Disclaimer: Alanna, George, Jon, and Tortall belong to Tamora Pierce.
Pembrook and Melissa, Becca, Hannah, Lea, Josh, and anything you don't
recognize belong to me. Much to my dismay, Regal Cinemas and The Prince
and Me do not. Oh, and the crazy mage is mine too. Polin Machewell. Yep.
Even though Polin doesn't appear in this chapter. Whatever. And I don't
own Advil either.
A/N: Sorry about the wait for an update. I was going to try and do the fourth chapter really fast, and then I had a severe case of writer's block. And then my Internet connection broke. Yes, again. Even now I'm kind of putting off writing the actual thing as I'm writing this author's note that maybe will go on forever and then I won't have to write it! Um, or maybe not. Here we go!
Chapter Four—Mysterious
Much as Becca loved and adored Josh, she had known him practically all of her life, and Josh was like an older brother to her. All older brothers have annoying habits, and to say that Josh was an exception would be, well, lying. While most of the things that bugged Becca were harmless (leaving his room a mess, eating everything in sight) he did have a fairly serious problem when it came to how many girls he insisted on dating. Almost none of these girls lasted a month.
Josh always did love to play games, and he played to win. Once he won, though, he lost almost all interest whatsoever, only to move on to a new game. His philosophy was the same on just about every woman. Making a mysterious girl or one that was notoriously hard to get fall head over heels in love with him was practically a hobby in his little world. A particularly annoying hobby, especially when it involved Becca's friends or someone that she knew was particularly naïve. That was just cheating, when in Becca's point of view there was a clear set of rules.
However, Josh never seemed to have been introduced to that rulebook.
And this game was just starting. It would be an interesting one, since there wasn't only one girl for Josh to pursuit, but a girl chasing him as well. This was nothing new, of course. Most people tended to be blind to Josh's (many) faults, and girls developing huge crushes on him were just everyday occurrences by that point.
Then again, Josh had never set his sights on someone quite like Alanna. Naturally, people claiming to be from a country never heard of that sounded quite a bit like England in the medieval ages didn't happen regularly...
"Oh, well, now your shift's over, right, Josh? Can you come have a snow cone with us, or maybe we can work off all those calories we just ingested!" Hannah exclaimed cheerfully. "I mean, buttery popcorn and peanut M&Ms. I'm doomed, and the new coach will just kill me!"
Giving a good-natured laugh, Melissa said, "Well, I can't say yes to a real workout, but it is April. Becca, do you think that your family's pool is ready to go for the summer season yet? I got a new swimsuit recently, and it's just waiting for a chance to be shown off."
Josh had been sneaking glances at Alanna through the conversation, and was suddenly thrust into a daydream about exactly how Alanna would look in a little string bikini at Melissa's mention of a swimsuit. "I think that's a great idea!" he said, a bit too quickly. "My shift will be ending in about twenty minutes, so if you gorgeous ladies want to just hang around and make me look good until then, that's fine with me." Hannah gave a little giggle and was clearly ready to start flirting, but Becca couldn't stomach it.
"Well, I really think that we should go ahead and get our swimsuits. I'll meet you all at my house in thirty. Okay with everyone?' Nods of consent were given all around the group, and Lea murmured something about needing to call her mom. "That'll be fine, Lea, we'll drop you off at your house for a little while. Alanna, I have to go to the restroom, do you?" Alanna gave a nod, as that seemed to be expected, and Melissa made a quick excuse. They headed off towards the neon sign flashing "WOMEN," leaving Hannah to flirt with Josh and Lea to call her mother.
As they got into the restroom, it became clear to Alanna that neither girl actually had to use the facilities. "Okay, so Josh is, like, totally crushin' on you," Melissa informed her. "I read an article about it in last month's Teen People. I think it was called 'How to Tell He Likes You,' or something like that. Anyways, Josh shows all the signs. Going out of his way to do stuff with you, sitting next to you in the movie theater, flirting with you—and cause you have, you know, boobs. He isn't terribly selective. Not to make you feel bad, or anything," she added quickly.
Becca sighed. "Mel, when will you learn? I'm sure Alanna doesn't have any clue what we're talking about. In places where there are knights, there's, like, no such thing as crushes. Especially when you're in training to be one. The common girls get to sigh after the really hot guys, but no one marries for love. Just for, like, political alliances."
