"So, what's the plan, Loic?"
"I've been helping Rayne learn to protect herself, and it’s been going well. You three are basically going to guard Luna’s—her body here if she has to go to the other side. Chase and I are on that side. I'm sure we can keep the fight inside the museum."
"All right, that can be done. But how will you get Rakesh to the museum? He's a good strategist, the best the army had ever known. He knows Chase is strong, that's why he exiled him. I doubt he will willingly face you on your terms."
"There's a remedy for that." Chase chimed in as he entered the room.
Loic rolled his eyes and looked at Chase. "So, what did you come up with old man?"
Chase smiled and showed us his arm. It was no longer grey or burnt.
"I've figured out how to repair the curse’s damage. If I treat these like burns as soon as they appear, they started to heal slightly so I’ve been testing some of Isha’s healing magic in addition to my own. It seems to work to a certain extent. The curse isn't broken but it’s easier to cope with, so I can leave the museum if needed. I can last about an hour at most."
"That's better than nothing. splendid work, Chase!" Isha smiled.
“Yeah, all those test spells seemed to have paid off Old man.” Loic thumped Chase on the back.
Any success would be smiled on at this point. It only made sense. Any step to healing the damage was good news. Now if only Chase could be fully freed. I felt horrible that he was so limited. I saw that he was trying to aid us in any way he could. I wished I could help him in my own way. Maybe once we were safe, I could learn some healing magic. They told me I had the ability to learn any kind of magic, maybe I could use a power to heal him or even break his curse someday?
I watched them all carefully and sighed. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be involved in all of this. I wasn't cut out for war, and they all knew that. I sighed, slumping my shoulders, and Loic looked at me.
"Rayne, want to head back? They can handle everything here, so I'll go back with you."
"All right." I went back to the bedroom. Before I sat down, I saw a shadow by the window. When I looked to the window it vanished. My heart pounded... But soon, almost as quickly as it appeared, the feeling of dread faded, and I couldn't see any sign of the shadow. I closed the window and headed to the bed. I noticed something strange in-between. The atmosphere seemed darker and colder. I looked and for a split second, I felt terror rip through me as my eyes met with the mirage that I hoped wouldn’t be there. For a moment I saw a shadowy form, and, in its eyes, I saw Rakesh. The shadow vanished. Dread filled me. I had a feeling that my gut was warning me about what was to come.
FIFTEEN
♦
Birthday
LESSONS STALLED FOR A few days while Chase and Isha met with the allies they had called. So magic and history lessons were put on hold. I spent the time to try and put together what I knew about my training, magic and Rakesh in my notebook.
Sadly, it wasn’t much.
On top of being confused about what my place in this upcoming battle would be, I had my vague notes about the Night Mirror as well. What was I supposed to do this that? This thing I had the key for but couldn’t use. If the key got too close to it, both of the worlds could paradox into each other.
Was I supposed to find it first to stop him from finding it or would it be better to just make sure he never got to me so that even if he did find it, he couldn’t use it?
Present day worries nagged at me as well. Loic was acting strangely. Sure, our training still kept going but afterward, he would walk off to get coffee on his own. Only when I was close to Isha or Chase, of course. Did he think I didn’t notice him leaving me with them? What was going on? I tried to get him alone so I could ask but each time he would brush me off and continue doing it… at this point it was starting to get on my nerves. I hated being in the dark after all of this. What was so important I had to be kept from it and left with essentially babysitters?
He snuck off again for the fifth time this week and I tried to follow him out of the museum to be stopped by Chase. Chase was cleaning up the coffee maker that came from the museum’s old concession stand, possibly returning it as Loic and I passed him in the hall heading down to the lobby. Chase moved from having his arm in front of me to circling around me, blocking my way by standing at the top of the stairs.
“Now where are you going, Rayne?”
“I was about to ask that of him,” I growled, glaring in the direction where Loic vanished.
“Oh, don’t worry about him. Lady Isha had a task for him. He asked me to take over your protection until he gets back.”
“Has she had a task for him every day this past week.”
“Figured you had noticed by now.” He sighed scratching his head.
“Of course, I noticed. Chase, what’s going on?”
He shrugged. “I apologize. I’ve been sworn to secrecy by my queen.”
My gut twisted. Secrecy from me? Did it involve the war? Did she not want to scare me?
“If she thinks this war talk will scare me…”
“She would be absolutely right, but that’s no excuse for secrets?” he stole my sentence from me.
“Chase!” I step forward with one foot and clenched my fists in one quick jolt.
“All right, I’ll stay out of your head.” He patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Rayne. You have your own problems. Let us worry about this.”
“Easier said than done.” I sighed.
“I’m not meeting with anyone. Would you like to pick up a lesson? We haven’t translated much of that book yet, but maybe if you flip through it, the Mirror Stone will show you something again.”
“Maybe.”
If it did, Chase couldn’t be involved anyway. Did Kaarinna want me to solve this alone? Why? I knew the least out of anyone.
