Elora allowed herself one huff before she accepted the words. “Fine. I’ll try again.”
The second attempt did lift her higher off the ground. It also proved she had even less control than she thought. After only a moment, the wings slammed Elora into the trunk of a nearby tree. The hit forced a cough out of her.
The sprite zoomed in close, hovering right in front of Elora’s nose. “Are you injured?”
Letting out another cough, Elora shook her head and forced herself to her feet. “I’m fine.” She brushed the dirt from her skirt, glaring at the ground while she did.
The moment she stood, Tansy let out a giggle. “Good because…” The giggle grew. It burst into a thunderous laugh. “I have never seen such a pitiful flying attempt.”
Her body rolled in flips and twists as she continued to giggle. “You have no idea how flying is supposed to feel. You keep trying to move as you would on the ground.”
Folding her arms over her chest, Elora took a defensive pose. “How do I fix it then?”
Tansy rubbed her forehead with a wide grin. “Climb a tree and jump from its highest branches.”
Though she could see merit in the idea, Elora still held back. “What if I can’t fly well enough to keep from plunging to the ground?”
Twirling her pink dress out around her knees, Tansy shrugged. “Maybe the threat of injury is exactly what you need.”
Elora climbed the nearest tree before she could think too much about the idea. Her limbs shook every time she moved higher. She had climbed hundreds of trees in her lifetime, and it never scared her. But she had never climbed a tree with the intention of hurling herself off it either.
By the time she climbed halfway up, her limbs were shaking too badly to continue. For the first time in her life, she looked down at the ground as a place to fall instead of a place to escape.
Gulping, she tried to steady her knees just enough to jump. Her fingers tensed around the nearest branch. Suddenly, the bottom of the tree looked so much farther away.
She swallowed again. Before fear could take over, she threw herself off the tree.
Elation hit the moment her feet left the branch. Everything around her stood still as she took in a breath. Nothing held onto her in that one moment. Nothing grounded her. In the truest sense of the word, she was free.
Grasping that feeling, she willed her wings to beat. Would they catch the air with the same sense of freedom she held in her heart?
The answer came too soon. With a sharp jerk, her body plunged downward. She flapped harder, but it only sent her body to the side at an abrupt angle. Her body did indeed slam against the ground as she had feared. Instead of just the force of the fall behind it, she now had the force of her beating wings contributing as well.
Her shoulder and hip groaned where they’d hit the ground. She could already feel the bruises forming even before she attempted to stand again. The defeat hurt more than she wanted to admit. The sting of oncoming tears burned in her throat.
Tansy’s tinkling laughter filled the air once again. Each giggle dropped a heavier weight in Elora’s stomach.
Dusting off her dress, Elora stood. She had to purse her lips to keep from frowning. When she glanced up, she found that Tansy wasn’t the only one who had witnessed her embarrassing failure.
Brannick leaned against a nearby tree with a smirk tilting his lips. Maybe it was the angle, but his long hair hung perfectly against his shoulders. He flipped it back when he caught her eye, letting out a chuckle of his own.
He was probably on his way to see Kaia in her tree after getting that sizzling injury from Elora’s sword. But why did he have to walk by at that exact moment?
The burn in her throat thickened into a lump that she quickly swallowed down. Shaking out her arms, she retracted the wings until they hid inside her back once again. Shrugging away every semblance of pain, Elora turned back to the sprite. “I suppose I’m not made for flying.” Now she forced out a chuckle. “Oh well. I’ve gone my whole life without flying, why would I need to now?”
Tansy accompanied her as Elora moved back toward the castle, walking this time. They laughed together at the failed attempts. Never once did she give any indication of the disappointment that pricked against her every nerve.
It was about more than just flying. She had spent so much time clinging to the magic and wonder of Faerie, but maybe it was time to let it go.
After all, she had two sisters in the mortal realm. She had no intention of abandoning them just because Faerie was wonderful. Maybe she needed to stop trying to find ways to stay in Faerie.
Maybe it was time to say goodbye.
EIGHT
▲▼▲
ELORA WOKE WITH A jolt. The soft green blanket covering her slid to the ground. While her heart pounded, she touched a hand to her forehead. When that revealed nothing, she pressed a hand to her chest.
Never before had she woken in such a rush. No nightmare had plagued her, no noise sounded anywhere nearby.
With tension sinking into her shoulders, she jumped off her bed to look out the window of her room. Fresh moss and green vines adorned the window like always. Just outside, a gentle forest breeze rustled in and through her hair.
The dusky light of a Faerie night still hung in the sky, which meant morning hadn’t woken her.
What then?
Fear.
Sucking in a breath, she reached a finger toward the window. Just before her hand would have stretched outside, a flash of golden light rippled over the window. The light sent her finger springing backward toward her body.
The enchantment over her window was still in place then. Questions lingered in her mind, but they didn’t last.
A spark lit deep inside her gut. It didn’t hurt or cause more fear, but it did force her to act. Without knowing why, she snatched her woolen blanket from the floor and wrapped it tight around her shoulders. She secured it around her waist with the help of the belt attached to her new sheath.
After checking that her sword was in place inside the sheath, she moved toward the door. The spark in her gut stirred again.
Maybe it should have scared her, but it didn’t. It didn’t calm her either. The spark twisted and churned chaotically, forcing her to move forward. Her mind could have been playing tricks on her because of the late hour, but it felt like Faerie itself was trying to communicate with her.
How could she refuse?
With the green blanket around her shoulders and belted around her waist, she ducked into the hallway outside her room. Not a single sound filled in the hallway, not even the sound of fluttering vines.
Though she noticed the oddity, she didn’t form any opinion on it. Instead, she moved forward without hesitation. She touched the stone wall at her side and trailed a finger across it with each step.
It wasn’t until the stone disappeared from beneath her fingertips that she realized where her feet had been leading her. Once there, a part of her admitted she had known the entire time.
A stone wall stared back at her. The moss and vines and crumbles of rock matched the walls all around. But she knew it was a glamour.
Her hand swished around in the air in front of her. No stone or any other thing stopped it. Due to her first time finding this spot, she knew the empty space was the exact size of a doorway.
Something held her back the first time. Her curiosity had urged her to explore, but instinctively, she had known it wasn’t time. That same instinct led her forward now.