Page 29 of The Witch & the Grizzly

“Besides, no fae magic could overcome the enchantments without much help,” Greer mused.

“Indeed.”

The fae departed through their portals until all that remained on the beach were Morgryn, Nathan, and Greer.

“You know something,” she said. “I recognize that expression.”

The purple fae grinned. “I think we should wait for a guest.”

By the edge of the woodland, a figure darted down a tree and sped toward them. Nathan’s heart leaped in relief and joy when he saw it was Eva. She ran straight for him, and he even managed to twirl her when she lunged into his arms.

“Nathan! You’re okay!”

“Yes! You’re okay!”

They fussed over each other, checking for injuries before their attention was drawn to the increasingly smug Morgryn.

“Hello, Eva,” Morgryn said. “You didn’t, by any chance, drop something, did you?”

Eva froze. “I saw it was just you two and the lady. All the others went away. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yes. I have my crown again. It seems watching the castle decay before their eyes with a magic none of them has seen before was, ah, deeply persuasive.”

Eva flushed. “About that…”

Greer’s eyes flashed. “It was intentional?”

“Not really,” Eva said. “I had this potion I’d made. It was a pretty dangerous one. It had a highly corrosive element to it, and it was similar to the diseased spots we’ve been seeing in our world. And I thought, maybe I could use it, and when it kicked in, it might bring the whole plight of the fae realm closer to home. I just… didn’t expect it to work that fast.”

“What?” Nathan said. “You made a potion that deadly?”

Morgryn laughed until he was bent over. “Seeing what was happening, I started to suspect a young lady might have had an ‘accident.’ I didn’t know if you’d caused it deliberately or if a vial had broken during the chase.”

“Oh, deliberate,” Eva said, eyes suddenly wide. “Oh gosh, I didn’t think about what might happen if it broke on me. Guess I was lucky there.”

“More than lucky.” Morgyn stared at the vanishing castle. “Many fae were born and died within those walls. It is a shame that it must fall. But I’ll take what I can get at this point.” He began to conjure a portal. “You should both return to Dreadmor. I’ll follow through and speak with the professors, keep them up to date, and then the long, tedious work of trying to patch things up begins. It’s mind-numbingly boring, but it’s got to be done.”

Greer laughed a high-pitched trill. “Girl,” she said to Eva, “if those are the kind of potions you can make, I’ll have a job or two waiting for you if you’re willing.”

“I’ll… think about it,” Eva said. “I want to finish my education first and stuff.”

“Oh, I’ll wait,” she said, in a tone that suggested not for long and in a way that might end up with a kidnapping in a couple of years. Nathan would have to keep an eye out for that one.

A portal was woven for them, showing the blurry outline of what seemed to be the Triscor Gardens. Nathan took one last look at the fae realm and the two Unseelie he’d spent the most time with and smiled before going through and stumbling into the garden with Eva, startling more than a few students.

“Hi,” he said, “don’t mind us.” He walked with his head held high past his cousin, Harriet, who just gaped at the two of them as they went inside. Doubtless, she’d be slamming them with messages shortly.

Certain patches of the academy appeared to be under fae influence, and he simply navigated through them until arriving at Eva’s dorm corridor and room, which thankfully appeared to be intact. They went inside and once more fell into a tight hug.

“I was so worried,” he whispered, half disbelieving all the madness that had occurred. The events in the fae court seemed almost like a distant dream, and yet it had all occurred in a single day. There was even sunlight still left in the day here, though they spent the last glimmers of light just clinging to each other until, eventually, they were too hungry to ignore it, and they went to the dining hall for some proper food.

Despite the chaos happening at the academy, it seemed that the professors had created barrier zones to protect the students from accidentally wandering into the Unseelie Court’s realm. Nathan heard students chattering about it as he gulped his way through the food. Eva seemed a little distracted and, after a long pause, during which Nathan felt oddly disconnected from reality, said, “Everyone’s just continuing the same as before. It doesn’t matter that we have these breaches. They just… put a barrier on them and called it a day.”

Ah. She’d managed to explain what was bothering him. “Yeah. I assume there’s going to be a lot of work in the next few weeks to patch it all up, assuming Morgryn does explain to the professors and does start recalling some of the Unseelie.”

“One thing that strikes me as odd,” Eva said, now sipping her orange juice. “It seems completely insane that we ended up with a pocket realm right out your front door.”

“I know,” Nathan said, a suspicion growing in his mind. “I have a feeling it wasn’t coincidental. Morgryn has the power to staple parts of the realm to ours, right? I mean, that’s why the tower is there.”

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