“Me, either,” Stefan complained. “I’m stuck in my scales.”
“Looks like we’re unable to shift until we get out of here, boys,” Ethan said. “Let’s turn around.”
Ethan ran at the tree. He jumped, planning to pass through the willow’s portal— but slammed into it headfirst and went crashing down.
“Ethan!” I ran to his side. I knelt by his head as he groaned, rubbing it with his paw.
“Brilliant plan, genius,” Delmare said. “No need to test it first.”
Kiara stepped forward. She braced her hands against the Willow Maiden and pushed, but the portal didn’t give way. Her face paled as shock shone in her features.
“The portal’s closed. We can’t go back,” Kiara said, a slight edge of panic in her voice. “Does that mean we’re stuck here?”
A lump grew in my throat as Ethan climbed to his feet. “I don’t know. Maybe we should look for help.”
“Try the spell again,” Theo insisted.
I did. I recited the incantation that had gotten us here, but it didn’t work to open up the tree’s portal.
Stefan stomped his foot. “Great. We’re trapped.”
“Why would you want to leave here? This place is amazing!” Odette sang, twirling on the spot. Her butterfly wings fluttered, and she rose a few inches off the ground.
“Not to ruin your fun, dear Odette, but we do have exams on Monday, and I would very much like to take them,” Theo quipped.
I rolled my eyes. It was like Theo to think of class when we were in a new environment and didn’t know how to get back home.
Odette stuck out her lip. “I guess you’re right,” she admitted in a sad voice. “But we simplymuststay for dinner!”
“If we can find it,” I said. Odette was acting like we’d come across a fast food joint. I grabbed Ethan’s scruff and pulled myself onto his back. “Come on, guys. Let’s head into that forest.” I pointed to a line of trees a mile or so away. “Perhaps there’s someone who can help us.”
There were no other options, so we forged ahead. Though Odette happily rode Theo like a princess, and Kiara didn’t object to Alexei carrying her, Delmare was bitching all the way.
“I’m not climbing on your back,” Delmare grumbled for the millionth time. I had to resist snapping at her— she was slowing us up.
“Yes, you are.” Stefan reached down and picked Delmare up by the back of her dress. She yelped as he swung his head around and deposited her behind his wings. She crossed her arms and pouted.
I supposed all of us— save for Ethan— could fly there, but we didn’t know this land, so we figured it safer to stay close to the ground. As we reached the forest, the trees were spaced far enough apart for the shifters to walk through it, even Stefan. The woodland was full of cherry trees blossoming with spring flowers, pink petals floating down in an intricate dance.The grass was blue and purple here, pink and green mushrooms growing along the path and giving off a white glow. Each of the trees grew in a twisted fashion, carvings in their bark just like the Willow Maiden. There were veins in these trees, and they changed colors as they pulsed, like they too had heartbeats. Butterflies and moths at least a foot wide, of every color, perched on the trunks, wings slowly beating in time with the change of colors. Ethan’s body stiffened, like he was suspicious of them, but I stroked the area between his shoulder blades, and he relaxed.
We came to a stream, where the water was white and sparkled as if it had dazzling diamonds within its bed. We followed the small river, and it soon led to a waterfall hundreds of feet high, glistening against the light of the sun.
There were so many deer within these woods. There were fawns with black faces, and deer with tawny bodies whose eyes glowed white. Deer that had antlers that bloomed into flowers at the top of their heads, and deer that appeared to be made of pure light. Some deer were created purely of fire, their antlers burning hot, while other deer played in the stream, composed of nothing but the shimmering water that was all around us. There were deer with the tails of griffins and cats, deer with feathery bodies and scales, some that had crystals growing out of their backs and others that contained balls of glowing magic between their antlers that never faded. I thought I might go crazy from looking at them all. And they were all sizes, came in every shape and color. Some were the size of bugs, and hopped from the petals of one flower to another, leaving fairy dust in their wake that sparkled in the atmosphere.
One stag was bigger than Stefan, with thick antlers that could collapse a building. The shifters bristled as it passed, waiting for an attack, but the stag paid us no mind, only dipped his head down to take a drink from the sparkling water before moving on.
I slipped off of Ethan. The girls followed my lead, dismounting their own shifters. As I ran a hand against the stream of the waterfall and drew it away, I saw that my fingers were covered in a glitter-like substance. This land was truly magical.
“It’s impossible,” Kiara breathed. “This has to be—”
“Edinmyre,” I said. There was no doubt in my mind. This was the home of our ancestral fae, the world they’d abandoned for Malovia long ago. But how could they have left such a breathtaking place? And why?
“Your incantation must’ve opened up a portal to Edinmyre,” Kiara mused, putting a finger to her lips.
“But how?” Ethan growled. “The portal to Edinmyre has been closed for many years. Our high priestesses couldn’t get it to open up.”
“Well, Emma just did,” Stefan replied, in a voice that indicated Ethan was stupid.
I thought about the incantation. The words beckoned for the fae of past, present and future to take me to my heart’s desire. Edinmyre was the home of all fae, the desire that laid deep within their hearts. The incantation was meant to bring fae back to the land where they really belonged.
