by Talia Jager
It was as if all the past Aurorians were talking to me.
Come here often and learn. Come here to find peace.
I placed the book back in the hole and the door closed. I turned and faced the floral archway. I walked into the circular room with no ceiling. I was at the top of the temple. The walls were made of floral arches. There was a round structure in the middle that resembled a fountain or fire pit from the human realm.
I carried the stone toward the structure. It was humming, happy to be home.
Carefully I placed the stone in the circular cradle. The light of the sun burst in from one direction as the light from the moon came from the other. As soon as I let go, the stone rose about six inches in the air and started revolving. Flame sprang up in a circle around the room. Air whisked around me, but didn’t touch my body. The circular pit filled with water and began to bubble like a fountain.
I did what the book said and took some time to stand in the elements. I felt so alive and at peace. I felt like I belonged.
Rylie? You okay?
Yes. I’ll be down in a minute.
I took one last look at the stone, which continued to glow lightly and hum as it spun. It was safe and protected. Nobody could get their hands on it. The faery realm was whole and the stone back in its place. I knew I had a lot to learn and would be back here soon, but right now I needed to go be with my husband.
Before leaving, I said out loud, “Thank you to all of you who are helping me. I am doing my best and hope I’m making you all proud.”
I left the way I came. When I reached the water steps, I stepped on each one carefully until I was back with Kallan, Sierra, and Drake. The water stairs fell into the lake below. “We did it,” I exclaimed.
“You did it.”
I rolled my eyes and kissed Kallan. I felt happy and light. Everything was right with the world. I could feel it. I led the way out and climbed aboard Abrax.
“Let’s go home.” Kallan waggled his eyebrows at me.
We were halfway back to the house Kallan built for me when a loud roar sounded in the not so far distance. It sent shivers up my spine. “What was that?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kallan and Drake drew their swords. Kallan instinctively pushed me behind him. Drake did the same with Sierra. They were looking around trying to figure out which way the sound came from. The roar came again, from the right. I tried to peer around Kallan and Drake, but they kept me blocked.
And then it stepped out of the forest.
It was a beast, to put it simply. A huge creature that reminded me of three animals meshed together. It had the body of a lion, humongous bat-like wings, and the tail of a scorpion. Its body was brown and the mane around his head dark black, but his face freaked me out. It was lion-esque, but with a touch of human. The moment he laid his eyes on us, he smiled, showing more teeth than I ever thought one creature could have. My wings fluttered like crazy.
“Rylie…go invisible,” Kallan spoke softly.
“But—”
“Now!”
I didn’t argue. I grabbed Sierra’s hand tight and turned us both invisible and stayed behind them.
The beast let out a roar I’d never get out of my head. It lifted its tail and something shot from it.
“Duck,” Kallan said, and we all ducked.
“What is that thing and what did it just shoot at us?” I hissed.
“Manticore,” Drake answered. “A poisonous spine.”
Great. A poison-shooting beast that I wasn’t sure I’d remember the name of. And I couldn’t fight. Learning how was going to be the next thing I did.
Satine emerged from the forest, next to the beast, holding a lit torch. I should have known she was behind this. Before I could react she tossed the torch behind her into the heavily treed area.
A gripping pain seized my body as flames spread up the trees. I fell to the ground gasping for air.
“Rylie!” Sierra cried out. “What’s the matter?” I realized I had dropped the glamour when I saw her coming toward me. It must have happened when I fell.
“Stay…back,” I told her.
Lying on the ground, looking up at the sky, I searched my brain for some way I could help. I opened my arms above me and started asking for rain. Within seconds, clouds covered the area. I hit the ground with the palm of my hand and a streak of lightning struck near Satine. She jumped and growled at me. “Finish them,” she said to the manticore.
The beast looked into my eyes and I could tell it was me who it wanted. I was too weak to move. It shot out a few more of its poisonous spines and then charged at Kallan and Drake.
“Get down!” Drake yelled.
Sierra jumped and landed on the ground next to me.
Kallan and Drake took aim and ran at the beast. Their swords pierced the manticore. It let out a freaky roar, swayed back and forth a few times, and then collapsed on the ground.
Satine’s eyes widened and she spun and ran. The rain was pouring down hard over the fire, helping to put it out. I shook Sierra. “You can get up now.”
She let out a groan that I didn’t like the sound of. I pushed myself up and rolled her over toward me. An ear-piercing scream escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
Kallan and Drake were at my side in a flash. Kallan looked from me to Sierra and rushed to her side. The color had drained from her face and she looked sick. One of the manticore’s spines was sticking out of her chest.
“Sierra?” I scooted closer and brushed her hair from her face. “Can you hear me?”
She moaned a response. “Hurts, Ry…”
Rage filled my body and thunder banged overhead. “I’m gonna kill her.” I forced myself to stand up and took off running after Satine. I would find her and take her down. I had enough of her already.
As I entered the forest, I could see that the living things didn’t like Satine. It was like they pulled away from the path she took. As I started following, her footprints appeared on the ground. Quickly and quietly I chased after her. I caught a glimpse of Satine dashing behind a tree. “Satine!” I yelled. “This ends now!”
