The Girl With the Dandelion Ring

Chapter 10: With Great Power Comes Great Suffering

Chapter 10: With Great Power Comes Great Suffering

I stare into Alex's eyes as his eyebrows crease with worry.

"Since when did you start randomly fainting?" he asks in confusion.

I sigh as I sit up. I look around at the room I'm in; posters and pictures decorate the walls. Alex's walls. I'm laying in his bed underneath his comforter looking up into his green eyes. I rub my own eyes to rid them of sleep as I let out a yawn. "Well, it's been a few months now."

"A few months?" he repeats.

I nod. "Yeah, ever since I got this ring, which people can't see unless I mention it...

For some reason..." I shrug my shoulders in confusion and hold up my hand to show him the glass orb.

His eyes lock onto it, "What do you mean? I've been able to see it since you first got that ring." My mind hits a standstill. Why could Alex see it, but not Ben, the boy who grew up chaperoned by a fairy.

"I got it from Rachel, the previous," I think for a moment of what Katherine had called me. "The previous Vas. Which I have no clue about. Apparently we get all of the wishes that we ask for granted."

Alex's eyes light up. "You should wish for a million dollars." he suggests. He sits on the floor, leaning his back against the bed frame while pulling out his smartphone. I'm surprised that he's taken everything so well. I had expected him to freak out, to run away, to yell at me for not telling him. But I'm glad that he trusts me, most likely because of what had just happened with Ben and Katherine.

"I haven't wished for anything outstanding." The car accident plays in my mind again. The sharp pain, the screaming, the thick smell of blood. "The wishes are more dangerous than they're worth." Alex's eyebrow raises, he holds up his phone in triumph.

"Okay, so the word 'Vas' roughly translates into 'Vessel' or 'Container'. It's of," he scrolls down his screen. "Latin origin. So maybe they weren't referring to you when they say Vas? Maybe they are calling..." he bites his lower lip as he thinks. "Maybe they mean that the ring is, like, the vessel for these wishes. Or maybe you are the vessel for the wishes that the power is channeled through." his eyes light up.

"The Regina," I whisper. "Katherine said that I hold all of the Regina's-their Queen's-powers; that I have to go to their world, or dimension, to have her powers released. Maybe this is just a small amount of the magic I can use. What if I'm really capable of-"

"You're not going," he states, looking directly at me, his phone forgotten in his lap.

"No, I don't actually want to go there." I think back to what happened with Ben and his brother, of how cruel the fae are. "To be honest, I'm scared of the fae," I tell him. "As much as I would like to see what their world is like, I'm not brave enough to go there."

"And you shouldn't. I don't know this Dr. Clay guy at all, but he seems to have experience with these faeries. He seemed to want to keep you as far away from them as possible. Oh," he comments taking on a stern tone. "And that brings up another thing. Why is a guy that hangs with faeries watching you while you're in a coma?"