Page 85 of Faerie Gift

The lucky ones lined up on stage ready to go. Across from Leaves, the guest from the Council of Elders prepared the portal. The exchange students were ready as well. Probably happy to get out of here and finally be rid of us.

The portal, it turned out, consisted partly of machinery and partly of magic. A small gold cylinder anchored the entry point to this world, something I’d stepped over several times on the rear balcony outside the ballroom without even thinking.

The elders, I learned, would use the magic stored in the cylinder to open the gateway between this world and Faerie.

“One more thing,” Leaves said, interrupting. “I know we are all very excited to proceed—”

“Get on with it already,” Mike muttered under his breath.

I couldn’t agree more.

“But I have a very special announcement from the king. In addition to our own graduates and our guests from our sister school in Canada, the king is exceptionally proud of this year’s class and the swift progress they’ve made, and therefore he is inviting the top five students from the first-year class to continue the remainder of their schooling at our sister school to the Fae Academy for Halflings located in Faerie itself.”

An excited murmur rose from the assembled crowd.

“Those special five students are…” Leaves flourished an envelope and tore it open dramatically as if about to announce which movie won the Oscar for Best Picture.

My heart flipped and I didn’t even feel Nora shaking me. “Tavi, they called your name!”

Tavi,they called your name!

It couldn’t be. It was a joke. Must be a joke.

“Oh my God!” Mike exclaimed. “You’re going to Faerie, Tavi!”

“Did…did you know about this?” I asked him. Blinking as if afraid he would disappear in front of my eyes.

He shook his head. “No, I had no idea. But we’re out of here.”

It took another long minute for the revelation to sink in. A heavy weight lifted off of my shoulders. This was it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for, why I’d worked so hard. I had made it into the top five students for my class. I’d made it into Faerie.

Kendrick Grimaldi would never find me there.

And Mike was coming with me.

“Go on, they want you on the stage,” Mike said, beaming. “Take my hand. Come on.”

I walked on a cloud, my fingers laced with Mike’s. Living in a dream. Saying goodbye to Nora and the rest of my classmates, I followed the other four students—Persephone included, how I hated her—and Mike onto the stage. He dropped his hold on my hand before turning to wave at the still cheering crowd.

Melia immediately wrapped me up in her arms and I saw tears running down her face.

“Together,” she told me. Linking our hands together.

“How is this possible?”

“Who cares? You’re coming with me, Tavi. This isn’t goodbye. This is the beginning.”

My gaze cast around the crowd and I found Mike’s eyes again. This wasn’t goodbye for us, either. I had to remind myself again and again. He nodded his head, a brilliant smile lighting up his features.

The portal waited for us, a swirling entity harnessing more magic than I’d ever felt in my life. Red and orange sparks flowed up from the small cylinder of gold on the floor of the patio until the circle cast toward the second level of the school. And through the colors I saw outlines of trees.

Several professors and the councilmember continued to chant until the reds and golds became clear and I saw my first real glimpse of Faerie. The forest into which we would step teemed with life and power. Tiny red squirrels bolted up and down trees with trunks thicker than any I’d seen in my life.

My mother’s home.

Through the portal I could almost sense the quiet, the peace, and the pulse of energy seeping into the land itself.

Chills scampered down my sides and arms and across my scalp.

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