Chapter 2: The Lady

May slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She felt like crap, her whole body aching all over. Rubbing her eyes she looked around. It took a while for her eyesight to adjust to the dimness of the room, though the oil lamps hanging on the wall shed enough light to see everything around her well.

         Gazing around her, she noticed she was in a large room decorated strangely, something like a combination between a traditional Japanese home and then as if some crazy interior decorator had come in and thrown Viking sculptures in the room. She felt  like she was in a museum in some castle, perhaps an exhibition room or something. The room had very little furniture in it, just a low table with cushions instead of chairs and a large bed on a pedestal, barely visible to under the pile of  what looked to be colorful pillows. The stone walls were beautifully painted with vivid birds and cherry blossoms, and the transparent curtains billowed in the wind, which invaded the chamber from outside. The bed, where May was lying, was of a very  impressive size, even though the girl had to share it with at least thirty pillows. What was this place? Why was she here?

         Suddenly, May paled as she remembered what happened earlier in her house.

         The mirror.

         May felt a shiver go down her spine, and her body stiffen in horror.

         This must be a dream. I was just so tired from all the work and must have fallen asleep. Just a dream, nothing to worry about… I’ll wake up in a minute or so.

         She repeated the mantra in her head. The girl  sat  on the bed motionlessly; her breathing quickened, and her heart began to pound faster with every passing second. Her  palms began shaking  and sweating as the disturbing image refused to go away no matter how many times she blinked her eyes. To make matters worse, the longer she stared at everything,  the more real it seemed. May could now clearly make out  every detail of the foreign chamber and felt the  too actual light drafts upon her face. Her clothes rustled, as the wind moved the fabric. Every sensation was so real… she never had a dream like this. May reached with a  trembling hand to her cheek and pinched it, praying  to wake up from the nightmare...

         “Ouch!” she hissed from the pain. Her heart was now pumping the blood at such a high speed that her ears felt like they were going to explode.  Panic began overpowering her brain, when a disturbing suspicion crept into her mind.

         What if I’m awake?

         Slowly, as if in a trance, the girl reached for her hair and discovered that it was very long, running far past her waist. She grabbed a handful of it, pulled forcefully and winced from the pain – there was no doubt – it wasn’t a wig. May’s eyes widened, as she came to the realization.

         “It’s not a dream,” May whispered in shock. What was going on?

         She felt a growing sensation of panic settle into her stomach, but she refused to lose her cool. She had to find that cursed mirror – whatever had happened, it began after she had looked into the mirror. She scanned the room with her eyes and found it. There it was! Resting on a desk. May got up to reach for it and nearly fell onto the floor. Angrily, she looked down and noticed that she wasn’t wearing her summer clothes anymore, instead she was dressed in some fancy gown – many layers of one, actually. It resembled the outfits she saw in movies about the Middle Ages in China though it had a definite European influence with the corset, which made it hard to breathe...

         This has got to be some joke; she thought and waddled over to the mirror. She grabbed it quickly and gave it her best threatening glare, willing it to fix the situation. She wanted this awfully real-looking dream, this illusion, whatever it was, to stop. Now. May narrowed her eyes at the surface of the mirror. Nothing happened. Well, nothing except that she was able to take in her slightly different face. Aside from the long hair, her skin looked better, as though she had been using some expensive cosmetics,  and she looked like some strange princess from confused Asian-European Middle Ages with a thin golden circlet on her head.

         When she spotted a large mirror in the corner of the chamber, she rushed to it, so that she could see more of her changed self. She did a slow spin before  it to take a good look at the dress she was wearing. The silk rustled as she moved around. May outstretched her arms, staring the wide sleeves made of the several layers of the thin pink fabric. The dark-purple corset of the gown was richly embroidered with golden thread and little pearls, that created an elaborate pattern. May carefully set the mirror aside and walked over to the door, hoping to see something familiar.

         She opened it slowly, and gasped. Before her very eye was the most beautiful garden, she had ever seen – covered in colorful blooming flowers of all shades, it was as if a magical scene was unfolding before her. Despite the dim light, the colors were incredibly vibrant, being a feast to her eyes. The plants had been carefully shaped so that every single flower was a part of the gardener’s masterpiece, perfectly fitting into its right place. The bright light of the moon and stars wonderfully illuminated the area.

