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Chapter 9: Magnet

There was nobody who could offer Towy any help on this step in his mission.
Bax said that he and several other fairies would be listening very closely to
everything that happened. He told him just to be as careful as he could, and
not to be so frightened that the witch would notice something strange.
Very early the next morning, Towy took out the magic maple bark he kept in
his pocket. He made a very strong link with Bax. Once it was as strong as he
could make it, he left for the witch's home.
Reny the Witch invited Towy into the house quickly. There seemed to be
something odd about her, but Towy couldn't quite tell what it was. She seemed
in a very big hurry to get started.
"My fairy magic is fading more quickly than I thought it would!" she said
to him. "I've never gone this long without eating a fairy. I didn't know it
would happen this fast. I must eat a fairy today!"
Towy felt a slight relief at hearing that. Perhaps it wouldn't be much
longer before he was out of danger, and safe once again back home on
Dawnhill. He might even be able to get his wings put back on again.
The witch went into another room to get the magnet. From there, she yelled
out, "Please open the door for me when I come out with the magnet." Her voice
sounded different. He didn't notice it before, when she was speaking softly.
But there was a completely different tone in her voice, a deep,
inhuman-sounding grumbling. It did not seem like that was something that
should happen from losing fairy powers. That should be making her more
normal, not less normal. But then he thought, maybe she's just sick or
something. It didn't sound like somebody who was sick, but he couldn't think
of any other explanation for it.
The witch came out with what looked like a giant horseshoe magnet. It was a
shiny, dark green color, and was about half as tall as she was. Towy seemed
to feel something on his back, where his wings were cut off, when she brought
it out.
Towy opened the door for her, and closed it as they left her house.
The witch led Towy to a spot in the woods, not far from where they were the
day before. She set the magnet down so that it stood up on the ground, and
wiped off the two ends with a cloth.
Then she explained it and gave instructions to Towy: "This special magic
magnet only attracts fairy wings or something inside them. Now, as soon as a
fairy tries to start flying, he will be pulled in by the magnet the instant
he leaves the ground. They can probably feel it in their wings already, but
they won't know what it is. They won't know what will happen if they try to
fly. It always works, and it works fast. I don't like using it, because
fairies usually smash into trees along the way. By the time they get here
they've bled so much there's not much power left in them. But I'm in a
hurry.
"I'll watch to the north, and you watch to the south. If you see a fairy
coming, run out and try to grab him before he hits any more trees and carry
him here."
As the witch was speaking, Towy saw what it was that looked different about
her. Her eyes had changed color. They were red, like fire. It was scary to
look at them.
He felt the bark in his pocket, reminding himself that Bax had heard
everything.
With his back to the magnet, the feeling in his back got worse. It was
getting painful. Luckily, the magnet wasn't drawing him toward it, but there
was enough of a pull for it to hurt his back. It got so bad, Towy had a hard
time holding back the tears.
"Something's wrong," the witch said a little while later. "It's never taken
this long before!" She went over and kicked the magnet. "I must have a
fairy!" she yelled. "I must eat a fairy, or all my power will be gone and it
will be too late!" She knelt beside the magnet, punching it with her fists,
whimpering.
Then the witch got herself back under control. She stood up, brushed off
her knees, and picked up the magnet. "We might as well leave," she said. "I
don't know how it failed. Either the magnet lost power, which I didn't think
could happen, or the fairies found out about it somehow." Towy tried not to
look nervous as he followed her out of the woods.
Once they were back at her house, she said, "I may have enough magic left
to last another day, maybe two at the most. There's only one thing left I can
do. It's going to use up almost all the magic I have left. I'll have to spend
all night working up a spell to find the exact location of Dawnhill, where
the fairies live. I'm going to have to go there myself, and dig one out and
eat him. I just hope I still have enough magic left in me to do it. You can
go now. Please come extra early tomorrow morning."
Towy went to Trisha's house more worried now than ever. If she did find
Dawnhill, that would be the end of them. But he was also worried about so
many things he still could not understand. Losing her fairy magic should not
make her voice change, and her eyes change color. He also wondered why she
said it would be "too late." Even if she did lose all her magic, she could
still catch another fairy someday and get her powers back. He also wondered
how she knew the name of the fairy's home, Dawnhill. No human should know
that name, not even her.
That night, his back was hurting, stinging and burning, from the magnet. He
couldn't sleep. He went into Trisha's bedroom and woke her up.
"Do you still have magic in your finger?" he asked her.
Trisha held up her finger. It still had a dim glow.
"The magnet hurt my back so much I don't think I can stand it any more.
Would you try and see if you can make it better? I can't reach that spot, but
maybe if you touch it I'll be alright," Towy said to her, turning around.
Trisha pressed her finger on Towy's back, and they both could feel it
working. Towy wondered why her fairy powers were still just as strong, while
the witch's powers were failing so fast. Trisha should have lost hers long
before the witch did.
After about a half hour, Towy said, "It doesn't hurt at all any more. Thank
you."
"I'll see you in the morning?" Trisha asked as Towy was leaving.
"If you're up early enough," Towy said to her. He had told her everything
that was happening, as he usually did.
Before he went to sleep, he called Bax with the magic maple.
"You've saved us from the magnet and the webweed," Bax said to him. "Now if
she can't find Dawnhill, it looks like you will be a total success and a true
hero. But even if she does, you'll still always be known as a hero. We will
be spending all night preparing. If she does find Dawnhill, we will have to
leave our home forever, and find a new place to live. We will be listening.
Tomorrow we'll know."