I swallowed hard. “But surely you have a backup plan?”
Because if the fate of Faerie was in my hands, we were fucked.
She shook her head. “As you know, the Dark War wiped out ninety-percent of our kind. You and your mother are the last seekers we have.Werethe last…”
Yeah, I knew that. It’s also why my mom didn’t have some huge battalion of guards. There were a grand total of three trained warriors in Faerie: Trissa, my best friend Elle, and a young Fae who was a whopping twelve years old.
Elle. She was going to shit glitter when I filled her in on all this.
“So, I am to seek these Tree of Life crystals? That doesn’t seem too bad.”
I was trying to be positive, because my emotional state was fragile right now.
I’d pop into Earth, grab a crystal, and bring it back. Easy peasy.
Indra sighed, clasping her hands before her. “Well … the crystals on Earth are guarded by the Sons of Darkness.”
“Oh.” That complicated things a bit, since she’d just admitted they were like freaking Dark Fae!
“But we will assign Elle as your guard, and that will free up Trissa to train more. We will give you whatever other resources we can.” She stood and motioned that we move away from the tree and back to the library room. I gave the beautiful crystals one last glance, memorizing every color, every jagged shard, even their energy signatures, though they all varied slightly—I could tell from here.
Did I seriously just get tasked with saving Faerie? On the night my mother passed? This was beyond messed up. “Alright…” I thought of my mother’s final words, clutching the necklace she’d given me, which was tucked tightly in my palm as we stood among the books again. “I’ll plan my mother’s celebration of life ceremony and start seeking after that.”
Trissa had indicated that wasn’t possible, but I was going to push my luck here because I wanted to see my mother off properly. The Fae celebration of life ceremony was a week long, but because my mother was such a respected member of the community, they would dance in the streets calling out her name for at least a month. It would give me time to mourn, figure out how the hell I was going to live without her…
The fresh grief I’d pushed down now welled to the surface. Ineededthat time.
The corners of Indra’s mouth pulled into a frown. “I’m afraid you’ll need to start in the morning.”
“My mother just died!” I interjected. Screaming at an elder was probably a cardinal sin, but Indra didn’t even flinch. If anything, her gaze grew kinder.
Start in the morning? That was just evil. My mother’s body was barely cold.
A sob lodged in my throat. Her body … she was just a body.
Indra reached out and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I know … but your mother had very strict wishes. She wanted to give you a normal childhood. Let you make a best friend, kiss a boy, dream of swimming with the dolphins at crystal cove.” My heart pinched. “Your mother went against our advice and kept all of this a secret so that you wouldn’t grow up in fear of what was out there waiting for you. So that you wouldn’t feel the pressure of our entire existence on your shoulders like she did. And we honored that.”
I could see now that what my mother thought she was doing was well intentioned, but it gave me no time to adjust to my new reality.
“But now you are going to see the error in her plan,” the Winter elder said, his voice cold and without compassion.
“Aubin,” Indra warned.
He put his hands up. “I’m just saying. Clearly this wasn’t well thought out. The poor girl has lost her mother and now she must start hunting for the next crystal in twelve hours’ time, all while processing everything we’ve told her.”
“It is what it is,” the Spring elder, Rose, stated, her lavender pixie haircut shaking around her cheeks, squashing the argument, and they both quieted.
I needed help understanding something. “My mother had decades to find six crystals. Why do I need to start tomorrow?”
They all shared a serious look.
“Because the Tree of Life is dying,” a strange voice spoke from behind me.
I jumped a little, my mouth popping open a little at the sight of the Fae who stood before me.Mara.My mother had told me countless stories of the imprisoned portal master. The thick cuffs around her wrists and ankles were prettier than I imagined they would be: gold with a delicate filigree pattern. But the glowing green magic that bound them looked strong. She stood in the doorway of the blue door that led to the elder’s library. Her long red hair cascaded over one shoulder as she leaned against the doorframe looking absolutely distraught. I’d never met her in person, though every birthday my mother had brought me a gift from her and always referred to her as Aunt Mara.
I felt the wind rush behind me as the four elders’ wings went erect. I was going to go out on a limb here and say they didn’t get along.
Though she was imprisoned and stripped of her elder status, she’d spent every day with my mother, helping her with her life’s mission. My mother always spoke of her with a smile on her face and said she was like a sister to her.
