Weaving Destinies

“Alec? Where exactly are we going?” I asked as I followed him down the hall later that afternoon.

“Well, my darling, you wish to become a mage, do you not?” he smiled at me. I nodded, and he continued, “We must have you tested to see where your powers lie. There are eight elements of magic, and although a human can develop skills in any of these elements, there is usually one element to which one is especially drawn.”

“Just humans? Aren’t there other human hybrid creatures here?” I asked curiously.

“Only humans are able to use magic. Although the elitists would argue that humans have the most fully developed brain, I personally believe it is because we are physically the weakest of all humanoids,” he smiled.

Alec opened the door to a small room with stone floors and plain brown walls. A short, elderly man with a shiny head wearing a black robe stood inside with his hands behind his back. He smiled pleasantly when he saw us.

“Hello! It’s very nice to finally meet you, your Serene Highness,” he said, holding out his hand for me to shake.

“I’d really prefer if you just called me Faith,” I remarked.

“Very well then. My name is Gregory Ingraham,” he introduced himself.

“Oh!” I recognized the name. “You’re the one who wrote that book!”

Gregory laughed as Alec looked slightly embarrassed.

“I knew that my eager pupil would need some help,” he explained, his dark eyes twinkling merrily.

“Mr. Ingraham was my mentor when I was a child,” Alec explained. “He taught me everything I know about magic, although I am not particularly skilled at it myself.”

“Well, non-humans never are,” Gregory waved this off.

“Whoa, wait a minute. Time out. You aren’t human?” I stared at Alec.

“We’re not really sure what he is!” Gregory laughed. “His mother is a human, and his father is an angel! You’d think he’d end up one or the other, but no! Alec has wings like none we’ve ever seen before!”

“You have wings?” I asked in amazement, trying to peek over his shoulder. “Where are they?”

“They can only be released when I have access to my full power,” Alec replied.

“In fact, only one of his siblings is an angel,” Gregory commented as he dug through a small burlap sack on the ground. “It’s good for her Majesty, though. I understand she was rather irritated when she gave birth to an egg as her first child!”

“You hatched from an egg? Now that’s just funny,” I couldn’t help but smirk at Alec. Imagining him as a baby crawling out of a large egg made him seem considerably less regal. I remembered that Queen Anne had been a teen mom. I would have freaked out if that had happened to me.

“Okay, I am ready to begin,” Gregory announced. A small terra cotta jar sat at his feet, the top removed, and he dipped his hands into it. It appeared to be filled with a thick, almost clay-like black paint.

“Hold perfectly still,” he instructed. I obeyed as he pressed his fingertips to my head, his thumbs on my forehead. A strange, tingling sensation crawled over my brain. I recognized the feeling. It was what I felt when Callagroth entered my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced the thing from my brain. Gregory laughed again as I opened my eyes.

“You have quite a strong mind, but try not to resist. I promise I won’t hurt you,” he said. I was still uncomfortable with him poking around in my head, but I understood that this was necessary.

“Okay,” I sighed, closing my eyes. The tingling feeling returned, but I didn’t fight it this time. I felt Gregory rubbing his thumbs across my face, making a pattern with the cold paint. My head started to throb. What was he doing in there?

“All right, that should be enough,” Gregory said, stepping away. I opened my eyes, and Alec and Gregory peered at my face.

“What does this mean, sir?” Alec asked, glancing at his teacher.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a pattern like this before,” Gregory replied in quiet astonishment.

“I probably don’t have any magic powers,” I shrugged. “I’ve never done anything weird and unexplainable.”

“No, that’s not it. You’ve simply never tried magic before. How would you know whether or not you were good at mathematics or sculpting if you had never tried?” Gregory asked. “No, this is something quite different. Perhaps you can give me a hand, Alec.” Alec nodded.

“Darling, would you release my powers?” he asked. I sighed in frustration. I had a killer headache by now, and this seemed entirely pointless to me. I wanted to just give up and take a nap.

I weakly tried to send out a pulsation. I succeeded, but I only barely felt it rippling down my spine. It was pretty wimpy.

“Try again, my love,” Alec encouraged.

“I am trying,” I growled. The next one was even more pathetic.

“That will do,” Alec replied, seeing that he was not getting anything better out of me. He closed his eyes and reached out his hands.

“That’s it, Alec. Draw the power from her,” Gregory coached.

“Don’t you dare draw anything from me!” I argued, feeling slightly offended.

Alec closed his hands and quickly pulled his hands to his chest. I felt like I had just been jerked by a rope tied to my heart, and I nearly fell to my knees. My back arched involuntarily as my chest thrust forward. I started floating a few feet off the ground. I wanted to shout at him to cut it out, but I couldn’t move my lips.

Glowing, multi-colored symbols started pouring out of my chest and spinning around me. They spun faster and faster until they blurred into a silvery gold light.

“That’s enough!” Gregory exclaimed, and everything disappeared. I fell to the floor, landing hard on my butt. When Alec offered his hand to help me to my feet, I slapped him.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” I glared at Alec. “Ever.”

“Well, it seems she really is your soulmate,” Gregory smiled. “A special princess for a very unique prince!”

“We’re not soulmates, I’m not a princess, and what makes me so special?” I asked grumpily, standing up on my own.

“You have your own element,” Gregory replied. “But you also have great control over the eight existing elements as well.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” I asked. “Keep in mind that the goal is not dying whenever Callagroth attacks.”

Gregory frowned, deep in thought.

“Years ago, Nayan harnessed the power of each element into a stone. He was the only one able to use magic, and the world greatly suffered. Queen Anne and Princess Julia were able to defeat him by taking these stones and returning the power to nature. Since then, humans have used magic and kept Torm in harmony,” he explained. “Perhaps if you find a way to contain each element in a small object again, it will drain Callagroth of power and boost your own. With Alec’s physical strength and your magical talents, you might be able to defeat him.”

“How long would this take?” Alec asked.

“Many years,” Gregory admitted. We all sighed in disappointment. Eight elements. That was a lot, but why did that number seem familiar? Right. I had eight maids.

I suddenly had an idea.

“Does it have to be me?” I asked. Gregory and Alec stared at me.

“I mean, do I have to be the one to contain the element in something?” I asked. “Could someone else do it?”

“I suppose,” Gregory said carefully. “Why?”

“I have eight maids, and if they’re good at magic or whatever, maybe we could assign an element to each one. With all of them working at once, it’d be a lot faster,” I shrugged. “What exactly would they have to do?”

“They would need to go to the root of each element. The creatures there would train them intensively until they were able to access all of the power that exists and store it in something,” Gregory explained.

“Meaning we would have many diplomatic problems as well,” Alec sighed. “The caudatas will never agree to this, and neither will the pixies or the werewolves… I’m not certain anyone will like our plan.”

“And you would have to work quickly to locate Callagroth once they had sealed the elemental powers,” Gregory added. “Torm will begin to decay as soon as the first element is taken away from public use.”

“Awesome,” I sighed. “Well, can’t we just tell everyone that it’s the only way to defeat Callagroth? And I’m sure he’s doing his fair share of damage to Torm.”

“I believe anything is better than allowing Callagroth to continue roaming free,” Gregory agreed. “As dangerous as this plan is, I believe it is our only hope.”

“How about I send all my maids to you, and you can see if you think they’re even capable of this?” I offered.

“All right. We’ll start there,” Gregory nodded. “Send them to me tonight during the party.”

“Party? What party?” I asked with a frown. I noticed that Alec looked particularly guilty.

I groaned. There was no way this would turn out well for me.