“One bear tongue, mixed thoroughly with jasmine and worms.”

Olivia mixed these ingredients in her cauldron, then peered at the results before consulting her spell book.

“Well that doesn’t look right at all.”

She sat down and glared at her cauldron, which was still bubbling merrily much to her disdain.

“Olivia!” A voice belonging to her mother Anna screeched from the second floor of the house.

Olivia cringed, then turned around and yelled back “What?”

Anna hobbled down the stairs, then straightened her back and glared at her child. “What chore did I tell you to do this morning?”

Olivia thought for a moment.

“I don’t remember actually, I was too busy trying out a spell in that new book I got.”

Anna slowly walked to the cauldron and peered in it. She took the large spoon next to it and stirred for a little bit before announcing “It looks like shit whatever it was.”

“Thanks mom, that only took five hours to do.”

“Hours wasted! You forgot to feed and water the chickens girl! I already did it for you three hours ago only because they looked near death.”

Olivia tried her sheepish look, but her mother only glared back at her.

“Responsibility girl, that’s all I ask from you.” Anna grumbled, grabbing the broom in the corner. “Now I am going to head off to the store. Blow the house up while I’m gone and I’ll make sure you never live another day as a girl again, got it?”

Olivia nodded, going back to her cauldron and muttering the spell that extinguished the fire underneath it.

Once her mother was out the door she began cleaning up the mess that her recent spell had made. The bear blood was already beginning to stink and stick to the wood floor, and she had to use a removal spell to even get it up.

A knock on the door interrupted her cleaning.

She wiped her hands on her apron and tucked the strands of black hair that had gotten loose from her braid behind her ears.

Then she opened the door.

A little girl stood on the doorstep, her skin and hair a grayish color.

Olivia immediately recognized what the child had.

“Oh gods.” She murmured, touching the child’s skin and feeling that it was in fact as smooth as stone. “How long have you been like this child?”

The little girl held up four fingers, then wrote in the dirt on the floor ‘days’

Olivia picked her up and carried her inside.

She began rifling through the cupboard, knocking bottles over until she found what she was looking for. “Sweetie, I have candy for you.” She said, showing the child a powdery substance. The child opened her mouth and Olivia dumped the stuff on its tongue.

The little girls eyes closed, and her breathing relaxed.

Olivia then went to the magic mirror in the corner and ripped off the cover. “Steve connect to my mom now!”

The mirror went from black to showing the ground.

“Mom pick up!” She screamed at the mirror.

Slowly the glass raised until it showed her disgruntled mother.

“What did you do? I told you not to try anything…”

“Mom, a little girl came in with the stone curse. I need you back here ASAP so I can leave to gather the ingredients to cure it.” Olivia said, interrupting her mother in mid rant.

Her mother’s face went from disgruntled to understanding. “I’m on my way back.” The connection was then cut.

Olivia turned back to the little girl, who was lying on the floor. She had given her a sleeping potion, but the only way to cure the stone curse was to gather several ingredients, and if they weren’t found in the wild a person with magic would have to barter with a merchant who may or may not have them.

She picked up the child and placed her gently on the cot in the corner of the room.

Just as she put the child down her mother burst through the door.

Her gaze took in the opened potion bottle and her daughter hovering over the child.

She went to the bookshelf and pulled out what looked like a recipe book.

She put it on the table and flipped through it before stopping at a page with a drawing on it.

“Here it is. I’ll copy down everything and you run upstairs and grab your self spare clothing and tools. You’ll be out gathering for at least a week.”

Olivia nodded and ran upstairs.

When she came back down with her full sack, her mother was waiting with a bag full of food and money, along with her heavy wool cloak.

“Be sure to hurry, that tonic will only give us two weeks at the max.” Anna instructed, tying the cloak around her daughter’s shoulders.

Olivia gave her a peck on the cheek and let herself out the front door

She began walking down the road.

“Wait up Liv!” A voice called from behind her.

She turned around and smiled at William, her friend from childhood.

“Where are you going?” He asked, falling into step beside her.

“A girl with the stone curse wandered onto our door step. I’m going out to find the ingredients to cure her.”

“Ah. Well I just got done with the carpentry job, I can walk with you until the job is done.”

