Page 30 of Fae Unleashed
Bundles of twisting herbs rose from the metal. When I ran my fingers over them, I named them off one by one:
“Lemon Verbena, Vervain, Burdock, Hyssop…”
They were all herbs that I’d worked with in my practice. It made sense that the cauldron would be decorated with herbs. This was a potion crafting tool, essential to the process. It warmed me to think that I had an ancestor who’d paved the way for me to become a potion-crafter as well.
Though I wanted to know who she was, I couldn’t help but see myself in her place. It was a weird thought, but when I tried to envision this woman, I saw another version of myself bending over this great pot. I saw myself swirling my hand through the rising steam, ladling concoctions into bottles, and neatly setting them on shelves behind giant panes of glass.
I stood back and rocked on my heels. I wished I could take the cauldron with me, but this was just a dream. Any moment, I would wake from my nap and find myself empty handed. Nothing learned here would make any difference back in the waking world because this wasn’t real.
Sadness should have made my heart heavy. Nothing happened, though. I took a step back. Arcana swelled around me. It came on so quick and heady like a wave of summer heat that I gasped and stumbled. One moment, I was in the laboratory. The next moment, I stepped in-between and staggered out into my living room.
I blinked.
Rhoan and Tal jumped to attention. The fae warrior rushed towards me and caught me by my shoulders to keep me from falling face first.
“We were looking everywhere for you!” Tal snapped.
Rhoan’s gentle hands helped me regain balance. I clung to Rhoan’s arm and gave Tal a questioning look. Rhoan tightened his grip on me like he was afraid to lose me again.
“What do you mean? I was right there, napping.” I gestured to the couch before realizing exactly what this meant.
I hadn’t been on the couch. In fact, I’d stumbled through an in-between portal. Tal had a point.
Where had I been?
“I…I was napping.” Words failed me while I processed what exactly had happened. “I was asleep. I know for sure because I was dreaming about the Seelie Castle. Then…”
Rhoan yanked me to his chest. “Another trap? How did Beryl steal you right from under our noses? How did you get away?”
I shook my head. That wasn’t what’d happened at all. Beryl hadn’t been anywhere in my dream. It’d been just me and the castle. I didn’t know how to explain that to the men. They were waiting for me to break down sobbing about my narrow escape when the dream had been a reprieve, a safe place.
If I’d come from the castle, then that meant I could go back.
Right?
I hesitated, rocking back on my heels with my hand outstretched in the direction I’d come. I could almost feel the stone walls under my fingers again. My heart wanted to go back. It yearned for the safety of the halls that child-me had known and loved.
I could go back.
Gathering my arcana around myself, I held the belief close to my heart and grabbed Rhoan’s hand. Together, we stepped in-between using the power of my belief.
Rhoan
Well,this was not what I expected.
An hour ago, Tal and I had discovered Cerri’s disappearance. We’d immediately set out in search for the princess. I’d almost called her friends before Cerri stumbled out of nowhere and fell into my arms.
I couldn’t imagine the chaos I would have stirred had I told Cerri’s friends that she was missing. They would have raided the apartment and burnt the city to the ground in search of her when she’d been in another realm entirely.
Of course, I thought that perhaps she’d been dreaming after all. When Cerri told us that she’d been in the Seelie Castle, I’d wanted to remind her that it was still in Beryl’s grasp. The Unseelie Queen had ahold of it, and no one could enter without Beryl’s permission.
But the familiar expanse of the castle sprawled in every direction around me. I inhaled deep and savored the familiar smell hidden beneath a layer of dust.
Home.
I tightened my grip on Cerri’s hand and stole a look at her. She beamed with excitement. The woman could barely contain it. She glanced at me, her smile blindingly bright, before tugging me down the hall at a breakneck sprint.
Our excitement deflated when we realized there was a limit to the halls. While we could go up to the bedroom that we’d hidden in the first time we were here together, the other wings of the castle were off limits. I led Cerri down halls that should have brought us to other rooms. Instead, we found stark, blank walls.