Looking at Becca in astonishment, Melissa asked, "Um, how do you know that? You totally hate history. Even more than you hate science. Though that my be because your science teacher, like, so sucks."
"Well, I had a good teacher in eighth grade," Becca shrugged. "She liked to tell us about the Middle Ages. How all of these people did these really wonderful things, and saved the princesses, only to get the princess's head cut off. And how Queen Elizabeth might have been sought after by princes in kings in, like, all these different countries, but she really wasn't very attractive. Ms. Likimy, you remember her. Of course, you didn't get to have her, cause you were stuck in a classroom with the evil teacher who thought he was Harry Potter, but whatever."
Melissa murmured quietly, "Wow. I never heard of a class you actually listened in. You never needed to, Becca," she added quickly. "I mean, since you're totally smart and all and have about a 4.0 GPA. Anyways, we're not here to talk about GPAs. Alanna, do you like Josh?"
Becca rolled her eyes. "Mel, we just went through this. What she wants to know, Alanna, is if you'd like to spend some time with Josh. And hold his hand and kiss him and, it being Josh, possibly have sex with him."
Alanna's eyes widened to about twice their normal size. "I can't have sex with him! I don't even know him! And having a child would not exactly help me in becoming a knight—when no one at the palace knows I'm a girl!"
"Um, that isn't exactly something that Josh cares about. Number one, he doesn't know that you're, like, trying to become a knight without anyone at the palace figuring out. Is everything in your country, Telltale or whatever, so sexist? Because that's like total discrimination. Maybe it's not illegal there. But anyways, he is going to be the ultimate college boy. Except that all of these girls' mothers will adore him, and be sooo pleased when they think that Josh is going to propose to their daughters on graduation day or something, and that a nice boy like him would never, ever sleep with their darlings. These are people that don't know him. He would be perfectly willing to make out—at the least—with a girl that he'd just met that very day. That is, if she was pretty, didn't wear too much make- up, is over five feet, and has boobs. Sometimes the makeup rule can be broken, especially when Josh has been in Vegas recently and has spent too much time hanging out with all the showgirls there, which he does, oh, every few months. Or something," Melissa explained.
All Alanna could do was blink for a moment, still trying to process Melissa's unbelievably long speech. "Ah. So. What if that girl's already betrothed? And what am I supposed to do about Josh?"
Becca laughed. "Josh doesn't exactly care if someone's... engaged. Or has a boyfriend, whichever. And what to do about Josh..." she them in obvious relief. Apparently Hannah hadn't stopped flirting with him the winked. "Have fun with him, darlin'."
Oh, yeah. That was helpful.
The three girls exited the restroom and met up with the others. Josh greeted them with obvious relief. Apparently, Hannah had been flirting with him the entire time that she was left alone with him. Melissa couldn't help but think that he deserved it. After all, he'd certainly led Hannah on before. And what else was she supposed to do, with no one else there to keep them company? The girl wasn't stupid.
Lea returned from calling her mother. It must have been a hard phone call to settle, Melissa thought. Otherwise it wouldn't have taken nearly so long. "Guys, I can't go to the pool party," Lea announced gloomily, as she stuck her cell phone with its new sparkly pink cover back into her khaki purse. "I guess I'll just have to come some other time. Mom has just finished informing me that Samantha has taken off for Bermuda and so the Sib-beasts have no poor soul getting paid to keep them from breaking down the roof."
Hannah smiled quickly, then remembered to turn it into a grimace. "Oh, that's too bad, Lea. Well, Samantha will be back soon, right? And then no more beastiesitting.' That was their personal term for when Lea had to baby-sit her younger siblings, who were very much out of control just about all the time. Lea was forced into beastiesitting quite a lot, since their babysitter Samantha was fairly flaky and did a secretary's job at a travel agency as well, so she got cheap packages to exotic locations all the time. However, it couldn't be denied that Samantha was good with kids. Becca noted that Hannah seemed to be happy that Lea was going. Pretty as Lea was, Hannah's chief competition for Josh that day was very certainly going to be the mysterious and slightly clueless Alanna.
It was going to be an interesting party.
