by Bar Sagi
“Oh, sorry,” Yasmin said, embarrassed. She had already messed up! “I can do some elemental magic, and bring drawings to life. I can also sort of fly, or jump really high, and I can meditate. David couldn’t teach me rune magic for some reason.”
“That’s it?!” Gloriana said, unimpressed. “Well, you can’t expect a prince to be a good teacher, but still! Someone who has limitless potential should have been taught a basis in at least three different types of magic!”
“Sorry?” Yasmin said, confused.
They had reached a courtyard. It was sixty-five by sixty-five feet, with stone columns surrounding it. The ground was covered with soft green grass that looked like no human had ever set foot on it.
“Well, whatever. Now, though we start anew. I fully expect you to listen to my every word. I have seen your grades. Apparently you are a smart kid. Your physical side–”
“You saw my grades?!” Yasmin cried, outraged. “How? Oh, wait! I know. Prince David! He is a perfect spy, isn’t he?”
“Why would we need Prince David to spy? We have been spying on you for years, ever since the priest told us where the future mage was. I know the grades you’ve gotten since kinder garden by heart.” Gloriana sat down on the moss. “Sit. We need to meditate.”
Yasmin sat, quite annoyed. Why do I have spies following me? She wondered, outraged. Do I have no privacy? Her mind full of thoughts, she began meditating, and her power wasn’t quite under control—Understatement. It kept flickering over her body, mostly lightning, every time Yasmin thought of something, which was often.
Finally, Gloriana had it.
“Ouch!” She cried out, when lightning hit her arm.
“Be careful! Don’t let your power flow outward! Relax!”
“I am trying!” Yasmin growled. It was hard work, meditating. It was boring, and she wasn’t good at letting her thoughts drift.
“Try harder! Clear your mind, and relax. We are not here to kill you, but I am here to teach you.”
When Gloriana saw the look on Yasmin’s face she changed her mind. “You obviously have a lot of energy to expel, Yasmin. So why don’t you run ten laps around the palace. Not all of it. But I will mark the places with my magic. By the time you are done, you will be too tired to be emotionally unstable, like now.”
Not waiting for an answer, Gloriana mumbled something under her breath while drawing strange symbols in the air. A glowing line ran from Yasmin’s feet and raced away.
“Hurry!” Gloriana said when Yasmin just stared at it. “If you don’t catch it, you will run ten times around the palace. If you want to stop running, catch it!”
For once in her life, Yasmin didn’t question her. She wanted to get away, and to stop running. So she ran at full speed after the glowing line, which was disappearing around the corner of the courtyard.
Breathing fast, Yasmin rounded the corner. She had lost count of how many times she had run around the palace. That cursed line was always at the edge of her vision, running away from her just as fast as she ran from it. Every time she took a break, she heard Gloriana’s voice in her head, or Abby’s. So she kept running, tired of feeling crazy.
When she at last stepped on that glowing line, which Yasmin had thought of many names for by then, and most weren’t nice, she was back in the courtyard. Feeling her legs give way beneath her, she collapsed on her back, staring up at the blue sky.
“One, two three…” said a voice so quiet it was like Yasmin’s own thoughts, crept into her head. Without thinking she entered meditation, looking at the blue sky. After a while, the voice stopped, but Yasmin was still meditating.
“Not bad,” a voice said, rousing her out of meditation. “You did better than I expected, holding up for an hour.”
Yasmin looked up, moaning at her still hurting muscles and the sight of Gloriana Stargazer. She had hoped the teacher was gone for good.
As if she had read her thoughts, Gloriana grinned. “I don’t get lost that easily, Yasmin. And you are quite easy to find. Your power is like an untrained beacon, shining among the castle candles.”
“Thanks, I think?” Yasmin said, getting up. “Am I done for the day?”
“Almost,” Gloriana said, causing Yasmin to moan. “You have to pick out a book from the library and read it. I want you to finish it by tomorrow. This is your homework, girl.” She handed her a piece of paper with the name of the book on it. “Now, shoo!”
