Chapter 22: A Warning

Once we scaled the side of the hill and I looked down, all I could see was shrubbery and pure darkness.

“It’s a pit.”

“That it is,” I told Alston. “What do you think we’re supposed to do now?”

He didn’t answer right away. “Well, I know that bonding entails getting through some sort of an obstacle. Maybe even a few. But I’ve never heard anything about a deep, dark pit.”

“What about those?” I pointed at a cluster of silver clouds that were floating over to us.

When I was able to get a better look, I realized that a woman sat on top of the clouds. The closer she got, the more familiar she looked, until eventually, I understood why—she was the woman I’d seen in my dreams.

“Drake,” she called out, her soft voice echoing. Her long, black hair fluttered in the wind. She smiled, her pearly white teeth glowing.

All of a sudden, her smile turned into the saddest frown. “I came to warn you, Drake. You are not like the other students at Oswalda. You’re special, and because you are, people want to hurt you.”

Shivers traveled up my spine. “Who wants to hurt me?”

“I feel a shift coming. I cannot reveal who I truly am, for it may cause harm to you and your friend. Just know that I will always love you and look out for you.”

Before I could ask her to explain herself, the woman and the clouds vanished.

“Who was that?” Alston asked.

“You live here. I was hoping you would know.”

Alston shook his head. “That’s true, but I’ve never seen her before. She must be very powerful because she had the power to block my magic. Very few people can do that.”

Alston and I gasped when we looked at our wrists, only to find identical gold rings etched into our skin. The hill started to shake. For a moment, I thought the earth was going to part and we’d fall in, but before that could happen, we ended up back where we had come from.

“Does this mean we’ve bonded?” I asked, looking down at my wrist.

“Yes, but only the pixies and the humans they’re bonded to can see this sign,” Alson explained in a hushed voice and flashed me his bracelet. “Keep whatever happened on the hill to yourself. Bonding is a very powerful and sacred thing. We are not allowed to speak of the bonding experience with anyone.”

“But what if Celestria knows that woman? What if she could help—”

“No,” Alston said, cutting me off. “I will do my best to find out who she is and what her threat means, but no one else can know. Agreed?”

I was already keeping the book of potions and my private lessons with Master Rhoslyn from Celestria. Adding another secret to the list felt wrong, but maybe Alson was right. Our bond was sacred, and if I kept this secret, so would he. Besides, Celestria was already nervous about the odd incidents at the school and the upcoming test. I didn’t want to worry her when I didn’t even know if that woman’s threats were real or not.

“Drake!” Celestria ran up to us and hugged me. Pixie Fabien wrapped his arms around Alston.

“We didn’t think Alston would bond with someone other than himself,” Chaucey teased. A swarm of pixies let out a collective giggle.

“Thanks for believing in me.” Alston crossed his arms and sat down on my shoulder, his eyebrows knit together.

“You were gone for the longest time,” Celestria said. “Did anything strange happen on the hill?”

I avoided Alston’s warning glare. “I don’t think I’m supposed to speak about the bonding.”

“Good answer,” Celestria said and gave me a playful shove. “That’s why you bonded in the first place—the pixies can sense honesty, and they’d never bond with anyone who meant to harm them or their home.”

I wasn’t completely honest, but Celestria was right to say that I didn’t want to harm anything or anyone. Actually, by keeping Master Rhoslyn’s gift and tutoring to myself, I was sparing Celestria and Kenley’s feelings.

“Ladies, I am afraid you must get going. You are being summoned,” Chaucey announced.

Celestria’s eyebrows rose. “Summoned for a good reason or a bad reason?” she asked.

“We’re powerful, but we’re not mind readers,” Alson said and kissed me on the cheek. “Until we meet again. I hope it will be soon. We haven’t had much time, and I want to learn more about you.”

“Same here. Goodbye, Alston,” I said as Celestria started to pull me away.

As we headed back to the exit, we stumbled across a tree that was taller than the rest.

“What’s this?” I asked.

Celestria ran her fingers over the initials that were carved into the bark. She smiled at the sight of the bold ~B~ and a wispy ~F~, then walked through the trunk like it was nothing.

I hesitated. Walking through objects still seemed surreal to me.

As soon as I gathered my courage and went through the tree, I fell to the floor once again. “I have got to get used to this.”

“You better!” Celestria said as she helped me up. “Now that you’ve bonded with Alston, you’ll be spending a lot of time in the forest. Well, at least when you’re not at Oswalda.”

“You bonded?”

We were so flustered, we hadn’t even noticed Farah and Bolton standing in the middle of the room, their arms crossed.

“I did. I’m not even sure why he picked me. Everything happened so fast.”

Bolton chuckled. “No need to explain yourself, dear. This is great news! It means that you’re truly one of us now.”

I puckered my lips and slowly released a breath.

“I agree, but I wouldn’t relax just yet,” Farah said. “You must get ready, ladies. The prince and Lord Hunter will arrive shortly, and it wouldn’t be polite to keep the handsome gentleman waiting.”