"Now wake him. Please." Leona's face was distorted with pain.
I pointed the wand at Jason. "Chantmentum pellex."
Jason stirred. His eyes opened and saw the spreading fire. He leaped to his feet.
Leona was ready for him, her wand alight. "Trans amphib bufon nos."
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It was Jason who leaped; it was a large brown toad that landed on the ground.
"Did you think you could harm a fairy and nothing would happen to you?" she cried, her voice carrying over the sirens. "How wrong you were." She jabbed her wand at the toad. "And this time, my spell won't wear off so soon." She infused all the way to the tip.
"Leona, don't!"
"Chantment dura solaran," she chanted, ignoring me. "You'll be a toad for a year--if you survive that long."
Just then, four humans came running around the corner of the house--men in heavy clothing, carrying big hoses. "You girls get out of here!" one of them yelled as they ran past. "What do you think this is, a costume party?"
They began squirting jets of water at the fence.
"Leona, let's go!"
I saw the infusion travel up her wand again. I grabbed at her arm, but she twisted away. She pointed her wand at Jason's house. "Pyro los dred."
As if a great bonfire had imploded in its center, the house collapsed with a rending crash. Flames began coiling toward the sky in great clouds of smoke.
The men stood quite still for a moment, their lips moving soundlessly, as if they were under gag spells. Then they burst into motion, running at Leona and me.
"Move!" one shouted. "Move, move!"
"Get back!" shouted another.
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Just before the nearest man got close enough to touch her, Leona cast the transport spell. "Transera nos," she said, and disappeared.
The men stopped short, blinking disbelievingly, heads turning back and forth in search of what was no longer there.
And on the ground at my feet, a large toad hopped back and forth in frenzy.
Maybe I should have stayed and reversed Leona's spell upon Jason. But with smoke rolling toward me and heat searing the air, all I could think of was getting away.
I shot skyward.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
HUMANS ARE UNAWARE THAT THEY ARE DEPENDENT UPON FEY FOLK TO KEEP FROM BECOMING TOO DOWNCAST AND HARDENED.
THE HUMAN WORLD IS OVERBURDENED WITH A CERTAIN TYPE OF REALITY THAT HAS STRICT LAWS OF PHYSICS, HEAVY AND SOLID. THE FEY WORLD IS MORE EFFERVESCENT AND AIRY; ON TIRFEYNE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE MORE YIELDING AND RESPONSIVE.
ENCOUNTERS WITH MAGIC (SO LONG AS THAT MAGIC IS NOT OF THE WICKED, MALICIOUS VARIETY) ARE BENEFICIAL TO HUMANS, ALLOWING THEM RELIEF FROM THE MORE PONDEROUS ASPECTS OF EXISTENCE.
THUS THE WORLDS OF TIRFEYNE AND EARTH ARE MEANT TO BE RELATED TO EACH OTHER, PART OF A LARGER HARMONY WITHIN WHICH EACH PLAYS A CENTRAL PART. IN THIS ONGOING CONNECTION, HUMANS AND FEY FOLK ARE ESPECIALLY CLOSE, SUPPLYING EACH OTHER WITH IMPORTANT INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE AND HEALTH.
--Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
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My wings trembled as I flew, and my thoughts felt scrambled. I was breathing hard, trying to comprehend what had happened.
Then it struck me: what if there had been humans inside Jason's house?
There couldn't have been. If other people had been home, they would have noticed the burning fence. They would have rushed out when the sirens arrived.
But I had to know.
Turning back, I sped through the afternoon sky. I saw a child looking up at me and belatedly remembered to renew invisibility. Then I tried frantically to recall how much time Leona and I had been visible.
Time enough.
The invisibility had worn off for both of us before I woke Jason, before Leona turned him into a toad and blew up his house. If any fairy or genie had been looking through a viewing scope at this neighborhood, we would be barred from Earth for decades, if not forever.
How could I bear that?
The memory of the leprechaun who had plucked Beryl's sleeve rose up in my mind. "I used to travel to Earth--me and all m'friends. Now look at me--banned!"
