by A. Kingsley
His spirit rushed to her in attempt to calm her and another cold wave hit her. He held out a hand for her to take, but she backed away from him afraid of the cold. He spoke before she could. “Sage? No, no I’m wrong. Clare is that you Clare?” he whispered, his voice soothing and warm, exactly how it had been before his death. Her eyes were wild, not with fear, but with amazement. “Papa?” she whispered back, her voice broken, her eyes teary. She could see him, he was here, his spirit was real and still alive after all these years.
Their reunion was interrupted when Cassius flew through the doors, his arms immediately wrapped around Clare’s waist. “You screamed. Are you alright?”
She turned to face him, her eyes were slightly teary. She patted him on the shoulder, but let herself stay in his arms. “I’m okay.” She turned to look at Wade who had his head tilted in confusion. “Can you not see him?” she questioned as she pointed at the space in front of her.
“See who? No there’s nothing there, should I go check outside?”
“No, no. Wade’s spirit is here. I see him now and he speaks to me.”
Cassius bit his lip and debated on how to respond, ultimately, he decided to believe her, “I was wondering why it felt colder.” He kissed the top of her head and let go of her. “I’ll be back in the sitting room. Shout if you need me okay. We were worried about you.”
Cassius eyed the corner skeptically before he left the room, he left the door open. Clare took a deep breath and looked out towards her papa.
“Who is he?” Wade eyed the doorway, though he could see everything, only Clare could see him. His nose was scrunched up and his eyebrows were pointed.
“Prince Cassius of Excidium, I am engaged to him, blame mum for that one. I’d love to chat, but let’s please leave the small talk for later. Why are you here? Why not come home to the palace if your spirit lives on?”
“You’re too young to be engaged. I would’ve said no, I guess your mum has gone bonkers. But anyways, I couldn’t find the palace. I searched and searched, but I think I went in the wrong direction, so I settled here. It’s lonely, but I get to watch the people come by and clean it up. Please can we talk about you? You’ve grown up to be such a beautiful young girl.”
“”Thank you, I guess you have a lot of life to catch up on and a lot to learn. I’m headed back towards the palace, you can come home with us.”
“You’re the first person who has seen me, so I doubt that Sage and Gracielle would be able to. Why can you see me?”
“I have magic, I guess I can see spirits, but I didn’t know that I could do that until now. I’m here because I was trying to find out more about my powers. I found out that grandma had magic and I found her ring as well. And now I found you,” her eyes filled with tears again.
At her tears, he melted deeper into his soft nature, “I’ll come home to see you three, to watch over you, until my spirit fades, but I don’t want to come with you now, I don’t want to ruin the rest of your trip. Just draw me a map and I am sure that I will be able to find my way back to you. I know I can as long as I have a visual. The tricky thing is, that all of those years I had no idea my own mum practiced magic. I promise if I knew, I wouldn’t have hid that from you girls.” He stuck out an arm to comfort his daughter, but when it went right through her, he quickly stepped back.
Clare rubbed her tears on her sleeves and looked for something to write on. Wade was quick to point her to the drawer where he used to store his journals. She drew him a map and wrote down the addresses of important places in the area, including the palace. “Life is a little bonkers right now, so I might not be able to introduce you to everyone, but if by the time you get to the palace in Pax et Lux and we aren’t there, we have gone to the palace in the royal territory. Head there, I promise that you’ll find us at either one of those places. You have to find us because you have to see Sage.”
“I miss her like I’ve missed you. Does she still have that sword by chance?” Wade asked.
“It never leaves her side. Papa, is there anything else in this home that I might need?”
“I don’t think so love, but stay the night, rest up and go look for a ring of your own in the morning when it is safer. I overheard your voices talking about the ring in the sitting room, but I did not want to make a scene. I’ll make it home eventually. I love you okay?”
“I love you too.”
His spirit went out of the window and she was left alone. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts before walking out to the sitting room where Cassius and Antoine sat. At the sight of her, they both rose, their eyes were clouded with worry. “Clare, are you alright? What happened in there? I heard you scream and Cassius said it was a spirit but,” Antoine said in a panic.
“It was a spirit, it was my papas. I understand if you two don’t believe me, but I know what I saw.”
“Of course we believe you,” Antoine spoke for the two of them. “It’s great that you can see spirits, at least I know if anything does happen to me, I’ll still get to see you,” he said with a lopsided smile.
“Please don’t think like that,” she frowned. She moved closer to him and gave him a hug, his warmth sent the chill away and instead sent life back into her body.
She looked at Cassius over Antoine’s shoulder. He stood awkwardly, his hands in his pocket, he swayed back and forth on his heels. “Yes, please, don’t think like that,” he said quietly. “I’m sure this will all be fine, let’s just eat and then get some sleep.”
The goddesses cave
Their time at the cottage was short. There was no time to linger. They couldn’t risk Erebus’s guards finding them and Clare needed to get home and help her sister out with their duties. The cave was the last stop on their journey before she could go home and tell her mother and Sage about what she had found. Before they departed for the cave she said her goodbyes to her papa. He promised that he would find her again. She took his word and left the home. It only took the three travelers an hour to get there and upon first glance, there seemed to be nothing special about the cave. The entrance to the cave was dome shaped and the walls were stone gray.
