“But if that were true wouldn’t she be insane already? I mean, if she is one of these Emperfey and she is keeping it all?”
Max didn’t get a chance to respond. Ava’s scream resonated through the house.
We rushed out of the room to find her. Heading to the kitchen first, her scream came again, this time from somewhere outside. I took off from the back of the house towards the fruit trees where Tai sat on the grass, holding his hands over his ears.
“Tai, did you see Ava? Where is she?” I yelled as I pulled his hands away. “Where is Ava?”
“He pointed through the trees to the right and I set off. She screamed again and a vibration wave hit us full force, throwing us backwards. I phased instinctively, but Max slammed against a tree and fell to the ground in a heap.
“Des, it’s Ava!” Jax called from somewhere behind me.
“I know. You check Max, I’ll find her.”
I ran through the trees, my wings catching on branches as I passed, but it didn’t slow me. When I found her, she was crouching in a ball on the ground, her hands clenching either side of her face.
She looked up at me. “It’s too much. There’s too much. I have to get it out.” Her nails cut through the skin of her cheeks, drawing blood.
“Ava, stop!” I yelled as I dropped beside her. I grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her face. The gouges healed themselves before I did anything. Ava thrashed and screamed and another wave of energy exploded out of her. I lost my grip and fell backwards. Ava scratched at her arms, her nails digging in and tearing flesh away. The blood barely had time to seep from the wounds before her magic was healing her.
“Get it out. Get it out,” she cried over and over.
I looked for her magic, it was overflowing from her. The rainbow extending tenfold more than it should. I sent my own magic out to it, willing it to draw out some of the magic.
“Ava, send it to me, give me the magic, I’ll take it.”
Her eyes locked with mine and the whites of them were streaked with red veins.
“Ava, you have to try. Push it out to me, you can do it, come on!”
She clenched her fists tight in front of her, directing the magic towards her hands. Rainbow balls swirled in either fist. Then she shot her arms out towards me and the magic flew through the space between us, colliding with my barrier.
What the hell? I hadn’t put it up. My magic cocooned me on impact, all on its own.
I forced the shield down as Ava tried again to send it to me, but the shield snapped back into place. She lost her resolve and began clawing at her legs. Her wings shot out and around her and she turned from her legs to the feathers. The wings didn’t heal, the feathers sat where they landed, spotted with her blood, and the places she tore them from dripped with silver and red.
Jax landed behind her, and he wrapped his wings around her, encasing her power a little.
“Jax, keep doing that!” I said as I made my way back to her. I knelt on her other side and spread my wings out, then encased them both. As soon as I did, the magic shrank a little. I rested my head against hers and begged the power to ease.
“Just hold her tight,” I said as I did the same. “Don’t let go!” I felt more wings around me and out of the corner of my eye I saw my father.
We breathed in time with each other, our wings wrapped around her as she struggled less and less. Then Ava stopped trying to claw at her skin. She stopped trying to pull at the feathers of her wings. Another few breaths and she relaxed against us. We didn’t let go straight away. We sat with our wings around each other, until Ava breathed in time with us.
I shrugged Max off me and released Jax and Ava.
“Are you okay?” I asked as Jax released his wings. He held them just a little ways off her.
“Ava, are you okay?”
She raised her head. “I still feel full, Mum. What is wrong with me?”
“We will figure it out, Ava, let’s get you back to the house. Can you phase back?”
“My wings!” she cried as she caught sight of the feathers by her feet. “We have to fix them, Mum.”
“We will, Ava. You’re going to be okay. Try to phase back.”
She let the feather in her hand fall to the ground and by the time it settled against the blood splattered grass, she was back to her non-fey form.
We walked slowly back home, collecting Tai on our way. He was waiting by the tree line for us, his cheeks stained with tears.
“What was it? Do you know what’s wrong?” he asked Ava as he took step beside us.
“Don’t worry, Tai.” She gave him a weak smile. She squeezed my hand a few times as we made our way back, frowning and holding her breath as well. She was struggling. When we got back to her room I laid her down and looked at her magic again.
It was growing.
What the fuck?
I pulled Jax to the side and let Max tuck in his granddaughter.
“Jax, we have to do something soon. Ava’s magic is growing again, I can see it. It’s like a battery being overcharged, and if we don’t stop it she is going to burn out,” I whispered, never taking my eyes from Ava and her swelling energy.
“But what can we do?”
“I’ll go see Malcolm. You see if there is anything in the potion scrolls that can shield her, or suck it out. I mean, it isn’t her magic so it shouldn’t be that hard to get it.”
“You didn’t try to take it?
“I did, my shield went up when she tried to send it to me.” I looked right into his deep green eyes. “Jax, we will do whatever it takes, I swear.”
“I don’t have a shield. She can send it to me.” He rushed to her side. “Ava, try to send the magic to me. Go on.”
Ava sat up a little in the bed. I watched her bring her magic up, she let it grow in front of her like a rainbow cloud. Then she pushed it to her father. Jax flinched as it hit against his own magic. Even without a shield, Ava’s magic wouldn’t leave her.
