The boat moved achingly slowly through the water, and when she reached the point where she’d first got stuck, she pressed her lips together and held her breath—but the boat kept moving. “Yes!” she shouted out loud. She kept rowing, continually looking toward the far side of the lake and then back toward her starting position, comparing the distance, trying to judge whether she’d reached the middle yet.
“Okay, I think … yes, I think this is it.” She lowered the oars into the boat—trying not to hit anyone’s face—then patted Dex’s arm. He didn’t respond. “Just hang in there,” she told him. “I’m almost done.”
Carefully, she stood up, trying not to think of what a tragedy it would be if she fell and broke the surface of the lake before she completed the quest and took magic from a star. “Careful, careful,” she whispered as she straightened. She held her arms out to keep herself balanced, then slowly looked up toward the sky. For a moment, she worried that it might be impossible to tell which star was the brightest, but she felt her eyes drawn toward it almost immediately.
“Wow,” she whispered. It was brighter than any star she’d ever seen from Vale City. Beautiful, magical, the final piece of a puzzle. It felt completely natural to stretch her hand out toward it and wrap her fingers around the light.
Something hard formed within her grasp, and with a racing heart, she pulled her hand back and slowly opened her fingers. Upon her palm sat a clear gem with silver light glowing at its center. “Crack the gem,” she whispered. “But how?” The fae generally used a charm to break open a wish, but Elle had never reached the point where she had to consider how she would do it if she ever got her hands on one. She looked around for a hard surface. “May as well try,” she muttered, her eyes landing on the boat itself.
She sat on the seat and positioned the gem over the edge of the boat, the way she might hold an egg over the edge of a pot, ready to crack it open. She brought it down hard, and the outer casing split. With her heart pounding so hard it hurt, she quickly raised the broken gem above her head. She looked up as the glowing silvery liquid cascaded down over her chin, neck and chest. There was something so silly about it, that for a moment she couldn’t help laughing.
When all the liquid had fallen, she lowered the empty pieces of the gem to the bottom of the boat near her feet. She wiped her hand over her chin, but it wasn’t wet as she’d expected. She peered down at her chest, but there was no silvery liquid there either. “Did it work?” she whispered. Had her body absorbed the star’s magic?
She leaned one arm on the edge of the boat and looked toward the trees. “Hello?” she called. “How do I know if …” Her words trailed off as her gaze caught on something: tiny particles of silver coating her fingers and drifting in the air above her hand. It looked for all the world like … “Faerie dust,” Elle whispered. But it was silver. And it was hers. Her skin tingled, and she knew without a doubt that the magic came from within her.
“Elle?” Dex murmured from somewhere near her feet.
“Oh, stars, thank goodness,” she said, beaming at him. Then: “Stars! This is why we say ‘stars!’” She pointed at the sky, then displayed her hands for him to see. “Because of their magic!”
“Ho-lee stars,” Dex whispered, pushing himself up so he was sitting. His eyes traced across her fingers, her hands, her arms. “You did it.”
“Ohmygoodness,” Astrid mumbled sleepily. “You actually did it.” She pushed herself up, and beside her, Alissa began to stir. “It’s real. It’s actually … You have freaking magic. And you’re human.”
“I know,” Elle said with a laugh.
“Incredible,” Alissa whispered. “Also … why was I asleep? And how did I get into this boat?”
“Oh, stars, what was that?” Elle gasped as something jolted the boat.
“Uh … we’re sinking?” Dex asked, looking around.
“No, it’s the level of the water,” Alissa said, pointing to the bank. “Look, you can see it going down.”
“Oh, crap, that’s not good.” Elle stood while holding onto the side of the boat. “We need to jump into the water before it all disappears. I mean, I think that’s what we need to do. We need to break the surface.”
“Oh, is the water the mirror?” Astrid asked.
“I don’t know. I think so?”
“That makes sense,” Dex said. “I don’t see an actual mirror anywhere, and the surface of this lake has been perfectly still since we got here.”
“Okay, so everyone’s agreed,” Elle said, reaching for Dex’s hand. “We’re jumping?”
“We’re jumping,” Alissa said, grabbing Astrid’s hand in one of hers and Dex’s in the other.
“Okay,” Elle said, her heart thundering wildly once more. “Ready, and … now!”
When Elle woke up beside a forest of spindly trees, her first thought was that she had dreamed everything that took place within it. But as she pushed herself up, she noticed the silver dust glittering on her hands, and adrenaline raced through her body at the realization that it was real.
She had magic.
She had no idea what to do with it, but she wasn’t too bothered by that part. She could learn. She was free and she had magic and nobody had died in the Never Woods and life was good. And it would be even better once every other human in the world knew that this quest was possible.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Dex said, extending a hand toward her. “You finally woke up.”
“Oh, whatever,” Astrid said, appearing beside him. “You regained consciousness like ten seconds ago. Don’t make out like Elle’s been sleeping forever.”
“Guys, we actually did it,” Elle said as Dex pulled her to her feet. “We did it!”
“And survived to tell the tale,” Alissa added with a smile.
“Well done,” a smooth, familiar voice said. Elle’s heart kicked into high gear. She barely had to think of it and shimmering silver dust rushed all the way up her arms. She had no clue how it might protect her, but the Godmother had startled her, and her magic had responded instantly. How could she have forgotten about the woman? Life wasn’t good while the Godmother was still a threat.
