When best friends Claire and Jo wake up trapped in a fantasy romance novel, Claire thinks it's a dream come true while Jo knows it's her worst nightmare - especially after they are almost killed by a monster and end up on the wrong end of a handsome...
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"AND THEY LIVED happily ever after..."
The spine crinkled as I folded the book shut. I arched my back and stretched, setting the book to the side so I could fully extend my arms. The candle at my bedside table had burned all the way down to its brass holder some time early this morning, its soft light giving way to sunlight cutting through the thin windows high above my canopy bed.
Norcrest, Larnwick. I'd gotten my answer there. We were in the capital city of this country, but I learned that through the map at the front of the book rather than reading the story. There was very little said about Larnwick at all. I couldn't believe Claire knew exactly where we were when we woke up, but I guessed those glowing mushrooms were a dead giveaway.
It was... a little surreal.
More than surreal. More like totally unbelievable. I scoffed, but shoved out of bed anyway, pushing past the stiffness of my body from sitting in one place for so long. I did not understand how Claire could do this all the time, not have some permanent disfigurement because there was no comfortable way to lay down and read a book, and actually enjoy it.
I walked into the bathroom and studied its ceiling. The mural there held more context now. The men and the rose were the Lovers. From what I got out of the story, they were perfect mirrors of the other. Lady Heathwood and Sir Ashwell described themselves and their love being the same way, which was sentimental and corny as hell.
My eyes drifted to the other constellation. The one with the two different colored eyes. The Twin Gaze. They were like mine and Claire's world-equivalent of the North Star: two fixed points in the sky that guided travelers and watched over everyone. They were different colors because they belonged to two different people. Two Sisters that were believed to have built this place's modern world.
One was known as The Empress. A divine ruler and protector. She was the temperance of man and the protector of humanity's future. She was a sire and steward of civilization and peace. Her eyes were painted a crystalline blue to symbolize the purity in her royalty.
The second eye belonged to The Sorceress. A teacher and force of nature. She learned how to harness the chaos of nature and turn it into magic. While The Empress guided everyone toward the future, The Sorceress acted as the reminder of the wild, cruel world that had once been, and what lessons it still taught to those who listened. Her eye was depicted as a deep purple, symbolizing the knowledge and mystery contained within her and the natural world.
The ones who were in tune to this world and its magic became sorcerers and sorceresses themselves, like Lady Heathwood. Heathwood had idolized The Sorceress's power and emulated her in everything she did. She wanted to teach magic the way The Sorceress guided her. Because here, anyone could learn magic. Anyone could use it, but few pursued it. It was a dedicated practice, a sacred art. It was weird as hell.
Knock, knock, knock.
Yet another thing to this world's growing list of things I had a problem with. Here, there was no such thing as privacy. I was the product of a single mom who worked a full-time and a part-time job (before she found all her beaus, at least) to help us get by. I didn't know what to do with all this full-time attention I was getting now. "Come in."
