Girl of Myth and Legend (5 page)

Harriad nods. ‘I understand, and I’m sorry we piled this on you so suddenly. We assumed you at least knew
something
about our world, but…’ He gives Dad a dark look, and Dad looks away.

‘It’s all right. Just… just give me a little bit, or something. I’m fine, though,’ I add, ‘so don’t worry.’ I head towards the stairs.

‘Leonie, maybe we should just talk about it here,’ Dad says.

‘Yeah, in a bit.’

‘Leonie—’

‘
Please
. Can I just invoke the privilege of wanting to be alone?’

He says nothing. As I walk up the stairs, Pegasus following, I hear Harriad say, ‘She obviously needs some time to understand what’s happened today. O’Sah and I will leave for a little while and come back later. In the meantime, Orin, you—’

I walk into my bedroom and close the door, collapsing onto my bed. The lights in the room flicker on and off for a few seconds before staying turned off. I put my arm over my eyes for a few minutes, trying to
not
think, which is pretty much impossible. So instead I think about everything, that strange, impossible
everything
, until I feel mentally exhausted.

I don’t realise I’ve fallen to sleep until I feel something wet and ticklish on my feet. I sit up, rubbing my eyes, and see Pegasus licking my toes.

‘Ew! Gross, Peg, gross.’

I notice it’s dark outside, and I look at my alarm clock: 17.34. Wow! I slept for a
long
time, not that I’m surprised. I
did
turn into a glow stick, learn that I’m Chosen, discover Dad can see the future, view a vision of death and destruction, and meet two people from another world, all in one day.

I sit up and go over to my desk, open up the bottom draw and rummage around at the back. I pull out a small box, full of little things like key rings, ticket stubs, receipts—worthless to anyone else, but to me they are
treasures
. I laugh when I see the train ticket to Blackpool. It was the first and last time Abi and I ran away from home, and we had no idea what we were doing. We ended up using most of our money on the bed and breakfast, so instead of having the whole day at the theme park as we’d planned, we spent it in an arcade, trying to win our money back with what little we had, and failing miserably. She even—

I see the edge of a picture at the bottom of the box, strands of blonde hair flowing in the wind. I go to take it out, my hand hesitating, and then my chest clenches.

Don’t
, a voice in my head says.
Just forget about her. She left you. She doesn’t deserve to be remembered.

A thought occurs to me. If I go to Duwyn, then I can forget about routine. I won’t have to live this mundane life of doing the same thing every day just to keep the pain away. I can live a new life, a life so different from the one I have now I won’t be able to remember the past. My pain will have no place in this new world I’ve found. Maybe I can be happy in Duwyn, and not a fake happy or a content happy, but a joyful happy, a
complete
happy, a happiness
she
would never have known.

The lights in the room begin to flicker as before, and I’m guessing Harriad and O’Sah have made an appearance again.

The windowpane starts to rattle. I stand up and push up my window, having to push hard so it fully opens.

‘Come on, come on,’ I say. It bangs as it reaches the top. ‘Thank you.’

I sit on the windowsill and peer out at the darkening sky. The wind stirs my hair, gently tugging it as if telling me to come outside. I reach my hand out of the window, catching some of the snowflakes and watching as they settle on my hand. Then, the stars start to come out, one by one, as if they are peeking out from behind a curtain of darkness to make sure the sun isn’t looking anymore. I feel as if they’re looking at me, almost mischievously, and a sudden gust of wind blusters my hair back.

More.
I always knew something more than the life I have now was coming for me. It’s not that I thought I was special or different to other people, but I knew it was coming to change my life. That
more
. I couldn’t have known it would be like this, though. Nothing prepared me for
this
, everything that waits for me downstairs, everything that waits for me outside of this town—outside of this
world
. I couldn’t have been prepared, no matter what. Duwyn. The Imperium. Chosen. It’s phenomenal. Bewildering. Insane.

But real.

Suddenly, I want more than just the air from my win-dow—I want to be surrounded by it. I want to stand under the same stars I was born under. I want to breathe the air I’ve known forever. I want to remain a normal kid for a few more minutes before I let it all go and leave it behind.

