by Jaclyn Weist
Once Beth saw me coming, she retreated, but tripped over a large bush behind her and landed hard. As she tried to get up, a rather large, ugly troll snorted and raised his battle axe over his head just above her. I pulled on his luck as hard as I could and made him drop the axe behind him, hitting another troll.
I ran down and grabbed Beth’s wrist to help her up. She shouted a thanks and got back into fighting position. Retreating wasn’t going to happen. I just hoped Adam and Jared would be back soon with some help.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, knocking two goblins’ heads together with my luck.
Beth shook her head and lobbed a ball of herbs into the mouth of a troll. She cringed as she grabbed another one and threw it, her jaw clenching. She rubbed her shoulder, but kept going.
I lunged forward and twisted, chopping at two trolls at once. I could tell Beth was hurt, but she wasn’t about to admit it. She kept going, and I just did my best to keep other creatures from attacking her.
“April?” I called out. I couldn’t heal Beth, but maybe the fairy could.
She appeared above me, and her eyes widened when she saw what was going on. “Let me try something.” She dove away from a flying club and pulled out a flask. After dumping a pile of dust into her hand, she blew it toward the creatures. The dust caused an explosion that sent the creatures flying down the hill, knocking out others below them.
“What was that?” I asked as she continued to do the same thing to the creatures coming at us from the sides.
She grinned. “Gunpowder. Well, kind of. It’s our version of it.”
“Nice. Hey, I need you to heal her.” I glared at Beth when she tried to argue. “I think it’s her shoulder.”
April flitted over to Beth, and I jumped back into the battle. The powder had only stalled them for a moment. Large, humanlike creatures with pointed ears stepped up to fight. It looked like Oona’s real army had arrived, and these were more disciplined. Elves and fairies stared at me with blank expressions as they readied their weapons.
Um, this fight was officially out of control.
“Can’t we just talk about this?” I said, holding my hands up. It looked like I was giving in. What I was actually doing was grabbing luck from the elves around me—except that the elves in the back seemed to be able to block me. I’d stay away from those.
As one, the elves raised their weapons, ready to charge. Awesome. I backed up a few steps and ran into a large boulder. Hmmm. Depending on how deep in the ground the boulder was, I could push it down the hill. Only one way to find out.
I pushed as hard as I could on the boulder with my luck, but it wouldn’t budge. The elves took a step forward, and Beth nocked an arrow.
“Uh, Megan, you might want to try something else.”
“Right.” I tried a large, willowy tree and pushed downward. With a loud groan, the tree fell forward, showering the army with leaves. The elves didn’t move. They didn’t even care that a large chunk of their army had just been smashed.
Or did they? Their eyes had changed. And while their faces remained blank, I could’ve sworn a few of the mouths had turned down. Maybe … I looked down the hill toward where Oona stood in her carriage. Her hands were outstretched, and the malicious look on her face made me shiver. By the look of it, these elves were being controlled by Oona. More victims of someone else’s madness. She wasn’t any better than O’Malley.
“Beth, don’t shoot them. They’re not doing this on purpose. Look.” I nodded toward the queen.
Beth’s eyes narrowed, and she cursed under her breath. “Can I go after her instead?”
“Sure. Just be careful.”
There was a sudden crashing in the forest above us. I spun around, sword out. Not more creatures to fight—we were already sandwiched in. It was right then that Queen Oona ordered her army to move forward. I used my luck instead of my sword, trying to knock them out instead of actually killing them.
A bolt suddenly flashed past my ear, hitting an elf in front of me. No! I whirled around to find Adam and Jared surrounded by thousands of fairies and other creatures. They were shooting arrows and blowing their dust onto the creatures below.
I ran up the hill to Jared, Adam, and Mom to stop them before it got worse. “Hold it! Hold it, guys. They’re not our enemies.”
“It certainly looks like they are.” Adam aimed for another group of elves.
I grabbed his crossbow. “No, they’re not. Watch the queen. She’s controlling them.”
April flew up next to me, frantic. “She’s right. These aren’t the same as the creatures we were fighting before.”
Adam lowered his weapon. “Well, what are we supposed to do? They’ll kill us if we don’t stop them.”
I watched the queen for a moment. I had to break her concentration somehow. “April, take your fairy friends and do your best to distract these guys. I’m going to try to get closer so I can take her down.”
April nodded and whistled. All the fairies turned to stare at her. “Try to knock them out of their trance. These are our friends.”
The fairies darted toward the elves and started blowing whatever dust they had into their faces. Some helped awaken the elves. Others … did not. There were a few explosions here and there. Those who were pulled out of the trance rubbed their eyes and looked around in confusion.
I made my way around them and ducked into the forest to get closer to the queen without getting caught. When I had a good view of the carriage where she stood, I shoved my luck into it, and made the wheel fall apart, knocking her off balance.
A shout of surprise came from behind me. The elves were free, but that didn’t stop all the other creatures. The queen seemed to know exactly where I was when she stood and pointed to the forest. She shouted an order, and several larger creatures came after me. I worked on another wheel to make that one break before running back toward my friends. She wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.
