I was horrified. Truly horrified and frozen in space.

Time was frozen too. It was as if the cold, harsh voice of this woman had spread ice over everyone and everything.

Then Sophie cried out--a single, heartbreaking, shriek--and dove down towards the dome next to me. She hit it with both of her fists, but it was like glass. Yet she pounded insistently, refusing to believe it. I had never seen her so distraught. A tear leaked out from the corner of her eye. Then Audrey placed a hand on her shoulder. Sophie froze. "There's no point. There's nothing we can do," Audrey said, her voice hard. Sophie became rigid as a board.

And then she flew to me and collapsed in my arms, sobbing. I held her, still in shock myself. We fluttered there, embracing.

Then she pulled away. "We have to see if we can help them," she insisted, and shot down towards the side of the dome. Audrey and I shared a look, a look of grim horror, of mild surprise at Sophie's behavior, a look of fear--and then we followed her.

We landed on the rocks at the edge of the island. The dome wasn't as red at the bottom, more see through. And through it, we could see Mrs. Simone lying on the ground.

"Mrs. Simone!" Audrey shouted. She sounded panicked. I had never heard her sound like that before. "Mrs. Simone? Natasha? Natasha Simone?"

For one terrifying moment, she didn't move. But then, she twitched. Softly, she moaned and lifted her head. I had to hold back a gasp. Her usually perfect short brown hair was tangled and matted with blood from a cut on her forehead. Her lip was swollen, her porcelain face coated with dirt. She parted her lips slightly, and spoke.

"Audrey..." she whispered, her voice hoarse. She sounded like she was speaking from underwater. Her eyes flicked to me. "Sierra. Sophie. Girls." She winced, and slowly propped herself up onto her side. "I flew out here a moment before the red light hit. I sensed something. It is Giselle," she said firmly. She sighed. "At long last, it appears the Elder Council has found us."

"Is Giselle part of the Elder Council?" I whispered. Mrs. Simone smiled wryly. "She happens to be the head of the entire thing."

"Why does she hate Myths so much?" Audrey said angrily. "What did we ever do to her?"

"I do not know," Mrs. Simone admitted. "Listen carefully girls: the Elder Council is the head of all magical communities. All. We are not the only ones. Giselle happens to be a sorceress, and a dangerous one at that. She is known for cunning mind and ability to combine her magic with modern man-made objects, which she is unique in her ability to do.

"I don't know why she banned Myths from existing, but she didn't ban sorcerers. The alliance we have with the guild up north is a secret. They are quite brave to do something of that magnitude."

"What's going to happen to you?" Audrey blurted out. "Will you guys be ok? Are they going to..."--she hesitated-- "...kill you?"

Mrs. Simone furrowed her brow. "My dear, they will certainly try."

Sophie let out a small sob. "What can we do?"

"Go north, to the sorcerer's guild," she said. "Find refuge there. Try to hide."

"Hide?" Audrey protested. "And let you die?"

"Audrey, listen to me," Mrs. Simone said firmly. "You must get out of her. This problem is too big for you to fight. It's not your battle anymore. Giselle is ruthless. She will kill you if she finds you. Your only hope is to hide."

"Ok," I whispered.

"No," Audrey said, "I won't leave you like this!" Her voice cracked a little. She pounded a fist against the dome.

Ms. Simone smiled sadly. "Ah, Audrey. You really are the sweetest thing." She slowly laid herself back down. "I must rest now. Please. Go." As her eyes fluttered close, she whispered one last word. "Please."

Slowly, I stood, Sophie stood beside me, tears silently streaming down her face. We stared at Audrey, her hands still pressed to the dome.

Then she turned around and stood up, all trace of sadness wiped from her face and replaced with a face of stone. She nodded once.

We took to the air, trying not to look back as the place that had become our home disappeared behind us, swallowed by the mist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tears fell from my eyes and mixed with the ocean. So much water, two, three, or evens hundred tears wouldn't make a difference. I wondered how many people's tears were in the same ocean mine fell in now.

Audrey had become as hard as stone. Her face was smooth and cold, her flight straight. Sophie was trembling even as she flew. Her breathing was ragged. As for me, I'm not sure what I looked like, but I felt like I had swallowed a bunch of rocks, some burning hot, some freezing cold. They pressed outwards from my stomach, fighting to burst out.

We flew in silence like this for what seemed like hours, our heads filled with thoughts of what we were running from.