Much to Jonathan's relief, George had finally calmed down. It had taken three quarters of an hour and another pint of lemonade, but it had happened. Now George was simmering down from the occasional outburst to only mumbling under his breath. This was a very good thing, in Jon's mind. A furious King of the Court of the Rogue that was also illegally armed and surrounded by his "subjects" was a fearsome thing.
Cocking an eyebrow at Jonathan, George asked, "So, Johnny. Alanna's disappeared thanks to a mage. Now, I can tell you're not lying, but how would I be able to help get her back? I can send out spies to all the corners of the kingdom, but you know I don't have the Gift. How is it that you expect for me to be able to wave a little magic wand and make her simply materialize in front of us? No, you know that I can't do that. You know I can't do any of that—so what are you doing here?"
Ah. Now he remembered just why it was George was the youngest King of the Court of the Rogue in Corus' illustrative history. At least, since anyone could remember, or since the legend about a younger king died "Well," Jonathan said hesitantly, "I'm not quite sure. I guess that I just kind of thought that you'd... be able to help."
George heaved a huge sigh and lowered his voice considerably. "And to think that you're Tortall's future king. Of course, usually you're a tad more helpful than this, so maybe we have hope. Johnny, I can send spies out to all over the country, and I will do so without a second thought. Or at least a third. Have you tried scrying for her? I seem to remember Alanna saying that you were always good at that."
The suggestion seemed a bit too obvious, and Jonathan was left wondering why in the name of Mithros he hadn't thought of it before. "That would make sense," he said. "But if she's somewhere that we've never heard of, or if I can't identify the location, how would that help?"
"Good question, lad. A good question that you know I don't need to answer. Now, do you prefer a mirror or a bowl of water when you're scrying?"
Driving back to Melissa's house after the movies, Alanna was seized with an idea for trying to get back home. After Hannah and Lea had been dropped off, she asked, "Do either of you have a looking-glass?"
Becca and Melissa exchanged glances of confusion. "Well, yeah," Becca said after a few seconds. "Mirrors all over the place in my house."
"Excellent. Can I use one? One that I can hold in my hand would be great."
"Will this one do?" George asked Jonathan impatiently. He had already supplied the prince with easily half a dozen mirrors, all of which had been rejected. This was the last mirror that he had, and if Jon couldn't make do with one of them, then he was just going to have to use a bowl of water. Possibly the most unusual of any of George's mirrors, it was in the shape of a lioness, and had the actual mirror where her wide- open mouth would be. The smooth glass was tinted blue, a deep, midnight blue that would cause people to stare at it and wonder just how it had come to be that color. It was undeniably George's favorite mirror and he really had not wanted to let Jon use it. George was all too aware of scrying's possible side effects.
Jon took the mirror from George to hold for a moment and see whether or not it would suit him. Power sliced through him like a sword as it was in his hands, and he could only stand and gaze at it for a few minutes, transfixed. "Yes," he finally said. "This one will do quite well."
Becca made a few trips around her house, searching for all the hand- held mirrors. The first one was a cotton candy pink that said Princess across the top. This, as well as the black compact mirror Becca kept in her purse, the silver-plated mirror from her mother's bathroom, and the locker mirror. Melissa had grown nearly as exasperated as Becca when the last mirror was produced.
Alanna instantly fell in love with this last mirror. Though it was small, the outer edges and back were blends between a royal blue and rich purple, with small rhinestones decorating it. Somehow she just knew that this would be the perfect mirror for scrying. "This is absolutely perfect. Thank you very much," she said, desperately trying to come up with an excuse for being alone in the little time she had. Suddenly Alanna lifted a hand to her head and stumbled a bit. "Oh, I have such a headache... Becca, would it be all right for me to just rest for a bit while the pool party gets started?"
Melissa and Becca's faces instantly fell into looks of great sympathy. "I have some Advil I can get you, Alanna. It's right in the bathroom, just hang on a second—"
Alanna quickly cut her off by saying, "No, I really don't think it's a good idea for me to take Advil. You never know, I might have some horrible reaction to it. I really think that I would be fine if I just lay here for a while. And can I keep the mirror with me? I have one exactly like it at home, and it would make me feel more comfortable." Great Mother Goddess, forgive me for lying, Alanna prayed, feeling a pang of guilt. She had forgotten to pray to her patron goddess since she reached Pembrook. At this thought, her face grew pale, which obviously convinced the other girls.
