Chapter 6

SIX

COLLINS

Second Realm was beautiful, with sprawling landscapes and winding dirt roads. It reminded me of the pictures I’d seen of the English Countryside. There wasn’t much outside of Vegas, but this was like walking through a Garden of Eden movie set. The air was crispy and cool, like the desert at night. The trees gave a fabulous display of autumn foliage. The colors were an array of yellow, orange, red, and brown. Though the grass was still green, I could tell it was getting closer to winter by the way it held just a light tinge of brown.

It was nice to have a break from how crazy things had been for the last few days. I’d gone from normal girl to super-powered Stone Keeper and soulmate in days. “How do you deal with it all?”

Ellie chuckled. “At first, I felt like I was Luke Skywalker and they were telling me I was some kind of Jedi fighter. Or like when Hagrid shows up and he’s all, yer a wizard, Harry . You know?”

She wasn’t wrong. “It’s unreal.”

“And you totally get thrown into the deep end.” She rolled her eyes. “My first night here I was trapped in a cemetery with all kinds of magic flying around, and I had no clue what the hell was happening.”

“No way.” I shook my head. “I totally thought I was seeing things and Bash was my stalker.”

"Men.” She giggled.

“This whole thing has been a trip.” I held my hand out and let my aqua magic dance in my palm. “I mean, look at this.”

Ellie turned to me, and she too held her hand out. Little bolts of purple lightning danced over her skin. “Tell me about it . . . I’m like lady Thor. I just need my own comic.”

I forced my wings from my back and hovered off the ground. “Totally have Tinker Bell status here.”

“Minus the green dress.” She chuckled.

I landed right next to her and pulled my wings in. It was nice to get the perspective from someone else who was in my position. It made me feel not so lonely in a world of chaos.“I’m so used to relying on my bestie to talk to about this stuff. It’s cool that you’re around.”

“It can be difficult for regular humans to understand this kind of life. We’re not supposed to tell them.” She sighed.

I groaned. “Actually, she kind of fell through a portal in Tephine’s palace of horrors but no one will tell me where it went to..”

Ellie did a double take at me. “She fell through a portal?”

“Only Tally could manage that.” I rolled my eyes. “The second I survive this whole ordeal I will go after her.”

“Well I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she’s doing okay.”

“Thanks, me too.”

We strolled on in silence for a few more moments while my thoughts drifted to Tallulah. Ellie motioned for me to follow her down a winding path that led to a small village.We strolled past a small town that looked more like old England than I ever expected. It was so different from Vegas it made my head spin. Dust kicked up as townsfolk rode their horse-drawn carriages down a road lined with two-story buildings.There was no strip full of neon lights and drunken people stumbling the streets. The sidewalks were full of people, but they were dressed in simple cotton clothing as they passed by the shops on the first floor. Above them, windows were framed with ivy and little buckets of flowers that hung from the windows. This was quaint, and there was a light feeling of happiness that filled the air. People laughed and smiled with each other.

“I thought we were going to train today. Are we playing hooky?” Part of me wanted to just explore this new world and see what it was all about. The other part of me knew I needed to get stronger for the next time I faced Tephine.

“No, but I thought it might be good for you to see what you’re fighting for. When I first got here, the people were miserable under a terrible ruler. Most were dying. We did this. We brought this world back to life.”

“No pressure.” I muttered.

“Tons of pressure. But I remember being in Third Realm and how hard it was to actually see civilians. They were all hiding in their homes, for good reason. Obviously. So I’m loaning you our civilians to think about when you’re training and fighting. It’s good to have an anchor. A reason to keep on going.”

The children ran through the streets playing. People gathered in front of shops enjoying coffee and pastries. Even their clothing was becoming more modern, with some women wearing pants while others wore their cotton dresses. I knew I wasn’t meant to stay in this world, but part of me wished I could. It was beautiful in a very simple way. She was right. If I could make the Fae Realm anything like this, the fighting, the stress, the injuries would all be well worth it.

"Let’s go this way.” She pointed toward a dark forest.

