As much as I am tempted to return to the prison, either as Sequoia or as myself to take Sophie’s place because I should’ve been there already, I don’t think it would be a good idea. Even if that means I can’t see Illumine and ask for a tear. I’m not sure if word has gotten out about the escaped prisoners. I’m not even sure if more have escaped than just Sophie and Zas. It’s not something I want to think about.
I’m not even sure that Illumine would give me a tear even if I asked as Sequoia. Phoenix tears are so very powerful. Legend says that a phoenix can only cry right at death, and that is how they are reborn. If that’s the case, he couldn’t help us even if he wanted to.
So I just fly, keeping an eye out for all of the flowers and plants I see. Bronze stickweed, phantom hellebore, cursed belladonna…
But then I see it.
Blood moon vita.
A perfectly beautiful purple-blue flower with a yellow and white center.
Blood moon vita is a potent source of magic. It’s not typically used for healing, but I can take its magic and use that to seal the wound, to make it as if she had never been bitten.
To do that would mean to draw all of the blood moon vita’s magic.
I don’t hesitate. It’s against the laws of magic, and I’m playing with fire by doing this. Nature has treated me so kindly, and this is how I return the favor? But what am I going to do to right the wrongs I’ve committed?
Anything and everything.
I will go to any lengths.
I might not have intended to make any wrongs, but I have. There’s no denying that. What I did to Sequoia… She’ll never forgive me. When all of this is said and done, I will be locked up in Magical Prison. I deserve it for so many reasons.
My hands caress the beautiful petals of the blood moon vita. Its magic flows through me as the petals curls, whither, and decay, turning to dust before my eyes.
Without delay, I rush back to Sophie. Her eyes widen as she stares at my hands, which are the same purple-blue as the flower.
I place both hands on her wound, and just like that, the wound closes and heals within a few seconds. That’s how potent the magic is.
Sophie gapes at me. “What did you do?”
“I just did what needed to be done.”
“At what cost?” she murmurs as her shaking fingers touch her perfectly healed skin.
“I have a handle on things.”
“Do you?” she asks quietly. “Are you so sure about that?”
I just beam at her. “You’re fine and—”
“Your wrist.”
I glance down. Oh. The plant’s magic must’ve healed my wrist too. I didn’t even realize because I had been that focused on Sophie.
She grabs my wrist, looking as if she has been healed from head to toe, Looking better than ever.
Looking like she’s ready to kill me.
“Jessa, tell me everything,” she says through gritted teeth, “starting with your vision.”
I shake my head. “Later.”
“Later? Why?” She narrows her eyes. “You want us to fly off to safety. We’re fine! We can take on anyone now! There’s nature all around us and—”
“I’m ready for the next step.”
“Next step?”
“We need to prove our innocence.”
Sophie’s shoulder slumps. “Jessa…”
“We have to. We can’t live our lives until—”
“That’s just it, Jessa. I don’t think I want any part of that. Yes, I realize they might come for me, that they’re going to realize I’m gone and want to put me back in a cell. For now, for as long as I have freedom, I just want to go home.”
“Don’t you see, Sophie? If we can prove that what I did was warranted, if I can expose Jaidos and his plans, and bring down his allies, you won’t have to worry about going back to Magical Prison. You’ll be free for the rest of your life! It won’t be for ‘as long as you have freedom.’ You’ll be free forever!”
“I just want to go home,” she says stubbornly.
“That’s… That’s not a good idea.”
Sophie turned away from me as I spoke, but maybe something in my tone has her turning back around. “Why not?”
“The fairies… They don’t exactly want me around.”
“Why not?” she asks suspiciously.
“Soph…”
“What are you hiding from me? We can’t keep secrets from each other. Not now.”
She’s right. Sophie deserves the truth, and she’ll find out eventually.
I rub the back of my neck, my wings twitching nervous. “Soph, the treehouse, it was broken into. Ransacked. I don’t think anything was taken, and I don’t know who did it, but…”
She closes her eyes a long moment. When she opens them, their wet, but no tears fall.
“What else?” she asks, her voice strangled. “Because there is more, isn’t there?”
I swallow hard and nod. “I, ah, I went to ask some of the other fairies for help, but they basically turned into a mob, and, well, I’m not exactly welcomed back to Roseshield Grove. I even tried to talk to the king and queen about everything, about the premonition, but they didn’t care. They don’t want to get involved. They want the fairies to survive, and I understand that, I do, to some extent at least, but… War is coming unless we stop it.”
“Can it be stopped?” Sophie asks, her words harsh. “Has anything you’ve done helped?”
“I got you out of prison,” I protest.
“Yeah, and I’m not free. Our home was broken into. We can’t even go and see our friends!”
“Well, Aiden might be willing—”
“Are you for real right now?” she explodes. “It’s not enough that I just found out that Cody is dating someone else right before you go off and kill someone and I take the fall for it, but you and Aiden are what exactly? Are you two together now?”
