It's what killed Eris.
I snapped my eyes open.
What just happened?
Dad's explanation told me why we didn't talk magic at home, but there was a whole new slew of questions to follow.
The biggest of which being "what else?"
Years before, Mom had taught me how to tell if some people were lying by body language. Some clench their fists, tap their foot, give a little hop, their nostrils flare--it could be anything.
I figured out that when my father scratched the back of his head, it meant he wasn't telling the whole truth.
So what else did he know?
I sat up and opened my mouth to call for the old man. I closed it quickly. The room was empty.
I stuck my head out the door and peeked down the hallway. No one walked down it.
How long has he been gone?
More like how long had I been gone?
I turned around to face the piano. Orange light from the dying sun shone through the window. I walked over to it and crouched down. White snow blanketed the grass and trees, covering over everything in sight. Long icicles hung from what looked to be a fountain.
It was pretty--beautiful even. If anyone was there before the Fiannu, they must have been crazy to leave.
"Clair?"
I didn't turn around. "Yes, Nutcracker?"
His wooden feet thunked the ground. "What are you doing?"
"Looking out a window."
"No, like, where have you been?" Something scratched together. I guess he crossed his arms. "It's been three hours since you left."
Three hours? How long was I sleeping/projecting/whatever?
"Sorry," I mumbled. "I lost track of time."
He sighed and walked closer to me. "What are you looking at?"
"The snow." I scooted over to my left. He bent down and glanced out the window. "Pretty, isn't it?"
Nutcracker backed up. "I don't like snow that much. It gets everywhere, is cold, and eventually turns dies and turns into slush."
"Everything dies, it's just what we make of it while it's alive that counts."
I turned away from the window and found Nutcracker tilting his head to the side.
"What?" I asked. "Something growing out of my nose?"
He snorted. "Yeah, a great big horn. It's all the way down to your mouth."
I punched his arm, which probably wasn't the cleverest idea I'd ever had, considering it hurt me more than him, but whatever. "Haha, Woodboy the Wonderkid."
We stepped out of the room. The glowing orbs that hung from the ceiling had dimmed down to a low glow.
Nutcracker laid his hand on my arm. "Your brother's alright," he said quietly.
All the nerves I hadn't realized were tangled relaxed. A smile flickered across my face. "That's good!" I started to speed walk down the hall. "Let's go see him!"
"Curly, wait up!"
Erk.
I paused, one foot hovering in midair. "Yeah?"
He blocked my path. "You should eat something."
"I'm not hungry."
My stomach decided to roar in response.
Nutcracker grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the steps. "You're eating something."
"N--"
What the heck are you doing, Clair? Protesting against food?
I shut up and let him take me down the stairs. We turned right after the last step and made our way into a sparkly hallway.
"Sparkly" because it literally sparkled. Blue and white were all over the place, swirling on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everywhere.
A few of the Fiannu smiled at us as we passed. The weird thing was, they didn't look like they were all from the same country. Elora had seemed to be from Carrielle at first, with her slight accent and fair looks, but the people we passed had ivory skin and pitch black hair like the Luschet. One of the women even had a small ring on the outside of each eyebrow, a symbol of marriage in Luschon. The man she was talking looked to be Zelgwyn, and even threw in a few words in his language.
When we entered the food room, I was even more bombarded with people. There looked to be no shortage of Fiannu, all from different countries, but each with a snowflake shaped mark on their temple.
Nutcracker led me over to a table and shoved me in the seat. He passed me a muffin. "Here. Eat."
I took a huge bite and almost started drooling. It was just. so. good.
Nutcracker laughed. "You're gonna need a bigger muffin if you keep that up."
"Hmhm. Frry fnny."
"Speak a normal language, please."
I swallowed. "Haha. Very funny."
I grabbed some more food and shoved it into my mouth. How I hadn't realized how hungry I was by then was a minor miracle.
Nutcracker tapped his feet on the ground. "So, how's it taste?"
I didn't look up and held out a slice of raisin bread. "Here you go. Try some."
He was silent.
I tore my eyes away from the food and stared at him. His wooden face and eyes couldn't show any expression, but I felt like I'd said the wrong thing.
"Can't, Curly." He held up his hands. "Wood, remember?"
"Oh."
Awkward.
To stop the weirdness between us, I turned my head and pointed and a few Fiannu. "Are they all from different countries?"
Nutcracker gave a small nod, then a bigger one. "Looks it. Everyone's a lot different."
"I've never seen so many people from different countries gathered together before." I stood from the table and started gathering up all of the crumbs that exploded.
Nutcracker nodded. "I have, but there was a major fight that broke out."
How has he?
For the first time, I realized that Nutcracker may have seen more than he let on. I had assumed that he was about as well off as my family--not rich but not poor--but it dawned on me that he probably came from a noble family if he had seen many people from different countries.
It also explained some of the ways he acted. If he had always been treated a certain way, then no wonder.
Then again, the most I've gotten from him is revenge disguised as hyperactive loyalty.
I opened my mouth to ask but was silenced.
"Do you want to see your brother?"
All thoughts of Nutcracker vanished and I nodded my head quickly. "Yes. Yes, I do."
Still, holding my trash, I started to follow him out of the room.
He paused. "You can leave your trash. The Fiannu will get it."
As if on cue, one of the men waved his hand. A long line of paper cloths and half-eaten food vanished.
Right. I have to ask Nutcracker to teach me magic.
I ignored the sour taste that stung my mouth. Pride. Dad hit the nail on the head when he said I was too stubborn to ask for help.
Nutcracker took me down a few hallways. We turned so many times, I could've sworn we were either going in a circle or getting about as lost as we possibly could. Finally, he stopped at a door with a few symbols etched into the wood.
