Indigo Magic (11 page)

‘Stop right there, young lady!’

What else could I do? I pulled out my wand. ‘
Transera nos
,’ I said, and visualized the porch outside Sam’s house.

Standing by Sam’s front window, I peered inside. No movement. I thought by this time in the afternoon some of the humans would be home, but I was wrong.

The leaves of the tree in the front yard were turning red
and
orange; a few had fallen to the ground. Stepping off the porch to pick up one of the leaves, I admired its pattern and the yellow veins running through it. I brought it to my nose and sniffed the delicious spiciness of Earth.

Warm thrills travelled over me at the thought of seeing Sam Seabolt in daylight. Not only would I see him, but if everything turned out as I hoped, I’d get the chance to talk with him for a while in my human disguise.

When we’d met before, he couldn’t feel natural around me; he was too nervous about talking with a fairy. First, he thought it meant he was losing his mind and ‘seeing things’. And when he began to believe in me, I couldn’t stay visible for long because I knew Lily Morganite might be looking for me in the fey scopes. All our conversations had been short and fraught with danger. But today, it would be different. Today, maybe I could get to know him the way a human friend would do.

I mustn’t wait for him on his front porch, that much I knew. After all, I would appear to be a stranger, and human strangers didn’t make a habit of waiting for each other like that. I would go out to the street, and then when he came home I would walk towards him.

Starting down the walkway, I fumbled a little for balance. I stood on the pavement near his house, my eyes roaming over the human neighbourhood. I barely had time to admire the tree across the street with its brilliant yellow leaves before I saw Sam walking towards me. Forgetting to
pay
attention to my feet, I fell. If I hadn’t been wearing a jacket, I would have torn my skin.

‘Are you OK?’ He bent and offered me a hand.

I took it, and instantly felt pleasant heat run down my arm. ‘Thank you,’ I gasped as he pulled me up.

He blinked. ‘Do I know you?’ He seemed to be looking at the top of my head more than at my face, but I was looking at all the beautiful colours in his eyes: the amber, the hazel, and the brown lit with gold.

‘I’m Zaria,’ I answered.

His eyes met mine, and he said, ‘Whoa. Are those purple contacts?’

‘Uh,’ I answered.

‘Zaria. I’m Sam. Do you live around here?’

‘Yes,’ I lied.

‘Just move in?’

‘Yes.’

He smiled in a welcoming way. ‘You going to Coyote High?’

I nodded hesitantly. Was I giving the right answers? The word ‘high’ seemed to be a favourite with humans, and yet they were unable to fly without the help of machines.

Sam smiled more warmly. ‘Sophomore?’

With no idea what he meant I nodded again, suddenly wishing Laz were standing invisibly at my shoulder so he could guide me through these strange human customs. With all his journeys to Earth, he would surely understand.

‘That must be where I’ve seen you,’ Sam said. ‘But you’re not in any of my classes, are you?’

I shook my head. ‘I’m interested in comets,’ I said, hoping I wasn’t breaking social rules.

He lifted one eyebrow. ‘You like comets?’

‘Yes.’

Sam gave a short laugh. ‘You don’t look like an astronomy geek.’

Astronomy geek?

‘That’s OK,’ he told me, smiling. ‘I’m a geek too. And my dad’s one of the best exobiologists in the world.’ He sounded proud.

Exobiologist
. This was a human word I didn’t know. ‘I heard about him,’ I said, trying to cover my ignorance.

‘Yeah?’ He squinted at me suspiciously. ‘You know my last name?’

‘Seabolt.’

He gave me a considering look but seemed a little pleased too. ‘Did you read about my dad online?’

If I’d had my wings, they would have fluttered.
I overheard you when I was invisible
. I looked at him, unable to think of an answer. I didn’t even quite understand the question, and I was seized with fresh anger that fey children didn’t learn about modern humans. Many of our teachers hadn’t even been to Earth in fifty years!

But Sam overlooked my lack of reply. ‘My dad’s so lucky – he gets to see the comet dust up close. Did you hear about
how
they brought some here for his team to analyse?’

I nodded, but felt alarmed. ‘They didn’t bring
all
of it?’

‘Nah, they had to share it around.’ He shifted his feet but his eyes never left my face.

Would Lily Morganite know about this? ‘Where else did they take it?’

‘I think some of it’s at a lab in New York. A few other places.’

‘What other places?’ My voice was beginning to squeak.

