Chapter 6 A Touch of Magic
Chapter six
A Touch of Magic
One should always be wary of plump, red apples given as a gift from a stranger.
-Tales from Meridea, Volume III
This was a new world, unlike anything Luci had ever experienced.
Her skin hummed with tiny pricks that started at her fingertips and worked their way up her arms and down her body, covering her until there was not an inch of her skin that wasn’t touched.
Holding out her hand before her eyes, blue sparkles of light danced between her fingertips, almost as if saying hello.
Despite her racing heart, it felt as if it had ceased beating entirely.
Catching a glimpse of herself in the many mirrors, she jerked her gaze up and saw that her entire body was dancing with the blue mist as it swirled and danced over her exposed skin.
Even her eyes took on an unearthly blue glow that made her shudder.
That was enough. Whatever this was, it was more than enough for her tastes.
Except when she tried to take a step back towards freedom, a gut-wrenching realization hit her.
The door was shut. He had trapped her in here.
The fairydamn prince locked her in a room of mirrors, and where they connected was seamlessly done, making it impossible to know which meant freedom.
Maybe she should have panicked, but if there was one thing she knew, it was that she was too damn stubborn to panic.
No, Brielle needed her, and she would get out of this place one way or another.
Tracing back her steps, she ran her hand over the mirrors, searching for any imperfection. Nothing. The blue sparks lingered where she touched, curious. Whatever they were, it would have been nice if they were just a bit more helpful.
“Let me out!”
The sparks quivered against the mirrors as she banged on each of them, hoping the cursed prince could hear her and the threat in her voice.
She had been foolish to let herself get carried away in the glamor and spark of it all.
Stupid to have forgotten that everything here was its own curse and not by anything magical.
Humanity was its curse, and it was more than enough.
When she got out of here, she was never stepping a single toe into the palace, no matter what Brielle asked of her. Some asks were just too big.
Darkness fell over the room like wax dripping from a seal.
The inky dark consumed and settled over everything till there was nothing left to see.
Even the blue sparks were gone as if recognizing the oppressive nature of the dark.
Silence. All except the sound of Luci’s ragged breaths, each one verging on hysteria.
Methodically, Luci tapped her fingers to her thumbs one at a time, counting, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
A spark of blue at where the center of the room shouldn't have existed grabbed her eye. Whether it was a friend or not, she couldn’t have said, but right now it was all she had.
Reaching out to it, she ran her finger through a now-formed orb of glittering blue.
Like midnight itself. It hummed as she ran her fingers through it and dripped down her fingers like tiny fragments of shining silver.
It pulsated once, twice, and then a rush of power exploded into a thousand pieces, illuminating the room once more.
Each tendril rushed to one of the mirrors and collided until an image formed, murky at first, and then her heart skipped.
It was a face she knew better than her own.
Every line and imperfection was the reason her heart beat each day. Brielle.
Except, this Brielle was radiating health as Luci had only ever dreamed of for her.
Her mouth opened, and laughter, melodic and strong, echoed all around her.
Brielle’s laugh. What was this? It was a question she was too afraid to answer, even if she knew the truth.
Some questions were better left unanswered.
Luci watched in rapt attention, her heart thundering as Brielle ran through the fields wearing a light pink dress that hugged her full, outstretched body.
Those fields were familiar too. The strawberry fields of Blythe.
Except, where there should have been thousands of ripe strawberries, there were white feathery plants that sprouted from the earth in their place.
Brielle bent and cradled her hand to one, leaning in and breathing deeply.
White glittering pearls danced in the air around her as she breathed them in.
When she lifted her head to the sky, her cheeks filled with a rosy red that had never once colored her skin. Brielle. Well and healthy.
“How?” Luci whispered, hands clutching her chest, which ached with the images playing out before her.
Not that she had expected an answer, but the image of Brielle tilted her head as if listening. With a gentleness that was so like Brielle, she turned to face her, a small knowing smile on her face.
“I’ll show you,” she said.
