She gave him a sardonic smile and wiggled the mirror in front of him. “Would you like to find out?” she flippantly inquired.
“Say the words ‘Oh magical mirror, grant my wish, show me…’ and whatever it is your heart desires. Just be careful not to prick your finger on the rose thorn on the back. A drop of blood will open a portal, and you’ll drop right into the alien’s lap,” he warned.
Nali turned the mirror over and saw the thorn he was talking about. Her breath caught when she saw the embossed decoration of fairies and the old willow tree. She brushed her finger along its raised contours before she remembered his warning and nodded.
“Asahi, be ready with Mr. Gryphon. Ashure—stand back. I’d have you leave the room entirely, but we may need you for something,” she said with a worried expression.
“Ouch, Nali, that’s harsh, even for you,” Ashure dryly remarked.
She gave him a pointed look. “Remember what would happen if the alien were to inhabit your body,” she gently reminded him.
His eyes glittered with a warning. “Then I will make sure that doesn’t happen,” he retorted.
“You have a reason to live now, Ashure,” she reminded him. “Someone to live for.”
He reached out and gently caressed her cheek. “So do you, love,” he replied, glancing at Asahi, who was watching their exchange in silence. “Say the words. We’ll be ready should anything happen.”
She nodded and held up the mirror while Ashure pulled out his gift from Magna, the blade resonating with imbued power. Asahi nodded at him, stepped up next to Nali, and gripped the Gryphon dagger’s hilt.
Nali looked at both of them before she spoke. “Oh, magical mirror, grant my wish, show me the alien,” she murmured.
They watched warily as the image in the mirror swirled. Confusion coursed through Ashure when he saw a row of golden statues.
“I don’t understand…,” he said, his voice fading as one of the golden statues screamed in agony as a dark entity entered the scene and destroyed it.
A galaxy far, far away
“Phoenix, what is it?” Spring Reykill asked.
Phoenix turned and looked at her twin sister, older by just a few minutes. Spring’s long blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail. She had streaks of dirt on her nose and cheeks—nothing unusual for the petite blonde who loved to spend time outside in the garden or burrowing underground in her dragon form.
They were as opposite in their coloring as they were in their personalities. Spring was the day while she was the night. Phoenix also knew that she differed from her sister in other ways. In fact, Phoenix was different from everyone on Valdier—including her parents.
Phoenix didn’t consider herself special. Instead, she believed she’d been given a gift from the Goddess. She had been chosen, but she didn’t understand why or what the future held for her. Her eyes were the same golden color of the symbiots they had each received shortly after their birth.
Even her dragon differed from the others’. While her body was in the shape of a dragon, her head, wings, and tail had the likeness of a bird. It reminded her of the beautiful bird on her mother’s back. Her parents had even named her after the mythical creature. She liked to think her dark coloring came from those ashes, but she knew she had inherited it from her father.
“Phoenix, did you hear me? Is everything alright?” Spring asked again, wiping her hands on her pants.
Phoenix smiled and nodded. “Yes… yes, everything is fine. I think I’m going to go for a flight. I’ll meet you back at the palace,” she said.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Spring asked.
Phoenix shook her head. “No… no. I’ll have Stardust with me. You should focus on finishing the garden. It is looking beautiful. I’ll try to find some more seeds for it while I’m out,” she promised.
Spring grinned. “Oh, that would be lovely! Thank you! If you can find more starflowers or night moons, that would be fabulous,” she breathed.
“I’ll see if I can find some,” she replied, half her attention on the whisper drifting through her mind.
“Are you sure everything is alright? You’ve been so distracted the last few days,” Spring commented, studying her sister with a frown.
She smiled. “I’m fine. I’ll be back later,” Phoenix promised.
“Okay, be careful,” Spring said.
Phoenix gave her sister a reassuring smile that faded when Spring turned away. She could tell that Spring’s thoughts were already back on the new garden that she was creating. Spring had inherited their grandmother Morian’s touch with plants. Her mom called it a ‘green thumb’.
She stiffened when the odd feeling that she had been experiencing flashed through her again. She bit her lip in indecision and looked questioningly at her symbiot, Stardust.
Stardust must have felt the same odd foreboding because her coat was agitatedly shimmering with different colors. “I wish Aikaterina were here so I could ask her what I should do,” she whispered to Stardust.
She shook her head to clear it and started running along the stone path away from the palace. Up ahead, she could see where the gardens met the cliffs. She shifted into her dragon form ten feet from the protective rock wall and soared into the air. Her long, feathered black wings shimmered for a moment before she vanished.
Chapter 11
“I don’t understand. What were those golden creatures? What does it mean that the alien destroyed one of them? Who were the others? Did you recognize the cavern?” Ashure impatiently grumbled.
Nali shook her head and lifted her shoulders in a delicate shrug. “No, I don’t know what any of it means. It’s your mirror—and no, I’ve never seen a river of gold like that on the Isle of the Monsters,” she replied.
“It seems there is more to the alien than meets the eye,” Asahi said, drawing the attention of his companions.
The
