I knelt beside Sam. "Transera nos," I whispered, visualizing his bedroom.
As soon as he was gone, I asked Meteor if we had enough elixir left to seal the portal.
"I don't know," he answered. "If not, we have no time to find more. Do you remember the spell to seal it?"
"Tell me again."
He told me, and I felt the sticky elixir bottle pressed into my hands. I splattered the dregs over the sandstone boulder. Throwing down the bottle, I infused my wand to 75.
"Chantmentum sealerum resvera," I said loudly. Then under my breath I muttered, "Seal this portal. Ad eternumr
If Meteor noticed that I'd echoed the spell with normal words, he said nothing about it. I heard him knocking on the boulder. "Sealed," he said.
Sealed. Just like that. Forever and always.
"The searchers in Galena ...," I said breathlessly. "... Won't find any portal," Meteor answered. "It's a wonder you sealed it in time."
I was afraid he would bring up Sam, but he didn't.
"Will you go with me into Oberon City?" I asked.
Meteor's hand found mine. "Of course. I promised to stay with you."
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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
LAYERED MAGIC IS AN INSIDIOUS FORM AND REQUIRES large amounts of radia to produce. spells are cast on top of each other; each one leads to the next. cues are embedded, to set off each layer. Cues may be directed at one particular individual or they may be directed to anyone who happens to enter the vicinity of the spell.
--Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
From the hillside, I transported both Meteor and myself to the cornfield portal. But before we went through to the Golden Station, he insisted on doing a protection spell against layered magic for me.
"Fendus altus prehenden nos elemen."
"Thank you," I said, though I doubted I needed it. My own spells had been effective against layered magic so far. "I wish you could help me throw off the troll elixir." I gave an experimental hop. "I can jump a little higher, but I still can't fly."
Meteor was quiet for a moment. "We need a plan," he said. "We have to find a place to think about what to do next.
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But as long as we stay on Earth, we'll have to keep doing invisibility spells to stay out of sight of the scopes. Let's go into Feyland."
He astonished me by asking if we could hold hands through the Golden Station, a place he'd never been. "We don't want to lose each other."
I was very glad of Meteor's hand. The Golden Station was a scene of chaos, more so than I had ever seen it. The noise was deafening. Fairies and genies were crammed in so densely that even if I had been able to fly, we couldn't have gotten through them. All of them seemed to be yelling and screaming, but I couldn't hear what they were saying because their words were lost in one continuous roar. The floor space was crawling with gnomes.
"Hang on!" I shouted into Meteor's ear. I transported us both to the first familiar place I thought of: the courtyard of the FOOM dome.
More chaos. Dozens of searchlights, some positioned on the ground and others beaming from domes and towers, flooded the air. Fairies and genies zoomed back and forth in a formless swarm. A voice, amplified by magic, boomed out:
"All fey folk are called upon to find Zaria Tourmaline, a purple-winged fairy who carries a plain black stylus wand. Reward: ten thousand radia delivered tip to tip. If you find her, notify a Council member. She has committed high crimes against Feyland. All fey folk are called upon to find ..."
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"This--for me?" I murmured, appalled. High crimes? A reward---to be paid in radio?
I was horrified to see Meteor become visible. In the flicker of an instant, I recast the spell, renewing invisibility for us both.
Meteor's voice rumbled in my ear. "Put your hands on my shoulders."
The announcement kept blasting the air over and over as I locked my arms around Meteor's neck. He flew straight up, dodging hundreds of searching fey folk while I clung to him and tried not to look down. When he had a clearer flight path, he headed out of the center of the city. He kept moving until the crowds thinned and then dwindled to nothing.
In a silent neighborhood, he landed on an empty balcony in a dilapidated tower. I slid from his back onto a ledge. He settled next to me, and I leaned against his shoulder. We sat, breathing hard.
