Indigo Magic Page 3

  ‘Uncommon.’ Leona touched her wing to mine.

  Meteor didn’t seem to hear her. ‘You can make spells with common words, Zaria. Only you.’ He rubbed his knuckles over a threadbare patch of yellow in the rug. ‘And you had the power to do it before you had that bottle.’

  Chapter Eight

  HUMAN ERRORS ABOUT FEY FOLK HAVE BECOME WIDESPREAD. FOR EXAMPLE, HUMAN STORIES DEPICT NOT ONLY FEMALE FAIRIES AND MALE GENIES, BUT ALSO MALE FAIRIES AND FEMALE GENIES. THIS IS ABSURD.

  FAIRIES ARE THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES; GENIES ARE THE MALE. FAIRIES HAVE WINGS, GENIES HAVE MAGIC FEET, BUT BOTH CAN FLY WITH EQUAL SPEED. HUMANS APPEAR TO BELIEVE THAT FAIRIES ARE TINY AND GENIES ARE ENORMOUS. THIS IS NOT SO. ON AVERAGE, BOTH FAIRIES AND GENIES ARE BETWEEN FIVE AND SIX FEET TALL WHEN FULL GROWN, MUCH LIKE HUMANS.

  FAIRY WINGS AND GENIE FEET ARE AUGMENTED BY MAGIC; WITHOUT MAGIC, A FAIRY’S WINGS WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH TO CARRY HER, AND A GENIE’S FEET WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH TO CARRY HIM. BUT ALL FAIRIES AND GENIES FLY, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR LEVEL OR COLOUR. THIS IS THE ONE GREAT EQUALIZER: ALTHOUGH FLYING IS A MAGICAL ACTIVITY, IT DOES NOT USE UP RADIA.

  Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  I DIDN’T LIKE the way my friends were staring at me, as if they’d never seen me before. My wings fluttered uneasily. I wanted to say that Meteor didn’t know what he was saying, that he was only guessing, that there must be others like me. But even more, I wanted everyone to forget what I had told them.

  Leona broke the silence, saying, ‘Whatever your unknown powers are, the bottle is what Lily’s after, Zaria – not you.’ She flapped a hand at the perch behind me. ‘We need to test that powder so we’ll know why she wants it.’

  I was sure that Lily would take me too if she could. And I cringed at the thought of opening the indigo bottle.

  ‘Test it on me,’ Leona said. ‘A small sprinkle.’

  ‘No,’ I told her, studying the bottle. ‘What if it’s harmful?’

  ‘It’s been here all along,’ she said impatiently. ‘It hasn’t hurt us.’

  ‘But it hasn’t been open.’ I turned to Meteor. ‘Couldn’t it be dangerous?’

  He grunted. ‘Of course it’s dangerous. Lily Morganite wants it! And it started with trolls.’ Meteor drifted up from the floor to lean against the mantel. ‘Troll magic is too strong for us, which is why I don’t understand how you melted one of their cloaks, Zaria. You’re …’

  ‘Pretty,’ Andalonus said, kicking Meteor. ‘You’re trying to say she’s pretty, aren’t you?’

  Meteor threw up his hands, smiling at me. ‘Yes, that’s what I was trying to say.’

  Grinning, Leona floated forward to touch the bottle. Light from the fey globe glimmered on its surface and made its way into the glinting darkness beneath. ‘The only way to test the powder is to use it on something.’ She infused her wand to Level 2 and tossed her black hair over her shoulder. ‘Colos smychen.’ A second cloud of coloured smoke filled the hearth, mingling with the last wisps of ordinary smoke left from my burned-out fire. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘Add a sprinkle of powder, Zaree. See what happens.’

  I shook my head, even more uneasy.

  ‘Please?’ It was rare for Leona to plead. ‘We’re safe in here,’ she said. ‘We can test just the teeniest bit. Then we’ll know.’

  I sighed. Meteor and Andalonus were both nodding slowly.

  ‘All right, but I don’t want it touching me,’ I said. ‘Me, or anyone.’

  Reluctantly I infused my wand and tapped the bottle. ‘Unseal.’ I took out the stopper.

  Meteor picked up a teacup from the table nearby. ‘Put a little in here and then close the bottle again,’ he suggested.

  The smoky glass cup was one of the few items from Earth my parents had owned. Made by humans thousands of years ago, it had a lovely design, its handle shaped like flowing water. Before her disappearance, my mother had often used that cup to serve me sonnia tea. So had Beryl, my guardian, despite her hatred of anything that came from Earth.

  While Meteor held the cup I tipped the bottle. The heavy powder poured like fine salt, its particles gleaming darkly. Replacing the cap, I tapped it with my wand and repeated a spell. ‘Seal this bottle so none may open it or break it but me.’ A seamless band appeared and fitted snugly around the cap.

