He took a deliberate breath and pushed off the wall. “That’s odd.” He took a step up the hallway towards his study. “And he hasn’t taken the potion yet?”
“No,” I replied following him.
“Perhaps we should find out more about that creature.”
“You think? Dad, come on, someone had to know that thing was down there, someone had to be feeding it or something. I mean does it eat? It has to eat, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know, but it must have been a threat.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because something that powerful wouldn’t be locked up if Traflier could have used it.”
He was right. Traflier used whatever he could to get what he wanted.
I wonder what he wants now?
“I will task some of the fey to look into the records, see what they can find. Come now, the elves will be waiting.”
“So, what is this delivery of?”
“Fey only knows,” he said with a lightness to his voice I hardly witnessed. “The elves are quite the alchemists. They have so much to teach us.”
“Have we started sending students yet?”
“Not yet, the first to enroll will have to go through strict testing on behalf of the elves to ensure they are able to stand the casts. It’s a pity only some of the fey can apply.”
Great, like I need more guilt.
“You know I would give it all back if I could, Dad.”
“Do I?”
“Whatever. Look, if you lot didn’t start mining the bloody caves the yowies might have offered up enough fur to give back all of their magic.”
He stopped walking, bowed his head a little and turned slowly towards me. “I know.”
I wrapped my arms around his large frame and squeezed with all I had.
“Let’s go collect your new toys,” I said, linking my arm in his and strolling into the study. The elf had his back to us, but I could tell who it was.
“King Blake, you are a delivery elf now?” I laughed, letting go of my father and reaching out to shake his hand. He grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug.
He was warm and smelled of ash and sugar.
Toasted marshmallows, oh my Fey! He smells like toasted marshmallows.
Max cleared his throat.
“Sorry, Dad, he just smells so good,” I said, releasing the now laughing king.
“Nice to see you again too, Desmoree.”
“Seriously though, what are you doing here?”
“I heard that Max was due a new shipment and thought I would take the opportunity to visit, and check in on how your teams are going on the hunt?”
“Thanks to the elves, the hunt is going well. I’ve heard they have taken down a heap of demons. Not to mention all the humans you glamour to forget what they saw. It looks like we might actually win this war with the demons. Jax and I’ll be joining them again soon.”
“You will?” Max asked as he rounded the desk to sit in his large brown leather chair.
“We will,” I replied with a smirk. “I have told you before, it is my mess they are cleaning up. I should do my share.”
“Everyone is well then?” King Blake asked, fidgeting with his fingers in front of him. “Jax, he’s well?”
“Actually he was hurt earlier.”
The King went ridged as his eyes widened.
“Don’t worry, he will be okay, Maylea will take care of him.”
“But it’s only he who was hurt?”
Max leaned forwards, barely able to peek over the stack of scrolls and books on top of his desk. “Is there someone in particular you’re worried about dear elf King?”
I frowned, looking from my father to the king.
Someone in particular. Who would the king...
“Ava?” I asked and the kings fidgeting returned. “You are worried about Ava?”
“Is she okay?”
“Why are you worried about Ava?”
“I...”
“She is fine, I mean she is now. There have been some weird things with her magic. But you couldn’t know about that?”
The king dropped his gaze to the fumbling fingers at his front. “I must admit something to you.”
“What?” I asked slowly and as motherly as I could manage. It wasn’t like I had lots of practice or anything.
“I have been monitoring her wellbeing for a while now.”
“What do you mean monitoring?” I took a step closer to him. He backed up, but came against the edge of the desk and could go no further.
“Since we met in the Elf Kingdom I could see there was something special with Ava. Her magic was so vibrant, her heart so pure. I needed to know she was okay. I hoped she would come visit, that I could show her the kingdom...”
“How?”
“We have an enchanted looking glass that allows us to see glimpses of places we have been.”
“But you haven’t been here, have you?”
“I have.”
I looked to Max.
“He came with the first delivery, I thought it was diplomatic at the time, now I see what you were doing.” Max leaned back in his chair and reached his hand up to behind his head. “It’s a good thing we trust the elves now, isn’t it?”
“Wait, if you have been checking in, did you see what happened with Ava, with her magic?”
The king nodded. “That’s why I came this time. I saw what happened, what you did. She is okay now though, yes?”
“She is, she has no magic though.”
Max jumped to his feet. “What do you mean she has no magic? Where is it? Did you take it all from her?”
“No, no, Maylea said she saw it go through me, not into me. It’s out there somewhere, or in her still, just hiding where even I can’t see it.”
“She is mortal?” King Blake asked, grabbing my arm in his hot hand.
“It looks that way I guess... but it’s for the best for now. She was absorbing everything she came across.”
“Then what is to stop it happening again?” King Blake asked squeezing my arm a little tighter.
“Um, ow,” I said, shrugging off his grasp. “Nothing, I guess, that was kind of on our list of things to deal with, but Jax was hurt and then...”
“She can come stay with me.”
