The Fairies' Path

by Ava Corrigan

  “I’m not trying to sound mysterious or anything, but … I just … I can’t tell you.”

  “You might not be trying to sound mysterious, but you are succeeding.”

  Beatrix eyed me, eyed the picture, and then her shadowy expression suddenly flipped to a bright smile.

  “Doesn’t matter, anyway,” she told me in a chipper voice. “I have no idea who that is. Enjoy your arts and crafts.”

  Beatrix exited the room, moving urgently as though she had a specific purpose. Maybe she wanted some of Terra’s brownies.

  I looked back at the picture. A little more carefully this time, and I recognized yet another face.

  I murmured aloud, “She’s standing next to Ms. Dowling.”

  Mind

  Musa and Sam had found a quiet hallway, filled with moonlight. Even in the midst of a party, Sam could find stillness.

  “Lotta people,” Sam said now. “Doing your head in?”

  He was so chill about her power, but still considerate of her. Most boys would be horrified by her magic. Most people were horrified by her.

  “Never underestimate the power of cheap beer to dull sharp emotions,” Musa said lightly, then, more seriously, “It’s a party. People are happy.”

  She looked at Sam in the moonlight. Just doing that made her happy.

  “I am, too,” she added softly.

  Sam’s gaze went especially warm, even as he continued to banter with her.

  Musa worked up her nerve to ask: “You and Terra? Are you close?”

  There was a little line between Sam’s eyebrows. “We weren’t around a lot of kids our age growing up, so yeah …”

  They hadn’t seemed that close, but Musa wasn’t an expert on families. Was it good or bad if they were close?

  Sam smiled, already wise to her. “Is that why you and I are sneaking around? Terra?”

  “She has a lot of feelings about a lot of things. As her roommate, I get to experience all of them.”

  Right now, Musa was experiencing many feelings of her own. She leaned in a little closer.

  Musa whispered, “How do you think she’d react to … this?”

  “Oh, we’re a this, are we?” Sam asked lightly.

  Musa was instantly mortified. “Not anymore. It’s all over. Who are you again?”

  Sam smiled. They both laughed, and the laughter turned into a sweet silence, then into a kiss that was even sweeter.

  Until Musa felt an unwelcome ripple of emotion, and pulled reluctantly away.

  “Sorry, just … getting a very strong and sudden read of social—”

  She gazed at Sam in sudden panic. Terra rounded the corner to face Musa. Who was frozen in terror for a moment, before she saw Sam had disappeared from her side. He waved at Musa from the opposite alcove before he melted through the wall.

  “There you are!” announced Terra happily, and then with a rapid onset of nerves, “Why are you alone; are you okay?”

  Terra, who was clearly a little drunk, didn’t wait for Musa to respond. She was onto the next topic, and by the feel of her, this one was going to be a doozy.

  “So I haven’t wanted to ask, but … like, what’s the point of having a roommate who can tell how people feel, if you don’t … not that that’s all I think of you, but … Dane. Me. Could it be a thing?”

  Musa was stunned for a second. She’d been expecting something else.

  Clearly fearing the worst, Terra said: “Oh God.”

  Musa rushed to reassure her. “No, it’s just … When you and Dane are together, he feels comfortable. I don’t know what that means specifically, but he does like you.”

  With painful, transparent hope, Terra asked: “So it could be? A thing?”

  Musa gave a measured smile as Terra beamed all over her face.

  Here it was. A way to make Terra like Musa, and all it took was Musa, the girl who made it a policy to hide nothing. Hiding way more than a kiss with her roommate’s brother.

  Fire

  I was justifiably filled with outrage. I was angry in a reasonable manner and I had to express it!

  I was maybe a little drunk, but that didn’t matter. The alcohol was actually helping me to think. I poured myself another as Aisha watched me with worried eyes.

  “And you’re absolutely sure this is the woman from your memory?” Aisha asked. “Not another, maybe?”

  “One hundred percent. Which means Dowling knows something. And she’s keeping it from me. Again.”

