Queen Vania pursed her lips, resplendent and cold in her sparkling gown. She'd removed the swan mask and now wore a crown of quicksilver leaves. In the background, the green and red lights of the aurora borealis glowed brightly, casting an alien light around them. "He knows it annoys me when he comes here," she said. "He's forbidden, of course, but he couldn't resist coming to catch a glimpse of you."

"I'm ready to help, Your Majesty. Where do we start? The elves said they're ready to talk about the magic that's leaking." Keelie thought it was better to get straight to the facts, given that fairies liked to play cat-and-mouse games. She hoped her face projected concentration and unwavering strength, because on the inside, her internal organs quaked in fear. She laid out her agenda, as she'd seen her mother do when preparing a case for trial. "First, we identify all the parties involved. The High Court, of course." She bowed her head to the queen, congratulating herself on her diplomatic presentation. "The elves, the dwarves, and who else? Is Herne one of the parties involved in the rift?"

The queen stared at her as if she were speaking nonsense. "The rift will not be resolved with identification. It will take raw magic and targeted power, and you and I are the only ones who can accomplish it. Follow me."

She whirled and headed out of the hall, her beaded skirts clicking and flying.

Momentarily at a loss for words, Keelie followed, wondering at her words. Herne had said something very similar, about raw magic and power. This had probably gone beyond name-calling, and she was starting to feel outcla.s.sed. Maybe Norzan would be a better choice of diplomat.

They pa.s.sed endless chambers and cold, elaborately tiled halls. Queen Vania suddenly stopped.

Keelie looked around, but the high-ceilinged room was empty. "What are you going to show me?"

The queen smiled and ran a finger in a straight line, down to the floor. A door appeared in the air. "Come to my chamber, and I will show you."

Keelie followed her into a small, circular room lined in crystals that throbbed with the colors of the aurora borealis. A polished stone table stood in the middle of the room, strewn with papers and ink pots. No wood anywhere. Keelie felt very alone.

The queen opened a box and pulled out a quicksilver chain, from which hung a fat crystal with many sides. She reached up to hang the crystal from a hook that protruded from the low ceiling. "Now you will see my pain. Now you will learn what fear is."

She touched the crystal and a view of the Earth appeared before them, real enough to touch. "We cannot mend the rift with talk, Keliel. The rift is not a misunderstanding. It is a crack in the magic that holds the world together. And this is what you are uniquely able to help me repair, the leaking of the magics into the mortal realm."

"I'm just a girl," Keelie said. "You're more powerful than me. What can I do?"

"True, the power I wield is more formidable than most, but power and strength alone will not restore the boundaries. The blood of fairy flows through you, along with your human and elven blood. You, yourself, are balanced in the three, and my counselors tell me that this is what is needed to restore the magic."

"Well that makes sense, but I'm not powerful enough."

"I will show you."

Keelie turned away, overwhelmed. This was not what the elves had led her to expect. She couldn't help with a deep magical problem. She was just a kid.

"If you don't help me, Keliel, the boundaries will collide and Earth as you know it will be gone."

Keelie spun around and stared at the queen. "What will happen?"

"The magic is spilling forth now, and humans who have fairy blood flowing in their veins can feel it. Many have traveled toward it in answer to an unspoken supernatural summons. It's changing them, they will eventually evolve into a different species."

"You're afraid of humans being able to wield magic like the elves and the fae."

Queen Vania frowned. "The elves are bad enough, but to have humans wielding magic is far worse. They are childlike and cannot control their compulsions."

"You mean like changing people's clothes and giving cats pom-poms in their fur?" Keelie lifted her head high and stared directly at the queen.

"I punished Salaca for his disrespect."

"You scolded him."

She shrugged. "He is old, and I cherish that he keeps his playfulness." She looked at Keelie for a long moment. "You did not know about the rift. You thought you were here to parlay."