A dim fey globe shone above us. The balcony had once been polished granite, but now it was notched and cracked, covered with dust and dirt. My wet skirt would soak up the grime, but what did it matter? Far worse things had happened.
"Thank you for rescuing my wand from the toad, and helping with the portal," I said when I got my breath. And for not despising me for being friends with a human, I wanted to say.
"Thank you for trusting me again," Meteor answered, just as his invisibility lapsed. He looked worried and tired, his
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eyes like submerged emeralds worn down by many waves.
"Let's stay visible," I said. "No one will look for us here."
He nodded. "Zaria, you know you have to put a forgetting spell on the human who went into Feyland."
I shrank from him. "But ... he'd never harm us."
"For his sake," Meteor answered. "He'll never get over seeing Feyland."
I remembered the awe and delight in Sam's face. "You're right," I said, desperately wishing to change the subject.
Fortunately, there was plenty to talk about. "I've never heard of the Council offering a radia reward," I muttered. "I've broken laws. But what have I done against Feyland? Why would they denounce me to everyone?"
"You're Violet," Metoer said hoarsely. "You're Leona's friend. Obviously, Lily Morganite does not want you to be free."
I gazed at the crumbling balcony. "Maybe we could find Leona's wand and take it back. Then, once we get her out of the Iron Lands, we could give it to her."
Meteor frowned. "Even if we knew where it was, even if we were invisible, we would never get past all the gnomes guarding it."
Ideas spun through my weary mind. "Maybe we could bribe the gnomes."
"Bribe them?" Meteor got a strange expression on his face. Earlier, it would have made me laugh, but not now. The troll elixir must be wearing off a little. I swung my feet
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against the edge of the balcony. They still felt heavy.
"What do gnomes love best?" I asked.
Meteor put his arms around his knees. "They don't love anything," he said. He rested his head on his arms, looking exhausted.
I went back to staring at the balcony and thought for a while. "How do you reverse layered magic?" I asked.
Meteor raised his head. When he spoke, he sounded like he was reading from a book. "There are two spells. One reveals the layers. The other banishes them. To reveal takes Level Forty magic and a minimum of one hundred radia. You have to be close enough to touch a subject with your wand. The spell is 'Extred rev dolehr.' It reveals the enchantment, and who put it there." He shuddered. "To banish layered magic, you say, 'Banjan ex lomel' It takes the same level and the same amount of radia."
It had cost Meteor two hundred radia to become my friend again!
"Layered enchantments are rare, my mentor said, because they use so many radia," he continued. "And Zaria, those who try to use chantmentum pellex to reverse a layered spell find that the layers have landed on them, too."
"She wants you in her clutches, "Beryl had said. I remembered Beryl's terror when I had offered to reverse the spells on her. She must have been trying to protect me.
I folded my wings close and took a deep breath. "Meteor, will you do something for me?"
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"Besides sit on an old balcony waiting until you can fly again?" He gave me a wry smile.
"Will you go back to Galena and reverse the layers on Beryl?"
"Galena? But I promised to stay with you until--"
"Please. It's important. I don't want Beryl to suffer any longer, but you'll be much safer w
ithout me: I can't fly, and everyone's looking for me. Besides, once Beryl's free, she might help us. She might know something about the Iron Lands. She might even know what gnomes love best."
He looked doubtful. "What if someone finds you here?"
I waved at the deserted towers. "If someone comes looking for me, I'll become invisible. Please, Meteor. I'll give you five hundred radia if you go."
He scowled at me.
"I owe you at least that much--although you'll have to teach me how a transfer is done."
"You owe me nothing," he said. "I'll go."
"Don't be angry." I touched his arm.
"I'm not angry," he said, but his eyebrows met at the bridge of his nose. He floated up.
"What's wrong?" I rose, too.
"Nothing's wrong."
I flipped open my watch face. Almost three in the morning. "When you come back, I might have a plan," I said a little hesitantly. Maybe he wouldn't like to return. Maybe he'd had enough of me.
