Chapter 6
six
. . .
We packed up and were out of the Oasis much quicker than I thought our company could move. Astra and Serena were right, the company was moving with a renewed energy that would come in handy if anything waited for us outside the barrier.
I knew I should be thinking about battle strategy and what might await us, but with Astra walking in front of me, I couldn’t think of anything besides how close she had come to kissing me. Of course, I wasn't her fate-bound true love, but she had almost deemed kissing me worth the potential risk.
Or maybe she was just trying to get in my head. Maybe she wanted to throw me off my game so she could show me up and impress Princess Serena. If that was her plan, it was working. I couldn't think of anything else besides her … until the barrier came into view.
I didn't know what I expected, but I was surprised to see it was an actual barrier. It was a shimmering lavender color, too opaque to see through. There could be a hoard or an army waiting on the other side, and we wouldn't know. I swallowed.
I turned and saw Serena and Tris appraising the barrier. I wondered if Tris would be traveling as the Prince instead if she could. I suppose I didn't have to wait long to find out, though. Once we were across the barrier, she could change forms.
I heard Serena say quietly, “I know we came through it to get here, but I had started to think I had embellished the size and scale of it.”
“You didn't,” Inez confirmed, looking at the wall with grim determination.
I glanced over and saw Astra looking at the wall with longing, as if it were water in the desert. It struck me then that I hadn't really considered what it would be like to have powers one day and then not the next.
We had always talked about the barrier the alchemists had been working on as a form of protection.
For years, when Astra and I were going through training, we were told about it in the abstract as a future, last-resort plan.
I tried to prepare the other fairy-enhanced and help them train as much as possible for that day in case it came.
I'm sure I wasn't alone among the common folks in secretly hoping that day would come so the fairy-enhanced would know how it felt to work hard for everything.
Seeing how Astra was looking at the barrier, though, it occurred to me that she didn't ask to be fairy-enhanced any more than I asked to be common-blooded.
Yes, it was an advantage she had over people like me, but it wasn't one she had asked for.
It was a part of who she was, and losing access to that power inside her had to be more than just frustrating because she had to work harder.
She was blinking away tears in her eyes. Hope radiated from her, and the bright violet of her hands was hard to look at. For the last three years, I thought she was just sulking about losing her advantage over the common-blooded and having to do things the hard way.
I had been taunting her over it and gloating over what I was now realizing was more akin to if I woke up and suddenly didn't have the use of my left arm.
Yes, I was right-handed, and I could manage without it, but learning to do so and adapting to not being able to use it would take a while and would be incredibly frustrating.
It wouldn't have mattered if someone had been frequently reminding me for years that one day there was a chance my arm would stop working. It wouldn't negate the fact that something that was very much a part of me that I had used to take for granted was no longer working.
I was an ass, and I owed her an apology. I doubted she would want to hear it, though. Even if I never said anything to her, I vowed to try to be a little more understanding of her and the rest of the fairy-enhanced.
“So, what's the plan?” I asked, turning to Inez, but Astra answered.
“I'll go first.”
“Are you sure?” I asked quickly. It didn't seem wise to barge into the unknown alone.
“I'll go too. You shouldn't go alone,” Serena said.
“You're not going,” Inez said quickly. “I'll go.”
Serena glared at Inez and crossed her arms. “I should go, and you know it.”
It occurred to me again to wonder about the abilities of my traveling party.
Of course, I knew some of the powers of the fairy-enhanced in my company, but as much time as I had spent with the Princess and Inez, I hadn't the faintest idea what either of them could do.
Of course, everyone knew that they were fairy-enhanced, but the nature of their powers wasn't well known, even in their own Queendom.
Tris stepped in. “I think I should.”
Princess Serena's head whipped around toward Tris. “You're not going.”
“It's not a bad idea,” Inez said, which brought Serena's attention right back to Inez.
“She isn't going,” Serena bit out.
“Now you know how I feel—you're not either,” Inez said, crossing her arms. I had spent enough time with them that I shouldn't have been surprised, but it still amazed me that Inez felt comfortable talking to her future Queen like that.
Serena kept looking at Inez, who softened a little.
