Violet Wings Read online

  159

  Sorrow spilled from her dry eyes. She pointed to her throat with a closed fist.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  She touched her throat and shook her head.

  "You can't speak?"

  She nodded.

  I ran for a scroll and pen and ink. When I returned with them, Beryl held a fist in front of my eyes. I examined her hand: the fingers seemed fused. I tried to pry them apart but it was like handling stone.

  Anger turned in my heart like a wheel of fire. "Did Lily do this?"

  No answer.

  What should I do? Would it be safe to let Beryl know I had discovered how to make up my own spells using common words? She'd disapprove, no doubt, but I had already lived with her disapproval for five years.

  I drew out my wand. Light streaked from the base to the tip as I infused it, but she shrank from me, shaking her head as if I had threatened to injure her.

  "Beryl? What's wrong? I can reverse the spell."

  She crossed her fists in front of herself protectively, terror in her eyes.

  I lowered my wand. "All right. I won't help until you agree."

  She let out a sobbing sigh.

  160

  With great care, I pulled the infusion out of my wand, fearing the force of my rage would explode into unintended magic, turning our home to dust.

  Lily Morganite would pay for this if it took every last bit of radia I possessed. For it must have been Lily--who else would silence Beryl?

  What is Lily holding over her?

  "I'm going out," I told my guardian.

  She reached toward me, a pleading gesture, but I turned away.

  At the door I looked back. Beryl tottered to her feet. Her wings quivered as she took a step. She motioned at me with her enchanted fists. I shook my head, and she sank back onto the tattered perch.

  I whisked out the door and flew hard toward the Gateway of Galena. I was getting close to it when a voice spoke beside me. "Where are you going?"

  I whirled. "Meteor?"

  Starlight outlined his shoulders and gleamed on the stripes in his hair. "Where are you going?" he repeated.

  "Are you following me?"

  "My father told me what happened tonight."

  I slowed, peering at him. "Councilor Zircon told you?"

  "He said you'd been falsely accused and exonerated."

  "That's comforting." I couldn't keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

  The pillars of the gateway were just ahead. I didn't want

  161

  Meteor following me into Oberon City, so I turned in midair, fuming, and flew slowly along the inside border of Galena. Meteor stayed right beside me.

  Fey lights outlining the boundary revealed his face, dark and serious. It suddenly occurred to me that it had been years since he and I had been alone together. He never sought me out unless Andalonus was there, too.

  "You can't fight her, Zaree," he said. "Not now."

  "What?" I hovered uneasily. "Fight who?"

  "Lily Morganite. She's too powerful."

  I nearly choked. Meteor had guessed what I meant to do! "She has no right to put spells on me and Beryl!" My wings beat erratically, forcing me downward.

  Meteor floated smoothly to the ground after me. He held up a hand and then checked the surrounding area. "There's no one near," he said. "Why do you believe she put spells on you?

  I thought of Beryl, alone and suffering. "Beryl was going to tell me something--something important about my family! But when I got back, she was under a gag spell. And her hands were locked into fists."

  "Zaria, have you thought about how dangerous this could be?"

  "I have to do something!"

  He stepped back. "Tell me what happened."

  And I did. I talked fast, not really looking at him as my story poured out. I told him the truth--or most of it. I left out

  162

  my visits to Earth. It seemed like the wrong time to confess all the laws I had broken. And I didn't mention my discovery that ordinary words could be used for casting magic. I wasn't ready to tell anyone about that yet.

  But I did tell him that Lily was my mentor and that she'd stolen my mother's spellbook. And I told him how I had deceived the councilors with a false wand--though I didn't say where I'd gotten it.

  When I stopped, Meteor was so quiet he seemed to have quit breathing.

  "Say something," I cried.

  "This is bad," he muttered.

  Aghast, I realized I'd confided in a councilor's son. "I shouldn't have told you."

  "Why not? You had to tell someone, and I'm your friend." He looked worried. "But we should ask for help."

  "Who could help? We can't tell the Council."

  "What about Mr. Bloodstone?"

  "What?" My wings unfurled with a snap.

