“Leave me alone,” she demanded in a harsh whisper. “I don’t have anything for you this time.”
Foggily, in the mirror, a silhouette of a face appeared. “Don’t lie, Nessy.”
Nessy reached out towards her bedside table, grabbed a hairbrush that lay upon it, and threw it at the mirror. The glass broke, a spiderweb of shards radiating outwards. One large piece fell and smashed on the floor.
Then came the creepiest laugh I had ever heard. Horrified, I saw that the broken mirror only made the vision worse. Now a foggy face shone from every sliver of glass individually.
“You can’t get rid of me that way,” said the voice, still quiet but magnified hundreds of times as the visions spoke simultaneously, blending together. “You made a deal you must honor.”
“That deal was forced from me.
This is my life; these children are mine, not yours.”
“That remains to be seen. Speak, or I will force you to speak.”
“You cannot take them from me.”
“You made a promise! Now speak!”
Nessy was silent for a moment, her face distorted in as if with pain. Then she spoke, a ghostly quality to her voice, her eyes blank. “The children are what they were born as. The boy showed extraordinary abilities today. He moved water. A lot of it. And he performed illumination on a stone. The girl has manifested no powers.”
“Hmm. Very well. We will honor our agreement. Don’t attempt to flee with the boy, either.”
Nessy blinked, then shook her head. Life returned to her eyes. “What did I say?” she murmured, her voice normal again. To my immense relief, I saw that the mirror shards had gone dark, the vision gone.
She saw me. “Cemagna!
What are you doing awake?” Without a glance at the shattered mirror, she sprung from her bed and ran to me.
“I—I heard you.
You were talking about a promise,”
I said.
“It’s late and you’re tired.” She put her arms around me in a tight hug.
“You’re sad, Nessy.”
“Go back to bed, my little one.”
She ushered me down the hall to my bedroom, stroking my hair.
“Sometimes we don’t hear things correctly when we’re tired.”
That night was the last night I was ever afraid of thunderstorms. Something far more terrifying had entered my life.
Chapter 2
Cemagna
The next morning I knew I hadn’t been dreaming.
Though Nessy had tried to sweep carefully, I found a piece of the broken mirror on the floor deep under her bed.
#
It was early in the morning, three days later, when they came and I saw my first ship.
There it was in the distance, from faraway looking like a smudge of ink against the pure ocean.
A single square sail bristled from it. I saw what was on that sail long before I saw the people on the ship.
Upon the sail was an eye, regal and almost angry, curved with a swirl at the edge. The pupil of the eye looked like a crescent moon.
An angry moon-eye.
Nessy saw me on the balcony, staring at the strange ship as it swam across the seas, getting ever closer to our home.
Oars stuck out of the sides of the hull, plowing deep into the water, over and over, as the ship drew nearer. The angry moon-eye grew bigger and bigger.
Nessy came to stand beside me.
“That’s a ship, isn’t it?” I asked her.
She smiled down at me.
“Yes. A floating vessel capable of being steered and transporting things or people.” A sad, resigned look had come over her face. She sighed.
“Why are they here?”
“Because I was young once. Because there are people in this world who love—and people who hate. Because you and Temet are different from other children.”
I heard a yell from inside, and Temet bounded out onto the balcony. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “So that’s a ship? It’s so small!”
Nessy looked at him. “It will get larger. It only looks small because it is still far away.”
Soon the ship was close enough that I could see the people on its decks… small, tiny people in comparison to how massive the ship had become. I stared down at the ship from the cliff.
Temet grinned, putting out his fingers towards the sea. “Haha, look, I’m squeezing them!” he cried, shutting one eye and staring through his fingers at the ship, pinching his fingers together. I glared at him from behind. He had not even
noticed
Nessy’s distress at the ship.
The ship had stopped getting closer to shore. Instead, men were now lowering smaller boats into the water and rowing towards our shore.