It was Brielle’s voice, but it was also impossible. The images flashed before reforming into an image from Luci’s own memory. Tonight. That was the castle and the ball except through someone else’s eyes because there was Luci reaching out to take Price Ira’s hand.
“That’s a mistake,” she grunted, crossing her arms.
Yet there was no mistaking the wonder in her eyes as he led her to the dance floor and the music began.
So strange to think that it had felt like it was only them there, but so many eyes had been locked on them.
The image blurred once more, and it was Blythe.
Her home wasn’t truly her home, but she loved it nonetheless.
There was a banging sound behind her that made the image quiver. Blue sparks shook and trembled as if an urgency were catching the room. The images shifted onto one another too quickly to catch, until Brielle knelt down before her.
Her heart leapt, and Luci fell to her knees before her friend.
The image of Brielle, healthy and well, reached out her hand, and Luci did the same, fingers nearly touching.
More banging. Brielle’s eyes widened, and a panic pulled at her features as she looked past Luci at something else.
When her gaze landed on Luci once more, they shimmered with blue sparks.
“Pay attention, we don’t have much time left,” Brielle said.
Luci nodded even though she had never understood something less in her life.
The image of Brielle pulled back, and a mountain top came into view.
High at the top was a flower just like the one Brielle had breathed in earlier.
Just as quickly, images began to flash as the banging became harder to ignore.
A field of poppies, a cave that glowed glittering blue, a lagoon with the same glow.
Prince Ira, throwing his head back in laughter, held a torch in his hand.
A sky full of stars. A fireplace is cracking.
An empty field with a large shadow falling over it like a terrible beast with wings.
The ball once again. Prince Ira laughed.
Brielle is holding out her hand. The image shifts, and it’s Prince Ira reaching out his own hand.
There is a softness to his face that almost seems impossible.
“You are everything.” his voice is a caress, a whisper.
More banging, incessant, and demanding. A clock strikes twelve.
A glittering dress of blue. Cups raised in toast. A crown.
A diadem. The room shakes with the banging, and the images falter to blackness, while the blue diamond magic- there was no longer any chance to deny what it was.
The magic quivered and pulsated before shoving itself into the mirror in front of Luci, and Brielle formed once more, her familiar eyes panicked and wide.
“I’ve shown you everything. It’s all I can do.” The words were rushed, desperate. “Follow the path I have shown for you.”
The pounding was starting to make her head scream, but more than that, she needed time. Needed to understand what Brielle, the magic, was trying to show her.
“I don’t understand.” Luci pleaded, feeling a wetness drip down her cheeks that was not her own.
Brielle shook her head, luminous curls bouncing. “You are enough, Lucinda. You have always been enough.”
Nothing made sense, but something inside her screamed that if she let this version of Brielle go, it would never exist.
“Don’t go,” she begged, chest aching, heart breaking.
Brielle’s smile was soft, knowing. “It’s all up to you now. I’ve done what I was meant to do. Be brave, Lucinda, and you and I will meet again.”
The walls shook, and a tremor went through the room as she had never experienced. Like the earth itself was gasping for air.
“Brielle!” Prince Ira’s voice called.
Light above, it was all coming apart. With all the strength she could muster, Luci desperately half crawled, half pushed herself along the mirror floor and threw herself into a ball, covering her head.
A pressure overtook her body as the world shook once more and the sound of exploding glass reverberated in her ears.
Pain lanced through her arm, and she gritted her teeth against it.
Beneath her, the glass smashed, and her elbow fell into a broken piece, slicing it through.
A grunt of pain that was not her own answered.
Unwilling to risk opening her eyes, she waited for the next beat of pain, but it never came.
Instead, the world quieted once more, and the pressure lifted from her.
Everything inside her said to stay put. If she kept very still, then maybe she would wake up in bed next to Brielle.
Maybe this had all been an elaborate fever dream.
“Are you all right?” Dream Prince Ira asked.
At least she had imagined him nice to look at. He was very charming and handsome up until the moment he had locked her in a room with wild magic that shouldn’t have existed.
“Brielle?” he asked.