by Nika Gray
Professor Tremaine's eyes changed. Sharpened as if really seeing me for the first time. “Would you show me your Fae fire?” she asked gently.
I pressed harder back in my seat and smoothed down the skirt.
I didn't know what to say. She was asking me to trust her. Could I trust this woman who’d been so kind and taught me how to heal all those little creatures? Could she be as evil as the Magical Council turned out to be?
“If I show you my Fae fire, will you tell me the truth about your friend?” I asked.
Silence fell between us for long minutes. We sat there sizing each other up. Around minute two I realized she feared me as much as I did her. It meant that she had just as much to lose. I decided at that moment to show her what I could do.
“I’ll show you my Fae fire,” I said.
Professor Tremaine nodded and watched as I created a brilliant red ball of flame out of my fingertips. I wasn't wearing my conduit ring and she noticed.
“It's been years since I saw such beauty,” she whispered.
“Your friend?” I asked.
“She was tortured by the Magic Council like I said. She had to go underground and has lived off the grid for the last twenty-five years far away from any magical communities and even most humans. There's only one way that I know of to contact her and that would be through teleportation. I've often wanted to just join her, but I promised myself I wouldn't take such a risk seeing as it would put her life in jeopardy.
“She’s still alive? And she's like me?” I asked. “She can create the Fae fire like I can?”
“Her fire looks different, but yes she’s actually half-Fae,” she said.
“Is there any way that you can contact her to see if she'll talk to me?” I asked.
I was excited at hearing there was someone else like me somewhere out there. I felt sure if she’d been tortured at the hands of the Magic Council, then she would know about the Extraction Spell. She could tell me where I was from and maybe even why the boy’s Fae fire had been activated when we got together.
Professor Tremaine looked unsure. There was both hope and fear in her eyes as she wrang her hands in her lap. It was a huge ask but I felt like my life and the life of Cole, Fergus, and Declan depended on it.
“There is a way that I can teleport you there. I don't know if she’ll even still be there and I don't know if you'll be able to get back. But if you really want to try this, I will do that for you. You’re very special, Sadie. You have to know that. Your magic is not an abomination like the Magic Council has declared all these years.”
I nodded and watched as she made her way over to a cat-shaped cabinet. She took out an amulet which glowed bright orange in her hand. She said words I didn't understand, and the orange light grew bigger and bigger. When it was as big as her arm, she swooped the amulet up and down to create a doorway.
The doorway changed to a southwestern looking vista.
“Go now before I change my mind,” she said.
I rushed off the sofa and plunged through the portal.
17
Sadie
I stepped out onto a desert plain. When I looked behind me, the portal closed with a small pop and I was left alone. It was cool here, with late afternoon sun making the rocks in front of me turn a deep golden red.
There was a breeze and I smelled heather, even though I didn't realize Heather would grow in the desert. I looked around for any dwelling but saw nothing. Was I stuck in the desert all by myself having no idea where I was with no food and water, no phone, no nothing. I hoped I hadn't just made the biggest mistake of my life.
“What are you doing here? Who sent you?” A voice behind me asked.
I turned around to see a very tall thin woman, her skin darkened by years of sun with a shock of short cropped white hair.
She wore pale brown overalls over a white T-shirt. She had two bands on both of her wrists and hiking boots. My dress was ridiculous for where I was because it had been freezing when I left upstate New York. I still wore my uniform, my cardigan, robe and a hat and scarf. I took the hat and scarf off and the robe.
“You're obviously from some sort of Academy,” she said.
“Professor Lark Tremaine sent me here. She spoke of you and I'm in desperate need of guidance.” The woman's face softened.
“Lark sent you? How is she doing?” she asked.
“She's teaching the healing arts at the Protectors Academy. She lives in a house that she hasn't decorated yet and is filled with pictures of cats.”
The woman gave a deep throaty laugh.
“Oh, that must be hard for Lark because she's always hated cats,” she said. That comment made Sadie like Lark Tremaine even more.
“She has never sent anybody through that amulet before. It was only supposed to be used by her in case they came for her too. I'm shocked she used that one chance to help you,” she said.
“Are you here by yourself,” I asked, unsure of where the woman had even come from.
The woman offered me her hand. “Take my hand and I will bring you to my home. I will trust you.” I offered my hand and she took it in her own.
Wind swirled around us and then a disorienting feeling overcame me as we popped from the middle of the desert into a lovely Adobe home. It had pale pink walls and white tiled floors. Everything was a very Southwest flavor with embroidered rugs and roughhewn furniture.
“Your home is beautiful. I've never been to one like it before,” I said.
“I guess you haven't traveled much in the Southwest?” the woman asked.
“No, I haven’t. My name is Sadie Bishop,” I said.
“My name is Jessica.”
“It's very nice to meet you, Jessica. I'm here because of Fae fire,” I said.
“Fae fire?” Jessica asked. “What do you know about Fae fire?”
“I don't know much about it. And it's extremely hard to come by information about it these days. I have it and I've tried to learn how to use it,” I said.
