Finding Elora

Chapter 1

ABBY

My back aches, and I stretch it out with a low groan as I push open my apartment door. It squeaks, the hinges in desperate need of some grease, and I make a mental note to call the maintenance man about it tomorrow morning.

There's quiet music playing inside the apartment, and the lights are all dimmed. I frown, already knowing what that means as I step inside and kick off my shoes.

Lill must not be feeling well.

The messy entryway proves it. Lill's sensitive about her inability to work, and she's made it her personal mission to scrub our apartment head to toe during the weekdays. I come home to the scent of dinner and lemon cleaner almost daily.

I smell neither today.

Sighing, I bend and reorganize our shoes on the rack before heading down the narrow hallway that leads to the kitchen and living area. Our apartment is small, but it's cozy, and I plaster a smile on my face as I step into the kitchen.

The curtains in the living room and kitchen have been drawn, which explains why the place is so dark. It's only six, so we have a few hours before the sun begins to set. Lill usually loves the light, but I know it makes her eyes hurt when her headaches get bad.

Lill's standing at the kitchen counter making her special tea, her headache cap strapped securely around her head. She hasn't noticed me yet, and I carefully step forward to peer inside the canister sitting on the counter.

She always keeps it hidden in her room, but I need to see how much tea she has left.

My heart lurches as I see just how little remains.

It's made with a special plant Lill needs to survive, and while she only needs to ingest a small amount every few weeks to keep the magic in her body alive, she's running out. Her mother traveled to the human realm with eight canisters, but six were destroyed during their escape.

This is the last one, and I have no idea how long she'll be able to stretch out the little bit that's left.

"Hey, Lill," I say.

Lill jolts and spins around, her eyes wide with fear before she realizes it's just me behind her.

I used to joke that she could hear a mouse scurrying up a wall from three rooms over, but her senses are dulled now that she's cutting back on her already small dosage of tea. I try to keep my worry out of my expression, but I can tell Lill recognizes it.

She carries the weight of her guilt and shame in her shoulders.

"How are you feeling?" I ask before she can yell at me for scaring her.

Lill straightens her spine and stands tall, but I see right through it. She's extraordinarily beautiful, but it's clear that she's unhealthy. She's always been thin, but she's lost so much weight this past year that she's practically skin and bones now. It's jarring, and even her once vibrant hair and bright eyes are dull.

My family thinks she has an eating disorder, they whisper about it whenever I come home to visit. They're worried about her, but there's no way to explain that she's a faerie who's dying because she's living in a realm without the magic her body needs to survive.

That would raise a lot of questions, and my parents would probably try to have me admitted to a hospital.

I wish Lill's sickness were as easy as an eating disorder. That's a serious issue on its own, but at least it's something with the hope of a cure. There's no way around the lack of magic here. Lill's going to die, and there's nothing I can do about it.