Queen of the Fae: Book Two in the Fae Unbound Series (Fae Unbound Teen Young Adult Fantasy Series) (6 page)

Her wings didn’t flap, although they were spread wide as they often were without any conscious action on her part. Obviously, it didn’t matter that her wings were useless. She was flying. 

Eamon stood at the bottom of the hill, watching the girl descend and then start to rise as her bike fell away beneath her. He muttered to himself, "Fine time to take charge of the magic..."

Eamon ran below her on the path and yelled up to her. "Are ye alright, then? Have control of the situation-like?"

"No, I do
not
have control of the situation-like! How do I stop?"

"Aim for a soft spot, lass...I see one—follow me!"

Eamon headed for a patch of swampy ground just off the path. The sodden moss underneath squished and sucked at his feet, but he kept running until he found the driest spot and called the girl to him, "Alright, lass, focus on coming toward me."

Lizbet veered slightly toward him, but she took her eyes off him for a moment and traveled back up, following the direction of her gaze.

"Keep your eyes on me now, and think about comin' down. Just gently, gently..." Eamon watched as the girl's flight slowed, and she shifted toward where he was standing. The descent looked awkward, her wings slapping about now but not in a way that seemed to be helpful.

"That's right, lass, focus only on me and think about how you'll be standing here having a conversation in just a moment."

Lizbet slowed, and her feet moved toward the earth as she continued on her uneven flight toward Eamon. 

"That's right, put down the landing gear and reach out toward the earth..." Eamon jumped out of the way as one of Lizbet's feet hit the ground a few feet in front of him but her body kept coming forward. She flopped into the moss with a wet whump and pushed herself up on her hands to reveal a face full of muddy water.

She broke into a broad grin. "That was the most amazing thing I've ever done! How do I do it again?"

"I couldn't tell ye. Why not just try?" asked Eamon.

She stood up and took a few steps, and then flew a couple of feet before she landed in the mud again. This time, it was a gentler landing.

"Now, I'm no expert on this, mind, but perhaps you should think lifting more than rolling-like, do ye know what I mean—helicopter take off instead of plane? That might give a better landing."

"A better landing would be good." Lizbet stood up straight with an expression of concentration, her eyebrows rising just a little, as if they could lift her up all by themselves. She rose slightly and hung there. Then she moved forward and back again. With a smile on her face, she turned and flew higher into the sky, going straight up in a controlled spiral.

Eamon smiled when he heard her raucous laughter from above. No doubt about it, he hadn't been wrong about this one. This girl, covered in mud and howling like a banshee, was born to be fae.

Lizbet called Bobby's cell and said, "Hey runt, come outside. I'm here." Then she looked up and followed in the direction that she gazed. When she reached the balcony and her head crested over the railing, the gnomes that were sitting with their backs to the wall under the picture window of the apartment looked up in fright, jumping to their feet, ready to fight. They lost interest quickly after they identified her, muttering in gnomish, "not the queen, not the queen." Lizbet understood what they said and realized they had mistaken her for Morgan. She thought it was odd that they would do that. The fae had been in her nineties when she'd split from the human Morgan, and, according to Eamon, she’d had been stuck with her elderly appearance in the shadow realm.

 When Bobby opened the apartment door, she was hanging in the air on the far side of the second-floor-walkway railing, fluttering her wings a little bit just for the effect. She was beginning to understand that flight and direction was simply a matter of will.

"Lizzie! You're flying!"

"Yep, I'm flyin'. And it's super cool. When you're not grounded anymore, we can see if I'm strong enough to take you for a ride, too. The flying Moores! Woohoo!"

"NO!" Lizbet's father growled as he appeared in the doorway, pulling Bobby behind him and away from her, "Elizabeth, get away from him. Go home. I don't want him around magic. I've had enough. Your mother may put up with this, but I won't."

Lizbet's head started to pound, and she realized she was losing control of the magic that kept her afloat. She began to drop toward the ground a story below, picking up speed as she went. She landed hard, twisting an ankle when she lost her balance as she hit the ground.