She stepped out of the shadows and sneered at me. “You’re just a pathetic little girl.”
“We’ll see who’s pathetic when I’m done with you.” I narrowed my eyes and mashed my lips together. She reminded me of Varwik—too much. Anger raged through me.
“What’s wrong? Did your human friend get hurt? You are too worried about humans. They are nothing. You shouldn’t concern yourself with them.”
The storm around us was getting worse. Thunder crashed above.
“Or is it the land you worry more about? You feel its pain, don’t you?” She opened a bottle, poured something that looked like dirt into her hand, and blew it into the forest. The dirt landed on some small bushes and they immediately shriveled up and turned brown. A sharp pain soared through my chest. “Feel that? Isn’t it a burden? Wouldn’t you rather be free and unconnected?” She poured more into her hand.
“No, Satine, don’t.”
“Why not? Do you really care about the earth or is it your own pain you want to avoid?” Before I could respond, she blew the powder from her hand.
I watched in horror as a tree lost all its leaves, turned black, and caved in on itself. The pain in my chest intensified and I struggled to breathe.
“I don’t even have to touch you to kill you. Do you understand that, Oleander? I can kill you by killing the earth. Or…you can give me what I want. Turn the realm over to me. You have the power to do that. In return, I can disconnect you from the earth. You will no longer feel what she does. In fact, I can make you human. You’ll never have to worry about the faery realm again. I’ll heal your friend for you and you both can go back to school and do what you planned to do before
Azura disrupted your life.”
A year ago, I may have taken her deal, but not anymore. I was an Aurorian faery. I belonged here. Any hope of ever making Satine see the error of her ways vanished. Now, I only wished her dead. Furious white spots blurred my vision. I could feel how much the earth loathed her as well.
“You, Satine, will never be leader.” I wheezed, my chest still on fire. “You will never have the respect of the fey or the earth. You will die and nobody will care.” I raised my hands over my head, palms to the sky, and then flung them down and out at Satine. She was pushed back against a tree by strong air pressure and the tree branches wrapped around her.
I closed the space between us. Her icy cold eyes didn’t have a shred of fear or guilt in them. They were just full of hatred.
A flower sprouted next to me. I recognized the bright orange flower from a walk I took with Kallan when I was captive. He had said some of the flowers were poisonous. I picked it and held it by the stem.
“You know what this is. Your time is over. You will be no more.”
Satine’s eyes widened a little, but then glossed over. “You will be haunted by my death for the remainder of your life.”
“I don’t think I will.” I shoved the flower in her mouth and stepped back.
Satine began making weird choking noises and her body thrashed against the tree. She kept her eyes on me the whole time and I swear she smiled as the last sounds escaped her throat. And then she stopped moving and fell limp.
Vaughn, the treefolk leader, stepped out of the forest. “We will keep her body here until it becomes ash.” He handed me an apple. “It’ll help you feel better.”
Quickly, I took a few bites of the apple and my breathing returned to normal. “Thank you. I must go.” I ran as fast as I could back to where Sierra was.
Kallan sprinted to me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “But you no longer have a sister.”
“Fine with me.”
I knelt next to Sierra. Tears welled in my eyes. “Hang on, Sierra. We’re gonna get you help.” I gathered her hand in mine. She gave it a little squeeze. “You stay with me, okay? Stay with me.”
“You’re so beautiful, Rylie. Faery life really suits you. You make a great leader.”
“Stop it! This is not the end—” I couldn’t finish. I looked up at Kallan. “I won’t lose her. How do I fix it?”
“We need to get her to Lena.”
“Then let’s go.”
Drake scooped Sierra up and she smiled at him. “Thank you for loving me.”
“Don’t give up. I want to love you forever.” Drake gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
“Isn’t there an old gateway around here?” Kallan asked Drake.
“A gateway?” I asked.
“There are a few gateways in the faery realm that lead to Travelers’ Paradise.” Kallan was walking quickly and scanning the area. “There.” He ran to a cluster of trees. Putting his hands on the bottom of one tree, he moved it, revealing a black vortex. “Hurry.”
Drake took no time disappearing into the hole with Sierra. I hesitated, not sure what to expect. Kallan grabbed my hand and pulled me through. It felt like I was falling and my stomach flip-flopped, but holding Kallan’s hand kept me grounded.
It spit the four of us out in front of Travelers’ Paradise. Kallan burst through the front door. “We need Lena immediately!”
Drake placed Sierra on a bed. Lena rushed to her, placed her hands on Sierra, and then after a minute she shook her head. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“What? No!” A lump rose in my throat. This was not happening. “Help her. Take the poison out. Do something,” I pleaded.
Kallan put his hands on my shoulders.
“Don’t!” I yelled and pulled away. “Fix her, Lena. I command you to heal her.”
Lena’s eyes were full of sadness and sympathy. “I can’t heal her.”
Tears poured down my face. Everyone was staring at us, but I didn’t care. I knelt next to Sierra and took her hand. “Don’t die. Don’t let her win. Hang on. I need you.” I lay my head on her chest. “Please…I’m so sorry…”
“There might be a way for you to save her,” Lena spoke softly.
