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“No way, kiddo!” shouted Allison. “I’m not leaving you here. Take that last stand bullshit and shove it! You’re still the kid and I’m the adult in the room.”
“Guys!” shouted Annie, thirty feet back with one leg through the portal gate. “Come on! Run!”
Crap.Tammy glanced at Allison, right next to her. The two of them would never make it to the portal in time.So now we both die?As dumb as the move seemed, she took comfort in not dying alone.
Allison made a shoving gesture toward Annie, who lurched out of sight into the portal.
After breaking the neck of a shadow wolf in her teeth, Tammy decided it pointless to try and save energy. She had three-to-five minutes tops left to live before they were overrun. Who cared if she overexerted herself with magic? She pounced to land behind Allison and shifted back to human form, standing back-to-back, surrounded by the murderous dark faerie. Tiny, malevolent figures hovered on their wings, perched on the backs of wolves, and menaced them from inside twisted manifestations of wood and thorn.
Tammy had no expectations of survival, but she damn sure would kill as many of them as possible. Maybe it would make the little bastards think twice about trying to kidnap Annie again. The nature energy she projected in little fireballs could kill groups of them at a time, being composed of exactly opposite forces. A seemingly endless dark army surrounded them, cutting off any route to the portal.
“Thanks for sticking around,” said Tammy.
“Well,Iwas trying to giveyouthe chance to get out of here.” Allison shot a huge lightning bolt into a mass of root fiends, starting a fire. “Didn’t quite work out that way, I guess.”
“I know.” Tammy’s green fireball cut a swath through the dark faerie army, but the empty space filled in before the energy bolt had completely faded away.
She gathered up magical mojo for a second blast, but all the monsters, squirming vines, and chittering dark faeries suddenly vanished into thin air while the baseball-sized orb of energy remained in her hands. Tammy paused, arm cocked, green flames crackling between her fingers. Baffled, she gazed around at an entirely empty clearing. No trace of the dark faeries remained.
“What kind of trick are they pulling now?” grumbled Tammy.
“No idea,” said Allison, still standing back-to-back with her.
Maple glided over to them, barely able to fly… and sobbing.
Whoa! The sight of the faerie in tears hit Tammy with the force of a gut punch. Did that mean the corruption started to get her? Was Maple about to ask Tammy to kill her so she didn’t turn into an abomination? Or did something happen to Annie...?
“What’s wrong?” Allison offered a hand for the little woman to land on.
Maple flopped on her palm, still sobbing.
“Please…” Tammy leaned closer to her. “Tell me Annie’s not…”
“She’s fine,” sniffle-squeaked Maple.
Tammy blinked. “Then why are you so upset?”
Maple flew off Allison’s hand to hug the side of Tammy’s neck. “You were ready to die to protect us.”
“I… guess. Yeah.”
Maple wiped her tears. “The dark ones can’t tolerate such a noble act.” She looked at Allison. “Both of you.”
“Wait so…” Allison looked around. “Being prepared to die to protect Annie killed all the dark faeries?”
Maple shook her head. “No. Don’t be silly. They couldn’t bear to be around such energy. They had to run away as fast as they could because it physically hurt them.”
Allison put a hand on Tammy’s shoulder and tugged her along, heading for the tree. “That’s all well and good, but let’s get the heck out of here before they stop being nauseated at how sappy we are.”
Tammy chuckled and picked up to a jog. “Good idea. Oh, and please don’t tell Mom I almost died. She’ll ground me until I’m forty.”
Allison practically shoved Tammy into the portal. Once through, she stumbled to a halt in the light faerie realm to find Annie standing there in tears. As soon as the girl realized her rescuers had emerged from the rotting tree, the waterworks stopped in an instant.
“You made it!” Annie grinned and leapt into a hug.
Allison squeezed them both. Maple landed atop Annie’s head. Mere seconds after entering the light faerie realm, the queen already seemed revitalized and alive.
Tammy closed her eyes and took in a huge breath. The positive energy of the normal faerie realm infused her body, tingling up from where her toes met the soil. She felt like a human sponge absorbing power from the environment. In minutes, she went from so exhausted she wanted to faint to merely feeling as if she’d gone for a light jog.