That night, Yasmin had her worst dream yet. She was in a dark forest, unable to move, clothed in a pink dress. She felt dead in her own skin as a green goo surrounded her and began covering her. As much as Yasmin fought, it was useless.
When the goo had completely surrounded her, she was lying on the ground as it soaked into her skin like she was a sponge.
When she took a breath and opened her eyes, it wasn’t Yasmin who controlled her body. She had become a puppet, and she had no idea who the puppeteer was.
Chapter 4
A princess
The library had been wonderful, but the book Gloriana had chosen for her was kind of boring. Her book was about the history of Atlantis, and Yasmin could barely get into the story. She read all one thousand pages, well she tried, but Yasmin fell asleep at page one hundred and ten.
What she did read was about the rise of Atlantis, and the legend that it had drowned. Apparently, Atlantis was nearly flooded by storms, but a mage believed to be sent by God saved the country with his fearsome powers.
Since then, mages have been powerful influences in the world. People like King Arthur, Queen Elizabeth, Madame Currie, and more, too many to count. Sometimes people went a few hundred years without knowing who the mage was, but they eventually found him/ her.
Eating a chocolate sandwich, she made her way down to where she trained yesterday. Thinking about Atlantis, she wondered, why is the royal family so annoying?
‘They have a hard time.’ The now familiar voice said inside her head. ‘I think that if you give them a chance, they might be nice people.’
‘They didn’t give me a chance!’ Yasmin argued with her crazy voice. ‘Why should I give them one?!’
‘You trashed and ruined their ball, but they didn’t hurt you and forgave you. Yasmin, you get a lot more chances than you realize. And was Princess Amanda anything but friendly toward you?’ The crazy voice declared in her head. ‘Yasmin, you were the one who didn’t give them a chance.’
Yasmin shut up mentally. It was impossible to argue with yourself, especially when your crazy voice was making sense.
Wait a minute! She realized. I have to apologize! Forgetting about mage training, she ran in the other direction, having caught a piece of gossip earlier that morning about the room of the princess.
Running through marble hallways, Yasmin saw that things were becoming more girly. Paintings of queens adorned the walls, and flowers filled the air with their perfume. It was weird, but it helped Yasmin find her way.
Eventually she came to a red and gold door with a stay out sign on it. She supposed it was Princess Amanda’s room, since she could hear music playing inside.
Gathering her courage, Yasmin knocked three times. The piano music stopped and then Princess Amanda opened the door and looked at Yasmin strangely.
“What do you want?” Princess Amanda asked on guard. “Are you here to criticize me again?”
Yasmin swallowed hard and looked at the ground. “I wanted to apologize for the other day. I realized that I can’t blame you for what David did, how he deceived me. You were very welcoming, and I was rude. Sorry.”
Warm fingers lifted her chin, Yasmin looked up, startled. “I understand you were under a lot of pressure. But please think before you act next time. This kingdom doesn’t revolve around you.”
Yasmin nodded, looking at the ground. She hated disappointing people.
“Have you spoken to David at a
ll?” Princess Amanda asked.
“No, I haven’t. I don’t want to see him and it seems the feeling is mutual,” Yasmin said, remembering the look on his face the night of the ball.
“I don’t think so.” Princess Amanda leaned against the doorway. “He was very hurt by what you said, but he doesn’t seem angry. Even though you provoked him very much, he really cares about you.”
“He hurt me,” Yasmin said simply. “I thought I could trust him, and now I’m in a whole new continent and he has been lying to me the whole time. It would hurt too much to see him.”
“Don’t let your fear stop you,” Princess Amanda said, looking at Yasmin with wisdom. “If you really love him, fight. Otherwise you will regret it.”
Yasmin didn’t acknowledge that part. “I gotta go back to Gloriana before she kills me,” she declared jokingly, trying to change the subject.
