‘I don’t believe you. How could I be one of them when I’ve never heard a single word about them?’
More grinning. ‘I know how I missed it. A Feynere should be magnificent! Not a smallish fairy with rather plain colouring. No disrespect intended.’
Laz was looking at me as if he knew my darkest secrets. I had to get away from him.
‘I need to be going,’ I said, realizing I had lost count of the questions I’d asked. ‘How much do I owe?’
His eyeballs snicked back and forth as he began ticking on his fingers. ‘One,’ he said, and then murmured to himself. ‘Two.’ More murmurs. ‘Three. Four.’ Laz grinned and went on counting. ‘Fifteen questions. Seven hundred and fifty radia will cover it.’
‘What!’
He drew his wand again. ‘When it comes to bargains such as this, I never cheat.’
I couldn’t prove he was overcharging. And I couldn’t wait to leave. So even though I hated to pay him, I did, while the drums pounded and the fiddles whined, and someone bellowed another verse to the same song: ‘… human folk, earthen ware, mud in your eye …’
Before I left, I gave Laz what I hoped was a sinister stare. ‘You swore to tell no one,’ I said. ‘And that means no one, for any price.’
He put up his hands as if the thought of selling me out had never crossed his greedy mind. ‘Of course.’
‘If you betray me again, I’ll visit you when you least expect it. I’ll sprinkle that cap with aevum derk; I’ll sprinkle your head too.’
He smiled. ‘I want only to serve you, Zaria Tourmaline.’
I didn’t say farewell. Slinging the bag around my neck, I shot into the dark sky.
Chapter Fourteen
ONCE UPON A TIME, GODMOTHERS AND GODFATHERS WOULD INTERVENE IF THEY PERCEIVED THEIR GODCHILDREN IN TROUBLE, BUT THIS HAS BECOME RATHER RARE. THE MAJORITY OF GODMOTHERS AND GODFATHERS BEING RED, THE CAPACITY TO GIVE ASSSISTANCE TO HUMANS HAS DECLINED. HOWEVER, MOST FAIRIES AND GENIES STILL LOOK IN UPON THEIR GODCHILDREN BY USING THE FEY SCOPES. THE SCHEDULE OF VIEWING BOOTHS REMAINS BUSY, DAY AND NIGHT.
FEY SCOPES THAT VIEW EARTH ARE A GLORIOUS CREATION OF THE ANCIENTS. ASCOPE CAN TRACE THE MOVEMENTS OF ANY PERSONAGE – INCLUDING NOT ONLY HUMANS, BUT ALSO INHABITANTS OF TIRFEYNE WHO ARE VISITING EARTH: FAIRIES, GENIES, LEPRECHAUNS, PIXIES, GREMLINS, TROLLS, GNOMES, ET CETERA. THE ONLY THING NEEDED TO FIND AN INDIVIDUAL IN A SCOPE IS TO KNOW THAT INDIVIDUAL’S NAME. THERE IS BUT ONE BLIND SPOT IN THE SCOPES: THEY CANNOT PENETRATE EARTH’S SURFACE TO SEE UNDERGROUND.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
TIRED AND REELING, I felt burdened with both the weight of the indigo bottle and the weight of Laz’s words.
What was this extra magic, this Feynere power? Why had no one else ever mentioned it? Not even Meteor had come across it in his studies; if he had, wouldn’t he have suspected something when I told him how my magic behaved?
I would rather have heard it from Meteor.
How could I be a Feynere? It seemed dangerous. When I’d turned the cloak into aevum derk, I had drained myself of almost a million radia without knowing it. Was there any way to control it? Maybe I should have asked Laz that question. No. If I had, he would have sensed my weakness. How I wished he didn’t know so much about me. Remembering his sneer, I was tempted to steal his cap and cast a forgetting spell on him. But if I did that, wouldn’t I be as bad as Lily Morganite? Let him go his troggy way, and I would go mine.
Carrying the indigo bottle was like travelling with the end of the world hanging around my neck. I had to get rid of it. I didn’t dare keep it in my home any longer. The rooms apart from the hearth room might still be safe, but what if Lily found a way to widen the opening in my protections?
I had made the right decision, refusing to give her the aevum derk. She must never, never get hold of it! Now, where could I hide the indigo bottle so no one – no one could take it?
Of course, I thought of Earth.
