“But what does he want with the fairy stone?”
“The explanation is rather lengthy, but suffice it to say, the stone collects negative energy. As you know, fairies do not wield dark magic. If a fairy were to conjure a dark spell, the Arrubicus stone would absorb the energy, thus negating the spell. The stone is capable of storing limitless amounts of power, and the consequences of unleashing that much dark magic would be devastating.”
“I agree.” I glanced at the woods, barely visible in the moonlight, wondering if perhaps I’d already seen the creature earlier in the evening. “So, this stone would be very valuable to certain people, especially to creatures of darkness. Terminus, what does the bloodthorn look like?”
He shook his head. “We do not speak of such things,” he said, his voice hushed.
“Then how am I to find him?”
His gaze seemed to pierce straight through me. Purple sparks danced through his irises, reminding me I was speaking to a fae creature, a magical being of Fairy.
“You will know. When the time comes, you will know.”
His words sent shivers down my spine.
“They were like us once,” he continued, “pure and good. But somehow, they became tainted. Now, they remember nothing of the old ways.”
“Were they fairies?”
“I cannot say for sure, but the bloodthorn and those like it come from the undiscovered land—a place of great evil.”
I pondered his words. I’d never heard of the undiscovered land, but for some time now, I’d suspected there was a hidden land—perhaps an island or underworld—somewhere on Faythander. My godson had been captured by the Regaymor, and I still wasn’t sure where they’d come from. Geth, the now-deceased goblin leader, had taken me to a dark plain where he’d kept the pixie Mochazon. Did the Regaymor come from the undiscovered land? Was that where Geth had taken me?
“Terminus, where is the undiscovered land?”
“My people do not travel there, but there is an entrance to it not far from my home.”
“What sort of entrance? A portal?”
“No. The entrance to the undiscovered land is accessed through a cave atop Dragon Spine Mountain.”
Dragon Spine. No wonder my stepfather didn’t know about the entrance. He refused to travel to the place, although I still wasn’t sure why. Was it possible there was an unknown world beneath Faythander? If so, why didn’t anyone know more about it?
“So, you say there is an entrance to the undiscovered land atop Dragon Spine, and it’s not far from where you live. It is most likely that the bloodthorn escaped from the unnamed land in order to steal the stone.”
“Yes. It is most likely.”
“But we still don’t know what he wants or how to find him… or why he came here to Earth, of all places. Or what he means to do with the stone.”
“Yes, there are still many questions that must be answered. But we must act quickly. Fairies will not survive long without the stone. We must return it to my world as soon as possible, or I fear the consequences will be worse than we envision.”
He glanced back at the tent. “I must return to my sister. Will you join me?”
I followed his line of sight. If the Wults were coming, I didn’t plan to spend any time with them. I would help Terminus as best as I could, but I refused to work with the Wults. Doc Hill had laid out very good reasons why I should forget the Skullsplitter, and for once, I intended to take his advice.
“No, I need to get back to my camper.”
“Very well.” He bowed before turning away and leaving me alone.
The sound of an owl resonated through the forest as I made my way back to my trailer. I replayed my conversation with Terminus, trying to understand why we didn’t know more about the undiscovered land. If it was accessed through tunnels in Dragon Spine Mountain, why didn’t we see more dark creatures roaming around Faythander?
Unless there was some sort of spell in place that prevented it.
Which meant the bloodthorn would have needed to overpower the spell in order to escape—which also meant there was a land full of nasty, dark creatures probably begging to be set free and waiting for an opportunity to be set loose.
Is that why the bloodthorn had appeared? Was that the reason for taking the stone? Did he intend to set his companions free?
It made sense. He would need crazy amounts of power in order to break through the spell, and the starstone would be one of the only ways to hold that much power. If that were the case, then how was he able to set himself free in the first place?
I didn’t have any answers, and if I wanted to find them, I would have to dig.
When I got back to my camper, I entered and locked the door behind me before lugging out my suitcase of books. Luckily, I’d brought them. I’d almost left them at my apartment, but with my social anorexia, I knew I’d need something to keep me occupied. And what do you know, I’d been right.
I cracked open a text called Superstition and Myth in the Realm of Faerie and started reading.
This was going to be a long night.
Chapter 4
The next morning I woke with a headache. I’d gone to bed sometime after three, and when I’d finally fallen asleep, I found my dreams plagued with visions of the undiscovered land.
However, last night’s reading had given me a wealth of knowledge. The only problem was, no one actually believed the dark creatures were real except the fairies. I’d read some fascinating stories about the bloodthorn and how it had the head of a horse or ram, the body of a man, and wore a coat of coarse hair and magical chains, which it used to ensnare victims. Also, interestingly, it was said to have glowing green eyes, reminding me of the creature I’d spotted in the forest.
The only problem