  "Bloodstone. He would know what to do for Miss Danburite."

  "Bloodstone?"

  "He would know what to do," Meteor said stubbornly.

  "No," I said. "Bloodstone would find a way to use this against me."

  "Zaria, he--"

  "No!"

  163

  Meteor folded his arms. "All right," he said. "We'll go back to your house together. I'll help you if I can. I know a little about spells."

  I hesitated. "Do you know enough?"

  "More than you. I know that wherever you hid your mother's spellbook, it's still in danger of being found."

  "Found?" My wings fluttered.

  "The only way to conceal something from magical tracking is to bury it on Earth. Lily Morganite touched the book, which means she can track it."

  I stared at him. "Bury it on Earth?"

  "According to the Annals of Magic, it's the only thing that could keep her from tracking it."

  "Annals of Magic?" I sounded like an echo.

  "The Crown Library, Zaree--remember? With your level and color, you can study there anytime. I've been going there every day."

  Elation filled me. I had somehow guessed right about burying the book on Earth. Lily could perform spells until she used up all her radia but she'd never find my mother's legacy. "Thank you, Meteor. If you can tell me what to do for Beryl, I'll do it. However much radia it takes."

  He gave me a look. "What did I say to make you happy?"

  "Nothing." I rose into the air.

  164

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  SONNIA IS THE ONLY FOOD THAT FEY FOLK ABSOLUTELY require for health and strength.

  CHILDREN LIVE UPON SONNIA EXCLUSIVELY. THE large crimson flowers of the sonnia plant are chewed fresh or made into a variety of nectars

  AND TEAS.

  ONCE THEY ARE GROWN UP, MANY AMONG THE FEY acquire a taste for other beverages.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  Beryl lay in the same position I'd left her, flopped in a perch beneath the light of a fey globe. I hurried to her side. She gave me a look I'll always remember, as if she were trying to say something with her eyes. But whatever it was, I couldn't understand. And then Meteor came in.

  The instant she saw him, Beryl sat up and smiled cheerily. "Meteor! Welcome."

  Confused, I drifted backward. Meteor's eyebrows lifted to his hairline.

  "Beryl?" I squeaked. "You can talk?"

  165

  speech." She sprang up. "Would you like some spiced sonnia tea, children?" She glided toward the potbellied copper stove. "I suppose I should not refer to you as children

  anymore, now that you have received your watches and wands." She poured water into a kettle and added dried sonnia leaves.

  No gag spell. No frozen fists. Just a complete personality change.

  I sidled up to Beryl and peered at her face. All her features were the same: long chin, short nose, yellow eyes, wrinkled skin. But how could this pleasantly smiling old fairy be the guardian that I knew? Beryl Danburite would not behave this way. She would frown and demand to know what Meteor was doing here so late. She would grill me about where I'd bee
n. And she would not forget a gag spell.

  Watching her stir the tea, I rubbed my aching eyes, then turned to Meteor. He stood motionless against the wall.

  "Don't drink it," he said softly.

  "What?"

  He crossed the room and took my arm. He tugged me through the front door.

  Outside, he didn't let go. "Zaree, you can't stay here tonight."

  I looked up at him. "Why?"

  He shook my arm. "You have to go somewhere else until you find out what spells are at work here."

  "Then you believe me?"

  166

  "Miss Danburite isn't acting like herself. Not one bit."

  "Meteor, when I told Beryl I would try reversing the gag spell, she was terrified. Do you know why that would be?"

  Meteor's eyebrows met in a long line. "You offered to reverse the spell?"

  "I--" No wonder he seemed shocked. He knew I never studied.

  But apparently Meteor wasn't thinking about whether I could have learned a spell of reversal. "Layered magic," he said in a stricken voice.

  "What?" I had never heard of layered magic.

  He finally dropped my arm. "Of course. I should have seen it." His whole face tensed. "I was reading about layered spells only yesterday. They're wickedly dangerous. Reversing them requires advanced magic I know nothing about." He glanced anxiously at the door. "Whatever she serves us, don't drink it!"