Before my powers arrived, I would’ve been like oh, hell no to the creepy forest. But now I was the thing everyone should be afraid of. With Ellie, there was no doubt in my mind nothing except for Tephine could stop us. I stepped into the darkness and instantly felt the cool atmosphere of the forest. The canopy overhead was so dense only pinpricks of light streamed in. Thick foliage covered the forest floor. Branches cracked under our feet as we ducked low hanging branches and climbed over downed tree trunks. We walked into a large clearing, and Ellie stopped at the center of it.

Here there were large boulders off to the side and what looked like scorch marks on the ground around our feet. “Where are we?”

“This is where I learned to use my powers, and I think it’ll be good to test yours out here. There’s plenty of space and people are farther away. It kind of feels like home to me now.”

I rubbed my hands together. “Right. Cool. Let’s do this.”

“Okay, so you and I have a power in common. I think I can help you with your earth power. At least that one. The thing you do with the crystals is gonna be a no for me.”

“Yeah, it all feels weird.”

“Close your eyes and try to let your muscles fully relax.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I let my body relax and just feel my surroundings. I felt Ellie moving in a slow circle around me. Her aura was a bright-purple behind my eyelids. “Good. Now, let your magic come to the surface.”

I reached down deep to the pit of my stomach where I knew my power lay. It was the tornado that twisted me from the inside out. Warmth spread over my core and down my arms and legs. It settled into the palms of my hands where it tingled with energy. A cool breeze swept through the clearing and wrapped around me.

“When you see people’s auras, what’s it like?” Ellie’s voice came from farther away now.

“They kind of glow with life, and I can feel their essence like a sixth sense.”

“That sixth sense is what’s going to connect you to nature. You need to reach out with your magic and find the life that you want to tap into. And when you do . . . reach for it.”

I sucked in a deep breath. '“Right. No big deal.”

“Good. Now, open your eyes.”

I opened them and the world around me glowed with bright colors I hadn’t seen a moment earlier. “Holy . . . shit.”

Ellie smiled. “Do you see it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s . . . amazing.”

It was like going from black and white to Technicolor in the blink of any eye. The leaves were glowing with bright autumn colors, the grass was neon-green, and the tree trunks were a soft, warm brownish-green. With the sway of the wind, it was like watching a painting in motion. There was a pulse to the world . . . to life. I felt it at my fingertips, and all I had to do was tap into it.

“Tephine holds power over all things plant and natural. You have that in common. If we’re going to beat her, you have to be stronger than she is.”

That made me want to laugh and cry. Tephine was the first fae ever. I was an infant compared to her yet somehow I had to be more powerful than her.

Ellie stood across from me and opened her hands. Purple smoke seeped from her palms to the ground around her. If I didn’t know that Ellie was a friend, I would’ve been intimidated as hell by her. Her wild midnight hair sparkled with purple power, her eyes glowed, and the ground rumbled at her feet.

“Now, feel it out. What can you do?” Though Ellie looked fearsome, her voice was soft and low.

“Right.” I let my magic seep into the ground around me, and it spread like the roots of a tree. Suddenly, all the plants were available to me. I only had to ask.

The moment it flowed up the trees around me, the aura of life changed to match my own. I fanned my fingers out and the branches rustled. Leaves fell all around me like slow moving snowflakes. I twisted my hands and the top of the tree twisted along with my movements.

Ellie chuckled. “All right, so whomping willow style. Cool, cool, cool. Take a swing.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Take a swing at me, Collins.” She made the bring it on motion with her hands.

“No. I can’t.” I shook my head.

“We’re training. You can.”

I didn’t want to. What if I hurt her by mistake? “What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t.”

“But what if I do?”

She fired a bolt of lightning from her hand and tagged me in the shoulder. My body jolted, and I lost hold of the tree. My knees gave out, and I hit the ground in front of her. When I finally caught my breath, I threw my hair back out of my face and glared.

“OUCH!”

She chuckled. “That was only half power. Hardly anything.”

“I’ll remind you of that when I surprise tase your ass one day. You know . . . just so you know how it feels.”

“Get up. Let’s do this.” She shot another bolt. The dirt exploded up from the ground, and tiny pebbles smacked into my skin.

