Page 13 of Caught By Her Guardian
“I want that too.”
They’d both get to keep doing what they loved, but at the end of the night, they’d be with each other, and that’s what mattered most to him.
“Let’s go find Santa and Tooth Fairy and see about your tethered portal.And then I have another idea.”
Her eyes darkened, the blue turning navy and swirling with forest green.
“I can’t wait.”
Pixie and Hunter used corridors and stairwells to make their way far below Northernmost.The stone walls were rough and she could feel a hum of old magic in the walls and knew that the magical protections around Northernmost extended far below to keep everyone safe.They reached a massive wooden door that was open and walked into a chamber that was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.
The tethered portal stood in the center of the chamber, an arched structure made of smooth, pale stone.The surface was covered with glowing silver runes.In the center of the arch was a swirling mist, like a storm cloud that flickered with tiny bursts of golden light.
“Holy crap,” Pixie said.
Tooth Fairy chuckled.“This portal is magically bound to this location.You can go anywhere with this portal, but it will always bring you back here.”
Pixie reached out and touched one of the runes, finding it warm like the sun.“This is incredible,” she said.“How does it work?”
“We’re going to give you a magical tattoo,” Santa said.“On your wrist.It will allow you to use the portal to leave and return.”
“Awesome,” she said.
“Let’s get you that tattoo so you can try it out,” Tooth Fairy said.“Then I have one more piece of good news before I head home to the island.”
Pixie extended her right arm, palm up, and pushed back the sleeve of her tunic.Tooth Fairy put her hand on her wrist and Santa put his just above hers.They spoke a spell together, and her arm heated as golden magic slipped into her skin.When they lifted their hands, a tattoo was visible on her wrist.It looked like a pair of fairy wings woven with swirls of golden sunlight.
“This is your key,” Tooth Fairy said.“To activate the tethered portal, you place your hand on the stone arch.Use your magic the way you would with a normal portal and focus on your first location in the ledger, and it will safely open an invisible portal.You’ll keep your shadow magic around yourself so you’re entirely invisible.Once you step away from the portal, it will close.To move along the collection route, you will open regular portals.Once you’re ready to return to Northernmost, touch your fingers to the tattoo and concentrate your magic on going home, and the tethered portal will bring you here.”
“This is amazing,” she said.“Thank you both so much.”
She and Tooth Fairy tested it together so that in case something went awry, she wasn’t alone.Pixie activated the tethered portal, which Santa had created for this purpose from a stone doorway in another room of the subbasement.She and Tooth Fairy went to the island and then returned to Northernmost.
“It works perfectly,” Pixie said.
“Excellent,” Santa said.“Now, let’s get out of the subbasement.We’ve got another surprise.”
They closed the door to the chamber and walked through the maze of corridors and stairwells to the ground level, walking through the dining hall and stopping at a set of windows that overlooked other, smaller buildings.
“I wanted to talk to you about the teeth collection,” Tooth Fairy said.
“I would need to bring them back to the island.”
“While you’re collecting in Pennsylvania, yes.But once you take over the territory at the top of the world, it doesn’t make sense to travel like that, so you can build a fairy garden here.”
“I can?”
“Indeed,” Santa said.He pointed to one of the buildings.“That’s a garden shed.Beyond it are greenhouses that are tended by elves.There is space for another greenhouse that you can use to build a fairy garden.”
“You’ll have to use your magic to enchant the ground,” Tooth Fairy said, “but we will share the seeds from our main fairy garden, and you can tend to one up here yourself.Then you won’t have to come to the island at the end of every shift to put the teeth away.You can return the magic to the world from here.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing,” she said, staring through the window and imagining the garden.“I can’t wait.”
“We’ll get started on building the greenhouse for you,” Santa said.“When it’s ready for planting, any help you need is yours.”
“Thank you so much.Oh my gosh, I feel like everyone is doing all this extra stuff just for me.”
“You’re worth it,” Hunter said confidently.
