Page 45 of The Iron Fae
"You can put your knife away now, Briar." She lifts a delicate brow, that is hardly seen under the blunt cut of bangs across her forehead.
I nod, doing as she says. I try to breathe through my mouth to avoid the smell in the air, and I wipe the sweat from my palms against my jeans.
"Give me the necklace." The Seer holds out her hand.
I reach behind my neck, undoing the clasp and letting the gem and metal gather in my hand. "Will it hurt? Getting my powers back."
"Oh, that depends entirely on your mother, Dear."
"How so?" I stretch out my arm, reluctantly. The Seer waits patiently until I finally let go of the necklace.
She smiles, giving me the full view of every pointed tooth. With a diet like hers I would expect her teeth to be lined with red, pointed and dangerous, similar to the teeth of the Wishing Spirit. But they aren't. Her smile is shining perfectly, just like everything else about her.
"I may have helped seal your powers into this priceless family heirloom, but it was your mother who created any challenges that you may face. I'd assume it's something to make it much harder for anyone else to have the ability of stealing your power."
She lifts the necklace to her eye, examining the stone. "Maybe you'll need that knife after all.” Her smile grows wider. "You'll need to relax." The seer begins. She clutches the stone, my powers, the one thing I have of my mothers, to her chest.
"It turns out that I'm not great at doing that." I start. "Do you, uh, have a name?"
Her large black eyes tick up to my face. "Zeve."
"Zeve." I repeat. "How do we…? I'm ready to start."
Zeve walks around me, eyeing me from head to toe. The silky, brown dress, somehow unaffected by the ragged environment around her, swishes around her knees. It's almost as mesmerizing to watch as the way in which she walks with such confidence and grace.
"I'll open the door for you and the rest is up to you." Zeve steps up so that her bare feet touch my boots. I marvel at the cleanliness of her skin against the debris of the cave floor. More magic? Does a highly sought out seer, like her, have an end to her magic?
"Okay, I—"
Zeve pushes the large stone, warm from her grasp, against my forehead. Heat travels against my skull then down through my body, burning like boiling water pumping in my veins. White light explodes behind my eyelids. My intake of breath is weak, a raspy gasp that claws all the way down my throat and into my lungs. Is it the power from within the stone? Is it the pain of the magic?
My knees buckle, slamming against the ground with a loud crack. The light, the pain, the screaming heat dies away with every heartbeat. I clutch Kai’s knife at my belt.
"Open your eyes." Zeve's voice echoes through a space large and empty.
I open my eyes only to find sand. So much sand. Endless desert.
And no one and nothing in sight.
Twelve
Gullible
Wind tears at my clothes,pushing them flush against my body as I try and push forward. It howls in my ears. It's the only noise in the absence of Zeve's voice. I strain to hear anything more. I'm expectant of the sound of animals in the distance. There’s nothing but the shift of my boots as I take a step forward.
I open my mouth to make a sound, maybe to call out, but dry sand gathers on my tongue brought by the continuous gusts around me. The worry of being without water makes my body already crave a drink, even if I'm not dehydrated.
Far ahead, beyond what I believe to be flat land, I can see where it changes to the bumpy texture of rising sand mounds before the rise of wind-worn rocks. The sun has no end here. There are no trees for shade or even a spot of clouds in the blue sky above.
It's just me and the sun.
I lift one foot and step forward. The world rotates, the 'hello' just a passing thought.
I sink as water rises over my body in a foaming wave. The desert scene being replaced with the expanse of a sea without land in sight. Catching air, I brace myself as the wave pushes me under and a current pulls my body backwards.
Dust plumes into the air around me, hot sand clinging to my now damp skin. My hair drips against my forehead magnifying the sun that beats down.
Holy, fucking fuck. What was that? Where was that?
