Faerie Path #6: The Charmed Return by Frewin Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

Faerie.”
    Jade let out a long, low breath. Lost for words.
    Evan reached out and touched Anita’s cheek. “Are you okay?”
    “I don’t know,” said Anita breathlessly. “Am I?”
    “You will be,” he murmured, “now we’re together.”
    She sighed, not knowing what to say.
    “We waited on the shore for you to come back,” said Evan. “The Great Salamander was with us. He told us what had happened. But . . . but you never returned. You never came back from the land in the sky.” He smiled reassuringly. “Didn’t I tell you that I’d find you wherever you went? Remember? You’re in my blood, Tania, and I’m in yours. Love never dies in Faerie. Nothing can keep us apart.”
    “I’m not Tania.”
    “Yes. You are.” His brow furrowed. “Something happened to you in Tirnanog.” His fingers touched cool against her forehead. “Your Faerie soul sleeps,” he whispered. “Deep within, behind locked doors, in a dark and silent place.”
    Anita swallowed hard. “Who are you, really?”
    “My name’s Edric, and I’m in love with you.”
    Anita gasped. “You never told me you loved me before.”
    “Yes. I did. Plenty of times. You don’t remember is all.”
    “Truly?”
    Edric nodded. “Truly.”
    “I’m not crazy?”
    “No, you’re not crazy. Your memory has been taken away from you.”
    “We cannot tarry in this benighted place, Master Chanticleer,” Rathina declared. “We have found Tania—let us be on our way! The people of Faerie need us! The balm of Gildensleep cannot last forever. Even now the sickness may be spreading.”
    “I don’t have the power to get through to Faerie,” said Edric.
    Anita gazed into Evan’s face.
    Edric’s face.
    Am I Anita Palmer? Or am I Tania Aurealis?
    “This is crazy weird.” Jade sounded almost as stunned as Anita felt. “Evan Thomas from our school is really a guy called Edric from another world?” She shook her head. “I always thought there was something freaky about you!”
    The shimmering sound of bells brightened the air.
    “Hist! What is that?” said Rathina, staring around herself.
    “Something is coming,” murmured Edric, getting to his feet.
    As Anita stood up she saw that Rathina’s hand moved to her waist, as though she expected to find a weapon there. But her fingers closed on empty air.
    The chime and chink of the bells grew louder and deeper until it was no longer the shimmering sound of tiny bells, but now also a plangent ringing, and finally the toll of great booming bells that shook the ground under their feet. Sweet voices mingled with the bells, adding harmonies and descant to the rising music.
    A wheel of blue fire blossomed in the air, warping everything around it. It was like and yet unlike Edric’s portal—deeply blue but without the white lightning.
    “Something has followed in our wake!” shouted Edric. “It’s using the trail of my charm to get into the Mortal World!”
    From the heart of the wheel stepped a female figure.
    The hoop of blue fire vanished, and the pealing of the bells and the singing of the voices were blotted out.
    Joy filled Anita’s heart as she stared at the girl, although she had no idea why.
    The girl seemed dazed. She was small and slender, clad in a gown of vibrant sky blue that echoed the light in her eyes. Her long golden hair cascaded over her shoulders, her features fine and delicate. Her chest rose and fell as she gulped in breath.
    There was something so deeply familiar about her that Anita was drawn toward her. I know her. Who is she?
    Rathina stumbled toward the swaying girl. She let out a cry, her voice filled with wonder and disbelief.
    “Zara!”
    The golden-haired girl smiled. She held her arms out. “Rathina! Sister! And Tania! I . . .”
    But then her eyes glazed over and she fainted into the grass.

Part Two:
The Seekings
of the Sundered
Soul

Chapter VII
    Jade’s voice was the first to break the uncanny stillness.
    “I can’t take much more of this!”
    Anita