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Just a tiny little fairy.
Wyatt looks like he’s going to say something for a moment, but then he lifts his hand and motions to someone I can’t see from my position. Then he clears his throat, and speaks loudly.
“Guards,” he says pointedly. “I have a pest I need extracted.”
Chapter 8
Daisy
My sister’s fever is getting higher and higher with each passing hour.
“Come on, Rose,” I murmur quietly. I pace in the living room and try to send my sister as many good vibes as I can. “Think positive thoughts,” I say out loud to myself. The wizard may have told us that Tulip had a week, but there’s no way. She’s getting worse and worse with each passing hour and at this point, I kind of think she’s going to be lucky to make it until the end of the night.
Much less a week.
When Rose offered to go to Dark Falls, I should have stopped her. It was wrong to let her go. I’m the one that can fly, after all. It’s just that flying into a place that has forbidden dark faes to enter seems like a really fast way to be shot right out of the sky.
The Fairy King might be a playboy, or so the rumors say, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to react well to deliberate disobedience. Maybe not going makes me a huge coward. Right now, I kind of feel like I’m anything but brave. I’m weak, and if Tulip doesn’t make it through the night, I’m well aware of the role I played in losing her. I swallow hard because the realization really hurts. I should have gone: not Rose.
But it’s too late for regrets.
All I have is right now and I’m doing everything I can to keep my sister at peace and comfortable. I’m trying to keep her fever down. I’m making sure that she’s not too hot and not too cold. I keep giving her water and drinks and keeping a damp cloth on her head. I don’t know what good it’s doing.
Or if it’s doing any good at all.
I sigh and look at the bedroom door. I can hear Tulip’s moans from here. Why, oh why, did I let my sister go? Rose isn’t back. I have no idea what kinds of obstacles she’s facing or if she’s even made it to Dark Falls. Could she get inside the city? Did she find the wizard? Is she trapped somewhere?
Tulip is definitely going to die, and I’m just not ready for that. I’m not ready to face it alone. At least if Rose was here, we’d be able to take comfort in one another. It was bad enough losing Mom and Dad. Now I’m going to have to say goodbye to Tulip, too. It’s just not fucking fair. Sadness overwhelms me, and I take a deep breath to try to cool my emotions.
I have to stay strong now.
I have to be brave.
That’s what Rose is.
Rose is a warrior, through-and-through. She’s strong and determined and brave. She’ll fight any monster, no matter how big. She’ll cross any mountain, any forest, any river. She’ll do whatever it takes if it means staying true to the people she loves and staying true to herself.
I sit down and I close my eyes, dropping my head in my hands.
This is it.
This is the night I lose everything.
But then I hear a sound I’m not expecting.
A knock at the door.
It’s faint at first, but then stronger.
Urgent.
Rose?
If it were Rose, she would have burst inside, but who else would be at our home this late at night? It’s dark outside. Anyone who has come to Dark Village, anyone who has come to see us, must come bearing bad news. I swallow hard and reach for the door. Then I yank it open.
There’s no one there, though. No one at all.
Until someone steps past me, grazing against me as they enter my home.
