As I splashed cold water on my face to wash away the tears that had come to my eyes, I felt one more coil of the wards dissolve and I felt the beat of my heart slow and steady. I repeated the words of the spell that bound me to the door. Quam cor mea aperit, tam ianua aperit. I could feel my heart beating up against the last cold link of the wards. They were almost all gone. I reached into the water again and met a pair of dark brown eyes. I froze, looking into a man’s face. I sat back on my heels and looked over at Lura. She was also washing her face in the water. With each splash, her skin looked smoother and firmer. She trickled a handful of water over her head and her grey hair turned to gold.

I looked back at the face in the water. Quincy Morris was trapped below the surface studying me. But I wasn’t who he was looking for. I reached into my pocket and found the stone I’d stuck in there earlier. The fairy stone, as my father had called it when he’d given it to me. It was white with a hole in the middle. I slipped it over my ring finger and, holding my hand above the water, said, simply, open.

Nothing happened. I felt the power inside me writhing, trying to break free, but it still was held in place by the last of the wards. Then I recalled the Aelvestone in my pocket. I took it out and held it over the water. Concentric circles appeared on the surface.

I dropped the stone in the water. The circles spun in a spiral, tunneling deep into the pool, opening up a funnel. Then a head broke the surface and a man rose up from the water. Hearing the disturbance of water, Lura looked up … and gasped.

“Quincy?” she said, all the years since she’d seen her lover falling away from her face like water rolling off a stone.

The dark-haired man – the same one I’d seen on the shores of Faerie – walked toward her, his face radiant. “Lura!” he cried, falling to his knees beside her and gathering her into his arms. “I came here on the morning of our wedding day to pick flowers for you and I fell into the pool. I woke up in a strange place. I’ve been trying ever since to get back to you.” He held her at arm’s length and looked into her face. “I was afraid it would have been too long. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it must not have been any time at all. You look just the same.”