Where is She?

Gisa

"I told her to be here at six sharp, where is she?" Gisa paced the floor of her dorm back and forth as Ron and Jamison flipped through the channels on her television set.

"Dude, I never thought I would get to see a TV in real life." Ron said as he took apart the remote.

Jamison stole it back.

"I mean, I knew about them, but they're even cooler than I'd thought." Jamsion said, "Especially if you don't take them apart Ron." A passive aggressive stare in his direction. "I'm going to waste so much time here and I cannot wait."

Gisa rolled her eyes and huffed, "No, you're not. You're going to help me find a way to get that wand so this blood bond doesn't drive us mad and kill us." She didn't want to be a killjoy, but the ugly presence of that bond, hissing every time she paid attention to it. The way it preened whenever it brushed up against her magic. Ugh. She wanted her mother's magic out of her head already.

"Well, we can at least wait until Emma gets here," Ron said defensively, "Geez. What crawled up your—?"

"Fine." Gisa flopped onto her bed, pulling her mother's spell book from its place on her nightstand. She grumbled as she placed her finger on the lock. She had enough of her mother's magic to open it. The yellowed pages seemed to almost be alive themselves, whispering siren melodies and tempting promises.

She flipped to the B section. Of course her mother would alphabetize them. "Babbling spell, baby spell, backwards, bacteria, baffling, balance, bankruptcy, barbaric…" she breathed out lightly, so many spells. To think her mother had almost all of them memorized. The book must have had a spell to make it seem like such a thin notebook. It contained as many spells as the dictionary did words! "Beating, beautiful, beckoning…" wait.

"Can you not read those out loud?" Ron whined. "We can't hear the tv. Plus, every time you read from it this creepy whisper kinda blows by… and also I—"

"Just shut up! I get it." Gisa shouted, standing up abruptly. "I'll be right back." She stalked out of the room with an idea in hand. This would be perfect.

Room 467. She knocked on the door. "Just a minute!" After what seemed like a literal minute, Lucy opened the door. "Oh!" she squeaked, jumping back with alarm. "G—Gisa! I didn't know you were going to stop by!"

Gisa smiled as warmly as she could manage. "Oh, I just wanted to thank you for, you know, talking with me the other day, and helping your mother give us a tour of the school. You're my only new friend so far. Except for maybe Prince Michael, but he seems to be friends with everyone."

Lucy nodded, "Prince Michael is… is friends with everyone, yes. And um… you're welcome?"

Gisa smiled. "No, it was so nice of you to take time away from your regular life." Gisa let out a sigh, "You must have so many friends… especially with your mother as headmistress. You're probably super talented and smart—"

"I'm not all that!" she blurted, before shying away. "I'm… I'm really not. I don't have many friends actually. And I'm not super talented. I play the saxophone in band. I can play the cello… but not very well. And I'm only of average intelligence, you know, solid B student…"

"What do you mean? Who wouldn't want to be your friend? Besides, playing the cello is super cool." Gisa smiled sweetly. Oh she certainly had Lucy fooled.

"Well just look at me!" Lucy said with a pout. "I'm just plain ugly." Her lip wobbled almost imperceptibly. "Come inside a moment, I won't leave you in the hall…"

Gisa entered the suite which was indeed a suite. The ceilings were massive, and so was the space. There was a kitchenette, a full bathroom, a sitting room, and a door leading to an enormous bedroom. A single decoration probably cost more than all the things Gisa had ever bought her entire life combined. "Wow, nice place." Gisa said, spinning in a circle, captivated by the clouds and blue sky painted on the vaulted ceilings.

"Perks of being the headmistress's daughter," Lucy sighed, her shoulders slumped.

"Hey come on now, what are you so sad about?" Gisa said. She didn't even have to feign sorrow. This girl was pathetic. She owned so much and had probably never wanted for anything but she had the nerve to complain? She just felt sorry for her.

"I just told you." Lucy said. "I'm ugly and plain and fat." She tugged on her blouse. "Annabelle and her little lackeys are the queens of this school. They're perfect students, all in perfect shape because they play sports, they're all starring in some sort of musical performance for some high class place, Annabelle is an artist who had her debut art show last month, and they're just… perfect. They make life miserable for me for no good reason."

"You're not—"

"Spare it…" Lucy sighed, "I am…"

"Well… have you told your mom about the teasing?" Gisa asked.

"Yeah, but mom just said it builds character. She said one day when they realize how wrong they were, I'll be the one they envy but I don't believe that for a minute."

"Wow. Your mom is a tough cookie." Gisa said. Tough cookie? She winced at the words. Luckily, Lucy seemed to almost… latch onto them. "There isn't any way at all that she could help you? I mean, look at what she did for Sierra! And she wasn't even her own daughter. She didn't even know her! She gave her gowns and a carriage and glass slippers… And now she's letting people like Sierra's kids mock you without consequences?"

"Well I—"

"Lucy, are you alright?" Gisa asked, raising her eyebrows. When she didn't respond Gisa sighed, putting an arm around her, "I know what it's like to not have a mother that loves you or does what is best for you."

"I— I didn't say that," Lucy said defensively, holding her hands up. Gisa saw her shot.

"But Lucy, if she cared about you that much, couldn't she see how much this teasing hurts you?" Gisa willed her eyes to water.

