I’m not afraid of the dark, or of the crumbling, sand-colored walls, and I’m not perturbed by being alone. In fact, my step is almost bouncy as I wander the ruins, the remains of the garden walls of an ancient castle. It used to be a labyrinth–well, I guess it still is, now in sad disrepair.
This morning I spent several hours climbing the trees outside the walls of the fortress, surveying the woodlands that surround it. For some reason, now, as I turn each corner, I’m expecting to see the walls end in sand dunes and for the ocean stretch out before me, tossing black beneath the moon. But I’m far from the sea. It must be the mist in the air which tricks me.
I mumble lullabies from my childhood beneath my breath as I round a corner and step into an amphitheater. The pillars around the stage are cracked and crumbling. The tiers of seats, formed of stone, are grown over with vines and chipping. A pool of water has gathered before a throne, some twenty feet from the stage, and I hop down the stairs to the floor of the space, turning in circles to take it all in.
I turn and vault myself onto the stage, throwing my head back to take in the starry sky.
“You can sing,” a voice says.
My gaze drops abruptly, to the throne on the other side of the pool. A girl is sitting there. She has dark curly hair, large brown eyes, and wears a crown perched above her round face. She smiles at me. Besides her rich clothes, the friendly countenance, and the crown, there’s a transparent quality about her…and about the chain on her wrist that connects her to the throne.
“Sing for me,” she says. Her voice is soft, courteous.
I shrug, bouncing up on the balls of my feet. “I could. What would you like to hear?”
“Anything,” she replies. She straightens her posture and leans forward, waiting for me.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I open them again, wondering how the acoustics of the amphitheater are, and sing one of those lonesome lullabies. The princess smiles. There is something unnervingly familiar about her, but my lullaby chases away the chill that races up my spine.
When I finish, the mists have grown thicker. I jump down from the stage and splash into the pool. The girl disappears. I look down into the water, and am greeted by the pale face and dark brown eyes that watched from the throne, now staring back from my own reflection.