Woman in the Walls
Lady Catherine groaned and put her packs down. She had traveled for a week to get to Trebond and she was absolutely exhausted -although she hadn't been the one riding on the horse. She had been in the stuffy carriage, complaining about the heat.
"Derrick," she called lazily, waving a delicate hand to beckon the servant forward.
Derrick entered. "Yes, my Lady?" He was already nervous; the young boy was a new servant and although he had enough education, he knew that some nobles weren't so understanding. They could punish you just because you misheard them!
"Take my packs, would you?" Her voice was light but a tad scratchy. "And draw my bath."
"Yes, my Lady." And with that, the brunet closed the door and went off to do his bidding, starting with the heavy packs.
Lady Catherine sighed and swooped over to the mirror, skirts waving not far behind. The mirror reflected a woman with tight golden curls clipped short. Her chocolate brown eyes were framed by long eyelashes. Her nose was pert. Full lips were painted a deep red, complementing her ivory skin.
"Mithros!" she said to herself, turning her head ever so slightly to the right to admire her face. "Am I really that beautiful?" She twirled around just to see her dress spin. She wore a blue and lavender gown with a daring neckline and primroses lining the waist. "I am, aren't I?" she sighed.
Catherine cocked her head at the sound of high-pitched laughing. When it stopped, she dismissed it for rats scratching on the old walls.
She turned her attention back at the mirror and looked at the collection of hair supplies, exotic smells and face paint. "This is beautiful," she exclaimed. "My friend truly hit the jackpot when she married that bookworm." She sprayed some perfume on her wrist and sniffed the strong scent. "It's just a shame she died before she could enjoy it."
The Duchess adorned herself in the mirror for a while and continued trying the perfumes.
"Excuse me," a timid voice came.
She turned sharply and set fiery eyes on the boy Derrick, flask of yellow-tinted liquid still in her hand. "What?"
A few moments passed before he mustered to courage to speak. He gulped. "Your bath is ready," he squeaked.
Lady Catherine's features softened into the angelic mask she had worn when she had entered the castle. "Why thank you, Derrick. You are dismissed."
He bowed low to the Duchess and scurried out of the room. He hesitated in the middle of the doorway, looking from left to right as if there were mice on the ground. Then, he nodded to someone Catherine couldn't see and shut the door carefully.
His behavior made her suspicious but not so suspicious that she wanted to go inspect it. And besides, why should she care about rats?
"Good," she said once the door was closed and she heard his footsteps fade. "Now, I can scrub up and execute my plan."
The twins with fiery hair had their ears pressed against the oak door, listening in on all of their godmother's words.
"Mithros!" they heard from inside the room. "Am I really that beautiful?"
The two rolled their eyes simultaneously. "I'm sorry, but your head is too fat for good looks," Alanna retorted. Her brother giggled and she hushed him. "What if you're heard?" He pursed his lips to stifle a laugh but he did a bad job at it.
"This is beautiful," Lady Catherine said. "My friend truly hit the jackpot when he married that bookworm."
"Who's her friend?" Thom asked in a hushed tone. "And who's the bookworm?"
"It's just a shame she died before she could enjoy it," the Duchess said.
The girl gulped. "I think her friend was mother and the bookworm is dad."
Thom looked down, silent and sullen.
"Excuse me," a new voice came.
"What?" Catherine bellowed in rage.
It had to have been minutes before the answer came. "Your bath is ready." The new boy's voice was barely audible through the wooden door.
"Why thank you, Derrick. You are dismissed." Her angelic voice was back.
Alanna looked up, alarmed. "Go, go!" she urged quietly. They rushed to either side of the door, back pressed against the cool walls.
Derrick opened the door and let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "What a nightmare!" he said to no one in particular. He looked down at the twins with a curious look. He opened his mouth to ask them what they were doing but they hushed him, fingers to their lips.
He narrowed his eyes at the two for a moment and then nodded in understanding when he pieced together that they were eavesdropping. Alanna clenched her teeth and pressed her finger to her lips further, ensuring that he got the message. He nodded hastily and shut the door, letting them presume their eavesdropping.
"Good. Now I can scrub up and execute my plan," were the last words they heard from inside the room.
Alanna looked up, eyes wide with alarm. "Plan… You don't suppose that she's going to…"
Thom cocked an eyebrow. "Going to?" he prompted.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I thought that you'd have a guess."
Her brother's face took on that expression he always had when he was thinking: a finger was rubbing his chin and his eyes were glazed over, looking somewhere far away.
"Well, we can't suspect anything so soon but with the reference to mother and… father… She wants to kill father as well? That's not right." The two sat in silence for a while until Thom pieced two and two together. "Perhaps she's trying to get father to marry him? And then she'll kill him?"
Alanna stood abruptly from shock. "I don't want a mother!" The girl knew her godmother and she was not a pleasant lady. She'd seen her being manipulative once to her now deceased husband, making her eyes a watery brown to make him stay with her although his head ached.
She started pacing the hall, arms crossed over her chest. "We've got to get rid of her…"
"What do you suppose we do?" he asked her, amusement in his voice. He stood leaned against the wall, crossing one leg over the other in the same motion. "Drive her out with rabid bears? Have them chase her around the castle?"
The idea hit her so hard that she gasped and stopped her pacing. "Thom! That's it! You're a genius!"
