Fifteen years later

Sun streamed through the window, waking Hailey up. She rubbed at her eyes. She didn’t want to get out of bed yet, but then she remembered. Today was Aaron’s birthday. She sat up and stepped on to the fur. It felt good and warm between her toes. Maybe she shouldn’t have borrowed that from the princess’s room, but it was too late to worry about that now.

A thrill of excitement ran through here. Aaron was going to love his present. She stepped out of the small room, with Henny tucked under her arm and skipped to the courtyard.

Once she got to the grass, she put down the chicken. “It’s a beautiful day, she told the bird, but Henny did not respond. The courtyard was a raised platform of stone and dirt. Stone walls kept the dirt from falling to the hill below. The whole city stretched out before her. Shops were close to the castle, most of them with two stories. It was also the most packed part of the city. As she looked further out, the buildings were farther apart from each other. In one corner of the city, she could make out the manor where Aaron had told her the king and queen lived now. Behind the castle was a sparkling blue lake. Ships slowly moved on its surface. She could even see the farms in the distance and the spooky forest where the fairies and the dragon lived. In front of the forest was the shimmer, a wavy, translucent line of magic that kept the magical creatures inside the forest. Trees grew thickly behind it, but none of them grew right into the shimmer.

She could see people moving around below in the shops that were close to the city. On days like this, when it wasn’t particularly cold, she thought about joining people, moving out to the city. Aaron said that she could find a job. That thought snapped her back into reality. She took a deep breath cool of morning air and hurried back inside. Her bare feet were wet from the dew and they left footprints on the stone.

She put on her dress. It was getting old. She had worn the same dress for years. Aaron’s mom said that she should have grown out of it by now and that the spell in the castle made her not grow. That was probably true or maybe she was just done growing. She had been smaller than most of the girls her age. She pulled on her boots, which had been muddy and then groaned and took them back off again. She had forgotten that she was walking in mud the last time she wore these. She put them down and went to the dining room in just her stockings.

Dozens of blanketed people lay on the ground here. Some of them were nobles, mostly the old ones who hadn’t been able to run as fast as the younger ones.

Just inside the doorway was Bruce. He had chosen to sit down and lean against the wall. She thought that was very smart of him. Many of the people who were here had banged their heads or hurt their shoulders. She picked up her gloves, which she had left hanging on the doorknob. As she pulled them on, she could see her fingertip start to push through the fabric where it had worn. She would need to replace them soon.

“Good morning, Bruce,” She said, then took the blanket and folded it and put it down next to him. The night had not been particularly cold, but no one liked to spend the night without a blanket. She continued to the others. Even with the sun coming through the windows on one wall, it was still not as bright as she would like it to be. The mage light had burned out long ago and she didn’t have enough candles to waste. The decorations from the princess’s party still hung. She had thought about taking them down, but had decided against it. Besides, she didn’t have anywhere left that she could put a ladder. The entire floor was covered in people. Even if she moved them, it was too dangerous. Maybe they liked having the ribbons hanging above them. The wooden floor certainly made a better place to sleep than the stone of the corridors. She had thought about bringing mattresses in here, but it had taken her so long just to get the people inside that she had given up on that.

She greeted the ones she knew and uncovered all of them, placing their folded blankets in a pile next to the row. Esmerelda seemed to be smiling at her today. “Good morning, Esmerelda,” she said. She lay on the ruined linen that Hailey had used to bring her here.

There were a few people she had known well and several that she remembered the names of, but many of them were strangers to her when the had come here. She paused when she came to the little girl. “I still wish I knew if your mother was in her or even if she’s in this room.” The little girl, of course, did not respond. None of them ever did. Still, they were her people and she would do what she could for them.

She made her way to the princess’s room and uncovered the sleeping girl. She hoped that the princess didn’t mind that she didn’t curtsey. It seemed a silly gesture for a girl that was completely asleep. The princess was beautiful, even prettier than Esmerelda. She had cream colored skin and dark hair and she had the fanciest lavender dress that Hailey had ever seen. The bodice was all covered in pearls and the skirts were full with a layer of sheer fabric over the top.

“Sleep well,” she told the princess, then hurried back to her boots. It was going to be a great day.

Aaron’s family owned a small house that wasn’t too far from the castle. The streets were dusty now, as if the rain had never come to get mud all over her boots. Then again, she couldn’t remember how many days ago that was. The streets were busy and she kept her head down. She did not like to be noticed.

Even thought it had been a long time since anyone had recognized her, it was still a risk. Being invisible made people uneasy. If they bumped into her and didn’t see her, some would run off screaming and so she kept to the edges of the crowd and did not look up. She let the curtain of blonde hair hide her face and watched her feet until she came to the edge of a street.

“You there, watch where you’re going!” Someone shouted. It was a coachman. She should have been paying better attention. There was a row of shops on this street. Most of them were white washed or brick. Aaron’s home and the shop where he and his mother sold candles was green.

The shop was locked and so Hailey went around to the back. Hailey ducked between two buildings. She could smell something awful coming from the back yard. That must be where Aaron was now. Peering around the corner, she spied on him. He was tall, much taller than she was. He was no longer the little boy who would chase her through the streets. He almost looked like a man. With his good hand, he was stirring a large pot that was set on a grate over a fire pit. His other hand was smaller. It had never worked right after the day at the castle, but unless you were staring, you didn’t notice much.

He was cooking down animal fat to make candles. Hailey didn’t know exactly how that worked, but it smelled awful. The candles had become important now that all the mages were gone except for one.

She decided it would be fun to sneak up on him. She didn’t make herself invisible. That would be cheating. Instead, she walked quietly up behind him, moving slowly so that her feet didn’t make noise. When she was close enough to touch him, she tapped him on the back and said, “boo!”

