Standing up again, Alex began pacing around the area, hoping for some kind of inspiration. She’d only taken three steps when she managed to trip on her cape yet again.
“Stupid thing,” she muttered, flinging it over her shoulder and continuing onwards. But then she froze as an idea came to mind, and she unclasped the annoying garment and hurried over to the hole, shoving the material down as soon as she was close enough.
“Can you grab my cape?” Alex asked.
“I still can’t reach it,” Skyla answered, her voice hitching. “Please don’t leave me down here.”
“I’m not going to leave you,” Alex promised. “Are you able to throw your cape up to me? Can you do that? I might be able to tie them together so they’re long enough to reach you.”
“I think so…” Skyla said, and Alex had to quickly grab the material as Skyla flung it towards her face.
“Good job,” Alex encouraged. “Give me a second.”
She tied the two capes together, securing them tightly, and threw one end of the cloth back into the hole.
“I’ve got it!” Skyla cried.
“Make sure you hold on,” Alex called down. “And help me if you can.”
Now for the hard part, Alex thought, as she strained to lift Skyla out of the hole. It wasn’t an easy task given that she was lying on her stomach and could only use the strength in her upper body, but between the two of them, they managed to get Skyla out of the trap. Alex’s arms burned from the effort, but she was more concerned about Skyla’s ankle. What were they supposed to do if she couldn’t walk?
“Can you stand?” Alex asked once they had scrambled a safe distance away from the hole and caught their breath.
“Maybe, if you help,” Skyla said in a pained voice.
Alex reached out and gently pulled Skyla to her feet. She was wobbly and couldn’t place any pressure on her left foot, but at least she was upright.
“Do you think you can continue? Or do you need me to go and find help?” Alex asked.
“Don’t leave me alone out here,” Skyla pleaded again, clutching desperately at Alex’s shirt. “Please, don’t leave me.”
“It’s all right,” Alex soothed. “We’ll stay together. But that means we have to finish the task. Hunter was pretty firm about not dismissing us until it’s done. Unless—you know him better; do you think he’ll be lenient because you’re injured? Should we just go back now?”
Skyla shook her head, her face pale. “Tom snapped his wrist in class last year—the bone was poking out and everything. But Hunter just wrapped a bandage around it, gave him a vial of pain reliever, and made him wait until the task was finished before he was allowed to leave with the rest of us. Hunter said it was character building.”
Alex felt sick at the thought. “Right. Let’s just—let’s just hurry up and finish this, then. We’ll be back in no time, I’m sure.”
Bearing most of Skyla’s weight, Alex helped her hobble along the mushroom path deeper into the forest. A few times she noticed more evidence of Hunter’s traps—a tripwire that crossed their path; mushrooms of a slightly different shade that led in a different direction; and even a rope snare on the ground that would have trapped their feet and hung them upside-down in the air. Alex wondered what would have happened to them, had they fallen victim to any of those perils.
After what felt like forever, they came to the end of the mushroom trail. It led them into a clearing where the fungi grew in an almost perfect circle. The moonlight streamed through the trees, creating a beautifully eerie atmosphere.
“That’s a fairy circle,” Skyla said, hopping backwards a few steps and dragging Alex with her. “No way am I stepping in there.”
Alex looked at the mushroom ring then back up at Skyla. “Don’t tell me you’re superstitious?”
“It’s not superstition,” Skyla said, her voice thick with nerves. “You read the note we were given. Even Hunter knows how dangerous the Fae can be. Uh-uh, no way.”
“He didn’t say they’re dangerous, just that they’re tricky,” Alex argued, amazed that she wasn’t debating the possibility of fairies being real, but whether or not they were a threat.
“He said there could be a price to pay!” Skyla replied, her voice rising. “Everyone knows that if you step into a fairy circle, you might never come back!”
“No, he wrote to be careful what we say, not what we do,” Alex reminded the frightened girl. “I’m sure Hunter wouldn’t make us do anything that would result in us getting stuck in… wherever the Fae live.”
Skyla folded her arms stubbornly. “I’m still not stepping in there.”
Alex sighed and looked at the circle again. It was large, filling most of the clearing. But what caught Alex’s eye was the small statue in the centre—apparently the rhyme’s ‘figurine of clay’ that they needed to retrieve. The only way to reach it was by entering the circle.
“All right,” Alex said, propping Skyla up against a tree trunk. “You wait here and I’ll go get it, okay?”
“No, you can’t!” Skyla shrieked. “Then I’ll be stuck here all on my own!”
“I’ll just be over there,” Alex said in her most calming voice. “You’ll be able to see me the whole time.”
“Not if you disappear—then I’ll probably die out here!”
“It’s nice to know you’re so concerned for my welfare,” Alex commented under her breath. Louder, she said, “Listen, the sooner I grab that statue, the sooner we can get out of here. Just relax. We’ll both be fine.”
Ignoring the desire to hesitate, Alex walked forward and determinedly stepped over the edge of the mushroom ring into the clearing. Once both feet were inside the circle, she released the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. She then turned to look back at Skyla with a reassuring smile.
“See, I’m—”
Alex stopped dead.
… Because Skyla was gone.
ind a way
Nine
Alex whipped her head around, frantically searching the moonlit clearing. She was in exactly the same place, mushroom circle included. Nothing had changed, and yet, everything had changed. Because the clay statue was now missing. And so was Skyla.
“This is like a scene straight out of The Twilight Zone,” Alex murmured, her body tense with anxiety. “What am I supposed to do now?”
A whisper in the wind answered her: a musical voice, poetic and lilting.
“Enter in, if you dare,
As one who seeks out Meya;
Be strong of mind and pure of heart,
For your journey begins at Raelia.”
“Cryptic, much?” Alex whispered, more than a little creeped out.
“Cryptic is as cryptic does,” replied the same whimsical voice.
“Are you going to show yourself? Or maybe tell me who you are?” Alex said, squinting into the shadows but seeing no one.
“I would ask the same of you,” the voice said, “but I already know who you are, so there is no need.”
Alex was muddling over that when a figure appeared directly in front of her, startling her so much that she stumbled backwards.
“Lady Mystique!” Alex cried, trying to regain her balance.