you harm,” I said, “and the Devourer didn’t send me. I’m here to destroy her, actually. She has my…my Amon prisoner and is siphoning the energy from his heart as we speak.”
The fairy blinked. “Is Amon your fella, then?”
I nodded.
“And you said the Devourer’s got ’im?” she asked, immediately ceasing her rant.
“The two of us, we’re…connected. That’s how I knew you were here.”
The little winged girl drifted closer and looked me in the eye. “What is it you need from us?” she asked.
“My…friend, Amon’s brother, was stung by a reaper. They told us the salve from the mother tree in the Turquoise Forest would save him. I’m assuming this is the mother tree,” I said, gesturing to the leafy canopy overhead.
“Of course it’s the mother tree,” the fairy said huffily, and puffed out a breath. “It doesn’t matter, though. She won’t give you any o’ her sap.”
“What? Why not?” I asked. “Don’t you want us to save Amon?”
“I do. That is to say, I’m not happy he ended up in the Devourer’s clutches but it’s his own fault, really. If he had just stayed here, hidden, like I told him to—”
“Well, now his brother is dying. Is that what you want? Don’t you have any empathy for others?”
The fairy sucked in a breath as if she’d been slapped. Tears filled her glittering green eyes, though she refused to let them spill over, and her rosy cheeks turned even ruddier.
She took a few deep breaths, then said in a muffled voice, “I…I don’t wish Amon or his brother harm. And don’t think that I’m an ungrateful sort of person. I’m not. I’ve just learned ta be careful. You have to understand that giving up her sap weakens the tree. Her strength keeps the evil out there from enterin’ our forest. If she gives up her energy ta save him, she won’t have enough left ta protect all of us or herself. She could die.”
Letting out a small sigh, I said, “I’m sorry. But you need to understand that I’ll do anything to save Asten. I’m asking because it’s the proper way to do things, but I…I need him. He’s got to live. Anything else is unacceptable.”
“Am I ta understand that you’re threatening us now? We don’t take kindly ta threats. Especially bandied about from fresh-from-the-country girls such as yerself.”
I had no idea if she’d just insulted me or complimented me. “It’s not a threat,” I said. “It’s just the way it is.”
The sprite eyed me suspiciously.
“Look,” I said. “Just give us enough to save him. That’s all I ask. We can even stay here and camp, guarding the tree while he heals, but as soon as he does, we’ll have to move along.”
“I don’t like ya vera much,” the frowning fairy said, “and furthermore—” She stopped and jerked her head upward. “No!” she shouted. “I won’t do it, ya daft bush.” She zoomed up five feet and stared at the trunk with an expression of incredulity. The leaves of the tree quivered. “Ya can’t! Don’t do this!” she screamed, shaking her fist.
The fairy flew around the trunk, shouting and pulling on her red hair. I stood up and tried to follow her erratic flight, but then a moving branch caught my attention. It passed over my head and the thin tip of it touched the trunk. Slowly, it trailed a path downward, and as it did so, light burst forth from the trunk, splitting it open as if the branch had been pulling down a zipper.
I squinted from the brightness while inside the trunk something beat. Sucking in a breath, I realized I was seeing the heart of the tree. The gleaming orb thumped in a slow, steady rhythm. It was beautiful. The tree had gotten her heart back. She’d fought off her demons just like Asten had. I smiled, but then the thin limb pierced the tree’s heart.
“No!” I called out, just as the fairy rushed down to see what was going on.
She burst into torrential sobs and grabbed hold of the trunk. “Quickly, catch the fluid that seeps from the heart,” said the fairy. “Don’t let any of it go to waste!”
I ran up to the tree and cupped my hands next to the heart. The warm and sticky white sap flowed onto my fingers. The fairy came back just as the sap threatened to spill over and brought a huge leaf that was obviously much too heavy for her, but she somehow managed to position it under my