Page 121 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

I paused, thinking through what Ambrose had just said. “Wait a minute. Maybe you can’t move the people, but you could portal the city, right?”

Ambrose’s eyes widened. “There would need to be a lot of Fair Folk to create a portal that powerful.”

“But you can do it,” I said, though the statement was more of a question.

“Where would we move the city?” Nevan asked.

“To Kiln Mountain,” I said and met Ambrose’s eye.

He sucked in a sharp breath, and I could see the wheels turning in his mind. “We could merge our communities. We could save this city.”

I’d told Nevan about the Fair Folk and their curse, and we’d agreed the people of Fairwitch Isle would welcome the Fair Folk. This could be a viable solution.

“Do you actually think this could work?” Nevan asked.

“I don’t know,” Ambrose said. “I’ll have to go to the Fair Folk and see what they think.”

Nevan looked at me. “And we’ll have to pitch the idea to Cillian and the council.”

From the view out my cottage window, I could see the outline of people far in the distance. I wouldn’t have even noticed had Ambrose not said something, but now they were unmistakable. And they were coming for us.

I pushed Ambrose. “We have to hurry.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow at dawn,” he said.

Tomorrow at dawn. We’d learn if Fairwitch was saved or doomed.

CHAPTER 49

Enid

No one in Fairwitch had gotten any sleep last night. The high prince had called an emergency town meeting and had given everyone the bad news. I was surprised by how calm most remained. After all they’d been through, they were a tough bunch, but moving to a new location once again was going to be hard—especially when they’d be sharing that location with the Fair Folk. That news had shocked everyone the most.

Now I stood at the edge of the town, staring out over my bog, saying one last goodbye. If I turned the other direction and faced the barrier, I’d see the brotherhood crawling all over the marsh, their maroon hoods stark against the green backdrop of the Cragh. I hated them for the way they misused the godwitches’ magic. If the godwitches were here to witness their actions, the brotherhood would be punished. The deities had always believed their magic should be used for the good of humanity. Of course, there were some bad seeds. Godwitches like me whose magic was darker, more dangerous. But for the most part, their magic was supposed to help mortals.

“It won’t be goodbye forever,” Nevan said from my side, his arm around my shoulder. “Like Ambrose said, he can portal you back and forth so you can gather the seeds you need, and you can make new gardens on Kiln Mountain.”

“The Fair Folk have never liked me much. They have a contentious history with godwitches,” I said.

“Well, they’ll have to deal with that if they want to be a community.” The protectiveness in his voice warmed my heart. “Can we go through the plan one more time?”

I glanced behind me at the empty town of Fairwitch Isle. Everyone was taking shelter in the castle, but I’d volunteered to meet the Fair Folk and make sure it all went as smoothly as possible.

My stomach twisted at the potential ways this could go wrong.

“Are you okay?” Nevan hooked his thumb under my chin and lifted it.

“I just want to get this over with,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Nevan asked. “What could go wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly.

“Enid.”

After I’d drugged Nevan and run away, we promised no more secrets. “There are ways portaling can go wrong,” I admitted. I’d seen it firsthand. “Half of a body can get stuck in one place while the other half gets stuck in another.” That hadn’t been pretty to witness. “Sometimes if the faery portaling loses concentration, they can get lost somewhere between the two places. In a nothingness of sorts.”

Nevan’s eyes bugged out.