[wattys 2018 shortlisted]
Humans see her as a dangerous threat -a witch that must be executed. With the uncontrollable ability to form ice at her fingertips, Ravenna is forced into hiding amongst the humans, stealing to survive. That is, until she h...
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THE SPELL WAS anything but simple to perform. Ravenna stared at the open pages in front of her, her jaw clenched tight. Her eyes were focused on the dark scripted words that listed the ingredients required. The most glaring ingredient: a body.
A body was one of the most important ingredients for the spell — and that made total and complete sense. A body would be quite useful in the event that someone attempted to bring another person back from the dead. It would give that dead person the ability to move, to exist, to actually live again. It made perfect sense.
A body, however, created quite the conundrum for Ravenna.
She didn't have a body that she could use for the spell. One of her most vivid memories of Caelan's death was the moment she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes searching for his fallen body. It should have been in the center of the carnage, mangled and bloodied. But it wasn't. His body had vanished. There had been a visible empty spot atop the ground, where his body should have been.
Ravenna shuddered. Her fingers traced lightly over the clean edges of the open page in front of her. Her mind mulled over the possibilities.
Killing someone innocent was out of the question, especially considering that Caelan would be the one inside the body. He would absolutely detest the mere idea of it. He would never forgive her. She also didn't like the idea of looking at and interacting with someone else — someone that physically wasn't Caelan. It wouldn't seem right at all. Not that his genuine physical appearance mattered that much to her.
During her limited time with him, she'd noticed that his physical appearance changed when he needed it. Once she got a hold of his spell-book, she learned why.
One of Caelan's favorite spells had been a shape-shifting spell.
It made sense to Ravenna, the more that she thought about it. She'd seen three different physical forms upon their first encounter — and he'd quickly switched between the three with an extraordinary amount of ease. Caelan had started as a tiny lizard, shouting at her from the ground. Then he had transformed into a massive dragon that snatched her up and flew away. Only to then morph into the familiar and comforting humanoid form that she grew accustomed to later on.
The specific spell that he'd memorized had been bookmarked, its page stained with age. He had made several notes beside it, noting its usefulness. The more that he'd used it, the easier the spell was to perform, until it became pure instinct. It was clear that he had no qualms with changing his appearance to fit his own agenda.
However the idea of Caelan being trapped within another person's body disturbed her greatly. She really did not want to even explore that method.
The only solution that Ravenna could imagine was to actually create a body. She was not entirely convinced that it would work. There was only one spell that was remotely close — and that was the spell that she used to create her ice soldiers. The spell was simple enough. It was so easy for her to perform that she could practically do it in her sleep if needed. The spell only created a vessel, however. A semi-permanent one that could still be destroyed.
