“We should get her to the Monster Repository,” Nathan suggested. “I would offer her some closet space, but I have a feeling she would take the first opportunity to escape.”
Before the pixie could argue, I juggled the makeshift sack and my backpack and took out a Mason jar. Removing the lid, I loosened the neck of the sack and clamped it over the jar’s entrance, watching as black mist poured inside. I had the pixie trapped.
“Sounds good to me. I don’t have the energy to chase her any more tonight. Tomorrow, my bruises will have bruises.”
He paused awkwardly. “And if we could forget the underwear part, I would be eternally grateful, as I’m sure you would be?”
“No problem. Your secret is safe with me.” My cheeks seared with embarrassment. “But… there’s one other thing you should know.”
“What’s that?” He raised an eyebrow.
I had to tell him. “There are a lot of these loose. Thirty or more.”
He mustered a deep, calming sigh. “Well, let’s deal with this one first, and then we can think about the rest. This will require some reading.”
With the pixie’s black mist kicking up a royal fuss inside the Mason jar, we set off for the Repository.
Entering the realm of the silver-poled, blue-tinged glass orbs, I stopped dead on the threshold. For a good few seconds, I wasn’t sure I’d stepped into the same place as before. The light of the Repository had shifted as night had crept in sometime between my Purge and my wild pixie chase. The blue glass now looked navy, bordering on true black, dulling the silvered moonlight that touched the surface. Shadows moved across the white floor, which appeared unnaturally pale against the contrasting dark.
I put a foot forward, and the darkness appeared to follow, the shadows closing in somehow. The glass orbs hadn’t frightened me before, but now that the night had transformed them, I felt as if the monsters inside could burst out at any moment, becoming one with the glass in order to overwhelm their enclosures. I couldn’t even see the black mist swirling inside anymore. It set my nerves on a knife-edge, the hairs on the back of my neck tingling as if I were being watched.
I’m being stupid. I’m just tired.
“Over here.” Nathan beckoned me to a nearby orb. “We’ve got smaller ones, but I don’t like using them unless we’re reaching capacity. She deserves some space to stretch, you know?”
I eyed the Mason jar; the pixie, in mist form, hadn’t stopped swirling violently the whole walk over. “I guess so.”
But when someone or something was in a cage, did it really matter how big the cage was? It didn’t change the fact that they were trapped. I shook off the thought, knowing it had to happen. The thought of a free-range pixie was nice in theory, but I’d seen what they were capable of. If this one didn’t go inside an orb, what else would I do with her? Let her go so she could wreak more havoc? No matter how I considered it, I arrived at the same conclusion: She had to go in the cage.
“Can you hand her to me?” Nathan asked, still visibly buzzing from the night’s events. I had to say, it felt nice to have someone treat my Purge as a cool ability instead of something to panic about. I hadn’t known I’d needed a fresh perspective, but it had helped. Genie and my parents claimed they weren’t afraid of what I could do, but when a Purge threatened, I saw it on their faces. Nathan was different.
I gave him the jar, and he proceeded to work his magic on the orb. His mouth moved silently as he conjured the spell that would crack it open. Soon enough, a twisting iris opened in the glass surface, expelling a rush of cold air. Nathan took off the jar’s lid, shoved the top into the opening, and gave it a gentle shake, prompting the mist to cascade into the orb. As quickly as he could, he snatched the jar away and the iris twisted shut again before the pixie had time to react. Still, she more than made up for it once the iris had closed. Erupting back into her physical form, she pounded her miniature hands against the glass, the faint spots across her body throbbing violently. Her black eyes turned in my direction, filled with rage and sadness, and I knew she blamed me for this. Who else was there?
“I’m going to grab a few books that might be useful, as there’s not much lore on these creatures. Are you okay to stay here, or do you want to come with me to my study? It’s just over there.” He gestured toward a door, tucked away on the far side of the Repository behind the bubble forest.
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine here.”
“Okay, I’ll only be a minute.” He darted away, practically skipping to his study.
I couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm, even though, technically, I’d done what I’d set out to do. I’d caught and caged my first real-world Purge beast. Regardless, my fingers itched, albeit illogically, to let the pixie back out of her prison. It might not have been shaped like a box, but it served the same purpose as the box from my nightmare—the same ones that housed countless monsters year after year. I hated to see her thudding her tiny fists against the glass, the same way I’d done in that petrifying dream.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
The pixie glared back, hammering harder for the freedom she couldn’t have. In the end, I had to turn away from her, even though I felt like a chicken for not facing her. Why had I bothered giving her life at all, if this was where she’d spend it?
Nathan came back a few minutes later, his nose already buried in a book. He had an entire
