Seeking the Fae (Daughter of Light #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,1

blue door.” I never knew what lay beyond and my mother never told me. “When you’re ready,” she’d say and leave it at that.

My mother and I were the last seekers left in all of Faerie. Any object you desired, we could find. A relic, a treasure, a book, a lost family heirloom, a person. Nothing was off limits to my seeker magic. What my mother searched for day after day, on the other side of that door … I had no idea. I just knew that it was of upmost importance to Faerie and that one day she would tell me.

Trissa spun and took my face into her hands. All trace of tears were gone. That hardened gritty soldier I’d come to love and trust was back.

“Listen, Lily, this wasn’t how she wanted to hand things over to you, but you must pull yourself together and be strong when you present yourself to her. Understand?”

I realized then that I was openly sobbing. Tears stained my nightshirt and my cheeks. My eyes must be blotchy and red. If my mother was going to greet my ancestors in the realm of the dead tonight, I wouldn’t want her to depart this plane with worry and fear for me.

I nodded, wiped my eyes and straightened my back, flicking my shimmering crystalline wings up into the air. “I’m ready.”

My hand shook as I reached out and took the cool brass handle. I’d touched it once, on a dare from my friend Tobin. It had vibrated then and freaked me out, so I’d let go and we’d run off giggling. It did so now too, but much less and I wasn’t scared this time. I wanted to see my mom, to be with her.

The lock was a crystal that sensed my energy and seeker bloodline and allowed me to turn the knob. Without ceremony, I yanked the door back and stepped inside. I don’t know what I expected: a great library; maybe a room full of crystals or rare objects that my mother had collected for the elders; dragon’s scales; pixie dust; anything … but not this. I’d stepped into … a fancy apartment. Purple walls greeted me with shiny hardwood floors, and a siren blared out the window, turning my attention to … a view of downtown New York City. The Statue of Liberty could just barely be seen in the distance. Confusion crossed my face, and then it hit me.

“The blue door is a portal?” I said almost to myself.

If we wanted to see the human world, we had to swim at the edge of the shield and into the blue lagoon to touch the enchanted shell. I’d been to the human world many times growing up as a part of my seeker training, since objects the elders needed were often in the human world, but I’d never in a million years thought the blue door was a portal. I figured when my mom went to earth she used the enchanted shell portal.

“It’s many things, child. This way.” Trissa weaved in and out of the living room and past a kitchen with dishes piled high as I followed her numbly. Child was her nickname for me even though I was twenty winters old.

“Mother!” I seemed to remember my reason for being here and picked up my pace, tearing through the apartment.

I’m in shock. I’m not thinking right. This isn’t happening.

“We’re back here!” I recognized Kira’s voice and felt a small measure of relief. She was the best healer Faerie had. One of the only healers Faerie had. Just her and her clumsy sister Nika. The rest perished when our lands fell into darkness.

When we rounded the corner and came upon the bathroom, a strangled cry left my throat. My mother was draped halfway out of the tub … a tub filled with her blood. Her normally thick candy-pink hair hung in wet clumps and stuck to her arms. Trissa reached out and grabbed my arm, hard. I was openly weeping again without realizing. The pain on my arm shook me from my grief, and I pulled myself together.

Kira bowed deeply to me. “I’ve tried everything. I’m sorry, Lily.” She was a healer and her bow was telling me this was it and nothing could be done. That alone crushed any hope I’d had that my mother would be healed.

I fell to my knees as my mom’s eyes tracked the room to find me. She was so beautiful, even now. Hair the color