I charged through the thatch-roof cottage, basically a tinderbox, pushing aside what flames I could with my fire magic.
“Is she alive?” I asked as I approached him.
“There’s a pulse, but it’s weak.” He gestured to the fae’s feet.
Squatting, I grabbed her feet and, using my legs, pushed up with a grunt. Breathing was becoming more difficult as the buffer of air around my nose was being eaten up by the flames. We needed to get out of there fast.
We shuffled through the path I’d created, and where the fire had overtaken it once more, I tried to fight back as best I could, switching between water and fire magic. Once, the aether-blessed fae’s hair caught flame, and I had to drop her legs to squirt water at her head.
After what felt like hours later, we stumbled out of the cottage, hacking and coughing. Dee and Dum were floating at the boundary of the clearing that the cottage had been built in. We brought the aether-blessed fae over there and set her down.
“Oberon’s ears!” Dee exclaimed. “Is she dead?”
I knelt down to check. She wasn’t breathing or responsive, and I couldn’t feel a pulse. “I’ll do CPR.”
Confusion flashed across everyone’s faces. I took that as a sign that CPR probably wasn’t a thing in Faerie. My belief was confirmed when, after the chest compressions, I pressed my mouth to the fae’s lips.
Dee announced her skepticism.“I won’t even ask, but I will say that this human tradition seemsweird.”
I ignored her and continued performing CPR. Henri hovered around me, spouting suggestions that wouldn’t help at all. I was about to tell him to shut it, when Coleti sucked in a breath, and her eyelids fluttered.
I leaned back and waited.
The fae drew in another massive breath and, sooner than I would have anticipated, her eyes opened wide. They were a bright, crystalline violet that glowed with an otherworldly light.
The aether, I realized, as the fae locked eyes with me.
“You. I knew you’d come.”
I blinked. “How?”
“No time.” Coleti coughed. Blood stained the front of her shirt, and I winced.
She was alive now, but she wouldn’t be for long.
She lifted her trembling fingers slightly, and bright white light poured from them. It flew into the cottage and disappeared. “Follow the aether. The book will tell you what to do.”
She coughed again, this time more violently, and her body began to spasm.
“No! No! You can’t—”
My words died on my lips as the fae fell silent and still, her eyes open and staring at the sun high in the sky.
“She just . . . she—”
Henri grabbed my shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. But, Alice, we have to go back and get the book . . .”
I shook my head. This was insane, stupid even. Why was I here? Was her death because of me? Did the Cheshire cat guess that we would come here and do this?
I’d caused many deaths in my life, done it willingly. At first, to feel love that never came. Later, to pay off the debts I owed Xavier, and earn my freedom the right way, so I wouldn’t have to fear being hunted by magical creditors. But this death was different. I knew in my heart that Coleti had died because I had been coming to see her.
And even seconds from death, she still tried to help me.
My breath hitched. Hatter was right.
I can’t let her die in vain.
I shot to my feet and ran back into the burning cottage, sucking air as I crossed the threshold of Coleti’s home. In the few minutes I’d been trying to save her, the fire had grown out of control. I could no longer push it back with my fire magic. My only chance was to douse the areas where I wanted to walk.
