Loki's Apprentice: A Tale Retold

Chapter 19: Borrowed Treasure

"There are no secrets that time does not reveal."

-Jean Racine

Chapter 19: Borrowed Treasure

Adrenaline pumped rapidly throughout her veins as she made her way back to her chambers with the precious Praedita clung protectively to her chest.

She had hardly closed the bedroom door when Frea appeared with a brilliant shimmer of green.

"Do you realize how much danger you put, not only you, but also myself, in by sneaking around and stealing that book?"

Frea had a fire behind her eyes that Evelyn had recognized often in her late mother's eyes. She remembered that she had been playing far too close to the lake and ignored her mother's warning-as the stubborn child she was. This mistake left her to the misfortune of falling in.

She had not drowned or had been swallowed whole by a lake monster; which would have been suspected with the look of horror on her poor mother's face.

Nonetheless, Evelyn received a great reprimand and she never forgot the fiery fervor of fear and anger that danced within her mother's eyes.

Evelyn looked up at her innocently like a child.

"I didn't steal it, I'm just borrowing it." She replied cheekily, but then she pondered Frea's words. "What danger would you have been in with the Beast? Aren't you and the other illusions not able to be harmed?"

"Our existence lies purely on whether he chooses for us to stay."A sadness overcame Frea's demeanor as she continued,"He is already affected gravely by our appearances that I fear any false move would lead him to banish us entirely. I'm afraid that would only bring ruin to himself."

Evelyn wonder how their appearances could affect the Beast so much for him to consider doing away with them.

Maybe it was due to the fact that they did not look like him and it caused him insecurities. He did give her that dreadful name the night before.

Even though he showed such a disdain between her natural beauty and the peculiars of his unique physique, Evelyn still felt that there was something she was missing.

It was in the deep rooted sorrow the Beast's eyes and the sneaking suspicion that the three illusions were hiding something.

Before she could ask any further, Frea quickly snapped her out of her short contemplation.

"Well, what are you wishing to gain out of this 'borrowed' book of yours?"

Her attention was brought back to the borrowed treasure in her hands. She carefully placed the Preadita on her bed, sat down, and turned it pages carefully until she reached a torn section within its pages.

"Answers." She finally replied as she ran her fingers over the crude edges of the torn page. A jolt of energy jumped from the page to her finger, causing her to pull back for a moment.

"How is a torn page going to give you answers?"

"It's speaking to me, if I tap into it, I can maybe see what was there before."

It was true, the book had never ceased its quiet calling out to her and she could feel its pull upon her. She could feel it wanting to drag her into another vision.

"If's and maybe's!" Frea exasperated under her breath before sitting down besides Evelyn."Do you even know what you're tapping into? We already know the affect this thing has on your body. You're already deathly pale, don't push yourself child."

Evelyn met Frea's eyes, hers shinning with tears of desperation.

She spoke softly saying, "I can't stop when i've gotten this close."

Frea dropped her gaze, sighed, then squeezed Evelyn's small hand in support.

"If you seem ill, I'm pulling you out."

Evelyn gave her a small smile of thanks and turned back to the torn page. She closed her eyes and allowed the tug at her stomach to win. The visions came at her all at once like the floodgates had been opened up upon her, and she had to remember how to reach the surface.

Faces and voices overwhelmed her as she tried to find her way.

"I don't like the way it feels."

She heard the young woman again form earlier that evening.

"I felt as if I was separated from my body. Both present now in this moment, and somehow, not at all."

Her words struck Evelyn with surprise; they were strikingly similar to what she had told the Beast. She could only assume that she wasn't suffering alone in these strange happenings.

She could finally see the woman's face, too hazy to make out much, but easy to see the grave expression she wore.

Evelyn moved her fingers to the book and touched the torn page. Suddenly, everything changed, and everything was clearer.

And it was somehow colder.

She could hear Frea speaking nervously in her ear. "Child, you're puffing out clouds with each breath as if it were winter!"

"Just another moment."She whispered.

Before her was the Beast sitting in the library with the Praedita in his blue hands. Without a second of hesitation, he tore a page mercilessly out of the book and pocketed it. He stared at the book with contempt before slamming it shut, almost like it was the cause of a wretched curse.

This vision was unlike the others she had experienced.

There were no longer any voices nor any other images trying to push through and destroy the one she was seeing in front of her.

In that moment everything was clear, and almost real.

She could see and feel herself standing in the library, but when she took a step forward, her body passed through a chair she hadn't seen beside her.

She felt her breath catch as his gaze directly met hers.

His eyes were shinning with tears from a forgotten memory and the anger and regret seemed to blaze like a molten ball of emotion within him.

"I had to get rid of this for your own good."He said, his eyes never leaving hers."But I suppose if it is as I fear, and you are able to see this, then my efforts are in vain."

He got up and gently placed the Praedita exactly where she had found it not long ago.

"I'll be expecting your visit."

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-Emily