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"You sure you want me to come back?" The scowl left his face.
"Of course. I'll wait for you."
Meteor nodded. He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze, then flew away with his usual silent power.
Leaving me alone.
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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
"ANY FAIRY, GENIE, OR LEPRECHAUN WHO IS SEEN BY a human must instantly cast a forgetting spell upon that human. the spell shall specify that the human in question will forget seeing the fey personage."
--excerpt from the Edict of the Unseen
Time seemed to be rushing away from me like sand from a broken hourglass.
I was so tired, yet terribly restless. I wanted to do something, but what? My thoughts bounced between Leona and Sam.
Meteor's words beat at my heart: ". . . put a forgetting spell on the human who went into Feyland."
Unfair! If Sam had been a genie, we could have had many meetings in the skies over Oberon City, exploring Feyland together. No one would have thought it was wrong.
But Sam was not a genie. Sam would never fly. His Level 5 magic, high for a human, would mean little in Feyland.
And I, Earth-struck though I was, could never live in Sam's world for even a day. My wings alone would proclaim
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me an outsider, a permanent stranger with no chance of belonging.
Meteor was right. When Sam woke, he must not remember where he had been. And if I was going to make him forget me, I might as well do it now, while my resolve was strong.
I had told Meteor I would wait for him, but just then it seemed that anything would be better than sitting there alone with no idea how long it would take him to come back.
I stood on the grimy balcony and made myself invisible again. I transported into the small viewing station where I had located Michael Seabolt.
In less than a blink I found myself in the lap of a startled genie who jumped as if a swarm of beetles had landed on him. I turned to see a white face, black eyes, and gaudy pink hair. His mouth opened so wide I could have fit my head inside it, but before he could let out a yell, I infused my wand.
"Sleep," I commanded, and he immediately slumped forward. Unfortunately, he wedged me between his chest and the scope. I squirmed until I could reach the lever and bring the eyepiece in range. Just as I managed to put my forehead against the fitting, I heard heavy pounding on the booth's door.
"Oberon's Crown," I muttered, craning my neck to see another group of fairies and genies writhing in a knot outside the viewing booth.
Had someone announced that I'd visited this place
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earlier? Were all these fey folk crowding the door in hopes of catching me on Earth, and getting the reward for my capture?
A short round genie had his orange nose squished against the glass and he banged the door with a pudgy fist.
"Let me in," he shouted.
Ignoring them all as best I could, I looked through the scope and asked for Sam. The scope showed him asleep in a soft pool of light from the streetlamp outside. His hair looked like a banked fire against the pillow.
The yelling and pounding on the door accelerated.
I had forgotten the exact words of the formal forgetting spell. I would have to use one of my own. Infusing, I poked the tip of my wand into the sending port. "Forget me," I said. "Forget me, and Leona, and Meteor. Forget the portal and Feyland. Forget everything about us." I hesitated and then added. "Ad eternum. Forever and always."
There. It was done.
With a loud crack the door to the booth burst open. I didn't have time to see if Sam's face changed when the spell took hold. Disentangling myself from the sleeping genie, I ducked under the scope and dodged against the wall.
"Transera nos," I said, and pictured the lonely, decrepit balcony.
What would my parents say if they could see me now? Bedraggled and exhausted on the edge of a seedy balcony in a filthy and wrinkled gown, hunted for a reward of ten
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thousand radia. A Violet, unable to fly, a sad, Earth-struck fairy whose best friend was locked away in the Iron Lands.
Waiting for Meteor, I kept testing my wings. I still couldn't fly, but my leaps were gradually getting higher. Maybe the troll elixir would turn me into a leprechaun.
Thinking of leprechauns made me think of the genie Laz. And thinking of Laz gave me an idea.
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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
THE CODE OF THE FEY ENJOINS FEY FOLK TO BE KIND and careful of one another. great care is taken to prevent injury. this is true of fairies, genies, and leprechauns, and also extends to gnomes.
