4

Cynthia Ananias Thorowgood stopped believing in magic the very next day when she arrived at school.

It was customary that Monday was show-and-tell day where her classmates would come up and discuss the great things they had found and done during their weekends. Usually, Cynthia never went up to talk about anything since everyone in her household was always busy with one thing or another. The whole fiasco the day before was the first time in what seemed like forever that they even had time to spend together. Knowing that made her feel dreadful that she had decided to even stray off the path in the first place.

When she walked into the classroom and greeted everyone, she was met with strange stares and whispers. Apparently news of her being lost for several hours had been spread quite quickly among everyone. Before she even said anything to anyone, the teasing began.

"Hey Cynthia, did you meet a ghost? Your brother said that you were kidnapped by ghosts!" one of them called out from his seat.

"You were kidnapped by ghosts? Was it scary?" another asked.

"Oh please, you know ghosts don't exist. Knowing her, she probably just got lost and then was scared and cried until her parents found her."

"I did not cry!" Cynthia cried out. "I didn't cry one bit! Even when I got bitten by spiders! See?!" She kicked out her foot to show her bandaged toes which, instead of invoking awe, only brought on a wave of laughter from everyone.

"So not only did you get lost, you also ran into a spider nest? Wow! What a story!" her classmate said in between laughing. "I can't believe you actually were dumb enough to do that!"

"I didn't run into a spider nest! I didn't!" She had barely been in school for fifteen minutes and already she could feel the tears threatening to come up.

"Okay, everyone calm down. Cynthia, you can tell your story when it's your turn at show-and-tell. Terry, apologize for making fun of her," her teacher scolded and glared until her classmate did as he was told.

"Yes Ms. Lewis..." he mumbled before grumbling a quick "sorry" to Cynthia before preceding to puff and pout in his seat.

With all the commotion before class and the way everyone reacted to her, Cynthia found it hard to believe what had happened the previous day herself. There wasn't any proof other than the ball in her pocket. Quite frankly, she didn't think anyone in her class was ready to find out about Luce or Tate. They didn't deserve such a story from her since they wouldn't believe it anyways. Part of her didn't want to believe it, either. There was a tiny part of her that wanted to do whatever it took to get rid of those eight, glittering black eyes from her mind; and if forgetting about the forest prince and his kingdom of colors was the way to do it, then so be it.

"Cynthia, why don't you come up and tell us about what you did over the weekend?" Ms. Lewis suggested after some of her classmates had already gone up and shown what they had gotten and done over the weekend. "I'm sure you've got a lot to tell us."

She pondered for a moment whether or not to go up in front of everyone to tell a story too fantastical for anyone to believe. Truthfully, she had brought Luce with her to show everyone her new friend; however, with they way they treated her when she walked into class earlier, it was obvious that they probably wouldn't believe her story. Still, she found herself hobbling up to the front with all her toes bandaged up to tell of the events that happened the day before.

"So, yesterday, dad decided to go and have some family bonding time since he's always at work and almost never gets a day off," she began, stating facts that almost everyone knew. "But my big brother Walter didn't want to go because he said that it was haunted where we were going. But then dad said there were no such things as ghosts and so he made Walter come with us anyways. So we go and we get into the car and I ask about the ghosts and Walter tells me that there used to be a community where the water is right now and some of the houses still existed and so I wanted to know if that was true so we got a boat and rowed out to an island and I tried to see if I could find the buildings but the water was too muddy for me to see anything so instead, I named the island we landed on after my family." Her last statement seemed to bring fourth a few snickers here and there but she continued on. "So when we got to the island, we stopped for a bit and had a snack and then dad said that we should go and check out a trail and so we rowed all the way back to where we came from and then started walking along one of the trails and stuff but then it started raining and Walter stopped and threw a fit because his day was ruined!" She took a deep breath after that statement, trying her best to contain the truth from spilling out. "Well, since it started to rain and stuff, I thought I should go and find some place where we could hide until it was over, but I guess I got lost instead and then I got bitten by some big spiders on my toes," she finished, holding up her foot so everyone could see the bandages. "And that's what happened on my weekend," she finished, weakly.

"Did you cry? Wasn't it scary?" a classmate asked.