“I'm not arguing it wouldn't be a good strategy to have either or both of you out there.
I'm just saying neither of you is going because neither of you is expendable.”
Serena threw her hands up. “You're not expendable either!”
I was standing close enough to Astra to hear her mutter, “Nice to know I'm expendable.”
I chuckled at her joke, but she whipped her head in my direction and glared at me.
“You're not expendable,” I said quickly.
“You bet the gods I'm not.” She straightened and gestured at the barrier. “You coming?”
I looked between her and the royals. “We can't. They haven't decided on a plan yet.”
She huffed. “Clearly, if we wait for this lot to decide, we'll be here all day. If you can't handle it, just say the word and I'll go myself.”
Her and I against potentially a whole army?
Of course, I couldn't handle it. I knew I probably hadn't seen the full scope of Astra's powers back in the pre-barrier days, but I doubted very much that she could hold off an entire army.
I wanted to help, but I was loath to admit that being common-blooded put me at a disadvantage in this case.
“Are you sure? I might be a liability.”
She blinked at me and opened her mouth a couple of times, starting to say something before closing it again.
I hadn't realized when I said it that I had never said that out loud before, to anyone, and certainly not to her, but in a world with people with magical abilities, as strong as I was, I might not be able to hold my own.
She smirked at me, but the expression didn't erase the way she was looking at me like she was really seeing me for the first time. I knew the feeling.
“I promise to personally throw your ass back into the barrier if you're on the verge of death.”
I huffed out a laugh. That would have to be good enough, because terrible idea or not, I couldn't let her cross alone.
We moved closer. I glanced at the royals, but they were still arguing and didn't notice us approaching the barrier. Our company was standing a little way behind us, waiting for orders.
I looked at Astra again. “Are you sure about this?”
She shrugged. “I'm sure someone needs to do it. Why not us?”
“Fair enough. Should I go first?”
“Not a chance. Don't want them getting ahold of you before I can stop them.”
I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, so I said, “Same time?”
She nodded, and I jumped in surprise when she grabbed my hand, but instead of moving forward, she turned back to the royals. “If we're not back in one minute, send in reinforcements!”
Their heads shot to us. “No, wait—” Inez started, but I was yanked hard by Astra and took a step with her through the barrier.
The barrier washed over us, and then all of a sudden, we had gone from desert to rolling hills. I scanned the area and then the crystal blue skies and saw nothing, which was especially relieving since there was nowhere to hide. There was no ambush waiting.
“Cierra?”
“Yeah?”
“You can let go now,” she said with a bit of a laugh.
I looked down and realized I was still clinging to her hand.
“Seriously, I'm losing feeling over here.”
I released her hand immediately and sprang back a step. “Sorry!”
She laughed. “I said let go, not run away.”
My cheeks were bright red now. I didn't know what to say, but Inez came crashing through, falling into my back, and we both went tumbling into the sand. I heard Astra laughing as I swore. Inez quickly sprang up with an apology.
I went to answer her, but there was sand in my mouth.
I quickly spit it out, but I knew from experience the grit would last a while.
I certainly wasn't going to miss the desert on our trek up to Bancroft.
I loved Altea, but I couldn't be paid to live in the actual desert.
I wasn't sure how the people of the Oasis managed.
I was thinking maybe I should ask Astra about that when Serena and Tris came crashing through.
Astra sidestepped just in time to avoid Tris. Tris almost stumbled but caught herself and steadied Serena.
“You guys know you don't have to run through it, right?” Astra said.
Inez narrowed her eyes. “You didn't come back. We thought we were charging into battle.” She turned on her heel. “I'll let the others know we're fine out here.”
Watching the barrier wash over and then swallow her was surreal. I knew she was just a few feet away from where she had been standing a moment ago, but the barrier was a swirling, solid mass of purple that we had no hope of seeing through, so for all we knew, she could have been hours away.
“It's so good to be home,” Serena said, staring off into the distance. “I hope you'll get to experience my actual home soon,” I heard her quietly say to Tris.
Tris squeezed her arm. “We'll do everything we can to make that happen. We'll get your Queendom back, I promise.”