         The garden itself was not very spacious, as it was surrounded by brick walls, as though the architect had intended to make it a private place where no one would bother its owner. Hesitantly, May took a few steps forward, admiring the way stars were reflected in a little pond. She was so enticed by the beauty of her surroundings, that she almost forgot about panicking. Looking up, she gazed at the sky. The night sky was much brighter than expected. In fact, she had never seen; the  moon and stars  shine so intensely. She was admiring the multitude of the bright tiny dots in the sky, when an alarming feeling began creeping into her mind.

         Something was wrong. However, not wrong, as if in waking up in a strange place with long hair and fancy dress, it was something else she couldn’t put her finger on. She blinked, thinking intensely about it. Then, her eyes widened and she let out a shocked gasp.

         The stars.

         There was a fairly normal moon in  the sky, but the stars… they were different. At the first glance, they hadn't looked  suspicious, but now glancing again the constellations were all wrong. May knew most of the most basic ones from books, like Great Bear and Orion, but she couldn’t find them at this night sky. They were simply gone, replaced by some other arrangement.

         May legs gave way and she limply fell to the ground. She sat motionlessly and stared in front of her, her brain having  difficulty comprehending what was going on.

         The reality of the illusion, the pain, when she pinched herself or pulled her hair… and the stars. There was no way her mind could have devised such a crazy situation on its own. The girl covered her mouth with her hand,  feeling nauseous. Some small voice in the back of her head told her, that perhaps that she wasn't in Maryland anymore. And it also meant that she was screwed. May snorted, suddenly  feeling amused – it had to be out of fear.

         “No kidding,” she muttered.

         The girl stood up and made a series of  calming breaths. She began pacing all over the garden, as the sky began lighting up in the east and the first of the sun rays began illuminating her surroundings.

         May shook her head in disbelief, considering her options. The situation was far too freaky to be some normal dream. Either she was mentally ill or was in some freaking Narnia. Alternatively, on another planet. At the moment, she wasn’t sure which option she preferred.

She was so busy thinking, that she didn’t hear someone come into the room.

         “Lady,” a quiet, shy voice called.

         May turned around with the maximal speed that her clothes allowed, the fear swiftly returning to her chest. What she saw startled her. A woman was  groveling on the floor before her. 

         “W-What?” that was the only answer May could manage, too startled to remember about being polite.

         Lady? Is she talking to me?

         “Your father has requested your presence during the breakfast with his advisors, my Lady,” the girl on the floor said respectfully. “If you will, this is the time for you to prepare.”

         “Alright…” May agreed hesitantly, eying the woman suspiciously.

         Father? Advisors? What the hell is going on here?

         Another option popped into her head. Possibly someone was playing a joke on her, like in a TV show. Maybe she should just go along with it for a while, and then a TV crew will suddenly appear, and they’ll give her flowers or a prize or something… May’s brain conveniently ignored the issue about the different night sky, or longer hair. She definitely  liked the idea of a joke better than being mentally ill or a in a freaky Narnia land.

         May wanted to think more about the current situation, but in that very moment four women burst into the room and grabbed her. Confused, she didn’t put up any resistance. They led her to the bathing room and started undressing her. Embarrassed, the girl covered herself with her hands as much as she could. Soon May was ushered out of the tub and dried. Later, the women dressed her in far too many layers of another heavy, silk gown like the one before and brushed her hair, putting half of it up in a crown around her head with a pearl barrette. Then one of them applied makeup, and a large mirror was brought before May. At first, the girl flinched, remembering the whole mess with mirrors, but then she looked at the reflection.

         She gave a little gasp, running her hand along her face. She looked like a totally different person, like some princess from a movie or a cover of a fantasy book.

         I guess you can never underestimate the wonders of a  good spa and make-up, she told herself.

         “My Lady, it is time,” the maidservant from before said, and she showed May the way out of the room.

         May followed, unsure. She decided for now, that the maids must be hired actors, who participated in the joke. As she walked down the hallway, she admired the decorations. They must have been really expensive. The girl shook her head. She hadn’t the slightest idea what was going on, but she decided to play along and find out.

