Only two weeks after Benny was born, I was almost feeling completely like myself. Superhumans healed fast, and fairy magic helped speed things along.
I used a shower curtain to wall a small area of the safe house for Benny and I. I felt very lucky that on one of the gathering trips, Damon had brought back a small bassinet and a few other infant needs for Benny. After only a few nights, Damon moved a cot into our makeshift room to help with my son. Damon took care of Benny like he was his own child. He woke in the nights to help care for and feed my son. During the day, he gave me breaks and let me rest. My father and grandparents helped quite a bit too, and the rest of the town loved holding and playing with my son.
The fairies had not yet returned and we were growing worried. We knew it could take some time to find the nomads and hybrids, but we were stuck in the safe house until their return. The crashing and loud noises continued and we feared the Queen’s minions were still outside. Along with the Queen’s minions, we could still hear the howling of the wind and knew large amounts of snow would be awaiting us outside. The safe house was very cold and everyone wore layers of clothing.
The first month of Benny’s life flew by, and the town celebrated his one-month birthday. While everyone was passing him around, we heard the clatter of several footsteps above. Soon we could hear them trudging down the staircase.
“Fairies, full protection power! Warriors stand guard.” My father looked at Damon and me and said, “Take Benny and the children to the supply closet, use all your magic to protect them.”
Damon and I took the children and teens, and gathered them in the supply closet that was still set up as an infirmary.
“I’m frightened!” Brandon’s youngest daughter cried.
As I held Benny in one arm, I wrapped my other around Brandon’s daughter. Damon stood up and pushed his hands towards the children while chanting the protection spell.
“Damon’s using his magic to keep us safe,” I told the children. “Nothing can hurt us.”
Moments later, I heard a clunk as the safe house door slammed open. The children began to gasp and I held my baby tight. Benny could smell my fear and began to wail. I gently bounced him as I placed my hand over his mouth to soften his cry. I was terrified that whatever entered the safe house would hear my son. Damon and I looked at one another as we waited for loud noises and fighting, but instead I only heard silence. Then we heard cheerful chatter.
Damon and I exchanged glances. Still pushing his protection on us, he cracked open the door. He looked back at me and smiled as he said “The fairies!” He put his hands down and opened the door.
I stood up and told the children, “It’s okay! We’re safe.”
The children all seemed happy as we piled out of the room. There were twelve new fairies gathered in the main room. They were shaking hands with the town members as my dad was thanking them all with a smile upon his face.
I saw Florence speaking with a tiny blond fairy and I went to their side. Florence smiled when she saw my little boy and reached out to hold my son.
“Congratulations,” she cried, with a smile on her face. She looked towards the blond fairy, “Miranda, I’d like to introduce you to Genna, she’s a nomad from the north and a great friend of mine.”
I shook her hand and she said, “Congratulations, your son is beautiful!”
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for coming. Are you guys okay? What happened out there?”
“It’s a mess Miranda. The town…everything,” she said. “It’s been snowing since we left. There is so much snow we couldn’t get a flight, so we had to drive. It took a loooooong time.” She laughed, “It’s a good thing we’re ice fairies, because it’s freezing out.” Then she grew solemn, “It’s a mess. There were car accidents all over the road. The ground is covered in snow and everything is covered in ice. There is hardly electricity anywhere. Working gas stations are few and far between.”
“How is the town?” I asked, “We have been trapped in here for weeks. We heard loud noises and feared the Queen’s minions had come back.”
“You’re right,” Genna said, “It looks as if several are camped out throughout your town. It looks as if they’ve taken residence in what’s left of some of the homes. We hid in the woods and snuck in the mansion a few at a time. I’m not sure how we managed to not get caught. But we were all doing protection magic just in case.”
“I’m glad you’re alright,” I said. “You don’t know how grateful we are for your help.”
Genna smiled kindly.
