I Do Believe in Faeries (The Cotton Candy Quintet Book 3) (3 page)

Of course, that was years ago, and we hadn’t been back to the old oak tree since.

As I walked up to it, I picked up a fallen leaf that dwarfed the palm of my hand. And I saw that a circle of mushrooms had sprouted up in the tree’s shade.

This felt like a sacred, ancient place.

“Hey there, big guy. Remember me?” I said to the oak tree. “I’m here to see if I can be a witch.”

I don’t know why I was talking to it, only that there was no one else around, and I felt like saying something to it. Maybe it was because I would have given anything to have someone there with me.

Someone who understood me.

No one understands you, Abby.

I hated those bad thoughts.

The moon was a crescent, throwing just enough light into the glade for me to read. I took a seat on one of the roots and opened up my Book. I stifled a sigh as I ran my hand down the first page.

“
This the Book of Shadows of Abigail Murphy, an Earth-based witch.
”

Yeah, right
, I thought, reading that last part.

I needed to stop those kinds of thoughts. Starting now.

As a first step in the right direction, I pulled out my candles, ready to cast a circle so I could perform magick. My hand briefly touched my phone, and I glanced at the screen. There were five text messages and a missed call from Jordyn. I really didn’t want to deal with her right now. Mainly because I had no idea what I would say. So instead, I put it away and stood up.

“All right,” I said to the tree and whatever magick was around me to listen. I rolled up my figurative sleeves. “Let’s get started.”

***

“Dammit! Why aren’t you working right?!”

I slammed my
Book
shut and threw it away from. I heard it thump somewhere in the darkness, but I didn’t care. Tears stung my eyes, and I heaved heavy sobs.

Nothing was working.

I had tried
everything
. I’d tried casting a circle. Nothing happened. I’d tried some divinations. Again, nothing happened. I’d even tried making a charm, and it was just a worthless pinch of sage and rosemary.

Why was I like this? Why couldn’t I have been a witch like Jordyn? That’s all I wanted in the world. To be accepted by my family. To be an earth-based witch. At home, I wasn’t weird enough. At school, I was too weird because I came from a family of witches.

I was the outcast everywhere.

Why, I wish, I wish that I could—

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Tinkerbell.”

I froze, my sob stuck halfway in my throat. Frantic, I looked around, trying to find the source of that voice. Who would be talking to a seventeen-year-old girl in the middle of the woods at night? And should I start running?

“Who’s there?” I demanded, my voice wavering from fright.

“Me,” the voice said. It seemed to be everywhere around me, so I couldn’t track where it was coming from.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Here.” It came from right beside me, and I jumped. “No, wait, here.” That time, it was in the boughs of the tree.

I may not be a witch who could conjure up some fire, but I could conjure up some light. I grabbed my phone and found the flashlight app. I swept the beam of light around the base of the tree, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Show yourself!” I called out, like I was trying to be some sort of superhero.

There was silence for a beat, then came:

“Well, if you insist then, Tinkerbell.”

A loud
pop
sounded.

I screamed as a face appeared in front of me, and I fell backwards, landing hard on my rump. I didn’t even get that good of a look at the face before I screamed, but as I looked up, I now saw a…
guy
…standing before me. And not just any guy either. He looked like he was in his early twenties
—
at least it seemed like it because there was something youthful about him, yet at the same time he seemed ancient. He had a shock of red hair, and while I don’t normally go for gingers, he was
gorgeous
. Like, Harry Styles and Chris Evans had a baby with red hair and it was this guy.

He looked very unimpressed at my reaction. “You did insist on me showing myself,” he told me.

“I didn’t mean like that!”

He quirked a smile, a mischievous one that reminded me of an imp, and offered me his hand. I didn’t need help getting up so I batted him away. He looked hurt.

“You offer to help a dame, and still she fights you,” he sighed.

“I’m fine,” I gritted. “Who are you? What are you doing out in the woods?”

“Well, I could ask the same of you, Tinkerbell,” he countered.

