dessa iri. ☀

Letting his feet touch down, he hurried over to the lump he had noticed and reached out a shaking hand to brush the leaves off... uncovering a knotted log, tiny white mushrooms dotting the damp surface.

Relief and frustration surged through him at once. Relief that this was just a rotting log under the leaves, frustration that they still didn't have any answers, turning into a swirling mix that presented itself in tears.

Knees sinking into the dirt, Terence pressed the heels of his hands to his face and tried to swallow down the sob.

What was he doing? How selfish could he be? People were missing and he was throwing a pity party for himself?

"I wanted to come," she reminded him gently, taking a deep breath of her own and letting it out. Taking a few small steps forward, she reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder, hoping the touch could ease some of his own anxiety and sadness.

was this the most brilliant idea bloom had ever had ?? not exactly , but the fairy wasn't notorious for her intelligence ; beauty , charisma and determination ( born of sheer stubbornness ) her strongest assets .

though a little embarrassed by the theatrics being confined to the small space of her room , bloom lifts her hands above their head , cradling them and willing a small orb of gold-hued magic to sprout above her curved palms . closing her eyes in concentration , her brows scrunched , she then crosses her wrists above her head , pointer and middle extending as the other fingers fold towards her palm — and in a wave of twinkling , blue magic that washes over her like an ocean's tide ; bloom transforms .

She didn't know what to expect, but she could never have predicted what happened before her eyes. Suddenly, pixie dust and light yielding seemed almost boring, compared to the art that had unfolded before her. Mouth agape, her eyes raked over the changed outfit, the tiara, trying to make sense of the blue light. How did she do that?

A handful of seconds passed before Dessa realized she was only standing and staring, rendered speechless after her friend's display. "That's . . . wow," she finally spoke, hands moving as she tried to put it into words, to find one that could sum up her surprise and awe. "Beautiful. Spectacular. Show stopping. I had no idea."

It took everything in him not to let out a yelp of joy at the air hitting his face, hair streaming back from his forehead as he skimmed the tops of the trees, slowing to part the branches and squint down at the forest floor.

Evermore had always felt safe, he mused, suddenly realizing that this whole event was starting to shatter that illusion for him. Spiderweb cracks in the life he was building here that Terence wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up with.

Something caught his eye as he circled a large pine.

"There's something down there," he called to Dessa, pursing his lips as he tried to make it out in the dark.

"It could just be a pile of leaves but it also could be a body."

She had too, but it didn't feel like where she belonged. She had friends, but she was still a fairy in a town of humans, and it wasn't where she was meant to be. It wasn't safe. There were too many decisions to make... too many questions.

She halted hearing Terence speak again, her eyes widening.

"A body? You don't think...?" But she couldn't even bring herself to say it, floating slowly towards the ground, waiting for him to follow or lead the way, afraid of what they could find.

"No, no, no, it's fine. Just the heater kicking on now that it's getting colder earlier." Right? Fraser was used to convincing himself things were fine, but it was always a little bit different when there was someone else around that had the same fears he did. "I'm pretty sure we're fine."

If Bloom was confused about the wing situation, Dessa took that and doubled it with her friend's reaction to pixie dust. She wasn't sure if basically human was an insult, it felt like one, but she brushed over it, more focused on her question. "We don't need pixie dust for our talents, it just helps us take flight. Or, well . . . stay in the air." Her lips turned into a small frown, almost little more than a pout. "I thought all fairies used pixie dust. How do you fly?"

"I'm a little nervous to get down on the ground," he admitted, chuckling. "Maybe if we get closer, we can still stay above the trees without actually setting down."

He turned to look at his companion, a frown creasing his brow.

"You good, Dess? I won't drag you anywhere you don't want to go."

Allowing herself to float lower, as slowly as possible, she nodded, an affirmation to him and herself. "You're right, we need to get closer."

"I think I've got like an hour of flight time, so we should get started!"

