Violet Wings Read online

  129

  touched the bag she carried, she would cast a spell. And for all I knew, there were spells to turn me visible again.

  Unless I took her wand. If I did that, she wouldn't be able to cast any spell beyond a Level 7.

  The thought of stealing a wand shocked me. A few days ago I'd been a good fairy who never did anything more disobedient than sneak out for a starlit flight alone over Galena Falls. Now I found myself breaking the law more often than I kept it.

  "She seems to believe she's a law unto herself," Lily had said. Could she be right about me?

  Directly below us grew a patch of sonnia flowers. A few children played Leaping Leprechaun in a sand field off to the right. They weren't paying attention to Lily flying above them, and they couldn't have seen me even if they had looked.

  I had almost caught up to her. But the Gateway of Galena wasn't far ahead. All too soon, Lily would pass through it.

  If only I knew a spell to make her stop flying and give me her bag. But the only spells I knew could not help me now. I was going to have to give up.

  Rage and frustration made me infuse my wand even though I knew it wouldn't do any good. I pointed it at the back of her head. "I wish you would fall asleep here and now," I whispered.

  And then Lily was tumbling over and over, on her way to the ground.

  Horrified, I plummeted after her, managing to catch hold

  130

  of the hem of her lustrous skirt. I yanked upward.There was a long, drawn-out ripping sound as her skirt began to tear, but I was able to break her fall.

  She landed in a sonnia field. Deep in sleep, she lay with one arm flung out, holding the pink bag. Juice from crushed sonnia plants stained her torn gown.

  Shaking all over, I touched Lily's head with my wand. No one must see her here. "Verita sil nos mertos elemen," I cried.

  She--and the bag she carried--winked out like a star in daylight.

  Breathing hard, I felt along the ground, seeking the bag. Finding it, I slid my hand inside as gently as I could and pulled out a nearly weightless book. As soon as I touched it, it popped into my vision.

  I remembered what the spellbook had said about the way invisibility operated. The invisibility spell will render the subject invisible to any onlooker by causing the subject and anything the subject may be touching to appear to be part of the surroundings.

  I could see the book now, but no one else could.

  Cinna Tourmaline, Spellbook. I hugged it close.

  Lily murmured in her sleep. How much longer before she woke?

  "You're a sneaking gremlin," I said. "Why would you steal from me?"

  Why, why, why? I doubted she needed my mother's book for the spells. My mother had never been a councilor. She wouldn't know spells Lily had never learned.

  131

  Then it occurred to me that Lily Morganite might not want the book for herself. Maybe she only wanted to keep it away from me.

  Lily and I were equal in our level of magic, but her skill with spells would give her the advantage. She might be afraid that if I learned everything in my mother s book, I would become troublesome.

  So she had tried to steal my heritage.

  Rotten, sneaking gremlin.

  I wanted to take her wand, to keep her from enchanting me again. But if I did, I would be a true thief. My mother's book did not belong to Lily, so getting it back wasn't stealing. But taking her wand? Theft, plain and simple.

  Still, Beryl had called Lily diabolical. If I took a diabolical fairy's wand, I might be doing a favor for Feyland.

  I pocketed my stylus and quieted my shivering wings. I groped for Lily's wand.

  The instant I touched it, a siren began to screech. I leaped back. Drawing my own wand, I infused it with magic. "Be silent!" I wailed, pointing.

  The siren shrieked on. Children were running toward the sonnia patch, calling excitedly. What a fool I'd been, triggering such an obvious spell, a spell with no remedy. Lily's wand would never respond to magic from another!

  I rose unsteadily into the air. For a moment I watched the bewildered children as they sought the source of the howling siren. More children, some of them with grown-

  132

  up fairies and genies, were hastening to the scene.

  In fewer than ten minutes, Lily would become visible. There was no way to guess how long she would sleep. Maybe her racketing wand would wake her up immediately.

  In midair, I renewed the invisibility spell on myself. Then, holding tight to my mother's spellbook, I turned and fled.

  133

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL ACCOUNTS OF ENDURING friendships between fey folk and human beings, and these accounts are truthful. however, all such friendships belong to the past, before the Edict of the Unseen--and well before the invention of guns.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  I flew toward home, but how could home protect me? And where could I possibly hide the book so it wouldn't be found?

