Violet Wings

  FAIRIES AND GENIES LEARN VERY YOUNG TO RATION THEIR RADIA SO THAT THEY WILL NOT RUN OUT. FOR THIS REASON, SPELL-MAKING IS A SMALL PART OF DAILY LIFE IN FEYLAND. ONLY THE MOST RECKLESS ARE WILLING TO SQUANDER THEIR RADIA ON UNNECESSARY ENCHANTMENTS. FEW ENCHANTMENTS ARE TRULY NECESSARY.

  INBORN MAGIC, ONCE USED, CANNOT BE REGENERATED.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

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  Beryl continued frowning at Leona and me, another figure stepped out from behind a pillar. Bloodstone. His gray skin stretched tightly across his cheekbones, and his thin mouth was like a slash carved in stone.

  For once, I paid no attention to him. "Beryl, are you saying you know how my parents ... died?" My voice failed on the last word.

  "I am saying they took careless risks, just as you have done."

  "They weren't careless!" But looking at her face, I began to wonder.

  Bloodstone cut in. "Your nonsense today has made both Miss Danburite and myself a full degree poorer than we were this morning." He shook his crystal watch in my face but didn't open the watch-face cover, so I couldn't see his radia reserves. He and Beryl were both Yellow. Had they really used a thousand radia each? That was a lot to lose. Too much. Quaking, I didn't dare glance at Leona.

  "To correct your mistakes, Mr. Bloodstone and I had to reshuffle the entire schedule of the viewing station," Beryl fumed, "so that we could access the sending ports."

  What was she talking about?

  "We had to use scopes to place emergency forgetting spells on every person on Earth who saw you," Bloodstone said, scowling.

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  "Down to the last child," Beryl explained. "As your teachers, we are responsible for you."

  "To make matters worse," Bloodstone continued, "it was no ordinary fairy who reported you today. It was a member of the High Council, Lily Morganite."

  The name meant nothing to me, but then I had never learned much about the Council. When I heard Leona gasp, I realized this was serious.

  "I'm sorry," I said desperately. "So sorry."

  "Sorry? Zaria, have I taught you nothing?" Beryl's voice rose. "You are clearly not ready to receive your crystal watch and your wand. Nor are you, Leona. You must both wait another year."

  Leona flinched. "I turned fourteen six months ago. I've already been waiting--"

  "Miss Danburite," Bloodstone said. "Surely that would be an overly harsh punishment for Leona?"

  Beryl whirled on him. "These two fairies have displayed contempt for the rules we have taught them. Can you imagine what they might have done if they had carried wands'?"

  Bloodstone glowered. "I agree that Zaria showed bad judgment instigating a journey to Earth," he said. "By all means, postpone her watch and wand for another year. But I have no doubt that Leona was merely trying to help a silly friend."

  Leona shook her head. "7 urged Zaria to go."

  "Taking the blame for both of you is noble," Bloodstone

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  replied. "But I know the signs of an Earth-struck fairy. Zaria showed those signs--not you, Leona." He gave me a look of disgust as I painfully rose from the sand. My torso felt bruised.

  "What happened, Zaria?" Beryl asked.

  I looked down, not answering, not wanting to meet her eyes.

  "The girls are equally guilty," she announced. "They must be equally punished."

  "A mistake," Bloodstone told her. "However, if you insist on the same punishment, let these foolish fairies receive their watches and wands tomorrow--but with iron bands around their wings."

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  CHAPTER NINE

  IT IS AGONIZING TO FEY FOLK TO TOUCH ANYTHING made of solid iron, for it interferes with magic, and fey folk are magical beings.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  I could hardly believe it. Why would Bloodstone agree to any punishment for Leona, the niece he doted on? Not only punishment, but severe punishment. It must have something to do with me. He had never approved of our friendship. Did he hope to ruin it?

  Up to that moment, my only experience of iron was from the staff Beryl still held. I could still feel the stinging ache where it had hit my chest. I had no trouble believing that iron bands around my wings would inflict horrible pain.

  I watched Beryl anxiously, waiting for her answer. I dreaded the iron, but I would rather endure a day of pain than wait another year for my watch and wand.

