MAGIK, Book One - the Crumbling Castle

Chapter One - Callie and Mistress

I was zooming toward a dark, drafty castle with great gaping windows like a lion’s mouth. As I went through the windows, they seemed to swallow me. The next moment I was looking into a sleeping girl’s pale face. It was almost white – her messy dark hair was sprawled out around her head. She was dressed in a tattered black shirt and jeans. She was so skinny, I guessed she hadn’t eaten in days.

            But I was scared to go near to her. She seemed almost deadly. Just then, footsteps sounded in the creaky corridor outside. The girl and I jumped in unison. She sat up, and when she opened her eyes, I could see that were dark and empty, almost like a zombie’s.

            Through the door stepped a lady that looked like she’d been living in the slums all her life – she was wearing a gray wool dress that was worn and torn, her sandy hair was disheveled, and her eyes were large and gray.

            “We need to leave,” the woman cried. “Please, you don’t understand!”

            “I do!” The girl’s voice was higher then most, but soft and weak. “But we can’t leave here. We’ll be rescued!”

            “We have been waiting weeks! Months!” the woman cried, throwing up her hands. “No one will come to rescue us – no one!”

            “I had a dream!” the girl cried. “Please, Mistress, listen to me!”

            “I don’t care if you had a dream or not – we need to leave this place. Your mother gave me instructions-”

            “I don’t care if mother gave you instructions.” The girl’s voice was hard and cold now. “Mother means nothing to me. She knew she’d die – she knew I’d be left behind. I don’t care. We will stay.” Even in my dream, I admired the girl’s spirit.

            “No.” “Mistress’s” voice was low and demanding. “We can’t. We’ll starve.”

            “We will be rescued.” The girl’s voice was pleading. “Mistress, don’t you understand how important it is to stay? I’d rather be rescued half dead then go on, healthy, and not be rescued.”

            “I do not understand!” Mistress’s voice was rock solid. Her hands began to glow. “I will kill you and go on if you do not obey!” A blue ball of fire formed in her hand.

            “Don’t use your powers, Mistress. You know my mother’s orders,” the girl said in a tired voice, like she’d said this one million times.

            The woman’s hand dropped. The ball of fire vanished. “Yes, Callie, I know your mother’s orders. I will either break them, kill you, and leave, or we will starve and perish here, waiting to be rescued.”

“Mistress, I choose the second,” Callie said bravely. “We will stay here. You know how long I can hold out.”

            “But you nearly died then!” the Mistress cried, agitated. “You nearly perished from starvation! I don’t want to repeat that.”

 

Then, I woke up.

           

            “I have to save them,” I told myself. It was eleven o’ clock AM, and I was in my room, pondering my dream. “I know it’s real – I know it is!! I don’t want Callie and the Mistress to die. Maybe I’m the one Callie had a dream about? Why else would I receive a dream about them? But who’s sending the dreams?”