Chapter 2

When the three teenagers were done with the carnival, they returned to Liona’s house where they often convened. Sinking into Liona’s beanbag chair, Foster smiled up at the two girls who took their usual spots on Liona’s bed.
“Another summer day, gone.” Foster said. “Work well done?”
Kali made a face. “Speak for yourself, I can’t wait for school to start.”
“Freak.” Foster said. “What about you, Lilly?”
Liona only shrugged. “I dunno. School is school, summer is summer.”
“We’re going be Juniors.” Kali said, shaking her head “That means upperclassmen. Do you two not understand the meaning of that?”
Foster nodded slowly. “More of the same only now we’ll be competing with seniors and dealing with snotty freshman. Yeah, sounds cool to me.”
Kali made a face “You are such a dork. Did you get anything at the carnival, Lilly?”
Liona paused. “Um, not really.”
“What did you do with that thing, by the way?” Foster said, eyeing her. “Please say you didn’t take it with you.”
Liona shrugged. “So what if I did?”
“Lilly, seriously, throw that thing away.”
Kali frowned, looking back and forth between them. “Care to fill me in?”
“There was a creepy lady who gave me something she said would basically make my wildest dreams come true. I kind of want to try it.” Liona said, smiling at Kali.
Kali nodded. “Can’t beat crack cocaine.”
“Oh come on!” Foster exclaimed, looking quite irritated. “Throw it away, Lilly.”
Liona frowned. “Foster, I want to see what it is, okay? I’m not superstitious like you are, I don’t think anything is going to happen. What’s the harm?”
Kali raised an eyebrow. “Tweak believes in magic? How cute.”
“Shut up, Kali, I just don’t think she should keep it okay? Who knows what’s in there, or what kind of germs are crawling all over it. You could get a disease or something, that lady was really creepy.”
Liona rolled her eyes. “If my parents are listening into this conversation they really are going to think it’s drugs.”
“What is this thing, though?” Kali asked. “It doesn’t involve smoking or anything, right?”
Liona shook her head. “I don’t think so. I took a peak at it back at the carnival and there’s just a bunch of random plants and sticks along with a piece of paper telling me to do random things with it.”
“Weird is what it is.” Foster said, still pouting on his beanbag seat.
“Word.” Kali said. “You should totally try it.”
Foster sighed and put his hands to his face. “What am I going to do with you two?”
“Let us do eerie witchcraft stuff in peace.” Kali said. “Stop being so Catholic.”
Liona shrugged. “Actually, the first instruction is to be completely alone. I was going to do it after you guys left.”
“Fine.” Kali sighed. “Leave me out of the scary witchcraft fun.”
Liona only shrugged. “Get your own creepy lady. I’m sure there’ll be another one at the next carnival.”
* * * * *

Very soon after her friends left, Liona quickly grabbed the bundle out of her bag and felt her heart race as she emptied the contents. She knew she was being silly. Nothing would happen, and she would end up feeling even more silly. Yet the prospect of something happening was too big a risk to ignore. She needed to try, she needed to find out if something really would happen.
Three sticks, a large, flat stone and a series of plants fell out of the black velvet bag and onto her floor. Reaching in the bag, she pulled out the instructions, written in fancy cursive. Quickly, she began reading.
1) The following tasks must be completed in complete isolation.
Liona nodded to herself, looking around her room as if to confirm that she was alone. When she was done, she continued reading.
2) Please find an open area on a table and lay the flat stone on it.
Frowning, Liona looked around. She didn’t really have a table. Eyeing her vanity, she shrugged and cleared off all of her books laying in a mess on the flat surface and laid the rock down.
3) Take the sticks and make a triangle around the stone.
4) Use the moss to put on top of the stone.
Liona followed the directions, but frowned when she came to the fifth one.
5) Light the tip of the Holly branch and use it to light the moss on fire.
“I thought there wasn’t any burning in this.” Liona said to herself, quietly looking around her room for the matches she used to light her candles. After following this step Liona was surprised to see that not only did the moss burn, it burned a bright purple color and continued to burn. She never had tried to burn moss before, but she was sure that it wasn’t supposed to continue to burn without having to put anything else on it to feed the fire. The purple color was also beginning to make Liona shiver. Looking down at the paper, she read the next step.
6) Use your hand to break up the Oak leaves into the moss fire. While you do this, repeat the phrase: Go rialaí an grá agus an cairdeas
Liona frowned. “How the heck do I say that?”
Shrugging to herself, she grabbed the oak leaf and scrunched it in her hand over the fire, attempting what she was sure was a very bad pronunciation of the words in front of her.
Suddenly, she could see something glowing, and her heart nearly skipped a beat as she realized it was her vanity mirror. Distracted from her project, Liona fell backwards onto her floor and stared in awe at her glowing mirror.
“This can’t be happening.” Liona whispered to herself, and for a moment she thought she had gone insane.
Yet the mirror continued to glow, and as Liona looked she thought she could see images in it. There was a castle, and a forest. Not far from the castle it looked like there was a village. Almost in a trance, Liona got up from where she had fallen and looked closer. The village was coming into sight. She could see people dressed in peasant clothing wandering around the streets. She could see a busy market with gross looking slabs of meat hanging from hooks and produce in barrels.
