Celtic Magic (11 page)

Abby touched the window one last time and
tried to tell the grass that feet would one day touch it again, but
didn’t know if it helped, or if she was just crazy. She then turned
and closed her eyes and wished she was in the tallest balcony, and
when she opened her eyes she was standing on a large balcony
alone.

She looked around wondering if she had the
wrong tower, but the view made her forget about everything else.
She walked to the edge and looked down at the ground, and noticed
for the first time, just how tall the castle really was. It seemed
as though the balcony was actually on the very top of the castle
because she could turn completely around and see all the way around
her.

Suddenly there were the little orbs of
light, then her mother and Jasmine appeared next to her, but they
were not smiling, they stood looking at her with their mouths gaped
open.

“What’s the matter?” she asked them.

Jasmine stepped forward and grabbed the
rail, “We have never been here before, how did you get here?” she
asked her in a hushed voice.

“What do you mean? I just wished that I was
in the tallest tower and this is where I landed” she told them, a
little confused.

“Did I do it wrong?” she asked.

Her mother grabbed her hand and pointed down
to the left, “Do you see that large balcony jutting out from the
side of the castle there?” she asked her. Abby nodded.

“
Was that where I was
supposed to go? That doesn’t make sense though because this one is
taller than that one, so why would I go there?” she asked, still
feeling confused.

“No you don’t get it, this balcony didn’t
exist before, at least, not that we knew of, so you must have
created it” Jasmine told her.

Abby shook her head, “How could I create
something? That doesn’t make any sense to me”

Her mother sighed, “You are the true queen,
and this proves it. Only a queen could create a new part of the
castle, you must be more powerful than even I realized” she
said.

Jasmine suddenly turned her head, as though
listening to the wind.

“Aine, Elysia is in the Southern Gardens,
she knows that Abby is here, and she is angry” she said, with her
eyes wide in fright.

Her mother answered her right away, “Maybe
we should go inside, I’m not sure if she can see us from up here or
not, but I would feel safer back in the castle” she said.

Abby nodded and watched as her mother and
Jasmine disappeared. She closed her eyes, and instead of wishing to
go back into the castle, she wished she was down in the Southern
Gardens; she wanted to meet Elysia, once and for all.

Chapter
1
8

When she opened her eyes, she was standing
in the middle of the gardens facing the castle, and standing right
in front of her was Elysia. She had her back turned toward her,
looking up at the castle, no doubt looking for them. She was taller
than she had expected, with her ears poking out through her jet
black hair that was so long it nearly reached her feet.

She was wearing a black dress, and her wings
were unlike any she had seen so far. They were just as large as
Jasmine’s wings, only instead of being a bright color, or even
pastel like the others, they were a dark purple, so dark they were
almost black.

She turned suddenly, as though hearing her
behind her, and the first thing that struck Abby was her eyes. They
were bright yellow, contrasting so perfectly with the darkness of
the rest of her, that they almost took her breath away. Elysia
walked up to her and sniffed the air next to her.

“You reek of human filth, so you must be
Aine’s bastard child” she said.

“You must be Elysia, I have heard such great
things about you already, and I’ve only been here for an hour” she
said sarcastically.

Elysia’s eyes narrowed and she could tell
she had made her even angrier than she was before. That was when
she felt it, the grass was happy she was here, and wanted Elysia
gone. She thought in her head, I wish I had all the power of the
garden at my fingers. Then she felt the air stir around her and she
felt like there were millions of tiny ants crawling up her legs,
but when she looked down, there were none. She knew then that the
grass was giving her extra power. She looked back to Elysia and
walked forward until she was practically nose to nose with her, not
knowing where the sudden burst of courage was coming from.

“
You are not welcome in
this or any garden connected with this castle. Creatures are
supposed to feel safe here, not terrified because of the likes of
you. Leave now, while you still can” she said in a voice that was
much deeper than her own.

She felt the air stir again, and she knew
that her mother and Jasmine were standing behind her, but it didn’t
matter, she wanted Elysia gone and she intended to make it happen.
She stepped back to her spot in the middle of the garden.

“So, are you going to leave on your own, or
am I going to have to make you?” she asked her.

Elysia narrowed her eyes, “I would love to
see you try to make me, you bastard human” she said.

“You have some nerve speaking to me this
way. I am the queen!” she yelled.

“Not for long” Abby said quietly.

Abby felt something in her hands, and she
looked at them, gasping at the sparks flying out of her palms. She
thought in her head that she wished she could just blast her, and a
bolt of light came out of her palms and hit Elysia in the middle of
her chest, sending her flying backwards against the wall of the
castle. Abby watched as Elysia quickly stood back up.

“
You will regret this” she
said as she flew up into the air and disappeared.

Abby turned and looked back at her mother
and Jasmine, and was surprised to see them standing there with
their mouths hanging open. Her mother was the first to speak to
her.

“
I have never seen anyone
do that before” she said.

Abby looked down at her hands, “I didn’t
even know I had that kind of power” she said, mostly to
herself.

She heard Jasmine gasp and turned to look
over at her and saw that she was looking behind her, with her hand
over her mouth in shock. She turned around and nearly gasped
herself as she saw a large unicorn walking toward her. It was
larger than she expected, standing much taller than a horse in the
human world would, with the top of its back being much taller than
she was. She watched as it walked straight up to her, then stopped,
lowering its beautiful head until it was eye level with her.

She was afraid to move, scared that she
would do something to make this majestic animal leave the garden.
Suddenly she had this strange feeling run through her body, much
like she had felt when she knew the grass was sad, but this feeling
was one of complete love and trust, and it was coming from the
unicorn.

