Page 32 of Of Pixies and Promises
“Mother.” Nyra flew down to meet her, landing on soft and sure feet.
“Your duty is here, daughter.” Juniper drove her fist into the dirt, gritting her teeth. Power bloomed beneath them. Charred dirt and soil turned, making way for fresh shoots of saplings to grow.
“While they fight,” Juniper said. “We ensure it’s not too late for the gully to recover. If we wait too long, there is nothing to call on. No mana to rise to the surface and fill the saplings with new life.”
“We have to repair the wounds before they are deadly,” Nyra said, understanding.
Her mother gave her a curt nod, then together, surrounded by a guard, they went from broken tree to burned plant to injured wildlife. They used what mana they had to help restore the life the humans had stolen. But no matter how much they tried, it didn’t seem enough.
Saplings would sprout only to wither. Fires were put out, only to catch again further down when the wind blew.
“My connection to the Well fades,” Juniper moaned.
“It’s the metal they’re mining, Mother,” she said. “It must have been disturbed enough to stop the flow. Or maybe it’s their machines and weapons in the same place.”
“It will affect how mana flows in this area,” Juniper confirmed.
“There is a Guardian with us,” Nyra said. “And Sid. He… he made it, Mother. He emerged from the lake a Guardian.”
Hope flared in her mother’s eyes. “You were right. He has a good heart.”
“But how can he—they—help?”
“I don’t know, but…”
“I’ll find him.”
Before her mother could stop her, Nyra launched upward and flew in the direction Sid had disappeared. She was shocked to see so many soldiers scurrying between the trees—both human and fae—fighting.
“An army,” she breathed, her blood draining. “They brought an army.”
Chapter
Fourteen
More humans were here than Sid had guessed. Maybe fifty. Maybe more. A few Reapers were among them, but not too many. That was a good sign. It meant either Nero was running low on elite soldiers, or they were busy elsewhere.
With the help of Shade and Silver, he arrived in time to fight with the pixies for the gully—which he realized now was only a small part of a greater whole. The woods outside Crystal City were a dead wasteland. He could see now, without a doubt, the greed and use of harmful and dangerous substances by humanity had poisoned the earth. The further they spread, so did the disease.
A black-clad soldier with goggles and a mechanical gun stepped from behind a tree and hesitated when he saw Sid. That small pause was all Sid needed to steal his weapon, clobber him over the head, and then unmask him.
Blond hair. Wild eyes. Youthful face.
“Jimmy,” Sid murmured.
The kid was fifteen when Sid had seen him last. Jimmy had chased Silver and Sid on their fateful Reaper mission into Elphyne to kidnap a powerful fae child for Nero to exploit. Sid’sheart clenched at the memory. Jimmy was a frightened teen with pimples and was a helluva lot greener than now.
Stronger jaw, haunted eyes, broader shoulders.
Jimmy had only followed them because he’d needed medicine for his mother… or was it his sister? Sid shook his head, ashamed at his lack of memory.
“What are you doing here?”
“You’re one ofthemnow.” Jimmy glared at Sid’s blue mark beneath his eye. “You’re a fucking Tainted.”
Sid crouched to grip the young man’s collar. “Listen carefully, Jimmy, because I will only say this once. There’s a reason Silver and I switched sides, and it wasn’t from some fairy spell. Nero lied to us all, you hear me? We don’t need to be trapped in that cold prison. Your mother wouldn’t be sick out here. Or, at the very least, she would have access to healers.”
“I don’t want to turn into a fucking animal.”
