For the second time, I closed my eyes. This time, I rested my hands on the crystal ball. I could almost feel the warmth, as if it had just come off the glassblower’s pipe. I could feel the magic swirling inside, and I realized that Dr. Lewis was right. Lily’s potion felt familiar, like a piece of home after months at sea.
Lily had done a good job capturing the essence of The Isle. I could feel the pulse of the land inside—trapped inside the cube, wanting to come out, to equalize with the elements around us. Maybe it would be the ticket. Like in a blood transfusion, the new blood needed to match the existing blood, or it could wreak havoc on the whole body. Maybe if my magic matched the magic inside of the crystal, it would soften the force of impact.
I inhaled. Exhaled. I had no idea how long I sat there. Time had become malleable since my training here, either urgent and pressing or almost nonexistent. I wondered, too, if time had taken on a different meaning since learning I was a Fae Queen. A lifetime of seventy-odd years felt different than a lifetime with the potential to span hundreds of years.
Granted, of course, that I didn’t die before the next blood moon.
I inhaled the air of The Isle and exhaled my own. I soaked in the vibrations generated by the island until my body buzzed, until my veins felt like ley lines themselves. I raised droplets of water I’d drawn from the earth, then levitated a pebble from theground. I wrapped the water around the rock in a sphere, just like I had during training with Seer Goddard. Then I added air, forming a bundle around them, in the first form of magic I’d completed as a Triune Queen.
I let the magic hover for a few minutes, ignoring the gasp from Dr. Lewis that—in this silence—sounded like a rifle firing. I frowned, realizing that I couldn’t physically insert my magic into the crystal. It wouldn’t be as simple as that.
So I let the trifecta of elements drop and instead put both hands on the crystal again. I drew up those same elements of magic, but let them run through my body and veins without actually trying to transfer them to the crystal.
I could feel it starting to work as the ball warmed beneath my skin. It was heating slowly, like a teakettle above a tiny flame, just from being in the sheer proximity of me. I was coaxing the crystal alive by simply acting as a conduit for the ley line magic.
The essence of The Isle, the potion Lily had created, inside the crystal was connecting with the energy from outside. The two forms of magic were trying to find a way to merge—to allow a flow of power between them as natural as a river where it converged from two separate streams.
“It’s working!” Dr. Lewis said. “I can see it.”
The moment he exclaimed in glee, my concentration shattered. My magic flared with a jolt, and the crystal cracked down the middle. Lily’s potion evaporated, retreating into the earth from which it’d come.
“I’m so sorry,” Dr. Lewis said. “We were so close. Could you feel it working?”
“Yes. I could. I’m still stumped as to how to get the outside to converge with the inside. If these are to work for any amount of time, there needs to be an easy flow of magic. I can’t sit here night and day powering the wards like this. It simply isn’t feasible.”
“How did it happen before?” Dr. Lewis asked. “Do you have any idea?”
I shook my head. “I think there must have been some spells in place to allow magic to flow in and out? Whether those were crafted by scientists or the Fae Queens, though, I have no idea.”
“That makes sense. I think this is promising, though. If we can figure out how to maintain a flow without you sitting here, physically, the whole time…we might be in business.”
“We might,” I said, thinking that was quite an insurmountable challenge indeed.
“Let me try a spell that will allow passage through the glass. Maybe I made the bonds too tight. And when you have time, maybe you can study your Fae manuscripts again for more ward magic spells. Something more specific this time that addresses the flow.”
Then it was my turn to sit still and rest as Dr. Lewis set to work at once with his newest idea, fiddling with the last crystal in his box. He muttered under his breath, and I spotted a greenish glow coming from inside the container.
“There,” he said, once he’d finished and the glow had faded. “I’ve made an allowance. It’ll let Fae magic pass through. It’ll recognize what’s inside and link to what’s outside. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but suffice to say I made some adjustments to the magical coating of the crystal.”
I returned to my seat as Dr. Lewis hurried back to his perch between the trees. His enthusiasm was contagious. I felt a flutter of hope that maybe he was right. If so, could we prevent the Darkest Lord and his spirit army from entering the island realm altogether?
I repeated the process. This time, Dr. Lewis didn’t gasp when things started to work, and I didn’t lose focus as we got going. The orb began to glow with the white-blue light of ley lines, the color of magic as I’d come to know it on this island.
This time when I opened my eyes, I kept my hands raised and the flow of power steady and slow. Dr. Lewis crept toward me, his eyes wide as he watched in awe.
“You’re doing it,” Dr. Lewis said. “It’s working.”
“I think so,” I agreed. “But this is just the start. I can’t sit here and moderate my power forever, it’s just not possible.”
“Of course, but if we could find a way to do it for you…” Dr. Lewis paused, scribbled something in a notebook in his hand. “I’ve got ideas. Try to ease a little more magic into it, Alessia, if you can. Are you holding back?”
“I’m not actively funneling magic at all. I’m just a conduit between the magic of the island and the crystal orb. I’m not actuallyinfusingmagic of my own, if that makes sense.”
“Mostly,” Dr. Lewis said, but in a tone of voice that told me he wasn’t completely understanding what I was trying to tell him.
Which made sense, because to him, my hands on the orb probably looked like Iwasinfusing it with magic, when really, my hands were the brakes holding back the flow of magic to stop the orb from cracking in two.
“Can you try to do it?” he asked. “Infuse your own magic? We’ll need to incorporate your magic to successfully power the wards.”
