When Magic Sleeps by Tera Lynn Childs

Author:Tera Lynn Childs [Childs, Tera Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Young Adult, Short Story, Fairies, Paranormal, Fiction, Romance, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780990460565
Publisher: Fearless Alchemy
Published: 2014-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

When they reached the sidewalk, Cathair took Winnie’s hand.

Winnie. Short for Winifred. A name that meant blessed peace. It suited her.

Although the turmoil she made him feel was anything but peaceful, that was hardly her fault. She’d asked him why he flew to her branch each month and he had answered truthfully. He did not know.

He marveled at the flashes of energy that sparked wherever their skin touched. He had never felt the like before and he didn’t know what it meant.

Using his magic to speed their journey, he led them in the reverse of the path he traveled each month. Along the winding and then gridded streets of her city, into the dark forest that stood between the human settlement and the fae veil.

She was nervous. Scared perhaps. He could feel the power of her fear feeding him, feeding his magic, and he tried not to revel in the sensation.

It was the great irony of his kind that they feel better when humans feel worse.

“Are we almost there?” she asked.

Her hand tightened around his.

He pulled her closer. “You need not fear the forest.”

“I always have,” she replied.

An urge to protect her from something, anything, settled into his chest. “Did something happen to you?”

“No, nothing specific,” she said, and his tension released a little.

He kept walking, moving them ever deeper into the forest.

“When I was little,” she explained, “my Gran told me stories about terrifying beasts that live in the shadows of trees. I used to hide under my bed thinking about them.”

The dark grew more oppressive and Cathair knew that without the benefit of magical sight, she could probably see very little. He on the other hand could see every detail. The way the faint glow of the life around them made her hair shiny like a river, made her skin gleam like polished gold. If possible, the forest made her even more beautiful.

“Winnie,” he said with a chuckle, partly because he liked saying her name, “your grandmother was correct.”

“She was?”

He felt guilty as a spike of her fear empowered him. “I am one such beast. Do you fear me?”

She did not hesitate. “No.”

Her trust washed over him. Such a positive feeling did nothing to feed his magic, but it fed his soul. To know that this girl who barely knew him would trust him with her safety, would trust him to lead her even into a place she feared. The knowledge filled him.

Then again, she knew him better than he thought. Knew him far better than he knew her, the girl he had visited once each month for a year. She had been dreaming his world — had been dreaming him — for far longer.

Still, she trusted. And followed.

He traced a path as familiar as his own hand, heading for what had always been his favorite place in the forest. Outside of the sanctuary and Winnie’s backyard, it was his favorite place on earth.

“Have you always had the dreams?” he asked.

“No,” she replied. “I never used to dream at all.

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