Blinding Light: A Sleeping Beauty and Snow Queen Remix

Chapter 5

"No, he doesn't. You're all forgetting the one person we have that he does not!" Viviana shouted, throwing her hands up. "I know we haven't seen her in forever, but that doesn't mean she ceased to exist."

Jeanette and Santiago gaped at each other.

"You aren't serious!" Jeanette exclaimed. "She ran away and abandoned us, Viv. The likelihood of her helping us is just as likely as Ilsadora deciding not to kill us."

"So very likely then." Viviana insisted. "Because Ilsadora will not kill us."

"How can you be so sure?" Santiago asked, his voice quiet compared to the rest of them.

Viviana paused. "I... I had a dream. Three years ago. I shrugged it off, but now, I think it was more than what it seemed."

Elena sighed. "Things often are. Come on, let's go sit down to talk about this. I think this will be a long, and persuasive, story."

***

Three years ago.

Viviana fled the room after giving Princess Luna the rose, her face burning.

Agh, that was embarrassing. I really should think things through more.

It was obvious that Princess Luna did not like roses anymore. Preisha had been mistaken.

And Viviana was going to tell her familiar as much.

She walked back to her bag several minutes later after trying to douse her blush with water in the bathroom. Preisha stirred inside irritably, likely reflecting Vivana's own mood by accident.

"Preisha!"

"Yes? Are we going now?" Preisha asked. "Because I'm hungry for cinnamon rolls."

Viviana huffed and ignored her familiar. Preisha would eventually pick up on her thoughts and figure out why she was so upset. Until then... sugar to soothe injured pride and embarrassment didn't sound like such a bad idea.

***

That night, after taking a late flight with Elena back home to Nazeen, Viviana still couldn't sleep despite the late hour.

Preisha did not share her struggles. After making up with her familiar, and giving her a cinnamon roll, Preisha had fallen asleep easily roughly three hours ago, curled up in a warm ball at the foot of Viviana's bed.

Viviana huffed and stood up, grabbing her spellbook and opening it on her desk.

She could always study until she fell asleep.

She needed better practice with her levitation spells anyway.

It was only after her book finally budged two inches and weakly hovered in midair that she started to feel tired. Her eyes were heavy, and she allowed the book to fall back to the desk and her head to rest on top of it.

Just a little while. Hopefully Elena won't find me like this in the morning.

Her eyes fluttered shut and a dreamlike fog descended over her vision.

***

A high pitched music box played a mysterious, slightly minor, and unfamiliar tune, as snow swirled with horrific force, creating immense drifts.

An ice castle, with the doors firmly shut, steadily came into view out of the darkness. The music notes were more audible now, growing louder with every passing second the castle came closer.

One of the doors swung inward, and there was no looking back.

Every hallway looked similar. Cold, empty, and lonely, with snow acting as dust in every corner. Yet still the disembodied music echoed, signaling the castle was not nearly as empty as it appeared.