Note: Edited the previous chapter. Added new dialogue, fixed the prose, and made the ending more dramatic. I also changed the title.
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"How are you feeling, Dess?" I asked.
The blue-winged fairy in her bright gold breastplate was waiting alongside me with her round golden shield and gold-tipped spear at the ready.
"My head is still ringing," she admitted.
Dess, along with six others in my raid party had been forced into a magically induced sleep by the vampire harlequinns of the Night Circus who'd drugged them with raw fairy dust blown right in their faces. It was only after they'd woken up inside the safety of the Borgo Way that we learned that what should have been a fun romp in La-la-land was actually a drug-fueled nightmare of blood and fangs that made even a brave kid like Dess look like she'd flinch at every shadow in sight.
"Let's just be thankful your head's the only thing that's hurting," Liara chimed in.
