by Ava Corrigan
“You lied again!”
Musa wondered when people would stop underestimating Terra. She responded to every challenge like a bull yearning for a red flag.
“Excuse me?” said Professor Harvey.
“About Rosalind. About Aster Dell. About all of it. And now you’re mad? At me?” Terra fixed her father with a stern and disappointed look. “You can’t punish me for not knowing what you didn’t tell me. That doesn’t make any logical sense.”
Professor Harvey clearly didn’t have a comeback, so he pulled the parent-slash-professor card. “I think you all need to cool off.”
He straight up left, closing the door firmly behind him. And when Terra grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it, the door wouldn’t budge.
“He used his magic to seal the door!” She rattled the doorknob furiously. “I caught him in a logic trap, and he used his magic to ground us!”
“That means you won,” said Stella.
Terra didn’t seem comforted by this information. Musa tried to soothe the frustration coming off Terra in waves.
“He’s just overwhelmed.”
But Terra wasn’t listening. Aisha used this opportunity to try and slink to her room, which Musa thought was wise, but Stella intercepted her.
“And where are you going?” Stella demanded. “I knew you were a teacher’s pet. I just didn’t know the pet was a rat.”
“I was planning on de-escalating the situation by removing myself from it, but if you want to escalate—”
Aisha stepped up to Stella, clearly ready for a fight. Oh no, teeth and feelings were going to fly everywhere! Musa looked desperately around.
“Can you wait thirty seconds, please? At least let me get my headphones,” she begged, leaping to her feet and running into her room.
Musa closed the door behind her and took a breath, and then felt a tug at her magic, sensing something. This time, it made her smile.
She turned to see Sam. His smile was instant relief. She made an eloquently pained face at him, then went to hide her head in his chest. He pulled her in. He was her sanctuary.
“What the hell’s going on out there?”
Sam could hear what was going on for himself. Beyond the door, Aisha and Stella were in a full-on fight. At least it seemed to be just yelling. So far.
“No matter what, you don’t tattle,” Stella raged. “Anybody over the age of five knows that. Even Terra knows that.”
Terra’s voice, the only one not yelling, said, “Hey. I mean, yeah, but … hey.”
Aisha shouted, her rage filling Musa’s head, the door no barrier at all: “There are Burned Ones outside the Barrier. Bloom is being selfish. The last thing Ms. Dowling needs is to be worried about Rosalind!”
Fire
I watched as Ms. Dowling entered the mystical space of the stone circle. She stood there for a moment, eyes searching the grass and stones, and then she began to walk away.
She couldn’t see me or Rosalind standing right there, Rosalind’s eyes glowing faintly in the gloom. As I watched Dowling depart, I wheeled on Rosalind.
“I thought you were weak? That you couldn’t do magic? But you can make us invisible?”
“In the stone circle, I can draw on the magic of the land,” said Rosalind. “That’s why I had you bring me here. So I could recharge the ol’ batteries.”
Rosalind placed her hand near one of the stones. Tendrils of magical light reached out, connecting hand and stone. She took a seat, with a long groan of relief.
“If you’re strong enough to do magic, you can answer questions. I have risked so much to find you and get you out. Please, just tell me: What happened at Aster Dell?”
Even I was startled at how forceful my demand was. Rosalind seemed mildly impressed.
“Everything Farah told you is true. I lied to them. Said Aster Dell was evacuated. It wasn’t.”
Farah, I thought, and then realized she meant Ms. Dowling. It was almost impossible to imagine Ms. Dowling as having a first name. She tried so hard to be an authority figure, an adult for her students to rely on. For a moment, I wanted to run after Ms. Dowling and tell her everything I’d done.
Instead, I asked slowly, “You killed those innocent people?”
“That,” said Rosalind, “is where it gets complicated.”
Rosalind’s eyes glowed for a passing instant. The moonlight seemed to respond to her, casting strange shadows. Six hooded figures drifted from outside the circle toward us.