"Here you go," he whispered. "I'll be here if you need anything."
Almost immediately, my heart clawed up to my throat. About fifty different scenarios attacked my brain at once, none of them good. What if Raoul was hurt worse than I thought he was? What if he had turned into a murae or at least half of one? Who knew what the venom did to a human body!
I nodded my thanks to Nutcracker and turned the knob.
The room was white.
It was like someone had forgotten to color it and just left it as a blank canvas. Everything in there was the color of the floor, making it hard to decipher where the walls started and the floor ended.
In the center of the room was a bed as white as everything else. Sheets moved up and down shallowly, copying the movements to Raoul's breathing.
I swallowed at slowly walked over to the bed. My brother's eyes were closed, his skin sickly pale. He clenched and unclenched his fists as if dreaming, and his lips twitched every few seconds.
I grabbed one of his fists. The coldness of his skin I was expecting didn't come, instead, it was warm. My thumb found an imprint of a snowflake on the tip of his forefinger.
"Is that what they did to heal you?" I whispered.
Silence.
That was okay; I wasn't expecting an answer.
I turned at grabbed the top of a chair near me. The groan it made as I slid it across the floor seemed deafening.
I sat down. "I'm here to talk, Raoul. Not that I think you'll be talking back, but I want--I need to talk."
I took a shaky breath. "I saw Dad. Well--kind of out-of-body saw Dad. He was in a cell, in the Murae's castle. He looked to be alright. Mom wasn't with him, but I assume she's alive too since he is."
I chewed the bottom of my lip. "Weirdly enough, I'm not really worried about them anymore. Seeing that he was alive--well, I think he and Mom can use magic. They're wielders, like in the old story they used to tell us."
I shook my head quickly. "Not that that's them, of course."
"Anyway, you want to know the reasoning behind this assumption, I'm sure. It's because my eyes are blue."
It dimly occurred to me how stupid that sounded. Because my eyes had randomly turned blue meant my parents could use magic.
Logic.
"My eyes changed color because of something called miralis. I think it's like an overload of power that attacks your mind or something, because now I have this whole new person in my head that's talking to me and telling me what to do, and it's not fun."
I was quiet for a second, seeing if he'd woken up yet. The answer was a resounding no.
"Nutcracker said that the only way to get the kind of miralis I have is if your parents or parent can use magic. I know Dad can because I watched him use it at the castle. I'm not sure about Mom though. If she can, she hasn't."
I let out a huff. "And that brings me to my next point. Because miralis is caused by an overload of magic, I get to use mine, which means I have to have someone teach me. The only 'someone' I know of is Nutcracker, and I really don't want to ask him for his help. I've forgiven him for leading the muraes to use, but I'm not letting him teach me anything. Call me stubborn."
A low croak sounded from the boy on the bed. "Stubborn."
I jumped. "Holy--" I caught myself. "--cheeseballs!"
Raoul woke up! Yay!
He gave a strained chuckle. "Watch your language."
"I didn't say anything!" I pulled back my sudden urge to dive into a hug. Suddenly, the need to slap him wanted to be set free. I pushed that back down, too.
I lightly tapped his arm. "How much did you hear?"
Raoul moistened his lips. His eyes fluttered open slightly. "Blah, blah, blah, 'letting him teach me anything. Call me stubborn.'"
"Was that it?"
He waved one of his hands weakly. "Nah. There was some more I heard, but it's so muffled it's not funny."
I grinned. I could tell him the rest of the story later.
Raoul poked me. "I heard the word 'magic,' too. If that's what you're referring to someone teaching you, I'd take the offer. 'S not every day that happens."
"What if I don't want to learn magic? What if I have no interest?"
The two sentences came out of my mouth as less than a whisper but seemed to echo around the room like I'd screamed it.
Raoul closed his eyes again. "Learn it anyway," he muttered.
His breaths became long and even again. He had fallen asleep.
I still sat in the chair, not really wanting to move. It was only when a soft knock on the door caught my attention that I wondered what time it was.
"See you later, Raoul," I whispered.
I didn't turn around as I left the room. Nutcracker had apparently waited for me while I was in there because he leaned against the wall as I came out.
He glanced at me. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"How is he?"
I stood next to him, leaning against the wall the same way he was. It was so smooth I almost slid down it.
"Raoul's good. You got him here in time, so..."
Nutcracker almost looked shocked. "I got him here in time? I thought that it was my fault."
Oh boy. Here we go.
"It's not anyone's fault, per se." The ground suddenly became a great interest to me. "But you're the one who thought about it and brought him here. He's still alive because you knew what to do."
He crossed his arms. "But I did lead the muraes to Arium. My crazy lust for revenge is what caused this."
"And now my family is caught in the crossfire. I know." I stared back up at him. The gash in the wood on his should was still there.
I wonder if it hurts.
I swallowed. "Not that I'm condoning it, but isn't revenge just hyped-up loyalty? Considering that I'm going to get my family back, and you're on whatever quest-for-self you're on--"
"Quest-for-self?" he laughed.
I ignored him. "--our paths lead us in the same direction. I'll help you if you help me. Deal?"
He looked at me--really looked at me. I fought the urge to hide.
Nutcracker shot out his hand. "Deal."
_______________________________________
Thank you elphadora for the awesome cover!
--------------
Someone needs to warn Clair that this is what happens when you have too much pride...
You go from this...
To this...
And ultimately, this happens...👇
(It is a bit rough and also probably confusing if you haven't seen the show. TV-14 is the rating.)
I've been waiting a week to do that. 😁😁😁