Read The Faerie War for Free Online

reptiscillas living Underground have packed up their belongings. They can’t vanish with them, obviously, but that’s where I come in. Being a faerie, I don’t have the reptiscillas’ limitations. I can take anything I want through the faerie paths with me, as long as I keep hold of it. So I told Asim that if everyone loaded their stuff onto carts, I could open a really wide doorway to the faerie paths and pull the carts through with me.
    I was excited about my idea, as were Asim and the other leaders, until I calculated that it would take me about ten hours of continuous work to get the hundreds of cartloads through the faerie paths. But I’m a guardian, so I can handle it, right? And doing this will prove to the remaining reptiscillan doubters that I can be trusted.
    The only thing I can’t help them with is moving their children. Reptiscillan children haven’t learned how to vanish yet, and they can’t travel through the faerie paths because it would kill them. So every child under the age of ten left on foot early yesterday morning for the new hideout, accompanied by their parents, several leaders, and a whole lot of warriors.
    Things have been tense down here ever since.
    “Okay, every family who owns a cart has finished loading up,” Jamon says as he walks toward me. “You’ll need to bring empty carts back for everyone else.”
    I nod. I’m standing in the middle of the Circle, and every tunnel I look down has carts lined up as far as I can see. Each cart is big enough to carry at least twenty people. Reptiscillas use magic to move their carts around, and I’m obviously going to have to do the same thing.
    Asim shouts to me from the other side of the Circle. “All right, you’re up, Violet. We’re bringing the first cart.”
    I turn to Jamon. His eyes examine me, giving me a look that I think says, we can trust you, right? I nod. He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a stylus. I was allowed to use it briefly this morning, but then he took it back. After a moment’s hesitation, he hands it to me. I know this time he’ll let me keep it. It’s the same stylus that was hiding in my boot when Farah found me passed out in the forest. The same stylus Jamon confiscated from me about half an hour after I woke up.
    With a deep breath, I turn around and walk toward the largest piece of blank wall on the outer edge of the Circle. I chose this spot yesterday while everyone else was rushing around getting things packed. I raise my hand to the sandy wall and scratch the words to open a doorway into the dirt. Words that seem to come automatically to me, like breathing. Beneath my hand, the dirt melts away to reveal a black opening. I feel for the edge of the doorway and make a spreading motion with my hands, pushing the opening to extend it. I try not to think of all the people standing behind me watching me wave my hands around like a mad woman.
    When the opening is wide enough, I turn around and see Asim standing nearby with the first cart. I slide one foot backward through the doorway to prevent it from closing, then motion to Asim to bring the cart closer.
    “Ready?” he asks.
    “Of course.”
    With his magic, he sends the cart rolling toward me. It slows and stops before bumping into me. I wrap my hand around a wooden piece sticking out at the front. With my free hand, I release some magic, send it flowing beneath the cart to the back, and push. Then I walk, the cart moving beside me, into the darkness. The light behind me diminishes. When it disappears completely, I know the doorway has closed.
    I focus then on the new hiding place. It’s inside a mountain. I don’t know exactly where, but Asim gave me enough details for me to arrive at the correct place this morning.  He met me there and showed me the room he wanted everything delivered to. As I picture the room in my head now, light forms in front of me. I push the cart forward through the rapidly expanding hole, and a group of young reptiscillan