"No, no, no, no!"
Puck looked at Brandon quizzically. "What do you mean, no?"
"What do I mean? What do you think I mean? I'm not going to let her get herself killed! Especially not by some fairy queen who belongs in a freaking book!"
"Brandon..." Evenly said, sliding beside him on the ground.
"No, no," Brandon said, putting his hand up irritably. "You don't belong to his world, you belong to this world! Why should you have to risk your life going there when you're perfectly safe here?"
"Because we can all die if she doesn't!" Puck yelled, jumping to his feet. "Without her we face war!"
"So what!" Brandon screamed, jumping to his own feet. "She's not a part of your world anymore! How dare you risk her life to save your own ass!"
"She's always been a part of our world! It's still her world! She was brought here so she could survive until this moment! Someone like her, she would have been at risk every second of every day until she was strong enough to fight for herself. We brought her here to protect her, to keep her safe! We didn't bring her here to stay forever. One day, one day soon, she's going to have to come home and fulfil her purpose!" Puck was breathing heavy from the effort of screaming, his skin turning darker and darker shades of red.
Evelyn stood, placing her hand on Brandon's arm. "It's OK, Brandon. It won't be forever, just long enough to do what I have to do."
Brandon shook his head, his face showing more fear than concern. "It's not how long it takes that worries me. Look around, look at what he's done and what he's capable of! Hell, he even kidnapped two people without breaking a sweat! Now I'm supposed to sit back and let him take you in front of some queen who's even more powerful than he is, and who by all accounts will be more than happy to kill you if she sees you as a threat? How am I supposed to live with this if you never come back?"
"The queen won't be able to touch her until the spell is recharged." Puck interrupted. "She needs Eve to make sure the prison will survive. Right now it's only being held together by a group of spell casters, but it won't hold long."
"Tell us about that, what is this spell and how can I strengthen it?" Evelyn asked the question eagerly, grateful for the chance of subject. She gripped Brandon's arm tightly and sat, gently but firmly pulling him down beside her.
Puck sensed his opportunity and dropped to the ground, even more relieved with the change than Evelyn, though for different reasons. "It's an entrapment spell," he said, settling into the thick moss beside the pool. He waved his hand over the water once more, summoning the image of what looked like a thick, tangled mass of moving vines. Evelyn had the impression of looking at a ball of snakes, tightly coiled together and moving over and amongst each other. Surrounding the mass was a ring of dark, cloaked figures, six in all, their features blackened by a ring of brightly burning torches that surrounded the entire scene. The figured uttered words Evelyn couldn't understand or even fully hear in a repeating, dreamlike song.
"What you're looking at is the living cage Oberon summoned around both himself and the dark man. Oberon sacrificed himself in battle to entrap the dark man within, a cage that no human could possibly hope to survive."
"So the dark man's human?" Evelyn asked.
Puck nodded. "He was, but not anymore. At least not fully. I gave you a vison of this once Eve, you saw the battle."
Evelyn shivered, remembering all too well the nightmare. "You gave me that dream?"
"I had to Eve, so you could see and feel the dark man's evil. That way you would understand how important it is to maintain the spell."
"So then how did he survive if he was human?" Brandon asked, eyes transfixed on the strange ceremony taking place within the pool.
"Betrayal," Puck said simply. "He was Oberon's executioner, you see. A human brought from this world into ours. For centuries Oberon kept him alive and young, even allowing him to marry one of Titania's favored handmaidens. But in secret he practiced forbidden blood magic. An evil and corrupt form of magic usable only to humans. Upon taking a life he was able to steal the energies of his victim and transfer it all into himself. Their powers, their lifespan, their soul. Each time he performed the magic he became stronger, and he performed it secretly with each execution."
"But how would he be able to get away with that? Wouldn't he have been seen, and stopped?" Evelyn asked.
"No," Puck said sadly. "It broke Oberon's heart to sentence a Fae to death, so executions were always private. That has since changed, of course, but at the time it allowed him to steal the energies out of countless Fae. Not even Oberon knew how many, as not even he knew when the dark man perfected his art."
"And he did it to Oberon..." Evelyn whispered, her expression one of shock and sudden understanding.
"Yes, and that is why the spell is breaking. The dark man took in Oberon's energy and placed it within himself. He now has the magic of the most powerful Fae in all of creation flowing within his veins, along with countless others. If he was to break free, the war would start over once more. This time, though, he would be more powerful than ever." Puck's skin had gone pale, as if the fear of what could be was physically draining the life from his body.
