Lily Pondwhisper's Arc

Chapter 7 of 12

The pale shape rose into the wand's light. Lily gripped the glowing wand tighter and held still. She had come to free the trapped caster and break the curse. But two shapes had been buried down here, not one. She could bring up the wrong one. If she chose badly, her kin stayed small forever. The figure stopped an arm's length away. It was a fairy, ghostly pale, hair drifting like weeds. Green leaves clung to her small dress. Lily knew this face. She had seen it near the damp reeds by the hollow, a fairy who haunted low, wet places and never said more than she had to. "You," Lily said. Bubbles slipped from her lips. "You went into the dark once. A child took something of yours." "I got it back." The pale fairy's voice came flat, no waste in it. "Then the water took me." Lily's heart dropped. This was not the caster. This was the lost sister the eldest fairy still mourned. Free her, and the curse held. Free the wrong one, and her kin were doomed. "Where is the one who cast the curse?" Lily asked. The pale fairy pointed down, past the reach of the light. "Deeper. Chained. She sent me up to trick you." "Trick me how?" "Take me. Leave her. The curse stays." The pale fairy did not soften it. "That was the plan. I won't do it." Lily searched the still face. A jailer waited above. A curse waited below. Everyone down here wanted something from her. But this fairy had swum up to warn her, not to lie. Lily chose to trust that. "Then take me to her," Lily said. The pale fairy turned and dove. Lily kicked after her, wand thrust forward. The light cut a path through black water. Her chest still did not burn, but she felt the lake's patience thinning. Stay too long and it kept you. They reached the bottom. A woman lay pinned under a slab of stone, roots wrapped around her wrists. Her eyes opened. Older than the pale fairy. Tired. This was the caster. "Free her and the curse breaks," the pale fairy said. "Free me first and it never does." Lily pressed the wand's tip against the roots. The light bit into them like fire. They curled and snapped. The caster's arm came loose. Lily grabbed her hand and pulled. The stone shifted. The caster floated free. The moment she rose, a shudder ran through the water, as if the lake exhaled something it had held for years. Lily kicked upward, the caster's hand in hers, the pale fairy at her side. The wand's light climbed toward the pale glow of the surface far above. Then the water fought back. A cold current wrapped her legs and dragged. The lake had lent her breath. Now it wanted its price. Above, at the shore, red eyes were waiting.