“One of the fundamental tenets of the Otherworld is that only fairies can do magic. The settlers of Aster Dell were an exception. They were humans who drew on sacrifice and death the same way we draw on the elements: Blood Witches. It is lost magic. Dangerous magic. If anyone knew it was possible, it would shake the foundation of the Otherworld. So I lied to even my most trusted advisers. Those witches lived in the shadows for centuries. But their actions suggested they were getting bolder. It was only a matter of time before they made a move.”
The figures stopped moving, and turned toward the center.
“So when the Burned Ones descended on them, I saw my opportunity. A flock of birds, one powerful stone.”
The figures vanished in a flash of light, and Rosalind’s eyes returned to normal.
I did some mental math. “Wait. If the settlers of Aster Dell were witches, and my birth parents were fairies …”
“She’s quick,” Rosalind said with approval. “Good. This will go faster. You’re right. Your parents aren’t from Aster Dell. You were kidnapped. Your fairy parents were nowhere to be found.”
“So they could still be out there.” My fairy parents could still be alive! “Why didn’t you try to find them?”
Rosalind’s intense blue eyes were fixed on me, wholly absorbed by me, as though I was something wonderful. “You weren’t safe in the Otherworld. The power inside you is too great. I knew it the second I laid eyes on you. It’s why the witches wanted you. To use your power. And why the Burned Ones outside the Barrier want you, too: to get rid of you before it can be used on them.”
This wasn’t wonderful at all.
Everyone said the Burned Ones hadn’t been seen in sixteen years. Now suddenly they were here, near Alfea, killing people. Hurting Silva, who was like Sky’s dad.
Would Sky hate me, if he knew it was all my fault? Would my friends be afraid to be near me? I’d believed that if I came to Alfea, I could keep my parents safe, but perhaps I brought danger everywhere I went. To everyone I loved.
I couldn’t repress the chill coursing through me. “They’ve been after me the whole time?”
“Sucks to be special sometimes.” Rosalind grinned. “But now you’ve got me. And that’s gonna suck for the Burned Ones even more. Ready for trick number two?”
Rosalind smiled. It was oddly comforting. At least I wasn’t in this alone. She would help me. She’d give me the answer I needed most: how to keep those I loved safe.
Specialist
They were at the edge of the forest, in the dead of night, and Riven was pretty sure they were all going to die.
Sky and Silva were at the head of their little group, being joint fearless leaders. Riven was eavesdropping on them shamelessly.
Unfortunately, they were stoically surveying the pale shimmer of the Barrier, searching the woods beyond for signs of monsters. Still, Riven could tell they both wanted to break their manly reserve and spill secrets. Silva had cleared his throat four times.
Eventually, Silva asked, “Should I be worried I had to learn from Aisha that Bloom drugged you?”
Aisha the sporty babe had turned up, thrown herself at Dowling in a burst of teacher’s-pet love, and handed over some kind of super convenient magic listening device she’d been using to spy on Dowling. Then she’d confessed all about Bloom’s delinquency, and she, Dowling, and Terra’s dad had gone off to possibly arrest Bloom? Riven wasn’t sure. He couldn’t believe trusty friend Aisha had squealed and he, Riven, hadn’t. He should definitely have squ
ealed. He’d tried, but Dowling had already marched off to stop Bloom from freeing Beatrix, and Sky had elbowed him in the ribs when Riven started tattling to Silva.
“I don’t know,” Sky returned now, very quiet. “Should I be worried I had to learn from Bloom what happened at Aster Dell?”
Sky’s tone was almost menacing. Okay, what had happened at Aster Dell? Riven wondered. Was Aster Dell, like, a fairy strip club Silva enjoyed visiting? Hilarious.
He knew it probably wasn’t that, but he was thinking about their imminent deaths, and he wanted to cheer himself up.
Silva had braced himself and gone suspiciously still. Seemed like it was time for him to release the intel on the strip club.
