“It won’t work without two more elementals.” Tasman pleaded with his younger brother. The younger faerie just grinned mischievously.

“You just want to spend time with Alyth. Just try it. PLEASE!” Gryphin’s green eyes glimmered in excitement. “We’ve been practicing for weeks, and together we are REALLY good.”

The blue-eyed faerie sighed. “Yes, with wind and fire. Those are OUR elements. You’re trying to cast a spell where we control all four elements at the same time. And what if we get caught?”

“That will only happen if we bring in other people.”

“Hi! What are you up to?” Alyth appeared from nowhere. Tasman had known her just a few months but thought about her a lot. His younger brother teased him mercilessly.

The younger fae questioned the black-haired pixie, “Were you stalking my brother?” The smile shrank from her lips.

Since pixies could shift from a diminutive 4 foot stature to a mere speck of light, Tasman wondered if she HAD been following them.

“I would never do that to such a sweet guy…”

Tasman blushed. He was certain that was not true. He just didn’t know if it was true THIS TIME. “So, Alyth, whatchya up to?” Tasman tried to walk the conversation back to safe territory.

“I figured we could do something fun together.”

Tasman looked at Gryphin for consent, but the younger fae was not going to let a girl get involved in this sensitive spell. “Sorry—no fun here!”

“We promised to do …something … for someone.” Tasman’s eyes pleaded with Alyth to understand. He had promised Gryphin he would go to the edge of the forbidden Felorffeas Forest and try this spell. That was the closest place they could find the vines they needed. They had been practicing for weeks using the gifts of the King. He had bestowed parchment in a gathering and a quill and ink, telling them that together their spells would be powerful. Indeed, the spells had been amazing so far. Sometimes spells they had never even written would appear on a page.

The pixie interrupted Tasman’s thoughts. “Ok. Catch you later!” She shrank to a mere dot of light and disappeared.

Tasman stuttered. “Th-That was close. Now, to find water and a vine. Why did you create a spell with the word ‘vine’ in it anyways?”

“It rhymed with ‘mine’!” Tasman rolled his eyes.

The heat beat down on them, and although the forest offered shade, there was a heaviness in it, and the boys did not enter. “Why is it forbidden?” the younger fae inquired.

“They say something evil holds dominion there.” Nothing stirred. Tasman felt as though someone were watching them, but saw no one.

The green-eyed brother pulled the parchment from his satchel and then the ink and quill. “I’ll write it and you read it. My handwriting is better than yours.” The older faerie shrugged. He couldn’t argue that. He also liked speaking the spells, because he could take his time and begin when he was ready.

Though they had practiced this spell several times, each time they wrote the spell again, the previous version of it disappeared. So, there was never more than one version of the spell in their book of shadows.

The young fae slowly wrote the spell again,

     Air is yours. Fire is mine

     Give us flow of water and growth of vine!

Tasman cast it aloud. As the air elemental, Tasman was already swirling his wand and growing a small wind funnel. Gryphin, the fire elemental, controlled the fire as it spewed from his fingertips, racing the air. It seemed there would be no other elements moving today, until a bright light flashed and Alyth was standing next to the boys.

“I knew it! You need me!” She pointed her wand at a nearby pool of water. Rain poured from the air as a waterfall.

“You’re gonna ruin it!” Gryphin called out. He held the fire in motion with his right hand, and taking his wand in his left, he pointed it at a vine but nothing happened.

“We need an earth elemental!” Alyth yelled over the roar of the wind, fire, and water.

“Did someone call?” The voice came from a hooded figure just inside the forest. A man of elf-like stature pointed at the vine, and it started to grow, tightening in a rope-like fashion around the trio.

They realized at once they had to stop the spell. Although Tasman had stopped willing the wind, he could not get the funnel to stop. Nor did the water or fire cease when Alyth and Gryphin lowered their hands. The vine was slowly tying them together.

The cloaked figure offered them their life in return for a gift. “I will stop the vines before you can no longer breathe! Gift me your fae ability to reach beyond the veil, and you shall live.”

The pixie and the younger Fae looked at Tasman. He looked first at the beautiful pixie girl and then his brother—his best friend. He would not see them harmed. He nodded.

“Never!” They called in unison.

A laugh came from the cloaked figure. “Then you shall die!”

Tasman pointed at the book near their feet and tried to close it, but the pages groaned of their own accord and flipped to a page with a spell they had not tried.

“Hurry, Tas!” the younger fae urged, the vines growing tighter. Tasman did not hesitate.

     “Some seeds fall on soil rich.

      Some eaten by birds on path and ditch.

      Some are choked with thorns alone.

      Others die on rocks and stone.”

The vine withered and began to blacken. As the dead vine fell loosely to their feet, the wind, fire and water disappeared.

The cloaked man ran into the forest, shrieking in agony. “We will meet again!”

The three collapsed to the ground.

“So, you WERE stalking my brother, then. Weren’t you?” Gryphin grilled Alyth.

“Uh…”

“Thought so.”

Tasman blushed. Some things never change.