Lumiere

There was no summer in the land of Lumiere. There was spring, and autumn, and winter, of course, but no summer.

In autumn, the people of Lumiere dressed in reds and oranges, they decorated their homes with acorns and dried leaf bouquets, and they ate the most delicious stuffed potatoes, steamed squash and pumpkin puddings.

In winter, the favorite season of most people in Lumiere, the people dressed in light blues and whites, they decorated their homes with traditional white silk and those with magick would cast a spell on a block of ice that’d been carved into the shape of a snowflake so that it could last the entire season and never melt. Their feasts consisted of roasted lamb and steamed purple cauliflower, parsnip and turnip soups, spinach salad with olive oil dressing and, the favorite of many, sweet, hot apple pie.

In spring, the people of Lumiere indulged in greens and pinks. They decorated their homes with any flower they fancied and read The Death of Winter to their children. There were jams made from the petals of flowers, an army of pastries and chicken’s eggs to be enjoyed by all.

However, they did not dress in gold and yellow in honor of the sun season. They did not decorate their homes with straw crafts or carry colorful fans with them. Nor did they enjoy chilled teas and juices, or heavy chilled cream, or cherry tarts. This type of merrymaking did not exist in Lumiere.

Of course, this was nothing to be pitied. Lumiere never had summer, so Lumiere never missed summer.

Right now it is autumn there, the very last day of autumn, in fact. Three lovely little children, sweet and talented little children, by the names of Alice, Peter and Toby Heart, were out playing near the woods by their luxurious home, The Manor of Hearts. Alice was the oldest. Peter was the middle child. Toby was the youngest, a year younger than Peter whom was a year younger than Alice.

“Oh, I do hope Professor Karol doesn’t find us!” Giggled pretty little Toby, “We’re supposed to be practicing our magick… I’ll bet he’s very cross that we skived off our lessons to go play…”

“What does it matter?” Said Peter unconcernedly and idly plucking a stray leaf from his little sister’s hair, “We’re the most talented sorcerers our age, we can afford to ditch a lesson every once in a while. Right, Alice?” Peter looked over to his older sister, who was sitting by a quaint little brook and staring at the water silently. She’d been very morose the past couple of weeks, keeping quiet even when the children were allowed to join in on conversations, staying in her room for long periods of time and looking just plain miserable. This alarmed her siblings quite a bit because she was usually a very curious and playful child. They’d been forced to drag the young sorceress out of the house themselves just to get her to get some fresh air.

“Alice?” He tried again, and this time she looked up.

“Yes, Peter?” She answered neutrally.

“What’s wrong?” Toby broke in, settling down beside her sister and tucking her hair behind her ears, “Are you sick?”

“Kinda… Maybe… I don’t know.” She replied gloomily, taking deep, empty breaths that made her chest ache.

Peter walked over to his sisters and settled on the other side of Alice so that she’d have nowhere to go should she get cross from their questioning and petted her white-blonde hair, an act of affection usually reserved for Toby.

“You want to talk?” He offered. Alice did not shake her head ‘no’, nor did she agree, so they sat for several minutes, waiting for Alice to say something, anything. She ignored her brother’s attentions and continued to stare at the water, or was she staring at her reflection? Either way, she spoke not.

Concerned though they were, children will be children, and Toby and Peter grew bored with their sister’s quietness. “Well…” Peter started after a few minutes, “If you want to talk, you know we’ll be glad to listen.” He got up and brushed off his trousers, then pulled Toby up with him and walked away to play together.

But Alice did not talk to them, even though they’d stop every once in a while and settle down beside her again for a few minutes, to rest, mostly, but also because of the guilty unease they felt by leaving Alice alone when she was in such a state.

However, the sun quickly set and the pink hues of the sky alerted the children that twilight had come and, though they felt bad about not getting Alice to talk, Peter and Toby knew that no more could be done today. Alice’s quarters had been moved to the other side of the manor a month prior, and she wasn’t allowed to see the children after dark, since that was when her “Lady Lessons” were held. Since Alice was quickly approaching womanhood, their parents thought it imperative that she learn what was expected of her. Peter and Toby missed her dearly, but they knew that nothing could be done.

“Do you suppose those lessons of hers are boring? Is that why she looks so sad?” Toby asked.

Peter rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Why would she do nothing when she’s away from her lessons if they’re boring? There’s no logic in that, Toby, even someone as whimsy as you usually are should know that.”

Toby blushed, “Don’t say that, Peter. You’re little less whimsy than I.” To that, Peter just chuckled and squeezed her hand.