Nodding, Becca said, "I think that would be fine. Josh will be disappointed, but that's okay, it'll just make my day. Or possibly week. And I won't be needing the mirror when I'm in the pool! We'll just leave you now, so that you can get some rest. Swimsuits are in the fourth drawer, I think you're my size. Call us if you need help!" Melissa dragged her out of the room before Becca could continue anything.
With a sigh of relief, Alanna sat down on the floor to peer into the mirror, concentrating as hard as she could on a mental picture of Corus. More specifically, the Dancing Dove, with Jonathan and George inside of it.
Jonathan looked deeply into the lioness's blue mouth, concentrating as hard as he could on the image he had of Alanna, riding, sword fighting... there were many such images. Realizing that wherever Alanna was, she probably wouldn't be looking the same as she always did to him, Jonathan tried to just block out the surroundings in the picture, just concentrating on her face as hard as he possibly could.
...to be continued!
A/N: Pitiful, I know. But I'm just going to go ahead and move onto the reviews without trying to excuse myself.
Lady Aioria: Do you mean when Alanna will be back in Tortall? If that's your question, probably either the last chapter or the second-to-last. Thanks for reviewing—I don't remember seeing your name before, and I really like it.
Robinwyn: Yeah, I figured that it took them long enough to start looking for her—it wasn't exactly something that you could just not notice. Well, Labyrinth... I saw it in a Theatre Arts classroom on the last two days before winter break when we all just wanted to get out of there. And it creeped me out. I'm sorry that I haven't reviewed on all your updates—as it says above, our internet connection has been broken for FOREVER and it's finally fixed, so I could only use the computer every once in a while at my mom's work. Yeah... well, updating soon didn't really happen, so... I guess that request wasn't made clear. And I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to next update, because on Sunday I'm leaving on vacation for a week, and then I'll be out at my lake house with no internet connection, so I'm actually going to have to do, like, the entire chapter all at once. Fun!
A/N: Sorry, I've kind of gotten to the point where I'll only reply to long reviews/reviews with questions in them, though I LOVED Divine-Bovine's review—thanks so much for finding out how to say it in all those languages! Also thanks to levaire, kasuima, Kyanna Silverstone, and Warrior of Destiny. Tell people to REVIEW so that I will be happy and post!!! : ) Until next time!
A/N: Sorry about the wait for an update. I was going to try and do the fourth chapter really fast, and then I had a severe case of writer's block. And then my Internet connection broke. Yes, again. Even now I'm kind of putting off writing the actual thing as I'm writing this author's note that maybe will go on forever and then I won't have to write it! Um, or maybe not. Here we go!
Chapter Four—Mysterious
Much as Becca loved and adored Josh, she had known him practically all of her life, and Josh was like an older brother to her. All older brothers have annoying habits, and to say that Josh was an exception would be, well, lying. While most of the things that bugged Becca were harmless (leaving his room a mess, eating everything in sight) he did have a fairly serious problem when it came to how many girls he insisted on dating. Almost none of these girls lasted a month.
Josh always did love to play games, and he played to win. Once he won, though, he lost almost all interest whatsoever, only to move on to a new game. His philosophy was the same on just about every woman. Making a mysterious girl or one that was notoriously hard to get fall head over heels in love with him was practically a hobby in his little world. A particularly annoying hobby, especially when it involved Becca's friends or someone that she knew was particularly naïve. That was just cheating, when in Becca's point of view there was a clear set of rules.
However, Josh never seemed to have been introduced to that rulebook.
And this game was just starting. It would be an interesting one, since there wasn't only one girl for Josh to pursuit, but a girl chasing him as well. This was nothing new, of course. Most people tended to be blind to Josh's (many) faults, and girls developing huge crushes on him were just everyday occurrences by that point.
Then again, Josh had never set his sights on someone quite like Alanna. Naturally, people claiming to be from a country never heard of that sounded quite a bit like England in the medieval ages didn't happen regularly...
"Oh, well, now your shift's over, right, Josh? Can you come have a snow cone with us, or maybe we can work off all those calories we just ingested!" Hannah exclaimed cheerfully. "I mean, buttery popcorn and peanut M&Ms. I'm doomed, and the new coach will just kill me!"