“Cemagna. Temet.” Nessy’s voice was sharp behind me. I turned, as did Temet.
“Yes?”
She shook her head. “I’m not going to stand for this, bargain or no bargain, promise or no promise. You are
my children
.” Grabbing my hand and Temet’s, she turned, her back to the sea, towards the mountain behind us. “Come on. We’re going.”
“Where?” I asked as she hurried us away from the cliff. “What about the ship?”
“I want to watch the men in their little ship!” protested Temet.
“No, we can’t. We can’t let them find us.” She broke into a run towards the mountain.
“Why?”
“Because I was forced to make a deal long ago that I didn’t want to! It was unfair!” She turned to us, a half smile on her face. Temet and I struggled to keep up. “Don’t ever let
anyone
force you to make a deal, my children.”
She hurried us into the forest, towards a particularly steep slope of rocks. “Climb.” Her face bore an expression I had only seen her wear on the night of the broken mirror:
fear
.
“Nessy, what are you afraid of?” asked Temet. “Are the men from the ship going to hurt us?”
“No, they won’t.” She muttered something else under her breath; I caught some of the words. “Should have done this days ago. Should have decided this
then
.” Releasing our hands, she started to climb.
Temet must have heard her words too, for he shot me a puzzled look.
I sidled up to him as we climbed, nearly on all fours from the steepness of the rock. “Temet,” I whispered, “Nessy was talking to someone in the mirror. The other night, while you slept. I saw it.”
He looked at me. “Talking to someone in a
mirror
?”
“Yes. I didn’t believe it at first either. But she did. Something about
us
. I think those men are coming for us. Or at least for
you
.”
“Why us? And why
me
?”
“I don’t know! Temet, you shouldn’t have shown her that trick you did with the water!”
“But… why not?”
“I think that’s why the men are here!”
Our mother called down to us from above, softly. “Be quiet! Come on, hurry!” She reached down from the ledge above us to pull us up.
I grabbed one hand, Temet the other. Nessy pulled—and slipped, the rock under her tilting to the side.
She fell.
I leapt for her hand, but she had already tumbled down the slope.
Temet’s scream of terror rang out as long as my own, and we scrambled down the slope to where she fell.
Her eyes were closed, a bloody gash on the crown of her head, staining her ice-blond hair.
“Nessy!” Temet shouted. “Nessy, wake up!”
I held a finger under Nessy’s nostrils, feeling wamth. “She’s breathing, Temet. She’s not dead.” Though I tried to keep it steady, my voice quivered. I swallowed. I should be strong for him.
“I’m sure she’s all right,” I said.
“But Cemagna, she’s got a head wound! In the library, I read those can be… very bad!”
“Maybe this one isn’t.” I looked up at the rocky slope behind us. It seemed as tall as a mountain itself.
Temet looked, too. “Maybe… maybe she didn’t fall too far down. Maybe it just
looks
far to us.”
“Trouble, young ones?” a deep voice said.
I stifled a scream. The voice. It was the one I had heard speaking from Nessy’s mirror.
Chapter 3
Cemagna
In front of us stood a tall man, a dark beard across the bottom half of his face. His arms were folded over a broad chest. Three other men stood behind him.
“Who are you?” demanded Temet.
“Aylward. You must be the boy I am to take.”
“Take?” he demanded. “I’m not going anywhere. Besides, Nessy is hurt. I’m not leaving her. She’s my
mother
.”
Aylward nodded to one of the men behind him, who approached us. I stood up. “Go away!” I yelled.
“Don’t be afraid,” said the other man. “I just want to see how badly she is hurt.” I watched him closely as he bent over Nessy’s prone frame.
Aylward spoke. “Yes, boy, you
are
going somewhere. Why? Because before you and your sister were born, I made an agreement with Nessy that if either of you were to manifest Magic and Talent, you were to be given to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I helped her escape terrible things. She needs to repay her debt. Through you.”