  Strings of panic knotted inside me.

  He drew his wand. He had changed it: it was striped black and white with a zircon tip. "We need protection," he said. "I once saw the spell against layered magic. . . ." He frowned in concentration. "Level Thirty," he said, nodding. "Fendus altus--"

  The door opened. Beryl, still smiling, stepped out. Before I could blink, a warm mug was in my hand, and Meteor held one, too. "Try it," she urged. "I addeding a flowers."

  167

  Meteor straightened his arm and dropped the mug. It smashed on the stones of our little courtyard, and the brew splattered his feet.

  He staggered back. His eyes found mine. "Zaria?" He sounded bewildered, as if he didn't expect to see me.

  I looked at his feet. Most young genies go barefoot, and Meteor was no exception. Drops of tea had fallen on his skin. Very carefully, I glided backward. I hurled my mug sideways and heard it shatter.

  "Zaria!" Beryl sounded hurt.

  Meteor looked dazed. "I don't remember coming here."

  Beryl wagged her finger at me. "You know better than to put spells on your friends."

  My mouth fell open. Meteor's expression went from dazed to furious. "Wait," I cried. "You know I'd never do such a thing."

  "Someone enchanted me," Meteor said. "I doubt it was Miss Danburite."

  I wanted to throw aside caution and do experimental spells on both of them. But Meteor had talked of layered magic. And already in the course of the evening, Beryl had behaved as if she were under a gag spell, a spell to freeze her fingers, and some other insidious enchantment that had made her a stranger.

  A stranger who would try to turn one of my dearest friends against me.

  What if the brew that splashed on Meteor contained

  168

  layers, too? How could I risk having my magic misfire?

  "Meteor," I said, "I did not do this."

  Beryl sniffed. Meteor looked hard at me and then rose into the air.

  He didn't look back.

  Beryl and I faced each other. Although I knew she was in the grip of an enchantment, I couldn't forgive her. She had let this happen. She must have known about protection spells, but she'd never seen fit to tell me about them. If she had, I would gladly have donated radia to keep her safe.

  She had kept silent about the most important things in my life, things I had every right to know--about my family, and about Lily, and about Earth.

  "Your criminal nature is showing, Zaria," she said. "As I always knew it would."

  I wondered if Lily might be watching through Beryl's eyes. How bitterly glad I was that I hadn't told Beryl about the fake wand or about my visits to Earth.

  "Criminal nature?" I asked.

  Her mouth puckered sourly. "Look at what you have become! A thieving liar."

  I pointed my wand at her head. "Don't come near me. You know how dangerous untrained Violet fairies are, when our magic gets away from us." I kept my wand raised as I slowly circled behind her and then burst into the house.

  169

  I flew up the stairs into my mother's room and shut the door behind me. Oh, how I needed a haven.

  I heard Beryl on the stairway. Pointing my wand at the door, I spoke softly. "Open to none but me tonight." I did the same with the window.

  The door rattled. "You will regret this, Zaria Tourmaline. After all I have done for you, you vile, ungrateful fairy!"

  "Go away."

  I waited until she stopped calling insults.Then I sank into my mother's nest, folding my wings.

  Alone, I mourned for all I had lost.

  170

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  LEPRECHAUN MAGIC DIFFERS FROM THAT OF FAIRIES AND GENIES IN MANY IMPORTANT REGARDS.

  LEPRECHAUNS CANNOT FLY; THEY TAKE ENORMOUS FLYING LEAPS INSTEAD.

  ALL LEPRECHAUNS HAVE THE SAME LEVEL OF MAGIC: THE EQUIVALENT OF LEVEL 10. BEFORE THE LEPRECHAUN EDICT, THEY COULD TRAVEL FREELY BETWEEN TLRFEYNE AND EARTH.

  LEPRECHAUNS HAVE NEITHER THE MEANS NOR THE NEED TO MONITOR EXPENDITURES OF MAGIC, FOR THEIR MAGIC IS SELF-RENEWING. THEY CAN DO SPELL AFTER SPELL WITHOUT RUNNING LOW, AND THEIR MAGIC OPERATES WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A WAND.