  I didn’t know why I kept trusting Ms. Dowling. I didn’t know why I wanted to trust her. I was a fool.

  Aisha said in a pacifying manner, “Okay. We’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” I repeated.

  “Let’s go home. You’re pissed off and a little pissed. And I can do some more homework—”

  Aisha clearly didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. “She lied to me. I’m not waiting until tomorrow to get answers.”

  Aisha gave me a long, considering look.

  Finally, she said, “Okay then. Have fun.”

  She turned to walk away. I reached out my hand to stop her.

  “You’re not coming?” I asked in a small voice.

  “You wanna see the headmistress at midnight, wasted? Go for it. While you’re at it, why don’t you hit the stone circle and nuke your magic? Maybe you’ll get another signal from your long-lost fairy guide. ’Cause that makes sense.”

  Aisha, who was always understanding, Aisha who was my one real ally at Alfea, looked utterly exasperated with me.

  “I’m done pulling you back from the edge, Bloom,” she announced. “You wanna jump? Jump.”

  Specialist

  Sky was in the middle of a fight with Stella when it happened. He was demanding she tell the truth about what had happened with Ricki.

  “Staying with you after you purposefully blinded your best friend makes me look at best like an insensitive jerk, and at worst, like an absolute psycho,” Sky said, realizing how true it was even as he spoke.

  Seeing Bloom’s beautiful, shocked-still face when Riven spilled the story had made that crystal clear. Sky didn’t want her to think badly of him. Bloom was the one person who cared what he was going through.

  Why was he carrying on this charade, why was he trying to be with Stella again despite everything, when Stella wouldn’t tell the truth? Far more importantly, when Stella didn’t even care about Sky’s fear for Silva? When Bloom seemed to care more about Sky than his longtime girlfriend cared?

  It made a guy wonder what he was doing, being with Stella at all.

  And then the text came, saying Marco and his team had killed the Burned One, and all thoughts of Stella and Bloom faded.

  Silva was going to be okay.

  Sky was so happy. He had to see Silva right away.

  He turned and left Stella without another word, running for the Bastion training area. He walked in to find a single light shining by the benches. Silva was sitting there alone. Sky went over to him, feeling his face flush and a smile start on his lips. It had been so difficult to smile, for days, but now it was easy.

  “How do you feel?” Sky asked, joy singing in his heart like birds. “The wounds should be healing already, right?”

  Silva shifted toward Sky. With an effort. He was clearly still in pain, but he shouldn’t have been in pain at all. When Sky looked down, he saw fresh blood on Silva’s side.

  The scars were not healed.

  Voice distant in his own ears, Sky said: “You said they killed it.”

  Silva said, “They did.”

  Sky’s voice faltered. “But then why—”

  Silva’s hard gaze didn’t even flicker. Silva carried an aura of steeliness around with him that was almost impenetrable. Sky had always thought Silva made an exception for him.

  But maybe not.

  “The one they killed must not have been the one that attacked me. Clearly … there’s more than one of these creatures out there.”

 
Tensely, desperately, Sky said, “So the battalion will keep looking. It’ll find the other one, and—”

  With his first sign of real pain, Silva responded, “It’s too late, Sky. It’s over.”

  Sky stared down at his own hands. Trained to grasp weapons, to fight, to protect. But when the one person he cared about more than anything was in trouble, Sky had done nothing to help.

  “You told me … to wait.”

  “It was all there was to do.”

  Sky stood up, fast. Furious. No.

  “The one thing you always told me about my dad was that he died fighting. And now you’re just gonna lie down and take it?”

  They stood staring at each other. Sky was sure neither of them knew what to say. He’d never spoken to Silva like that in his life before. He’d always trained to be the best, to make Silva proud. He was forgetting all his discipline.

  Sky whirled away so Silva wouldn’t see his face. He was supposed to be Silva’s perfect soldier. He wasn’t meant to cry.

  Fire

  Ms. Dowling’s expression went dark as I burst into her office, interrupting her in the middle of a meeting. Too bad for her. Too bad for Aisha. I knew what I was doing.

