Prologue #2
She threw the sphere toward Finley, who threw up her own wall of water, but it wasn’t enough. Finley didn’t have the control or power yet to defend herself against the sorceress, and the spell hit her across the chest, sending her to the ground.
In a flash, Mariah was gone.
Hours later, Finley and Ai sat in the hall outside of her parents’ room where they met with various priests of Stula and Colma.
It was a common ritual for them, sneaking about the manor and listening in on conversations they had no business being a part of.
In this case, they should have been in the room with them.
It was Finley’s life they were discussing, after all.
“The fae will be her best option for safety,” one priest Finley didn’t know said. “They will be sure to protect her and maybe even find answers.”
“But this is one of your spells, isn’t it?” Mother asked, her voice a high-pitched tone usually saved for scolding the girls when they’d gotten into another bout of trouble. “How can you not know the cure?”
“There are some spells even unknown to us,” another priest answered. “There are dark and ancient magics we no longer study as they go against the true nature of Stula.”
“Perhaps it would be for the best,” Father finally said. “She can be protected and maybe find answers and be away from here. She’s already a challenge to control. A change of scenery could be good for her. It could be our last chance for her to…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Finley knew what he meant. To settle down. To calm herself. Just tuck away their troublesome daughter in a forest far away so they could keep their heads down and not make a scene.
Water bubbled and swirled beneath Finley’s skin and she had to fight to keep it from bursting forth.
She stretched her fingers and curled them again to ward off the emotions.
“If they think I’m going to run off and hide with a bunch of fairies in Eral Forest, they have another thing coming. Don’t they care about what I want?”
Ai patted her on the shoulder, and she could feel the warmth of the magic Ai tried to share to help them remain calm. But even Ai’s magic was only a year or so old and not powerful enough overpower Finley’s raw emotions. “They want to protect you.”
Finley brushed her off and scoffed. “Just because I’m hiding it doesn’t mean that the curse won’t get to me.
” She shook her head. All her plans. She was going to see the world and go on adventures.
Now all that was gone. Her chest tightened.
“I shouldn’t be hiding. I should be doing the opposite.
If this thing is going to take me, then I should be out there seeing the world and doing what I can now before it’s too late. ”
Ever since Mariah cursed her, Finley had been turning over plans in her head. This was a mysterious spell, yes. But there were more mysteries out in the world than any of them could ever imagine. There had to be answers out there.
Her whole life, Finley had wanted to see the world.
There were adventures to be had, people to meet, and places to see.
She and Ai had been dreaming and plotting where they would go for years, now all of it was slipping away like sand.
They wanted her to hide. Ignore the problem.
Gloss it over. Just like they did everything.
Well, enough was enough. It was time Finley took her life into her own hands.
Before Ai could respond, Finley stood and turned on her heel to stomp toward her room. “Come on, Ai. I have a different plan.”
Finley left without Ai, but after a few moments she could hear her best friend’s soft footsteps behind her.
They crept through the manor to be sure no one noticed they’d been eavesdropping — again. Luckily, they knew all the shortcuts, creaky boards, and hiding places that were the best to use and avoid while roaming the large house on their various escapades without being caught.
The moment Finley got to her room she got to work.
She threw open the wardrobe and trunks to find what they would need — clothes, maps, favorite items she’d want to keep — and stuffed them all into a large cloth sack.
She grabbed a pile of parchment and maps off her desk and shoved them inside.
If one didn’t know better, it would be easy to confuse Finley’s room with a sailor’s quarters.
It was filled with globes and maps and models of ships and brimmed full of the adventures and dreams she had of seeing the world and experiencing everything it had to offer.
“There’s a ship leaving and we’re going to be on it,” Finley announced.
Ai choked back a gasp. “Um… we?”
Finley went back and forth all around her room to gather the things she wanted as Ai stood there watching with wide eyes.
“Of course I can’t go without you,” Finley said.
“And come on, do you really want a life here? Your parents have been talking about arranging some deities’ awful boring marriage to a stuck-up lord or lady for ages.
Do you want to just be a simple wife used for your family’s power, or do you want adventure and to see the world? ”
She tried to hide her fear and avoided making eye contact.
The nervousness that Ai might say no. They’d planned all their adventures together.
Frankly, Finley wasn’t sure what she would do if Ai didn’t join her in this outrageous plan.
She’d have to go, because hiding wasn’t an option.
Finley wouldn’t let it be an option. But what would she do without Ai?
The thought sent a cold shiver down her spine.
But Ai stood there watching Finley as she packed. Her eyes darted back and forth as though she was weighing out her options.
“I know we’ve talked about it, and you know I want to, but… do you think this is the best time to sneak out and escape?” Ai asked.
For half a moment, Finley paused her frantic packing and her breath caught. Her eyes started to water, and her hands shook. But she blinked it away and took a deep breath then returned to her task.
“This is as good of time as any. I just received my powers and what better place to learn to use them than on the sea? I can’t go off hiding in the Eral Forest with the fae.
I just can’t. And who knows? Maybe I’ll find the cure for this curse.
” Finley hid her face behind her long golden locks in a poor attempt to hide her trembling chin.
Maybe Ai wouldn’t come. Maybe Finley really was alone in this.
It was a lot to ask for Ai to leave her family and home on such short notice.
Finley’s chest tightened. She wanted too much.
As usual. “But if you don’t want to come, I understand. ”
Ai stepped farther into the room and looked at all the maps tacked to the walls where fine paintings and art should have been.
She took her time, and it was as if the world stopped moving as Finley awaited her answer.
All their dreams and adventures waiting for them like treasures waiting to be taken if they were brave enough to do it.
And maybe… just maybe… they could find the cure.
“What time does it leave?” Ai asked.
Finley raised her head and didn’t bother to blink away the tears forming. “Dawn.”
Ai nodded. “I’ll go get my things. What was the name of the ship?”
Finley thought her heart could burst and beamed. “The Mystic.”