“That’s fine. How is your family?”

Williams’s face darkened.

“We finally earned enough money for a doctor to check on mom. He said that with her symptoms he thinks she has the wasting disease and wont last another month, if that. Georgianna and Rose are looking after her for now.”

Olivia put an arm around Williams’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry. That’s the one thing mom and I could never cure.”

“Thanks.” He offered a smile that didn’t reach his gray eyes.

“How is your mother?” He asked after a while.

“More annoying than ever. I tried elaborating that bird spell, you know the one, and instead the whole thing backfired and covered the entire room in horrible smelling goo. You should’ve seen her face when she came down the stairs.”

William laughed.

“So I had to clean the room top to bottom, you know how bad pixie blood is at staining things? Well she stood there and pointed out every single spot I supposedly missed even though I swear there was nothing there.”

She laughed with him, and moved her arm down to hook it through his.

“What were you building?”

“A house for this older gentleman and his bride. He hired two other carpenters along with me, several masons, and several glass workers and a bunch of other types of workers. He gave us a huge bonus for getting done before we were scheduled to.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, that helped to finally get the doctor to our house.”

Olivia veered them to the right and they began walking through a field.

“Okay, lionsnout should be around here somewhere. Look for smaller yellow flowered bushes.”

They separated and began looking. Olivia finally yelled for William when she found some. He hacked through the weeds until he got to her.

“Okay, now cut here.” She held the plant so he could, then wrapped it in paper and stuck it at the bottom of her ingredient sack.

She then took his arm again and he hacked them through the weeds until they got to the road.

They continued walking on.

They reached another field where Olivia collected fairies moss and gremlin eggs. The gremlins weren’t too happy about someone stealing their eggs and in the end Olivia and William left with gremlin bite marks on the ankles.

But they had managed to kill a few.

They meandered back onto the road and walked until they were in the first small town of the region. They wandered around looking in the shops and secured a room and a meal for the night.

After dinner they went back to the shops so Olivia could buy fairy wings and lilac juice for the cure. They passed a jewelry shop where Olivia drooled over a pretty necklace until William had to drag her away.

Night came and they went back to the tavern. They slept back to back in the bed and in the morning left.

They walked on until they came to a field with a huge willow tree and a pond.

“Now here is the hard part. We have to get to the pond and grab a tiger striped water lily. The problem is this field, if I recall, is infected with brownies who like to use poisonous sticks to knock you down, then if you’re lucky they’ll let you keep your clothing and they’ll run away with all of your possessions.”

“I take it this happened to you before?”
“When I was nine years old, my first time gathering ingredients for the stone curse. I woke up two days later with a horrible headache and my bag gone. I hunted down those little bastards and killed all I could find.”

William snickered.

“Now back then I went straight through the field. But when I hunted them down I noticed they strayed from the edges and from the willow tree, they’re more vulnerable to birds if they run out in the opening. So grab my hand and follow me.”

William grabbed her hand and they slowly made their way around the field.

Sounds began to come out of the field. The clinking of little swords and the whine of high-pitched chatter as the brownies tried to attack the intruders.

But they couldn’t reach them, because the intruders stayed away from the brush.

“Come on Will, we’re almost to the willow tree.”

They ignored the high pitch whining and climbed onto the willow tree. Then Olivia hung upside down and scooped a tiger striped water lily from the pond and handed it to William, who wrapped it and stuck it in the bag.

She pulled herself back up and sat in the branch.

She whispered to William. “Now we wait until dark, the brownies can’t see at all and we can sprint through the middle of the field.”

“Okay.” He whispered back.

They hung out in the tree for the rest of the day, ate lunch when the sun was high and dinner when the sun was setting.

Finally dark fell and the high pitched chatter stopped.

“Ready?” He asked her.

“Ready.” She replied.

“Three, two, one,” Olivia counted down, then grabbed Williams hand and jumped into the brush.

They ran as fast as they could with the excited chatter behind them. Several times they squished some of the brownies, killing them instantly.

Finally they made it to the road and collapsed on it.

“That was so much fun.” William said, when his laughter had died down.

“Yeah I think I squished at least three. I bet they’re so mad at us now.” Olivia responded, catching her breath from laughing so hard.