  Beryl stood silent; it was Leona who spoke. "You want me to be ironbound in front of the magistria of the Council?" Twilight turned her silver -wings the color of lead.

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  "Let it be a lesson to you," Bloodstone answered, "not to follow Earth-struck fairies. Miss Danburite? Do you approve?"

  I was sure she wouldn't, but Beryl surprised me. "Very well."

  My guardian made no move to intervene as Bloodstone drew on thick gloves and then brought out a band of iron set with a titanium clasp. Fiend! He must have planned this before he arrived.

  "Turn around, Zaria," he ordered. "And fold your wings."

  I heard a snap as the band closed around the base of my wings. It felt very cold, but not the sort of cold that numbs; it was a cold that clung and spread like cracks through broken glass, filled with slivers of piercing pain.

  "In one week, if you do not break the law again, I will remove the bands," said Bloodstone.

  A week! I had thought it would be only a day.

  I didn't watch as Bloodstone bound Leona.

  "Neither of you will speak of your crime," he said. "If you do, your punishment will be extended. And tell us: which portal did you use?"

  Leona must have been in agony, but she answered quietly. "A small portal in the Golden Station."

  "Did no one stop you?" he demanded. "It should have been obvious that you are much too young to journey to Earth."

  "No one seemed to notice us," she said.

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  Our teachers exchanged glances and then drifted a little ways off. Bloodstone began waving his arms furiously, while Beryl frowned and clutched her wand.

  "I'll never forgive them," Leona said. "Never." Her eyes in the fading light looked as leaden as her fettered wings. Im sorry.

  "It wasn't your fault."

  It was taking all my strength just to withstand the pain from the iron. With each small tremor in my wings, I thought I would shatter.

  "It's lucky we found the portal through the Golden Station," Leona whispered. "Otherwise the one who caught us on Earth might have watched us go back through Galena. And if the Council ever found out that my mother had made a portal in Galena, who knows what they would do?"

  Just then Bloodstone raised his voice slightly. I strained to hear.

  "I do not understand why the most talented fairy in our class would befriend that dim little orphan...."

  "Boris!" Beryl's angry whisper was perfectly clear.

  "You cannot have failed to observe that Leona is exceptional."

  Beryl surprised me by sticking up for me. "So is Zaria."

  "Acting as Zaria's guardian has truly blinded you," Bloodstone retorted. "She is as foolish as the rest of her family."

  "Lower your voice...."

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  They drifted a little farther away, and I could no longer hear their words.

  Leona looked at me. "He's a trog," she said.

  "A rotten trog," I answered, wishing the Troll King could reach into Galena and pluck Bloodstone out of our lives. Maybe he could be adopted by a tribe who needed a servant.

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  CHAPTER TEN

  EACH COLOR IN A CRYSTAL WATCH CONTAINS TEN DEGREES AND REPRESENTS MORE RADIA THAN THE PRECEDING COLOR BY A FACTOR OF TEN.

  THE FIRST DEGREE OF RED INDICATES TEN RADIA IN RESERVE; THE TENTH DEGREE OF RED INDICATES ONE HUNDRED RADIA. (NOWADAYS, 89 PERCENT OF FAIRIES OR GENIES REGISTER AS RED.)

  THE ORANGE ZONE RANGES FROM ONE HUNDRED RADIA TO ONE THOUSAND RADIA.

  YELLOW RANGES FROM ONE THOUSAND TO TEN THOUSAND.

/>   GREEN RANGES FROM TEN THOUSAND TO ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND.

  BLUE RANGES FROM ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TO ONE MILLION.

  VIOLET RANGES FROM ONE MILLION TO TEN MILLION RADIA. (ANCIENT LORE INSISTS THAT ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE MORE THAN A FEWVLOLET FAIRIES AND GENIES, BUT NO ONE HAS SEEN THE LIKES OF THEM IN CENTURIES.)

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

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  Blood stone decided to escort Leona home. I didn't envy her his company on the long walk.

