Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 14: Joven's Story

"No one left? How is that possible?" I yelled at him.

"I don't know, Cass. It just seemed like the more magic we used, the worse everything got."

"Yeah. Because you need life to have magic."

I began to explain to him everything my mom had told me, and his eyes widened.

"So, without knowing it, Shaya and I ruined Acacia," he said softly.

"She might have known something about it. I mean, she's been there a lot longer than either of us have."

Joven shook his head sadly. "Andi, if I would have know..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. I nodded and stared at the ground.

"How bad is it? I asked quietly.

Joven was silent for awhile. He finally reached into his coat and gave me a small, silver object. The key necklace that I had left in Acacia.

"This was glimmering in a pile of ashes. It was the only piece of hope left..." He paused. "I'm never going back to Acacia, but this has just enough magic to let you back in. I know you can help them, Andi. You can fix everything I ruined. But there's no promise that you can come back here, to our world."

I stared at the necklace in his hand before taking it.

"Thanks."

Joven nodded and slowly made his way back into school. I was just about to, when I suddenly turned around and began to run home. Everything I had here meant nothing. My wings were gone, my friends were gone, my true home was almost gone.

And I was the only one who could fix it.

I reached my huge house, completely out of breath. I burst through the room of my door and grabbed a piece of my stationary.

Mom-

I needed to go back.

I'll visit you as soon as I can.

Love,

Cassandra.

I stared at the piece of paper, shaking for a moment. This decision was permanent. There was no assurance that I could find my way back here. It was either America or Acacia.

And Acacia needed me.

I pressed the silver key to the mirror, not quite sure what to do, but certain I was making the right choice.

I took a deep breath, and glanced behind myself. At the bedroom I'd grown up in. At the pictures of myself on my desk. At my huge closet, my endless supply of makeup, my TV and couch. All those things seemed meaningless to me now. The only thing in the whole room that mattered was the mirror.

I pressed myself against the cold glass and it gave through. I felt a falling sensation, which quickly stopped and I found myself standing where Shaya's palace used to be. There was nothing but black, dark ashes. Trees were simply dark branches. There was no green to be found anywhere.

But I knew that all the magic wasn't gone. With my help, Acacia could be re-built. I could help everyone to get along so that another magic war wouldn't happen. I could give the few people still hiding in the shadows homes, places to live and re-grow. Maybe it would take awhile. Maybe I would die before it all came back together. Maybe...

But I knew it could be done. I took a long glance behind myself again, and where the horizon should have been, I could just make out my bedroom for an instant before it disappeared, like a thin mirage.

I smiled. This was the right choice. I got up and began to walk around, searching for anyone, anything.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall.

You gave me an adventure I'm not going to forget.

And now, you gave me a new life.

Maybe, all this time, I've never been America's Princess. Maybe, I always knew that I belonged somewhere else. I never fit in with all the rich, stuck up people.

Maybe I'd just been waiting for a place like this. A place where everything out of my fairy-tale books was real. A place where I didn't have to worry about other people's opinions, or what shade of lipstick went best with my ballgown.

I fastened the key necklace around my neck, silently thanking Joven for giving me this chance.

A chance to start over...