Smoke and Mirrors (20)

Twenty

Crown Me in Silver

---

I sat on the bed in my room, staring at my necklace from mom. From Sterling.

“Alright,” I whispered to myself. “Dad did it. So can I.” I closed my hand around the resin crystal of fragmented mirror pieces. “Show me Sterling,” I commanded it, as if it could hear me.

Something must have worked, because a swirl of water mingled with fire began to swirl around me, as if it was coming from the necklace. Occasionally, I caught flashes of mirror as the swirl formed to create a window.

Sterling paced back and forth in an extensive garden full of the most silvery plants I’d ever seen. Somehow, the garden scented my own room as well, as if I was actually there with him--a thought that was as chilling as it was lovely. White ferns and silvery blossoms perfumed the air with a fresh, green scent that reminded me of a majestic forest. Streams of silvery mirrors rippled like water down a bed of stones behind where he walked. It had to have been the most wonderful place in the world.

--Except that Sterling was there, whose presence ruined the lovely scene.

He stopped pacing and turned to a figure who was standing just outside of the scene. “I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“She needs you.” The voice was urgent, prodding. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t tell whose it was. “Look, after all of this is over, you’ll be glad you went.”

Sterling stopped and looked down. Reaching into his shirt’s neckline, he withdrew a necklace similar to how mine used to look, before I’d broken it and had to pour resin over the pieces. His was blue however, where mine was silver.

He looked straight at me, his steel eyes boring into my own, even from a distance.

“She’s watching us now,” he told the voice. “Can’t keep her own blasted nose in her own business, can she?”

I swallowed and refused the urge to close the window I’d opened. “Can you hear me?” I asked. My voice cracked.

“Sadly, yes. What in all of the Inside could you need?!” His tone of voice scared me, but I wouldn’t let myself cower. He couldn’t harm me from here.

It dawned on me who the other voice was with him. “Seraphina?” I asked. “Is that you?”

She stepped into view and smirked. Her eyes looked tired, bruised from lack of sleep, but the golden spark of color had fully returned to her irises. “Of course it is. I came to convince him to go with you.”

I blinked. “Uh--thanks. I guess.” I looked at Sterling. “So? What about it? Will you, uh, you know, come with me?” It would be funny watching him do something other than threaten me. Plus, a small part of me–okay, a very large part of me–hoped he messed up that fancy tunic suit of his on the trip. It was an immature wish, but I never claimed to be mature.

He groaned and looked up at the sky. “There isn’t another option here, is there?”

Seraphina shook her head. “I’m afraid there’s not. But trust me, the hunt for this horn is important. I need to show both of you something that no one else opened their eyes enough to see, and only by traveling to the places I tell you can you change what has happened.”

“Places?” asked Sterling. “I thought it was just the Weeping Stones?”

“What do you mean ‘change what happened’?” I asked as well. Our voices overlapped.

She moved closer to Sterling and angled his necklace towards her. The frame zoomed in on her face then, and she became the only thing I could see. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper. “How many people does it take to capture a world?”

The window into the scene fizzled out, like an extinguished flame. I held my necklace for a moment longer and debated contacting them again, but decided against it.

How many people did it take to capture a world? She had used that phrase before, back when father and I told her we’d release her. What did she mean by it?

–And did her being there mean Sterling was coming with me?

***

The next morning, I began packing.

I was exhausted from barely sleeping the night before.

Part of this was due to planning out what I needed to take, but the other part was because I kept sneezing. My nostrils felt raw, my room was partially flooded, and there were scorch marks on the bedposts.

I slept on the marble step to my bed after almost burning my bed up. Thankfully, I was able to put the fire out with another sneeze of water, but it still scared me. I wasn’t good at controlling my powers, but I sneezed enough to keep me warm on the cold floor. Or drenched. It was a constant battle between the two. The water dripped from the wide, marble step, leaving my hair and skin drenched. My hair felt like wet rope around my neck.

That definitely went down in my history books as the worst night I’d ever slept.

