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  And the wrong man was in control.

  I opened my mouth to shout. Tell him he’d be a fool to do it.

  Quentin’s hand came up and covered my lips to stop the words. He shook his head, his eyes boring into mine. Like he was trying to make me see what he was thinking.

  I couldn’t.

  The magic was gone.

  All we could do was watch.

  The room took on a purple glow. Each gem became a giant amethyst color. Even the one in his hand.

  The sapphire, which I miraculously still had around my neck, burned my neck. It had to have sizzled against my skin. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. “Get it off, get it off.” I reached up and tried to claw at it, but I was so weak, I couldn’t make my fingers work the clasp.

  Quentin didn’t say anything, but the look on his face scared me. Because he looked scared. I could only imagine I’d carry around the scar of this, a permanent necklace.

  “Please, hurry.” Sweat slid down my back and sides. I wanted to escape and find that dark, cool place again. It burned. God, it hurt.

  “You lied to me!” Mr. B roared and lunged at us. His eyes had gone black, his lips curled up in a snarl that would frighten a rabid dog. He was evil, through and through. Tangibly evil.

  Quentin reached out and grabbed the sapphire, ripping it from my neck. But I knew it was no good. Powerless against the circle of ten. It was, in essence, nothing more than a pretty knock-off gem.

  “You lied.” Bergestein repeated, his voice lowering to an evil hiss.

  I shrank back, expecting him to turn into something dragon-like and attack us with teeth bared.

  It sizzled. The sapphire actually sizzled in Quentin’s palm. I cringed, feeling his pain and knowing it had done the same to my own skin.

  For a moment I thought he’d juggle or drop it, but almost as if he were unaware of the way his hand blistered beneath the gold, he turned and looked at the circle.

  Then hurled the stone, necklace and all, into the center of it.

  “Quentin!” I screamed, wincing and waiting for the big kaboom. But then I knew I must have mirrored his own unhinged jaw look when the piece of jewelry simply bounced off the circle and lay crumpled on the ground at Mr. B’s feet.

  Why couldn’t it have all been Candid Camera way back that first day? Why couldn’t Quentin and I have escaped to live strangely—happily was pushing it, I realized—ever after? Why now, why this? And why did I feel like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, crumbling my knees and stealing the breath from my lungs?

  Mr. B growled, and once again the two of them lunged for a gem.

  And all I could think of was no one, and I mean no one back home would believe this. Even Jeannie. God, I missed her. Much as I hated to admit it, I did. And Jess and Karl and my mom and dad.

  If I failed this mission—and I didn’t think there was a mission left at this point in the game—I’d never see them again.

  Mr. B reached up with the sapphire and placed it in the top of the circle. The sapphire stone was a mystery to me, even now. Sam had never spoken of it.

  But then he set the tenth gem into place and things started happening. Fast.

  Rainbows scattered on the walls, tiny prisms set off from the spinning gems. Rather pretty for something so evil.

  At least Quentin wasn’t pleased. He looked downright pissed. His eyes were a storm cloud black, his brows low over them. For some reason, that scared me. Maybe because it wasn’t what I expected.

  Whose side was he on? His own? I finally realized yes, perhaps, he could be. But where did I fit in on that?

  The room started to hum and vibrate from the spinning gems. This had to be what it was like inside an erupting volcano. Maybe not as hot, but one hundred percent as intense.

  “Stop it. Stop him!” I gasped. My efforts would probably get me two feet closer and then face down on the floor. I was drained, beat and helpless.

  I was yelling at Quentin, but he didn’t even twitch.

  Someone, however, responded.

  My legs gave way, half-exhaustion, half-relief. Quentin noticed that, and scooped me up under my shoulders to prop me back up. His attention was on the circle.

  Until Mr. B saw what I had seen.

  Quentin gasped, his fingers tightening on my upper arm.

  Winzey was here.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The tiny fairy flapped and fluttered around Bergestein’s head as if daring him to zap her.

  When he tried, she darted away. She was too fast.

  Thank God.