She heard her father's voice call down to her from the balcony, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, dad. I think I twisted my ankle, though." Lizbet looked up to the balcony where her father peered over with a look of disgust twisting his features. Her heart ached. She had expected to see concern.

"Good. Nothing serious, then. I'll call your mother to pick you up. You need to stay away from Bobby until you realize that magic is dangerous and wrong."

"But dad..."

"Lizzie, you heard me."

"Okay, fine, but don't call mom. I'll call Tanji and ask her for a ride home. Mom doesn't need any more worries!" Lizbet used the pillar of one of the columns that held up the walkway to carefully get herself up onto her good foot. She checked out the ankle with a tentative step and immediately withdrew her weight from it.

Lizbet didn't want Mom to see Dad this way. She was stressed out enough as it was with Bobby's suspension. And, maybe, Lizbet was a little bit afraid that her mother would take her father's side this time.

Thomas sat pondering in the light of a small desktop lamp after having reviewed all of James's notes about the spells Myrddin thought he should learn. None of them would help him to put magic back into someone who no longer had it. 

Wasn't getting magic back a form of healing? To him, it was. If James had that knowledge, he should share it. But he also knew that he couldn't ask James for it. He knew that James didn't see himself as broken or lacking in any way without magic.

James had made it clear in their long, late-night discussions that he thought of magic differently than Thomas did: he saw it as academically interesting, something that he could study. He didn't see it as a way of life he should be living.

James was Thomas's only friend. As far as he knew, the only friend he'd ever had. Thomas wanted James to be able to feel the same passion he did for magic. He wanted James to understand the pure physical connection to the elements that magic gave its host. It was an amazing feeling, and it lifted you above the mundane people all around. It was such a gift that James surely couldn't refuse it if it were given to him.

It was really just a question of how to cause James's body to absorb the magic of a few of the wisps that were so drawn to him. He'd thought about it for days, and sitting pondering in near darkness wasn’t bringing him any nearer to sorting it...but then…it was easy, wasn’t it? Why hadn’t he cottoned to it before? It was so simple, and it only required a small trick to accomplish. James would forgive him the trick later when he was once again the powerful sorcerer Myrddin had been. Thomas was sure of it: James would want to be healed, even if he had to be tricked into it.

He wondered if he had time to prepare his gift before they left for the States. He headed for the kitchen and his ever increasing cache of potions.

Lizbet popped the front tire off her bike, and Tanji stowed both pieces in the trunk of her car. Lizbet limped around to the passenger side door, carefully arranging her warm-up jacket across the seat before sitting down so she didn’t get mud on the upholstery.

"I think I can do something about your ankle," Tanji said as she slid into the driver's seat, "Let's go out to the park before I take you home and find a quiet place where I can focus."

"You mean you can heal it?"

"Maybe. I've been dying for a real human to practice my voodoo on."

"Sure, okay. I guess I trust you on this. Can you heal my dad's screwed up head, too? I really don't know what's up with him. He basically told me that I can't see Bobby until I stop having anything to do with magic. It's not like I can suddenly stop being half-fae." Lizbet's head was pulsing fiercely with the pain now, "And do you think you can do anything about my achy head?"

"I'm pretty sure I can't do anything about your head. I keep telling you, that's not a normal headache. Until you realize that ol’ fae is in there making trouble, you're not going to beat her…I am sorry about your dad, though. My parents have been superstars about everything. Not that my mom has been around anymore than usual. But when I see her, she's cool with it."

"My dad has always been strict, but..."

"Just say it, girl. It sucks."

"Yep. It definitely does."

"Okay, so...we're here," Tanji said as she pulled into a parking spot at the park, "Think you can hobble into the woods a little way with my help? I feel more focused with the magic when I'm away from technology and out in nature."

Lizbet opened the car door and gingerly lifted herself up, favoring her healthy leg. "Yeah, I'm good...but not too far, right?"

"There's a really nice spot through here. It's just a short walk. This is more of a game trail than a path, so we'll have to take it slow." Tanji walked to Lizbet, who threw an arm around Tanji's shoulders, and the girls moved slowly along the path together with Lizbet trying not to wince each time her sore ankle got jostled.

