Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,42

up for it once the iris had closed. Erupting back into her physical form, she pounded her miniature hands against the glass, the faint spots across her body throbbing violently. Her black eyes turned in my direction, filled with rage and sadness, and I knew she blamed me for this. Who else was there?

“I’m going to grab a few books that might be useful, as there’s not much lore on these creatures. Are you okay to stay here, or do you want to come with me to my study? It’s just over there.” He gestured toward a door, tucked away on the far side of the Repository behind the bubble forest.

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine here.”

“Okay, I’ll only be a minute.” He darted away, practically skipping to his study.

I couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm, even though, technically, I’d done what I’d set out to do. I’d caught and caged my first real-world Purge beast. Regardless, my fingers itched, albeit illogically, to let the pixie back out of her prison. It might not have been shaped like a box, but it served the same purpose as the box from my nightmare—the same ones that housed countless monsters year after year. I hated to see her thudding her tiny fists against the glass, the same way I’d done in that petrifying dream.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

The pixie glared back, hammering harder for the freedom she couldn’t have. In the end, I had to turn away from her, even though I felt like a chicken for not facing her. Why had I bothered giving her life at all, if this was where she’d spend it?

Nathan came back a few minutes later, his nose already buried in a book. He had an entire stack in his arms, his eyes flitting left to right as he plowed through the information within. “Ah, here it is! I knew I’d seen it somewhere.”

He stopped abruptly, one step from bumping into a low-hanging orb. With a grin, he turned the pages toward me before flipping them back.

“So, it says here that pixies are curious and playful creatures, with a distinct mischievous streak. They are known to play tricks and jests and cause trouble, but they are not evil or malicious by nature. They love to dance and gather in large numbers. They will defend themselves when they feel threatened, but they won’t attack unprovoked.” He licked his finger and flicked through a few more pages. “Oh… and they love milk and sweet fruits. In the old days, it was believed that if you left a saucer of milk outside your house each night, then the pixies wouldn’t play tricks on you. They were even thought to bring good fortune on homes that left milk out for them.”

“That’s why she went into your fridge.” With new understanding, I pictured her struggling with the large bottle of milk.

He peered over the book. “Huh?”

“Never mind.”

“Books aren’t always correct, but this is a good starting point.” He snapped the volume shut, looking pleased with himself. “We’ll have to do some more research, considering what you told me about there being a lot of these creatures on the loose.”

I gulped. “Yeah, sorry about that…”

“Why should you be sorry? You don’t have any say over it.” He didn’t look scared, per se, but he certainly looked a bit warier. However, I found myself distracted by the prickle up the back of my neck. It got worse, all of a sudden, turning into a searing burn that made my ears tingle. A quick look around at the Repository revealed the reason. The monsters inside had all transformed out of their mist states and fixed their eyes firmly on me. They watched me with a mixture of expressions: intrigue, caution, disappointment, excitement, to name a few.

Why are you staring like that? I didn’t want to draw Nathan’s attention to it. Had he been less invested in pixie lore, he’d have noticed on his own. The creatures had gone very still, but their eyes spoke volumes, like a thousand cries calling to me in a language I didn’t understand. Oddly, I felt entirely at home among these beings, as though I were somehow attached to each and every one, yet there was this huge divide between us. A fear, a me-vs-them kind of feeling. Plus, on a more literal level, I stood on the outside of the glass and they were trapped behind it. And that wrenched at my gut. I sensed the thrum of their