by D. N. Hoxa
Something touched me on the back, and I turned around, my beads already in attack mode, right before I remembered that I couldn’t get them to do any real damage. Good thing, too, because it was Julian.
“You have to go,” he said.
I noticed the sword on his back, and the bow and arrows, too.
“You’re coming with us.” He was. He definitely was.
“I’m not leaving them all alone,” Julian said. “Follow me.” And he turned around towards a hole in the left.
“No! You can’t just expect me to leave alone after everything, Julian.” I was already having trouble breathing.
“I can’t leave them, Winter!” Julian shouted. “I just…I can’t.” He couldn’t leave his people to fight alone. “I’ll come find you as soon as this is over.” But who was to say what would remain when it was over?
Goddamn it, my own mind shouted at me because it knew exactly what my heart was convincing me to do. In fact, it convinced me rather quickly. Julian couldn’t leave. Neither could I.
I turned to Lynn. “You need to go alone, and you need to wait for us at Finn’s offices. The Agency for Unusual Orders. Do you know where that is?” She nodded. “Good. Keep the portal opener with you and use it to come right here if someone finds you.”
“I want to stay and fight, too,” she said. It was so hard to believe that she was just fifteen years old.
“Absolutely not. You have to go back and find Bender. Tell them we’re coming. Maybe he can reach others. Witches, vampires, werewolves—anyone at all. Tell him everything.”
“And if you don’t make it back?” she whispered.
I barely heard her from the noise of all the fairies running up and down, shouting at the top of their voices at each other.
“I will make it back, don’t you worry about a thing.” And even if I didn’t, she already knew everything I knew. Bender would know enough to come to the fairy realm and try to find the witch that spelled Galladar—if that theory even proved to be true.
“Don’t take too long,” Lynn whispered and wrapped her arms around my torso. I kissed the top of her head, feeling closer to her emotionally by the second. Having her as my apprentice—no, scratch that, as a friend, had really been a blessing.
When she let go of me, I turned to Julian.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered before I could say anything. His eyes were wide, his cheeks flushed. I knew why he was apologizing. Because he couldn’t tell me to go back to Earth. He couldn’t insist on it. He wanted me there to fight beside him.
“Just get her home safely,” I whispered, and without waiting for his instructions, I turned to the wooden boxes and the weapons in them.
Twenty four
Not only did they make me take off my jeans and shirt—which were torn to pieces, by the way—and wear black men’s pants and a long-sleeved, very uncomfortable shirt, but they gave me one of those hooded mantles that reached all the way to my ankles, too. The hood was terrible because it fell all the way down to my eyes, so I took it off. That earned me a mean look from Marva. At least my mantle was green and there were more green leaves on the mountain than red, so I blended in better than her.
Understanding where those stupid thoughts were coming from was useless so I didn’t bother. Instead, I looked at Julian, who also wore a green mantle and was hiding behind the tree right next to mine. His tree was bigger, but he needed it because he was going to use the bow and arrows, while all I had were two swords—the smallest, lightest I could find—and three knives. Galladar’s fairies were at the edge of the mountain. I could see them, only barely, as they tried to break through the shields that the witches had put around the mountain.
I thought it would be better if we just put them down ourselves and attacked first. Everybody else thought it better to wait and hope that the fairies couldn’t break the spells. Yeah, right.
Julian met my eyes, both regret and determination reflecting in his eyes. He was sorry I was there, but he was also glad. I realized he needed me, but I needed him, too. Both our homes were in danger. I’d help him, and he was going to help me right after.
Still, that didn’t mean that I could accept it as a grown up and move on. No, no, I had to get angry and pretend to ignore him while I could. So I looked away from him and focused on the fairies instead.
I felt it the second the shields broke. An electrifying feeling washed over me as Julian’s army began to shout and to run down the mountain with their weapons drawn. A rain of arrows flew above our heads as the fairies closest to the top made the first move on Galladar’s guards.
Taking in a deep breath, I began to run towards them, too, but I held off on the shouting. Conjuring my shield was out of the question because I needed to use my magic to attack the fairies, since my beads were no longer working. I couldn’t wait to get back home and find a way to break whatever magic Galladar had put on them.
When the first fairy met my sword with his, I immediately conjured an attack spell and sent him flying backwards. He hit another and they stumbled to the ground together. From up the mountain, I’d guessed there were about two hundred fairy guards coming to fight us. It was a good number compared to Julian’s hundred and twelve, because he claimed his people were better trained.
But now that I was seeing them from up close, it looked more like three hundred fairies to me.
I had a sword in one hand and a knife in the other, and my mind was solely focused on my magic. I kept fending off swords swinging at me, and then using spells to throw them off me. I even managed to properly conjure a fire spell once, and the arm of the fairy was up in flames before I knew it, but the second time, it didn’t work. That cost me a slice on my shoulder and a foot in my gut, so I just stuck to the spells I knew would work.
Two fairies were in front of me, one aiming for my feet and the other for my torso. They weren’t even trying hard enough. With a swing of my sword, I caught the first on the cheek, and when the second leaned back to dodge, I threw the knife and it buried straight in his neck.