"My mom says it is the beauty inside that counts…" Lucy said, desperation in her tone.

"But how is it fair, that the beautiful-on-the-inside people aren't the beautiful-on-the-outside people? Because I can sense your beauty on the inside." She put a finger above Lucy's heart. Gisa tried to hold her solemn and caring composure. She wanted to laugh at the way Lucy's eyes widened. Ha. As if she could sense beauty. Nonsense.

"I… I am?"

"Yes, and I don't want to see mean girls like that hurt you." Gisa said, "Doesn't your mother understand that?"

"I— I don't know. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough…" Lucy said. "Because… she couldn't be so mean as to let me suffer like this." She bit her lip thoughtfully, brows knitted. "I'll have to tell her again, and I'll bring all the points you made into the light."

"Don't tell her it was me though, okay? I don't want her to think I got in the way of a mother and daughter thing…" Gisa said.

"Of course, of course." Lucy hugged Gisa tightly, "Thank you. And I'm glad I could be your friend."

Something knotted in Gisa's heart but she laughed. "And if your mom does decide to finally, be that motherly figure, and take out that wand for her very own daughter… could I— could I come?" Her heartbeat picked up.

"Of course! If that happens you are the first person I'll tell. Can I have your phone number?"

"Oh I— I don't have one." Gisa said. "We didn't really have electronic devices on the island…" Could this really work? Could it possibly be this easy? Something dark coiled in her mind, hissing.

"I'm— I'm sorry." Lucy said. "But I'll find you regardless, I promise." She smiled. Gisa tilted her head with a smile back. Lucy wasn't ugly. Sure, she looked like a young kid with her bobbed hair, dimpled cheeks, chubby figure, but she was a far cry from ugly. "I'll let you know as soon as I can!"

"Great!" Gisa said. "So I will see you soon?"

"Definitely!" Lucy practically beamed. Gisa could hardly keep her smile from faltering somehow...

"Gisa!" Ron shouted at her as she was coming down the stairs. Something was wrong. Definitely wrong. "Gisa it's Emma!"

"Ron, talk to me, hurry." She fled down the stairs beside him, nearly tripping.

"She's being detained. I don't know anything else. Prince Michael came by to—"

"Where is he?" Gisa demanded, striding towards her room.

"Wait Gisa! He doesn't know—"

She slammed open her bedroom door where Michael and Jamison turned around from a small table in the room. A lone guard moved his hand to his hip. If she wasn't so furious, she would've laughed. Tasers and bullets wouldn't stop her. She'd memorized as many protection spells as she could since she'd been here, constantly keeping one equipped.

"Gisa! I'm sorry about your—" Michael began.

"Save it." she walked over, slamming her palm into his chest. "Where is she?"

The guard moved over but Michael swallowed and waved him down with a short word. "Damien." The guard didn't take another step, but kept his short taser drawn.

"Where. Is. She?" Gisa's palms were sweating, and her heart was racing. Emma was alone in the continent. Being detained for what reason? What had he brought them here to do? He didn't answer and she slammed the heel of her hand into his shoulder. "Where is my sister?"

Michael winced, but calmly responded, "Gisa, I know this isn't your style, but it may be best to sit down for this news." As Gisa lowered her hand, Michael turned to the others, "All of you."

When they had situated themselves at the table, Gisa's eyes never leaving him, her mind whirling, Michael finally spoke. "I have a friend, he's a good kid, he means well but… well he is always saying things that are best not said." Gisa's eyes flared, some of her power rippling from her. Her control was slipping. "She's fine." Michael grabbed her hand. Everything leached from her. Her power snapped back inside. She looked at him with wide eyes… what— "Gisa she's okay." He let go, but the feeling lingered. Her powers had… heeded him.

"So why is she being detained if she's fine?" Cameron pressed, leaning towards him.

"Well, Lawrence is a well educated kid, very into… solving things. He found a picture of you, Gisa, and Emma and saw no resemblance, then read news articles, watched tv reports… and he concluded that there was something off. His father, Dopey... yes the dwarf.'' He said when Jamsion raised an eyebrow smugly, "Well he has an in with Snow White who has access to all of the kingdom's records… and he found something, quite shocking." He turned to Gisa, "Gisa, her birth records and papers she carries around? They're false papers. Gisa… they don't know who she is."

The air left her lungs. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might fall out of her chest. The room was spinning. She felt the air return to her in short pants. Emma? Who was she? If not… if not her sister… "You're— you're lying. She and I are sisters." She gasped, leaning heavily on the table, "We… We grew up together. Our… my mother… we both called her mom…"

"Hey, Gisa," Jamsion pulled her into a hug from where he was seated beside her. She nodded, leaning into his embrace. "Hey, it's okay. She's fine."

"But she's alone," Gisa said with a shudder, suppressing a sob, shoving him away roughly. "We have to go there."

"Well…" Michael stopped himself, "No it's past curfew, I'm breaking it just by being here…"

"Where is she?" Cameron asked.

"Judicial building. There's a small court meeting there tonight." He sighed. "But it's heavily guarded…"

Gisa nodded to Cameron and Jamison. "Won't matter to us." Michael tried to protest, but with a grim shake of her head, "It's time you see what the kids from the island are made of, Prince." she patted the side of her jacket where her mother's book was hidden, she then slung a small drawstring bag over her shoulders, and laced up her boots. "Let's go boys."