Episode 6

There was a lot I didn’t know about my mother. Her secret allies, her secret enemies. There was so much hidden behind closed doors.

“How are you supposed to help me?” I finally asked the voice but I got no response.

“Uh… what’s your name even? I’m tired of labeling you as the voice,” I said with slight frustration in my tone and I got no response again.

Well, maybe it was all in my head. There’s no such thing. Why would I even think that a voice lived as my mother’s doppelgänger? And then the voice spoke up.

“I’m Sabrina,” the voice said, voice still raspy.

“Is that how your voice is? Or you haven’t had water today?” I joked and heard the voice cackle dryly.

“You speak too much for a queen,” the voice finally said but sounded like it was fading away.

“I need to know what you’re doing here and not dead with my mother,” I said in a commanding tone waiting for a response of a voice I was started to doubt was in fact, real.

“I don’t die, I’m an entity. I’m here with the others to help you build the kingdom to what it was,” Sabrina said and I felt cold air brush my face.

“Who are the others?” I asked, curiously. I had so many questions that needed to be answered.

“Did you feel that?” Sabrina asked and I shook my head. “No, was I supposed to feel something?” I asked, confused, looking around like there was somewhere there. At that moment, I felt a rushing wind blow through the hallway, my dress dancing to the tune of the wind and my hair too.

“What was that?” I asked, this time, a little afraid.

“The others,” she said and I heard a loud cackle but this time it wasn’t just her cackle, a couple of other voices started cackling as well.

“This is definitely a dream. I’ve gone bunkers from all that thinking,” I said, already sure that I was just hallucinating.

“Quiet child! What do you think this is? Some kind of pawn? Some kind of game? We’re here for serious business,” the voice said seriously, startling me this time.

“Yes, indeed we are,” another voice chipped in but it was the voice of a man.

“And who are you?” I asked, directing the question at the voice of the man.

“Doesn’t matter child. What matters though is the trials and tribulations you’d be facing beyond the four walls of this palace,” he said and I let out a little sigh.

“Can we get to it already?” I asked already impatient at the way they were dragging the conversation.

“You look at the walls, admire those paintings, admire the sculptures. You even touch the sculptures but never for once do you know their true meanings, why they are there, who drew them, who sculpted them and why,” he continued and to be honest, it struck a nerve. Was he about to school me in my own home? No way.

“I’m not doing this with any of you. I’m an avid reader and have read thousands of books about this history of this palace and the stories behind the paintings and sculptures. I don’t need a couple of invisible voice telling me what I already know,” I snapped in annoyance and I heard the same old raspy cackle.

“You make me laugh child,” Sabrina said, laughing even more.

“Does she really think those things in the books are true?” The male voice added and they both burst into laughter.

“What’s funny?” I asked in annoyance, placing my hands on my hips.

“What’s funny girl is the fact that you spent almost all your life digesting false knowledge! Humans. All they do is lie to protect what doesn’t even need protection,” he continued and I kept mute, trying to digest what he said and he was in fact very correct.

“So you’re trying to tell me that the thousands of books I’ve read that people would murder to have is not true?” I scoffed and kept walking down the hall.

“Tell us what you know about the Ancient princess of Aretuza,” he said and it immediately clicked because I knew that story. My mother had always told me about her as a child.

“The ancient princess of Aretuza. You must be kidding. Everyone knows that story.”

“Tell us child!” The voice says sternly and I comply.

“She was one of the princesses who once walked these halls. She fell in love with a human which brought war between the humans and witches. Legend has it that she mysteriously disappeared after the war. Some say, she eventually eloped with her new found love, the others say she was killed in the battle but her body was never found,” I said confidently and the voice chuckled lightly.

“That, my child is what they wanted you lots to believe,” the voice said and I became confused. What on earth could be the true story?

“You see, the ancient princess of Aretuza did in fact fall in love with a human. But little did she know that human was a hybrid. He possessed powers of the mammoths and he wanted to infiltrate the witches coven and found that the only way he could do it was to make the coven queen fall in love with him. She found out when it was almost too late. She decided to cast a bounding spell. But this time, she bound them together as one in salt.” The voice stopped and cackled a bit before continuing.

“You see that sculpture down the hall? The one they’ve been lying that it was a sculpture of her to keep her memory on? That sculpture is in fact, the actual body of the ancient princess,” the voice said and I laughed out loud.

“Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? That sculpture that was sculpted by the finest hands and brought to this palace for millions of money?,” I scoffed and the voice cleared it’s throat.

“That sculpture is made of salt and that’s the sacrifice she had to pay for binding herself to the evil man who had deceived her. She’s no longer alive and cannot be brought back to life, but her salted body does in fact, give life.” The voice continued and I looked long and hard at the sculpture down the hall.

“Prove it,” I said. I had always been daring in nature. Not simply jumping into believing everything I heard.

“Cut yourself.” The voice said.

“What?!”