by KT Webb
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Blodwen said, dismissing the idea.
“If we need to get my mojo going early, I choose that over death,” Harper insisted.
“The ingredients for the ritual are nearly impossible to locate.”
“Name it and we’ll get it,” Sutton told them with confidence.
“You need to know that we can’t help you with this,” Caderyn explained.
“Then tell us what we need to do! If facing these guys will mean they die or I do, we’re willing to take the risk,” Harper insisted.
Grace swallowed hard against the fear that bubbled up in her throat. She reminded herself that they had to do it if they were going to have any chance against their enemies.
“Do you have a list of what we need to gather?” she whispered.
“You need to bottle the fire of a water dragon, the breath of Borrum, and obtain the Stone of Destiny.”
Borrum? A water dragon? Grace had never heard of either; of course, she’d heard of dragons before, but they usually lived in caves and hoarded treasure. What did a water dragon do? The other girls looked lost too. If none of them had heard of it, how were they going to find it?
“Water dragons are nearly extinct. There is only one left and it is ancient. It won’t be easy to secure fire from her.”
“What’s a Borrum?” Harper asked.
“Not a what, a who. Borrum is the God of Winds. You’ll need to petition him to breathe into a jar.”
“Can we also petition him to brush his teeth first?” Lucy pulled a face.
Grace smiled, but the humor fell flat on the Druids. Harper leaned against the wall, resigned to observe rather than participate.
“Where do we start? How do we find a water dragon?” Sutton asked.
“You’ll have to find Deirdre, regretfully. The water sprites can help you reach the dragon,” Brennus explained.
Sutton let out an exasperated sigh. Grace knew the other girl wouldn’t be happy about working with the friend that had betrayed and abandoned her. Grace hadn’t known Dee that well, but she knew there were two sides to every story. According to Harper, Dee had a very heated discussion with Brennus while they were in Salem. It didn’t sound like she was helping them voluntarily.
“How do we find her?” she asked.
Brennus addressed her directly, his deep green eyes locked onto her vibrant ones. “You have to summon her, and she won’t be happy about it.”
“Why won’t she be happy about it?” Lucy asked.
Brennus smiled wryly. “Because when I told her she was free to go, I was releasing her and her people from a lifelong sentence. They have been locked in the Otherworld for nearly two-hundred years.”
Before the girls could ask any questions, Blodwen held up a hand to stop their questions. “The story is now hers to tell, it is part of our agreement that the Druids shall never divulge the nature of her servitude to us. Only Deirdre can answer the questions you want to ask.”
Caderyn held his right hand out in front of him palm up and waved his left hand counter-clockwise with the palm facing the stationary appendage. In one fluid motion he cradled the right hand with his left and gently lifted the two together. A large, leather-bound book appeared in his outstretched hands. Grace leaned forward for a better look. It was embossed with a tree and clasped shut with a brass hook.
“This is the grimoire of the first coven. It belongs to you now.”
When no one moved, Grace gingerly wrapped her fingers around the book and held it like it may burst into flames. Her fellow witches closed in next to her until they were shoulder to shoulder staring at the grimoire. Grace wasn’t entirely sure what a grimoire was, but it seemed to be pretty important. With her thumb, she gently unhooked the clasp and opened the cover. The yellowed pages seemed to give off a light of their own, and a gentle breeze wound its way around the girls.
“In this book, you will find the incantation to summon Deirdre. We will leave you to it.” The Druids excused themselves and closed the door behind them.
As she began to thumb through the book, Grace began to understand how important it was. The grimoire contained spells and rituals on every page. They were handwritten in scrawling text, and embellished with various sketches and symbols. The letters seemed to move of their own accord, and rearranged themselves on the page until they made sense to Grace.
“Am I the only one seeing this?” Sutton asked, staring at the changing text.
Grace shook her head. “But there are so many spells, how are we going to find the right one?”
The gentle wind began again, and fanned the book’s pages open. It stopped abruptly; Grace looked at the page it ended on and smiled. To Summon a Sprite was scrawled across the top of the page.
“If someone starts whispering ‘the power of three,’ I’m going to crap my pants.” Harper looked around the room suspiciously.
“Well, it looks like this one is just a chant. Are we ready?” Lucy asked.
The girls joined hands and read aloud from the book:
“By the power of night, by power of day
We call upon a sister of fae
Deirdre, Queen of the Water Sprites
Heed our call.”
A swirl of water announced the arrival of their former ally. The droplets dissipated until they could clearly see the sprite hovering with crossed arms. She didn’t look pleased to be there, and she looked even less pleased when she saw who had summoned her.
“I don’t have time for this. What do you want? An explanation?”
“No, Dee. We need your help,” Grace begged.
