Authors note: The only chapter I really like. I'm a humor fan at heart :D
Chapter Seven- Myra
Rosemary had clung to me for roughly fifteen minutes, shouting insults and demanding how stupid I had to have been to lose sight of the only light in the forest, while nearly crying onto my shoulder.
Imogen had excused herself as to not witness my older sister fight through her feelings of worry.
"Rose- Rose I'm fine-"
"But you were attacked!"
"And I was rescued."
"Dumb luck! Dumb luck won't get you out of everything Myra! You're not leaving here until you learn to fly you understand me?! I'm not going to risk losing you again! What would mother say!? And you-you- don't you ever do that to me again Myra!" She shrieked. Yet she still managed to laugh after every sentence like it was all a joke.
It was times like this that I wondered, what really went on in Rosemary's head.
Did she think in some odd way that all of our lives were a part of some large chess board and that everything was indeed just a game?
As soon as Rosemary had decided she was done trying to suffocate me she disappeared behind some bookshelves and I noticed Imogen tripping over a curtain through the library doorway.
"Imogen!" I called and she stumbled again before plopping down on the floor and flinging the too-long-curtains up into the air.
"Blasted things…!" She hissed. I laughed and pat her on the head.
Her long white skirt was all puffed out around her while she pouted and she actually looked like Angelina for the first time since I'd met her.
After a few more minutes spent damning the curtains Imogen stood up and spun around to let her skirt puff up again.
"Well then! I should show you to your room."
I nodded. That would probably be best… I was still tired…
"But…don't they need me today?"
"If they need you they'll send for you. Dinner will be served at nine pm and I'll lead you to the dining room, so starting now you have roughly two hours to nap."
I laughed. "You read my mind Imo."
Imogen puffed up her cheeks and pouted again before grabbing the sleeve of my shirt and dragging me off down the hall, up two flights of the left stairs, and to the second door on the right.
On the way she pointed out separate rooms and explained that my room would have a view of the courtyard.
"It's kind of secluded but my father said that this was the room. You're sister will actually be two doors down. So it's not that bad… and the servant's quarters are on the first floor right below here, so if you need anything you know where to check." She continued.
"My room is the one on the far left across the hall. Also, don't go any higher with out me. The fourth floor will be fine if you find a blond boy and tell him you know me, but even then it will still be bad if you're caught." She opened the door to my room and I nodded to show her I was listening. The room was adequate, with hard wood floors a nice comfortable looking twin bed a dresser and a table by the window which I believed was my view of the courtyard.
"Just make sure you don't stumble upon the fifth floor or you'll be trapped." I blinked at her.
When I was outside with Adrian I hadn't seen a fifth floor… "What fifth floor?" "Exactly…" She mumbled.
"Well, now that you know where you're room is, I'll leave you to nap. I'm going to go find the aforementioned blonde." Imogen then left me in my newly found lodging.
I instantly dumped myself onto the bed and shot up sharply.
Now…I may be confused due to lack of rest… but… I didn't think a bed was supposed to feel like jagged ice.
I spent an hour trying to sleep on that… Then of course I gave up and yanked a jacket from my bag to sleep on the floor.
After another hour spent in a fitful sleep I got up and walked over to the desk.
I decided I'd follow Rosemary to her room after dinner and see if it was just me or if the beds really were enchanted.
Ignoring the chair I sat on the desk and leaned against the wall to look out the window.
The courtyard looked really nice in the moonlight…
And actually, it looked like the entire courtyard was made out of water. But of course that was probably just my imagination running wild due to my lack of sleep.
It hit nine o' five before I decided I wouldn't wait for Imogen.
What she was doing when she told me she was going to escort me to dinner I don't know but I knew it had to be something important.
Unsurprisingly however I found Adrian as soon as I walked into the stairway room.
"Oh!" I squeaked and took a step back to keep from colliding with him.
"Miss Alvdis…? You're already on your way? I guess I should take you the rest then. It's right down here." He turned around and started back downstairs. I shrugged and followed.
