"Dayana isn't feeling well. You may not come in," my Watcher, Isis, says to someone behind the door. I wouldn't have been able to tell who was at the door or even what was right in front of me because I was in my trance.
It happens every day at around the same time. I'm sitting at the tea table talking to Isis about different subjects hear and there when suddenly I freeze. My whole body goes stiff and I can't see anything in the real world. All I can see is what goes on in my world. Usually what goes on in my world happens in the future. I saw the assassination of King William and the rise to the throne of Queen Alia. I also saw when my mother died weeks ago, from unknown causes.
Unknown to everyone but me.
Right now, I see myself dressed in a beautiful silver gown at some sort of ball. I go outside to get some air on the balcony hanging over the lush garden that the queen tends herself. Being of almost royal decent, we are often invited to balls the queen holds every week. I peer down into the garden to see dark red roses growing plentifully on a bush. I don't hear anyone come up behind me because I am too entranced by the beauty of the roses.
"Hello, princess." I turn around to see a man I don't know. I've seen him before at the queen's balls, but I never bothered to learn his name.
"Hello," I reply, curtsying because I don't know if he's royalty or not. "Who may I address you by?" He gives me a wicked smile that sends chills up my spine.
"Your murderer." I am shocked because I have never met someone so rude or terrifying before. Before I can say something, he grabs me and pushes me over the edge of the balcony. I fall approximately five stories to the ground, where I hit the soft earth with a thud.
I stand up and brush myself off, looking up at the balcony where I had fallen. The mysterious man is gone. Perhaps he thought he had killed me when he pushed me off the balcony. He would be terribly disappointed to know I don't die because I simply already have. Maybe the trance is a side effect of already dying once before.
I don't know what to do so I do the only thing I can. I bury my face in my hands and cry. I sat there crying for maybe the rest of the party, and by the time I had finished, there was a pile of tiny tear shaped sapphires in my hands. I never did really cry anymore. Whenever I cried, my tears turned to tear shaped sapphires. I keep them as a reminder of all the tears I have shed.
I decide to stand up and find my Watcher, who is Isis. A Watcher is technically an angel, someone sent from the world of the dead to protect me. Isis keeps me from dying, I suppose, and watches over me day and night. She is like a sister to me.
"Isis," I say when I locate the young woman. She has straight platinum blond hair and blue eyes. She certainly looks like an angel to me. "I'm ready to go home."
I am pulled out of my trance. I find my real self at the tea table, a cup in my hand and a napkin on my lap. "Isis," I say, "I just had another vision. A man attempting to murder me through the means of shoving me off a balcony." I take a sip of the still warm tea. "How preposterous." I find my voice sounds amused, which I am. People attempted to kill me all the time. To have another failed attempt was downright hilarious on my part.
"Who was it?" Isis asks me, worry on her face. It is simply inappropriate to be worried because she knows I will never be hurt with her around.
"I don't know," I say simply, taking another sip of tea. "I suppose some royal. He was at the queen's ball. And I cried more sapphires when I hit the ground." Isis tells me that my sapphire tears are more powerful than I think, that they wield some of the power I do. Someday, she says, I will need them. I don't know which day she speaks of.
Someone bursts through the door. It is my father, the one who had probably been banging on it while I was in my trance.
"Dayana, I was told you weren't well," he says. "How are you feeling now?"
I shrug. "More or less," I respond. I take the last sip of my tea, set the cup down on the table, and wipe my mouth with my napkin. "But I'm feeling well enough to take a walk with Isis down to the market. May we, father?"
"Yes, you may," he tells me. "But be back before the supper bell rings. We will be having dinner guests tonight." I nod and he walks out of the room.
I pick up my decorative umbrella and motion Isis to walk out the door. "I want to visit the market," I say, "to see if they have a new box that can house my sapphires. The old one is getting frightfully full." We walk down three blocks to main street, where most shops are. I see an antique shop and decide to take a look. Perhaps they will have a box for me in this place.
"How do you do?" I say to the old woman working at the counter. "I came here looking for a rather large box. Do you have any of the sort?" The woman, an wrinkly lady with piercing blue eyes, looks me over for a second.
"I take it you're Princess Dayana, correct?"
I curtsy. "The same," I say.
"Well, I've been waiting for you for some time," she tells me. I am confused. How does this lady know I was coming? She takes out a box from behind the counter. It is about the size of a shoebox. It is made of wood, has elaborate designs carved into it, and had a teardrop shaped indent as a latch. One of my sapphires would fit perfectly in it.
"How did you know I would be here?" I ask. This woman is confusing me.
"Because your Watcher told me of you."
"Isis?"
"The very same. I know of your gift. You beat death once, so you can beat death as many times as you want, as long is Isis is alive. And you cry jewels. And more." She gave me a knowing look. If she really knew of my gifts, she would know of my visions.
"You mean my visions?" I ask for conformation. She nods.
"You must protect Isis," she warns me. "If anything were to happen to her, you will die. She is your only connection to this world. Protect her." I'm getting scared by her words so I take the box from her.
"How much do you want for it?" I ask, wanting to get out of here as fast as possible.
"It's already yours. Take it." So I do. I take Isis's hand and rush out of the shop, haunted by the old woman's words. We don't speak for the whole walk home. I'm guessing we're thinking the same thing: the old lady was eerily correct on everything she said.
We arrive home and walk upstairs to my bedroom. I lock the door behind us and retrieve my box of tears from under my bed. I dust off the box and set it next to my new one. The new one is slightly larger. I take all of my sapphires out of the old box and place them in the new one.
"Why isn't it working?" I hear Isis say behind me. I turn around to face her.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask her. I'm utterly confused, not for the first time today.
"Try placing one of the gems in the latch on the front," Isis instructs. "Just try it." I do what she says and place a gem in the center. All of a sudden, the gem starts glowing a bright blue. The glow points upward, and I can see the vision I had seen earlier. Isis can too.
"Is that...is that what you told me you saw?" I can only nod in response. I am mesmerised. When it is over, I look and Isis in wonder.
"It really was what I saw today!" I exclaim, clapping my hands. There is something magical about the box and my sapphires. I think about what Isis told me about the sapphires wielding great power. I hear a faint trumpet in the distance.
"What is that for?" I ask Isis. Her eyes are gleaming with excitement and anticipation.
"Your coronation, my princess."
"Coronation for what? I'm not in line to become queen yet."
"No, you're not. You will finally become an official enchantress."
"What's an enchantress?" I ask.
"You," is her only response. I scowl. She knows that's not the answer I was looking for.
"Come with me, Dayana, and you will see." She takes me by the hand and leads me down the staircase all the way to the queen's castle, which is quite a distance away.