A second later, one of Julian’s soldiers flew back and hit the ground with a loud noise.
What the hell?
I looked at Galladar’s fairies and was actually surprised to see that they were using magic, too. Why the hell would I be surprised that fairies were using magic, you say?
Well, because I’d run away from them just hours ago and they hadn’t attacked me that way. Not only that, but they weren’t attacking me with magic now, either!
I looked for Julian in the crowd just as three fairies ran for me. I was going to get rid of them by going down on my knee and spinning around in a circle with my arm outstretch to cut through their legs before killing them, but then the fairy fighting next to me fell and pushed me to the side. I almost landed on my ass, but I managed to gain balance again, just as Galladar’s fairy guards attacked me, all three and all at once.
The strangest thing, their swords were all aiming at my limbs. Not my torso. Not my head. Not anywhere where they could cause real damage.
Holy spell. Those fairies were there because of me!
Throwing an Ashes spell against the fairies, I ran back a few steps and searched for Julian. He was not five feet away from me, fighting two fairy guards at once.
“Julian!” I called at the top of my voice and dodged the sword coming for my shoulder at the last second. The fairy who had run after me was sweating badly, and when he swung his arm again, I kicked him in the gut and ran to him so that, as soon as he hit the ground, I buried a knife in the side of his neck. Pulling it out, I wiped the blood on it with the dead fairy’s clothes. One of Julian’s soldiers fell right on top of my recent kill and almost knocked me out. His sword fell and the fairy guard raised both his hands, and was going to bring them down right on his chest.
I jumped to my feet and made a clean cut right under his chin with my sword, and he fell right on top of Julian’s soldier.
“Julian!” I called again, and a second later,
I saw him put his sword right into a fairy guard’s gut, before he turned to me.
Running forward, I managed to avoid any weapons accidentally connecting with me, until I was in front of him. When I did, he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me to the side. I hadn’t realized that I had a fairy guard right behind me, and Julian cut his head almost clean off in one swift movement of his arm. Blood splattered all over my face. Ew.
“Julian, they’re after me,” I said breathlessly, and I raised my sword to stop the one coming for my face. “They’re not even using their magic against me, and they’re not trying to kill me.” I pushed the guard back with a kick to his chin, then stabbed him with my knife in the same place. He fell back before I could kill him for good, though, and I didn’t bother.
“Are you sure?” Julian hissed. He pushed his back against mine as he fought another fairy, and as I held off two others.
God, this was a disaster. I felt like I was in a medieval battle. I’d never been in a fight before where there were no gunshots. I didn’t particularly like the sound of swords and arrows because they did not drown out the screams.
“Yes, I’m sure. Take me back, now!” The second I left, those guards would do the same thing—if I was understanding this correctly. If not…well, I didn’t have a plan for that yet.
“Go toward the mountain and wait for me there,” Julian said and pushed me back to step in front of the fairies I was holding.
Without another thought, I ran toward the mountain as fast as I could with all the bodies in the ground and all the swords coming at me. The farther I went, the more fairies ran after me. This only proved my theory. These guys were after me.
Why? Did Galladar know Julian’s theory about my Bone magic?
I made it to the middle of the mountain before choosing a thick tree trunk to hide behind. I fell on my ass and breathed deeply, conjuring my shield around me for lack of a better idea. Those fairies were going to be there any second now, and I just needed to catch my breath before fighting them off.
But the fairies never made it to me.
Instead, I heard Julian call.
“Winter, run!” he shouted. His voice was coming from farther down the mountain. When I stood up to look, I found him ten feet away, reaching his arm toward me, a large black hole right behind his shoulder.
Dropping the knife, the sword and my shield, I began to sprint toward him. My hand was in his in a blink of an eye, and we both let the darkness swallow us whole.
***
Bright light streamed in through the window. It made everything in my office glitter like ravenstone. The urge to go outside and see the sun that wouldn’t even let my eyes open all the way was overwhelming.
My heart stopped beating for a second.
Was this a dream? Was this the dream?
I tried to look around me, see what else was there, but I couldn’t. My legs were already taking me towards the door, but when I made it there, I realized there was no door. Huh.
I stepped outside.
The bright light wasn’t the sun.
And this wasn’t the dream.
“Winter?” Julian called, but I couldn’t answer. I was frozen in place at the sight in front of me. At the ruined buildings across the street.
“The dream,” I whispered when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Those buildings had come straight from my dream.
“We have to hide,” said Julian, but I shook my head. Couldn’t he see? The broken windows, the burnt walls, the caved in roofs—it was all a copy of how Geraldine Street had looked in my dream.
“Winter, we need to hide, right now!” Julian hissed, and before I could explain anything to him, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side.
What the hell are you doing? my mind screamed at me. Wake up!
“Faster!” Julian shouted.
The fog faded from in front of my eyes. I bit my tongue to hold off a scream. The dream I’d had was nothing compared to the nightmare of reality, and the real dead bodies filling the streets.
More afraid than I’d ever been in my life, I moved my eyes to the back of Julian’s head. Don’t look, don’t look, don’t see.
