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

leaf. She quickly took it from him and read the tiny lines of black ink that was the familiar writing of Princess Sonakshi. It looked like she had tried to cram as much as she could onto the small leaf.

Talked to Batuman. Mankini’s brother is Bunyip King. Father says King Fern rounded up Bunyips hundreds of years ago and put to sleep in a cave as too dangerous in the human realm. Woken by a spell set by Mankini. Want revenge against Fae.

Vidya’s mind whirled. She knew about King Fern already from Master Sunny’s story about the Bunyips. But the last sentence of the message made her sit up. Revenge. She frowned, Mankini’s brother?

This new information whizzed around her brain.

“Willow,” she called. “Lobey, wake up!”

The two kids opened sleepy eyes and yawned. Lobey stretched out on the floor, massaging her neck, frowning at the book she’d been sleeping on. The library door opened, and Toad walked in with baby Mahiya swaddled in her arms.

“Toad,” said Vidya. “Gather the older kids, we need to have a meeting. I have new information.”

Toad’s blue eyebrows shot up, and she spun around and went straight back through the door.

When the triplets, Mahiya, Willow, Lotus, and Lily were all sitting in front of her around the table, she read out Sonakshi’s message.

“This… Batuman can’t be lying, could he?” asked Willow, rubbing his face.

Vidya shook her head. “No, Sonakshi wouldn’t tell us this if she wasn’t sure.”

“The Bunyip King,” said Lotus slowly. “That sounds worse than we thought.”

“It sounds scary,” said Toad, bouncing baby Mahiya on her lap. “If they have a King, how many of them are there?”

The room fell quiet. Then Lobey spoke.

“Enough to start a war with us.”

Vidya’s heart pounded in her chest. Were they going to war with the Bunyips?

“Look, we have no proof yet that the Bunyips want a war,” said Willow reasonably.

“Princess Sonakshi’s letter said they want revenge,” pointed out Lobey, narrowing her eyes at Willow.

“The Bunyip yesterday seemed like a nasty guy,” said Willow defensively. “But he seemed like a regular creature. Are they even smart enough to start a war with us?”

They all turned toward Lily, who sat rubbing her sprained arm. “They have a King,” she said softly. “Then they are smart.”

“It doesn’t matter though,” said Willow, shaking his head. “The bottomless sky stands between us and the Fae forest. While we’re on this side, no one can do anything to us.”

Vidya nodded. “That’s true, Willow. We’re safe over here. But we still have the problem of the Fae magic fading.”

“And what King Farrion said yesterday,” reminded Lobey.

Vidya had not forgotten her father’s words when Princess Sonakshi had woken him up for those brief few seconds.

‘They’re stealing the magic!’

“We still have to figure this out,” said Vidya. She

stood up and went to Master Sunny’s blackboard. She picked up a piece of chalk, feeling everyone’s eyes on her.

“Alright,” she said. “What do we know?” She drew dot points on the blackboard and spoke out loud. “We know that the Bunyips have woken up from their magical sleep and want revenge.”

“We know that they have a King,” said Lotus.

“And we know that he is stealing the Fae magic,” said Lobey.

Vidya froze and turned around to look at the eldest triplet.

“Put two and two together, everyone,” chided Lobey, thumping her hand against the table. “It has to be the Bunyips stealing the magic. This is no coincidence.”

Vidya chewed on her lip. “I mean, it would make sense…” she said slowly.

“We have no real proof,” said Willow.

“But how can we know for sure?” asked Lily.

It clicked together in Vidya’s mind. There was no way around it.

“There’s only one way to find out,” she said. “It’ll be difficult, but I think we need to do this.”

“What do you mean?” asked Willow.

Vidya looked at Lily and her injured arm. “Lily, I know you’re hurt, but you’re our best tracker. Do you think you could track a Bunyip back to its King?”

Groans resounded around the table. Willow put his head in his hands, but Lotus’ eyes shone with excitement, and Lobey bounced in her seat.

“Are you actually telling us we’re going into the Bunyip’s nest?” asked Willow into his hands. “These monsters that eat human men for breakfast? And we’re going into their nest?”

“Yes,” said Vidya firmly. “I won’t force anyone to come with me. But we need to do this.”

“I’m coming,” said Lotus. “I want to get a better look at the things.”

“Me too,” grumbled Lily. “I don’t like it, but I’ll come, Vidya. I want to help. I can track them for sure.”

“Oh, all right,” said Willow unhappily. “I’m the best archer, anyway. I just hope I don’t have to shoot any of them.”

“Looks like the team is back then!” said Lotus, happily flexing his muscles. “When do we leave?”

At the crack of dawn the next morning, Vidya rolled out of bed, pulling Pancake with her. She splashed her face with cold water, patted it dry, and then washed Pancake’s face for him too. She pulled on a green tunic and brown pants, colours that would blend in with the forest, she hoped.

She picked up The Bunyip book from her bedside table. It wasn’t long, but it made it pretty clear that the Bunyips were dangerous, powerful creatures. She had seen that for herself in real life, after all. It made sense that her grandfather had needed to save the humans from them. And now, this very thing had come to bite them on the backside. She imagined if someone locked her up in a cave for hundreds of years, she would be furious once she woke up. The Bunyip King must be furious. But what revenge did he want? Her heart pumped unevenly in her chest. He would hate the Fae. He would want to come after them, and what? Take over the palace? Well, there was one thing keeping them safe, and as far as she saw it, there was no way the Bunyip King would