The night air kissed Terence's face, blowing golden strands back from his face as he turned his eyes towards the sky.

This was joy, he thought, then immediately felt guilty. The whole reason they were out here tonight was to search for their missing friends. Would Zarina even consider him a friend? Probably not.

"Let's start over the woods," he called to Dessa, tilting his shoulders just a hair to bank away from town.

The streetlights flashed by, giving way to the darkness of the forest, leaves rustling with the air displaced from their passing.

And it didn't seem so bad, yet. No one ogling at them from the ground as far as she could tell, no feeling they were being watched. It actually felt... freeing, in a way she hadn't experienced since her life in Evermore began.

"Good call," she shouted back, not too worried someone on the ground would hear her now that they were flying up and away from the town. It was pretty dark, anyway.

"I've got plenty, thanks Dess," he replied, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder as much to reassure her as him. He rolled back his shoulders again, trying to disperse some of the tension.

"Feels weird to try flying without the equipment, you know?" he joked, gesturing over his shoulder. Taking one last deep breath, he crouched slightly, then pushed and shot up a fair bit faster than he was anticipating.

He swallowed his yelp, feeling like a new sparrowman again, struggling to get used to his own limbs. Squeezing his arms to his sides and straightening his legs, he managed to regain some control, looking down at Dessa on the sidewalk.

He beckoned, a grin spreading across his face. Despite the dire circumstances, despite the danger they might be facing if someone saw them, there was something just so right about taking to the air again.

"Strange, isn't it?" She agreed with a nod, the whole thing felt weird.

Her feet remained planted on the sidewalk, unable to find the courage in her to follow him, frozen in place... until he looked down, smiling. It was enough to snap her out of her thoughts, get her head back into the game.

And she had to admit, as her feet left the ground... it was a feeling she missed so deeply, a part of her she'd had to push down for so long, that she found herself smiling, too, momentarily overtaken with the joy. "I feel like it's been years," she breathed, her heart fluttering with the breeze.

The blanket was dusty when Terence yanked it out from underneath his bed and unwrapped it. He coughed, waving a hand to disperse the cloud of particles, then unwrapped the shoe box. The glow was faint, but panic gripped him as he pulled open the lid and stared down at the green bag in the bottom of the cardboard square. A tiny dribble had leaked out of one of the seams, making the material glitter with its own internal glow. Terence was relieved it hadn't floated.

He ran his finger across the spill and swiped it on the back of his neck, his back twitching with the missing wings that had taken so long to adjust to. Flipping open the pouch, he sunk the measuring spoon he'd chosen from the kitchen into the shifting, glowing dust and held it up over his head. Holding his breath, he closed his eyes and tilted the spoon.

At first, it felt like a cool breeze playing along his skin, then he felt the tell-tale lightening of his limbs, lifting slightly off the carpet. Swallowing hard, he returned the bag to the box and wrapped the blanket around it again. That should be enough for an hour or so of flying here. Shoving the bundle back under his bed, Terence focused, bringing himself back to the floor and heading to the front door, pulling shoes and a jacket on for his nighttime excursion.

Dessa's knock brought a mixture of fear and relief into his throat, and he tried to smile when he opened the door.

"Hey. Did you have enough? Ready?"

She was as careful as ever applying the dust. She had to admit that she missed flying; she didn't feel right without her wings. But while she was too nervous to take to the skies in a town filled with clumsies, that wasn't the main issue. Knowing that their pixie dust was limited, that if she ever needed to fly and she ran out she could never fly again... it was such a dreadful feeling, she hadn't so much as looked at her supply since arriving to town.

Now, standing outside of Terence's door, there was the usual mix of adrenaline and fear that followed any event out of the ordinary, but also a determination. They couldn't let this be for nothing. "Ready as I'll ever be," she nodded. "Don't you worry about that. There's still a decent amount left if you need some after this." Safely tucked into her bottom drawer.