The thought didn't even take a moment to register in Ettie's mind; it was clear in her eyes as I turned my head to look over my shoulder at her.

She shook her head.

"Ettie, it needs to be done. It's the only way. You know it, Ashe even knows it. Why do you think she's trying to buy us time?" I explained as I turned all the way around to face her.

"No, you know what will happen. If I do it... I can't do that to you. It would kill me. I don't know why you made me your key." She shook her head, her ear length hair hardly s.h.i.+fting as she did it.

I sighed, but didn't stop looking toward her. Finally after a few more repeated mantras of her saying no, she briefly shot her eyes up to me, and I caught them.

She couldn't look away then.

"You were the only one with magic I trusted enough" I spoke softly, the crackle of the fire nearly drowning out my voice.

Ettie's eyes held firmly, her head shaking to continually tell me *no'. I stepped the distance to reach her. She looked down at me, our eyes still locked. "I can't Riri, something could go wrong. You could die, I could never live with that. When I agreed, you said you would never actually ask me to do this. You promised!"

"I know." My voice was calm, probably barely audible with the magical flames. My free hand reached out to grab her shoulder, while I lowered my axe to the side.

"You promised." She continued.

"I know."

Her body lunged forward into me, which was a whole lot of woman to come barreling into me like that, and not knock me over. Her neck craned down.

"Please, there must be another way." She nearly cried. I was almost sure I was seeing tears stream down her cheek.

"No. You are my only key, Ettie. And we need my magic. Just do it." My voice was practically a wisp of nothing as I added one last time. "I need you, Ettie."

This time I was sure I saw a tear, as it streamed along her chin and dropped onto my cheek where it stayed while I felt one of her guns press into my gut. Then she did something I hadn't been expecting.

She lowered her face down to mine, and brought her lips against mine with a whimper.

She kissed me. Dreary-eyed but pa.s.sionately.

Then she shot me.

Twice.

Sixteen.

Say the Magic Words Is it any wonder that the strongest magic in all the world is love? The greatest curses or weakest charms couldn't stand up to a proof of love. Because love is unconditional, even with magic; it literally breaks the barriers between people and in turn, magic as well.

I know, I sound all mushy, but I do mean all love, not just the prince and princess falling for each other kind of thing, but sibling love, parental love, love between friends; all of that, still counts. It's just the proof of love that can be difficult for those. Romantic love is easy; a kiss is all it takes.

You might find it strange then, when I tell you, no matter how glorious the kiss felt to me. It wasn't the kiss that would break down the spell that kept my magic from me. It was the magic bullets she fired into my gut. The kiss was just an unexpected treat. An impossibly unexpected treat.

If my head hadn't been blurring and swirling from the magical blasts to my heart and gut, then it certainly would have been from that kiss. Or maybe it had been because of the kiss?

I dropped limp, sliding right into Ettie's arms, with my mouth gaping and gasping and my body convulsing into shakes. It was not a pretty sight at all. My head was pressed up tight against the chest of the st.u.r.dy vixen whom held me.

I could hear Ettie, continually whispering, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." But the truth was she hadn't done a single thing wrong. Well unless she was talking about kissing me. But my head was spinning so fast and the world was dropping out of sight, that I could hardly come to think of something that happened seconds ago. I was having enough trouble staying in the present. Or maybe it had been the future?

I managed a few whispers of my own as Ettie dropped to the floor with me slumped into her arms and body. "Don't apologize. You did great. I'm the one slacking here."

I attempted hus.h.i.+ng her, as she seemed to be sobbing further, curled down against my body. She cradled me like I was going to die any second. Had I forgotten to tell her the rest?

When I refused to use magic any further and choose to seal it away in my body. I needed someone else's magic to be a key. In case I ever needed to unlock that power again. Ettie had been my choice, because when I still had magic, I had been the one teaching her how to use hers.

You could imagine; a girl like her, her whole life had been spent capturing and dealing with witches. And there she was: A witch herself. It took time for her to get over that, but eventually she wanted me teaching her.

I couldn't refuse. It wasn't just that her father having been the only person willing to take me in and mentor me on how to fight and use an axe when I was still young. I... also would have done anything for Ettie at the time. I still would.

Now because she was the key to unlocking my magic, any magic of her own struck into me, like what she had just done, would do the trick. But to ensure something accidental would not trigger the effect, we etched further markers into the key.

One: proof of love had to be involved, essentially breaking the spell that would bind my magic, as well as unlocking my magic. The kiss might have served the purpose if she really felt that way. But I think it was the fact that she trusted that I would be alive if she shot me.

