Kida, the girl who now looks like a young goddess. Her hair is clean of the grime from the streets where I had meet her, and now sparkled platinum blond. Bright blue eyes shone beneath her shabbily cut haircut. My knees give out, and I stare despairingly into her piercing gaze. She radiates beauty and power in waves, much like the water her power comes from.
"What have you done?" I whisper.
Kidas song abruptly stops, and for the first time I see the cruel contraption she's been rigged up to. An iron band is around her neck, and with the pull of a chin it tightens, forcing her to stop singing. Kida coughs, grasping at her throat, and the chain is loosened. I follow it with my eyes, and can see a hole in the wall covered with bar where a guard stands.
The guard holds the chain, his face impassive. He wears the same headgear I had watched Tran put on shortly before we entered the room. Kidas eyes are pleading, and flips to something behind my shoulder before widening in fear. Tran stands behind me, his face is grim.
"What is the meaning of this?" I plead, gesturing to Kida.
"The King has been," Tran hesitates, pondering. "Collecting certain children from the streets, ones who have special 'talents' you might say. This is his latest recruit, one of the last sirens."
Kida looks away, disappointment clouding her gaze. She obviously thinks I don't have the power or the influence to get her out. That I've joined those who captured her.
"Why did you bring me here?" I ask quietly. The chain contraption stays in my sight, reminding me of all the times Cynthia had me in the cellar under her house.
Its not that different honestly. If I just get rid of the echoing screams of other prisoners, and the heartbroken Kida in front of me, its like nothing ever changed.
"I brought you here, because I need your help." His answer catches me off guard. Kida obviously wasn't expecting this either, her head snaps up, and she opens her mouth, nearly bursting with questions.
The guard immediately snaps the chain taut, forcing her to choke and claw at it desperately. Tran grabs my wrist in an unexpectedly tight grip, preventing any sort of escape plans I might have had for Kida, and I watch unhappily as the chain eventually loosens and she catches her breath.
"Stop." Trans voice holds a commanding tone as he looks at the now confused guard. "I no longer need your services. You may go."
"But the King himself put me here sire." The guard uncertainly clings to the chain, torn between his Kings commands, and his Princes.
"If he gives you trouble, tell him I commanded you personally." Tran's voice is firm, final. The reluctant guard drops the chain, and moves to exit the room before looking back.
"I trust you no longer need my services at all Sire?"
"Yes. You are dismissed."
We are all silent until the guard has left the room, after the door shuts with a final sounding click, Tran releases me, visibly relaxing. I rub my wrist, the skin is already turning a bit red. My lamp grows hot against my skin, reminding me of the last time me and Kida met. In a moment, the soreness and red marks disappear.
"Help?" I finally turn to Tran. Who was watching me, or my lamp, work its magic.
He blinks, and snaps out of his trance, "Yes, help." He takes a second to compose himself, me and Kida scowling impatiently. "My father and I... Have differing opinions on this matter. He is amassing an army. But not willingly. The... Magical creatures, you could say, don't want to be here. I have searched the whole city, and as far as I know, you are; were the only one he hasn't taken yet."
"What do you mean taken? A mere human cannot take an entire continent of magical entities, at least not quietly. They would fight back, wouldn't they?" I say uncertainly.
"Surely you have heard of it?" I turn to Kida, desperately trying to find some answers.
"I-I only saw my friends disappearing too fast to count." Mumbles Kida. "I came from a seaside city, nearly the whole town ended up disappearing eventually. I never knew what happened until my Mom disappeared. My Father, he was human, and my Mom was a siren. I got her voice he says. We traveled the country until we found a place he thought I would be safe."
"Then he died in a horse and cart accident about a year or two. I've been on my own ever since. When people started disappearing here, I panicked. Tried to leave the city. I didn't know they were watching the gates." Her eyes shut tight, holding back tears.
"So everyone but me is, what? Captured? By a mere human?" I scoff, he might be a King, but as far as I know, no human can stand up to the entire magical community. Somethings not right.
"Which is why I need your help. I may be next in line for the throne, but my father is gearing up for a fight. I'm assuming its against the underground, but I can't be sure. If he does start an all out war between the underground and the kingdom, then he'll be using magic against a poorly funded rebellion. Lives will be lost, and not just those of the Underground." Tran looks at Kida, is that a faint glimmer of pity in his eyes? To think, a ruler who actually cares about not only his people, but the not-so-human half of his kingdom as well.
"What about the rest of this 'army'?" I say, "I've heard the dungeons are large, but I don't think they're big enough to hide an entire magical community."
"You obviously haven't seen the entire castle staff in one room then." Tran rolls his eyes.
"What? Of course the castle staff is huge. You live in a fortress for crying out loud."