Completely entranced, Liona slowly raised her hand towards the mirror. She wanted to see more. She had to see more. Yet as her hand touched the mirrors surface, everything went completely black. Liona felt a sensation of falling and extreme cold.
Then her body felt like it was being pulled in a million different directions as she felt her lungs collapse. Yet just as soon as the pain began, the pain stopped. Liona felt something hard beneath her, and her breathing came back normally. She could feel her nerves kick in, and she realized she was shaking slightly. Noticing her eyes were closed, she slowly opened them and saw she was lying on a dirt floor.
Blinking several times, she carefully sat up, and immediately felt nauseous when she saw what was in front of her. The very same scene she witnessed in her mirror was now tangible and real. She could smell the disgusting odors of manure and raw meat. She could hear yelling and bustling. Yet worst of all she could see the peasants and the market place right in front of her eyes.
“Did ye fall, miss?” A voice said from beside her.
She jumped and looked over at a young boy who looked to be about seven or eight. “Um, I think I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Ye have strange clothes on.” The boy said, clearly intrigued. “And a funny accent. Are ye foreign?”
Liona struggled with that question. “I-I guess I am.”
The boy nodded. “Well then, where’s yer husband?”
Blinking several times, Liona said. “I’m not married. I’m sixteen.”
“Well, ye best be careful then.” The boy said, smiling strangely at her. “Lass like you could get in trouble quick around here.”
Liona gave him an ironic smile. “Thanks for the advice. Where am I, by the way?”
“Kingdom of Mondel.” The boy replied.
“Yeah, but what country?” Liona asked. “England?”
The boy frowned at her. “What’s England?”
“Um,” Liona struggled with how to figure out her surroundings. “You know, Europe? Like the United Kingdom? Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England?”
The boy shook his head. “Are you from the Kingdom of Karel? I’ve heard they’re strange ones.”
Liona nodded slowly. “Sure. What about a year? What year is it?”
“Aye, that one I can do. It’s eighteen ninety-six.”
Liona frowned. She hadn’t paid too much attention in history as it wasn’t her favorite subject, but she was certain that it wasn’t eighteen ninety-six. At least in her world. The setting in front of her looked very medieval, and she couldn’t see any sort of industrial influence at all. Certainly by the eighteen hundreds in her world the industrial revolution had taken over, and undoubtedly they would have known what England was.
“Are ye okay, miss?” The boy asked, suddenly concerned as Liona grabbed her stomach.
“I don’t know.” She admitted. “I don’t think I feel very good.”
The boy nodded, still looking down at her. “Why don’t ye come to dinner? Mum’s never met a foreigner before.”
Liona was extremely grateful that her one and only acquaintance in what she assumed was some sort of parallel universe was offering her a place to stay, but just as she was about to accept she heard another voice.
“Oi! You there! Who is this maiden?”
Liona looked up to see an official-looking man on a giant horse. Liona’s stomach lurched more. She’d always been terrified of horses.
The little boy looked up at the man. “She’s a foreigner from the Kingdom of Karel, sir. I’m bringing her home to dinner tonight.”
The man eyed Liona and shook his head. “Child, you can’t just bring foreigners home. I will have to bring her to the King. He will want to know that a Karelian has come to our Kingdom.”
Liona’s eyes widened. She was pretty sure being taken to the King was not a good thing. What she did remember from history was medieval King’s beheading anyone they pleased.
“Um, sir.” Liona said, trying to look at the man and not the horse. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I can leave tomorrow, if that’s okay.”
The man on the horse laughed. “Do not be ridiculous. What kind of hosts would we be if we simply let you stay with a peasant family? From the way you are dressed you look as if you are from decent social standing, and the way you speak is interesting, but certainly not uneducated.”
Liona frowned, looking down at what she was wearing. She realized she was dressed up a little more than usual. Because it was summer back in her world she wore a bohemian style skirt decorated with sequins and a nice three-quarter length shirt. She silently praised herself for deciding to not dress in jeans that day and looked back up at the man, who had dismounted his horse and was walking up to her.
“Wait, you don’t want me to ride that thing, do you?” Liona asked, suddenly terrified.
The man smiled. “What’s the matter, miss? Don’t trust me with the beast?”
“It’s not you I don’t trust.” Liona said, eyeing the horse.
The man held out his hand. “Come. What is your name?”
Liona took his hand and stood up. “Liona Knight. Most people call me Lilly. What is yours?”
“Oliver Mondel” The man said, smiling at her.
“Ye’re the Prince!” The little boy exclaimed, eyes growing wide. “First a foreigner and now the Prince!”
Liona’s eyes also widened and she took a good look at the man in front of her. He was dressed lavishly, but he certainly wasn’t dressed as a prince. With dark hair and black eyes, he wasn’t bad looking, either.
Oliver turned towards the boy and smiled. “Yes, child, but I am also a military man. I do my rounds just like the rest of the troops.”
“Just like a fairytale.” Liona murmured, recalling many stories of noble princes interacting with peasants.
When Oliver finally coaxed Liona onto his horse, he mounted also and the two waved to the peasant boy.
“Will I ever see ye again?” He asked, looking back at Liona.
Liona felt a wave of compassion for her first little friend in the Kingdom of Mondel. “I hope so.”