Good point.

“Why’re you calling me Tinkerbell?”

He shrugged. “Seemed appropriate.”

I slowly got to my feet, rubbing my backside with my free hand. “I was just out here…”

“About to make a wish inside a Faerie Ring, and you really shouldn’t do that,” he chided. He even clucked his tongue to my irritation.

“What’s a Faerie Ring?” I asked.

He groaned and scratched at his head (and yes, I paid way too much attention to the way his bicep bulged when his arm bent like that). “A Faerie Ring? You know, a circle of mushrooms?”

I looked down at the mushrooms around me, burrowed into the ground. “So?”

He snickered and shook his head. “That’s where faeries dance, idiot.”

It took a moment for that to sink in, but once it did, I burst out laughing. I mean, seriously, faeries? I know I come from a family of witches, and that magick is all around us. I know that there are a lot of things that we could never explain.

But faeries? Like the Tooth Fairy? He needed to get real. No wonder he was calling me “Tinkerbell”. He was a nutcase.

“You don’t believe me,” he intoned at my laughing.

“No, I really don’t,” I said, letting my laughter subside. “Because that’s stupid.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You shouldn’t make fun of faeries,” he said, his voice dangerous. “Although I think it’s their influence that’s making
you
stupid.”

“That’s a really bad comeback.”

But once again, his expression had turned so serious, that I giggled even more. Maybe it was the stress or maybe it was because I was being mean, but either way, it felt good to laugh.

“Let me guess, you’re a faerie?” I asked.

His severe expression answered that yes, yes he was a faerie. Or at least he thought he was.

“Where are your wings then?” I teased. Adrenaline and fear propelled me to move forward and look behind him to see if there were anything resembling wings. He stepped backwards, frowning unhappily.

“Not all faeries have wings, dingus.”

“Oh, right. So what kind of faerie are you, then?”

He gave me a hard look, bristled, then said, “I’m Robin Goodfellow. Otherwise known as Puck,” he added with a touch of pride.

“Puck?” That set my brain working and I stepped back. “As in
A Midnight’s Summer Dream
?” I was supposed to read that book for English class last year, but I picked up the summaries online. Though, admittedly, I didn’t even read them.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
,” he corrected. “Everyone knows me from that, but yes, that’s me.”

“Uh huh. Right.”

This totally hot guy was telling me that he was both a faerie and character from a William Shakespeare play. I should have been running for the hills, back to my car. Crazy always followed my family around, but this was the first time it ever talked to me. In the dark woods. Alone.

Yet something compelled me to stay. It might have been because he was hot. Whatever it was, I wanted to keep talking to him. “Okay, Robin Goodfellow, what were you saying about not making a wish in a Faerie Ring?” I ventured, crossing my arms.

He groaned again and threw up his hands. “You mortals always ask too many questions. I should have just let you make the wish.”

“Then what would have happened?”

“It would have come true.”

His vibrant green eyes met mine, and I found myself holding my breath. “I can’t tell when you’re joking and when you’re serious,” I said softly, the bravado gone from my voice.

He cast his eyes away from me, as if he knew the effect he was having on me. “I’m being as serious as death.”

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, but I was cut off by something that sounded like the wind rustling through the trees. Only it wasn’t the wind.

“
Make the wish, Abby…
”

It was almost indistinct, and it sounded like little children whispering secrets to each other, both boys and girls. Then I realized that a tense quiet had fallen in the woods.

“What was that?” I asked, spinning around to look around us.

Robin looked behind him, then his eyes went skyward as he groaned again. “Just pixies. Don’t pay them any mind.”

“Pixies?”

At my question, the wind picked up again, blowing leaves in my direction. “
We’re real, Abby. Just make the wish…
”

“You’re…serious,” I said, as it finally dawned on me that all of what he said might have been true, as crazy as it sounded.

Robin stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at me. “I tried warning you.” That dangerous tone was back in his voice, and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

“I’m not sure that counts as a warning, because if these pixies can make any wish come true…”

I know what I’d wish for.

