Hidden Stones

CHAPTER 8 | Broken Mirror

MARINA

I woke up with the feeling of soft sheets and a fur blanket draped over me. Even the pillow my head is resting on was so light and fluffy.

What a dreadful dream. I scrunched my nose at the reminder.

I was just discovered and I ended up in such a huge mess.

I jolted and sat up when I caught the scent of apples. The usually sweet smell registered into a sickly one in my head. Apples. She smelled like apples.

I tightened the sheets around me as my eyes scanned the unfamiliar quarters I'm in. The walls are tapered with silver, the carpet layed out on the floor in the shade of gray, the furnitures are sparse but looked like they were made of hardwood. I widened my senses, trying to hear or even smell anything off but as I did so my senses fogged and I stopped.

So that means I'm still wearing the stones...

I lifted my hand from the fur blanket and stared intently at the amulet banded on my finger. Who am I kidding? With the luck I'm having, any disaster wouldn't be just a dream.

So much for using the stones. I ended up betraying myself with my outburst.

Damn, what should I do now. And where am I?

A dark haired lady came in quietly from the huge wooden doors. She was pretty. Her skin was olive. Her nose sharp and her lips in a worry. Her eyes where brown and they stare at me with relief. She was wearing a long gown in green with tuffs of silk and lace.

Walking with hurried but somewhat graceful steps, she reached beside my bed and held my hand. The contact caught me off guard and I swiped her hand away.

"Don't touch." I whispered.

She looked hurt for a second then she masked her expression. Her hands now clenching on the sheets.

"Adrianna-" she started but I shook my head.

"You keep calling me that." I remembered this same woman calling me Adrianna the night before.

Was it the night before? Or a few nights back. Damn, I can't remember.

"Stop this, Yanna. I don't even know what this is. Your hair has changed and your voice lowered, but I've grown up with you. I know it's you."

"I don't know you." I emphasized to inform her that she's a stranger to me. Nothing about this girl is familiar.

"You're wearing a strong form of amulet. I believe it's responsible for these. The memories, the appearance." She said thoughtfully. "You must remove it. If I do it, it would pain you." She gestured towards the ring.

"No." The pain without the stones is worse than the forced process of taking it off.

She made a frustrated sound behind her throat. "What's happening, Yanna? Why were you gone, without a word, without so much as a letter?" She stood up and turned her back on me as if even facing me hurts. "Were you taken? By them, by the north?" She had her hands fisted by her sides, waiting for me to answer.

"I'm not who you think I am." Maybe I am. By fate, maybe I'm who she thinks I am. But by this moment everything is foggy.

I tried to think. Think of my life before them. But, nothing pops up but blurry colors and nausea trying to creep up. And besides, if I wanted to be reunited with some people from before, wouldn't I have reached for them instead of risking myself with the stones?

"Who are you?" I ask wearily since she still hasn't responded.

She sighed. It was clear that she wanted to believe otherwise but decided to relent and answer my questions. "My name's Myranda. But I like to be called Myra."