by Blythe Baker
“Well…I need your help,” I said finally.
“Is this like, you need my help picking out a dress for your next date with Mr. Hottie Banker? Or is this like you need my help to save the world kind of thing?” she asked.
I could have sworn I heard Athena give a small chuckle.
“I – what?” I asked, my face blushing. “What do you mean date with – ”
Bliss rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Pete’s sake…so it’s not for a date, I get it,” she said. “Should’ve known. You weren’t doe-eyed enough. Alright, go on.”
I blinked at her, dumbfounded. “You’re expecting Lucan to ask me out?”
“Um, yeah,” Bliss said. “Especially since his big, fancy, yearly Halloween party is right around the corner.”
“A party? I don’t know about – ” I hesitated, and then shook my head. “Okay, we can talk about all that later. I wanted to know if you could help me find a spell weaver with a certain ability.”
She lifted her head slightly. “Oh…yeah, okay. Like what?”
I chewed on my lip. “Well…” I said, suddenly nervous. “I need to find someone who knows how to summon a resting ghost.”
Bliss blinked at me. “How come I’m getting this sudden feeling of de ja vu?” she asked, her brow creasing. “What in the world do you want that for?”
I swallowed nervously. “Well…do you remember when I found that body in the cemetery, and then the whole thing unfolded with the victim’s husband, who actually had been the one to kill her – ”
“Yes, of course I remember all that,” Bliss said, glaring up at me. “How could I forget it? You spent the next three days here with us to cope with it. But what I don’t understand is why you want to summon that ghost again when she caused the town so much trouble.”
I frowned, shifting my legs in the chair. “It’s because she is the only one who seems to know anything about my mother,” I said. “I’m so tired of chasing whispers and echoes of information. And if I do seem to track something down, it ends up slipping through my fingers before I can learn anything else.”
Bliss sighed. “Look, I know you are desperate to find these answers, but do you really think summoning this ghost will do that? I mean, what if she goes haywire like she did last time?”
“That won’t happen again,” I said. “I gave her peace, so when she comes back, in theory she should remember who she is and not attack anyone.”
“But you don’t know that for sure,” Bliss said. “That Evan guy didn’t tell you how he’d summoned her or anything, right?”
“Well, no,” I said. “I just remember him telling me that he was more of a ghost waker than a speaker. But – ”
Bliss shook her head. “This is a high level of magic, Marianne. Unless someone has that gift, the spells that it requires to do that are incredibly complicated. It involves traversing time and space, not to mention ethereal plains of existence…”
My eyes brightened. “Wait…so you do know about it.”
Bliss gaped like a fish for a brief moment before averting her eyes. “I know the theory, sure. We just learned it in class a few weeks ago. But that’s not enough. There’s no way I could do something like that – ”
Hope was still pumping through me. “If you learned it in class, then that means one of your instructors knows all about it,” I said. “Do you think they’d be willing to help me?”
Bliss looked everywhere but at me. “I…don’t know if you really want to know who it was that taught our class about that.”’
I frowned, my brow creasing. “Why not?”
Bliss sighed, glancing down at Athena. “Let’s remember that I warned her,” she said before looking back up at me, her green eyes wide and almost apologetic. “It’s Delilah Griffin.”
“You’re joking,” I said with a hollow laugh, feeling like I’d just been punched in the gut.
Bliss sighed heavily, readjusting herself on her elbows, pulling her pillow closer. “I wish I was. As far as I know, she’s one of the only ones still living in Faerywood Falls who is able to use any kind of necromancy.”
A chill ran down my spine at the word. “Summoning a ghost falls under that?” I asked, suddenly more nervous.
“Technically, yes, since it involves the dead,” Bliss said. “It’s frowned upon, but since some spell weavers are also ghost speakers, there are still lessons about these sorts of things. Some of the council wishes to ban necromancy all together. Delilah Griffin is in that camp, believe it or not. Despite being a less than pleasant person, she actually seems to have more sense than her late sister…which reminds me…” She sat upright, still cuddling her pillow against herself. “Delilah has now taken the third chair of the council of eleven.”
I blinked at her. “Wasn’t her sister on the council, too?”
Bliss nodded. “Delilah, though younger than her sister, might be even more powerful. The council recognizes that just like they did with Silvia, and offered her the open position.”
I sighed. “Why did it have to be her?”
“She’s horrible to be around, but…honestly? She’s a pretty good teacher,” Bliss said. “I’ve learned a lot from her in the last month or so.”
“And you weren’t going to tell me?” I asked.
“I’m not really allowed to talk about that stuff,” Bliss said. “And besides, I knew you’d be weird about it. Not like I don’t think it’s weird, too, but still.”
I glared at her. “You’re acting like I’m a child when it comes to these things.”
“No, it’s not that,” Bliss said. “I just figured you’d be happier not being reminded about her and her sister.”
I sighed heavily. “So she’s the only one I can ask about this kind of stuff?” I asked.
Bliss nodded. “As far as I know…yeah.”
“And there’s no way in a hundred years she’d help me…” I said. I paused, staring at a spot on Bliss’s woven rug on the floor that was slightly faded from years in the sunlight. “But she can summon a resting ghost?” I asked.
