Weaving Destinies

I woke up at dawn not to the singing of birds but to the singing of Alec. Opening my eyes, I realized that Alec was serenading me with love songs in the next room.

“Oh my gosh, please tell me this isn’t happening,” I groaned and sat up.

“My dearest princess, if I could only prove my love to you!” Alec’s voice rang out loud and clear throughout the entire castle.

“Alec, shut up!” I shouted. He was without a doubt the most irritating person I had ever met in my entire life.

He laughed and exclaimed, “I am pleased to hear you have awakened. Today is the day we begin our journey together!”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. He made it sound like we were getting married, which he had promised he would never force me to do. This was going to be a long, annoying trip.

The same eight maids who had prepared me for my wedding entered the room. They kept their distance, though, and they were looking at me strangely.

“What?” I asked, wondering if I really looked that bad in the mornings. One of them sniffed loudly; I realize that tears were at the corners of her eyes. One of the other maids hushed her quickly and turned frightfully to me.

“You look as if I’m going to hurt you,” I remarked, getting out of bed. They clustered together in a corner as I walked towards them.

“Well, trust me, it’s been a long time since I’ve even killed a fly!” I told them truthfully. Then I realized that the last time they saw me, I was threatening the High Prince of Torm.

It’s not that I wasn’t used to being hated in the public eye. After all, it wasn’t just the students at my school who ostracized me. There were horrendous letters to the editor of the Courier-Journal, and even worse, there was the story on the six o’clock news.

“Olivia Jones appeared mournful, crying and hugging her parents, but is this just an act to elicit sympathy?” the news reporter asked. The screen switched to someone who was supposed to be a trained psychologist at nearby university.

“What you often see with these young people is a mindset of, ‘I’ve done something wrong, and I’m going to get in trouble.’ They’ll do anything they can to avoid punishment,” the man said. “They’re not above pretending to be sad, especially those with indulgent parents who’ve learned they can get whatever they want. They don’t want to be punished, but they don’t regret the act itself.”

Dad had promptly thrown his book into the television screen.

But this wasn’t the time to remember the burning humiliation and self-hatred of that moment. I had other concerns.

“Oh, are you worried about what happened at the wedding? That was just… well… I sort of had a, uh, misunderstanding with Alec. It’s fine now, really! We figured everything out, and life can go back to normal!” I assured them. They still looked doubtful.

“We heard you returned to the Tribe of Legends and were never coming back,” one of them piped up bravely.

“Well, yeah, I was, but then I decided to stay here with Alec,” I explained. My face was growing hotter by the minute. I had already agreed with Alec to not tell anyone about the curse that bound us together. He had explained how it could be used against us.

The maids were shivering slightly in fear.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you,” I sighed. “Really, I swear. I promise that I will do anything I can to protect you, not hurt you.”

The maids seemed to relax a little. I saw that the backpack Julia gave me was propped up against the wall. I walked over to it and shook out its contents as the maids prepared a bath for me. Out fell several different outfits, a blanket, a basket filled with food, extra shoes, soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a small wooden box, and even a blank journal with a pencil. I had to smile when I saw this. She had always encouraged me to write down everything to provide an outlet for my feelings and so that I could see how much I had grown through time.

“She was really prepared for this. It’s almost like she knew this was going to happen,” I thought with a frown. Sorting through the items, I found something I hadn’t seen before. It was a necklace divided into nine sections, eight triangle wedges in different colors around a crystal center. When I pulled on one of the nine chains, the necklace came apart like a puzzle.

Suddenly, I had an idea.

“Hey, guys! Come over here. I have something to give you!” I called to my maids. They looked at each other.

“Do you mean us?” one asked. I nodded, and they nervously hurried over to me.

“All right, so here’s what we’ll do. I haven’t learned your names yet, so when I give you a necklace, I want you to tell me your name. Who’s going to be first?” I asked, holding up the necklace with the red piece on it. The maid with red hair a little past her shoulders and beady blue eyes stepped forward.

“My name is Lucia,” she stated plainly, accepting the necklace and placing it around her neck.

“Who next?” I asked, picking up the blue piece. A maid with silky brown hair and large blue eyes took the necklace from me.

“It’s so pretty, your Serene Highness,” she said. “Oh, I’m sorry, your Serene Highness! My name is Genevieve.” She stood next to Lucia as the next maid came up to take the green necklace. It was the one who always looked as if she would cry if I said anything mean to her.

