In the Open Cage

Chapter 21

"A boy?" The girl Misa identified as Nisha paced in front of the bed. She was older than she was in Misa's previous dreams. Older in the sense that her body had developed, and the first signs of her beauty bloomed. "Has the old oak tipped you over? This is madness!"

"He is good to me," Misa found herself speaking. "Why can you not accept that? I have gifted him with the truth, and he still wishes to be with me."

"He is a peasant boy, not nobility. No one will know if we run away together. He promised."

Nisha's eyes bulged. "You plan to elope! What corrupt thoughts has he been feeding you? Mother must know."

"No!" Misa stood from her bed. "Please, keep this from Mother. She will kill him."

"Perhaps it's for the best. He'll only bring us trouble."

"Wait! No, sister, please!" Misa ran after Nisha, tears streaming down her eyes. "You don't understand!"

This is a dream. Misa halted her steps. She took a deep breath. This is a dream. A ripple threatened to tear through her vision.

"Mother!" Nisha's voice was muffled beyond whatever veil had come between Misa and the memory.

I am in control. Misa willed for the scene before her to disappear, and before she could even blink, blackness surrounded her. Pleas of fear rattled the silence before fading into nothing but echoes.

She searched the inky nothingness that stretched before her, sending a surge of her conscience deep into the power that pulsed within her. Tika's presence was familiar, still holding the essence of her spirit, and Misa could feel her. Misa could feel the witch—some strange, ethereal part of the witch—come forth to greet her.

Though it spoke no words, it offered Misa its power. It swirled and pinched and engulfed her, giving her the knowledge of what she could do with it. A ball of light floated above her, but it revealed nothing in the abyss. A chair, startlingly clear despite the blackness, flew by, almost playfully nudging at her. Secret, ancient words poured like golden light, whispering in Misa's ears, teaching her the spells of old.

Enough! And everything vanished. Misa felt the confusion from the magic. It surged forward, wrapping around her, asking her why she refused it. Asking why she pushed it away.

It searched her, sifted through her thoughts. Misa struggled against it, fought it as it took over her mind.

Stop it! Stop it this instance! But it ignored her commands, entering her, deeper, deeper, deeper until it reached her most private thoughts and wishes. Until it touched her greatest fears.

Then, the voices invaded her. Her father, pleading her to stay with him, her mother, crying for her to forgive them.

"We were protecting you!"

"She deserves to know!"

"Misa! Misa! MISA!"

The suffocation. The imprisonment. Spending the rest of her days staring at the same four walls, never able to see the world like she desired. The fear seeped into a putrid odour. Bile stung the back of Misa's throat.

Chains made of shadows rattled around her, unbreakable no matter how much she struggled. Holding them was her mind's image of Royle who shone bright despite the drab colour of his uniform, who held so much kindness and strength and warmth.

Trapped. Tied down like she had been her whole life. Not by her parents, but by Royle. No matter how much part of her desired it, no matter how much her heart and body ached to have him close to her, she could never cross that line. The line that had turned into a chasm so deep, she would never stop falling.