Page 44 of Turret

“Both visions are correct, but…they’re incomplete. You haven’t been sharing the entire story.”

The tower’s magic pulsed against my palm, its affirmation. Yet I still found myself confused, my thoughts as whirling as the fog swirling within the glass.

I studied the mirror in front of me, this one showing me my sister, Reve, not only home but broken free from the curse that had stolen her memories, such a contrast to the images of her lost and wandering that the tower had exclusively shown me up until now. Why hadn’t the tower shown me she was safe earlier?

Understanding slowly dawned. “You’ve been forced to only show me the horrible visions.”

The tower almost seemed to slump against my hand in relief that I’d finally understood. But though I did, my mind still struggled to make sense of this information. A possibility entered my mind, one that went against everything I’d assumed about the tower keeping me within its walls.

“Are you also trapped, Tower?”

Warmth pulsed against my hand, the tower’s affirmation.

The revelation stunned my mind into silence, and then all at once it was alive again, frantically attempting to assemble each piece of this puzzle. The visions that had haunted me since my entrapment had been incomplete, the thorns of an otherwise beautiful rose, leading me to believe the world outside these walls was nothing more than a dark and frightening place.

But it was all an illusion. And there was only one power strong enough to create one so sinister.

I ran my hand along the stones, stroking it soothingly. “Mother cursed you, didn’t she?” But for what purpose? The answer immediately came, whether from the tower or from a knowledge deep inside me: Mother had cursed the turret to create a prison and forced the tower to become its warden…making it also a prisoner. Which meant that as much as it tried to protect me, it was stilltrappingme.

This truth was a whisper against my thoughts, one that filled my mind with each of the tower’s pulses against my hand. Mother wasn’t just stealing the magic she’d used to curse the tower, for that wasn’t enough; she needed its own powers as well…powers I hadn’t known it’d possessed considering until this surprising revelation, I’d believed they’d all come from Mother’s curse. But she had somehow found a tower that already possessed its own magic, and forced it to bend to her will.

For a moment I stood there, stunned into silence, before all at once the implications of this discovery became too much. Overwhelmed and exhausted, I slumped to the floor.

The stones were warm, pulsing with what was left of the tower’s magic. I leaned against the wall and felt the tower embrace me, its relief that I finally understood the truth behind it as well as its apologies for having been forced to go along with such a scheme. For Mother’s magic trapping it was clearly stronger than its own, meaning that everything that had occurred had been her doing.

Everything I’d previously believed shifted. I looked around the mirror room with new eyes as the visions and stories it’d shown me took on new meaning. “It’s all…an illusion?” My brow furrowed. It couldn’t be, not entirely, for many had been memories I remembered too vividly for them not to be real. Did that mean the others were also real?

An incomplete story, the tower reminded me. Which meant Drake and his wifehadexperienced moments of heartache, there had been a time when Briar had been hardened, Reve had been lost, Father had truly died…but this sadness wasn’t a complete picture. It had shown me only night without a single glimpse of the day, leading me to falsely believe there wasn’t any light to be found at all…fears which had made it so I never wanted to leave, even as the tower’s enchantments had begun to fade.

Just as Quinn had hypothesized…and I’d been too afraid to listen. But though he’d been right about that, he was wrong that the tower had been a willing accomplice.

If Quinn had been correct about this, he was likely right that soon we’d be able to escape. Perhaps we already could, and the tower was serving as my friend by waiting for me to become brave enough to step beyond its walls.

Emotion followed this thought, but for the first time it was different than the fear that usually filled me. Instead it was one ofanticipation. But despite experiencing it, some reservation remained, for I’d been hidden away from the world for so long I wasn’t sure I’d be brave enough to venture out now.

These thoughts confirmed that the one still trapping me wasn’t Mother’s curse or the tower itself, butme. Realizing that my new warden wasn’t the tower but instead my own fears didn’t make them go away entirely, but it was certainly a start.

I stood to approach the window and leaned out to stare across the landscape, wondering if I’d ever be strong enough to be free. But for the first time in a long time, I felt the desire to leave stir within my heart and knew that was the first step.

Chapter 17

Iremained by the window in the room of mirrors for a long time, watching the morning sun rise higher in the sky to bathe the world around the turret in a sheen of dancing golden light that caressed the treetops. With the beauty of the scene came a new memory, not from the tower by my own recollections of the many hours I’d spent confined in my room sitting at my window seat to stare out across the surrounding forest—a memory of longing to explore, a feeling I’d entirely forgotten until now.

It stirred within me, feeling as if it was rousing from a deep slumber, as if it’d always been a part of me but had simply been buried by my fears. And although I still experienced reservations, I also felt…desire, not just my own but the tower’s as well.

I felt its caring for me and thus its wish for me to leave, not just because it’d soon no longer be able to protect me but because it knew I needed to. Its concern only stoked my own longings, strengthening them until they burned brightly enough that I knew they’d never be quenched again.

The glimpse of my old life from within the mirrors had opened up new memories I’d chosen to suppress—the many moments when my siblings had visited me and the hours of laughter and conversation we’d shared, the love and attention of my father, the times I’d been well enough to participate in events rather than remain barred from them, the days when the weather had been pleasant enough for me to explore the enchanted gardens…moments which had brought me great joy, ones my chosen imprisonment now denied me.

There was so much I’d forgotten and chosen to miss out on because of the fears I’d allowed myself to believe my entire life, but nothing good came from hiding.

For the first time I really felt…trapped. Though I could feel the thick and impenetrable turret walls surrounding me, my real prison was my fear, one which had only grown as I’d allowed others’ views of me to shape my perspective.

I didn’t want to remain trapped any longer. It was time to step beyond these bars and into the light. And I knew I could, because not only was the tower different, butIwas as well. I nowwantedto leave, and in the end that made the biggest difference. What would happen if I finally broke free?

Frantic footsteps sounded outside the room, piercing my reverie. I guiltily bit my lip. I’d used the small window of opportunity during Quinn’s short break to slip away, a choice which had undoubtedly caused him unnecessary stress and worry as he searched for me.

I stepped away from the window and turned to face the door as it swung open to reveal my guard. Quinn stood in the doorway looking frantically around, his gaze sweeping over me several times before with a frustrated sigh he turned to leave.

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