A Life Beyond The Mirror

“I have THE best news.” Hali says as I jump in the car. “I kissed Rowan yesterday.” She squealed. “I thought, you know what? I’m just going to do it. So, I did.” She said proud of herself.

“I know, I saw everything.” I say, she blushed, turning a raspberry colour.

“How?” She’s turning pinker by the minute.

“Finn was taking me back to the mirror. You were blocking the stairs. I didn’t want to interrupt.” I winked at her.

“Thanks girl!” She shouts tapping me on the arm with her elbow.

“So, what does it mean? He seemed to be enjoying it as much as you did.” I send her a cheeky grin.

“I don’t know, but it felt so good.” She said sinking into her seat. “I couldn’t help myself Did you see those muscles at the beach? Woo!” she fanned herself with her hand. I couldn’t contain my laughter. She was so happy her ears couldn’t stop twitching. “Speaking of muscles. Being saved by the prince?” she said in a high-pitched voice, Disney style and grinning manically. “Tell me everything.”

I paused for a minute. “How the hell do you know so many movie references? I haven’t seen one tv in the Seelie Court.”

“You have only seen Finn’s room.” My cheeks pink as I avert my gaze. “And I love them. I went to the cinema once with class and that was it. Hooked.” She clicks her fingers before turning back to me. “Don’t change the subject. What happened with Finn? You looked awfully… cosy, when we came back.” She wiggled her eyebrows and I sighed.

“I can trust you right? Whatever is said between us stays there.”

She looked at me faking shock. “I wouldn’t expect anything less!”

“Well, we kissed.” I said, half scrunching my face preparing for the blast.

“OH, MY NEPTUNE!” she screams hitting the wheel, accidentally hitting the horn at one point. “But he’s getting married?” she gasps.

“I know. That’s why I said I couldn’t be with him.” I said a ping of pain hitting me in the chest.

“YOU told HIM? I swear, since you came to town, my gossip gills are through the roof. Why does he like you so much? No offence, but he hardly knows you.” She asks confused.

“Again, sworn to secrecy. I’ve been having this vision dreams about him since before we met. That’s why I acted weird when we first met.” Her mouth gapes open. “And he’s been dreaming of me too.” she jumps in her seat. Dancing side to side and a Cheshire grin spread over her face. Completely giddy until she looks at me again and sees my uncertainty.

“So, what are you going to do?” she asks, biting her fingernails.

“Hope, I guess. I don’t want him to get married. He doesn’t even want to marry her, but I can’t stand in his way. We literally just met,” I shrug, trying to act casual but feeling my chest constrict.

“Oh, guppy.” She says, pulling into the school car park. “Let’s hug it out.” She says. She parks the car and reaches over the centre console. “In case you didn’t already know, I’m team Fea.” she whispers in my ear.

“Thanks Hali. I look out of the window. Looks like a certain other prince charming is waiting for you.” I say pointing over her shoulder. Rowan was leaning against a red brick wall, smiling at us.

“Eep!” the noise escapes her.

“Quick, go see him.” I say nudging her out the car.

She grins widely, hugging me once more. She waves her hand over her face, trying to gain composure, and gets out the car casually.

I get out and watch her walk over to him.

He takes a hand from behind is back and looks around. Seeing the coast clear, a single flower appears in his hand. Within a moment, she dives on him, kissing him, nearly taking him off his feet.

“So much for composure.” I laugh under my breath.

“Composure?” I hear Finn behind me, my heart hits its cage like a meteor. I point casually at the couple. “Well, they are… eager.” He smiles.

“I think it’s cute. They make a great couple.” I nod approvingly.

“They are practically a different species.” He laughs. I dart him a look.

“The heart wants what the heart wants.” He looks down, avoiding my gaze.

“I just came to give you this.” He hands me a blue envelope with gold trim. Surely not a wedding invitation?

“Are these the royal colours?” I say, images of the suit flashing from my dream.

“Yes.” He smiled, dropping it when seeing my face. “What?” he asks. The bell ringing in the background.

“It’s nothing.” I smile tightly. I open the envelope slowly, my heart clenching expecting the worst, to see it is an invite to the summer Solstice ball this Saturday at the palace. I let out a big breath, I didn’t realise I was holding. Finn raises a quizzical eyebrow at me. “Thank you for this.” I smile and he nods briefly in response.

