Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,73
I may. The pixie dust may work wonders. I may make it past the spriggans, through the woods, and down the river. And I may even make it home to my tree house. To Poppy.
My body goes numb and I stop dead in my tracks, because I realize, that whether I make it out of here or not, I won’t ever see Jack again.
In just two days.
I’m not doing too well in my battle to release Jack from my emotions. I try to convince myself that it’s just a crush and that the feelings will never be returned, but I’m failing miserably at it. My heart keeps fighting back with an endless list of what ifs. What if what you’re feeling isn’t a crush, but love, and you just don’t understand the difference – it’s not like you have experience in this department, right? What if there was a way to make this relationship last, whether stuck in this prison indefinitely, or out in the real world, where we can sneak off and meet up with each other in secret? What if the pixie elders would allow you to have this relationship, because of what you’ve gone through, and that they’ll see he’s worthy of keeping close to the heart?
And the cruelest one of all – What if Jack loves you back?
It’s with desperation that I analyze his features, words and bodily movements for anything that tells me the permanent separation looming before us will devastate him as much as it does me. I’ve noticed his smiles have lessened these past several days. And he’s only been coming by to give me rations and update his progress. Is he really busy the entire time he’s gone? Or is this his way of distancing himself from me? And perhaps forcing me into it as well... Maybe seeing me less is making the inevitable easier for him. Because whether my heart likes it or not, the reality of separation is as blinding as the midday sun…when I get to see it, of course.
“I managed to trap a chipmunk and a fox,” he says as he opens the satchel containing my dinner. “The good news is that I was able to stretch both in size a bit.”
“What’s the bad news?” I urge, fearful of what happened to them. And what exactly is considered bad? Bad like its limbs were different lengths? Bad like its fur caught on fire? What? I’m nervous and he isn’t responding quickly enough, taking his sweet time pulling things out for me to eat: bread, a mixture of nuts, a good chunk of banana.
“I wouldn’t really say bad news.” Then what would you say? Come on already! “Both of them stretched, but it was only temporary. Eventually the magic wore off and they reduced back to size.”
My eyes squint, trying to determine if this should even be considered bad. “Is that it? That’s the only thing that happened to them? It wore off?”
“Yeah,” he states nonchalantly, as if this wasn’t the best news ever. He sits and pats the ground beside him. “Rosalie, sit. You need to rest from here on out.”
I obediently sit and begin gnawing on the nuts like a squirrel. I’m sure it’s not attractive to watch, but I’m focusing hard on Jack’s experiment. The fox is larger in size than either of us, but I don’t really know how much our systems differ. The same goes for the chipmunk.
“How long did the magic last?”
“The fox, not very long. Maybe an hour. The chipmunk held out a few more hours. The spider, however, was still big today.”
“So is the magic fading faster ‘cause they’re bigger or ‘cause they’re more complex?”
“No idea.” I turn to glare at him, my eyes exuding something fierce. “What?” he exclaims. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. Your guess is as good as mine.”
I release my evil eyes and return to my nuts. I sigh as I munch on the few in my mouth. “So basically” – crunch, crunch – “if we’re lucky” – crunch, crunch – “any dust used on me is going to wear off anywhere between the spider and chipmunk. So a few hours to…”
“A few days probably. At least one and a half so far.”
“Is that enough time to get me far enough away from the spriggans and faeries?”
“Should be.”
“Well, all right then. Guess I’m getting dusted.” I drop the bag of nuts and decide to comfort myself with melt-on-my-tongue bread.