I went around the room and met the other fairies. They cooed and fussed over baby Benny. Benny slept for the most part, but he enjoyed the attention.
It was decided we wouldn’t wait another day to return to Sidhe. The town was cold and restless in the safe house, and we would eventually run out of food and batteries if we continued to wait. We would open the portal tonight, with the help of our new fairy friends. Brandon and the elders would stay behind with the children. My grandparents would care for my son until I returned.
Once the portal was opened, Delia, Addison, Ayden, Nikolaus and Florence would stay behind to protect the remainder of the town. They would hold the portal open until our group made it through. The rest of the fairies would be traveling to Sidhe with us. We had a large group of warriors and trained volunteers and hoped we would victorious.
I spent the remainder of the day with my son. Although I tried not to think about it, there was a chance this would be the last time I saw him. We could die on Sidhe, or never find a way back. Tears fell from my eyes as I held my baby boy tight. I knew that he would be well cared for in the hands of my grandparents, but I wanted to return home to him with his father. His dark gray eyes looked sad, but he didn’t understand what was happening.
Going to Sidhe was something I had to do. According to the nomad fairies, the weather was only getting worse, and with lack of food, electricity and gas, chaos was emerging on the streets. If we didn’t kill the Queen, all life would eventually come to an end.
Everyone going to Sidhe spent the day saying goodbye to their children and families they would leave behind. When evening came around, we all shared one last meal of together. The meal was nothing special, dried meat, freeze dried fruit and peanut butter. The town knew this was goodbye for awhile—maybe forever.
After dinner, I held little Benny one last time as tears fell from my eyes; it was hard to let him go. As I handed him off to my grandmother, I looked around the room one last time. The safe house was beginning to stink and we were all very cold. It was a bit of a mess from so many creatures living in a small area for so long, but this was our home, and we were safe while we were here. Leaving this mess, meant leaving safety behind. My heart raced hard knowing there was chance I would see Ben again very soon after almost a year of being away.
Finally the time had come. Everyone said their final goodbye, as sniffles were abundant throughout the room. Brandon and the elders took the children behind a curtain to distract them, as their parents would soon be gone. I watched my grandmother carry my son off. Our eyes stayed connected until his little grey eyes disappeared behind the curtain.
A large area in the main room had been cleared out for our portal. Each fairy stood in a circle with our hands clasped. The vampires and superhumans all stood in the middle of the circle waiting for the portal to open. As my dad stood in the middle, he sent me a hopeful smile my way. I knew he was excited to see my mom. My frown gently lifted, but tears were still falling from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away as I needed full concentration to help open the portal. I took my attention from the thought of my son and focused on returning to Ben.
As we had done so on Sidhe, each fairy threw a bit of dust in the air. It floated above our heads, creating a green glow just below the ceiling. A whooshing noise was made, as the green glow grew wider. I could feel the portal sucking power from me, as it grew wider.
“It’s open!” Ayden cried, “Go! Go! One by one...fai
ries go last!”
Virgo was the first to go through, and Sophia followed quickly behind. Each time an individual passed through, I could feel the magic pulling at me more and more. After several individuals passed through, I felt a drop of blood fall from my nose.
“Hurry! Hurry!” Ayden cried, as each superhuman went through. Finally the last superhuman traveled through. “Now fairies...go! Ayden yelled.
Some of the hybrids began jumping through the portal. I remained in the circle, trying to hold on. As each fairy jumped through, I could feel the weight of the portal growing heavier and heavier as the distribution of magic shrunk. Blood was now pouring out of my nose and I began to grow dizzy. I could see some of the other fairies were bleeding as well. As one of the hybrids collapsed to the ground, it felt like a heavy weight dropped on top of me. I began coughing blood.
I looked over to Damon and saw that he was about to collapse from the weight. He had blood gushing from his nose and dripping out of his mouth. He was trembling and wobbling around. I needed Damon by my side on Sidhe.
