Atone: A Fairytale (Fairytale Trilogy) (18 page)

“When you’re ready, we’ll help you sit up, but I don’t want you taking it too fast,” Alex told her.

“I think I’m ready.” The other girls helped Becca ease into a sitting position and then prop herself against the wall at her back.

“All good,” she reported. “A little dizzy at first, but—” she broke off as she caught a glimpse of the mirror across from her. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” Lilia replied. “If you think it looks crazy now, you should have seen it while it was happening.”

The ornate frame of the mirror had changed. No longer was it just golden claws curving in toward the glass; now flowers were worked into the gold. Some looked as if they were growing in the spaces between claws, some twining their way up individual claws and dripping off them as if from a vine.

They were violets. Becca’s emblem flower. There was no mistaking them for anything else.

Becca tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. Her eyes traced out the spells. The portal and the protection spells were both still intact, but the protection spell looked different. Its threads were more active, twisting and writhing over each other as if somehow at war. And at least half the threads were seething with a violet-hued power.

“What?” her voice cracked. She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to ask.

“I’m not sure,” Alex answered softly. “You were putting so much of your power into our spell—more and more until it was almost all you and none of us. And then the protection spell started to—I don’t even know how to put it—meet your spell? Twist together with it? And then it all sort of exploded and threw you across the room like a rag doll. I thought…” Alex choked back a little sob. “I thought maybe—”

“We thought you were dead,” Lilia said matter-of-factly. “”If you had seen someone shoot through the air like that, you would have assumed the worst, too.”

“So basically, I tangled with a huge spell I had no business tangling with and almost magically ate it?”

“Pretty much.” Alex replied.

Becca groaned. “God, I hate Wednesdays.”

“Yes, it must be the day’s fault,” Lilia said.

“Obviously. This never would’ve happened on a Friday or Saturday.”

“Well, you’re off the hook now for the Magic Mountain trip, at least,” Alex comforted her.

“Maybe I should have gotten a concussion,” Lilia said with a grimace. “She’s going to make me go on those upside down rides.”

“There’s still time before Friday. I can see if the mirror is interested in blowing you across the room,” Becca offered.

“Thanks, I think I’ll pass.” Lilia frowned at Becca. “I still think you should go—”

“No. No doctors. I’m fine.”

“Then come home with me,” Lilia insisted.

“She’s right, you shouldn’t be alone. We need to make sure you don’t sleep too much, like wake you up every hour and check you.”

Becca sighed. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Is this about Nicholas?” Alex asked. “I’m sure we could let him know why you need to go. You’re not afraid he won’t let you back in or something, right? I’m sure he would at this point.”

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t want him to worry about me.”

“Well, maybe he should be worrying about you. You almost got yourself killed trying to break this spell for him.” Anger laced through Lilia’s voice.

“Lilia,” Alex said firmly. “That’s not helping.”

“Maybe not, but I’m right.”

“You’re not wrong,” Alex agreed. “But we need to do what’s best for Becca right now, and if she wants to stay, then I guess she can stay. Not,” she said sternly, turning back to Becca, “by yourself. If you want to stay here tonight, you better be ready for an impromptu slumber party.”

“Sure,” Becca grinned weakly up at her. “Whatever you say, Mom.”

Alex pulled a face. “Hardy har har. Think you can stand up?”

“How much help am I getting?”

“As much as you need.”

“Then maybe.”

~

“Time to wake up,” Lilia’s voice broke into the nightmare Becca was having. It involved flashing purple claws and violets made of gold twisting around Becca’s ankles and dragging her down, and even more distressingly, her own voice screaming, “Please, I love him” over and over again.

“Hmmmph.”

“That is right, all the way awake. I need to see your pupils.”

“That’s bright, turn off the light.” Becca flopped an arm over her eyes to block out the annoyingly cheerful glow of the overhead light.

“Becca, these are the rules for staying here. Do you want me to wake up Alex and have her drag you to the ER?”

“Ugh! You’re such a pain sometimes.”

“You love me though. Get those big brown eyes all the way open…” Lilia hovered over Becca’s face. “Seriously, it is hard to see your pupils anyway, your eyes are so dark. Hhmmm...they look fine. What day is it?”

“I have no idea. It’s either still Wednesday or possibly Thursday morning. You didn’t tell me the time.” Becca closed her eyes and stuck a pillow over her face. “Turn off the light.” She heard rustling as Lilia resumed her spot in the chair by the bed.

“Hmm. And what is your full name?”

“Are we really doing this? You asked me all this the last time you woke me up.”

“Full. Name.”

“Becca Lynn Ward.”

“What is your date of birth?”

“I’m going back to sleep now.”

“
Mmph
. No, I have more questions.”

“Are you eating something?” Becca asked suspiciously, peeling the pillow off her face and turning her head gingerly to look at Lilia.

“Yes. I’ve been up reading for hours and I’m starving.” Lilia took another bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she was holding and then held it out to Becca. “Want some?”

“No.” Just the thought of food made Becca’s stomach flip over uneasily. “Enjoy, though.”

“Are you aware that there is basically half a cow in the fridge downstairs?”

“I’m aware. He eats a lot.”

Lilia took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “I guess it is one thing to know it theoretically and another to see evidence of it.”

“Did you see him?” Becca asked in surprise.

“No, just the cattle in the fridge.”

“Sorry, I guess my brain is still a little slow.”

Lilia frowned over at her. “Do I need to wake Alex?”

“No. It’s slow because it’s the middle of the night, not because I’m concussed.”

