The Secret Plains

8

Faeya's POV

Kay has been missing for a week.

Her funeral is today.

"Faey, honey, we don't want to miss it. Don't you want to pay your final respects?"

I turn to my father, seeing red. "She isn't dead. Stop saying she's dead."

My mother sighs. "Faey, we've been through this—"

"No! She's just missing. She isn't dead! There's no proof, no body! The Velai kidnapped her!"

My mother glances at my father. "You didn't tell her?"

I look at them, confused. "Tell me what?"

My father sighs. "Darling, the last search party found something."

"Found what?" I shift my gaze between my father and mother. "Found what?"

My father takes a picture from his back pocket. "I think you should see for yourself."

I look at the picture and choke back a sob. "That's not her. No, I don't believe it."

"Faey—"

I slam the picture on the table and run upstairs.

It was a picture of Kay, in the same clothes she wore when we were going home, but she was almost unrecognizable. She was covered in scratches and bites, her clothes torn in multiple places, and her hair disheveled. She was lying on her side, and she didn't look peaceful—no. She looked fake. Her skin looked rubbery somehow. This isn't Kay.

Kay's POV

"How did you make that?!" I exclaim as Lucas holds up a thick yellow paste, which he just used to heal an injured bird's wing. "Explorers are doctors as well?"

"More like potion-brewers. In the early days, we learned different skills from different species. One of them was potion-brewing, from Mageia, the land of witches and wizards."

"But you didn't make a potion—"

"Kay, Kay, Kay," Lucas says impatiently. "Potions aren't just about putting a bunch of random stuff in a cauldron and waving a magic wand over it while cackling. It's about mixing ingredients in any way or form that makes the result useful, whether to heal or to harm, to fix or to break."

Ilkesi snorts from where she's sitting. Lucas turns to her, frowning.

"What's so funny, might I ask?" he inquires, crossing his arms.

"That's the smartest thing I've heard you say all year, and it's a quote from a Potions 101 guide."

Both Ilkesi and I snicker as Lucas' ears turn bright red. "Oh, shut it, Kesi...."

"Consider it vengeance for making me learn Level 4 magic. Illusions are hard."

"But at least you succeeded. You're the best caster I know."

"Barely. I can't make a stable illusion for more than 15 seconds."

"What's so hard about making an illusion anyway?" Lucas asks, and I immediately wince, knowing the result of asking that question.

Ilkesi stands up slowly, walking towards them. "What's so hard? What's so hard? Illusions require a lot of energy. You have to twist reality to make it look like something is there when it isn't. Not only that, you have to project what's in your mind into reality, then trick people's senses to make it hard for them to see anything else. Level 4 casters have fainted, Lucas, fainted, to achieve what I achieved in 2 days when they've been practicing for years. And you expect me to be ready by next week? Then you ask, 'What's so hard about it?' Like an idiot." She rolls her eyes. "Kay, come back home when you guys are done. This is your last session with Lucas since he can't appreciate what I'm doing for him." She stomps away.

"Kesi...Kesi! You know I say the stupidest things sometimes, come back!"

"She's not coming back, Lucas," I sigh. "Believe me, I made the same mistake yesterday, but instead, I asked why illusions were so hard, like someone with common sense."

Lucas groans. "Do you think she'll forgive me?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Have you done something stupid before?"

"More times than I can count."

"She'll come around. Give it some time."