‘How did you do it, Zaree?’ Leona asked.
I looked through the window. Lily was touching her throat with her wand. Her lips moved, and then I could hear her clearly. ‘Open the door, Zaria,’ she said, her voice amplified. ‘I cannot get past your enchantments. But I have something to tell you.’
Chapter Five
ALL FAIRIES AND GENIES ARE BORN WITH RESERVES OF MAGIC, WHICH ARE MEASURED IN UNITS CALLED RADIA. NO MAGICAL ACTIVITY EXCEPT ORDINARY FLIGHT MAY BE DONE WITHOUT SPENDING RADIA; VARIOUS SPELLS REQUIRE GREATER OR LESSER AMOUNTS. FOR EXAMPLE, A SINGLE JOURNEY TO EARTH AND BACK AGAIN USES HALF OF ONE RADIA, WHEREAS OPENING OR CLOSING A PORTAL TO EARTH REQUIRES 1000.
WHEN THEY TURN FOURTEEN, FAIRIES AND GENIES RECEIVE A CRYSTAL WATCH THAT REGISTERS INBORN MAGIC IN ADDITION TO TELLING TIME.
THE FACE OF THE WATCH IS DIVIDED INTO SIX COLOURS, AND EACH COLOUR CONTAINS TEN DEGREES. IF THE THIRD HAND OF THE WATCH POINTS TO THE FIRST DEGREE OF RED, IT MEANS THE ONE WEARING THE WATCH HAS TEN RADIA IN RESERVE. THE TENTH DEGREE OF RED MEANS ONE HUNDRED RADIA. (NOWADAYS, 89 PER CENT OF FAIRIES OR GENIES REGISTER AS RED, ALSO KNOWN AS UNGIFTED.) THE ORANGE ZONE RANGES FROM ONE HUNDRED RADIA TO ONE THOUSAND RADIA. (SIX PER CENT REGISTER AS ORANGE.) YELLOW GOES FROM ONE THOUSAND TO TEN THOUSAND. (FOUR PER CENT.) GREEN: TEN THOUSAND TO ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. (LESS THAN ONE PER CENT.) BLUE: FROM ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TO ONE MILLION. (ONE TENTH OF ONE PER CENT.) VIOLET: FROM ONE MILLION TO TEN MILLION RADIA. VIOLET IS SO RARE, SOME IN FEYLAND BEGAN TO BELIEVE THAT REGISTERING IN THIS COLOUR COULD HAPPEN ONLY IN THE REALM OF MYTH.
ALL MUST LEARN THAT A UNIT OF RADIA, ONCE USED, IS GONE FOR EVER.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
METEOR GLIDED BETWEEN me and the door. ‘Don’t open it,’ he said.
‘She can’t come in,’ I told him. ‘If she could have, she would have.’ Before he could argue, I darted past him and opened the door.
A cloying scent poured in, a scent I had learned to despise – the scent of lilies. Feeling sickened, I wished my wings wouldn’t flutter. The magical barrier had proven itself, but still I trembled to see Lily Morganite without a wall or even a windowpane between us.
Her eyes looked like heated pearls. ‘Your spells are well made, Zaria, beyond my skill to undo. For now.’
I hovered carefully behind the threshold. ‘You said you had something to tell me.’
‘A warning,’ Lily said sweetly. ‘You and Leona Bloodstone escaped me once, but only because luck favoured you. Do not rely on luck, Zaria.’
‘Luck!’ Leona shouted. ‘I’ll show you luck.’ She was rushing forward, but Meteor and I caught her.
‘Don’t,’ I cried. ‘Stay back.’
Smiling, Lily watched as Leona controlled herself.
‘You may be Violet fairies,’ she continued, ‘but my radia reserves are thousands of times greater than the two of you combined.’ She flicked the air with her wand.
Thousands of times greater? We knew Lily had stolen a fortune from Feyland, but billions?
‘How did you bring down the gateway?’ Meteor fumed. ‘And how dare you attack us in Galena?’
Lily’s white wings carried her a little closer to the doorway. ‘I did not attack; it was my followers.’ She smiled gloatingly.
‘When my father and the other councillors find out what you have done …’ Meteor began.
But Lily laughed at him. ‘The High Council is nothing more than a group of gibbering gremlins, young Zircon.’ She ignored his frown, turning to me. ‘I apologize for the attack, Zaria. It’s just that my followers know you have wronged me; they wanted to make things right.’
I looked at the swarm of fey folk nodding their heads at her words, at the gnomes struggling to get up, and wondered what she had promised them. ‘Wronged? You?’
