by Emma Savant
“I don’t think the Oracle is a normal adult,” I said.
Amani scoffed. “You got that right,” she said. She winced. “Sorry, hold on.”
She doubled over and pressed her forehead to the cool silver floor. I watched her back rise and fall several times as she took deep, calming breaths.
My stomach turned over. This wasn’t right. Nothing about this was right.
I held a hand out. Hesitantly, unsure whether this was okay or allowed or even safe, I touched her back.
“Amani,” I said. “Are you okay?”
Beneath my hand, her skin trembled with another breath. She let it out in a heavy gust, and as she knelt there with her face to the floor, I felt my hand begin to tingle.
She breathed again, and this time, the air shuddered into her lungs. Beneath my fingertips, her energy began to pull from mine. I felt it, like a tiny breeze had formed just under my hand, as my strength and magic flowed from me into the tiny bumps of her spine.
Her breathing steadied. The next inhale was clean and easy. She moaned softly and sat up. I let my hand fall back into my lap.
Her eyes fluttered open and her gaze met mine.
“Thank you,” she said. “That helps more than I can explain.”
But she didn’t have to explain. I could see it. Her skin, which had been flat and dry a moment before, had regained a tiny bit of its usual glow. Her shoulders drew back taller, and the crease between her eyes had softened.
“What are you doing in here?” I said.
“I can’t be everywhere at once,” she said. “Sometimes things happen quickly, and I need to be able to respond. Other times, I need to meet with other Glimmering leaders around the world, and we can’t be in the same place at the same time. That’s when I use this room. Duck,” she added, suddenly sharp.
Again, she leapt to her feet. She held out a hand and thrust it out directly in front of her. Mist poured from her palm and surrounded us like fog rolling in off the ocean. It glowed faintly red. I pressed my body flat against the silver floor as the mist filled the room.
Amani sat back down. The fog faded in an instant.
Cautiously, I lifted my head.
“Okay to sit?” I said.
“Okay to sit,” she said. “Good reflexes.”
“What would that have done to me?” I said.
She tightened her ponytail. “Major disorientation,” she said. “I tricked a bunch of sprites into flying straight into the river. Won’t hurt them, but it got them away from a group of Hums, which was the main thing.”
“Shouldn’t you have, I don’t know, other people doing this?” I said. “Why are you fighting sprites?”
“Our law enforcement isn’t trained for this kind of thing,” she said. “I’ve got enough magic to make a difference. Until I find a way to break into Kelda’s Fountain and deal with her, I may as well help where I can.”
I remember Isabelle criticizing Amani for not having her boots on the ground.
I wished she could see this.
“So the room lets you fight them anywhere?” I said.
“It lets me focus my magic,” she said. “As queen, I have to be able to be anywhere, any time. That’s not physically reasonable, but with this room, I can sort of… project my consciousness and energy wherever it needs to go. The elements support my magic, and the star and moon help me focus it.” She nodded up toward the rings that surrounded us. “Earth, air, water, and fire,” she said. “This way, when I throw a spell out, most of it gets caught in the rings and stays in the room. I can restore my magic quickly this way.”
“Not quickly enough,” I said.
She tilted her head at me.
“No offense,” I said. “But you look like crap.”
“I feel like it,” she said. “Even with the room, it still takes time to absorb the magic back in. I know I should just pull the magic straight from the air and let it flow through me, but let’s be real. I’m the Faerie Queen. My spells are stronger if the energy’s been sitting inside me for a while.”
“Whatever works,” I said. “You need to make sure to take care of yourself, though.”
She pressed her fingertips to the back of her neck and rolled her head back and forth. “I can rest when this is over,” she said. “In fact, when this is over, everyone’s going to be lucky if I don’t just pack up and head to Fiji for a couple of weeks.”
I had no idea if we’d survive without the Faerie Queen’s presence that long, but it had to be worth the risk. No one should be as worn out from their job as Amani appeared to be right now. Even with the extra boost of my magic, she looked ready to drop.
I propped my chin on my knees and watched her as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to re-absorb the energy she’d just lost. It seemed impossible that she could restore anything that quickly. A single spell like the one she’d just thrown would be enough to knock me out for the rest of the day.
“Amani?” I said.
Her eyelids fluttered open.
“I’m not a good faerie,” I said.
She opened her mouth, but I put a hand on her knee and shook my head. The touch seemed to calm her, so I kept my fingertips there, resting lightly in case she needed to pull from me again.
“I’m not,” I said. “And I know you don’t want me as your heir anymore. You haven’t talked to me for months, and I get it. I do. It’s okay. And I know I probably can’t do anything, but I want to help.”
“I can’t keep disrupting your life,” Amani said. “It’s selfish.”
“What’s selfish is me sitting at Haidar’s when you need every Glim you can get to help save this city,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to be running crowd control on a bunch of idiot sprites. You need to be out there, doing whatever you have to do to deal with Kelda.”
I pressed my fingertips down, just gently enough to make sure she knew this was important.
