Indigo Magic (10 page)

I had thought Lily guessed which portal I used, and closed it to spite me. But if every portal in the station had failed, maybe Lily hadn’t closed the Cornfield Portal after all; maybe the durable spell keeping that portal open had simply failed along with all the others. But why would she let the portals fail? Did Lily hate Earth just as Beryl had hated it? Did Lily despise humans as Beryl had done?

‘And as if that’s not enough, many of the viewing stations are having trouble with their scopes,’ Leona added.

I sat with my wings huddled around my shoulders. What
was
happening to my beloved Feyland? And what would become of the connections between human and fey, so long cherished, and now at risk?

The pause was long and awkward, broken by Andalonus. ‘I have news too,’ he said. ‘I found Lily.’

I stared at the blue-haired genie.

‘You know her hiding place?’ Leona leaned towards him.

‘She isn’t hiding,’ Andalonus said. ‘She’s flaunting herself as an outcast, giving speeches to anyone who will listen.’

‘You went
after
her?’ I asked. ‘But she knows you’re friends with me and Leona. What if she had gnomes on the lookout for you?’

‘I had a disguise.’ Andalonus mussed his frizzy hair, looking proud.

‘Did Leona enchant you?’ Meteor asked.

‘You don’t have to use magic to be in disguise.’ Andalonus pulled on his ears. ‘I covered my hair with a cap, smeared my face with dirt, and kept in the background so no one would notice me.’

‘You ingenious genie,’ Leona said. ‘Do you know where she’s staying?’

‘In some old falling-down tower on the edge of Oberon City,’ Andalonus answered. ‘She’s got gnomes repairing it fit for royalty. And she makes speeches from the balcony.’ He waggled his eyebrows. ‘She goes on and on about how the king and queen aren’t fit to rule, and the councillors are even more bumbling and selfish than the king and queen.’

Bumbling and selfish
. It felt odd to be in agreement with Lily. My friends and I didn’t have a good opinion of the High Council of Feyland. As far as we were concerned, they were a bunch of rotten trogs.

I wondered if King Oberon and Queen Velleron, safe on their Island of Anshield, had heard the news of the failing durable spells and the chaos in their kingdom. Surely they would soon leave the sapphire stronghold and help us?

‘Lily’s like a queen to her followers,’ Andalonus was saying. ‘And she’s promising to give them radia too. She says they’ll each get a thousand more.’

‘But Lily doesn’t give away magic!’ I cried.

‘She’s lying, of course,’ Leona said impatiently.

‘She talked about something called
aevia ray
,’ Andalonus said.

‘What’s aevia ray?’ I asked.

‘It’s a fabled powder,’ Meteor answered. Obviously he knew something the rest of us didn’t. As usual. ‘It’s supposed to generate new magic. But it’s impossible to make.’

‘It can’t be impossible,’ Leona argued, ‘or you wouldn’t be able to study it.’

‘The main ingredient is dust from a comet’s tail,’ Meteor said. ‘And since history began, anyone who’s set out to ride a comet has never come back.’

I tried to get up, but flopped back on the pillows.

Andalonus turned to me. ‘Zaria? What’s wrong?’

‘Lily might be able to get comet dust,’ I said faintly.

Meteor snorted. ‘Even if she had ten trillion radia, she still wouldn’t have the power to ride a comet.’

‘What if she could get the dust on Earth?’

‘What?’ Meteor asked softly.

‘Humans,’ I said. ‘I think the humans have some comet dust.’

T
HE HUMAN LIFESPAN IS QUITE SHORT COMPARED TO THAT OF FAIRIES AND GENIES, WHO USUALLY LIVE TWO HUNDRED YEARS OR LONGER
. S
OMETIMES, LONG-LIVED FEY WILL ATTAIN TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS
. H
OWEVER, FAIRIES AND GENIES REACH PHYSICAL MATURITY AT A RATE SIMILAR TO HUMANS, ALLOWING US MANY MORE DECADES TO ATTAIN WISDOM
.

T
HE NORMAL FEY LIFESPAN DOES NOT PERTAIN TO
K
ING
O
BERON OR
Q
UEEN
V
ELLERON, WHO LIVE ON THE
I
SLAND OF
A
NSHIELD, WHERE TIME TAKES NO TOLL UPON THE LIVING
. F
EY RULERS WOULD BE IMMORTAL EXCEPT THAT THEY SOMETIMES LEAVE THEIR STRONGHOLD
.

Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

I WAS SO
exhausted, I poked my forehead with the tip of my wand to wake up. ‘Meteor,’ I said, ‘tell us everything you know about this aevia ray.’

