by Ektaa Bali
She held the bottle of ghostberry juice and carefully tipped five drops into his mouth.
“Climb back up to my shoulder when you return.”
Pancake nodded as his body disappeared. Vidya slowly lowered him to the ground and felt his weight shift off her palm as he scurried away.
Be careful, Pancake, she thought. She tried to steady her heart as it raced in her chest and focused on what was in front of her. She thought it might be smart to inspect the Bunyips while they were here, but she saw Lily had beaten her to it. In her hand was a pen and pad of paper, where she was quickly sketching out she shape of the Bunyip closest to them.
Vidya gazed at the cavern while they waited. That yellow glow was so familiar. Where had she seen it before? She’d known it from somewhere, she just knew it. Perhaps she needed to go to the library and see if she’d read about something like that before. Or maybe seen it. Maybe she had seen it in the Fae forest somewhere and forgotten about it? No, she decided, something like that she would never have forgotten about.
Just a few minutes later, Vidya felt a tiny movement by her shoe and then tiny claws up her leg. With a sigh of relief, she realised Pancake had come back and was climbing back up to her shoulder.
When he reached her shoulder, he began chattering excitedly non-stop in his quokka language, clearly very excited.
“Quiet, quiet!” hissed Lotus. “You’ll give us away!”
“Quiet!” murmured Vidya, and Pancake stopped chattering. Instead, Vidya could hear him panting shakily on her shoulder, trembling with adrenaline. He would have to fill them in back at the castle. They couldn’t afford any noise right now.
But it wasn’t Pancake who gave them away.
The Bunyip closest to them rolled over in his sleep. As he did so, it revealed wide fleshy flaps attached to his back. Vidya’s heart felt into her stomach.
Wings. They had somehow grown wings.
Vidya gasped loudly, and the Bunyip twitched and jerked upward, staring into the forest. Her reflexes took over, and she took a step backward, tripped on a rock she hadn’t seen behind her, and fell with a loud. “Oof!”
Pancake shrieked as he fell off her shoulder.
Ten of the Bunyips closest to them jerked awake and jumped to their feet, growling deeply. This set off a reaction as the rest of the Bunyips in the clearing were awoken too. A Bunyip charged toward their hiding spot, growling. But he had not seen them yet.
“Go!” Lotus hissed.
Vidya scrambled to her feet, thrust Pancake in her pocket, and ran into the forest, flapping her wings quickly to get her into the air. She felt the other three close behind her as Bunyips, Vidya could not tell how many, thrashed into the bushes after them.
“Fae!” came a deep grumbling roar.
“They can speak!” shrieked Willow. “Up! Up! Up!”
Vidya had reached one branch of a tall tree and flapped her wings again to get her up to the next branch.
The four Fae branched hopped upward, and a second later, Vidya heard Lotus cry out.
“Urgh!” Vidya stopped in her tracks to look down and see one Bunyip had made it up one branch and had Lotus’ ankle in one huge black claw.
Other Bunyips were trying to fly upward to catch them, but as they jumped and flapped their wings, they clumsily gained a small height but then came tumbling down.
Above her, Vidya heard the twang of Willow’s bow string. With a roar, the Bunyip holding Lotus fell away, clutching his shoulder where an arrow was now buried.
Lotus was released with a shout of surprise, and as the Bunyip crashed to the ground, the four Fae kids flew upward, quickly gaining height into the treetops.
“They can’t fly properly,” wheezed Lotus. “Did you see? They can’t use their wings properly yet.”
Finally, they reached the topmost branches of the dense trees, where they could see the blue sky peeking through the gaps. The four kids burst through the canopy, into the open sky. They gratefully breathed in the crisp morning air. They were free, and in the safety of the sky once again.
But for how long? Vidya thought as they flew as fast as they could away from the Bunyip nest. How long will the skies remain free and safe for us? Somehow, the Bunyips had developed wings. They were no longer as safe in their sky palace as they had thought.
