“Wow, you are brave,” Ariel said after I finished. “I know I am not the most courageous person, but I do know a lot about Astella, and I want to help.”
“You want to risk your life to face the most dangerous faery of all?” I shook my head. “That is pretty courageous, but don't you know about the last line of the prophecy?”
“I am going to die anyway. I might as well do something worthwhile,” she said as if she already accepted the fact.
Sometimes Ariel is too great of a friend. But I can't let her risk her life to help on a mission that could get her killed.
“No, I can't let you. You have to enjoy the time you have left.”
“We only have six more days until Astella and all the faeries die,” she replied.
“Only s-six more days?” I slipped off the bed.
I was hoping for more time than that, but with my luck, this was just typical.
“Then why are you in school? Shouldn't you be with your family?” I asked.
Ariel's eyes clouded with tears. “All the students here have no family. We only have friends and school to take our minds off…you know.”
It's only been a few days since I last saw Gramma and Gramp, and I am already homesick. If they were gone forever…
“Ariel, I am so sorry.”
“I'm fine.” She blinked back the tears and sat straighter. “My family has been dead for over a year. Usually, it's the very old, very young, or weak faeries that go first. But by now seventy percent of our population has died, and each day we lose a few more faeries.”
The bell rang, and we had no more time to talk.
I went through the day in a trance. Only six days left! What am I going to do? I have to save Astella in six mere days, and I don't even have a plan. I can't just march into Ash's castle and demand her to hand back the throne. I always knew Astella, the whole kingdom, and all the faeries depended on me. But now after getting to know these people, it really felt like someone dropped the weight of the universe on my shoulders.

By the time school let out, I was pretty much a wreck emotionally and physically. The last few days, I couldn't sleep at all. The food here was terrible, tasteless, and we were only allotted very small portions. I missed Gramma's double choc chip cookies that were full of butter, sugar, and chocolate… My stomach growled, but I tried to ignore it. Even with the disgusting food, horrible bed, and unheated room, I was better off than most of the faeries that were living in the streets.
As I stepped out of the ice magic classroom, the last class of the day, Logan pulled me aside.
“Do you want to take a walk with me?” he asked. “I want to show you something.”
“Yes,” I said, glad for the distraction.
I need something other than the end of the world to think about even if only for a little while.
Thirty minutes later I was walking through a frozen forest on the Third Petal. The forest looked like a winter wonderland with large pine trees dusted with snow. I ran my hand against a willow tree's frozen leaves that looked like long dangling crystal threads. As the ice on the leaves bumped into each other, it made a jingling sound like wind chimes.
The place would've been beautiful if the snow wasn't gray and the smell of tar diminished instead of getting stronger.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked Logan.
He smiled mischievously. “You will see.”
I walked beside him until he stopped in front of a small rounded mountain that was almost shaped like a dome. At the base there was a large cave entrance.
“Close your eyes,” Logan said.
I covered my eyes with my hands and let Logan guide me into the cave. Logan never let me fall during our flying lessons and was a good friend, so I trusted him enough to know that he wasn't leading me off the edge of a cliff or something.
“Ok, you can look now,” he said.
When I uncovered my eyes, I couldn't believe what I saw.
ROSE
Chapter 15
Not possible, I thought as I stared at the marvelous secret world. Golden sunlight flooded the cave (Though how is that practical? We are in an enclosed cave.) illuminating a beautiful dark purple weeping willow tree and a sparkling, vibrant blue lake. The lake was so unnaturally dark blue that I thought the water was dyed with food coloring. A gentle breeze blew my way, and I took a deep breath. The air no longer smelled like tar but like flowers and lavender.
I peeled off my jacket and sweaters since it was as hot as summer. “What is this place?”
“I don't know exactly,” Logan said. “But this is the only spot Ash's winter magic haven't touched yet.”
He walked to the base of the willow tree and sat down.
I plopped down on the soft grass beside him. “How did you find this secret haven?”
“I found it on accident this Wednesday. I was just exploring the ice forest when I stumbled upon this cave, and I wanted to share it with you.” He picked a purple flower from the nearest branch and gave it to me. “I thought you would like a little sunshine.”
The warmth did feel good on my face after days of biting cold, but this place seemed a little too good to be true. It's like how my mission to save Astella was too infeasible, difficult, and hopeless to be real. I sighed and leaned back against the tree.
“What's wrong?” Logan asked.
“I'm fine just…” In over my head, I wanted to say. But I decided on stressed. Though stressed wasn't anywhere close to describing how I felt.
I was way beyond stressed. Logan was so sweet in showing me this place and kind to me. He already saved my life once, but I could tell he was dying. His hair was turning gray at the roots, his face was pale and slightly ashen, he was way too skinny for his height and age, and every move he made seemed to be a strenuous effort. Though he hid it well.
I couldn't let Logan, Ariel, or any other faeries die. I couldn't let Ash win and kill all these people. But how am I going to stand a chance against her when she has Dark Magic, and I only have three basic powers?