We head into the school, as we pass Hali and Rowan, I tug on her arm. “Class.” I whisper. She pulls away from his embrace slightly dazed. Finn pulling Rowan in the opposite direction. “See you later Rowan.” I shout. She smiles and waves at him and he returns a blown kiss.

“Here’s a question. Why the hell do you go to school? You’re a magical being going to a school that has no idea you even exist.” Her gaze finally snaps back. “You could literally go home and make out all day.” I laughed.

“Well, Finn, the Prince.” She starts. I roll my eyes.

“Of course.” Waving my hand for her to continue.

“He wanted to go.” she said, “to become a good king I need to know the neighbours.’’ She mimics him, holding her arms out like she has muscles. The conversation with Finn yesterday comes back to the forefront of my mind. He came here to find me.

“So why do you go?” I ask, pointing at her specifically.

“Well, we were already friends. Finn, Rowan, Eva and I, so we just went with him. It’s cool to understand another culture and learn their history.” She smiled.

“So, like foreign exchange. Without the exchange.” I smiled.

“We took you in, didn’t we?” she joked.

“Touché. I suppose I am half Fae though. You have to start somewhere.” I laughed. “Want to hear a new skill I learned?” I smiled.

“Sure!” she smiled. We sat down at our desks and I took her hand.

Rowan smudged your lipstick, I thought, send the message through me to her. Her eyes went wide in horror. Digging through her bag for a mirror.

“You let me walk through the school like this?” she whispered, annoyance in her voice.

“I wanted to show you my new skills.” I shrugged.

“I must admit that was very cool. We can have a secret conversation. Well, with you doing all the talking.”

“Well, that’s unusual.” I say, sarcastically. Flashing her my raised eyebrows.

“Whatever.” She said waving a hand at me.

“So, what happened to your composure when you saw Rowan?” bobbing my eyebrows up and down.

“That flower. It pushed all the composure of the table. He’s just so God damn cute!” she says through gritted teeth. I couldn’t help but laugh and feel a hint of envy.

As the lunch bell rang, my eyes jittered open. Dozing in Math, how cliché of me. Hali scrambled her books into her bag. “Well, look who’s back in the land of the living?” she laughed. “Your head has been lolling for the last half an hour.” She smiled.

“It’s hard to get any decent sleep these days.” I yawned.

“How come?”

“The dreams that I have, well more like nightmares. It used to be just the one with purple flames and Finn running to me. Last night was a new one. It was Finn’s wedding. It was… bad.”

“OOO, do tell?” she says, throwing her bag over her shoulder. I swear this girl feeds on drama. Her eyes wide with need. I wonder for a moment if I should.

“Well, it was Finn’s wedding. It was bad. You both were like Zombies.” Her eyes widened.

“Can you show me?” she said holding out her hand. I took her hand. she closes her eyes, her eyebrows raising up and down as she watches.

“Have you shown this to Finn?” she says slowly letting go of my hand.

“Well no. I don’t know what it means or if it’s true. I don’t want him to make more problems for him. I don’t want to be that girl.”

“Oh yeah that girl. The one who has vision of a wedding that potentially ends in her death. The wedding he was planning on backing out of. With the crazy ass bride. Oh yeah and the guests all in a trance. We don’t want to be that girl.” she said sarcastically.

“So, you think I should show him?”

“DUH! It’s bad. If that is true, he needs to be prepared.” She said making a path through the crowded corridor. We get to the cafeteria and sit down at the table. The smell of cookies, wafting through the air, tingling my taste buds. Hali squeezes between Rose and Rowan. I take the empty seat beside Eva.

“Thank God it is the last day tomorrow. And then we have the Ball this Saturday! So exciting.” Hali dances in her seat.

“So, what is the Ball for?” I ask.

“The annual Summer Solstice Ball. It is when the Fates bring in the summer season in with the great pollination.”

“The Great Pollination?”

“Why do you want to know?” Eva bites.

“I was just wondering what to expect that’s all.”

“You got an invite?” Rose said, incredulously.

“Yeah, I gave her the invite today.” Finn said approaching the table. Rose slides next to me filling the opening and creating a lovely space next to her. “Why wouldn’t she get an invite?”

“Oh, I just thought the invites had already been sent out. I thought your mother might not appreciate a late entry.” She smiled. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” batting her eyes with all the vulnerability of a velociraptor. Something had changed between the girls and me since the beach. I don’t know what I did wrong but the tension makes my hair stand on end.

