Daughter of Winter

Chapter 17

Sunlight streaming through the window woke me. This sunlight was a rich, deep gold. It lit dust in the air ablaze, creating a dancing show of stars in front of me. I watched it for a moment, savoring its beauty, before going to the window and casting the blinds open.

Color jumped out at me from everything, nothing was dull. The symphony of colors - verdant green vines, blindingly white walls, fiery red and yellow flowers and leaves, and the cool blue sky - was so intense I almost looked away. My already impressive vision had been intensified even further. I could make out the individual petals of a daffodil that lay abandoned in the street no less than two hundred yards away.

There was no evidence of the festival that had occurred. No trash was on the street, no fae were passed out in the gutter, and no vendor carts. There was nothing. It made me wonder for a moment if last night was real, or if I had simply dreamed it.

This strangeness was surpassed when I noticed a shimmer to the air. It was difficult to catch at first, but once I noticed it I could not unsee it. At first I thought it was a trick of the light - some kind of reflection of the sun off my window - before realizing this could not be the case. It radiated outward from most things, but it had a particular strength near some objects or fae.

When I looked down at my hands, I saw the shimmer stronger than anywhere else in my vicinity.

It was magic, it had to be.

Though I could have sat and stared at the world for hours, I abandoned the window and began to bathe. It was mid afternoon now and I did not want to waste any more daylight.

Even though I had every right to be exhausted, I felt better than ever. The world was brighter, it felt more open to me. I felt a flash of anger at Lysander for taking this from me, which was quickly muted. In the mirror, I glowed like a magical beacon. There was no way I could have stayed hidden from Terrin like this.

I reached out to Lysander, like I did the night before, and had no luck. I found the string that connected us, but it was faint. I could not latch onto it.

The dining hall was empty, as was the reading room and the gardens in the back. The entirety of the mansion had an abandoned feel to it, everyone had retreated to their rooms.

I was heading back to my room when I spotted something strange about Vivianne's door. An intense shimmer surrounded it. My hair rose as I got closer to the door - electricity was in the air. Something did not feel right.

I approached the door and knocked on it. There was no response.

I knocked louder. The shimmer faded as well as the electricity.

A slit in the door opened and wet, grayish hair dangled in front of a single brown eye appeared on one half of the slit.

"Why are you here, Allyn?" She unforgivingly demanded. I continued to stand tall, even though I realized how strange it was to go knocking on a random person's door.

"Is everything alright?" I calmly asked.

"Everything is...fine." She squinted her eye at me. "You have changed."

"Do you see the shimmer too?" I asked.

"I do not know what you are speaking of," she tonelessly replied. Strange. was she lying or was I special? "But I sense a change in your magical ability." I said nothing. I did not want to open up to her, but I also was terribly alone.

"It is a long story." She did not relent.

"You sit at the table with me. I would like to know how you got so powerful in such a short period of time." Fair point. "Give fifteen minutes to get ready. I will speak with you then."