Page 67 of Ruby & Onyx

“Ovala mis ulas tes godillia tios hidia,” I proclaim it with all of the confidence I can muster before popping the cork and swallowing the potion in one gulp. It’s sour and makes my lips pucker. A tingling sensation forms in my blood and courses through my veins, lapping through my body. An intense pressure forms behind my eyes like they’re trying to escape from the sockets. I cover them with my palms and try my hardest to focus only on the outcome.

Knowledge. Freedom. Leverage.

But that focus slips away when I pull my hands down and see only darkness.

“No! No! No!” I scream, feeling the darkness around me like a suffocating cloud.

“Keep focusing, Radya! Repeat the incantation!” Sir Magis yells, but a whooshing sound in my ears deafens all outside noise like I’m standing in the center of a storm. His voice may as well be a mile away.

“Ovala mis ulas tes godillia tios hidia!” I repeat.

The invisibles have no hold over me! I can see them, which means I can control them. They cannot hide from me any longer!

“Ovala mis ulas tes godillia tios hidia!”

An image begins to form in the darkness like a mirage of shadows, etching out the shape of a man and a woman. The shadows swirl like paint until the faces become clear. A woman’s bright blue eyes and a man’s golden hair pierce through the darkness.

Are those… my parents?

“Focus!” Sir Magis’ warns, placing his hand on my shoulder. I feel the pressure of it, can tell that it’s there, but it’s too distant, too unreal.

How am I supposed to resist my parents? I’ve been so lonely without them – my biggest supporters, my only family.

No, I need to focus on the spell.

“Ovala mis ulas tes godillia…”

My voice breaks as my mother reaches out to me. I know that I shouldn’t reach for her, but I want to. More than anything I’ve ever wanted.

“My darling daughter,” my father’s gentle voice greets me like a hug. It’s been close to two decades since I last heard him speak, but it’s just as warm and pure as I remember. A transcendent peace shines through his smile.

“She’s beautiful, Alaric,” my mother whispers to her love. Though in her life she spent more time smiling than not, her eyes always carried just a hint of sorrow. But now, I see no traces of sadness or pain. Only happiness in its purest form.

“Come with us,” they say in unison. “Let’s be a family again.”

They are the peace in the storm, and I could be with them. We could be a family again. No more invisibles or gods-given gifts. No arranged marriages or scattered prophecies. All of my troubles would disappear if I just reached out my hand…

“Radya, whatever you’re seeing right now isn’t real! Don’t give in to it!” Sir Magis shouts into my ear as he shakes my arm. “Repeat the incantation!”

My mother beckons me forward once more, “Come, child. Join us and everything will be okay. On the other side, nothing can separate us. We can be together forever.”

Could the promise of forever be worth the sacrifice? My life in exchange for family?

“Have you read our letters, sweetheart? Do you understand why we did the things that we did?” My father asks, which jogs a memory that I’d long since forgotten.

My mother gave me a box of letters when I was thirteen and told me only to open them when life stopped making sense. At the time, I wanted more than anything to open the box and read its content, since nothing makes sense as a teenager, but she urged me to wait. I wanted so badly to read my father’s words. But in time, I stopped trying, stopped caring. The box remained hidden beneath my bed – its contents never seen.

Now it’s too late.

“No, I haven’t,” I whisper. The disappointment and regret gnaw at me until I almost give in to the alluring temptation.

“Remember who you are, my sweet, darling girl. You are more special than the heavens.” My dad moves closer to me. So close that I could step into his arms for the first time in nearly two decades.

“Plant your feet into the ground! Wiggle your toes. Feel my hand on your arm! This is reality! Whatever is tempting you is a mere mirage! Focus only on the spell and cast away the shadows!” Sir Magis cries out, gripping my arm so hard that it will surely leave a bruise. The pain of it awakens something inside of me, snapping my attention back to earth. As I wiggle my fingers and toes, grounding myself, the image of my parents starts to slip away. Their image wanes little by little, until I am once again all alone in this world.

“Ovala mis ulas tes godillia tios hidia!”

A final burst of roaring wind swirls around me, and I fall to my knees, bringing Sir Magis down with me. I try to scream the incantation over the deafening sound, but the wind swallows the words whole.

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