"Imogen told me that if I didn't see her on the second floor by nine sharp to go find you, unfortunately I didn't know what room you were given and I had to check the first two before making it to the third floor. So ya…they've probably already started to eat but they won't really notice us come in. The dining room is filled with commoners that take lodging in the first few guest rooms and they probably won't even know who you are." Adrian shrugged.
"So you're always doing Imogen's dirty work for her then?" I couldn't keep that comment in…it just slipped out.
The expression on his face made me want to ram my head into a wall.
So I did and he then looked extremely worried and asked me if he had done something wrong about a million times before I finally got to the dining room.
As soon as I got there I saw Rosemary seated beside a girl I knew very well, you may recall that I mentioned her earlier.
"Kasandra…!" I shouted and ran over to her. I ignored poor Adrian but a few minutes later I saw him seated in a table near a back door with a bunch of other guards.
Kasandra smiled when she saw me and stood up to try and hug me. I dodged and dove into her chair to get away from her arms but she still ended up hugging me around the neck and I made funny choking noises that went ignored by all minus my sister and Kasandra.
After a few minutes of laughing and fussing over our meals (As Kasandra refused to eat anything green and I was just an overall picky eater.) I decided to ask the obvious question.
"What are you doing here Kasy?" I asked poking her in the shoulder. Rosemary was slowly eating her food and ignoring us as we were so 'below her status' which wasn't a new joke.
"Actually…" She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked pensive.
"I don't know. Mother got a dove and then told me to pack. I guess the counsel wants to see me then… Well it doesn't matter now! We get to spend time away from school together! Isn't that great?!" She smiled shyly and tried to hug me again. I easily avoided that one and she stopped trying.
"I guess. Well, what room are you staying in?"
"Let's see… I'm on the fourth floor… oh! My room is right next to the left stair way."
I blinked and thanked goodness for coincidences. With Kasandra here I was sure I wouldn't lose that much of my sanity to lack of sleep.
"You're right next door to me!" I smiled. I think I just imagined it but she seemed a little worried by that…for a second. Then she smiled back.
"That's great! Let's walk back together then?"
"Yup! But to walk back one must finish what one has set out to do in the first place. Eat Kasy."
"Yes Moth-"She swallowed hard and corrected herself, "Boss."
I didn't understand why she stopped but I actually liked being called 'Boss' compared to 'Mother.'
"That leaves Tiffany at home alone then huh?" I rolled my eyes.
The trouble that one could get into with out some level headed companion was beyond assumptions. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time I get back half the town is overrun by mutant bunnies.
"Ya well, I'm sure she can handle herself for the time being… Janelle is there anyway."
Janelle was a girl I'd known longer then both Tiffany and Kasandra. She was a brunet with glasses. Her magic takes on the form of swirly white light, and as I was informed this morning, that meant she was a wind element having already hit the magic age. She was also roughly a head taller then the rest of us and so we all sort of looked up to her. Of course she could keep Tiffany in check… to the best of her abilities anyway…
"Well that's good…did you happen to stop by my house on your way here? Rosemary never got to say bye to Virginia and I could only wonder how Vigi took it…" I laughed slightly. I knew Virginia probably didn't give a damn about seeing me before I left but I knew, no matter how much she hurt our older sister she cared for her more then she did anyone back home.
But apparently, at my words Kasandra shivered violently and hugged herself tightly.
"Vi-Virginia? No. Actually, I di-didn't have time…to stop… you know? It was really sudden and they wanted me here a.s.a.p. so…" She smiled and rubbed her shoulders.
"I think something I ate back there disagreed with me… And it's gotten really cold all of a sudden…"
I shrugged and turned to Rosemary who had been walking extremely slowly behind us.
Rose was shivering too. Not as violently as Kasandra had but enough to notice.
This castle just got queerer and queerer.
The food from the dining room tasted like plastic and didn't fill you up at all, the hallways were almost always empty even when you had just walked out with a crowd of people, the beds were hard, there is a magical invisible fifth floor and it has sudden changes in temperatures.
