August 8, Summer, year 20
Hard to believe it's already the last month of Summer already. It feels like time's passing so fast. Serri keeps getting fatter, she's definitely got kittens in her! I've moved her into the house, just in case. I probably should have done this last year, considering how old she is, but she never liked being in the house before this.
Puppy's been chasing bugs lately. Dragonflies are the most interesting. He jumps so high, and inevitably falls back down with nothing. Free entertainment while I'm working!
I found something odd in the excavation site yesterday. Uncle Carter couldn't make heads or tails of it, but he said if I took it home and cleaned it he might have better luck.. It's been sitting in a bowl of water all day…
Claire reached out to pluck the bracelet from the water, and set it on a soft cloth. The soaking had made the crusted on dirt melt away, but it was still so tarnished… Obviously, it was silver, gold didn't tarnish black like that, and copper oxidized green.
Yet, there was a speck of pale green… a gemstone, Claire discovered as she carefully polished the bracelet.
"It's too light to be an emerald, and too pale to be a peridot… Hmmm. And it doesn't have the right feel to be a jade."
The more she cleaned, the more the bracelet was revealed. Odd designs were interlaid with more fine stones, everything from pink diamonds and Alexandrite—two of the rarest stones in the Valley—to stones she didn't recognize that had to have come from outside. Probably even from off the island.
"I wonder if there's more pieces like this?" she mused, studying the bracelet. "How much would they go for…? If they're rare, this might be the only one."
But the more she uncovered of the bracelet, the less she wanted to sell it. It was just so.. unique. It wouldn't be right to sell something that would coincide with some discovery her uncle might make. Right?
Fully cleaned, it was a cuff of shining silver, and the odd designs had resolved themselves into the phases of the moon, flowers, and a butterfly. A chill went through her as she looked at it, trying to figure it out.
"Uncle Carter won't be able to figure this out, I don't think… but maybe Win will know!"
She'd been looking for an excuse to go and see with Witch Princess for a while. She wanted to ask about more than jut the bracelet, but it was a convenient excuse. The farmer bundled the newly cleaned bracelet into a dry washcloth, and stuck it in her backpack. It was more than just a general reluctance to touch it, there was something almost warning her away.
"Getting paranoid over a bracelet…. Real impressive."
Not many people associated with the Witch Princess, so hardly anyone knew that she lived right next to Ramona's mansion. With twilight fast approaching—Claire hadn't realized that it was past eight, so caught up in cleaning the bracelet—the farmer hurried up to the door of the Witch Princess's home, and knocked almost timidly.
Sure Win kept different hours from the rest of the village, but it wouldn't do to interrupt her. The last time she'd barged in without thinking her hair had been a mass of bizarre colors for almost two weeks. Jill still reminded her of that incident when they were both in snippy moods.
The door opened after a minute, and the Witch Princess poked her head out. Red-brown eyes widened in surprise, and the door opened fully.
"Been a while since we last talked," Winny said, pulling Claire inside. "What're you doing here so late? Did you rescue that… er… I mean…"
Claire smiled wryly, but shook her head.
"Not yet. Sorry Win, no one to argue with yet. I'm getting there, I think."
"So if you're not here because of that, why are you here? Problems?"
The Witch Princess gave her a slightly suspicious look as Claire dug into her backpack. It changed into a shocked expression when she unveiled the bracelet. And Claire was treated to the sight of a lifetime.
The Witch Princess actually fainted.
Claire's mouth dropped, and she flung the bracelet away in panic to catch her friend.
"Ohmygosh Win! Winny, are you okay?!"
Whatever reaction she'd expected, that certainly hadn't been it. Unnoticed by the frightened farmer, the bracelet had started to glow, drawing on the Princess's magical powers. It had lain so long in the dirt that it needed any magical power that was available, and even that which was untapped.
Skye felt the pull the minute he crossed the bridge into the main part of the town, and actually stopped short in surprise. It had been a long time since he'd felt magic of this quality, it was almost eerily synchronized with his own…
At that thought, the normally cool-headed thief broke into a run. If this was a relic of his people, anyone—magic user or ordinary person—could end up becoming hurt because of it.