"So why her? Why can't the queen strengthen the spell herself and leave Evelyn out of this?" Brandon asked, his irritation growing.
"Because she's the only living descendent of Oberon himself. His blood flows through her veins, as does his magic. As it was Oberon who cast the spell, it's his magic that's needed to strengthen it. Not the queen's. Eve will not only have to master her green magic, but she'll have to give a part of her life's blood as well. Not a lot, not enough to hurt her, just enough to flow within the living plants of the cage."
"The vines," Evelyn said.
Puck nodded, turning back to Evelyn. "Yes, the vines. With your blood, willingly given, the life magic you place into the spell would be able to maintain itself forever. It would be able to heal itself against the efforts the dark man is taking against it from within. Right now he's breaking the spell apart, slowly, but it's breaking. With Eve's help, the spell will be too strong even for the dark man to escape. It's the only way to keep him from starting a second war."
"OK, ok," Brandon interrupted, shaking his head. "I think I'm starting to understand why you want Evelyn to go back. What I'm not understanding is why this guy hasn't just been killed? Can't the queen take care of him when he breaks loose? You said she's the strongest one of you alive, so she should be the one to step up and take care of him. Then Evelyn wouldn't have to go, right?"
Puck's skin flushed red with anger. "Haven't you been listening? Oberon himself couldn't kill him! An entire army of Fae couldn't stop him! He's too powerful! If not for the fact that the dark man is human and can't summon the magic he's stolen from countless Fae the kingdom would have already been lost! It almost was lost!"
"How?" Brandon screamed. "How could one guy take down a kingdom? He'd need an army at his back too! Why would any of you fairies want to fight for him?"
"It was the mechanicals he got to fight us! Not the Fae, the humans! Your kind! Your evil, evil kind! He influenced them, made them rise up against us! The dark man and his army almost destroyed us the last time! Untold numbers of Fae were lost, countless families destroyed! That's why he must remain trapped! That's why Eve has to go back! The only one who can prevent all that death from happening again is her!"
Brandon and Puck both visibly shook with rage, and although Evelyn could sense Puck holding himself back, she knew his self-control wouldn't last. "OK you two, enough!" she screamed, standing herself up between them. "Brandon, this is my decision, not yours. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I'm a big girl who can run her own life! I made Puck a promise that I would help him, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm not leaving forever! Like I already told you, I'll go there, get this done and come home! For now, I need you to help me learn what I need to do to stay safe while I'm there, not drag on a pointless fight that's doing nothing more than wasting what little time we have!"
Brandon's expression turned both grim and defeated. Evelyn felt his anger fade into fear and sorrow, visibly deflating him. Brandon dropped to the ground and put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Evelyn," he said softly. "This is just a lot to take in, you know? I'm just... I'm not willing to lose you..."
Evelyn knelt beside him, her own guilt building as she felt his desperate concern for her. She leaned in, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I know, I really do. And I'm not willing to lose you either. That's why I have to learn how to control my magic, so I can be safe and come back to you as soon as possible."
Puck watched the exchange silently, grateful for Evelyn's outburst. "So why are we still fighting? Eve, we need to get to work."
Evelyn nodded slowly, kissing the top of Brandon's head as she stood. "OK," she said taking a deep breath, "what's first?"
Puck kept the spells simple for the rest of the afternoon. He made Evelyn grow plants out of seeds, had her heal small breaks in branches using the energy of the wounded plant itself rather than her own. He explained that using her magic would weaken her temporarily, but the more she used it the stronger she would become. But it would be hard to get strong enough to do what was needed before she would have to leave. The stronger the spell, the more it would take out of her. He brought up the horse and how much it took out of her, even causing Evelyn to pass out. Healing a human would take even more energy, a Fae more still.
Brandon remained silent for the lessons, choosing to brood bitterly alone by the pool. Evelyn could sense he still didn't trust Puck, and could feel his fear whenever the subject of her going to the other world was brought up. It was going to take time, but Evelyn was sure that before she left she would have him calmed down and comfortable with the idea of her leaving. At least she hoped so, the thought of his strong feelings towards not wanting her to go was enough to put doubts in her mind.
"I just don't like it. I'm telling you I have a really bad feeling about all this" he told her as they left the pool.
"I know, but think of all the stories I'll have for you when I get back!" Evelyn replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Puckwatched them leave with tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't stand the thoughtof hurting her, but he didn't have a choice. "I'm sorry, Eve," he whispered tohimself as the foliage closed itself behind their backs, "but you're not comingback. Ever."