Cinderella's Secret Witch Diaries Box Set: Lost, Stolen, Found

October Redux-3

They have agreed to allow us to come along, for we have paid them well with the king’s coin. Gold is gold, and they committed to helping us. We will all in a few weeks head further south. I will sit in a wagon and watch as the world goes by, knowing that I bring Him with me. Renée and I have discussed the consequences of our departure with these people, but we need shelter, food, and help. If we strike out on our own, we do not know whether we can survive the winter. Our best chance is to go with the people here, to remain part of a community, however small.

As you continue to grow within me, I promise to keep you safe. Now I understand more of what my mother must have felt when I was little. I am fiercely protective of you. My journey has been crooked and not clear, as I have traveled far only to realize who I am. I am no longer the little girl princess who follows what she is told, spending time making plans and dreaming about the ball. That world and that life, that existence, is so far away now that I smile a bit thinking about it.

When he comes back for me, I will do all I can to stop him. If I could but speak to him or find common ground, maybe I could find a way to stop him. Yet perhaps I simply continue to be too innocent, perhaps he is who he is, and neither reason nor common ground, if that were even possible, will sway him. He enjoys madness and fun. And I am to be his toy.

I fear not for my safety but for yours. I must write this. I am a Chronicler, and it is my duty. If I do not survive this, I want you to know that I love you. I am your mother, your origin and guide. If I could teach you anything, and you would listen, it would simply be this: Love. Love with all your might. You will never regret it.

October 21

I’ve returned! Have you missed me? I do not see a feast laid out for me. Where are the flowers and wine and song? Am I not wanted? The little trinkets you left to ward against me are cute but I thought I told you last time that they will not work. You will learn. You will.

When you regain your senses, you will be far away from this rather boring waste of a place. But I’ve not much time today and as you and I will be seeing each other soon, I wish to speak more to Phoebe. She will one day grow up to read this and as I am not a monster (I’m a fey, a fox, sly and cunning yet not a beast). Though maybe a fox is a beast, but I think of beasts as something more. I am so slight and dainty like the sun shining through stained-glass, pick a shade of color. That’s me there, depending on my mood.

Phoebe, dear, dear girl. You will be born in a few months’ time and I can sense your power already in your little mamma’s womb. You and your mother have a smell that I just adore. And it’s not the fear. No, it’s not that. One day you will grow up and I will watch you as I’ve watched your mother, and her mother before her. For years and years, I followed her progress, watching her struggle. I’d check in from time to time to leave her hints about who she was. My paw marks could be found if she knew how to look and where. She’d always go out into the night, looking and searching with those glass slippers. She was pathetic at times, crying up to the heavens: “Please, please help me! Oh, Fairy Godmother, come save me.”

And so I did. Now she owes me. I waited many years for her to fall, but fall she did. Finally. For all she’s done to keep me away, I’m going to play with her now and I want you to know that. I’ll keep you safe as I need your help later, but I like playing these little games. Just yesterday I had a man jump off a cliff because he was so upset about his life. It was great fun feeling his terror, but when he hit the ground, the light went out so quickly. His cracked head bled through and the fun is over too soon. But with your mother, if I don’t hold back, then I’ll not have you. I’m tempted to try and break her to see if her magic would save her. I’m curious and I want to know. But I need you to do something great for me. Will you help? I do hope you will.

Please don’t think me petty. I am the Silver Fox and I remember much. Never cross me, never turn your back on me, and never, never, never forget me. For I will hunt you down, sniff you out, and feed on your entrails like the animal I am. I’m taking your mother now and years from now when you see this page burned through with my magic it’ll remind you that I owned her through and through. Then she and I will talk and I will give her three chances to help me. We shall see what see decides. But first, I want to show her my power. I’m off to have fun! As they say in the future, “Wish me luck!”

October 31

I have returned. Renée found me three days after the last passage. He had taken me in the woods and toyed with me. My right arm hurts and is bruised from him slamming it against a tree. He had abused and beaten me, and I am drained. I can see when he has control of me. I am able to watch from the inside but am unable to move my body. He controls me like a puppet, and there is nothing I can do. I do not yet understand why he wants me. I fear that I cannot protect you and all of the defensive words that Renée knows are useless against him. He has claimed me, and no matter how hard I fight him and resist, I cannot break through.

Renée now sleeps with me, and she has asked the women of the encampment to help take turns watching over us. I do not know what he will do next or when he will return. I am so tired and need help. Please, do not let him come back.

But that’s when I must come back! How can I resist such an invitation when you are so weepy and weak? You call to me and must I not oblige such a beautiful woman? I do apologize about your arm. I wanted to see what it would be like to change your skin color to black and blue as that shade suits you so much better. Maybe next time you’ll not fight so hard to keep me away.

Yet I’ve come as I need your help and as you are the Chronicler and I’m just the crazy, little fox, we’re going on a journey. I have a plan. Trust me, I do, and I’ll share it with you soon. I’ll be easy on you this time. I promise. Allons-y!

***

The dream began, and I woke up, grabbed a knife and stabbed poor Mary watching over us. She screamed, but the Silver Fox used me, and he flooded his power through my body. My left hand, glowing brilliant white, opened a door, and we stepped through. I heard Renée calling me, but we had already gone. Now I am in the future and writing this passage, remembering what I am seeing. He is fey, and time for him is like a ball bouncing this way and that.

I am standing next to the king, and I can see the look of worry on everyone’s faces. A map of Europe is on the table, sprawled out, marked with different colors. I can hear what they’re saying, and then I see it, the Silver Fox playing with the tendrils of War, having them fall down all around. The First Consul is now the Emperor, and war is spreading like a disease across the land. The king is odd to me, and now I know why. I can see the fox, as me, standing behind him, whispering into his ear. Sweet nothings of Insanity have slithered down around the king, wrapped around his torso. The Silver Fox conducts the game and his mastery is complete.

“Come, let us move forward.” He takes my hand, and we brush through time, and I see things I do not understand. The world is so changed. I see metal birds in the sky with people in them. I see tall buildings, and then he brings me to his masterpiece. War is now fought with powerful weapons that streak through the sky, and what he shows me horrifies me. I cannot tell you.

He pulls me faster, and the wave of dead fly under our feet. We stop in a far part of the world I have never seen or known to exist. We are up above a city, and then I see the flash. A great, holy light of the sun opens upon the earth, and people are burned away in a flash. The rumble and sound cuts through the sky, and in their tracks people become ash as their shadows are fused to the sides of their houses.

And then I realize that I am powerless against him. He is like a god and I, so small and without power, can never win. He cannot be stopped. I realize the truth. I can see it in the hearts and minds of the men and women we fly over. I see it. There is always someone who wants to join him. There is hatred, and people want revenge. They call him to their heart, and he gives them what they want. In return, he takes great pleasure out of the suffering he sees. And I? I am lost. I am a little girl whom he wants to drive mad. But why? Why does he toy with me so?