Forbidden Desires- Chapter 3 (Felicity’s POV)

“Gemma has been in her room for days!” I cried out before falling to the guest room floor in a dramatic heap.

“Fee, have some compassion. She hasn’t been to the Realms since Katrik’s death. Obviously she couldn’t handle it.” Ann reprimanded. Ann’s new found success on stage had given her a new and bolder sort of air, I didn’t like it.

“Well neither have I! Everyone seems to forget that I lost Pippa that day as well! But you move on. I will love again.” I choked out suppressing a sob.

“Try to understand Felicity, Gemma is not as strong as you.” With that Ann ended the conversation and returned to her needlework. She really could have been a good governess reprimanding me like that! She can be so intolerable sometimes! She’s always babying Gemma and sticking up for her, it wasn’t fair! Gemma is quite trying at times too. She’s so weak and moody. Not to mention she’s selfish! When she had all the magic in the Realms she had to be forced to share it’s power and when she didn’t have it all she would pout. I deserved the power more than she did! And now that she’s again pouting over Katrik I can’t even return to the Realms! Life could be so unfair at times.

“Felicity…Ann?” Gemma whispered from her bedroom doorframe. She had finally left her room but she still didn’t look well. All the color was washed out from her countenance so she almost appeared translucent, the curls in her hair had gone limb and her frame appeared skeletal from her lack of eating.

“Oh Gemma darling! Please come here and sit next to me! You look so weak! Ann hurry and go get Gemma some tea and something to eat!” I exclaimed instantly regretting my earlier whininess on seeing Gemma’s current fragile appearance. Gemma took a seat next to me while Ann re-entered the room carrying the tea tray.

“Here you go Gem.” Ann said gently placing the tea cup in her hand. Ann and I sat there and studied her while she quietly ate and drank. After a few agonizing minutes of watching Gemma she finally spoke.

“Fee…Ann?”

“Yes Gemma Darling?” I whispered.

“You both know that you are my dearest closest friends don’t you?”

“Yes of course Gemma Dear.” Ann said resting a reassuring hand on Gemma’s lap.

“Then I feel as if I must tell you what I saw in the Realms last week that drove me to my…” Gemma paused to examine herself, “…madness.” She took another sip of tea and starred out the window as a tear slowly fell from her eye and ran down her cheek, she didn’t even flinch. It was quiet unlike Gemma to not even put forth an effort to surpress her tears or at least hide them! And yet here she sat before us allowing a stream of tears to run down her face.

“Gemma…” Ann began cautiously “Gemma it’s quite alright whatever it is that is troubling you…”

“Katrik.” Was all she managed to choke out before breaking into a manic sob, “Katrik is alive! I saw him in the Realms!”

“That’s impossible Gemma! We saw the Tree of Souls claim him! Didn’t we Ann?” Ann just sat there silent starring at Gemma, “Ann!?”

“Well yes we did…but we also saw Pippa die…it seems to me that nothing we see in the Realms is truly as it seems.”

“This is madness! Katrik is dead!” I screamed feeling defeated, “Gemma you…you must have been over taken by your nerves…being in the Realms again and all. You were thinking of him and must have just…imagined him.” I said switching to a more motherly tone. This instantly silenced Gemma’s tears and she turned fierce.

“No Felicity. I know what I saw and I saw Katrik. I went to the Tree of Souls to say my final goodbye to him but when I touched my hands to the bark of the tree I was overtaken by it…it’s power filled me and I was in the tree again, just like when I went in with Eugenia Spence…except it wasn’t the late Headmistress that was there waiting for me when I entered…it was Katrik.” Her voice broke when she said his name.

“Gemma…are…are you sure?” Ann asked in shock.

“Yes. He told me that the Realms are in danger…and I asked him to return with me to the real world and he said no.” She began to quietly cry again, “he said that he had to stay there…to protect the Tree of Souls… to make sure the magic wasn’t misused ever again. He wouldn’t come….he wouldn’t come back with me….he’s right there and I still can’t be with him.” Gemma dropped her head into her hands and began to sob, Ann quickly took her post and began to comfort her as I rose and moved towards the window. Everytime we think we finally have the Realms figured out it brings us a new surprise! It seems as if we will never be able to solve any of the mysteries of the Realms!

“Ann.” I whispered, Ann looked up and I motioned for her to stand next to me. She quickly offered Gemma a few more words of comfort and then followed me into the next room.

“What do you make of all this?” Ann asked me once I had shut the door.

“If you ask me I do believe that she has seen Katrik but we have to make her believe that she hasn’t.”
“But Fee…why? If Katrik is really still alive in the Realms then we should go form an alliance with him at once! Not pretend he’s not there.”

“Don’t you see Ann? It’s all so clear! Oh yes Katrik is there but it could be a trick! For all we know the dark magic has already taken root in Katrik and he’s just trying to deceive us.”

“But how can that be? All the dark Winterlands magic left when we destroyed the creatures and Eugenia Spence.”

“But did we really? We thought Pippa was dead but she wasn’t, we thought Eugenia Spence was dead! And now we thought Katrik was dead but he wasn’t! Keep in mind Ann, Pippa and Eugenia both turned into dark creatures possessed by the magic, what’s preventing this from happening to Katrik?” Ann had grown deathly solemn as I spoke but I had to continue, “nothing. The only thing that Gemma can focus on is that it’s Katrik, just like how I could only focus on that it was Pippa even though she was clearly over taken by the dark magic. No we must prevent Gemma from making my same mistakes and stop her from quite possibly putting us, magic and mortal creatures, in danger. We have to convince Gemma that Katrik wasn’t really there so she will not allow herself to be deceived by him.”

“But how Fee?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is that we can’t allow her to enter the Realms…not like this.”

“But we must return eventually.”

“I know Ann, just not yet. It’s not safe yet.” The door creaked open and me and Ann turned to see Gemma entering under the doorframe, “Gemma Darling are you alright?”

“Yes…I’ve…composed myself. But listen I’ve decided that we must speak to someone who has more knowledge on the Realms than ourselves, I have to admit I feel quite lost now. I don’t know what to do. A few weeks ago I was content living a normal life again and now this…we need help. No more going it alone.”

“I agree!” I jumped in nudging Ann in the process.

“That’s a good idea Gemma.” Ann added weakly, she obviously wasn’t completely on board with my plan to deceive Gemma but that would change. Hearing our agreement Gemma instantly brightened, I could almost see her gain back some of her strong will power that I had missed in these past days. “But who are we going to go and see? There aren’t exactly a lot of experts on the Realms just running around.” I could have killed Ann for saying that.

“Well Circe…I mean Miss Moore, Miss McCleethy, My Mother are all dead so that leaves-“
“Fowlson and Miss Nightwing” I cut in.

“Which will it be?” we all starred at each other a moment longer and then we began to pack our bags to leave for Spence Academy For Young Ladies.