Sea Witch Ch.34

Ch.34: Discovery  
  
The next morning, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my heart. Before last night, I had never told anyone about my middle school years, let alone about my affiliations with the Opera Ghost. It had been hard, but this good feeling was worth it.

Mat was busy reading the paper (something he almost never did) when I came into the dining room. I knew what he was looking at without even looking: the Entertainment Section. "Let's see what everyone thinks of the mermaid," I said playfully, snatching out of his hands.

"Hey!" Mat complained indignantly. "I was reading that."

"And I just got up. I don't like to be disturbed when I'm like this."

Melissa cracked a smile at my fake "pissed-off"ness. "Please, I'd rather you didn't read it," she said. "It's so embarrassing." She blushed a little as I said, "How will I know that unless I read it for myself?"

I glanced at the theatre reviews. "Ms. Melissa Sapphire Triton seems to be an angel, fallen from the heavens. Truly a bright and shining star." said one review. "Jareth made the best choice he's made in years by bringing a new star to the stage... the biggest thing since he opened his opera house, Ms. Triton is sure to go far." said another. "Marvelous!" "Gorgeous body with a voice to match." "Pretty as the pictures she paints with her artistically talented voice."

"Why are you embarrassed?" I asked, after reading all the reviews aloud. "They love you." I caught my boys both sneaking her a "Congratulations!" glance as they slid past me.

"As I said before, looks like you went from sea-princess to star in no time flat," Mat said, genuinely surprised again, which just made Melissa blush even deeper. "Ana."

"Yeah Mat?"

"There's something else in here I thought you'd like to see."

He pointed to a headline on the opposite page. Deposed Diva takes a Dive it read. I squinted at the accompanying photo and recognized Mme. Serena, unconscious, smack dab in front of the opera house. Apparently, she had fainted when she had heard how well the opera did without her last night. 'I guess Melissa and I share a common enemy now,' I thought with a smirk.

The absurdity of the article caused me to burst into laughter. "I know," chimed in Mat, laughing along with me. "Isn't it silly? Just because she's been diva there for five years, she thinks she owns the place."

"Yeah right, like she ever would," skepticized Melissa, eagerly joining in on our laughter. "I can see why you left your sister Ana. She's horrible."

I stopped laughing. 'That's right,' I thought. 'I didn't finish telling my story last night.' I had told her most everything last night as to how I came to Gaia and about my family, but I hadn't told her about that year when I lived by myself. "Mat," I asked, "would it be okay if Melissa and I had a girls' day out today? Neither of us have to work today (Jareth had given us the day off because we had both done so well the night before.), so I figured we could use the day to have fun, like we used to." I glanced at Melissa, knowingly including slight contempt in my gaze; I still hadn't fully forgiven her for how she had treated me before I had exploded at her.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Just don't go all "Mt. Etna" on her, okay Ana?" Mat consented. I cracked a laugh at his joke about my "volcanic" temperament. Melissa had experienced first hand that I could lie dormant for a long time before I "blew my top".

Even though we had the day off, I couldn't resist going to the opera house. I just had to get a better look at the gardens. "Where are we going?" Melissa asked, obviously bored and tired, as we came to the leafy archway that was the entrance. "I'd much rather go shopping."

"In a mall where tons of people could be listening? I don't think so," I said, ducking through the entrance. "Besides, mere mortals could never understand what I'm about to tell you."

Melissa groaned as she came in after me. The garden was more beautiful than I had imagined, and probably as beautiful as Melissa remembered, but then I had only seen a reflection of it that night when I had discovered Lelouch's hideout below the opera house; Melissa had seen at least a part of it. I made a left down a dirt path which was flanked by pansies, ivy, and, believe it or not, belladonna. The colors blended so well together it looked like a painting instead of a flower bed, and this was just a small part of a greater beauty. 'Jareth takes care of all this?' I thought, in awe of the splendor around me. 'He's one hell of a gardener then.'

Suddenly, I stopped. I felt Melissa bump into my back. Had I been going that slow? I didn't care because I all I could do was stare at the Roman temple not 3 ft. away from us. At least it looked like a Roman temple, with Ionic columns, carved facades above the entrances, and perfectly symmetrical steps; the only difference was that instead of being white, it was a swirl of sweet pinks, delicate blues, and royal purples.

"Ana?!" Melissa said sharply, waving her delicate hand in front of my face. (I hadn't realized I had been staring that long.) "Are you going to tell me that secret or not?!"