  In that time of need, I thought of the Zinnia Portal. It wasn't far. I could use it to go to Earth and calm myself. If only I could think clearly, I could decide what to do.

  I raced to Galena Falls. I skidded to a landing by the boulder hung with zinnias, then dashed through it.

  The boulder on the Earth side of the portal lay quiet in the waving grass. Farther up the slope, trees reached to the sky.

  Sun poured golden warmth across my wings as I floated up the ridge into the trees. I sat beneath a tall evergreen with great sloping branches full of blue-green needles. I knew

  134

  what sort of tree it was: blue spruce. I leaned against its trunk.

  What had I done?

  They would be looking for me. If they didn't find me, they would search. What if they found the portal in Galena? My only hope was to return before being missed.

  And how could I hide the book?

  I thought of burying it. We had been told that fey scopes could not see godchildren who happened to be in basements or deep caves. If a scope couldn't see a child underground, maybe it wouldn't be able to find a buried book, either.

  Going to my knees, I poked at the moist ground under the spruce tree. The dirt yielded easily to my frantic hands. It seemed to be made mostly of old, crumbling spruce needles. Soon, I had a hole big enough.

  I laid the spellbook in the ground and covered it. Then I drew out my wand. The black stylus looked so bland and unimpressive. It was a good thing I hadn't changed it. Who would suspect such a wand of doing advanced magic?

  Lily Morganite would. What if she persuaded the rest of the Council that I must surrender my wand?

  A wild idea formed in my mind. My wand was a stylus that had been made on Earth. I had seen one like it in Sam and Jenna's house. What if I borrowed Sam's stylus and took it back to Feyland? Then if the Council ordered me to surrender my wand, I could give them Sam's stylus.

  Beryl had taught me the transport spell, so I could be at Sam's house in an instant. I focused on my destination: a pale

  135

  yellow room where a black stylus waited. Infusing to Level 8, I touched my head. "Transera nos."

  I didn't have time to blink before I stood in the room where Sam and Jenna had gazed at me in surprise. A stylus lay on the desk. I grabbed it and compared it to my wand. They looked identical.

  I was about to transport back to the grove when I heard someone crying. Poised to leave, I listened and knew right away that it wasn't a child making those despairing sobs.

  I hurried upstairs toward the sound. Sam's mother was sitting in the main room, alone in a cushioned chair, her face in her hands, disheveled red hair falling around her shoulders. She lifted her head for a moment, showing dark-circled eyes. She looked as if she hadn't slept since I'd last seen her.

  Their father must still be missing.

  I wanted to help, but urgency pounded me, telling me to go back to the grove and then into Galena, where
Lily Morganite would surely be awake by now.

  Infusing my wand, I pointed it experimentally at Sam's mother. "Rest," I said.

  She leaned back in her chair, her eyes closing. In seconds, she was asleep, breathing evenly.

  My thoughts whirled. Again, I had cast a spell with ordinary words. How could that be?

  There was no time to stop and wonder about it. I focused on the spot where I'd buried the spellbook. "Transera nos."

  Instantly, I was beside the blue spruce again. I knelt and

  136

  put the two styluses next to each other. The one from Sam's house looked just like my wand but felt completely unmagical. No fairy or genie above a Level 6 could possibly believe it was really my wand.

  I sighed. Surely, I should make at least one attempt to transform Sam's stylus into something more believable.

  Infusing, I watched the thin plastic seam light up. How many times had I gone to Level 100 today? I couldn't remember and wondered fleetingly how much of my radia was gone forever.

  I set Sam's stylus on the ground and visualized it becoming a thing of magic. Then I pointed my true wand. "Transform," I commanded.

  When I picked up Sam's stylus, it felt slightly magical.

  I had done it again, cast a spell using everyday words. I couldn't wait to tell my friends. What would Leona say? Meteor would probably wag his head, warning me about wasting radia. Andalonus would ask me to try a special spell to make myself look ridiculous.

  I caught myself smiling and pushed the thought of my friends out of my mind. I had a dire decision to make. Should I leave my true wand behind?