I run out of my room and down the stairs, ignoring the stares of the others and Dad’s continuous questions. I slide into my winter boots, grab my coat, and walk outside. Fresh snow has settled on the ground, and I trudge through it as I make my way to the willow tree. The long tendrils of green sway as the wind gently buffets them. I move past them until I come to the creaking swing, and I sit on it, resting my head against the ropes.

I take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.

OK.

OK
.

Honestly? Having magical powers is somewhat
cool
, even if I had to spontaneously combust to obtain them. This new world whose veil has lifted for me is
enchanting
. But. Because there’s always a
but
. After seeing the vision of death and fire and the
end
, my willingness to embrace this new world is somewhat muddied. The vision had been so real, as if I were the one standing there destroying… well, everything. And I guess it
was
me. Although the vision seems less and less real as the minutes tick by, I still remember the solemn gaze of the girl who shares my name. I still feel the absolute despair she harboured in her heart. I still picture the corpses of people I haven’t even met yet, but who meant so much to me.

And it frightens me.

I hear snow crunching, and when I turn, I see Harriad.

‘I’m sorry for disturbing you,’ he says.

‘It’s fine,’ I say.

‘Your father was worried about you.’

‘He’s always worried about me. It’s his job.’

He nods. ‘You’re having difficulty adjusting, I take it.’

‘Did your magic help you out there, or am I just too obvious?’

He smiles. ‘It
is
a lot to process, especially if you knew nothing in the first place.’

‘Like
you’d
understand,’ I say, and then shake my head. ‘Sorry, that was mean of me.’

‘Actually, I do
understand how unnerving it is,’ he says, leaning against the tree. ‘I was raised in the human realm, too.’

I look at him. ‘You were?’

‘Yes. Unlike you, though, I had a mother and father who were both powerless. So when I was told what I was, I thought I must be mad.’

I laugh.

‘I accepted it, though, just in the same way you have.’

‘What, reluctantly?’ I say.

‘Somewhat. I knew I couldn’t run from magic, even if I didn’t want to embrace it either.’

‘Magic,’ I mutter. ‘It’s so…
stupid
. I never read fairy tales when I was a kid. I didn’t have books like that, ’cause Dad hated them. But when I got older, I read a lot of them, and never once did it cross my mind that magic could be real, let alone other realms. And yet I’m Chosen. Apparently.’

‘Are you really so adverse to this world?’ he asks.

‘It’s not that. Just because I never believed in magic doesn’t mean I never wished it was real. I’ve always wanted to know what’s out there. That’s why I’m glad Duwyn exists, but…’ The vision Dad had shown me. ‘It’s all so complicated.’

‘I know.’

‘Yeah…’ I stare at the cottage in the distance, the light shimmering through the oval windows. ‘What’s it like… Duwyn? Is it different from here?’

He smiles. ‘You have no idea. Imagine a place ruled by nature, barely touched by man. The rivers flow silver, mountains rise abundant, and the creatures share the land with us. It’s a paradise. Truly, it is.’

‘And if I go with you…’
If
. Since he’s come here, Harriad has made it sound as if I have a choice, but I know I don’t.

‘If you come with us, you’ll get to see a new
world
. You’ll get to see things you never even dreamed of or thought were possible. A land of impossibility, a land made of myth and magic. And, if you want, you can be a part of it. A new
world
—can you imagine?’

I’ll admit that he paints a good picture. ‘Of course I want to see all of that, but…’ The vision I was shown paints quite a different picture. If I hadn’t been shown that, if I hadn’t seen myself standing among ruins, I would be jumping up and down to go to Duwyn, but…

I hear Harriad’s shoes crunch in the snow. I turn to face him.

‘Here.’ He holds out his hand.

‘Wh-what?’ I say, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

‘Take my hand, if you will.’

‘Um, why?’

‘I want to show you something.’

‘A vision of chaos?’

