Twisted Souls

Chapter 16

"Mommy! Mommy! Look what I found." My shiny ruby boots crunch the leaves on the forest floor as I run to my mom.
My strawberry blond hair is like a flaming, beautiful mess when the sun hits it. My cheery yellow trench coat flaps in the warm spring breeze. Brown eyes bright with eagerness as five year old me bubbles over with excitement to show mom what I have discovered.
"Hey, bumblebee!" My dad picks me up and spins me around. My gleeful giggles lights up the forest.
"What have you got there?" He ask, plopping me down on our picnic blanket.
I hide the object behind my back and give him a funny face- sticking out my tongue playfully.
"Guess."
Mom smiles on while dad tries to think of what my secret object could be. He makes over-the-top, extravagant faces trying to ponder what I'm hiding. Finally he takes a guess.
"Could it be a...fairy!"
"Nope."
"Perhaps a beautiful, golden crown?"
"Na-uh."
He tries a third time. "I got it! A lovely little pony."
I giggle, "I can't fit a pony in my hand."
"Then what could it be?" He smiles back at me.
Slowly I open my hand and reveal a transparent stone, no larger than my big toe. It was chipped a little, but the surface was overall smooth.
"I found it in the river." My high pitched, baby voice said. I hand it to mom, who inspects the gem.
"Oh this is beautiful Mallory. Thats very rare." She gives it back to me with a kind smile on her face. "You should keep this, it might mean good luck."
I stare at the stone in a newfound awe. Quickly tucking it into my pocket I then lean against my mom's leg. She strokes my hair tenderly and hums a pleasant tune. Between that and the sound of dad's pencils as they scratch across the page, I soon drift off into a blissful slumber.
A smile spreads across my face. The sun warming my face, I'm wrapped in the gentle smell of lemongrass and the whimsical forest air.

I fade out of the dream as quickly as I had faded into it. My eyes are greeted to the golden, morning sun rays shining through the tall arched windows. The room is definitely brighter than it was last night, but it's also more inviting with the light than last night.
Sitting up, I survey the room. The fire in the fireplace has completely burned out, leaving nothing but charred remains of wood.
I turn to look over at Xalale, who's still asleep.
"I guess even the most threatening people appear peaceful in their sleep." I usually toss and turn all night- constantly in motion. Xalale on the other hand doesn't stir at all. While my hair is whipped all about, his is still in place. "Some people have all the luck."
I lay back down, staring up at the top of the canopy. I'm already wide awake, but the bed is just too comfortable to leave, besides, every time I get up to face a new day, I just get pounded with a new, more difficult task to complete.
Unfortunately for me, lying in a bed staring up at a canopy waiting for the minutes to tick by, is not my strong suit. I soon grow restless and try to entertain myself with a made up game. I have to name as many things that rhyme with the last word I think of.
"Apple...babble...cattle...dabble...urm? Starting over. Ate...bait..cate. Can I even use people's name? Ok, one more time. Ant..bant-er?" I fortunately don't have to finish my pitiful game as Xalale begins to wake up.
"Morning."
I don't know why, but I can't look at him at all. I try to act natural and push back my hair.
"Morning."
"How did you sleep?" I can tell he's looking at me, but I refuse to meet his gaze.
"Fine."
It was nice to see that our usual awkward conversations were back. Started to miss those, you know.
"How are you feeling?"
I shrug. "My head feels like its underwater, but I think that's the wine wearing off. How 'bout you?"
"Better than yesterday."
"Stop making it so awkward and stiff." I scold myself.
"Mallory."
"What?" This time I do turn my head towards him. His eyes have that intense gaze to them. I want to look away but ignore the urge.
"Nothing."
I couldn't help myself from rolling my eyes and saying, "That is the most annoying thing."
"What?"
"Nothing."
He smiles at me- that's the second time he has done that- but just like the first time, it quickly fades away.
"I need to get ready." He says, already climbing out of bed.
I watch as he goes about getting ready. My mind drifts back to the pleasant memory of my dream that ended too quickly for me. An ache rips through my heart as I dwell on my home, my parents, my sweet, carefree childhood. As I'm thinking on these thoughts, an old one comes to mind.
"Xalale." My voice is barely above a whisper, but he instantly stops and turns his attention to me. I wait three heartbeats before continuing. "You remember that old man yesterday and...and what he said about some dark magic threatening the kingdom?"
He tenses up, but responds. "Yes. What about it?"
I do my usual bad habit of biting my lip.
"He said that you could stop this dark magic from destroying everything, but it has to be retained by someone who possesses magic like it. If you could just use it to-"
"No."
It was so sharp and cold that I was momentarily stunned.
"I don't understand why you don't want to. You can save so many people if you just tried." I could hear the frustration in my voice growing. All he had to do was use something that comes naturally to him and everyone would be saved. I might even be able to return home.
At the same time I was beginning to get frustrated, Xalale was starting to become defensive.
"There's another way to solve this problem."
"What if there's not another way?" I ask.
He gives me a cold look then turns away from me. "The answer is no."
"So you're just going to let your people suffer and die because of your selfishness?" I'm sure the cold look he gave to me could be matched by my own. The room carried a tense silence to it. Finally as he heads to the door about to leave he stops to say to me.
"Don't tell me how to run my kingdom Mallory. I will find another way to stop this threat."
I'm surprised at how icy my own response is.
"I'll stop telling you how to run your kingdom the moment you start acting like a king instead of a tyrant."
The door slams so hard that I can feel the vibrations through the bed. I bury my face in the pillow, and decide to take the advice of my 5th grade teacher, and scream as loud as I can. Letting out all of the pent up frustration.