‘Zaria,’ he said, ‘
why
do you think humans have comet—’

‘I can’t tell you,’ I interrupted sharply.

‘Why not?’ he asked.

‘I overheard something while I was on Earth. It doesn’t matter where I heard it, does it? All that matters is that Lily might be able to get hold of it.’

Leona was giving me a questioning look, while Andalonus bobbed beside her.

‘Please, Meteor. Tell us what you know?’ I was desperate for him to stop asking questions; I didn’t want to explain about Sam.

Meteor sighed. ‘I already have.’

I leaned forward. ‘Then you’ve got to find out more. Please, Meteor. If Lily wants it, we have to learn about it.’

‘All right,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll research it.’ He drew his wand. ‘Will you be here when I come back?’ He wasn’t looking at Leona and Andalonus; he was looking at me.

‘Where else would I be?’ It wasn’t exactly a lie. I did plan to be there – if I could do what I needed to do in time.

‘
Transera nos
.’ Meteor disappeared.

Too tired to think, I closed my eyes, only for a minute.

When I jerked awake, Leona and Andalonus were on my mother’s window seat, murmuring to each other.

Dragging myself out of the nest, I expanded my wings. ‘How long have I been asleep?’ I demanded crossly.

Andalonus gestured at the window. The light outside told me it was well into afternoon.

‘Blasted pixies, curse them all,’ I said. ‘Where’s Meteor?’

‘Still gone,’ Leona answered. ‘And now that you’re up, you’d better change your gown, Zaree. That one you’re wearing is even more hideous than those sorren charms we got from Laz.’

I looked down at my skirts, which were hardly better than rags and smeared with dirt. Leona was right. Hurrying to my own room, I found a gown that wasn’t quite as wrinkled and was much cleaner.

Back in my mother’s room, I picked up the pixie charm and dropped it over my head. Among the pillows where I’d slept, I found the tote bag holding my mother’s spellbook. I crammed the book into a cupboard. ‘Cinna Tourmaline’s spellbook cannot be stolen,’ I said, dousing the cupboard with magic.

‘What are you planning, Zaree?’ asked Leona.

Sometimes I wished she didn’t know me so well. I didn’t like cutting her off; it wasn’t something I’d normally do. But I didn’t want to get into an argument with Leona Bloodstone about going to Earth.

So I transported away without answering her.

Laz spotted me the moment I crossed the threshold of the Ugly Mug. For once, he wasn’t involved in a game. I watched in irritation as he glided across the room towards me.

‘This way,’ he said when he reached my side.

I followed him past a nearby curtain into a dim hallway
and
through a creaky door. The room we entered was small and crammed with crates. Goods from Earth, no doubt. Being with Laz in an enclosed room was enough to bring on some very bad memories.

He was wearing his leprechaun cap, so there was little I could do to him, but I drew my wand anyway.

‘Returned from the pixies, I see,’ he said. Then his face turned serious. ‘Dangerous for you to be here, Zaria. For you, and for me.’

‘Why?’

He shook his grey-blue head. ‘You may be a Feynere, but nothing can save you from carelessness.’

‘I’m not careless!’

‘Oh?’ His gravelly voice had risen a notch. ‘You’re here without even attempting a disguise.’ He tapped his temple. ‘Acting foolish.’

‘I’m here because I need to use your portal to Earth. Where is it?’

A flash of surprise crossed his face and then he pulled a dull expression. ‘Portal?’ As if he didn’t know what I meant.

‘Just tell me.’ I gripped my wand tighter. ‘I have to get to Earth. Now!’

‘Why not take the portal that brought you so close to Pixandelle?’ He stared pointedly at the charm around my neck.

My portal! Did Laz know
everything
that happened in Feyland?

‘I wouldn’t be able to find it,’ I snapped. ‘It’s not marked.’
From the Feyland side
.

‘Sorry. Unlike you, I know where
my
portal is,’ he said. ‘But no one else does. And that’s how it’s going to stay.’

I shook my wand. ‘
Your
future depends on my getting through safely.’

Laz clicked his tongue. ‘You don’t say.’

Raising my wand high, I infused it and pointed at a tall stack of crates. ‘I hear coffee smells gruesome when it gets over-roasted.’

‘So it does, so it does.’ The genie put up a hand. ‘No need for a display, Zaria.’ He stood, his calculating eyes on my wand.

‘And I will
not
pay you a toll,’ I said, wand still poised. I was quite willing to blow up not only all the coffee barrels in this room, but everything else the smuggler might hold dear.