Sam shrugged. ‘Have you Googled it?’ Another human word I didn’t know. ‘I could help you with a search, but I’m starving.’ I was sorry to hear he was so hungry. He looked a little thin, but nothing unhealthy. ‘My house is right there.’ He pointed, and seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

I spoke softly. ‘Are you asking me to visit?’

Sam tilted his head. ‘Are you from a foreign country?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m from a different land.’

‘Which one?’

I was feeling so confused, I told him the name of my world. ‘Tirfeyne.’

‘Hmmmm. Never heard of it.’ He didn’t wait for me to answer. ‘So d’you want to come over? We could get some food and do a search.’

Search? His house?

I nodded. Maybe once we were inside, he could tell me how to find the dust.

‘Don’t you have to call your mum?’ Sam asked.

I shook my head, hoping my face wouldn’t show my sadness.

‘Wow,’ he said, ‘she doesn’t make you check in, and lets you dye your hair that colour? Awesome!’

I picked up a lock of my hair and held it in front of my eyes. Same lavender sheen as ever, dull by fairy standards, but I suddenly remembered humans didn’t grow hair ‘that colour’. Theirs could be only four shades: black, brown, yellow, and the occasional red – unless they used dyes.

Sam watched me. ‘What’s wrong? Don’t you like your hair? My sister would kill for hair like that.’

‘She would?’ I gasped. From what I’d seen of Jenna, she was a good-tempered child. I didn’t think she’d want to kill anyone for anything, let alone hair. Was Leona right about humans? Did all of them – even the children – have a tendency to violence?

Sam chuckled. ‘Nice acting! Are you into theatre?’

‘Uh …’ I began to understand he wasn’t serious about his sister. But why would he joke about killing?

He started up the steps to his porch, moving fast. Attempting to keep up with him, I stumbled again. I recovered but felt like a fool.

‘Did you hurt yourself when you fell?’ he asked, putting his hand on my arm.

‘Nothing terrible.’ Carefully I set my foot on the steps and hoped he would keep touching me.

‘You look like you’re limping.’

‘I can’t walk very fast yet.’

His eyebrow lifted again, and he kept his hand on my arm.

T
EACHERS OF FEY CHILDREN ARE OFTEN IGNORANT OF CHANGES ON
E
ARTH
. R
EGULAR VISITS TO
E
ARTH ARE NOT REQUIRED, AND ASIDE FROM A BASIC
H
UMAN
C
ULTURE CLASS, CHILDREN ARE NOT TAUGHT ABOUT HUMANS AND THEIR CUSTOMS
.

T
HEREFORE IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR ADVANCES MADE BY HUMANS TO REMAIN UNKNOWN TO LARGE PORTIONS OF THE FEY POPULATION
. M
ANY FAIRIES AND GENIES ARE UNAWARE OF THE EXTENT TO WHICH HUMAN TECHNOLOGY HAS BEGUN TO RIVAL OR EVEN TO EXCEED FEY MAGIC
. F
OR INSTANCE, HUMANS CAN NOW COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER INSTANTLY, REGARDLESS OF HOW FAR APART THEY MAY BE, AN ACHIEVEMENT SURPASSING FEY ABILITIES
. A
ND THEY HAVE CREATED MANY FANCIFUL TOYS FOR THEIR CHILDREN
.

Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

SAM’S HEARTH ROOM
had two beige couches and a big chair so puffy it could have been a nest. Little tables stood on the ends of the couches and on either side of the chair.

Reaching into his pocket, Sam pulled out a red object that I’d seen him use on my very first visit to Earth. He tossed it to me. As I caught it, he asked, ‘Do you want to use my phone to search while I get us food?’

I had no idea what to do. We had studied telephones in Human Culture class, but if this was a phone, my teachers had been behind the times about what they told us. As usual. And this ‘phone’ made me nervous. It had caused me no end of trouble the last time I’d seen it.

I held it out to Sam. ‘Would
you
search?’ I asked.

‘Sure, if you want.’ He took back the phone then touched the front, making a small screen light up. ‘Comet dust,’ he muttered, and pressed some keys under the screen, which flashed. Letters began to appear. To me, it looked like magic.

‘Got it!’ He stood next to me, holding the phone so I could see words roll up the screen as he talked. ‘Besides New York and CU, some of it went to Harvard. Stanford. Some to the University of Chicago. They loaned a little to Munich. Oh, and Oxford.’

I tried mightily to remember my Earth studies, but I didn’t know those places. ‘Do you have something I can write on?’