  My walk was a little shorter, in another direction. Beryl glided ahead of me as I made my way on foot toward the house we shared, the house that stood oddly alone in Galena. My parents, Gilead and Cinna Tourmaline, had been fond of seclusion. When my brother Jett was expected, my mother and father, like all parents, were required to move to Galena. But they built our home on a lonely bar of land beside a large sonnia field, away from the larger community. No one had ever told me why.

  It seemed that no one told me much of anything I wanted to know.

  As I shuffled painfully along the sandy track leading home, I suddenly had a vivid memory of when I was seven. Jett had turned fourteen and received his watch and wand. My father had followed tradition, calling out my brother's color from the rooftop even though there were no families nearby to hear. "Green!" my father had shouted. "Our son is a Green genie."

  Another memory moved to the surface of my mind and popped open like a bubble. I heard Jett saying, "When a prism splits light, Zaree, we see the beauty of the spectrum. But crystal watches divide fey folk in an ugly way."

  And the last time I had seen him, Jett told me Feyland

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  was about to change. "For good," he had said with a wide smile. "For good."

  "Beryl," I called. "Beryl, wait for me."

  She stopped and turned. By starlight, the lines in her face seemed deeper, etching her long chin and short nose. "What a dreadful day," she said, sighing.

  "Tell me about my family."

  "Not now, Zaria."

  "I deserve to know!"

  "Not now."

  "Do you think my mother would have let Bloodstone bind my wings with iron?" I burst out. "You think my father would have let this happen?"

  She flashed me a look of anger. "Why did you go to Earth?"

  "Why won't you tell me!" I shrieked.

  She turned away and hurried ahead, leaving me to stumble on alone.

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  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  IT IS A FATEFUL DAY WHEN YOUNG FAIRIES AND GENIES RECEIVE THEIR CRYSTAL WATCHES AND THEIR WANDS. ON THAT DAY, THEY LEARN EXACTLY WHAT THEIR INBORN LEVEL OF MAGIC IS, AND THEY LEARN THEIR COLOR OF RADIA RESERVES. THIS KNOWLEDGE WILL AFFECT THEM FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  My wings throbbed all night, spreading pain throughout my body. By morning I could barely lift my arms.

  I staggered out of my nest. If it had been any other day, I could not have found the strength. But I had to go to Oberon City with my class to get our watches and wands. I had looked forward to it ever since I understood the meaning of radia.

  Beryl handed me a glass of fresh sonnia juice. "It will ease the pain," she said.

  She must have gathered the flowers very early. She gazed at me through dull eyes as I downed it. It helped a little, but I didn't thank her.

  She said nothing else, not even a good-bye as I left.

  Outside, Leona waited for me beside the field of sonnia,

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  her face drawn with pain. I snatched a handful of red flowers and thrust them at her. "Eat these. It helps."

  Leona stuffed scarlet petals into her mouth. "Thanks," she murmured.

  Meteor and Andalonus touched down nearby.

  Andalonus twisted his nose. "Bound wings?" he said. "Do I smell trouble?"

  Meteor didn't see anything amusing. He frowned. "What did you do?" he asked.

  "Nothing!" Leona yelled.

  "Nothing?" I imagined how Jenna, the little human girl I'd met the day before, would see Meteor. He'd look frightening. His white eyebrows stood out against his dark skin; when he frowned, they met across his nose.

  "We can't tell you," I said.

  "Today of all days. "A lock of his black-and-white-striped hair fell into his eyes. "What did you Jo?"

  "Can't tell." I gave him a meaningful glare.

  Andalonus stepped behind me. "Oberon's Crown! Is that iron?"

  Meteor's eyes went wide, then locked on my face. "Iron?"

  "Bloodstone," I told him.

  Andalonus slid behind Leona. He had lost his smile completely. "Bloodstone did this?" He pointed at her wings.

  For once, Meteor was speechless, but at least he took some action. He turned his back to me and crouched.

  "Hold on to my shoulders," he said. "I'll carry you."

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  I made an awkward leap onto his back. I wrenched my wings and had to choke down a scream but I hung on, and he floated gently forward, keeping close to the ground.

  Andalonus offered his back to Leona. For a minute I thought she'd refuse, but she let him help her.

  Silently, we headed toward our fate.

