26. Ciara
“There,” Ivo called out. “I heard voices.”
“You’re hearing things,” Emer said.
“I am not.”
I stifled a laugh as I kept my shadows around our little group while we climbed down the back of the waterfall. The rocks were slippery with the water, but then the water vanished from the rock face, and they were easier to grip. I assumed Sir Axis used his powers over water to help our descent, but one could never comprehend if he was helping us from the goodness of his heart or to benefit himself.
I thought everything was based on the latter.
“We’ve been searching for an hour,” Emer said. “How would they have disappeared from this enclosed space?”
We descended to the bottom of the waterfall and inched our way along the rock pool beneath. Once we were on the sandy shore, I called back my power and dissolved the shadows covering us.
Ivo and Emer drew their swords.
“Only an hour?” I asked.
“Who are they?” Ivo asked.
“Friends.” I flicked them a quick look. “Sort of. They’re going to help us cure the spring.”
Emer pointed the tip of his sword at Sir Axis. “I don’t like the way he’s looking at you, Your Highness.”
“And in what way might that be?” Sir Axis asked.
Emer stepped closer until the tip of the blade sat below Sir Axis’s throat.
“Stand down,” I said. “If you kill him, which I doubt a sword would even do, then you’ll destroy our only chance at fixing the spring.”
“She’s smart. You should listen to the Princess,” Sir Axis said with his too-smug smile gracing his lips.
Emer hesitated a second then dropped his sword. “Your name?”
“Sir Axis Foxlace, Master of the Water Sprites. You may call me Sir.”
“And she is?” Emer pointed at the young girl.
“None of your business,” Sir Axis said sounding protective of the young girl.
“In protecting the princess, then whoever is around her is my business.” Emer’s powers flowed to his palms.
Sir Axis’s powers glowed a vibrant blue as he matched my guard’s power.
“Princess, I can’t believe this.” Ivo shook her head. “You disappear for an hour then return with others. One you don’t even know her name. What were you thinking?”
“She’s a young child and is more timid than a mouse. Her name is Vanya.”
“Even mice can bite,” Ivo said.
The young girl stepped behind Sir Axis.
“She’s relatively harmless for now.” He patted her on the head.
“Where did she come from?”
He shrugged.
“Sir, with all due respect, I can’t allow the child to be near the princess unless I have more details.” Ivo held her ground.
Sir Axis sighed. “If you must know, she arrived from the Spring Court. An old friend found her and brought her to me for safe keeping.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Saltine Woodswillow.”
I hauled in a startled breath. Sir Axis smirked at my discomposure.
I wanted to slap the smirk from his face. From what I’d read about the Spring Court in books, it was a place many supernatural creatures liked to frequent.
“Does she have any powers?” I asked.
“Telepathy is the only one so far. It’s why she’s my travel buddy whenever I leave the kingdom.” He ruffled her hair this time. “So that I can communicate with my people when I leave.”
Jaguar shifters like Sophia, Rian’s fated mate, used telepathy between their species and their mates but I had read nothing about them using their minds to communicate with others. I’d read nothing about telepathy being a power for Elves, but then it appeared our library back home was missing a lot of information we didn’t know about.
“I suppose that makes her harmless to you,” Emer said, but not sounding convinced. “What’s the plan?”
“We take Sir Axis back to the fountain and he can use his powers to fix the spring from Earth,” I said.
“Try to fix the spring from Earth. With the way Earth is now depleted and your magic hasn’t been healing it for many years, I doubt it will work,” Sir Axis said.
“It has to work,” I ground out, the alternative was not acceptable.
“That’s in Ireland,” Ivo pointed out. “We’re on the other side of Earth in Australia.”
Damn it, I hadn’t thought of the location. I’d been too focused on trying to make anything else work besides marking Sir Axis as my mate. Would I now have to mark him to take him to Ireland?
The trees rustled, and then Sledge and Arrow burst into the waterfall.
“Who the fuck are they?” Sledge asked with a growl.
Sir Axis rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”
I stepped forward and explained the situation to my sister’s mates. They seemed as hopeful as me.
“You’ll have to fly in an airplane,” Sledge said. “But you’ll need identification.”
“Fallon’s friend would have made them, but he turned crazy, and he’s locked up in the Summer Court,” Arrow said.
“Well, isn’t this getting more interesting,” Sir Axis said. “Who is Fallon?”
“My sister, Aislinn’s mate,” I said offhandedly.
“And these two wolf shifters?”
“What’s it matter?” I snapped. “They’re my other sister’s mates.”
“It matters more than you realize young princess.”
I glared. “Your cryptic words are giving me a sore head.”
He chuckled. “How about some noncryptic words then?”
“Please entertain us.”
His laughter grew until he said, “I have a way we can fly there.”
“Let me guess, a dragon?”
“Hardly.” He rolled his eyes. “Dragons are no longer on this planet. Hmm, that I know of anyway.”
I didn’t bother asking which planet they were still on. There would be time later once we fixed the spring and my father.
“How?” I asked, not wanting his help but knowing we needed it.
Us Fae hadn’t been on Earth long enough to appreciate the ways of the world as it was now.
“Vanya here can use her telepathy to trick humans into thinking our identification is real.”
All our gazes landed on the young girl. It appeared her telepathy was more potent than we first thought. Did that mean I should be worried about her joining us? Or should I accept the gift of her powers as a sign we were on the right track to fixing our problems?
“My mother has a clothes shop. You can all get human clothing there to wear on the plane.” Sledge pointed at our feet. “And shoes.” He shook his head. “You Fae and your no shoes.”
I wiggled my bare toes into the soil. “It connects us to our powers. Don’t you sense the magical vibrations coming from the soil?”
Sledge shrugged. “Perhaps when I’m in wolf form.”
“The Earth is beyond a doubt in trouble,” Sir Axis said, bending over and placing his hands in the rock pool of water below the waterfall.
The water suddenly flowed a luminous blue reminding me of his magical home behind the waterfall. Ivo gasped. Emer stared at the water with awe.
The young girl’s voice slipped into my mind. “His plans benefit him.”
I opened my mouth to ask her what she meant, but Sir Axis snapped his power back and stared at us over his shoulder as though he’d overheard what she’d said to me. His fingers found the medallion around his neck and rubbed the metal.
Whatever his plans were, they included me, so I had to understand them fast because time was running out for all of us. Not only for the Fae King and the Fae but for the humans on Earth too. But how would we save everyone when we couldn’t even save ourselves?