As soon as I spoke, they all began yelling at once: ‘Give it back, thief!’ ‘Vile robber!’ ‘Filthy cheat!’
Lily let their yells turn into roars before she held up her hand for silence.
‘What lies have you told them?’ I asked her when they had finally stopped hurling insults.
She shook her head at me, as if I were a child who should know perfectly well that I had committed a crime. ‘They know you have stolen something of mine, Zaria. A bottle, holding the remains of a troll cloak you once wore.’
How easily she said it, as if that cloak had not almost cost me my life.
‘You told them the bottle was yours?’ I spluttered, and then realized my mistake.
I should not have admitted the bottle existed.
When my magic had risen up and turned the troll cloak into a heap of powder, Meteor advised me to save the powder. So I used a spell to gather it into a tall bottle made of indigo glass, the only container to hand. Now, that bottle stood on a shelf in my home, filled with fine powder, darkly shining. I feared its magic so much, I hadn’t dared to open it. I could hardly even look at it, and when I did it seemed to stare back with a thousand eyes.
‘It is mine by right.’ Lily drew herself up, holding her wand like a sceptre.
By right! How did she even know I had it? No one knew, no one but my friends and me.
‘Go away,’ I said. ‘The bottle isn’t yours.’
‘It is. But since you have it, I am willing to make an exchange,’ she said. ‘I offer to tell you your family’s true story along with granting you a truce. For the bottle.’
I stared.
Meteor spoke up, his deep voice cutting. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he told Lily.
‘You are not the one who must believe, young genie.’ She pointed at me. ‘My offer expires in ten minutes, Zaria.’
I shut the door on her.
‘Trolls and trogs!’ Leona yelped.
Meteor paid no attention to Leona’s rage. ‘Where is the bottle of powder?’ he whispered.
I showed my friends the shelf beside the potbelly stove. When I lifted the bottle, it felt heavier than it should. Though it wasn’t any longer than my forearm and not quite as big around, it might as well have been the size of a troll.
‘If it were anyone but Lily, I would turn this over here and now for the chance of finding my family,’ I said.
‘But it is Lily,’ said Meteor.
‘The powder must be very powerful.’ Leona’s silver eyes shone.
Andalonus pulled his ears. ‘Maybe it multiplies magic.’
‘Multiplies?’ I shook my head.
Leona touched a wing to mine. ‘He could be right, Zaree. How did you put such a strong spell on your house?’
‘I’ve never opened the bottle,’ I answered. ‘I’ve avoided even touching it till now.’
‘I doubt it increases magic,’ Meteor said, rotating his shoulders the way he always did when he was puzzled and worried. ‘But whatever it does, it must be something dire or Lily Morganite wouldn’t be trying to take it.’
I shuddered. ‘I won’t let her have it,’ I said, setting it down again.
Whatever happens, she must never get hold of it.
Chapter Six
LEVELS OF MAGIC GIVE THE CAPACITY TO PERFORM SPELLS FROM SIMPLE TO ADVANCED. FOR EXAMPLE, LEVEL 2 MAGIC ALLOWS THE CREATION OF COLOURED SMOKE OR OTHER SMALL ENCHANTMENTS. LEVEL 75 IS REQUIRED FOR THE CREATION OF PORTALS TO EARTH, WHEREAS TO TRAVEL THROUGH PORTALS, ONE MUST POSSESS AT LEAST LEVEL 5.
THERE ARE WIDE DIFFERENCES IN LEVELS. FOR EXAMPLE, MANY RED FAIRIES AND GENIES POSSESS ONLY LEVEL 4, WHEREAS A GIFTED FAIRY OR GENIE MAY BE AS HIGH AS LEVEL 100. IN RECENT TIMES, ONLY 10 IN EVERY 100,000 FAIRIES OR GENIES HAVE MAGIC TO LEVEL 20 OR HIGHER. INDEED, FEY MAGIC HAS BEEN DIMINISHING FOR CENTURIES.
LEVELS OF MAGIC ARE NOT THE SAME AS RADIA, FOR RADIA MEASURES AMOUNTS OF MAGIC.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
WHEN I OPENED the door, the disgusting smell of lilies hit me in the nose. Outside, Lily hovered just above the ground.
‘I won’t bargain with you,’ I told her firmly.
‘And why not?’
&
nbsp; ‘I don’t trust you,’ I answered.
‘I have never promised you anything I did not deliver, Zaria.’