I threw my hands out, and my magic exploded from my palms and into the ground. I latched onto the trees and set the limbs twisting and whipping around me. I shot one out at her, and she spun to the side, easily dodging it. I fired another and another. They cracked and snapped around her. Purple fire singed the tips of my whipping branches as she moved around them. Frustration burned through me.

“Faster, Collins! You have to dig deeper.” She zapped my other shoulder.

The jolt shot through my body, and for a moment, it felt like my brain scrambled. I didn’t know how Tephine took the strikes at full power, but I had to get there too. I shook the strike off and threw more magic out. The ground rumbled around me, and vines sprang from the dirt and wrapped around her ankles. I raised my hand and yanked her up. She flipped upside down and hung there for a moment. Her hair nearly brushed the ground.

She beamed at me. “Good. And from here you can hulk smash the shit out of anyone.”

I chuckled. “Hulk smash.”

“You know the part in Avengers when he grabs Loki and SMASH, SMASH, SMASH .” She pumped her fists in the air. “Like that.”

“So violent.”

“You’re welcome.” She motioned to the ground. “You can put me down the non Hulk smash way now.”

“Right.” I opened my hand and she fell face first toward the ground. Purple magic exploded from her hands, and the wind kicked up to catch her before she hit the floor. She twirled in midair, righting herself so she landed on her feet.“Ah, shit. That was a little Hulk smashy, wasn’t it?”

“We’ll work on the gentle side of things later.” She chuckled. “Violence is a good thing to master.”

She held her hands out and two large boulders erupted from the ground at her sides. Dust and rubble billowed out from where she stood. “Your turn.”

“My turn?” It seemed like a lot to do. I’d only ever summoned shards of rock to kind of protect myself, or little pebbles to throw, but nothing of that magnitude.

“You need to reach down with your power and dig into the earth. Feel it with your magic and connect with it. Almost like making a snowball with your powers. Pull it in and pack it together.” She made the boulders slowly rotate. Purple magic swirled around them and held them there in a sparkly mist.

I shoved my hands down at my sides and let my power seep into the ground. I felt the earth move and pulse with life, and I wrapped my magic around it and pulled it all together. Sweat beaded across my forehead and down my back as I forced the boulder up from the depths. The ground rumbled at my feet as it shifted and moved, allowing for the boulders to rise up beside me. My aqua magic swirled around two jagged pieces of earth. She threw her arms forward, and her boulders came flying at me.

“Oh, shit!” I shoved my hands forward and our boulders smashed into each other. The sound echoed through the clearing like a bomb had gone off. Again and again, they smashed into each other as we guided them like two dueling earth monsters.

Ellie giggled and spun around in a circle. “So much fun.”

Meanwhile, I was sweating my ass off and covered in dirt and grime. I felt myself growing tired and needing a break, but Ellie showed no sign of stopping. I twisted my boulders around in a circle to surround hers. I threw my arms out and then forced them together, smashing all the boulders to pieces. Rock and dust rained down on us as my chest heaved up and down. I could barely make out Ellie’s purple magic, but I knew where she was, and I was going to take advantage of it. I felt the vines in the earth and called upon them. They shot from the ground and wrapped around her wrists and legs. I lifted her up off the ground and held her there like that.

She nodded at me. “Respect.”

Fire burst from her hands and spread over her body. She dropped down in front of me and brushed off her hands. “I think you got this . . . what’s next?”

I sighed and felt exhaustion pulling at me. “I need to learn my crystal powers better. I can only summon them, but I know I can do more. I just have to learn the right way.”

“Hmm. I know crystals, but not with regard to your powers.” Her face grew bright and she smiled at me. “But I have an idea . . . for tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?”

She arched one eyebrow and gave me an evil grin. “Oh, so you think you’ve fully mastered this element then?”

“Well . . . no . . . but —”

She wagged her eyebrows and the all of trees lifted off the ground. “What if I was Tephine? You think you can take her with what you just did?”

I held my head high. “Right, attack me like Tephine would. Just don’t actually kill me.”