As I entered the tent, the same fog I’d seen earlier formed inside, although now it was denser. A myriad of pastel colors sparkled within the cloud. Pinks and blues mingled and danced on invisible air currents. I felt the magic around me, filling me with energy, strengthening me.
This was a powerful magic, a spell that no ordinary practitioner could accomplish. Sounds of flitting wings came from within the mist, but I couldn’t find the source until a portal opened in front of me and two fairies appeared inside it. As they came closer, I watched the fairies—a boy and girl—grow in height until they stood as tall as an average adult when they reached this side of the portal.
Their wings disappeared as they crossed into this world, although their clothing didn’t change.
I stood, my mouth agape as I stared at them. They didn’t speak. The girl looked young—in her teens, maybe. She had dark blonde hair that was slightly curly with flyaways that lent to her wild appearance. Her feet were bare, and her skirt was made of large white flower petals. She wore a pink-and-green top, also made of flowers.
The boy was older than the girl—mid-twenties, maybe—and his clothing was more refined. He wore black boots and a black tunic, with silver jewels that lined his collar and cuffs. His hair was platinum blond, almost white, and it fell to his shoulders.
Both of them had pale faces and stood on shaky feet, which I attributed to the crossing.
“Are you Olive?” the girl asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes,” I answered, confused.
The boy spoke up. “I am Prince Terminus,” he said and dipped into a deep bow. As he straightened, he motioned toward the girl. “This is my sister, Esmelda. We are prince and princess of the Periwinkle Court.”
“Fairies?”
“Yes,” Esmelda answered. “We have traveled from Faythander to… to seek your help.” She took a deep breath. “I am sorry. I am unwell.”
Prince Terminus took his sister’s arm and helped her sit on the ground.
“The dizziness is caused by the crossing,” I said. “It should pass soon.” I looked up at the brother. “You said you need my help. Why?”
“We have lost the Arrubicus—a starstone gem that is vital to our existence. We do not know who took it, but after seeking the counsel of the sky king, he advised us to find you here. We seek your aid in discovering what has been stolen.”
I tried to wrap my mind around the situation. “My stepfather sent you here?”
The princess showed me a ring she wore. It had a gold band that supported a red gemstone in the shape of a rose. “This is all that is left of our gemstone. The larger stone has been stolen, and without it, the fairies in Faythander are suffering. The Arrubicus has been taken to this world. You know this planet better than any other, which is why your stepfather sent us to you.”
Prince Terminus spoke up. “Will you aid us in finding our lost stone?”
“Well, I can’t just…” I paused, took a deep breath. This was all happening way too fast. Within the last year, I’d already saved the world twice, which meant I’d earned enough good karma to last me another decade at least. Maybe two.
As I looked at the fairies, I realized they had sacrificed a great deal to seek my help. They had come to Earth, a strange and unfamiliar place, and had been forced to grow tall and—worst of all—lose their wings, which fairies hated. So for these two fairies to cross into my world meant the situation must have been worse than they’d told me.
“Let me try to understand this a little better,” I said. “Your gemstone has gone missing and has been transported here to this planet. You do not know who took the stone, but since I have spent considerable time in this world—and because my stepfather recommended it—you’ve come to me for help. Is that all?”
“That is basically it,” the princess answered. “But what my brother has forgotten to mention is the consequence of what will happen if we do not find the stone.”
“Why? What will happen?”
“We will die—and if that happens—all plants and creatures will eventually die with us.”
“You’re sure about that?” I asked.
“Yes. Fairies are Faythander’s caretakers. Our magic is unique. It works in harmony with nature—but it is also a symbiotic relationship. The Arrubicus absorbs negative energy, which in turn fuels the gemstone and makes it impossible for us to use dark magic. If the stone is destroyed, dark magic will be released exponentially—making it impossible for fairy magic to exist. Faythander will become a place of darkness. All creatures, plants—every living thing—will die.”
“I see,” I said. Refusing to help them now was getting exponentially harder to do. “Why is the gemstone here on Earth? Can you tell me anything about who took it or what they plan to do with it?”
“Please,” the princess said. “We do not have all the answers, but our protectors will arrive soon, and they can explain more. We have created this place to shelter us during our time here on Earth. With your help, we will soon find the gemstone, and then we will request no more of you.”
She spoke with a hint of panic in her voice, and her eyes took on a pain-filled expression as she turned to her brother. “I must rest,” she told him. “The crossing—I am still unwell.”
Terminus glanced up at me. “How long do the effects of the crossing last?”
