This pain was even worse. White lava and absolute zero cold flashed up his arm. He screamed as the circle of silver string tore away from his hand, taking the four-fold design with it. Ryan felt precious power drain out of him. He knees buckled, and he let it go.
“What have you done!” the old woman screeched. “What have you done?”
The strange beach was fading away. So was the old woman. Her hand was disappearing from his.
“No!” she screamed. “I curs—”
But she was gone. The garish colors of the between beach vanished, replaced by the more familiar one. Ryan found himself crouching on normal sand with Aunt Zara’s crystal at his feet. The power continued to drain from him. For a tiny moment, time didn’t move. Alison and Mom, Dad and Ysabeth, Theresa and the dying Nox, stood frozen like statues, caught between ticks of the clock.
Then time moved ahead, slow as chilled syrup. Ryan heard the final bell toll coming in, slow and deep, but speeding up. As more and more power drained from Ryan, time accelerated. He realized what was happening, that his guess had been correct. Star’s string had bound up the magic of all the tests in his hand, giving him even enough power to step between moments in time, but now that he had given up his power, he was rejoining normal time without the old woman, and the final bell toll was catching up with him. He had to hurry, before the last of the power left his body. He still had Alison’s jackknife. Heart pounding, he brought the blade down on the crystal just as the bell toll reach full volume.
“I break this curse!” he cried.
Sound and light exploded, and Aunt Zara was there. Ryan wanted to shout with joy. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
Before anyone could react further, Ryan reached over and slashed Alison’s arm just as the last dregs of fairy magic drained away.
“Hurry,” he gasped.
Alison held the drops over Nox. They fell like tiny rubies into the watery blob that was Nox’s body. Alison and Ryan both held their breaths. Was it in time?
The red droplets blended into the water, and for a moment nothing happened. Then Nox sucked himself back into his favorite seagull shape and flew in happy circles around the entire group. His high, free cry echoed against the cliff. Now Ryan did shout. Happiness overtook him, and he leaped and yelled. It was over, and he had done it!
“Thank you,” Alison breathed. “Thank you so much, Ryan. You’re a true prince.”
“Where are we?” Dad asked. “Is everyone all right?”
“We are.” Ryan couldn’t stop grinning, even though his hand was still bleeding. “Everything will be fine now. I cut my string out, so the fairies can’t find me, and I left the old woman between, so she won’t come after anyone.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ryan,” Mom said, “but I’m so glad to hear you say it.” She wiped at her eyes. “Honey, do you think I could give you a hug? Just one?”
“Yes,” Ryan said firmly. “I’m a prince, and that’s what princes do.”
Mom laughed and hugged him. It wasn’t as bad as he thought. Dad gave him one, too, but Ryan drew the line at Aunt Zara and Aunt Ysabeth. Then Dad tore up one of the old towels from the shack to bandage Ryan’s hand. Theresa sat on the sand, looking dazed.
“What happened?” she finally asked. “Did I dream it?”
“Nope.” Alison put out her arm for Nox to land on. He changed into a starfish, and then a crab. “See? It was all real.”
“Huh.” Theresa swiped at her face. Her makeup was running, and she had black smudges all around her eyes. “I don’t think we should tell Mom.”
At that, both sisters burst out laughing. Ryan shouted one more time.
The Cottage was there, as Star had promised, and everything inside was just as it was before, right down to Aunt Zara’s cluttered desk and Ryan’s tidy room. They all sat up late, talking about what had happened, even Theresa. The living room was comfortable and cozy, and they kept all the lights on. Mom and the aunts examined Ryan’s hand and decided that he had been right—without the string under his skin, Ryan’s power to see and change the future had disappeared. That meant that he was no longer a threat to time, and that meant the elemental army would have no reason to come after him. Ryan felt both relief and loss. He never had to see the future again; on the other hand, he never would see the future again.
“What about the old woman?” Alison asked.
“She’ll have to get out from that between place first,” Mom said. “Though that probably won’t take her long.”
“How long?” Ryan said.
“No more than five or six hundred years,” Aunt Ysabeth answered. “Mere moments to a fairy.”
Theresa gave a nervous laugh. Nox, as a plover, preened on the back of Alison’s chair.
“What about Star?” Ryan asked. “Will she be angry?”
“Indeed she will. For a while,” Aunt Ysabeth said. “But that iron nail in the foot will cripple her for at least a year, and by the time she heals, she’ll have forgotten this ever happened.”
“Hm. Really?” Mom raised an eyebrow. “Fairies are capricious, but they also hold a grudge.”
Dad crossed his arms. “Then we’ll be ready.”
“It’s sad, in a way,” Aunt Zara said quietly. “Mum was trapped in the mortal world by her family for years. I wonder if she was only trying to reverse the favor by bringing Ryan there. Keep it fair. My, my.”
“Opposites,” said Aunt Ysabeth. “Indeed.”
“Hm,” said Mom.
“I think it’s bed time,” Dad announced. “You kids are falling over. Alison can have the spare room next to Ryan’s. Theresa, do you want to stay over?”
Theresa got up. “No, thanks. I should go home and tell everyone that Alison’s okay.”
“They don’t notice when I’m gone anyway,” Alison muttered.
“I noticed,” Theresa said. She paused in the doorway. “I’m sorry for … you know. Everything I said at the store. Sometimes I just get mad and … well, I shouldn’t be so mean.” And she was gone.
For once, Ryan understood he wasn’t supposed to say anything when Alison rubbed at her eyes. He felt more grown up, somehow, but he couldn’t say why.
A few minutes later, as he lay in his own bed and was dropping off to sleep after the most eventful birthday in all history, a thought struck him. When he had woken up this morning, he had known he would be able to see the future before he was actually given the power to see the future. And what did that mean?
Something small and winged fluttered outside his window. A little sylph waved through the glass at Ryan, then streaked off into the night. Ryan started to make a flowchart in his head, then decided he didn’t need it, and fell asleep.
STEVEN HARPER
Steven Harper Piziks was born with a name that no one can reliably spell or pronounce, so he often writes under the pen name Steven Harper. He lives in Michigan with his family. When not at the keyboard, he plays the folk harp, fiddles with video games, and pretends he doesn’t talk to the household cats. In the past, he’s held jobs as a reporter, theater producer, secretary, and substitute teacher. He maintains that the most interesting thing about him is that he writes books.
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