"Nu-uh! It wasn't scary at all! The woods are really nice there! And I just thought of it as a big adventure!" Cynthia answered, swinging her feet back and forth. It wasn't the full truth, but it was better than outright lying completely about what had happened. "The scariest part were the spiders, but I'm bigger than them so they weren't that scary after all..." she trailed off at the end, suddenly remembering the mother spider looming in front of her. "But it's okay 'cause my mom and dad found me in the end. Well, actually, it was Walter, but that still counts 'cause he's still family." She laughed sheepishly, trying to play off her nervousness.

"Well, you were very brave," Ms. Lewis complimented. "I don't know a whole lot of people who aren't afraid of the dark woods and spiders."

"Yeah, I guess so, huh?"

"Are there any other questions for Cynthia?" her teacher asked, looking around the room. Ms. Lewis paused for a bit and waited for anyone to have second thoughts. "Alright, thank you for sharing Cynthia, who's next?" she asked, and a whole slew of hands shot up followed by a chorus of "Me, me, me, me, me, me!"

I was right. I shouldn't have told them about you guys. No one would have cared anyways. They would have just laughed. It's better this way. It's better this way, she thought as she went back to her seat. It's alright, right, Luce? It'll be our secret, and when people ask, that's the story I'm going to tell them. No one needs to know about you or Tate. No one would care, anyways.

~~~

Cynthia grew up, telling the same story over and over again to those who asked her and herself. She went to look for some shelter in the rain and got lost and bitten by some spiders, nothing more. There wasn't an enchanted forest with giant spiders nor a forest prince. There was simply an easy trail marked with a few curves and hills which looked out to the reservoir every now and then. There was no clearing with stone circles in the middle of the woods which marked a giant spider's nest. It was all created in her mind while she was lost and wandering.

Whatever grand story she had to tell about Tate's world had fizzled into nothing more than a dim memory for her. The only thing which kept it alive at all still was the little orb of crystals she had been given. Even that had lost some of its magic after some time. A classmate of hers had found her looking at it one day and commented on it.

"Hey, where'd you get that?" he had asked.

"Oh this? A friend gave it to me," she said with a small shrug.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"No, it's really special to me. You can't touch it," she said, clutching the stone tightly.

"Oh, okay... Well, Just letting you know, I have one just like it," he said.

She was stunned into silence. There was no way he could have the same stone as she did. Luce was special, there was no one else like him. For a split second, she wondered if she should tell him about the enchanted forest and what she had seen. However, after noticing the smug expression on his face, she decided not to.

"Well, I mean, they're found in the Rorer Mines near Mill Mountan. My dad took me out there once, and we picked a few of them up. He says they're called Wavellite," he said with a shrug. "Yours just looked really cool, is all. It's completely white, mine's kinda green looking. There's nothing really that special about it other than the color, I guess," her classmate chuckled and left.

She sat at her desk, staring at the little orb in her hands and turned it around slowly. She tried her hardest not to blink. She knew Luce slept within the stone, and if she looked hard enough, he would be there, curled up and snug inside his crystal shell. However, no matter how hard she stared or put the stone to the light that day, she couldn't see him anymore.

Cynthia was eleven and a half when she decided there was no such thing as magic anymore.

~~~

She was twenty-two when a turn of events happened.

She had decided she didn't want to go straight into college just yet. In fact, she wondered if she wanted to go to college at all. The world had so much to offer outside of classrooms that she took a few years away to simply enjoy life and work hard for some spending money. As difficult as it was to work hard for little above minimum wage, she found solace in looking up trails to walk. Often times, it would be up to Mill Mountain to enjoy the view and the refreshing hike up the star trail towards the star. It became a routine for her on her days off from work. Wake up, eat some breakfast and then drive out to enjoy the scenery and some much needed fresh air. Sometimes she felt the need to change and would, on a whim, drive off to some unknown trail just to experience some difference in her surroundings.

Still, through all these years, she couldn't find the heart to throw away the crystal ball. Though it held no magic, it seemed to quell her fears and calm her whenever she felt depressed. It had become a charm of its own without the need of magic. She realized that if she slept with it near her, those nightmares of giant spiders would be gone; and there wasn't any reason to fear the dark anymore. A small, childish part of her still wanted to believe that Tate would want to come back and visit her. A tiny, nagging voice in the back of her mind told her that all this hiking was, in the end, going to be a useful experience for her when she was taken on her journey.