“I’m Clarissa,” she giggled, her small brown eyes shining. She tossed her long, curly black hair and took her place next to the others. I held out the yellow necklace to the last five. The one with silky brown curls and piercing black eyes took it with a frown on her face.

“Rowena,” she said as she snatched it out of my hands. I next held out the white necklace, which was taken by the maid with long, wavy black hair.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling with her blue eyes. “I am called Katherine.”

The maid with black hair cropped short and eyes that were such a dark color of blue that they were nearly black took the necklace with the black triangle.

“My name is Danielle,” she informed me. I offered the gray necklace to the final two. The maid with turquoise eyes and curly, light brown hair grabbed it.

“I hate being last!” she exclaimed. “My name is Cecilia, by the way.”

I handed the brown necklace to the last maid, who had round gray eyes and curly brown hair.

“Nicole,” she smiled. “Thank you, your Serene Highness.”

They all stood back, watching me carefully as I fastened the clasp of the round, clear necklace around my neck.

“What do these mean?” Katherine asked.

“Well, where I come from, they symbolize friendship,” I answered carefully to not reveal anything about Earth.

“But they don’t have any magic powers or anything, do they?” Nicole asked nervously.

“I’ve heard about the mystical objects of the Tribe of Legends,” Genevieve added.

“No, not that I know of,” I shook my head. “I just want you guys to know that I’m your friend! What you saw yesterday was… well, I guess I was going kind of crazy. But now I’m fine.” They look highly relieved, and Lucia hurried off to see how the high the water in the bathtub was. A moment later, she came back and said, “It’s ready, your Serene Highness.”

“Oh yeah, one more thing. Don’t call me ‘Serene Highness,’” I said as I walked to the bathroom.

“Do you mean we can call you Faith?” Cecilia asked hopefully.

“Will these people never learn that I’m not Faith?” I inwardly sighed. “Sure, Faith works.” All of a sudden, I ran headfirst into an invisible wall.

“Ouch!” I shouted. I realized something. My bathroom was too far away from Alec! How was I supposed to take a bath?

“Um, I just remembered that I have to, uh, talk to Alec about something. I’ll be right back!” I said, running towards Alec’s room. I opened the door connecting his room to mine and found Alec writing some sort of letter on a wooden desk. He looked up at me and put his pen down to focus all of his attention on me.

“Hello, darling. Are you ready? I would not suggest traveling in that!” he smiled, looking at my nightgown.

“Alec, we’ve got a problem. I can’t take a bath!” I exclaimed. “The bathroom is too far away from your room! What am I supposed to do?” Alec thought for a moment.

“Dearest, I know you will not be happy to hear this,” he said, “but I will have to come with you.”

“What?” I stared at him in dismay. “You pervert! No way!”

“No, I did not mean that!” Alec shook his head and looked very embarrassed. “I meant that I will have to stay in your room while you bath.” I sighed in relief.

“But what will we tell my maids?” I asked.

“Do not worry. We will think of something, my beloved,” Alec reassured me.

“Will you stop calling me that?” I snapped.

“What is the matter?”

“You keep calling me ‘darling’ and ‘dearest.’ It’s making me sick! Cut it out!”

Alec looked surprised, but he smiled at me and said, “My sincerest apologies, Faith. I will do my best to break the habit. Will you forgive me?”

I stared down at him. He was on his knees again, gazing up into my face with absolute adoration and offering me a single red rose.

“Where did he even get that?” I thought, a bit disgusted. “He must’ve pulled it out of his sleeve like a cheesy magic trick!”

I sighed and took the rose before hearing giggles from the doorway. I turned to see Clarissa peeking around the corner, watching us. She couldn’t hide her amusement.

“You’re so embarrassing,” I muttered, throwing the rose back at Alec.

“I think he’s sweet,” Rowena stated, joining Clarissa.

“None of your business!” I exclaimed, blushing. I brushed past them, Alec at my heels, as I headed for the bathroom.

As promised, Alec stayed in my room as I tightly locked the door to the bathroom, made Danielle guard it, and took my bath. About thirty minutes later, I was packed and ready to begin my journey. After saying goodbyes to everyone in the castle, we set out on foot together, taking only my bag and a bow and arrows. I had no idea how I was supposed to use those or how we were going to magically (no pun intended) find Callagroth, but I didn’t have much of a choice. We were stuck together, like it or not.