“How about I worry about my mother? What is one more, added on to 500?” he smiled at me, my eyes bug out of my head.

“Do you know what you are going to wear?” Rose smiles, her attitude changing immediately.

“What am I supposed to wear?” Eva and Rose giggle to themselves. I flick around the food on my plate. Spaghetti Bolognese but the meat is still undecided.

“It’s the most coveted event in the calendar.” Eva laughs. “Not that, that’s for sure.” She says pointing to my uniform. They erupt in laughter. Honestly the joke was lost on me. She was wearing the same thing.

“I don’t have my dress either.” Hali pipes in, finally able to pull her attention from Rowan.

“Well, I can fix that. How about you two come over tomorrow evening to get fitted? The Royal dressmaker can see that you both are wearing something suitable.” Finn winks at me. Eva and Rose fall silent. Looking from me to him.

“Definitely!” Hali replies immediately. “We will be the best-looking girls at the ball! We will be able to snag you a male if we are lucky. Ooh maybe a Griffin shifter.” She gives me an evil grin and Finn’s jaw tightens, his eyebrows furrow and anger clouding his eyes. That comment hit true and she relishes in his expression. She loves Drama. I could see the excitement on her face. She has definitely been watching too many teen movies. She will be retelling me about this later.

“Snagging men isn’t really high on my to do list at the minute,” I shrug. “But I can definitely go for the dressing up and the dancing.” I smile, catching Finn’s face relaxing out of the corner of my eye. I don’t want to make him jealous. His decision is already hard, and I’ve never been that kind of girl. Hali rolls her eyes dramatically at me with a sigh.

“Anyway, do you want to go with me to the ball?” Rowan says turning to Hali. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I could feel her excitement radiating across the table, smacking me in the face, I could smell it too. Like cherry pie. Which is a little weird.

“Like as a date?” she asked, vibrating. He nodded in response, and she leaped onto him, knocking him onto the ground, squealing. The cafeteria erupted in laughter, but she didn’t care. She was so happy. And so was he.

As I walk through the front door to my grandmother’s house, the usually smell of rosemary and lavender fill my senses.

“Thea, Come into the kitchen. It’s time for a lesson.” She says, popping her head so she could see me coming down the hallway.

“What lesson are we having?” I asked placing my bag down on the kitchen table and taking a seat.

“I’m going to teach you control. Then potions.” She said placing her cup and saucer down on the oak table.

“I can control the dreams?”

“With practice, but I’m talking about bringing your gift forward, calling to it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s try it. You’ll understand once we get started.” She takes a seat, turning it towards me. “I want you to close your eyes. Clear your mind. Focus. We will start easy. Think of your mother. What her uniform looks like. Her hair.” Her voice soft, calming me. I did as I was told but first there was nothing. Just the image of my mother, her long dark hair swept back into a bun. “I see her.”

“Good now tell me where she is. Look and see what she sees.”

“How is that possible?” I ask, my eyes crashing open.

“We won’t know unless we try?” I closed my eyes again and dug deeper. Pulling at my mind. It felt like static. As if tuning an old TV, a picture started to come into view.

“She’s here.” I said as the handle turned on the door.

“Good job.” Gran whispered. Gripping my hand. “We will try again later. We can try some potions now, while we make dinner.” “Thea! How was school?” my mother said placing her handbag on the sideboard and taking off her jacket.

“Fine, not much happening seen as it is the last day tomorrow.” I smiled.

“How are your friends? It feels like I’ve barely seen you this week with all your gallivanting.” She joked.

“They’re good. I will be going over to Hali’s tomorrow and Saturday, if that’s alright?”

“Of course! I’m so happy you have already made some friends! What are the other one’s names?” she says while pouring herself a cup of tea.

“Rowan and Finn, there are two girls called Eva and Rose as well but I’m not sure on those two. I don’t think they like me.”

“Why wouldn’t they like you?” her brow furrowing.

“No reason I can think of. I think it’s probably because I’m new there or something.” My grandma side eyeing me from the chopping board.

“Well, they will come around I suppose. I’m just going to change out of my uniform.” She said heading for the stairs.

“How was I able to see my mother before she got here? What was that?” I whispered, as soon as my mother was out of ear shot.