Logan's blue eyes were filled with concern. “Stressed about what?”
His eyes were really blue. They're not just blue-gray or light blue, but blue like a deep blue hydrangea flower. I never noticed before, but around his pupil there was a slight ring of gold. It was not enough to detect from far away, but up close the golden tone made his eyes look much warmer.
I wanted to tell him everything about my upside-down life, my impossible mission, and the constant fretting and wondering about whether if my parents were still alive. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I needed someone to confide all my troubles to, and Logan seemed like the right person. He was caring and thoughtful, he would listen without judging, and he would support you.
I was about to let the dam inside me break when the temperature plunged fifty degrees. The sun dimmed drastically, and fog appeared in the air.
I quickly put back on my jacket. “What happened?”
“Ash. She found this place.” Logan stood up and scanned our surroundings.
I got on my feet as well. “What do you mean? Ash can't actually be here, or can she?”
“She can send her Dark Magic to cause trouble and keep us in line even when she is in her castle at the Fifth Petal.”
The lake was beginning to freeze over. Gray snow started to fall, covering the green grass. Sunlight no longer filled the cave, and it was turning dark.
Something in the veil of fog moved. As it got closer, I realized daggers of ice were racing toward us. My body reacted before my brain. I lifted my hand and summoned a wall of fire. The ice daggers melted with a sizzle as soon as they touched the heat.
“You are a fire faery,” Logan said, “but you have water magic as well.”
“What are you talking about?” I replied, but my throat gone dry, making my voice seem shaky.
“I can tell you are trying very hard to fail your ice magic lessons.”
The air dropped another ten degrees, making my breath turn to mist. We ran for the exit. The mouth of the cave was covered in a veil of vines and pink wildflowers that made a curtain. When I reached out to part it, the flowers turned ebony black and shot out dark, inky tendrils of smoke. The smoke reached me before I could back up. Immediately, I felt dizzy and nauseous, and I fell to my knees.
Logan pulled me back. “They're poisoned. We can't get out that way.”
The cave started to rumble, and a landslide of boulders piled in front of the entrance as if making extra sure we couldn't escape.
“Is there a back door?” I asked.
Logan grimaced. “The only exit I know of was this entrance.”
So we were stuck. The fumes coming from the flowers were spreading quickly. In a few minutes, the whole cave was going to be filled with toxic gas.
I looked around then saw something that will hopefully solve our problem.
“The water!” I said. “The pond has to drain and refill somehow.”
We both rushed to the frozen lake and checked the ground, pond, and cave walls for any waterfalls or drainage holes that we could make bigger and hopefully lead us out of the mountain.
I walked around the lake's edge then noticed something. In the middle of the lake was a plug the size of a manhole cover and shaped like a drain stopper for a bathtub. I went over to the willow tree and ran my hand down its smooth trunk. How come I didn't notice it before? The trunk was way too glossy to be bark. I looked up and saw spotlights on the roof of the cave thirty feet above then everything made sense. The artificially blue lake, nonviable sunlight…
“This place was a trap from the beginning,” I said.
Logan frowned. “What do you mean?”
I showed him the plug in the lake, plasticky tree, and the spotlights that made fake sunlight. They were too bright to look at when they were on the highest setting, but now I could see it clearly. Two big megawatt spotlights hung from the top of the cave.
Logan found this place on the same day I arrived at Ether. Ash froze my wings knowing Logan would save me, (And if he didn't, killing me would be a plus for her.) and we would become friends. He would show me this place because it was so beautiful and was the only area without Ash's magic, or so we thought. But this whole place was a trick set up by Ash. Ash created this cave when she found out I got into Astella, and she was trying to eliminate me before I could stop her.
Logan's eyes widened. “I am so sorry, Roselyn.”
“It's not your fault. It was Ash's plan,” I replied, and it was true. I didn't blame Logan one bit. Ash just had everything thought out.
The next breath burned my lungs and made me dizzy. The world was spinning as I tried to think of a way to escape. We couldn't jump into the lake drain, or we could end up in who knows where. The only way out was a blocked cave entrance with a deadly curtain of poison.
“We have to move the boulders with our water powers,” I said.
Logan nodded.
We both worked on defrosting the lake. Slowly the ice turned back to water.
With the poison sapping our strength, we only had one shot at this before we ran out of energy completely.
“One, two, three,” I counted.
Working together we created a powerful blast of water directed at the cave entrance. We held the stream for a few seconds. At the end of three seconds, nothing happened. When I was beginning to think we were going to die here, the rocks gave way and flew out of the cave, carrying the vines with it.
Logan and I collapsed from exhaustion. If I have to go through a few more of these near-death experiences, I don't know if I can handle it.
A few minutes later, I got up and helped Logan get to his feet. He looked completely drained. Already dying, using so much energy to control that much power, and breathing in poison wasn't going to be good for him, but he insisted we get out immediately before something else happens.
We stumbled out of the forest and back to the school.