“She says she can,” Bliss said.
Silence fell over the room, and the only sound was Bliss’s clock ticking on the wall.
“Well, this is great,” I said sarcastically. “Not only is it her, but she’s probably totally unreachable to me.”
“Um…not necessarily,” Bliss said from her bed. Her legs were curled up underneath her, and she was peering at me intently.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
Bliss unfolded her legs and gracefully got off her bed. She walked to a spot on the wall that was blank, flanked on either side by a bookshelf and dresser. She stood in front of it, and lifted her hand into the air. When she snapped her fingers, a bright flash of purple light sparked just above her fingers.
A moment later, a spindly piece of wood appeared in the air and fell lightly into her hands. She held it out in front of herself and traced what looked like a doorway onto the blank wall.
As she moved the twig, light bubbled and shifted along the wall, converging together with the rest of the line, until I could see beyond it into a completely different place. The image was obscured, though, as the light bounced across the surface of the doorway like disturbed water churning and swelling in waves.
Bliss shot me a beaming smile. “Just hold on a second, okay? I’ll be right back.”
And she disappeared through the doorway.
I stared after her as she vanished into the watery light, and gaped, dumbfounded.
Slowly, I got to my feet and crossed to the shimmering colors on the wall. There was a quiet hum emanating from the waves rippling across the vertical surface. Bright sparkles of light flashed like the afternoon sun bouncing off a pond caressed by the wind.
I reached out to touch it, just to see what that light would feel like beneath my fingertips –
Stop right there, Marianne.
I blinked and looked down to see Athena tugging on my sock, her dark eyes glaring up a
t me. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
Touching strange magic, for one thing, Athena said. How do you know that it won’t hurt you in some way?
“It didn’t hurt Bliss,” I said.
But it’s her spell, Athena said. And how do you know that it might not try to take you somewhere different? Often times, these sorts of things are protected somehow. And she said she’d be right back, so let’s just wait, okay?
I sighed. “You’re probably right. Okay.”
I crossed to the desk chair and sat down again, but my eyes kept flickering over toward the door of light and waving colors.
So…Delilah is going to be making a reappearance in our lives, it seems…Athena said.
I folded my arms. “Of course it had to be her. It couldn’t be someone who is actually pleasant and willing to help. And to think that the council of eleven actually let her have one of their seats? Maybe this council isn’t as amazing as it’s cracked up to be…” I said.
If we do somehow manage to persuade her to work with us, we should do our best to get her on our good side, Athena said. A powerful spell weaver like her could be a very useful ally.
I pursed my lips. “I guess you’re right,” I said. “She’s just so unpredictable. That afternoon we met her…I couldn’t tell if she hated my guts or was just pretending to.”
It would be wise not to cross her, Athena said.
The glowing doorway suddenly shone bright, with beams of light jutting outward from it. A moment later, Bliss stepped back through.
She turned to look at me, and grinned.
“I’ve got some good news,” she said. “Do you remember when we talked about your spell weaving gift?”
“Yeah?” I said.
“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I talked with my mentor about you getting a chance to become a full spell weaver like me. Really you’d be an apprentice, at least to start out with,” she said.
My skin prickled, but it wasn’t unpleasant. “Really?” I asked.
Bliss nodded, still grinning. “And, good news, the council has agreed to meet you and evaluate you!”
My mouth hung open. “Just like that?” I asked.
“I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask Zara, and now seemed as good a time as any,” Bliss said. “Besides…if you really want to figure out who your mother is, and information about being a faery, then there’s no better place than the Hollow.”
3
I spent the next ten minutes grilling Bliss about this place she was planning to take me to. What was it like? What should I act like? Should I wear something special? All these things raced through my mind, and I found myself growing more and more nervous by the second.
“And aren’t I just a big fraud?” I asked. “I mean…I’m not really a spell weaver. I just stole a spell weaver’s gift.”
“Yeah, and a really good one,” Bliss said. “You’re probably going to be a natural if you managed to inherit her talent, too. Here – ” she tossed me what looked like a bathrobe that was a deep navy blue. “Put that on. Most people there dress just like normal humans, but this might be a little more fitting if you’re meeting with the council.”
I unfolded the garment. It was more like a tunic than a robe; sleeveless and with a thick brown belt wrapped around the middle of it. “Do I just put it on with my jeans?” I asked.
“Yeah, that should be fine,” Bliss said. She was pulling a pale, lilac colored one over her own head. “Again, not super necessary, but the other apprentices and I wear these to class sometimes.”
I tugged mine on, and turned to look at myself in the mirror. It looked nice with my mousy brown hair, which I pulled out from beneath the silky fabric and let fall loosely along my collarbone. The tunic hung almost to my knees, and as I stared, I noticed there was a very intricate, swirling design inlaid into the fabric in the exact same shade as the tunic itself.
“Magical protection,” Bliss said, catching me tracing some of the swirls with the tip of my finger. “Not that you probably have to worry too much, given you’re a faery, but it does pull from your own magical reserves.”