  If Lily did persuade the full Council that I should turn over my wand, keeping the true wand along with the fake could be horribly risky. They might find it somehow, exposing my deception.

  But if I left it on Earth, I would be without any power

  137

  to cast spells beyond Level 6. I would be cut off from the fullness of my magic.

  Kneeling beside the blue spruce, I vacillated, even though I didn't have a second to spare. At last I decided it would be best to leave my true wand with my mother's spellbook.

  I renewed invisibility and then flipped open my watch-face cover to glance at the time. A few minutes past three in the afternoon. I had ten minutes to get home before the invisibility spell expired.

  Scrabbling in the hole beneath the spruce, I uncovered the spellbook and laid my true wand inside the front page. I patted dirt over them, brushing needles and leaves across the top to look natural.

  Leaving them there felt like losing a wing.

  I stowed the false wand in my gown and then raced for the portal. As I burst out of the grove, I couldn't believe my eyes. Below me, down the ridge in the grass, close to the portal, stood a human boy and a fairy. The fairy's silver wings rose like sparkling mist and her hair streamed dark in the wind.

  Leona had returned to Earth.

  138

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  GNOMES ARE OF A SIMILAR STATURE TO LEPRECHAUNS, SHORTER AND STOUTER THAN FAIRIES AND GENIES. LIVING ON POWDERED GRANITE, THEY DWELL ON ALL PARTS OF TLRFEYNE BUT HAVE VERY LIMITED MAGIC. THEY CANNOT FLY OR CAST SPELLS. GNOMES MAKE EXCELLENT GUARDS, BECAUSE A SPELL CAST DIRECTLY UP6N A GNOME HAS NO EFFECT.

  HOWEVER, THEY ARE NOT IMPERVIOUS TO MAGIC THAT HAS BEEN CAST UPON SOMETHING OTHER THAN THEMSELVES. FOR EXAMPLE, AN OBJECT WHOSE NATURE HAS BEEN ALTERED BY ENCHANTMENT

  SUCH AS A FLYING CARPET WILL RETAIN ITS MAGIC

  AROUND GNOMES; A PERSON WHO IS UNDER A SPELL OF INVISIBILITY WILL REMAIN UNSEEN.

  GNOMES ARE EXCELLENT WORKERS. IN FEYLAND THEY CLEAN, MAKE REPAIRS, SEW CLOTHING, DIG IN THE MINES, AND HELP TO KEEP ORDER. IN OTHER PARTS OF TLRFEYNE, SUCH AS TROLL COUNTRY, THEY PERFORM DIFFERENT DUTIES.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  139

  I'd been wanting so badly to talk with Leona. Now she was in front of me without a mob of fawning fairies and genies around her, but she was standing next to a human, and I had no time to stop. Also, I was invisible, so she couldn't see me.

  When I got close enough, I recognized Jason Court, and I wanted to grab Leona and shove her through the portal along with me.

  But Leona would be offended. She would argue. I would have to explain everything to her, and I didn't have time. I had to get home: my invisibility spell was ticking away and without my true wand, I couldn't cast another.

  I dodged past Leona and Jason and slipped through the sandstone boulder into Galena. I took to the air, shaking out my gown as I went. After all that had happened, it would be senseless to be caught with spruce needles clinging to me. I scrubbed my hands against the insides of my pockets, trying to get rid of the dirt.

  Approaching home, I saw a small crowd of children and parents around our door. There were more than a dozen pairs of hovering wings. I couldn't see past them.

  I pushed on. The view of my front doorway might be blocked, but the crowd did not extend to the back of the house.

  No gawkers there, but something that frightened me much more: two gnomes "were watching the windows. Gnomes inside Galena, standing guard over my home! It

  140

  could mean only one thing. Someone who lived in my house had been accused of a crime.

  I drifted downward, landing just behind the gnomes without making a sound. I checked my watch. One more minute before my invisibility expired.