Wrecked cars—some burned, too—were everywhere and we had to jump over them to get to where Julian was taking us. The air was warm, but the wind blew my hair back, and it brought the horrible smells right in my nostrils. Garbage. Burned wood. Burned plastic. Blood.
The magic in me sensed everything I was feeling, and maybe I was just imagining it, but it seemed to grow smaller and smaller inside my chest, its color no longer as bright as usual. Galladar’s face materialized on the back of Julian’s head, and it mocked me. He’d done this. He’d ruined my whole neighborhood while I was off in the fairy realm. And even if I weren’t, what could I have done to stop him?
Not much, or so my magic thought. That was why it withdrew into itself until I could barely feel it.
When Julian stopped, I didn’t see him, so I bumped hard against his back. Taking in a deep breath, I forced myself to look around. Of course I was afraid and that was okay. I could use fear, couldn’t I? It was going to keep me focused.
Yeah, right.
We were in the middle of the street. Broken glass all over the sidewalk. Julian was looking back, his mouth open, eyes wide, his whole body frozen as he tried to see or listen to something.
“Wha—” I didn’t get to finish my question. He pulled me inside the grocery store to our side. The glass on the sidewalk was probably from its door and windows. More shards were inside, and I focused on them while Julian led me deeper, past the shelves and through a door in the back. Stairs leading up. I almost tripped and fell down three times.
Cold air filled my lungs again. We were outside—on the roof. The small grey stones on the floor could be painted black and pass as Pretters.
With his hand under my chin, Julian pulled my head up to show me his finger in front of his lips. Hush.
I pulled my lips inside my mouth as if to tell him that I wouldn’t make a sound. With half a heart, I allowed myself a look around. No dead bodies or destroyed cars on the roof. Julian walked over to the edge. He dropped to his knees and looked down at the street. I didn’t want to do it. I really didn’t want to see what that fucking fairy had done to my neighborhood, but then I heard the calls. I heard the laughter.
Somebody was laughing? It was impossible not to go to Julian and take a look.
My ears hadn’t tricked me. People were really laughing. No, fairies were laughing.
Twelve of them were walking down the street, some with bottles of alcohol in hand, some with guns. They all seemed to be speaking at the same time, pushing and shoving each other playfully, laughing like they were in fucking paradise. The light of the moon made their violet eyes shine, and for the first time in my life, fairies looked evil to me.
Tears in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall as I watched the fairies. Half of them stopped in the middle of the empty street, and the other half walked inside a bakery. The sound of glass breaking made me jump back. Julian squeezed my arm to tell me to keep quiet. But how could I when those fairies were destroying the store for fun? What else could they want in a bakery shop? And why else would they laugh while hitting the glass with the handles of their guns and kicking it with their feet until all of it was on the ground?
Mesmerized, I couldn’t look away when the fairies were done with the bakery and continued to walk down the street. I’d been so wrong. Galladar hadn’t done this. Fairies had done this. Earth fairies. He’d simply given them the option, and they’d chosen it without a second thought. They’d chosen to ruin.
A long time after they turned the corner and disappeared from our view, Julian spoke. “We’ll get him,” he said.
A bitter smile took over my face. “He is not doing this. They are.”
“Fairies have been pushed around, humiliated and looked at with disgust for a hundred years. Try to see this from their perspective.”
Was he fucki
ng with me? “There’s no perspective here. They’ve killed innocent people! There is no reason good enough to justify that.”
“I’m not trying to protect them or anything. I just understand why they’re doing it. Keep a dog on a leash for too long, and when he’s free, he won’t know who to bite first,” he said with a flinch.
“I’ve been humiliated and looked at with disgust ever since I got my powers. You don’t see me walking around shooting people just for the heck of it,” I whispered. Julian claimed he understood, and I tried to do the same, but for the life of me, I couldn’t.
He sighed loudly and sat down on the grey stones. Since my legs were numb, too, I did the same. Resting my back against the railing of the roof, I looked up at the sky. When Julian told me that his home was destroyed, I didn’t really get how he felt about it. And I was fine that way, too. Because now that I’d seen what I’d seen, the ghost of it was going to haunt me forever.
“We need to get to the Upper East Side and find Lynn,” Julian said. My heart sank. Had she made it? If things were as bad in the Upper East as they were here in Geraldine Street, would she be able to protect herself long enough for us to get there?
“Why didn’t you just take us there through the portal?” I realized that there might have been people there who thought Julian was a Blood witch—and dead. People I lied to about it. But the truth was, seeing the world the way it was now, I didn’t care. Let the ECU know that I lied. It wouldn’t matter, not until all of this was over.
“Because there was an arrow flying at your back. I didn’t exactly have time to think. Your office was the first thing on my mind,” Julian mumbled.
Oh. Well, that sucked.
“Cars are out of the question. We need to get there by foot. Assuming that Lynn is in Finn’s office, or anywhere close, we’ll reach her in a few hours.” I tried to trick myself into feeling hopeful, because I had no other option. Lynn was not the only one we needed to find. Amelia and Bender were waiting for me, too. And… “Holy shit, my landlady.” Squeezing my eyes shut, I slammed my head against the railing.