They lay in the street for a while.

“Where are we making camp?” William asked.

“Well not in that field. Up the road a little is a abandoned cabin that should do, if the wind and weather hasn’t knocked it down.” Olivia replied.

William stood and helped her up. Then he tucked her hand in his arm and walked in the direction she pointed.

The cabin was still standing, the roof was mostly gone but the four walls and doorframe was there.

They found semi clean straw and formed a bed underneath what was left of the roof. They lay awake for a while looking at the stars before nodding off.

In the morning they ate breakfast and packed their things before heading off. A little ways up the road they found a stream where they washed their faces and hands and gathered drinking water.

They walked back to the road and continued on until they reached the second small town that was only about ten miles from the castle and its occupants who were ruling the land.

They secured a room at the inn and then began exploring this town. Olivia bought the last ingredients needed for the spell and a new cauldron spoon; the old one was beginning to turn interesting colors from all the spells that had been mixed with it.

They entered back into the inn and ordered dinner. While they waited for it a bar hop approached them.

“Sir and miss, the gentleman in the corner would like to speak with you.”

They looked to the darkened corner. An older man sat there, blowing smoke rings and looking in their direction.

They got up from their seats at the bar and stood near his seats.

“Sit, make yourselves at home.” He said.

After reluctantly looking at each other they sat down.

“I have a proposition to make.”

He blew a long cloud of smoke, then took a drink of his beverage.

“Sources tell me you bought specific ingredients and a cauldron spoon that only a witch would use. Are you a witch?” He asked.

“I’m a healer if that’s what you mean. You know witches were banned centuries ago after the incident with the king and Cadia the powerful.”

“Right right. The castle is in need of a ‘healer’ as you call yourself. The crown princess has been cursed and none of the doctors know what she has been cursed with. They’ll pay you a handsome sum for your help.”

“But there are other healers around, why me?”

“No there are not, all of the people gifted with magic fled after Cadia was banned and they never stay in this town for fear that the kings guard will kill them for practicing magic.”

“Well you’ll have to wait, I’ve got a patient at home with the stone curse and if I don’t get this stuff back to her she’ll die.”

“How long are we talking about?”

“Well we walked all the way here, if you gave us a horse we could get back home in three days at the least, then I could gather my books and come back with the horse. My mother can heal the girl.”

“I will have to talk about this with the king. How long are you staying here?”

“Well we weren’t planning on staying long, like I said we’ve got to get back.”

“Give me until tomorrow morning, and meet me in this same spot.” The man said, standing and holding out his hand. “My name is Gregori, it was a pleasure to meet you…”

“Oh I’m Olivia and this is my friend William.”

“Well then, Olivia and William, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He kissed Olivia’s hand and shook Williams, and then left the inn.

“Well that was interesting.” William commented.

“Yep. Our food is here, thank the gods.” Olivia grabbed her plate and all but devoured her food.

After dinner they went upstairs, changed into their sleeping garments, and crashed on the bed.

Olivia awoke to the swaying of a carriage.

She bolted up, only to find that her hands were tied and her mouth was gagged.

“Settle down miss, the sooner we get there the sooner we can un-tie you.” Gregori said, sitting across from her.

She spit the gag out and spoke “Where is William? I told you the truth you ass, that girl is going to die if I don’t get those plants back to her.”

“William is fine. We left everything, including the horse, with him at the inn. We wrote a letter to him explaining the urgency of your being here now instead of a week. As for those spell books, the library here has more than you could possibly know of.”

“You could have just said something last night, and not kidnapped me.”

“The king needed you now and not later. Now relax and enjoy the ride, I doubt you’ve been in a carriage before.”

She didn’t relax. She did however realize that the glass ball she could communicate with Will and her mother was still around her neck, which was a good thing.

She was however still in her nightgown, which covered everything but it still made her feel vulnerable when everyone else in the carriage was fully dressed.

Finally the carriage pulled up to a walkway. It stopped in front of a huge building that she realized must have been the castle.

Someone opened the door, and Gregori hopped out. The guy that had been sitting next to him grabbed her arm and gently led her out.

She looked around, amazed by the size of the building and the size of the grounds. There was even a fountain bigger than any she had seen, spewing water from angel’s mouths into the air.

