Page 49 of A Little Highland Magic

After several long moments, Graeme gathered himself and brought his hand up to close her eyes, then stopped. His breath stilled. Why were Aria’s eyes green when they were usually a deep and rich blue?

He stood and moved to Gille’s side, turning her over. Instead of a brilliant green, her eyes were an earthy brown.

Graeme stood and backed away from the bodies with his hands clenched. Was this a trick? A test of some sort? “This is not real,” he shouted, searching the area for whoever had deceived him so horribly. “Aria is alive.” His voice held a note of certainty. Aria was not dead. He knew from the very depths of his soul that she was alive and well. He sensed her presence in the fairy world. It made no sense to believe what was before him. A person could not change the colour of their eyes. Not even travelling to the fairy realm could change her person in that way. The only logical conclusion was that it was not Aria or Gille before him. “I am no fool,” he said to whoever had played this terrible trick on him. “This is not real.”

His words hung in the air, then the bodies on the ground suddenly vanished, and a mound of flowers took their place. Fairy magic was responsible for this charade, but whose? He looked around, seeing no one.

It mattered not. Aria was still out there somewhere, alive, and he would not give up until he found her.

*

Gille had walked for what felt like hours, only to pass the same trees and rocks as when she had first started her journey towards the hill. Before proceeding once more, Gille ripped off a corner of her dress and tied it to a nearby tree to test her theory.

She set off towards the hillside again, counting her steps as she went. Two hundred, five hundred, a thousand steps, and the same strip of green from her gown hung on the tree before her.

Was she lost? A shiver raced down her spine. Was she endlessly trapped, repeating the same steps over and over, never to progress anywhere?

It was her worst nightmare come true. How many nights when she was a child had she dreamed of being lost in the forest? More recently, the dream had returned. No matter what she tried, or where she went, she was lost, trapped, isolated and alone. No one knew where she was, and no one would come to save her.

Gille swallowed roughly. Somehow the portal they’d used had read her deepest thoughts and placed her in this situation. With an effort, Gille tamped down her fear. If the portal had created this scenario, then it was not reality, and she could find a way to break free.

Aria would not be happy with her if she used her powers to break free, for Oberon would sense her presence and discover she had returned without the MacLeod twins. But what else could she do?

Gille closed her eyes and held her hands up in supplication towards the trees. They were the source of her magic, the very essence of who she was. With her thoughts, she reached out to the roots, trunk, branches, and leaves. The trees recognised and welcomed her, connecting themselves to the magic at her core. A burst of energy swept through Gille’s body, sending tingles of sensation along every nerve. She tipped her head back as silky threads of power, so intense they stole her breath, surged through her. They burst from her being, revealing and shattering the magical dome that had trapped her.

Gille drew a shuddering breath as the power that had surged only moments before drained from her body, returning to the trees. The leaves of the trees glittered beneath the sun’s warming rays as the branches and roots absorbed the essence of the magical dome into themselves.

Had Oberon set this trap? Had he wanted her to use her magic so that he could more easily find her now that she had returned? There was only one way to know for certain. She had to get to a higher elevation and not only find the others but see what might be headed her way. For she knew Oberon would not be happy with her once he discovered that she had betrayed him.

Time was running out, not just for her, but for all of them if they were going to succeed in their task to retrieve Keiran, and leave Fairyland behind.