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

He steps closer to me. ‘You have little reason to trust me, but I promise I wouldn’t hurt you, my Lady.’

I stare at his hand for a moment. ‘Are you going to tell me what you plan on doing?’

He grins. ‘That’d ruin the surprise.’

I sigh. ‘Well, my day can’t get any weirder.’ Though I said that earlier today, and it certainly did get weirder. But how else am I supposed to face what I’m facing if I don’t do it with some resignation?

I take his hand, and he holds it tight. His feet lift from the ground, and under a starlit sky, we
fly
. I guess levitate would be more accurate, but still, we’re no longer ruled by gravity, we’re no longer bound to the earth beneath us. I scream and grab onto Harriad, but he smiles and takes my clenched hand off his cloak, while my other hand remains firmly in his.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ he says.

‘Y-y-you say that
now
?’ I shout. I’m gasping for breath. We’re not even moving very fast. ‘Wh-what…’ I look at him. ‘How are you doing this?’

‘These are my powers, my magic.’

Magic
.

I look at how my legs dangle. I even kick them around a little bit. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I’d sit on a chair too high for me, and I’d try to touch the floor with my tiptoes.

We’re suddenly at the same height as the willow tree, and I gasp, saying, ‘It’s too high!’

‘Is it?’ Harriad says. ‘Are you sure about that?’

I think about it. If I asked, he’d go back on the ground, of that I’m pretty sure. Do I want to end this? Do I want to come down?

‘Higher,’ I whisper.

‘Sorry, what was that, my—’

‘Higher,’ I say louder. At the thought of climbing higher, fear is chased away by euphoria. Yes, definitely, I want to go higher.

Harriad pulls me closer to him, never letting go of my hand, and we go up, a little faster than before. My eyes are wide, my mouth hangs open and my heart hammers in my chest, but I am not afraid.

I am spellbound.

My hair floats behind me as if I were underwater, and the air is so, so cold, but at the same time I can’t really feel it. We go higher, snow drifting by us in a slow descent. I go to speak, but no words form. We’re above the willow tree, then the cottage, then I can see the mountains on the horizon and faint lights from the town. Soon I feel like I’m above it all, at the top of the world. I look up at the stars, glinting and glittering, and I reach out to them. It feels as if I could easily take one and cradle it in my hands.

‘This is so unreal,’ I whisper.

‘Did I mention that there are three moons in Duwyn?’ he says to me.

‘Three?’

He smiles, and then returns his gaze to the stars. ‘Every-thing is dim here, but not in Duwyn. It’s like the sky and stars have been reborn there.’

‘I’d like to see that.’ And I realise I really would.

I shiver. It’s cold. I’ve been coated in stars and exhilaration, and the cold hadn’t had a chance to touch me, but now it chases all of that away and my teeth begin to chatter. Harriad must have noticed, because he descends, slowly, as if he were a petal falling from a branch. My feet touch the ground, and the spell that has settled around me disperses into the night. For a moment I can’t let go of Harriad’s hand, and he doesn’t force it. When I realise I’m still holding onto it, I pry my hand away and a breath of cold air spirals from my mouth.

‘Magic,’ I whisper. ‘That was magic.’

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘How did it feel?’

‘I…’

‘Are you all right? Perhaps I shouldn’t have—?’

‘No. I-I’m glad. I didn’t think, I mean, I didn’t know it could be like that.’

‘Magic?’

‘Yeah.’ And it has captured me, utterly enchanted me. What was I even afraid of before? Why was I so hesitant about going to Duwyn? This is phenomenal. Why would I want to turn my back on this, on magic?

Magic
.

‘You see,’ says Harriad, smiling, ‘it’s not all bad, being Chosen.’

KORREN

WISHES AND CURSES

Not far from the Imperium stands The Core, a metal, domed structure with intricate silver lining across it, bouncing back the sun’s beams. It stands on one of the many floating Habatai Islands, making it impenetrable. The
anphelos
, creatures that can change from a physical to a phantom form, glide in the air around the circular structure. They are not considered nuisances or pests; the Imperium favours nature and its demons.