And as for Meteor, well …
Meteor had been with me when Sam blundered into Feyland. It was Meteor who urged me to cast the forgetting spell on my human friend. And if Meteor knew I’d visited Sam again afterwards, what would he think?
No, I couldn’t do it; couldn’t reveal my new portal to these genies.
Blast! Once again, I had no real choice. We had to get back to Feyland, and the only way to do it was through a portal. Since I didn’t want to risk Sam and his family, I’d have to create a new portal. Again. Another thousand radia.
I was about to do exactly what Lily wanted me to do: use up more magic. At her present rate, in a few months Zaria will be powerless.
‘I’ll transport us,’ I said, ‘but to a place without a portal. Once we’re there, I’ll open one to … where we’re going.’ Thinking of all the places I’d been on Earth, I wondered which would be safe. Where in this world had I been that Lily knew nothing about?
Fuming, I turned to Laz, hating to trust him with anything so important. ‘You know Earth better than we do; you’ve made thousands of journeys. Think of a place that’s remote, and take us there.’
Laz smirked. ‘You would put yourself in my power?’
I smiled as if I felt no fear. ‘A gamble.’
Meteor wasn’t smiling as he took my hand. We stood together on the warehouse floor, facing Laz. ‘Transport us,’ I said.
Chapter Twenty-nine
GREMLINS, LIKE GNOMES, ARE IMPERVIOUS TO SPELLS. THEY HAVE A LITTLE MAGIC OF THEIR OWN – JUST ENOUGH TO PASS THROUGH PORTALS TO EARTH. HOWEVER, GREMLINS MUST HITCH THEMSELVES TO ANOTHER TRAVELLER TO GET THROUGH A PORTAL. THE MAJORITY OF GREMLINS NEVER FIND THEIR WAY TO EARTH, FOR FEY FOLK ARE GENERALLY UNWILLING TO PROVIDE THESE SCREECHING MISCHIEF-MAKERS WITH PASSPORTS TO THE HUMAN WORLD. THOSE GREMLINS WHO MANAGE TO GET THERE ARE NOT INCLINED TO RETURN. AMONG HUMANS, THERE ARE ENDLESS CHANCES TO CREATE MISCHIEF, FOR HUMAN-BUILT MACHINES ARE FILLED WITH CRUCIAL SMALL PARTS THAT GREMLINS TAKE DELIGHT IN BREAKING. IN ADDITION, THERE ARE PLENTY OF BISCUITS TO BE FOUND.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
LOOKING AROUND, I wondered if Laz had done something heinously dangerous – such as sending us to another world.
The shadowy landscape was nothing but rock. A bright full moon shone down on heaps of boulders, making them look like the bones of unknown beasts. Under the boulders lay nothing but great slabs of stone. A few scrubby plants grew out of crannies here and there.
‘Where are we?’ I asked.
Laz was beside us, his leprechaun cap slightly askew, looking just as he always did – tall, lanky, a little greasy. ‘You two sweethearts plan to hold hands for the rest of this trip?’
Meteor and I let go of each other.
‘Are you going to tell us where on Earth we are?’ Meteor asked.
‘The wilds of Utah,’ Laz answered. ‘Very remote region. No one comes here. Ever. It’s the perfect place for a portal: you won’t have to add a barrier for stray humans with Level Five magic of their own.’
He was right about the place being remote: it was completely deserted except for the three of us. Laz had done what I asked, and now it was time for my part. But first I would put more protection on the comet dust. We were heading into a land of nimble thieves; it would be worth the loss of a little more radia to prevent the comet dust from being stolen. My spells weren’t supposed to work on gnomes, but they had worked anyway. I could only hope they’d work on gremlins too.
I hesitated at the thought of Laz watching me cast a spell. But he already knew I was a Feynere. The comet dust was more important than keeping my methods secret.
I infused my wand. ‘No one and nothing can steal the comet dust from me. Ever.’
Laz’s wide grin made me uneasy. ‘What an honour to see a Feynere in action. Even more of an honour to be told you carry comet dust!’
‘You’d better keep that a secret,’ Meteor said angrily.
‘Of course.’ Laz spread his hands, his grey-blue skin glowing oddly in the moonlight. ‘And speaking of secrets, I’ve got some advice: aside from me, tell no one what you’re doing, where you’re going, or why. Especially gremlins. They keep no secrets: what one knows, they all soon know.’ He wagged a finger at me. ‘Guard yourself. Gremlins have no code of honour.’
