A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I am currently planning out the next one, but it'll need some more work, as we are now getting closer to the showdown. Please let me know what you think in the comment section below!
Chapter X – Enemy in Disguise
Once Emma had let her doubts about Blue creep in, they left her feeling restless and uncertain. She had always seen the fairy as her personal adviser, her closest friend and her protector, but now Emma wasn't so sure if Blue was on her side at all. Why had her mother spoken so rudely to Blue last month? The coldness Snow had shown towards Blue had persisted since that said day exactly five weeks ago. She had stopped treating the fairy as trustworthy, keeping her at arm's length. But why was her mother being so secretive as to why she wasn't confiding in Blue anymore, and why hadn't she told Emma to follow suit? Maybe Snow felt it was better to leave Emma out of it, so as not to scare her? Or perhaps Snow hadn't clued Emma in, so that Blue wouldn't be alerted to the fact that Snow mistrusted her. But if that were true, it could truly mean that Blue was dangerous. When Emma had tried talking to her mother, she had shut down, not letting Emma in, acting as if there was nothing to worry about.
"What do you mean, I'm behaving oddly?" Snow had asked Emma, a hint of agitation in her voice. "Just because I'm not telling Blue all my secrets, doesn't mean she can't be trusted. I've merely decided that I ought to be more careful, even with the castle staff."
Snow had told Emma it was all just another protective measure to make sure no information was leaked outside the castle grounds. Emma thought this was a little alarmist. They were shut off from the outside world for all intents and purposes. Nobody could leave the grounds and the only time the protective veil was partially lifted, was for the weekly deliveries of fresh produce. Charming's father was responsible for the deliveries, and even his food rations were thoroughly checked for any magical qualities, in case they had been charmed or hexed. So, with all these protective measures in place, why had Snow suddenly decided to exclude Blue from her "circle of trust," as it were? All of this was a mystery to Emma, but she thought it would be better to go about her business as normal, as opposed to running scared. But she would certainly keep a watchful eye on Blue. If there was a conspiracy going on, Emma would rather be safe than sorry.
Apart from being more cautious, however - if that was even possible - Emma went about her daily routine as per usual, continuing her daily magic lessons with Blue and treating her as she had done beforehand. But even though Emma did her best during her lessons, she didn't confide in Blue as much as she had done before, never revealing her true feelings or her innermost fears. You could never be too sure.
During today's lesson, Emma had decided she wanted to practice one of the spells she didn't feel too confident she could execute: a cloaking spell.
"Could we go over that one again?" Emma asked Blue now, as they stood in the ballroom, the only establishment that offered enough space to practice, but very few furnishings to ruin when spells went awry.
Blue showed Emma the hand movements again, telling her, "You need to raise your arm up like this and swipe it from left to right in one smooth motion, then draw a circle around the object you want to cloak. Repeat this motion three times. If you want to cloak yourself, just draw a circle above your head, like this," said Blue, demonstrating the gesture. To Emma's immense delight, the spell worked immediately.
"You've vanished!" she exclaimed, staring at the spot where Blue had stood just a second ago. And just as quickly as Blue had disappeared, she popped up again a few feet further back from her previous position.
"There! Easy!" Blue said, now approaching Emma. She continued to explain, "While you're drawing a circle, you need to think the enchantment 'Incantare protegum' at the same time. This spell needs to be cast silently." Blue motioned towards Emma. "Now you," she urged her.
Emma tried the spell out on herself, not succeeding at first, but after several attempts, finding herself staring through a thin layer of what could only be described as a see-through veil. That was when Emma was certain she had done something right. The caster of the cloaking spell always found himself surrounded by a thin cloak - hence the name of the spell. To the outside world, Emma had now vanished completely, as if she had disappeared into thin air. After a few more hours of practice, Emma felt proud of herself for having accomplished yet another, potentially very useful spell. In these uncertain times, she needed as much knowledge for her own protection as she could possibly gather.
The coming weeks went by in a blur. The closer Emma's eighteenth birthday drew, the faster the days seemed to go by. She became increasingly desperate for time to slow down until she suddenly found herself with only one more week left until the coming of her curse, which was to hit on October 22.
How had time gone by so fast? All her life, Emma had been preparing for this one moment, all the while thinking that moment might never come, and now the danger she was in felt more real than ever. After all this time, her life might actually come to an end in only seven days.
When Emma had tried talking to her mother about Blue the last time, she had made it clear that Emma wasn't to worry, and Emma hadn't dared to broach the subject again since. But her mother had now been acting very strange since last week. Instead of keeping her distance from Blue, she had gone back to her usual banter with the fairy. Emma wondered why her mother had shown such a sudden change of heart. She generally seemed more tranquil, more at ease, as if she had been sedated. What on Earth was going on? It was the same with her father and everyone around Emma. Nobody had shown any signs of their usual concern for Emma, nobody had felt the need to console or motivate her. Why was the whole castle suddenly acting so strangely?
When Snow's mother suggested to Emma one day, that she thought it would be fun to throw a ball only a day before Emma's eighteenth birthday, Emma knew there was something fishy going on. Everyone couldn't suddenly have gone mad at the same time. Her mother would never dream of suggesting throwing a ball a mere day before Emma's curse was meant to hit. It would mean sending out invitations and thousands of guests streaming into the castle. It would mean, in short, lifting the protection spell, so the guests could enter the castle grounds.
When Emma tried talking her mother out of it, she only replied, "But darling, don't you want to experience your first ball? Aren't you excited?" Emma could only conclude that her mother was under some sort of spell, and if she was, the whole castle staff must be bewitched. There was only one person Emma could think of who was to blame for this – Blue. What was the fairy up to? Why was she working against her? It was only three months ago that Snow had given Emma the silver talisman. Snow's words of warning were now still ringing in Emma's ears.
You may need to use it one day when you need to flee from here, but it's for emergency cases only. Don't hesitate to use it, though, if you start to feel unsafe.
Snow had said Emma should use the necklace if she began to feel "unsafe," as if Snow had known that day would come. Emma no longer felt safe in her own home, because if her suspicions were correct, then the time had now come to make use of her skills and to trust in her abilities. Now was a time to trust no one but herself.
So Emma hatched a plan. On the night of her birthday ball, she would run away and seek refuge with the seven dwarves, as they were good friends of the family. She would write to them immediately not to come to the ball, not even to open the invitations, and she would slip away while Blue was distracted and everyone was occupied with dancing. She hoped there would be a moment when Blue wasn't watching her every move. As Emma felt she could no longer trust anyone in the castle, she thought it best to run away to the dwarves' hut, as they had always been Snow's closest allies and might know more as to the purpose of the swan necklace.
Emma would figure out the next step once she had succeeded in getting out of here. If her whole family was now under a spell, it was more vital than ever to beat her curse and to step up to the name people had only called her in hushed whispers when she was an infant. Emma would have to step up to become who she was meant to be, the role she had meant to take on from the day she was born. She must become the Saviour.