  “Winzey,” I breathed. I didn’t expect her to stop whatever she was doing and come over to make nice. Especially since I had the feeling she had come to save my ass.

  “It’s too late, El, it’s started already.”

  Started? What? I looked at the gems. And Winzey, who was flying in and out of the circle so quickly her wings resembled a hummingbird. Then I saw it, a line—not fire, but not something solid either—starting to connect the gems.

  “What is she doing?”

  Quentin pulled me down to the floor along with him. “Have you written your will?”

  I looked down at my torn gown, felt my knotted hair. Besides that, all I had was a pair of useless beads strung around my neck. What would I leave behind anyway? Who would I leave it to? Like it’d get shipped to Jess or anything.

  “Wait a minute. Why?” Mr. B wasn’t on a suicide mission. And while I doubted he was going to just let us walk away, we weren’t strung up on the noose…yet. I squeezed Quentin’s arm. What was he saying?

  “Either way, it’s all over here.”

  “But this is what he wanted. The ultimate power. The circle is complete.”

  “It’s tainted,” he hissed.

  I could barely hear him for the rumble that filled the room, the low grade hum that vibrated the very floor where we lay. Surely I had misunderstood him. “Tainted?” Now Quentin wanted to talk in riddles. It was my, albeit meaningless, existence on the line here and the one person I’d trusted all along was playing mind games with me. I came real close to bursting into tears. “How? Talk to me.”

  He was so calm, as if he hadn’t made that comment about the will in his previous breath. “He’s not controlling it. She is.”

  I squinted up at the circle. Winzey looked frantic. Control? I wouldn’t believe it.

  A low rumbling shook the foundation. Like a far away earthquake. But then I heard it, almost a growl. Lou? I stifled a nervous laugh. He’d probably leave me to die in the rubble for all the good I was to his cause. Chances were the vibrations were from the building power. It filled the room, heavy and thick.

  Of course, it could be Mr. B. I had been so busy watching Winzey I hadn’t paid any attention to him. I feared for all of us. He looked mad enough to shoot lightning out his eyes and fire from his fingertips.

  I couldn’t imagine what Winzey was trying to do. The gems were being connected one by one, despite what looked like her attempts to stop it. She flew around and around.

  Until Mr. B reached out and grabbed her.

  “No!” Quentin and I both shouted.

  He dropped her, limp and lifeless to the floor.

  “No,” I screamed again. I crawled toward her, heedless of Mr. B and Quentin and the circle above me. It didn’t matter. The bastard had hurt my friend. Truly, the one who was always faithful to me.

  I lifted her, cradled her. She was so tiny. But like a little rag doll. “Please, please, Winzey, come back to me. Help me. Help me.”

  “Put her in the circle. Stop the cycle.”

  No one in the room had spoken. No one appeared to have heard it but me.

  “Don’t let the connection reach the blue stone.”

  Lou.

  I looked up at the circle, so high above me. The connection was moving quicker now. And I had the solution in my hands, a dainty human of the smallest scale, and yet her wings, her glittery hair, it was all so magical, but at that moment so lifele
ss. My heart was tearing out. And he wanted me to put her in the circle?

  Quentin pulled me up. “There’s nothing we can do.”

  The power built. The energy radiating was awesome. And it scared me nearly to death. But I alone could stop it now.

  “Lord, forgive me.” I didn’t know how God felt about fairies. I didn’t know how he felt about me, the prodigal’s daughter, but I hoped somehow he was listening. Maybe Lou had an in with him.

  Her little body trembled in my hand. Maybe if she woke up, her magic could stop it. I was so intently watching her eyelids for a tiny flicker I hadn’t realized Mr. B was right behind me until he spoke.

  “Give me the fairy.”

  I tightened my fist at his words. No way was I turning this precious thing over to him. “No.”

  He put out his hand.

  As if. Nothing in the world would make me turn Winzey over to him.

  He lunged.

  I fell back.

  Quentin leapt.

  While those two wrestled, my brain tried to get a toe-hold on what I had to do. Seemed a lot like putting your best friend on a set of railroad tracks with the train in sight. But I did it, albeit with a shaking hand.

