Then I returned to the page of the manuscript with the enchantment and began the incantation again. For the first time in my journey to becoming the Fae Queen, I didn’t feel isolated and alone in my magic. I felt part of something greater, a part of a team all working for the same goal. My magic might not be the same as others’, but it didn’t need to be. That was the beauty of this quilt we’d formed together.
As I spoke the incantation louder, a second and then a third time, I felt my reach extending. The marbles in my chest were glowing, the islanders newly alight with the burst of magic I’d bestowed upon them.
In return, I could feel my reach extending to every part of the island, as if the islanders themselves were little beacons, giving my magic a signal in all corners of the land. I could reach thosefighting lycanthropes in the south. Those guarding the north where another horde came down from the volcano. Deep into The Forest, to places I’d never seen before. To the village, where civilians chose to stay and fight in order to guard their homes.
As I spoke the spell, the snow began to glow again—brighter, this time—as if it’d swallowed the moon. On my third recitation, a snarl ripped the air—we were under attack. But I didn’t open my eyes; I didn’t flinch. Icouldn’t.
Silas had instructed me to carry on in the event of an attack. So that was what I did.
I could feel swift movement—Zin would have returned, maybe in her jaguar form. I could hear hoofbeats and feel the tension in the air as I imagined blackened horses with skeletal jaws snapping and lunging at Silas and Ranger Z.
As if sensing my hesitation to sit out the battle, Silas shouted, “Alessia, you must complete the spell!”
Every muscle in me wanted to run and join my mate, especially when I felt a phantom jab of pain down the line that connected us, a ghostly pain that told me the man I loved was injured. But also, almost simultaneously, the sound of more hoofbeats thundered toward us—not one or two, but a stampede. There was no way Silas, injured, could hold them alone, even with the help of Zin.
The only way out was me.
I didn’t know what else to do except complete the spell. I did, my voice shaking, even as I felt the spell lock into place. I implored the islanders to hold strong as I used their strength to spread the spell to the farthest lands of this island.
When I opened my eyes, the snow sparkled, dazzled—each flake at work in something greater. Brightness flared in every direction, the island itself glowing. A light so pure it made the spirits’ existence here feel impossible—how could such darknessexist with such lightness? They were shadow and despair; we were love and life.
As I watched, the snow began to melt into the ground. The temperatures rose, and I knew my wards had taken over the broken ones installed by Dr. Lewis. It was all, as I’d suspected, related. The enchanted snow was melting, the glowing water beads sprinkling into the earth and healing it as the temperatures rose and the wards reset.
I watched as Zin plunged a sword into the side of a spirit, just as Silas ducked away from two others. A terrifying sight approached from the hillside: an army of solid monsters charging at us. Tens? Hundreds of them? More than we could fight.
Thecrackwas heard across the island. A thunder boom as the last of the snow melted, and the grass began to glow an emerald green again. The spell was complete; the lands were nearly healed. The wards had snapped back into place.
And with it, the spirits no longer belonged here.
I watched them disappear, one by one, as they charged toward us. Vanishing in a puff of nothingness, as if they were hitting a brick wall that instantly destroyed them. Our lands were healed, and the wards that were meant to keep out the underworld spirits had gone back into effect, stamping out the unwelcome army.
It all happened in a second. It felt like luck and fate all at once as an uneasy peace settled over the island, like maybe it wasn’t quite real, like maybe it was too good to be true. The silence in the aftermath of the attack was deafening.
“It’s done.” Silas pulled me to my feet, lifting me off the ground as he crushed me to his chest. “You did it, Alessia.”
His hug wasn’t one of joy—how could there be joy in destroying the lost spirits that had been forced into the DarkestLord’s service? Or in knowing that we’d lost islanders in the short but intense breach from the underworld?
I was relieved it was done, but the emotions that were left behind were ones of turmoil and unrest. As much as this seemed like the end, it didn’t feel over.
fifteen
Weretreatedtothecastle in the quiet aftermath of the completed spell. Although, “retreat” felt like the wrong word since technically we’d emerged from this round victorious.
Yet it wasn’t a celebration as a group of us reunited at the castle. A sense of unsettledness and trepidation trembled in the air as I stood beside Silas and Ranger Z. Lily and Ranger X arrived next, then Millie and Liza made their appearances. Atlas arrived last, looking like he’d fought off a hundred spirits alone. He brushed back his hair and gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Nothing playful, no smirk like he usually had at the ready.
“Why doesn’t this feel finished?” I asked Silas, as we congregated in the dining area of the castle. Millie was quietly serving snacks that nobody was eating. “We healed the island. We vanished the attacking spirits. I thought there would be a sense of finality.”
“It’s like Medusa.” Atlas crunched into a juicy apple. He was the only person who had the stomach to eat anything. “You’ve cut off several of her snakes, but she’s regrowing them as wespeak. Not technically Medusa, obviously. You’ve crippled the Darkest Lord, Alessia, but you haven’t defeated him. He will return, stronger than before.”
Silas, in rare agreement with his brother, nodded along with Atlas’s analysis.
“At least we’ve bought ourselves some time,” I mused. “Any idea how much time?”
Silas shook his head. “He’ll attack when he’s ready, and my guess is that it will be sooner rather than later.”
“What does Olympus think?” I asked with Atlas. “They’ve got to have some say at this point.”
“You defeated the spirits.” Atlas raised one humongous shoulder and let it drop. “That’s enough reassurance for them at the moment that you can handle the situation.”