That night, even though the day had been as bright as magick, a rainstorm began. Lightning stabbed the distant earth and thunder pounded in their ears. They both shivered, but for different reasons. Peter shook from fear, Toby quivered with excitement.

“Peter!” She whispered fiercely, “Peter, wake up! Let’s go outside!”

“Don’t be stupid.” He replied, calmly but muffled with his face smashed against his pillow.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” She promised.

“What if we get struck by lightning? There’ll be nothing fun about that.”

“That’s not going to happen.” She said, rolling her eyes and already getting out of bed, “But if you’d rather stay in where it’s nice and safe, well, no one can fault you for that…”

“Are you implying—”

“Goodnight!”

Peter groaned, “Oh… Toby! Wait for me!” He called as quietly as he could and leapt from his bed, barely stopping to put on his spectacles. Tiptoeing to the kitchens, he met up with Toby and they both stole away through the servant’s passageways.

Once outside, Toby took in the air around her. Peter gasped at the sudden cold, a bit grouchy at Toby for convincing him to come with her, and himself for actually listening.

“Do you even smell anything?” He asked with chattering teeth, for his sister was still inhaling deeply with her eyes closed and a dreamy smile on her face.

“Of course…” She breathed out, a white stream of warmth rushing past her lips, “I can smell the cold… It smells pure, and fresh. It makes me feel clean. I can smell the power of each raindrop… If you’d unclog your nose, you could smell it, too.”

“I’ve nothing up my nose, dear.”

“Yes, you do.” She replied, “You’ve clogged yourself up with fear. Fear consumes you. And it’s ridiculous, brother, when you’ve nothing to fear.”

Peter considered this. Experimentally, he took in a long breath. Icy air filled his lungs and chilled him; he shivered and felt the frigid oxygen steal away his warmth. It felt… Refreshing. New.

“What…” He started, coughing lightly, “What else do you sense?”

“Mmm…” She smiled, twirling to make the skirt of her nightgown lift a little, so that the cold could better reach her legs. Normally, showing one’s legs in front of a man was considered improper, but neither of them had ever thought much of showing their bodies to the other. They were more like twins, rather than elder and younger siblings. “I… Taste the rain…” She stated, opening her mouth to do just that, “It tastes like life, and a little like cloud, since that’s where they come from…” Peter laughed at this, since Toby hadn’t bothered to put her tongue back in her mouth to talk and sounded quite silly.

“And what do you hear, Toby?” He asked eagerly, lifting his head to feel the rain fall onto his brow and run into his flaxen hair, and not paying any attention to the specs of water on his lenses.

She laughed, joyful that he was finally joining in, “Their descent. The rain, I mean. Each drop whistles as it falls, there’s a whole symphony to be heard! Oh, Peter, can’t you hear it?”

Honestly, all Peter could hear was the constant clapping of impacting water, but he humored her, “Yes, Toby. It’s one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard.”

Eyes stills closed, she grinned, “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want you to miss out. Do you know what this song is called?”

Peter grinned himself, finding his sister’s happiness and make-believe infectious, “No. Do tell!” He answered, striding towards her and slipping one set of his cold, wet fingers in between hers, the other hand resting on the small of her back and leading her into a childish waltz.

“It’s called Peter’s Sonata!” She answered as they danced, steadily becoming dizzy.

“Then they’re playing for me?”

“Yes!” She gripped his hand tighter, “They always play for you. Every time it rains, the skies are playing this very tune. Just for you.”

“Why do they do that?”

“Because you’re special!”

“Is that so?”

She nodded. He pressed his forehead to hers, gazing at her eyelids, “Toby… What do you see when you’re eyes are closed?”

She inhaled again, much slower this time, and, pursing her lips together, whistling the air out. “I see what’s right in front of me… An angel.”

Peter’s grin faded slightly, “…You’re silly.” He said at last, and stepped back two steps.

Toby opened her eyes then, and Peter gazed into them. At that very moment, lightning struck. The resulting flash of light echoed in each other’s eyes. Peter gasped, entranced by the white of lightning and blue of Toby’s eyes. In the distance, the clock-tower sounded off twelve times. Midnight. It was winter.

Peter felt himself fall in love.

It was overpowering, suffocating, intoxicating. He had to take another step back to keep himself from taking one forward. He didn’t trust himself not to kiss her.

