Tag: magic

The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 010

TCL CoverThe new queen gave her a smile like the edge of a knife, bright and shining and ever so sharp. “For the same reason you had to give up your roots to sprout wings. To have one, you must give up the other. Not all dearest dreams are willing to share.”

The queen turned and sat on her throne, her hair white and her gown silver once more. “It is a cruel fate, but one that all creatures share if they only dare to look.”

Kya looked down at the perfect moon apple that glimmered with a quiet light. If what the Moon Queen said was true, then she held perhaps the rarest and most dragonish of treasures in her hand. And the dragon himself had given her not one, but three. Entrusted them to her care.

And the seeds!

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 009

TFTcoverGwyn blinked slowly as what Lyra said started to unravel the shock cocooning her like a thick quilt. “On magic?”

Hysteria felt as though it was only a breath away. Waiting with eager hands to clutch at her with long, desperate fingers.

“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful?” Lyra gave her a hug that squeezed the breath right out of her. “I always suspected you had more to you. You have no idea how hard it was to wait. I didn’t want to tell you, get your hopes up and risk dashing them if I was wrong—”

Gwyn ignored the sparks of magic flowing from her fingers and grabbed her friend by the shoulders. “What are you talking about? And why here? Why now?”

“Who knows?” Lyra grinned bigger than she’d ever grinned before. “What matters is that you’ve found your magic at long last. Oh! The adventures we’re going to have! What would you like to do first?”

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 008

TFTcoverSuspended in the air as though she were floating in a waterless ocean, Gwyn laughed with delight as all the strange and wonderful objects in Lyra’s world turned a bright shade of violet before settling into various hues of much purpleness.

A clock that was half cat grinned at her from the mantle of a fireplace that had perched itself on a coatrack. A drop of purple fell to the ground and bled lilacs and violets, orchids and posies until there was a thick blanket of them so far as the eye could see.

Purple lanterns blinked into existence as they strung themselves along the silver elms encircling them. Gwyn smiled as dolls dressed in fancy purple gowns flew up to the lanterns and held a tea party while a cloud of pixies danced about them.

“It’s lovely,” she sighed, wishing she could keep the warm, open feeling in her chest forever.

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The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 008

TCL CoverThe apples glowed with a soft, milky light that lapped against the skin in Kya’s palms. Soothing. Relaxing. Refreshing. But even more than that, the light from the apples awakened something deep inside her. Something whose first language is of dreams and who isn’t afraid to wish.

Her heart grew with this knowledge, warm at first, but slightly uncomfortable as it forced her heart to stretch beyond its natural boundaries.

“You will care for my apples,” the dragon said. Not a question.

Wordlessly, Kya gulped and nodded. She placed them gently in the pouch that also housed Hearthorne’s silver bowl. They were perfect and unblemished, and she aimed to keep them that way. With only the smallest hint of regret, she selected a single apple and held it up by way of offering and of keeping her word.

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Mira Morganstein: The Pink Lemonade Club 007

MMCoverThe old woman had lied.

The fairy doll shed glitter from her glossy pink ringlets like she had a pernicious case of sparkling dandruff. The glue holding the curls to the wooden head was already starting to pull away, and now that Mira was examining it closely, the fairy’s tutu was starting to shred along the edges.

“Bring me good luck?” Mira frowned at the doll lying limp as the dead in her hand. “Not likely.”

But still, there was something about the fairy’s face—two black dots for the eyes and a tiny rosebud mouth—that wouldn’t let her throw it away. A touch of whimsy that made up for peeling glue and clouds of glitter.

Besides, it had only cost her a favor and a quarter.

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