“What do you think about the meeting?” I asked.

Soheila sighed again, but this time the sound was more like a gust of wind before a storm.

“I’m afraid that IMP will be helpless to stop the Grove from pushing their own agenda, which is to close the door between this world and Faerie.”

I knew that the witches of the Grove didn’t like fairies. It was an age old feud that went back to the time of the witch trials. The Grove witches believed that it was contact with the fairies that had caused the persecution of witches. But I hadn’t realized that they took the enmity so far as to want to bar the fey from this world. “Can they even do that?” I asked.

“We’re not sure. We know that over the last hundred years every door but the one here in Fairwick has closed. Some believe that it’s a natural process, that as this world grows more crowded and polluted the avenues between the worlds become … clogged. But we believe that the witches of the Grove have been working spells to close all the doors, and that they intend to close this one. If they do, all of us who came from Faerie will have to decide which world we want to live in …” A look of pain flickered across Soheila’s soft brown eyes.

“Why?” I asked. “I mean I thought you already had chosen to live in this world.”

Soheila let out an expulsion of breath that shook the branches of the trees and rippled the water in the stream. “Many of us have, but we still need to go back to Faerie every few years to refresh our power. Otherwise we begin to fade. If the last door closes, those of us who live in this world will have to decide between going back to Faerie or eventually fading and dying in this world.”

“What a horrible choice to make,” I said.

“Yes,” said Soheila, “but at least we have a choice. The ones who would really suffer would be the creatures who need to come to this world to breed – like the undines.” She waved her hand toward the vibrant stream teeming with young, boisterous creatures. “Without access to this world, their species will die out.”

CHAPTER TWO

WE CONTINUED TO follow the stream through the woods, its gurgle accompanying us like a fifth companion. I had known when I agreed to join the Grove that my loyalty to my friends at Fairwick might be tested, but I hadn’t known that I’d be thrust into a conflict so soon. If the Grove was really coming here to close the door to Faerie, would I be compelled to take a side?

It was true that I’d seen some pretty dangerous creatures come through the door to Faerie, but I’d also seen harmless ones. Many of my closest friends had originally come from there. Which of them, I wondered now, would choose to leave this world if they knew it was their last chance to go back there?