  Bergestein had to go down. Even if Winzey and I had to go with him. It was just the way things worked.

  The neon light continued to link gem to gem. The deep roar continued. It was all going to blow. All I could do was hope it came fast and painless.

  The grunt and clashes behind me had me at wit’s end. Quentin’s cry—certainly not a victory cry—had me giving up watching the countdown to doom and awkwardly rushing to him.

  Bergestein was fighting like a man without magic—whether he possessed it or not, I’d no way of guessing, but his punches and kicks were nothing more than Quentin’s. He just had more weight than Quentin.

  Which left my last hope of escaping this room and perhaps the building knocked unconscious against the wall.

  “Quentin!” I crawled the few remaining feet to him.

  Big mistake.

  Huge.

  Mr. B went straight for Winzey and plucked her from the circle like a piece of lint from his trousers.

  I continued to fail.

  Was I just a loser by nature or was this a learned trait? Didn’t matter—at least I hadn’t passed it on to any children.

  And suddenly I was picturing a little boy who looked just like Quentin. Tears couldn’t be dammed up any longer. What was the saying about Hell and a woman scorned?

  Mr. B had stood up and seemed to be ignoring the two of us. His mistake. I dove, using every bit of momentum I could find, right at his knees.

  Of course, he was twice my size and merely took a step backwards from the impact. He did, however, throw his hands up in the air to balance. Which must have freed Winzey.

  First I thought she just arced limply across the room.

  Then I realized it. She was flying.

  “Winzey, help us!” I reached out for her, but she avoided my hand and flew arrow straight at the circle.

  I saw why. The circle had become bright red. It was nearly complete.

  She screamed. It tore my heart with a certainty that she had sacrificed herself, unselfishly. Something I couldn’t have done.

  The flash that followed was immediate and intense. What I’d imagine a nuclear bomb to be like. The blinding white light lasted less than a second, then all went black.

  Sam stood over me, shaking his head. He must have sensed I was awake or he’d woken me up himself. He clucked and said, “You really know how to make things happen, don’t you?”

  I squinted against the most agonizing pain I ever remember feeling. A breath-stealing combination of physical and emotional grief in its purest form. “Am I alive?” Surely there was no pain in heaven, and since Sam was here and there weren’t any flaming fires or red men with pitchforks, I didn’t think I’d gone the other way.

  “Yes. Alive. And lucky to say that.”

  I let out my breath. “Did we, did I…” If I was alive then we had to have achieved something.

  “Somehow, yes, the plan was executed. But not without a price.”

  I slumped down. I’d really hoped it was all a bad, bad dream. That I’d imagined the silly charade. Made it a mental worst case scenerio.

  Not so.

  “Ella,” the voice boomed from the edge of the valley. Not thunder, but a welcome, fatherly tone.

  I studied Sam’s reaction. Maybe a little surprise. But maybe, then again, welcome wasn’t the correct description for the summons.

  “Go on, quit analyzing and face the truth, Ella,” Sam prodded.

  I wasn’t feeling up to it. Not up to anything. I should have died. I deserved to have died.

  So what had saved me?

  “Lou?” I turned to the voice that called me, expecting to see his imagine in the pool.

  “Over here, Ella.” I followed the sound of his voice. A man sat in the once broken rock throne. Only now it glowed like mother-of-pearl marble and stood majestically at the end of the wide open meadow.

  My jaw should have bruised my toes as I gaped. Lou was…awe-inspiring. Certainly wizard-clad, but he looked like a slightly older version of Sam.

  Incredible. “Lou?”

  As he nodded, the gems that circled the stone behind him shot to life with glittering sparks.

  “Come closer, Ella. Do not be afraid.”

  Yeah, right. But I was more afraid of not listening to his command. I stepped carefully, cautiously, as if walking on eggshells.

  “Come here.” Lou raised a hand that glittered with a sapphire ring.

  He must have seen the expression I couldn’t keep off my face. “Yes, Ella, even the ring had been stripped from me. It had been my wife’s. The Fairies fashioned it into a ring for me.”

