Spellbound: COMPLETE

Chapter Ten: Ariadne

Ariadne's POV

Putting on my nightgown without my maids proved more difficult than I wished to admit. But my thoughts wouldn't stop as I recounted the events of the past week over and over in my head. Trying to think of something else was pointless; no matter what I tried, either the Prince or Peter or that strange man would appear in my head and my heart would sink lower and lower into despair each time.

Finally, I gave up the notion of sleep. I hurriedly sat up and began pacing the room, but that grew tiring fast and Iris was beginning to stir in her sleep because of my loud footsteps. I couldn't remember if she was there when I came in or if she had snuck in sometime during my restlessness, but leave it to Iris to be the first to fall asleep and the last to wake up.

I quietly closed the bedroom door behind me and then angrily kicked the ottoman that rested in the center of the room. Luckily, I only managed to hit the cushion that sat on top of it. Well, it was there until I forced it off its comfortable seat. I bent down to retrieve the fallen cushion when something shone in the corner of my eye through the dimly lit room. I turned back to the ottoman and saw small blood-red jewel-encrusted in the polished wood. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as if there was a small R carved into the beautiful stone. I traced its smooth service and the stone almost looked as if it was glowing.

The more I stared, the more I realized that it was not my eyes getting used to the darkness. The jewel was glowing and getting brighter every second, in a blood-red hue. I stumbled away from it, but my eyes were glued to the glowing red stone. Then a wave of light forced my eyes shut as a blast of wind hit me. And just as suddenly as it came, it was gone. I opened my eyes to the room that was even darker now than it had been before.

The silence was so intense that it took me a moment to get my courage up enough to crawl over to where I thought the ottoman was. When my hands blindly found it, I tried feeling for the stone again but felt nothing. There wasn't a top on the seat, it was just a circular frame surrounding empty space.

I hurriedly went into my room and grabbed the lit candle on my nightstand and then ran back to the common room. I held the candle over the ottoman and saw a black hole that did not end where the floor should be. I lowered my candle even lower and found a glass step that almost looked as if it wasn't there.

I gingerly reached my hand down and touched the smooth, cold surface, then put some weight on it; it didn't budge. I pulled my hand away, and slowly rested my foot on the clear step, then put all my weight on it, while holding onto the outside of the seat. It held, I sighed and slowly put my other foot on the next step down, and kept repeating the process until I could no longer hold onto the edge of the seat. Then I grabbed my candle and slowly made my way down, wishing there was a railing or something I could hold.

Then I realized that the closer I got to the bottom the better I could see. By the time I had reached the bottom, I could see as clear as in pure daylight. I set my candle down on the last step and stared.

All around me there were trees of every color that sparkled and gave a glow, which added to the light in the huge cavern. Some of the trees were glass, like the staircase, and would've been nearly invisible if they hadn't been frosted with a variety of colors. Other trees were different colors, and as I looked around, I realized that none of the trees were the same, and the forest seemed to go on forever.

I looked around, seeing four different paths leading away from the stairs. They all looked about the same, so I decided on the rightmost path. I continued through the shimmering forest until I saw some glowing orbs appearing and disappearing ahead of me. I quickened my step and realized that the orbs were, in fact, glowing fish, jumping in and out of a huge black lake.