“Come on Olivia.” Gregori said, grabbing her arm and leading her up the stairs.

She followed, and was led into a bigger hall with two huge chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. The marble floor was cold and she vaguely remembered she had no shoes on and would probably look like shit if she met any royalty today.

“Come on, they haven’t got all day.” Gregori said, pulling her along. They walked up one staircase and down a hallway until they reached a room.

“This will be your room until you heal the princess. We have provided clothing suitable for you to wear and a place to wash yourself since you are being presented to the king. Please do so now, I will go tell the king that you will look at his daughter in a hour.”

With that Gregori untied her hands and pushed her into the room, then shut the door and locked it.

She immediately pulled her glass ball up and spoke into it. “William, can you hear me?”

It took a few seconds before she heard his voice. “Liv?! Thank god you’re alive, I was worried sick!”

“I’m fine, listen do you have all the stuff?”

“Yes, I called your mother and she flew by on her broom and got it. She’s going to take care of the child, where are you?”

“In the kings castle, they told me I had to heal the princess, they even gave me a room but they locked me in. What happened this morning? When I woke up I was already in the carriage.”

“And when I woke up you were gone and there was a note about you being taken and not to try to find you. I’m glad they didn’t find your glass ball.”

“I am too. Did they actually give you a horse?”

“No, I’m still at the inn. Your mother told me to stay put until you called, since I’m closer to you than she is. Do you need rescuing?”

“I don’t think so, hopefully the king is just worried and wont try anything stupid. I’ll contact you again tonight with what goes on, but right now I actually have warm water and a bath waiting.”

“You suck Liv.”

“I know, you’re not going to recognize me when you see me next time. Bye.”

“Bye Liv.”

She shoved the ball back under her nightgown and disappeared into the bathing area.

Thirty minutes later she emerged again wrapped in a robe that was way too expensive but felt so good. She wandered to the closet and thanked the gods when she saw plain dresses like her old one, only in better condition.

She grabbed one; shimmied back into her chemise and then shimmied into the dress, then yanked a comb through her hair until it was de tangled enough to braid it back.

Then she found slippers and sat on the bed, assuming they’d come and get her when they wanted to.

Sure enough about ten minutes later Gregori came back with two guards. She got off the bed and they grabbed her gently but firmly by the arms and led her out into the hallway.

Then they led her down several more until she was completely lost.

Finally they stopped in front of a door. Gregori knocked on it.

“Come in.” a voice called.

They entered, still attached to her, and shut the door behind them. Then they pushed her forward.

“Olivia, this is King Lucien the first, the crown prince Jonathan, and the crown princess Catharine.”

Olivia stood there, not knowing what to do.

“Curtsey girl.” The guard said beside her.

“What? I’ve never done one before, how do you do it?” She whispered furiously.

The guard rolled his eyes. “Bend your knees and sweep your dress back. Stupid peasant.”

She followed his instructions, doing what was probably the worst curtsey in the world, and then stood back up and looked at the child.

“What symptoms does she have?” She asked, edging forward to the bed.

“Coughing up bodily fluids, trouble breathing, she complains of aches everywhere, sometimes she talks to people who aren’t there.” King Lucien answered.

“May I touch her?” She asked.

The king nodded.

Olivia brushed back the child’s mahogany hair from her face, and felt her temperature. She had none and felt normal.

Then she poked at different areas where the princess would either moan or not say anything.

She checked for bite marks or symbols that would cause a curse.

“Your majesty, I’m going to have to look under her clothing for symbols or bites, may I do this?” She asked.

The king nodded again, and snapped his fingers. The guards and Gregori left the room.

She instructed the king to hold his daughter on her side while Olivia untied the back of the sleeping gown. She checked the Princesses back and found nothing. She instructed the father to roll the girl to face her, and peeked in the front of the gown. Finding nothing strange on her chest, she had the father tie back the dress and pull the covers back.

She finally found an insignia on the back of the princess’s ankle.

“That’s a new mark, I was told there was a library where I could research?” She asked.

“Yes, Jon will show you where it is.” Lucien answered, cradling his youngest in his arms.

Jon got up from his chair and let Olivia through the door.

