Find Me: Faeries Lost

Chapter Eleven

  Pandimora crawled on her knees to where Drew lay motionless in the destruction of his living room. Carefully, she removed a beam and pieces of the ceiling from across his chest. Breathing hard, her panic escalated when he remained unmoving. She could see a deep purpling began under his ribs and extend up into his chest area. She pushed back the tears. Could he be hurt inside, his organs crushed?

  "Drew?" she touched his pale cheek but there was no response. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the beat of his heart. Distressed, she bit back a cry. She could feel his life force ebbing and knew he was close to death.

  She looked around wildly, not certain what had caused the explosion or even if there was still a threat. Something had rocked the house apart and now there was absolute silence as the snow fell on them from a hole in the roof, coating everything in white. She expected to see the elder arrive at any moment, yet a stillness hung around them. The elder wanted to kill Drew, knowing how much he meant to her. She bit her lips to keep from crying.

  Drew's skin began to take on a frightening gray tinge. He needed immediate care. A human hospital? No, instinct told her he would die by the time he got there. That left the healing sanctuary, but was it safe? Sometimes humans did not react favorably to faerie healing. She also knew there was only one chance. If it failed, he would surely die.

  She tried to materialize a portal. Frustrated, she tried again but nothing happened. Her entire life she'd known how to conjure a portal in any dimension but something was terribly wrong. Had Irfin taken everything from them or was it the elder working magic from the faerie realm?

  Pandimora ran into the bedroom and pulled a blanket off the bed to cover Drew, then she quickly moved into the kitchen, but the devices that had been on the counter were gone. She hadn't seen Irfin take them earlier, even though he'd asked about them. She ran her hand over the smooth counter top then realized the explosion had bounced them into the sink. She grabbed both devices with relief and ran back to Drew. The tremors shaking his body frightened her.

  "Drew. I need to get you to a safe place, but I can't conjure a portal and I'm afraid you'll die if you stay here. Tell me what to do in your world." He remained unresponsive. Carefully, she tucked the blanket around him, placed her body over his without putting weight on him, and with a device in each hand, closed her eyes and squeezed the discs.

  When she opened her eyes they were at Dell's Bridge, the snow swirling madly around them. She closed her eyes and squeezed the discs again, concentrating on gaining entry to the sanctuary.

  Pandimora opened her eyes to a warm, gentle wind. Several small faeries lifted Drew weightlessly and carried him with them. Pandimora ran after them as they whisked him through amber-lit shadows, golden light spilling down as they moved to an open pool of water. Pandimora clenched her fists agitatedly, hoping they were in time. She couldn't lose him. Had it taken this terrible event where he hovered near death, for her to realize how she felt about him? She bit her fist. She couldn't lose him now!

  The faeries suspended Drew on his back in the healing waters, a pool with white curls of electricity along its surface, moving to enclose Drew in a protective embrace. His strongly muscled arms and legs did not move, nor did his eyes open. Pandimora held her breath, waiting for a sign that he was still alive. The purpled skin was now almost black across his chest. His fingertips, toes and lips were a frightening shade of blue.

  The faeries moved past her, dusting the moss-covered ground with faerie dust. Pandimora realized they were removing Drew's scent from the ground he had passed over.

  "Will he be safe here?" she asked anxiously, looking around the beautiful forest and into the shadows. Could there be danger lurking even in this peaceful sanctuary?

  The smallest faerie looked up from her task, her short blonde hair falling into her sparkling eyes. "There is nothing else you can do," she said, her voice sympathetic but firm. "If anything can save him, it will be this. Let the waters weave their magic."

  As she stared at Drew, Pandimora felt torn. She didn't want to leave him but she knew the crystal had to be recovered. Aisywel and, indeed, all dimensions could be at risk with Irfin having taken it. If he gave it to the elder, all would be lost. Pandimora shivered with fear. She'd seen the future the elder envisioned.

  She hated to admit it, but Drew might be right about Irfin being involved with the elder. How had she thought Irfin sincere? Had the elder and Irfin set her and Drew up to retrieve the crystal and had now decided their usefulness was at an end?

  Pandimora sank down to the mossy ground as deep blue twilight fell over the sanctuary. A rich essence of nurturing souls flitted around her. Beautiful twinkling stars shone overhead, and a warm breeze caressed her cheeks. The sanctuary emulated Aisywel so well that an intense wave of homesickness hit Pandimora. She thought of the loss of her family, her home and her identity. How had she thought she, a lone faerie, could ever find the truth held by beings far superior in strength and age? She felt no nearer the truth than when she'd first been ousted from her dear home.

  And now Drew, a mortal who held her heart in his hands, teetered on the brink of death. How had she thought she could become involved with him and then leave?

  There was a thin line for a human between survival and letting go as a body system deteriorated, the blood stopped supplying life to major organs, and the body shut down. The thought of losing Drew doubled her over with the pain. Pandimora tried to catch her breath, but emotions and thoughts she had never experienced before hit her squarely between the eyes. As trees lovingly formed an umbrella around her, she wept, the sobs wrenching and deep, incapacitating her as full realization embedded itself: she stood on the verge of losing everything she'd thought was hers to love. She cried tears for the familial love she could have had, for the loss of loving arms, and for the small child she'd been, and lastly for the memories that had been stolen away.

  When eventually the storm of emotion abated, Pandimora slowly became cognizant of her surroundings, the tree now against her back, the light ever changing from twilight to dawn, twilight and dawn again. Where did a faerie go to find answers no longer available? As rich gilded light crept under the tree's sheltering limbs, Pandimora stretched her legs, the sun's golden light bathing her in its warm, healing rays. Somehow, she felt the filtering of a new strength within and she had to wonder if this sanctuary also healed emotions of loss and despair.

  Taking a slow, measured breath, Pandimora came to her feet. She had a choice to make. Stay here with Drew or continue the search for the crystal. It was no longer just her longing to know the truth about her family; it now involved the lives of all living beings. And the heartbreaking truth was Drew would be safer if she was not in his life.

  She looked toward Drew, the waters holding him now an effervescent bubbling green. His skin no longer had the horrible gray tinge but his condition still scared her. He could easily die, even in this beautiful sanctuary.

  "Goodbye, Drew."