Yes, Earth, that place of gentle breezes and lovely trees, that fascinating land of humans – Earth could hide the aevum derk. I could bury it there. Not even fey scopes could find anything in the human world once it was underground. And though I would normally need to be invisible to escape the view of the scopes myself, last week I had created a spell to ensure that no magical means could find me, no matter where I happened to be.
I loved Earth. Loved it with an unreasoning and helpless affection that drew me when it shouldn’t. Yes, I, Zaria, was Earth-struck. I didn’t know why, I only knew that I loved the human world from the moment I first beheld it through the visor of a fey scope. That day, I had crossed through a portal for the first time, risking painful penalties and worse. And after that first visit, nothing could persuade me to stay away.
I suspected my mother felt the same. She had never spoken of it, of course, but she didn’t have to. The painting in her room told me. I had even tried to write to her about it, in the letter I never finished.
Though it’s unlawful for a fairy of fourteen, I’ve been to Earth more than once. I would hesitate to confess it, but I believe you will understand. The painting in your room shows a forest on Earth. You love the human world as I do, don’t you?
Have you ever been friends with a human, Mother? Ever watched a human in secret, longing to know more about him? I have. Not as a godmother-in-training might do; something else entirely.
That was as close as I had come to telling anyone about Sam Seabolt, a human boy not much older than me. We’d met only a short while ago, but it seemed that I’d known him much longer than a few weeks. None of my fey friends knew what he meant to me, though Meteor might have guessed. Even Sam himself didn’t know – not after I put him under a forgetting spell. If he ever saw me again, he wouldn’t know me. But though I had made sure he would remember nothing of me, I could never forget him.
My friends wouldn’t understand. They would blame me for being drawn to a human at all, for seeking his friendship, and for wishing he could remember me now. I didn’t want to be condemned. Not by them. And even more important, I didn’t want there to be any possible chance for Lily Morganite to learn that a human was important to me. Not that my friends would tell her voluntarily, but Lily’s magic had a long reach.
I had hidden my visits to Sam as best I could, and I didn’t think she’d ever seen us together. If she had, she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him.
And now I was going back to Earth, but I wouldn’t allow myself to seek out Sam Seabolt again. No, I had spied on him for the last time. I would go straight to a grove of trees on a ridge above a field of wild grass. I’d been there before. There, at the base of a tall blue spruce, I had buried my mother’s spellbook to keep it from Lily Morganite. Most important, I had cast a long-lasting spell: no one but me could disturb the ground there. Ever. I could bury the indigo bottle in that same spot. It would be safe, and I wouldn’t have to spend more radia on another enchantment.
Now that I had a plan, I felt slightly less dazed and terrified and tired. All I needed was to cross over to Earth. I should have snooped around Laz’s café looking for a portal. Everyone knew that smugglers had portals; Laz probably had one leading straight out of a room in the back of the Ugly Mug. How else could he run all those Earth goods? He was too stingy to pay someone else to smuggle for him.
Then again, if Laz had a favourite portal to Earth, it probably led somewhere I didn’t want to go. Maybe into a sweetshop or a place that stored coffee beans, somewhere across the world from the grove with the enchanted ground.
Yes, I’d be better off travelling through a portal I’d used before. So, I transported to the Golden Station, the great hub from which most fey travellers made their journeys to and from Earth.
* * *
It was the middle of the night; I’d never been to the Golden Station so late. As a fourteen-year-old fairy, it was against the law for me to be there, no matter what the time of day, so I tried not to attract attention.
Symbols etched the
walls, part of the durable spells holding open the portals to Earth. Hundreds of fairies and genies were flying in dozens of directions inside the vast marble room. Hallways branched off it, and each hallway held dozens of portal doors. Judging by the noise, the portals were getting lots of use, clicking open and slamming shut every two seconds. They showed no signs of failing as the Gateway of Galena had failed.
The fey folk were all talking so loud I couldn’t tell what anyone was saying. Besides, I was focused on the hordes of gnomes marching up and down and watching everyone. There seemed to be far more of them than usual, and I feared that some of them could be Lily’s minions. Were they simply keeping order, or were they looking for me?