Giving a good-natured laugh, Melissa said, "Well, I can't say yes to a real workout, but it is April. Becca, do you think that your family's pool is ready to go for the summer season yet? I got a new swimsuit recently, and it's just waiting for a chance to be shown off."
Josh had been sneaking glances at Alanna through the conversation, and was suddenly thrust into a daydream about exactly how Alanna would look in a little string bikini at Melissa's mention of a swimsuit. "I think that's a great idea!" he said, a bit too quickly. "My shift will be ending in about twenty minutes, so if you gorgeous ladies want to just hang around and make me look good until then, that's fine with me." Hannah gave a little giggle and was clearly ready to start flirting, but Becca couldn't stomach it.
"Well, I really think that we should go ahead and get our swimsuits. I'll meet you all at my house in thirty. Okay with everyone?' Nods of consent were given all around the group, and Lea murmured something about needing to call her mom. "That'll be fine, Lea, we'll drop you off at your house for a little while. Alanna, I have to go to the restroom, do you?" Alanna gave a nod, as that seemed to be expected, and Melissa made a quick excuse. They headed off towards the neon sign flashing "WOMEN," leaving Hannah to flirt with Josh and Lea to call her mother.
As they got into the restroom, it became clear to Alanna that neither girl actually had to use the facilities. "Okay, so Josh is, like, totally crushin' on you," Melissa informed her. "I read an article about it in last month's Teen People. I think it was called 'How to Tell He Likes You,' or something like that. Anyways, Josh shows all the signs. Going out of his way to do stuff with you, sitting next to you in the movie theater, flirting with you—and cause you have, you know, boobs. He isn't terribly selective. Not to make you feel bad, or anything," she added quickly.
Becca sighed. "Mel, when will you learn? I'm sure Alanna doesn't have any clue what we're talking about. In places where there are knights, there's, like, no such thing as crushes. Especially when you're in training to be one. The common girls get to sigh after the really hot guys, but no one marries for love. Just for, like, political alliances."
Looking at Becca in astonishment, Melissa asked, "Um, how do you know that? You totally hate history. Even more than you hate science. Though that my be because your science teacher, like, so sucks."
"Well, I had a good teacher in eighth grade," Becca shrugged. "She liked to tell us about the Middle Ages. How all of these people did these really wonderful things, and saved the princesses, only to get the princess's head cut off. And how Queen Elizabeth might have been sought after by princes in kings in, like, all these different countries, but she really wasn't very attractive. Ms. Likimy, you remember her. Of course, you didn't get to have her, cause you were stuck in a classroom with the evil teacher who thought he was Harry Potter, but whatever."
Melissa murmured quietly, "Wow. I never heard of a class you actually listened in. You never needed to, Becca," she added quickly. "I mean, since you're totally smart and all and have about a 4.0 GPA. Anyways, we're not here to talk about GPAs. Alanna, do you like Josh?"
Becca rolled her eyes. "Mel, we just went through this. What she wants to know, Alanna, is if you'd like to spend some time with Josh. And hold his hand and kiss him and, it being Josh, possibly have sex with him."
Alanna's eyes widened to about twice their normal size. "I can't have sex with him! I don't even know him! And having a child would not exactly help me in becoming a knight—when no one at the palace knows I'm a girl!"
"Um, that isn't exactly something that Josh cares about. Number one, he doesn't know that you're, like, trying to become a knight without anyone at the palace figuring out. Is everything in your country, Telltale or whatever, so sexist? Because that's like total discrimination. Maybe it's not illegal there. But anyways, he is going to be the ultimate college boy. Except that all of these girls' mothers will adore him, and be sooo pleased when they think that Josh is going to propose to their daughters on graduation day or something, and that a nice boy like him would never, ever sleep with their darlings. These are people that don't know him. He would be perfectly willing to make out—at the least—with a girl that he'd just met that very day. That is, if she was pretty, didn't wear too much make- up, is over five feet, and has boobs. Sometimes the makeup rule can be broken, especially when Josh has been in Vegas recently and has spent too much time hanging out with all the showgirls there, which he does, oh, every few months. Or something," Melissa explained.
All Alanna could do was blink for a moment, still trying to process Melissa's unbelievably long speech. "Ah. So. What if that girl's already betrothed? And what am I supposed to do about Josh?"