  I picked up some pebbles and then flew to my mother's window. I tried the latch. It turned easily. With one hand on the latch, I threw the pebbles between the gnomes. When they looked at the ground, I slipped inside the window, fastening it behind me. One of the gnomes, a fellow with a cleft chin and tufts of hair growing out of his forehead, was quick to look up. Knowing I'd reappear any instant, I ducked away from the window.

  I crossed to the door. Opening it, I listened on the landing and heard Beryl's angry tones. "Come in, then, if you must," she was saying.

  I heard our front door clang shut just as my invisibility spell expired.

  Beryl flashed me a look of relief and worry as I came downstairs. I tried to look unruffled, but it wasn't easy. Our front room held three members of the High Council: Wolframite, Zircon, and Morganite.

  Lily must have drawn a spell to mend her gown, but she had left the sonnia stains, and they stood out in red streaks. Her saffron hair was tangled, her white wings folded. The genies flanked her, their expressions earnest and grave.

  141

  Would Beryl betray me? She knew, of course, that I'd been gone. The day before, I would have been sure that she would turn me over to the Council at once, denouncing my behavior. But since our conversation about Lily Morganite, I no longer knew what she might say or do.

  I bowed politely in the direction of the councilors.

  A deep spark flared in Beryl's yellow eyes. "A misunderstanding has occurred, Zaria," she said. "Councilor Morganite accuses you of attacking her and trying to steal her wand."

  I looked at Lily. "Why would I do such a thing?"

  "Miss Tourmaline," said Councilor Zircon. "We must ask you to tell us "where you have been for the past half hour."

  I told them I had been resting.

  Councilor Wolframite's gaze bored into Beryl. "Can you verify this?"

  I held my wings tightly against my body as Beryl drew herself up. "Zaria was very tired after meeting with Councilor Morganite," she said.

  I didn't dare show any expression. Beryl had neither answered Wolframite's question nor revealed that I'd been gone.

  "Utter nonsense, "Lily said. She pointed at me. "That young fairy performed an invisibility spell so she could attack me."

  I wanted to cast a different spell right then, one that would make her tongue curl and her wings drop off.

  Zircon held up a stately hand. He tilted his head at Lily. "Shall we find out whether Zaria performed the spell?"

  142

  "You are quite correct, Councilor." Lily bowed her head. "And l
et the burden be on me. I will incur the loss of radia for a spell of disclosure." She extended a graceful hand, palm up. "Your wand, please, Zaria."

  "Why?" I asked.

  Wolframite explained: "Councilor Morganite will disclose any spells you may have done."

  "But we were told our wands would not respond to anyone besides the owner," I said.

  "True," Wolframite growled. "Except for the disclosure spell, which is very effective." He paused, probably wanting me to scream a confession.

  "I haven't done any spells with this wand," I said, glad that it was the truth.

  "Then you have nothing to fear," Wolframite answered. He stuck out his hand. "Your wand, please."

  Hoping no one would notice the grime on my knuckles, I drew out Sam's stylus. Wolframite's knobby fingers closed over it, and he handed it to Lily.

  She placed it on a small shelf then held up her wand, which was smoky quartz with a morganite tip. She infused it to the halfway mark, while the councilors and Beryl watched avidly. I tried to hold on to my wings, but they fluttered like those of a dying butterfly.

  "Disclosan nos enchanterel," Lily said.

  Sam's stylus lit briefly from base to tip and then went black again.

  143

  Lily infused her wand a second time. "Disclosan nos enchanterel."

  The same thing happened.

  Zircon cleared his throat noisily. "Councilor Morganite, clearly there are no spells to be revealed."

  I almost danced like a pixie.

  Lily turned, her wand still upraised. "Forgive me, Councilors, but I am not yet satisfied. I find it difficult to believe that a Violet fairy would not test her powers with at least one or two spells, and yet this wand"--she pointed disdainfully at Sam's stylus--"revealed not a single one." She raked me with a glance. "It is possible that Zaria has somehow acquired a false wand and is hiding the true one somewhere. We must search her--and her home."

  "What?" Beryl cried.

  I forced my wings to keep still. Lily had guessed almost exactly! How? How could she know what I would do?

  I was so thankful that I'd left my wand behind on Earth. Thankful for the invisibility spell, too--without it, someone could have watched me digging beside the blue spruce.