I yawned as I shoved another set of shoes in my suitcase, which sat on my bed. Since coming here, I’d been blessed with an entirely new wardrobe of different clothes. Sadly, most of them were not designed for long journeys, but I made what I had work.

A knock came from my door. “Your Highness?” Kaeil called. “Your father would like to speak with you.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in a sec!” I crammed a small journal and a couple pencils in the suitcase. Back on the Otherside, I had a sketchbook that I drew in sometimes. It was a nice way of clearing my thoughts. However, since I didn’t have a camera, hopefully I could draw anything I wanted to document on my travels.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that pencils and paper were still a thing here, although they had to be imported from the Fairylands. Kaeil said these pencils grow into something else. Once I use the pencil up to the last inch, if I stick it in the ground, a new plant will grow from it. He said his mom got a package of pencils some time back, and she got three different kinds of plants.

I moved to latch my suitcase shut, but stubbed my toe on the marble step to my bed. I winced and hopped towards the door.

Kaeil escorted me to father’s office, where he talked to two people. Adrian sat in one chair, while Sterling sat in the other.

I breathed in the scent of warm leather and old paper as I entered the office. Kaeil closed the door and left us alone.

Father looked up from a giant map which was spread over the table. “Tessa, sit down. We are determining the best route for your trip.”

I slid my gaze towards Adrian and Sterling. “I guess it’s safe to assume you dudes are coming with me?”

“There doesn’t seem to be much choice,” Sterling grumbled. “My people are restless. We just had a building burn down because a child couldn’t regulate her Talent.”

“Burn?” I asked in surprise. “I thought your people were mirror Talents?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Her father is from Pyronoth. He controls fire.”

“Ah.” I looked at Adrian. “And you?”

He grunted. “Anything to stop my mother. If that means having to guard some smooching couple on a long, exhausting journey, then I’ll have to stomach it.”

Sterling and I spoke at the same time. “There won’t be any smooching!”

“--And we’re not a couple,” added Sterling angrily.

Adrian snorted. “I packed some retch bags, just in case.”

I groaned.

Father cleared his throat. “As grand as I’m finding all of this, I feel the need to discuss the path of your journey with you.” He tapped the map on the desk. “Sterling knows where the Weeping Stones are, so getting there won’t be a problem. But how will I know you”--He turned to Sterling–”will do no harm to my daughter on the way back from the journey? You need her on the way up, so that part doesn’t bother me. But I need your word that you won’t harm a hair on her head, do I make myself clear?”

I slid a glance over to Sterling. His expression was cold and unreadable from my place beside him. “I will do what is best for every situation.”

Father stood sharply, almost knocking his chair back, and grabbed him by the short band collar of his silver-blue tunic. “Do I make myself clear? I just found my daughter. I will not lose her to you.”

My heart thundered in my chest. I had never seen father angry before–not that I’d known him terribly long of course, but still. This side of him warmed my heart and frightened me all at once.

He was worried about me. Me! The girl who didn’t even have a dad a year ago. If you don’t know what discovering a lost parent is like, well, try to imagine it. I was elated that he felt protective of me at all–this girl who had grown up in an entirely different world and didn’t know he existed for the entire eighteen years of her existence.

I saw Sterling’s throat bob, then he said, “I don’t make promises. They’re nasty things–always coming back to bite you at the wrong times. But I will tell you that I won’t attack her unprovoked, or without urgent reason.”

I scoffed and mimicked him in a whiny, high-pitched voice. Then I added, “Father, I’m not powerless now. He hasn’t seen me throw a good fireball before.” I hadn’t seen me throw a good fireball before. But I was sure I could do it if I practiced enough. “Just remember, Sterling. If I want to, I can be your worst nightmare.” I scanned my brain for something that sounded cool and intimidating. “I can make your blood boil. Literally.”

Father released him and Sterling rolled his eyes at me, but said nothing.

On the other side of me, Adrian cocked an eyebrow. “I take it all back. Things could get pretty interesting on this trip.”