Becca laughed. "Josh doesn't exactly care if someone's... engaged. Or has a boyfriend, whichever. And what to do about Josh..." she them in obvious relief. Apparently Hannah hadn't stopped flirting with him the winked. "Have fun with him, darlin'."
Oh, yeah. That was helpful.
The three girls exited the restroom and met up with the others. Josh greeted them with obvious relief. Apparently, Hannah had been flirting with him the entire time that she was left alone with him. Melissa couldn't help but think that he deserved it. After all, he'd certainly led Hannah on before. And what else was she supposed to do, with no one else there to keep them company? The girl wasn't stupid.
Lea returned from calling her mother. It must have been a hard phone call to settle, Melissa thought. Otherwise it wouldn't have taken nearly so long. "Guys, I can't go to the pool party," Lea announced gloomily, as she stuck her cell phone with its new sparkly pink cover back into her khaki purse. "I guess I'll just have to come some other time. Mom has just finished informing me that Samantha has taken off for Bermuda and so the Sib-beasts have no poor soul getting paid to keep them from breaking down the roof."
Hannah smiled quickly, then remembered to turn it into a grimace. "Oh, that's too bad, Lea. Well, Samantha will be back soon, right? And then no more beastiesitting.' That was their personal term for when Lea had to baby-sit her younger siblings, who were very much out of control just about all the time. Lea was forced into beastiesitting quite a lot, since their babysitter Samantha was fairly flaky and did a secretary's job at a travel agency as well, so she got cheap packages to exotic locations all the time. However, it couldn't be denied that Samantha was good with kids. Becca noted that Hannah seemed to be happy that Lea was going. Pretty as Lea was, Hannah's chief competition for Josh that day was very certainly going to be the mysterious and slightly clueless Alanna.
It was going to be an interesting party.
Much to Jonathan's relief, George had finally calmed down. It had taken three quarters of an hour and another pint of lemonade, but it had happened. Now George was simmering down from the occasional outburst to only mumbling under his breath. This was a very good thing, in Jon's mind. A furious King of the Court of the Rogue that was also illegally armed and surrounded by his "subjects" was a fearsome thing.
Cocking an eyebrow at Jonathan, George asked, "So, Johnny. Alanna's disappeared thanks to a mage. Now, I can tell you're not lying, but how would I be able to help get her back? I can send out spies to all the corners of the kingdom, but you know I don't have the Gift. How is it that you expect for me to be able to wave a little magic wand and make her simply materialize in front of us? No, you know that I can't do that. You know I can't do any of that—so what are you doing here?"
Ah. Now he remembered just why it was George was the youngest King of the Court of the Rogue in Corus' illustrative history. At least, since anyone could remember, or since the legend about a younger king died "Well," Jonathan said hesitantly, "I'm not quite sure. I guess that I just kind of thought that you'd... be able to help."
George heaved a huge sigh and lowered his voice considerably. "And to think that you're Tortall's future king. Of course, usually you're a tad more helpful than this, so maybe we have hope. Johnny, I can send spies out to all over the country, and I will do so without a second thought. Or at least a third. Have you tried scrying for her? I seem to remember Alanna saying that you were always good at that."
The suggestion seemed a bit too obvious, and Jonathan was left wondering why in the name of Mithros he hadn't thought of it before. "That would make sense," he said. "But if she's somewhere that we've never heard of, or if I can't identify the location, how would that help?"
"Good question, lad. A good question that you know I don't need to answer. Now, do you prefer a mirror or a bowl of water when you're scrying?"
Driving back to Melissa's house after the movies, Alanna was seized with an idea for trying to get back home. After Hannah and Lea had been dropped off, she asked, "Do either of you have a looking-glass?"
Becca and Melissa exchanged glances of confusion. "Well, yeah," Becca said after a few seconds. "Mirrors all over the place in my house."
"Excellent. Can I use one? One that I can hold in my hand would be great."
"Will this one do?" George asked Jonathan impatiently. He had already supplied the prince with easily half a dozen mirrors, all of which had been rejected. This was the last mirror that he had, and if Jon couldn't make do with one of them, then he was just going to have to use a bowl of water. Possibly the most unusual of any of George's mirrors, it was in the shape of a lioness, and had the actual mirror where her wide- open mouth would be. The smooth glass was tinted blue, a deep, midnight blue that would cause people to stare at it and wonder just how it had come to be that color. It was undeniably George's favorite mirror and he really had not wanted to let Jon use it. George was all too aware of scrying's possible side effects.