She then somehow knew, deep inside of her,
that he wanted her to touch him, so she lifted her arm and slowly
put her hand onto the side of his large head, rubbing her hands
along his neck. The fur felt like velvet under her hand, and as she
continued to rub him, he lowered his head even more until his large
golden horn was close enough for her to reach out and touch it, and
so she did.

At first all she felt was the warmth, which
surprised her for some reason. She had expected it to be hard and
cold, due to the golden color, but it was actually warm and soft,
feeling almost exactly like his fur had. Suddenly it grew very hot,
so hot she almost let it go, out of fear it was burn her, but it
didn’t.

Instead, it was as though the heat was
slowly spreading through her entire body, making her feel almost as
warm as when her powers had first been unlocked. Then, just as
suddenly as the heat had started, it was gone, leaving her feeling
as though she had just stepped out of a hot tub with goose bumps
running up and down her arm as the heat left her.

She let go of his horn and lowered her other
hand off of his neck and watched as he turned and walked back
toward the entrance to his garden.

Once he had left, she turned back to her
mother and Jasmine.

“
That was incredible, has
anything like that ever happened to you?” she asked
them.

They both shook their heads, “No, they let
me pet them often, but never have I been allowed to touch one of
their horns, and their king no less” her mother said.

“I have never even been that close to one
before, with me having wings and all” Jasmine told her. She was
suddenly looking at her oddly as though she had grown two heads
overnight. She shrugged her shoulders.

“
I don’t know for sure,
but I think he was thanking me for getting Elysia to leave the
garden. Everything became very hot when I was touching his horn”
she told them.

Jasmine sniffed the air around me and
finally said, “He has given you more powers, and I think he may
have given you the ability to fly” she said.

Abby gasped, “Fly? I don’t think so” she
said seriously.

Her mother nodded, “You may be right
Jasmine. Abby I need you to see if you can fly, if not we can try
other things later to see if he gave you anything extra” she said
to her.

Abby nodded and looked at the sky, noticing
for the first time that it had become darker, the sky turning a
beautiful shade of lavender, and thought to herself, fly. No sooner
had she thought that one word, she felt as though she had millions
of tiny little bugs buzzing around her, even though she couldn’t
see any.

She looked over to her mother and noticed
that she was quite a bit taller than her suddenly and looked down
at herself and saw that she was floating a few feet above the
ground, her feet not actually touching anymore.

Her heart started to pound and she became
scared that she would just lift away and never be able to touch the
ground again when she fell. When her body hit the ground, the wind
was knocked out of her lungs and she lay there not wanting to move,
scared that she had broken something.

Her mother and Jasmine came rushing to her
side where they helped her back into a standing position. She
sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.

“
Is there a place to
sleep? I am really sleepy all of a sudden” she told
them.

Her mother nodded, “Meet me in the queen’s
bedroom” she said before her and Jasmine disappeared.

She looked up at the sky one last time and
wished she was in the queen’s bedroom.

When the lights went away, she was in what
she assumed was supposed to be a bedroom, but looked bigger than
her father’s entire house. There was a large queen sized bed with a
sheer white canopy covering every inch of it on one side of the
room.

On the other there was a setup that looked
like a living room, with a large white couch and coffee table. She
then noticed the walls; they were painted much like the first room
they had been in, with all of the different creatures lining the
walls. She turned in circles admiring all of the paintings when she
noticed one that was larger than all of the rest, on a wall
entirely by itself.

It was the throne, from the throne room, and
it was empty, with only a large diamond crown lying on the seat.
She looked over to her mother.

“Why is the seat empty, except for that
crown in this painting? Shouldn’t it be a painting of an old queen
or something?” she asked.

Her mother shook her head, “No, it used to
have my mother in it before she gave up the throne and left, but
has been empty ever since. Legend has it that when the true queen
returns to the castle, the painting will change” she explained to
her.

“Why did your mother leave this place? Where
did she go?” she asked, yawning.

“She is over on Mount Olympus with the
Greeks. That is actually where most of the gods and goddesses went
to once Elysia took over. One day, hopefully, you will be on this
painting, sitting on that throne” she told her.

Abby shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know
about that, I don’t feel very queen like right now” she said,
yawning.

Jasmine walked up to her and put her hands
on her shoulder, “You need sleep to renew your body. You have used
too much magic today, and your body must rest so it can finish
unlocking the rest of your powers” she said.

Abby looked down at her arm, which she
noticed was still bright red.

“Am I going to stay red forever? I don’t
think Tom would find me too attractive if I did” she said.

Jasmine smiled and shook her head, “No, you
should be back to normal by the morning time. Don’t worry about
Tom, the time does not move the same here as it does in the human
world. When we go back tomorrow, only a few hours will have passed,
instead of an entire day, so for now, just sleep” she told her,
pointing to the large bed.

Abby yawned again and looked down at her
dress, and wished she was wearing comfortable cotton pajamas, and
just as suddenly as the dress appeared, so did some red flannel
pajamas.

“
I could get used to this”
she said, smiling as she was sliding into bed. She never even heard
her mother and Jasmine say goodnight or even leave the room because
as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

Chapter
1
9

The next morning when she opened her eyes,
the first thing she noticed was the warm sunlight streaming in
through the curtains and she almost forgot where she was. The day
before had almost seemed like just a dream, but as she came fully
awake and saw the queen’s bedroom, she knew that it was all
real.

She stretched her arms over her head before
standing up out of the magnificent bed and looking around the room,
wondering for a second where her mother and Jasmine were. Just as
she was about to turn and find the bathroom attached to this room,
one of the walls caught her eyes.