“Very little of this place makes sense,”‘I said after thinking about the lack of humans. “No humans. Weird human like creatures, the monsters, and a barrier that only lets air and water through. None of this has any real logic to it.”

Faelix shrugged and shifted a bit where he was sitting, sticking whatever he’d been holding back wherever it had been hiding.

“Want to hear one of the theories? One group of faerie thought the reason we weee even in this mess was because of you.”

I had to laugh at that.

“Wasn’t I trapped for thousands of years before all this happened? And if they thought I was responsible, wouldn’t someone have released me from my faerie circle trap?” I asked.

“That’s the really funny part,” Faelix said. “No one could find your circle. It kind of disappeared.”

What?

“How does that happen? I understood faerie circles to be immutable and connected to the faeries who created them?”

“Yes.”

“And I was made to understand that Moment, at least, and maybe Mighty were involved in trapping me.”

Nodding, Faelix said, “Yes. And then one day they couldn’t find the circle anymore.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Maybe a thousand years ago,” he said.

“Hundreds of years before I escaped,” I said. “That is interesting.”

“Sure,” he said. “But there’s been other talk.”

“Such as?”

“A different kind of magic that you may have blocked and took time to break down. Or, that your being trapped triggered other magic, the wrath of the gods.”

“Gods don’t really exist,” I said, though – as always – half-heartedly.

“That’s what I’ve always said,” Faelix said. He moved his hand to hover near whatever it was he’d been looking at. “But everyone, and I mean everyone, said I didn’t know what I was talking about. Everyone.”

I didn’t know what to think about Faelix’s everyone or who it involved that made him so sad. And he was sad. Instead, I looked back toward the cave entrance and wondered whether or not we were waiting for something or someone. I didn’t know. Since Barrowind had sent us out of his den, I’d been following. I even got the impression that seeing Ant had been part of a larger narrative put specifically for me.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Are we waiting for something?” I finally asked.

“Yes and no,” Faelix said.

Apropos of nothing I asked, “Can I trust you?”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Faelix said. “You’re literally a magical being who cannot be trusted. It’s part of your story, your heritage.”

Could I be trusted? Of course I could. I wasn’t completely chaotic. Nothing is completely chaotic, though I also had the idea that something was different about me and things were different from how they’d been before. I’d become affected by the magic that ruled and governed the world.

“I’ve never been untrustworthy,” I said.

“I’m not sure about that,” Faelix said.

“In the time you’ve known me and been hiding in my satchel, and invading my personal dimensional space, have I done anything that would suggest I can’t be trusted? You’re still you. I’ve done nothing to Queen Maeve or anyone else ….”

“What about Moment?”

“That wasn’t my fault,” I said, suddenly defensive.

“You’re not a different person,” Faelix said. “And you sent Moment and a lot of faeries through some kind of magical hole into who knows what or where?”

“I couldn’t control that,” I said. “I think you know I couldn’t. I tried to stop it. I begged Moment to stop what she was doing, and her guard. You had to be aware of that.”

Faelix nodded and found a small pebble, a grain of sand, and tossed it.

“I don’t think it’s your fault, things happen,” he said. “I’m just concerned is all.”

I wanted to explore what Faelix was concerned about but chose to let the subject drop as I thought I could hear something new. Not a change in the drip, drip, drip of water. But more a difference in presence within the cave itself. I looked back down the tunnel we’d come down and didn’t see anything, but then I wasn’t expecting to see something or even someone.

“Why are we in here again?” I asked, a second time.

“We’re hiding.”

“But why?”

“Queen Maeve, the faerie army, the elves, others. I’m sure by now the werewolves are aware of your presence and the return of magic. If that’s the case, we’re in a bit of trouble.”

“Werewolves can’t do anything to me,” I said.

“They can do something to me,” Faelix said. “Besides, we need it to be light out in order to really look at the barrier and figure out what’s going on. Peel away one of the scales, if you will.”

I nodded. Something didn’t feel quite right, being in a cave alone with Faelix. I thought about flexing my powers to see what he’d do, but decided against it as I had no real reason.

While it might be safe to assume that just because one has powers, they use them all the time, this simply isn’t the case. Not for a lack of powers or a source of magic, but because people, even magical creatures and me, are going to do everyday things without the use of magic. It’s easier and requires less concentration on the minute details happening all around.

The use of powers is always tempting when it comes to solving a problem, but the reality is that a lot of problems are better solved using old-fashioned and tried-and-true methods. Getting into the muck of things.

I could mostly sense that Faelix had the same theory of magic as me, which also made sense since anyone who is sufficiently magical will choose when to use the magic rather than always using it. This is a plus in Faelix’s favor and it was also causing me to wonder why it was, right now, he wasn’t using any magic for any reason. I was the one lighting the cave. I was the one connected to the tunnel system. I was the one who could feel things changing and that was all good, but what exactly was Faelix doing.

As I thought about these things, I was beginning to feel as though Ant had gotten into my head and I was questioning Faelix even though I didn’t have any reason to question him. If I could feel fear, and I can’t, that thought would’ve scared me. Fortunately, as I’m Flora Rose, I could shove that thought aside and focus on the changes happening, more powerfully now, inside the cave.