Zoe studied the avatars. They now had a well-balanced team: a Kitsune, a Saboteur, a Healing Priest, two Knights (Zoe thought, Ha ha, faerie’s knight, you’re outnumbered!), and a Dryad, along with Colton and Zoe as Mages.
As Colton approached the team, the sickly faerie stepped back into the shadows. Opening a glass jar she’d hidden in a pocket of her dress, she took a sniff. The life essence imbued her cheeks with a bit of pink color.
She returned to the room, emboldened. “I’ll give a few of the jars to you. My Queen demanded that I return the jars of life essence to the humans. She didn’t specify how many. I gave you one. Here is another.”
She set a glass jar glowing with purple light on the floor. Colton snatched it up and placed it in a large pocket in his robe.
Dulcina laughed bitterly. “Be thankful for those that I returned. You must fight for all the others.”
A section of cave wall came tumbling down in a roar as loud as an avalanche. Two enormous trolls entered the space, growling and swinging hammers as large as boulders.
The female Kitsune charged into battle, throwing fireballs at the trolls, then confusing them with illusions. Not the brightest creatures, the monsters swung at illusory demons with their hammers, losing focus on their real enemies.
Unfortunately, as the Archer approached and unleashed his first arrow in the direction of a troll’s eye, the hammer made contact with his head and knocked him unconscious. Precious seconds of battle time were lost as the Priest healed his injuries.
Recovering from the attack by the other faerie, Nissa scrambled to the top of a stalagmite with a weird grin on her face. Zoe felt troubled, not knowing if Nissa was truly on the side of the humans or simply serving the mysterious Queen. She seemed awfully amused by the battle.
Turning her focus back to the fight, Zoe unleashed a stream of mage fire in the direction of the troll that had knocked out the Archer. A torrent of blue flame erupted from Zoe’s hands, burning the ankles and feet of the monster.
Colton shouted, “Steak!” As he gnawed at the protein-filled slab of meat that popped into his hand, color returned to his face. Revitalized, he aimed his staff at the eyes of the troll that had started hopping around on burned feet.
The troll roared with pain and dropped its hammer.
The Archer, completely healed, shot arrows into the troll’s armpit while it had its arms raised. Colton and Zoe worked together to shoot powerful streams of searing light at the monster.
With an enormous sound that shook the walls of the cave, the troll came crashing down. One of the Knights leapt on top and stabbed their sword into the troll’s neck to make sure it was dead.
In the meantime, the Dryad had begun attacking the other troll with Wasp Bite. As the troll flew into a rage over the biting stings, the second Knight charged in, slicing wounds into the troll’s legs with his elongated sword.
The team then worked together to bring the last troll down. There was an enormous battle. Arrows flying. Bolts of fire sizzling through the air. The Dryad morphing at times into an oak tree to protect itself from damage. Swords slashing through the stubborn hide of the monster.
Then, all was still.
The team had triumphed over the trolls.
Dulcina cackled. Striding out from the shadows, she said, “So, you have destroyed my pets. But you have not destroyed me.” Her eyes were sparkling; her cheeks held a pinkish blush. Sauntering over to the collection of glowing glass jars, she picked one up. The lighted mist was golden. Laughing with hauntingly bizarre merriment, she said, “Ella. This beautiful light once belonged to Ella.”
The Saboteur and the Dryad became transfixed; so did Colton. The faerie’s voice was hypnotic, alluring.
The rest of the team did not wait. The Knights charged in, stabbing their swords into the faerie’s stomach. A look of shock and horror crossing her face, the faerie dropped the jar shimmering with golden light. She clasped her hands against her stomach; they quickly became soaked with blood.
Zoe was ready. She caught the glass jar as it tumbled from the faerie’s hands. Then she shouted for the team to grab the remaining jars.
“Colton, how do we leave the mod area with the items?” They had to get out of the game without harm if they were to save the kids who had parts of their life essence trapped inside the jars.
Colton said, “Just exit the game, same as in the main game.”
Zoe felt a sense of desperation. Colton was clearly missing an important point. “How do we bring the jars back with us, though?”
Nissa sighed and slid down from her perch atop the stalagmite. Walking over to Zoe and Colton, she waggled her finger at them. “Follow me.”
Nissa led the way over to the shelf with the glowing jars. Pulling a tiny wand out from under her wings, she waved it over each and every jar, one at a time. Twinkling faerie dust emanated from the tip of the wand.
When she was done, Nissa turned to Zoe and Colton. “There. Now the items can be transported back into the human world.”
She gave them an impish grin, then walked over to Dulcina and waved faerie dust all over her. Looking back at Zoe and Colton, she said, “You and your friends better hurry up and get out of here before Dulcina wakes up. She’s not going to be in a great mood.” With her wand, she produced a huge, sparkly pink velvet bag. “Here …For the jars.”
Zoe said, “Thank you!”
Colton nudged her. “Don’t ever thank a faerie!”
Nissa appeared not to hear them.
Zoe, Colton, and the rest of their team started picking the jars up very carefully so as not to break them. Impatiently, Nissa scooped a few up in her arms and threw them into the bag. “I’ve protected them with magic. Hurry up! They won’t break.”
The team worked quickly after that, throwing all the jars into the bag.
When they were done, Nissa had one more trick up her sleeves, one that didn’t exactly make Colton and the others happy.
Nissa closed the sparkly bag by pulling on a drawstring made of pink satin ribbon. Then she placed the bag behind her. “You may have this only under one condition. I have orders from a helpful faerie named Puck that I am not free to disobey. Puck said that I can help you humans to retrieve your friends’ souls, but only if you agree to destroy the mods that allow humans a shortcut into the faerie realm. Take it or leave it. That’s the only bargain available to you.”
