Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,54
for saying that. I know it’s true. He knows it’s true. But he’s more than made up for it these past few days. “No, I’m sorry. I guess I’m still harboring a little resentment.”
He nods in agreement. “Rightfully so. Do you want me to help you walk around?”
“Nah. It’s not like I can go that far. I’m surrounded by rock in every direction.”
“And it’s been ever so thoughtful to catch you multiple times before,” he adds snarkily, blowing a puff of air at the cut on my forehead. I huff, and feel the slightest tickle in my abdomen.
I release his arm and transfer my balance to the wall of my prison. I won’t lie; just standing there is close to killing me. I grimace with the first step, a wave of stings snaking up and attacking the muscle in my leg. Jack looks ready to attack me, the way his body jerks when I scowl with each advancing step. The first trip around the cell is incredibly painful, but the second is better, my muscles adjusting to the weight and beginning to lengthen. Jack simply stands in the center, rotating to follow my every move, ready to jump like a nervous tick.
“Don’t you think that’s far enough for your first attempt?”
Huffing, I throw him a questionable glare. “Attempt means failure and that’s not in my vocabulary.”
“So I’m beginning to see,” he mutters, crossing his arms, returning the playful glare.
“Jack,” I say, unsure of whether or not I should proceed with the question that’s been in my head all night…and probably the source of my insomnia.
“Yeah?”
I turn myself in the opposite direction. I think I’m trying to avoid his gaze, but with him holding steady in the center, I’m hard bent to avoid it. My heart beats a little faster when I finally find the courage to ask, “Do you ever see the other pixies when you’re here?”
I see him shift out of the corner of my eye. “No.” I moan my heartache in silence. “Since you told me that none of you were charged with a crime, I’ve actually taken various routes through the prison out of curiosity, but I’ve never seen anyone.”
“We work sunrise to sunset, so they’d be in the cave during that time.”
“I’m here before sunrise.”
My surprise actually stops me in my tracks. “Really? Finley requires you work that early?”
“No.” He must take my lack of movement as exhaustion because he takes a few steps towards me and leans his back against the wall, arms still crossed, blocking any advancement I could make. “But these days I find it hard to sleep well.”
“Me too.” I decide to sit and give my legs the break they deserve, suddenly feeling very tired. “If you’re flying over, you won’t see them. The pit we’re kept in is glamoured.”
“A glamour within a glamour? That’s weird.” He joins me on the floor, keeping his eyes forward like me.
“Not if you don’t realize your prison is a glamour to begin with. For the longest time I thought the desolate wasteland was real. Like a fire had taken it at one time and the forest never recovered.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” Jack removes a roll of bread from his satchel and hands it to me. His sister must really love bread to make it fresh every day. “How’d you figure out it was a glamour?”
“The ripples in the barrier,” I say between nibbles. “Once I saw them in the illusion covering our pit, I began to wonder if the edge of our so-called wasteland had one too. It didn’t make sense to see life flourishing across the canyon and nothing where we were. No birds, no plants. Not even the wind broke through. It just didn’t make sense.”
“There were ripples? The mushroom powder in the dust should’ve prevented that. I mean, that’s what it’s used for. Illusions.”
“Oh, my Mother Nature,” I mumble, bending my head and banging my free palm against my forehead. “No. They didn’t.”
“What?”
I smear my hand down over my face, burying myself behind it, shaking my head. They were using our own mushroom powder against us! Jack’s right. Quality pixie dust with hallucinogenic mushrooms would never expose the weaknesses of the illusion. But because they use the mushroom powder we make, whose quality we never give a crap about, the pixie dust isn’t top notch. That’s why I could see the magical ripple! The magic’s flawed!
I burst into a fit of giggles, and the release feels so good.