As daylight broke out across the horizon everyone in the camp gradually began to stir. Caspian, being the first one up took note of all the footprints on the ground and quickly made his way over towards Edmund.
"Ed. Ed wake up." He whispered urgently, shaking the boy. Edmund mumbled something incoherent and blearily looked up at the man.
"Come on get up." Caspian insisted, his eyes looking over the ground worriedly. Edmund lifted himself up and glanced around. His drowsiness instantly lifted as he noticed a missing figure.
"Ray? Ray?!" Ed called, standing and whirling around.
"Wasn't she with you?" Caspian questioned with a frown.
"Yes, she was." Edmund grit out irritably. He didn't need the reminder that he was the one who apparently lost Raelyn. The two men stood and let their eyes follow the giant footprints that had made their way throughout the campsite.
"Where's Lucy?" Edmund asked, also noticing that his sister's sleeping area was vacant. Drinian, having heard the commotion quickly leapt to his feet to help.
"Everybody up. Get up!" he quickly rallied the sailors who drug themselves to their feet. Edmund spotted a smaller set of footprints near the larger ones. Following them he realized that they trailed from his sleeping mat all the way into the forest. With a groan Edmund realized what had happened. Running back to grab his weapon he followed after Caspian, dashing after the tracks. Soon enough everyone in camp was hot on their leader's heels…all except a still snoring Eustace.
...
Inside the mansion Lucy and Raelyn made their way through the elegant hallways. The walls were a dark wood, lined with gold trim which was accentuated by the light of the chandeliers that lit up the hallway. Raelyn gently let her hands drift over the intricate woodwork.
"This would be such a beautiful place…if not for the silent eerie energy going on." She weakly joked, hiding her nerves. Lucy shot her a small grin. The girl's footfalls echoed as they made her way to the end of the hall, walking through the already open door to find a large library. The duo paused, spotting a large book on a pedestal in the center of the room.
"No, not ominous at all." Raelyn muttered sarcastically, slowly leading the way into the room. She and Lucy glanced around as if waiting for something to happen. Reaching the large book Lucy frowned at the scattered lettering all over the cover. She reached for the latch and tugged, only to have it remain tightly locked. As she struggled with it, movement caught Raelyn's eye. In the corner of the pedestal a small cherub blew the dust off the book. Glancing down at the cover, Raelyn mentally shrugged. It wouldn't hurt. She leaned forward and gently blew on it. As the dust moved across the cover the words began righting themselves to form a clearer title as well as sprouting decorative roots along the edging.
"The Book of Incantations. This is the one." Raelyn read off with a grin. Lucy grinned along with her, amazed at the magic before opening the latch. Lucy curiously thumbed through the pages, smiling in wonder at the many spells and colorful illustrations that decorated the according verses. One particularly simple page caught her eye.
"With these words, your tone must sow. For all around there to be snow." She read aloud in confusion. A moment after she had finished reading she glanced at the black page adjacent to it. Her eyes lit up in delight as a snowflake landed. From beside her, Raelyn laughed. Lifting her eyes up Lucy beamed as snow began to fall all throughout the room, quickly covering everything with a fine layer of powder. Raelyn dashed around childishly, touching the white power that had taken over the room.
"It's real snow!" she laughed taking a moment to throw up a handful in delight.
"I'm going to see how far this spread." Raelyn informed before darting off to the far end of the room. As the redhead made her way throughout the room she began to let her eyes wander over the titles on the spines of the book. Soon she no longer noticed that the snow had melted away. Raelyn was too invested in how the library seemed to move along with her. As she explored, a faint sound of movement caught her attention. Raelyn glanced around not finding anyone else in her area of the library. Deciding to follow the noise she carefully made her way through the maze of bookshelves. A page turning caught her attention. Looking over at a small desk area she watched as pages in a book slowly began turning on their own. Raelyn blinked. Thinking back to the invisible creatures she wondered if that spell had expanded to others on the island. Taking a chance, she focused light back into her eyes and stared at the desk area. As she narrowed her gaze a tall male shape came into view. Again, she could only make out the outline of the figure.
"Who are you?" The man turned around in surprise before calmly staring back at her. He watched the girl stare at him intently. He stepped a few paces to the left and his eyes widened as her head turned accordingly.
"You can see me?" he asked curiously. Raelyn frowned.
"Yes, sort of. Are you the…oppressor?" she questioned, her body stiffening in case she had to run away. The man chuckled.
"I see you have met the creatures outside my mansion." He hummed in mild amusement.
"They didn't really give us much of a choice." She muttered, still watching the man warily.
"You have a gift of light young one. I'm impressed at how well you can handle it." He carried on easily. Raelyn became confused but didn't comment. The man didn't give off any bad vibes like the creatures had led her to believe he might possess. She remained silent as the figure began stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"Have you always had your talents?" he questioned. Raelyn shuffled her feet.
"No, they kind of appeared by accident." She shrugged, unsure as to what this had to do with anything.
"You might just be the person I have been waiting on." He muttered lowly, but not low enough that she missed it.
"What?" she frowned. Before the man could answer, Raelyn was struck with a wave of nausea and dizziness. Once the main onslaught had diminished a bit, her head shot back towards the way she came from. She knew exactly what that feeling meant.
"Lucy!" Raelyn shouted in alarm, sprinting back through the library. The mist had made an appearance.