  “You should be in bed,” said Ms. Dowling.

  I fired back, “And you should tell the truth.”

  Dowling threw a look at Professor Harvey, Terra’s dad. He nodded and exited.

  Triumphantly, I produced my evidence and showed Dowling the picture on my phone.

  “What is this?” asked Dowling distantly.

  “This woman! The one standing right next to you in this picture is the woman who left me in the First World.”

  Dowling looked to the photo and back to me. With a curt nod.

  “Rosalind,” she said briefly. “How do you know this?”

  Rosalind. I savored the first scrap of information that I had.

  “Who is she?”

  Dowling closed her eyes for a moment. She looked so tired, I almost felt sorry for her. But I needed answers too badly to have time for regrets.

  “She preceded me as headmistress. I was her student. Then her protégé.”

  “So you were here sixteen years ago when she did it.”

  An edge appeared in Dowling’s voice. “I told you. The circumstances surrounding your birth are as much a mystery to me as they are to you.”

  I couldn’t keep the note of accusation out of my voice. “You can see how that’s getting harder and harder for me to believe, right?”

  Ms. Dowling eyed me with sudden coldness.

  “You’re drunk. Perhaps we can have this discussion when you’re not.”

  “Every picture of her was shoved into the abandoned East Wing. Tell me that’s not suspicious.”

  Dowling said crisply, “Rosalind was headmistress during a difficult period in Alfea’s history. It’s not a time we’re keen to celebrate.”

  “I want to talk to her.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “Really? Because a week ago, I had a vision. A memory of the day she left me in the First World.”

  A glint of curiosity appeared in Ms. Dowling’s eye. Finally, she was interested in something besides shutting me up and shutting me down.

  I continued eagerly, “She said, ‘Find me.’ I want to talk to her.”

  It was all so clear to me now. Ms. Dowling wasn’t the one who would give me the answers I craved. She was just the path to finding this other woman. Rosalind would help me.

  Dowling said simply, “She’s dead, Bloom.”

  I was so dazed, I couldn’t process it.

  “What?”

  Dowling said, “She’s been dead for years.”

  I stood in the headmistress’s office, swaying slightly. I was so desperate for answers, yet I could see my last hope fading away.

  Dowling continued, not unsympathetic, but terribly final: “So. I don’t know what you saw, or why you saw it, but that is where this ends.”

  Specialist

  Riven, shirtless, his hair still wet with beer, smoked a joint as he flipped through the armor next to him. Dane perused the armor as well, and asked Riven what he was looking for.

  “Something cool,” said Riven.

  He found an awesome helmet, handed Dane the joint, and started to put it on. Beatrix rounded the corner, shook her head, and grabbed the helmet off him.

  “Never cover the face,” advised Beatrix. “It’s one of your few good qualities.”

  “She’s not wrong,” Dane contributed.

  Inwardly, Riven preened.

  Beatrix gave a meaningful glance to the joint in Dane’s hand. “Oh. Shotgun?”

  Dane appeared confused. Riven shook his head.

  “You’re hopeless. Inhale.”

  Dane obeyed Riven. Then, Beatrix moved to Dane, and with a smile that said she knew exactly what she was doing, Beatrix urged: “Now exhale.”

  Riven saw the exact moment when Dane finally clued in, then Dane blew the smoke into her mouth. She held it in for a beat. Riven moved to her. She returned the favor.

  Dane was leaning against a table when Riven and Beatrix came up for air. He looked very pleased with himself, as if this was exactly what he wanted from a party. He also looked a little dizzy.

  “Don’t know how you can smoke so much after Terra’s brownies,” he commented.

  Riven’s mood darkened. He’d known as soon as he saw Dane bring over the brownies. Oh, Terra had it bad. Riven had eaten all four brownies and refused to let Dane have any more.

  Dane looked unhappy. What did he think he was, Terra’s knight and protector?

  “Don’t be an idiot. She made them for everybody.”

  “No, she didn’t,” Riven snapped. “She made them for you.”

