Carrie Jones - Entice

I catch Issie’s eye. She makes herself smile. It’s pretty obvious that it’s hard for her. She’s probably remembering Mrs. Nix too. The glitter swirls around Astley and me. It’s like we’re in a snow globe, and it’s so strange but so beautiful. I reach out my fingers to touch the glitter. There is the faint sound of softness and magic whirling in the air, and Astley’s voice, but that is all I can hear.

“ And we plait her into fortune, ” he says, all focused power. Then he starts the chant over. “ With this ceremony we position our traveler o ne footstep- ”

Something captures his attention and he falters. The swirling glitter slows. I turn my head to look behind me. More pixies have arrived and it’s clear from their look of kill and lack of robes that they aren’t ours. They thunder out of the woods, rush-run from between the trunks, claws extended, mouths open.

“Issie!” I turn and rush toward her, hitting the translucent dome that’s around us. I bounce off. I whirl around. “Astley!”

He’s chanting fast and furious. His hands bend into a cup shape. His fingers open. He motions for me to do the same.

I shake my head. “Issie! Cassidy!”

An arrow hits one of our pixies. She falls to the ground in a clump. The others grab hands and fill up her space. Another death… another death because of me… I fold in half, crumpling as a ball of light appears within Astley’s hands. His eyes implore me. I straighten again, copy his motions, and the ball is within mine. It’s warm and glows gold like the glitter, like him.

“ So if our essence is worthy, ” he shouts as the wind starts to blow. “ If our essence is worthy, allow this traveling queen to reach your mighty halls, open the BiForst Bridge, and let our queen trod to the noble lands.”

The balls of light whirl in our hands as our eyes meet. The balls leave our fingertips, join, then circle each other. I feel a little shallower somehow, like something is missing from deep inside me.

Another one of our pixies falls. A third is trying to fend off an attack without letting go of Cassidy’s hand. I can tell from her mouth shape that she is shrieking and screaming, but I can’t hear her. Devyn crashes into the bad pixie’s face, talons outstretched.

“We have to get out of here and help!” I yell.

Astley whispers no, then looks upward. Pain and worry stud his face. The ball of light breaks through the force field. It is the first time I have ever heard him swear.

The world shakes a little more. Astley yells to be heard above the roar. “ We gather, all of the Shining, to beg of you to open the path to your realm. Let one of us go and seek what she desires. So be it. ”

The glitter falls to the ground. The light flashes so that it’s completely blinding and then dims. I blink hard, and then all of a sudden there’s a freaking rainbow above my head. It’s brilliant. There are only three colors, though, and it’s about wide enough for an army tank to cross. The red leaps with heat, but the blue and yellow seem fine to touch, if I could get up there. The snow starts melting beneath my feet.

Sweat drops cover Astley’s forehead. “This isn’t quite good. It’s outside the shield.”

“ Everyone is outside it!” I yell. “We have to help them!”

Astley grabs my arm. “No! You must go! We cannot do this again.”

“But Issie, Cassidy, Dev, your people- I can’t even get to the rainbow.” My insides tear apart. I can’t leave them. I can’t just run away when they’re being attacked.

“It’s the shield,” he says, rushing to the edge. He places his hands against the energy. He pushes. It gives a little but doesn’t hold. “They are keeping it up by chanting.”

“Make them not chant!”

“They must think they are protecting us.” He shakes his head and then punches the wall. He races along the perimeter in a sort of Captain Kirk command mode. “They have sworn to protect us because I am their king and you are the queen.”

“What are you doing?” I ask, chasing after him.

Issie has let go of the hands next to hers. She’s grabbed some sort of dagger and is holding it in front of her. Her back is against the force field. A bad pixie is moving toward her. More pixies are scrambling out of the woods.

“Astley!” I yell. “There are more coming! They’re all going to die unless they fight!”

“I know,” he growls back. He stops and puts his hand on the dome, staring at Amelie.

“Let it down,” he commands her. She shakes her head no, and he points above his own head. “The bridge is outside. It is outside the dome. We cannot get to it.”

Amelie’s eyes narrow. She stops chanting and lets go of the hands she was holding, whisking out a sword from beneath her robe. She strides toward the evil pixies. A tiger emerges from the woods, silent, stalking from behind. My heart leaps to see her-Betty.

As our people drop hands and fight, the protective bubble around us shudders and the world rushes in. Issie stumbles backward and falls. I rush over to her, gather her into my arms.

“Oh man, Zara,” she says, trying to get her footing as a pixie heads toward us. “Oh my freaking-”

“It’s okay, Is,” I lie, grabbing her and pulling her away from the fight. “We’ll be okay. Betty’s here. Where’s Cassidy? And Devyn?”

An arrow flies toward us through the air. Astley appears out of nowhere, snatches it in his free hand, breaks it with his fingers. His voice is a growl. “I will take care of them.”

He yanks his sword out of his belt. His face becomes a mask of determination and strength. “Do not falter now, Zara. Many have already died so you can get your wolf back.”

He gestures at the crumpled, unmoving bodies of two of his pixies. Fighting heightens all around us. The world seems so much darker than before. It’s like my brain is beginning to focus and dread crawls over my skin, because this is when I get it. Darkness exists. Things in the dark exist. I am one of those things. Me. And it isn’t always easy to know what is bad or good, or who to trust and believe, but it is always, always easy for me to want to protect my friends.

“I can’t leave them,” I say. “Not even to save Nick. I just can’t. They’ll die here.”

“Zara,” Is protests. She trembles because she’s so afraid, but she still wants me to go.

“I will keep them safe.” Astley’s eyes meet mine.

“Evil pixie approaching. Three o’clock!” Issie interrupts.

Astley spins and flash-flies to our right. He doesn’t make any noise as his sword detaches the pixie’s head from its body.

“Holy- H-h-holy-,” Is stutters as I pull her away, tucking her head into my shoulder.

“Don’t look,” I tell her. “Just don’t look.”

Astley resheathes his sword; the soldier strides back over to us. He orders, “You are going, Queen.”

His hands grab me around the waist, jerking me from Issie, and he throws me up the twenty feet to the beginning of the bridge. He threw me-just like his father threw him. I land on the yellow. The impact makes yellow dust fly up.

“You have to take care of Issie and Cassidy,” I yell again as Devyn swoops over Issie, feigning right and left, talons outstretched as the dark pixies approach. “Astley! Keep them safe! Please… please…”

Astley nods. I see his claws sharpen beneath the glamour. He glows and stands taller, shoulders back, and in that moment I realize that he is remarkably beautiful. He is the king. My king?

The light pulls at me. There is the sound of brass horns in the distance, coming from the other end of the rainbow.