They lay much too still. I wanted to throw myself onto them, but two things stopped me. Their eyes. And Meteor.
My parents’ eyes revealed the depths of their enchantment. Open, but glazed and fixed as if caught in the flow of a glacier.
Meteor’s feet pinned my gown; his hands clamped my wrists. ‘The spell will spread if it touches any part of you,’ he said.
I gazed at my mother’s lavender skin, silky white hair, tipped-up nose. My father’s deep green colouring contrasted with his purple hair. His hair was mussed, and looking at him, I remembered it was always like that, never smooth.
How had I lived without them? I wanted to reach back in time, change the moment of their capture, persuade them not to leave. If only there were a spell to take me to the day before they disappeared! I would warn my brother too. Whatever his quest had been, I would ask him to delay.
But now I was looking at only two pallets. Where was the third?
‘Where’s Jett?’ I cried.
Lily glided up to hover near my mother’s head, but she didn’t answer me.
The Feynere magic lurking in my bones called out to me. I could undo this horrifying spell and then turn it on Lily Morganite. I could.
My wrists throbbed. ‘Meteor, let go.’
But he didn’t listen. ‘Don’t, Zaria,’ he whispered urgently in my ear.
He must know then what I wanted; must know that soon I would have no choice: my Feynere powers would rise and burn through all the magic I had left.
His hand found mine, squeezing with painful force until I gasped; he held me close, rocking me.
‘Your mother,’ I heard Lily saying. ‘For the aevia ray.’
‘My family,’ I cried. ‘There are three of them.’
‘You may have one.’ She lifted her wand. Staring, I saw each opal that crusted her slippers, every small fold in her gown, all the strands in her saffron hair.
‘No! You would do anything for aevia ray,’ I screamed.
‘Not so.’ She gestured at the open gateway. ‘I have all that I need.’ A lock of her hair was loose; she thrust it into place. ‘But you, Zaria – you – would do anything to have your mother back.’
How could she know? I missed my father, missed my brother, but … Dread crackled along the margins of my wings. How did Lily Morganite always seem to guess exactly how I felt and what I would do?
‘I want them all,’ I said. ‘All three.’
Infusion crept up the centre of her wand. ‘Must I teach you the value of one?’ She pointed her wand and spoke a spell I didn’t know. ‘Kenor mortel.’
A smoky dagger formed in the air above my father’s chest.
‘Stop!’ I cried. ‘Stop.’
‘Your mother for the aevia ray?’ The dagger’s edge sharpened.
‘Yes! Yes, I’ll give it to you, but don’t kill him.’
Meteor went still, so still he might have been frozen along with my parents. His hand opened, freeing my fingers. But Lily only smiled gloatingly, as if she had known all along how easily I would give in.
Chapter Forty-three
LOVE IS THE GREATEST POWER EVER DISCOVERED, SURPASSING EVEN MAGIC. THIS HOLDS TRUE NOT ONLY FOR THOSE WHO INHABIT TIRFEYNE, BUT ALSO FOR THE PEOPLE OF EARTH.
WHEN GIVEN A CHOICE BETWEEN ACTING FOR THE WELFARE OF MANY NAMELESS STRANGERS OR SECURING THE SAFETY OF A SINGLE LOVED ONE, ALMOST EVERYONE – WHETHER HUMAN OR FEY – WILL CHOOSE THE LATTER. THIS IS WELL KNOWN TO ANYONE WHO HAS STUDIED HISTORY.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
MY WINGS PRICKLED fiercely as I fully understood what I had agreed to do. In desperation, I had offered something that wasn’t mine to give. The aevia ray didn’t belong to me, any more than Lily’s stolen radia belonged to her.
I looked at the grains of sand stretching to the water, the field of waving flowers beyond the gate, the far-away spires of the palace. What was happening within its walls? What orders had Lily given her army? I could see nothing of them, hear nothing of what they might be doing. Had they breached the royal defences?
Were there any defences aside from enchantments? And how much did Lily know about the spells encircling Anshield Island?
If only the king and queen would come out of their palace, soar past the flowers, fly through the gate.
Help me!
But the sand stayed flat, the gate silent, the flowers quiet. There was nothing and no one to save me.
