I walked straight to the door and they swung open, courtesy of Jay. I asked him to sort out a room for Ron. Jay ran off, with Ron trotting after him. I shook my head lightly and wandered off, looking for somewhere quiet to think. I find the little balcony where me and Leo kissed, and looked out. It was the first time I realised he was in love with me, and that I was in love with him. It was a happy memory.
The stars above me shone brightly, enveloping me in my thoughts and their bright light. My mind drifted off, thinking about where the boats could have possibly been headed. Are there other countries? I would have to go exploring soon.
Then I heard somebody stomping though the ballroom behind me. I sighed quietly and turned, expecting to see Luke, ready to shout at me.
It was Leo. His expression was enraged as he strode forwards to meet me. I thought I know what to expect.
"Leo, I'm so—" I started. Leo pulled me into him, and crushed his lips down against mine. His arms snaked round my waist, keeping me in place, even when I started to pull away. But he wouldn't let me move.
When he finally let me pull back, his expression was so pained that it shocked me into silence.
"If you ever leave me like that again…" he trailed off. I laughed quietly.
"Is that what this is about? Leo, I didn't do it on purpose. You know that." I laughed gently. Leo tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. I laughed lightly and kissed his cheek.
We walked, hand in hand, back inside. Leo led me silently to the dining hall. I stopped him outside.
"How much am I going to hate this? Honestly, please?" I scowled. I hated huge occasions.
"If I know you well enough, then you are going to despise this. Truly and honestly." He grinned. I groaned and steeled myself, before pushing the doors open.
I regretted it more than anything else I had done in the past week or two.
The walls were freshly painted—no doubt with magic—in a beautiful ecru. An enormous table stretched the length of the hall, covered in a creamy pink table. The plates were real china, the cutlery 24 carot gold. Each place had a golden magic goblet. The silver serving plates were empty, but the room was bursting with life. People scurried back and forth, talking and practising powers to set out powers. I watched a girl with ice powers use a pillar of ice to transport ten plates, with cutlery, to the end of the table. They organised themselves with the help of Jay.
I hated it.
I cringed at the thought of how Lottie had managed to set this up. Whitney spotted me and waved me over. I went blankly. Leo wrapped his arm around my waist and held me closer to him. When we got to Whitney, she spun on her heel, glaring at me. Then she grinned.
"You are honestly the best friend in the world. EVERY Sam Smith song, and every Beyoncé and every Chris Brown. Seriously, you pay close attention." She grinned even wider, taking the MP3 out of her jean pocket. For the first time, I noticed the colour and design. It was sleek and black, with 'Whitney' printed in silver print on the back. It took me a second to realise it was platinum. Wow, did I do that?
"Thorough," Leo commented. I elbowed him lightly. Then Whitney frowned suddenly. She took my arm and tugged me away from Leo, dragging me off. We walked though the palace, my arm throbbing from the grip of her hand.
"I have a job for you." She announced. "You see, my friend Cornelia, she hates her house, but has nowhere to go if she leaves. Can you go help her, offer her a home here, while you're still being the best best best friend in the world?"
I looked around the dank basement.
"Where is her house?" I sighed. This would be fun.
Whitney grinned at gave me some directions. She lived in a country near Dernom, on the continent.
"Oh, and by the way, she's a countess, at least the heiress to the Tookey fortune." Whitney added. Perfect. Even more fun.
I sighed and we walked back to the banquet hall.
When we came in, Lottie ushered me to a seat, right at the front, next to Leo. Then she steps up on to a raised platform. The whole hall goes silent.
"We are delighted to…" Lottie started, but I could barely hear her, so how could the people at the back. I flicked my wrist and her voice was projected, like she was using a microphone.
"So welcome our Chosen, Ali! She will soon be off to find as many spirituals as possible, and gather them to Dernom. We already have people building houses around us, so we can accommodate all the spirituals." Her voice echoed though the hall. She gave me a grateful look as she continued.
"Are you doing that?" Leo whispered, taking my hand under the table. I nodded gently. When Lottie had finished waffling on, food appeared on the table. I utterly respected whoever could make food appear like that.
Lottie sat across from me. With another flick of my wrist, her voice returned to normal. I nodded at her.
"That was awesome, Ali! How did you do that?" she wondered aloud. I thought. Then I shrugged, I honestly had no clue.
I had to be copying somebody…
I rethought everything I'd done. All of it was copying, I could come up with a correct character for all of my powers.
"Harry Potter, I think. Just without a wand." I said. Yes, that was the only explanation.
But what about the clothes? Could I be copying something without realising it? And the perfume out of thin air?
I ignored the dubious thoughts and focused on the dinnertime chat. Leo seemed to notice that I was out of it. Whitney and Lottie blabbered on, oblivious to my low attention span that night. Well, for a while.
"Ali? Ali? Ali!" my head snapped up. "Were you even listening?" Whitney groaned. I sheepishly shook my head.
"'kay, can you be a girl for thirty seconds, while I tell you something?" Whitney looked sceptically at me.
"I'm always a girl!" I exclaimed. Whitney gave me a look. "Do you mean, a girly, gossipy girl?" She nodded. I sighed deeply, but agreed.