‘Unlike smugglers,’ Meteor sniped.
Laz ignored him. ‘They’re pesky thieves, Zaria, and quite impervious to magic. Your precious spell won’t hold them off.’
Meteor met my eyes. He must have heard my thought, because he said nothing about the way my magic had turned back gnomes.
‘Enough talk,’ I said, and thought of Leona. How were she and Andalonus faring among the pixies?
I flitted over to an extra-large boulder. It would make a good spot to open a portal. ‘Take your bearings,’ I told Laz. ‘This will be the new portal. It will lead into gremlin territory.’
I spat on the boulder.
* * *
Part of the scene from Earth seemed to have followed us into the land of the gremlins. When we stepped through the Utah Portal, the first thing I saw was a pile of moonlit boulders. But these were in the middle of a field full of prickly, stinging plants that poked my ankles.
I floated up onto one of the biggest boulders and peeked over its top. Below me, hundreds of lanterns added their light to that of the moon and stars, showing a horde of gremlins.
Meteor joined me, squinting at the scene.
‘They’re not gruesome,’ I whispered.
We’d been told that gremlins were covered with warts; that they were stunted creatures with sunken chests and arms so long their hands dragged along the ground. Their ears were supposed to be mere nubs on their misshapen skulls. But the gremlins hurrying along pebbled walkways under lanterns were only slightly shorter than fairies and genies. Between the bright moon and strong lantern light, I could see them well. Their arms were rather long; so were their fingers, but their hands did not drag on the ground. I saw no warts. Their neat ears, of normal size, were on rounded heads. They had oval eyes.
Unlike fairies and genies, these gremlins were all one colour – both their hair and skin was greenish-yellow. The males wore their hair in a short thick fuzz, the females in braids winding around their heads and tied up with flouncy ribbons. Simple clothes, no shoes. They had quick movements. When they ran, they dashed so fast they became a blur, yet never bumped into each other.
Gremlins, I’d been taught, were prone to shrieking, their shrieks so piercing they’d hurt the ears of anyone except other gremlins. Beryl had spoken of this as an established fact. But I heard no shrieks, none at all.
‘Why aren’t they shrieking?’ I whispered to Laz, who hovered nearby.
‘They don’t shriek unless they’re agitated.’
‘There’s nothing broken,’ I said, surprised to find a gremlin village in working order. I couldn’t see into any of the dwellings, but outside, the lanterns were well-trimmed, the pebbles on the walkways evenly spread, and everything clean. Hadn’t I been told that gremlins broke anything they touched?
Laz grunted. ‘Must be in the midst of a truce with the next village.’
‘Truce?’ Meteor hissed. ‘You said they had no honour.’
‘They don’t.’
‘They seem to be clever builders,’ Meteor said.
‘Of course they’re clever – how else would they know how to break things?’
‘But what are they doing now?’ I asked, amazed by the numbers headed in the same direction. ‘Where are they going?’
‘The square,’ Laz answered, pointing. ‘They’re gathering.’
I rose above the boulder to see better. From that height, I saw streams of gremlins converging into a crowd in front of one of the bigger buildings.
Laz and Meteor floated up to join me. ‘We should go to a different village,’ Laz muttered. ‘There’s another nest of grem—’
‘Wait!’ I cut him off. ‘What if they’re planni
ng something? Don’t you want to hear about it?’
Meteor nodded, but Laz sniffed. ‘Gremlins in a crowd are not to be trifled with. We should go.’
But I wasn’t willing to leave. These creatures fascinated me, especially because they were so unlike everything I’d been led to believe. ‘I want to listen. It could be our chance to understand them.’
‘Not safe.’
‘They can’t fly. If they run at us, we’ll flee into the air.’ Stubbornly, I watched as gremlins packed the open space, more arriving every second.
On one side of the square, a lone gremlin stood on a block of stone. He wore a heavy amber jewel around his neck that caught the lantern light. His bulbous little nose quivered as he waited for everyone to assemble. Finally he raised both long-fingered hands and cleared his throat. It sounded like a rusty bugle. All the gremlins quit shuffling their feet to stare up at him.
