Chapter 132

MILA

After leaving the library, I was pulsating with magic. It surged through my veins, sparking at my fingertips. It was as if everything inside me was finally awake and alive, and now my body was almost too small to contain all my power.

I pressed my hands into the ground, shocked by the blast of power that shot out of me and into the ground below.

I yanked my hands back almost immediately. The trees around me shuddered, shaking with the great power I had just released.

I looked around guiltily, hoping I had not disturbed any of the wild creatures that dwelled in the mountains with my magic. Clearly, I still had some work to do in terms of controlling my powers, but the information I’d learned inside the library was a good start.

Even though I knew that I alone was the one person on Earth who could remove books from the library, I had chosen not to take anything with me. It was time for me to stop hiding and to get back out in the world. Fresonia needed me, and I needed a purpose.

The clearing around me settled from my blast of power, but something had changed in the skies. What had once been a cold but clear day had turned stormy. Snow fell down around me, hitting the ground but somehow never hitting my face.

Had I done that?

I took one last look at the library door behind me. There was a small piece of paper now pinned to the stone, which I most certainly had not placed there.

I stared at the writing. Although it was written in Fresonian, it was clear enough that I was holding some sort of birth certificate.

Then I saw the name:

MILA RONAN

And the name of a town I did not recognize beneath it.

Without a second thought, I took off running into the snow.

Somewhere out there, in Fresonia, I had a family. Someone had given me up for adoption years ago, had signed me away to a couple from America who struggled with having biological children of their own. Perhaps my birth parents had no idea what my adoptive family was actually like and thought they were turning me over to a kind couple who would love and treasure me forever.

I needed to find my parents. Somehow, I knew that they were still alive. These were the final answers that I needed, the last pieces of the puzzle to learn the truth of my life.

Somewhere out there I had a mother and a father who might just love me.

The thought of it sent a sob wracking through my body and I fell to my knees in the snow. Someone out there could love me. I could finally have the family I always wanted. Not an adoptive family who hated me or a set of in-laws who were willing to end my life for the good of their kingdom.

Just pure, unconditional love.

I slipped and slid a little further down the mountain, the snow making my path down significantly more treacherous. If there were creatures out there, they stayed far away, which was a bit of a miracle.

The air grew warmer as I made my way down to a lower elevation, and eventually the snow started to taper off. Once I reached another clearing in the trees, I settled against the tallest pine I could find and rested my head against it.

I had magic–great magic. Strong magic.

I bet I could figure out what happened to my parents.

I pulled the birth certificate out of my pocket and scanned it again. Once I had the image securely in my mind, I closed my eyes and exhaled.

I extended a tendril of magic carefully, gently, towards that town. Beauveis, it was called.

And–there. Somehow, somewhere, my magic latched onto something, and I allowed the scene of the past to play out in my mind.

The young woman rested her hands on her swollen belly. It was only a few weeks now until the baby arrived, and she still had no idea what to do.

Her husband came from behind her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, sensing her misery. He, too, sported a gleam of sadness in his eyes.

They were Alexander and Charlotte of Beauveis, poor, rural farmers who could barely afford to feed themselves, let alone a baby. When Charlotte had realized she was pregnant, she had wept with the knowledge that she could not keep the child.

The adoption agency had put her in contact with a couple in the United States who were desperate for a child. Charlotte had only spoken to them on the phone, but they had seemed kind enough.

It had seemed like the right option until a few weeks ago, when she had awoken in the middle of the night with a terrible, strange sensation.

It was then she realized something awful and wonderful and amazing and horrifying.

The baby had magic.

Charlotte had only heard of one other person in Fresonia who had such powers, and even that was spoken about in the most hushed of whispers. But if the rumors were to be believed, there was a witch in Stone Springs who could maybe help her out.

The next day, unbeknownst to her husband, Charlotte slipped out of the house in the wee hours of the morning. She had arranged a meeting with this strange witch, to seek her advice on what to do with the baby.

The witch had been happy to provide Charlotte with books on magic, hoping that they could aid in her future endeavors.

For yes, the witch had confirmed Charlotte’s suspicions that the child in her womb was indeed a baby girl.

“What will you name her?” The witch asked, kindness shining in her eyes.

Charlotte laid her hands on her stomach, feeling the little girl kick. Her heart broke as she realized that she could not be there for her life.

“Mila,” she breathed in response.

She did not tell the witch that the adoption papers for little Mila had already been signed, and that her baby would be nothing more than a distant memory in a year’s time. That she and Alexander could simply not afford the child, but nonetheless wanted her to be provided for.

She did not tell the witch that the thought of giving up her daughter was breaking her heart in two.

My magic sensed that pain and recoiled, and I did too. The vision dissolved around me.

Charlotte and Alexander. My birth parents. Somewhere in that village of Beauveis.

I now had names, a destination, the right questions to ask. I could only hope my parents were still there in that small farmhouse for me to ask them.

I straightened up and adjusted my sweater. I needed to push further down the mountain before nightfall. Once I was a bit further down, I’d try my hand at those magical transportation portals I’d seen Esmeralda conjure a hundred times.

From behind me, back up the mountain, I could have sworn I heard someone calling my name.

It must have just been a trick of the wind.