Eventually, I saw a small island. As in, really small. It looked like one of those islands that shipwrecked sailors live on for months before someone finds them. I pointed it out to Audrey, who agreed we should land to rest. We flew until we were almost directly over it, then fluttered/fell down. Immediately when I landed, a wave of despair washed over me, cold and thick. I suddenly felt exhausted, and collapsed to the ground, trembling and breathing hard.

"Sierra, your wings are gone," Sophie said quietly.

With a start, I realized she was right. I had inadvertently transformed from fairy to human when the despair hit me. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. But they were really pretty," she said softly, almost smiling.

"Oh," I said. We sat in silence for a moment. Then I asked, "what did they look like?"

"They were like a monarch butterfly, but this deep lilac instead of orange," Sophie sighed.

"Oh." They sounded pretty. Part of me felt proud, though I knew I had nothing to do with it.

We sat in silence. The sound of waves lapping against the small island seemed to get louder with each passing second.

"What are we doing?" Audrey blurted out. "I'll tell you what we're doing. We're running away. When they needed us most, we ran away. We should be branded as traitors and cowards!" She thumped her head into her knees.

"You said it yourself," I said softly. "There was nothing we could have done."

"I just don't know what to do now," she whispered.

In all my time with her, I had never seen Audrey look unsure of herself, or even remotely frightened. Now, she reminded me of a broken fish bowl, shattered in a pile of the values she once held so proudly, her soul flopping around on the ground gasping for breath.

Soon, the waves were the only sound once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the mirror, there was a huge stone pavilion, circular with high walls. It didn't close over the top, but it took me a moment to realize because the clouds were the same gray as the walls and floor. The image moved forward a little. There was literally nothing but gray.

And then I heard the voice. That cold, harsh voice that haunted my deepest, darkest thoughts.

It said one word.

"Begin."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're sweating. Are you ok? Hey, wake up. You don't look so good girl. Can I help?"

I try to shake my mind of the early morning fog. "Wha?"

"Oh good you're alive," the voice said. I didn't recognize it, but it sounded kind. "Now I better help you out girl. When was the last time you had water?"

I rubbed my eyes. "I dunno," I mumbled.

"Alright, sit up, yeah, just like that. Now open your mouth. I'm gonna give you some water alright?"

I obeyed. The water was sweet and cold, but not frigid. My thoughts cleared. I opened my eyes, and sitting in front of me was a young girl with short, dark brown hair. She smiled and laughed. "Yay, now you're really awake. What's your name?"

I blinked, confused and a little wary. "Sierra..." I told her slowly.

"Well it's nice to meet you Sierra! I'm Abigail. Will you help me wake up your friends?"

I nodded, still confused as to whom this girl was. Nevertheless, I moved over to Audrey, who's wings had disappeared. I shook her gently. "Audrey," I whispered, "get up. Audrey, get up please." She began to stir. I was heartened. "Hey, Audrey, please, wake up." She rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Wazgoingon?" she said groggily.

Suddenly, Abigail was at my side, pressing the water flask into my hands. "Give her the water," she whispered. I took the flask and, after instructing Audrey to open her mouth, poured the water carefully in. Almost immediately, she seemed to be awake as if she had never been asleep. "What's going on?" She demanded. "Who's this?" she said, gesturing to Abigail.

Abigail laughed lightheartedly. "Hey, my name's Abigail, pleased to meet you...Audrey was it?"

Audrey glanced warily at her. "Yes. Why?"

"Help me wake up your other friend and I'll explain, don't worry."

We woke up Sophie in a similar fashion. She didn't even say anything to Abigail, just nodded with wide eyes.

Abigail sat back on her legs. "Great, not that you're all awake, I can explain. This island has a mild curse on it that doesn't allow you to wake up naturally, an outsider has to break it. A nasty piece of business. You guys are pretty lucky I happened to be passing this way. Just out of curiosity, do you know when you fell asleep? I'd like to tell you how long you were out."

"Well," Audrey said gruffly, "natural elements still work on this island, right?"

"Mmmhmm," Abigail said, nodding.

"Our clothes haven't deteriorated at all, there's no sand covering us, and my hair is in more or less the position it was when I fell asleep. I don't even think the tide has changed. So it couldn't have been THAT long."

Abigail looked surprised. "Hey, that's right. Well, all the better for you I suppose!"

"So Abigail..." I said slowly, "what caused you to pass this way? And how do you know the island is enchanted? Are you a Myth?"

"Oh," she said, laughing and standing up. "I suppose I should introduce myself properly. My name is Abigail Starthunder, Rank 3 of the Pulchralux Guild." Her hands began to glow, and a wind picked up and swirled around her, swirling her dark brown hair and purple cloak around her in a graceful spiral. "Which means, dear friends, that I am a sorceress."