Holy War: Two Worlds and an In- Between

Chapter 37: Truth be Told

"I've made some very interesting discoveries," Whisper informed me pacing a bit, "there's going to be several eclipses this year."

"And," I asked, "are eclipses new to Saros?" Birds chirped around us as Winter sat frozen in her seat. It was almost ironic.

"Several in one year, yes," he responded, "guess when the next one is."

He seemed a bit frantic. I couldn't help but wonder where he kept disappearing to. He seemed as though he hadn't slept in months.

I shrugged my shoulders a bit, "March twenty third?"

"No, it's tomorrow," he explained visibly annoyed. I could tell that my humor wasn't helping the situation and hung my head like a punished child.

"But that's the day of the ball. Do those two things relate?" I asked still avoiding eye contact.

"Probably, but I don't see how. Allioni would know. We need Allioni," he said walking in circles. His behavior started to freak me out.

"Listen, I want to find Ally as bad you do, but we can't do that right now," I said in the most calming voice I could muster.

"Do you, Diana? Do you want to find Allioni?" He asked walking over to me with his eyes peeled open widely.

"Of course I do. How could you even ask me that?" I asked raising my voice a bit.

"Because while I'm out all day trying to find him, you're here having a heart to heart with the bloody princess. I mean, Jack is right under your nose! How do you just sit here and do nothing?" He yelled.

"I'm trying to figure stuff out, okay? I just need time!" I responded as he towered over me.

"Well, time is the one thing we don't have. You're just playing dress up with these girls while the world is falling apart!" He yelled. That was the first time I had seen him get upset.

"Whisper, what's wrong?" I asked calmly.

He shook his head, "I think that things are only going to get worse if you don't find them. The seven of you have to fight in this war or else we're all doomed."

"Whisper, I will find them and save them, but for now I have to play the part. I can't just switch up on them and hope they don't notice. I have a job to do," I explained.

"I know, I'm sorry. This is just a very bad situation," he whispered shaking his head.

"I know, this was supposed to be so simple," I sighed.

Whisper unfroze Winter by whispering for her to wake up. I was so focused on the way her icy blue eyes appeared beneath her fluttering eyelids that I didn't even see when Whisper left. He seemed to disappear into thin air, but I decided to focus on Winter.

She continued to confide in me, and I almost felt bad that I was pretending to be something that I wasn't. She told me what it was like to grow up with three sisters with magical powers. She told me that she felt a bit powerless under the strength of Autumn and Spring since they were such powerful fighters and she could barely hold her own.

For a moment, I didn't remember that our entire friendship was a farce. I was just a stranger pretending to be someone she could trust listening to her problems as though I could understand while simultaneously lying about who I was.

We walked back inside the castle where we continued to talk about the ball. For some reason, the topic of magic came up and I was asked if I had any. I, of course, said no, though that was a lie, she told me that she did.

"Look," she instructed as we walked passed a water fountain.

She pulled her hand out of her glove and pointed all five of her dainty fingers at the water in it. As she wiggled her fingers ever so gently, the water began to sparkle and shimmer. In an instant, the water hardened and became ice. It was truly spectacular to see.

"Wow," I mused, "that's amazing!"

"Thank you," she responded graciously. She slipped the glove back onto her hand as we continued walking.

"Can everyone use magic in this world?" I asked.

"Yes and no. Everyone who lives here has the potential to use magic, but not many have the ability to use it."

"That's strange, how can everyone use magic?"

"It wasn't always like that," she shrugged, "there was a time where no human could use magic, but because of the holy war they would just die out."

"Then what changed?" I asked as we began to walk back to the castle.

"Well, there was this woman named Harlequin. They say she went up to Uria herself and stole the magic out of her hands and brought it for the humans. They say that after that everyone had a fair shot at protecting themselves, but many couldn't even figure out how to use it," Winter explained.

"The what'd Harlequin do?" I asked after swallowing a lump in my throat. I began to get a bit nervous as I heard the name of my grandmother.

She paused for a moment and looked up at me with a bit of sadness in her eyes, "She killed them."