He must have sensed my mood, because he stopped resisting. ‘Follow me.’

S
ONNIA IS THE ONLY FOOD THAT FEY FOLK REQUIRE FOR HEALTH AND STRENGTH
. I
T IS OFTEN PICKED FRESH, BUT IT MAY ALSO BE DRIED AND STEEPED AS A TEA
. H
OT TEA, WELL BREWED, IS A PLEASURE ENJOYED NOT ONLY BY FEY FOLK, BUT ALSO BY THE MORE INTELLIGENT SPECIMENS OF THE HUMAN RACE
. A
ND THOUGH MAGIC HAS NO WORTH WHEN IT COMES TO HELPING A HEART THROWN INTO DESPAIR, A STOUT POT OF TEA MAY BE BENEFICIAL AT SUCH TIMES
.

Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

LAZ TOOK ME
into another small room. We squeezed past several barrels to wedge ourselves into the only open corner. He gestured at the wall.

‘Where does it lead?’ I asked.

‘Storage space. In a basement,’ he answered.

‘Does it have a barrier against humans?’

‘Nothing but the best.’

I mumbled my thanks and then stepped through the
portal
into a large room with cement walls. Stray cobwebs hung from solid wooden beams in the ceiling, but the rest of the place was clean, and well lit with electric lights. The air smelled like Laz’s café: warm, rich and heady.
Coffee
. Of course.

Bags and barrels lined an aisle wide enough for my wings to fan out comfortably. Sucking in a large breath, I waved my wand. ‘Take away my wings till I ask for them again.’

The change was sudden, and I stumbled sideways, steadying myself against a big barrel. I could hear footsteps from above, small thuds coming and going on the floor over my head. But the basement room was empty of people.

I infused my wand again. ‘Make my skin a human colour and dress me in human clothes.’ I wanted to pass for human, and my lavender skin and fairy gown would get in the way. After all, human beings didn’t have the variety of skin colour that fairies and genies did. Also, the human girls I had seen did not wear soft gowns that flowed around their ankles.

My magic delivered faded blue trousers, a soft black shirt and grey jacket, and bouncy shoes with laces. Looking at my hands, I saw that my skin colour had changed to one of the standard human shades – like the cocoa Laz had served to Meechem. I tucked the sorren necklace inside my shirt. No human would find it appealing.

Smiling a little, I slid my wand into an inside pocket of the jacket, and practised walking up and down. Without my wings for balance, I shuffled awkwardly and had to clutch
at
coffee barrels, but after a while I got all the way down one of the aisles without holding on.

I turned down a different aisle. The barrels in this one had been opened; lids were fitted loosely over the tops. I lifted one of the lids and saw a scoop among the shiny beans. Curious, I dipped my hands in the barrel. The aroma of coffee grew stronger.

A nearby door banged open, and a tall man hurried through it. His dark skin reminded me of Meteor’s, but he didn’t have striped hair or green eyes; his hair was short and black, his eyes deep brown.

When he saw me, he gasped. ‘What the—? What do you think you’re doing?’

I pulled my hands out of the barrel and stood unsteadily.

‘A little young to be stealing, aren’t you?’ he asked.

‘I’m not stealing!’

The man advanced on me. ‘Oh? Then what’re you doing down here, punk?’

I spread my hands to show him they were empty. ‘Nothing.’

‘Nothing? You expect me to believe that?’ He whipped out a small black device and tapped it with a finger.

‘It’s true!’ I cried.

The man held the device to his ear. ‘Yeah, Jim, call the police. There’s a kid down in the storage room … Yup …
Girl
… Yup.’ He slipped the thing into a pocket and took a step closer, peering into my eyes. ‘You high?’

‘High?’ I asked.
No. My wings are gone, and I’m standing on the floor
.

‘Purple contacts, eh? Who you workin’ for, kid?’ He shook his finger in my face, his voice loud. ‘All this time, merchandise disappearing and we have no clue who’s taking it. Looks like we’ll find out now. And if you tell me how you’ve been knocking out my cameras, I might go easy on you.’

I backed away from him.

‘Hey,’ the man asked. ‘You hurt?’

‘No.’

‘Why’re you limping?’

‘I’m not.’ I took another step backwards and staggered into a shelf. A big barrel tipped towards the floor; I barely had time to get out of the way before it fell. The lid popped off. Coffee beans streamed out, jumping across the floor as if alive.

‘You
are
high.’ The man reached for me. I tried to slither away but my feet slid on the spilled beans.