The Magic Behind Her Eyes

Chapter 17: Help Me

"What's going on?"

Reina looked at her mother, sitting by a chair, her face barely noticeable in the dark. Gloria, clearly shocked and not expecting to see her, walked out of her chair and uttered some words that Reina couldn't make out. 

Her world felt like it was crashing before her eyes. Why would her mother be here of all places? She couldn't take her eyes off her while her mother looked strangely calm and barely looked into her direction.

"What is going on?" She repeated, barely able to hear herself. Her voice sounded muffled in her ears and she didn't realise how shocked she was until she realised she couldn't move her legs, frozen to the spot by the absurdity of the situation.

No.

That wasn't it.

She looked down to her feet and a long snake like plants slithered around her legs, erupting from the Earth below her feet. Held her to her place, wrapping around her knees and growing taller.

"Amelia, let her go!" Gloria pleaded at the woman sitting in the chair. The woman who Reina couldn't believe was her mother.

The plants almost piercing through her skin. Burning ice.

"Mum..." Reina whispered.

"Oh for the love of God, I hate that word to my core!" Amelia finally stood up and held a wand in her hand, "I hate it. Do you know how much I hate it?"

Her voice was raspy and each word flowed with venom as she spoke. She hadn't heard her voice in a long time.

"Reina, she's not your mother," desperation in Gloria's voice, almost seemed like she was going to cry but Reina pretended not to notice, "she was never related to you."

Silence.

Except the sound of the plant squeezing her legs. A cracking noise that Reina could only guess was the sound of her bones breaking.

Then, anger boiling down her veins.

"I'm not a human, Reina," Amelia finally acknowledged her presence. She was finally talking to her, looking at her in the eyes, "I'm a goblin. Cursed by the king."

'Cursed...?'

"Cursed with you."

There was a small moment of confusion. Like block that just wouldn't fit. And yet what angered her the most was that she could believe it was all true. She wanted so badly to believe otherwise, that this was all some sort of lie or a trick. But it wasn't. 

It all slowly started to make sense why she never felt the emotional connection with her mother. Why she treated her no differently, even after exposing herself in the kitchen that day.

But this led to more questions than answers.

Watching the confused expression in her face, Amelia walked down the stairs and headed towards her. Her hair frizzy and a weird texture, almost like threads. It was the first time she noticed that she really did not seem like a human at all. She took her wand and placed it in Reina's forehead.

"Amelia, you're going to hurt her!" panic in Gloria's voice, it filled the room like echoes.

Reina felt the tip, almost stabbing into her forehead. It was placed with so much force that she felt a liquid flow down from it. A small tint of blood. But there was no pain. It was relief. It was as if there was something wrapped around her mind and it was slowly unravelling itself.

The wand gently moved and started pulling what looked like a red piece of string, out of her forehead. Silky and shining, almost as thin as her hair strands.