CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE（Untitled）Grace

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Grace

"I know just what to do!" I say, my heart thumping with excitement. Branikk's words have sparked an idea. I step away from him and stomp down, repeating the pattern he used my first day here, rat-a-tat-tat-tat.

"You're calling the gnomes?" Aurora's tone holds disbelief. "Why in the goddess' name would you do that?"

"Reasons." I keep stomping.

Instead of questioning me, Branikk joins in, his feet thudding against the dirt in deep booms as he uses his greater strength.

I like that. Having him support me makes all of this even better.

Just inside the tree line, a patch of toadstools quiver. They're some of the biggest mushrooms I've ever seen, with bright red caps speckled with white dots. Branikk warned they're very poisonous.

But if that bothers the gnomes, it doesn't show. The leader pops up, right in the middle of the patch, the cap of the largest toadstool perched on her head as she throws out her arms and strikes a dramatic pose. The rest of the gnomes whirl up out of the ground all around her, each wearing a jaunty red mushroom cap.

"Human witch! Why do you call the gnomes?"

"I've got something for you." I hook a thumb over my shoulder at the Ferris wheel.

The leader tumbles forward across the ground in a series of front flips until she reaches the edge of the water, where she stops and squints at the Ferris wheel. "What is it?"

"It's a ride that will carry you all the way up and around." I point, tracing the arc of the wheel with my finger. "You'll be able to see for miles, and it's lots of fun."

"What must we do in exchange?"

"You must promise to give rides to the water nymphs and the pixies and whoever else might ask you for one."

She gives a high whistle, and the gnomes all tumble over to her to huddle like a patch of mushrooms. Furious whispering ensues.

"Do you think they'll go for it?" I whisper to Branikk.

"Yes. Who wouldn't want to enjoy your amazing creation?"

Warmth fills me at his words. I worried the Ferris wheel was just like all of my magic so far, kind of pointless since it's not a "useful" thing.

But why is something that brings people joy considered useless? Things that bring happiness and entertainment make people's lives better. Isn't that something to celebrate? That was the reason I was first attracted to the carnival: the sound of children's laughter, the look of wonder on their little faces, the happy families having a fun night out.

The kind of childhood I never had.

But Branikk understands the Ferris wheel's purpose and doesn't think less of it. I really, really like that about him.

The huddle of gnomes breaks apart, and the leader does a front roll that brings her right to my feet. "The gnomes agree."

The water nymphs cry out with glee, and the gnomes cheer, too.

She stretches up a hand. "I am Pebble."

"I'm Grace." I grin and shake her hand. "Let me show you how the ride works."

When we get to the edge of the first rock, I stop and eye the two-foot gap. This is one of the easier jumps for me, but I'm almost six-feet tall, unlike my tiny companions. "Uh, can you get across?"

Instead of answering me directly, Pebble calls her troupe to her, and they form a pyramid, with her at the very top. Then they each stretch out a hand in unison, and the rock moves, flowing up over the gap to make a little bridge.

"So your earth magic can manipulate both rocks and dirt?"

"Of course." She looks at me as if I asked the stupidest question ever, her little face all scrunched up.

Branikk gives a muffled grunt of amusement, and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

Pebble dives off the top of the pyramid and does a front handspring right in the middle of the bridge that catapults her all the way to the other slab of granite. The rest follow her, each doing something fancy, not a single one of them simply walking across, unless you count the one who walks on his hands as simple, which I sure don't.

Branikk and I walk across, and by the time I reach the next gap, they've already got another bridge made. In no time at all, we're standing at the base of the Ferris wheel.

Their little heads tip back, their toadstool caps somehow not falling off, as they all look up at the hundred-foot wheel and go, "Ohhhhh!"

Another grin tugs at the corners of my mouth. They're hella cute.

When we get to the controls, three of them have to stand one of top of the other's shoulders in order for the top gnome to reach the buttons and levers. It's Pebble.

"I'm not sure how safe it is to use either of these." I point to the buttons for the music and lights. "The music's really loud, and the light will show for miles at night."

Branikk says, "It might be best to leave those off."

"But don't worry. You don't need them to run the ride, and it's kind of nicer without them."

Yesterday had certainly been one of the most peaceful evenings I'd had in a long time, when I'd ridden with Branikk. My fingers ghost over my new bracelet. Before it happened, I never would have expected that a guy like him would have the patience to spend quiet time with me while I digested all the day's epiphanies, but he'd been great.

I show the gnomes how to turn the ride off and on. "Once you start it, these cars are going to move, so you can't be standing between them or you'll get hit." I point to the gnomes crowded into the aisle between the two bottom cars.

Pebble twists her upper body to shoo her people back, and the middle gnome clamps his hands around her ankles as the tower of them sways with her movements.

We stop and start the ride a couple of times so they get the hang of it, then I ask, "Who wants to go for the first ride?"

"ME!" they chorus, even the three who've learned the controls.

"Okay. I'll run it for you this first time. That way, you all get to go up."

They pile into one car, and I start the controls.

I don't know who's happier, the gnomes or the nymphs, as the wheel turns, carrying both groups of fae up, up, up into the blue sky.

I stand, head tipped back, soaking it all in as the water nymphs dive from the lifting cars, and the gnomes go around and around, yelling every time they get to the top and see the view.

We stay like that for a while, Branikk standing beside me. His voice is gentle when he finally says, "We should get going."

"I know. I just wanted this Ferris wheel to be used, to bring joy." It's one final piece of home for me. But it's more than that—it's also what made me finally admit everything in Alarria is real, including the man beside me.

I dart back between the cars one last time and bring the ride to a halt with the gnome car at the bottom. Then I turn everything over to Pebble with one last promise to give the pixies rides at night.

Back at the riverbank, Branikk's strong hands lift me into the saddle, and I lean back into him once he's behind me.

This man who thinks of my happiness.

This man who I'm falling for.

It would have been inconceivable to think the word with any certainty only a day before, but now it comes easily.

This man who's my husband.