Toby, on the other hand, trusted herself wholeheartedly. She stepped forward, aligning her body against his and, in their innocence, neither thought much of it. It wasn’t until Toby shyly fluttered her lips past his that he realized what exactly had happened, what was happening, and what was going to happen. He had fallen in love, Toby was kissing him, and he was going to kiss her back.

And he did. She was soft and warm, which was odd because of how cold he knew it really was. It offset the icy rain perfectly, hot blood and breath and frigid night. When they pulled away, Peter hardly knew what to do, so he merely kept staring into her blue eyes, and she into his green-blue orbs.

“Peter, I…”

“You love me. Like, love-love.”

“Y-Yes.” A stumble from the cold, he noticed, but no hesitation in her answer. Such certainty made him uneasy.

“And… I…”

“…You…?” She pressed on, more than curiosity overwhelming her. She needed to know this.

“I, um…”

“What on earth are you two doing out here?” Came the shrill cry of their aunty and nurse, Matilda Heart, “You’re going to catch your death out here! Come on, get inside!”

Both children jumped and their hearts raced, but then slowed down again when they realized they hadn’t been caught. Well, not for the thing they didn’t want to be caught doing. It was good enough for them. Blushing, they changed their clothes and returned to their beds, not saying anything. Toby had wanted to ask him again, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

The next morning Peter and Toby got up at eight ‘o’ clock, per usual. Peter slipped on his light blue, winter sorcerer’s robe; the one with the black hearts, crescent moons and Heart insignia designed on the collar, belt, and ends of the sleeves and robe itself, the robe he always wore in winter. Toby put on her frilled, white sorceress’s dress with the silver hearts connecting their way around her waist and silver Heart insignia on the skirt pockets, with her white stockings and white, half-inch heeled shoes, the outfit she always donned in the snow season. They ate breakfast together, along with Alice, and sat by each other at the table, just as always. But, unlike always, neither spoke a word to the other.

Finally, after three full hours of mind-numbing silence, Toby could stand it no longer, “Um… Let’s go find Alice!” She said, dragging him off to do just that. Normally, they weren’t allowed to see her until one ‘o’ clock, when they had dual lessons with her, but they figured her lunch break had to be coming soon, and neither Toby nor Peter had ever thought too much or too seriously about rules. After all, rules were meant to be kept most of the time, but occasionally broken, also.

By the time they’d arrived at the west garden, where Alice was taught divisions and fractions, math that was considered too advanced for children under twelve years of age, Professor Karol was just getting up to walk away. They each hid behind a tree, lest the professor see them and send them away, for whatever reason.

Oddly enough, Toby noticed, the professor’s tie and first button were both undone, which was very strange indeed because the professor, although not overbearingly strict, was very punctual about proper dress. Why, he’d even let Alice get away with coming to her lessons with a rumpled dress! She’d even removed her shoes and stockings, which was nearly unheard of in the House of Hearts.

But… Alice’s light blue dress had been crisp and freshly ironed that morning. And Alice had never been the type of girl to remove her stockings in front of a man, no matter how hot the weather…

Once Professor Karol had left, Peter emerged from his hiding place, his eyebrows furrowed and peering knowingly at his elder sister, who was gazing down at the grass with a sort of lost look on her face. Toby didn’t understand, was quite sure Peter didn’t either, not to the full extent, but she followed him over to Alice anyways. She looked quite shocked upon realizing they were there, and hurried to put on her stockings, so as not to bear her legs in front of her brother. Peter did stop and averted his eyes in modesty, even took off his glasses to assure her, but Toby kept approaching.

“Alice… What on earth happened?” She asked, unnerved, whilst her elder sister frantically tried shoving her foot into the second stocking, biting her bottom lip whilst tears welled up, her face red from mortification. Once she’d wrestled them on, Peter joined the two of them.

“Alice, I don’t mean to sound… I’m not implying anything, but…” Peter fought with his words, defeating them each time they got up and not getting anywhere. Finally, something made a hit. “Did he do something to you?”

Her face was scrunched up in agony, and her chest went in and out due to the quick gasps she kept taking. Peter reached to take her hand, to steady her, but she slapped it away immediately, got to her feet, and ran. She’d gotten halfway to the woods that served as the border around their mansion before either Peter or Toby had gained the sense to go after her.

Peter took the first step, but without even thinking about it, or looking, he reached behind him. Simultaneously, Toby brought her hand forward. They met halfway perfectly, fitting together like a lock and it’s key. He ran, Toby ran, together.

But the potentially romantic moment was shattered by the fact that their sister was in trouble. She’s left her shoes behind, thus ensuring injuries to her feet. The Heart’s land was tame, but the surrounding woods were not.

