A/N: I'm finally updating! Yay! For those of you who are reading Cursed Rose too, I'll try to get it updated soon; I have to stay up till 7 AM tonight to say goodbye to my friend, so who knows, I might even update it later on tonight/this morning. Okay, back to this story. Y'know, this chapter was actually really easy to write. I guess I just got inspired. I started writing and the characters got out of control. O_o Then I tried to stop and do the dishes and they were like the Energizer bunny…they just kept going…and going…and going…and-- -smacks self- Oof. Sorry about that, I have sleep deprivation. It IS 3:30 in the morning, after all.
Oh yeah, I have a question for those of you who have read my other story Cinder Girl. Do you guys think I should write a sequel to it? I have ideas for it, I just don't know if I'm actually going to write it…would you guys read it if I did? Do you think it needs a sequel, or is it fine the way it is? I need feedback here people! -tosses a piece of macaroni in the air- (-cough- Sorry…sleep deprivation again.) Oh, and if you haven't read Cinder Girl, then go read it! Chop chop! What are you waiting for?! -ducks as various objects get thrown at her head-
Rosa paced her room restlessly, hands shoved into her coat pockets and a scowl resting upon her face. She couldn't believe she'd actually forgotten to bring her mirror; how could she have been so stupid? Leaving it lying out on her bed like she had done, anybody could walk into her room and find it, maybe even discover the secret of the Prince entrapped within--
No, she was just being paranoid. The only way Rayden could come out was if someone called him, and there was no way anyone could possibly know enough to go around calling him. Her secret was safe.
The mirror had just better be where she had left it when she got home tomorrow. If it wasn't, someone was going to pay.
Although if someone had taken the mirror--
She paused in her pacing, and a slow smile spread across her face. If someone had taken the mirror, they would know she was coming back tomorrow and replace it before she got there. If she wanted to catch them in the act, she'd just have to come home a day earlier.
On the other hand, she could just be being paranoid. But still...
She left the room, heading to tell her cousin that she had to leave today instead of tomorrow. Just in case.
Snow sat down on her bed, reaching under her pillow to grasp the handle of the mirror. Gazing into it, she saw nothing but her own face. "Rayden?" she called softly--she didn't want anyone walking by her room to overhear her seemingly talking to herself. "Are you there?"
His face appeared in the mirror almost at once. "No," was the immediate sarcastic reply. "I have been magically and mysteriously freed in the middle of the night. Of course I'm here, not like I've got anywhere else to go."
"Okay, I guess that was a stupid question." She rolled over on her back. "Rosa's coming home tomorrow."
"Shit. Are you sure you have to put me back in her room?"
"I'm sure. Sorry, but I don't want my sister to get mad at me."
"True. I've been on the receiving end of the bitch's temper--I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy." He sighed. "Did you call me for any reason other than to depress me?"
"I was bored."
He stared at her for a moment, then a corner of his mouth twitched upward. "I guess I can understand that. Hell, if you want to see boredom, try spending a fucking year as a mirror."
"I think I'll pass, thanks."
"Can't say I blame you."
"Hey, I wonder if--"
She broke off in mid-sentence, hearing footsteps and voices from downstairs. She recognized the voices of the two having the conversation, and from the look on Rayden's face, he did too.
"Of course I don't mind, dear," her father was saying, "but I don't see why you had to come home so early--was Terlet not an interesting place?"
"Quite interesting, Father," Rosa responded airily, "but I'm afraid Sosa and I just didn't get along too well. Such a shame, too--she used to be such a nice person when she was younger."
Snow snorted at that; Sosa was the nicest person imaginable, and Rosa had been bullying her around ever since they were small children.
"Well, she's home early," Rayden said, bringing her attention back to the mirror. "I guess you won't be able to put me back in her room after all--"
He sounded quite cheerful about the whole thing. "You wish," she said tartly, bouncing off the bed and beginning to run down the hallway towards her sister's room. Running was a dangerous activity for someone as clumsy as she was, but being caught with her sister's mirror in her hand would be much worse--
Flinging open the door to Rosa's room, she carefully laid the mirror down atop the bedsheets, just as it had been when she had first found it. Hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, she whirled around on her heel, praying that she could make it back to her room in time--
And before she could move, Rosa and her father stood in the doorway, a servant behind them looking quite overloaded with Rosa's bags. Snow did a double take; how could they have possibly gotten up the stairs that quickly? They couldn't have; yet they had, and she had a serious feeling that she was in deep trouble.
"Snow!" her father exclaimed. "What are you doing in your sister's room?"
"Yes," Rosa broke in silkily. "What are you doing in my room?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Snow saw her glance ever so briefly at the mirror on the bed.
"I...I...um...I..." At a complete loss for a viable explanation, all she could do was gape stupidly at her sister.
"Father, let me handle this," Rosa demanded, taking her bags from the servant's arms and tossing them onto the floor by Snow's feet. Their father nodded agreeably and left the room; Rosa closed the door behind him and took two menacing steps toward Snow. "You were--" she began angrily, and then suddenly hesitated.
Rosa's inner conflict was obvious; she was fairly sure Snow had been taking her mirror, but wasn't absolutely positive, and didn't want to say anything about it just in case she hadn't been. "I was what?" she asked pleasantly, resisting the urge to grin.
Suddenly Rosa snarled. "You were taking my mirror, you slutty little bitch!" Arm darting forward before she could move, she grabbed a fistful of Snow's hair and twisted her head around to one side.
Yelping, Snow wrapped her hands around Rosa's and tried to pry her hair free, but her sister's grip was amazingly strong. I knew I should have cut my hair! "I don't--know--what--you're talking--about!" she managed to get out, kicking Rosa in the shin with the toe of her boot.
