I looked up at my father who paced the room, red faced and grumbling under his breath.
“How did you get it off them?”
“He froze us!” Max yelled, throwing up his arms. “Can you believe it? He used an elf potion and bloody froze the whole council then took the fur and ran back here.”
“Thank the fey he did.”
“Desmoree, you can’t be serious?”
“I am. I had the magic, yes, but it wasn’t letting go. Jax did the right thing.”
“Well now I have to try to keep him out of the catacombs for his actions. The other council members are calling for imprisonment.”
“Do the fey have a prison?”
“The catacombs are the closest thing to it. No one has been down there in decades. No need for it. But there is a need now, Jax has directly gone against a council decision. They will vote on his punishment.”
“Then we stop them.”
“The council is in place at your request, Desmoree. Besides, we are too close to Jax. Our votes would not be permitted. You must let them rule now. You can’t save him this time. He will have to pay the price for his actions.”
Jax stepped right up into my father’s face. “And I would do it again.”
A rumble of heavy footsteps grew louder.
“The guard have come,” Maylea said, holding Tai in front of her as she moved to the wall just as several of the Nazieth guard ran through the door. They surrounded Jax, he backed towards the balcony.
“Don’t do it,” one of the guards said as he inched closer to Jax, a silvery scar running down his right cheek shimmering in the room’s light. “We have been sent to transport you to Sayeesies, where you will be sentenced for your crimes.”
“Sentence for his crimes? Are you kidding me? Fuck off out of my house,” I replied, taking a step but stopping when I saw a glowing orb in his hand.
“Look, we don’t want to use force. I get why you did it,” the same guard said, a crease to his brow as he glanced towards Ava. “I might have done the same thing had I been you, but then I would be facing the council now, just as you need to.”
My eyes met with Jax’s and I glanced at the open doors to Baldea. In the same second he phased, he jumped backwards towards the doors, but the guard threw the orb and it exploded with pink mist just like Grace had used on me. Jax froze midair, his wings half unfurled, his eyes partly closed. The other guards rushed him as the one with the scar held up another orb waiting for one of us to move, to try something to stop them. The Nazieth guards dragged Jax from the room.
Tai called out to Jax as he struggled against Maylea’s arms in the doorway. Ava called for her father.
I looked to mine. “Do something!”
He nodded then followed the guards out.
“Dad will be alright. Grandpa will make sure. Ava, how are you? Are you okay?”
“I think so,” she managed between slowing sobs. “I feel different though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned.
I focused my magic and looked for hers. I couldn’t see it.
“Mum, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, I’m just a little tired, that blast really took it out of me. Well, you. I mean... you know what I mean.” I laughed and Ava giggled too.
Maylea grabbed Tai’s hand. “We’ll go fix us something to eat. Come find us when you’re ready.” She leaned in, kissed Ava on the head and then rounded the bed to my side. She leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “I saw the magic leave her, it went through you, not to you.”
I tried to hold my smile for Ava’s sake. If what Maylea said was true, where the hell did all that magic go? Dad, you better bring my Jax home. I can’t do this without him. Maylea kissed my head before leaving.
“Come on, let’s get you dressed,” I said, trying to busy myself while I waited for word on Jax. I ran my hand over the silver and red spots littering the skirt she was wearing.
“Oh, Mum, my wings. I pulled at my wings again,” Ava cried, only just seeming to notice the mixture of blood on her clothes.
“You don’t remember?” I asked, taking her hand and helping her off the bed. She was a little shaky at first, but found her footing quickly.
“No.”
“Well it’s over now. Come on, I’ll let you pick something out of my wardrobe if you like?”
She clapped and bounced the next few steps.
Watching Ava try on my clothes was probably the most fun I’d had in days. She took such joy in the colors, the patterns, and the shoes. My daughter loved my shoes just as much as I did.
While Ava twirled I thought about what Maylea said. The magic I took from Ava had gone through me, not into me. I tried to feel for it inside, but I couldn’t find it. My magic was there, and it swam happily in a ball of bright white. I looked for Ava’s again. She twirled in the middle of my dressing room in a mid-length red dress that fanned out with each spin. I could see the smile on her face. The slight sparkle as the light caught the glittery fabric. But I couldn’t see her magic.
“Ava,” I said calmly, and she stopped spinning.
“Mmm.”
“I want to try something, do you think you could change?”
“I only just put this on. I like it. It sparkles,” she complained, swooshing the skirt in her hands at her sides.
“No, not change what you’re wearing. Can you try to change into your fairy form?”
She laughed. “Sure.”
I watched as her expression went from a broad smile to a confused frown, and then the open-mouth-wide-eyes of fear.
“Mum, I can’t change.”
“It’s okay, Ava, you’re okay.”
“But I don’t have my magic, I can’t change.”
“It will be alright, Ava. If there is no magic inside you it won’t overwhelm you, and that’s a good thing.”
“But I’m not a fairy anymore,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.
“Ava, you will always be a fairy.” I reached her and pulled her into a hug. “Having power doesn’t define who you are. Look at Dad, look at grandpa, Maylea. Are they fairies?”
