by Bonnie Lamer
There’s too much of it, though. I can’t find it all. My heart sinks as I realize some of the darkness has already escaped. Doing what I can to subdue the rest, I ignore the pain in my chest that has come with the realization that I have let loose darkness and despair into the realm.
I have become Pandora.
Chapter 7
When every scrap of paper I can find has been returned to its rightful place, I stumble my way back to Kallen. He is so far away. I feel his magic as he tries over and over again to penetrate the wall keeping him out, but it’s no use. He will not be able to enter the darkness no matter how much he tries. The magic is too strong.
The relief on his face when he sees me is palpable. I try to rush to him, but I can hardly stand, let alone run. I am utterly exhausted. I have to inch my way to where he stands, using the outer wall of the archives to keep myself upright. What I wouldn’t give right now for a soft place to lie down and close my eyes.
After what feels like an eon, I am finally in front of my husband. My dear, loving husband who doesn’t know what he should feel first: relief, anxiety, anger or love. When I fall into his arms, I know that love has won. Kallen scoops me up and holds me to him, murmuring words of love as I fall into a stupor, the weight of the last few minutes pushing me quickly into unconsciousness. The last thing I hear before I am lost to the darkness is the scribe. “She has set evil loose. She is the plague we all knew she would be,” he rasps, absolute conviction coloring his voice.
When my eyes open again, I am in an unfamiliar place. The walls around me are a pale pink and the bed I am lying on is covered with a deep pink comforter with embroidered red roses. The amount of gilded fixtures on the wall tells me that I am still at the palace. Dagda has very tacky taste.
The hissing in the air tells me that my familiar has found me. He is standing at the edge of the bed, his teeth bared and his hair standing straight at the ruff of his neck. My eyes follow the path of his and there are two extremely angry Fairies wanting with every fiber of their being to incinerate the little beast. Unfortunately for them, their magic can’t touch him.
“Stop it,” I say to my familiar. I put a muzzle on him to emphasize my words.
“Mmmm mmm, mmm mmm mm,” he says in return. Considering he has my personality, I know for a fact I don’t want to know what those words he just muttered are.
The first to speak is Dagda. “Has it been a lie? Have you gained my trust only to wreak havoc on this realm in revenge for what I tried to do?” His words are harsh and his face is twisted into a snarl, a hateful snarl. I have to admit, he looks pretty damn scary right now.
“Uncle,” Kallen says, but Dagda cuts him off.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Dagda shouts.
I close my eyes and count to ten before I answer him. “Yes, and I’ll fix it.”
“You’ll fix it? Damn right you will fix this mess.”
I glare up at my biological father. “It was an accident.”
When Dagda opens his mouth again, Kallen says, “Uncle, let her speak. Your anger is not going to get us answers.” Kallen pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes. I get the feeling he’s been dealing with Dagda’s fury for a while now. “Xandra, tell us what happened.”
The door to the bedroom opens wide and smacks against the wall. “What is going on here? Why are there guards on this door? You will not keep her hostage no matter what she has done,” Isla says, marching into the room.
“The guards are for her protection,” Dagda growls. “The Fairies of this realm will not react well when they find out that evil has been released.”
Isla wants to rip into him and call him a liar, but I can see that she’s torn. My reputation precedes me. Turning to me and keeping her anger in check, she says, “Tell me what happened down there.”
“We were getting to that when you stormed in,” Dagda snarls, and the two glare at each other, both just seconds away from pulling magic.
“Xandra, please,” Kallen says. “We need you to tell us every detail.”
I close my eyes hoping that I’ll slip into unconsciousness again, but no such luck. With great reluctance, I open them again. “I said a spell.” My lips clamp closed not wanting to say more.
“What kind of spell?” Isla demands.
I wonder if I can take my own voice away. Or maybe I should teleport somewhere. Anywhere other than here. At the moment, I’d rather be a coward than face the truth of what I did. My traitorous conscience won’t let me get away with it though. “I was walking down an aisle and the air got so thick I couldn’t move.” My teeth bite down on my tongue, preventing me from continuing. I swear, they did it all by themselves.
Kallen sighs in frustration. “Xandra, please just spit it out. You are not helping the situation by saying one sentence at a time.”
Fine. Here goes. “I felt a sharp pain in my head, a spell formed in my mind, and then I couldn’t stop myself from saying it. I tried so hard to stop, but my lips kept moving, saying that terrible spell.”
Dagda’s brows shoot up. “You seem to have no problem controlling your tongue at the moment. Why should we believe you did not have the same ability then?”
I want to shove his words back down his throat with my magic but I can’t. He’s right. “I don’t know why I couldn’t stop. It was sort of like someone sticking their hand down my throat and pulling the words out.”
“How graphic,” Dagda snips.