“Are we sure this is actually real?” Cassius questioned as he leaned forward to peer inside. From where he stood, there appeared to be nothing but bare space and the unknown on the other side.
“I’m sure that this is the right one and I have a feeling that this is real,” Clare said as she stared at the cave. She trusted Antoine’s judgement and she did not want to second guess him. If other myths about magic had been proven true, it was likely that this one was real too.
The day was bright and the cave was lit by the sunshine that poured in from the entrance and the cracks in the rock. Clare walked in with Cassius and Antoine behind her, Cassius was equipped with his sword that he held out in front of him and Antoine held onto his book that he had been reading. It had the map to the cave inside.
When they first walked in, there appeared to be nothing in the cave but cold air and stone, but as they kept walking and the light began to fade, the stone led them to a pile of gems that filled the cave like a river. Gems of all shapes and colors littered the floor and stacked up high. There were gems the size of pebbles and gems the size of boulders, there were stones the darkest shade of black and gems the colors of the rainbow. They were all dull, barely seen in the light. Clare hesitated ready to turn around, no stones were glowing. Antoine placed a hand on her shoulder, “it’s okay, don’t give up, there are thousands of stones here, just walk on top of them, move your hands through them, I know one will glow, I feel it,'' he assured. He turned to Cassius and gestured for him to put his sword down just in case his hostility disturbed the energy.
Reluctantly, Cassius agreed and clipped his sword back onto to his belt. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched carefully, his eyes lingered on the stones nearest to the floor, just in case an animal erupted from the ground and tried to swallow Clare whole. They hadn’t seen any odd creatures on their trip y
et, but it was better to be safe than sorry. If magic was real, then who was he to say that a giant slithering worm wasn’t.
Clare took off her shoes and shivered as her feet touched the cold stone floor. This was not a necessary step, but Clare had an idea, if the stones could feel her energy, then maybe they would respond to her magic. She quickly stepped onto the pile of gems, wincing at how rigid and sharp they felt beneath her feet. Even though they hurt to walk on, she was glad to be away from the cold floor, the gems were warm and heated up her feet like a pair of socks. Unlike her grandmother’s ring, these gems had no active magic and therefore they could only accept her, not reject her. Clare took a deep breath and slowly walked forward. She bent down slightly so her hands could go through the gems on the top of the pile. She took the path of winding gems down to its end and sat down in defeat. As she reached her hand into the pile one last time, a bright glow appeared at the end of the cave.
At the very end of the gem trail, there was a shiny rose quartz gemstone, the size of a dime. The light it illuminated was blinding. All parties covered their eyes.
Clare painfully opened her eyes and crawled through the pile, her fingers grabbed the stone and as soon as it was in her grasp, the light faded into a dull glow. “This is it,” she whispered to herself. She heard a few cheers at the other side of the cave and looked back to see
Antoine jumping up and down, a bright smile across his lips. Cassius was smiling, he couldn’t bring himself to jump or scream, but he didn’t have to, Clare knew he was proud of her.
The princess slowly rose from the pile of gems and made her way back through the stone river with the rose quartz buried tight in her palm. When she stepped out from the trail and her feet hit the frigid floor, her brain began to process the pain, the cold had stung her cuts.
Cassius looked appalled and she looked down to see exactly what he was looking at.
Cuts in all different shapes and sizes decorated her knees and feet, blood dripped down from her knees and painted the floor. The gems had cut her. Her body acted before they could speak. She felt a warm sensation in her stomach and the cold sting on her knees and feet quickly faded away. The blood on her skin dried and vanished. Her cuts folded themselves back into her skin and left her skin smooth and new. The warm feeling subsided and she put back on her socks and boots. As she looked back up from the ground, she began to process what had just happened. Her mouth hung open.
“Why do you look so shocked? Remember when I hit you?” Cassius recalled.
“You hit her?!” Antoine yelled out.
“Not like that idiot, with a sword, when we were dueling. Her skin healed immediately.”
“Well yes, I do remember that, but I was attempting to actively use my magic against you, I was focusing. I didn’t think about it this time, it just happened,” she whispered. “Just like my initial discovery with the glass in my shoulder. I didn’t think about it, my body just healed me.”
Antoine relaxed, he placed a hand on his chin, “Maybe you don’t have to focus when it comes to healing yourself, or maybe,” he winked, “it’s the stone.”
“Yeah maybe it’s the stone,” she said warily.
As they walked out of the cave, she continued to think back on what had just happened. The Goddesses had deliberately placed a stone for her to find in this cave. They knew that she was capable of greatness. In addition to that, her body had healed itself without her focus. It didn’t sit right to her. ‘Would she be immortal? Could something eventually kill her?’ She hoped it would, she didn’t want to be on this Earth forever. She was tempted to stab herself in the stomach just to test the theory, but that was an impulsive theory and a dangerous one. Once they were on horseback and were riding back to the palace, she couldn’t take the unknown any longer. Antoine had to have known. His books must have told him. “Antoine, please don’t tell me that I’m immortal,” she said dreadfully, her eyes did not dare to meet his. She heard Cassius laugh at her irrational thought, but she shut him out.
