by Eliza Grace
Sleep here in the forest of shadows.
Live inside the land of your dreams.
For tomorrow embraces your darkness.
As the light in your soul dies and fades.
I wonder what the words mean, what tomorrow will truly bring. A noise to our right draws my attention. Beneath the bark of a nearby tree, a glowing ember fluctuates. Mom sees me looking. “A fairy trapped.”
“A fairy...” Matthew told me... fairies and trolls, trapped inside trees... It was hard to believe, that such a thing could be possible.
I walk to the trunk and place my hand against the light beneath the gray-brown wood. Heat emanates from the glow. I close my eyes tightly. Behind me, my mother’s voice sounds. “Wish it free, my Little Witch. Wish it free.”
With every fiber of my body, I will the bark to crack and the magical creature’s prison to let go its hold. At first, nothing happens. I have no power. He has taken all my power. “He has stolen your power, but you are bound to him through blood. That opens the channel both ways, dear one. Force your magic back to you. It will only last for a moment, but that will be enough.”
I focus again, but this time, I think of M.H. I think of how he has tricked me, taken what was not his, and then I see him—he is sitting in a café, watching people pass by. He is enjoying freedom. I hate him. Anger wells up inside of me until I do not think I can contain it. At the exact moment I know I will explode my eyes flash open in time to see the blaze of golden electricity—now tinged in crimson for some strange reason— fly from my hand and shoot into the tree.
The power is gone quickly. It is like a rubber band that can only be stretched so far and for so long before it bounces back. But mom is right though. I only needed a solitary moment, a second of strength. The bark is splitting and blinding-white light pours forth in an arc, like a diamond rainbow.
Then the fairy is flying about me. It happily dances through the air, its transparent, lace-like wings glowing in the lantern light. I say nothing; I do not want to interrupt the pure joy that I am witnessing. It is wondrous, beyond anything I have ever seen.
AND I REALIZE THAT though I have lost much to this prison, I might also gain experiences that are outside reality. Here in the forest of shadows, living might be entirely, unbelievably magical.
Continue the series...
The Shadow Forest Series –USA
The Shadow Forest Series –UK
Continue the series!
The Shadow Forest Series –USA
The Shadow Forest Series –UK
CHECK OUT THE NEXT INSTALLMENT...
S P E L L
T R I C K E D
E L I Z A G R A C E
ELIZA GRACE IS A PEN name of Eli Constant / Eli Constant Books. Eliza is all about Teen and New Adult fiction—magical realism, paranormal romance, and fantastical plots with heart-pounding fights against evil.
Living in the United States, Eliza spends her days homeschooling, playing with her daughters and Mr. Miles (a precocious Whoodle puppy that’s all bark and no bite), and generally being a terrible housekeeper. She’s lucky to have a laundry fairy though. Cough-cough. That would be an amazing Mother-in-Law who’s constantly folding clothes, because Eliza can’t seem to remember to do it. Ever.
Happy reading!
Website: www.authoreliconstant.com
p.s. This quote was in the first edition of this book. I removed it from the front matter, but it didn’t feel right releasing the book again without it somewhere. "When I stand before thee at the day's end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing." - Rabindranath Tagore
p.p.s. Sometimes, repairing what is broken takes courage as well as magic. In the end, one is not more important than the other. And healing is no more confined to the body than a bird is confined to a tree.