         If they wanted her to be a Lady, then she would act like one, why not, it’s not like she got to be on a prank show every day. May wondered who was behind this sick joke, which had nearly given  her a heart attack. Maybe her parents did this to make up for the missed holiday in Europe?

         She was led into the huge room where a richly-clothed man was casually striding across a spacious chamber. He looked to be around his fifties, not so tall and had a rather intimidating thick brown beard, with  eyes like her own. She didn't fail to notice, that he resembled her dad a little. She thought, that the joke must have been very expensive with all the elaborate decorations and the actors.

         “Maewyn,” the man said in a deep voice.

         May quickly looked around but saw no one but herself so he assumed the man was addressing her. She didn’t have a clue what to say. Who was he? Presumably, he acted as a relative of some sort. She decided to smile and bow slightly. Apparently, it was the right decision. The man smiled and strode towards her.

         “Are you all right, my child? You look a little pale,” he said  with worry in a voice.

         May wanted to inform him, that she was most definitely not his child and demand him to tell her what the hell is going on, but the voice in the back of her head told her not to do it. Better to wait for the TV crew to pop out. The girl cleared her throat, wanting to say something, that could be expected of an actress in such a scene, but a sudden commotion outside the chamber interrupted her.

         Suddenly, the door flung open and a large group of men stormed inside. All of them except one were dressed in chain mail and tunics, with swords hanging from their hips. The clank of metal was resounding throughout the room with every hasty step they took. Their hair was  about shoulder length, just like the other male actor had. Most of them had beards as well, which  made them look like Vikings. The two men were dragging some poor guy dressed in shabby clothes behind them. The man was kicking and struggling, unsuccessfully attempting to set himself free from the firm grasp of his captors. His face was smeared with dirt, the hair untidy and a gleam of madness in his eyes.

         “She deserved it! That bitch slept with my cousin!” the man yelled, as the Vikings shoved him on his knees before the richly-clothed actor  who was her "father."

         “Duke Thoen, we caught the murderer, who killed his wife,” one of the soldiers informed. May stared in silence as the middle-aged man nodded and reached out with his hand. One of the Vikings unsheathed his sword and passed it to the fancy-clothed actor. He took it, a solemn look on his face.

         “I have promised the mother of this poor woman, that the murderer of her daughter will die by my hand as soon as I see you. Prepare to pay for your sin may the demons return your soul,” he said solemnly.

         The man in the shabby clothes began crying and yelling, as the soldiers immobilized him and brutally grabbed his hair, so that his neck would be exposed.

         May  stared at the scene with wide-opened eyes. She observed at the middle-aged actor lifted his sword and swiftly brought the blade down. The girl heard an unpleasant sound, when the sword slashed through the flesh and backbone, meeting little resistance. Then, there was a thud, as the convict’s head fell to the ground and rolled towards May, leaving a red smudge on the snowy white marble floor. The headless body limply fell to the floor.

         “Take this carcass out.” May heard someone saying, but she was still staring at the head at her feet.

         Holy hell, it was real.

         May stared at the head at her feet, as though she was in a trance – it didn’t seem entirely real, but there was no way it was a joke. The blood now pooling around the man’s head was most definitely not fake. The eyes of the convict were glassy and half-opened; the life abandoned them.

         May sharply took a breath, feeling her hands begin to sweat. This man had been killed before her eyes – a minute ago he was talking and screaming, and now his head laid here, separated from the rest of the body. May took a step back, shaking from panic. She didn’t know what scared her more – that she saw a man executed right before her eyes, or that she finally understood, what had happened to her. This was no freaking TV show.

         “Maewyn, I am terribly sorry, that you had to witness that  gruesome scene. Perhaps I should have delivered justice to this criminal outside.” The man, who just beheaded the convict approached her and ushered her into the neighboring chamber.

         May was too shocked to protest or struggle. The panic and the sudden realization of her situation almost petrified her.

         Her mind began processing things at great speed, basic survival instinct kicking in. The people around her were crazy and one thing was for sure – angry, insane people were violent, and she didn’t want to end up dead like the guy a moment ago. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake, not even a tiny one. If she did, she would surely lose her head.

         “You seem distracted, Maewyn. Did something happen?” the middle-aged man asked her casually, as though nothing wrong had happened.