Aaron jumped but didn’t laugh the way he used to when he was little. He had a large paddle in his hands that he was using to stir the smelly liquid. He turned and grinned at her. “Hailey!” His voice didn’t sound like a little boy’s anymore either.

“You don’t sound surprised,” she chided him.

He shrugged. “I knew that you were coming and I knew that you would be here any minute now. I was ready.” Then he hollered at his mom that he was leaving and they hurried to the castle.

They hid behind a cart that was parked on the corner of one road and the strip of road that ran in front of the castle where carts came and went. She turned to Aaron. “Once we make it in there, The most important thing, is that you don’t let go of my hand. I’m pretty sure that if you do, you’ll fall asleep and then I don’t know if I can drag you back out or not. This will be dangerous.”

He nodded, excitement plain on his face. This was the first time that they had attempted this.

People crowded around the outside of the castle even now. A couple of men pulled on a cart that was full of fish. One of the fish fell off the back of the wagon. She grinned and waited. She would snatch that fish up and have it for dinner later if they didn’t park a cart right on top of it.

Another cart was waiting outside, filled with casks of wine. Amanda was leading it. She was one of the merchants who had actually met Hailey. Her black cat lay curled in a perfect circle on top of one of the barrels. Amanda was nice. She had promised to keep her secret. Still, Hailey didn’t have time to go out and talk to her. She needed to get Aaron into the castle.

They had to time this correctly since she hadn’t had any luck in turning Aaron invisible. Hailey eyed a pair of guards that walked back and forth in front of the castle. She crouched so that they would not see her. “They have the best job,” Aaron sighed. “They have great uniforms and they get to carry swords wherever they go. Sometimes they even get to talk to the king.”

Hailey turned to him, almost annoyed that they missed their chance to run across and now would have to wait for the soldiers to pass the other way. “I didn’t know you wanted to be a soldier.”

He shrugged. “It’s not like I’m ever going to have the chance to be one.” Then she took Aaron’s hand and prepared to dash across the street.

Barinon poured himself a cup of tea. Then he climbed the small staircase that let out onto the roof. He had insisted on this time to himself. The inside of the manor was so packed with royalty and nobles, merchants and peasants that he had to escape and the roof was the perfect place to do that.

Even though the life of the only mage in Taivalon was a busy one, it was also important that he take some time out for himself and nothing brought him such joy as his routine with the tea. It would have been nice to be sitting on a balcony, but then people would probably bother him. He watched for the invisible girl, but he did not see her yet. He took a sip. It almost wasn’t the slightly bitter flavor as it was the warmth on his throat that he enjoyed so much. There was just something so relaxing about it. He scratched at his beard, which had gone gray in places.

Ah, he thought. There she is. The young girl hurried out into the courtyard of the castle, put the chicken down and did not even pause to stroke her feathers. The girl must be in a hurry today. She had not even bothered to go invisible. Well, he would have to wait and see what she was up to. As she went back inside, Barinon eyed one of the spires. If he could just make it into that spire, he could take care of the main problem the kingdom was having, he was sure of it.

It wasn’t long before he spotted her little invisibility spell hurrying out of the castle. Truly, this was odd behavior even for her. She ducked the soldiers, something she had done before and went running off down the street. Barinon could not see her for a time and so he poured himself another cup and sat, enjoying the sun on his dark skin.

He searched the sky for the dragon, hoping not to see it. Dealing with such a massive, magical creature seemed too big of a job for one mage. Eventually he might have to go and hunt the thing down. He still hadn’t come up with a complete plan on that, though. He missed his friends, not just for their companionship, but for the way they shared the load of responsibilities. Going after a dragon alone would be foolhardy, he decided for probably the twentieth time.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was an asset to the kingdom, one they needed to survive and soon he would need to find and train a young mage. He should have been doing that already, but hunting down new mages took time, something he did not have. He had hoped that people would come to the manor with a new generation of mages, but so far not even one had come. Everything was so much simpler when there were other mages. Testing for new mages was something that Gwendolyn did. It was almost all she did as long as he remembered. What he wouldn’t give to hav one of them back.

He squinted at the spell that surrounded the castle. That spell had given him nothing but grief. Merchants, on the other hand, had found a use for the spell. A ring of carts were pushed into the spell. He found it a little ironic that after the spell had tied itself to the death spell, it had killed all of his friends and now the city was using the spell for what it was originally designed to do; preserve food. It was a bitter thought. He tried not to think of how much he had lost that day, how a mage like himself would not have become royal mage. No, they would have left him testing spells in his little house. It would have been the life he preferred, but he was too old to dwell on that for very long. What could have been was not.

If he could just manage to get in there, he thought he could manage to save the princess, but he knew he would only make it two steps. Already people had tried. The spell had even killed one man, though Barinon suspected that was due to his age more than anything. The spell put the living to sleep. Only one person made it in or out, the invisible girl.

And there she was, the invisible girl with a boy in tow. He scratched at his beard. That’s who she went to visit. He was a handsome youth, though still a bit gangly, all elbows and knees and much taller than she was. His dark skin made hers look even more white as she clasped his hand. Barinon should be climbing down from here and opening a portal for a merchant soon, but he was intrigued. Where were they going? They were hiding somewhere nearby. He watched, hoping to catch sight of them again. There they were, dodging the guards. She hadn’t been able to make him invisible and so she stayed visible herself.

They were headed straight for the castle. He gasped and stood, shattering his teacup and spilling liquid down his robe. He didn’t care. They walked straight into the bubble! He couldn’t believe it. She had taken someone else into the spell. This changes everything!