She nodded, a single tear rolling down her cheek. I swiped the tear away with the pad of my finger.
“You will always be a fairy, Ava, with or without magic. Come, let’s get Maylea to make you something to eat, I’m going to go get your father.”
“Do you think they will imprison Dad?” she asked, looking up at me, her brown eyes still wet with tears.
An ache shot through my heart. I couldn’t lose Jax, not after everything, not now.
I released her and placed a hand lightly on each side of her face. “There is no way your father is going anywhere, you got it?”
I said the words to her as I willed them to be true. I willed myself to believe that for once, something would go our way.
She smiled weakly and I kissed her on the forehead and we continued on to the kitchen.
When we got to the door it was closed, but we could hear Maylea fiddling with plates and the like.
“Ava, I’ll be back soon. Stay with Maylea okay?”
“Okay, Mum, love you.”
“Love you more,” I replied with a wink. Ava went in and I headed for the main doors. There was no way they were going to imprison Jax in the catacombs. I couldn’t let Ava see I was worried. Truth was, I was terrified. I hadn’t even heard of the catacombs. My memories from the Oley were gone and I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I should have learning about the council I had asked to be created. Once out of the house, I phased and shot into the air. I hope I’m not too late.
I flew as fast as I could towards Sayeesies, and when I landed at the doors to the council building I didn’t bother phasing back before rushing in. I dashed through the halls and stormed into the council meeting room. The room was empty.
Where the hell are they?
I ducked my head into the other rooms but all of them were
empty.
Could they have taken him to the catacombs already?
“Crap, where are the catacombs going to be?”
“There is an entrance in the library,” came a strong voice and I turned to see the same Nazieth guard with the scar down his cheek that grabbed Jax from our house. “The door is through a bookcase.”
“Thank you,” I said and headed for the back of the council building. These catacombs better not be really catacombs, not like the ones I’ve seen back in the human realm. All those skulls in walls and bones used like tile is seriously messed up.
I reached the library and scanned the room. It was the size of a regular office with a desk in the middle and floor to ceiling bookshelves lining each wall. The shelves were full, and the bookcase for the entrance was slightly ajar.
Finally, some luck on my side. The sounds of muffled voices made their way up to me. I stopped, my hand on the edge of the bookcase door as a chill ran up my entire body.
Come on, Des, you can do this!
I took a breath, phased out of my fey form, and pulled the bookcase doorway open enough to look down the candlelit stairs. The chill came again.
It was a long way down.
I didn’t stop to question it, just took the first step. Then the second. Then I was running down the stairs towards the voices. Towards Jax.
I reached the group of council members at the end of the main tunnel, they all stood in a line against one wall. Max was slowly stepping towards the other side, his hands raised like he was trying to show someone or something he wasn’t a threat. But I couldn’t see what or who. Huge pillars jutted out from the other side, blocking my view.
When a few in the council saw me approach, June reached for Max’s elbow to slow him. Her hair wasn’t in its usual braid, it hung loosely around her shoulders. Max glared back at her but then spotted me and relaxed.
He signaled for me to come closer with the curl of his fingers. I wasn’t sure what they were all looking at, but whatever it was had them spooked. My father included. June didn’t let go, her long, thin fingers wrapped around his arm tightly. Her eyes wide and unblinking, stared ahead of her.
I slowed my steps and moved to be closer to the far side like them.
The first section I passed was sealed off from the hall with numerous black bars. The space behind it was too dark to see anything.
I kept moving slowly towards the others. That was until I saw what they were all looking at. Jax was pinned, his back against the bars of another cell, and a blackened arm wrapped around his throat from between the bars. Another clawed hand held one of Jax’s wrists at an angle that could only mean it was broken. Jax wasn’t imprisoned, but something else was.
5
JAX’S FREE HAND GRIPED the arm at his throat as his eyes bulged.
I phased and in the same breath, drew up my magic into a ball of light, mimicking Jax’s magic so it wouldn’t hurt him, and shot it right at him, the black arms, and the bars.
A hiss erupted from the darkness as Jax fell forwards, free from his captor’s grasp. He scrambled away from the bars then rolled to his side, gasping for air. His neck looked scorched where the arm pressed against his throat and when he lowered his hand, it too looked black.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked, balling an orb of magic in my hands again, just in case. The area behind the bars was too dark to make out anything and I contemplated sending an orb of magic in, just so that I could see whatever the hell that was.
“It’s a demon,” Max said as he poured something blue and shiny over the marks on Jax’s throat. Jax brought up his hand to the liquid and sighed as the black pads of his fingers slid over the shiny blue goo.
“Des,” he croaked out. “Des!” He strained harder and drew my eyes from the bars.
“Jax, are you okay?”
“Move back.”
“I’m fine, what the hell are you doing down here anyway?” I looked to the council members who still stood backs against the stone wall. They all had their eyes trained on the dark cell.
“Jax was going to be interned for a month for his choice.”
“Was?”
“Well,” Max began, looking briefly up at the others. “I believe what Jax has just endured is punishment enough. Would you not agree?”
None of them answered, their eyes were locked on the bars.