I focused on her followers. ‘She will lead you to nothing but suffering,’ I said. ‘And death.’
A genie with granite-grey skin floated forward, sneering. ‘We won’t listen to a filthy thief, Zaria Tourmaline!’
Others began crowding near, yelling again, their faces twisted into angry frowns.
I closed the door, shutting them out, and hurried to pick up the indigo bottle.
In the hearth room, away from the lingering stench of lilies, I lit one of the fey globes on the wall with a touch. ‘Sorry you’ve been dragged into this,’ I said.
‘We’re your friends,’ said Leona. ‘Lily Morganite doesn’t understand friendship, but we do.’
I smiled at her gratefully and moved to the nearest perch. ‘Lily or no Lily, we have to find out what this is.’ I hefted the bottle, then let it rest heavily in my lap.
‘First, I want to know why the spell on your house was able to turn back iron – and gnomes.’ Meteor found a place on a higher perch, his long legs swinging over the edge. ‘What spell did you use?’ he prodded.
Andalonus hovered just above the rug that lay in disarray on the stone floor. ‘Tell us, Zaria, or we’ll be forced to listen to Meteor ask you over and over.’
Wrapping my wings around my shoulders, I admitted, ‘I have a secret.’
None of them bothered to pretend they were surprised.
‘Out with it.’ Leona settled on the tattered cushions of the perch across from me, her silver wings folded.
I put both hands on the bottle’s smooth glass. ‘I’ve been casting spells with common words instead of using the ancient language.’
‘What?’ Meteor rocked forward so far he fell, and barely caught himself before hitting the floor. ‘Only the ancient language can cast spells,’ he said a little breathlessly. ‘Every scroll in the Crown Library agrees.’
‘But they’re wrong,’ I said.
‘They can’t be!’
‘It started the day I met Lily,’ I explained. ‘She enchanted me in a web of sleep. I took flight, but I could feel her spell taking hold, and I’ve never been so desperate. We’d only just received our wands! I didn’t know what to do, but I infused my wand and said, Undo any spells on me.’
‘And?’ Leona asked.
‘Her spell was gone. At first I thought it had just expired on its own. But since then I’ve tried using common words many times. My spells always work.’
Leona was smiling now, an eager smile. ‘We don’t have to learn the ancient language?’
I nodded. ‘We can make up spells.’
‘That’s impossible.’ Meteor was not smiling. ‘Otherwise, someone besides you would have discovered it.’
‘I’m telling the truth.’ I squeezed the neck of the bottle.
As usual, Leona wasted no time. She drew her wand, one of the most splendid in Feyland. Made of platinum twined with gold and silver filigree, it was tipped with bloodstone. ‘Make coloured smoke.’ She pointed into a corner.
Nothing changed. The fey light showed only empty shadows on the stone.
Then Meteor drew his wand, which was much less ornate. He jabbed its zircon tip at the kindling on the hearth. ‘Light the fire.’
No spark moved. Meteor and Leona lifted their eyebrows at me while Andalonus watched from his perch near the window. As a Red genie with only Level 4 magic, Andalonus would never use his wand for guesswork. It was all so unfair: he didn’t have enough magic to make a single journey to Earth even when he got older and it was allowed. I would gladly have given him the radia for trip after trip, but no amount of radia could change his inborn level.
When Meteor was revealed to be an impressive Level 50 Blue genie, he cared nothing for the opinions of the councillors of Feyland – including those of his father, Councillor Zircon – and refused to give up his friendship with Andalonus. The councillors openly despised Andalonus for his low magic, while treating me and Leona with a mix of flattery and resentment when we registered Violet. I began with full reserves of Violet; Leona with half full. And I am Level 100, while Leona is even higher: Level 200. We were told by our mentors that our friends would hate us for having such high-level magic, and that we should hold ourselves apart from them. We ignored that advice.
I set the bottle in the pillows of my perch, then drew out my wand. It was time to prove I had told the truth about using common words to create spells.
Leona snickered. ‘Why don’t you change your wand? You’re a Violet fairy! That wand makes you look like a—’ She stopped.
‘Like a Red,’ said Andalonus.
‘I’m sorry,’ Leona said. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘I agree with Leona.’ Andalonus waggled his eyebrows at me. ‘Your wand is pitiful.’
When my friends and I got our first chance to leave Galena for Oberon City, we had been so excited. The rule keeping us sheltered until our fourteenth birthdays seemed creaky and absurd. But when our wands were issued, they turned out to be human-made pieces of hard plastic. It was still hard to believe, yet true. We’d each received a simple stylus made on Earth! Before doling them out, the councillors had enhanced the plastic so that it could easily conduct magic.