Elle turned to face the white-haired faerie. The Godmother regarded her, a small smile lifting her lips. “Magic looks good on you, Elle.”
“I completed the quest,” Elle said. “Just as you asked. But I expect there’s some sort of catch now? Some detail I missed that now leaves me forever in your debt somehow?”
“No catch,” the Godmother said. “I’m here to officially confirm that your price has been paid.”
“Oh. So that’s … that’s it? I have magic now, and you don’t want anything else from me?”
“I don’t want anything else from you.” She held out her hand. “Shall we shake? To symbolize the end of the deal.”
“Oh. Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
With a sigh, Elle grasped the Godmother’s hand, then flinched at the momentary sting that coursed up her wrist and into her arm. “What was that?”
“Static electricity?” the Godmother suggested. “It’s very dry here.”
“Yeah, right,” Elle muttered with suspicion, tugging her hand free. “You probably just cursed me or something.”
The Godmother laughed. “You really are determined to think the worst of me. We’re done, Elle. This deal is complete.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.” The Godmother shrugged. “But perhaps we’ll talk again in the future.”
And there it was. A hint—no matter how small—that this wasn’t over yet. “I’d prefer not to talk again in the future,” Elle said. “If my price is paid, and I don’t ever summon you for another wish, then we shouldn’t have to deal with one another ever again.”
“Mm. True.” She looked at Dex. “Depends on how close you’ve grown to the prince.”
Elle narrowed her eyes. “Because …”
“Well, if you’re around when my army and I make our move on Belmont
Palace, then you and I may see each other again.”
Dex tensed beside Elle. “So that’s happening? That’s your plan? You really do want to get rid of my father and take the throne?”
The Godmother shrugged. “He’s planning to come for me. To put an end to me and my empire of wishes, once and for all. He just hasn’t figured out exactly where to find me yet. So perhaps I’ll make things easier on all of us and go to him instead. So.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “You’d better run along so you can help him prepare.”
Dex took a step forward, but everything vanished before he could reach the Godmother. That sickening jolt that Elle had come to hate wasn’t nearly as bad as she expected, and she wondered, as the world took shape again around her, whether her newly acquired magic had something to do with that.
“Dammit, where is she?” Dex demanded, spinning around on the spot.
“Looks like she didn’t come with this time,” Astrid said. “I guess she’s had enough cinnamon rolls recently.”
Elle turned and found herself standing in front of the same coffee shop they’d met the Godmother at before the quest began. Astrid’s car was still parked outside, but Xander’s was gone. “Well that’s a good sign, right?” Elle said, pointing to the taxi that was now parked where Xander’s car had been. “Xander and Olly must have managed to get back here somehow.”
“Yeah, they must have,” Dex said. “I should try to get hold of—”
“Dex!” The coffee shop door swung open, and two familiar figures rushed out. “You made it!” Olly cried.
“Finally,” Xander groaned, though he couldn’t hide his grin as he slapped Dex on the back. “We’ve only been waiting five days for you.”
Dex laughed, but Olly sobered. “Seriously. It’s been five days.”
“Really?” Elle asked.
“Five days?” Alissa repeated.
“Five days,” Xander said.
“My mother’s going to kill me,” Dex groaned.
“Yeah …” Olly dragged the word out. “We tried to smooth things over with her.”
At that, Dex looked even more concerned. “What did you tell her?”
“We may have said that you decided to take off with a girl for a few days.”
“What?”
“Which was technically the truth,” Xander added, “although your mother didn’t take it the way we meant it, and we didn’t bother correcting her.”
“So you’ve given my parents even more reason to dislike Elle when they meet her?”
“Nah, they’ll be so happy you’re okay,” Xander said, “that they’ll forget all about blaming Elle for luring you away from home for several days.”
“Oh, stars,” Elle muttered, covering her face with her hands.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Olly reassured her. “Nothing to be concerned about. They’re super preoccupied with preparing for battles and magic vampires and—Holy frikkin’ starballs!” he gasped. “You have magic.”
Elle lowered her hands and grinned. “I have magic.”
“You have magic,” Xander repeated, his face a mask of pure shock.
“I’m not really sure how to turn it on and off,” Elle added. “It just appears when it wants to.”
“Okay, guys?” Astrid said. “We should go. So how about we save the amazement for the car ride home?”
“Oh, uh, sure.” Olly cleared his throat. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve eaten way too many cinnamon rolls over the past few days.”
Elle held her glittering silver hand out toward Dex. “Time to get back home and find out what we missed.”
He gave her a determined smile and laced his fingers through hers. “Time to change the world.”
NEXT …
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City of Wishes concludes in The Everafter Wish!
Rachel Morgan spent a good deal of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making, crafting endless stories of make-believe and occasionally writing some of them down. After completing a degree in genetics and discovering she still wasn’t grown-up enough for a ‘real’ job, she decided to return to those story worlds still spinning around her imagination. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults and those young at heart.
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Rachel lives in Cape Town with her husband and three miniature dachshunds. She is the author of the bestselling Creepy Hollow series and the Ridley Kayne Chronicles. She also writes sweet contemporary romance under the name Rochelle Morgan.
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www.rachel-morgan.com
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