Hailey focused her magic one more time. The windows flashed from the storm outside. Rain sleeted down the windows, lighting the room even farther for a moment. Hailey ignored it. She felt the thrill of power run through her as she concentrated everything she had on the princess. Aurora lay sleeping, beautiful as ever, a statue to the girl she once had been. Her wall had been repaired, but Hailey could see where the damage had been done. Aurora had been asleep for so long now that Hailey could barely remember her as anything other than the girl who was trapped in the spell.

Thunder rumbled through the castle, and Hailey almost dropped her spell. Around the princess’ bed, she had placed sprigs of holly, and candles. She had been careful with her arrangement. Everything was in the right place, she was sure of it. She closed her eyes and held her arms out in front of her, hands pushing flat as if she could move the spell by pushing on it. “Impello,” she said. Sweat broke out on her forehead, despite the chill. Finally, she let go, hands dropping to her side. Nothing happened.

She pulled a piece of chalk out of her pocket and walked to the other side of the bed. The thick carpet had been removed from this side, so that Hailey could keep track of her progress. Thirteen lines, each about the width of a pinky finger were drawn on the tiled floor, against the line of the shimmering spell.

The room was decorated with lavender, not the pink it had been as long as Hailey could remember it. The same furniture decorated the room, a table with a mirror, a wardrobe, and a large bed, The servants did not like to come into this room, as many of them had been trapped in the same spell. Lightning flashed again, reminding Hailey that she needed to close the curtains. The princess lay on new sheets in a deep purple gown that had been fashioned especially for her. There were no buttons on the back. Instead, it was open at the back so that all Hailey had to do was tuck it around her. The queen insisted on her daughter being presentable for the nobles who would come to look at her, not to mention the foreign dignitaries who were supposed to make an appearance eventually. She would have to change her dress tomorrow. Hailey was the only one who could touch the princess and not end up asleep.

“I’m sorry about what they have done to you,” she said, but it couldn’t be helped. People wanted to see the princess for some reason, and the king and queen had agreed to let them. Hailey could not understand the fascination. Had they never seen a person before? Maybe it was the heir that they wanted to see. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

The spell had moved ever so slightly. She made a new mark on the floor. At this rate, it would take her a year to half way wake the princess. What would happen if only part of her woke up? Hailey could not imagine the panic. It wasn’t like she could pull the princess out of the spell either. It was tied to her, so moving the spell from the center of her chest to right over her heart may actually do more harm than good.

She flipped through her book of spells again. Maybe there was something else in here that would work. It was becoming a daily frustration. Barinon had known how to undo this spell. She just needed to figure out what he had planned to do and do it. She missed him, not only for his guidance, but for his patient manner. She hadn’t felt so alone when he was here, teaching her things. Now, there was just her, the princess’s only hope was a mage with so little training, it was laughable.

“Never mind,” she told herself. “You can do this. You have to keep trying.”

Glancing at the spell book one more time and moving the holly away, she focused. Moving her arms wide, she brought them back in slowly, as if she were taking the spell in her arms and compressing it. “Viesco,” she said. Nothing happened. She had thought that she and Barinon had shrunk it as far as they could manage. She would have to try something else tomorrow. Maybe she could find something new in the books.

She blew out the candles that had been placed around the room. “Sleep well, princess,” she said. “I will keep trying. Try to be patient with me.” And then she turned to walk out of the beautiful room.

Hailey stepped out of the princess’s room, feeling frustrated. The corridors were mostly dark. The candlelight, placed at intervals down the corridor let off enough light to see by, but it was nothing in comparison with mage light. Even with the white walls and the mirrors set behind the candles, it wasn’t enough. But magelight was something that she would need another mage in the castle to be able to keep up. As it was, she always needed to retain enough magic in case of an emergency. Someone poked her in the arm and she jumped. “Aaron, you startled me.”

He smiled, making his cheeks dimple and took her in his arms. She only came up to his chest. Standing next to him always reminded her of how short she was, especially lately. He had muscled out in the last few months, having spent so much time practicing the sword.

It felt so good to be close to him. She had taken her time to get used to the fact that she was finally growing up. He had been so patient with her that it made her feel guilty. He had never wanted to be ‘just friends’ with her, and once she finally realized that, she had begged for him to give her time to deal with everything.

“How is the Royal Mage of Taivalon today?”

“Don’t call me that. It’s bad enough that I have people cleaning my room when I’m not looking and building fires for me. The title is just too much. Besides, I’m not getting anything done. I spent all day setting up for that spell and then nothing. I managed to shove the spell over the tiniest bit, but Barinon didn’t tell me how he was going to undo the spell, he just said that he knew how to do it.”

“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure,” he said.

“You have too much faith in me. I am no closer to a resolution than I was when Barinon died. The king and queen have been to kind to me. It makes me feel guilty for not actually accomplishing anything.”

“Maybe the problem is that you don’t have enough faith in yourself, not that I believe in you too much.”

He looked down at her and she looked into his warm, brown eyes. “I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for waiting for me,” she said. A serious look crossed his face. A thrill ran through her as she realized he might kiss her and she was finally ready for it, she was finally ok with growing up.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. He leaned down. Her heart quickened.

“Miss Hailey! There has been another report!” A page ran down the corridor. They both turned towards him. He was all elbows and knees, but quick. His curly brown hair was plastered to his face. He must have been running for quite a while.

Aaron let go of her and stepped away, but held onto one of her hands.

“What is it?” She felt both concerned with what the young boy had to tell her and frustrated at what he had interrupted. Aaron had been just about to kiss her, hadn’t he?

The page finally came to a stop, his feet slapping hard on the tile. He gasped for breath, holding his knees. “I ran all the way…”

She glared at him. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he had interrupted their first kiss.

“…never mind,” he gasped. “There has been another report. I came as quick as I could. I knew you would want to know” He straightened his back.

“Thank you,” she told him, “and thank you for being quick. This is very important.” She looked at Aaron. “We have to go right now,” she told him.