Jon took the mirror from George to hold for a moment and see whether or not it would suit him. Power sliced through him like a sword as it was in his hands, and he could only stand and gaze at it for a few minutes, transfixed. "Yes," he finally said. "This one will do quite well."
Becca made a few trips around her house, searching for all the hand- held mirrors. The first one was a cotton candy pink that said Princess across the top. This, as well as the black compact mirror Becca kept in her purse, the silver-plated mirror from her mother's bathroom, and the locker mirror. Melissa had grown nearly as exasperated as Becca when the last mirror was produced.
Alanna instantly fell in love with this last mirror. Though it was small, the outer edges and back were blends between a royal blue and rich purple, with small rhinestones decorating it. Somehow she just knew that this would be the perfect mirror for scrying. "This is absolutely perfect. Thank you very much," she said, desperately trying to come up with an excuse for being alone in the little time she had. Suddenly Alanna lifted a hand to her head and stumbled a bit. "Oh, I have such a headache... Becca, would it be all right for me to just rest for a bit while the pool party gets started?"
Melissa and Becca's faces instantly fell into looks of great sympathy. "I have some Advil I can get you, Alanna. It's right in the bathroom, just hang on a second—"
Alanna quickly cut her off by saying, "No, I really don't think it's a good idea for me to take Advil. You never know, I might have some horrible reaction to it. I really think that I would be fine if I just lay here for a while. And can I keep the mirror with me? I have one exactly like it at home, and it would make me feel more comfortable." Great Mother Goddess, forgive me for lying, Alanna prayed, feeling a pang of guilt. She had forgotten to pray to her patron goddess since she reached Pembrook. At this thought, her face grew pale, which obviously convinced the other girls.
Nodding, Becca said, "I think that would be fine. Josh will be disappointed, but that's okay, it'll just make my day. Or possibly week. And I won't be needing the mirror when I'm in the pool! We'll just leave you now, so that you can get some rest. Swimsuits are in the fourth drawer, I think you're my size. Call us if you need help!" Melissa dragged her out of the room before Becca could continue anything.
With a sigh of relief, Alanna sat down on the floor to peer into the mirror, concentrating as hard as she could on a mental picture of Corus. More specifically, the Dancing Dove, with Jonathan and George inside of it.
Jonathan looked deeply into the lioness's blue mouth, concentrating as hard as he could on the image he had of Alanna, riding, sword fighting... there were many such images. Realizing that wherever Alanna was, she probably wouldn't be looking the same as she always did to him, Jonathan tried to just block out the surroundings in the picture, just concentrating on her face as hard as he possibly could.
...to be continued!
A/N: Pitiful, I know. But I'm just going to go ahead and move onto the reviews without trying to excuse myself.
Lady Aioria: Do you mean when Alanna will be back in Tortall? If that's your question, probably either the last chapter or the second-to-last. Thanks for reviewing—I don't remember seeing your name before, and I really like it.
Robinwyn: Yeah, I figured that it took them long enough to start looking for her—it wasn't exactly something that you could just not notice. Well, Labyrinth... I saw it in a Theatre Arts classroom on the last two days before winter break when we all just wanted to get out of there. And it creeped me out. I'm sorry that I haven't reviewed on all your updates—as it says above, our internet connection has been broken for FOREVER and it's finally fixed, so I could only use the computer every once in a while at my mom's work. Yeah... well, updating soon didn't really happen, so... I guess that request wasn't made clear. And I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to next update, because on Sunday I'm leaving on vacation for a week, and then I'll be out at my lake house with no internet connection, so I'm actually going to have to do, like, the entire chapter all at once. Fun!
A/N: Sorry, I've kind of gotten to the point where I'll only reply to long reviews/reviews with questions in them, though I LOVED Divine-Bovine's review—thanks so much for finding out how to say it in all those languages! Also thanks to levaire, kasuima, Kyanna Silverstone, and Warrior of Destiny. Tell people to REVIEW so that I will be happy and post!!! : ) Until next time!