“I think it’s through here,” murmured Kat.
Wow, Kat. Riven was trying to eavesdrop; why did she have to keep being an efficient super-soldier and focus on the getting-killed job?
“We’ll discuss this later,” Silva decided.
There was no later, they were getting murdered! Riven wanted to hear about the strip club now.
But Silva and Sky were already turning back toward the group, and Kat had focused her steely super-soldier gaze on Riven.
“Pull it up again.”
Riven pulled out his phone, and then handed it to Kat.
“You do it.”
Kat tossed him a scornful look.
Riven defended himself. It wasn’t Riven’s fault everybody else was a bloodthirsty lunatic!
“It’s dark watching somebody die! Don’t look at me like I’m a jerk for not wanting to see it.”
Kat, a certified bloodthirsty lunatic, rolled her eyes as she took the phone. As she watched the screen, Riven heard screams. Flesh tearing. He repressed a shudder.
Kat reported, “I recognize that hollow. It’s near the barn. Not far.”
“Let’s move!” snapped Silva.
Riven had a better idea. Let’s not!
“Wait. Without fairies? We counted at least six Burned Ones out there. That’s freakin’ stupid.”
Sky glared at Riven for making insubordinate statements of fact.
“It’s an order, Riv,” Sky told him without sympathy. “Suck it up.”
Riven cringed. There were times in a guy’s life when he had to ask himself the real questions. Why did I ever agree to wield a stupid sword, and why did I ever become friends with this censorious idiot?
Right. Because Alfea had left him with no other choice. And now Alfea’s rules were telling him to go and die.
Silva addressed the whole team. “I understand this is scary. You’ve been lucky enough to grow up in an era of peace. But heading into a forest, against all odds, to fight a creature that chills your soul? That’s what being a Specialist is. And it’s the minimum I expect from each of you.”
Great speech, Riven thought, except for the fact it was dumb. Why not try to even out the odds so that—Riven was just spitballing here—they didn’t have to all die?
Then there came a loud, terrible rasp, a sound of sandpaper that rang like thunder. They looked toward the forest, where their enemy should be, but there was something wrong here.
Sky was the one who realized first. “That’s not coming from the forest. It’s coming from the school.”
Silva snapped into action. “Split up. Get to the school. Find as many students as you can, and get them to the courtyard. Go. NOW.”
There were people in that castle he cared about, thought Riven, then wondered: Who? The answer came to him almost at once. Beatrix. If Bloom hadn’t gotten her out, Beatrix was bound and helpless in that castle.
He found himself running just as fast as Sky.
Earth
It was great that Sam and Musa were dating, Terra figured, because now they were her captive audience and she could share many thoughts with them. Outside her room, it was too scary. Everything had gone quiet, which meant Aisha and Stella had either headed for their rooms or killed each other. Terra didn’t wish to know. She fussed with her plants and talked to Sam and Musa about Dad, and it made thinking of Dad hurt a little less.
“I used to think he was never wrong,” she said sadly.
“Parents are still people, Ter. And people are flawed. The sooner you learn that, the better.”
Musa was so wise. When Musa and Sam got married, Terra thought Musa would be a very calming influence on the family.
Sam studied Musa. “You never talk about your parents.”
“There’s a reason,” Musa said briefly.
Her brother was annoying but also right. It was time to share all their horrible family secrets and bond. They could help Musa.
Terra offered, “You can, you know … talk about them. Whatever happened. We’re your friends. I mean, Sam is more than that, obviously, but for the sake of this discussion—”
“It’s not a discussion,” Musa said flatly.
Before Terra could push further, the lights flickered. On and off.
“That’s weird,” murmured Terra, and they moved to the door in a knot.
In the common room, the lights were flickering on and off as well. It felt as if the whole castle was blinking.
Stella and Aisha came out of their rooms, each with the same startled expression on their face. Yay, Terra was happy they hadn’t killed each other. But this was still very weird.