--orville gold, genie historian of feyland
I pictured the sign for The Ugly Mug and transported to it.
The sign still hung in ramshackle glory outside the one-story building beside the wall of the Leprechaun Colony. I didn't want to be there, especially in the wee hours, but I figured that if anyone could tell me how to get into the Iron Lands--and out again with Leona--it would be Banburus Lazuli.
I hoped to find him inside.
Sounds of hooting laughter and banging drums leaked from The Ugly Mug into the night. I watched the tarnished door, and when a fairy bounced out I used the opportunity to slip past her.
The place was lit with plentiful candles; apparently no one here wanted to spend even minimal radia on fey
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globes. Flickering flames showed a room even longer than I remembered, cluttered with tables overflowing with raucous genies and loudmouthed leprechauns drinking from steaming mugs. Shrill giggles of fairies mingled with the rumble of male laughter while the rich, heady aroma I remembered from before hung in the air.
I tried to flatten myself against the wall, which seemed to be the only unoccupied space. At the far end of the room, a band of leprechauns played fiddles and drums, their music adding a throbbing wail to the rest of the noise.
I strained to see. It took several minutes to locate Laz, at a table in the corner near the musicians. He sat with his long legs tucked under a chair, dealing cards to a motley group.
Beryl had warned me repeatedly about Earth cards. They were used for gambling, she said, and gambling led to ruin as surely as ingesting coffee and chocolate, according to Beryl.
I moved along the wall. It wasn't possible to keep from bumping a number of rowdy patrons. If someone had been watching for traces of an invisible fairy, my trail would probably have been obvious. But everyone seemed to be completely caught up in the conversations they were having, and so I continued unnoticed until I stood behind Laz's gray-blue head.
The other players around the heavy brass table were studying their cards with intent expressions. Infusing my
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wand, I pointed at the table. "This game is finished," I said very softly.
The table tipped. A dozen mugs slid across its top, dumping into the laps of the genies on one side. The table itself quickly followed the drinks, crashing to the floor, pin
ning a few of the players while the others threw down their cards and jumped up.
"Why'd'ja do that?" asked a short genie with bumpy skin. He bopped a hairless genie next to him with a fist.
"Wasn't me, you trog," the hairless one shouted, punching back.
Soon a brawl had taken the place of the card game, but Laz kept aloof from the fray. His murky eyes slid from side to side as he backed through a curtain behind the toppled table.
I followed him. "Speak privately?" I said in his ear.
Laz wasn't startled at being spoken to by an invisible fairy. He turned and led the way behind the stage. I followed him through a tarnished silver door into a small room packed with crates. The lock snicked as he closed the door, which shut out most of the noise, though I could still hear the drums booming in the background.
When my invisibility expired, Laz showed no surprise. "Well, well," he said. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"
I wondered what his age was. His blue-black skin was smooth except for two grooves that bracketed his mouth, but his eyes seemed very old.
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"Do you live here?" I blurted out, knowing instantly it was a silly thing to say.
He shrugged calmly. "I own the place, so yes, I'm here most often. And you? Why are you here?"
"I need your help."
"You need more help than I can give you." Laz's delicate cough sounded mocking. "You fit the description of the one all Feyland is out looking for."
" You're not out looking for me." I gripped my puny wand, feeling uneasy.
He snorted. "Only because I've been a gambler long enough to know when my odds are bad." His arm shot out. He grabbed my wrist. "Have you now, though, don't I?"
The wrist he'd chosen belonged to the hand holding my wand. His grip was like steel. He pressed so hard, my fingers let go and my wand clattered to the floor.
Laz chuckled. "Haven't altered your wand yet, I see." Still clamping my wrist, he bent to pick up my stylus.
A roaring hum filled the air, and Laz fell backward against the door. Yelping, he let go of me. I scooped up my wand and waved it wildly.
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