Thankfully by the time we reached Ether, the poison wore off, and both of us were feeling much better.
I told Skylar and Ariel to meet us at the school's library so we could talk. I owed Logan an explanation. No point in keeping the truth from him since he already figured out my big secret. I guess I am terrible at flunking.
A few minutes later, all of us were in the empty library sitting at a table in the back of the room. Logan and I told Skylar and Ariel about what happened in the forest, and I told Logan about my mission from the day it all started.
“So you, Skylar, and Ariel have to defeat Ash, the wicked Dark Magic tyrant, and save Astella in six days, or all the faeries and Astella will die,” Logan said.
“Yup, pretty much it,” I replied casually, but inside I was weeping.
“I want to help.”
I stared at him and looked for any signs of joking, but he was totally serious.
“Don't any of you know the last line of the prophecy!” I said a little too dramatically.
“Yeah, we do, but the world is going to end in six days anyway. Ariel is right. We might as well do something useful,” Logan said. “Besides, you can't fly without me.”
I swatted him on the arm playfully. “Yes, I can.”
“You still need me to catch you when you fall.”
Sadly, it was true. When I occasionally fell out of the air during flying lessons due to my shaky wings and Ash trying her best to knock me down, Logan was there for me just like he promised when we first met. But I can't ask him to risk his life to accompany me on a mission that could get him killed even if he wants to.
Don't you people get it? This is freaking dangerous and crazy! I silently screamed.
“That is why we need to come with you,” Logan replied as if he read my mind. “You don't have to do everything alone, Rose.” He placed his hand on top of mine which was resting on the table.
A few volts of electricity ran up my spine.
Secretly, I wasn't even going to let Skylar go on this mission. She was only ten. She had a whole life in front of her. Now somehow I have three people who were willing to risk their lives to help me on a dangerous quest when they could have said good luck, walk away, and enjoy the rest of the time they have left.
The bell rang.
“We will talk more about it tomorrow,” Skylar said.
We all went back to our dorm room for some well-deserved rest before the start of possibly the last week of our lives.
I lay in bed wide awake. Even though it was cold, the blankets were thin, and the bed was hard, scratchy, and lumpy, I had a feeling this is the most comfortable I will be in a long time.
ROSE
Chapter 16
As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning, Ariel silently handed me a piece of paper. It was a scrap of parchment, blackened at the edges, with only a symbol of black fire and a few sentences.
5 days.
Noon.
The old rulers will perish. A new era will rise.
So Mom and Dad were still alive for now, but we only have five days left to save them, Astella, and all the faeries at the same time. That couldn't be a coincidence.
My hand shook as I set down the paper. I was relieved to know my parents were ok, but it also added more pressure. Now they depended on me along with the whole world.
“We have to start planning,” I said to Ariel.

At breakfast I told Skylar and Logan the news. We agreed we would leave tonight for Ash's castle and use the rest of the school day to plan on how to get there.
I just gagged down the last bite of oatmeal that tasted like cement when an announcement blared over the school's PA system. But according to Ariel, the PA system hadn't been in use for years.
“You know who I am,” Ash's voice rang out. “You know what I can do. Turn in the Savior and shut down the school. This is your last chance.”
The speakers shut off with a loud screeching sound. The cafeteria was silent. All faces were blank. Everyone was broken. Ash had just given them a precious thing—a scrap of hope. But the mention of the Savior didn't even affect them. In their minds, they couldn't be saved.
Ms. Miranda entered the cafeteria. “I am sorry students, but it looks like our queen,” she said with a dark undertone, “has shut down our school. Please pack your bags. Classes are canceled.”
Quietly, everyone started to file out of the room. Logan, Ariel, and Skylar got up from the table to prepare for a possible suicide mission.
“Wait!” I said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Logan sighed. I know I was being difficult, but I was in a dilemma. I don't want my friends to come and risk their lives, but I honestly don't think I can survive this quest without their help. I would've died twice already if it wasn't for Logan. But if I have to choose between being alone and only causing myself extra trouble or having to deal with the grief of losing them, I can stand dying alone than being the cause of my friends' deaths.
“Rose, we want to help you even if it's the last thing we do,” Logan said gently.
Ariel nodded in agreement.
“We are here for you, Sis,” Skylar said.
My throat felt tight as if I had swallowed a tennis ball.
“All right then. We will meet at the library in an hour,” I said, hoping that my voice was even.

An hour later we were at the library poring over a book about Dark Magic. I already packed extra clothes and first-aid supplies in a backpack. Skylar got enough rock biscuits and bottles of water from the cook to support us for the trip if we conserved. Now comes the biggest challenge in our preparation, we needed to figure out how to counter Ash's new power.
“So,” Ariel was saying, “Ash is the only faery who knows how to cast Dark Magic, but the concept was always there, and this author is the only person brave enough to put it in a book.” Ariel flipped through the fragile old book. “Some of the spells in here are Forever Winter, Killing Curse—”
Fated Loss (Red Rose & Black Ash Book 1) Page 6