How terrible it must be for them.
At Jason's place, men were holding water hoses to a
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blackened pit of smoking rubble. The only thing left standing was the iron balustrade.
While I hovered, cars arrived with blue and red lights flashing. Men and women dressed in dark blue poured out of them.
"What happened here?" a woman asked, staring at the smoking ruin.
"Don't know, ma'am. We were called to a small fire, but it turned out to be a big one," a man answered. "We suspect an incendiary device."
She wrote on a pad of paper. "A bomb?"
"Haven't had a chance to investigate, ma'am."
She scribbled hurriedly. "Any fatalities?"
"None that we know of."
I sighed with relief. Leona's vengeance had not taken anyone's life. Unless a big-booted man had stepped on a toad by mistake.
I scanned the ground several times but didn't see any toads, big or small. I admit it was a halfhearted effort. Jason had stolen a fey wand, and he had hurt two fairies with a human weapon. Maybe he deserved to be a toad.
But only for a little while. Not for a year. And Leona should never have blown up his house.
The human boy's wickedness seemed to have spread to my friend, changing her into someone I hardly knew, someone who fought cruelty with cruelty and rage with rage. Someone frightening.
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I wished I could undo some of the worst of Leonas magic, but I didn't know how to rebuild a human house. I didn't believe anyone could, despite exaggerated tales about the famous genies of old.
I took a last look at the destruction below, then flew away again, worried now that Leona might have decided to go after Sam, too, even though he had nothing to do with injuring anyone.
But when I got back to the grove, I found Sam sitting alone with his back to the blue spruce, gazing down the hill. His curly hair stuck out in all directions.
I knew I should simply release him from Leona's spell and leave, but the longer I looked at him, the more I wanted to stay. There was something about him that drew me. Maybe it was because his father was missing, and I knew what that was like. Maybe because he was kind to his little sister and he'd put out the fire Jason started in the blue spruce. All in all, he seemed to be a good sort of human.
I lingered until my invisibility expired. When Sam saw me appear, wariness crept into his face.
I drew my wand. "Chantmentum pellex."
Sam looked even more wary.
"Can you speak?" I asked.
He cleared his throat. "Zaria?"
I nodded.
Sam blinked. "What was wrong with my voice?"
"An enchantment."
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"Enchantment." He put a hand over his neck.
"Are you all right?"
"Guess so." He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. "How do you do it?" he asked. "Appear and disappear."
Im a fairy.
"A fairy." He looked troubled. "I saw the other one ... flying." He rubbed his temples with his fists. "She was going to find Jason. He has a laser gun. I hope he doesn't hurt anyone."
"That's over," I said.
He gave a half smile. "Over? Is he covered with warts now?"
"No. He doesn't have the gun anymore." I couldn't bring myself to tell him about the toad, or the explosion.
"Good." Sam picked up a handful of dead spruce needles and let them trickle through his fingers. He pointed to the blackened branch lying on the ground. "It was you, wasn't it?" he said. "You helped me keep the woods from burning up."
"I was there, yes."
"I came here hoping . . ." He shook his head. "I'm not making sense."
Puzzled, I waited for him to say more.
"My dad's missing." His eyes watered.
"I'm so sorry." I wished I could say something to help him.
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"Now I'm seeing fairies and hearing voices." He blew out a breath. "I'm losing it, aren't I? Losing my mind."
His face was so close I could clearly see the reddish speckles on his nose. "I'm. quite real, if you're wondering."
He sat still for a moment. "So you have real magic?" he asked.
I looked out across the hillside. The lowering sun was beginning to streak the sky, the clouds like purple roads leading beyond the horizon. At that moment, I wanted to glide down those roads and see how far my magic could take me. Maybe I could find another world, one without the problems of either Earth or Tirfeyne.
Tirfeyne.
The thought of my world sent panic tearing through me. I was on Earth without the protection of invisibility! Once again I had forgotten Lily Morganite and Boris Bloodstone and every other meddling fairy or genie. What if they saw me with Sam? What might they do--to him? They would erase his memory at the very least.