Leona had been the first to transform her wand into a thing of beauty. Meteor hadn’t waited long to convert his to a more traditional form, either. But until now, I had resisted making any changes to my own.
Now I held it up. It was a rather pitiful object without gems of any kind. ‘Change my wand to amethyst with a rose tourmaline tip,’ I said. ‘Make it a durable change.’
The stylus grew from matchstick width to as thick as my thumb. It went from black to sparkling purple. A rosy tip formed at the end.
Leona rushed to admire it. ‘Perfect!’
Meteor and Andalonus crowded around too.
‘How?’ Meteor asked, looking at me sideways.
‘Common words conduct magic just like a spell in the old language,’ I said. ‘But watch out – it still uses up radia.’
Meteor waved his wand again. ‘Make coloured smoke,’ he said. Nothing happened.
Leona twirled her wand. ‘Light the fire.’
The hearth lay cold.
Chapter Seven
BEFORE A WAND MAY BE USED TO CAST A SPELL IT MUST BE INFUSED WITH THE WAND-BEARER’S MAGIC. WHEN THE BEARER INFUSES THE WAND, HE OR SHE SENDS MAGIC THROUGH THE CORE OF THAT WAND, WHICH LIGHTS UP TO REFLECT THE LEVEL THAT WILL BE APPLIED.
Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland
PULLING ASIDE THE frayed curtain, I looked out. Dark streaks of cloud ran across the sky and threw shadows on the injured and angry crowd, but Lily Morganite was nowhere to be seen. Where had she gone? I could almost feel her prowling the borders of my protection spell, looking for any chink I might have overlooked.
‘Maybe common words don’t work on small spells,’ I said.
‘You try,’ said Leona.
I infused my new wand to Level 2 and pointed at the corner. ‘Make coloured smoke.’
Clouds of misty red, blue and yellow swirled up from the floor to mix in the air, making hazy purple, green and orange.
I waved at the hearth. ‘Light the fire.’
A spark ignited and the kindling burst into flame.
Andalonus clapped his hands. ‘You cast all the enchantments on your house with common words?’
‘All the ones for protection, yes.’ I paused. ‘I remember the exact words of that spell: Only those who love me may enter this house as long as I’m alive; no one and nothing else may come into this house in any form.’
Meteor’s emerald eyes caught mine warmly. ‘Our love for you is what lets us into your home?’
Andalonus leaped from his perch and swept me a bow. ‘Clever one!’
Leona flew close to me. ‘How much radia did it take?’
‘Ten thousand.’ A hundred times more than all Andalonus’
s stores. But after what had happened with Lily and Laz, I needed a refuge.
Leona nodded understanding, but she hadn’t forgotten the indigo bottle. ‘I still want to know if your magic has become stronger. Will you open your watch, Zaree, to see if your level is still one hundred?’
I flipped up the cover to my crystal watch. The face showed the six colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. Two silver hands told me it was near nightfall: seven o’clock. The small golden radia hand pointed to just under the ninth mark of violet, meaning I had almost nine million radia left. In the centre of the watch, a luminous number said 100. ‘Yes.’ I held out my wrist.
Leona peered at my watch. ‘You’ve used up more than a million radia?’
‘A million!’ Meteor jumped to grab my wrist and look for himself. ‘I knew you were being careless, but … a million?’
I yanked my hand away. ‘Careless?’
‘A million?’ He looked down his genie nose at me.
‘Destroying the cloak took most of it,’ I said. ‘I had no control over that!’
‘No control?’ he said. ‘Why not?’
‘My magic took over without me.’
‘Then how did you infuse your wand?’
‘I didn’t. My wand was nothing better than a stick. The cloak had taken away my powers.’
The arrogance went out of Meteor’s stance. ‘Took away …? You said it was supposed to take away your powers, but you—’
‘The cloak’s magic worked. At first. Until … something rose up and took over. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what set off my magic.’
Meteor shook his head slowly. He folded himself onto the rug and gazed at me as if I were a puzzle he needed to solve.
Leona had been listening closely. ‘You must be in possession of something else, Zaree; some other power that goes beyond levels of magic or colours of radia.’
I felt uneasy. ‘How could I?’
‘There was troll magic in that cloak,’ Leona said.
Meteor looked up. ‘Leona’s right. Who can overcome the magic of trolls? None of the fey, not one, however high their level.’ His eyes found mine. ‘You’re different from us.’