34. Nelle Fighting the Spell
Nelle: Fighting the Spell
An enraged shriek, like a high piercing whistle, forced hope into Nelle’s heart. Her eyes flew open, and she blinked as she watched Ember dive-bomb the queen, his talons extended. The queen ducked, but not quickly enough. The phoenix raked his claws across her right forearm.
“Oooh. You’re going to pay for that, you stupid bird,” Queen Snow White seethed, glaring at the bird.
Ember merely let out another high-pitched cry as he swooped over her yet again.
The queen waved a hand and sent a blast of icy shards towards the phoenix.
They missed Ember by less than an inch, but he merely let out a vengeful cry.
“Leave him alone!” Nelle cried, thrashing in her bonds. The ice rubbed against her skin, burning it, but she couldn’t pay attention to it now. She had to free herself. She had to help Ember.
The Snow Queen shot her an enraged look. “Don’t think this changes anything, Lolienna. You’re still mine,” she screeched.
Ember took advantage of her momentary distraction and dove toward her once more.
But Queen Snow White was not as distracted as she seemed.
She waved her hand, and an icy spike appeared in her hand.
With the precision of a javelin thrower, she sent it toward Ember.
He dipped down to evade it, but this time, he was too late. The spike went through his heart.
With a mournful cry, Ember flapped, trying to keep himself airborne, but it was no use. He crash-landed in a heap inches from Nelle’s foot, his head connecting painfully with the desk.
“Ember! No!” Nelle screamed, tears streaming down her face.
“Is that what the beast’s name is?” Queen Snow White asked, indifference clear in her tone. “No matter. He won’t be a problem anymore.” A maniacal glint appeared in her eye. “Perhaps we’ll dine on his body this evening.”
Nelle couldn’t bring herself to tear her eyes away from Ember. Kit was going to be devastated when he found out.
“Now, then, where were we?” Queen Snow White crooned, grabbing Nelle’s face and wrenching it up so that she was looking her in her eye. “Do you have any last words before you’re under my control again?”
Nelle’s tears blurred her vision. “You’re not going to win.”
The Snow Queen stiffened. “What?”
Nelle gritted her teeth, and she struggled to keep her voice steady.
“You heard me the first time. I won’t let you win.
No matter how hard I have to fight, I will never stop trying to get away from you.
You will never have another moment’s peace; you’ll have to watch me constantly, because the moment you turn your back, I will run.
Kit and I already broke the spell once. We’ll do it again. ”
The Snow Queen’s mouth curved into a cruel smile.
“I have no doubt you’ll try, Loli, but you have to remember one thing: I’m not just fighting for myself.
I’m fighting for the man I love. And if the storybooks are right about one thing, it’s that true love will always win the day.
” She waved her hand. “Now, we’ve delayed long enough, and I doubt that we’ll have anymore interruptions.
” She shot Ember a satisfied smile as the phoenix’s body began to smoke.
She ignored them and raised her hands, chanting in a language Nelle didn’t understand or recognize.
Nelle felt the spell wrap around her like tendrils of fog. She writhed in place, trying to escape their grasp, but they only tightened their hold on her. Dark whispers joined her mother’s voice.
Let us in, Lolienna.
We’re your friends.
We only want what’s best for you.
Don’t fight us. This voice was stronger than the others, and, after a moment’s hazy thought, Nelle realized it was the voice of the Cracked Mirror.
It’s a pointless battle. We’re stronger than you, little Loli.
We’ve been in Afeyra for centuries, waiting for this moment.
There’s nothing you can do to stop us. You’re powerless against our might.
Just give in, and all this will be so much easier.
“Oh, Maker, help me.” Nelle’s writhing slowed as the tendrils wrapped around her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut as she pleaded, “Please, I can’t fight this alone.”
“You’re not alone,” the Snow Queen crooned. “You’re with your mama now. Just let go, Lolienna, and it’ll all be over. You don’t have to fight anymore.”
Part of Nelle wanted to give in. Slowly, she lowered her head as she realized the voices were right. She wasn’t strong enough. She was powerless against her mother’s magic. What could she possibly?—
A soft whistle cut through her mind’s haze. She opened her eyes open a slit, just enough to see Ember weakly raise his head. His brilliant golden eyes met her green ones, and she clung to the song he sang.
“Shut up, you useless excuse for vertebrate,” the Snow Queen growled, coming around the desk to where Ember lay prone.
She waved her hand, and a thin spike of ice appeared in her palm.
“I wanted you to have a slow, painful death, you ugly thing, but I can see that you’re going to make this difficult on yourself. ”
“No…no, please,” Nelle whispered, reaching her hand out as far as her bonds would let her. The tendrils of smoke tightened their hold, but she ignored them, keeping her eyes fixed on the phoenix. “He’s…he’s my friend.”
“He’s a pest,” the Snow Queen snarled, raising the spike up high, preparing to throw it. “A no-good stumbling block in my?—”
Before she could finish, Ember let out one last sorrowful cry, before he burst into flames.
The Snow Queen stumbled back, bumping into the empty chair. “What in Afeyra?—”
Nelle took a deep breath, tears running down her face as she watched Ember burn. The smell of wood smoke, vanilla, and books filled her nose, loosening the mist’s hold on her mind, reminding her of what she was fighting for. Warmth poured over her, reaching to her very core and strengthening her.