Toby panted with exertion, “I wish… We had… Our brooms…”

Peter internally nodded, “It’d be a lot easier… Wouldn’t it? Flying is always… Easier than running…”

This fact stated, they continued running, making their way into the woods. The ground was rough with twigs and roots. One could easily trip if they didn’t watch where they were going.

Suddenly, Toby stopped running. She hung onto Peter’s hand, stumbling a few steps from the force it took to stop him.

“What are you doing?” He asked, bewildered and curious at the same time. He knew Toby wouldn’t stop at a time like this for nothing. Her head was tilted upwards at the sky, her eyebrows furrowed in worried wonder.

“Look.” She said uselessly, for Peter had already done so. The sky that had only seconds before been bright and blue was now a swirling mass of dark, smoky grey. It was malevolent, noxious. They’d never before seen or felt an omen as bad as it was. Bad; the only word that connected all negativity to its core, was the only word that could describe it properly.

Then, amidst the smoke that was once clouds and sinister energy that bubbled invisibly around them like a poorly made potion simmering in a cauldron, a raspy, chilling voice rattled out, “ALICE…”

Then came the scream. It was short, the person hadn’t had the ability to take a breath for a proper scream, but it was loud, and genuine. A true scream of terror.

When they first heard it, Toby and Peter stopped, froze. For a split second, they couldn’t move from their fear. However, fear for their sister overpowered it and broke its spell, and they shot off faster than the lightning of the previous night.

“ALICE!!” Toby screamed, if only for the sake of screaming. Their feet and the memory of a shriek brought them to a small clearing, and there they stopped. In front of them was the back of Alice, white as sea foam. That alone was room for concern, but then they saw it.

It was black and scaly, like a serpent, with the basic shape of one as well. But unlike a serpent, it had limbs, two that they could see and the beginnings of two others that were hidden within a huge ball of dark, wicked magick. Its snout was box-shaped, with a scaly beard on the underside of its mouth and two catfish-like whiskers on both sides of the top of its mouth. Its eyes were either rolled back or naturally devoid of pupil and cornea. Horns jutted from its crest and long, sharp claws extended from its fingers. Dark smoke blew past his nostrils and mouth when it exhaled. Toby and Peter were struck speechless by the mere sight.

Then it reached out, grasping one of Alice’s pale arms and pulling her forward. She struggled uselessly, turning around and beginning to run, only to be pulled back by the claws that stuck painfully in the flesh of her arm. She screamed again, closing her eyes in panic, while the draconic beast reached out with it’s free arm and slowly drug its claw across her chest, ripping both her dress and her skin. Blood flooded from the wound. Toby screamed, hardly even aware of it, and tried to go after her, but Peter grabbed her and held her back. She struggled, but he held on as tightly as he could, for her sake.

And, as if in slow motion, it pulled her into its black mist. Little by little, she disappeared, her white skin covered in blood and the bottom of her stocking-enclosed foot, the last part of her they saw, covered in soil. Tainted. Toby wept.

The beast disappeared with her, but only for a second. It emerged from the mist once more, alone, and stared at its victim’s siblings. Then it spoke again, that bone-numbing, bloody freezing, rasping rattle, and what it said made both children’s hearts stop for several seconds, only to jump again, beating as fast as it could to make up for it and then some.

“TOBY.”

Peter’s reaction only took a second. He grabbed his sister, and threw her in the opposite direction, shouting, “Run!”

She didn’t need be told twice, although Peter did so anyways, urging her on, “Run! Run!” She took off as fast as she could, reassured by the sound of her brother’s continually falling feet behind her. The absence of this noise was the only thing she would dare stop for.

But around her, spheres of darkness continued to form, and along with them, spheres of different colors -- Red, blue, green, purple, white, gold… Her heart pounded. Which of these orbs was the one that the beast she ran from was hiding in? Her answer lied to her right, where the deathly cold beast sprung forward, roaring, it’s claws outstretched. Toby shrieked and tripped backwards, falling right into a bright blue mass.

Peter shouted to his sister as she fell, running forward, fully intending to jump right into that mysterious portal after her if he needed to. But these portals kept appearing everywhere, and he ran right into one, a white one, that swirled into being from nowhere.

The beast clicked angrily, slithering back into his misty abyss. The other smoky portals dissipated into nothingness and the sky above it all returned to its original bright blue state.

Back at the mansion, several servants looked up and down for the three children, as it was time for their luncheon. They called their names. But none of them answered.