         May lifted her head to look at him, frantically assessing her current situation. The people around here treated her like someone they knew. They thought, that she was their Lady. Considering that she looked a tiny bit differently than her old self, she probably looked now like her. How would they react if she told them, that she’s a stranger? Dungeon? Execution? She thought fast, when suddenly, she got an idea.

         “Actually, I tripped and hit myself in the head. I'm feeling very confused right now,” May blurted out, saying the first thing, which popped into her mind. Almost immediately she berated herself for coming up with the stupidest idea possible.

         The man paled slightly and reached out a hand to feel her forehead, turning around yelling to the one of the servants:

         “Bring the healer in here immediately and send for Hilda.”

         The servant ran out frantically, and May concentrated on surviving.

         So, I am his daughter. If I’m a Lady, he must be the Lord of the castle. One of the Vikings called him a duke, May thought.

         The Duke’s attention turned back to May.

         “Maewyn, rest, please. I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself,” he said and ushered her onto the bench in the corner of the room. With an impatient gesture, the Duke ushered the servants out of the chamber.

         May sat down and stared at her knees. The situation was becoming more and more freaky with every minute, and she was scared.

         A woman and a man rushed through the door. The woman was in her fifties, dressed in fine silk. She was quite tall and slim; her face proud. She gave Maewyn a quick glance and turned her attention to the Duke. The man beside her looked somewhat like a rat – he was short and thin, with gray hair; his back bent with age.

         “Healer, examine the Lady,” the Duke ordered.

         The woman gasped, covering her mouth with a hem of her sleeve and looked at May with worry in her pale blue eyes.

         May flinched when the healer approached her; she definitely didn’t want the “rat-man” anywhere around her – she was afraid, that he’d try to “cure” her with leeches or slitting her wrists, like they  had done in the Middle Ages. May tried her best to smile.

         “Actually, I think that I feel better already,” she said quickly, wanting to avoid any phony treatment. The elder woman furrowed her eyebrows.

         “Maewyn, let the healer examine you. You don’t want to faint when you meet Lord Abrran, do you?” she said sternly.

         “Abrran who?” May asked.

         She soon realized that the question had been a big mistake. The Duke, Hilda and the healer were now all staring at her, as though she was crazy, well crazier  than she already felt. May shifted uncomfortably on the bench and tried to think of what to say. The healer was the first to break the awkward silence.

         “Lady, Lord Abrran is your fiancé. You are to be married to him this summer. You don’t remember him?” the man asked.

         Fiancé? Oh crap, May thought.

         “No,” she said aloud.

         “Who is the man beside me?” the healer asked while pointing to the Duke.

         “My… father. The Duke…” May looked around searching for a hint. However, there were none. She closed her mouth, helplessly shrugging her shoulders.

         “And the lady on my right?” he asked. May didn’t know what to answer. She heard her fake-father call her Hilda, but aside that, she didn’t have any information on her. The girl decided to give up.

         “I don’t remember,” she answered.

         The Duke scowled. Hilda looked at May in shock. The healer shook his head sadly and turned to the Duke.

         “My Lord, I can heal the sickness of the body, but not that of the mind. If the Lady regains her lost memories, I cannot say. This happens sometimes with head injuries. The best cure would be time. It would be wise to take the Lady to familiar places; it could help the memories to come back to her, but I cannot promise anything. This is beyond my ability,” the healer said, looking at May with genuine compassion.

         There was silence once again. The Duke looked as if he was battling with his thoughts.

         “Is there nothing that can be done?” he asked sharply, knitting his thick eyebrows and gazing demandingly at the healer. The rat-like man tugged his ear, hanging his head in an apologizing gesture. He shook his head.

         “I can only pray for the Lady to get better,” he said quietly, bowing his head. The Duke furrowed his brows, as he began pacing, uneasiness reflecting on his face. Finally, he stilled and looked at Hilda and the healer sternly.

         “Maewyn’s sickness must be kept secret. If it was known that the Lady cannot remember neither her father nor the woman who has raised her, the dignity of the Thoen family would be put in jeopardy. I cannot take such risk. The only ones who know about my daughter’s… condition, are we three. I trust you to keep silent,” the Duke said in a threatening voice. The Healer nodded turning slightly pale at the intimidating tone the Duke used.