Chase handed me the book from a table in the lobby. He had a few bookmarks in it with notes scribbled over. Translations most likely. I took the book and followed the edge of the lobby to what used to be an old greenhouse. Chase normally had this door closed, Loic mentioned that was a place he liked to tend in private before not even letting Loic in, but with him meeting all these guests he needed more room.
Inside were all kinds of trees and flowers both from this world and ones I had never seen before, I assumed they were from Mirror Image. The walls were nearly covered, floor to ceiling in vines of varying shades of green and browns. The far end of the room looked like it was a greenhouse originally, but the rest looked like it was a full wing of the museum. The walls near the fully windowed end there was parts that looked like the glass and metal had been broken through. So, something happened, destroying the wall and instead of repairing it, the plants were left to grow beyond the greenhouse to the rest of the wing. It was beautiful. The reclaimed stained glass and fresh leaves and pedals lining the wooden floor. There was also a large raised pond at the border of the broken wall. The pond had different kinds of lilies and a tree at its center that let its branches shade a majority of the greenhouse. How long had this willow been here? It couldn’t have been only 12 years.
The white lotus flower also caught my eye. The one that could absorb Formless poison.
I reached into the water and gently lifted the flower, being careful not to break its stem that trailed beneath the water. Such a tiny thing, to be so useful. It could absorb poison, and I had seen Isha using the pollen in her healing salves. The petals started to become translucent as the water dripped onto them. I started to see the color of my hand through each one.
I felt a pulse and a memory of looking at the flowers. I was laying down in the vision. The flowers were surrounding me like a bed. I heard crying, then the vision ended.
I stumbled as the real world snapped into place, and I nearly fell into the water.
What did that vision mean? Was I in a field of those flowers? No, the only times I’ve seen these flowers growin
g they were partly submerged. They couldn’t grow in a field.
I set the flower back down and the bloom bobbed on the water’s surface. I opened the book searching for any pictures of the flower. I found a small sketch of it along with other herbs. I read the notes inside.
‘Sleeping glass, sometimes called the glass night flower, (Ssalg gnipeels/thginssalg) has been shown to have many uses here. Not only used to cure and absorb many poisons and venoms, but it also seems to have a special connection to the people. The dried petals are sewn into clothing and cooked into food. It is a favorite food for the traveling glass wing butterflies that are abundant in Mirror Image. Some believe that the butterflies escort the souls of the dead from this land into the afterlife. The flowers are made into a garment for the deceased, and the person is laid in a bed of sleeping glass petals to draw the butterflies near. The butterfly landing then leaving shows they have taken the soul to where it is meant to go.’
Laid in a bed of the flowers. Is that what I saw? Did I see someone being laid to rest? If so then who? Kaarina? It had to be. Luna was never properly put to rest, she was put in that dome, so it couldn’t have been her.
I flipped through the book and saw a few small legends written in the passage. These weren’t fully translated but some things stood out to me.
Phrases like ‘Formless king’ stood out from one.
The legend Chase mentioned after we saw Rakesh in person.
I read through the passage, jotting down words and rewriting them back into normal English until I got the entire story:
A man seeking power and covered in his sins approached the Formless. I need your power; he told the beast. Take what you need. The beast didn’t deliberate and swallowed the man. Leaving him a husk of body and mind, his sins seeped into his soul to be fed on by the beast. The man learned to absorb and become the beasts around him, even growing their numbers by forcing his fate on others, creating the perfect army. This man became the one and last king of the beasts until his sins were all fed upon, leaving dust where the flesh was and vapor where the soul sat.
The story was illustrated with a small doodle of shadowy humanoid figures all of which had four open red eyes each. The eyes instantly reminded me of him. Did Rakesh willingly give himself to the Formless and become like this king? To be able to absorb Formless and create new ones?
Chase had said a Formless is born when an Original shadow was torn from the body and sent to feed on its host. Would he try that with one of us? Could that have been his plan?
That thought led me to a terrifying realization. I was the only Original in his sights. Even more reason why Rakesh was after me.
I shook off the thought and looked at my translated notes. I turned back to the other small passage I saw. It looked like a poem. This one had an image of a glass wing butterfly resting on the white flower. I repeated my translation method.
Rest here child, with light of the moon
Light up their world for night ends soon
The sun beats down on one’s strained soul
Here as it sets. So too a child rests
Long and hard the battle is won
Dreams lay in pieces, as well as in peace.
Rest here dear child, the glass wing awaits to carry you with the light of the moon.
The war waged in sun has ended, only stillness of night remains
Rest here my dear child with the light of the moon.
As your last slumber ends upon the wings of the glass messenger.
Be wary tired child, be quiet and still.
For heavy your slumber, and fragile their will.
Back to earth falls a broken messenger
With no peace and no rest.
Stay still until home you reach
This lesson I teach.
Rest here dear child, silent and still
With the light of the moon and night wind chill.
I finished writing out the poem and felt tears fall from my eyes. It seemed familiar and sad. Like someone saying goodbye to a dear loved one, who longed for life.
I wiped my tears from my eyes and tried to get back into my studying mode.
Enough with the lore book. I switched to the art book.