I would have to save myself. I, Zaria Tourmaline, would have to save my family. But not like this. Not trading the aevia ray to Lily. I would rather hand over the crystal flask to a mercenary smuggler like Laz than give it to Lily Morganite. It was simply too precious, a treasure greater than any other in Feyland. Of all fairies, Lily must never get hold of it.
But without aevia ray, how could I persuade her to release the glacier spells?
I would have to double-cross Lily.
Dropping my eyes, I clutched my hidden wand and infused it, whispering a spell: ‘In the left pocket of my gown, duplicate the appearance of the crystal flask of aevia ray and seal it.’
‘What?’ Meteor whispered back.
‘Nothing,’ I murmured as Lily looked at me suspiciously. My fingers brushed the contours of a second flask – this one on my left side. The true aevia ray nestled on my right. Feeling the false flask, I was suddenly panting, and though I tried to breathe more evenly, I couldn’t.
‘What is it?’ Lily asked.
I planned to give her the false flask for my mother and then offer to open it in trade for my father.
‘Please,’ I said. ‘My mother.’
‘Show me the aevia ray,’ Lily said.
I brought out the newly created flask, so clear and beautifully cut, it could have been a diamond.
‘Give it to me.’ Her hand was out.
‘No.’ I put it back. ‘First, my mother.’
Nothing showed on her face as she turned to my parents. Blowing on her wand, she pointed it. ‘Chantmentum glaci res nos.’
The ghastly fabric wrapping my mother began to unwind, slithering into the sand, forming a pale twist at the foot of her pallet. I streaked to her side, flopping to my knees in time to see the film over her eyes melt away.
‘Zaria?’ Her first word in five years: my name, spoken faintly.
‘Yes. It’s me.’ I took her hand. How dry it was, like kindling.
‘My Zaria?’ Fear in her eyes. ‘What has happened to you?’
Before I could answer, Lily was there beside us, her scent suffocating.
My mother began to whimper, trying to sit up. As I helped her, she clung to me, pulling me forward. ‘Zaria,’ she whispered, ‘that fairy … she …’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘I know who she is, Mother. I know what she’s done.’
Her wings drooped, limp and lustreless. ‘Glacier cloth,’ she said. ‘How long?’
‘Five years.’
My mother took in the high blue wall, the glinting sand. In a moment she would turn her head enough to see my father. ‘What is this place? This is not where we were …’ Her voice trembled. ‘Where is Jett? Your father? Are they—’
‘Enough.’ Lily’s voice sliced the air. ‘Our bargain, Zaria.’
Clutching me, my mother shook her head. She began to shiver as I pulled away from her and rose. Her wings stirred faintly. Clearly, she didn’t have the strength to rise, but she called to me. ‘Fly from her, Zaria!’
I took the false flask from my pocket again. Lily was watching me, watching closely as she swooped in to snatch it. Holding it up to the light, she looked at the transparent granules glowing inside. They seemed identical to the real aevia ray. She tugged on the stopper; when it wouldn’t open, she nodded her satisfaction.
Just then, a flashing blur leaped at her. Something bumped my hand. The next instant, I was holding the flask again.
I heard an exuberant whistle. Tumble! The little gremlin thought he was helping me.
‘Run!’ I cried, but he was
already gone. I glimpsed him racing through the gate and then he was lost among the flowers.
‘After him!’ Lily ordered the spotted genie.
As her minion zoomed through the gate after Tumble, I touched my wand. ‘He will not find the gremlin,’ I murmured, and released more magic.
In that moment of distraction, the other genie, Calcite, pounced on me from the side, grabbing the flask that Tumble had given me. Maybe he expected me to be holding it more tightly, or maybe he simply misjudged his leap. Either way, Calcite used too much force. Instead of giving the flask to Lily Morganite, he crashed past her into the sapphire wall.
When the crystal hit, it shattered, exploding into a shower of sparkling shards, spraying the wall with a fine powder. Calcite fell backwards onto the sand.
When I had sealed the flask, I had not made it unbreakable.
While Meteor and I wobbled forward, Lily lurched into the wall. She licked the powder, then turned back to us and flipped open her crystal watch. Her beautiful face hardened as she infused her wand.