“Don’t worry princess, you won’t be stuck on this Earth forever. Old age will take you or sickness. Your body might be able to fight off man made poison and cuts, but it can’t fight off old age or disease,” he said. He changed the subject in hopes to make her feel better, “when I’m home and safe,” he said positively, “I’ll make you a band for your stone, so you can have a ring. Would you like that?”
“Do you think you could make a necklace?” she asked, her voice soft and quiet.
“Of course, in fact it’s easier, one necklace it is,” he said cheerfully.
With stops to rest, eat, sleep and relieve their bladders, the journey back to the palace took almost seven days. When Clare got bored, Antoine and Cassius would take turns telling her stories. While Cassius’s were about made up wars and duels that took place on the other side of the Earth, Antoine’s were romance stories and they often involved a princess and a servant. He never said this explicitly, but he left subtle clues for Clare to pick up on.
They made it to the palace just in time, unaware that the Excidium guards were right on their tail. At the sight of the group’s three horses, the door to the palace swung open. Sage sprinted at them. As soon as Clare climbed off of her horse, Sage embraced her in a large hug. The two of them embraced for a minute, before Sage pulled back to see Antoine.
“Good, he’s here, as long as he is inside of the palace then they won’t be able to take him.” Her eyes flickered to Cassius who she greeted with a wave. She would have made a joke that went something along the lines of, ‘sad to see you came back,’ but she realized it wasn’t fitting for the current situation and held her tongue.
Antoine hopped off of his horse and gave the animal a pet, “Thank you for being such a good horse, you can finally rest now.” He turned to Sage who was holding her arms out to him. He was a bit shocked by the gesture, but he embraced her anyways. “I’m just going to take off the horse's gear and then I’ll be inside,” he promised.
“No, no, someone else will do it. Whenever you are outside, they can take you, but they can’t come inside our palace doors. My mum has sent out an order forbidding it. Cassius is the only person from Excidium allowed in the palace right now. Please go inside, my mum is waiting for you, we will all be there in a second.” Her eyes searched his frantically, in hopes that his positivity would shatter and he would finally understand the severity of the situation, but his smile didn’t falter. He happily jogged up the steps, the door shutting safely behind him.
Sage let out a deep breath and turned to face Cassius who had just got off of his horse. Her smile returned, “thank you for putting away the horses and bringing everything inside, Cassius,” she winked as she grabbed her sister’s wrist and pulled her inside.
Gracielle had already greeted Antoine and made him take his shoes off. She had the curtains closed so that no one would see that he was inside. She had put a warm blanket over his shoulders and made him a mug of hot tea. She offered to get one of the servants to rub his feet, but he politely refused. When her daughters walked through the door, the rest of her worry went away. She pulled them both into a tight hug. “I am so happy that you are home, we have missed you so much. I’m sure Sage told you all about how I've been making her write and how I’ve taught her to dress like a queen.”
“It’s been so much fun,” Sage groaned sarcastically.
“I missed you guys,” Clare whispered. When she was let out of the hug, she took off her shoes and went over to Antoine. She sat near him and he wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
“I’m sure your mug of tea is coming soon,” he told her.
“It is,” Gracielle said. “With your mug of tea you are going to tell me everything that happened, right? And oh, where is Cassius dear?”
“Well, maybe not everything,” Clare laughed, “he’s putting the horses away.”
“Alright, I’ll prepare him a mug too.”
By the time that Gracielle returned, Cassius was still outsid
e. She brought back three mugs, one for Sage and Clare and then one for Cassius when he came back inside. She sat on the sofa with Sage, so she could face both Antoine and Clare.
“I want to hear all about your journey, believe me, but first I need to go over some safety rules. We are hiding Antoine. I am sure that they will figure out that he is here, but they are not allowed inside. As soon as he steps out from our gates, he is vulnerable. The gates are going to remain closed, but there is the chance of an attack. If they see you, they could create a plan to steal you. From now on, all windows and doors will remain closed and locked, unless I have cleared you to leave and the curtains will not be open on bedroom windows. The only visitors allowed inside are the Demetrias’s. The plan is to hope that Excidium gives up, so that we can all return back to a normal life, or that we can get Antoine back to Deus, where is he completely safe. Whatever comes first. Are you alright with this Antoine?”
Antoine looked over to Clare, “of course,” he smiled. “Thank you for keeping me safe.”
“Of course, now tell me everything that happened,” Gracielle said.
Clare told her mother almost everything. She told her about Fran and Natalia, she told her about Jesse and the origins of her powers and she told her about the cave of gems. But she left a few details out. Her conversation with her papa and her kiss with Antoine. She felt as if her mother was not ready to hear that she could see spirits.
Right after she had finished explaining their journey, Cassius came in with their things. He set the bags down on the floor, his honeyed skin was pale from the cold, his lips were chapped and slightly blue. Though he was trying his best not to show that he was cold, he was shivering.