He sighed. His sister had another brilliant yet mad idea. Her brother knew that she was capable of wonderful things in that mind of hers but she also knew that they'd gotten in trouble for a good handful.
"We'll make her see things that aren't actually there! But it can't be a rabid bear. That's too farfetched… Ghosts! That's much more realistic. We'll drive her mad and then drive her out of the castle!" she said. "It's brilliant!"
"That's wonderful, Alanna," Thom said cautiously. "When you do that, be sure to keep me out-"
"You're helping me with this," she interrupted him. "I can't make all these ghosts by myself."
His face showed an expression of exasperation. "Don't drag me into another one of your schemes."
"But Thom!" she said, gripping him by his shoulders. "We're twins! Peas in a pod! We've got to do everything together."
"But this time, it's like going to the washroom," he said, slight anxiety in his voice as he shrugged her hands off. "We can't go together."
"Come on, Thom. Do you really want that-" she pointed at the door of their godmother's room. "dragon to become our step mother? You know how those always turn out. Look at what happened to Cinderella."
Thom bit his lip, reminded of Cinderella's years imprisoned, scrubbing endlessly at floorboards. She had a point. "Fine. I'll do the illusions but if we're found out, then this plan has your name on it."
"Yes, yes," she said offhandedly. "Now, let's go. Before she finishes bathing."
Thom and Alanna sat in the library, searching through books for the spell that would work the best to make ghosts appear to one person but not another. Thom was doing more of the looking than Alanna.
Magic gave her the chills. This was simply an exception since this magic would mean that their monster of a godmother would leave them be. She certainly did not want a new mother.
"Have you found it yet?" she asked impatiently to her twin. She bit her lip, hoping that the wait wouldn't be that long.
Thom rolled his eyes. "If you're going to ask me just about every fifteen minutes, then you might as well start looking yourself."
Alanna sighed and slid a book over to her side of the table. She flipped to the index and went down the alphabet, her finger following the path of her eyes. "Ghosts… ghosts… ghosts…" she mumbled under her breath.
"Not ghosts, you dunce," Thom chided as quiet as he could. "Look for illusions. If you search for ghosts it'll lead you to incantations for summoning them. We don't want to summon them." It sounded like he was about to continue scolding her but she interrupted.
"Alright, alright!" she said in an annoyed tone. "Illusions. We want Illusions." She flipped a page forward and trailed her finger down the 'I' section. "Page one-hundred-thirty-two," she said once she found it.
The girl flipped through the pages hastily. The silence in the library was on the edge of deafening and she longed to be out and training with Coram.
That page led her to nothing. She continued to search through dozens of books, none of them giving her anything that the twins could use.
It was Thom who found something.
On his page, he saw a picture of a man in the middle of an igloo in Scanra. The subtitle read:
Turn the page to see the secret to creating illusions that will fool your friends!
Thom followed the instructions and saw another picture of the man. The only difference was that the igloo was actually a house and the snow on the ground was actually grass. "Wow," he said under her breath.
"Why?" Alanna whispered sharply. "Did you find something?"
He nodded absently. The boy was already reading.
You see, illusions are very easy to create. It's simply putting a false layer on reality. To do that, you'll need something to put a layer on reality called a focus. In the picture below, you see a house and grass. These are the focuses of the mage working the spell.
Like any other spell, you must have the will power to change one thing to another. This spell also requires a brew consisting of tree bark, dandelion root, and Vervain. Brews differ depending on what you plan on putting an illusion on. Turn this page for a different method.
"Alanna," Thom said. "I've got something. But it says that illusions are mere layers on reality. We'll need a focus. Or…" He flipped the page and saw a drawing of a small dragon and a bigger one wreaking havoc on a small village.
"Or what?" Alanna asked curiously, abandoning her own research to read over his sibling's shoulder. "Wow," she said under his breath.
"Wow, indeed." He started to read the text, a finger following his eyes. "You may also create an illusion with a different type of focus. This spell requires dandelion root, vervain, and giant redwood seeds also known as giant sequoia."
Alanna looked up to fix her purple orbs on her brother's. "Those are the biggest trees ever. It'll take hours to hike up there."
Just thinking of hard exercise made him sigh. "Then it's a good thing that you're here," he said happily. "Now we should finish reading it."
Genuine excitement rang in her voice when she said, "Right. I can't wait!" Thom glared at Alanna meaningfully and she rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. Where was I…?" She looked down to the book. "Right. Also known as giant sequoia...
" To execute this spell, you must create a miniature version of the desired illusion. Then, you must put all the ingredients into a pot of chamomile tea. Afterwards, you must dip the figure in the tea for fifteen minutes. Soak for longer if your illusion will last longer than an hour, otherwise, it will falter and die out in the middle of your desired time limit.
"To end the illusion, douse the figure with milk. WARNING! DO NOT BREAK THE FIGURE AS THE SPELL IS TAKING PLACE. OTHERWISE, THE ILLUSION WILL LAST FOR FIVE YEARS AND IT IS QUITE TRICKY TO REVERSE." Thom placed a book mark in the book. "Well that's it then," he said proudly. "We'll use this spell.
(A/N) Muahaha! This is such a fun fic to write! I love semi-cannon fics like this. :3 Please review! I love reviews. :D
Also, expect at least five chapters, maybe more if I decide to keep the chapters only this long.
Warmest regards,
Nell