Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) (14 page)

             
Those last few words make me feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. I don’t mean to be submissive, it just creeps up on you.

             
“Juniper, what was it like back home for you?”

             
A weak smile curves her lips. “You know, no one’s asked me that in a long time.” She stares off across the canyon, and her lips twitch, as if she sees something that reminds her of home. “I came from Birch Hollow. They’re skinny little trees so we didn’t live within them like most Hollows. Instead we’d find a clump of several together and build a home between them using the trees for outer support. I imagine it wasn’t too unlike your tree house, Rosalie.”

             
“I wouldn’t mind one of those right now.”

             
“Me too,” she says, sighing. She grabs my bowl and holds it in the air before me. Reluctantly I take it, but I manage to slowly get it down while she talks. “My best friend was Mimosa. Mother Nature we were a handful growing up. Our families lived side
by
side and we did everything under the sun together. We ate together, pranked together, explored the forest and worked the same jobs together. We even pined over the same teenage pixies when we were older.”

             
Juniper pauses and I turn to see her golden eyes begin to glisten. “But then…Mimosa fell ill when we were eighteen. The elders said it was a type of rare disease pixies sometimes got from an unknown source in the forest. A pollen maybe, or a fungus that grew on our food that wasn’t completely washed away. They really didn’t know. A few pixies overcame the disease
,
but Mimosa wasn’t one of them.” I
feel
pressure behind my eyes as tears began to fall from hers. “I was so distraught. There was this hole inside me that I was never able to fill again. My family was upset because they didn’t know what they could do for me. I moved out on my own, choosing not to take a mate. I just wanted to be left alone. I felt guilty about taking Mimosa throughout the forest exploring new things, because maybe that’s where she caught it. And I felt guilty for not getting sick too, and surviving in this world without her.”

             
I look to her solemnly, trying to decipher the meaning behind her words. “You think you deserve to be here, don’t you?” When she doesn’t answer
,
I know I’ve hit it on the mark. “Juniper, what happened to your friend wasn’t your fault. Pixies get sick. None of us deserve to be here. Being captured and thrown into this pit isn’t your punishment for not getting sick. Mimosa wouldn’t want this for you. You have to know that.”

             
The old pixie just shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be seeing her again soon enough.”

             
It disturbs me the way she says that, and the way a smile creeps across her cheeks.
             

             
“Don’t say that. You’re the strongest pixie I know. And these
pixies
need you. I need you.”

             
“They only need comfort and guidance, Rosalie. You have a generous heart, and I hope you’ll be able to provide that for them when the time comes.”

             
She rises, pushing down on my shoulder for support, then hobbles away. The night is beginning to really darken, but flashes of light over the horizon light up the pixies sleeping in the pit. They’re all such pitiful creatures these days, but I know their beauty still resides beneath their weather-worn, damaged skin. There has to be a way to get them out of here and back to the life they deserve. 

A collective gasp comes from two tables up. My brows furrow as I lean into the walkway, expecting to see a spriggan coming down the line before scheduled. But what I see is the frail form of a pixie crumpled up on the floor. I gasp and rush towards her, just as the pixies surrounding her fall back into work mode. Their lack of action still surprises me, even though I know most lack the emotion to respond appropriately. But still.
How could they be so flippin’ heartless?
One pixie continues to look on, her face filled with longing, as if she envies the pixie on the floor.

             
I gasp again, this time with a force so strong my lungs feel the urge to burst.
Oh no-no-no-no-no!

             
Even in darkness, the flickering flames on the tables light up something very familiar: dark hair wrapped in a tight bun at the crown of her head, silvery streaks trying to gleam. The weight of my body crashes on my knees and the burn tells me I’ve scuffed some of the skin off. I feel the heat radiating off her skin as I pull to cradle Juniper in my arms. But as hot as the cave is, the heat feels worse than it should be. It seeps into my skin, almost burning me.

             
“Water!” I yell. “Someone get the bucket!” No one directly around me moves but I pray to Mother Nature that one of the lucid pixies in this cave
obliges
.

             
The heat steams the lining of my throat with each breath. I know Juniper feels it too as her breaths become deep and almost painful, her body collapsing in my arms with each exhalation. She looks up to me in a daze, her eyes glazed over. I wonder if she even knows it’s me holding her. Or if she can hear me.

             
“It’ll be okay, Juniper,” I say, rocking her gently back and forth. “It’ll be okay.”