"Lord Terciel said I was to convince you to come to Grey Mantle, to join him in talking to the elves about who was allowing magic to overflow into the human lands." Maybe Terciel was truly ignorant of the crack in the atmosphere, but Keelie wondered if she'd been tricked into surrendering herself to the fairy queen.

"Lord Norzan, the tree shepherd, told Terciel of your fae blood. Among the barren elves, the child of a tree shepherd is unique, even if contaminated by human blood. The trees count you among their brethren, and that gives you a deeper connection to the Earth. This connection could be key in mending the crack. Add to that your fae blood, and you are crucial to our solution."

The queen hadn't answered Keelie's question. The fae couldn't lie, but they were good at redirecting conversations. Keelie felt as if her ancestry was taking a beating, too.

"You said if I don't help you, then the Earth as I know it will be destroyed." Keelie didn't know what she could do to help mend this crack. To her, the idea seemed preposterous.

The queen pointed to the pulsing lights of the aurora borealis. "Do you know the scientific explanation for these lights?"

Keelie thumbed through her brain for the answer. It had to be hidden deep within her brain cells. She vaguely remembered something in science cla.s.s. "It has to do with the magnetic fields and solar wind."

"Very good." Queen Vania smiled as if Keelie had answered a question correctly on a test. "If magic keeps spilling out, then the magnetic fields will weaken. The protective atmosphere will be destroyed, and eventually the solar flares will burn your human world. The polar ice caps will melt and flood your coastal cities. Your weather will be un predictable. Therefore, no crops. Humans will starve, and with their connection with nature destroyed, the elves will perish as well."

Chilled, Keelie thought of Earth with no trees, no people. "What about the High Court and Under-the-Hill?" she asked. "How will they be affected?" She wanted to know what the fairy queen had to lose. "I would think that if humans were destroyed, you could then rule the Earth."

Queen Vania shook her head. "We cannot exist if the others do not exist."

"You need us to survive."

The queen smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle on her dress. "Yes. But we all need each other."

"What if I can't stop the magic from spilling forth?" Keelie's heart raced at the huge responsibility the queen was presenting.

"If we fail, then it is the beginning of the end."

Visions of the end of the world flooded Keelie's mind. She'd seen lots of disaster movies with Laurie.

"Let me show you what I mean." Queen Vania waved her hand, and the image of the sun and the planets whirling around it appeared, in three dimensions, hanging suspended in midair. Keelie wanted to reach out and touch Mars' powdery red surface to see if it was real, or one of Saturn's icy moons. If she squished one of the planets, would her hand go through it or would it explode into small bits? She had to hand it to Vania; she was great at visual displays.

"What does this harmony have to do with Earth?" Keelie felt like a celestial astronaut gazing at the jewels of the sky.

The queen waved her hand and the Earth zoomed closer to them, making Keelie back up. Something was different about Earth-it was tilting farther on its axis. Queen Vania pointed left, toward the image of the sun. Huge solar flares exploded from the surface and blasted out into the solar system, engulfing Mercury and Venus. But when they hit the Earth, the flares bounced off as if some invisible force held them at bay, then continued on their way deeper into the solar system.

The queen motioned with her hand again, and the image of the wobbly and dis...o...b..bulated Earth zoomed closer to Keelie. As the solar flares. .h.i.t the Earth, she could see it was as if the planet was encased in crystal, but in some areas the gla.s.sy surface was breaking and flares were shooting through.

"What is that? I've never seen that crystal cover on any Discovery Channel doc.u.mentary."

"It is Gaia's Dome, the physical manifestation of our combined powers." Queen Vania pointed a long finger at the Earth. "Look."

A great crack had formed along the crystal. Directly below it, on the surface of the Earth, another crack was forming. Keelie could see lava bubbling up, ready to break free and wreak havoc with its destructive force.