  He slid it from his finger and let it reflect the glorious sunlight. Pure, like the sky, like the deep sea.

  “It’s yours.”

  I couldn’t. “No.” I put my hand out to stop him.

  “It’s rightly yours. It holds no power now, only beauty, the way a gem should. Please take it. Without you I would not have it to give.”

  Riddles, riddles. Without him, I wouldn’t be here to accept it. But I didn’t say anything out loud. That would be too much. I stepped up to him and knelt before him. It felt right.

  “Get up. I’m not a king or a god or a lord. I’m Lou.”

  Sorry. He’d never be “just” Lou.

  The ring was placed in my outstretched hand. It was miles too big for my fingers. Even if I sized it, it was too large to wear on my hand. Perhaps a choker, a brooch. Maybe someday. I couldn’t imagine wearing it for a long, long time.

  I closed my fingers over it, still feeling undeserving. It warmed my skin, almost pulsed. I looked back up at Lou. He said it had no magic, yet I felt its energy. Warmth. Like a loved one’s hug slid up my arm and touched my soul.

  “Thank you, Ella, and you presume correctly. The stone itself will always carry something. But you won’t be able to use it, only feel it.” He winked. “But I can allow this. Guard it, respect it, and it may protect you.”

  My eyes fell. My knees gave way slightly and I continued their motion with a curtsey. “Thank you, Lou. Thank you. I don’t deserve this.” Tears threatened. It ached so bad.

  “Which is why you’ll never have magic again. Never.”

  Even though I expected it, the words crushed my innards and left me hollow. Where would I go? What would I do? Everything I had, identity, all if it, had been destroyed.

  “I’ll grant you one wish. You faced some tough decisions. Heart decisions. And I’m proud of you for standing true to yourself and being willing to sacrifice.”

  “Winzey,” I blurted without hesitation. “I want Winzey back. Alive.”

  “That’s your wish? When you could be Ella Mansfield again and have life restored as it was before. I could make this all a dream.”

  But Winzey would still be dead. I shook
my head, shaking out the notion he was telling me exactly what I wanted.

  “Winzey,” I insisted.

  He snapped his fingers and from the base of the waterfall flew the most beautiful sight I’d seen so far. She was glorious, if possible, more vibrant than before.

  She buzzed around my head, kissed my cheek and then settled atop Lou’s throne.

  “That was a noble wish.”

  I bowed my head. But I knew. For once I was very proud of myself and my decision. No matter what, I’d done the right thing. “It was what I wanted, sir. I could not accept fortune or happiness while carrying the burden of guilt.” My mom always told me one day I’d get serious. This was certainly that time. A preview of judgment day, I ventured to guess.

  “What will happen to me now? I know I can’t stay here. But will you drop me back in my hometown or just outside the island to fend for myself?”

  “I wouldn’t have asked you to waste your wish on a ride home. Even though I suggested so. Are you ready?”

  I clasped my hands behind my back and braced myself. “Yes.”

  A tear slid down my cheek. My eyes burned. It was over. The adventure to end all adventures had ended. Somehow I’d been involved in defeating the bad guy and saving the world. But I’d made friends—Sam, Lou, Winzey…Quentin.

  The pain centered over my chest. The axe of grief cut through skin and bone and left me raw. And I cried—standing there as still as a statue, I silently wept for my lost heart.

  I only regretted I’d heard the words from him only once, and had not answered him back. I had truly loved him, despite his issues. Despite my own.

  “Ella?”

  Even now, I could hear him calling me in gentle concern. Stop! I had to get a grip. I sniffed and blinked the dampness out of my eyes. “I’m ready, Lou. Let’s do it.”

  “Ella.”

  Quentin. It was his voice.

  Was this another test? I was so scared to turn, afraid I’d see Quentin standing there, yet so afraid I wouldn’t. I knew I couldn’t handle the disappointment.

  I didn’t have to wait, God bless the procrastinator in me. A warm, gentle hand squeezed my shoulder and spun me into waiting arms.