Peering around the corner, I hold my breath as I watch the band continue their rehearsal. We’re near the grand ballroom. My mind tries to pull me in, memories of my childhood in Valebridge swiftly floating to the surface.
Oftentimes, I push these memories away. All but the ones of my mother. Every other memory crafted from my childhood in Valebridge seems wasted.
Painful.
But right now, I open myself up and let them come. Ballrooms and luncheons. My mother and her classes. My heart constricts, but I push myself hard, searching my brain for the memory I need most.
A particular memory of this very room.
A memory of a door.
Pushing my back flush against the wall, I hold my breath as a server walks by so busy whistling a tune he doesn’t notice five very large flies on the wall.
“Aside from the musicians,” the dark-haired Enchantress whispers, “there are two guards in the next hall over.”
The hall that leads to the back door. Nodding, I shake my hands at my sides. My energy is waning from using my magick on that guard. I’m not sure how much more I have to give.
“What’s your magick?” I whisper to the Enchantresses. As they explain, my heart sinks further. A Seer and a Healer. The dark-haired Enchantress explains she’s an Intuitive, able to read bodies and energies which explains how she knew how many guards were where.
“And you?” I ask the red headed woman.
“An Empath.” Her pink, full lips curl up.
My head snaps to the Empath, her magick mingling with mine. Observing. Reading me. She smiles but my stomach lurches.
Each of the women’s gifts are powerful, in their own right. But I send a silent plea to the Mother that they can also fight because without it, I’m not sure we stand a chance.
“We need to keep moving,” the dark haired Enchantress says. Her blue eyes flicker as she holds her hands up. “The hall is clear. Are you sure it’s that way?”
My stomach knots, but the memory is there. A sunny afternoon after my lessons with my mother. Eager and excited, I bolted through the door and headed straight for the woods, my mother calling after me not to spoil my dress before lunch.
I glance at the Enchantress and nod. “We need to round the corner, avoid the musicians, and head to the narrow hall. There’s a small door that will lead out to the castle gardens and beyond that, the forest.” My hands tremble and wrists ache as I push my hair out of my face. “Once we’re outside, make your way through the gardens until you find the outerwall of trees. Stay quiet.”
I meet each Enchantress in the eyes. They nod and when I glance behind them, to where the two sisters stood before, they’re gone.
“Let’s go.”
We tip-toe our way around the corner. One of the musician’s catches my eye, but with the low light of the room, he doesn’t balk or raise a brow. The string instruments begin again, the sharp notes pulsating off the stone walls. Their music stirs something in my chest this time. The slow crescendo, the rise and fall of the strings. A memory forms, of a ball just like this one. Perhaps another lost moment of my childhood seizing the opportunity to arise.
Hazy images of dances and gowns. Of blue and gold. A man with dark hair and a woman?—
I stub my toe and tumble to the ground. I hiss as my knees hit the marble floor, but I right myself quickly before any of the musicians on the small stage notices. Their music doesn’t stop, doesn’t falter, so I press forward until we’ve made it through the ballroom and to the small hallway.
It’s darker than the others, used mostly by servants and handmaids if I remember. As the four women filter in behind me, something like hope blooms in my chest. It’s difficult to see in the low light, but a rounded shape comes into view as my vision adjusts.
The door.
“Run!” I don’t look behind me to see if they follow before I’m sprinting to the door.
Please be unlocked, please be unlocked.
With as much force as I can muster, I push it open and stumble into the falling rain. Wet, fat drops soak my hair and cheeks. A cry breaks from my lips as my feet and hands hit the dirt. My eyes drift to the sky as rain pelts over my skin, stinging my wrists. Another cry slips from me as I close my eyes. My magick stirs in my chest, a low pur of approval as my fingers sink into the damp soil.
Earth.
Over my shoulder, the other Enchantress stumble out of the small door behind me. Their eyes as wide as mine, their smiles beaming through the darkness.
Then, we’re running through the sopping wet, castle grounds. Carried by our bare feet and broken bodies. We’re running as if our life depends on it, because it does. The slap of rain against my cheeks sends a rush of adrenaline through me.
