Hidden Magic

Chapter Four

"What is going on, why is it so dark?" My voice seemed loud in the darkness, though it was softly spoken, I wasn't sure if I had even passed through the mirror yet, or if I was somehow trapped in it still.

"You're fine, it's just tradition that it be dark, so that the shadows can properly guide you to your mentor." Ariel's voice rings around the dark room, I feel a soft wet touch on my forehead and I flinch back. "I am just marking your forehead with the four directions to make sure Sira guides you true." She drags her finger from right to left on my forehead, then moves down at an angle and straight back up, doing the traditional directions with only one extra line to make the whole thing continuous.

As whatever liquid she put on my forehead heats up and makes my skin tingle, my heart slows the racing the panic I had originally felt at thinking I was still trapped in the mirror, slowly fades as I take slow deep breaths. "Walk around until you touch someone, as soon as you do the lights will come on." Okay, I could do this, walking in the dark wasn't a big deal, I just hoped there wasn't any furniture for me to trip over. I start walking, but hesitate as I hear moving, my heart races, the thoughts of running into anything making me nervous.

The shadow was supposed to guide me, right? Then walking around while blindly trying to see wasn't helping me. All of these people seemed so determined that these gods and goddesses were real, that Sira Goddess of Shadows had chosen me, maybe I should just give her a chance to guide me. Choice resolved, I close my eyes and walk just as blindly as before, but my heart slows, becoming steady as I follow my instincts, turning this way and that, I can tell I narrowly pass people, somehow without touching them, but I could just tell that I was being guided somewhere else, my hands close in on an arm and I open my eyes.

A man stares at me in shock, and I tilt my head to look at him in confusion, he was handsome, I mean everyone I had seen in this academy so far was beautiful, but he seemed to have a sort of glow to him, a draw that I had never felt towards anyone before, though he seemed to be older than the rest of the students here, but maybe he just had that kind of face. I look around in confusion as I realize that for some reason the lights hadn't flicked on and yet somehow, I was seeing perfectly around me in the darkness. Everything was in shades of gray, there wasn't any color, but I could see, why had the lights not turned on yet? I glance down at my hands clearly touching his arm, I open my mouth, about to ask why the lights hadn't turned on yet, but the strange man grabs my hands, drawing my attention back to him, he raises a finger to his lips in a shhing gesture.

I look at him bewildered as he gives me a smirk, before winking at me and slowly placing my hands on the woman standing next to him, the lights flick on immediately as soon as I touch the other woman, blinding me for a moment, and then as my eyes adjust, I see the strange male I had seen before was gone. Was I imagining things, surely, he had been there and just walked away when the light blinded me for a moment, he couldn't have just disappeared right? I glance back at the blonde woman I was touching, and she scowls down at me, looking incredibly disappointed to have been chosen as my mentor. "My name is Alyssa, I'll tell you the basics and then you're on your own. I don't have the time or the desire to babysit. Let's go, I'll show you to your room." I glance around the room, observing it in surprise now that the light showed off all the color.

It was beautiful, billowing dark purple fabrics trailing down from the ceiling in great swaths to rest as drapes against the walls and large archways. There were smooth pillars made out of white marble that had gold and black veining, the walls and ceiling seemed to be made out of the same stuff, though the floor was the same marble it didn't seem harsh, as they were generous with the fluffy black carpets. It had an almost arabian nights mixed with morrocan feel, the purple couches were low and flat, with no back and gold bolster pillows placed on the back and ends. There wasn't even any windows, it was open archways that seemed to lead out into a patio area, though it was night right now, everything had a beautiful dark haze to it, that the dim candlelight in their gorgeous metal lattice work holders on the walls and roof, made better.