by CS Patra
Lavinia waited until Lora was gone again but had no chance to look at the letter. Kian had come in at that moment, looking a little flushed yet healthier than before. The color was back in his face and he was able to walk. He had thrown a blanket around him to stay warm. “Are you going to tell him?”
“Tell who and what?” Lavinia felt her mother’s letter in her pocket and tried to keep a hold of it. It was hard enough finding time to read it again and now Kian was asking her strange questions. “You should get ready as well. You can’t run around with that blanket.”
“You have to tell Silas who you really are.” Kian pointed out. “If he’s going to come on this journey, then he needs to know who he’s traveling with. I asked him how you met and he said you saved him. He thought you were some rich traveler that was wandering through the woods. He also doesn’t know about your curse.”
Lavinia gulped. “I can’t tell him. He’s a thief!”
“And?” Kian prompted. “Are you saying thieves can’t be trusted?”
“No, I…” She stopped. “It’s different with you. You found out on your own. Silas doesn’t know and he doesn’t need to know.”
“Are you sure about that? I know you don’t trust him because he’s a thief but he hasn’t done anything wrong yet. I don’t think he wants to hurt us. He’s the same age as I am and he’s not quite as fast or strong like I am. He wouldn’t be able to hurt us. He seems eager to find the lost princess because he needs the money. I was talking to him and he doesn’t really have a house. Is it true you promised him one? He’s impressed someone like you could have that much money. I had to hold my tongue from revealing who you were.”
“I’ve heard all that as well and I will give him that house. After all, the people he was with abandoned him. They left him to die in the cold and I couldn’t do that. I know he hasn’t tried to steal from us and he doesn’t seem like a threat. That said, I’m not sure if it is a good idea to reveal who I am. As of now, I need to keep it a secret. I especially don’t want him to see my curse. I don’t want to use it unless I have to.”
“I don’t know if this is a good idea, Vinnie. You can’t keep living like this and staying one step ahead of the guards from Themasa. Eventually, someone is going to catch up to you.” He looked out the window and saw how clear the night sky was. “Anyway, I came here to say that I’m ready and so is he. You should meet us outside and then we can be on our way.”
“I’m coming then.” Lavinia nodded. “I just needed to wear something warm and I will be there shortly. As for Silas, don’t tell him much. I don’t want to scare him.”
“I fail to see how you could scare anyone, Vinnie.”
Lavinia held up her hands. “Touching something would scare everyone. Just keep him away from me as much as you can.”
“I will try but trust me when I say it will be better if you tell him sooner than later.”
Kian left her to get dressed but Lavinia was thinking about his words. Yes, Silas had just been picked up and he claimed to know more about the Petal Kingdom than they did. He had been abandoned and had no home to go to. He was lonely and young and he didn’t know how to survive by himself. Kian had reasons to be cautious and he did have a point. They couldn’t keep the poor boy in the dark forever. At the same time, Lavinia knew she also had to be cautious. If Silas learned the truth, maybe others would find out. Her journey would be over and her curse would remain.
She stared down at her hands and vowed that she wasn’t done with anything. She was only starting out and she had a long way to go. Until the moment her curse was gone, she wasn’t going to tell anyone the truth and she certainly wasn’t going to go home.
Chapter 13
Lavinia barely got a chance to meet their driver because they left as soon as she got on board. Since it was already very dark and she was feeling tired, she decided to get some sleep while they were moving. She was relieved to be getting out of the Frost Kingdom because it truly was too cold to live in. The ice and snow were beautiful but she missed seeing things like green grass, bright flowers, and trees full of leaves. She missed seeing color and animals running around in the sun. The ice creatures were lovely and she could touch them without them falling apart but she missed seeing other animals.
All that seemed so small when she thought about Alice and how much closer she was going to get to her. Being with the boys was fine but there was something about Alice. She wanted to be there with someone who understood her curse. They had the same goal in mind and it would be nice to talk her about it. Maybe they could learn to understand why they had been cursed. As far as she knew, Alice didn’t really have a family and didn’t know much about them. She didn’t know what she could have done to get this curse. As for Lavinia, she had tried asking her parents but they had no answer for her.
“It’s just something that happened.” Her mother told her. “I can’t hold you. You can’t have physical contact with anyone, probably for the rest of your life. It’s hard to explain and I wish there was a way to reverse this.”
Maybe her mother didn’t understand the curse but Lavinia suspected that her parents knew more than they were admitting. They must have known the real cause of her curse and they didn’t want her to know. In a way, she was angry at them despite how much she loved them. They were the reason that she had run away. They were starting to understand that now but it couldn’t fix things. The only one who could fix this was her.
She dozed off, listening to the boys talking and barely was able to make sense of what they were saying. From what it sounded like, they were talking about their lives. Neither Kian nor Silas had a family to go to. Kian had something in the form of a shack for a home but Silas had nothing at all. She was feeling for both of them. Despite Kian having a job at the bakery and Silas having very little to live on, she needed to help them when all this was done. She didn’t want either of them to keep stealing for survival.