“In most cases, not long,” I answered. “She should feel better soon. However, neither of you are accustomed to being tall, nor are you used to moving around without your wings. That may take some getting used to.”
“Then I will do what I can to make this place more comfortable for her,” he said. He closed his eyes and began to sing. His voice, barely above a whisper, reminded me of wind rushing through willow boughs. The song conjured images of quiet ponds at evening time, with fireflies reflected in the dark water. Soon, a fog gathered around him and spread throughout the room. I felt magic in the fog, and goose bumps prickled my skin as it touched me with a warm, energetic embrace.
Shapes appeared in the mist. A silver tree grew in the center of the tent. As Terminus sang, its branches spread overhead and then dipped and curved toward the ground, forming separate rooms. Vines wrapped the tree limbs and tiny orange flowers bloomed, filling the room with their perfume. Soft lights twinkled inside the flowers, casting the room in a luminous glow. Red roses and yellow daffodils sprouted from the ground and bloomed around us. They grew until they were as large as beds.
The song ended before I was ready. Since fairy magic could only be used for good, it was undeniably the most untainted magic in Faythander, and its simplicity gave it power.
Terminus laid his sister on one of the roses. She sank into its petals, and then a small smile creased her mouth.
“You have brought me home?”
“No, of course not. But this is as close to home as I could manage.”
“You have done well,” she said.
“It’s beautiful,” I said as I ran my hands over one of the frilly daffodil petals. I wandered the room, staring at the tree limbs overhead, feeling warmth from the fairy lights on my skin and the softness of the grass beneath my bare feet. I wandered from one room into the next, surprised to find flowers of all varieties in the separate chambers. Sunflowers as large as dining tables sprouted in one room, while the next was filled with giant blue hydrangeas. In another room, I found tulips in a rainbow of shades from red to indigo.
As I inspected the flowers, the thought struck me that the fairy prince must have made these rooms with a specific purpose in mind. But what did he plan to use them for? I walked out of the tulip room into the last room, expecting more colorful flowers. Instead, I found it robed in black vines. They grew along the floor and ceiling, and in the far corner, the vines created a hammock.
Odd.
I entered the main chamber once again to find the princess asleep on a rose. She looked so tiny on the huge flower, and I realized she couldn’t be much older than fourteen or fifteen. Her brother stood watch near her.
“Terminus,” I said quietly as I neared him. “What are all the different chambers for? And why is one room all in black?”
“The rooms are for our protectors.”
“Who are your protectors?” I had a sneaky suspicion that I wasn’t going to like his answer.
“The Wults,” he answered.
Yep. Didn’t like it. Didn’t like it at all.
“Why are the Wults coming?”
“Because long ago, in a different age, the Wult king stole a fruit from a fairy-flower tree, and by accident, he fed it to a bog-beast. The beast would have killed the Wult man, but the fairy queen took pity and saved him. In exchange for his life, the Wult promised protection to all fairies in any time of need. Whenever called upon, the Wult king must serve the fairies.”
“Wult king?” I hadn’t heard him correctly. Surely I hadn’t.
“Yes, the king and his court will arrive shortly.”
This was bad.
No, this was world-ending, sky-is-falling, pull-the-trigger and drop-dead horrible bad.
“Terminus, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help you any longer. If the Wults are coming, then you should have no trouble finding the missing starstone. Wults are excellent trackers, and I’m sure it will be returned before tomorrow evening. If you will excuse me.”
I turned for the exit, but Terminus stopped me.
“That is not all,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
He glanced at his sleeping sister. “I will tell you outside.”
He led me through the tent’s front flap, our feet crunching over dead leaves as we walked toward the forest. From this perspective, the tent looked like a giant lantern, casting shades of white and yellow over the uneven ground around it.
When I’d come to the Ren Fest, I certainly hadn’t expected this. Or them. Or him. What could I possibly do to avoid that man?
We stopped at the edge of the tree line. Terminus’s silver eyes darted around the field. He looked as if he wanted to take flight but was stuck with walking as his mode of transportation.
He turned his attention to me. “I did not want to speak of this in front of my sister, which is why I have brought you out here. Are you familiar with the bloodthorn?”
“No, I don’t believe so. What it is?”
“He is a creature from a place our people fear. We are forbidden from speaking of this place, for its name is a spell word of the most powerful sort. We call it only ‘the undiscovered land’. Several weeks ago, this creature was spotted on the outskirts of our village, and shortly thereafter, our starstone was stolen.”
“You believe it was the bloodthorn who took it?”