"Its bigger than it should be. I'm sure you experienced the cramped quarters situation in the servants halls."
"It's not that bad."
"The rooms used to be twice as big. In fact, you were lucky. Some of the rooms down there have three or four to a bed."
That gave me pause, the room had been hardly big enough for just me and Amita. We were some of the smaller maids in the castle too.
"Whats going to happen to me?" Says Kida timidly from the spot she was chained to. Her words waver a bit, showing through her strong front.
"I don't know." Tran says apologetically. "I assume you will be put into the castle staff."
"Why don't they rebel?" I say abruptly, very rudely interrupting Trans next words.
With a scowl, he turns back to me. "I don't know. I can only assume he has some sort of hold over them, otherwise they wouldn't have stayed quiet for so long, at the very least, they would try. That's what I need you to find out Kida." Says Tran.
"So that's why." I whisper, grabbing Tran's attention, "There was never any speak of pay, or a day off when I was there. But everyone moved along without thinking of it much, although they spoke of sending money to families. It's why we were worked so hard, they're prisoners, not servers! Slaves!"
Tran nods grimly, turning back to a quickly paling Kida. "Whenever they add you to the castle staff, you need to find out whats going on here. Then find us and tell us whatever the King does to have such a hold over everyone."
Kida nods determinedly. Having a purpose, and a small bit of hope for escape seemed to have made her just a bit stronger. "I can't fail." She says firmly.
"Good. We shall return tomorrow then." Trans voice is fading, and I turn in time to see him turning down the hall at the exit.
"Hey! Where are you going?" I call, chasing after him. "Wait for me!"
"Come along. We have a engagement ball to attend."
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Justine fussed around my head, curling and brushing and doing all sorts of things to make me 'Presentable' for this ball. My head aches, getting ready for something this fancy is no fun. The rest of me feels as if I have no air to supply my limbs with, as Justine has squashed me into a corset for the occasion.
I can only think of how much easier this would be if I was allowed to use magic around her. If all the staff were once magical, I see no reason why I should hide this sort of thing from them. Surely they would understand.
But, as Tran pointed out when he left me at the door of my room, we don't know what the King has hanging over these peoples heads. Or just how dedicated they are. If I were to reveal myself to them, Justine keeping my secret is just as likely as her running to the King and the last magical entity in the kingdom being captured for who knows what.
The corset is biting into my side, and I pull at it impatiently. Why are these so tight? Why on earth would anybody subject themselves to this?
"Are you coming?" I'm jolted from my internal grumbling by Justine, who taps my shoulder lightly. I turn to see her standing behind me, and for once she doesn't hold the cursed brush in her hand.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"It's time to put on your dress." Oh. Of course. I can't go waltzing into the ball without a dress.
I stand up awkwardly from the chair, my hand accidentally swiping a few items from the vanity surface as I struggle. I make my way over to Justine, who holds my dress out. Together, me manage to slip it over my head without displacing the perfectly done hair. After that, Justine laces up the strings, and together we step over to the mirror to admire her handiwork.
I'm dressed in a light rose pink dress, which brings out the blush in my cheeks. My dark hair is curled and rests on my shoulders lightly, in perfect contrast to the pink. My 'engagement ring' Tran also gave me before leaving, is place carefully on my finger, glittering softly in the candlelight. My only other jewelry is my lamp, which hangs in its tiny form on my necklace, and I play with it nervously.
"Perfect." Sighs Justine. "The Prince will be here to escort you to the ball shortly. Try not to mess up your hair while I'm gone." She wipes a few stray hairs from my brush off her maids apron, and exits the room.
Left with nothing else to do, I flop out on the bed. I'm probably crushing the curls in my hair, and wrinkling the dress, but those can be fixed later. I am a genie after all.
I pull at my necklace, playing with the lamp absentmindedly. It pulls off the chin easily, the links momentarily separating to let it go. Once free, it grows on my palm until its full size once again.
A quick look inside won't hurt will it? I'm curious as to what all that tinkering and bashing Tran did on it when he had it did to my room. Despite the looming threat of someone coming in and seeing the lamp, my curiosity wins out. I set it on the vanity, hiding it among the various scented perfumes and other shiny trinkets there.
With a simple tap on the tip of the spout, I am sucked inside.
Only to see a disaster.
My wall hangings lay on the floor, the curtain rods holding them up thrown all the way to the ground. The bed doesn't even have anything on it anymore, the blankets are all tossed along the floor mixed in with the wall hangings. The pillows are nowhere to be seen anywhere in the mess. My mirror is on its side, and I rush to flip it over, hoping its not broken. Call me superstitious, but I don't need anymore bad luck following me around.
