AS SOON AS THE cars were ready, we broke up into groups, four people in each car. Unfortunately, we didn’t have something as convenient as cell phones, but we could use signal rings I had enchanted. They used to be called mood rings, a very inaccurate description of how they worked, but I assumed it was that marketing thing otherworlders liked so much.

The stones no longer responded to body heat. I linked them with magic to transfer energy from one another. If anyone needed help, it would glow blue. If any of us aborted the mission, and we had to head back to the camp, it would glow green.

“Why aren’t we getting bulletproof vests?” Seth asked as he eyed the other team gearing up.

“We don’t have that many,” I answered. “They’ll need it more than we will.”

Seth didn’t look convinced. “I don't want an arrow in me.” He picked up two guns and ammunition for himself.

The small wind generator stand bolted to the back of the car made it easy to attach the windmill part. Jill had more experience driving than Vinsor and I did. Seth would need to handle the gun since he knew more about them than all of us put together. That concluded our team. Ricci and Bralazin led the other two.

With the direction picked out, we headed toward one of the largest roads between towns. Normally, we avoided them since we didn’t want to be spotted by our enemies. This time, we had to do the exact opposite.

Unlike in the other world, our ride here turned my stomach. No perfectly smooth asphalt meant being tossed and turned while dust kicked up behind us. As much as I hated sitting in cafes with nosy men asking me what I was reading, I did enjoy their comforts.

We drove down the bumpy dirt road for more than an hour, before we spotted the first horse-drawn carriage. Jill slowed the Hummer to a crawl, so we wouldn’t scare them, then we put our friendly smiles on and waved.

“Good day to you,” I said with as much cheeriness as possible. “We heard there might be problems on the roads. We might be able to help if we know what's happening.”

The two men driving the horses looked nervously from each other to us, eyeing the strange vehicle and the guns they probably had only heard rumors about. Our enemies spread a lot of disinformation about us, but there were still those who didn’t run away screaming when they saw us coming. Maybe there was still some hope for what Jill and Ricci called good publicity.

“Are you the doctors?” one of the men asked.

“Yes,” Jill answered. “I’m Jill Frazier. Our mission is to heal the wounded and to keep this world safe. If we can help by securing the roads for you, we would love to do it.”

They didn’t run. That was a good sign.

“I don’t know about the roads, but the hunting has been bad the last few weeks,” the same man said.

The most beautiful song came from somewhere ahead of us and to the right, where the forest hid a smaller path. My blood grew cold. It couldn’t be. Not here. They weren’t supposed to be here.

“Fairies,” I shouted and threw a protective shield around us and the two men. “Stay close.”

Vinsor shot up from his spot next to Jill and lifted his gun. “There are too many. We can’t shoot all of them.”

“Fairies are bad?” Seth asked as he lifted his own gun and took aim.

“Very bad. Very, very bad.” I could probably pick a couple of dozen off with my magic, but I’d have to let the shield down, and if I did that, we would get eaten. I grabbed a gun, even though I never liked using them.

They swarmed us. Their wings beat against the barrier, their jagged teeth bared, ready to take a bite out of the first person they could get to. Guns roared. For every one of them we shot, another two appeared. We couldn’t do this for long. We’d run out of ammo and wouldn’t even put a dent in their numbers.

I felt for anything I could use against them, anything that could be a weakness. Some residue clung to the wings of one of the fairies in the center of their swamp. If I could only rip those giant atoms apart. I concentrated on it and yanked a few particles.

The explosion ripped through the air. The shield protected us from it but only barely. I had never done anything this big before. The amount of energy released had been incredible.

“What did you do? How did you do that? I’ve never seen you do this before.” Jill stammered.

“I found some large atoms and split them.” All that reading paid off.

“You nuked fairies?” Jill’s eyes grew big, and she went oddly quiet. Oh. Oh no.

“Jill, shock later, drive now. I don’t want my halflings getting radiation poisoning,” Seth said with a note of panic.

I glued my friendly smile back on and turned to the two men driving the carriage. “Tell your friends and families that Doctors Without Boundaries saved you from fairies. Also, lock yourselves inside. Who knows how many more there are.”

“Oh, my God, you nuked fairies.” Jill revved up the car and hit the gas. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe those things are fairies.”

Very few people had ever seen these creatures. Fairies weren’t allowed anywhere outside of Aurelia and the nearby islands because they would destroy everything. Who had brought this abomination to our continent?

“Nasilain, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but can you not split any more atoms, please?” Seth said, a little calmer now that we were away.

I nodded, then pressed the ring. We needed to get the other teams home before they ran into a swarm of their own. “So, what’s the big deal about splitting atoms? I don’t understand why you two are so scared.”

“Radiation is a big deal,” Jill said. “In our world, we blew up two cities like this and then we had accidents. People get sick and die decades after these explosions. I mean, decades from now is better than getting munched today, so thanks for saving our asses, but we need a better way.”

My stomach tightened. Even after all this time trying to understand their science, I still lagged behind. Jill and Ricci had studied it because they were medics, but Seth was a soldier and a police officer, yet he knew these things while I didn’t.