said, raising one hand in protest. “I know.”
I smiled and nodded, leaving her to her thoughts.
When I left the council room, I was surprised to find Jax waiting for me outside.
“You didn’t want to come in?” I asked.
“I only just got here. I waited with the Nazieth for a while, but then I received a flame note from Ava.”
“Ava, really? What did it say? Is she okay?”
He smiled. “She is great. She said Sien is trying to create a working ward for us.”
“Why did Ava send the note? Why didn’t the king send one to the council?”
“Her note didn’t say. Maybe he is off demon hunting again, as long as she is safe and well. Maylea let me know what happened in there,” he said, nodding towards the council room door. “What were they thinking?”
“I know, how is Crow a better choice for the council? That chick is nuts.”
A throat cleared behind me. “Despite your opinion of me, Desmoree, I want what is best for Sayeesies.”
“You mean for the Feydom, right?”
She walked past us and without looking back she said, “Sayeesies is a part of your Feydom is it not?”
“It is.”
“Are you coming? I believe you offered to show myself and the Nazieth how to create your barrier.”
I grabbed Jax’s hand. “Yes, we are coming.”
When we arrived at the gateway we found at least thirty Nazieth gathered, all standing at the ready.
I went over the general idea of the barrier, exactly how Marcus had shown me. None of them could do it.
“Maybe try to do it together? Join hands, bring your magic forwards to connect with each other and then focus and try again,” I said and each line linked arms and hands. I watched as their magic grew, some connected easily with the others beside them, but some struggled. Crow’s magic didn’t want to budge. It remained an orb of dark red light inside her.
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