He walked briskly ahead; her short legs barely caught up with his.

Finally he stopped in front of a door.

“This is it.” He said, opening the door and gesturing in.

“Thank you your highness.” She replied, doing a bad curtsey again and then walking in the room.

After an hour of wandering, because nothing was actually labeled in the library and in the end she had to use a simple spell that showed her which books were spell books, she finally returned to a huge table with a stack of them.

She then pulled her glass ball out from her neck and spoke into it.

“William, are you there?”

A few seconds went by and then she heard his answer.

“Yes, what did the king say?”

“Well first I was hauled there by two guards and the bastard Gregori. The poor child is laying comatose on her bed and moaning dreadfully, I poked and prodded her and I think I know what the curse is, but the mark I found on her is totally different than it should have been. So now I’m looking through books to see if I can find it.”

“You sound busy.”

“Well if the idiots had labels as to where the books had been I would’ve started on this sooner, but obviously they cant categorize a library.”

William laughed. “Compared to your categorizing?”

“No, and just for that I don’t want rescued. I’ll stay here with the semi handsome prince with a attitude problem and never leave.”

“Oh yeah, where he’ll use you as a mistress and kill you as soon as he has poisoned you with his seed?”

“Probably. Then you can come rescue me.” She smiled evilly, even though he couldn’t see it.

“Hell no, I’ll leave you to rot in their dungeon and suck up to your mother for all the gold she has.”

“You will not. Did she cure the girl?”

“She administered the potion, it will take a good couple of days for all the stone to turn back to flesh. She said you’re in major trouble when you get back, and it will be worse than cleaning up fairy blood.”

“Oh she threatens, but when I bring the gold back from this she’ll thank me. But I’ve got to get back to this searching, so good bye for now.”

“Bye.”

It had taken her three days of flipping through spell books before she finally found the insignia of the person who had cast the spell.

And this wasn’t good.

She hurried and found a servant with a basket of clothing.

“Can you show me where the king is at this moment?”

“Yes miss, follow me.” The servant replied, turning around and leading Olivia to a large set of doors.

“This is his study.”

“Thank you.” Olivia replied.

She knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

She entered and curtseyed. Truth be told her curtsey had gotten any better, but it wasn’t like she was going to need it after this.

“I have really bad news. Lord Tector, Cadia’s husband, cursed your daughter. The curse is an incurable case of a sickness called influenza. However this was one of the first potions my grandmother invented to combat this curse, and it can be broken. Here is the list of ingredients that I need, and I need to be pointed to your nearest large pot so I can start it.”

She handed him the list. He looked at it, then handed it back.

“Actually we should have all that stuff in the kitchens. Including the pot. Go ask the cook.”

“Yes your highness.” She replied, curtseying and almost leaving.

“Wait, where is the kitchen?”

“Go right and stay straight and you’ll run into it at the end of the hallway.”

“Ok, thank you again.”

She shut the door behind her and walked to the end of the hallway. Something was cooking and it smelled good.

She found a servant who pointed her to the cook.

“Sir!” She shouted over the noise in the kitchen.

“What?”

“I’m the healer for the princess. I need a go at your herb cabinet and your vegetables and I need some crumbled up pixie wings, which the king said you have. And I need a pot to boil the whole thing in. Can you point me in the directions as to where this stuff is?"

He had a servant show her where everything was.

She began peeling and preparing the ingredients. While the pot was boiling she carefully added things, making sure they were all equal and wouldn’t react and explode in her face.

Finally she presumed the mixture to be done, and she poured it into a goblet.

Then she walked as fast as she could to the princesses room, and entered it.

Her lades in waiting were sitting at her side, cooing over her and being a general nuisance.

“Move please, I’ve got a tonic for the princess to drink.” Olivia asked politely.

They moved and she sat next to the princess.

“Wake up milady.” She said. The princesses brown eyes slowly opened, and she looked at Olivia.

“Now drink this and you’ll feel better.”

The princess wrinkled her nose at the smell but gulped down the tonic.

“What now miss?”

“Now we wait for a twelve hour period.” Olivia answered, settling herself next to the princess.

Twelve hours later the princess opened her eyes and whispered ‘where is my papa?”