“Council!” Max called louder. “Do you not agree, Jax has paid his price?”
“He has,” Maddie said, offering me a slight smile. “We need to keep the fey out of the catacombs, and the Nazieth will need to deploy a guard at the entrance.”
“His punishment is served. Let’s get out of here,” Gerald said, his usually snarky voice etched in fear. I couldn’t help but smile a little at his jittery words, after he had Jax by the throat that time in the square with the Noxuer. Jax appeared to forgive and forget, always greeting him when he sat in with me in meetings. I barley offered him a wry smile. Jax was that way with most Fey, elves too. After Blake took the throne and reinstated the alliance between the fey and the elves, none of the fey trusted that the elves really wanted to help. But after they stepped up and joined our forces fighting the demons, and gifted casts and weapons to the fey, they seemed to come around, Jax one of the first.
I absorbed the magic in my hands and phased back. It bent to help Jax up, but he groaned and nearly fell back when his burnt hand brushed against my leg. Max gripped his other arm and we headed out of the catacombs. The council filing out behind us. Once through to the library we lowered Jax into one of the chairs.
“Dad, what the hell kind of demon is that, and why is it down there?”
“We didn’t know it was down there. We thought the catacombs were empty. It appears Traflier had more secrets than we first realized.”
“Great, more surprises he left behind. How many does that make? A million and one?”
“Can we just go?” Jax breathed out, his voice still scratchy and broken.
“I’ll fly us...”
“No,” Max said, pulling another item from the inside pocket of his coat. I’ll take us home.”
A glass orb shone in his hands, the swirling mist of elf magic swam inside a glittery teal.
“Portal or speed?” I asked, smiling.
“Neither,” he smirked, then threw the ball up. “Caitaus florendus entishmandoor.”
The orb exploded above us, solidified into a thick cloud, then began to fall.
“Umm, Dad?”
“Just wait for it,” he said, grinning up at the falling mass.
The cloud hit us, the room dove into darkness and my body went cold. A ring of ice encircled my head then moved down me to the soles of my feet. The darkness swayed like the rise and fall of a ship. Then the chilled ring bounced off the floor and made its way back up again. But when the ring rose over my face, the cloud dispersed and I saw the familiar tile of my father’s kitchen.
“What was that?” I asked as my eyes landed on Maylea and Ava. They hadn’t registered our arrival until now, and as Ava’s eyes went from me to her father she rushed around the counter towards us.
Jax moaned.
“Maylea!” I called as I helped Jax up, only now realizing that the chair he sat in had made the journey with us. “Jax is hurt, get the med kit.”
She rushed into the pantry as Ava reached us and took her father’s hand.
“Dad, what happened?” Ava asked, the tears already falling down her cheeks.
“I’m okay,” he breathed out, but his voice sounded like his throat had been ripped apart and clearly did nothing to ease her nerves. Her eyes began to well with tears and her bottom lip quivered.
I looked at Max, raising my eyebrows. “How did we get here exactly?”
“It’s something new from the elves.”
“That I gathered. But what?”
“It’s called folding. The magic encloses you in its shell then it unfolds you where you intended to be.”
“It was bloody
creepy, is what it was. I think I’ll fly next time.”
Maylea shoved me out of the way to tend to Jax. I moved over to stand by Ava’s side.
“Ava, your father will be fine. Maylea will help him,” I said, trying to be reassuring. But he flinched when she applied something thick and white to his neck.
“Will... will he be imprisoned?”
“No!” Max said before I could. “He has paid his price.” Max gave me a weak smile before moving towards the kitchen door.
“Dad, where are you going?”
“I’m expecting a delivery from the elves. Wouldn’t want to keep them waiting. Maylea has Jax in hand.”
“I’ll join you, in a minute.” I looked down at Jax, whose free hand gripped the arm rest of the chair so tightly the tips of his fingers were white. He met my gaze, and tried to smile. It didn’t reach his eyes. They were wider than they should be and held a pained gloss to them.
“Go, Des, I will be fine,” he said through strained breath.
“No, not yet. Did you take the potion?”
He shook his head.
“Then let’s see if I can help you now,” I said, laying my hand on his, closing my eyes and trying to push my magic into him, to heal him. I felt it go, felt it move from my center, up through my body, along my arm, and into him. It circled his body then returned to me, but when I opened my eyes the pain was still visible in his eyes.
“Really?” I asked, as Maylea applied a blue gel to the white paste. It cut through the paste like detergent through oil and Jax eyes closed as he sighed.
“That feels so much better,” he said, and his fingers relaxed their grip.
“I’ll be back soon, are you okay to stay with your father?” I asked Ava, but she was nodding before I finished the question and squeezed her dad’s other hand tighter.
I left to join my father but was surprised to find him waiting for me in the hall. He leaned against the opposite wall, his head low and arms folded across his chest.
“Dad, I thought you were in a hurry?”
“Is he okay?” he asked, peeking at the kitchen door behind me.
I nodded. “He will be. Maylea has found something that works. My magic didn’t. I couldn’t heal the wound.”
Destroying the Fallen Page 9