“You’re the only one who can touch her,” I said. “And you need to go after the cause of all of this, or things are going to get a lot worse. I can’t sit by and watch the world that belongs to the Humdrums be destroyed.”
“I don’t know how to stop it,” she said.
For the first time, I saw the fear behind her eyes.
And for some reason, it made me calm.
“I’ve spent my life wishing I could be one of the Hums,” I said. “I’ve wanted to choose their world since I was a kid. And now Kelda is making it so I won’t have that choice anymore.”
It was ironic and felt almost impossible, but it was the truth: The Humdrums and their world were the one thing I would embrace my magic to save.
“How can I help you?” I asked. “Tell me what to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
She stood and began pacing.
As she walked, the flames nearby rose, as if attracted to her presence.
“You need to let me help,” I said. “This isn’t just about the Humdrums; this is about my parents, and my brother, and Lucas.”
She frowned.
“Lucas,” I said. “Sorry, a Humdrum friend of mine.”
“Right,” she said. “The one the Oracle sucked in. I’d forgotten. That’s good. You’ll need a Humdrum friend around.”
She circled around me, and I leaned back on my heels to watch her. I could see the thoughts racing across her face.
“I need you to go on a quest,” she finally said.
It was the last thing I’d expected. I was a godmother. I sent other people on quests. Going on one myself had not been in my plans.
Then again, neither had the rest of this.
“You need to collect three magical objects,” Amani said. “They might not be easy to acquire.”
“How’s that going to help?”
She crossed behind me. The heat from the flames rose up hot against my back.
“We have to perform a spell,” Amani said. “A massive, massive spell. I’ve never attempted anything on this scale before.”
“And you need the objects,” I said.
“If worse comes to worst, yes,” she said.
She ran a hand through her hair, practically clutching at her scalp. She looked even crazier than I felt.
“Oh, gods,” she breathed. She spun to face me. “I’ve been trying to negotiate things with Kelda for months. She will not talk to me. Not in any way that matters. And I’ve been trying to be patient with her, because—”
She stopped and stared at me. Her green eyes seemed enormous in her thin face.
“Never mind why,” she said. “Because I’m weak. I have tried everything to avoid this, but she’s crossed so many lines.” She pulled at her hair again, like she was trying to yank her thoughts out by their roots. “This spell will strip her of her powers.”
The words lingered in the air. Even the slowly rotating ring of fog seemed to freeze for a moment to take the words in.
Amani was going to strip the Oracle of her magic? I hadn’t even dreamed such a thing was possible.
“Never put your ambitions before your friends, Olivia,” Amani said, her voice fierce and low. “Your job, your goals, your politics—none of it is important enough to let the most important relationships in your life fall apart.”
She slammed out a hand and sent a fireball spinning into the pool of water. This time, her eyes were fully present. There were no sprites here, just her, me, and what I thought might be her regrets. Lightning crackled from her other fingertips.
“Kelda is so competitive,” she said. “She always has been, but I never thought she would do this. Who takes over an entire city just to prove people love them more?”
Amani wasn’t talking to me anymore.
“Dear Titania, I don’t want to do this,” she breathed.
I stood. She trembled. The power thrumming through her body and this room seemed to be the only thing holding her up. Behind it all, she was as lost as I was. Maybe more.
“Amani,” I said. I took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face me. “Do you have to?”
She searched my face like it held some way out.
Then, she nodded. The quivering line of her jaw steadied.
“I need an enchanted ring,” she said. “Its circle will bind the Oracle. And then I need a golden goblet to hold the energy of the spell. And finally, and this is the part I am sorry for, I need Kelda’s wand.”
I let go.
Surely, surely Queen Amani didn’t mean I had to go after it.
“Kelda’s wand is a core part of her,” Amani said. “It’s the only thing that will make the spell last. This isn’t just any enchantment. We have to bind her so securely that she can never frighten anyone again.”
Fear shot through me.
I had offered to help. I’d thought that might mean fending off a few sprites, or helping Amani plan her next moves.
Stealing the Oracle’s wand was a move so audacious that my heart skipped a beat in my chest.
“I would collect it myself, but you have no idea how many spells she has set up against me,” Amani said. “She started putting them up when we were fourteen years old and I don’t think she’s ever stopped.”
The glazed look crossed her face again. On instinct, I ducked to the ground. A stream of spells shot out above my head.
“Sorry,” she said.
I looked up. She was back.
“You’ve known Kelda since you were fourteen?” I said.
I clambered to my feet. Beyond my glasses, the gold energies in the room swirled and spiraled around me. It was enough to make me dizzy. I focused on Amani’s face through the lenses.
“Longer than that,” Amani said. “We were best friends as children. I don’t think we are anymore.”
“You think?” I said dryly.
Instantly, I regretted the words as I saw the pain flash across the queen’s face.
The regret that pulsed from her, so strongly she couldn’t contain it, hit me with devastating familiarity.
“She was your Imogen,” I said.
Amani’s face tightened. She nodded.