“That, Thea, was calling your gift forward. That is how your father was able to summon visions. But yours, your gift is very powerful.” She said in wonder. “I never would have thought, you only being half fae, that your gift would manifest so potently. I will need to do some more research. I will go to the library and find some tomes on Psychic magic and see what else you might be able to do. But for now, we will practice what we have already learned.” She nodded, before writing ‘library- get books’ on her to do list.

“Right Thea. This potion is probably the most important. Healing.” Taking the jars of the shelves. “It can be made into a drinkable liquid or a paste, depending on what kind of ailment it is. First, we will make a drinkable one. A Smidge of rosemary, turmeric…” she lists off the ingredients handing me the pots one at a time. I throw them in the mortar grinding them down as I go. “Right. Now we boil them in water.”

I bring it over the already warmed pan and pour them in slowly. “The most potent healing potions contain dragon tears. But they are very hard to come by.”

“Because of the lack of dragons?” I laughed.

“No dear, because dragons rarely cry.” She said shaking her head, I stare dumbfounded.

“You have a lot to learn.” She laughed. “Now like last time, you must put a little magic into it.” I stirred the potion. A green plume of smoke shot out the top, forming a tree, before dissipating in the air. “Good job. This should make about three potions. I want you to keep one on you at all times. You never know when you could run into trouble.” She said pouring them into little vials and handing me one. She then went over to the spice rack and pulled. I flinched. Waiting for the spices to come tumbling down but instead a cupboard opened. Inside filled with vials of all different potions, labels on each shelf to distinguish what they all were. Truth potion, sleeping draft, total knock out- that name made me laugh. Memory potion, memory eraser, power be gone, transporter.

“What is ‘Lion and Lamb’?” I asked intrigued.

“Where you can make something little, big or big, little. Very interesting potion that one. Not many use it, that’s why it is collecting dust.” She turns to me. “I thought I had best show you this cupboard. I always keep it stocked. You are welcome to use anything at any time, but please be careful. If your dreams are anything to go by, something terrible is coming.” she said taking a sip of her tea. “Now seen as your mother still isn’t down. I want you to look for someone else. Please tell me where Finn is.” I dart her a look.

“I am not spying on him.” I said shaking my head.

“Dear, it is not spying. It is a lesson. Only a quick peak to practice then we will move on.” I sit down in the table, closing my eyes. Letting the static cloud fill my mind while I tune in on Finn. His green eyes, dark onyx hair, chiselled jaw line. His face comes into view. The background clears to show his bedroom.

“He’s at the castle. He’s looking through his desk. He feels mad about something.” I notice his drawing of me is pinned to the wall above and I pull away from the vision. “I don’t want to watch anymore. I feel like I’m invading his privacy.”

“I understand, but it is all good progress. The closer you are to the person, the easier it is.” She grinned.

“You tricked me.” I wafted the tea towel at her.

“I may not have the gift of sight, but there are other means to get the information I want.” She laughs.

“Now a harder one. Tell me where the Unseelie princess is.” She said a wave of seriousness coming over her face.

“How?” my eyes bug.

“Use your dream. What you remember about her. What she sounded like. Use all these identifiers to narrow your sights on her.” she said sipping at her tea. It must be cold by now.

“I’ll try.” I concentrated on the dream. Letting the static fill my mind. The static grew. The buzzing noise filling my ears. A tiny glimpse of the princess comes into view.

“No more.” Grandma said, breaking the connection.

“I was almost there.” I said flicking open my eyes. I felt tears roll down my cheeks.

“She has a barrier charm on her.” she hands me a tissue.

“How do you know?”

“Your tears are blood. If you fought through much longer you might have seen her, but you might have scrambled your brain also.” I wiped my eyes seeing the blood disperse within the tissue. “She knew this would happen. Her defences are up.” She shook her head. “Your father would be proud of your progress. You are learning quickly.” She smiled and patted my hand.

“I went to his office last night. The seers tower. I think I might have found something. Something linked to my dream.” Her eyes lit up.

“What?” she said as the sound of my mother’s feet coming down the stairs echoed through the hall.

“I think he saw this coming. He saw my visions too.” I said rooting around in my school bag and pulling out the drawing.

“The purple flames.” She said, her eyes wide with shock, she hands it back for me to hide.

“I’m sorry that took so long. My boss called; she can get a little chatty. So, what shall I make for dinner?”

“Anything you like Mum. You pick.”