Laz had said my disguise was terrible, but I hoped it would be enough to fool the gnomes. Head down, my newly dark hair hiding most of my face, I flew to a familiar door in one of the smaller hallways. I had found this portal by chance on my first journey to Earth. It got very little use by other fey folk, so I thought of it as mine. And I had given it a silly name: the Cornfield Portal, because it led to a cornfield on the other side.
Now, rising eagerness flooded across my wings as I opened the door. No one seemed to notice as I stepped through to Earth.
Spikes of rain pelted me, so thick and fast I could hardly breathe. In moments I was soaked and shivering. And the field on Earth had changed. The corn was cut, leaving only a stubble of dead stalks. Miserably, I hovered, longing for somewhere safe and friendly, somewhere dry and warm.
I thought of Sam Seabolt’s quiet street, of his wooden house painted green with a white trim. How thankful I was that I’d never told anyone where he lived. No one knew, not even Leona. And at this hour, Sam and his family would be asleep. I could get out of the rain and wait for the storm to pass. They’d never know I was there.
It was too much to resist; all my resolutions about keeping away from Sam dissolved. I hurried to transport away from the rumbling thunder, the wild lightning and rain, and instantly found myself in Sam’s room.
The first thing I did was to take off the bag holding the heavy bottle and set it on the floor. Then I looked at the human boy. A streetlamp outside shone over his red-gold hair, so colourful it could have belonged to a genie. He slept soundly, though his window was open a little. Wind blew in, riffling pages of a book that lay on the floor.
Water ran from my hair, my wings, my gown. It dripped more with every shiver of my wings. Quickly I infused to Level 7. ‘Dry me,’ I whispered. It would be more magic lost, but worth it.
The water evaporated. Very quietly, I slid the window closed and looked around. Shelves lined one of the walls, holding books and narrow boxes and shiny statues. Clothes lay on the floor; a shirt was flung over the back of a chair.
I floated towards Sam and hovered lightly, listening to his breathing, wondering what it would be like to live in a world where technology took the place of magic. Suppose I had been born a human girl? I loved to visit Earth, but would I want to live here? Could I accept being unable to fly or use a wand?
Sam had basic magic. If you didn’t count flying, he had more than Andalonus; he had enough to go through a portal. I had seen him do it. When it happened, I didn’t feel surprised. After all, everyone knew that the occasional human had Level 5 magic.
‘Do you have above Level Five?’ I whispered. Humans weren’t given crystal watches, so there was no way to know the answer.
The rain was softening. I could hear it running down the window, a steady slide of water, gentle as a lullaby. How tired I was. If I went to sleep now, maybe I could step into Sam’s human dreams, and tell him all that had happened since we last saw each other.
No, I must not sleep. If I did, I wouldn’t wake until morning and lose my chance to bury the indigo bottle during the night. It wasn’t wise of me to come here. Seeing Sam – even asleep – only awakened my wish to befriend him again.
No one must know of my visit, least of all Sam himself.
Chapter Fifteen
FEYLAND IS RULED BY KING OBERON AND QUEEN VELLERON (SOMETIMES CALLED MAB), HOWEVER, THEY DO NOT ENJOY MANAGING THE DAY-TO-DAY GOVERNANCE OF THEIR KINGDOM, AND SO THEY TURN IT OVER TO THE HIGH COUNCIL OF FEYLAND. THERE ARE TWELVE COUNCILLORS: SIX FAIRIES AND SIX GENIES, ALL OF WHOM BEGIN THEIR SERVICE WITH RADIA RESERVES OF GREEN OR ABOVE. THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL IS CALLED EITHER MAGISTRIA OR MAGISTER, DEPENDING UPON WHETHER THAT LEADER IS A FAIRY OR A GENIE.
THE ROYAL RULERS LIVE IN THE SAPPHIRE STRONGHOLD ON ANSHIELD ISLAND. BY MEANS OF PASSWORDS THAT OPEN THE GATE, ALL COUNCILLORS HAVE ACCESS TO THE STRONGHOLD. IF EVER FEYLAND IS IN DISTRESS, THE COUNCILLORS INFORM THE KING AND QUEEN, WHO COME FORTH AND DO THEIR UTMOST TO AID THEIR SUBJECTS.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
RELUCTANTLY I GLIDED away from Sam’s bedside, and as I did I caught a glimpse of myself in a small mirror on the wall. I didn’t like looking at my disguise, not at all. I wasn’t sure why, because Sam was asleep, so there was no one here to see it but me.