‘Gremlins of Burdecka!’ His voice was loud and blaring. ‘I have received a message filled with rumours,’ he trumpeted. ‘I warn you, friends! Do not be misled by the new fey leader.’
New fey leader? Suddenly I was more awake.
He rolled on. ‘Her promises are as empty as the biscuit packets of yesterday. She pretends she will have the power to make gremlins the magical equal of the greatest fairies and genies. She lies.’
Oberon’s Crown! Lily! Lily Morganite must be calling herself the new leader of the fey! A terrifying idea pushed itself into my mind: with the durable spells breaking down all over Feyland, Lily Morganite might actually be the new leader. And apparently she was still promising to hand out magic – not only to her followers, but also to outlanders like gremlins. How far would she go for the chance to create aevia ray? And did she know, yet, that the comet dust had been taken?
I desperately hoped the councillors had gone to Anshield Island to tell the king and queen how badly the High Council had bungled. When they named Lily Morganite the Forcier of Feyland, they had brought on disaster and the theft of billions of radia. But would they admit what they had done?
We needed the help of our rightful rulers!
Chapter Thirty
IN FEYLAND THERE IS A GROUP OF ISLANDS IN THE MIDDLE OF GLENDONITE LAKE WHERE DAYS AND HOURS DO NOT BEHAVE THE WAY THEY NORMALLY DO. THESE ISLANDS ARE UNDER AN ENCHANTMENT THAT CHANGES THE PARAMETERS OF TIME. ANSHIELD, THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO, IS THE ABODE OF KING OBERON AND QUEEN VELLERON (ALSO KNOWN AS MAB). THEIR PALACE IS SURROUNDED BY A SAPPHIRE WALL WOVEN WITH INTRICATE SPELLS THAT WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO FLY ABOVE IT AND PREVENTS TRANSPORT IN OR OUT.
NO ONE HAS ACCESS TO THE SAPPHIRE STRONGHOLD WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE ROYAL RULERS.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
ALL THE GREMLINS were gathered in the square to listen as their leader blared on – except the children, who played in the fields nearby. I moved away from the pile of boulders towards the children, creeping into one of the darker patches of shadow to sit on some softer ground and fold my tired wings.
The gremlin children fascinated me. The games they were playing involved running and jumping faster and faster till I couldn’t tell one blur from another. Not far from me, one of them stood watching for a while before trying to join in. But when he darted in, bigger children tossed him off to the side. The limber little fellow somersaulted head over heels, then bounced up to try again. As I watched, he tried over and over but each time he was cast out. I wondered what kept him going back, and why they wouldn’t let him be part of their fun. He fell and rolled so many times, I nicknamed him ‘Tumble’ to myself. If he kept it up, he was going to get hurt.
Again, someone picked him up and threw him with spiteful force. Tumble bunched himself into a ball as he hit the ground hard. He rolled right towards me. I reached out and caught him, holding him gently for a moment before setting him on his feet. He stared at me curiously as I opened my pack. Bringing out a large chocolate chip cookie, I gave it to him and saw a smile of wonder light up his face.
The gremlin leader’s voice grew even louder: ‘The fey leader promises to give an endless supply of biscuits to any one of us who will freely give her what is left of our stash, but—’
He never finished the sentence.
The adult gremlins began shrieking. The noise was so loud and piercing, it was like slivers of iron driving into my head. I clapped my hands over my ears.
Gremlin screeches were even worse than I’d been taught. And while I tried to shut out the hideous sound, a cluster of greedy eyes and hands crashed into me. Adult gremlins! One of them must have seen the cookie I’d given Tumble, and now it seemed the entire village was crowding up against me. Looking in concern for the little gremlin, I didn’t see him anywhere. But it took the adults only seconds to strip off my pack, open it, and take the biscuits.
I tried to pick myself up, but gremlins were wedged around me so tightly I couldn’t move, much less spread my wings. They chittered, ‘Gimme gimme gimme,’ their questing fingers searching for more biscuits even as they shoved the ones they had into their mouths.
Laz had told me to guard myself. I should have listened.
Screeches tore my ears, scrabbling fingers dug into my gown, the press of bodies robbed me of air.
As I struggled to breathe, I felt the deep Feynere power within me waking up. Overwhelming strength just beneath my skin threatened to toss the entire group of gremlin thieves into the sky. I didn’t think about the radia I would lose, didn’t think about anything at all except the need to take my next breath.
