Veil of Shadow and Rain ✓ [TSC #1]

Chapter 30 - The Map

She remembered how Ambrose had leant in towards her, his golden eyes gleaming with such ferocity she had the feeling he had the urge to tear her apart. He was the heir to the throne, he was the one right after King Archmander, what would she feel is she was Ambrose himself?

She tossed around in bed for the hundredth time. It was already one in the morning and she hadn't gotten to sleep yet. She had been thinking about Ambrose, about herself, and mostly, about the mirror.

How did it work?

She glared at it for the fiftieth time in the night. Jake's snores closed into the room. Wren lunged for the mirror and examined it again. Maybe she was supposed to step inside the mirror ... maybe it was a portal ...

She tried, yet again, to put her entire hand inside the mirror, but there was an invisible force stopping her. Apparently, only the tip of her finger was allowed in the mirror. Was the Soulstone in the mirror? And if it was, how was she going to take it out?

The mirror was as large as her chest. She turned it around a few times.

Now let's not play games any more, Princess, Ambrose's voice rang in her head. Clearly, you're here for a reason.

She tossed around in bed again. She wondered if Ambrose knew the Veil of Whispers lay in his Palace, his soon-to-be kingdom.

The moon was a radiant beam of light through the dark, velevty midnight. The light shone in through the window, creating a flicker of shadow on the floor everytime Wren moved. Carefully, Wren set the mirror back against her bed and stared up at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to own her.

Right before she dropped off to sleep, a sudden thought occurred to her but she was asleep before she could grab the string of balloon of thoughts to keep it floating away.

⋆‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙⋆

'So what d'you think we'd have for breakfast?' Jake said, coming out of the bathroom fully dressed. 'Probably catch with Rafe or something... ah, this button's stuck -'

Wren was still examining the mirror. Suddenly, the familiar balloon of thoughts floated towards her again and at the right moment, exact timing, she grabbed the string.

'Hey,' she said quietly. 'Nicaea's erasing a memory, right? Well, what if the memory's in here? In the mirror?'

Jake's button fell off and Ladislaya gaped at her. She raised an eyebrow quizzically.

'Don't be silly Carrots, a memory can't be in a mirror,' Ladislaya said anxiously.

Wren trailed her finger down the watery waves of the surface. 'You never know,' she said in a voice unlike her own. 'I just -'

'You're trying to make sense of everything, make them all fit, yeah,' Jake said, sitting down on his mattress. 'But Carrots; don't you think these different things could be parts of two different puzzles, not one?'

'They're not, they're not,' Wren said, trying not to sound frustrated. 'There's got to be a link -'

'There doesn't have to be,' Ladislaya said gently. 'There isn't just one puzzle in the game, you know. There's just one game, but there are loads of puzzles in the game.'

'And a whole lot of people are playing it,' Jake said, shrugging. 'Come on Carrots. Think of it. I mean, a memory in a mirror?'

Wren said nothing. Jake bounced off his bed, saying, 'I feel like it's a donut mornin. Let's hop to that donut store down the street.'