One thing that bothered her, no matter where she went, were the cobwebs and the spiders that were always watched her. Though it had been over a decade since she last saw that giant mother spider, the dying words of the creature haunted her still. As much as she wanted to pretend that it never happened, some unconscious part of her reminded her that indeed, it did happen; and there was something coming her way. She needed to be careful. She needed to watch those who were watching her.

As much as Cynthia wanted to brush it off as simple paranoia, there was something more sinister lurking in the shadows along the trails she frequented. There was something about them and the frequency which they appeared which unnerved her. It was something that began around when she turned twenty one. She noticed an increase of black widows around her, watching, waiting and spinning their webs too close for her comfort. Luckily, she hadn't been bitten yet, though the fact that they were still so close made her feel uneasy, to say the least.

It reminded her too much of when she was a child. Her deeply rooted terror from that time continued to rise until it became hard for her to leave her home on her days off to do what she loved. It became almost like a chore for her to go out and see the view she loved so much. From that fear, she became immobile and afraid of even leaving the safety of her own room at times. Her own love for adventure had turned itself against her. The only comfort from that was the barely visible light which glowed from inside Luce if she held it up and stared at it for a long enough time. Sometimes, just sometimes, she would be able to make out the faintest trace of inner light which made her feel safe from those unseen threats around her.

~~~

She had decided to not take her usual route that weekend. Rather, she had always been fond of the idea of running along Tinker Creek, and she felt a change of pace was needed from her usual route. It was a routine she had gotten tired of, and she wanted something different. The trail along the creek was lush and green in a way that reminded her of her childhood. Cynthia couldn't help but stop halfway and wade around in the water for a bit.

She tucked her socks into her pocket after taking them off and put her shoes back on before gingerly stepping into the water. It was surprisingly cold for early May, but it was a welcome relief after walking around for a while. Pretty rocks littered the bottom of the creek and she bent down to examine a few. From the corner of her eye she noticed some movement but brushed it off as some other hikers probably out to enjoy the lovely weather as well. Cynthia sighed in content as her feet slowly got accustomed to the water temperature and sloshed around a bit to see what other little trinkets she could find.

She didn't get very far at all when she started hearing things in the woods that should not be heard. In the distance, the soft chime of bells rang. She wondered if she could have passed it off as some nearby church, tolling for the hour, though a part of her denied that as she knew there was nothing like that close by. Still, perhaps it was just her imagination psyching her out more than it should have. It had been a long time since she had been near a creek like this, and that of course, brought back memories which sent tingles down her spine.

The harder she listened, the louder the sound of bells became and the more scared she had become. Something told her to stay in the water. It was safer there. There was less a chance of getting caught in the water, or at least, that was what her instincts told her. Unconsciously, she clutched Luce in her pocket, noticing that the crystal ball was much warmer than her body temperature. She let go in surprise but quickly reached back in to see what was happening.

Pulling the ball out, she saw that it was nothing more than her imagination. The warmth quickly faded an in her palm. There was no expected glow or twitter, no soft hum of the sprite's wings. She was right in believing there was no such thing as magic.

However, as she slipped the charm back into her pocket, she felt slight pricks at the side of her cheek. There was something crawling on her, and she dared not see what it was. She held her breath, hoping that a slight breeze would blow whatever it was away. She closed her eyes and tried to breath deeply, calming her nerves and senses before deciding to take action. She could feel hear heartbeat racing as she imagined what it could be. Perhaps it was nothing more than a stray twig or harmless insect. Her nagging instincts told her it was something else, that it was her worst fears incarnated right there. She held her breath, hoping for the best and hoped nature would take its due course in whatever way it found best. However, instead, there was a gentle caress with warm fingers that pulled away whatever it was from her face.

"That could have ended really badly," a voice said. "Tehee, you could have bitten her, you know, and that would have been bad."

Cynthia opened her eyes to see what had happened and saw a young man with blond hair so pale it could have been white for all she knew. He glanced up and grinned before turning his attention back onto the creature crawling across his hand. There, on his fingers, danced a tiny, shining black widow. "Hi there!" he greeted, using his free hand to wave at her. "It's a good thing I was there to save you huh? My name's Henry, what's yours?"