It was not okay. I should have been able to make the wee man stop. My mother would have been able to do it. She once convinced an evil genie to seal himself back into the bottle. With only the power of her words, she was able to inspire, lead, or instill the fear of Grimm into a man. Once again, at my opportunity to follow her example, I failed. And I didn’t even have the courage to watch, to witness his last moments.
I would look now. Kato tried to stop me, tried to shield my eyes, but I would see the consequences of my failure.
The prone form of the leprechaun lay next to the rainbow. The vines and clover had abandoned my friends and gone back to their master. They covered the body like a death shroud. There was no menace; the vines were gentle, almost caressing as they wrapped around the leprechaun. Once finished, they pulled the body down, entombing it in the ground, returning it to the earth.
Hydra watched the funeral solemnly. Her normally animated face looked worn, showing each one of her two hundred fifty-plus years.
I wanted to stay in Kato’s arms and sleep for centuries, be like Rip Van Winkle and let the world continue to spin around me. A harsh sound hit my ears and intruded on my attempt at oblivion. Rexi was retching into a nearby bush. When she straightened, her arms shook and her face was pale, bordering on phantomlike.
Seeing her suffer gave me a jolt. If I laid there and did nothing, I would be failing her too. She deserved a chance to have her old life back—or a better one, if I could manage it. To not be chased from one corner of Story to another, looking over her shoulder for the boogeyman. This needed to end, and the answer was right there. We just needed a way to get to the other side.
I wiped my tears and summoned the bravest face I could, pushing myself away from Kato’s comfort. “We need to get to the spring. It’s time to write a big the end and, with any luck, a happily ever after. Hydra, do you think my flames could break the rainbow?”
Hydra considered and then shook her head. “Nyet. Rainbows all the same. Nothing solid to hit. Now if sprite vere to be hit…” Apparently, this head was not a pacifist, like the witch doctor one.
Even if she approved, it wasn’t an option. For starters, I didn’t know where this Rainbow Sprite character was. And second, I didn’t want any non-Griz cronies getting hurt if I could help it. There had been enough of that already.
Kato looked glum. “If I still had wings, I could fly over and drop the star in.” His broad shoulders slumped inward in defeat.
“Maybe, but who knows how high the barrier reaches?” A thought was beginning to snowball in my mind. “We can’t go under, over, or through the rainbow. And we can’t get the sprite to break the magic tied to it.” I paused to finish working out the details in my head. “Hydra, if there were no rainbow, would there still be a barrier?”
Hydra stroked her chin and pulled on a lone hair that was curling along the bottom of it. “Is possible. No rainbow. Nothing for sprite magic to be magickink.”
“How sure are you?” I asked, grabbing her arms.
She smacked her lips and used her tongue to fish something out of her tooth. “Is fifty-fifty.”
Rexi threw her hands in the air. “What’s the pixing point? You can’t make the rainbow disappear. And even if you could, there’s a fifty percent chance we’ll all die crossing. Please, let’s just go.”
I shook my head emphatically, surer than ever of what we had to do now. “I can get rid of the rainbow, but we’re all going to have to work together. Here’s the plan.”
I laid out everything that was racing through the jumble of my brain. Kato had said earlier that the rainbow was triangled, because of the three suns’ light passing through the moving water. So what if the water stopped moving?
Kato needed to use his ice magic to freeze the water.
His eyebrows shot up. I think he was a bit skeptical. “I’m not sure I can freeze the whole thing at once. Especially if I can’t see it.”
I pushed the glasses at him. “Now you can. As soon as the spring is frozen, the rainbow should fade, hopefully taking the barrier with it.”
Hydra moved her jaw like she was a cow chewing her cud. “That is big whopper of chance.”
“I’m not done yet. Hydra, you’re in charge of the sprite if he comes out. Talk to him, distract him, whatever.”
“And vhat is it I am be distraction of?” she asked, winking one eye down.
“Rexi,” I answered.
At the sound of her name, Rexi jumped and put her hands to her chest. “Why shouldn’t he see me? I haven’t—”
I walked over to her and grasped her hands. “You have the most important job. Kato is going to be freezing the spring, but I can’t drop the star in ice. And when he unfreezes it, I won’t be able to get close enough in case the spring unmagicks me.” I took the star from the pocket of the sack dress and gently placed it in Rexi’s hand. “As soon as the spring is liquid again, you run and toss this in.”
She shook her head, her spiky hair waving back and forth. “I can’t. You don’t—”
“Yes, you can,” I said with the utmost confidence. “Kato will guide you while he’s wearing the glasses, so you’ll know where to drop it.” I took a deep breath and turned to Kato. “Are you ready?”