9
Under the Sea
The most ancient friends of the Fae are the people of the water, the Merfolk. The custodians of the Sea were born of the water before anything else. But as the sea is beautiful and wise, wild and unforgiving, so are its children.
—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.
* * *
Willow, Lotus, Lily, and the triplets had all taken up residence in Vidya’s room. Luna and Toad were spreading tea tree lotion over Lotus’ sore ankle where the Bunyip had gotten a hold of him. The rest of them were eating Daisy’s broccoli stew or dozing on the bed or on small mattresses they had laid on the floor. Lobey was sleeping on the window seat, leafing through one of the books on Bunyips. The new information about the Bunyip’s wings had shaken them, and, exhausted from their trek into the forest and then chase back home, they collapsed into Vidya’s room while Vidya told the triplets what had happened. The triplets had responded with pale faces and shocked expressions. “Rest,” Lobey had said, pulling at her blue braid, “and then we will decide what to do.”
But Vidya could not sleep like Lily and Willow immediately had. She reclined against her fluffy green pillows, chewing her lip as Pancake sat next to her with a paper and pen in hand. He had been excited to tell her all about what he had seen in the glowing cave, but his quokka squeaks made no sense to her. In the end, she had given him drawing tools so he could show her. She watched as he sketched out a rough shape. Lotus drew up a chair to watch, and Luna and Toad came to stand behind him.
“It looks like…” Lotus squinted at the rounded shape. “A rock?”
“It’s the flower,” breathed Vidya, watching as Pancake added definition to the petals. “Is that what it is, Pancake?”
Pancake nodded vigorously, then took a yellow pencil and started adding colour to the petals, then adding streaks of light coming out of it. Vidya remembered the mystical glow from the cave. It was as if it had been drawing her in. Come in, the light said. Vidya, come closer. She rubbed the goosebumps that had erupted all over the arms.
“It’s a yellow flower,” said Luna, cocking her head.
Pancake shook his head and held up the yellow pencil and sighed. He cast his eye about the room, peering around. Then he saw something on the Fae wall and squeaked excitedly, jumping off the bed and around Lotus to rush to the other side of the room. He climbed up onto Vidya’s desk and held up a golden earring.
“It’s gold?” Vidya asked in disbelief.
“What kind of flower is gold?” asked Lobey with disbelief. “None—”
“There is one,” interrupted Vidya in a soft voice. Everyone went quiet and stared at her. Something in her spine tingled, and she knew she was on the right path. “It sounds crazy, but all know the one flower that is gold.”
“No,” breathed Luna.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” snorted Lobey. “The Flower of Awakening is a myth. A legend. It’s just a story they tell kids.”
“Yes,” said Vidya seriously. “The story, about how we got our magic. About how we came from the earth.”
“If the Flower of Awakening actually existed,” droned Lobey, unimpressed. “Our people would’ve found it by now. There’s not a single living plant we don’t know about.”
Vidya thought back to the cave. That glow was so strong, so beautiful, so wonderful, it almost didn’t seem real. She looked at Lotus, and he looked back at her. She could see it in his eyes, he were thinking the same thing she was thinking, remembering the beauty of the glow.
“You didn’t see it, Lobelia,” said Lotus, turning in his chair to speak to her. “It’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget it.”
“We’ll have a look in the library,” said Luna. “Maybe there are pictures in a book somewhere?”
“Good thinking, Luna,” said Vidya. “I can’t just lie here, I’m going to head down there right now.”
She didn’t have to explain her urgency to the others. They had seen the wings on the Bunyips. And just because they couldn’t fly now, didn’t mean they wouldn’t learn quickly. How long would they be safe in the palace? Vidya knew she had to work quickly. They needed answers. They needed to be sure. They needed a plan.
Vidya jumped out of bed and scooped Pancake up.
“I’ll come too,” said Lobey.
“I’ll go and check on baby Mahiya,” said Toad. “It must be time to change her again soon.”
Vidya thanked Toad, and left the others to rest, shoving Pancake in her pocket and sweeping out of the room and down the stairs to the library, Lobey close on her heels. They were just passing the entrance hall, when she felt a magical wind whip through the front door. A green leaf tumbled through the entrance, and Vidya leapt toward it, snatching it out of the air.
