The fae made a show of considering what he might request, but as his eyes trailed up to the faerie circle above us, I knew what he would ask for.
“For your classmate’s life, I demand your silence about my faerie ring. Should you break this promise, one of you will join me in Faerie as my personal slave at court.” The creature arched a bushy eyebrow and extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
This was the worst possible scenario. We could get Mina back, but the threat was real that the fae would return later and simply take someone else. If we told, however, weknewhe would take someone else, and it would be one ofus.
Amethyst turned slightly to face us. “Guys, I—”
“No deal!” Alex leapt forward, and crimson magic burst from his hands.
It shot toward the fae and engulfed the creature’s arm before blooming into fire. A second branch of magic split from the main one and formed a tiny shield between the blade and Mina’s throat. Alex moved fast, which was good, because as soon as the fae screamed, I saw him apply pressure to the blade and heard itcrackon Alex’s shield.
“Mina! Move!” I screamed.
But instead of fleeing to safety, Mina fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering and grabbing her arm which was smoking. The fae had incapacitated her.
Alex shot another beam of power at the fae before his attention shifted to Amethyst. “Can you conjure iron?”
Amethyst gaped, and I understood why. So far in Conjuring, we’d only conjured representations of items—illusions with little to no actual mass behind them. But anillusionof iron would not defeat this fae. Only the real thing.
“I can try,” Amethyst said as her brown eyes filled with anxious tears.
“Do it,” Alex growled, and then he turned his startling eyes on me. “Send up sparks.”
I did as he said, sending up a shower of pink sparks and holding my breath until they reached just above the tree line. I hoped that Ms. Seeley was looking our way, and would see the signal of distress agreed upon by Spellcasters students and faculty.
When I turned my attention back to the ground, I saw that Alex was already in motion, tossing crimson magic at the fae every chance he got and muttering who-knew-what kind of spells under his breath. Amethyst’s eyes were narrow, and her face scrunched up as she worked to conjure a solid weapon.
I’d never felt so helpless in all my life. But even if I was the weakest witch among us, I just knew there had to besomethingI could contribute.
What, I wasn’t sure. But I figured I’d discover it in the moment, as I rushed forward to fight the fae.
Chapter Sixteen
“Did you alert Ms. Seeley?” Alex gasped as I joined him, and he threw up a shield to protect us both.
“Yeah,” I grunted as the fae slammed a large tree branch into Alex’s shield. “Do you have any tips on how to defeat this guy?”
I’d gotten better at magic, but fae and witch magics were different. Unlike witch magic which was internal and dependent on the skill, knowledge, stamina, and will of the witch, faerie magic was largely elemental. They had control over earth, water, wind, fire, and aether. The fae who could control all five elements were the most powerful, and could usually access magic at all times, even if they were physically spent.
“This one is a redcap.” Alex repositioned his glasses, which had gone askew, as he shot off a spray of power that missed our opponent and singed the bark straight off a tree. “Warrior fae that dip their hat in their enemies’ blood. Some make deadly potions out of them. I think that’s what’s causing Mina’s skin to burn.” Another spray of magic, another singed tree.
The fae cackled, and for the first time, I noticed that the hat on his head was indeed discolored at the tip.
As if he knew exactly what I stared at, the fae lifted his arm and pointed gleefully at the point of his cap. “Looks like I’ll be adding witch blood to the mix soon!”
My lips flattened, and just to shut him up, I sent my power, a beam of pink, intending to burn him.
The fae cackled even more maniacally when I missed. “I always wanted a weak and pretty little slave.”
I wanted to scream for him to get away, to leave us alone, to disappear back to his faerie hole and no one would get hurt, but an intense gale of air flew over me before I could even open my mouth. I fell to the ground with a yelp, and a second later, Alex grunted and landed beside me. A large rock flew out of nowhere to hit his head with acrackand Alex’s eyes fluttered closed as blood began to pour from his temple.
Oh shit. This is bad.
I scrambled to my feet and stood over Alex, my breath catching in my throat. The fae had taken advantage of our moment of weakness and had crossed the clearing. He now held his long dagger against Amethyst’s jugular. My gaze strayed to the iron weapon Amethyst had been conjuring until the fae took her hostage. It lay on the ground a fair distance from the pair, as if the fae had batted it away. The weapon was almost solid, although the blurred lines made it clear that it was notquitethere. If I got my hands on it, would I be able to complete conjuring?
“You can try, weakling,” the fae spat. “By the time you reach it, Faerie will have a new slave.”
My stomach churned. He was right, the blade and the portal were in different directions. But I wasn’t powerful enough to call items to me, especially not an item that someone else had conjured. I could either fight him with my magic, which I was positive was not strong enough to best him, or I could take a chance and use Amethyst’s weapon.