“Damon! Go before you collapse!” I screamed. Damon nodded his head and jumped in the portal.
As Damon went through, I could hardly hold on. The portal was so heavy it was crushing me from the inside. The blood coming from my mouth was gushing so fast, it was choking me. There were a few more nomads left, but I knew if I didn’t go through now, I would collapse.
The moment I stopped chanting and let go, I heard Addison groan and two nomads collapsed. Just before I stepped into the portal, I heard Ayden say, “Last one! Last one...we’re going to collapse.”
I looked around the room one last time as I watched the remainder of the fairies fall to the ground. Addison was the last one holding on and I jumped through the portal before she let go.
Chapter 22
As I went through the portal, I felt a crushing throughout my entire body. With a painful crash, I slammed into the marble floor. As soon as I hit the ground, the portal above me shut. We were back in the Queen’s castle; we had landed in the castle library. Almost all of us had made it through; only a few fairies were left behind.
As I stood up, I could feel aches and pains shooting through my body. Going through a portal to another world was never easy, especially when the landing was unpredictable. As I looked around, I saw everyone standing up from their fall. Everyone look uncomfortable and in pain. Some of the superhumans were trying to heal one another, and Loxes and Jewl were drinking blood.
My father quickly found me and said, “Hold my hands. We need to heal.”
I realized that blood was caked all over my face and I was still coughing up small amounts of blood. I grabbed my father’s hands and shut my eyes. The two of us quickly said the healing chant. I began to feel my aches and pains diminish and my energy began to restore.
As soon as the two of us were done healing, Damon was soon by our side. My father quietly called everyone to gather around, but just as we surrounded him, we heard the doors slam open and several vampires came running in. They ran towards us at full speed.
Loxes and Jewl took off first, trying to keep them away, but before they could reach the Queen’s vampires, I threw my hands out and cast a magical barrier between them and us. Jewl and Loxes hit the wall first and fell backwards. Right after Jewl and Loxes fell down, the Queen’s vampires hit the invisible wall and collapsed to the ground. Each time the wall was hit, I could feel the weight crashing into me.
“Help!” I cried.
Damon and the other fairies threw up their hands, to help use magic to hold the wall up to keep the vampires away. As soon as their magic joined mine, I felt a relief as the weight of the wall was slightly lifted.
“What now?” I cried with my hands still in the air.
“We need to find your mom and the others. We will need their help,” my dad said.
“If they’re still...they will be in the dungeon. I can take us there, but first we need to take these vampire’s out.” I cried. There were six vampires crashing and ramming into the wall, trying to take us down. “We need to hurry before the Queen’s fairies come.”
“Warriors—Nathen, Loxes and Jewl, as soon as the fairies lift the wall, charge them! Everyone else stay back for now. Fairies, keep everyone protected as much as you can,” my father cried. Everyone nodded their heads and my dad yelled, “RAISE THE WALL!”
I quickly lifted my hands along with the other fairies. As soon as the vampires realized the wall was gone, they growled as they began charging at us. From across the room, I could see their eyes on fire as they ran towards us, ready to drink us dry. The warriors and the others charged towards them. I moved my hands towards Damon to keep my protection magic focused on him.
Damon charged one the vampires throwing his fist through the air as he reached him and slamming him to the ground. The vampire immediately jumped off the ground and threw Damon into a wall. I pushed my fingers forward, trying to use my protection magic to absorb the hit. As soon as Damon hit the wall, I could feel the shock absorb through my body. Damon bounced back and attacked the vampire.
As Damon and the vampire fought back and forth, each hit sent a shock wave through my body. It was if the vampire was fighting both Damon and I at the same time. At times it hurt, but my protection magic was the only way Damon could beat the vampire.
I was so focused on protecting Damon against the vampire he was fighting, I didn’t see another vampire coming after me. He came from nowhere and slammed me into a wall. I felt my body crack as I hit the wall. Pain washed over my body, but I couldn’t let him kill me. I had to save Ben and return home to my son.