  I pushed the bottle down in the cushions of my perch. Taking the cup from Meteor, I drifted to the hearth where Leona’s coloured smoke swirled and danced. There I shook the cup, scattering a smidgen of powder.

  The colours vanished, and the smoke with them. It didn’t take any time; the smoke didn’t die down. It simply ceased to be.

  Dread slid through me, and I began to shake. The cup still held a pinch of powder; before I could drop it, I set it down on the hearthstones and flew backward. Turning to my friends, I found them bunched together, trembling.

  ‘I wanted you to sprinkle that on me,’ Leona whispered.

  ‘It doesn’t strengthen magic,’ said Meteor. ‘It kills magic. Probably kills any magical being too.’

  ‘It could have killed me.’ Leona’s silver eyes had turned grey with fright. ‘Never listen to me again, Zaree.’

  Chapter Nine

  IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT FAIRIES AND GENIES BORN WITH HIGH-LEVEL MAGIC AND LARGE RESERVES OF RADIA ARE NOT ALSO BORN WITH WISDOM. FOR WHEN POWERFUL FAIRIES AND GENIES PRACTISE MAGIC FOR SELFISH PURPOSES, ALL OF FEYLAND SUFFERS. INDEED, WICKED FAIRIES AND GENIES HAVE CREATED MISCHIEF AND MISERY FOR OTHER FEY FOLK ON MANY OCCASIONS. THE WORST SUCH CASE WAS THAT OF BRONE GRANITE, THE EVIL GENIE WHO NEARLY SUCCEEDED IN OVERTHROWING KING OBERON THE SEVENTH.

  Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  ‘LILY WANTS THE powder because it’s a weapon.’ Leona’s eyes had changed back to silver. ‘It’s the answer to our problems.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s not an answer to anything.’

  ‘It makes us Lily’s equal. We can use it to defeat her.’ Leona made a sprinkling motion, as if she held a cupful. ‘We’ll put some on her head.’ She turned to Meteor. ‘Would it kill her, or just get rid of her magic?’

  Meteor’s eyebrows went up. ‘I don’t know what it would do.’

  ‘You said—’

  ‘I guessed,’ Meteor broke in. ‘Remember, Lily knows much more about magic than any of us. And besides—’

  ‘We have to get rid of it!’ I cried. ‘It’s too dangerous to keep.’

  ‘Too dangerous to lose,’ Leona shot back.

  Gazing past her at the mantelpiece, I noticed my family clock had stopped working. The engraved silver was still beautiful, but the hands were unmoving, the small golden pendulum silent and still.

  My unease was growing.

  ‘Leona—’ I stopped as I caught a whiff of nauseating scent. Sweet, sticky and thick, it coiled around me.

  Lilies.

  I felt strangled. Something had gone wrong. When I closed the door on Lily, that smell had lingered near the doorway. But it shouldn’t be getting stronger.

  I whirled round, and screamed at what I saw. Lily Morganite hovered above the hearthstones.

  Lily Morganite was inside my home.

  Scrambling away from her, I spread my wings, hovering in front of the perch that held the indigo bottle. Meteor was on my left, Andalonus and Leona on my right. As one, we held up our wands.

  Lily bent quickly to pick up the cup I’d left next to the ashes. She handled it as if it were the most precious and dangerous thing in the world, and trilled her gloating laugh. ‘How predictable, Zaria. You could not leave well enough alone.’

  ‘How did you get in?’ I panted.

  Lily raised the cup. ‘This powder opened the way. It will be your doom, Zaria – unless, of course, you give the rest of it to me. I know how to dispose of it.’ Light moved in the core of her wand, and she tapped the side of the cup. ‘Crea viditas.’ A glass lid appeared, fitting tightly over the rim. I heard Meteor gasp, startled by her magic. Creating anything from nothing used up radia rapidly, but appa
rently she didn’t care.

  Lily slipped the cup into a pocket of her gown and opened her hand. ‘Give me the bottle, Zaria, and I will tell you what you long to know.’

  I refused to look at the perch behind me, but I couldn’t stop my wings from fluttering. What if the neck of the bottle were visible? I remembered pushing it into the cushions, but I hadn’t taken care to cover it completely.

  ‘You do not understand ancient magic.’ Lily floated forward an inch and stopped. Her wings were definitely quivering. Stranger still, her wand was still lit as if she were in the middle of doing a spell. ‘I have studied it for a hundred years.’

  A hundred years. So, she was a powerful fairy in her prime. I had wondered about her age; it had been impossible to guess.

  ‘Then tell us what you know.’ I heard a tinge of hope in Meteor’s voice.

