Free Indigo Magic by Victoria Hanley Page B

it aside and tried to snuggle down farther into the soft grass. My head was resting on my tote bag, and I was comfortable.
    Leona slipped a necklace over my head; it was just like the one she wore. Instantly I felt sad and afraid and unbearably tired. I wanted to take off the necklace, but when I tried, Meteor pried my fingers off the strand. Not gently.
    I couldn’t do much more than lift my head. ‘What are you doing here?’ My voice rasped as if I’d been screaming for hours.
    They didn’t answer.
    A group of pixies was surrounding us, singing and swaying. They didn’t seem kind any more, didn’t seem wonderful. I wanted them to go away, but they were moving closer.
    Meteor picked me up off the turf. My body ached everywhere; my wings were limp.
    Leona touched us. ‘
Transera nos
.’
    I was in the nest in my mother’s room, squished against Meteor, with Leona and Andalonus across from me. Meteor got out of the nest, and helped me prop myself up with pillows. My joints seemed filled with grit, and so did my eyes.
    ‘Pixandelle?’ Leona said.
    I groaned.
    ‘I’ll get you some water and sonnia.’ Leona flew out of the room.
    ‘Why?’ Meteor asked. ‘Why
there
?’
    I stared at him, remembering. The portal. The aevum derk. Lily Morganite.
    Leona returned with water. I gulped it. She handed me a bowl of dried sonnia flowers. They tasted so good!
    ‘How did you find me?’ I asked.
    ‘When you weren’t here for our meeting,’ Meteor began, ‘we decided something must have happened to you.’
    I frowned. ‘We’re supposed to meet this evening.’
    A pause while they shook their heads.
    ‘You danced longer than you planned,’ Andalonus said. He looked frightened, as if he thought a band of pixies might break through the walls and carry me off.
    ‘We were supposed to meet the day before yesterday,’ Meteor explained.
    I tried to remember. I had begun dancing … It had been morning. I’d felt so blissful. Were there times when the day had darkened?
    ‘Two days and nights with the pixies?’ I croaked.
    ‘We looked everywhere for you,’ Meteor went on. ‘Couldn’t find a trace.’
    ‘We were afraid Lily had snared you somehow,’ Leona said.
    Snared
. It was too close to the truth. How was I going to tell them she had the aevum derk?
    ‘Leona had the idea to track down Laz,’ Andalonus said. ‘He’s the one who told us a young fairy with violet wings had been seen among the pixies.’
    My eyes snapped to Andalonus’s face. ‘
Laz
told you where to find me?’ I struggled to sit up. ‘How much did it cost you?’
    ‘A thousand radia,’ Meteor answered. ‘Leona paid him.’
    ‘I’m so sorry.’
    ‘He also warned us that if we went into Pixandelle without sorren charms, we would fall to the pixie magic ourselves.’ Leona lifted the ugly necklace over her head and held it at arm’s length. ‘Meteor bought one for each of us.’
    I didn’t want to ask how much Laz had charged for the charms. Poor Meteor! It would be bad enough to hand over radia to anyone, but to Laz, whom he despised?
    ‘And he told us we’d better race as if trolls were after us to get you out,’ Andalonus continued, ‘because any fairy who spends more than a few days with the pixies isn’t able to leave them.’
    I pulled the charm from my neck and examined it. The pendant was shaped like the heel of a foot, and the beads were only lumps of clay. I set it on the pillow next to me, hoping that taking it off would make me feel better.
    It didn’t.
    ‘Thank you for coming after me,’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry …’ How long had they been awake looking for me?
    ‘Zaria,’ Meteor said slowly, ‘what happened? How did you end up in Pixandelle?’
    Sighing, I tried to focus, my mind in freefall. I pushed myself up higher in the nest so I could unfurl my wings. ‘I flew off course.’
    ‘Obviously,’ Leona said. ‘Tell us, Zaree.’
    ‘You might not stay my friends when you hear what I’ve done.’
    But I