The water sprite glanced between the girls in front of her. Their somber expressions must have convinced her of the weight of their request. Her wings slowed as she lowered herself to the ground. Grace watched her expression shuffle through a variety of reactions. At first, she looked irritated by their presence, then she tried to look nonplussed regarding their plea. Finally, the sprite sighed loudly and flowed back over to the waiting witches.
“I’m guessing you wouldn’t have called me unless I was your only option. While it wasn’t my choice to help you to begin with, I do care about you.” She sighed again and looked to Sutton, silently begging for forgiveness. “What can I do to help?”
It didn’t take long to share what they knew, and what the Druids had instructed them to do. Dee looked apprehensive when they mentioned the water dragon.
“We’ve definitely got an adventure ahead of us. Sarafina isn’t exactly open to visitors. She likes to stay hidden, and hasn’t left her home in centuries,” Dee said.
“Where do we find her?” Harper leaned forward in anticipation.
“In Scotland. I’m sure you’ve heard of her; maybe you’ve seen a grainy picture or two. My only caution to you is not to call her what you humans have dubbed her.”
The girls were silent as they waited for further explanation. Dee finally relented and huffed out an exasperated sigh.
“Tell me you’ve heard of the,” –she leaned in to whisper— “Loch Ness Monster.”
Harper
Chapter Twenty
Hunting for Nessie
Harper squealed with delight. It was better than she’d thought. As a self-proclaimed nerd, she had done extensive research into the potential existence of various entities. So many people had tried to debunk the legend of the Loch Ness Monster; she preferred to believe that anything was possible. Now that she knew there were fairies, sprites, Druids, and witches, she was beyond excited to discover that the famed sea creature was real too.
“Simmer down, Red. You can’t fangirl over a million-year-old dragon,” Dee said.
“But, why?” Harper asked through the fingers she’d firmly clamped over her mouth in surprise.
Dee rolled her eyes. “Because she hates it. She wants to be left alone, she doesn’t want people trying to find her. Sarafina is very old, and extremely powerful.”
“Fine, but can I take a selfie with h
er?” Harper begged.
“For the love of Brigid, do not take any pictures. She will kill you.”
That stopped Harper in her tracks. Sarafina sounded like a spoilsport. She sighed loudly. At least she’d get to see the Loch Ness Monster. That would have to be enough.
“So, now what?” Sutton asked coolly.
“Now, we go petition a dragon for some fire.”
They set out from Idir right away. When they reached the fairy clearing, Sutton was able to create a portal. They ended up near Urquhart Castle, a crumbling relic overlooking Loch Ness. It was essential that they exercise caution with their arrival so as not to be noticed by any tourists enjoying the view from the visitor’s center.
Luckily, there was no one around to witness their sudden arrival. It would have been quite the sight to see; a pale pink sprite, four teenagers with bright green eyes, and a tiny white fairy materializing from nothing. Ooghna had insisted on accompanying them. When Dee caught sight of the fairy, they had just arrived at the edge of the lake. Curiosity had gotten the best of her and she peeked out from behind Harper’s hair. Dee inhaled sharply and bowed low in respect.
“Accept my praise and adoration for the Queen of the Fae.”
“Aren’t you a queen too?” Lucy whispered.
“I am. But, I am a queen, she is the queen. This Ooghna is the most recent in a long line of Fae named after the mother of all Fae. Anything with Fae blood links back to the fairies. They were first; we all sprang from them.”
Ooghna flew to Dee and placed a hand upon her cheek before leaving a glittering kiss on her forehead. She chittered again and Dee nodded in gracious understanding before looking up with shimmering tears pooling in her eyes.
Grace leaned over to her and whispered, “She told Dee she is proud of her, and glad her people are free thanks to her sacrifice.”
Sutton hung back, unwilling to engage in unnecessary conversation with the sprite. She would have to suck it up and talk to her at some point, but Harper wasn’t about to point it out. If she’d learned anything about Sutton since they’d met, it was that she had a tendency to blow things out of proportion.
“What next, your majesty? Do we go for a swim?” Sutton’s sarcasm practically dripped from her words.
Dee’s eyes clouded over and she furrowed her brow. She floated forward looking for all the world like an angry Starfire about to unleash her fury on her fellow Teen Titans. Lucy jumped in before Harper could.
“Oh-kay kids, let’s cool it a bit. How about you let us in on the plan, Dee?” She threw a pointed look at Sutton.
“We have to swim to the depths of Loch Ness to find Sarafina’s cave. The entrance and the tunnel that takes us into a cave are protected by magic. Sarafina prefers to spend some time above water, but doesn’t like to come out where humans can snap pictures.”
“Not to be a Debbie-downer, but we can’t breathe underwater. And I’m guessing we can’t use a portal to pop in and out,” Harper pointed out.
