Witch Fairy book 3 (21 page)

This is the part that I really, really don’t want to say.  But I do.  “If you find my mind and soul untrue, this body of mine I offer to you.  If my heart is just and pure, my safety you will help ensure.”

Magic bursts from the ground, rushing through me with a painful force that brings me to my hands and knees.  Kallen rushes to my side, but I hold my hand up to stop him from touching me.  I don’t even know how I have the strength to do that as my body is being fileted from the inside out.  But if he touches me, my magic will burn through him with so much heat and unleashed power, that I don’t know if he could even survive it.  It’s forever before the burning of the black magic finally lets my body rest as it shoots visibly outwards in all directions like it has a life force of its own.  Even Dagda’s and Isla’s mouths are hanging open as they watch the fireworks of magic explode around us for as far as the eye can see.  As quickly as it started, it subsides as it begins its search for the creatures I’ve called forth.

For a moment, there is nothing as I try to breathe again.  Even the sea seems to quiet.  And then it starts.  A rumble at first, and then thunder, and then an explosion of sound as from every direction of the sand and forest, spiders big and small come out of their hiding places and converge around us.  The ground has turned black and the pounding of millions of eight-legged creatures is unbelievable deafening. 

The longest moments of my life are the ones where we watch in hopeful fear to see where the spiders will stop.  Will they be bound by the crystals left as a map as to where their webs should begin; or will they climb the walls and stairs of the terrace and leave no web at all.  Just bodies.  Or bones.

A scream from the doorway causes all of our heads to swing in that direction; mine more painfully than the rest.  Rhiannon is frozen in place next to Tabitha.  The only thing moving is her vocal chords.  With the last few ounces of my magic that is not working the spell, I take her breath away, leaving her to scream silently in the open air.

Now, I can’t move at all.  I’m the anchor that the magic clings to as it tries to coerce the spiders to do my bidding.  It’s draining me, and I feel myself weakening.  I’m going to lose consciousness soon.  As my eyes close to darkness, I see the first signs that the spiders have begun to spin webs.

Chapter 14

For the first time, I wake up exactly where I passed out.  Well, sort of.  I’m pretty sure that I fell on the ground and now I’m cradled in someone’s lap.  It better be Kallen’s.  My body is sore everywhere.  I feel like someone turned me inside out, threw me in the dryer, then took me out and put my skin on the outside again.  Hmm, maybe not that bad.  I feel much worse than that.

I crack my eyes open, thinking that I’m going to be accosted by burning rays from the sun.  I must have been out for a while because it’s dim and shadowy.  The sun must be setting.  Kallen doesn’t notice I’m coming around because his face is turned up as he looks intently at something.  Opening my eyes a little wider, I discover what that something is. And why I’m not being accosted by the sun.  Not because I’ve been unconscious for a long time.  It’s because, apparently, if you have a million spiders weaving a giant web, it can get thick enough to block out the sun.

I startle Kallen when I sit up; he’s so engrossed in watching the spiders.  I still must have been out for a while, because the spiders are about three quarters of the way done. And it’s the scariest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.  I really hope I never see anything scarier.

There is a solid wall circling the house made of both spiders and web.  Spiders of every shape and color are swarming over the silk, reinforcing it and moving it ever higher.  Soon, it will join together at the center and we will be completely isolated within this spiders’ womb.  I’m not usually claustrophobic, but being trapped like a fly in a giant spider web is pressing all of my panic buttons.  I take several deep breaths to try to calm my heart rate.  They don’t help.  Especially as the question of how many spiders will be trapped in here with us rolls through my mind.

I look around the terrace at everyone, and their faces display a range of subdued fascination to out and out horror.  The latter is Rhiannon.  I think she’d still be screaming if I had let her keep her voice.  I’m betting she has nightmares of this day for the rest of her life.  She did try to drown me, so I can’t say I have a lot of sympathy for her.

I can still feel the pull of magic as the spiders do my bidding, but it’s not the wrenching and tearing it was earlier.  Now, it’s a soft strain.  Enough magic holds on to me to anchor the spell, but most of it is spread out amongst the spiders.