“Ah…” I can feel my cheeks turn red, heating up to the point of being on fire.
“My life is a nightmare!” Sophie cries, throwing up her hands.
She whirls around, her back to me. After a few seconds, her shoulders slumps, and she falls to the ground, on her knees and then in a tight ball. She’s bawling, broken.
I did this to her.
I hurt her.
And I don’t know if I can make things right.
Slowly, I fly over to her and touch her shoulder, ready to flinch, for her to knock me away, but she doesn’t. Sophie allows me to hug her, to basically hug her like a cocoon.
I’m not sure how long we stay here, but I can’t stand to hear her ragged breathing form crying so hard. Her entire body is trembling from the force of her sorrow, and I can’t help it. I break down too.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, my words coming out hoarse, my breathing jagged. “Every time I try to do something to help, I’m afraid I’m making things worse. All I wanted was to save people, but I’ve hurt so many in the process too. Maybe… Maybe I’m wrong. Why should I get involved? Maybe I’m just a stupid fairy who doesn’t know how to interpret premonitions. I know it’s a rare gift, and I don’t know who else has it, so I can’t… I can’t ask for help. I’m stuck. I hurt you. I killed… I stole… I basically got as close to lying as a fairy can. Sophie, I’m losing myself. I’m turning dark, but… but… is it okay? Is it okay to turn dark to try to save people? To save lives? I don’t want there to be a war, but I don’t know if I can stop it. Maybe I’m not strong enough. Maybe premonitions have to come true. Maybe I’ve made people suffer for no reason, and I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I suck in air every few words. Can she even understand what I’m saying?
Sophie sniffs and wipes her face before sitting up and basically pushing me away without touching me. “All I thought about while I was in prison was about us being in the treehouse, having our friends over, talking, laughing, being happy. Cody was there. Aiden. All of our friends. And it was going to be so perfect. So perfect. And you know what? I even thought about that one friend of Mom and Dad’s. Um… Alaneo. Alaneo Icewings. Do you remember him?”
I flinch.
Sophie’s eyes grow wide.
“I… I had to bury him. We were attacked and… I had to bury him.”
Her shoulders slump. “Cody, is he alive? What about Freesia? Adriata? Poppy? Crystal? Florian? Trevan? Are they all okay? Or are our friends all falling because everything you touch dies?”
“That’s not true!” I protest. “And they’re all fine! At least, as far as I know…”
“That’s where you’re heading,” Sophie says. “Didn’t they say that the darkest fairy who ever flew would cause the grass beneath him to wither and decay? I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to the earth if he had walked on it. The Dark King, isn’t that when he was called? Do you want to become the Dark Queen? Because that’s what’s going to happen.”
“You have premonitions now?” I ask bitterly. “Besides, the Dark King is just a myth. He wasn’t real.”
“Are you sure about that?” Sophie asks coolly. “And even if he was, you can’t deny that you’re destroying everything. I don’t even know who you are anymore. You stole a person’s face! You stole her life!”
“To break you out of prison! You never should’ve been in there in the first place!”
“So now everything is my fault?”
“I never said that!”
I try to calm my breathing and even think about meditating, but there’s no way I can do that. Not with Sophie staring at me like I’m a stranger.
Maybe with her help…
I start to reach for her hand, but she jerks it away.
“Sophie, if we can meditate—”
“Now you want to meditate? Now? You used to always act like you couldn’t. You just want to take everything from everyone, don’t you? Why can’t you just leave everything alone before you burn the entire world to the ground?”
I exhale and throw up my hands. “Ask me anything. I’ll tell you what you want to know. If you want to wash your hands of me and this mess afterward, fine. I’ll just go to prison, turn myself in, and be done with it. How does that sound?”
She scowls but says nothing, just turning her head to the side as if she can’t stand to look at me, and maybe she can’t.
“The vision. I saw Jaidos. You know how HEX Unite goes after paranormal creatures, evil ones? Well, Jaidos was giving out an assignment to a guy, only the target… Sophie, the target was a human. I had another vision and learned that several humans were hunted. Or killed. Sophie, that’s what Jaidos was doing. He was hunting humans. It doesn’t matter if the humans were evil or not. He had no business overstepping like that! He was going to expose us to the humans, and that’s how the war was going to start.”
She says nothing.
“Jaidos wasn’t working alone. I’m not even certain he was the one in charge. He spoke with a woman on the phone. I don’t know who she is, but she might have been giving him orders. Or maybe they’re partners, but I think if I can just find her, we’ll be able to stop all of this once and for all.”
“Or maybe it’s a hydra. Maybe we’ll kill one head and two more will pop up. You’ll find her, kill her, and have another vision. When will your reign of terror end?”
My heart skips a beat. Sophie has completely lost faith in me, and if she doesn’t believe in me, how can I possibly believe in myself?