“In the Elf Kingdom?”
“Yes!” Max said as he rummaged through the scrolls on his desk, finally pulling one free triumphantly. “Yes!”
“Um, care to fill me in?”
“The king can create a shield there right?” Max continued.
“Yes, it’s in place now, the strongest it has ever been apparently. That’s why I can leave and it will not falter.”
“Dad, what are you getting at? The shield doesn’t stop magic, that place is full of magic. If Ava is absorbing it, that place is probably the worst one she could go.”
“No, no, no. See this,” he said, rolling out the scroll and knocking several to the floor beside his desk without worry. “This is a cast done by a fey and an elf, it’s a protection cast. I think if you and the king do this within the Elf Kingdom, his shield and yours will sort of combine, to wrap around her like a second skin, protecting her from all outside magical forces.”
“Why don’t we just do it here then?”
“You are going hunting, Maylea is still concocting a mass of potion, and I’ll be away for at least a week. The King can keep her safe, Desmoree.”
King Blake stood tall and placed a hand on the middle of his chest. “It would do me a great honor to be able to repay you in this way.”
“I’ll have to ask Jax—and Ava,” I said, heading for the door, but it swung open before I reached it and Ava stood there in her exquisite fey form.
“Mum, look. I have my magic back.”
Oh... crap!
“Blake?” Ava phased back to her regular form.
I moved in front of her before she could come into the room. “Ava, what? How?”
“I don’t know. I
was helping with Dad...”
“Is he okay?”
“Yep,” she nodded excitedly. Great grandma sent him to shower.”
“You know she doesn’t like it when you call her that.”
“But you do.”
“This is true, so go on, what happened next?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing? Ava you have your magic back, that’s not nothing.”
“I know, it’s just that nothing brought it back, it was just there all of a sudden.”
The creases deepened in my forehead.
“Just stand there,” I said, holding my hands up but careful not to touch her in case it was a contact thing. I looked for her magic. It was there, like it had been in the beginning. A rainbow bubble inside her, swirling in a slow rotation, happy and content.
“It’s back to normal,” I whispered.
“What?” Max called from behind me.
“It’s back to normal,” I said, louder this time. “Not what I took out, it’s back to how it was before it went... you know.” I waved my hand around in a circle.
“I’m better, right?” Ava asked, the brightest smile on her face.
“I hope so, sweetie.”
Max cleared his throat, “Ava, you remember King Blake.”
I moved aside and Blake reached out to take her hand.
“No touching!” I screamed, a little louder than I intended, and they all eyed me with odd frowns. “I mean... I don’t know if her magic absorbing thing is through contact. I wouldn’t want to overload her again now that we have no way to take it back out.”
Blake gave me a curt nod and moved his hands to clasp them behind his back. He bowed slightly to her instead.
“It’s good to see you again. I was just asking your mother if it would be okay for you to have a visit to my kingdom.”
I glared at King Blake. I hadn’t asked Jax yet, or talked it over with Ava. What was he playing at?
“I would totally love that, Mum can I really go?”
I took a breath through my nose before forcing a smile onto my face and turning to answer her. “We should check with your father, but I can’t see why not. I mean, he and I will be away for a little while so it would be a good time. You would be just as protected there as you are here.”
Ava bounced on her toes, clapping her hands a few times in front of her.
“It’s sorted then, come now,” my father said, walking around the desk and placing a hand on the king’s shoulder. “Show me all these new potions and such while they go confirm with Jax and get ready.”
I went to take Ava’s arm but stopped. Will I really never be able to touch her again?
“Let’s go get your things,” I said and we left my father to his fun new toys.
I grabbed an overnight bag from my wardrobe before heading into Ava’s room. She grabbed things from hangers and draws, throwing them onto her bed with abandon.
“Ava, I don’t know if you will need this,” I said, picking up a dark blue evening gown she had claimed from my wardrobe a while ago.
“I figured I should take as many different things as possible. I mean, who knows what I’ll need in an Elf Kingdom?”
“I’m sure if you need something the king will be able to get it for you.”
“He’s really nice, isn’t he?” she asked, staring off into space for a moment before grabbing some underwear and tossing them onto the pile on her bed. I began folding the things she might need and adding them to the bag.
“The king is very nice, yes. Ava, when we get to the kingdom, the king and I want to do a cast that might help stop you from absorbing other’s magic.”
“Okay,” she said, grabbing a silk white blouse from a hanger and tossing it over. It floated like a feather over to the bed and landed softly on top of everything else.
“Really? You don’t have any questions or anything?”
“Nope.”
“Ava, what’s going on?” I placed a folded pair of jeans into the bag and rounding the bed to approach her.
“Nothing.”
“Ava?”
She turned, a slight gleam to her eyes. She blinked a few times and sniffed as if to stifle oncoming tears.
“Ava, what is it?” I rushed the last steps towards her, but pulled up just before contact. I can’t imagine never being able to hug her again.
