Heavy is the Head

Elsa - 1

Chapter 28

✧ "I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life." - Sylvia Plath ✧

PART 1: WATER

"So? Are you ready, Elsa?"

"Ready for what?" I asked, my chest fizzling with excitement and fear. The question "How do you know my name?" was tingling on my lips but it seemed inadequate to ask in the grand scheme of things. After all, this woman had blazed into my life setting fire to my world with magic more powerful than I could even begin to imagine.

"To be taught how to use magic properly, of course." She replied, impatiently.

"But didn't you say that using magic here is forbidden?"

"Well, yes. Which is why we would need to leave."

We.

My eyes welled up with tears at the use of the pronoun, hot and heavy until they were streaming down my face. Mortified, I swiped at my face, wincing as they seeped into the cuts on my face. I don't know how long I just sat there crying but I will never forget the way it felt. It was as though this massive weight that had been pinning every single part of me to the ground had finally been lifted. My limbs felt loose and airy. My heart was slowly beginning to beat again. Red and hot and steady.

"Oh come on. None of that now." The woman grimaced, awkwardly crouching down beside me. She made a vague hand movement and the cuts on my face sealed. Another, and my eye was no longer a gigantic purple and blue lump. A final one and the pain in my upper shoulder faded. She lifted me to my feet and I felt the world tip on its axis as I became wrapped up in the silky material of the woman's pure white jumpsuit which was beginning to look slightly blue in the moonlight. "If you don't want to, then..."

"No!" I yelled, louder than I intended it to be. "I do want to learn magic properly. I want to learn how to do everything."

The woman nodded and for the first time, I noticed the thin silver stick in her manicured hand. "Your first lesson: Always listen to Fae."

"Huh?"

Fae ignored me, too focused on waving the silver stick through the air murmuring a spell under her breath but I only caught the last part. "...bibbidi bobbidi boo."

The air exploded with silver and blue sparks, and a seemingly insignificant standalone door appeared, painted white with icy blue snowflakes painted along the bottom.

"For you." Fae said to me. "It's a portal. I'll see you on the other side."

And with that she disappeared, melting into the grass. I took the door handle into my hand and pressed down, opening it cautiously but through the door, it held only the view of the ocean, wild and free as it crashed against the shore. Stepping through the doorway, felt as though I was walking through a thin film, similar to a soap bubble. I closed my eyes, thinking to myself that I should probably close the door behind me, but as I reached behind to shut it, I discovered my movements were far slower than I was used to.

I realised that I was in water a fraction too late, and panic shot through me like an ice cold sword through my gut. It wasn't like the water was particularly cold, and even if it was, it wouldn't have been that much of an issue. The cold never did bother me very much. It was the fact that all of a sudden there was all this water weighing me down and my lungs felt empty. There was a raspy rumble beneath me shocking me back into reality, and I realised that there could be absolutely anything lurking in the murky depths. I cleared my mind and reached into the very depths of my soul, stretching the water as thin as possible in my mind so I could throw it off me. I felt the familiar hum in my fingertips and in a sudden burst of excitement, I let out a small breath of relief. My time was now more limited than ever, so I heaved and pulled as much water towards me as I could and then hurled it away.