Alannah's story excerpt 5

     Alannah bade her parents goodnight, and walked into her room. She told Mary about her plan to sneak out and see Jeremy. She was willing to help Alannah get to the library unnoticed, but there was concern in her eyes. "Something feels wrong, Miss Alannah. Sir Jeremy won’t do anything to hurt you, but something else might harm you."

     "When did you become a seer and begin predicting the future, Mary?"

     "The women in my family have certain seer abilities that have been passed down from generation to generation. Do not take my warning lightly."

     Alannah felt disappointment weigh her down. "Then shall I stay here in my room tonight?"

     Mary closed her eyes for several minutes. "No, you must keep your promise and visit Sir Jeremy in order for him to trust you. If he trusts you, then he will come to love you. Tonight is important, even if it is dangerous."

     Alannah crept down several dark hallways in a circuitous route to the library, with Mary guiding her. It was odd that she seemed to know her way around this house where she was as much a stranger as Alannah was. Strangely, no one seemed to notice them. She was beginning to believe Mary worked some kind of magic after all.

     Mary stayed outside the library while Alannah slipped inside the dark room. She stood for a few minutes, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness until she could discern walls lined with books and several couches situated in front of a fireplace. Someone was asleep on the longest couch and she crept forward to see who it was. Unruly dark hair fell over Jeremy's face and he had a sweet, peaceful expression.

     Alannah smiled down at him. Should I wake him up? Her head snapped up when she heard a grunt and footsteps retreating from the library door. Who was that?

     The storm clouds that had been gathering all day unleashed their fury, and rain began to beat against the house. A bright flash of lightening lit the room, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. Jeremy woke with a start and sat up. As he became aware of the room around him, he noticed Alannah standing in front of him. He stood up quickly and took her hands in his. "You came."

     "I did."

     "You took a risk to be with me. That means more than you’ll ever know."

He wrapped his arms around her in a sweet embrace.

     Suddenly, the doors of the library were flung open and an irate Isaac stood there, glaring at the two of them in each other's arms. His bloodshot eyes and flushed face told her he’d been drinking with the other men downstairs. He won’t be calm or reasonable. Alannah could just see Mary behind him, hidden in the shadows, fearfully watching.

     The ominous look on his face was scary. "If I can't have you, no one will!"

     He moved aside as a short, wizened little man stepped out of the shadows and looked about shrewdly.

     Isaac commanded, "Do it!"

     The dwarfish man's countenance turned dark, and a barely perceptible red glow surrounded him as he began chanting. Jeremy pulled away from Alannah and jumped over the couch to tackle the little man, but he finished speaking just before Jeremy reached him. Red light flew out of his palm toward her as a brilliant flash of lightening overexposed the room once again. Just before the red light reached her, Alannah saw Mary chanting to herself with her eyes closed. A painful burning sensation coursed through her when the curse hit her.

     When the burning was done, she opened her eyes. Large folds of cloth surrounded her.  She tried to push it down and out of her way so she could get a better view, but her hands did not seem to be working. Looking down, she saw white feathers and delicate bird talons where her body used to be. Mary's face appeared above her, and she wanted to scream. When had Mary turned into a giant?

     Mary scooped her up in monstrous hands, and carried her away from the library. Jeremy was calling her name and asking where she was. She saw Isaac running down the hallway in the opposite direction. The little man had disappeared, and people were coming out of their rooms to see what the commotion was all about.

     Back in her room, Mary held Alannah up in front of the looking glass. She saw Mary's reflection and in her hands was a beautiful white dove. She blinked, and the dove blinked. She raised her arms and the dove spread its wings. I’m a bird? She collapsed in Mary's cupped palms wanting to cry, but no tears would come. Perhaps doves cannot cry. Mary sat down on the bed and held Alannah in her lap.

     "I tried to counteract the curse, Miss Alannah, but his dark magic was too powerful. The best I could do was make your bird form dependent on the weather. But, I was limited to the weather that existed when I performed the spell. Fate frowned upon us. You will be a bird when the weather is good and only have your human form during rainstorms."

     Alannah hopped up and down to show she understood.

     "Isaac knows you are a dove, and I wish that meant he was no longer keeping track of you. Since he knows there is a possibility the curse can be broken, he may still try and destroy you.” She clenched her fists. “It’s truly unfair. In human form, you are not allowed to speak about the curse to anyone who doesn't already know. This makes it nearly impossible for other people to help you break the curse.” She paused and a look of determination crossed her face. “I will find a way to break it. Don't despair."

     She tucked Alannah into the pocket of her apron and looked through her bags. “I have some books of lore in here somewhere.” Alannah fell asleep. When she woke up in the morning, she sat in the middle of a large pillow. She looked down to see snowy-white feathers and despair filled her. Mary was sitting in a chair, reading a thick book of lore. The dark circles under her eyes showed she had not slept the night before.

     After a few minutes, Mary muttered to herself, "That's our only hope." She looked up from her book. "Alannah, nod if you can understand me."

     Alannah nodded, although it was awkward in a dove's body.

"Very good. I don't have much time to speak with you. I sense that Isaac will come after you soon. You must fly away to save yourself. Do not worry—you will know how to fly and what to eat by instinct. Whenever there is a thunderstorm, you will transform back into a human, so you must find shelter or you will fall out of the sky as a naked human female. The safest place will be my cottage, but there may not always be time for that. If you can’t get to my cottage, you need to have several safe shelters where you can wait out the storm. Never explain the curse to another person, or it can never be broken. I will always do what I can to help you.” A tear escaped from Mary’s eye and ran down her cheek.

     “My books of lore say the only way for you to break this curse is to sacrifice yourself while protecting the man you love. There is no guarantee that you won’t die in the process, but it’s your only chance to become human permanently. The only people who know what happened to you are Issac and me.” Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall outside. Mary looked up in alarm. “Go, Alannah. Fly away! He’s coming!"

     She threw open the window and set Alannah on the ledge. Spreading her wings, Alannah let her bird instinct take over and soared into the sky.

     Isaac crashed through the door to Alannah's room, to find Mary shaking the bedding out the open window. "Where's Alannah?"

     Mary looked convincingly ignorant. "I don't know, sir. She never came back to her room last night, and I thought she found another place to sleep."

     Isaac assumed all servants were too stupid to be cunning and believed that Mary was as ignorant as she professed to be. He left the room without another word, and went to find out what the other people in the house knew about Alannah.