In a heartbeat.

It was selfish, yes. I could have wished for world peace. Or for my family to never have to worry about bills again. I could wish for a whole bunch of things, but one wish stood out in my mind, clear as day. A wish that I’d wanted for as long as I could remember.

“
Make the wish, Abby… Make the wish!
” The wind picked up again, fluttering my hair as I met his intense gaze again. He was pleading with me, first with his eyes, then his voice. And I didn’t know why.

“Don’t, Abby.”

I wondered how they all knew my name. If it was really magick, then it made sense, in a weird sort of way. If I remembered correctly, faeries are tricksters, but this put my ultimate dream so close, I could taste it.

My heart pounded in my chest.

“I wish I had magick.”

I watched as Robin’s face fell at my words. But why? I just made a wish, and
—

The woods around us came to life with chattering from the pixies, building in crescendo as they celebrated.

“
Magick! Magick! She wishes for magick!
”

Their elation was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile, which was quickly dashed when I saw Robin turn away from me and take a step into the wood.

“What’s wrong?”

He glanced back at me, fury in his eyes. “Any wish requires a sacrifice.”

“
A sacrifice!
” The pixies chittered around us. “
The wish requires a sacrifice!
”

Just like magick
.

That didn’t sound good. I shivered, feeling the icy hand of dread take hold of my stomach and twisting. A sacrifice? No, that’s not right. That’s not what I wanted at all.

I felt the press of little bodies scuttling around me, things that I couldn’t see, but I could certainly feel. “Hey!” I cried as something tugged hard on my hair.

“
A sacrifice!
” the pixies cried, more insistent. “
A sacrifice!
”

Their voices filled the inside of my head. I cried out and covered my ears with my hands, even though I could feel their little bodies scrabbling along my skin. That didn’t stop the phrase echoing inside my head, making the world spin around me. I fell to my knees as I tried blocking them out, but it didn’t help at all.

“
A sacrifice! A sacrifice!
”

Images began flashing through my mind, one after the other like a Powerpoint presentation. Of my family, of Jordyn leaving us, of my school, of my most embarrassing moment.

Everything. Even things I’d forgotten, like Dad’s face peering down at me when I was swaddled in a crib. Playing with Jordyn and Zach and Luke in our backyards.

Then Alaina appeared in my mind’s eye, smiling at me.

“Tell me about yourself, Abby,” she had said.

Then, my memory’s eye sidled down and I looked at her swollen belly and the baby that’s growing inside.

“If you need anything, just let me know, okay?” I remembered Alaina telling me.

No, no, no.

“
That will do,
” the voices said.

“Wait, what?” I shouted.

“
The sacrifice has been made
.”

I looked around wildly, as the tiny little hands in my hair, and on my body, disappeared. With a
whoosh
, the wind in the woods died, leaving me alone with Robin, who was watching me curiously.

Self-conscious, I swatted away at the air. “What happened?”

“I tried warning you, Tinkerbell,” he said softly.

“
What
happened?!”

He just shook his head.

Frantic, I ran to him, reaching out with my hands to take him by the scruff of his shirt. Only, when my fingers connected with his shirt, they found nothing.

He had disappeared right before my eyes.

“Oh my god.”

He really was a faerie. And those really were pixies.

I collapsed to my knees, feeling my pulse race. It felt like my mind moved too slowly to fully process these events. None of it made sense.

Maybe it’s all just a dream.

Maybe…

My phone rang, which was weird, because I distinctly remembered that it had been on silent. I grabbed at it, glad for some semblance of reality.

“Hello?”

“Abby!” Mom’s voice came through the speaker so loudly, I had to hold it away from my ear. I winced. “Abby, where the hell are you? I’ve been trying to call you!”

“I…”

“It’s one in the morning, young lady!”

I blinked. One in the morning? But that means I’d been here for something like five hours, and surely…surely…