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. Her head wasn’t going anywhere yet.

The ladies screamed for joy and one ran to get the prince and king.

Soon the prince and king ran through the door. They rushed to the princess’s side and each kissed a hand.

“Brother! Papa!” She said, smiling.

Olivia tried to leave but the guards blocked the door.

Finally King Lucian turned to her.

“And she’ll be back to normal in no time?”

“Yes sir, the mark should be gone also.” She answered.

He kissed his daughter’s forehead.

“What do you want for your services?”

She thought about it.

“Ten thousand coins.” She replied.

The king nodded. “Give her what she requests and take her back to the town you found her in.”

“Yes your highness.” The guards said. She followed them to the treasury, where ten thousands coins were placed in a bag. She used her magic to make the bag feel like nothing.

Then they led her outside and placed her in a carriage.

“Olivia, can you hear me?”

She picked up her glass ball.

“I’m coming back! And I’m rich!” She said, jingling the coins so he could hear them.

“Are you buying me dinner?”

“And whatever else your little heart desires, I solved the curse! Alone! I’ve never done that before!”

“Yay!”

“I know! Where are you going to be in the town?”

“I can meet you at the inn. Then since you’re rich you can buy a horse and head back to your mothers house.”

“Oh I have to pay for the horse? What? What about your bonus money?”

“I spent it on a gift.”

“For who?”

“No one of consequence, and besides remember all those times I paid for your sorry butt when your mother kicked you out for blowing something up?”

“Damn, I forgot. Al right, whatever you want and a horse then. I think we’ll be there soon.”

She cut the connection, bouncing up and down in the air.

Finally the carriage stopped on the edge of town, and she hopped out and ran like hell for the inn.

“Will!” She yelled when she spotted him.

He turned and barely caught her as she jumped into his arms.

He hugged her for an extra long time, then let her down.

“Are we a little excited?”

“Yes yes yes yes yes yes.” She opened the sack so he could see the coins. “Did you decide what you want?”

“Not yet. Close your eyes.”

She looked at him quizzically, and then closed them.

He placed something cool and metal in her hand.

“Ok, open your eyes.”

She opened her eyes and gasped.

“William Henry Summers, you shouldn’t have spent that much on me.” She said, hugging the necklace gleefully.

“I thought it was better than the one in the other town.” He said, helping her put it on.

“Its beautiful…” she cooed, fingering the necklace, which was silver with a flower on it and several tiny gems.

“I’m glad you like it.”

He cleared his throat and looped her arm through his.

“But now you’re going to buy me what I want.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Al right, lead the way.”

He led her to the metal shop, and stood in front of a sword.

He then turned his pleading gray eyes on her.

She sighed.

“How much?” She asked the man.

Thankfully it was affordable and they left with the sword. Then they went back to the inn and found a small farm that sold good horses for a good price.

They walked to the farm and purchased a brown mare.

Then after purchasing the necessities to ride the horse (and were shown how to put everything on it) William helped Olivia up first since she was shorter, then climbed up himself.

Then they rode off.

Approximately three days later they arrived at her mother’s house.

Her mother rushed out of the house in a rare show of emotion. She hugged Olivia, then smacked her in the back of the head as hard as she could.

“You dumb girl! I’m never letting you near the castle again! Did that prince do anything?” She said, poking at her daughter.

“Mom, I’m fine. I met him two times and he said nothing to me. I was locked in my room every single night alone. Nothing happened.” She rubbed the back of her head. “How is the little girl?”

Anna brought her daughter inside. The little girl stood chopping ingredients on the counter. Her skin was a healthy pink and her blonde hair was pulled back by one of Olivia’s ribbons.

“What’d you do, enslave her?” Olivia asked, raising her eyebrows at her mother.

“She needed to work off what you went through to get for her and since you were gone it was nice to actually have help around here. Which reminds me, you’re on clean up duty.”

“But mom…”

“No but mom me. Say goodbye to William and clean!” She demanded, swatting Olivia with the broom.

Olivia turned to William. “Well you heard her. Have fun with your sword and your horse. I’ll come over when she calms down to see your mother.”

He smiled, and seemed to come to some decision.

Then he leaned in and kissed Olivia.