"Okay, well, last night me and Jay were talking, and then he kissed me! He kissed me!" she repeated slowly, pronouncing each syllable carefully. Then I exploded in a disgusting display of girly, gossipy gruesomeness.
"What!? How, when, why?" I giggled. I tried to regain my composure quickly, failing terribly.
"You can be a girl!" Whitney rejoiced. I groaned and hid my face in my hands, ashamed of myself.
That night, I discussed the problem with Countess Cornelia with Leo. We worked out a plan, and told Trish. We were all ready.
We left early morning again.
I took a magic cooler box that Lottie had told me about. I shoved four goblets in there, remembering we'd be returning with Cornelia.
We set out together, all on Madison, Griffy following behind us. We were all actually quite comfortable. We stopped at noon, after about five hours of running. Madison plopped down at the base of a large tree, and fell immediately into a deep, contented sleep.
I sat down by the tree next to her and simply closed my eyes, lost in thought. I'd been thinking about my powers again, while we were running, and about the Golden Cure, and the prophesy.
"What's up?" Leo asked me.
"Nothing much." I replied monotonously, eyes still closed.
Leo plopped down next to me. When he tried to wrap his arm around my shoulders, I sat back, leaning against the tree so he couldn't. I wasn't in the mood. There was too much to think about.
"Oh, leave her alone, she's in a mood. Let her sulk if she wants to." Trish called to Leo. I nodded appreciatively, agreeing with her. She was right, I was in a mood, and I probably looked like I was sulking. Hilarious.
I let my thoughts wander for a while. Then I smelt smoke. Fire?
"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously.
"Nothing much…" Leo replied. I dragged my eyes open, and stood up. I wished I hadn't.
Leo had set off a fire, that was now raging. He stood in the middle of it, surrounded. I sighed and held my hand out. The fire stopped, leaving a small bit left on some nearby rocks. Then that too went out. I grabbed my cooking pot from Leo and placed it down. I took out one of the goblets—I had them in my bag, not trusting Leo's backpack—and poured the water into my pot.
I went in search of the ingredients. They were all quite close. I also collected some berries that I assessed to be blueberries, although I didn't eat them enough to be sure.
When I made the soup, I tried one of the berries.
It was a blueberry. I added the best of the bunch to my soup for extra flavour. I left it to steam and rigged some snares for meat. Then, I decided to polish my fighting skills. Leo was happy to help, and we spared with branches. Trish taught me really cool tricks with my daggers and knives. She tried to show Leo too…
I had extra help from my powers. Whenever one of the knives (mainly Leo's) went off course, I would force it to swerve and hit the target. Or throw an extra dagger to throw it off mark.
When my soup was ready, we all sat down and Leo took out the two bowls I had made on Earth. I waved my hand at one and duplicated it. Where did that come from?
I heard a sound from the forest. Madison woke up suddenly and growled. Griffy appeared and squawked.
"Let's move, now!" I whispered urgently. We disappeared into the forest silently. All evidence of our existence was gone from the clearing.
"We have to wage war. Dernom have wronged us, by even daring to allow Spirit Hunters. We shall team with the Hunters and Zian. Then we will crush them!" a throaty male voice bellowed.
"Yes, we must. We will capture them all and torture them, highness!" a cheerful female voice chirped.
"Perfect, we take away their freedom. Soon, Hercomia will be the most powerful country in the world!" The male voice finished. I hissed quietly. Hercomia, sounded like they had a powerful army then, Zian, Spirit Hunters and their own army. Well, with any luck, we can create an even more powerful army of Spirituals. A freedom army. Perfect.
When I was sure they were gone, I sneaked out, eye's flaming. As I stood there in the fierce wind, my hair blowing across my face, enraged.
Leo touched my arm gently.
"We have to do something." He said calmly.
"Like hell we do!" I said my voice shaking with anger. But I felt strangely calm after that. We would not let anybody raze Dernom, not in a million years.
"We'll put together an army of spirituals. A Freedom Army. The Freedom Army." I said, my voice even and blank.
"Good idea! The freedom army, sounds perfect. We can ask this Cornelia if she wants to join." Leo mused. Trish told us we'd have to talk to Lottie first. I agreed straight away, starting up a two way window, so we could talk.
When Lottie appeared, me and Leo explained what we had heard, and my idea. Trish went off to reheat the soup on my hot stone stove.
"You're right about the army. I'll start recruiting with the portals in the palace basement." Lottie said, right before she was pushed out the way and Whitney came into view.
"Get Cornelia to join! She is great at fighting, her sword skills are beyond belief!" Whitney announced. I laughed and nodded.
"I was wondering about that." I grinned. Then I heard something in the woods, "Sorry, I have to go, now. See you later…" The window closes and I take out a dagger, preparing to throw.
A petit girl walked out of the forest. Her straight hair was the colour of corn, her attire consisted of a flowing purple robe decorated with gold thread and gold slippers. Her eyes were the colour of the sky, and her lips were tinted red. Her face was smeared in makeup.
"Cornelia? Countess Cornelia Tookey?" I coked my head. She matched Whitney's description. Perfectly.