“Okay. If you would like to go back to sleep now, you can.”

“Thanks,” Becca stared up at the ceiling. She suddenly wasn’t all that tired. She twisted from one side to the other, trying to get comfortable. She kept hearing a dull, pulsing sound. Hearing was the wrong word. It wasn’t in her head. She would have told Lilia right away if it was. Becca was stubborn but not usually willfully stupid; she wouldn’t mess around if she thought her health was actually in danger. The pulsing feeling, and it really was more a feeling than a sound, resonated through her chest. Like something was pulling at her magic—agitating it.

“Lilia.”

“Yes?” Lilia turned her head back toward Becca in concern, her golden curls swaying around her face.

“Do you think Talon was telling me the truth when he said the only way I could break the spell was to close the portal?”

Lilia didn’t respond right away. She kept munching on her sandwich until all that was left was the crust, which she set delicately on a plate on the night stand.

“I do not know,” she finally answered. “I do not know this Talon person to judge his general truthfulness, but I do know it is hard to lie about magic.”

“But it’s possible. Briar Rose lied to Alex about her spell, about Luke altering the enchantment.”

“True. But it was a...what is the word? I want to say a close lie—a small deviation from the truth. Luke did exert his own force over the enchantment, just not in the way Briar Rose meant it.”

“So you think Talon was telling the truth; there’s no other way to break it.” Becca said the words dully, as if they didn’t matter. But they did matter. More than she wanted to admit.

“Maybe. Or maybe he was skating in and out of the truth. Maybe you did not ask him the right question.”

“What would be the right question?”

“I’m not sure. He said that this kind of curse has been used before—to change a human into a beast?”

“Well, he used the term ‘protection spell,’ but yes. A long time ago.”

“I wonder,” Lilia said slowly. “Since my story became a well known tale, if that one did too.”

“What do you mean?” Becca looked over at Lilia to see her light blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

“If I was your Sleeping Beauty, could not whoever was cursed before be the basis for...”

“Beauty and the Beast?” Alex said from the doorway. “Hey, I was going to come in to relieve Lilia, but you guys don’t look at all sleepy.”

“Do you really think Beauty and the Beast could have a factual basis?” Becca asked. “I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be asking, seeing as in we’re literally in the beast’s castle right now.”

Alex giggled. “And does that make you Belle? I don’t know that yellow is your best color.”

Becca gaped at her. Her mental plea to the spell on the mirror echoed in her mind. She’d said she’d loved him. She didn’t know why she’d said it. It couldn’t possibly be true, because if it was true, the magic wouldn’t have exploded in her face and sent her flying across the room, right? She’d only thought it because Alex had suggested it to her. Whatever it was she felt, it wasn’t strong enough to ensure the kind of happy ending the Disney movie had. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the images that had flashed into her mind at the thought of that happy ending, images of her and Nicholas that left her uneasy and with a strange sense of longing.

“Don’t look so shocked. I’ve actually seen it,” Alex teased, but by the serious light in her grey eyes, Becca could tell she was trying to distract her.

“Since when?” Becca scoffed.

“Luke and I watched it over spring break. He’s taken it upon himself to supplement my fairy tale education.”

“Disney movies? Flickering around the country to visit a boy? It’s like I don’t even know you anymore,” Becca said mock-sorrowfully.

Alex laughed as she moved over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Do you see a stranger when you look at me?”

Becca shook her head. The magical pulsing was getting stronger. Now she could tell that it wasn’t in her chest. It was coming from somewhere else, where she wasn’t sure. It felt like it was calling to her magic and that call was reverberating off her power. She still felt off kilter—something about her own magic had changed. It was still too golden, too reflective of the mirror spell’s power. But the rhythmic call was getting stronger and stronger, and she couldn’t ignore it.

“Do you guys not feel that?” she asked.

Two pairs of concerned eyes immediately swung toward her.

“Feel what? Is your head hurting?” Alex asked sharply.

“No. It’s not my head. There’s like a—a magical pulse—I can feel it. It’s coming from, I don’t know where, maybe outside the house?”

Alex frowned, a small crease forming between her eyebrows as she concentrated. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Neither do I.”

“That’s so weird,” Becca muttered. “Maybe I’m imagining it.”

Alex looked unconvinced. “Just because we can’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

“But why would I feel it if you guys don’t? You’re both stronger than I am.”

Lilia snorted. “Says the girl who just took on the mirror.”

“And lost,” Becca reminded her.

“I don’t know that it was a loss so much as a draw,” Alex said. “You certainly left your mark on the mirror. But it is three am, so I suggest we all get some sleep and we can investigate the magic you’re sensing in the morning…well, later in the morning.”

“Let’s just hope whatever it is goes away,” Becca sighed as she leaned back on the pillows. “I’m not planning on waking up again until noon.”

“You wish. I’m waking you up in another two hours,” Alex said with a grin.

~ Chapter Thirteen ~

“
A
RE YOU GOING
to yell at me again?” Just like before, Becca’s magic alerted her to Nicholas’s presence even before he walked into the media room. It didn’t fizz and pop the same way as it had before; the burn was brighter, hotter.

“Do you want me to?”

“Not particularly. My head kind of still hurts, plus there’s this weird, pulling magic…” Becca wasn’t sure why she was admitting this to him when she had just acted with her friends as if everything was okay, when she hadn’t even admitted to herself since last night that not everything was okay. “Ugh. Whatever. Go ahead, yell at me. I probably deserve it.”