  Dane looked totally puzzled. So, since Riven had appointed himself teller of unwelcome truths at this party, he felt it was his duty to break it to Dane that Terra was totally thirsty for him. He felt it was best for Dane to know. And best for Terra to get her heart broken sooner rather than later.

  Terra liked Dane. But Dane didn’t like Terra. Dane liked him.

  Fire

  I had only one more plan to get answers. So despite Aisha’s warning, I stormed through the night and entered the ancient stone circle on the outskirts of Alfea. I was too furious to care about the consequences.

  As I entered the circle, I felt my power surge. Flames ignited in the torches around me. Fire formed above my palms. I kept pulling more magic to me. It felt like tendrils of fire were escaping from my spine.

  I was ready to set the sky ablaze, and the thought scared me enough to stop.

  “Bloom?” Sky’s voice said behind me.

  I turned to see Sky approaching. Decked out in lightweight Specialist armor, a sheathed sword on his back. Looking more like a knight than ever before.

  “What are you doing out here?” Sky asked.

  I hesitated. I could be cagey or coy, or I could just spill it.

  “I’m a changeling, Sky. That’s my tricky family story. I don’t know who the hell they are.”

  There was no judgment on Sky’s face. Just an acknowledgment that this was a huge deal.

  He swore.

  “Yeah,” I said. “And I’m out here … like a crazy person … because I’m apparently willing to do anything for the possibility of an answer.”

  There was a pause as Sky took this new information in.

  “I have no idea how being out here gives you answers, but … I get it.”

  I appreciated that. Nobody had ever got me before, but I could believe Sky might.

  “Uh,” I said. “Why are you wearing armor?”

  Sky’s face was grim. “Silva is dying. The Burned One they killed wasn’t the right one. It’s still out there.”

  I paused, putting it all together. “And you’re planning to go find it yourself?”

  Sky’s mouth twisted. “You’re not the only crazy person. I can’t sit around and do nothing.”

  I
get it, Sky had told me. Looking at the pain in his face, I could’ve told him the same thing.

  My eyes were drawn away from his face, toward the forest. A sound echoed in my ears. Strange whispers, becoming familiar to me.

  Slowly, I told Sky, “You might not have to.”

  Specialist

  Terra kept trying to drag Dane off and have a special party moment with him. Riven, in his capacity as Dane’s hot mentor, couldn’t allow that to happen. So he challenged Terra and Dane to a beer-pong match.

  “Nah, I’m good,” said Dane.

  Riven waited. He knew Terra had a little problem with challenges. Her problem was that she loved them.

  “Fine! Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re wearing Dane’s shirt,” Terra snapped at Riven. “You made poor Dane give you his shirt just because Aisha got yours wet! Why are you such a bully?”

  Riven shrugged. “It amuses me.”

  Beating them at beer pong would amuse him, too, he figured. Only then his so-called friend Kat let him down, and Terra and Dane won.

  Terra and Dane had a victory hug. Terra was clearly loving the shirtless victory hug. Seemed like Riven had, in fact, done Terra a huge favor by taking Dane’s shirt.

  Dane was clearly thrown by the lingering hug. Riven shot him a told-ya look. Terra didn’t see it.

  Just then, Stella approached Riven and pulled him away from the others when Riven didn’t wish to be taken away. How like Stella.

  Riven quickly shook her hand off his arm. He wasn’t ready for physical intimacy of any sort with the princess, and he wanted to make that clear.

  “Have you seen Sky?” Stella asked impatiently. “He’s not answering my texts.”

  “Have you looked for Bloom?” Riven inquired innocently.

  Stella blinked. “What?”

  “Whoops,” said Riven, then cackled. “They are totally just friends. One hundred percent. Nothing going on. No need to blind her.”

  Stella’s carefully made-up face became a frozen landscape.

  “I wouldn’t waste my magic on a changeling, anyway,” she spat.

  Riven’s spine felt electrified. Oh, here it was. Sky was attracted to Bloom. So, of course, the girl was a disaster.