Colton tried to argue, but Nissa pulled the jar filled with golden light out of the bag. She waved it in front of Colton and Zoe. “Seriously, your mods mean more to you than the essence of Ella Bradford?” She gazed into the open bag. “Than the essences of all these other kids in Crestview?”
Zoe pulled on Colton’s sleeve. “C’mon, Colton. Accept the bargain.”
“Fine,” Colton said. “We’ll shut down the mods.”
Nissa refused to budge. “Not shut them down. Destroy them forever.”
With a pained expression on his face, Colton said, “Okay. We’ll destroy them.”
Nissa placed the jar of golden light back into the bag, pulled the satin drawstring closed, and handed the bag to Colton. “Hurry up! Get out of here, while you still can.”
Back in the mod room, everyone was speechless and out of breath as they removed their helmets and gloves.
When he’d recovered enough to speak, Colton said, “Congratulations, guys! We did it!”
Zoe said, “I don’t think we should celebrate yet.” She held up the sparkly pink bag. “Not until we take care of these and you destroy the mods.”
***
Ella was in a special rehabilitation facility. A couple of other kids that had fallen into comas were in there as well. They were all from the wealthy side of Crestview. The kids from the Exe and the outskirts of the Exe were at home, with their families trying to care for them the best they could.
Zoe and the hacker team decided to visit the homebound kids first, so they could figure out how to admini
ster the glowing light trapped within the jars before they had to face the added challenge of gaining admission into a secure rehab facility as well.
Everything went smoothly. Each person’s name was etched onto their jar in gold lettering. Zoe or another member of the team placed the jar under the nose of the comatose person and unscrewed the lid. As the unconscious teen breathed in, the glowing essence entered their body through their nose. Within seconds, they were awake and asking what was going on. The team then placed the jar back in the bag and ran to tell a family member that their loved one had come out of their coma. They never explained why or how. No one thought to ask.
It was easier to see Ella than they had expected. They showed up during visiting hours and simply announced that they were there to see her. The staff seemed happy that their patient had visitors. Zoe realized that had Ella’s parents been there, it would have been a totally different story. Impossible, really. Ella’s parents had forbidden Zoe from ever returning to their house or seeing their daughter again.
As they approached the front desk, Zoe held on to the bag containing Ella’s jar of essence. She tensed, and her heart pounded against her chest like a caged animal when a nurse behind the desk said, “What’s in that pretty pink bag? Is that a gift for Ella?” The nurse was young and perky and just trying to be friendly, but Zoe felt incredibly threatened.
When Zoe didn’t answer, the nurse refused to give up. “Let’s see what you brought our sweet Ella, honey.”
Her brain frozen with fear, Zoe finally opened the bag. The nurse peeked inside. “Oh my word, it’s one of those glowy bottles like the ones they sell at the geek stores. I love those! It’ll look great on Ella’s nightstand.”
Zoe felt faint as she closed the bag.
Colton said, “I agree. They’re the coolest things.”
They quickly signed in, then followed the nurse’s directions to Ella’s room. Zoe’s hands were shaking so badly that she didn’t even recognize her signature. It looked like chicken scratch or someone else’s signature channeled through her body.
When they reached Ella’s room, Colton closed the door behind them. They worked quickly in order to accomplish their goal before anyone else came into the room.
Zoe removed Ella’s jar from the magical bag, then leaned over her. The hospital blankets felt soft and warm. Placing the jar illuminated with golden light under Ella’s nose, she unscrewed the lid. A glowing ribbon of light rose from the glass container and flowed into Ella’s nostrils.
When the golden mist had been completely consumed, Ella opened her eyes. Looking at the group around her bed, she looked puzzled.
Finally, pointing at Zoe, she said, “I know you!” Wrinkling her brow in concentration as though trying to retrieve memories, she finally said, “We were playing a game. Feyland…”
Zoe filled her in the best she could without giving away things that would sound too crazy. There would be time for that later, if Ella seemed receptive to it. For the moment, Zoe just said there were some serious flaws with the neural interface of the game.
After saying goodbye to Ella, Zoe told the nurse at the front desk that she had woken up. The nurse’s eyes went wide as saucers. While the nurse pushed an alert button and hospital staff went running off to Ella’s room, Zoe and her team slipped out the front door of the rehabilitation hospital.
***
That night, Zoe sat in her living room, watching the news. Wearing a warm, fuzzy bathrobe, sipping hot chocolate, she smiled with tremendous joy at the breaking news. All the kids who had fallen into mysterious comas had recovered.
The Crestview mayor spoke into a microphone. “We plan to launch a full investigation into our water supply. My firm belief is that it is not safe.”
Zoe shouted at the screen, “The water supply is not the part of Crestview’s infrastructure that has a major flaw!”
When it was time to go to bed, Zoe found herself wondering what to do with the pink bag and all the empty jars she’d placed back inside it. She had one idea that she thought was kind of weird, but decided to try it anyway. She placed the bag filled with jars under her pillow like little kids did with their lost teeth, wondering if there might be a real Tooth Faerie somewhere and if there was such a thing as a Jar Faerie. It was nearly impossible to sleep with all the jars forming hard lumps beneath her pillow, but eventually she drifted off.
In the middle of the night, Zoe woke. Half-asleep, in a kind of twilight state, she saw Nissa standing beside her bed. She was holding the pink bag in her tiny hands.
Nissa giggled, then disappeared with a rainbow-colored pop like a bubble bursting.
Zoe felt beneath her pillow for coins. There was nothing there but a bunch of leaves. She fell back asleep, dreaming of Feyland.
~*~
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Through the Trapdoor: A Feyland Story Page 4