“What have you done?” Dagda asks in awe.  I’m not sure if he’s talking to me or Isla. Probably both.  “We are literally their prisoners.”

I don’t like the sound of that.  I don’t think anyone else does, either.  So, we ignore him and continue to watch the spiders in absolute quiet.  Kallen has wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.  I lean my head back against his chest and marvel at the power of black magic.  I’m wondering if the spell was forgotten because it was impossible to perform, or was it forgotten to prevent anyone from being entombed alive.  Dagda’s right.  If nothing can get in, then nothing can get out, either.  And there goes my blood pressure again.

I can’t take the silence any more.  “Um, why did we do this again?”

Isla answers.  “To give us time to prepare our defenses without the possibility of ambush.”

“Oh.  That’s right.”  It sounded much better when it was just a theory.  Now, it sounds asinine considering what we have gotten ourselves into.

It takes another hour for the spiders to bring the wall together at the top.  Someone says something every now and again, but no real conversations get started.  As the wall on top gets closer to being finished, a collective sigh of relief is breathed over the terrace as the spiders file towards the last tiny opening, putting themselves outside the wall.  And then, our tomb is complete.

“Where did they go?” Alita asks.  “Are they still on the outside of the wall?”

I shake my head.  “No, the spell set them free once they did my will.” 

As if to prove me right, a whoosh of magic rushes back into me and it takes everything I have not to cry out with pain.  It feels ten times worse than having been filled with lava.  Okay, I’ve never been filled with lava, but I’m still sure it’s ten times worse.  My back arches and I’m gasping for breath.  It takes me a minute to realize that I’m not holding all of it.  Kallen’s arms have fallen from my waist and his chest is no longer behind me.  Instead of flowing through me and flowing to the ground, it’s looking for escape.  And Kallen’s body was the only one touching mine.  It’s only line of outflow besides the ground.

“He can’t take that much magic!” I hear Isla shout.  “Dagda, take her hand or he will die.”

Oh god, what am I doing?  Where are my wings?  I barely register hands on mine until the magic spreads out in three directions now.  I feel their struggle to push the magic back inside of me, but it won’t go.  I hear Isla calling for Kegan and Tabitha to join them.  Even Rhiannon is made to fight my magic.  My magic that is killing Kallen.  Why are my wings letting this happen?  This is what they are for!  They wouldn’t let me kill Rhiannon, why are they letting me kill Kallen?

Unless I’m not really in trouble.  Unless I can control this magic.  Urim warned me about this.  Standing up, I painfully fill my lungs with oxygen, close my eyes and with extreme determination, I take control.  The first thing I have to do is draw the magic from Kallen.  He’s unconscious and not able to fight against it.  With a force that makes me stagger, I wrench my magic from his body.  It rushes through me and tries to use the outlets Dagda and Isla have created.  If they had been lesser Fairies, they would not have survived it.  But, I need them to stop fighting it.  It sees them as a threat.  With a will I didn’t know I possessed, I pull their magic towards me and then fling it back to them.  This much magic in one place and time causes an imbalance and a sonic boom tries to deafen me as the grips on my hands fall away.  Now, it’s just me and my magic.  And I will conquer it. 

I force it bit by bit back through me.  The pain is intense; I can feel the tears flowing down my cheeks.  But, it’s going.  I don’t know how long the struggle lasts.  I just know how relieved I am when I am finally magic free.  Now, I can open my eyes and assess the damage.

Dagda is holding a hand to his head and blood is trickling between his fingers.  Kegan is sitting against the wall nursing his arm and knee.  Tabitha has bloody knees; she must have fallen hard.  Rhiannon is crying.  I don’t know if it’s because of everything going on, or if she’s in that much pain.  Isla’s gray streaked hair is singed and she seems to be having trouble standing on one of her legs.  I feel badly about hurting them, but, honestly, Kallen is the only one I care about right now.  I drop to my knees beside him and lay my ear against his chest.  I can hear his heart beating.  It’s weak, but regular, and his chest is moving up and down in shallow breaths.