I shook off the pain and stood up. I shut my eyes and pictured every ounce of love I had for my son and every ounce of anger I had for the Queen. The emotion swirled through my nervous system, shoving adrenaline into my blood. I held out my hands to the vampire and thrust all my adrenaline through my fingertips, pushing out a giant flame. I screamed as I threw the colossal flame at the vampire. Just before the flame hit him, I threw a giant burst of energy at the flame and it exploded. I heard a horrifying scream from the vampire, right before his body exploded sending blood in every direction.
For the first time in my life, I had finally used my superhuman powers, and I had used them to supercharge my fairy powers. I smiled for just a moment, feeling quite full of myself.
Just after I blew up the vampire, I quickly put my mind back into the fight. I rapidly scanned the room for Damon. Loxes and Damon were trying to take out one of the vampires. I couldn’t use my firepower to blow up this vampire, because he was too close to the others, so I threw protection magic at Damon once more. The vampire was very strong, and Loxes and Damon were having trouble killing him.
The vampire slammed Damon to the ground, but I took the shock from his hit, and Damon bounced up. Damon threw the vampire to the floor and held him down. As Damon held him to the ground, Loxes snapped the vampire’s neck. Damon jumped up as Loxes tore his hand into the vampire’s chest and yanked out his heart.
Loxes and Damon ran off to help the others, as there were four vampire’s left. I quickly examined the room to search for my father. I saw him lying in the corner of the room; I could see he was surrounded by blood. My heart was racing as I ran to his side and was horrified at the sight. There was a broken piece of furniture jabbed into his shoulder and blood was pouring from the wound. I tore off my jacket and wrapped it around his wound.
“Go help the town, Sweetie,” my dad said softly.
“No! Dad! I’m not leaving you. You went nineteen years without my mom. You’re this close, and I’ll be damned if I let you die!” I cried.
My dad shook his head, “Miranda, please. You have to save your mom...kill the Queen. Please Miranda.”
I shook my head and looked around. I saw a nomad fairy standing nearby, sending out protection magic. I called him over. “Please help him. Do whatever you can to save his life and protect him. He’s the King of Pine Lake!”
&nb
sp; The fairy nodded his head. Damon was helping Sophia and Michael take down another vampire. The vampire threw Damon into a wall, and just as Damon stood up, I grabbed him and bolted from the room and into the portal. We left the remainder of the town to hold their own. They only had four more vampires to take down, and I had to rescue Ben and the others. We needed their help.
As we entered the portal, I quickly told Damon the plan as I pressed the button for the dungeon. “Hold tight!” I cried as the portal took off.
Damon looked shocked by the portal’s speed as we dove to the bottom of the castle.
We slowed as we reached the bottom of the castle. The portal dinged and we came to a stop. I pressed the button to keep the door shut, as I used fairy dust to turn magic back on in the dungeon.
I nodded at Damon and he nodded back. I clicked the button to open the doors. Just as the doors opened, I shut my eyes and once more turned my emotion into adrenaline shooting it to the tips of my fingers. I held the flaming power at the tips of my fingers until the door fully opened.
As soon as the door’s opened there were four vampire guards standing in our way. I stepped out and pushed all the fire from my fingertips at the vampires standing in front of us. Just as quick as they flew back from the fire, I burst my energy at them. They exploded as body parts and blood splattered into the walls.
Damon and I stepped through the mess of vampire body parts and quickly began jogging down the hall. Only moments later, another group of vampire’s charged towards us. This time there were three. I motioned for Damon to stop as I held out my hands, blowing fire once more. Just as the fire hit them, I burst energy towards them. The three guards exploded into nothing but flesh and blood as we continued jogging down the hall. We reached the end of the hall and began jogging down the stairs. I knew there would be at least one more group of guards at the bottom.
The Portal to Sidhe: Book 1 Page 23