The mirror is intact, its fall cushioned by all the fabric on the ground. With a groan, I wave my hands around, sending everything back to its original spot, only to find them all wet.
"No. He. Didn't." I mutter, crushing my eyes shut. But its undeniable, the carpet is soaked, the fabrics are soaked, and my bed is now soaked. The lamp has a inch of water sitting on the ground where I stand, swirling around my ankles.
The stupid Prince poured water in my lamp to try and flood me out.
He is going to regret this.
I sit there in my lamp, plotting my revenge, trying to figure out how to get him back without blowing my cover as his lovey dovey wife-to-be, when I hear noises outside. A slam, followed my footsteps across the floor.
"Are you sure the rooms empty? I don't feel like being thrown in the dungeon today." Says a quiet voice, sounds like a man, whats he doing in my room?
"Will ya shut up? We came here to find that genie girl, our so called 'savior'. Sounds like she got herself into a deal with the nobility and decided to throw her lot in with them. Be quiet while you search, I don't much like the dungeons either. Besides, its going to be kind of hard to find her if we're locked up. We had to bring her back to the base, remember what that kid said?" A second voice, this one more gruff and harsh than the other.
"Yeah yeah, what was his name again? Link? Pen?"
"It was Len you airhead. No wonder they found you on the streets, you're dumb as a rock."
"I just don't believe someone like him managed to take control of the entire rebellion. The kids got some serious intimidation tactics."
Len? He never said anything about being the new leader of the rebellion. He said some sort of council would decide, I guess it must have happened after I was compromised.
"Anything over by the bed?" Whispers the lighter voice, He sounds muffled, like I'm hearing him through a wall. I put my ear up to the lamp spout, hoping for better quality eavesdropping. "There's nothing in the closet." He continues.
"Nothing over here." Says the gruff voice. "I'm going to check the vanity. Maybe there's a fancy perfume they won't miss that I can sell for a bit of coin. I thought this stupid rebellion would pay a bit more."
"You would have more if you didn't spend it all at the tavern."
"Watered down mead is better than none!"
The heavier footsteps begin to tromp towards me, and inside I begin to panic, how am I supposed to distract them? Surely they will recognize the lamp as genie made, definitely not a perfume bottle.
"Whats this?" The lamp shifts abruptly, sending me toppling into the tiny layer of water at the bottom, and further ruining my hair.
Great.
"It sounds almost empty." The walls swing back and forth, the water sloshing around noisily, and reverberating off the copper walls. My mirror falls over again, and I frown, I should stick that to the wall somehow. Pillows begin to fly off the bed, and one slaps into my face with a light smack. The soaked fabric is quite unpleasant, and I gasp when it falls off.
I have had enough.
Standing up shakily, I raise my hands, and slowly clench my hands. The water heats up, beginning to evaporate, and fills the inside of the lamp with steam.
"Ow!" Cries the man outside the lamp, accompanied with a jerk as he violently lets go of the lamp, dropping it to the floor. Inside, I fall, and sit in the now boiling hot water as its continues to steam and begins to pour out the spout.
"What the-" When the lamp has effectively been steam dried from the inside out, I stand, and thrust my hand through the barrier, anger driving my actions. Outside, I stand before the now two terrified men.
"Uh-you the genie then?" Says one timidly. I recognize his voice as the lighter one, and turn towards him. He's scrawny, and has light green eyes with his dark orange hair. Freckles sprinkle his nose, and at the moment, he looks a bit terrified.
"Yes. I am the genie." I growl, "I am a genie that is not in the mood to negotiate your safety at the moment, so if you value your life and all your limbs, you will leave now." Sensing a presence over my shoulder, I grab the quickly descending hand and, with a little magical help; swing the other man over my shoulder. He lands on the floor with a satisfying thunk, and I glare at him as well.
"This goes for the both of you." I grumble. "Tell Len I'm still on the mission. I just need more time, there's been... Complications." With a snap of my fingers, the now completely terrified men turn into sparrows, and together they flutter around the room in panic.
I stomp over to the windows, and with a wave of my hands, on of the glass panes disappear, creating the perfect spot for both birds to fly out. Instead, they both flutter around my room in circles. I growl, and with a slightly violent push from my hand, they are both sent flying out the window, zipping out into the now dark sky.
Perhaps I should had turned them into bats...
With a wave of my hand, the window pane is replaced, and I push any thoughts of regret from my mind. Stupid birds flying into windows at night are not my problem. They should be able to find their way back to the underground, and if not they'll just be birds forever.
Not my problem.
What is my problem, is the knock sounding at my door. Anxiously, I run over and grab my lamp, re-curling my hair and straightening my dress simultaneously while I place the lamp back on the chain and head to the door.
Time to go to my first ball.
I can only hope I don't embarrass myself.