She whirled and pointed at my father. ‘Chantmentum glaci res nos.’
In joyful shock, I watched as the glacier cloth fell from him, watched as his vision cleared. He saw me. His eyes, violet like mine, widened. His lips formed my name.
I was so dazed with happiness, I didn’t move. Didn’t act. Didn’t speak.
‘Kenor mortel deysu.’ Lily’s voice rang like steel, and I turned to her in confusion. Her wand was extended, its tip aimed at my father.
The smoky dagger appeared above him. This time, it didn’t hang in the air. It dived into his chest.
He was just beginning to sit up, still looking at me. The dagger thrust him down and pinned him. His arms thrashed once and then he lay flat. The light in his eyes went out.
No breath. No movement. No life.
A long wail, two voices hitting the same note of rending grief.
Two voices. My mother. Me.
‘Why?’ Meteor’s question was a rumbling roaring yell. It startled me because he had never yelled that way, never, not in all the years I had known him.
He was still beside me, but upright, while I had folded forward onto the sand. When I lifted my head, I saw Lily Morganite above us, her face pulsing with rage.
‘If you had kept up with your studies, young Zircon, you would know he could not die outside of time.’ Her voice swelled like an angry wind, louder than my mother’s wails. ‘That is why.’
‘You—’ Meteor’s voice choked off.
‘How dare you try a Feynere fraud again?’ Lily shouted down at me. ‘Did you think I would not know? Your foolish trick with the human weapon only removed my last doubts about what you are!’
My mouth tasted of grit. She knew. Feynere.
‘The true aevia ray, Zaria. Now!’ Lily’s wand was fully infused. ‘Kenor mortel.’ A second dagger appeared just above my mother.
‘Wait!’ I floundered in the sand, my gown tangled. I had to find the pocket, the right one. The aevia ray.
There. There it was, the crystal flask. Fumbling, shaking, I lifted it up, and Lily took it.
This time, there was no Tumble to rescue it; there was only Lily and her triumph. She pulled on the stopper, but of course she couldn’t open it. She bashed it against the sapphire wall, but it didn’t break. It chimed like a perfect bell.
No one and nothing but me can break or open this flask.
‘Now, Zaria,’ she said. ‘For your brother, you will open this flask and you will open the bottle of aevum derk.’
Chapter Forty-four
TO GAIN LOVE IS TO GAIN MORE THAN LOVE. AND LOVE, ONCE BROUGHT TO LIFE, DOES NOT DIE BUT TRANSCENDS ALL WORLDS, ALL PLACES AND ALL TIMES. SOME DISPUTE THIS, BUT SUCH DISPUTE DOES NOT ALTER ITS TRUTH.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
FLASHING SILVER, A colour I loved. Dark hair against granite. A whispered spell. ‘Transera nos.’
Leona.
And in the same instant, Meteor’s hand on my shoulder. ‘Transera nos.’
They took my mother and me away from Anshield.
We landed on the spiral pattern of tiles in my mother’s room, and there we lay, weeping, gasping, clutching the floor as if it might turn to sand.
Someone was stroking my hair. It should be my mother. She was here, really here, the one I’d longed for, whose guidance would help me through my troubles.
But the soothing hand on my head wasn’t hers. It was Meteor’s. ‘Zaria, I’m sorry I took the choice away from you, but I …’
Jett. He meant the choice to save my brother or save Feyland. Meteor had taken it out of my hands.
‘No one should have to make such a decision,’ he said.
I couldn’t speak.
His arms lifted me and put me in the pillows of the nest. Andalonus laid my mother beside me. Her breath was weak and frantic, her eyes vacantly staring. Unlike when she first awoke from the glacier spell, she didn’t seem to recognize me. I felt pain worse than being wrapped in the troll cloak. Shutting my eyes, I cried helplessly.
‘Obliv trau,’ I heard.
Opening my eyes, I saw my mother in a deep sleep.
Leona was there with her wand out. ‘I’m sorry, but it had to be done, Zaree.’ Her voice was more gentle than I had ever heard it.