And two: we had to say our magic words, despite how ridiculous and silly they were.

They were her idea, I swear.

"Hey Ettie," I coughed, my body already illuminating in the two areas I had been shot. I raised a hand to touch the tips of my fingers against her chest where her heart might have been if it was on the outside. I was smiling one fey of a stupid grin too. "What big heart you have."

Her eyes went wide as she stared down at me. She shook her head, and I could see a smile starting to form at her lips, softly. She was worried of course. But that wouldn't stop her. She always had a strong heart.

She touched my cheek with one of her hands; it felt like vanilla b.u.t.ter running back and forward across my face. Her voice came out so sweetly, like ribbons dancing on the wind, only the wind was much fiercer in this case. "The better to love you with, Riri."

Then she leaned down to kiss me again. Her eyes flittered closed, and this time I was ready, for it. I felt the gentle touch of her lips and my eyes closed as well. I could smell the sweet scent of magic that she had just used, mixed with a fragrance of lilies, from her favorite tea.

Some moments are far better than others. And this one I would treasure, even if Ettie never wanted to kiss me again. I'd always have that kiss.

When I opened my eyes, she was gone.

Her touch ripped from me. The tower, the fire, everyone around us, it was all gone.

Even her scent had vanished. Though in its place was one of honey and porridge.

I squeezed my fingers together to make sure I was really alive, and looked down at them.

It was impossible.

I was lying on the pixie path, glittery sparkles of dust swirling at my booted feet. Everything else was covered by my crimson cloak.

My crimson cloak.

My hood was down, raspberry tangles of hair pulled behind my ears, and my lips were still curled into a smile from feeling the lingering of Ettie's kiss, right before the shock of everything struck me.

A voice like crusted old honey captured my ears. "Are you just going to lie there all d.a.m.n day, Red? Or can we like... get moving. Sometime soon? Maybe?"

It couldn't be.

I stood up, very slowly. My eyes were intent on scanning the rest of the area. Mutilated bodies, a broken tower, the pixie path. And... Goldie.

Goldie stood five feet from me, her hand clutched on the hilt of her short sword, with form fitting black all across her body. Both of her elbows were jutted out with a pose that said she was irritated and impatient.

I didn't understand.

What happened? Did I just dream all of that? Did I imagine being hit on the head, and going to Ettie and Han, rescuing a mirror spirit, boarding Bonny's s.h.i.+p?

The kiss?

I must have looked completely dumbfounded because Goldie's brows furrowed and she got that look on her face that told me she thought I was crazy.

I walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, making sure I could touch her. Then I looked around everywhere. No sign of Bonny or Hue.

Either I just had one of the most insane dreams ever possibly concocted, or... I don't even know what the *or' is.

The only other plausible yet insane explanation was... a time spell.

Which were not only dangerous, but extremely regulated by the Faeries. And it would have required my body to have been sustaining the spell the whole time.

The dragon I met did say spells were on me. Not just one...

"Get off me. h.e.l.lo? Are you even alive?" I heard Goldie ask, as she slipped easily from my grasp on her shoulders.

I ignored her, not out of frustration or anything to do with her. Just that my head was about to explode with trying to contain exactly what was going on.

There was one way to figure this out.

If a time spell had been laid on me. And Ettie's expression of love disenchanted it from me. Then I would also be free from the spell that was sealing my magic away.

"Red? h.e.l.lo?" She waved her hands in front of my face, before I held up my hand, palm toward her.

She froze instantly. My eyes beaded with different flecks of color as I focused on something simple, and not too straining. Goldie's clothes.

I could feel the s.h.i.+ver of power running from the base of my neck down to my hand before I thought entirely of what I wanted to cast.

I snapped my middle finger and thumb together as my pointer finger shot out to Goldie like I was pointing a gun sideways. A wisp of color like water based paint flowed out from my pointer finger, creeping toward Goldie.

She gasped, and stepped back, just as the creeping paint caught onto her black clothes and set them into glorious blazes of hundreds of different colors. It almost looked as though I were burning her clothes off, when the light around her intensified like a moonbow.

The light died away, my fingers tingling like they had fallen asleep. And the sweet, beautiful, heavily missed scent of my magic wafted to my nose.

Goldie was left standing in a slinky and tight gra.s.s green dress with matching green tights. Her cleavage was propped up to stare anyone right in the face and her golden fiery hair was pulled up into a twirling bun with a couple of curly cue pieces hanging out. Her high heels were a delicate emerald and made Goldie wobble for a second, as she stared down at herself with her jaw slacked open heavy.