I shook off my confusion. "This seems like the perfect place to do it," I replied.

"Let's sit on that bench over there." Melissa indicated a little bench made of grey marble by a small, quaint fountain. I had the nagging notion I had been in this place before, and I found out why when I sat down beside Melissa: the temple was filled with rose bushes.

'It was probably against my better judgement to come here,' I thought. 'Then again, I wasn't making judgement when I was looking around at all the pretty flowers. For some reason or other, I wandered here. Can only hope that a certain someone isn't slithering through this Garden of Eden.'

"You remember that I ran away from home after Erik abandoned me," I said, beginning my tale on a familiar point.

"Right," she replied, "but what happened after that?"

"Thus, my story. I wasn't always a sea witch you know."

"You weren't?! "  I thought she already knew this; I'd said I was self-taught more than a dozen times.

I shook my head. "No joke. I didn't even have anything remotely close to magic until 3 months after I ran away, July of the year before we met. I travelled for little over a month, earning money where I could, reading whenever possible, and trying to establish a new life for myself. I took care not to stray into the houses of people who knew my parents; I was certain they would turn me in if they caught me.

"I travelled with a gypsy caravan starting about mid-June. (My rations had run out and I was desperate for a place to sleep, so you must understand.) I could neither contort my body nor breathe fire, but my music earned us good money. People loved to hear me play my flute and sing songs from the old country. Sure, I wasn't as famous as you, gypsies being outcasts to an extent, but villages were always awaiting our arrival with wild hopes that they would hear me sing. But that's a story for another day.

"Anyhow, our leader kept a large, ancient book where he left his share of our spoils. Rumors had been going around that it was full of black magic and dark secrets. Being a natural snoop, and in his good graces, I just had to take a peek inside. You should have seen the catlike stealth with which I filched the book from his tent, but that's not nearly as amazing as what was inside the book."

"What was inside?" asked Melissa with a knowing look on her face.

"It was a spell book. Naturally, it had spells inside. Spells for healing, spells for cleaning, spells for just about everything you could think of, even killing. The one that caught my eye though was one for faerie sight."

"Faerie sight?"

"The ability to see magical creatures that are normally invisible in the mortal world. Keep in mind that I was an ordinary mortal at the time, fascinated with all things magic, and since this seemed like the genuine article, I wanted to test it out badly. I had always known there was magic in my blood, always in tune with all things magical and mysterious, and according to the book, if I used a special salve on my eyes, I would be able to see the creatures people had tried in vain to convince me could not exist."

I stopped, remembering the child-like joy I had felt when I had discovered the secret to the root of my powers.

"Sooooooo," Melissa asked after a long moment of silence, "what happened next?"

"I took my leave of the caravan, taking the book with me; the leader gave it to me as a parting gift, which made me feel kind of guilty since he almost caught me stealing it. Just as well, since by the next new moon, I had gathered the ingredients for the magic salve. 'Dragonfly wings, snake skin, dog ear, rosemary, sage, and, among other things, unicorn blood (Save the unicorns!) 'When crushed and combined under the light of a summer new moon creates faerie sight.' That's the exact incantation from the book for you.

"The unicorn blood had taken some effort to procure, but I had found it in the most unexpected of places: on the beach, under the light of a full moon. I could of sworn I saw something in the water, but it had disappeared when I turned around again. I made the salve and it rubbed into my eyes, as the book instructed, and after blinking for a few minutes, instantly I was overwhelmed by tiny lights in the dark forest where I was. They looked like fireflies at first, but then I squinted and saw that each one was a tiny little person, dancing gracefully in the air.

"After that, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of magic. By gaining the sight, even if it was through difficult means, my ocean powers manifested themselves. I travelled around for the rest of the year, helping out and earning money, gifts, and praise in just about every village I went to. You would be surprised how many people have trouble with water spirits, but being one yourself, it shouldn't surprise you too much. It was especially fun in the winter; I was undefeatable in snowball fights. By the time summer came around again, I had gone from a shy politician's daughter to a well-established, self-taught sea witch."

"You met me and the rest is history, right?" Melissa put in, ending my story for me.

"Yes. Now, before we go," I paused to pick a red rose nearby, "for you. I'm sure someone very special would have wanted you to have it."

Melissa nodded and smiled. We left the temple, both the wiser and happier for hearing/telling my story. 'See Lelouch?' I thought in an "I-told-you-so" kind of way. 'I can be civil when I need to be.'