Water and Wind

Freya

She drops her hands, suddenly tired. But she keeps her lids open, with however much force she needs. She has to see what happens next. She waits. They all wait. The guards are ever closer, confused by what happened and why everyone is waiting.

And then it happens. There's a terrific crash of thunder, and then light splits the sky. Golden light, in a thunderbolt strikes the earth right in front of Freya, who doesn't move a muscle despite the intense heat in front of her.

And in the spot where the lightning struck, it sinks into the earth. Freya feels disappointment root inside her. The closest guard is maybe a foot away from her at the end of the line, and more are closing in on the other side.

Then all of a sudden, there's a spark of light underneath the dirt. It pulsates, then twists and wriggles, until a beam pushes its way up to the surface. It starts growing. At first, it's slow, a few inches a second, but it speeds up. Faster and faster the light shoots up, until it hits its highest point.

Then it branches out, shooting in a hundred different directions to form a golden web of light high above their heads. The ends shoot down as fast as they came, and create a shimmering cage around the children and their parents. Everyone is stunned, even the guards, yet they continue to charge, rushing towards the light.

The strands fill the gaps between them with lighter golden, smooth light shining between the darker gold beams until the people up onstage are enclosed in a shining golden bubble. The first guard hits the bubble, and there's a loud pop. A few seconds later, he is nothing but a pile of ash outside the bubble. Everyone watches her in wonder, as she feels a bubble of joy form inside her.

She's done it. She's called the spirits. She's called Circe's spirit.

Pride takes root inside her as the bubble explodes, sending a shower of a million pieces of glitter into the air. She is golden glitter bubble happy.