We popped out inside a huge, hollowed-out log. I didn’t remember seeing anything this big in the rain forest. And he either grew to almost six feet tall, or we shrank to two feet since we were now the same height. “Where are we?”
“Our home,” it stated in a voice that no longer sounded like he was a member of the Chipmunks. “This tree. The moss. The dew that collects on the leaves. It is all our home.”
“I understand and apologize for invading it without your permission, uh…”
“Humans cannot pronounce my name. You may call me Xye. I speak for my kind. Why does the prophecy seek an audience with the air pixies?”
“I need your help, Xye. The Council is destroying our world. I’m building an uprising to fight them, but can’t defeat them without the air pixies. Will you join us?”
It stood there staring at me, not blinking, not moving, no expression on its face. Did it fall asleep standing up and with its eyes open? I looked to Clay, who shrugged.
Finally, it blinked. “This is not our fight.”
“It’s everyone’s fight,” I countered. “The Council is causing tornados, earthquakes, wildfires, floods. The elements are out of balance. The only way to truly unite this world is if we join together and fight a common enemy. Please, Xye. We can’t do this without you.”
It went motionless again. Where was it going when it mentally disappeared like that?
“Maybe we should come back another time when you aren’t so distracted.” Clay reached for my hand. “Come on, Montana. We have three more legends to talk to. Look at this guy. What’s he going to do? Freeze like a little pixie statue? How’s that helping us?”
“Clay, please. Don’t insult him, uh her, uh it in its own home.”
“That ship has sailed, sweetheart. You should have heard some of the names they were calling me.”
It blinked back to life. “They wish to speak to the air elemental. Leave the prophecy with me.”
“Not gonna happen, buddy.”
In a flash, Clay disappeared. I heard his shout on the other side of the log. “Hey!”
Xye blinked those enormous eyes. “My kind are tricksters, always playing jokes.”
“That sounds just like my air elemental.”
“Please, prophecy. Sit with me.” Once I sat and brought my knees to my chest, it went on, “It’s been a long time since an elemental has come into these woods. Some of the pixies believed their existence to be a myth.”
“Funny, elementals think the same thing about pixies.”
“Long ago, our kinds lived in harmony. It was a glorious time, one without war, without famine. When the war broke out between the elementals, we were asked to choose sides much as you are doing now. We refused and were banished from your world. We settled here in this rain forest and have been here ever since. This is our home now, and where we will remain.”
Disappointment deflated me. What if I failed to recruit any of the legends? We’d be defeated by the Council for sure. “You’re saying you won’t help me? Even if it means returning to that glorious time?”
“Prophecy, you must understand.”
“Oh, I understand all right.” My temper took over. I stood and brushed off my backside. “You refused to take a side, and it got your kind banished. You have the choice to right that wrong. Instead of giving them a chance to live a life where they don’t have to mask themselves as the wind in the trees, you’d rather play it safe and hide like a coward. I don’t have that choice. I’m the prophecy. It’s my destiny to save this world with or without you. So, stay here, Xye. Hide out in the rain forest. Deny your kind the chance to unite this world. I have other legends to see.”
I tried to turn and storm off in dramatic effect, but every bone, every muscle, every part of me froze instantly. I couldn’t even move to blink. Xye walked around and stopped in front of me, looking me in the eye. “You don’t fully understand what it means to be the prophecy, the true sacrifice. Only one stands in the way. In the way of what, I ask you?” It blinked, releasing me from the invisible hold.
“I know the prophecy inside and out,” I fired back. “I don’t need yet another interpretation from someone unwilling to fight for it. I’m trying to stop the Council from destroying our world as we know it. The Ides of March is only a few weeks away. We have to be ready.”
“You believe you can stop them.”
“I know I can.” I had to. No one else was going to do it. That fell to me by default. Go, me.
Xye smiled sadly. “Cressida Clearwater thought the same thing and paid the ultimate sacrifice to unite this world. Are you willing to do the same? Because it will come to that, prophecy. Your destiny is to give up your life so others may live.”
Well, fuck a bunch of fuckers.
17
I didn’t say anything as we used the crystal to slice a portal through the air and bring us back to the grove. The Council’s patrol had expanded to the woods behind the academy, so we had to be extra careful making sure the crystal delivered us inside the protective veil and not outside.
Once we were all back in the grove and inside the treehouse, sitting around the table and staring at nothing, the defeat of our first failure still fresh, I lied and said I had a headache so I could be alone to process what Xye had said. Was it right? Did I have to die to save my world? I knew there was always the chance, but I had no idea it was actually the plan. I couldn’t tell the guys until I had the chance to talk to Cressida about it. Knowing they’d never let me out of the grove without at least one of them with me, I’d have