“Gloriana, huh? She scares me!” Princess Amanda smiled. “But she’s a good teacher, and together perhaps you could save the kingdom. We need hope. The people are losing hope.”
Looking at the shadows under Princess Amanda’s eyes, Yasmin thought of all the sacrifices the people were making. Someone else should have been the mage, she thought. Someone who was braver, smarter, and really cares. Me? I just started this to spend time with the boy who broke my heart.
Suddenly feeling ashamed, Yasmin looked down. “Goodbye, Princess Amanda.”
“Call me Amanda.” Amanda looked at Yasmin, her eyes filling with mirth. “I have a feeling you will have quite an impact on this kingdom!”
Chapter 5
Training & forest fires
For the next week Yasmin trained herself physically and mentally, enduring obstacle courses and putting on a happy face.
What Amanda had said really hit home. She never wanted to hurt David, just make him regret hurting her. Maybe she should talk to him, sort this out and break up with him properly.
‘Are you nuts?!’ The voice in her head said. ‘That boy is despicable! He broke my heart and yours! Why should you even give him a passing thought?’
‘I hurt him.’ Yasmin thought back. ‘I was unfair, and didn’t even give him a chance to explain himself. And no matter what, I still care about him, and that’s why it hurts so much. If I talk to him, maybe I can sort myself out.’
‘You speak to him, your heart will break again!’ Her voice said. ‘And I thought I was broken. Putting yourself back together takes time, and you can’t do it in pieces.’
Yasmin couldn’t think of anything to think-again, so she just kept walking to training. A servant ran past her, skidded to a stop and turned around.
“Are you the mage?” he asked, breathing hard.
Yasmin nodded, surprised he knew who she was. Conveniently forgetting the scene she had made at the ball.
“Gloriana Stargazer want me to show you the way to the castle village. Come with me.”
He set off to a run, not waiting for her answer.
Couldn’t she have a quiet morning? With a silent groan, Yasmin ran after the boy, wondering what was so important that Gloriana couldn’t tell her herself.
Running into the woods, Yasmin began to smell the distinct smell of smoke. Feeling bad, not because she hated smoke—Yasmin loved fire—but because it seemed like this was the way to the castle village, Yasmin stopped.
The boy stopped too, looking back at her with the disgruntled expression of a cat. “Are you coming? This isn’t a fun time, you know!”
Eyes wide, Yasmin ran after him again.
The trees parted, giving way to a clearing. A village was there, or the remnants of one. Burning houses were everywhere, and the fire was jumping to the nearby trees. Yasmin looked around wondering what could have done this and hoping that nobody had died.
“There you are!” Gloriana said, her normally pristine perfect clothes singed. “I’ve been waiting!”
“What happened here, Gloriana?!” Yasmin asked, lifting her shirt to her nose so as to not breathe in smoke.
“What do you think? The rebellion, with some strong spellcaster who knows how to start a fire. Some of the villagers got out in time, but some didn’t, and some stayed to fight. You can guess what happened to them.” Gloriana waved her hand around the rubble that was around them.
Yasmin suddenly felt nauseous, and hoped that not too many people had died. “Can we stop the fire, at least?” she asked, hoping for a yes.
“I need your strength. But, yes, I should be able to.” Gloriana took Yasmin’s hand and silently asked for permission.
Yasmin nodded, letting Gloriana into the supply of power that she had.
“Hmm,” Gloriana said. Lifting her arms, she drew a symbol in the air. Buckets of water—without the buckets—fell from the sky, landing on everything in sight. Including Yasmin and Gloriana, but because it got rid of the smoke, neither complained.
“Echh!” Yasmin spit out a mouthful of water. “What was—” Her knees suddenly felt weak, and the ground came closer. With an ever-growing feeling of disgust—she hated fainting—Yasmin collapsed on the forest floor.
Gloriana looked at her student in disgust. She had grown to be mildly fond of Yasmin, despite the first impression. She had also been present at the ball and witnessed Yasmin’s outburst. But what she had just found out, and the fact that it seemed Yasmin was prone to fainting, was not good news at this moment.