“You call yourselves witches? Did you think of conjuring scuba gear or something? I don’t have all the answers,” Dee said, crossing her arms.
Harper could feel her excitement building. They were actually going to dive into Loch Ness and look for Nessie. She knew they wouldn’t be able to use scuba gear if they were diving to the bottom. They would run the risk of oxygen toxicity if they used oxygen tanks at the deepest levels. Harper explained this to the other witches, along with the reported depth of Loch Ness. Sutton and Grace stared at her as though she’d sprouted an extra eye.
“What? I know stuff. Maybe not normal stuff. . . but stuff, nonetheless.” She trailed off as she looked away from them, towards the lake.
“You know, Dee could just go get it for us. That would solve the whole thing,” Sutton said. She was getting on Harper’s nerves.
Lucy and Grace seemed to feel the same way because they ushered Sutton away from the sprite and motioned for Harper to follow. They stood by the railing on the ruins of the castle and created a wall of witches between Sutton and Dee.
“Alright, that’s it. Before we do anything else, you need an attitude adjustment,” Lucy stated, crossing her arms.
“Wha”–Grace cut her off before she could finish the first word of her protest. “Girl, you’re this close”—she pinched her fingers together—“to an epic battle with a sprite. Not to mention that you’re driving us crazy.”
Sutton seethed, and Harper took a turn at reasoning with her. “I get it, you’re pissed. But that doesn’t mean you have to obliterate our only chance of reaching Sarafina. Maybe we should ask her for an explanation, rather than throwing passive-aggressive comments her way?”
Her eyes were narrowed slits of rage. “You know, she made my life miserable. Long before we were friends she made it her mission to ostracize me from other kids at school. If she was supposed to be helping us why did she do that to me?”
“Because I didn’t want to help you. All I wanted was to go home to my people and have our lives back.” Dee had approached behind the other girls.
They turned to include her in their circle. Deirdre looked contrite, but it would take more than that to appease Sutton. Grace broke the silence with the question they all wanted the answer to.
“Brennus said something about you serving a life sentence for your people? They wouldn’t give us any details. . .”
Dee hung her head. “I’m sure you know sprites are notoriously mischievous. Hundreds of years ago, my people decided they wanted to play some tricks on the humans. They turned the natural springs different colors and added flavors to the rivers. Of course, when people began to notice the anomalies they stopped drinking water, got very sick from dehydration, and began hunting for the source of the changes.”
Harper thought it sounded harmless enough, what could a bunch of sprites do? They weren’t exactly murderers. In her mind, she pictured Deirdre facing the humans and justifying the behavior of her subjects by asking, “but did you die?” She laughed out loud and received an admonishing stare in response. It was Grams’ funeral all over again. When would she learn that there are some situations that leave no room for laughter? She shrugged and mumbled an apology. She’d probably never learn, and that didn’t bother her.
“So, what happened? Did people die?” Grace asked.
Dee shook her head. “No, nothing like that. But, the Druids run a tight ship. Ever since the witch hunts they’ve been very strict about keeping magic a secret. People found out about us and started going out in search of creatures like us. The balance was thrown off-kilter and magical creatures had to live in fear of being caught by greedy humans.
“We were sentenced to a life of servitude. Every one of us was remanded to the custody of the Tuatha De Dannan to serve a lifelong sentence,” Dee finished.
“What’s a Two-ah-ha Day Duh-na?”
“They’re the good guys,” Dee offered with a shrug. “They follow the goddess Danu.”
“But don’t sprites live forever?” Lucy questioned.
Dee nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. “I spent over one-hundred years in the Shade before I offered myself as a trade. Many people thought I was being selfish because I got to leave, while they stayed to pay for our crimes. What they didn’t realize was I wasn’t going free; I was going into a different kind of servitude.”
“You made a deal,” Sutton suggested.
Dee looked at her friend and bit her lip. “Yes. I agreed to look after the descendants of the first coven until the day came when I would deliver the last coven to the Druids. When you cursed me, I knew it was time. I knew you were the first step toward freedom; not only for me, but for my kingdom.”
Harper looked between the two, hoping Sutton would see that Deirdre had put herself in an impossible situation in order to help her friends and family. What had started out as a requirement of her sentence had turned into an unexpected friendship.
“When I actually started spending time with you I realized you were pretty c
ool, for a human. And as I met each of you, I learned that we weren’t all that different.”
There was a five-way stare down before someone finally broke the silence. Sutton’s resolve was breaking, and it was clear she was beginning to understand that her childish behavior wasn’t going to change anything. She needed to accept it and move on. Just as Harper was beginning to feel awkward, Dee and Sutton lunged toward each other and hugged it out.
“Bubbles!” Sutton squealed, pulling away from the sprite.