  HOWEVER, THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF TRANSFERRING

  MAGIC.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  I opened my eyes to find myself slumped in my mother's nest. My crystal watch told me that Lily Morganite expected me at the FOOM dome in two minutes.

  She was the very last fairy I wanted to go anywhere near.

  171

  Slowly, I rose. I infused my wand to Level 30, the level Meteor had said was needed to cast a protection spell.

  I spoke an improvised spell. "I, Zaria Tourmaline, am protected from any and all enchantments today."

  I checked to be sure I had both wands--the real and the fake.

  "I won't give up the real one," I promised myself. "Not to anyone."

  I wanted to do something to reinforce my decision, something powerful to help me keep that promise no matter what happened. But what? Beryl had never taught me any special rituals, and I had been too young when my parents disappeared to have learned any from them.

  I looked around the room and saw the spiral pattern on the floor, the painting of trees on the wall, the row of copper cupboards. How many dreams had my mother left behind when she took her last journey? For that matter, what had Jett been hoping to do when he told me Feyland would change "for good"? And how had my father felt when he went away to search for his missing son?

  Had any of them ever suspected that I, Zaria, would be the only one remaining to carry their legacy forward?

  I stood in the center of the floor, the spot where the spiral began. "Here, today, I take my vow on my family's honor," I said. "I will never give up my true wand."

  The room answered with silence, but I felt different

  172

  inside, as if the strength of my whole family had gathered in my heart.

  "Thank you," I whispered.

  Glancing at my watch, I realized it was past nine o'clock. However fast I pumped my tired wings, I would be late meeting Lily.

  Unless I transported myself.

  Beryl had warned me not to transport through the gateway. To get to the FOOM dome, I would have to do two transports--one to the Gateway of Galena, and once I had passed through the gateway, another to the dome.

  At seven minutes past nine, I stood beside a trellis of inga flowers in the ornamental gardens behind the FOOM dome. And there, two wingspans away, hovered Lily in a white satin gown.

  When
she saw me, her face tightened. "Good morning," she said. "I see you have been practicing transport spells."

  I said nothing. Why hadn't she waited for me at the front of the dome? Why did she seem to have some uncanny power to guess everything I would do?

  Lily smiled frostily. "Did you sleep in that gown?" She looked at me as if I were a diamond so rough I could never be polished. "Come with me," she ordered.

  Inside the dome, she led me through wide corridors, her wings unfurled just enough so she could skim gracefully, the scent of lilies drifting behind her. I should have been dazzled

  173

  by the opulence of the dome--the same opulence that had awed me only days earlier--but I wasn't. The shining walls and colored floors seemed nothing more than a magnificent bottle holding a venomous brew.

  I followed Lily through a zirconium door into a room carpeted in pale yellow. A suspended crystal, cleverly cut, split rays of sun from a skylight into hundreds of butterfly-shaped rainbows.

  I felt sickened. I hated the prettiness of the room. I would rather be in The Ugly Mug surrounded by boisterous leprechauns sitting at battered brass tables.

  The door clanged shut and Lily turned to face me. "You have been squandering radia," she said. "Transporting yourself is abominably wasteful. Consider: if you transported yourself four times a day for a year, you would use over thirty-six thousand radia. In a hundred years, you would part with close to four million for no purpose." With a pink finger, she tapped my temple. "And if I am not mistaken, transportation is not the only spell you have been playing with."

  Because of you, I thought.

  "Nothing to say? Perhaps you believe you have plenty, a wealth you could not spend if you tried?"

  "No," I answered. "My guardian told me to be careful."

  "So you can speak."

  I flinched and thought of Beryl, lost in layers of enchantment. How I'd love to see Lily stripped of her wand. Ad eternum. Forever and always.

  174

  She switched to another subject. "One of your teachers noticed you show signs of being Earth-struck."

  I looked down at the soft yellow carpet.

  "Tell me, Zaria, has anyone explained to you why there are durable spells on the portals to Earth?"

  I lifted my chin. "Portals?" How much did she know about the portals I had taken?