I took Kai’s advice and stopped sleeping in the library. Before, I had a thick blanket I pulled from my assigned room and threw it on a large armchair. There was a small table next to it, with a stack of books and a lamp.
I gathered up the blanket and books and marched them up three flights of stairs to my new room.
The room was big. The walls were painted a light shade of indigo, and it seemed to be a theme. The ceiling was a much deeper, richer shade if the same color, dotted with stars. The lampshade was tinted, so the light it cast was violet. A string of faerie lights wound around the bed. With the books and the flowers… it did look a little homey.
I put the few dresses I had kept folded beside my chair into the white ivory closet- and was surprised to find there were several more there already. I suppose I would’ve known if I hadn’t been locked up in the library the whole time.
And I suppose it was a bit hypocritical of me, to be yelling at Marcus for the exact same things.
I flopped down on the bed, only to find myself sinking into a cloud. I groaned. Why did everything have to be so perfect?
I looked around one last time, before letting myself fall into dreams.
***
Marcus was sitting at the head of the dinner table when I got there. He wore a plain blue shirt, the same color of the dress I had worn the day before. I moved to sit in the seat closest to him, pulling up my red skirt as I did.
“I got a good night’s sleep for the first time since I got here.” I told him. He grinned. “Glad to hear it.”
I shifted in my seat. “The room is nice. And the flowers go well with it.”
Marcus nodded.
I looked down at my plate.
“... this is awkward.” He muttered.
“yeah.”
“They changed the trials.” he said tentatively. “They’re more… well, they’re less extreme.”
“Oh?” I said, careful to keep the tone light. “Like what?”
Kayla and Undine burst in. “there’s a ball.” Undine announced, her eyes twinkling. Then she noticed Marcus, squeaked, and dipped into a curtsy. Kayla slowly followed suit.
“Yeah,” Marcus chuckled. “Something like that.” I laughed. “Guys, it’s okay. Marcus doesn’t mind.” “in fact, I rather prefer less formalities.”
Kayla popped up immediately. “Oh, thank the gods. All this curtsey, ‘yes sir, no ma'am, no i didn’t put the motor oil in the wine, that was Oliver,’ makes my head hurt.” Undine unfolded from her curtsey a bit more gracefully. “I rather like feeling like a princess,” the sighed dreamily.
Edda huffed and pushed past them. “You would, you fluffy little bubble.” she paused, glanced at marcus, and slowly backed up. Agatha stood behind her, fiddling with her scraggly red hair.
“Where’s Gwen?” I asked. Kayla shrugged. “She should be right down.” She slid into a seat across from me, Undine immediately beside her. “So, what should we call you?” Kayla asked. “Like, your highness, or prince, or what?”
Marcus shifted uncomfortably. “You can just call me by my name.”
Kayla snorted. “Which one?”
Marcus opened his mouth to respond when a loud crash sound from upstairs. I nearly fell backwards out of my chair, but Agatha caught me. “Thanks.” I muttered.
“What the heck was that?” Edda cried. We all got to our feet. “Whatever it is, it can’t be good.” Undine squealed.
“This better not be our next trial.” Kayla murmured to her friend.
“C’mon, we need to go investigate.” I said, going to the door. Marcus nodded and followed. “We need to? Really?” Edda sneered. I rolled my eyes. “What if it’s Gwen messing around?” Kayla added.
“No.” Agatha spoke up for the first time since our arrival. “Gwen wouldn’t make that much noise.”
I studied Agatha carefully. “Well, maybe she;s hurt, so we need to go check.” I decided, and shoved my way into the corridor.
The others huddled together behind me as we made our way up the winding staircase, each step straining the wood floor.
“It wasn’t so squeaky before.” Undine noted. “Well obviously it is now,” Kayla hissed. “Keep your voices down!” Edda snapped. “We don’t know what's up there.” I huffed and pushed on.
We reached the third floor, where all of our rooms were located. I turned to the other girls. “Which one is Guinevere’s?” I whispered. They pointed to the second door to the left. I tiptoed over and flung it open.
Gwen’s room was painted a gold-amber color. Her bed was messy, pillows were strewn on the floor, and a lamp lay cracked on the desk. The far wall was a giant window, with a yellow curtain tucked into the corner. Two men dressed in black cloaks stood in the corner, and Guinevere was sprawled over her untidy brown sheets.
The two men had hoods over their faces, so I couldn’t see them. When they spoke, it was in the harsh tones of a serpent, but whisky and distant.
“Ahhh, more visitorsssssss.” Hissed the talker of the two. “How lovely to finally meet you, Liliad Emily Ssstoneheart.”
I froze. “How do you know my name?” I demanded. “What happened to Guinevere?”
The men laughed. “Shhhe’sss jussst taking a little… nap.” I took a step back, and felt Marcus’ warm hand wrap around my own. “Liliad, do you know them?”
“Oh, she doesssn’t know usss.” The smaller one insisted. But we know her. We alwaysss have. We have been watching you, Liliad. We have sssseen your power growing…”
“What power?” I asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The two men looked at each other, and in haunting unison whispered,
“Magic.”
Edda scoffed from behind me somewhere. “Okay, now you’re being crazy. There’s no such thing as magic.”
“YESSS, THERE ISSS!” The taller boomed. “Dioval hasss proven that, hasss he not?” I shook my head. “Who the hell is Dioval?”
“The sssspirit of the graveyard! You have meet him, yesss! Yesss!”
I took another step back. “How do you know about that?”
“We know… everything.”
“Okay, it’s time to buzz off.” Marcus declared. “You’re trespassing on royal propertey. As the stand in heir, I order you to leave.” He tightened his grip on my hand. “Now.”
The two looked at each other, then erupted into booming laughter. “You are no princccce of oursss! If you make ussss leave before we want to, your friend will never wake again!”
I choked. “No, no, you can’t hurt her!”
The taller man moved towards the bed. “And how will you ssstop usss?” His hand slipped from under the cloak- long fingered and honey. He traced his thumb on Gwen’s cheek. “You would not accept the strength inside of you until it was too late.”
I didn’t know what I was doing- my blood started to boil. I felt the anger building up inside of me. Not just anger.
Rage.
Pure rage I couldn’t keep bottled up. It swung inside me like a tidal wave, crashing and pounding and searching for a way out.
I swung up my arms and pointed at each of them. “Leave. Her. Alone.”
From my fingertips, bolts of bright purple lighting shot at the cloaked figures. The force threw them backwards and crashing out through the window. I herd the others screaming and saw them run to the ledge.
“...They’re gone.” Edda announced. “Not like, dead. There’s no bodies or anything.”
Kayla wheeled on me. “So, you going to tell me how you did that? Because that was freaking’ awesome.”
I didn’t pay her much attention, though. Instead I was focused on the shattered glass. Or rather, how the glass was slowly weaving itself back together, and the shards on the floor simply sunk into the carpet and disappeared.
I turned to Marcus. “I think I hit my head or something- because this has got to be a hallucination.” He shook his head. “Sorry, Stoneheart, but I saw al, that too.”
I glared at him. “You’re not helping my mental stability, Thorne.” I declared before passing out on the soft yellow floor.
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