What else was there?
Next thing you know they're going to tell me that the castles been cursed and a person goes missing once every few specific years!
I sighed and felt it myself.
Why it took so long to get to me I wasn't sure but it did and it was still a drastic change.
"Well then I guess we should turn in for the night…" I suggested. Rosemary nodded and Kasandra was already starting for the stair way. Perhaps the change in temperature was simply due to an unsaid curfew? What ever it was, when I arrived back to my room my bed was inhabitable and I fell into a deep sleep.
At roughly seven AM I found the bed had taken on that feel of ice and I was practically forced out of bed by it.
In retaliation I wandered over to my desk and sat down on it again, this time with the jacket I had packed in the hope of napping a little before someone, be it Rosemary or a castle guard, came in and told me to get up.
Unfortunately that moment came when there was a knock on the door almost as soon as I had started to nod off.
"Is lady Alvdis ready for company?" The male voice from the other end of the door asked.
I nodded awake and cursed softly before diving for my bag of clothing and changing from my sleepwear to a plain dark brown dress I had brought along with me.
"Lady Alvdis?"
"Give me a second!" I squeaked and brushed my hair quickly. Well apparently the bed was my wake up call and now I didn't have time to properly wash up. I decided to take that into consideration the next morning as soon as my bed decided to turn.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I walked towards the door I slowly opened it and hung my head.
"I'm sorry… I didn't know I was supposed to be awake this early…" I smiled apologetically to the male standing in my doorway.
He had long dark brown hair tied into a low ponytail and dark grey eyes. His skin was a fairly normal shade of white and he bowed his head to me.
"It's alright; people always need time to adjust. Unfortunately I can't excuse everyone and we'll still have to start our lessons now."
"Lessons?"
"Well Miss, you don't think you're going to get categorized with a simple personality test do you? The council wishes you research the theory of elements before the drawing is done so that you may have a clear look of all the possibilities before you're subconscious decides on the final verdict." He continued. I raised my head up and nodded.
"Of course… Well…Mr…?" Well I wasn't about to spend the day with a man whom I didn't even have a name for.
"Alexander Gareth… My name is Alexander Gareth." He smiled and he pet me on the head
"Nice to meet you Mr. Gareth." In reality I wanted to smack him. Why did he have to pat me on the head?
"Charmed." He bowed his head to me again and all was forgiven. He seemed like such a sweet boy…About Rosemary's age too…Maybe I could spend some time playing matchmaker.
"Well then, shall we be on our way? The book's I'll need you to focus on are on the second floor." I nodded. "Alright…"
The castle had two libraries. One open to everyone for what ever the need, perhaps just a simple meeting could take place in the open library on the first floor. The second one was on the second floor which was reserved for those on official council business, such as classes and research for a meeting.
So I followed him down stairs and across the hall towards our class for the time being as he explained my schedule.
Mondays through Thursdays I was to be ready for his arrival by eight AM and my time spent reading would last until roughly two thirty. On Saturdays and Sundays I was to meet him for an hour refresher course by noon. Friday would be my only free day.
Obviously that schedule alone told me I would be situated in the castle for a while.
Elements.
There are seven elements a young sorcerer should be aware of: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Moon, Light, and Dark. These elements explain the nature of a sorcerers magic and how many precautions should be taken.
Earth is the element depicting nature. It gives the user an advantage over natural occurrences and their magic takes on the form of vines. Earth magic users tend to be especially gifted in potion making as the herbs needed for said tonics are easier to identify for one so gifted in the field. Personality wise Earth users tend to be extremely caring and nurturing. Most family reliant people become Earth elementals.
Water depicts those with an unidentifiable pattern in life. Their life is unpredictable and their spirits are uncontrollable, as ever changing as rushing water. They have the power to control anything with water inside them; one of the most horrifying things about a water magic user is the fact that they have the ability to dehydrate a person within minutes. Some can use the water in the air and mold you into ice. Most water users are under watch though so you don't need to worry. Their magic usually takes the form of dark blue swirls and they get stronger when it rains.