The woman sat down. “You have Fae fire?” she asked, incredulity in her voice.
I nodded and pulled my hands out. The fire tendrils came streaming out of my fingers into a ball shape in front of me. Jessica watched the Fae fire dance in front of us.
“I've never seen it as strong as yours and your aura is very different. You're not Fae, are you?” she asked.
“I don't know what I am. I've been in foster homes all my life and I have strange dreams of being in a different place that is not here and that I do not recognize. I don't have a way to answer your question.”
“I am half Fae. My mother was Fae, and my father was a shape-shifting mage. I had to go into hiding after the Magic council started sweeping for any half breeds as they called us. I had Fae fire at my disposal, but it was weak.
She opened up her own palm and pale pink thin tendrils came streaming out of her hands and made a shape of a wave. “I haven't used it in years because I've always been too afraid I’d somehow fall onto the magic council’s radar,” she said and waved Fae fire away.
“May I see your Fae fire again?”
I created the same ball I had before, and she stared into it.
“May I touch it?” she asked. I nodded and she stroked my Fae fire. It, in turn, touched and caressed her skin. She was a kindred spirit.
“You're not Fae from behind the veil. You're an entirely different type,” she said.
And then she started.
“It's the prophecy. It's the prophecy that my mother was telling me about before they took her away.”
“What prophecy are you talking about?”
“She said there would be a Fae coming from a distant land who would be powerful enough to completely undo the powerful magic that was keeping the Fae from beyond the veil prisoners in their own land. There was supposed to be five of you though. Five makes one. A Fae from a different land and the four princes of the realm, all joining forces to break apart the magic council’s evil.”
“Four? That's why I'm actually here. Three of the men have all been affected by the extraction spell,” I said.
“That was the spell of the magic council used to suck all the magic out of a creature.”
“You know of an antidote or reversal?”
Jessica shook her head no. “I've never heard of a counter hex. But there is the prophecy. The prophecy says five will make one and the one will save the realm beyond the veil. May I touch you to see if maybe I can see where you're from?” she asked.
I nodded and she placed both of her hands on my forehead. She closed her eyes and my dream came back. The dream of the battle in the clearing, and the large rock in the grove of trees and the mages hiding behind the trees and the fear and loathing. It all came streaming back.
She took her hands away from me. “You’re not whole,” she said.
“Whole?” I asked.
“Half of you is back in the borderlands. Do you know how that happened?” she asked.
“Whatever you did unlocked the dreams I've been having for the last two weeks. Do you think you might be able to unlock my memory?” I asked.
“I can try,” she said.
She lay her hands on my head again, and those pale pink tendrils came streaming out around my face. I could see them on the periphery of my vision. They enveloped my head and I felt the pressure and squeezing.
Then it all came back to me. I was traveling through space on a wormhole, knowing that I needed to get to the faerie realm to help them stave off the attackers. The leaches stealing their power.
There was a massive battle and I got to the portal in the realm and as I was trying to pass through the veil, a magic spell hit me. The pain was excruciating. My body and soul were ripped in two and the pain was so excruciating, I passed out.
I came to and found Jessica above me. “You're the prophecy. You're not of these realms. You were caught in the magic spell that closed the veil. Do you remember that?” she asked.
I nodded, unable to speak. She helped me back up and sat me down on her very comfortable couch. She brought me some warm green tea and as I drank, I gained back some of my strength.
“You did it. I know what happened to me,” I said. I still didn't know my name or where I was from. That part was so fuzzy, but I remembered the excruciating pain of being cut in half by the veil.
“Part of your soul is still in that clearing,” she said. “Only when you are whole, can you fulfill the prophecy. I saw the prophecy in you. It's still there. All is not lost.”
“If all is not lost than there is a reversal to that extraction spell,” I said.
“You're not from any of these realms, so yes. Anything is possible because once you are whole, you will be the most powerful being here.”
“Can you open a portal to the borderlands for me?” I asked. If getting my soul back was the way to get the guys back, then I wanted to go straight off.
“I will pack you up provisions. Supplies for water and food and clothing. The borderlands are a dangerous place with magic going screwy. The days will be hot, and the nights will be cold and snowing. The sprites and the brownies will come after you. You need some weapons and amulets as well. You sit here and try to get some strength back and I will get you ready.”
It only seemed to take about an hour to put the pack together for me. She used a magical backpack that looked like a regular backpack but could hold almost infinite supplies. I had provisions in there for at least a good week. She’d set me up with water, food, clothing, a tent and amulets.
“How does this work?” I asked Jessica.
“Imagine what you need and stick your hand in the bag. It should fly up into your hand,” Jessica said.
“How can I ever thank you?”
“Bring down the magic council and all the hate they stand for. If you can bring down the spell around the veil, we will all be better for it. The Fae on the other side have been held prisoner in their realm for over twenty-five years. Their power is being sucked out by the magic council.”
“Sucked out?” I asked. I’d seen no mention of this in any of my classes.