These are things I need to take care of when my curse is gone. This is how I can repay them. She decided, slowly drifting off to sleep. The roads weren’t as bumpy as she expected and they weren’t slipping on the ice. She never got a good look at the driver but she assumed he wasn’t suspicious or evil. After all, Lora trusted him and he had no problem taking them. She figured he just wasn’t a talkative person. He seemed more focused on getting to the Petal Kingdom than making small talk. As long as he didn’t try to hurt them and got them where they needed to be, she didn’t care what he was doing.
As they kept moving forward, she found herself dreaming that she was running through fields and touching everything with her bare hands. She found herself picking flowers and touching their gentle petals. She felt green grass underneath her feet and nothing was turning to ash. She was rolling around in the hills and climbing trees and doing all the things she had never been able to do before. In the distance, she could see her family, friends, and Alice all waiting for her. It was wonderful to run to them and hold out her arms. She wanted to hug them and give them kisses. She wanted to feel someone hold her now. So she started to run towards them as they called out to her.
That was when things started to turn for the worst. As she took a step, the grass slowly dissolved into ash and everything around it started to fall apart. The ashes were surrounding her and everything in front of her was going up in flames. She began to scream and tried to run away from the fire. All around, she saw smoke and ashes. The hill that she had been on was starting to dissolve and she couldn’t find any ground to stand on. She couldn’t see anyone anymore because it was all black. It was ashes.
No! No, this can’t be! No, I can’t live in this world! Mother! Father! Alice! Someone! Someone help me!
Her mind was going through a million thoughts as the ground gave out below her and she started to fall into darkness, screaming as she went down. She tried to grab onto something but she was falling into darkness.
“Vinnie! Vinnie! Vinnie, wake up!”
Lav
inia gasped as she woke and felt the tiny bits of snow falling on her face. It had been a horrible nightmare but she was sweating. Kian was looking at her to make sure that she was all right. “Where are we?”
“We’re on the way to the Petal Kingdom, remember?” He reminded her. “Are you all right, Vinnie? You were squirming and crying in your sleep.”
“I’m fine.” She brushed some of the snowflakes off her body and sat up. “I’m sorry if I made you worry. It was just a bad dream.”
“Care to tell us about it?” Silas asked.
“I’d rather not. It’s a dream I don’t want to think about again.” She admitted. “Anyway, how far are we? Since it’s snowing, I’m assuming we haven’t made it out of the Frost Kingdom yet.”
“We still have a few miles to go before we get there but you don’t need to worry. There’s always going to be some snow when you’re moving from Frost Kingdom. Stay bundled up though. I don’t think it’s going to get warm until the sun comes out.”
Lavinia covered herself up with blankets and got comfortable as she sat up. “I don’t think I can sleep at the moment. I need to clear my head before I even think about closing my eyes.”
“Well, I can’t get any sleep at all. I’m not used to sleeping while something is moving.” Silas admitted. “It’s also too cold out here and I can feel the snow falling. I don’t know how you managed to get any sleep at all. Not to mention, the river below is making a lot of noise.”
“River?”
“You can’t hear it? Listen.”
She listened and she did hear some water running below them. This was surprising because she expected all rivers and lakes in the Frost Kingdom to be frozen. Seeing that there was running water, she was sure they were moving farther from the cold land and closer to a warmer place. She wanted to peer over the cart and look down at the water but her body felt weak.
We must be a lot closer to the Petal Kingdom than I thought. Why is it still snowing though? I thought it would be warm by now.
“In spite of everything, I am tired. My legs hurt from walking a lot.” Lavinia rubbed her calves, which were still aching. She hadn’t realized how much she had moved around until the pain settled in. This must have been the most she had traveled in all her life. Lying down, she looked up at the cloudless sky. “It’s very quiet out here.”
“It should be. I don’t expect anything but some animals roaming about,” Kian said, looking straight ahead at the path they were going. There was no light except for the moon and even that wasn’t giving enough light to see. “This seems like a long road and there’s so much ice. In fact, I don’t think I even see the ground.”
Snap!
It must have been a branch breaking but it was loud enough to get everyone’s attention. The cart jerked all of a sudden and the horses let out a whine, raising their front two legs. Something had spooked them but Lavinia had no chance to see what it was. Suddenly, the cart began to roll faster and she was struggling to hold on. She tried to cry out to the driver and ask what was going on but tree branches brushed against her face. They dissolved into ashes that sprayed everywhere and she nearly fell off.
“Silas! Kian!” She yelled out their names, looking around for something to hold onto. Things were falling on top of her and everything her bare skin touched was dissolving. The ice had made the road unbearable and the spooked horses were not slowing down. They were trying to get away from whatever that was after them. The driver had lost control of them and Lavinia soon found herself rolling out of the cart. She had no chance to scream as she rolled down into the river.