Temet stuck out his chin; I knew it as a gesture he made when he intended to be particularly obstinate.
The man tending Nessy sprinkled something on her head and then stood up. “She will live,” he told us, then resumed his place by his fellows.
“What did you do?” demanded Temet.
“He healed her, though I doubt she will thank us for it,” said Aylward.
“Thank you,” Temet said grudgingly.
“If it hadn’t been for you, she wouldn’t have even gotten hurt,” I muttered.
“So, Temet, are you going to come with me?” asked Aylward.
“No.” Temet crossed his arms.
“Are you sure I can’t change your mind?” Aylward’s voice was calm.
“I’m not going. This is my home.”
Aylward cocked his head, eyes narrowing slightly. “Very well.” In one smooth motion, he reached into a pouch at his belt and drew out a handful of white powder.
The last thing I saw was Aylward tossing the powder in a wide arc over Temet, Nessy, and me. Then the world turned foggy and dark. Powerless to stop it, I felt myself slump to the ground.
Chapter 4
Cemagna
I came to myself in the chill of early evening, my face pressed against the damp forest floor. Nessy lay beside me, still unconscious though her head wound was gone.
Temet was gone.
A wordless cry of grief escaping my lips, I bounded to my feet.
Next to me, Nessy stirred and woke.
“They took Temet!” I wailed.
“Cemagna—“ Nessy began, but I had already started running.
I ran through the forest, heedless of Nessy’s voice behind me or of anything else. They had taken Temet! They had stolen my brother!
At last I broke through the trees into the dim light of the setting sun. I was on our cliff, overlooking the sea.
And upon that sea, like a tiny smudge of ink, was the ship that bore Temet away from me. Already it was far away, but I could still see it there, taunting me from far out to sea. Nessy and I must have only been unconscious for a few hours.
I stood there, shivering even though it was barely cold, staring at the terrible ship that took him away from me.
There was nothing I could do.
Just as I had been unable to stop him from leaving me, I couldn’t make him come back.
I felt sobs rising up in my throat. My vision blurred with tears.
I could barely see the rows and rows of weathered brown oars chopping up the water.
Like that man, Aylward, chopping up my heart by taking my brother, my beloved playmate, away from me.
A tear escaped my eye and rolled down my cheek.
Raising my hand, I waved to Temet, wherever he was on that ship.
Tears blinding me, I turned and ran down the path.
I didn’t stop running until I reached the shore, that horrible shore where Temet had discovered his awful ability. Wild ideas of swimming to the ship popping into my head, I splashed violently through the water and tripped.
Instead of putting my hands out to catch myself, let myself fall.
As the clear water closed over my head, I closed my eyes.
The waves flowed around me softly. So peaceful… the movement of the water pulled at my hair…
I opened my eyes.
Everything was a blurry blue-green.
I reached out with both hands towards my dangling feet. If I could catch hold of my ankles, my body would be a circle.
How nice that would be, to be a constant, slowly-spinning circle, never thinking, never feeling…
As I reached, I felt the water around my ankles move.
I stopped dead.
It moved in the opposite direction as the waves were taking me, against the flow.
Had I made it move?
Could I do Temet’s trick?
Distantly, I heard a voice.
Shouting.
Such a familiar voice…
My world broke to pieces as I felt Nessy’s arm around my waist, pulling me up.
I struggled against her in a half-hearted way…
“Cemagna, no, no!
Sweetie, no!”
She was crying and holding me tightly.
I was dripping wet, getting her wet, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Come on, sweetie, come back to the house.
Oh, Heavens, what have I let them do? What have I done?”
I let her carry me back up the cliff to our home.
I didn’t look at the sea.
I was quiet as she carried me, dried me with a towel, took away my wet clothes, and wrapped me in a long soft robe.
Bringing me to my room, she placed me on my bed.
I could feel my eyelids drooping; I yawned.
She pushed my hair away from my face and started to leave.