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  CHAPTER TWELVE

  DURABLE SPELLS WERE PUT INTO PLACE BY THE Ancients for the benefit of everyone in Feyland. Such spells allow the operation of viewing scopes, fortify appropriate barriers between territories, and protect fey children.

  DURABLE SPELLS ARE EMBEDDED IN THE GATEWAY of Galena. Only parents, children, mentors, and teachers are allowed into Galena. (Members of the High Council may pay the occasional visit for urgent matters involving the welfare of

  CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS.) If ANYONE ELSE TRIES TO ENTER, OR IF ANY CHILDREN ATTEMPT TO LEAVE, THE GATEWAY ALARM WILL SOUND AND CALL FORTH THE EVER-WAITING GUARDS.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  The dome that housed the Fey Order of Magic (better

  known as FOOM) gleamed gold and silver and platinum, edged with copper, and studded with gemstones. A giant ruby in the shape of a pyramid slowly revolved at the very top.

  Going inside was like entering a prism, for the walls

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  were hewn from crystal. Sunlight shining through filled the entryway with every color of the spectrum. Lush carpets of red, orange, and yellow covered the floor.

  More disgrace awaited Leona and me. While our classmates floated up the central space, Leona and I were directed to a spiral ramp. I believe Leona felt the shame of our bound wings more deeply than I, but she kept her eyes ahead as we toiled upward on foot and at last were ushered into a circular room.

  Of course the entire class was already assembled and waiting when we entered. I hoped to avoid attention, but that was impossible.

  Across the room, seated at a marble table, were three members of the High Council of Feyland, and although Beryl had prepared me for this moment, I was still awed to be in their presence--and very embarrassed about my ironbound wings.

  In the central place of honor was a hefty fairy with black wings and extremely white skin. Suspended from a gold chain around her neck was a large square ruby carved with the crest of Oberon. I figured this must be the Magistria Hedda Lodestone, leader of the Council and the most important fairy in the land, after Queen Velleron.

  To her left, I recognized Councilor Zircon, Meteor's father. Like his son, he had green eyes, but his lips and nose were rather thin and his white hair had no stripes. His skin was not the rich ebony of Meteor's; it was pale and shiny like

  49

  onyx. Another of the rubies of Oberon adorned his wrist.

  And on the magistria's right was Councilor Wolframite, the genie who five years earlier had delivered the news that my family had been declared indeterminum detu. He looked much as he had when I had last seen him. The ruby on his wrist contrasted with his orange skin. He was scratching his bulbous nose.

  In front of the councilors knelt our teachers.


  My eyes were drawn to nine fairies and genies who hovered just behind the councilors. Their faces might have been quarried from rock for all the expression they showed. They wore gold robes, and each held a wand poised and ready. The tallest of them stood directly behind Magistria Lodestone, his eyes roving vigilantly over the room.

  This must be the Radia Guard, here to ensure that no one misused magic.

  The fairies and genies in front of Leona and me moved aside, leaving us exposed to the gaze of the councilors. I bowed as best I could, which caused new splinters of pain to dig deep into my spine. I tried not to grimace. Leona bowed, too.

  Magistria Lodestone spoke in a piercing voice. "Leona Bloodstone and Zaria Tourmaline?"

  "Yes, Magistria," Leona answered.

  The black-winged fairy's stare hardened. "You presume to attend this ceremony, and yet you are under punishment for breaking Fey laws."

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  "We apologize," Leona said.

  "By rights," the magistria answered, "you should wait another year for your watches and wands, but because your teachers have vouched for you, we have agreed that you may receive them today."

  My eyes flew to Bloodstone. He was still kneeling, and he looked even more rigid than ever. I wondered how much he had hated vouching for me.

  "See that you do not transgress again," the magistria said.

  Leona and I bowed humbly. Our teachers rose and stood on either side of the marble table.

  I was grateful when the magistria shifted her attention to the whole class.

  "We are gathered here today," she intoned, "because all of you have attained the age of fourteen, and your teachers have vouched for your progress. This is a solemn moment that marks the beginning of your magical development. In the years to come, you will learn to make the most of your powers, so that you may become responsible members of Feyland. Remember that magic is an important treasure, never to be wasted or treated lightly."

  As a group, the class bowed low.