I nodded. Cinna Tourmaline had spent five years in glacier cloth, and less than an hour after waking, what she needed most was sleep. And when she woke again, how would she bear the grief of her loss?
And how would I bear my grief? My father had been murdered before my eyes. He’d been freed from a wretched spell only because that spell protected him from the finality of death. Seeing him die wasn’t any easier for having once believed him gone. If anything, it was worse to lose him twice. His last living glance had rested on me, and it haunted me now.
If I hadn’t been so slow, hadn’t waited endless moments, too stunned to move, he would be here in this room. Alive.
‘Lily killed him to punish me for tricking her,’ I mourned.
‘No,’ Meteor said, his green eyes watery as he leaned over me. ‘She always meant to kill him.’
‘I could have saved him,’ I wept.
‘Zaria. She baited a trap just for you.’ He caressed the side of my face.
‘And now she has the aevia ray, and my mother has nothing to live for.’ My words ended in a sob.
Leona touched a wing to mine. ‘Yes, she does.’
Andalonus hovered beside Meteor. ‘You brought her home.’
‘She has something to live for,’ Meteor said. ‘She has you.’
My friends and I gathered in the hearth room, sipping sonnia tea. I was silent, listening as they assured me that Lily would spare Jett for as long as she was unable to open the aevum derk and the aevia ray.
Too exhausted and sad to speak, I didn’t voice my fear that Lily could be working with the trolls – or my knowledge that troll magic could easily open my Feynere seals. No, I didn’t want to mention the trolls at all. Too well, I remembered their fortress and the crowd of them shouting, ‘WE WILL HOLD YOU TO YOUR WORD.’
The king had claimed the trolls ‘took an interest’ in the plight of Feyland. He had said it was no trivial battle we fought. But if he wanted to help the fey, why didn’t he inflict his magic on Lily Morganite? She might be powerful, but she was still a fairy. If he could impose his magic on me – a Feynere – then surely he could impose it on her.
Rather than helping Feyland, it seemed more likely that the King of the Trolls had schemed with Lily somehow. But either way, he would soon discover I’d broken my promise to deliver the aevia ray to the rulers of Feyland. The trolls would come for me. And when they did, all the magic I had left would not help me.
I traced my wrist, my fingers stopping at my crystal watch and then opening it. The little golden hand rested on the mark just below two and a half million. I had fulfilled Lily’s plans for me in so many ways, including depleting millions of radia from my reserv
es since the day she met me.
How would I tell my mother how much magic I had squandered? When she heard everything that had happened, would she still love me, or would she blame me for my father and Jett the way I blamed myself? And how would she take the death of Beryl Danburite, the friend she had trusted to look after me? I sat curled inside my wings, staring at the dark ash the aevum derk had left on the hearth.
‘My mother,’ I said to Leona. ‘I didn’t look at her watch. Did you? Did she drain her magic fighting the glacier cloth?’
Her expression told me the news before she spoke. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘Her radia is completely gone.’
* * *
Hours later, I remembered Sam Seabolt when Leona interrupted my gloomy thoughts.
‘Zaree? Did you hear what I said about the human?’
‘Sam?’ I sat up straighter in my perch.
‘Is that his name? I put him in your room under a sleep spell. I didn’t know what else to do.’ The new softness in Leona’s voice was odd to hear but comforting. ‘We should go and see him so you can tell me where to send him.’
The four of us hovered around my nest, where Sam lay like an enchanted prince, his hair a cloud of curls.
‘How long till he wakes?’ Andalonus asked.
‘About ten more hours,’ Leona said.
Andalonus pulled his ears and turned to me. ‘How do you know him?’
‘He’s Laz’s godchild, and he helped me find the comet dust.’ I was telling the truth – just not all of it.
Hovering stern-faced near the door, Meteor said nothing.
Andalonus whistled. ‘Laz’s godchild?’
‘He looks familiar,’ Leona said. I was glad she didn’t remember where she’d seen him before – in a room with the human who had stolen her wand. Sam didn’t deserve her scorn and hatred; he’d had nothing to do with the theft.
‘Why did Lily try to use him against you?’ Andalonus asked curiously.
‘She must have hoped she could get what she wanted,’ I answered.