Eyes wide, I reached for the curse, wrapped my will around it—and pulled it back.

Crap. This was really going to hurt.

With the sensation of fire, the curse rebounded into me, backlashing in my mind as if it were alive, angry to be jerked home. Not me! I thought as bursts of green flame lit and died outside Pierce’s circle, showing where fragile wings shivered into flame. A terrible cry went up as the fairies dropped to the burning earth, and still I pulled, taking it into myself. They were dying. My head flung back and I screamed so I wouldn’t go mad with the pain.

And when I had it all, when I had everything that I could bear, I pushed the curse back into the ley line. I emptied everything into it, letting go of the line with a quickness that curled me into myself, hurt. My outer circle dropped, and I took a sobbing breath in the sudden quiet.

The pain vanished from my mind, and I shook as I fell to the wet ground. What have I become in the name of love? Of friendship?

“Rachel!” Ivy exclaimed, but it was Pierce’s arms that slipped around me, smelling of witch and power.

The imbalance hit, and I clenched anew, teeth gritting as I took it all. This was mine. The filth, the scum. All of it. And I heard Pierce sigh as I shuddered and accepted the entirety of the smut. I deserved it.

“What did you do!” Ceri shouted, angry. I could see her tiny feet as I lay in Pierce’s arms, the pain now only a memory but my panic and fear growing. What have I become?

“Rachel! What did you do!” the elf said again, demanding my attention.

I looked up, wiping my eyes. “Is Jenks okay?” I whispered.

From the edge of the circle, Ivy said, “He’s still underground. Are you okay?”

“She misaligned it!” Ceri shouted, furious as she stomped her foot. “And she did it intentionally! They’re still alive! Never has anyone misaligned my work, never!”

They were alive? I looked up, not believing. My throat was raw and my muscles felt like rubber bands. The fairies were alive!

“It wasn’t misaligned,” Pierce said as he eased me to the ground and stood. Hands at his side, he looked irate. “She drew it back.”

“Why!” Ceri shouted. “I told her Jenks would survive!”

“I have no idea,” Pierce said, standing beside me as my butt got wet from the grass.

“Jenks,” I whispered, and I felt Pierce let go of the line and his circle drop. The breath of a new day stained with the stink of burning shifted my hair, and I looked for the bright glitter of pixy wings. Outside Pierce’s circle, paths of ash showed where the spell had started to take hold, but the garden was green. Small voices rose in pain, and my heart clenched.