Land of Mistique

Chapter Four

There were a LOT of conflicting thoughts going through Leanne's head. Firstly, why had a shape shifting dragon first abandoned its owner, then decided to permanently become a caterpillar, then allow itself to get crushed by Leanne?

She was barely listening as Lunari explained the shape shifting dragon's backstory. Apparently, it was called Peveri, and it had been magically bonded to Queen Mitzi, but it had lost its magical bond with the queen when the fairies had been separated from the Copperstones. It hadn't been intentional, but Queen Mitzi's bond with Peveri had been shattered, and the queen could no longer understand her bonded familiar.

"This... No, it couldn't be." Lunari's eyes widened like she'd just made a revolution which she was casually excluding Leanne from. Leanne didn't ask, though. She wasn't sure she wanted to know; this world was confusing enough without her being bathed in magical essence as a result of crushing a caterpillar.

"What?" Leanne asked for a moment after slight hesitation. She didn't want to know, but she was curious, so dangerously curious, and she wanted answers so badly. The truth, untainted, no lies woven inside.

Lunari bit her lip, which was odd coming from a fox since it was such a human gesture. Leanne was half convinced a fairy could find some way to break their jaw just by biting their lip. Clearly, foxes weren't as fragile. The fox fidgeted restlessly, as if hoping the heavens would grant her an answer to pacify Leanne.

If the heavens even existed, they didn't answer Lunari's unspoken call. The fox sighed. "I believe, Lea, that Peveri didn't allow herself to get crushed by you. She chose to convert herself to magic essence and join you, become a part of you." She was going to say it. The words that Leanne didn't want to hear, because she really hoped they weren't true. "Leanne... Peveri has chosen you as her next master."

No. No. The word raged through Leanne's thoughts, her mind, because she wasn't a child living in a fantasy. She never would, not even if the fantasy came to life. She clenched her fists, wanting nothing more than to go home and think of all this as a distant dream. What if she went home aged in insane? Or even worse... She shivered at the thought. She might die here, away from her friends and family, away from everything she'd ever known and loved.

Away from Miranda. That might hurt more than anything. She'd never understood why that bubbly girl had chosen her as her best friend, but she and Miranda had gotten attached somehow over years of friendship. Miranda was more than a friend. She was like the sister Leanne had never had.

And now, thanks to a stupid amulet lying on a mossy stone in a forest, she would have to throw it all away. Her life, her studies, her family. Miranda. Her heart ached. It didn't matter if a hundred years here passed as a second. Those seconds added up, and eventually, a few billion years later, they might have to accept that she'd gone for good. 

She was Leanne Jasper. And she was going to die in this stupid, good-for-nothing deathtrap.

What a waste was all she could think. Her life, her potential, wasted on a whole bunch of fairies meant for young girls. She didn't care about them, she really didn't. They would have been better off not existing at all.

And then when she was giving in to the pull of the dark, believing she would be better off dead now than later, a voice pulled her out of the darkness. Miranda, pleading for her to come back to her.

It was... Never going to happen. The Titans were unstoppable, she was sure. How was she supposed to defeat some elemental demons with just her own hands? It was pointless. Impossible. And she wasn't going to risk her life to do it.

How else was she supposed to get home, though?

I have magic, she realized with a jolt. I can go home.