Fairy Tales Turned Grim: Cinderella Edition

Chapter Six: No Rest for the Wicked

     Ella didn't know how long she sat there, staring at the floor while tears slipped silently down her face. When her heartache became easier to bear, she gathered enough strength to stand, and began to slowly make her way back up to the attic. She felt as though she were trapped in a thick fog, numb to the world around her. That was okay for the moment, though; it was preferable to the pain. 

     When she entered her room, the first thing Ella did was carefully remove the damaged dress from her body. She held it up in front of her as she went to sit at the bay window, remembering the dress as it had been not an hour ago. The sight of it brought tears to her eyes once again, and she had to close them and breathe deeply for a few moments to regain control of herself. Maybe it was ridiculous to be so upset over a dress, but Ella had felt a piece of her mother being ripped away from her as it was torn apart. Every fiber of her being had screamed to stop it, to finally fight back, but she knew that it would be a death sentence. Just practicing witchcraft would earn you a cold, damp cell for the rest of your days, but if she had attacked, or worse, killed them? Ella had no doubt in her mind that her sentence would not be so merciful.

     Her mind went back to the ball; the ball she would no longer be attending. She pictured a magnificent ballroom filled with people wearing their finest, and remembered Charles' promise to meet her there. She felt a pang in her heart at the thought, and then anger crept in with a lit match. This was Lady Tremaine's fault. Ella had never asked her for anything, and the one time she had wanted something badly enough to ask, Lady Tremaine hadn't even told her no. She had played some twisted game with Ella's feelings, manipulating her until the very last second. 

     Suddenly, something whispered in her mind, "Why do you need her permission?"

     Ella paused and thought for a moment. Lady Tremaine had already left, and presumably wouldn't return until late at night. Why should she need her permission? She had voluntarily taken on and completed extra chores, only to have her reward stolen from her grasp. Ella felt anger begin to simmer under her skin and placed her mother's dress on the seat before standing up. If she wanted to go to the ball, she had more than enough power to achieve that.

     Crossing the room to another chest, she opened the lid to reveal folded sheets and blankets. Innocent enough, or so it seemed. With a wave of her hand, the mild glamour seemed to melt away, revealing the chest's true contents. Half of the available space was taken up by small trays of bottles, stacked atop one another. The other half contained assorted items, such as several books, a mortar and pestle, candles, quills, and most importantly, her wand. It was an elegantly carved piece of wood, about nine inches long, and had been taken from a rare moon elm. The polished wood was a brilliant white, and the handle had been masterfully shaped into a spiral. It reminded Ella perfectly of her mother.

     Truthfully, the wand had belonged to her mother before her death, but Ella had begun using it since she had no wand of her own. It wasn't a perfect fit, but on the few occasions that she had to use it, it worked well enough. Under normal circumstances, her mother would have taken her to get her own wand when she came of age, but fate had had different plans. In kingdoms that had not outlawed the practice of witchcraft, one could simply buy a wand, but there were no such shops in Warren. The only way to get a wand was to go to another kingdom, or to journey to see the fairies. 

     Ella rummaged through the chest for a minute before she finally found what she needed: a leatherbound book, slightly worn from use. She opened the cover and began to flip through, scanning the pages intently. Eventually she found the correct page, and her finger landed on the title with a triumphant, "Aha!"

Transmutation

(Intermediate/Advanced)