The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2) Ektaa Bali (free ebook reader txt) 📖

and the Bunyip twitched and jerked upward, staring into the forest. Her reflexes took over, and she took a step backward, tripped on a rock she hadn’t seen behind her, and fell with a loud. “Oof!”

Pancake shrieked as he fell off her shoulder.

Ten of the Bunyips closest to them jerked awake and jumped to their feet, growling deeply. This set off a reaction as the rest of the Bunyips in the clearing were awoken too. A Bunyip charged toward their hiding spot, growling. But he had not seen them yet.

“Go!” Lotus hissed.

Vidya scrambled to her feet, thrust Pancake in her pocket, and ran into the forest, flapping her wings quickly to get her into the air. She felt the other three close behind her as Bunyips, Vidya could not tell how many, thrashed into the bushes after them.

“Fae!” came a deep grumbling roar.

“They can speak!” shrieked Willow. “Up! Up! Up!”

Vidya had reached one branch of a tall tree and flapped her wings again to get her up to the next branch.

The four Fae branched hopped upward, and a second later, Vidya heard Lotus cry out.

“Urgh!” Vidya stopped in her tracks to look down and see one Bunyip had made it up one branch and had Lotus’ ankle in one huge black claw.

Other Bunyips were trying to fly upward to catch them, but as they jumped and flapped their wings, they clumsily gained a small height but then came tumbling down.

Above her, Vidya heard the twang of Willow’s bow string. With a roar, the Bunyip holding Lotus fell away, clutching his shoulder where an arrow was now buried.

Lotus was released with a shout of surprise, and as the Bunyip crashed to the ground, the four Fae kids flew upward, quickly gaining height into the treetops.

“They can’t fly properly,” wheezed Lotus. “Did you see? They can’t use their wings properly yet.”

Finally, they reached the topmost branches of the dense trees, where they could see the blue sky peeking through the gaps. The four kids burst through the canopy, into the open sky. They gratefully breathed in the crisp morning air. They were free, and in the safety of the sky once again.

But for how long? Vidya thought as they flew as fast as they could away from the Bunyip nest. How long will the skies remain free and safe for us? Somehow, the Bunyips had developed wings. They were no longer as safe in their sky palace as they had thought.

9

Under the Sea

The most ancient friends of the Fae are the people of the water, the Merfolk. The custodians of the Sea were born of the water before anything else. But as the sea is beautiful and wise, wild and unforgiving, so are its children.

—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.

Willow, Lotus, Lily, and the triplets had all taken up residence in Vidya’s room. Luna and Toad were spreading tea tree lotion over Lotus’ sore ankle where the Bunyip had gotten a hold of him. The rest of them were eating Daisy’s broccoli stew or dozing on the bed or on small mattresses they had laid on the floor. Lobey was sleeping on the window seat, leafing through one of the books on Bunyips. The new information about the Bunyip’s wings had shaken them, and, exhausted from their trek into the forest and then chase back home, they collapsed into Vidya’s room while Vidya told the triplets what had happened. The triplets had responded with pale faces and shocked expressions. “Rest,” Lobey had said, pulling at her blue braid, “and then we will decide what to do.”

But Vidya could not sleep like Lily and Willow immediately had. She reclined against her fluffy green pillows, chewing her lip as Pancake sat next to her with a paper and pen in hand. He had been excited to tell her all about what he had seen in the glowing cave, but his quokka squeaks made no sense to her. In the end, she had given him drawing tools so he could show her. She watched as he sketched out a rough shape. Lotus drew up a chair to watch, and Luna and Toad came to stand behind him.

“It looks like…” Lotus squinted at the rounded shape. “A rock?”

“It’s the flower,” breathed Vidya, watching as Pancake added definition to the petals. “Is that what it is, Pancake?”

Pancake nodded vigorously, then took a yellow pencil and started adding colour to the petals, then adding streaks of light coming out of it. Vidya remembered the mystical glow from the cave. It was as if it had been drawing her in. Come in, the light said. Vidya, come closer. She rubbed the goosebumps that had erupted all over the arms.

“It’s a yellow flower,” said Luna, cocking her head.

Pancake shook his head and held up the yellow pencil and sighed. He cast his eye about the room, peering around. Then he saw something on the Fae wall and squeaked excitedly, jumping off the bed and around Lotus to rush to the other side of the room. He climbed up onto Vidya’s desk and held up a golden earring.

“It’s gold?” Vidya asked in disbelief.

“What kind of flower is gold?” asked Lobey with disbelief. “None—”

“There is one,” interrupted Vidya in a soft voice. Everyone went quiet and stared at her. Something in her spine tingled, and she knew she was on the right path. “It sounds crazy, but all know the one flower that is gold.”

“No,” breathed Luna.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” snorted Lobey. “The Flower of Awakening is a myth. A legend. It’s just a story they tell kids.”

“Yes,” said Vidya seriously. “The story, about how we got our magic. About how we came from the earth.”

“If the Flower of Awakening actually existed,” droned Lobey, unimpressed. “Our people would’ve found it by now. There’s not a single living plant we don’t know about.”

Vidya thought back to the cave. That glow was so strong, so beautiful, so wonderful, it almost didn’t seem real. She