Then Ali brought down the power.
She willed it toward the earth, pressing on the clouds from above, as if they were giant wet rags she could squeeze with a magical hand.
It began to pour.
She opened her eyes and smiled as the rain washed over her face. The cold no longer bothered her. The fire would be out in a few minutes, and then she would turn off the water and rescue the guys.
Earth, water, fire—all three were at her command now. Sure, the dark fairies had started out the night on the winning side, but they were going to be toast when she got through with them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
In a hurry to reach Overhang, feeling confident in her powers, Ali decided to risk a return to the path and head north from there. She did not use her newfound abilities to push away the clouds, however, but after the brief hard rain, the clouds cleared on their own and the moon came out. The forest that had been a nightmare an hour ago was now a place of magic again.
Cindy walked in front with Ali, the troll trailing thirty feet behind. The rain had improved his smell but he was still a noseful. Ali had decided to let him keep her sweater for the time being. She didn’t want to handle it until she was close to a washing machine. The troll slobbered as he walked and occasionally belched, but he was remarkably well behaved.
“I have a question,” Cindy said when they had hiked for a few minutes.
“I can guess it,” Ali muttered.
“Why have we invited a troll to join our expedition?”
“He’s strong. He’s on our side now.”
“He could kill us while we sleep!”
“I don’t think so.”
“What if you think wrong?”
“Cindy, you think. The troll is an elemental, like Paddy. He probably knows stuff we need to know.”
“You act like trolls have a sense of loyalty. That’s a pretty big assumption. Your saving his life might mean nothing to him.”
“I’ll ask Paddy about troll loyalties when I see him.”
“You can’t go to a leprechaun to get advice about a troll. That’s like asking a lion if a tiger is safe to wrestle with.”
Ali chuckled. “Hey, that’s pretty funny.”
“Thank you. Have you asked why he has your sweater?”
“Good question.” Ali stopped and called to the troll. The creature lumbered up beside them, his huge yellow eyes glowing in the dark. She pointed to the sweater. “Did you find that in the woods?” she asked.
He nodded. “Found,” he said.
“You found it when you were chasing me the other day?”
He nodded. “Hungry.”
“You were hungry the other day? That’s why you chased me?”
“Huh.”
“Is that yes?”
He nodded. “Huh.”
“Why did you keep the sweater?” she asked.
The troll touched it lovingly. “Pretty,” he said.
“You kept the sweater because it’s pretty?”
“Huh.” He pointed to her. “Pretty.”
Cindy giggled. “He thinks you’re pretty like the sweater.”
Ali blushed. “I’m not pretty to a troll.”
The troll kept gesturing to her and the sweater. “Pretty,” he said again.
Cindy cackled. “The troll has a crush on you!”
“Stop that!” Ali snapped. “It’s a misunderstanding.” She spoke to the troll. “Do you have a name?”
“Huh.”
“What’s your name?”
“Fart.”
Cindy clapped her hands. “Perfect!”
“Calm down, would you? Fart, do you have another name?”
He was confused. “Fart. Fart.”
“Do you have a Christian name? A last name?”
“He’s a troll, not a person. Of course he doesn’t have a Christian name,” Cindy said.
“I was just asking.” Ali felt frustrated. “We can’t call you Fart. It’s not a nice name.” She got an idea. “What if we call you Farble?”
The troll nodded. “Farble Fart.”
“No, just Farble. How do you like it?”
The troll thought a moment. “Mean?”
“No, it’s not a mean name. Oh, I see what you mean. What does the name mean?”
The troll nodded. “Huh.”
Ali considered. “Well, Farble means . . . he who is strong and brave. Yeah, that’s what it means.”
For the first time the troll smiled. With his green spit, yellow teeth, and bad breath, it was a rather gruesome affair. But Ali felt encouraged.
“Farble. Farble,” the troll repeated. He liked the sound of it.
“Farble,” Ali said, pointing to her chest. “My name is Ali. And this is Cindy. Ali and Cindy. Do you understand, Farble?”
“Cindy. Ali.” He nodded. “Geea.”
“Geea? Where does he get that? No, my name is just Ali.”
For some reason he touched her sweater. “Geea.”
“Ali. Ali.” She tapped her chest. “Ali.”
“Huh.” Farble nodded and tried to give her back the sweater. She stopped him.
“You keep it for now,” she said.
Farble’s eyes glowed brighter. Maybe he thought she was giving it to him as a present. He hugged the sweater to his chest. “Geea,” he said.
Ali turned to Cindy. “How’s your arm feeling?”
“Don’t even ask.”
“I ask because we have to get to Overhang as fast as possible and I’m worried about you hiking for an hour straight.”
Cindy shrugged. “We have no choice.”
“We do. Farble can carry you.”
“What? He stinks!”
“Fart,” Farble said.
“Please, your name is Farble. Cindy, we’ve hiked ten minutes up the path and already you’re breathing hard. The guys could still be in danger. I feel bad enough taking this short break. We can’t have another. Let Farble carry you. You can always wash off later in the river.”
“But what if Farble doesn’t want to carry me?” Cindy complained.
