Fractured Soul

Chapter 44: Search Your Spirit

Mella finally found the room with her stuff sitting on the bed. Too tired to change or unpack, Mella fell asleep in seconds.

She may have been tired, but her mind had other ideas. Her dreams consisted of her newfound memories of earth magic, but something was wrong…

“Child, you have to learn to get along with the others!” Bri seemed to finally have lost her patience with her.

“Bri, I’ve tried! I have no problem with trying to get along with them, but it’s hard to do that when they do nothing but attack me and call me a freak!” she huffed. “And I’m almost seventeen. I’m not a child anymore.”

“You still act like one. The teachers are refusing to finish teaching you earth magic, and I’m not going to force them to teach you either. So, meet your new teacher.”

The door opened behind them, and she turned to see…Larein.

“No!” Mella sat bolt upright in bed. It was dark outside through the leaves. The rest of the tree was silent. Wesley must have fallen asleep as well.

There’s no way I can sleep again…Larein isn’t supposed to be there… Mella was scared, and confused. Larein couldn’t have been in Elt, but how could Mella know for sure? She didn’t remember.

Ferrous had mentioned the library being connected to the tree somehow. Quietly, Mella slipped out of bed, nearly tripping over her skirt. On Enki, it was probably at her ankles, so she didn’t have that problem. But Mella wasn’t complaining. The clothes were better than having to face the prince again.

Mella walked out to the spiraling staircase. Mella held up a small flame to see by and started going up, looking into the different rooms as she went. She finally found the one she was looking for and walked out to the bridge. Thankfully some earth elemental before her had the idea to grow handrails, otherwise Mella would have been wary of crossing. The ground was a long ways down.

Mella walked as quickly as she could across to the library. The lights were still alive inside, and Mella scanned the shelf next to her.

“What do I even want to find, anyways?” She whispered to herself. The echo was less obvious here, but her voice still carried. And someone heard.

“Mella?” Hal had come up the stairs, holding a book. “What are you doing here this late?”

“Can’t sleep. Why are you here this late?” she countered.

“Can’t sleep.” He said with a small grin. “I spend a lot of time here. Need help finding something?” Hal put his book back on the shelf.

“Um…” Mella thought for a minute. An idea came to her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but are there any spell books that have to do with souls?”

“I think so…but they’re in Ramoric…and most of them just feel really dark.”

“That’s probably it. Can you show me?” Mella asked.

“Sure…but why? That’s some serious magic.”

“I’m not going to try any of it, if that’s what you think. It’s difficult to explain… and it isn’t something I like talking about.”

“Alright. I respect that. Let’s see if I remember where they’re at.”

Hal went back towards the stairs, Mella following after him.

“So…why are you running? The king and queen put a price on your head, same as the prince.”

“The king and queen wanted to know how…I control different elements and yet not have the magic problems they do." she lied, sort of. She couldn't tell him she was a part of the elementalist. No one needed to know that, even though the king and queen had announced it to the nobles. Wait a minute…Gareth said…