Splash!
The water was freezing as she went down into and opened her eyes. In front of her, she could see several fish made of ice swimming around her. They stared at her with their big, curious eyes but there was nothing they could do. She had to swim to the surface on her own so she used whatever strength she had to pull herself out. She might not have fallen in deep water but it felt like the surface was far away.
I can get out! I can pull myself out! She kicked her legs, aching and tired, and used her arms to break through the water. Letting out a huge gasp of air, she felt the cold water running down her back and through her hair. Somehow, she found the ground and pulled herself out. The grass below her had turned into a pile of ashes but she didn’t care. She was out but now she had no idea where she was.
Her fingers dug into the ground and picked up all the ashes. It was strange that in the Frost Kingdom, she could walk around and touch snow with no problem. Now she found ground again and it was coming undone. She really was cursed because if anyone had been here, they would not be able to help her. She wasn’t sure how to swim properly and only knew of it because of books she read. She had seen the pictures of people swimming and read the directions but it was different to do it. In heavy petticoats and blankets, swimming through freezing water was difficult. Her body was ready to give in.
“Vinnie! Vinnie, where are you?!”
That was Kian’s voice but she was struggling to yell back. She was too weak to raise her voice but she tried raising her arms. Maybe if she waved that wet blanket around, they would be able to see it. Her arm felt limp but she managed to get it in the air. Her wrist wasn’t sturdy anymore and her hand fell over but she knew it wasn’t broken. She just couldn’t hold it straight above her.
“I’m here!” She squeaked out, breathing hard. It wasn’t loud but she still had her voice. “I’m over here! Help me!”
“Vinnie! Vinnie, is that you?!”
This voice didn’t belong to the boys but she recognized it anyway. It was a voice that she had been longing to hear for a while. “I’m here! Help! I can’t move! It’s so cold!”
“Don’t worry, Vinnie! I see you! I’m coming down here!”
Lavinia coughed and rolled over. Her eyes were trying to adjust to the scene around her. Opening them underwater had been a bad idea because it made everything blurry. She was covered in ashes but she did her best to keep her body wrapped up. If she needed help standing, she didn’t want anyone accidentally touching her. Grass dying below her was one thing. A human dying this way would be far worse and something she didn’t want to live with.
In front of her, small petals started flying above as the wind picked them up and swirled them around. These weren’t flowers made of snow and ice but real petals. Her hands reached out to touch them but they were too far away. It was a little bit of relief because she knew what this meant. It was getting warmer and flowers were in bloom. That would not happen in the Frost Kingdom but it would in the Petal Kingdom.
I’m here. She realized, taking in her surroundings. I’ve made it to the Petal Kingdom.
“Vinnie! Oh God!” Someone ran up to her side and her eyes could make out who it is. She could tell Alice’s face from a million others out there. “How did you end up here?”
Lavinia blinked. “Is that really you, Alice? Am I dreaming?”
“No, it’s real.” Alice leaned down but had to keep her distance. Her face hovered just about Vinnie’s and her breath was fanning her face. It was tough to keep looking at each other this way but it would have to do for now. “I’ve been thinking about you and trying ways to get back to you. I know you came back for me and I wasn’t there. I couldn’t stay there because_”
“I know.” Lavinia cut her off. “You did the right thing to run. Although I am wondering what you are doing out here now. It’s late.”
“Oh.” Alice pulled away and let Lavinia pull herself up. “I was looking for something. I know I’m not supposed to be out here but I needed to find it. Something told me to go out tonight and I just had to. I’m glad I did.”
“I’m glad you did as well but it’s dangerous out here. Who knows what lurks around in the woods?” Lavinia wanted to get out of the cold, wet clothes and she needed to find the boys. “Anyway, where are the dragons and Madelyn? Where are you staying?”
“I’ve found a place in the Pet
al Kingdom. Don’t worry about the dragons and Madelyn. I’ve found a nice, cold cave for them to rest in. The Petal Kingdom is a lot warmer so they can’t stay out in the middle of the day. Anyway, where is Kian? I know Dark probably wandered off somewhere but what happened to my fellow baker?”
“That’s what I want to know. I heard him calling my name. I’ve been looking for him and Silas.”
“Who?”
“Oh!” Lavinia coughed again as she tried to stand. “I have another companion who owes me his life. He knows the Petal Kingdom so that’s why I’ve asked him to come along. He’s another boy about our age and he says he’s happy to help.”
“Strange. I’ve got a new companion as well. Coryn is a little shy though and doesn’t like to be around people. In fact, I’ve left her back in the caves with the dragons. She’s not fond of the light either.” Alice explained. “We have a lot to catch up on but first, we need to find our friends! And you look like you’re freezing! How did you end up in this water?!”