“And she’s jealous of you.”
Amani sighed and sank back to the floor. I sat down across from her again.
“We were always in competition,” she said. “Friendly competition, for a long time. But things started to become strained after I was named as Phoebe’s heir. She was appointed Oracle not long after, and I was such an idiot. Instead of being proud of her, I just kept our stupid little rivalry going. It was a game to me, but—”
“Not to her.”
“She’s been getting permissive toward Glims for years,” she said. “Trying to win their admiration and loyalty. She allowed people to misbehave more than I thought was appropriate. But I let her get away with it. I knew she needed authority over her own work, and I suppose I wanted her to be loved and admired as much as she did. But it wasn’t enough. At the end of the day, I was still queen. We worked together, but I was still her boss.”
“And she hated it.”
“She hates me,” Amani said.
The queen drew her knees up and pressed her forehead to them. She sighed deeply and looked up.
“I’ve never dared try this on my own,” she said. “I’ve never wanted to, but I’ve never had the power, either. But I think, maybe, with you, I can do it.”
The no I wanted to shout rose to my lips, but I bit it back and swallowed it down.
I was only a mediocre faerie. I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t understand why fate and my own impulses kept throwing me in the queen’s path.
But I’d chosen to be here, and in front of me, Amani’s face held the weight of a responsibility I could barely comprehend.
“I hope we’ll only have to bind her so I can talk to her,” Amani said. She let out a trembling breath. “I hope we can stop this there. But we have to be prepared.” She shook her head and corrected herself. “I have to be prepared.”
We sat in silence for a moment. The flames danced and the water rippled around us. From the top of the room, the mushrooms regarded us like curious observers.
“You’ll need to be able to move around the city without being seen,” Amani said.
Her tone and posture were suddenly brisk and businesslike. Whatever we had to do, she’d come to terms with it.
I wished I could catch up to her that quickly. The thought of doing as she asked made goosebumps rise up on my arms so hard they hurt.
Amani stood and walked up the black stairs until she reached the level of the pool. She put her hand into the water and closed her eyes. A moment later, something shimmered with a flash of gold, and she pulled out two necklaces on thin golden chains.
“These are for you,” she said. “One for you, one for your friend Lucas, if he’s willing. You’ll need a driver and a Hum will know his way around the city without using any of the rainbow roads.”
She came back down and dropped the necklaces into my outstretched palm. They were heavy and still wet from the pool.
“Wear these and they’ll do their best to hide you from the sprites,” she said. “Or at least, they’ll keep you from catching their attention.”
I held one up to examine it. I recognized the gold filigree pendant. The image was of Multnomah Falls with the bridge spanning its lower section. I’d seen these in the Humdrum gift shop by the road.
Amani smiled wryly. “The items will be a little harder to find.”
She began pacing the circle again. The gold stars set into the walls above us winked as the pale moon changed from crescent to gibbous.
“The first one you’re looking for is an enchanted ring,” Amani said. She tapped her hands together as she paced, as if keeping them moving would keep her thoughts moving, too. “It’s an unusual piece, very old, made of gold and set with a rose carved out of quartz. From what I understand, it was made by a Faerie Queen from when Portland was a new city and it has more charms than a single piece of jewelry should be able to hold.”
An image flickered in my mind, of a pink quartz ring on a familiar hand.
“I don’t know where it is,” she said. “I’m hoping that, if you can help me, we can send out a locator spell.”
Seriously? I thought, and the voice in my head sounded on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Seriously?!
“No need,” I said. I stood and wiped my sweating palms on my jeans. “I know exactly where it is.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Three twists, and I hurtled from the tunnel outside Amani’s studio and back into Haidar’s closet.
My head spun, though it was impossible to tell if that was thanks to the unusual mode of transportation or sheer panic at what I was about to do.
I wasn’t even tempted to poke through Haidar’s stuff. I put the ring carefully back in the drawer and then hurtled myself through his room and back down the stairs.
They were all sitting around the table where we’d had breakfast. Either they’d heard my footsteps or Daniel’s faerie gifts had alerted them that I was on my way, because by the time I stopped in the doorway, every face was turned toward me.
“Haidar,” I said. “I seriously do need to borrow your car.”
He pushed his chair away from the table and stood.
“I’ll get the keys.”
I could see the questions forming behind Isabelle’s dark eyes, but I didn’t have time to explain. Instead, I turned to Daniel. The question was one I didn’t want to ask, but he’d come this far. He deserved to decide his own next steps.
“Queen Amani just gave me a couple of assignments,” I said. “I need to collect some things around town. Do you want to come with me?”
Surprise shifted over his face, as obvious as expressions usually were on faeries but twice as quick.
“Do you need me?” he said. “I’ve been talking to Haidar and I think I can be useful here, but I’ll come if you need help.”
“No, stay here,” I said. Relief pooled in my stomach. “I’d rather you stay safe.”
“I don’t know that safe is the right word,” Isabelle said. “What kind of stuff are you collecting?”