Wind is for those kind hearted souls with the ability to let them selves be whisked away on dreams. Most wind elements don't take very much seriously and are very careful to meet people who don't take advantage of them. Some of the more advanced Wind magic users have the ability to summon wings and create tornadoes. Most prefer to make the first as they rarely get upset to the point of wanting to cause that much chaos. Their magic takes on the form of swirling bright white feathers.
Fire is one of the more savage elements. They control the soul and having spirits that are always in check they are natural enemies to Water. Fire elements are categorized by their determination and persistence, being strong willed by nature. But they are the ones that cause the most accidents as their magic takes the form of long strings of flames that actually do burn should they come in contact with something. They get stronger in warm weather.
Moon is the rarest element. Moon magic users control life and thus control death. They control dreams and have the ability to converse with all matter. There is no specific way to categorize a moon element and their magic does not take on any specific form. As far as anyone knows there is only one Moon user alive today but no one is aware of whom that person is. One more gift the Moon grants the sorcerer is the name 'Sear.' Moon users can use their abilities before the magic age and are able to transfer and receive powers from other elements..
Light is closest to Wind then any other element. Sorcerers of Light are designated by how pure their human hearts are. They specialize in traveling dimensions as they can see the light between worlds and their magic takes on the form of golden beams of light. They're magic is weaker at night and they tend to keep from using magic as much as other elements. They also know when another sorcerer is being dishonest and are the most intuitive when you ignore the Moon elemental.
Dark sorcerers unlike Light sorcerers use their magic as much as they possibly can. They refuse to be held down by limitations and cause the most trouble for the peaceful life in Enzidor. They specialize in necromancy and have the ability to turn them selves invisible. Their magic takes on the form of black orbs that glow a dark purple, usually acting as detonators as Dark users tend to entertain themselves with bombs.
I rammed my head against the table in the library.
Alexander, the sweetie, had gone to get me a drink while I read. This book only said the above about a million times though, so I had to get another one for two million!
They all said the same thing, some special spells a specific element could do, conditions for magical growth, personality wise, what to be afraid of.
I want to know what the point of Elements are! But of course, that's some big secret that the counsel isn't willing to share.
Or perhaps, this book has some odd subliminal message written in the pages to make me paranoid and thus miss the whole point! Wasn't that what Angelina told me on the train?
After coming to that conclusion I re-read the chapter.
Alexander came back and starred at me in wonder.
"You don't read that slow…" Of course he knew this by now, this was our second class and as earlier stated I already finished the first book.
"I know. But this book is trying to trick me. So I won't let it." I smiled at him and he smiled back. I think perhaps I give off the aura of a person on their wits end. I really hope poor Alexander doesn't get too worried about my sanity. Personally I'm not.
"Well… It's two thirty anyway. So I'll see you on Saturday?" He smiled a little less nervously and pat me on the head.
I'd come to the conclusion he does that to everyone.
So I ignored it.
"Yup… and I'll be re-reading this same exact book wont I?"
"No… Saturday is the refresher course, remember? I'll just be condensing the book into a half hour long speech and you get to ask me questions."
"And you'll tell me the truth?"
"As much as I'm allowed to, yes."
"Allowed to…"
"Yes."
I took that moment to grab my coat and stomp out of the library. That's it! This is getting me absolutely no where! I shut my eyes and continued for the stairs when I realized I had walked into something.
Opening my eyes quickly I noticed I had accidentally stepped on one of the younger palace servants.
She couldn't be much older then seventeen years old, with blond hair and dark purple eyes with rather clean clothing for a maid she had to have been new. Not at all run ragged like the other maids I'd seen.
"Oh I'm sorry-"
She just blinked at me.
"You…" She whispered finally before picking up the mop I'd made her drop and continuing on her way.
I watched her mop away and I was sure she could tell how utterly confused I was then, but she didn't seem to mind.
