The Seelie Curse

Chapter 29

Light flashes around the stone, full of all sorts of colours. Star's eyes are wide in awed surprise, her gaze fixated on the swirling colours. At first, nothing about the colours make sense, they're just a swirling mass. But slowly, as they stream out into the air from the stone. The stream begins to fade, fizzling away. But the colourful cloud remains.

Once the flow of colours to the cloud dies out, the cloud shifts, spreading out and flattening into the air until it's a sheet. It isn't just the shape of the cloud that shifts. The colours are shifting too, becoming more discernable. They create a picture after a moment, of a stone room. At the very bottom of it, Rowan can see rippling water. She moves to step back, but stops.

"Star, keep the stone pressed against your forehead, alright? The memory will show, but only so long as the stone keeps contact with your skin."

Star makes a wordless sound of assent and Rowan steps back, hesitant. But Star keeps the stone where it was, her hand quick to take Rowan's place. It takes her probably half a second to move her hand there, faster than Rowan can blink. The girl has absolutely amazing reflexes. The image in the air shifts, starting to play out now that everything has settled into place. Wave steps closer to Rowan, trying to get a better view of the memories. Her eyes widen at the sight of herself. She's so startled now that her mouth has fallen open. Rowan steps sideways to touch the girl's shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?"

Wave nods. "Yes, it's just . . . I don't remember any of this."

"It's why we need to be careful with our names. They hold too much power over us. Yours was used to make you forget, but its effect on Star is weakened. So we can still see what we need to. Now watch."

Their gazes return to the memory just in time to see the Merrow Queen begin to reveal what she truly knows. Wave lets out a gasp at the revelation of the Queen knowing who she is, followed by a choked sound from Rowan. Fear flashes through her when the merrow Queen begins to talk about her. What does the Queen know about her? What was she going to say? She stumbles backwards, a tear slipping from her eye.

Fear wraps around her heart, gripping it with barbed claws. As the memory continues to play out, Rowan sinks to the ground. She feels like ice is spreading throughout her body, bringing pain and then numbness in its wake. She can barely register what happens in the rest of the memory, her thoughts are swirling. But even with that numbness, she can't miss it when the Merrow Queen exposes who she really is.

Rowan makes a choking sound, her face paling with disbelief. It can't be, the Merrow Queen can't be the Seelie Lord's daughter. Rowan's great-aunt, and she's evil too? How is her luck that horrible? But what does she know? The memory cuts off when Star dives into the pool of water. Rowan frowns slightly, her mind still drowning in her own thoughts. There was something else in that memory.

The names, the names of her new friends were in it. She jerks upright, the cloud in her mind clears for a moment. She twists, looking all around the clearing. Her eyes are wild, panicked. Star - no, Astrila. That's what she said to the Merrow Queen - she lowers the runestone from her forehead and steps over to Rowan.

"What's wrong? I know you're not okay, that's evident from your reaction to the memories alone. But what else is it? You had a different reaction just now."

Rowan does another visual sweep of the clearing, her gaze slipping over the gold and green leaves of the clearing, over the orange and red leaves covering the ground. There's a speck of brighter gold in the trees, but it's just a clump of yellow leaves caught in a beam of sunlight when she hesitates to look closer. When she's certain that no one is around, she finally speaks.

"The memory had your names, anyone could have heard!"

Astrila crouches down beside Rowan. "But no one did. It's alright, Ro."

"But your names!"

Astrila's voice hardens. "And it's Fine. Relax."

Rowan sighs. "What do we do now?"

Astrila shrugs. "Right now, I have no idea. But what I do know is that we have an advantage, Ro."

Rowan's voice is bitter with hopelessness. "How could we possibly have an advantage? We now have to face both the Seelie Lord and the Merrow Queen!"

"But the Merrow Queen doesn't know that I still remember. She doesn't know that you have that information now. Isn't that a good thing?"

Rowan sighs, lying back against the dirt. Something tickles her hand after a moment and she sits up again. Flowers are growing around her, the cow-wheat flowers she thought had finally stopped. But now that her emotions are all over the place, she's lost control of them. She shakes her head and swipes her hand over the flowers, sending out a burst of flame. A pained gasp slips free from her mouth, despite her best attempts to stifle it. Astrila grabs Rowan's shoulder.

"What are you doing?! That's hurting you!"

Rowan shakes her head. "I can't, the flowers can't be seen."

"I don't understand. Why?"

Rowan wails, "I don't know. I was told that I can't let anyone see them, but I don't know why!"

Astrila raises her other hand to grip Rowan's other shoulder. "Calm down, Ro. Take a breath and calm down."

Rowan nods and inhales through her nose. Her exhale is shaky, but it does make her feel better. She takes another breath.
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Poor Rowan. Also, since I haven't clarified it yet, what do you think the flowers mean? What do you think Ciorsdan(Merrow Queen) knew about Rowan? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.