"If we do not repair the crack in Gaia's Dome, the rift in the Earth will worsen. This a sample of what will happen," the queen said, her voice was harsh and raspy. She pointed to the sky, where satellites were falling out of their orbit, then to the Earth, where the lights along the East Coast of the United States winked out. Underneath the crust of the Earth, the continental plates shifted, while farther down, at its molten core, the heart of the Earth spun faster and faster. On the surface of the planet, earthquakes rumbled, volcanoes erupted, and hurricanes formed over the oceans in response to the Earth's spinning heart.

"Magic is what protects the planet and keeps the boundaries safe."

Chills formed in Keelie's chest as fear spread through her body. She felt as if she had ice developing in the marrow of her bones. She thought of Dad, and Sean, and Elia and her unborn baby. "What do I need to do?"

"You and I must join our magic and mend the crack in Gaia's Dome. We'll harness the magic from within the Earth to catch the energy of a flare to repair it."

Keelie remembered Risa's greenhouse back in the Dread Forest. The gardening elf had had a problem with herbs she'd been growing there; too much sun was crisping the flowering buds, and the roots had been burnt. The solar panels had been taking in too much energy.

"If we catch the energy of a solar flare, won't it crisp the Earth?" Keelie asked. An image of burnt toast popped into her mind. Burnt toast with cities.

"That is why I need your connection to the trees of the Earth. They will be able to help us if we are connected."

Keelie remembered the solution she'd found for Risa in the Compendium. She'd called upon the energy of the Earth and a nice lemon tree to counteract the intense heat of the solar power.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I will open the boundary and use my magic to heal the rift on Earth, and the energy from the Earth will draw the solar flare and seal the crack in Gaia's Dome." Queen Vania pointed to the crystal shield. Keelie got it now. The energy from the Earth magic that they summoned would heal the rift in the Earth, and the energy from the Earth would draw on the sun to heal the crack in the crystalline boundary protecting the atmosphere.

"You must hold the image of a tree and its root in your mind when we do this. The Mother Tree, from the great forest, is close by. You need to contact her."

Keelie had never heard of a Mother Tree. "You mean a Queen Tree?"

"No, this is the first tree, the tree that founded the forest. She is said to grow alone at the top of the world, keeping an eye on all the forests. She reports to the Great Sylvus."

Keelie closed her eyes and called upon the ancient trees that populated the mountainsides around Grey Mantle. There was no answer. She opened her tree sense and felt for the rest of the forest. Nothing.

Disconcerted and feeling very alone, she tugged at the cord around her neck and pulled free the charms that dangled from it: rose quartz to keep the Dread away, although there was no Dread here; the Queen Aspen's Heart, which was given to her by a forest when she killed the Red Cap that had been terrorizing it; and the silver acorn bound in silver thorns, the dark fae charm that had allowed her to open the book of secrets that had helped save her uncle and restore the Dread in her home forest.

Queen Vania's eyes widened at the sight of the powerful talismans.

Keelie ignored her and clasped the charred heart of the Queen of the Aspens. She called upon the trees again.

You are the Lady Keliel? The trees seemed to answer in unison.

Yes. I need your help.

Of course.

I need to reach the Mother Tree.

Keelie formed the image of the crack in the atmosphere and sent it to the forest.

Oh!

She felt a swoosh, as if she had formed into a million bits of herself and traveled in a wave of green magic.

She reformed as herself in front of a huge tree, whose branches reached the sky and whose roots sank deep into the Earth. It was larger than the redwoods.

A crackly voice emerged in her mind, and it was laughing. It was the voice of an old woman.

Keelie looked down and saw a bent old woman with branches growing out of her skull sitting on one of the Mother Tree's roots. The old woman's skin was wrinkled like bark, and her gray wisps of hair were like bits of moss. Her eyes were dark green. Darker than an elf's ... earthy green.

Who are you? Keelie asked.

You're young and your sap is juicy. The old woman leaned forward and clasped a walking stick carved with animals. It reminded Keelie of a totem pole. What can I do for you, missy?

I'm looking for the Mother Tree.

