The Faerie Path Read Online Free PDF

minute.”
    “Really?”
    The nurse nodded. “Really.” She drew back thesheets for Anita to climb into bed. “It’s your birthday today, isn’t it? We found something among Evan’s things you might like to see. Just wait a moment.”
    She was gone for less than a minute. She came back with a small package in her hand. She drew the curtains around Anita’s bed and switched on the over-bed light.
    The package was wrapped in red paper and there was a gift tag attached.
    For Anita. Wishing you the very happiest of birthdays. Love, Evan.
    “He must have meant to give this to me yesterday,” Anita said quietly, turning the package over in her hands. “Maybe I should wait until he wakes up before I open it.”
    “Oh, I don’t think he’d mind,” the nurse said. “Go on, open it.”
    Anita carefully peeled off the sticky tape and unfolded the scarlet wrapping paper. Inside was a black box. She lifted the lid and opened layers of white tissue.
    Just when she was beginning to think the box was empty, she saw a pendant nestled in the tissue paper, suspended from a fine chain that looked as if it had been made from spun glass. The pendant was shaped like a long-tailed teardrop, amber in color and as lustrous as a pearl.
    Anita bit her lip. She drew the chain up and lifted the pendant from the box. It hung heavy in the air, glowing with light.
    “Well, isn’t that lovely,” said the nurse.
    “Yes,” Anita whispered. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”
    She raised her arm, bringing the pendant closer to her face. Deep in the heart of the amber teardrop, she could see a leaf of dark light that moved like a trapped flame.
    “Could you help me put it on?”
    She leaned forward and the nurse closed the clasp at the back of her neck. The pendant was warm against her skin. Anita felt a desperate, urgent need to be with Evan—even if only for a few seconds.
    “I have to thank him, even if he can’t hear me,” she pleaded. “Can I go and sit with him? Just for a minute or two?”
    “In the morning you can,” the nurse said. “He might even be up and about himself by then.” She smiled down at Anita. “Now then, get some sleep.”
    Anita settled back into the pillows, one hand cradling the pendant. The nurse arranged the sheets around her shoulders. “Press the button if you need me.” She switched off the light and slipped through the curtains.
    Anita’s eyes began to close, her eyelids suddenly as heavy as lead.
    Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I should say good night till it be morrow.
     
    Anita awoke into the same quiet darkness. Her fingers still held the amber pendant. She smiled. Evan’s lovely gift. She reached out and felt for her watch on thebedside table. The luminous dial showed that it was only five thirty in the morning, but she felt oddly awake and alert.
    She drew herself up and switched on the over-bed lamp. A bright pool of light flooded down onto her.
    She didn’t know what to think about the previous night. About the wings and all that. It was all quite crazy. Except she didn’t feel as if she was going crazy. Surely she’d be able to tell?
    She leaned over and picked up her new book from the bedside table. She rested it in her lap, stroking the supple leather. As soon as she got herself a good pen, she was going to write down everything she could remember about her flight. It didn’t matter whether or not it was real—it had been totally amazing.
    She opened the front cover. The ivory-colored pages were thick and textured like cloth. She ran her hand over the paper.
    She turned the first crisp, heavy leaf.
    The last time she had looked, the page had been quite blank, she was absolutely certain of that; but now the page held lines of clear, dark writing printed in an ornate, gothic script.
    Faeries tread the faerie path
    Amber-trapped though moth-wing light they be
    Mortals stay in mortal world
    Iron-clad with half-blind eyes they see
    One alone will walk both