  ‘I will tell you this much,’ she said harshly. ‘The hole in your protections is permanent, Zaria. The effects of the powder can never be undone.’ She patted her gown. ‘And the small amount I have is worth more to me than the entire bottle is worth to you.’

  ‘What will you do with it?’ Meteor asked.

  She tilted her head. ‘This is your last chance to bargain, Zaria.’ Her voice was menacing, but her wings beat so unsteadily I expected her to lose her balance and fall into the ashes on the hearth.

  ‘No,’ I answered.

  ‘Then I will leave you,’ she said coldly. ‘For now.’

  Chapter Ten

  THE ROLE OF SCHOLAR IS RARELY GIVEN FULL APPRECIATION. FORTUNATELY TRUE SCHOLARS FIND GREAT SOLACE IN SEEKING KNOWLEDGE FOR ITS OWN SAKE.

  Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  THE SECOND LILY vanished, I dug the indigo bottle out of the cushions of my perch. Flying up to the first storey too fast, I almost crashed against the door to my mother’s room before I could open it. My friends were right behind me, and we all hurried inside. Meteor slammed the door.

  I placed the bottle on a shelf. There it rested quietly, but its peril seemed to shout.

  ‘I destroyed the protections on my own hearth with that powder!’ Trying to calm myself, I stared at the picture on the wall, the painting of a forest of trees on Earth. But though the sight normally soothed me, just then it didn’t help in the least.

  ‘She couldn’t come any closer,’ Andalonus said.

  ‘What?’ Leona asked.

  ‘Lily. She couldn’t come all the way into the room. She wanted to. Anyone could see she hates us worse than a trog hates a bath. But she stayed near the spot where the powder was sprinkled.’

  ‘Right, she did,’ Meteor said, nodding. ‘And her wings were quivering. She tried to hide it, but she couldn’t.’

  ‘I saw that too,’ I agreed.

  ‘She was careful not to touch the ashes where you threw the powder,’ Meteor said.

  ‘You think it’s still active?’ I asked, shivering. ‘What if Lily’s right about the effects being permanent?’

  Andalonus bobbed nervously. ‘Lily would say anything.’

  I stared at the tiles in the floor – tiles formed into a spiral pattern in every shade of blue and green from pale turquoise to deep indigo, from light jade to the dark green of raw copper. ‘She knew she’d find an opening,’ I said. ‘She was just waiting for us to test the powder.’ My home had been a protected refuge for only a few days. Now it had danger at its heart.

  ‘Should we test the house?’ Meteor asked. ‘Find out whether the hole in your spell closed up again?’

  I shook my head. ‘How? Have a party and invite fairies who hate me? See if they can get in?’

  I looked around my mother’s room, her lovely, abandoned room, the room she hadn’t seen for five years. Sharp arrows of sadness took aim at me. What would Lily Morganite do next?

  ‘We could protect ourselves,’ Leona said. ‘Each of us could take some of the powder and carry it with us. Sealed, so it can’t hurt us.’

  ‘No,’ I said.

  ‘We’d use it only if needed.’

  ‘I won’t give you something that could kill your magic.’

  Leona lifted her injured hand. ‘It’s all we have against Lily!’ My fairy friend looked ready for battle, her silver eyes glinting like blades.

  ‘If any of it touched you, you could end up like me.’ Andalonus pointed at himself. ‘Ungifted. A dire fate, Leona.’

  Leona smiled at him. ‘Ungifted or not, you’re still the best of genies.’ She lifted her chin. ‘Besides, Lily could be lying about the powder. How could it last for ever?’

  ‘She could be,’ Meteor said. ‘But we need to research it.’

  I nodded eagerly. If anyone could learn about the powder, it was Meteor Zircon, a born scholar. The first place he wanted to go when we were allowed to visit Oberon City was the Crown Library, where he sought out ancient tomes. I would rather join a tribe of trolls, but Meteor enjoyed reading even the dustiest pages.

  ‘Maybe there’s a mention of it in one of the old texts. I’ll go to the Crown Library,’ he offered. ‘If it’s still standing.’

  ‘Still standing?’ I cried.

  Meteor was much too solemn. ‘We don’t know what Lily plans,’ he said. ‘But why did she steal all that magic? And what did she want with Zaria’s powder? She’s up to something.’ He shook his head. ‘And if I were an evil fairy, the Crown Library is the first thing I’d destroy. It’s full of knowledge – knowledge that might defeat her.’

  Andalonus scrunched up his forehead. ‘If you were an evil fairy, you would make us study with you.’