Then I heard Meteor’s magically amplified voice boom out: ‘Gremlins. Release the fairy and we will drop two more packs of biscuits.’
But it was too late. I couldn’t hold onto the Feynere force. It burst from me in waves, throwing off the gremlins who were crushing me. They hurtled out from where I lay like seeds blown from a pod.
Spreading my sore wings, I flapped upward like a four-year-old learning to fly. Meteor zoomed towards me and supported me higher while I gasped for air. I felt so weak and depleted I couldn’t even hover.
‘Zaria?’ His eyes were wary as he held me up.
‘Oh, Meteor. I should have known you’d help; I should have waited. I … it happened again.’ Fearfully I looked below, afraid I would see bodies. But although there was a clear spot where I had been attacked, all the gremlins were picking themselves up. The only effect of my blast of magic was to get them to quit screeching. The crowd had gone silent, hands stretched upward, fingers waving at the sky.
‘Dastardly hobs!’ Laz said beside us. ‘They want more biscuits.’ He shook his head, then turned his anger on me. ‘What possessed you to offer a biscuit to a gremlin on the ground?’
I clung to Meteor. ‘He was just a child,’ I said. ‘And the others were—’
‘A child!’ Laz sneered. ‘Of course. And how much radia did it cost you to … do whatever you did?’
Strength. Give me strength! But I felt none. And I wasn’t about to check my crystal watch while Laz was watching.
The smuggler shook his head disgustedly. ‘These gremlins are in a full-blown frenzy, and they won’t have their wits back for a while.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, feeling foolish and defeated.
Laz shrugged. ‘The frenzy would have happened even without you, Zaria. All you did was make it worse. The Morganite’s blasted message about unlimited biscuits will turn every gremlin village into a shambles.’ He looked accusingly at Meteor. ‘Someone must have helped her work out what the gremlin treasure is.’
‘No scholar would help her,’ Meteor said, his tone hostile.
‘Keep your illusions if you like.’ Laz pointed at the ground. ‘But at any rate, we may as well move ahead to our next stopping point – among the trolls.’
‘The trolls! Why not another gremlin village?’ I asked. ‘You and Meteor still have biscuits.’
He waved at the mob. ‘Can’t you see, every village will be like this one. By now, the Morganite will have delive
red her message to all of them.’
‘But without the gremlin biscuit, we can’t make aevia ray,’ I said. I didn’t want to venture into Troll Country. We didn’t have any plans for how to find the Nectara elixir. Not that our plans seemed to work out even when we had them.
I thought again of Leona and Andalonus. What if Lily had done something to disturb Pixandelle too?
‘They’ll begin shrieking again in another moment,’ Laz said.
Meteor was looking at me, eyebrows up. ‘I’ll go if you will.’ His arm around me was about the only thing good in my life.
Staring at the ground, I decided that gremlins were ugly after all. What would be worse, going deaf, or going into Troll Country?
I nodded exhaustedly. ‘We’ll get the biscuit another time.’
‘Can you fly?’ Meteor asked.
‘Probably,’ I answered. ‘If you hold my hand.’
‘Touching,’ Laz said.
But without help, I really wouldn’t be able to fly any distance. Tremors shook my wings, and deep in my bones I felt hollow and used up.
‘How far to Troll Country?’ Meteor asked Laz. ‘Can we transport?’
‘No.’ Laz turned and flew west. He seemed to have no doubt that we would follow.
When the gremlins saw us heading away without giving them any more biscuits, they began shrieking again. Clutching each other, Meteor and I started after Laz with no grace at all, off balance, tilting through the dark. Laz was only a blot zooming ahead of us, his cap pulled over his ears.
The gremlins streaked along below, running to keep up but gradually losing ground until their shrieks faded away. Squinting to see in the moonlight, we followed Laz over hills and valleys. Meteor had to do most of the flying for both of us. Soon, he shifted the biscuit pack around to his back and simply carried me in his arms. I was too tired to protest.
How much radia had I lost? I feared to find out but couldn’t bear not knowing. After agonizing for a while, I decided to check my watch. Making sure that Laz was still far ahead of us, I flipped up the cover. I had to bring it close to my face to see. At first I thought the moonlight must be showing me the wrong mark.