Red Like Wine

2. Nouvie's POV: Solitaire

The moment I run into the room, I don't care about anything. I just want my lockets back. I'm angry because someone took my jewellery without permission. I feel the anger like a flame, cackling and sparking and I welcome it because I don't remember not being angry and alone in the world.

Then the cold pours over me, stuffing off the heat instantly.

The numbness descends on me suddenly. the blood in my veins is on fire, only I'm freezing. I turn around to look at Torrie and Alina but I find everything behind me looks warped and wrong. It's like I'm looking at them through a block of ice.

I'm freezing. I'm freezing and I like it.

I try to move my feet but I'm stuck. I can still see the golden chains in a pile in the middle of the room. I should probably head back but I can't get myself to leave the jewellery.

The cold is too intense and not enough all at once. I want to stay in it forever. I go to touch the rubys but a delicious pain shoots up my arm. I yell, or someone yells behind me. Everything goes dark and I can't hear anything past the ringing in my ears.

I'm freefalling.

The cold whispers in my ears. I feel like I'm eternally falling into darkness. The whispering cold turns into a blizzard. I'm shocked by it's fury. I need an anchor. I realize that I'm really falling. It's not a dream. The room has done something to me.

I'm falling and I can't stop myself. I want to grab around for an anchor but I can't even feel my limbs. I'm panicked because I can sense the impact coming.

Everything stills.

I don't know if it has been a second or a year later. I can only see the blue sky and the white clouds above. I'm lying on grass and the scent of the fresh soil is overpowering. I don't know if I've ever seen the sky that vividly blue or if I have ever seen the trees that green. I sit up after a while, thinking that it will be hard to remove the grass stains from my clothes.

I am still in my pale pink silky pyjamas and I'm still wearing the bracelet I bought last night but I can't begin to think of where I am. It's a clearing and I'm surrounded by column like stones on all sides.

There is a forest past the stones and I get the sense that it's just sitting there, watching me and waiting. I'm fascinated by the human-sized stones that form an enormous circle around me. They look like they have been carved out of Lapis Lazulli. I want to touch the lapis lazulli rocks so much because they remind me of my mother before she died. I'm trying to remember which colour her eyes were and why she loved to stare at mirrors but the details keep escaping me.

I'm startled when someone speaks directly behind me. "They look pretty, don't they?"

When I turn around, I see a woman. I don't know how I haven't seen her before because she is right in the middle of the clearing. Her heart shaped face is framed by long locks of charcoal coloured hair. Her almond coloured skin tone is so rich and her lapis Lazulli eyes are so bright that I think she must be unreal. But real she is, because she starts speaking again, apologizing for startling me. "I'm Solitaire," she says, gesturing to herself.Her accent is so strange that I barely understand her.

"I'm Nouvie," I introduce myself out of habit and she smiles. Her beauty startles me again. It's impossible to look that radiant even with make up but she has no make up. It's like she is straight from a movie set. Or maybe I am in one.

She looks at me kindly and I get awkward because I'm embarrassed. I'm only in my pyjamas and it's daytime and I don't even know where I am. That's when I look down and I spot it.

The star-shaped tattoo is on my left arm. It's black like my hair and it's intricately drawn against my almond skin. It's glowing like it has a life of it's own. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced that the ink is Lapis Lazulli, not black. I have never had a tattoo before.

I look up at the woman who has just identified herself as Solitaire. I want to tell her that I don't usually walk around in my pyjamas and that i don't drink so that she doesn't think I'm crazy. The corners of her mouth are curved into a smile and I am mortified by her amusement.

"You must find all these strange." She says, her hands gesturing all around us. Then she walks to me. Every step she makes looks calculated and thoughtless all at once. It's like every movement is preferred but she's done it for so long that she doesn't even think about it. "Let me explain it all to you." I nod, trying to hide the tattoo on my arm but she stops me by holding my other arm. "I can explain the tattoo too." She flicks her left hand and a spot flattens on the grass. I'm itching to ask her how she did that but I'm not sure I even followed what she did.

I'm worried for her light blue clock when she sits lightly on the grass but she doesn't seem fazed by the possibility. I'm about to voice my concern to her when she pats the space beside her patiently, gesturing for me to sit next to her. I'm intimidated by her looks and her grace and I don't know why I should trust her.

She draws in a long breath before she starts talking. "Where do you live?"

It's such a simple question that I catch myself from laughing. Of course I live in Azreri. It's a city in Neffra and it's where we are. I tell her as much but she just shakes her head.

"We are not in Azeri," she says deliberately. "This country is called Cyremn and this city is called Racem Naerie."

I want to laugh because she looks so serious. It must be a joke so I humour her and continue with the explanation. "And how far is Azeri from here?"

I'm thinking that she must be a good liar because I have never seen a country named Cyremn and I studied Geography in high school. I even got an A.

"I don't know for sure, but you won't be getting there anytime soon." She says. I'm shocked and I'm wondering what she means by that statement. "You see, the world as you know it is only half of the universe. The world we are currently in is it's other half. These two places are separated by a curtain. This curtain has been there for a long time but lately it has began to thin in certain places. Those are the places we call soul places. It appears you stumbled into one. Do you understand me?"

She doesn't look crazy. At this point, I'm already planning to put as much distance as I can between me and her. I nod.

