"It was like coming home or being born or suddenly finding an entire half of herself that had been missing."
-Sarah J. Maas

Billy was already waiting for them in front of the elevator, as if he knew where they were going. The dog wanted to come along at all costs, they squeezed themselves into the elevator. Arriving downstairs, the dog ran to the front door and started barking. Luckily there were no tourists at the time or they would have seen a dog appear out of nowhere. Anna ordered the dog to sit, as she had just done with Lisa. But the dog didn't listen. Jonathan opened the door and there stood Moira, cheerful as ever. She was wearing a green tank top with black jeans, from which her tail was sticking out. Lisa realized that she will now also have to cut holes in all her clothes, to make room for the wings.

"I was going to come the day before yesterday, but with all that fairy-" Moira looked at her sadly. "How are you now?" Lisa was speechless. Lisa had slept all day because of the dagger's wound, which is why Moira hadn't shown up. She glanced at Thomas. "And who may this be?" she asked no one in particular.

"Thomas Ashdown, Centurion," he introduced himself, only now noticing that Lisa was wearing his uniform. Would he always walk around like this, ready to fight? Moira didn't pay much attention to him, which seemed to make Thomas nervous. "The warlock of Antwerp?" he asked, suddenly appearing beside her.

"One of many," Lisa replied.

"Oh my Heaven!" cried Moira when she finally noticed Lisa's wings. She shoved her purse into Jonathan's hands, who looked at it bewildered. Moira studied her wings, if anyone knew about it, it was Moira. "I haven't seen this in a hundred years!" she exclaimed. The elevator came to a stop with an unmistakable squeak. Oh no, thought Lisa, more disaster tourists. Billy walked to the elevator door, wagging his tail. The roguish duo Arthur and Olivia stepped out of the elevator in amazement.

"Ah there you are," Olivia said as she walked towards Anna. Suddenly they both stopped, looking at Moira studying Lisa's wing.

"Uh," was all Arthur could say.

"What is that?" Olivia pointed at her open-mouthed. Lisa looked angrily at the ground, again she had to answer for something for which she had no explanation. She just needed answers, not questions.

"That's Lisa in a morning mood," Anna said with a deadpan voice. She looked intently at her friend, this was not the time for jokes. But she was too busy staring at Olivia.

"These look like angel wings," Moira said hesitantly, "but they could also be fey wings-" So Lisa wouldn't get any wiser either.

"Did we miss something?" Arthur wanted to know.

"Lisa just jumped off the roof," Jonathan explained. He sounded cool, but she could tell by his face that he was just as shocked as she was. She still thought it was a dream.

"And then they just showed up?" Moira queried. Lisa nodded, how was that even possible? Moira took some time to think. "That Brownie's dagger, was it poisoned?"

Anna nodded. "Her veins turned green. The Silent Brothers said it would pass.'

"It may be that the fey poison is causing this, but that would only affect you if you have fairy blood of your own."

"But that's not the case," protested Lisa, shaking her head, "we were just about to go to my mother in Idris, but I can't walk around Alicante like that, can I?"

"I can make you something," Moira said hesitantly, "but you'll need fairy metal." Lisa remembered that she had that upstairs, in her study. She wanted to head to the elevator when Moira interrupted her train of thought. "That ring, for example." The warlock pointed to the ring around Lisa's neck. She grabbed it and twisted it around her finger.

"That's my father's ring," she stared at the shiny ring, "it's definitely not made of fairy metal."

"Silver-plated," Moira said simply. "I promise nothing will happen to it," she assured her. Reluctantly, she handed Moira the ring. Arthur watched in fascination as Moira performed incantations on the ring and asked her all sorts of things, it didn't seem to bother her.

Olivia stepped forward. "I'm joining you to Idris," she said confidently. She clearly didn't want to miss any of the excitement.

"No," Jonathan replied curtly. Anna gave him an angry look. "We'll need someone to look after Lot and Max and it shouldn't look like an invasion."

Proudly, Moira turned to Lisa. "I hope it works." She hung the necklace around Lisa's neck again. They all held their breath as Lisa's wings disappeared, they just seemed to dissolve into thin air. "You just have to take the necklace off to make them reappear." Lisa was relieved that her back was back to normal and she gave Moira a hug.

Meanwhile, Jonathan had already opened the Portal. "Come on ladies, Idris awaits."

*

Lisa had closed her eyes, letting herself be carried away by the Portal. If she didn't know better, she'd think she was trapped in a whirlpool underwater. Normally, they can't just enter Idris without permission from the Clave. Now they could end up anywhere. Lisa hoped it wasn't on a deserted mountaintop somewhere. Suddenly she felt cool air around her again, she opened her eyes. Just in time to see her fall on the green grass for the second time that day. She landed with a thud, no wings catching her now. Jonathan crouched on the ground. She was about to get up and proudly say she hadn't broken anything when Anna landed on top of her. Jonathan didn't stop laughing at them. Together they scrambled to their feet and looked around.

