Page 50 of Charmed

He finished preparing his makeshift bed. I nervously eyed the pillow, unsure I wanted to return to it after the ordeal his proximity had brought during the storm…while also wanting nothing more than to remain near him, especially when he was so distressed.

A soft golden butterfly suddenly appeared against the settling darkness, flying ever closer to land gently on Alden’s finger. I recognized that spell.

“A message from the palace,” Alden confirmed. “Likely from my parents ordering me to disregard the competition and return home, a summons I’ll be forced to obey if I fail to pass this challenge…”

He seemed reluctant to open it, but after a moment’s deliberation he caressed one of the butterfly’s glistening wings with a resigned sign; it transformed into a piece of parchment.

His brow furrowed as he read it. “Maeve…”

I hadn’t expected him to murmur my name. “Does the message concern your—” I broke off, remembering I shouldn’t have any reason to recognize the name.

He read through the message several times before he finally glanced up. “It’s about my apprentice. She’s apparently missing.”

This naturally wasn’t news to me, yet what puzzled me was who at the palace had discovered this and felt inclined to send Alden word during such an important event. No matter how I attempted to assemble the pieces, I remained confused.

“I don’t understand. How did the palace know your apprentice was missing?” I’d had little to no connection with anyone at the castle throughout the brief duration of my studies.

“Apparently a message from her mother came for her…only she wasn’t there to receive it.”

His words doused me in icy fear. Message…from Mother…Corbin!Fear swelled, so thick and suffocating I could scarcely breathe.

“A message? What did it say?”

But Alden had no answer for me. While I drowned in my whirl of worries over every horrible possibility of my brother’s condition, he sent his own enchanted message to check on his apprentice; yet no matter how long he waited, he received no response.

In that moment my reluctance to let Alden discover my identity vanished. Nothing mattered aside from helping Mother and Corbin, and it seemed likely that making myself known would be the most useful strategy. Hopefully Alden would help me once he realized who I was.

I took a couple of hops away from Alden so that the message would have a chance to fly from him to me rather than merely returning to the sender. As Alden prepared a second attempt, I settled myself and fixed my eyes on it, willing it to come to me and finally reveal the secret of who I was. But I suspected that whatever barrier the curse had erected to smother my powers and keep me from divulging my true identity also blocked the message’s tracking magic, preventing it from finding its intended recipient.

Curses were truly a bother.

Alden worried his lip. “I gave my apprentice a means to write me with any questions or concerns, yet even with her perpetual curiosity I haven’t heard from her the entire time I’ve been gone.”

“And you didn’t think to questionwhy?” In my rising panic my tone came out harsher than I intended.

He shrugged helplessly. “She’s fiercely independent and I’ve been so consumed with the competition that I didn’t immediately notice she hadn’t contacted me. I’ll never forgive myself if in my negligence something happens to her.”

Nor would I should anything happen to my dear brother. I suddenly hated myself for leisurely waiting for Alden to earn a healing spell. Though my transformation into a frog had complicated matters, I should have found another means of returning home to help him rather than endure the longer road I’d chosen. If the delay had worsened Corbin’s condition…

I needed to go to him. Immediately. Yet as before, I had no means of doing so—no sense of direction, no magic, nor means of travel. If Alden knew I was his apprentice he’d easily be able to help me find a way to reach Corbin, or even give me a flask containing his healing tonic. Yet no amount of hopping about his ankles or franticribbitingallowed me to communicate my desperation; the more I struggled to think of words the curse would allow me to say, the more my throat seemed to seal off, closing off all human communication.

Worry furrowed Alden’s brow the longer he waited before he finally squared his shoulders. “I’m going to try to track her down myself. You stay here.” With a flick of his wrist, his books and potions floated into his magic trunk.

My frantic croaks intensified, only drawing his attention once he’d created his portal.

“I won’t be gone long, Mae, but this is important.”

With a reassuring pat on my head he stepped into the portal. I tried to hop in after him, but it vanished the moment it swallowed him up, causing me to fall helplessly on the other side.

With his absence, I had no distraction from my escalating worry weighing every restless hop about the clearing. Scarcely any time passed before I realized I couldn’t wait for Alden’s return. He would come bearing news that he’d discovered no trace of me at the castle, and likely wouldn’t even bother visiting my cottage, considering it’d been Mother’s message that had informed him of my absence.

Alone with only the spellbook for company, I had no distraction from the darkness twisting my thoughts. What could Mother have written me about? The waiting felt endless, each moment that trickled away one less spent at Corbin’s side where I belonged.

Suddenly I couldn’t sit still any longer. The spellbook immediately came after me as I left the clearing, but with the settling darkness and my small stature I easily evaded it in the underbrush. I waited for it to search for me in a different direction before I hopped from my hiding place to venture deeper into the forest, urged forward by my blinding anxiety.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had no idea where I was and had no way to return home or to the clearing I’d just left. My deepening panic settled over me, causing my fears to manifest and take on a life of their own in the all-encompassing darkness to muddle my senses and sense of direction.

I was lost…with no means of finding a way to my brother whose worsening condition I was helpless against while trapped in my current form.

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