"Then come with me, I'll show you Racem Naerie." I follow her out of the clearing. There is a log across the path we have taken. She does something with a finger and the log disappears, appearing a few meters away.

"Is that magic? Can you do magic?" I ask and she laughs.

"I can't do magic, dear, I'm not a witch. That's just a trick I have learnt over the years while I was trying to get home." She says lightly. I'm not sure that she is being sarcastic.

"Why are you helping me? And what is this tattoo?" I ask as I join her.

She laughs. "Is it so strange to be helped? I came from the other side too. I know what it feels like to wake up in a totally different world." Then she pulls up her clock, revealing a black tattoo on her arm too. Hers is shaped like a diamond with intricate marks all around it. "In Cyremn, everyone naturally has a tattoo. Your tattoo matches your soulmate's. That's how we find our soulmates here."

"What if I don't want to stay here? What if I don't want a soulmate?" I challenge.

"I can help you try to get back but I can't help you to not find a soulmate. That's between you and fate. Here, take this clock, you'll find it's easier to blend in when you don't look conspicuous." She gestures to the silk pyjama I'm wearing and I feel self conscious.

"I don't want want to blend in, I am not staying here long. I want to go home." I try to keep the snap out of my tone but I fail.

She is silent for so long that I start to fear she is not going to respond. "You will find that you need all the help you can get. I can help you but let this be the last time you snap at me." She says evenly. "It's not easy to get back to your city. It might take a while. Do you trust me?"

I nod. Of course I don't trust her. I just met her. I start planning to escape her once I get to the city. I'm probably just lost in the outskirts of Azeri.

We continue walking down the path until we get to the top of a hill. It's sunrise already. My feet are bare against the dewy grass. Then Solitaire tells me to turn around and my breath catches in my throat.

There are four more hills like the one I am standing on. They form a semi circle and a town rests at their feet. The city at the foot of the hills is made almost entirely of Lapis Lazulli spires. The first rays of the morning sun have just began to shine on the highest spires. It's like nothing I have ever seen. It looks almost unreal. An ocean sits beside the city on the other side that's not surrounded by hills.

Im definitely not in Azeri.

I turn to Solitaire to tell her something but I can't put my awe into words. She seems to understand and laughs it off. "I was shocked the first time I saw Racem Naerie too."

We slowly descend the hill, making our way to the city. We reach the walls of the city by noon. I have a lot of questions for Solitaire but I only ask one because I don't want to risk offending her. "What were you doing in the forest when you found me?"

"I have been trying to go back home for a while. It took me a lot of planning and effort to find that soul place. It took me even more to determine that it would open last night. When it finally opened, it only spat you out. It didn't take me home." Her voice quivers at the end. It's so subtle but I catch it. I know she is telling me the truth, I can feel it.

The walls of Racem Naerie are Lapis Lazulli like everything else in the city. They go as high as I can see and I'm wondering what it is that they are trying to keep out, or rather, what are they trying to keep in?

Recem Naerie proper is far from the walls. In fact it's half a days walk. It's exhilarating and vivid. Almost too vivid. Almost everything in sight is made of Lapis Lazulli. Even the brick-like stones that line the street have a bluish tint to them. Everyone in sight looks surreal. Their skins are as rich as Solitaire. I am wondering how many skin care products I have to use before my skin looks even half as rich. Every part of Racem Naerie smells like lavender.

We wind through endless streets before we get to her house. It is the one that stands alone at the end of the street. While the rest of the houses resemble shoe boxes, hers is a magnificent fortress. She doesn't bother with the gate, it just opens by itself. I have seen a lot of technologies like that where I come from but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not what it looks like.

"How did you do it?" I ask.

"It's a trick that a friend taught me." She replies lightly. The more we explore the house, the more I'm convinced that she is practising magic.

"Do you have a phone that I can use?" I ask. She shakes her head.

She says "this entire country doesn't have phones or else I would have gone back home years ago. I wish I had listened to my physics teacher. I would have invented a phone by now."

"How will you help me go back?" I ask.

"I have a plan." She says. "There is a second soulplace. It is supposed to open a few weeks from now. It's in The Court of Racem Naerie. If we are lucky, we can both use the soulplace to go back home."

At this point, I am willing to do anything to go back home. Cyremn looks unbelievably beautiful and that is the problem. I need to go home. "What do you need me to do?" I ask.

A few hours later, I'm seated in front of the mirror with my hair piled high on my hair. I barely recognise myself. I have soaked in the bath for hours. Solitaire brings me a dress to wear but I hesitate. I can tell just how expensive the dress is from it's fabric. It's price could probably pay my rent for an entire year.

My mothers face flashes in my mind and I remember how excited she would have been to see me in such a fine dress. I'm standing in front of the mirror and Solitaire is standing behind me. I put on the red dress and the locket I've been wearing since last night. She puts a red veil over my face.

"I knew a friend in court. Her name was Raesy. No one ever saw her because she was always in a mask. You are going to show up in court and you are going to pretend to be her. I'm not sure of what the king is trying to do with the soul place. When it is ready, you will tell me. You only have to be Raesy for a short time, so try to stay alive." She says. "Good luck."

It happens so fast that I can barely understand what is going on. One moment I'm with Solitaire in her house then I feel her push me. I fall right through the mirror to the ground. Instead of the light blue tiles of her house,I fall into a pool.