I give him a sour look and continue. I’m getting desperate for them to believe me. “You’ve never been down there! I was surrounded by so much darkness! I didn’t know what to fight off first; in my confusion, I was compelled to say a spell.” I look around nervously, trying not to meet anyone’s eyes. “A spell that set some of the evil from the books free. I tried to pull it all back, but I couldn’t. I got most of it, but some of it still escaped.”
“Yes, we know,” Dagda growls. “Several Fairies were injured as the darkness swept through the palace and escaped out into the realm.”
Oh no! “Were they hurt badly?” I ask.
Kallen nods. “Yes. The palace physician is working on them now, but she fears their injuries will ultimately be fatal.”
I sit up and throw the comforter off from me. “Where are they? Maybe I can help them.”
“No!” Dagda growls. “You will not go near them!”
Isla turns her stony eyes to him. “You cannot believe the child has done harm to the realm on purpose.” Child? When did I become a child again? Probably around the same time I became Pandora.
“How can I not?” Dagda retorts.
Kallen’s eyes flash with anger. “Because if you know her at all, you know she is not capable of such a thing.”
Guilt washes over me. I’ve done some pretty evil things lately. I’m not sure that argument holds up anymore. As if reading my mind, Dagda says, “I can recall several instances where she has caused great harm without remorse.”
“Hey!” I say, trying hard to put conviction in my next words. “I only did those things to protect the ones I love and try to bring peace to the realms.”
Dagda’s eyes meet mine in firm disbelief. “Really? Your actions have always been justified as such?”
Okay, there are a couple of times, well, quite a few times, that I caused harm for other reasons. Like jealousy. Or annoyance. Maybe out of dislike. Still, I say, “Most of the time, yes.”
“Uncle,” Kallen says sharply. “Think about what you are saying. Are you truly going to turn against your own daughter?”
Dagda opens his mouth to say something. Then he closes it again. Running a hand through his hair, he sighs. Looking me in the eye again, it takes him several heartbeats to speak. Finally, he says, “No.” Throwing himself into a chair across the room, he says, “Xandra, you are turning me into an old Fairy.”
I muster an ‘I’m sorry about that’ smile. “Honestly, this was all a mistake. I had no intention of letting evil out into the realm. And I sw
ear, I’ll make it right.”
“What was the spell you spoke?” Isla asks.
I turn my eyes to her. “Um, how about if I write it down. I don’t want to say it out loud again.”
Isla nods. “That is probably wise.” A pen and paper appear in her hand and she hands them to me. I scribble down the spell and hand them back. As she reads it, she intakes a sharp breath and puts a hand to her throat. It scares the hell out of me.
“That bad?” I ask quietly.
Without answering, she hands the paper to Dagda who immediately blanches. Looking at me again, he says, “Where did you learn this?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Sometimes spells just pop into my head.” Usually not ones that can wreak havoc on an entire realm though.
Kallen reads the spell over Dagda’s shoulder. His eyebrows pinch together. “Could someone have implanted that spell in her mind?”
Oh, I like where he’s going with this. I love him even more at the moment. “That seems plausible,” I say hopefully.
Unfortunately, Isla shakes her head. She’s such a buzz kill. “You are too strong for such a thing. You would have felt the attempt and blocked it.”
I would love to argue, but she’s probably right. “Then why did I say it?” I ask, hearing the desperation in my voice.
“We will find out,” Kallen says. He sits down on the bed and brushes hair from my cheek. His hand lingers as his thumb softly strokes my skin. “I promise you, we will find out.”
“In the meantime,” Dagda says, rising from his chair, “we need to assess the situation and minimize the risk to the Fairies of this realm. From what I can tell so far, those with the weakest magic and personalities are the ones most vulnerable to attack right now. I believe that is temporary. The longer the darkness is free, the more power it will gain and then we will all be at risk. I can already feel it pressing in on me.” Isla and Kallen nod in agreement.
I nod as well. “Okay.” I stand up, but I’m a little wobbly and Kallen has to steady me. “Wow, I’m dizzy,” I mutter, clutching his arm.
“Remnants of the spell I would imagine,” Isla says. “You should continue to rest. Kallen and I will begin damage control.”
I shake my head. “No way. I made this mess; I’m going to help clean it up.”
For the first time since waking, I see something in Dagda’s eyes other than anger and frustration. I see pride. “Spoken like a true Princess.”
I’m not so sure about that. It seems like a true Princess wouldn’t have been able to step foot into the dark magic section of the archives. Or be able to release evil into the realm. I can’t worry about that right now, though. Like I said, I have to clean up my mess.
Taking a wobbly step forward, I find that my legs will hold me. Moving slowly, with Kallen’s arm around my waist, I walk to the door of the room. Isla steps aside so we can pass and then she and Dagda follow us out of the room. What a crap day this has turned out to be. I would give anything for a do-over right about now.
