“You imagined you were…and so youwere.”
I stare at her, replaying those terrifying moments. Everything had happened so fast, the dizzying blur of buildings, the rush of wind against my ears. I’d been so terrified of the pain that awaited, of being broken on the concrete, I’d imagined myself somewhere else.
“The star…” I whisper in awe.
Could I have possiblyimaginedmyself between worlds? And if I did, why did it only work now? I spent years desperately wishing to be anywhere other than where I was. If magic has slumbered inside me my whole life, why have I been running? Cowering in the shadows, rather than standing in my own strength?
Adira smiles gently. “The second star holds the wards between worlds. You imagined yourself traveling through them once. There’s nothing to keep you from doing so again. You only have to find the space inside yourself where your power resides. The space that dreams so fiercely, it creates life from the void. When you find your power, the magic will be yours to wield as you please.”
I shift on my feet, tug absently on the end of my braid. Small attempts to ground myself back into the moment. To grasp something more tangible than the wild marvel of Adira’s words.
“Where,exactly,is that space located in my body? Is there like a pool of it or something? A system you feed energy into that converts it into magic?”
At Adira’s laughter, I release a frustrated breath between my teeth. “I needsomething,Adira. Some sort of direction. Or at least a place to start.”
The princess appears almost pitying as she watches me pace in front of her. “In some worlds, magic is as scientific as that. A substantive energy to be studied and learned. But Letum is a place of dreams, and there’s no sense to the magic of dreams. They are made up of our most base desires, shaped by the fears and longings we dare not name in waking. It affects each resident of the island differently, as each heart is unique. Your triumphs and scars are only your own, Willa. So, while your magic is similar in nature to the Aeternalis’ because of the blood you share, your power will be yours and yours alone.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be as simple as a math problem, something I’d be able to calculate. Everything in Letum is whimsical nonsense, that only makes sense on the vague outer edges of the wildest inclinations. The places where thoughts aren’t concrete but splashes of colors and feelings.
“So, there aren’t rules?” I ask, still stubbornly reaching for something logical. “The island just grants people unlimited power to use however they want? Seems…irresponsible.”
Adira’s sigh is tinged in sadness. “There is a cost to everything in life. You’ve seen the price Niko pays to be the most powerful in the kingdom. But just as our magics vary, the cost does as well.”
I study the princess, the blue and yellow spills of paint sparkling against the umber of her skin. “What’s yours?”
Adira’s mouth thins, and for a moment, I worry I’ve offended her with the question. Perhaps the cost of someone’s power is intimate, and the fact I learned Niko’s is more significant than I realized.
The princess watches me for a long moment, and then relaxes, like something in my mind has soothed her worry of sharing such a thing. “My power’s demand is not as physical as Niko’s, nor as obvious. But it’s there.”
At my confusion, she clarifies, “It’s a curse to know every thought and feeling of those around you. Sometimes people hide things as an act of kindness, an act I am never granted. And humans are so complex. A mind, a soul, a body…they are all only made to hold the weight of one person.”
Her eyes flicker downward, for only a brief moment, but I feel the small relief of her power’s absence. “When I read someone’s thoughts…when I gauge their mental state…it is almost always at the cost of my own.”
I stare at her for a long moment, before breathing out a muttered, “Fuck.”
Adira nods eagerly, like she’s delighted I’ve finally begun to grasp how twisted all of this is. “Fuck, indeed,” she agrees with a grin.
Motioning for me to sit beside her, she unpacks the small basket we carried from her treehouse. A light lunch of crusted bread, some figs, and a few wedges of hard cheese. I situate myself beside her, leaning back against the smooth cliff wall and taking a few bites of the bread. I immediately begin to feel steadier, like the edges of my thoughts no longer spiral out of my control.
The bread has a nutty flavor, and for a few moments, I munch beside Adira in companiable silence, enjoying the sweetness of the figs and salted tang of the cheese. The forest around us buzzes in a cacophonic melody—the leaves swishing softly in the breeze, the soft whistles of various birds echoing between branches.
A few will-o-wisps float down from the canopy, gathering around the princess. The little creatures flicker, emanating asoft hum as they tangle in her hair. The black strands glow like they’ve been woven through with twinkle lights, and the hum grows louder, like they’re purring with pleasure.
I reach out a finger to touch one, and it flitters upward before settling delicately again on Adira’s shoulder. “I didn’t realize these little things liked anyone,” I remark with a vague wave toward the will-o-wisps.
Adira swallows her bite of bread, and shrugs. “The will-o-wisps are a lot like the pixies. Their small bodies only have room for one emotion at a time, so they’re often overcome by them. When they’re happy, they’re happy with their entire beings.”
I frown slightly, not able to remember being happy with even half my being, let alone the entire thing.
“And as I’m their princess, they’re always happy to be near me.”
I take a sip of cool water, surveying the spread of her beautiful domain. “Princess of the Grove,” I muse, feeling both impressed and oddly jealous by the effortless way Adira wields her power. She neither hides from it, nor wields it ostentatiously. She just emanates it, graceful and calm.
“Princess of the Wilds,” Adira corrects, with a mischievous glance in my direction.
“Is that why you and Niko don’t get along? Some eternal power struggle over the kingdom?”
Adira’s answering laugh is highly amused. “There is no power struggle. Unlike Niko, I was born to Letum. I’ve ruled over the wood and its creatures since the beginning of its creation. I want nothing more, and nothing less.”
