“Welcome to Faerie, my Queen," Allwyn says with another bow. I don’t have words yet, so I simply smile back in awe and continue to take in everything around me.
“Shall we set up camp?” A fae I haven’t been introduced to yet, asks Allwyn. It’s already known that Allwyn is my personal guard, so everyone directs questions to him, which is kind of nice. But they seemed afraid to interrupt me, and I hate that. I’m trying to come off as approachable. What were the royals like, if they are afraid to simply talk to me and are shocked by respect?
“What do we have for a makeshift kitchen?” I ask, glancing around.
“Andras will help you with that. He wants to try and build a cold room still,” he explains before turning to the man. “Gather anyone willing to help and we‘ll get tents set up first.”
“Andras?” I shout into the crowd instead of searching forever. He emerges a few seconds later, looking for me.
“Are you ready to try and save the food?” he asks excitedly. Swallowing down my doubt, I nod and he leads me to a spot just shy of the middle of the lower ground. “Alright, Bella. We need to
create an underground room to keep our food cold. If we don’t succeed we may not be able to eat. Remember that and let it motivate you,” he says in a serious tone. As if I didn’t have enough pressure on me already.
I take a deep, shaky breath and nod. He is right, I can’t let the people down when we’ve only begun.
Andras makes a show of taking deep breaths with me before explaining. “In order to use magic, you have to connect to it first. It’s a natural instinct, I promise. Think of it like it’s a part of your body, its source is pooled deep in your center. Feel for that rush of power and pull it forward. When you feel it rushing through your veins, you are ready," Andras explains and takes a healthy step away. “When that’s close to the surface, then it’s a matter of will. Picture what you want to build, really feel it, then just make it happen. It sounds easy, and when you don’t get in your own way, it will be.”
Every part of me thinks this man is nuts, that there's no way I’ll be able to do any of it. I’m a girl who grew up being told to find a practical job and now this man thinks I can shift dirt with my damn mind. But… I’ve trusted them this far. What does it hurt to try?
Relaxing my body, I close my eyes and try to feel for the magic pool he described. My mind drifts, searching for a spark of the magic within me. As I get closer, the spark grows into a beacon of light, more like a burning inferno than a calm pool, just waiting to be tapped into. The light moves forward as I direct it to flow through my body and into my fingertips, bending to my will like it’s just been waiting to be unleashed. Once it’s flowing and dancing right under my skin where it rests in a warm tingle of power, I know I’m ready. With that realization, I no longer feel it contained in my body, now it is dancing on the surface of my skin, ready to obey my orders.
The magic seems to spread outward, like I’m pushing it into a bubble around me. It swirls and pulses in my mind’s eye and I’ve never felt more exhilarated and alive. Then, as if it’s let me experience it and now it’s done, the magic recedes. It’s no longer a pulsing, angry storm, but a calm wave of power that seeps back into my center until I feel normal again.
I open my eyes to see the crowd silent, mouths agape in wonderment. The magic is still visible, the last remnants merely an aqua blue, shimmering light that is seeping into my body. Wanting to see more, I pull it from my center again, testing my limits. This time I watch my skin illuminate with power, then as if I’m taking from Faerie itself, it pulls in from the air around me and up through the ground below, before pooling on my fingertips and lightly swirling over my skin. The magic feels ancient and strong, this time foreign as it mixes with me.
Then I’m no longer in control. It all flows in and out of my body for several minutes, increasing in intensity until I feel like I might burst. As I reach the point of my vision blurring and feeling like I may pass out, I feel the pull stop and the magic calm enough that I can breathe and function again.
“Faerie recognizes you and is restoring and adding to your magic," Andras announces in awe. I’m too busy gasping for air and trying to not freak the fuck out to really process what he is saying, but the others heard. One by one the crowd drops to their knees, bowing low to the ground.
The only one who doesn’t is Jacob, but that calms my minor panic. If he did it too, it’d be way too much to process. They start to rise and I meet Allwyn’s gaze at the back of the crowd. He fixes me with an intense gaze, as if he is staring through my very soul. I can’t read the emotions behind it, which still unsettles me. But for now I’ll choose to believe he’s impressed by my badass abilities, instead of hiding something from me already. It always feels like he knows so much more about me than I do and only drops bits and pieces as he sees fit.
Andras stands from his bow and gives me an encouraging smile. “Now that you know how to get to the magic, you need to concentrate on the element you wish to use and connect with it. Start with the ground below you and picture in your mind what you intend it to do for you," he explains, gesturing for everyone to move back. Apparently, I’m just going to have to deal with having an audience while I make an ass of myself.
Not wanting to dive in without a plan, I focus on picturing what we need in my mind. The room has to be big enough for multiple people to enter, so I alter the image in my mind to suit it. The only thing above ground will be the descending stone stairs into the room below. A solid layer of dirt above it would keep the food colder. Finally, I pictured a smooth stone floor and stone walls, to keep our food from getting covered in dirt. It’s not the most artistic of designs, but it’s practical.
The ground next to me shifts and changes with a deep rumble, nearly pitching me on my ass. Steady hands behind me keep that from happening but from the crashes around us, not everyone is so lucky.
After the ground grows silent, I send thoughts of gratitude to the land in case Faerie truly is alive and finally open my eyes. At first my heart sinks in disappointment, no real change, then I realize I worked underground. A perfect rectangle is cut out of the earth, a set of stairs descending into the ground below. Disbelief nearly makes me stumble as I walk forward, heading down the stairs. At the end is a doorway. Pushing the door open, I take in the stone room. It’s only about six-foot wide and eight-foot deep, purple stone barely visible in the low light, but it’s cold enough to work for us. Even more so if we can manage to get ice down here.
Andras soon follows me. “My queen, I am beyond impressed,” he exclaims as he studies my work. “I’ve never seen someone successfully use magic this quickly before. I’m not even scared it’s going to collapse on us.” His nervous chuckle had us both looking up to the ceiling, but it’s too dark to see if it’s stable.
“Andras, do you have bioluminescent plants here?” I ask, thinking how dark it would be at nightfall if it’s this hard to see now.
“We have glowing mushrooms in the caves, along with glowing flowers in the Winter Lands,” he explains.
This time I don’t have to do much to pull my magic forward, I just remember how it felt and use that. In seconds, I feel it flowing through my body. The mental image is likely off, but I try to imagine the mushrooms he describes and try to grow them on the stone and dirt of the room. One or two won’t work, so I picture them lining the edge of the room and covering the ceiling
“Well done!” Andras cheers, breaking me from my concentration. Glowing blue mushrooms cast a soft blue light throughout the room, bright enough that we can see. Before I can process it, Jacob walks in, letting out a low whistle as he takes in my work. Seeing him has my pride and excitement flaring to life, and I run to him and throw myself into his arms.
“Look what I did! I’m a fae badass!” I yell and hug him hard. He dances me around in a circle before releasing me.
“You really are, Queenie. This place is amazing, and it’s only a glorified refrigerator. Imagine what we can accomplish over time,” he exclaims as he touches one of the mushrooms. “These are a nice touch,” he smirks. “You couldn’t help but be an overachiever, huh?” Having him here with me makes everything better. I don’t feel alone and overwhelmed.
I laugh at his teasing. “We needed light, what can I say? I’m a problem solver.”
“I’ll go have volunteers bring you the food, if you two would like to organize it?” Andras asks as he starts up the stairs.
“Perfect, thank you," I respond, but he’s already up the stairs yelling orders to people in the distance.