"Yes. Who are you?" she had a calm tone.
"Ali, Ali Ember. Whitney sent me. She wanted me to talk to you, and I have an offer, to get you away from your parents for a bit." I explained. Her eyes lit up.
"Come on then! Wait, you aren't busy are you?" she asked seriously. Is she joking, I came here specifically to find her. Oh whatever. I laughed quietly.
"We're free. As long as it's not far, I don't think my metalfang is up for a trek." I said, glancing back at Madison.
Cornelia gasped. We all laughed. Everybody reacted the same.
She led us through the forest to a mansion. Here, the grass was trimmed impossibly close to the ground. Hedges surrounded the area, and made a barrier, separating the forest from the impeccable garden.
The mansion in itself was a work of art, polished marble and soft sandstone. The design was intricate and formed a coat of arms. 0bviously for the Tookey family.
"And the palace is sweet…" Leo muttered. I laughed quietly and took his hand. He glanced at me, and the look in his eyes was so intense and deep, that I had to look away. That look couldn't be meant for me.
Cornelia led us inside, where we were ambushed by…a duplicate.
"Nelia, why were you out so long? Who are these people?" She asked, in a voice so unlike Cornelia's. Was she her sister?
"Quiet down Anita. And why is bad to have them here, sis? I see nothing wrong." She announced. Well she was fine because she knew the full story, or the basics anyway.
"Who are they?" Anita repeated. With a sigh I spoke up, finally using the long dreaded title.
"I am Princess Alice of Dernom. This is Leo and Trish, close friends. We came here on request of Whitney." Not enough, a voice in my head scolded. "We are here to offer Cornelia a place in our school for advanced spirituals, her being the heiress to the Tookey family."
It was a good ploy. Anita appraised me.
'Prove it, Alice. Prove it.' A voice goaded me. Interesting power. One that I already used.
I disappeared into a flash of light.
My clothes changed. I had no idea what I was changing into until I was done. The golden dress was full length and decorated lushly. So many jewels. Golden heels of at least four inches adorned my feet, leaving my towering over Trish more than usual. I was the same height as Leo in these shoes.
I shuddered lightly, hating the silly thing straight away. I looked confident though. Leo chuckled softly, wrapping his arm around my waist and holding me against him, giving me the balance I so badly needed.
Anita gasped, her hands flying to her throat.
"I'm so sorry, majesty. Please forgive me!" she apologised repeatedly. I sighed.
"Please don't apologise. And it's Ali please." I shuddered lightly again. I felt Leo shaking with laughter later. I moved my foot under the dress to stamp on his foot with the heel. He grunted with pain.
Anita nodded and ran off to find somebody.
She came back down with two beautifully dressed adults. The woman looked unbelievably strict. The man even more so. They were obviously their parents. They both gasped.
"Princess, welcome to our humble home!" they said in unison. I sighed silently.
"I'm Alice, nice to meet you. You must be Mr and Mrs Tookey. I'm here to offer your daughters places in our advanced school for spirituals."I said, including Anita, she seemed more practical than Cornelia.
The Tookeys looked at each other in surprise.
"we'd be delighted. " Mrs Tookey exclaimed. "What will they need?"
"Clothes, shoes and anything else they want." I said. With three on Madison, and two on Griffy, we'll be back at the castle in no time at all.
Both girls nodded and went to run off.
"Oh, dress in something you can ride in, the steeds will meet us in the forest." I added as they raced away.
'We will!' Anita exclaimed in my head.
"We'll meet them outside the mansion. Straight down the main path." I finished.
Then I turned, pulling away from Leo, and walked outside. Leo joined me just as I reached the steps. Much to his credit, he took my arm and led me down the stairs carefully.
When we were at the end of the path, I changed in another flash, back into my bubble top and leggings. Leather hunting boots. Bow and arrows. Dagger. Much more comfortable than that poufy dress.
Soon, we were joined by Cornelia and Anita. They wore identical outfits—black leggings, turquoise top, black jacket. The only difference was their hair. Cornelia left her hair open, whereas Anita had her hair pinched into a tight bun.
They followed us into the forest.
"So, Cornelia, how do you know Whitney? I thought she lived on Earth." I asked.
"Erg, I hate that name!" She ignored my question.
"Why don't you change it? This isn't just coming to our school, we need your help in our Freedom Army, Hercomia has waged war on us. Kind of. They're going to come here and capture us. So this is more than a new home, it's a new chance, to be more than Cornelia." I smiled. That's what this whole spirituality provided me. A new start. I was that small, timid girl who nobody knew. Even the teachers forgot my name. Being a spiritual, I became confident, powerful. A fresh start.
"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. A new name…" She smiled, lost in thought. Thinking of a new name, I guess.
Once we were far into the forest, Madison and Griffy met us. Cornelia smiled as Anita jumped. I laughed. No matter how many people did it, it was still funny. Still funny.
Cornelia and Anita took to Madison well. Trish got on in front of them. I jumped on to Griffy, impatient; I hadn't flown on him since the incident with the Spirit Hunters. This would be fun.
Leo climbed on reluctantly, and we took off. Madison followed behind us, like so many times before.