My head shot up. “What is it?” I asked, knowing I’d do anything.
“Make her one of us.”
“Turn her into a faery?”
“Yes.”
“That’s possible?” After all the promising I had been making about Sierra and Drake being together, it was as simple as turning her into a faery?!
“Only Aurorians can do it and you must use both dark and light magick.”
Dark magick? “If I were to do this, would she be a good faery? If I’m using some sort of dark magick, she wouldn’t turn into a bad faery, would she?”
“Not that I’m aware of. This isn’t done often and certainly hasn’t been done since I’ve been a faery. You’re the first Aurorian we’ve had in many years.”
I knew Sierra would be okay being a faery. She had wanted it, dreamed of it, and it would complete my promise to her.
“Okay. How do I do this?”
“The spell is in Varwik’s book,” Lena said.
“We’ll have to go to my father’s castle get the spell book and then you’ll have to use it,” Kallan said.
Sounded easy enough. “Okay.”
“Rylie, are you sure about this?” Kallan asked. “The elders and others may frown upon it.”
“This is Sierra we’re talking about. I don’t care what they do to me. I won’t let her die. She saved my life.”
Kallan sighed. “I knew you’d say that.” He looked over at Lena. “Take her to our house, keep her alive, we’ll be back. How long does she have?”
“Not long.” Lena stood up.
“Is there a winged horse here we can borrow?” Kallan asked.
“Out back,” Lena replied.
Kallan nodded, took my hand, and we hurried outside. He was unusually quiet as he led me through the forest.
Before climbing on the winged horse, I said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. Are you okay? Are we okay?”
He turned to look at me. “Yes. Of course. I’m so sorry that Satine took her anger out on you and Sierra. I’m glad she’s gone. We can talk about it more later. Sierra’s more important right now.”
He jumped on the white animal and held his hand out for me to get on. “Take us to the dark castle.”
The winged horse took off. I wrapped my hands around Kallan and rested my head on his back. I let the tears fall. I couldn’t lose my best friend. It was my fault she was here in this realm. I should have insisted she return to the human world as soon as the wedding was over. I should never have let her stay here with Satine roaming around.
We landed in back of the castle. Kallan dismounted first and then helped me off. “I know where it is. C’mon.” He grabbed my hand and we dashed inside. Memories flooded my mind as we made our way through the empty corridors. Nobody was here anymore. Kallan had let everyone return to their families and he had moved out long before we were married.
We entered the library and Kallan went right to wall of books. He pulled out a large blue book most of the way, but not completely, and a door slid open on the opposite wall. Inside was a room big enough for a desk and small bookcase. On the desk lay a thick book.
Kallan picked it up. “The spell book.”
“Do you know which spell it is?”
“No.” He flipped through the book. “Some of the spells have that symbol of the hand with the star in the middle. Maybe it’s one of those spells? Maybe that symbol means only an Aurorian can do it.”
I glanced at the writing. “I can’t read it.”
“We can help you
with that.” He closed the book. “Let’s go.”
Within minutes we were at our house. Sierra was on the couch completely unconscious now. Her breathing was shallow and her color pale. “These combination spells must be done outside.”
Lena was skimming the spells as Drake and Kallan laid Sierra on the ground outside. I searched the sky and my eyes landed on the moon still there even though it was daytime.
Lena’s eyes were on me.
“What?” I asked.
“Rylie, this spell, it has a consequence,” she told me.
“What is it?”
“It says if the spell is used and a human is turned into a faery, they will forget their life beforehand.”
“Okay.”
“She won’t know you, Rylie. She won’t remember anything. She’ll wake up a faery. Not your best friend. She won’t know Drake either.”
I sucked in a deep breath and thought about that. “So if I change her, she will wake up with amnesia. And if I don’t change her, she will die.”
“Yes.”
I met Drake’s eyes. “I don’t want to lose her. She’s my best friend. I love her. She’s wanted to be a faery ever since she found out I was. She’d want it…but to lose all her memories…” I stifled a sob. “She wouldn’t be in love with you anymore, Drake. She wouldn’t be my friend. She wouldn’t be Sierra.”
He nodded. “But she’d be alive.”
He was right. Being alive was more important than knowing who we were or loving us. I looked back at Lena. “What do I have to do?”
Lena handed Kallan the book and he kneeled behind me. “Put one hand on her heart, the other on her head.” After my hands were in position, he placed his hands on top of mine. “Remember when our fathers were fighting and you started to use the dark magick?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll have to do that. I can access it. Do it through me. Once you feel it coursing through your body, press it into her and repeat after me.” Then he said words I didn’t know or understand. He repeated them again and again. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Sierra, losing her, never being able to talk to her again, or see her smile. I thought of the ugly beast who tried to destroy us all and Satine, who got us in this mess to begin with. The anger rose and I felt a vibration above me. Heaviness settled around my shoulders and I let it into my body. It felt wrong in every sense of the way and I felt like a traitor using it. But this was my best friend’s life. I had to save her. My body hummed and I knew it was time. I pushed on Sierra with my hands and echoed the words Kallan was saying.