         Oh, great, May thought, they’re not counting me.

         “Maewyn,” Duke Thoen turned to May. The girl flinched slightly as he said that name. “It is important that you do not let anyone know that there is something wrong with you. You may rely on me, Hilda or healer Kolbrunn. We will make sure no one will discover the truth about your sickness. Do you understand?”

         “Um… I think so,” May answered unsurely.

         She was still confused about what was going on, but she was glad that the Duke and the rest of the people in the room were helping her keep her identity a secret. It was a miracle that she managed somehow to make them think she had amnesia – surely she was lucky on this one. A stupid idea turned out to be not so silly at all… God, if they only knew the whole truth…

         “It is settled then,” Duke Thoen stated. “I shall meet my advisors now, as you're in no shape to sit in on the council, Maewyn, have Hilda take you back to your chambers.”

         With those words, he marched out of the room, followed by the rat like healer, leaving May  with the stern-looking woman. The girl stared back at her, not wanting to be the first to break the silence. The old woman cleared her throat.

         “I imagine that you must be tired, Maewyn. Would you like to rest in your quarters?” she asked.

         Quickly, May thought of ideas. Well, one thing was for sure; she wasn’t going to let them keep her locked up in her room. She had to look around and find out where exactly she was. Plus, There was one more thing she had to confirm.

         “Actually,” she started, gathering her courage to speak up. “I would feel better if I had a stroll outside.  The healer himself said that I could look around for the memories to come back.” She tried to sound as convincing as possible. The older woman sighed, obviously not happy about the perspective of the walk.

         “Very well, Maewyn. Let us go then.”

         For the next hour, May and the older woman walked around the castle, barely saying a word to each other. The place was huge and looked like no other medieval castle May had seen in the documentaries. The castle was not a single building, but a whole complex, which housed hundreds of people, maybe even more than a thousand. The part, where May was, was just a tip of the iceberg. It was the upper castle which was situated high above other buildings and was the residence of the Duke, his family and the closest advisors.

         Its interior was fully decorated with the most beautiful pieces of furniture and art which all looked disturbingly… new. Most castles looked old and destroyed while this one actually seemed like someone had remodeled it just a couple of years ago to make it appear like a castle would have looked in the Middle Ages. Though it would be hard to tell in which Middle Ages – the architectonic style was unrecognizable for the girl. The basic elements resembled the typical European gothic castles, but the decorations and sculptures looked rather oriental. The beautifully woven arrases hung next to the pieces of porcelain, which resembled Ming dynasty vases. May had no idea why, but the vases in the movies have been always from the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the sculptured pillars looked a lot Viking-like, with the pattern of dragons winding around them. The mix of styles baffled the girl.

          The servants and nobles were dressed in variously designed clothes. From what May saw, the noble women wore the expensive silk Chinese-style robes with some elements of the European royalty attire, just like she did, while the rest was dressed in plain cotton clothing, which would be common in Europe  somewhere around 15^th century. May pondered on the thought that the clothes on her back were probably worth a lot more than all she possessed back at home.

         “Hilda?” May suddenly spoke up. “Can we go outside the castle?”

         “My Lady!” the woman scolded May harshly. “You want to go to the village? That’s unthinkable!”

         “The doctor said that I should visit places, so the walk will be good for my health,” the girl insisted, set on getting out of the castle hoping to find more clues to what was going on. Hilda placed her palm on her chest, as though the woman was about to get a heart attack.

         “What an idea! However,…" Hilda paused, as though she was battling hard with her inner thoughts. “I think it is in order, if it is for your health. Very well, I will get the palanquin ready.”

         May’s eyes widened. A palanquin? She was supposed to ride in the thing?

         “No need, I’m fine with walking,” she protested as firmly as she could before Hilda took off. A strange voice escaped the old crone’s throat, as though she was choking, apparently shocked by her words.

         “Walk? On foot? You could get yourself dirty!”

         However, May ultimately managed to talk some sense into the old woman and convince her not to take palanquin, but four armed bodyguards followed the women.