Instantly, I drew my wand. "Verita sil nos mertos elemen."
Sam jumped up. He passed a hand across the air in front of his face. "I've been hallucinating," he muttered.
I grabbed his hand. "I'm real," I said softly. "Real as you."
He squeezed my hand and pulled me toward him. "If you have magic," he said in my ear, "can you help me find my father?"
His father!
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Feyland's viewing scopes burst into my mind. If I could get into a viewing booth, I could look. But if I did, I would be breaking another law.
"We're not allowed to use magic on behalf of full-grown men and women," I said, moving back from him. "It's absolutely forbidden."
Sam tensed. "But what about me and Jenna? Don't you understand? It's killing us not knowing -where he is."
I knew all too well what he meant. I drew a long breath. "I would need his name."
"Michael Seabolt," he answered, color flooding his face.
I exhaled. "I'll look for him."
"Please," Sam said, "don't say you'll do this unless you mean it."
"If I can," I whispered, "I will. Wait for me on your porch tonight." But even as I said it, I decided that if I found out his father was dead, I would not let Sam know.
His face was so hopeful. "Okay," he said.
"Now, please go."
He smiled, his gold-toned eyes alight. Then he turned and ran through the grass toward the human town. I watched him for a moment before I knelt beside the blue spruce again.
It didn't take long to bury the laser gun next to the spellbook.
Afterward, I infused my wand. "This ground and all that it holds cannot be disturbed by anyone but me," I said, and felt magic flowing out of me. "Ad eternum. Forever and always."
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
HUMANS THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE DISPLAYED A disturbing willingness to harm others of their kind. Indeed, they have applied considerable inventiveness to the creation of weapons that can kill and maim.
--Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
I emerged into Galena to see Leona in our favorite spot, looking wretched. The burn on her wing stood out in a charred line. Pain filled her eyes.
I landed next to her and waited until my invisibility-expired.
"What took you so long?" She sounded weary.
"I checked to be sure no one was burned or killed." I watched carefully to see her reaction.
A tear trickled down her cheek. "I was so angry! When I realized what I'd done, I was afraid of myself." She bowed her head.
I was relieved to see her cry. "I was afraid of you, too," I said truthfully. "But no one was burned, and no one died."
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"That much is good." She sighed. "What did you do with the weapon?"
"It's buried," I answered. "And I'll never tell where it lies."
She nodded. "Thank you for coming after me," she said. "Without you, I might be nothing but a heap of ashes." She used her sleeve to wipe her eyes. A tremor ran over her burned wing. "My wing will probably be scarred."
I touched her shoulder gently. "Can you still fly?"
"I can get airborne but I flap. And it hurts as if my wing and my hand were on fire."
How I wished I could help her.
"I don't ever want to go back to Earth," she said gloomily. "Our teachers were right. It's dangerous. And I'm dangerous when I'm there." She shifted, staring straight at the Zinnia Portal. "I wish my mother had never put a portal in Galena."
Listening to Leona, I felt suddenly faint with hunger. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten. "I'm going to get some sonnia," I told her.
A patch grew just above our rocky refuge. As I plucked handfuls of flowers, a stray wind rustled around me. For a minute I longed to follow that wind wherever it blew, but instead I brought blossoms to Leona. We crammed the food into our mouths.
"Zaria, if anyone saw us on Earth, the Council will command us to surrender our wands--and probably keep them for the next ten years." She drew her wand and began
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tracing the handle with her finger. "But I can't be without my wand. Even if they send the Radia Guard after me, I will never let them have it."
I thought of all Lily's attempts to get me to hand her my wand. She said it was for a disclosure spell, but it occurred to me now that once I gave it to her, I would have no power to take it back. I shuddered to think of how close I had come, and inwardly renewed my vow that I would never give up my wand.
"I won't, either," I said solemnly.
Leona looked at me sideways. Her wings twitched. "Magistria Lodestone is my mentor," she said.
"I heard the rumor."