The creation tapestry caught my eye again. The creation witch kaarinna stood in the center, pointing to where fleeing people on the left were heading running from shadows reaching to try and grab them from the right. I looked at the shadows who reached for the fleeing people. I noticed each one had a small human shaped light coming from the palms of the shadows, almost like another set of hands reaching out. The light breaking from the shadows shared a similar color to the fleeing people. Was that showing that the shadows had gotten some of them?
Sounds of the double doors opening echoed through the green house and tore my gaze up from the book.
People had started to gather into the garden, so I closed the books, taking one last look at the flower. On its petal, I saw a single, clear-winged butterfly drinking from it. It flapped its wings. One was damaged. The damaged wing looked like the cut parts had a thin film over it. it looked almost like there was something filling in the missing parts that didn’t belong to it. I moved, and it flew off. I was amazed it could still fly. I picked my study material up and left and headed to the lobby before the gathered crowd blocked my way-out to see Loic waiting for me.
“Hey Rayne. Sorry I was gone so long.” He scratched his head trying to look innocent.
“Where did you sneak off to?” I glared at him. He seemed shocked by my tone.
“Nowhere special, meeting with someone. All finished now so want to head out for some mainland coffee?”
“Sure. “I wasn’t sure If my eyes could narrow any further without closing.
He tilted his head and came over to me. “Are you mad at me or something? You seem tense.”
Tense wasn’t the word I’d use, more annoyed and left out feeling.
“No, its fine. I was just reading. Learned about that flower in there.” I glanced at the now occupied garden.
“Oh, the night glass? Yeah, I was impressed Chase got them to grow here. Normally they don’t last more than a week on this side. Not enough magic here I guess.” His nervous face lightened slightly as he smiled.
“And does it draw glass wing butterflies?”
“Every so often, yeah. Chase and Isha used to raise them in the castle gardens. A few have made it here. There’s one I’ve seen in the garden, but it doesn’t seem to like me.” His eyes rolled around looking away from me.
“One with a broken wing?” I questioned.
“Oh, so you saw it. Lucky! The last one I had seen one was…” his tone lowered, and his speech stopped with a sudden cut off.
A funeral, I guessed by the sullen look on his face. I reached up to turn his face to me. He took my hand holding it still against his face and kissed me before I could even say anything reassuring. He looked at me and I was lost in his eyes. All this training and war planning was consuming us. I felt like it had been so long since I just looked at him like this. He shifted his gaze and smiled.
“How about that coffee? I already called the ferry.”
“Sure.” I smiled trying my best to not linger on the thoughts of funerals. He seemed to be doing similar, keeping his smile in my view.
I didn’t blame him for changing the subject. He was still hurt about his past. I didn’t want to be the one that put it back in the spotlight, so I let him lead the way, both, out the door and in changing the conversation.
~
The ferry ride was quiet, as usual. This time it didn’t feel so cold, even with the salty air hitting me. The May warmth was finally starting to take effect. It was either it had been cold all this time or spending my time surrounded by shadows had made me forget to enjoy the season. With Loic’s presence at my side blocking much of the wind. I leaned into his embrace. This was a good feeling. If it hadn’t had been for him constantly looking
around us for trouble, I would have almost forgotten we were on the cusp of war.
I sat next to him against the railing on the side of the boat and he held me against him. I was happy but uneasy. We hadn’t really done this at all yet. Cuddle on the ferry? Right totally normal for couples. Nothing strange about that. The smile on my face lasted the entire trip, almost making up for feeling left alone the past few days.
~
We got our coffee and headed back to my apartment. We sat and watched a movie. The cuddling continued on the couch as well. Was he trying to make it up to me? I both enjoyed and was nervous about this extra attention. I studied Loic. He seemed a bit more relaxed than usual, that was comforting. I rested on his shoulder, falling into a daze. I checked and clutched the necklace that Isha had given me. The stone that kept me here was imbedded into the empty slot. If I did sleep, I would wake up here, so I wouldn’t wake up cold at least. Loic would still be here.
Knowing that, I relaxed and let sleep take me.
~
I woke in the in-between. But I shouldn’t have! Something had felt different this time. I had gone here a few times after training and the shadow did appear, but he didn’t acknowledge my presence much. The encounter with Kaarina must have done that.
This time I arrived to see Kaarinna’s light and Rakesh’s shadow staring each other down.
‘Lost soul, again in this place at this time.’ The woman’s voice echoed.
Rakesh heard the voice as well and approached me. unlike me, who had to swim to move, the shadow seemed to walk normally leaving ripples behind as he stepped. The woman left nothing behind and didn’t seem to walk, she seemed to hover but seemed unaffected by the water.
He stopped a foot away from me looking to the left of me. He couldn’t see me, so his gaze never met mine.
“Rada! Come out of hiding!”
“No. This is not a fight you can win Krad”
“And what’s going to stop me? All I need is you to crumble this sham you created...” The shadows voice grew harsher as he spoke.
Sham? What did he mean?
Glass Souls (Reflection Book 1) Page 38