The leaf was slightly wet, so it took her a second to make out the inky words.
* * *
Emergency. Meet me at the Fae pond today, when your sun is highest ~ Meera.
* * *
It was Princess Meera! Bob must have taken the leaf to her, and now she had information to share.
When your sun is highest. The sun was highest at noon. Vidya looked out the large front windows. The sun was high in the sky, but not quite at its peak. She might just have enough time to get there.
Vidya showed Lobey the message.
“I told Bob, Meera’s assistant, to send me a message when she had information for us. She knows something. The day we took Princess Sonakshi back to the portal, Bob told us she had information. I have to go now.”
Lobey took all of this in with a frown on her face.
“Vidya, just wait a minute—”
“We don’t have time, Lobey!” Vidya urged. “I have to go now.”
Vidya could see the gears turning behind Lobey’s eyes.
“Who are you taking?” she asked.
Vidya shook her head, “They’ve been through enough for today. Let them sleep, I’ll go alone.”
“That’s stupid, Vidya. Let me come.”
“I need you to look after things here, Lobey,” said Vidya, rubbing her eyes. “You’re next in line to the throne after me. You know that as well as I do.”
That made Lobey shut her mouth. She screwed up her eyes and shook her head. “I would make a great Queen you know,” she said fiercely.
Vidya turned toward the entrance to the palace, waving her hands at Lobey. “Yeah, yeah, I know. If I’m not back by dark, send a search party in the morning.”
* * *
Vidya ran down the rest of the path and shot over the Bottomless Sky, fluttering her wings as fast as she ever had and landed with a thump on the other side.
She strode into the tree line of the forest and peered through the trees. Thankfully, there was no unusual movement in the shadows between the trees. No Bunyips yet.
The Fae forest felt like a huge dark shadow at her back. She had never actually been here by herself. She had always come with one of the other guards, or even her father. Her heart ached as she realised she missed him so much right now and wondered what his first move would be when he returned. Would he take a group of Fae into the forest and round up the Bunyips like Grandfather Fern had? But the Bunyips were smarter now, Vidya didn’t think he’d be able to do it the same way. The Old Ones must’ve given him some wisdom or knowledge that would give them the answer. Perhaps they would know about the Flower of Awakening, or whatever that golden glow was. She trusted Pancake to be honest, of course, but he was only a young quokka and new to the ways of the Fae world. Maybe he thought he saw a flower, and it was actually something else.
Vidya turned and looked into the shadows of the forest. If she was quiet, a Bunyip should not catch her getting to the Fae pond. She branch-hopped through the trees easily. The forest was empty except for a few birds fast asleep in nests safely high in the trees. But of course they did not make any noise, making the forest eerily quiet. She could only hear the flutter of her own wings, the creak of the branches under her weight as she landed, and sometimes a breeze rustling the leaves.
She arrived at the Fae pond quickly and she scoped the clearing that surrounded it. There were no animals or Bunyips in sight. There was the glowing blue pool of water and the rocks bordering it, but the water was clear, and Bob was now where to be seen. It was just past midday, Princess Meera should be here by now.
As she was watching the pond nervously, a shadow appeared under the surface. A grey shape jumped out of the pond, made a wide arc and then splashed back into the water.
“Bob!” Vidya whispered to herself. He must be checking if I’ve arrived.
Vidya looked left and right, there were still no Bunyips in sight, and fluttered down right near the pond. She leaned over the pond and stuck her hand into it, waving it around beneath the surface.
Two shadows appeared this time, rapidly growing larger, and this time, gloomy faced Bob was not alone.
“Good afternoon,” came the rough voice of the girl who was, no doubt about it—Princess Meera.
She was paler than Vidya, for surely she did not get much sun, with skin the colour of milk tea, and wide blue eyes the same colour as the water of the Fae pond. She wore a crop top made of shiny seashells and had long, wavy black hair. Over her shoulder, Vidya could see the hilt of a sword strapped to her back. The hilt was made of coral and sapphire and gleamed in the sunlight that streamed through the canopy of the trees.