She formed a fist, flexing her arm in the icy cuffs. The heat from the fire wouldn’t melt the six inches of ice, but it did give her the strength to try to free herself.
The Snow Queen wasn’t paying attention to her. She’d begun babbling as she kept her eyes fixed on the small inferno in front of her. “What…I don’t understand…how in the?—”
Nelle ignored her words. Her mind sorted through and subsequently discarded plans.
She couldn’t transform the cuffs into something else; her magic didn’t work very well on water-based surfaces, oddly enough.
And she also couldn’t transform her mother into something less dangerous; if she could, she’d have transformed her into a cuddly bunny, but that would require complicated magic and her mother’s defenses were already up. It wasn’t worth the trouble of trying.
Could you transform yourself? That thought stopped her in her tracks. Self-transformational magic was extremely difficult. She’d read about it, but she’d never tried it herself. But she didn’t have many other options, and, eventually, her mother was going to refocus her attention on her.
An image popped into her head, and she couldn’t help but smile at the thought. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the transformation she wanted to bring about.
“Nelle? What are you doing? Nelle?” Queen Snow White’s voice didn’t penetrate her concentration.
The change came over her like a bucket of warm, sweet smelling water after a long, arduous day.
Her body began to stretch and expand, a sensation that wasn’t comfortable, though it also wasn’t painful.
Scales began growing where skin once was, forcing out the cold that had covered her since Guy and Will had brought her to the Snow Queen’s castle.
The cuffs shattered as her arms thickened, along with the rest of her body.
She snorted, and the smell of smoke filled her nostrils.
Nelle opened her eye a crack, and glanced down at herself, pleased when she saw she had turned into a feminine version of the dragon humanoid she’d enforced on Kit, though her scales were a deep shade of green, rather than white.
A chair scraped over the ice, and Nelle sensed, rather than saw, her mother stand and back away from her. “What did you…How did you…You’re not supposed to be able to do that kind of magic,” Queen Snow White whispered, raising a shaky hand and pointing at Nelle.
She arched an eyebrow. “According to who?”
The Snow Queen blanched before scowling. “No matter. If you were a good pawn as a mere snip of a girl, you’ll be even better as a…beast.” She raised her hands and began chanting once more, and the foggy tendrils encircled Nelle once more.
These tendrils weren’t as strong as the ones before, but they still wrapped around her, holding her in place. Pain shot from behind her eyes, and Nelle fell to her knees, letting out an agonized cry.
You’re no match for us, little Lolienna.
Just let us in and all this pain will go away.
The repeated words shot through her skull like an arrow, and what little strength she had left her.
Her knees collapsed beneath her, and she took a weak, shuddering breath. Still, she wouldn’t give up the battle.
“No. No, I won’t go back,” Nelle whispered, gritting her teeth. “You’ll have to kill me first.”
The voices paused, uncertain. Through the curtain of pain, Nelle saw the unease flickering in the Snow Queen’s eyes.
At last, she bowed her head, saying, “Stop fighting me, daughter. I don’t want to have to —” Somewhere above them, a sharp alarm sounded, cutting her off, and the queen scowled.
“It sounds like we have an unexpected visitor. Keep her where she is, Oberon. I’ll see to the intruders.
” Without another look back, she turned on her heel and strode out of the room.
A dark laugh echoed from the Cracked Mirror, as the world around Nelle darkened.
“I’ll do what you are not strong enough to do, Snow White.
The girl is a threat. She must be dealt with.
” The young woman weakly turned her head and saw inky black hands protruding from the mirror.
Lines of blue magic came out of the hands, arching toward Nelle.
She saw them coming and tried to move out of the way, but she could barely move an inch, for the last inky tendrils of the queen’s spell held her in place.
She screamed in pain, and her dragonish form dissipated as the intense lines of magic pulled the last vestiges of strength from her body.
Just then, a victorious cry echoed from the flames as they intensified. Nelle closed her eyes to shield them, but not before she saw Ember rise from the ashes where his body had once been. The Cracked Mirror cried out in agony, screaming, “No! No, this can’t be.”
At the sight Ember’s rise, something solidified at the back of Nelle’s mind and a tingling sensation spread through her hands.
She concentrated on it, feeling the pull.
All at once, bright white light erupted from Nelle’s fingertips.
The Cracked Mirror’s cry intensified, and then puttered off.
As it faded, it left behind only an echo of his voice at the back of Nelle’s mind.
You may have won this round, Lolienna, but rest assured, the victory will be mine.
Nelle dragged herself to her feet and hissed into the now-darkened office, “My name is Nelle.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, searching for any last traces of her mother’s spell or the Cracked Mirror’s presence.
She grimaced when she found a tiny wisp lurking at the back of her mind.
Her words came out as a growl as she commanded, “Now, get out of my head.”
The sudden blast of sound and pressure sent Nelle sprawling into her chair, leaving the office in a heavy, suffocating quiet, broken only by her ragged breaths.
For a moment, Nelle could only sit, trying to force air into her lungs.
But overhead, the alarm intensified. She shook her head as slowly, painfully, she tried to force herself onto her feet only to slam back down in the chair.
Her strength was fading, stolen by the frozen air.
She looked up at Ember. “We need…need to go get Kit,” she mumbled, and the phoenix cooed in agreement.
One last time, she heaved herself up and stumbled to the door, praying that she wasn’t too late.