The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2) by Ektaa Bali (books to improve english .txt) 📗

other Fae propelled themselves forward even faster, using their wings. Vidya grasped Sonakshi’s hand, dragging her forward.

“We’re close!” she cried and veered left, Sonakshi panting behind her.

Vidya spotted the portal tree in the distance. “There!”

They jumped over another log and cleared a bush, and Vidya stuck her finger into the trunk, drawing the doorway. Light flashed, and she grabbed the doorknob just as it appeared. Vidya pushed Sonakshi forward at the same time she pushed the door open. As soon as Sonakshi was through, Vidya slammed the door shut. A scream came from behind her, and Vidya turned to see Lotus, also turning to see who had screamed. A black hulking figure threw Lily through the air. The small girl spun in the air but flapped her wings and rose, flying into the trees. Vidya’s heart stopped. The beast thundering through the bushes was black with sleek skin from the neck down and four muscled legs. It rose onto its hind legs and roared from a mouth like an enormous dog with huge sharp yellow canine teeth. He stared at them all with huge, angry eyes. It was exactly like the creature in the book Master Sunny had shown them.

“Fly!” Lotus shouted taking a running jump. “Fly!”

Vidya and the others shot into the air as another earth-shattering roar filled their ears. Pancake screamed, and Vidya caught him just as he tumbled off her shoulder. She stuffed him into her pocket, and, panting, she met the four others above the treetops.

“Bunyip!” cried Willow, supporting a slumped Lily. She cradled one of her arms and winced in pain. “It’s really a bunyip!” The trees beneath them shook as the Bunyip tried to climb up.

“Back to the palace!” cried Vidya. “Go, go, go!”

Princess Sonakshi stumbled through the portal tree. She turned around and just managed to get a view of what was behind Vidya before she slammed the door shut. That creature was horrifying. She called out with a sob.

“Father!”

She stumbled through the forest, not believing what she had seen. She could see her father and her guards camped through the trees.

“Father!”

King Devin jumped up from his seat on the log and, seeing Sonakshi through the trees, he ran to grab her.

“What happened Sona? Are you okay?”

Sonakshi huddled into her father’s arms and heard the rushed footsteps of Captain Sampson and his men.

“What happened?” her father repeated.

“M-monster.” Was all she could say. “I hope Vidya and the others flew away safely.”

“You’re safe now, love.”

He patted her on the back, and she felt calmed instantly. She was safe here, that… Bunyip couldn’t get through. The portal was closed.

She stepped away from her father and wiped her eyes.

“The mermaid Princess Meera sent a message through the Fae pond,” she explained. “And then we saw it—it chased us. They said it was called a Bunyip.”

Her father’s brown face changed completely. It went an ashen colour, and he took a sharp breath. He took her hand and walked her back to the camp. The guards followed.

“Pack up everything Sampson,” he said in a grave voice. He turned back to Sonakshi.

“Listen, Sona. After we rescued Rowen from Mankini’s island, I had all of her things collected from her witch’s tower. Papers, books, instruments, everything. I didn’t want anyone finding and using the information she had stored there. I brought it all back with us and read some of it.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “If what I’ve read is true, then the Fae are in great danger.”

6

Old Enemies

“Why does the sky cry sometimes? “

“The sky cries as a mother does, when she thinks about how much she loves her children. And through her love, her children grow and are fed and live happy lives.”

—Queen Salote to Princess Vidya

Princess Sonakshi returned to her castle in the Blue Mountains by nightfall, guarded carefully by her father, Captain Sampson, and the guards. It was a hidden place, as King Deven and Queen Ria had escaped Fiji seven years earlier, hiding Sonakshi, then a baby unicorn, from the cunning witch Mankini. The old witch had needed Sonakshi’s blood for a spell that would reverse a curse she had gotten by killing Sonakshi’s grandfather, also a unicorn. In the end, Mankini had resorted to kidnapping Sonakshi’s best friend, Rowen, to lure her to her tower in Makogai. It had worked, but Sonakshi had gotten the better of Mankini. The witch turned to dust, and Sonakshi had learned what it meant to be a unicorn.

Hidden away in the Blue Mountains, their closest neighbours were the Lord and Lady of Cabbage Tree Creek, so their children, Kiera and Rowen, had become Sonakshi’s best friends.

“Sona!” cried Kiera, running down the palace stairs, her flaming red hair streaming behind her.

“You’re back!” cried Rowen, three years younger, but just as fast at running as his sister.

Sonakshi grinned when she saw the two of them, puffing and panting down the stairs. “You guys won’t believe it!” she said. “Wait till I tell you—”

“I want all of you in bed,” ordered King Deven. “We will talk to Batuman tomorrow.”

“Batuman?” asked Kiera, wrinkling her nose. “Why do we have to talk to him?”

The obese bat had been Mankini’s servant. They had brought him back with them from Fiji and locked him in the dungeons beneath the castle because King Deven had wanted to keep a close eye on him.

“I’ll tell you everything,” said Sonakshi, leading her two friends up the stairs and to their rooms. The two often slept over at the castle, as they all went to school together with the children of the guards who also lived there. The three kids sat in Sonakshi’s room with their pyjamas on, gasping in shock as Sonakshi told them about her escape from the Bunyip.

“On the way back, I got a messenger leaf from Vidya saying she got home safely. I was so worried. That thing was so scary.”

Yawning, and content they had just listened to one of the most daring stories