I just wanted to look like myself.
I waved my wand. ‘Take off my disguise.’ Immediately the streetlamp showed my wings purple again, and my hair its normal shade of lavender.
Drifting closer to the shelves along the wall, I examined them. A small bottle lay on its side. Picking it up, I let the light from the streetlamp play over it. It was made of plain amber glass covered with a fine layer of dust. When I unscrewed the cap, the bottle was empty. Perfect for my purpose, something the boy had obviously forgotten. It would never be missed, and I wanted a memento of Sam. More importantly, I needed it for another reason.
This was a safe place, quiet and still. Here, I could transfer a little aevum derk from the large bottle to the small one. Leona and Laz had convinced me that the powder was a mighty weapon. After burying most of it, I would keep just a small bit on hand in case of dire need.
I rubbed the little bottle on my gown to dust it before setting it on the windowsill. The cap was made of plastic, which would never do for aevum derk – thanks to Laz, I knew that now.
Lily had created a glass lid for her cup, but I would be more clever. It would take less magic to transform something than to make something from nothing. Infusing my wand, I touched the plastic cap. ‘Change into glass.’
I brought out the indigo bottle and set it carefully on the sill. How heavy it was, its dark shine more terrifying than ever. The powder it held could kill off the magic in an entire region of Feyland. What if I spilled it? If one small grain touched my skin, what would happen to me?
I had to stop thinking about what could go wrong. Otherwise, I might as well live out my days in a hideaway, doing nothing, seeing no one.
I glanced at the bed, where Sam remained lost in sleep. Lucky for him, he had no idea who was in his room or what I’d brought with me.
For a second, I thought of Laz, but only because I happened to know that he had somehow been selected to be Sam Seabolt’s genie godfather. Not that he took his post seriously in the least. I had even heard Laz scoff at the idea that humans needed fey folk for anything, especially to help them grow up. But just then I wondered if Laz had ever checked in when Sam was a baby or a young boy.
I wasn’t about to ask him.
‘Unseal,’ I said, tapping the indigo bottle with my wand.
With the greatest care, I poured aevum derk from one bottle to the other. My wings fluttered as I hurried to seal both of them with my strongest magic. ‘No one but me can open or break these bottles, for ever and always.’
Tucking them into my bag, I slung it around my neck and took a last look at Sam. ‘Goodbye,’ I whispered.
Of course I wanted to stay with him. But instead I transported to the grove.
The only sound came from dripping trees, the night so dark I could see only black outlines of the grove. Kneeling on the soggy ground next to the blue spruce, I felt large drops spattering me. I was cold again, and damp. And so tired.
I dug with my hands, which were soon coate
d with mud and crumbling pine needles. After a while, I lifted out my mother’s spellbook and used the sleeve of my gown to wipe some of the mud away.
Unlike the aevum derk, Cinna Tourmaline’s spellbook felt light, almost weightless. Holding it again, I breathed easier.
Now that I knew I could use common words for spells, I wouldn’t need to memorize those my mother had recorded. A normal fairy would study every spell until she knew them all by heart, but I wasn’t a normal fairy. Still, the words on the pages were precious to me, because my mother had written them. I hugged the book, and while I did, she didn’t seem so far away. I could actually imagine finishing the letter I’d been writing her.
‘I’ll write it all down,’ I whispered. ‘And I will find you and free you.’
Wrapping the spellbook in scarves, I stowed it in my bag. Then I dug deeper, and brought up something else I had buried: a human weapon, a laser gun – the very same gun that had injured Leona. I was tempted to take it too because I had seen its deadly red beam. Such a weapon could keep me safe from Lily’s followers. Even a crowd of gnomes carrying iron bats would not be able to hurt me if I raised this human gun against them.
But I left it under the tree with the indigo bottle. I couldn’t bear to be the first one to bring a gun into Feyland. Bad enough that I had created aevum derk, a dreadful weapon of magic.
I had done what I could now. The aevum derk was hidden beneath the blue spruce. Hidden well, and even if someone happened to learn where it was, no one could remove it but me. My long-lasting spell would make sure of that.
I placed the little bottle of aevum derk deep in a pocket of my gown. Yes, I would carry it with me, although I knew just how dangerous it was. I had kept it from Leona, afraid she’d get hurt or cause disaster. Shouldn’t I keep it from myself too?