After about ten minutes, the path opened to a small, sunlit meadow, and Tanji helped lower Lizbet to the ground. Lizbet crossed her legs, and Tanji sat across from her in the same position.

"Okay, so...first, drink this," Tanji said, handing Lizbet a bottle she'd taken from her backpack, "It's just some herbs and things, but they make your body more receptive to the magic."

Lizbet drank the contents of the bottle, grimacing as she did. "Tastes like toilet."

Tanji grinned. "Thought it might. Couldn't make me drink it! Okay, so, close your eyes and clear your head. No talking from here on out. I've got focusing to do."

Lizbet did as she was instructed, and Tanji closed her eyes, too, quietly chanting in the old tongue, the one that Langoureth had known. As she chanted, Tanji held her hands palm up in front of her. After a moment, she opened her eyes and reached out to place her hands on Lizbet's ankle. A soft blue glow briefly lit Lizbet's skin where Tanji touched as she moved her hands over the injured tissues. Then the light dimmed and finally extinguished.

"Okay, I think that's got it. Open your eyes and let's find out if you can stand on your own now."

Lizbet uncrossed her legs and tentatively started to stand. Soon, she was upright. She walked a few steps, not limping, and then looked back to her friend, "How did you learn to do that?"

"I got Langoureth's spell book a couple of weeks ago."

"Really? How’d you get it?" Lizbet asked as the girls started the walk back to the car, moving much more quickly than they had when they left it.

"I knew where it was because of Langoureth banging around in here," Tanji said as she tapped her temple with one finger, "but I didn't have any way to get it. So, I mentioned it to Eamon, and he knew all about it. He got a message to a gruagach friend in Scotland named Hamish, and Hamish went to where Langoureth kept it hidden. Apparently, it was a place you visited when you were there—Dumbarton Castle? Hamish defused the magical booby trap Langoureth had set using the instructions I gave him, and he was able to get the book without too much trouble. And then he FedExed it to me."

Lizbet laughed. "How weird does that sound? ‘...and then the fairy FedExed it to me'. No magical enchantment, no secret spells or fairy dust, just FedEx. Have you done a lot of spells from the book?"

"A few. It seems like I have a talent for growing things, which has something to do with healing, I guess. Stuff that's really connected to nature. Eamon says that I have elf magic, which forms itself naturally around both war and healing because elves get into wars a lot and that means they need fixing up a lot. Some elves have a talent for dangerous magic that they use to make their arrows fly true. Others have a talent for sensing their enemies, kind of like James told you Thomas can sense all of the magic around him. He's got elf magic, too, so that makes sense."

"James says that I should have nymph magic, and specifically, the talents of the celestial nymphs who can move through the aether."

"Yeah, the fae Morgan loved using that to drop in from nowhere when you weren't expecting her, according to lots of Langoureth's memories. I guess she couldn't do it when she was human. But...I'm kind of looking for something specific in the book right now to do a favor for Eamon." Tanji hoped she didn't look as shady as she felt when she said that, knowing Lizbet wouldn’t be pleased with Tanji hiding something from her. "It's slow going. It's a huge book, and the translation takes me a while. But, really, the words, they're for focusing more than anything, so sometimes it doesn't really matter whether or not I understand them." 

Tanji suddenly realized that if Morgan was sitting around in Lizbet’s head, listening in, she had the perfect way to draw her out. "You know that Morgan must have had a spell book somewhere, and you should be able to get it if you remember where it was. I mean, so where is it? Mine’s right there on top of my dresser every night, so that’s easy enough to get my hands on."

"There’s no book as far as I know, so I’m not going to be digging up some big trove of knowledge any time soon. The human Morgan kept all her knowledge in her head, so the fae Morgan may have done that, too."

“That’s too bad. Then again, Morgan was always jealous of Langoureth’s knowledge. Maybe Morgan’s book wouldn’t have made the grade.” Tanji couldn’t resist the dig, knowing the fae was spying on her every word.

After Tanji dropped Lizbet home, she pulled around the corner and parked so that she could pull out her phone and let Eamon know what she’d done. She was going to need his help if things went wrong.