‘I could just send you the links. What’s your number?’

Links?
‘I’d rather write it down.’ I hoped I didn’t sound as bewildered as I felt.

‘OK.’ He handed me his phone and walked into the next
room
. Returning with a pad of paper, he gave it to me along with a pen. At least these things were familiar to me. My mother’s writing desk held a small stash of paper. And as for human-made pens, although they were banned in Feyland, everyone knew they were much easier to use than quills.

‘I’m gonna get a snack,’ Sam said. ‘Want anything?’

‘No, thank you.’

When he left the room I studied the little screen. It was like looking at a page in a small book, except the letters were lit up. The words ‘comet dust NASA Exlander’ repeated several times. I didn’t know how to make the words move as Sam had done. When I tried pressing buttons, all the letters vanished.

I could hear Sam opening cupboards and handling dishes. It wouldn’t take him long to come back. Drawing my wand, I pointed it at the phone. ‘Show me the locations of the comet dust.’

The screen flashed, and the list of names and locations came back. Stowing my wand, I began writing. I enjoyed the steady, even flow of ink from the pen.

I was taking down the address of the last place on the list when Sam came in carrying a plate piled with food. ‘You sure you don’t want anything?’ he asked.

I shook my head, and Sam dropped onto the couch beside the table. He patted the seat next to him. ‘Sit.’

Clumsily, I did. It felt good to be with him in his human
home
, behaving like a human girl. I offered him his phone. Setting it on the table, he smiled then took a big bite of food.

I ripped the piece of paper from the pad. ‘Thank you.’ I folded it, wishing I could stay all afternoon.

‘Anytime.’

‘It didn’t say how much total dust there is.’ I tried to watch him without staring.

‘I don’t know the exact number of grams or anything,’ he said, ‘but it’s, y’know, about as much as the tip of your thumb. That’s what my dad said, anyway.’

That’s all?
‘Do they keep it guarded?’

‘Oh yeah, tons of security. The scientists have to sign for it and pass a clearance – all that stuff.’

Pass a clearance?
I felt muddled. On Tirfeyne, valuable items would be locked in iron and watched by gnomes. Or placed with the king and queen inside the sapphire stronghold on the Island of Anshield. ‘Oh,’ I said.

‘Yeah, the rocket they sent into the comet cost about a zillion dollars, so they’re really careful with it, y’know.’

Of course. Humans had used their technology to fly into a comet and bring some of its dust back to Earth. I didn’t doubt they were careful.

Sam looked wistful. ‘It’d be awesome to get that close to something that’s flown all over the solar system. Wish I could. But they won’t let me near it, even though I’m Dr Seabolt’s son.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. I’d like to grant his wish. All I’d need to do was visit Sam once I had stolen some of the comet dust. But how would I explain what I’d done? He would know me for a thief – a thief who would steal from his father.

I should go.

I had what I needed now. Much as I longed to stay beside Sam, time was passing. I had to get to the comet dust ahead of Lily Morganite. And if I didn’t go now, it would only become more difficult to leave, because every minute I spent with Sam he seemed more fascinating. I wasn’t sure why. It was like being enchanted.

I stood up carefully so I wouldn’t fall over. ‘Thank you for helping me.’

‘Going already?’ He stood too, and I could hear his breath, a little quicker and louder than it had been a few seconds before.

I wished I could explain that I was trying to stay ahead of an evil fairy. ‘I’m late.’ I stuffed the list of locations into a pocket in my Earth trousers.

‘Too bad.’ Sam picked up his phone. ‘Can I snap a pic? For my sister.’

I put both my hands up, furiously shaking my head no.

‘Camera shy?’ He sounded surprised.

‘Yes,’ I said firmly.

He put the phone down. ‘It’s fun talking to a girl about
comets,’
he said, and his face turned a little red. ‘Especially a girl with purple eyes.’

I smiled. ‘It’s fun talking to a boy with eyes full of amber light.’ I wanted to touch his cheek and I didn’t stop myself. The minute I reached out, he did too and put his hand over mine. I could feel the pulse in his palm against my skin, and I wanted to kiss him, though I knew such a thing was absolutely forbidden.

Pulling back, I turned for the door.

‘Do you want me to walk you home?’ Sam asked. ‘Where’s your house?’

‘Not far.’
Depending on which portal you use
. ‘But don’t come with me.’ It would be very awkward trying to keep up with my lies.