Fairy Keeper (39 page)

Men and women were nodding, crying in their panic about the quake. Such events had become too frequent to ignore. Nell made sense to them. They crowded around her now, not to attack her but to hear more. Nell was winning them over.

Jack drew his bow again. No wind stirred to deflect that deadly arrow now. And this time, he aimed right at Nell.

There was no time to stop him. Sierra couldn’t move faster than a speeding arrow. But Nell alone had the ability through her prophecies to convince the people to change their ways. Sierra could only think of one thing to do, even if it condemned her and possibly Micah right along with her father.

Phoebe is safe, Phoebe is safe
, Sierra reminded herself. Using her new understanding, she reached far down into the earth at their feet to the glowing river. Pulling hard, she yanked up as much of the energy as she could, sending it into Queen, into Micah, into the air, anything to drain the magic below to a dangerous new level. Sierra hoped she was right about what would happen next.

The tremor was immediate, forcing Jack to lower his bow while he regained his footing. The people around her shrieked and ran again, pushing and trampling each other in their haste to get out before the next big quake hit. Because it was coming. Coming right at her. Red angry energy reached up from below like molten lava. She took a deep breath and hoped Nell was far enough away to escape the worst of it. If Sierra didn’t do this, though, Nell was dead for sure. Sierra’s heart broke at the thought of possibly hurting Micah, but he would agree with her, she knew.

She thought to her fairy,
Queen, I love you. I’ll always love you. Thank you for saving me.

Queenie sent a burst of pure love from her place at Phoebe’s side.

Sierra whispered to Micah, “I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve had more time with you.”

With a deep breath, she yanked one more time on the cord she had created between her and the magic underneath her feet.

Come and get me,
she thought.

And then the earthquake hit them like a hurricane. The sky went dark as the ground exploded in one swift motion, ripped into pieces because Sierra had taken too much magical energy from the earth’s depleted supply.

The ground underneath Jack didn’t crumble so much as simply disintegrate in a giant billow of dust. Jack screamed as he fell, landing heavily on an up-thrust sliver of stone at the bottom of the gaping jaws of the earth. The rock pierced his chest as easily as his arrow had pierced Micah’s. Blood flowed, a pool of red seeping round Jack’s still body as the quake continued. Rocks skittered down the side of the newly created cavern, but he didn’t flinch. His chest didn’t move. Sierra didn’t think she’d feel anything but relief when he died, but there was an odd grief at the sight anyway. Losing a father was not an easy task, even a terrible father like Jack.

Sierra clung to the rocks at her feet, trying to hang onto the bucking ground. She even began to think they might make it. But then a giant hole opened at her feet. Before she could back away, a crack widened between her and Micah. He gripped Sierra’s hand tightly, and then the world tilted.

The ground she had been standing on broke away from the rest of the earth and began falling toward the hole at a steep angle, taking her with it. Sierra shrieked, clawing at the rocks. Micah lost his grip on her for a long moment, long enough for her to slide near the edge of the small cliff that had been created when the gap opened. He grabbed her by the arms.

“I won’t let you go,” he promised through clenched teeth.

Nell stood high above them, still prophesying through the chaos and destruction. People were collapsing to their knees around her, acknowledging her power as a priestess of some kind, like the druids who disappeared over a hundred years ago. Even the elders listened to her, faces white with fear and awe.

A sigh released inside of Sierra, taking with it her fear. She had done her job. Only one job remained.

“Take care of Phoebe,” she told Micah.

“I won’t let you go,” he insisted, face drawn with agony and grief.

The piece of earth Sierra clung to slid farther toward the hole. Micah’s arms formed her only bridge to stable land.

“Fight, you stubborn girl!”

But she was done fighting. She couldn’t fight anymore.

Sierra smiled, trying to memorize his face as she gazed at him this last time. “Take care of her for me.”

Tears spilled from his beautiful brown eyes, tears for Sierra. Why had she never believed he really cared for her? She’d wasted so much time with all her fears.