“You didn’t know that's how mages get their power? They take it from other magical creatures,” she said. That was a shocking piece of news. No wonder mages tried to sow discontent between the magical creatures in the community.
I wanted to ask more questions, but I knew that time was running out for me. I didn't know what Leonora and Gregory were planning at the Academy, but it was nothing good. And I was afraid that the longer the boys stayed in this present state, the harder it would be for me to get them back to normal.
“I'm ready,” I said. Jessica nodded and started the spell work to open the portal borderlands.
18
Sadie
The dense forest was dark and throbbing with sound. The portal had dropped me off smack in the middle of a pitch black nowhere. I picked a direction to walk hoping something would click with me.
And I walked and walked and walked. For what felt like hours, directionless and completely in the dark. The woods were dark and pulsing with magic.
I had no idea where the veil was or what it looked like or how to even find it. Professor Dobbs hadn't gotten to the part in magic history class where we spoke about the actual terrain of the borderlands. I was good and lost.
Wild things watched me as I walked. Small animals moved on the forest floor as leaves whispered in the gentle night breeze outside of the small ring of light coming from my flashlight. I must have been in a less traveled part of the borderlands because I’d only seen one battalion off in the distance. I’d hid in a hollowed-out log until their voices drifted off into the distance.
My fear of mages had grown exponentially since I’d left the Academy. All I’d learned convinced me that magic council needed to be overthrown and these battalions retired.
How long is this night, I thought? I’d been walking for so long that I was sure dawn was imminent. This must have been what Professor Krysz had been talking about. Time not moving in a linear fashion. Since the borderlands were so close to the Veil and the Faerie realm beyond, time flowed differently, in starts and sputters. Minutes stretched into hours and hours could only be minutes. Professor Krysz warned about not losing one’s mind in the borderlands because of this and believed a mage should go with the flow of it. I was trying to do that, but I was exhausted.
I had never worn a watch and I didn't have a cell phone, so I had no clue how long I had been walking for. What I did know was that my legs were shaky and numb, and I felt as if I couldn’t possibly take another step.
Thank goodness for Jessica’s backpack. Each time I was hungry or thirsty, I reached into the bag and found a water bottle or a sandwich or even a bag of cheetos. She had hooked me up.
The one thing she hadn't done was given me a map. I could easily wander in these trees forever and not find what I was looking for. I needed somebody to help me, but that somebody couldn't be a mage.
Mages fought brownies and pixies here. I wouldn’t try to befriend brownies, but a pixie could be helpful to me if I could convince one I wasn’t an enemy. I couldn’t think of anyone else who might help me in this wild land. If I could find the veil, then I could walk along it until I found the other part of myself.
Finding a pixie was my new plan. From my reading pixies, were tiny fairy creatures living in the Borderlands. They measured six inches high and lived in the bottoms of trees.
I took to scanning the darkened forest floor for any signs of these little creatures or their homes. Did I find my idea silly?
Yes, yes I did. Me finding a pixie to help me was a long shot. What if the pixies ended up on the other side of the veil and I was searching the ground for any signs of them?
I could either walk around aimlessly for hours or days or I could find some help. Any help. Brownies wanted to kill humans, so they were out.
A small clearing filled with soft moonlight beckoned to me. As I stepped into the light, I froze. Huma
n voices filtered through the woods. Mages. A battalion was nearby. I couldn’t lose myself in my thoughts. Not out here.
The last battalion I’d encountered had been hours ago, and I’d managed to outmaneuver any others. Either I’d been lucky as hell or there really weren’t that many battalions out here.
“Hey you! Stop right there! Stop or I’ll blast you,” a short fat mage with a deep blue robe yelled.
I sprinted in the other direction. Blue and orange fire licked by me. They were shooting at me. I ducked as a spell came flying by my head.
I jerked to the left. Catapulted over a fallen tree and zig zagged back and forth attempting to lose them.
They kept on coming. A spell hit me in the knee, and I crumpled to the ground. I lay there stunned, eating moss and leaves.
I spit out the detritus and I scrambled back up. My backpack shifted on my back and I went down flat on my ass. God dammit. I groaned, getting back up again. The fall had knocked the wind out of me. I stepped forward, checking to make sure my knee could handle it. Lucky for me, my strange biology shrugged off whatever spell they’d thrown at me. I jogged forward, putting more distance between me and the receding voices of the battalion. I stepped out of the dense trees and found myself on the edge of a precipice. I stared down and frowned. No way I’d be able to survive that jump, I thought. There was nowhere else for me to run.
“Over here,” a tinny voice said. I peered around behind me, but the night shadows were too dark.
“I don’t see you. Where are you?”
Shouts were coming closer and the battalion was closing in on me. “I don't see where you are?” I whispered, my desperation getting the best of me. I did not want to be taken down by a mages battalion.
“Look down.” The voice was coming from somewhere to my left. “Down here.” I turned to my left and scanned the forest floor. A pair of blinky eyes pierced through the darkness. I kneeled down to see the little creature better.