He nodded. “I am almost certain of it. However, my sister knows none of this. My people fear the bloodthorn and those like it more than anything else. They are our mortal enemies. I did not wish to frighten her by revealing this knowledge.”
The wind picked up, howling through the trees and making the branches creak. “Do you believe the bloodthorn is here on this planet?”
“Yes, I believe he has traveled here in order to hide the stone from us.”
“But what does he want with the fairy stone?”
“The explanation is rather lengthy, but suffice it to say, the stone collects negative energy. As you know, fairies do not wield dark magic. If a fairy were to conjure a dark spell, the Arrubicus stone would absorb the energy, thus negating the spell. The stone is capable of storing limitless amounts of power, and the consequences of unleashing that much dark magic would be devastating.”
“I agree.” I glanced at the woods, barely visible in the moonlight, wondering if perhaps I’d already seen the creature earlier in the evening. “So, this stone would be very valuable to certain people, especially to creatures of darkness. Terminus, what does the bloodthorn look like?”
He shook his head. “We do not speak of such things,” he said, his voice hushed.
“Then how am I to find him?”
His gaze seemed to pierce straight through me. Purple sparks danced through his irises, reminding me I was speaking to a fae creature, a magical being of Fairy.
“You will know. When the time comes, you will know.”
His words sent shivers down my spine.
“They were like us once,” he continued, “pure and good. But somehow, they became tainted. Now, they remember nothing of the old ways.”
“Were they fairies?”
“I cannot say for sure, but the bloodthorn and those like it come from the undiscovered land—a place of great evil.”
I pondered his words. I’d never heard of the undiscovered land, but for some time now, I’d suspected there was a hidden land—perhaps an island or underworld—somewhere on Faythander. My godson had been captured by the Regaymor, and I still wasn’t sure where they’d come from. Geth, the now-deceased goblin leader, had taken me to a dark plain where he’d kept the pixie Mochazon. Did the Regaymor come from the undiscovered land? Was that where Geth had taken me?
“Terminus, where is the undiscovered land?”
“My people do not travel there, but there is an entrance to it not far from my home.”
“What sort of entrance? A portal?”
“No. The entrance to the undiscovered land is accessed through a cave atop Dragon Spine Mountain.”
Dragon Spine. No wonder my stepfather didn’t know about the entrance. He refused to travel to the place, although I still wasn’t sure why. Was it possible there was an unknown world beneath Faythander? If so, why didn’t anyone know more about it?
“So, you say there is an entrance to the undiscovered land atop Dragon Spine, and it’s not far from where you live. It is most likely that the bloodthorn escaped from the unnamed land in order to steal the stone.”
“Yes. It is most likely.”
“But we still don’t know what he wants or how to find him… or why he came here to Earth, of all places. Or what he means to do with the stone.”
“Yes, there are still many questions that must be answered. But we must act quickly. Fairies will not survive long without the stone. We must return it to my world as soon as possible, or I fear the consequences will be worse than we envision.”
He glanced back at the tent. “I must return to my sister. Will you join me?”
I followed his line of sight. If the Wults were coming, I didn’t plan to spend any time with them. I would help Terminus as best as I could, but I refused to work with the Wults. Doc Hill had laid out very good reasons why I should forget the Skullsplitter, and for once, I intended to take his advice.
“No, I need to get back to my camper.”
“Very well.” He bowed before turning away and leaving me alone.
The sound of an owl resonated through the forest as I made my way back to my trailer. I replayed my conversation with Terminus, trying to understand why we didn’t know more about the undiscovered land. If it was accessed through tunnels in Dragon Spine Mountain, why didn’t we see more dark creatures roaming around Faythander?
Unless there was some sort of spell in place that prevented it.
Which meant the bloodthorn would have needed to overpower the spell in order to escape—which also meant there was a land full of nasty, dark creatures probably begging to be set free and waiting for an opportunity to be set loose.
Is that why the bloodthorn had appeared? Was that the reason for taking the stone? Did he intend to set his companions free?
It made sense. He would need crazy amounts of power in order to break through the spell, and the starstone would be one of the only ways to hold that much power. If that were the case, then how was he able to set himself free in the first place?
I didn’t have any answers, and if I wanted to find them, I would have to dig.
When I got back to my camper, I entered and locked the door behind me before lugging out my suitcase of books. Luckily, I’d brought them. I’d almost left them at my apartment, but with my social anorexia, I knew I’d need something to keep me occupied. And what do you know, I’d been right.
I cracked open a text called Superstition and Myth in the Realm of Faerie and started reading.
This was going to be a long night.