Call of Kythshire (Keepers of the Wellsprings Book 1) by Missy Sheldrake Page A

pitcher is faintly audible alongside the cricket’s song, which stops abruptly. Again, Rian’s eyes snap to the source. He looks from it to me and I’m finally certain that he’s heard it, too. He brushes past, reaches for the pitcher, and starts to cast something, but then he stops and looks back at me.
    “May I?” he asks. I nod, though I’m unsure what exactly he’s asking for permission to do. He picks it up and looks inside. I come to his side and peer in, too. The cricket and diamond are hidden behind the pile of fine scraps. Rian murmurs something in the scholar’s tongue and sudden pinpoints of light burst forth from the pitcher. A light, larger than the cricket but smaller than my palm shoots over my shoulder and lands on my bed with a soft “oof!” Rian and I exchange glances and I rush to the bed to get a closer look.
    A tiny girl with beautiful iridescent wings at her back looks up at me, her arms crossed. Her skin is so light that it’s nearly translucent, and it shimmers beautifully. Her hair is done up in many pony tails across the crown of her head, each one a different color of the rainbow. The scowling narrow slits of her eyes are unlike anything I’ve seen before. They shift constantly from gold to green, from purple to pink. She’s dressed in a tiny skirt pieced together with shimmering bits of ribbon, some of which I recognize from Margary’s pitcher.  At her waist is a belt weighed down with several tiny pouches. Her corset, like her eyes, shifts in color according to the way the light plays on it. As she scowls up at us, everything about her reminds me of my diamond.
     

 

Chapter Eight: Flit
    “Rude!” she squeaks, pointing across the room at Rian. “So rude!” His wide eyes are fixed on her in disbelief as he stands holding the pitcher. He looks at me and snaps his mouth shut. When I kneel down beside the bed to get a closer look, she stands up and flutters her wings until her toes are barely grazing the coverlet. Her lips are pressed tightly together and she brushes at her clothing and bare arms as if trying to clear something away. After a moment, she thrusts her finger back in Rian’s direction. “Take it off, you! It’s not nice!”
    “Uh...” Rian leans away slightly, his mouth hanging open again. He looks at me with wide eyes and his shoulders slowly slide up to his ears. I look back at the fairy, who is now hovering at eye level with me, her nostrils flared in annoyance.
    “Um...” I croak, barely able to muster any words through my utter disbelief. I clear my throat and my voice comes a little stronger. “Take what off?” Her light dazzles my eyes and I raise a hand to my brow to shade them. She scoots back in midair and rests a fist on her hip, the other hand still thrust at Rian. She jabs her pointer again.
    “Revealer! He put a Revealer on me and I wasn’t ready yet! Take it off!” She darts across the room at him and stabs the tip of his nose with her finger. “Take it off right now!” Rian drops the pitcher and it rolls away from him as he claps a hand over his nose.
    “Ow, cut it out.” He ducks away and she chases after him, catching his auburn side lock and tugging it with fury.
    “Take it off!” she squeals.
    “I don’t know how!” He yanks his hair away, sending her tumbling through the air. She rights herself just beside my head and hovers behind me.
    “Typical!” she squeaks, “So typical!” She ducks behind my shoulder and I turn my head slowly to look at her. She’s absolutely smoldering with anger but when Rian takes a step closer, she darts away. “Don’t you come near me, you, you, Mage!” She spits the last word out with distaste.
    “You’re real,” I whisper, staring at her. “A real fairy.”
    “Well of course I’m a real fairy. I’ve only been sitting in that tin pot of yours for two days now waiting for you to notice me. Which, by the way, stinks of metal. This whole place stinks of metal and smoke and I don’t