Defeated, she slumped back against the bed. “Dad, it isn’t working.”
Jax’s eyes saddened. “I’m sorry, Ava.”
She shook her head a little. “It isn’t your fault, Dad. You and Mum will figure it out.”
He nodded and after filling in Max, we left him to watch Ava while we sought answers.
I wasn’t sure where Malcolm would be, he was often with the sprites down by the pool of light so I thought it best to start there. I phased and shot into the sky the second I was out the doors of our house.
Baldea was beautiful from the air. I entered Sayeesies and let the warmth of the golden sky fill me. It was gorgeous here too. Landing in the center of Sayeesies market I didn’t bother phasing back. Most of the fey in Sayeesies knew me as I was in my fey form, I also didn’t feel guilty about having their magic, so that kind of helped too. If anything, they all felt pretty bad about the battle with Traflier, even though they had no control over their own actions, I wondered how many still agreed with what he was doing and how many of them would do the same thing given the chance.
I approached Traflier’s tree. Or what used to be Traflier’s tree. Grace had removed his things and allowed the tree to take control of itself again and it had grown long hanging branches covered in leaves. I had never seen another tree like it. The branches hung like tendrils and swayed in the breeze. If you had no clue what went on beneath the roots you would think it quite beautiful.
I braced myself and made my way through the dangling arms of the tree to emerge on the other side. The children’s voices wafted on the wind towards me. They were playing with the sprites like they did most days.
Ava missed out on all this, I’ll have to bring her when we get a handle on this whole magic thing.
I bypassed the children playing and looked straight to the trees surrounding the pool of light. Malcolm didn’t often play with the other children, instead he found joy in playing with the sprites on his own. He sat under the same tree I had found him by when Jax and I came searchi
ng for answers before. I only prayed he had some for me now.
“Hi, Malcolm, do you remember me?” I asked taking a seat beside him on the soft grass.
He nodded and smiled up at me, his violet eyes shining in the golden light of Shulun. The sprite he played with jumped from his hand to his knee then flitted over to the pool with the others.
“You won’t find your answer here, Desmoree,” he said, pushing himself up from the ground and walking around to the back of the tree. I followed.
“I have to help her, if you know a way please tell me.”
“You do not need me to tell you how to help Ava. You are not asking the right question. Always the wrong question.”
“You mean the seers don’t want to give me an answer.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why would they keep things from you, Desmoree? You are their greatest champion, the bringer of light and good and—”
“Okay, let me cut you off right there. I just want to know how I can help Ava.”
“You already…”
“I won’t always have yowie fur, Malcolm. What do I do when there is no more fur? How do I stop it from happening again and again?”
He closed his eyes and my gaze fell to the fingers at his side. He moved them up and down like he were playing a piano.
“You can’t,” he finally said, opening his eyes and returning to the other side of the tree and sitting down again.
“You’re wrong!”
He raised his brows and with that expression he looked so much older. How old was he, anyway? Eight? Ten? “Ava will be okay, I’ll find a way.”
“Ava will be okay, yes. But it’s not you who will find the way, Desmoree. They have no more messages for you, I’m going to play now. Bye.”
I processed his words as I watched him run over to the other kids. Twin red headed girls with their hair braided into pigtails grabbed either of his hands and together they ran off towards the sprites flitting around the water’s edge.
Well that’s different, I thought as I turned and made my way back towards Traflier’s tree.
So Ava will be fine, but it won’t be me who finds the way to help her. I can deal with that as long as she is okay.
“Desmoree!”
Grace ran towards me, an urgency in her voice and a frown on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“They sent word for you. It’s Ava.”
I didn’t wait for more information, I took off into the sky and headed for home. I flew faster than I knew I could and landed on my balcony phasing the second my toes touched the tile floor.
“Get it out, Dad, get it out!” Ava screamed from her room. I ran through the dividing door and found Jax and my father enveloping a struggling Ava in their wings, but it wasn’t working. I phased.
“Release her for a sec,” I called and when an opening appeared I slipped in and wrapped her in my magic, in my wings, my arms, and my love. “Ava it will be okay. We have you, Ava, we have you.”
She slowly stopped struggling against us and we were able to release her. She blinked slowly, her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell back asleep on the bed.
Jax dashed to the other room. Max draped a throw blanket over Ava. “She is getting worse. Did Malcom have any ideas?”
I shook my head.
“We can use this!” Jax called, returning to the room. I turned and it was as if my heart leapt into my throat. In his hand he held the small bundle of yowie fur.
“Jax, how did you—”
Max cut me off. “Des what is that? You said the yowies refused to give you any more fur.”
I placed my hand over the bundle of fur and lowed Jax’s arm.
“They did say no,” I said, glaring at Jax before turning back to my father. “But a young yowie gave me some. I don’t think I’ll get any more and I don’t think it will be enough to return the Tanzieth magic so I didn’t tell the council.”