“Good to know,” I said.
“Alright, are we ready?” Bliss asked. The thin twig was back in her hand.
“Is that your wand?” I asked.
“Brand new,” Bliss said, grinning at it. “I actually got to sing it from one of the trees in the Hollow. It’s…not perfect, but it’s a lot stronger than my last one. I’ll get a chance to sing another one this next summer if I pass my evaluation.”
“It takes a lot of evaluations, being a spell weaver, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Bliss said. “You’ll see soon enough. Come on, we probably shouldn’t keep Zara waiting.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. “Alright, let’s go. Wait – ” I said, looking down at Athena. “She can come, right?”
“Of course.” Bliss chuckled.
She stepped up to the doorway and looked over at me. “You first.”
I frowned. “Okay, but how?” I asked. “Do I just – ”
“Walk through like you would any door, yeah,” Bliss said. “Just wait for me on the other side, okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, somewhat lightheaded with nerves.
I stepped up to the door, and tried to see past the colors that rocked back and forth like the ocean’s surf. Hesitantly, I reached out with my fingers, just like I had before…and touched the surface.
It didn’t feel like anything, at least not anything that my nerve endings could detect. But the magic that washed through me flared to life like it was touched by a live wire. My whole insides seemed to reverberate with it.
“Are you ready, Athena?” I asked, looking down at the fox.
She blinked slowly up at me. Whenever you are. I’m right here with you.
I smiled, and holding a breath, I stepped through.
It was like being washed in love. Or hope. Or joy. Instead of feeling it on my face or hands, I felt it within me. Like all the heaviness being washed away from me. All the worries were pulled off me like a wet jacket after returning home.
The next step I took, I found myself in an entirely new place, a place I would never have been able to imagine.
It was a cave, but it wasn’t dark. Stones jutted down from the ceiling and moss covered the floor, but there were hunks of crystals set in brass fixtures all around, glowing and flickering like flames lived inside each one.
As I turned, I realized that the doorway Bliss had created wasn’t the only one. There were many rocks with almost perfectly flat faces that stood upright in the cave’s floor, almost like teeth inside a great monster. Some of these giant stones were nothing more than that, while others had glittering, magical doors just like the one I’d stepped through.
This place…Athena said. I’ve…I’ve been here in my dreams.
I sort of understood what she meant. It felt so familiar in a way that I couldn’t explain…
“Tada,” Bliss said behind me. I turned to see her smiling as she pulled a pointed, wide-brimmed hat onto her head. “How cool is that?”
“It’s incredible,” I said. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“This is nothing,” Bliss said. “Follow me.”
She stared toward a bright spot ahead, where the mouth of the cave surely was.
Our shoes squished against the spongy moss, which was pleasant and comforting on the soles of my feet. We stepped through a narrower tunnel, and there was a bright light pooling just up ahead.
Bliss kept turning around and smiling at me, eager to see my reactions to this magnificent place. I was pretty sure I was just staring around in wonder, my eyes huge as I tried to take in as much of it all as I could.
The light became brighter as we reached the mouth of the cave, and as we stepped out into it, my jaw fell open.
“Wow…”
We were standing in the middle of a huge forest, but it wasn’t just any forest. The trees themselves were blue, ric
h and shining like cut sapphires. And their leaves, high, high overhead were golden and glittering in the bright light of the sun.
But perhaps the most astonishing thing about those trees was that they stood so tall, so wide around that full skyscrapers a dozen or so stories high could have easily fit inside them.
“Welcome to the Hollow,” Bliss said like a good tour guide. She giggled and gestured around. “Here is the fabled magical realm of the spell weavers. Pretty neat, huh?”
“Neat doesn’t even begin to cut it…” I murmured, staring straight upward. The leaves had to be the size of my SUV, and the harder I looked, I realized there were bridges spanning between some of the trees, just a lot higher up, and so crystal clear that I’d almost missed them entirely.
There was an earthy scent that hung in the air, too. But it wasn’t like dirt or moss. It was warmer than that, like a blanket drenched in sunlight, or a bouquet of dried flowers in the dead of winter. It was comforting. It made me feel at peace.
It was warm, too, which was a relief after the chilly fall air back in Faerywood Falls. There was no sign of winter here; if anything, it was as if we’d stepped out into the most perfect spring day ever witnessed.
It’s no wonder the spell weavers wish to keep this place a secret, Athena said. It’s astounding. Can you imagine if ordinary humans discovered it?
I looked at Bliss, my mind buzzing.
“I just don’t understand…” I said. “How in the world does this place even exist?”
“Well, I’m not really all that sure myself, to be honest,” Bliss said. “But the first time I came here, Zara told me that this is what Faerywood Falls used to look like. So, whether we are inside a time warp or some kind of magical replica, I have no idea.”
I stared around. There were a lot of people wandering between the trees, and especially in and out of them. I realized there must have been doors to a lot of these trees that were just about impossible to see from where we stood.
“Come on, let me show you around,” Bliss said.
I fell into step beside her, walking through the brilliant green grass that was dotted with tiny white flowers and pebbles, as she pointed out buildings to Athena and me.
