Seasons of Ferne, Summer's Passion

Chapter 39

"But it's going to disorient you, weaken you. Once crossed over you must act quickly to fortify the dark one's prison. The spell is already breaking, but because the liminal was created so close to the prison it will drain that magic as well to stay alive as long as it can. You must get to the prison before the dark man breaks free."

Evelyn nodded. "Fine. What do I have to do when I get to it?"

"Just place your hand upon it and use the same green magic that you would to grow a flower. It will scratch you with its thorns and take a drop of your blood, but nothing more painful than stepping through a briar patch."

"And that's all?"

"That's all," Puck said.

"What if the doorway's still open? You said it's close, right? Can't I cross back over before it closes?"

Puck frowned sadly. "No, Eve. I'm sorry. You'll be too weak to cross back over, the force of it will destroy you."

Fresh tears formed in Evelyn's eyes. "What good is a doorway if you can't go both ways?"

"You're stepping across worlds, Eve. Not between rooms."

"Puck, tell me the truth. Is this the only way to save Brandon? Can't I smash the ring apart, or throw it into the ocean or something?" Evelyn asked, clinging to one last thread of hope. Fresh tears ran down Puck's cheeks, barely visible in the faint light. The expression on his face when he looked into her eyes made Evelyn's heart sink like a stone.

"No, Eve. The ring was enchanted by the queen herself. Its magic's unbreakable, and tied to his life forever. It would take an enchanted tool to destroy it. And even if you managed to find something like that, the moment the stone broke so would he. Brandon would die with its destruction."

"Fine," Evelyn said, feeling her heart break for what seemed the thousandth time that night. "Do it."

"Give me your necklace, Eve. It's the only thing that will open the door."

Evelyn reached back with trembling hands and fumbled with the latch. Her arms felt as if they weighed hundreds of pounds, her fingers felt dead. It was as if her body was fighting to stay in the word it knew. After what seemed an eternity Evelyn managed to take it from her neck and drop it into Puck's waiting hand. "I want that back," she said with venom.

"I promise. It's your soul stone, Eve. I would never keep it from you."

Necklace in hand, Puck jumped onto the trunk and climbed up into the darkness. Evelyn watched from the ground, curious as to what it would take to open the door. Soon after Puck dropped silently back onto the ground beside her, nothing more than a black shadow against the darkness of the night.

"Did something go wrong?" Evelyn whispered.

Puck didn't have to answer. A thundering crack, accompanied by a flash of intense green light that exploded high above their heads filled the air. The sudden fury of the blast banished both the night's darkness and the forest's silence in one fell swoop. Evelyn yelped and jumped back as the mighty trunk split down the middle violently, tearing open a wide fissure.

The light high above began to grow and swirl, thickening into swirling clouds of flashing light and powerful winds. Night became day as magical lighting emanated from the storm and struck trees and earth without prejudice, calm became chaos as thunder and high winds rang brutally in Evelyn's ears.

Then, as if sucked in by a powerful force, the glowing storm funneled into the fissure in a single, tornado-like mass. Movement from above caught Evelyn's eye as a dark, round shape fell tumbling into the contained storm. It came to a stop four of five feet from the ground, hovering vertically just in front of Evelyn. It looked to her like a large, stone bowl, spinning slowly around as if on a string, unaffected by the fury of the storm. It stopped its movement the moment Evelyn was able to see within its depths. Contained impossibly inside was not only her necklace, but a churning mass of liquid water.