  Chapter Eleven

  FIFTY YEARS AGO, THE LEPRECHAUN EDICT WAS PROCLAIMED BY THE HIGH COUNCIL OF FEYLAND. IT PROHIBITS LEPRECHAUNS FROM EVER TRAVELLING TO EARTH. THE EDICT WAS ENACTED TO ADDRESS TWO PROBLEMS. FIRSTLY, LEPRECHAUNS COULD NOT BE PERSUADED TO STOP TEASING HUMANS. THEY WOULD PUT POTS OF FEY GOLD IN PLAIN SIGHT, THEN CAUSE THEM TO VANISH. HUMANS HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOUR WHEN IT COMES TO GOLD: WHEN THEY REALIZE THEY HAVE BEEN TRICKED, SOME OF THEM DEVELOP DANGEROUS GRUDGES. SECONDLY, LEPRECHAUNS BEGAN SMUGGLING HUMAN BEVERAGES INTO FEYLAND, WITH DISASTROUS RESULTS.

  TO FACILITATE THE EDICT, ALL LEPRECHAUNS WERE SENT TO THE IRON LANDS, WHERE THEY LIVE IN WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE LEPRECHAUN COLONY. THE GROUND THERE IS MADE OF IRON ORE. NO MAGIC IS POSSIBLE, INCLUDING PORTALS TO EARTH. ANY ENCHANTMENTS BECOME NULL AND VOID FOR THE DURATION OF A STAY IN THE IRON LANDS.

  Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  THE CROWD OUTSIDE was gone, even the injured. Not so much as a single gnome remained.

  I found it odd that none of my neighbours came by to ask after me. My father had built this home in a secluded spot but it wasn’t secluded enough to be truly isolated. Had Lily used more radia to throw forgetting spells on those who might have seen the attack? It seemed unlikely, but why else would everyone in Galena ignore what had happened?

  I shrugged off my gloom as my friends and I made plans. While Meteor went to the Crown Library, Leona and Andalonus were going to explore Oberon City to see what was happening there. We agreed to meet the following evening in my mother’s room.

  Alone, I picked up the indigo bottle. The glass felt bland and cool, as if it held nothing more than sand. Appearances could be so deceiving. Wasn’t that often shown in the stories humans told their children? The frog is really a prince. The beauty has a cruel heart. The crippled old woman asks for shelter and, when turned away, proves to be a powerful fairy with a curse on her lips.

  ‘We’re going on a journey,’ I told the bottle, and wrapped it in a yellow scarf that had belonged to my mother. I too would research the powder, but my way would be different to Meteor’s.

  I took the plainest woven bag I could find – black with a grey border. Placing the bottle inside it, I stuffed more scarves around it before I slung the long strap around my neck. Then I created a spell of disguise to change my colouring. I turned myself from a lavender fairy with purple eyes and wings into a green-skinned fairy with black eyes and hair, and grey wing
s. The spell would last till I reversed it. It cost me twenty-five radia.

  I brought to mind a certain sleazy café. ‘Transport me to the Ugly Mug,’ I said.

  In less than an instant, I arrived. The Ugly Mug looked the same as it had the last time I’d been there only a few days before. Rough gravel paved the ground around a building made of unmatched stones and sloppy mortar. The copper door was so tarnished that not a bit of it shone, not even the grimy knob.

  Meteor would be angry if he knew I was here. The owner of the place was none other than Banburus Lazuli – known as Laz – who had trussed me inside the troll cloak and turned me over to Lily Morganite for a reward of 50,000 radia.

  Laz didn’t have much in his favour, but he did have two things. One, he had never received that reward. Lily double-crossed him, which made him hate her. And two, he had turned the Ugly Mug into a place where endless streams of secrets trickled into his long ears. As I had tried to convince Meteor, Laz knew things, and I wanted answers.

  I moved the bag holding the indigo bottle to my hand. Clutching it firmly, I opened the café door. Sagging hinges squealed. Inside, the place was dimly lit by wax candles burning in globes half covered in soot. No fey lights here, but the aroma was heady – a mix of the forbidden flavours of cocoa and coffee from Earth.

  I made my way past tables crammed with customers, ignoring brazen genies asking me to share their mugs of cocoa. Laz was in the back playing cards with four genies and a gnarled leprechaun who wore a crumpled old cap with a pitiful red feather. When I came close to their table, Laz looked up. His eyes narrowed for an instant. Then he went back to the game.

  I wondered what the leprechaun was using to back up his bets. It couldn’t be radia. Unlike fairies and genies, leprechauns could not transfer their magic. If they could, Lily Morganite would never have left them in the Iron Lands. She would have mined them like rubies.

  But if not radia, then what could Laz be hoping to win?

  He showed all his blue teeth in a smile, and made his bet: ‘Two cases of that new stuff you’re drinking. I call it LeMoCo – the finest blend of cocoa and coffee from the far-flung reaches of Earth. And may I remind you, there’s also a case of Terrabon candies to go with it.’