             
A bucket scrapes the ground beside me.  I catch a blur of violet with the next passing flicker of light. Light blue hands immediately wash the sweat that swims down Juniper’s face and neck. Sudden coughing makes us both freeze and look to the entrance. A spriggan makes his way towards us, long before scheduled, and I realize what an idiot I was to call out for help. Willow would have helped me regardless.

             
“Drop her,” Willow insists as she pulls out of sight.

             
Flabbergasted, I snap, “What?”  She’s got to be kidding!

             
“Drop her!” she hisses. She pulls on my shoulders. My body leans back but I refuse to budge my grip on Juniper.

             
I’m engulfed by light as the spriggan nears me. Willow no longer urges me to abandon her and backs away. The noise of hands thumping on tables increases as the pixies around me fearfully w
ork harder. My heart speeds ten
fold, now realizing the situation I’ve put myself in. This spriggan seems lumpier than the others, with really extensive brow bones that shadow his eye cavities and make him seem even more menacing than normal. He leans the lantern in for a closer look and cocks his head. His pause is frightening
,
and I feel the tremble as it spreads through my limbs.

             
I take a quick breath, trying to find the courage to smooth the fear
from my voice. “Please,” I plea
, my voice cracking. “She just needs food and some salve for the fever and she’ll be well again.”

             
He watches me intently for a moment, debating what to do. The lantern is set on the floor and he leans toward her face until he’s close enough...to
sniff
her?
What the heck?
Dumbfounded, my jaw slackens and I’m left speechless over how to respond.  He swirls his head around and inhales a long, deep breath through his nose. He follows it up with three more sniffs in short bursts. He suddenly winces, as if he inhales something foul. In one quick movement, one hand pushes me back by the shoulder as the other rips Juniper from my grasp. The jolt is enough to throw me off my balance and roll me backwards until I’m on my bum on the floor. The spriggan snags his lantern and holds Juniper awkwardly in his arm as he turns away.

             
“No! Wait!” I yell. “Please!” I struggle against the weight of someone grasping my arms behind me, holding me down on the floor. The spriggan ignores me and continues on his way, bouncing Juniper so roughly I hope sh
e’s unconscious. “Stop!” I plea
one last time.

             
Once they’re gone from sight, my arms are released. Anger boils within me. Jumping to my feet, I abruptly turn and shove Willow back, releasing my fury with each question I scream at her. “Where’d they take her? What the heck is wrong with you! Why didn’t you help me?” The questions fly off me in one breath. “I can’t believe you would just let them take her! She’s like a mother to me! What are they going to do to her? Answer me!”

             
“I would if you’d shut it already!” She slaps my arms down as they thrust forward to shove her again. “You can’t help her right now! And Juniper wouldn’t want you to get thrown back in the hole for her. Not when she’s…”

             
“Not when she’s what?” I holler, a little tiffed that she stops mid-sentence and leaves me hanging. The anger twitching in her muscles softens. She doesn’t answer me verbally, but her eyes fill with grief and she looks at me solemnly. “What?” I ask quietly, meekly, fearing the answer I know is coming my way.

             
“Come on
,
Rosalie,” Willow says softly. “You know she’s fading. Fast. It’s why she’s been pushing you to step up and be a leader. She needs a replacement.”

             
I think I knew this. No, I definitely knew this. Pictures reel through my mind: Juniper shuffling along slowly around the pit, her emaciated body shrinking daily, her overall demeanor growing weaker. I just didn’t want to see it. Really see it. I mean, she has to still be in her thirties. Back home in the Hollow pixies live well into their sixties. As exhausted as Juniper is, I always figured she’d get through this.
Bec
ause she was – I mean,
is
– young. She can’t be dying.

             
Not yet. Not when for the first time in my life I feel like I have someone that really cares about me. Someone that’s been like a mother to me...or I guess what I assume a mother would be. Because I never really had that. No pixie ever gave me this kind of personal attention. And I like that. I savor it. Crave it.

             
She can’t leave me now.

             
Willow turns and walks back to our station. She seems as dispirited as I feel, which is a far cry from the emotions the majority of the other pixies are exuding right now, which is practically nothing. How can they be so far gone that none of them pay any attention to a fallen pixie? I’m left to ponder their lack of sensation for the rest of my shift. I’m not sure if I actually do anything or not, but my body stays hunched over the table. I certainly don’t remember doing anything. I’m nothing but a mindless blur.

As we trek back to the pit
,
I wonder what they did with Juniper. Is she back at the pit? Did they help her any? I gulp – was she thrown in the hole to die alone? My answer comes as I break the glamour’s barrier and see her lying helplessly on the pit floor. Several pixies were deposited before me but none have gone to aid her.
Flippin’
lifeles
s
pixies
.