"Liar!" Rosa howled, yelping as Snow gave up on prying her fingers loose and began yanking on a fistful of her sister's hair. "You stole Rayden from me before and you're stealing him again you selfish--little--bitch--" Removing Snow's fingers from her hair, she pushed her over as hard as she could, knocking her over onto the bed.
"I don't know what you're talking--" Backing up to get away from Rosa's advance, her arm hit empty air and she fell off the bed, head hitting the ground with a thud. "I don't know what you're talking about!" Sitting up and rubbing the back of her head, she scowled. "What does the mirror have to do with Prince Rayden and how the heck did I ever steal him from you?!"
"Don't pretend you don't know! You were screwing him when he and I were together and now that I put him in the mirror you've been taking him from me again! I know you have, I know it! You can't lie to me, Snow--I'll know if you are!" She snapped her fingers; seemingly of it's own accord, a vase rose off the dresser and began flying towards Snow's face. She barely managed to roll out of the way in time, and the vase shattered on the wall by her head.
Where did she manage to get the idea that I was sleeping with Rayden, anyway? The woman is just plain crazy-- She ducked as another vase went flying towards her head. Well, if Rosa really could tell if she was lying or not-- "I didn't sleep with Prince Rayden, I swear! I've never slept with anyone, I--"
She broke off her sentence in the middle as a figurine crashed to the wall over her head. Hand casting about blindly to her side for something to defend herself with, it landed on the ivory handle of a knife--wasn't iron supposed to be the old sorcerer's great weakness?
Flinging herself towards her sister, she brought the knife around, barely even nicking the skin of her sister's arm. It was a petty wound, and on anyone else shouldn't have caused more than a sting--
Rosa screamed, shrieked as though her entire arm had been cut open. Shocked at the strength of her reaction, she didn't see her sister's arm begin to swing, and was hit in the side of the head with a strength that made her dizzy and knocked her to the ground, head pounding.
Rosa stood over her, hand clasped over the tiny wound in her arm and panting as though she'd just run a mile. "Don't ever use iron on me again, you little bitch. I will kill you if you do."
The door swung open behind the two of them, their father walking into the room. "What the hell is going on up here? I heard yelling, and then somebody screamed bloody murder--it sounded like you two were killing each other up here!"
I wasn't trying to kill her, but Rosa was sure as hell trying to kill me! She opened her mouth to say it--but no sound emerged. Her mouth worked, but she seemed to have lost her voice. There was but one explanation; her sister's sorcery.
"I'm sorry, Father," Rosa was saying quite calmly, hand removed from her arm. "I asked her what she was doing in her room, and she attacked me. You see the knife in her hand--it was her that screamed. She said she was going to cut herself and blame it on me. I don't know what's wrong with her, honestly."
Their father stared at Rosa for a moment, then looked at Snow. "Is this true?"
She shook her head. "No! She's the one that attacked me--she's a sorcerer, Father, she's got Prince Rayden trapped in her mirror and--"
She broke off in the middle of her explanation, for both of them had started laughing. "Goodness!" Rosa was chortling. "I think you've been reading one too many adventure novels, Snow!"
"Indeed," Charlta agreed jovially. "Rosa, a sorcerer? Prince Rayden in her mirror? If you have to come up with an excuse for your behavior, at least make it a believable one!" He chuckled once more, then suddenly became serious. "Snow, I am quite ashamed of you. Apologize to your sister and go to your room."
She stared at her father in what she hoped was a defiant way--then met his gaze, and lowered her eyes. Resisting would do nothing but get her into further trouble. Crossing her fingers behind her back, she murmured, "I'm sorry, Rosa," and stretched a hand out behind her back. Grasping the handle of the mirror, she shoved it into the pocket of her dress, and walked past the two of them out the door.
Opening the closet door, Snow grabbed a bag from the bottom of the closet and tossed it onto her bed. Turning, she picked up the mirror and gazed into it; Prince Rayden's face appeared without her having to call him. "Well, you get to get away from Rosa," she informed him. "I'm leaving--I can go stay with my cousin Sosa in Terlet, she'll welcome me. And you're coming with me."
He raised a single eyebrow. "And what prompted this decision? Not that I'm not grateful for a chance to get away from the bitch, but it does seem a little sudden."
"Rosa found me in her room, putting you back--she said I'd been stealing her mirror and just attacked me, even though I said I didn't know what she was talking about--she basically told me that she was a sorcerer and had you in this mirror, and she was trying to kill me! She accused me of sleeping with you, and...and...the woman is crazy!"
"You could have just said, 'She found me, shit exploded, she tried to kill me, and the bitch is crazy so I'm fucking leaving.' But oh well. I definitely don't blame you for leaving. Thanks for taking me with you."
"You're welcome." Laying the mirror down atop the bed, she walked back to her closet and began searching for something suitable for traveling. After minimal searching, she managed to find a decent pair of breeches and white shirt. Starting to undo her dress, she frowned and turned the mirror face down on the bed, ignoring Rayden's muffled protest. Changing swiftly into her new outfit, she began stuffing clothes into the bag.
There was barely room in the bag for all of her stuff. "You have to ride in my bag for a little while," she informed Rayden, and shoved him in the bag without waiting for his answer. Somehow, she managed to fasten the bag closed, and strolled out the door.
Amazingly enough, the hallways were empty, and she was able to find her way to the stable without anyone asking her where she was going. Grabbing a saddle and bridle from the tack room, she crossed to the stall of her riding mare, Nightfyre, and tacked her up rapidly; then, swinging up into the saddle, she grabbed her bag and rode out of the castle gates at top speed, headed for Terlet.
A/N: And that, my friends, is that. -ducks as various sharp pointy objects are thrown- Oof! I promise I'll get the next chapter up soon--really!