“Hello, I’m Princess Vidya,” Vidya held out her hand.
“Oh, well met, I’m Princess Meera,” she shook Vidya’s hand.
“Hello again, Bob,” said Vidya, to which the grumpy fish bobbed his head up and down in the water.
“Now,” said Meera briskly. “I’ve found something you need to see. It was guarded by a terrible monster, but I dealt with her. It’s a haunting tale of daring and valour and perhaps one day I will tell it to you, but right now, we must hurry.” She lifted a finger and pointed it down toward the water she was floating in. “The Fae ponds are misfiring on your side. The Fae magic that powers them is fading.”
Vidya stared at the Fae pond with a sinking feeling in her chest. First the adults fall asleep and now the Fae ponds were faulty? However the Bunyips were stealing their magic, they needed to fix it fast.
“How do we do this?” Vidya asked. “I can’t swim underwater for long.”
“I’ve come prepared,” said Meera. “The Fae used to use a water bubble to visit with the merpeople.” She moved back in the Fae pond, and Bob followed her. From under the water, she brought out a large lily pad. It was a broad, green, circular leaf, big enough that Vidya could stand on it. Meera spread it out on top of the water so it floated on the surface. “Alright, hop on top!”
“I’ll sink straight down! And Pancake can’t swim!”
“Who’s Pancake?” asked Meera, raising her eyebrows.
Pancake squeaked, coming out of Vidya’s pocket and scrambling up to her shoulder. He pointed at the lily pad and squeaked in dismay.
“What is he?” asked Meera, peering at him.
“He’s a quokka,” Vidya answered fondly.
“Well, you’re a happy fellow, aren’t you?” said Meera, amused. “Take these.” Vidya held her hand out as Meera dropped two tiny conch shells into her hand. “Put them in your ears, that way I can talk to you in the water.” Meera fit two tiny shells into her ears too. “Anyway, I don’t have time to explain, but yes, you and Pancake will be able to breathe underwater. Hop on, and you’ll see. Bob said this place is full of Bunyips.”
Remembering that this was indeed true, Vid
ya shrugged to herself and stepped right onto the lily pad before she could think about it any more. But the lily pad did not crumple and fold underneath her weight as she had initially thought. Instead, it felt as firm as if she stood on land.
“Let’s go!” Meera, and she dipped beneath the water, her purple-green tail visible for a moment before it disappeared beneath the surface, while Bob stayed to watch Vidya. Immediately, the lily pad began to submerge itself beneath the water, lowering Vidya slowly down like an elevator.
“Argh!” Vidya exclaimed.
“Keep still,” droned Bob. “Look at your feet.”
Vidya looked down, and instead of water surrounding her feet, they stayed dry—no water spilled onto the lily pad at all. As it sunk into the water, a silvery wall appeared at the edges, stopping water from flowing in. Pancake and Vidya watched in fascination as the lily pad then lowered into the water while the water was kept back by the silvery bubble. Soon, they were deep enough that Vidya could see into the water beyond the silver bubble. She and Pancake looked upward just as the silvery bubble closed in on them, and they were completely in, water on all sides of them, and it looked like they were in an underwater cave, the Fae pond making a little hole in the top of it. Meera was waiting for her just beyond in the cave, her dark hair floating around her. She grinned and waved. Vidya waved back and watched as Bob, looking very unimpressed, kept still while Meera tied a rope around him like a horse’s harness and bridle. Meera led him to Vidya’s bubble, and with the two long ends, tied them to Vidya’s lily pad.
“I call it a Bubblepad”, came Meera’s voice in Vidya’s ear.
Vidya jumped because Meera had not moved her mouth at all, but the sound was still coming from the conch shell earpiece.
“It’s weird, I know, came Meera’s voice again. But under the water, merfolk either use sign language or talk to each other telepathically. Which means I can talk to you through your mind. Using the earpiece, you can talk to me too.”