Yasmin looked around, sighing. It seemed that she was dreaming, because this place was too perfect to be real.
A beach with turquoise waters and golden sand swept out on her left. With a forest to her back and a cliff on her right, it was beautiful. Everything was perfect, and the beach home several yards away from her looked nice and inviting. She could even hear sounds coming from the inside. Moreover, they were cat sounds- and that meant cats!
Yasmin stepped toward the house, and human laughter started up. It sounded like her friends, with food on the stove. But when she turned around, there was no one there.
‘Are you so sure about that?’ A loud and commanding voice boomed all around her. ‘This place is paradise, and you could make all your dreams come true.’
Yasmin felt a yearning to accept anything he had to offer, to just agree. ‘No!’ She bellowed in her mind. There is something too good about this man.
As if the voice had sensed her disagreement, the winds started blowing coldly. ‘You are slowly losing everything that matters. Your family, your friends, and soon, all of Atlantis shall be lost to the rebellion. It is inevitable. So why not join? You can make this dream come true, and David and his horrid mother will perish.’
Yasmin hesitated. It sounded like a personally reasonable offer. If she would lose everything, shouldn’t she gain everything, too?
‘No!!!!!!’ Another voice-the voice in her head screamed. ‘Stay away from her! Yasmin, don’t listen to him! It was my greatest mistake!’
‘Who are you?’ Yasmin wondered again. There was no reply from her voice.
‘Are you ready?’ The other voice said, eager to finish. ‘You are soon to be a name that goes down in history.’
Yasmin couldn’t answer, because at that moment, she was swamped by images that flooded her head. And they were the memories of Abby Silvertree.
She saw a mother’s face scowl at her, felt herself strive toward perfection, remembering every little mistake. Given a chance for freedom she took it, and regretted it immediately.
For what Abby had not known was that the voice was the beast, who cared nothing at all for her thoughts and feelings.
Yasmin fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the images. Silently she thought: ‘Abby?’
‘Yes.’ Came the reply.
The spirt of Abby was inside her.
And so was the pull of the beast.
Chapter 6
The fight
‘How?
’ Yasmin thought/ said.
An image of Abby’s final moments appeared in her head, and she saw herself through Abby’s eyes.
Abby had given herself to Yasmin, as a last way to let her spirt live on.
‘Enough!’ Growled the beast. ‘Do you truly wish to save Atlantis? Then let me help you.’
Yasmin wanted nothing to do with any of them, Abby and most certainly not the beast.
‘Go away!’ She thought. ‘I will never join you!’
‘Never is a long time, little one.’ The Beast said, his voice echoing around the dream. ‘In your darkest hours, you will agree to be mine.’
Yasmin feared he was right. As the dream began disappearing, the misty outline of Abby began forming.
Abby reached out her hand, but this time, Yasmin wasn’t taking it.
“Yasmin. Yasmin.” A soft male voice sliced through her dream. “Are you okay? You fainted.”
Yasmin slowly opened her eyes. She had a killer headache. And that dream! She shivered. If it was true, then Abby was inside her head. Was there any way to get her out?
There was a male standing in front of her. He was tall and male, with black hair. She thought she recognized his blurry shape. As her vision cleared, she gasped. It was David.
“David?” she asked, pressing a hand to her temples. He clearly was overworked. He had bags under his eyes, and his face was lined with worry. And most important, why was he here?!
“I heard you fainted. I came immediately!” David scowled, looking more like a prince than ever.
Yasmin had never felt farther away from him. “What did I tell you about overworking your magic?” he scolded, and Yasmin looked away.
Was David worried?
It gave her time to notice she was some place that looked like an infirmary. It was big, and had cream colored walls but it was scary. The walls had been painted with children and rainbows, probably the opposite of what Yasmin felt right now.
“Oh!” she cried, remembering something important. “How are the villagers? Are they okay? They lost their homes.”
