Chapter 13: Palace Secrets

The night Amie was given the booklet, she dreamt of a river with a fog rolling over it. The fog was glowing as though it was reflecting light from an invisible source. Colorful wisps were slowly and steadily traveling down the river's path. The river below had wisps of colorful light within its waters as well. Unlike the fog, however, the river wisps were dancing vibrantly. Oranges twirled around stationary reds and greens intertwined with yellows. The sight was the most beautiful thing Amie had ever seen.

Amie awoke the next morning and immediately noticed her vision had changed. She could still see her regular room, but the fog from her dream was everywhere. There was no river, just the fog. Most of it seemed to be floating with no direction. Amie thought perhaps it was because there was no river like in her dream. She noticed, however, some of the fog appeared to be flowing in streams, as though there were invisible rivers underneath.

Amie saw wisps of white floating in the air as part of the stationary fog. Then her attention turned to a small white line of fog flowing towards the booklet Amie had placed on her nightstand the night before. The booklet had a faint glow surrounding it as the stream disappeared into it.

Amie came up with a theory. This fog was most likely the stellar mist Dr. Sybil told her about the previous day, and the white fog was the healing mist. She thought of the river as a path with the mist traveling above it, using the river to guide its way to an end goal. Perhaps if she could find a way to guide the stationary mist to the invisible path that the other mist was following, then the mist would be able to merge and flow on that path as well.

In an almost meditative trance, she started picturing the white mist flowing around the other colors of mist, slowly coming together and building into a stream. The mist began to move as she imagined she was directing it.

Amie paused for a moment to look at the mist. In excitement, she stopped focusing on directing it and the moment she stopped, any mist that hadn't found its way to the path stopped progressing. Realizing her blunder, she entered her trance again, slowly directing the flow towards her little book.

Once the stream was flowing into the book, both the stream and the book began to glow brighter. The larger the stream, the brighter the book. The entire room lit up and blinded Amie. After a few moments, the light dimmed.

Amie looked around and saw there was no more white mist. The fog began to disappear and the only thing left was the glowing book. Amie picked it up to inspect it.

Unlike yesterday when she couldn't read anything written on the pages, today she could read it as if it was her first language:

*BASIC HEALING SPELL*

[Close the wounds of the flesh, heal the lesions within the body.

Mortal mutilations, superficial lacerations.

Give time and all injuries become unknown]

The glow from the booklet vanished once Amie read it. The room was now completely back to normal. Amie felt no different from the night before.

She decided to try her new spell on one of the bruises Dr. Sybil left behind. Placing her hands over a bruise on her leg, she concentrated on the spot while thinking of the spell. It was very slow, but she could see the bruise begin to vanish. Once the bruise was gone she leapt up from her bed in excitement.

Fighting herself not to scream, she sat back down. She could hardly believe it, she knew magic. Amie wanted to practice more, but she remembered Dr. Sybil's warning. She had to maintain the appearance of being badly injured so that nobody would become suspicious.

The day dragged on with nothing to do while Amie was trapped in her room. With her wounds healed, all she could do was pace back and forth, trying to figure out what to do with the book that was given to her.

She expected something to happen to the book once she read it. She thought it would disappear or the words would vanish, but it didn't. It looked the same as when she first saw it. The words were still written in a foreign language. She could still read it, but she knew it wasn't in any language she should know. Worried somebody would find it and know what kind of book it was, Amie hid it in a secret compartment in her nightstand.

Just as she closed her nightstand, Jacques barged into her room, "Hey Amie! Are you feeling better today?"

Amie was a little annoyed, "Yes, thank you. Jacques, do you realize if you're caught in my room, it will be me that's punished?"

Jacques smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be punished too. I promise you though, nobody has seen me come here."

Amie responded, "How can you be so sure?"

Jacques' smile somehow became more mischievous than it already was, "Are you well enough to walk?"

Amie nodded.

"Then follow me." Jacques led Amie out of her room, "Do you see how there's so much space between your door and the start of the stairs?"

Amie was confused, "Well yes, it's for the guards to have standing space and to ensure nobody falls coming out of my room."

Jacques asked, "Why, exactly would you need so much space and why would you need a spot for a guard to stand at the top of a tower? They can easily guard the tower from the bottom, especially since there are no windows close to the ground to escape from."

Amie's interest was piqued, "Go on."

Jacques continued, "If you look outside, the tower is unusually wide compared to the inside, with the exception of the top of the tower where your room is located... So wide it could fit two stairwells..." Jacques pulled down on a candlestick on the wall. A hidden door suddenly creaked open, revealing a secret staircase.

Amie gasped, "This has been here this entire time?"

Jacques nodded, "The Palace of Lutetia has always been known as the palace within a palace, but the secrets of the palace died with the builders. Every king, including my father, has spent years trying to understand and gain access to the secrets of this place. But nobody has been able to find any sort of entrance to the hidden palace."

Amie was curious, "Jacques, how were you able to find it?"

Jacques bowed to Amie teasingly, "Because of you My Lady."

Amie rolled her eyes, "No need for the dramatics."

Jacques stood back up, "As you wish. Anyways, I noticed the guards are never up here and I started to pay attention to the tower from both outside and in. That's when I realized the design was suspicious. One of the days I came up here to tease you, I decided to do some inspecting. Do you see this candle compared to that one? They look the same if you're not paying attention, but if you look closer, you can see the slit where the lever comes down. But this isn't the most interesting part. Amie, would you like to see the rest of the secret palace?"

Amie's face gleamed with excitement, "Yes!"

"Then let's go! Oh, one more thing, try to be as quiet as a mouse, it would be dangerous if anyone were to hear us." With that warning, Jacques grabbed Amie's hand and pulled her into the secret stairwell.

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