"Hello…?" I asked suddenly. She didn't pay attention and moved onto the next hallway.
"Weird…"
"What is…?" I jumped and Kasandra smiled at me. I hadn't seen her very much due to the fact we were almost always in different spots of the castle for some odd reason but every once in a while we would catch each other on our way to the rooms.
"Well, where is that imaginary friend you told me about earlier? Perhaps she's on the none-existent fifth floor again huh?" I rolled my eyes at her.
The day after Imogen's disappearance I had told Kasy and she didn't believe that I had met such a person. She also didn't believe said person spoke to me about a fifth floor.
Where Imogen was I really didn't know, Adrian seemed to have an idea but he wouldn't tell me anything.
If I had to use that wand she leant me to figure it out then I was very close to doing so.
"I'll find her eventually. And when I do she'll get to explain to you. How does that sound?"
I had even gone through the trouble of going to her room. No one answered when I knocked and I ended up running into Angelina who gave me the same answer Adrian did.
"She's here somewhere… I'm sure…"
It was almost as infuriating as those god forsaken books I was forced to read by Alexander.
Kasy, noticing I was talking to myself again rolled her eyes at me.
"You really have to stop doing that you know… People are going to start to think you've lost your mind."
"Really?! I never would have guessed! I mean, here I was thinking that talking to yourself was as normal as constantly ramming your head into things but I guess I was wrong. Thank you for informing me Kasandra"
"You're very welcome Myra." Kasandra smiled at me and then continued for the stair way.
I waited a few minutes on the second floor and thought about it.
I didn't talk to myself this much before… I wasn't this paranoid or defensive before either.
This place was defiantly getting to me.
After telling myself the same thing about five times I finally decided to go back to my room and stop loitering in the hallway.
Once back in my room I plopped down onto my bed and ignored the texture I was currently feeling.
Two days and my body had already numbed to ignore the bed.
I was used to the food too.
I was used to the secrets and all the odd people wandering around in the hallways.
There was this girl I met on Wednesday, her name was Amirania, and she liked to throw rocks at people.
Not only that, this special 16 year old lived on the fourth floor, the magical fourth floor I wasn't supposed to go to with out Imogen who, mind you, was still missing!
Not to mention my own sister had somehow disappeared two. I hadn't seen her since dinner with Kasandra my first day here.
How was I supposed to stay sane when the only people I seemingly trusted didn't trust me and or were no where to be found!
I sighed and got up from the bed.
It had gotten cold suddenly and I refused to acknowledge it now. It was not ten pm and my bed was still hard. It was not time for the unsaid curfew.
Perhaps it was a glitch. Perhaps not. I didn't care and went over to the window again.
It had become a habit now. After everything was said and done I still liked to go to the window and stare out onto the courtyard.
An insane person could still enjoy scenery.
Unfortunately what caught my eyes wasn't scenery this time.
This time I saw Kieren.
My cat was limping around a statue leaving the smallest trail of blood behind her.
I say the smallest because I was three stories up. How I was so sure that was my cat in the first place I wasn't completely sure but something just clicked when I saw her and I soon found myself in the open courtyard looking for a statue that I couldn't find.
There was no statue in the open courtyard. There just wasn't…
That meant she was in the closed courtyard. Deciding that the guard there wouldn't let me in through the door even if I begged I searched the hedge for any type of hole that I could perhaps sneak through.
Right when I felt I'd lose more of my mind over worrying for my cat I spotted it.
The human made hole in the hedge that was big enough for me to slide through with out getting too badly scratched.
After crawling through the rather thick hedge I stumbled out of the bush and cursed.
A conveniently placed rose had been sticking out of the edge and was in perfect range to cut my arm. So now I had a nice big gash in my arm. It had yet to start bleeding but I knew it wouldn't be long before it did.
But now wasn't the time. A cut this big to me wasn't an issue. A cut this big to my little kitten was. Now where had she gone?
Ignoring the sting in my arm I circled the statue for a few minutes.
There was blood, a fairly large trail of blood actually, in a circle around it. But it didn't leave off anywhere and my cat wasn't there.
