Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

the silence of the garden. “I … I wish I was anyplace but here.”
    The air shimmered and began to spin like a vortex of light and life. Kevighn held onto the tree and prayed she did as well. Too perfect.
    Magnolia was about to get her wish.
    Now, to manipulate the situation to work in his favor.

    Steven stood in his backyard looking longingly at the moon as twilight fell around him. The fence had long been fixed, both his yard and Noli’s cleaned, and the battered remains of the Big Bad Pixymobile put back behind the shed and covered.
    He missed her.
    Mrs. Braddock shared Noli’s progress with him when he and James came over to make small repairs. Truly, she seemed think Findlay was just another boarding school. He read between the lines, the lies, of those letters.
    Noli might be a bit of a rebellious hoyden, but it wasn’t anything growing up wouldn’t eventually cure. He played with his new sigil as he looked at sky, breathing deeply of the summer air, of the full moon, and all the power radiating because of the summer solstice. If only he could join the melee that would happen tonight, even here in Los Angeles.
    His father forbade it. He could only look on with longing. All of his people here in the mortal realm felt something on nights like this. His particular magical gifts made it worse.
    A familiar hand clasped on his shoulder. Not his father, who hid shamefully from the night’s call, but someone who was many things to him—father, brother, uncle, advisor, friend.
    “The full moon makes it stronger. I didn’t realize you were so sensitive.”
    “Why do we have to hide, Quinn?” Bitterness dripped from his voice. It was an old argument. They were lucky to be allowed to take refuge among the mortals.
    Still, he remembered. He longed.
    Quinn shook his head. “One day you’ll be a man, then you may do as you like.”
    “I know.” He planned on reclaiming his family’s kingdom and honor. If only Noli could be part of it. His love for her could never be. Bringing her into his world was dangerous because of the sheer amount of Spark she possessed. Many dark things liked such girls.
    Of course, there were also the obvious reasons.
    “How’s my sister?” he added. Elise had hysterics because a clan of wood faeries she liked to visit had disappeared. He’d told her they’d migrated, though he knew they hadn’t.
    So did she.
    “Asleep. Things are amiss with the magic. Can you feel the instability?” Quinn looked up at the moon. The light made his usual silver hair look white, and his flint eyes look like steel, reminding him of Noli.
    He nodded slowly. One good thing about his father’s distance was that he hadn’t noticed him coming into abilities beyond his families usual magical gifts. His gaze focused on Noli’s tree. Because he possessed an affinity for the earth, especially plants and trees—a family trait—he loved that tree as much as she did.
    Perhaps that was another reason for his fondness for Noli. He was earth court, how could he not enjoy spending time with someone who liked plants and trees as much as he did?
    They liked her, as well. So did the wood faeries. It had been difficult to keep her faery tree faery-free. But wood faeries drew other things and he wanted to keep Noli and her beautiful Spark a secret.
    Not that it mattered anymore. It was only a matter of time before they beat it out of her. If they hadn’t already.
    Again, he toyed with his sigil, thinking of her. To the untrained eye his family’s crest might look like a sunburst of golden wire. The sunburst held the image of a tree, the roots and branches intertwined to form a never-ending circle. The green stone set in its trunk symbolized the tree’s heart. Had they taken it from her?
    He could imagine her looking longingly out the window, not understanding why the night called her. Her Spark made her more sensitive. On nights like this he used to find her in the tree house and they’d sit there, looking up at