Be it.

She coughed.

She tried to hold it in since she had entered the small room. When finally she heard a door shut not too far away, she let go. Quickly she had bent over the sink with a hand over her mouth and she coughed. When she finally stopped coughing she let go of her lips.

Miraye stared at her pale complexion in the mirror situated where her body was hunched over and heaving. There were black splotches on her chin and lips that had appeared when she swung her hand back. She looked at her palm and the same foreign substance lingered on her fingers. She didn’t want to think of why this happened. She didn’t want to recall the dream she had. She didn’t want to remember that this had all been under the influence of a curse.

She slipped to the floor and rested her forehead on the edge of the tub. Her chest moved up and down in normal pace but her heart was speeding. Her head was quaking. She closed her eyes and coughed again where she could feel things coming out of her throat. She covered her mouth once more, coughing until all was at calm.

Soon after, the trickles of cold water tracing down her skin had erupted her flesh into bumps. She was awake now. She was alive. And she dipped her hands into the liquid where she cleaned her face and let the natural air dry her features.

When she opened the door, only the numb silence welcomed her. The boy, she had already guessed, had gone out. No matter, she thought. She didn’t want to see him after the weakness he had shown, she thought as she dressed.

“Good morning, Gaston,” she accosted when she had gone down stairs. The tavern keeper was cleaning a few mugs and gave her a nod and went to his work. She in return went to fetch the broom and sweep any particles away but was distracted when the bell above the door jingled and the door opened. Miraye didn’t like the presence she had felt despite not even knowing who it was that entered. Instead she slipped behind the counter and waited, listening eagerly to what ever would be said.

“What can I do for you?” she heard Gaston ask.

“From King Larkin,” the other one announced – it must’ve been a guardian, “we have been sent to look for this boy.”

The rustle of parchment echoed.

“I can’t say I’ve seen him,” the bartender said sounding very genuine as she guessed that he handed whatever it was back after looking at it for a moment.

“He’s also been known to hang around with a witch. Neigh high, unusual rose hair.”

“Well, if I do see them, I’ll be sure to report it as soon as I can. Now if you please, I must prepare for the day and if you would be kind to step out –“

“Hold on,” the guardian snapped. “We’ve also been given clearance to search the premises.”

Miraye held her breath and pressed her back against the counter as their heavy steps circled around the room. She was trapped. As they came closer and closer she could feel herself starting to panic. From the corner of her eye she could see the toe of a boot and quickly her eyes flashed green. The guardian stood before her, his eyes searching through her. But as soon as she expected the worse, he walked away.

Peeking from her space, she wondered what gone on.

“All clear. But just to let you know, if the boy doesn’t hand himself soon… be prepared for the worse.”

And with that, the guardians had exited. Unbeknownst was that her eyes had gone back to its usual brown when she slumped on the floor and gave a sigh of relief.

“Are you alright?” Gaston asked, lending a hand to help her up. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I could’ve sworn he saw me. But… it was as though I became-“

“Invisible?”

“…Yeah,” she said staring at her hands. “I guess so.”

After a pause, she looked up. “Did you see where Tic went? I don’t like what I just heard and something in me is saying I should go find him right away.”

“He went out heading towards the center-“ But to Gaston’s surprise, she had already vanished.

Miraye watched everything from a distance. Her eyes still kept Tic in clear view the whole time but there were moments where she had to keep herself from running up and stopping everything. She felt disgusted. So Larkin had stooped as low to bring the whole town into this for one boy. There was something else clicking away in his mind if this was his means of getting things back the way he wanted.

Slowly she withdrew from her alley and made her way into the crowd. Even though pink hair would stick out in the crowd, she had successfully managed to steal a black handkerchief and covered her head. She was now behind Tic who was still unaware of her when he flinched and his body automatically moved forward. Miraye grabbed him by the shoulder, hissed him to be quiet and gingerly dragged him back into another alley where everything was still seen and heard.
“What on earth are you doing?!” she snapped, pushing him against the wall.

“I- I can’t stay here… I need to hand myself in-“

Miraye stopped, staring at him in disbelief. In the deepest corners of her soul, anger bubbled. Tic stared at his feet, a mask of confusion and fear on his face.

“I need to… I need to… hand-“

But before he could finish his sentence, she slapped him across the face with all the force her body could muster.

“Don’t you DARE!” she scolded, holding the collar of his shirt and raising him a few inches above the ground. “Don’t you even think about it! I didn’t die so that you can go back to him – we didn’t fight so that you can give up so easily!”

All of a sudden a commotion broke a few yards away. Miraye dropped Tic, staring out into the platform. Villagers were attempting to fight against the Guardians.

“I’ll deal with you later,” she said coldly and sprinted to the scene and started to fight with the villagers.