The troll appeared to understand. Bending down, he picked Cindy up. He was ten feet tall; she looked like an infant in his arms.
“Hey!” Cindy cried.
“Cindy,” he said. “Farble.”
Ali laughed. “It’s you he likes! Come, we have to hurry!”
Her vow to hike steadily proved impossible to keep. The terrain grew steeper. She was forced to stop several times to catch her breath. Her powers had deserted her again. She didn’t like it that there had to be a crisis for her magic to work. But maybe there was a reason behind the rule.
It was nice to see Cindy at ease in Farble’s arms. The troll was so careful with her, Cindy even dozed. To Ali he seemed more like a friendly giant than a man-eating monster.
But she knew she had to be on guard against trusting an elemental just because he looked cute. They were here to wipe humanity out. Still—like when she decided to enlist Paddy’s help—there was something inside her that told her to bring the troll.
She needed to understand the elementals better if she was to heal the gap between them and humanity. Even if she managed to reach the Yanti in time, and close it, she knew the problems between the two dimensions would still exist. Nemi had told her as much.
Cindy stirred in Farble’s arms. “You never told me how you walked through the fire?” she asked Ali.
“It was the test of fire. I told you a little about them while we were hiking. With each test I pass, I gain control over that particular element.”
“What did you do to pass this test?” Cindy asked.
“Rescued Farble.”
“And that gave you control over fire?”
“I think so,” Ali said.
“But you had to have control over it to rescue him in the first place?”
“I think it was enough that I braved the fire for Farble.”
“Sounds mystical to me.” Cindy shook her head and
added, “I think I liked you better when you were just my best friend.”
Cindy was teasing, sort of, but the remark hurt Ali. Did becoming powerful mean she would lose her friends? Did people who discovered magic always have to pay a price?
Ali pushed the pace. The moon, although bright, was sinking toward the horizon. The sun was less than two hours away. Karl’s map was not in his pack, and she had to steer by memory alone. But with the clouds gone she at least had landmarks.
She remembered that Overhang was half a mile west of the path, and she knew that Karl had planned to veer to the left when they reached the top of the second ridge, which was just ahead. She kept praying that the guys had reached Overhang and were safe.
That hope faded as they crested the next ridge. Up ahead they saw flashes of red light. Seeing the weapons of the dark fairies at work, Cindy climbed down from Farble’s arms. The red flashes could only be directed at the guys.
“The guys must already be at Overhang,” Cindy said. “The dark fairies must have them trapped there.”
“Probably,” Ali agreed.
“Can you do anything to help them from here?” Cindy asked.
“I don’t know.” Ali closed her eyes and willed a tongue of flame to whip across the valley and strike the dark fairies. She imagined it clearly in her mind, put all her energy into it.
Nothing happened.
“We have to get closer,” she said to Cindy. “I’m pretty sure I can at least deflect their fire stones.”
“You might want to get your hands on some of those stones,” Cindy suggested.
They hurried on. Cindy’s idea stayed with Ali.
The weapons could come in handy, she thought.
The terrain finally gave them a break; they got to go downhill for a while. Cindy half jogged alongside Ali, with Farble loping behind. Except for twice saying how hungry he was, the troll did not complain.
They approached Overhang from the east. Ali kept them in the shadows, close to the rock wall. They could see the dark fairies up ahead, hovering like a swarm of black bees above the rocky ledge. Cindy was probably right—the guys had reached Overhang only to get trapped inside.
Ali knelt and picked up a rock.
“What are you going to do?” Cindy whispered.
“Get some of those fire stones,” she said.
Without the pressure of the fire bolts sparking her hair, Ali was able to take careful aim. Even before she let go of the rock, she felt the power build in her muscles. Her stone flew like it had been shot out of a cannon. The closest of the dark fairies took it in the head and dropped like a swatted fly.
“Let’s go!” Ali shouted as they ran forward. Of course the fairy’s friends saw what she had done. The creatures were on them in seconds, hissing above like a swarm of black wraiths hatched from an evil tomb.
Inside, Ali reached for her power, felt it whirl through her entire body and then spin above her head like a cyclone made of living energy. There was a new element in the force field; it was much different than the one she had invoked before to keep out the rain. It glistened with ghostly fire. Tiny orange suns cracked and burst all around like boxes full of sparklers that had been tossed into the air.
The fire element was indeed under her command. Ali was not surprised when the dark fairies’ red bolts were deflected harmlessly off to the side.
Yet it was odd how quickly the dark fairies realized what she had done. That surprised her. They fired only two shots before stopping. It was as if they had seen that trick before.
Still, they followed, a hundred feet overhead. The sound of their anger made Ali nauseous. Farble, also, appeared frightened. She had to hold his hand to get him to come.
The wounded fairy lay in a crumpled pile on top of a large boulder. It twitched as they approached, raised its head, but it was clear it could not fly. Its left wing was twisted at an awkward angle and a sickly purple fluid leaked from the side of its egg-shaped skull. The light of its eyes glowed a wicked red, but even that light faded in and out as they drew close.
