Once upon a Midnight | BOOK I

Twenty-six

Growing up, Mum taught me all my magickal lessons. I wasn't always enthusiastic about the classes because I felt what she taught me wasn't strong enough. But one thing I extremely loved about the classes were the stories. Mum would tell me about the famous Merlin, about Solomon Night and even Madeline Blackstone. Sometimes, she'd tell me about some ancient sorcerers in African. She'd mention the more prominent ones like Imhotep from Egypt, and sometimes, she'd talk about less prominent sorcerers like Oya from the Yoruba people.

"It's good to pass down sorcery history," Mum would say.

I remember one night when I was fourteen, Mum had just tucked me in bed after telling me about one of Madeline Blackstone's feats, and I asked, "Why do sorcerers become bad?"

Mum had smiled, her bright green eyes glinting with magick. "Many things, Anabeth. But of all, the major ones are fear and desperation," she'd said.

Desperation had a way of picking people up and twisting them into the darkest of hell. That was exactly what was happening to me right now. I was desperate. Desperate for answers. Desperate for the truth. And that desperation was picking me up and slowly twisting me bit by bit. I didn't care. I would gladly become a monster to have a sense of what secrets were being kept from me. That desperation mixed with determination kept me going. Even when the blackwater in my veins resisted the flow of my magick, it kept me going. It made me reach into the shadows once again.

Khiroth resisted, but at that moment, I was more powerful than he was. I kept my lips on his and I felt my consciousness leave my body. But I didn't loose my consciousness. Instead, it became a bird, soaring into Khiroth's mind. I knew what I wanted to see in his mind, and the magick took over the rest. I soared through memories, passing through them too fast to take note of any. When I reached a stop, I was envelope by darkness, and then light.

I saw dark elves all around. Their black skin, white hair and blue eyes were everywhere, and they were all chanting the same incantation in unison. I couldn't make out any of the words, and the image seemed distant and blurry. But I was sure I wasn't mistaken when I saw a little version of myself lying at the center of the dark elves and covered in runes. It was just as I'd seen it back in the lake. Something was about to happen. I could feel it, but as it was about to happen, I felt something tug at my soul fire. It was as if it was trying to breech into me.

It wasn't trying to breech into me, I realised. It was shutting me out of Khiroth's mind. I figured out what it was. A blood oath. Khiroth had sworn not to say anything. The magick of the blood oath was pushing me out. A pain shot through me. It was as if my soul fire was being poked by numerous needles. The blackwater. I felt as if my body was being pulled apart and fused together over and over again. I didn't wait for another second before I quickly let go of the shadows and retreated back into my body.

I panted, breathing in and out heavily, and so did Khiroth. I looked up to meet Khiroth's gaze and when his blue eyes met my green eyes, he froze. Then he whispered, "Morgana."

*  *  *

I put the flames of the matchstick to the wick of the candle. After blowing the matchstick, I sprinkled some oceanstone powder into the flame, changing the colour of the fire from reddish-orange to blue-green. My body ached at vital points, straining my magick as it flowed through my body. When I checked my reflection in the mirror earlier, I saw that the dark circles underneath my eyes had turned reddish-brown, the roots of my hair were graying, and my skin was pale. My mind has gone over the numerous magical diseases Mum had told me about. I looked like I was having a severe case of a soul fever. I had done the next best thing and called Mikoto.

Though with clear displeasure, Mikoto answered me and decided to help. Most of our time together was spent in silence while my mind was filled with the things that happened in the reliquary with Khiroth. We had a small talk centered on me muttering a half felt apology and her accepting it. Mikoto had gently used her makeup spells to help with my looks. She made the dark circles disappear, darkened my hair and even gave my skin some colour. A knot had tightened in my chest when she pulled out a dark blue dress from my wardrobe. I could've sworn it wasn't there before, but it didn't matter. In Mikoto's hand was the dress I was always wearing in my nightmares.