Except I forgot that this world had magic. Queen Oona shrieked and shouted words in her fairy language. With a whoosh and a crack, the wheels were repaired. She spoke in a booming voice.
“Enough of these games. You have wasted precious time. I have a celebration to interrupt and a world to destroy.” She sat in her carriage and barked a command before she rode away quickly. Those who were left in her guard followed after. Even though we’d defeated many, there were still a few thousand with her.
“Hey, Megan.” Mom came up behind me, breathing hard.
I jumped. “Mom, you were supposed to stay with Adam. You could have been killed.”
“Stop protecting me. I can do this. You and Adam are making me more vulnerable by keeping me away from everything.”
I stared at her. She had a point. But she was my mom. I just couldn’t … “Fine. Just let me do the fighting, okay? You can help out where it’s needed.”
Mom nodded. “Fair enough.”
“So where are Beth and the others?”
‘The rest of the creatures followed the queen, so Adam and your friends are going over plans with Eoin and the fairies. We need to get going.”
I pushed my way out of the forest and found the creatures who remained, kneeling down in front of me. “Uh, hi. Let’s go. We need to stop the queen.”
Soon after, I heard the others catching up. Eoin appeared in front of me, and I almost ran him over.
He glared up at me. “That’s not how you treat us.”
I looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean? We have a bad fairy going after my world. We need to get out there.”
“That bad fairy was the queen to all these people. They’re at a loss for a leader. You may not think you’re one, but you are. King Finvarra sacrificed himself for you, and they all know it. Now treat them how they should be treated, or they won’t fight by your side.” Eoin pointed at the fairies behind me.
I turned. “I—I’m sorry. Thank you for your help. Please help me stop Queen Oona from doing any more damage, and I’ll make sure yo
u’re all treated well.”
The cheers that came from the speech were worth it, but I still felt totally out of my league. I looked down at Eoin. “Was that good enough?”
He sighed. “You’re not one for speeches, are you? It’ll have to do. Now let’s go. Da said the queen is almost to the border.”
“Great. How do we get there faster?”
Eoin turned to the fairies. “Meet us at the portal.”
The fairies disappeared in groups, and soon we were alone. There was an eerie silence to the forest. Henry, Louie, and Patrika appeared shortly after.
Louie cleared his throat. “Okay, everyone take a hand. Beth, go with Eoin. You’re the smallest. I’ll take Jared and Megan, and Henry will take Adam. Megan’s mom will go with Patrika. Quickly. We must stop the queen from entering the portal.”
Henry huffed. “Who made you boss?”
“I did. We don’t have time to argue.”
I took advantage of their arguing to pull Patrika aside.
“Hey, can you do me a favor? Will you take my mom home?”
Her eyebrows raised. “She won’t like that.”
“I know. I’ll deal with that later. But I don’t want her hurt. She’s not trained to fight, and she has the twins to raise. Please.”
Patrika nodded. “Of course.”
“Thank you.” I stood and immediately had to duck a flying shoe Henry had thrown. “Enough, you two. Let’s go.”
We each took a leprechaun’s hand. Jared winked at me over Louie’s head just as Louie snapped his fingers. I felt a squeeze just as we appeared at the gateway. The others appeared not long after. Patrika showed up a few minutes later, looking frazzled.
“Was she mad?” I asked.
“Aye. She tried to grab on as I was leaving, but I managed to get away.”
“Perfect.” It was a relief knowing Mom was home safe, even if that meant I’d be in trouble until I left for college. And probably long after that. I pulled out my sword and moved to the front of the group, along with Beth, Jared, and Adam.
We were silent as we waited for the carriage to appear, which gave me time to survey the land. It was about the size of a football field before it was cut off by forest. While there were bushes and a stream nearby, the terrain was flat, which was welcome after the rocky hill we’d been fighting on. It wasn’t long before we could hear the carriage, and murmurs broke out among my group. It was time.
MEGAN
Queen Oona came around the corner with a triumphant smile on her face—until she saw us standing there. Her rage actually made me take a step back. This was one terrifying fairy we were dealing with.
I turned toward the large army of elves and fairies. There were a good thousand behind me—bigger than my whole high school combined. Oy. I yelled, hopefully loud enough for everyone to hear. “Okay, listen up. We need to stop her from getting through. You all take her servants, and I’ll do what I can with her.”
The fairies pulled out their flasks and poured powder over themselves. They changed and grew to human size, then put the flasks back in their bags.
My jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”
“Magic.” April looked exactly the same with her spiked hair—just bigger.
“Well, yeah, but how? And why didn’t you do it before?” I’d seen Jakob and Oona as human-sized fairies, but I just assumed it was because they were the king and queen.
April shrugged, and pulled out a knife. “No need. Now fight. Stop Queen Oona or this will all be in vain.”
“Perfect.” I pulled on the luck from Oona’s other servants and waited to figure out how to use it. Attacking the carriage hadn’t worked. The forest was in the distance, so I couldn’t use a tree branch.
“Out of my way,” Queen Oona demanded.
“Not on your life,” I called back. “This is my world, and you won’t go near it.”