Sighing I looked up onto the top of the statue. Perhaps she had jumped up there to tend to her wounds with fewer insects to deal with. Although presuming her cut was as big as the trail led me to believe she probably wouldn't have been able to land properly and would have fallen.
When I looked up however… I couldn't help but stop to actually look at the statue.
It looked like an angel, only the wings looked more like a dragons.
"This is…kind of…nostalgic…" I murmured to myself, before an image of my cat popped into my head.
"Kieren! Kieren where are you!" I cried out and started circling again. I refused to believe that my cat could have simply disappeared into midair.
I called out her name again and walked over an odd patch of sunflowers that had grown much too tall to be called natural and peered around inside. Maybe she had jumped in there.
The patch wasn't that far from the statue anyway.
"Kieren?" I moved a few of the flowers out of the way and something sprang out. I stood there shocked for a few minutes.
What had jumped out wasn't a cat. It was a person.
"I'm not here. You did not see me!"
A male person…
"Wait a minute… who the hell are you?"
I sat there and just kept looking in the direction of the flowers.
Eventually I cocked my head to the side and let my mouth hang open just a bit to show I was knocked completely off of the sanity train.
"Huh?" the most I could ever hope to say coherently after that.
"I said, who the hell are you? You're a commoner you're not even supposed to be here! And how do you know my name?" The boy hissed.
I blinked and finally turned away from the flowers to look at him while still sitting on the floor.
"You're name? I don't know your name." I murmured. I glanced around a bit so I could take the moment to analyze him.
He was a boy about fifteen years old; with kind of long blond hair… well, long for a boy anyway, and he had indigo colored eyes. He was almost as pale as Virginia and had a rather slim frame, again, for a boy.
"You don't know my name? God! Who sent you?" He looked thoughtful for a moment before proclaiming. "AH! Of course it was her! She's always trying to screw with my head."
"Excuse me?"
"Like you don't know…" He glared at me and crossed his arms.
I raised a brow. What an odd boy…
Well, if he wasn't going to explain…
"Kieren! Where are you Kieren!?" I called out again while standing up.
He looked even more annoyed.
"Stop it! I'm right here! You'll attract attention you idiot!"
I rolled my eyes at him.
"Well I know you're here. But Kieren isn't."
"Are you stupid or something? I'm Kieren!"
Well that explained things a little better…But…
"You're not my cat." Well I did explain earlier I had lost my mind, so technically my stupidity here is not my fault.
He blinked and tripped over nothing just plainly so he could bury his head in the dirt.
Why he did this I did not know, so I walked over to him and poked him.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm not your cat, I'm KIEREN!" He shouted as he popped his head back up.
A thought occurred to me and I smiled at him.
"Of course you're not my cat. But that means you can't be Kieren either. So I'll name you…" I faked a thoughtful expression and grinned. "I'll name you Meow. Yup. Your name shall be Meow."
Kieren looked mortified as I pat him on the head and he sprang up from the ground.
"Who do you think I am?! I'm-"
"Meow."
"NO! I'M-"
"You're Meow. We've been through this already. Perhaps Meow has a memory problem because he likes to bury his head in the dirt. Oh! His nick name should be ostrich boy!" I grinned maniacally and he twitched and gawked and his hand twitched dangerously and I just kept grinning.
"My name… Is Kieren…-" He growled.
"Your name… Is Meow…"
"You know… You're a freak."
"Currently, yes." I smiled at him and he glared back at me.
"How would you like it if I called you 'Bark' huh?!"
"Actually I'd find it very entertaining and I'd probably start a club. I can see it now! We'll get a 'Quack' and a 'Baa' and a 'Neigh' and a 'Tweet Tweet!' It will be so much fun!"
"You know… if I never see you again… it will be much too soon!" He shouted in desperation and stomped off out of the courtyard muttering something along the lines of 'creepy commoners.'
Who Mr. High and Mighty really was I never did figure out. Well, that day anyway.
