Dancing on Strings

The Missing

"Excellent!" Ophelia said, clapping her hands before picking up her teacup and saluting them. "To mysteries then!"

Anna-Beth saluted her in return but Mai looked down at the paper again, looking at the descriptions of some of The Missing – as they had officially been dubbed by the press.

Was her father aware of this?

Did he need to be?

People went missing all the time. If there was a larger number recently... well, it was a cold winter and it had been a very hot summer. People could get into all sorts of trouble if they didn't pay mind to the weather and their body's reaction to it.

But she wouldn't be surprised if her father knew there was an increase of missing people in his realm.

He knew everything about his kingdom.

Except where The Missing were and how to wake his daughters.

"Darling, something fell from your pocket," Ophelia said, breaking into her thoughts as she reached down and picked up that same bit of paper that had wriggled free from her pocket earlier. "What is it, dear? A secret letter? A love note, perhaps?"

Mai rolled her eyes at the teasing in Ophelia's tone.

"No," she said, opening it, "It's a little poem. Though I don't know how I came to possess it or where it comes from."

"Hmm, let's have a look," Ophelia said, setting her teacup down and taking the page, Anna-Beth looking across to it.

She read it through for a moment, then pursed her lips. "How dreadfully morbid sounding," she commented, "Like something out of a fairytale. I'm afraid it doesn't ring any bells though."

"No, it's quite alright," Mai said, taking it back, "I'll have to visit the central library and discuss it will the scholars. I'm sure they'll recognise it."

"Oh, you needn't do that," Anna-Beth said, taking the page and looking at it.

"What?" Mai asked.

"It's from a poem called The Goblin Market," Anna-Beth said simply, "It's about a girl who buys fruits grown and sold by goblins but she can only eat them once. However her addiction to the taste slowly begins to kill her because she cannot have any more."

Mai stared at her for a long, long moment. "How... how does it end?" she muttered

"Her sister tricks the goblins into crushing the juices of the fruits upon her skin –she never tastes them. She then goes home and gives her sister the juice and it tastes so revolting, her sister is cured of her addiction and they are both saved from the goblin men."

Mai took the page back, staring at it.

Where had it come from?

Who had written it?

Who could possibly know about the apples the way she did?

Kazimir? Unlikely, it wasn't his writing and he would just tell her.

So, The Black Rabbit?

Griffin?

But how? When?

He hadn't gone near her clothing to slip that in, unless he had been sneaking around in her room while she was asleep but she doubted that very much – besides, he had no way to know which dress she'd wear, surely his fortune teller could not predict that.

She needed to see his writing.

Was he somehow telling her how to fix her sisters?

But Genevieve had already eaten a second golden apple and it had only driven her more insane.

She blinked, staring at the silverware on the table before her.

There had been two types of apples in that garden in her dreams.

One side had been filled with golden apples.

The other side had silver.

Was that it?

Was the gold the addiction and the silver the cure?

It was a jump but it was somewhere to start.

Could Griffin bring the silver apples into the waking world like he could the golden ones?

Only one way to find out. She would have to ask him.

And if he wouldn't, she was going to go back there and get one herself. 

~~~~

Next Up: ... See Below

Art By: https://abigaillarson.deviantart.com

Poem: The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

OK! Schedule for the next few days!

20th (aka today): Driving to Birmingham, 27th birthday, dinner, ballet, etc etc etc, (I'm getting old -.-)

21st: Driving to Liverpool. Mum going into hospital. Brother arriving from Ireland

22nd: Mum's operation, Brother leaves to go back to Ireland. 

23rd: Mum will probably be well enough to see visitors so will spend time with her.

24th: Not a lot going on. 

^ busy few days lol

This is just so you're aware that if the chapters disappear again, that's what's up. At some point in there, I'm going to write the next chapter, upload the delayed Valentine's Day Special and get a couple of art pieces up - dunno when though. 

This on top of keeping my Instagram page up-to-date as well (that totally takes more work when you need new photos of books and scenes and quotes from DOS every day (I'm running out of good quotes from this book so time to delve back into the others lol)

Anyway, it's gonna be a long week. 

You have been warned lol