“That was not your decision to make!” Grace said, appearing in the doorway. She stormed the distance between us. I sidestepped and blocked her descent on Jax, but she dropped something in front of me. A pale pink mist coiled around my legs and my feet were planted in place. She moved around me and snatched the fur from Jax’s hand.
“We have to use it to help Ava,” Jax said as I strained my neck to try to see them.
“The council will decide what it’s used for, not you.” Grace phased into her fey form and flew out of the bedroom balcony doors and into the sky of Baldea.
“Go after her, Jax. That isn’t enough to return the Tanzieth magic, not all of it. You were right, I don’t know if it will help Ava this time or not, but it’s worth a shot.”
He appeared in front of me, kissed my lips then bolted from the room after Grace. I struggled to try and move my feet in the pink mist.
“The poor child is dead to the world asleep,” Maylea said as she laid another blanket over my Ava. “I know it was given to you, but as the only way to return the magic of the fey, perhaps if you were a little more forthcoming when you have yowie fur in future, the council might be more inclined to agree with your right to use it?”
“It is mine, not everything should be the councils decision you know? Besides, there probably isn’t going to be anymore fur, that’s why I hid it in the first place. It isn’t enough to give the magic back to all of them and I wasn’t going to let them pick and choose who deserved it with what I could give.”
My left foot lifted slightly off the ground, the mist’s effect was fading.
Max came to stand in front of me. “You didn’t think to use the fur to help Ava yourself?”
“Dad, Ava returned Tai’s magic without yowie fur. I had her try to give me some of her magic the same way. It didn’t work. My shield went up. Stopped the transfer. I didn’t want to burn out the fur trying to take something my own magic was going to block. Then what use would it be?”
“I should go, Grace will call a vote for the fur. Let’s just hope that is all she calls a vote for.”
“What do you mean?”
“Des,” Max said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “You had yowie fur and didn’t tell the council. The council you insisted should make the decisions for the fey. She could ask for your complete removal. You would lose your right to break a tie, to call a vote… all of it.”
“Would she really ask for that? I mean Ava is family, she should want to help her, right?”
“She wants to help all fey. I don’t know what she will do, but I really must go, I will make the request for you Desmoree. I will try to convince them. That should wear off in another minute,” he said, looking down at my feet before phasing and flying out the same doors into the sky.
“Desmoree, allow me to try some potions,” Maylea said, moving towards the door. “There are some that we use for the old, or the mentally drained.”
“How will that help Ava?” I asked, finally able to take a step as the effects of the mist wore off.
“They cast without thought, nightmares send magic exploding from them at times. Without control, fey can be hurt. These potions help by separating the fey mind from the magic.”
“Okay, do what you think will help, but Jax was right. I should have tried the fur. Even if it burned it all, it was worth a shot.”
“Well let us hope the council approves your request, then you will get your chance to try it.”
“Des!” came Tai’s call from down the hall. “Des, where are you? Is Ava okay?” He pushed open the door and it banged against the wall.
“Mum!” The bang of the door jolted Ava awake and she cried out for me. I spun back to face her and sucked in a sharp breath as I watched my daughter bring up her hands, smacking them against her head on either side three times before digging her fingers through her hair and pulling the rainbow strands tight.
“Ava!” I cried, lunging towards her and wrapping my wings around her jerking body. But she bucked against my embrace and in a flash of rainbow light, I flew across the room and slam
med into the opposite wall.
Tai went to Ava before Maylea or I could stop him but she surrounded herself with her growing magic and he was deflected off it, falling to the ground with a sickening slap as Ava rose above her bed in the orb of rainbow light. She twitched her head to the side, her arms wrapped around her body as she rose, still clawing at her skin. The drips of blood glistened as they ran down and fell suspended in the magic by her feet.
I stood as Maylea helped Tai up off the floor and ushered him out the door.
“Ava, can you hear me?” I asked, stepping slowly towards her orb of magic.
“Mum, it’s inside me, it crawls inside me, grows inside me. I have to get it out. I have to make it come out.”
She phased inside the orb and her wings still showed the damage she had done earlier. She again began yanking feathers free, screaming.
My stomach churned. I looked over at Maylea who was struggling to keep Tai out of the room. “I don’t know what to do, tell me what to do?” I begged.
She grabbed hold of Tai’s arm and rushed through the doorway out of the room, her footsteps and his cries of objection fading fast.
What can I do? I took another step towards her. I brought up my shield then purposely pushed it down again, holding it down and away as best I could as I approached Ava.
“Ava I’m going to try to help you. You are going to be okay.”
I said the words but really, I had no clue what I was going to do. All I knew was that I had to do something.
Forcing the shield down, I reached a hand towards the magic surrounding her. It wasn’t connecting with the magic inside her, instead existing as its own entity around her. Ava cried out as she pulled another feather from her wing and threw it to her feet. It hovered with the others and the specks of blood within the orb and floating above the bed with Ava.
Traflier took magic from all those fey with no help from yowie fur, I thought as the tears began to fall. This is to help her. This isn’t the same thing. I won’t become like him.
Enchanting the Fey- The Complete Series Page 60