Chapter 8
The usually empty great hall is filled with Fairies. Angry Fairies shouting at each other, some of them about to come to blows. The air is thick with fury and for once, all eyes do not turn to me when I enter the area. They are all too busy fighting with each other. I hear snippets of their arguments and some are so trivial I can’t begin to understand why they are angry.
Two female Fairies wearing the uniforms of maids are near the river and arguing over whose turn it is to turn down the King’s bed tonight. Gee, what a prize that must be. Two male Fairies are standing near the bench I love to sit on and are arguing over what one said to the other’s sister. From what I can gather, it wasn’t much more than ‘hello’. Near the steps leading up to the front door, the doorman is shouting at a female Fairy who suddenly punches him in the face. God, I’ve wanted to do that since I met him. That aside, I know this is just a taste of what is happening in the realm as the darkness rolls out of the palace. If this continues, the Fairies are going to tear each other apart over petty, unimportant things. And I will be responsible for it.
Pulling Kallen to a stop, I wrack my brain for something, anything, to ease the tension in the great hall. Spinning around slowly, I let the sounds of the bickering voices fill my head. I pull in the angry words and the violent thoughts, absorbing them through my pores. I speak these words: “From ancient times a curse now loose, pettiness and anger creates a noose, trapping inside those in its path, seeking out victims for its wrath. With the ancient blood that flows in my veins, I become the vessel for this vile bane. I take inside me the ire and pain; I take to heart the malice so arcane.”
“Xandra, no!” Kallen shouts as my words hang in the air. The air that has become a swirl of colors. I see reds and blacks, blues and greens, greys and deep purples. The colors are dancing around the other Fairies in the room, but as the last word drops from my mouth the colors stop dancing. They come to me with a force so great, I am thrown backwards until my back hits the far wall and my head leaves a crack in the plaster. But I take them all inside of me. I don’t struggle as every bit of darkness in the room finds a passage into my soul. When it is done, I slide to the floor, my muscles too weak to hold me up any longer.
Kallen is at my side, his hands on my cheeks. “Xandra, what have you done?”
I try to shrug but my entire body hurts. I can’t move any part of me without pain. Struggling for even a whisper, I say, “I fixed it.” Then, for the second time today, I lose consciousness.
I awaken some time later to shouting. “What do you mean she sucked it all inside herself?” Tabitha’s voice cuts through the fog in my brain. “Why in the hell did you let her do that?!”
“It was not something I let her do,” Dagda growls. “She went off half-cocked determined to ‘fix’ the situation.” He says the word ‘fix’ in such a way it’s clear that he believes my actions stemmed from idiocy. Way to be supportive, Dad.
I open my eyes expecting to see Kallen close by, but he’s nowhere to be found. My brows draw together in worry. He’s always with me when I regain consciousness. Where could he be? Feeling a great need for his comfort, I try to sit up only to find my chest feels as if an elephant is sitting on it. Oh god, am I having a heart attack? Isn’t that how people describe the feeling? Panic begins to well inside of me and in response, I feel magic flowing into me.
My movement didn’t register with Tabitha and Dagda but my magic sure does. Both heads swing to me, eyes narrowed. “It’s about damn time,” Tabitha snaps.
My mouth drops open. She has never said an angry word to me before. No matter how stupid or impulsive I have been. I say the only word that comes to mind. “Sorry.”
Tabitha puts her hands on her hips. “You should be sorry. How could you do such an asinine thing like that?”
I manage a slight rising of my shoulders and avert my eyes. “I…I wanted to make things right.”
“Make things right? You’re a far cry from making things right. You’ve gone and screwed things up worse than you ever have before.” I can feel the anger pouring from her in waves, winding its way towards me, and I am too stunned to say anything.
“Tabitha,” Isla says sharply from the doorway. “Take a breath.”
Pink stains appear on Tabitha’s cheeks. She shakes her head and all of the fury she held just a moment ago oozes away from her. “Lordie, this is one hell of a day.”
“For us all,” Isla concurs, coming farther into the room. “But we must keep our heads about us if we are to find solutions.”
I frown. “Solutions? I thought I took all the evil inside of me. Didn’t that fix things?”
“No, Xandra, it did not.” Isla sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose as Kallen had earlier. I think she’s trying to tamp down her own temper. Looking at me again, she says, “What you did was make yourself a sponge. When you are in the immediate presence of darkness, it will seep into you, but that does not change the fact that darkness is swimming in the air outside
of your reach. The entire realm is feeling its affects. You are a sponge only for the darkness in your immediate vicinity.”
Oh. That wasn’t what I wanted. Obviously. So now I’m an inadequate sponge and the curses are still wreaking havoc all over the place. I close my eyes and shake my head. “Guess I should have shared my plan before I said the spell.”
When I look at Isla, her brows are raised at my surprising admission. “Information to tuck away for later,” she says.
“So, how do I reverse the sponge spell?” I ask.
Dagda chuckles without humor. “Only you can reverse your spells, Xandra. You will find that answer within yourself.”