I move so I can lay his head in my lap.  Stroking his pale face, I debate whether I should let him heal on his own, or if I should pull magic to heal him.

As though she can read my mind, Isla says, “Xandra, let him be.  He is fine.  We need to get him inside, but he is not in danger.”  Just short of hobbling, she makes her way to us.  She attempts to kneel down next to Kallen, presumably to help get him inside. 

“Isla, you are injured.  Let Kegan and I bring him inside.”  I have to admit, I’m shocked.  After all Dagda’s said to Kallen since we came to this realm, I wouldn’t have thought he would do anything to help him.  Obviously, he still cares about him.

“Yes, Grandmother, I agree,” Kegan says and he almost stumbles when he rises to his feet, but he’s able to right himself. 

In a moment, he and Dagda have lifted Kallen from the ground.  Dagda is holding him under his armpits and Kegan has his feet.  I want to help, but they won’t let me.  I think they’re afraid I might accidently touch them and bring on the pain from earlier.  I can’t blame them.  It’s a long trip up the stairs, but they manage to get him to the top.  Isla is following slowly behind us. 

“His room is that way,” Kegan says, nodding his head in the right direction.

“No,” Isla says from just above the landing on the second floor.  “Put him in Xandra’s room, it’s closer.”

I know my mouth drops open in shock.  Kegan’s, too.  But, Isla’s looking at Dagda, daring him to say otherwise.  After a moment, he nods and Kegan shows him which way to go.  I wait for Isla to make it up the stairs.  I’m worried she might fall.

“Will you let me heal your leg?” I ask.

She smiles wanly.  “I believe your magic has done enough today.”

My mouth straightens into a thin line.  Great, she’s afraid to have me touch her, too.  Moving on, I say, “Why in my room?”

“Because he will heal faster in your presence.”

I think there might be more to it than that, but I don’t push it.  I want him in my room.  “Okay.”  I turn around, wanting to get to Kallen before she changes her mind.

Kegan and Dagda are arranging Kallen on the bed.  He’s still pale, and he’s still unconscious.  My heart sinks.  I was hoping all the jostling while bringing him up the stairs would have brought him around.

Dagda turns to me when I come in.  “You are the most beautiful monster I have ever beheld.”

Yeah, he’s just begging for forgiveness.  “I am not a monster.  I’m an enigma.”  Maybe that’s just semantics, but I don’t care.

“I had no idea what I was unleashing into the world.  I thought it would not make a difference if a child I never met lived or died.  I have witnessed today how wrong I was.”  He walks past me, out of the room.

“What did that mean?” Kegan asks from where he’s standing next to the head of my bed.

I shrug.  “I have no idea.  And honestly?  I don’t care.”  I walk to the other side of the bed and scoot over to where Kallen is.  I take his hand in mine and push his hair back from his forehead.

“I had no idea how powerful you are.”

I look up at him.  “I don’t even know how powerful I am.”

“Kallen had already channeled a lot of your magic, and Isla and Dagda absorbed most of the rest.  But when I touched Isla’s hand, it was as if my heart would stop beating and the pain was indescribable.  How does it not kill you?”

I shrug again.  “I really don’t know.  It’s not like there’s an instruction book.”

He sits down on the end of the bed.  “You need to be with someone as strong as my cousin.”  It’s a statement, not a question.

“I’m not with Kallen because he doesn’t die when my magic goes out of control.”

“That is good to know.  Why are you with him?”

I study him for a moment.  I think it’s an honest question; he really wants to know.  “Because he’s kind and generous.  And he’d do anything for me, including risking his own life to save mine.  Which he has.  And he’s even funny on occasion.”

“My cousin?  I do not believe he has ever been generous or funny.”

I roll my eyes, but I smile.  “I love him.  I’ve never been in love before, but I know I love him.”

Kegan smiles.  “He is very lucky.  It makes me wish Isla had asked me to go to your realm instead of him.”

“You never would have survived her first hissy-fit,” Kallen rasps quietly.