“I don’t want my magic to get like it did before. I was so scared, Mum. It hurt so bad.”
“I thought you didn’t remember?”
The first tear fell. “I lied. I remember the magic being drawn away. I could feel you pulling it. It dug into me like claws and then Dad came and he shoved the fur in your hand and the magic screamed as it was pulled from me. I opened my eyes and saw it burst through you. Then it was gone.”
“We will do the cast, it will work, you won’t have to worry, Ava, it won’t happen again.”
“But then there is also...” she paused and looked away, fiddling with her fingers in front of her.
“What? What else is bothering you?”
“What will all that magic do to you now you have it?”
“I don’t have it.”
“Yes you do.”
“Ava, Maylea... grandma said she saw it go through me, not into me. I don’t...”
“No!”
“What?”
“It might have looked like that to her but she’s wrong. Mum, the magic is in you. Your power absorbed it. All of it.”
“No, it isn’t. Only my regular mix of magic is there.”
She took a step closer to me and I took a step back.
“Mum, it’s in you. I saw it.”
“Ava, no.”
“IT IS!”
She was really scared. All I wanted to do was hug her, but if she was right, that was the worst thing I could do. My face scrunched into a frown as I searched myself for the magic. But there was nothing there that wasn’t there before. Was she wrong? Was Maylea wrong?
“Let’s get you packed and off to the Elf Kingdom, you let me worry about where your magic went.”
“It went in you, Mum,” Ava repeated with a roll of her eyes.
I just nodded and moved back to folding and packing her clothes.
“You have too many clothes here, they won’t all fit,” I complained as I pushed another folded shirt into the bag.
“Do the thing then.”
“What thing?”
“You know, the thing you did with your other bag. Do it to that one so I can take everything I want to.”
Why didn’t I think of that?
I picked up the almost full bag and held it out in front of me by the side handles. I whispered the cast to make it carry all we needed it to. Then I sat it open on the bed again. But the next time I laid one of her tops onto the stack inside, the stack moved down, as if the bottom of the bag had deepened. It continued that way for a while, Ava tossing items onto the bed and me organizing, folding, and placing them into her bag. Then a shoe landed on the bed.
“Hey, you handle those with a little more care,” I said, lifting the sparkly pink ballet flat from its upside down position on the bed and holding it up for inspection.
Not that the bed would have damaged it at all.
“Come on, Mum, you worry too much.”
“Yes I do, so how about just bring me the shoes you would like to take without the aerodynamics?”
She laughed and bent down to bundle a few pairs in her arms before making her way to the bed.
“Happy?”
“Ecstatic,” I said, rolling my eyes the way she had earlier.
It was nice. Almost normal. It reminded me of when I was about fourteen and my mum was helping me pack for school camp. I had wanted to take so many shoes, I had my obsession even then. Pity I didn’t have the carry all cast then. Would have saved me a screaming match.
“What do we have here?” Jax asked as he walked in. There was a white bandage taped to his neck and though he was smiling, it
didn’t reach his eyes.
He must still be hurting.
“Come here, I will try to help you heal again.”
“Mum, can I try it?” Ava asked as Jax took a seat on the end of the bed.
“No, you go check my wardrobe for anything you want to borrow, I would rather you not be in here when I use my magic. I don’t know how your absorption thing works yet.”
She gave me a small half smile as she slowly bobbed her head up and down. “Okay,” she said before leaving the room.
“You would think she would be happy, I pretty much gave her carte blanche to take my things,” I said as I knelt in front of Jax and took his hands in mine.
“What are we packing for?”
“The king has invited Ava to stay in the Elf Kingdom. I said we would check with you...”
“No, that’s fine. I mean she will be safe there, right?”
“Probably safer than she is here with that thing down there,” I said touching my hand to the bandage on Jax’s neck.
I focused my magic and sent it towards my hands. “We can’t take her hunting with us. I mean, even if we could ensure her safety, what if she absorbs the wrong kind of magic? We were going to let her go with Dad next time he went anyway.”
I pushed the magic from my hands into him, his back went straight and he closed his eyes letting out a soft moan as the magic filled him.
“There is always my...” Jax began, his eyes still closed.
“No!” I said, squeezing his hands and stopping the transfer of magic.
“They are her grandparents too, Des, they would keep her safe.”
“Jax, I just don’t think...” I didn’t want to finish the sentence. How did you tell your husband that you didn’t trust his parents with your child? A grown child that could pretty much look after herself. I couldn’t get past what they tried to do. I would never trust them again.
“Okay, so Elfland it is then,” Jax said, releasing my hands and placing them on either side of my face. Raising my head to look at him, he pulled me closer and kissed me lightly on the lips.
I pushed up from my knees and deepened the kiss, but Ava’s giggle broke through our isolation and I bit my lip thinking of all the things I wanted to do to him right then.
“Come on guys,” Ava said, reaching the bed and turning so her back was to me before shoving some things into the bag.
Destroying the Fallen Page 10