I joined her with that expression.

Midnight Magic!

I had my magic back.

Intermission Brought to you by Cinderella's Tale Written by Ashe Puttel Intermission Cinderella's Tale It all started with a shoe. Or shoes I should say. You asked me about them while I collected supplies for the dinner later that day in the open market. It surprised me because no one ever bothered to pay attention to me unless they thought I was going to steal something. They all just saw me as some little girl in rags, but I could tell by the way you asked about my broken and torn shoes that you actually cared.

I wasn't sure why. I was just a n.o.body.

But you changed all that.

I swear you had followed me home like a lost little puppy, since you came appearing through my window when the rest of my family was out the next day. You revealed your wings and told me you had come to help me help myself. I had heard the stories of faerie G.o.dmothers but they were such mythical kinds of things that I never thought they could be real. A dragon might as well have stepped in my father's home for the amount of shock I had felt in that situation.

You told me a ball was being held tonight and that I should go, but you gave me the choice to go or not, like I wouldn't want to see the most beautiful dances I had imagined so often. I realize now why you had given me the choice at the time. I wish I had chosen different, I'm not sure what though.

You started with my shoes. Making them the most gorgeous blue I'd ever seen and made of a gla.s.s that hurt my feet as they sat in them. I wanted to ask you to change them as I liked green more and I knew I wouldn't be able to walk well in those heels but I stayed silent and afraid.

You tapped my body in various places which made me squeak and blush but I suddenly had a blue dress I could have dreamed of, if I was a princess. I touched my head to find a halo of branches weaved in my hair like a crown. Had you known of my love of nature at that time?

Once done, you led me by my hand out to the front yard where you produced a carriage to take me away. A carriage to match all my blues, at least you were being sensitive about my heels. You must have noticed how I stumbled a few times on the way out of the house, even though I tried to hide it.

As you helped me up the steps to the carriage and settled me in the seat you told me you would be there for me, but that I wouldn't recognize you. You leaned in the cab, and I watched the tresses of crimson hair fall along your neck as you tapped the heels and they became slippers with some padding in them.

You looked up to me and I glanced away, embarra.s.sed I had been staring at you, though I hadn't been sure why at the time.

You then told me I had till midnight to get back. At midnight your magic would end and everything would change back. If I past midnight you said you would be there to help me, and something told me in that moment that you were really saying you would always be there to help me if I needed it.

Your s.h.i.+ning sapphire eyes I think had been the reason I felt I could trust you no matter what. I really had wanted to pull you up in the carriage with me or at least ask you to ride with me, but I couldn't force myself to just say it.

You smiled gently to me and that was the first time my heart thrummed so strongly for anyone. I reached out to you but the door had already closed.

I wish I had asked you to come with me. I sat in the carriage the entire way there, frightened to death about what would happen when I stepped out to the ball.

It only grew worse when I got there. I was shaking terribly as I made my way up the steps in the perfectly suited slippers you made for me. Everyone was staring at me, and I wasn't used to it.

I was worried so much that I ran out to the balcony just to be able to breathe correctly. I felt a hand touch my back and turned quickly to face the sweet face of a girl who was my age, hair dark as the new moon night with skin of such a gentle caramel that my mouth fell open and I had completely forgotten about the fright from someone touching me.

The girl had lines etched in her face filled with genuine worry and blue eyes that were far too old for her. She asked me if I was well, and I lied. I wanted to leap in to that girl's arms and cry out all my worries, but I wouldn't let myself.

I realized after she left, that girl had to have been you. Those brilliant eyes were unmistakable and the pang of my heart thumping as I gazed over her had been for no one else except when I had seen you. I think I had been so wrapped up in my issues that I hadn't even realized it at the time. Now I wish I had jumped in your arms and let you take me away from this dance.

But you didn't. You simply pulled your hand from my back and smiled that soft smile as you gave me a way out if I wanted it. You told me to come find you if I wanted to go then you stepped away, fading back in to the crowd beyond the balcony outside.

I reached my hand after you, but saw it and coiled it back to my body. Why was I relying on someone so much now? I never had before; except my father, and you were nothing like him.

I stepped back inside with taking a few more breaths while people gazed to me when I glided by. My hands stayed in front of me and my eyes traced the people around me, looking for you again. I couldn't find where you had gone though.

Instead, I was found.