"It's true. She's Level Eighty, Blue." Leona arched an eyebrow. "And she says you and I should not be friends."
"My mentor says the same."
In the pause that followed, we smiled grimly at each other.
"I know why," she said. "Our friendship is dangerous. But not to us." She studied her beautiful wand. "We're Violet. As long as we stand together, they cannot oppose us."
"I'll stand with you, Leona."
"Magistria Lodestone commanded me to stop being your friend." She grinned. "What a trog she is."
"Rotten trog," I said.
A giggle escaped her, then we both burst into sudden wild laughter. If anyone had seen us, they would have taken us for a pair of shrieking gremlins.
When we finally stopped laughing, I glanced at the sun.
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Twilight would fall soon. "Leona, I have things to tell you."
I began with Lily Morganite: how she'd stolen my mother's spellbook and how I'd taken it back. "That's why my wand was buried on Earth."
"And you fooled the Council with an Earth stylus? Brilliant!" Leona seemed delighted.
"So now you know something about me that you must never tell."
"Never."
I went on, pouring out the story of the layered magic on Beryl. The longer I talked about it, the more serious Leona looked. "Meteor forgot what had happened and then wouldn't speak to you?" she exclaimed. "He must be under a dire enchantment! He would never forsake your friendship."
"But he did."
"We'll go to the library tomorrow and study layered spells," she said. "We need to learn how to protect ourselves and our wands."
How glad I was to confide in her. Leona was still a friend I could trust.
Then why hadn't I told her about my journeys to Earth without her, visiting Sam and Jenna, and my promise to look for their father? Should I tell her?
"Magistria Lodestone keeps making tragic predictions," Leona was saying. She rolled her eyes. "Predictions about how weak the durable spells have become and how desperately Feyland will need my talents."
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"Lily says the same."
Leona bounded up suddenly. "Did you hear something?" She pointed her wand behind my head.
I leaped an
d whirled around, but twilight's shadows were long gone, and full night surrounded us. "Hear what?"
She flew into the dark above our rock.
I followed, drawing my wand. "What is it?"
My ears caught a faint whooshing sound, as if a genie had breezed by me on swift magic feet.
"Spy." Leona's wand shone eerily in the faint starlight as she shook it at the sky. "Chantmentum--"
"Wait!" I charged into her and knocked her wand loose. It fell.
She bent, seizing her wand. The tip wavered in front of my face. "Are you a spy, too?" she yelled.
I held up my wand to oppose her. How puny my stylus appeared. "Stop. Leona, what if the spy carries a layered spell? Reversing it could backfire on you!"
"Backfire?" Her wand shook, a pale streak of platinum trembling in the dark. She lowered it and slid to the ground. Resting it against her knees, she gripped both ends.
I sank into the sonnia beside her.
"I thought you were trying to take my wand." Her head drooped. "I almost put a statue spell on you."
A statue spell? I shivered. Where had Leona learned to do a statue spell? They were forbidden.
But so were compulsion spells.
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"I've got to get control of myself," she said. "I can't be throwing spells the way I've done today."
I had to agree, but I didn't say anything.
"How much of what we said was overheard?" Leona whispered next.
I tried to remember everything I'd told her. I had revealed so many secrets about Lily and Beryl. And Meteor. "Who would spy on us?"
She lifted her head. Her silver eyes had a dark lonely center, reflecting the night. "The invisibility spell takes Level Fifty, so it could be anyone with Level Fifty magic who can pass through the Gateway of Galena." She gripped her wand more tightly. "We've got to seal the portal. If the spy heard us talk about it, he'll know my mother put it there. If the Council found out, they would send her to the Iron Lands. We can't let the portal be found!"
"I'll help you seal it," I said, trying to hide my sadness. Leona was right. The Zinnia Portal had to be closed.
"Thank you. I'll ask my mother how it's done and meet you back here."
Opening my watch, I squinted at it. Eleven! Time had flown past me, and Sam would be waiting on his porch. "I have to make a quick trip into Oberon City first," I said.
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