The queen laughed. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Out of my way.” She shot out a burst of energy that hit us before we could move. I was knocked back and landed hard. Beth and Jared landed next to me. Adam was a little farther back, and he was helping others up.
I coughed and rolled over. Okay, that hurt. This wasn’t just throwing around leprechauns anymore. She was powerful, and she was very, very angry at me. Time to pull out all the stops. And I had no idea how to do that.
Jared helped me up. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Well, no. I’m not.” I ducked and pulled Jared down as the queen shot another ball of energy at us. “I seem to have someone who hates me.”
“Yeah, I see that. We should probably do something about her.” Jared glanced around.
“I’ll send the fairies to fight her army and then just concentrate on the queen. You three will distract her.” So much was left up to, well, luck. And that was something I could work with.
Each of them nodded and took their positions.
“Oh, come on, Megan. You’re not making this any fun for me.” The queen pretended to pout and then let out a wild laugh.
Oh, it was on. “Attack!”
The fairies around me ran toward the queen and pulled out their weapons. There was sheer chaos between us and the queen. That was exactly what I needed right then.
I turned to the others. “Okay, we need to work together and stop her. I need as many distractions as possible so I can get to her. She’s too strong otherwise.”
Adam nodded. “I like it. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“I never do.” I grinned. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Adam and Beth took their places and waited for my signal. I dropped to the ground to avoid the fireball the queen had just thrown and shouted, “Now!”
They let the arrows loose and quickly loaded up the next round. Jared helped me up and pulled out his sword.
“Go.” I nodded toward the battle.
Jared shook his head. “I have to protect you.”
“No. They need you over there. I can do this. If the battle gets closer to me, then by all means, come and save me. But for now, go fight.”
Jared nodded and ran for the group. I watched the battle, deciding where my luck was needed most. Everything seemed to be under control, so I concentrated on the queen. Beth and Adam had taken out most of her guard, so I pulled on the luck of the rest of them until they fell to the ground. I hoped they’d be okay. They could be evil like Oona, but my guess was that they were also under her spell.
I pushed some of the luck toward Jared to help him a little as he fought centaurs and a couple of trolls. He quickly had them down and moved on to the next creatures. It was helping in the main battle, but it wasn’t doing anything to stop Oona herself. My mind went back to the battle on the hill.
“Hey, April?” I didn’t know if I could still get her to come when she was so big, but it was worth a try.
She appeared next to me, holding a small knife. “Yes?”
“On my count, I need you and any other fairy you can get ahold of to blow your dust toward the queen.”
April nodded. “Got it.”
I stopped a troll from taking off Jared’s head by making it trip. Jared looked over at me in surprise, then grinned before going back into the battle.
Once I saw a few of the fairies with powder in their hands, I yelled out, “One, two, three, blow!” Together, they blew on their powder, and I urged the wind to blow, then pushed it as hard as I could at the queen.
The carriage was blasted into pieces, and the queen went flying. Whoa. That had gone better than I’d thought. Some smaller fairies closest to the queen quickly blew another handful of powder onto the carriage to make it burn. I couldn’t help but laugh. Good luck putting the carriage back together after that.
I pulled in more luck and waited for my next chance. The queen stood, brushed herself off, and let out a high-pitched shriek which sent chills running down my spine. She went to one of the horses that had pulled her carriage and drew a long, beautiful sword from a scabbard that sparkled with gems.
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“So, you want to play dirty? Let’s do it.” She blasted fairies and other creatures away with balls of energy to make a pathway between us.
I gulped and crouched into a fighting stance. Jared stepped in her way, but she flicked her hand, and he went flying. My stomach dropped, but then my fear turned to anger.
“You don’t touch him.” I ran at her and swung at her waist.
She met my blow with one of her own. She tsked. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to attack in anger?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you not mess with someone’s boyfriend?” I went into a fighting stance to watch how she fought.
Her face darkened. Oh, right. The king had just been killed. Because of me. She bared her teeth and attacked, making me step backward. Her sword skills were pretty impressive, from what I could tell, and she didn’t seem to have a weakness in her stance. Instead of using luck against her, like I normally would, I had to use it on my own skills. I knew I was the weaker fighter.
She suddenly whipped around, knocking me off balance. She hit me in the side, making me crumple to the ground with the wind knocked out of me. I knew I needed to stand. She could easily kill me where I was, and I wasn’t about to let that happen. It took a lot of my energy, but I finally stood, favoring my right side. The mail I wore seemed to keep her sword from piercing my skin, but it didn’t stop me from hurting.
We continued the fight, and I had to pull luck from those around me to keep going. My ribs throbbed, and exhaustion was threatening to take over. By that time, my instincts had kicked in, and they were the only thing keeping me standing.
I still hadn’t seen Jared after he’d been knocked to the ground, but I couldn’t afford to look for him. It was everything I could do just to stay alive. The smug expression on Oona’s face told me she knew it as well.
“Megan,” a voice whispered.
I froze for a second and then had to duck from a blow. I swung hard and connected with the queen’s shoulder.
“Megan, you can do this. You must win,” the voice whispered. It almost sounded familiar.
The queen attacked again, not caring that I was distracted. Or had she even heard it? No one else was close to us. They were all fighting their own battles.