Feeling almost in a dream, she let go of one arm, and pulled his face low enough to kiss. One peaceful, first kiss framed by terror. His lips were as soft as she always imagined. Then she pushed him away from the edge and sent a wordless goodbye to Queenie.

The ground crumbled beneath Sierra, and she fell. She wasn’t even scared. She closed her eyes as the wind rushed upward through her hair.

So this is what the moment before death is like
, she thought, right before she landed.

trangely, the ground wasn’t hard. In fact, it was much softer than Sierra would have imagined. And was it rising?

Sierra’s eyes popped open. Golden glowing light surrounded her. Startled, she flailed, but then Queenie sent her a mental picture of what was happening. Sierra was on a bed of floating fairies. They had all finally come to Queen’s calling.

Instead of swarming to kill, they gathered to save. To save Sierra, which was the same as saving Queenie. Sierra relaxed into the soft warmth and smell, the cinnamon sweetness of her calling. Fairy keeper. As the fairies lifted her from the pit, it had never felt truer or more wonderful.

She was a fairy keeper. And she loved her fairy. Sierra told Queenie so with every heartbeat as they rose. They shared a link so close that words were unnecessary.

Micah greeted Sierra as her toes touched the ground. He pulled her to him, and, for once, she didn’t resist. He crushed her in a hug so tight she could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. She pressed her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around his back. He relaxed his hold, and his hands wove through her hair gently, which had fallen loose of its braid. He held her with such tenderness, she felt like she was still floating on a bed of fairies. Their golden glow surrounded them as the fairies buzzed in excitement.

Sierra pulled back enough to touch Micah’s chest where the arrow had pierced him. The palest golden scar lined his chest, but he was otherwise healed. She leaned her cheek against that scar, so thankful Queenie shared her magic. She saved him. Him
and
Sierra.

A throat cleared nearby. Sierra pulled away reflexively, pushing Micah behind her, eyes searching for the source of the sound in the great mill of people around them.

Phoebe said, “And this is…?”

Sierra wrapped her arms around her sister, then turned to face the amazing person she had slipped into caring for, her friend and her maybe-someday dream. Because he was most definitely a dream, even if he was also magic.

“Meet Micah,” Sierra said.

He bowed and kissed Phoebe’s hand.

Yeah, he was definitely magic.

Phoebe rolled her eyes up at Sierra. “Is he real?”

She laughed and hugged her sister tight. “Strangely, somehow, yes.”

“And Bentwood and Jack?” Phoebe asked, voice hesitant.

Sierra shook her head. “They both died in the quake. I’m sorry, Phoebe.”

“Don’t be. We’ll be okay.”

They looked at each other, spending a moment grieving the loss of their father, or rather, of what could have been if he had been a different kind of man. Their story with Jack was now a closed book that would never have a happy ending. Painful, maybe, but when it came down to it, Sierra wouldn’t change anything. It had all led her to this point. She squeezed Phoebe’s hand.

Phoebe squeezed back, taking a deep breath. “And now what?”

They surveyed the crowd still clinging to Nell’s ringing words. Corbin remained beside her, a surprisingly staunch warrior.

Sierra had no idea.

Micah said, “Now the fairy keepers must go forth with this message across our world. The fairies must spread far and wide to balance our world again.”

He clasped Sierra’s other hand. Their fingers fit together perfectly.

“It will be a great adventure,” he said solemnly. “It is a journey I would be most honored to undertake with you and your friends and sister.”

The world seemed suspended for a long moment until Sierra’s heart was so full it could burst. He wanted to be with her. They could stay together, though what the future would hold, she wasn’t really sure. For once, she was okay with that. Right at that moment, anything seemed possible.

“No more debts?” Sierra asked, just to be sure.

“No debts. This is a new beginning, yes?”

She smiled and said, “Then, let’s go.”

“Yes? With me?”

He looked incredulous, but Sierra was done running.

“Yes!” She laughed, the kind of joyful sound she had hardly ever made. She thought that was about to change.

Yesss!!
cried Queenie, and she spiraled straight into the cloudless sky, brighter than the sun.