Bright blue sky, a cool breeze, while it was winter. They were standing in the middle of a flower meadow, the city of Alicante in the distance. Ahead, she saw the mountain peaks that surrounded Idris. She breathed in the clean air, something she couldn't do in Antwerp. Jonathan spoiled the moment, by saying that from here it is at least half an hour's walk to the capital. So they started marching at a brisk pace. In Idris, there was no such thing as cars, or even bicycles. All you had here were horses. Now and then they passed a large mansion. Every big family had such a country house outside the city. She remembered that her family also owned a mansion, but it had been vacant for years.

They passed the mansion of the Starkweathers. Anna suggested they went and see if the horses were in their stable. The mansion belonged to Richard, but other Starkweathers often passed by as well. For example, in the stables, Anna and Jonathan's distant cousin, Marijn, was brushing a horse. He had too long red hair, which came halfway before his eyes. He smiled kindly at his family, but didn't give Lisa a worthy look. She didn't pay any attention to him, he always acted like that.

"Ah, my favorite cousins, nice of you to stop by." Anna smiled back, polite as always, and asked if their parents were here. Marin shook his head. "They're in town." Anna looked as if she hadn't expected otherwise.

"Can we borrow some horses?" Marijn nodded and continued brushing the horse. Anna immediately went to what Lisa knew was her favorite horse. Swift Wind, the pitch-black horse, also seemed happy to see Anna. Jonathan walked over to Argus, a white mare. When Lisa came to visit she had already tried horseback riding, but she had already fallen off her horse a few too many times, so she dutifully sat behind Anna. Which she also didn't think was completely safe, because Anna always rode without reins or saddle, she held her horse by its mane. Before Lisa could put her arms around Anna, they took off like the wind.

*

After ten minutes they arrived in Alicante. Each time she was amazed by the beauty of the city. It reminded her of a village in Italy, small mud houses in different colors, streets that crisscrossed each other. The river flowed quietly through the city. And of course the demon towers, in the daylight they seemed to be made of glass. They were towers the size of apartment buildings, made of pure adamas, that stood around the city. They served as protection against demons from outside.

They left the horses outside the city wall and started walking to Lisa's house. She hadn't been there for several months. Lisa had to knock, because she didn't have a key. The door opened almost immediately and there stood her mother. She didn't look any different, her brown-grey hair pulled back in a bun and she was wearing a normal pair of jeans and sweater.

"Lisa!" She embraced her daughter and took a good look at her. She was ready for a comment like "your hair is just like a bird's nest," but her mother said nothing. They walked in one after the other. "Anna, Jonathan, how nice of you to stop by! How much you have grown again."

"Hello, Mrs. Irina," they said in unison. Lisa looked around the house, nothing had changed, everything still looked neat and clean.

"Tea?" asked Irina. Knowing that saying "no" was not an option, all three nodded. Her mother went to the kitchen and they plopped down on the couch.

"How are we going to handle this?" Jonathan looked anxiously from her to his sister. They hadn't thought about that yet, and now wasn't the time either because her mother was back with a tray. Lisa picked up a cup from the table, her mother sucked in her breath.

"Why are there two big holes in your T-shirt?" Of course, the wings had made holes in her shirt and she had forgotten to change it.

"An open-back, that's fashion isn't it?" said Jonathan with a grin on his face. Lisa threw a cookie at him.

"Mom," she began cautiously, "do you happen to know if there is pixie blood in our family?" Her mother slammed her cup back on the table and looked at her even more seriously.

"Why are you asking Lisa?" She turned to Anna for support, but she was seemingly too busy studying her tea. She held her breath and took off the necklace. Just as Moira had said, her wings appeared immediately. Her left wing stuck in Jonathan's eye, she didn't even hear his protest. If her mother hadn't put down her teacup, she would have dropped it by now. Irina stood up abruptly, nearly tipping her chair over. She staggered over to Lisa and grabbed her wings to make sure they were real.

"Impossible," she whispered.

"Mom?" Her secrecy scared Lisa. Her mother cupped her head between her hands and suddenly began to cry. Anna and Jonathan had been staring open-mouthed the whole time, but now they silently got up and walked to the stairs together. They probably went to Lisa's old room. "Mom?" repeated Lisa, a cold premonition crept over her. "Does this have to do with my father?" Her mother looked at her with red eyes. She didn't have to say anything, because Lisa already knew the answer.

She was angry, whoever her father was, her mother should have told her. "Tell me everything," she said as bluntly as possible. Her mother shook her head, as if she could deny that this was happening. Lisa did what she did best: shut up. She could have stared at her mother in silence all day long, until she told the truth.

"I swore not to say anything," Irna said between sobs. She stood up and for a moment Lisa was afraid that she would just go on with her life, without telling her anything. But she went to a kitchen cupboard and took out a bottle of black liquid. "But I can show you." She held out the bottle to Lisa. It had a rainbow color in the sunlight, it looked like oil.

She recognized the bottle, it once belonged to Moira, who had given it to her mother, like so many other magical potions. If you drank it with one person, you could see the other person's thoughts. According to Lisa, she had once tried it with Anna so that they could have telepathic conversations all day long. She took the bottle from her mother and sipped from the thick liquid, her mother looked at her worriedly and then did the same. Lisa closed her eyes and before she knew it, she was drawn into a dream.

______________
What did you think of this chapter? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Curious about what Lisa will see in the dream?
Find out in the next chapter -->

Also remember: trust no one