Lily Pondwhisper's Arc

Chapter 11 of 12

Lily backed into the trees with the wrapped clock against her chest. The freed caster slumped at her feet, too weak to stand. Lily gripped her under one arm and pulled. The caster's legs dragged in the mud. Behind them, Moon Child faced Mothman alone. Lily could not shield the clock and haul the caster at the same time. If she dropped the cloth, the ticking would return. If she let go of the caster, she left her to Mothman. A gold light cut through the dark. Lily turned. A pale fairy stepped from between the trunks, gold freckles glowing on her cheeks. She held a slim rod that burned bright at its tip. Lily had never seen her before. The fairy did not stop to explain. "You're carrying too much," the fairy said. Her eyes moved fast over the clock, the caster, Mothman. "I'm Aurelia. I read curses. You need hands, not a speech." She knelt and slid one arm under the caster. Lily's chest loosened. "Keep her upright. The clock has to stay wrapped." "I know what the clock is," Aurelia said. She pulled the caster's arm over her shoulder and rose. The caster's head lolled, but her feet found the ground. "Walk. Both of you." Mothman's red eyes swung from Moon Child to the new fairy. "Two now," he said. Flat. "Doesn't change it. The clock is mine." Aurelia did not look at him. She reached into her dress and drew out a glossy black sphere. Its surface swirled, deep and moving, a small window glowing at its center. "Ask it where to go," she told Lily. "It moves what it touches." Lily pressed her free hand to the sphere. The window filled with light. The ground tilted. Her stomach dropped like it had in the lake. Trees smeared past. Then her knees hit dry grass, far from the reeds, far from Mothman's treeline. Aurelia stood beside her, the caster still on her shoulder. The wrapped clock was warm and silent in Lily's arms. Moon Child was not with them. Lily spun, searching the dark. Only trees. The sphere had carried three, not four. "We left her," Lily said. Her voice shook. Aurelia set the caster down against a rock. "We got the clock out. And her." She nodded at the caster. "Moon Child chose the ground she stood on." Lily stared back toward the far reeds. The clock stayed still. The caster breathed. The curse held broken. But Mothman had Moon Child again, and Moon Child was the eldest fairy's sister, the one who whispered she had stopped being angry. "I can carry the clock home now," Lily said. "But I'm not leaving her with him." Aurelia wiped mud from her hands. "Then we go back for her. After we hide this." She tapped the wrapped clock. "His mistakes stay buried. We don't."