The creature appeared a cross between a human, a lizard, and a bat—probably closest to the last. Coated with black scales, the fairy had claws instead of fingers, and a long dark tongue that lashed out as they came near.
“Death!” it hissed at them in a foul voice.
“Yeah, right. You’re going to die, Snake Face,” Cindy said.
“Shh!” Ali cautioned. The fairy had dropped its fire stones. They lay in the dirt at its feet, smoldering like hot coals that needed only a splash of fuel to ignite.
But above, the flock of dark fairies drew closer. They saw what she saw, and probably guessed what she was up to. They could swoop in at any second, rescue their fallen partner and the deadly weapons.
Why did they hesitate? They must be afraid of her.
Letting go of Farble’s hand and easing the pack off her back, Ali knelt and picked up a rock. The dark fairies—there were four now—hovered above her energy umbrella. She could feel how high up it reached; it seemed they could as well.
They hissed as she stood and cocked her arm to fire. Quickly, they withdrew farther, like bees moving away from a poison flower. Was that how they saw her? Could she use their fear of her against them?
“I’m taking the fire stones!” she shouted. “In exchange you can have your friend back!”
They hissed, and their translucent wings moved in a dizzy blur. But they did not change position. Ali kept her rock ready.
“Cindy,” she said quietly. “Go get the stones.”
“Me? What if Snake Face tries to bite me?”
“Cindy,” Ali said with a note of impatience. “I don’t know how long I can hold them off. Take the backpack and kick the stones into it and let’s get out of here. Hurry!”
Cindy stepped forward and used her feet to shove the stones into the pack. They were not large; they could have fit in the palm of their hands. Ali was not even sure if they were hot. Nervous, Cindy shoved a fair amount of dirt into the pack as well. Then, to top things off, she kicked a clot of mud in the wounded fairy’s face.
“That’s what you get for burning my arm!” she shouted.
Cindy hurried back. Farble patted her on the back and Cindy smiled. Her rock still held ready, Ali began to lead her friends away from the scene.
“Stay away from us!” she shouted. “If you come back again, you’ll all die!”
The dark fairies buzzed loudly. But they did not descend to lift their partner away until Ali and her pals were almost out of sight. She was sure of their fear now, but she wondered if that was enough to keep them away.
Overhang was the perfect name for the ledge that stood above their heads. The mantle jutted out from the rock wall like a petrified flying saucer that had crash-landed on the side of the mountain a thousand years ago. Ali could see why Karl had insisted they reach it before nightfall. Maybe if she had listened to him, the attack of the dark fairies could have been avoided. It was a perfect place to take shelter.
Now they just had to see if the guys were all right.
Ali’s heart pounded as they hiked up the final few feet.
A head poked over the ledge above them. “Hello down there?”
“Steve?” Ali cried. “Is that you?”
“It is I. Karl and Paddy are resting behind me. Do you need a hand?”
“Sure,” Ali said, reaching up for help. She had Karl’s pack on her back again; it was heavy. But Steve suddenly withdrew his hand.
“What the heck is that?” he gasped, looking past her.
“That’s Farble, he’s a troll. Help me up.”
“We’re not going to tell you his real name,” Cindy snickered.
“What are you guys doing with a troll?” Steve wanted to know.
Ali sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Finally, they were all together again, alive, and in one piece. Ali supposed they had a lot to be thankful for. Yet the night had taken its toll.
Karl had
taken a hit to the stomach. The burn was more serious than Cindy’s. Ali marveled that he had been able to make it to Overhang with the dark fairies on his trail. Sitting with him in the shadow of the ledge, she opened the first-aid kit to treat the wound.
“What you really need is a doctor,” she said.
“You’ll do fine, Nurse Ali.”
“I’m no nurse,” she replied, thinking of Ted in intensive care. Was he still alive? Taking out the disinfectant, she leaned closer. “Does it hurt?”
“Only when I think about it.”
“Which is every two seconds?”
“Right,” Karl said. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why do we have a troll for a friend now?”
“I saved his life in the fire. I think he can help us.”
“He doesn’t want to eat us?”
“He has been behaving himself. But I think we better feed him soon.”
“Sounds like a relationship built on trust,” Karl muttered.
“You have to get to know him. His name is Farble.”
“I heard he had another name.”
“That Cindy. Sit still, I have to clean this mess,” she said.
The center of his jacket had been burned to a crisp. He was lucky he’d had it on, and that it had been thick. Otherwise the bolt from the fairy could have burnt his guts. She peeled away the charred remains of the coat to get a better look. His skin had already begun to blister.
“What happened after we left?” she asked.
“We kept getting pounded. They hit Paddy’s whiskey bag. The bottles exploded like gasoline. We wanted to give you guys the best head start we could, but we couldn’t remain at the camp. So we split up and ducked into the fog. We would have been dead without the cover. For a while—for me at least—it seemed I had lost them. But when I got here, they were waiting for me.”
“Waiting for you?”
Karl frowned. “It was weird, it was like that. They were hovering outside. I was lucky to get inside. Had to fight my way in.”
“How did Steve and Paddy get inside?”
“Steve was here when I got here.”