task of pulling the fey magic into the well while pushing it out of my body.
It seemed like days went by with Azrael and I locked in that determined grip, pulling on the magic as we tried to resist its call. Weeks of feeling the entire world in our bodies. Months of connecting to the raw elements. An eternity of playing god.
The magic didn't just return from the earth and sea but also the creatures. Animals shifted swiftly back to what they once were as the magic left them peacefully. I felt their hearts and minds fill with relief as their bodies became their own again. Then I felt the Wild Fey. That was not as peaceful a transition. Most of the humans who had been transformed didn't want to go back to what they were. At least, the magic in their minds didn't. They fought us at first—a magical tug-of-war that took precious energy. For a moment, I thought we'd fail.
“Together,” Azrael whispered.
I squeezed his hand and pulled with all of my metaphysical might. Suddenly, the boiling light brimming up our arms dropped back into the Elemental Well and the churning elements settled. A haze formed above the surface of the glowing pool, then even that floated gently down to merge with the white light. I felt the fey magic in the earth above and around us, but it was only a circle of land a few miles in diameter. We had done it.
Azrael breathed out a sigh and folded his wings as the sparkle of faerie dust faded from the feathers. His antlers retracted along with his fey features and his stare faded into sky blue. The angelic script on his cheek flashed once as if announcing that everything had been under control the entire time, contrary to what it may have looked like, and then it settled into dormancy as well.
Azrael and I lifted our clasped hands from the Elemental Well and grinned at each other. I let go of him but only to turn toward him and pull him into a tight embrace.
“That was a rough one,” I whispered to him.
“But we did it,” he whispered back. “Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime.”
“Bronagh!” the cry came from my left.
We all spun and then stared in amazement as the Royals of Earth—the element, that is—hugged each other and cried in relief and joy. Queen Bronagh took her husband's pale face in her golden-brown hands and kissed him tenderly as the other royals, myself included, rushed over to them to welcome them back to the living.
King Ruari helped his wife to her feet and turned to accept our enthusiastic welcome. “Does this mean that everything went as planned?”
Then they both frowned at our overjoyed laughter.
“Shall we, my Queen?” Azrael held an arm out to me. “I'm sure our guests are waiting anxiously for us.”
“Do you think they're still there?” I asked as I took his arm. I looked to the others to ask, “How long were working?”
“A few hours,” Odin said. “But it felt like forever.”
I snorted. “You're telling me.”
“Guests?” Ruari asked.
“We'll catch you up as we walk,” Lugh said. “We're about to reveal ourselves to the humans. Properly.”
“We're doing what?” Bronagh asked in shock.
Azrael and I led the Faerie Royals to a sitting room that had been prepared for our interview. The gods were shown to another room, to have some refreshments while they waited for us. Then Az shifted back into the Faerie God. We went to the front gate and lowered the drawbridge. There, in the meadow before the citadel, was the reporter who we'd first seen on the Internet—the woman who had followed the burol. It was what she'd said then—about hoping the burol remained free—that had made me remember her. So, when Azrael said he thought we should have a private interview with one reporter instead of shouting at a bunch of them from the battlements, I'd suggested her—Andrea Pittman. She'd been thrilled to be requested for an interview by the Faerie God himself and was eagerly awaiting us with her crew. But gathered around the news crew were several more people, too many to be crew members. In fact, the cameramen were filming them as if they were important. It took me a moment to realize who they were.
“The Wild Fey,” I whispered. “Did we get them all?”
“Yes,” Azrael winked at me. “Every last one of them. Even that man who I changed into a burol is back to normal.”
No wonder the cameramen were