The old woman patted the root. You ve found her. Dania sent you, didn't she?

Keelie nodded. She had a sneaking suspicion this was the human personae the Mother Tree conjured.

Crack has gotten too big for her to fix, so now she calls for help. I've always hated how some people think they can handle something on their own when it's obvious they're going to need help.

I need the help of the trees. Queen Vania and I will call upon Earth magic to heal the rift, but I'll need the trees' help to channel the energy of the solar flare to repair the crack in Gaia's Dome.

The old woman nodded. She rubbed the end of her walking stick in the soft loamy earth that surrounded the Mother Tree's root.

Show me the heart the Queen Aspen gave you.

Keelie offered the heart, bound on its string to her neck.

The old woman arched a gray thin eyebrow. You're going to need it when you go back to the High Mountain Faire. Keep it with you at all times.

I will. Keelie wondered how much the old tree knew of her. The High Mountain Renaissance Faire was in Colorado, and she had not spoken of it here.

Mother Tree moved restlessly. I will help you contact the trees, but this solution may not work. Queen Dania has overlooked the other beings of Earth. She will need to ask for the help of Herne and his dark fae and the peoples under the mountain.

She thinks I am the answer.

You're part of the answer. And you must go back. Dania is ready. The old woman looked up at the sky and dark storm clouds had formed. She was never one for patience. She's already captured a solar flare.

What do I need to do? Keelie asked, panicked. Was she supposed to channel a solar flare?

Push the extra magic into the Earth, child.

The Mother Tree's words echoed in Keelie's head as the old woman disappeared. Keelie was back, face-to-face with Vania. She was sweating as she held out her hands in an attempt to control the energy surrounding her, and she glowed from within as if she'd swallowed the northern lights, with energy pulsing in and around her.

She closed her eyes and summoned the energy of the trees, but the lights were too bright. Keelie couldn't concentrate. A wave of light energy surged through her. She didn't know what to do-Vania had rushed into this situa tion, leaving her without any clues as to what was expected of her. The Mother Tree's voice echoed in her mind: Dania has her own way. She envisioned the Mother Tree as it stood high on a granite mountaintop. Its roots clasped the stone outcropping, then trailed to the soil.

Push the energy into the Earth.

A trickle of sweat trailed down Keelie's face as more of the solar energy pulsed around her, squeezing the air out of her lungs. She envisioned pushing it deep into the Earth as if the light was a treeling and she was the shovel digging the hole. She hadn't used this much magic since she had tapped into Earth magic to rescue the Wildewood's unicorn. This was much greater.

She heard the voices of the forests of the world all around her, each one unique and different. We're with you, Daughter of the Forest.

Lava and molten rock bubbled and reached out with fiery tentacles.

In her mind, Keelie dug deeper, pushing the light into the Earth, willing the crack to close. She envisioned the light as knitting needles and bound the torn edges of the rift together, weaving them closed with the energy and magic. But it was not enough. She could not seal the fissure's upper edges, and it remained open to the sky.

Keelie opened her eyes and looked at the 3-D model of the Earth, where the repaired rift had now turned into an angry red scar. Exhausted, she dropped to her knees. She wanted to press her face against the cool floor and sleep. Then she heard a loud rumble from the image as a tiny tear formed at the end of the repaired rift.

Queen Vania slumped onto a chair. Her eyes closed. "We have failed. The magic will continue to leak out."

After a long moment, the queen forced herself to stand. "I must use my scrying stone." Keelie noticed that her hands shook as she held up a large crystal. The blue orb of Earth floated in front of them, oceans glowing brightly, then suddenly they saw an expanded version of the forest around Grey Mantle, zooming in until they saw details that proved that this was no map, but an actual view of the world below them. Keelie could see lights glowing in the windows of the rooms they'd slept in, and a tiny figure stomped across the street-Miszrial. Her attention was drawn to the fissure, where the tear was grinding open.