He took a brief moment to realize that the pull was coming from the place next to the mansion he'd stolen from the night he'd met Claire before pushing open the door. The tableaux inside was almost standard for artifacts of that strength. The magic user—he assumed that this was the Witch Princess Claire had referenced—was passed out as the item drew on her magic to power itself, and even Claire herself was starting to get woozy.
Skye swooped down upon the bracelet. The minute his hand closed around it, it stopped drawing from Claire and the Witch, instead it grabbed at him. Within moments, the 'Prince of the Stars' was out like a light.
Seconds later, he was enveloped in a pale green glow, and vanished from sight.
Clare's head stopped buzzing a few minutes after Skye had vanished, and she looked up in a daze, trying to figure out what had just happened. It felt almost like she'd caught another cold, but that wasn't possible… Was it?
"The bracelet," she whispered. "Where..?"
She blinked repeatedly, using her free hand to rub at her head. Maybe she was catching another cold.
The Witch Princess showed no signs of waking, so Claire slowly got to her feet and half-carried her over to her bed. Which was remarkably free of books, papers and potion ingredients, for once.
Despite the spinning room, Claire felt the need for fresh air, and staggered out to the fountain, sinking down on the lip and splashing her face with some of the running water.
"What was that all about?" she wondered, frowning in worry. "I pulled out the bracelet and Win faints of all things, and then my head goes all funny! Did I really see Skye?"
The was a sudden sharp jolt and a stabbing pain between her eyes that nearly knocked her into the fountain, but when it faded, the world had settled back into something resembling normalcy.
Claire slowly got to her feet, and wiped her face clean of water. She was torn, did she try and find Skye, or did she go back and look after Winny until she woke up? Or, taking the utterly selfish route, did she just go home and try to pretend that none of this mess ever happened?
Sighing, Claire dipped one of her many handkerchiefs into the fountain's cool water, and went back in to care for her friend. She would look for Skye once Winny woke up.
Claire was close to nodding off by the time the Witch Princess started to come around. Still, seeing her friend's red-brown eyes fluttering open was the most heartening thing she'd seen since finding the bracelet, and the blond almost burst into tears of relief.
Winny practically jumped off the bed when she fully awoke, looking around almost frantically.
"Where did it go?" she demanded, grabbing Claire's shoulder. "If that thing's left out, it's going to cause so much trouble!"
Bewildered, Claire shook her head helplessly. The Witch Princess gritted her teeth in annoyance, but managed to remain calm.
"What was it?" the farmer girl asked hesitantly.
"Where did you find it?" was the snappish response.
"O-over in the Dig site. Uncle Carter told me to clean it up and bring it back to him, but I thought you might know more about it… It had such strange stones and designs on it, that I thought it might be magical or something."
"Oh, it was magical alright," Winny sighed as Claire's blue eyes went wide. "That was an artifact of the People of the Moon! It was trying to recharge in the fastest way possible… you're lucky we're both not dead!"
The Witch Princess punctuated this comment with a light whack to Claire's head. The farmer winced, her eyes widening is surprise.
"I thought the People of the Moon were nothing more than fairy tales Win?" Claire rubbed her head.
"Considering they haven't come down from their hoity-toity castles in forever, it's no surprise," the other grumbled. "Living above the world instead of down on it, like the rest of us! Stupid, silver-haired, stubborn, fancy…"
Her voice lowered into sour frustration, as she got up to look at her library of books. She pulled one off the shelf and tossed it onto Claire's lap.
"Read that," Winny grumped. "It's an old journal of one of the People who used to live in this Valley. And if you find more artifacts like that, either wrap them in silk or stick them in a cup of salt water! Dealing with them on your own could get you killed and then who'd fix things around here?!"
Despite her surprise, Claire smiled wryly.
"Yes'm," she nodded. "Sorry…"
"Oh, just get lost. I need to find more books and you sitting there looking pathetic is annoying."
Claire put the book in her rucksack, and hurried out the door, closing it carefully behind her. Then she broke into a full sprint, heading for the Goddess Pond, and praying that Skye was okay.
Praying that she was going to the right spot. If he was hurt because of her ignorance, she would never be able to forgive herself.