“Are we having a … power outage?” asked Stella.
Aisha frowned. “How does that even happen here?”
Terra leaped to provide this information. “It shouldn’t. Alfea is an outpost. The ‘electricity’ it runs on is magic. Beneath the school are energy wells that were designed by—”
“I’m gonna skip the history lesson and check it out,” said Sam, who never appreciated when Terra shared fascinating information.
Her annoying brother moved through the front door of the suite with his magic. It seemed as though he was vanishing away into the gloom.
Brothers were so irritating. Off he went, for what reason? So he could find some other dudes and they could say it was weird the power was out? What they should do was analyze this situation, and take action to remedy it.
Terra continued her lecture. She had a lot to say. “The wells of course were designed in a spirit of cooperation between Water and Air Fairies. And when the wells fill with enough magic, it’s like a battery—”
Sam burst back through the wall, and collapsed on the ground of the common room. There was blood all over him. There was so much blood.
The world seemed to spin as they ran to him.
“Sam,” said Terra. Suddenly, his name seemed like the only word she knew.
Sam gasped, wetly, “There’s a Burned One in the school.”
The lights went out completely, leaving them in darkness.
Fire
I stood in the center of the stone circle, Rosalind at my side. The torches were smoldering all around us, and my magic was a banked fire inside me.
“Dig deeper than you have before,” Rosalind urged. “What you did to free me is just a fraction of the magic you need.”
The torches flared at her words. Rosalind’s guidance grew sharper and sharper. When the torchlight hit her hair, it burned gold.
“More. Let the fire consume you.”
I felt the same way I had once before, as though there was too much power inside me and it must spill out.
“Keep going.”
The thing was, I wanted to. Power coursed through me, and it felt so sweet. But it had felt good to set my home alight, too. Until it hadn’t. Until I hurt someone.
“What if I lose control?” I asked.
“Control limits you!”
“I’m scared,” I whispered.
“Good,” said Rosalind. “The moment you learn to enjoy that feeling is the moment the world unlocks for you. A wildfire burns within you, Bloom. With the right people around you …”
Good that I was scared? Good? Ms. Dowling had never wanted me to be scared. I let the rising magic drop, and turned to
face Rosalind.
“You mean, you? With you around me? You want me to listen to you and trust you and let you guide me, but I just met you. You hid me from Ms. Dowling. You didn’t even tell anyone I existed.”
I hadn’t thought about it this way before, but now I remembered the fire crackling through my parents’ bedroom, and my mother on the floor. I was a danger to my parents, and Rosalind had put me there!
“I almost killed my parents because you left me in the First World with no guidance, and …”
“The guidance you needed was love,” Rosalind said sharply. “Farah could never give that to you. Vanessa and Michael could.”
The mention of my parents’ names knocked me back. Mom and Dad. I kept thinking of my parents, of my birth parents, of getting home. As though somehow, if I got all the answers, I could transport myself back to the time before I set my house on fire and put my mom in danger.
But parents wasn’t just a label I could slap on a pair of people. Home wasn’t just an idea. It was a real place. I knew who my parents were.
And so did Rosalind.
“You know their names,” I said quietly.
“I chose them. I knew they were about to lose a daughter. I gave them a second chance. And gave you a hiding place from the monsters that wanted you dead.” Rosalind’s sharp, command-giving voice softened. “I will always look out for you, Bloom. And when this is over, we’ll find your birth parents, together.”
I wanted to believe in her promise so much. All the answers I got only served to make me more confused. As I tried to sort out the revelations in my whirling mind, my phone buzzed and I glanced at it absentmindedly, and then went still. It was a text from Stella, saying: Burned Ones inside school. Stuck in the suite.
“They’re in the school?” I demanded of the night air. “How?”
I tried frantically to text back, but it was no use. My mind filled with visions of what might be happening to my friends at Alfea, I turned desperately to Rosalind.