         May and Hilda went outside the gates of the upper castle, heading down the ramp, which encircled the gothic-style palace hidden behind the massive stone walls. The girl expected to be already out of the castle, but that was only its smallest part. Beneath the palace were other fortifications – the buildings made of the large stone blocks were creating a circle around the upper palace, and the high towers were emerging here and there, their multitude making them look like a stone forest. May noticed a lot of armed Vikings-like warriors in chain mail and assumed, that the place must be mainly barracks, housing the entire army.

         Outside the gates of the middle level, there was another one, likewise, equipped in high outer wall and guardian towers. Here the colorful crowd of craftsmen and merchants was filling the streets. The castle was like a real city, gathering all the most useful people under the protection of the fortifications.

         As May and Hilda finally managed to step out of the outer gates, this time leaving the stone stronghold for good, the girl was turning her head in all the directions, greedily taking in the sight. The whole castle wasn’t surrounded with a moat, how she had expected, but the settlement of farmers was built right under the walls, the wooden huts practically linked to the gray stone of the fortifications. However, the moat seemed to be unnecessary, as the walls themselves were an obstacle impossible to overcome – erected to the height of over fifty feet and casting a mighty shadow over the village. Undoubtedly, it was the most gigantic stronghold May had ever seen. The construction of such a huge castle wasn't something she could even imagine.

         The armed guardsmen bowed to May, as she and her “nanny” left the stronghold. The older woman complained all the time – about the dirt on the ground, about noise on the streets or the peasants’ lack of manners. They were walking across the village situated next to the castle. The people there were staring at them and pointing at her with their fingers, whispering. May also noticed that they were all bowing and avoided looking her in the eye. Such strange behavior made her feel uncomfortable, but it wasn’t really surprising. She was dressed like a Lady, and her hair was so long that it reached her knees. The village itself looked like something out of one of  those Renaissance Fair’s or those trips schools would take you to see how real communities lived in the past. All the people here had similar peasant clothing and unusual hairdos.

         The girl noticed, that the majority of the villagers were either blonde or had brown or red hair. Black hair seemed to be rather rare around here. The young women had their hair either undone or had one or two braids falling on their backs. The older women, probably the married ones, had their hair done up in a bun. All the men had their hair rather long, reaching to their jaws, some to shoulders and even past it and had little braids on them. Beards seemed to be also quite popular, which again reminded May of Vikings.

         May paled, as the trip to the village confirmed her greatest fear – she was definitely not at home anymore. Not only was she not in Baltimore – judging by the night sky she was probably not even on Earth. Just… where was she?

         Hilda noticed May’s distress.

         “Maewyn? Child, you are so pale! Let us go back to the castle!” she said turning around and dragging her along.

         All these thoughts flooded through May’s brain as she was guided back to the castle.

         Why do all the bad things happen to me? Why was it me who was sent to the damn freaking Narnia by some freaky magic mirror, not, for example, Hailey?  

         May knew that she had to think of some type of plan, and she had to do it quickly if she didn’t want to end up decapitated. Objective number one: stay alive. Objective number two: go home. It sounded like an excellent plan to her. May had a pretty good  idea of what would happen if the Duke and the people here found out that she was not the real Lady: losing her head... literally. She had to act like a Lady would. That  shouldn’t be too hard, yeah right.... Thankfully, the Duke himself had solved some of that problem for her. To go home though, she had to figure out how to get that cursed mirror to work – it had to be the core of the problem.

         She was almost in her quarters when she heard a commotion from a sobbing woman.

         Hilda rushed into her room, and May followed her. They found a servant sitting on the floor and leaning over something, trying to pick it up. The woman looked up at her with teary eyes and guilt on her face.

         “My Lady, please, forgive me,” she pleaded. “The gift from Lord Abrran… I was cleaning and…”

         She tried to say something more, but it was no longer audible. May looked at what exactly the woman was trying to pick up, hoping to reassure her, it was no big deal. Her eyes widened when she what it was though. The fragments of the mirror! May leaned heavily against the wall, processing what she was staring at: the mirror shattered, her only way home! Her family… she wouldn’t see them ever again! What was she supposed to do now?

Baltimore

         Hailey just finished spreading peanut butter on her sandwich and went to help her sister unpack dad’s useless antiques. She spotted donuts that somehow escaped dad’s appetite and snatched one, placing it on her plate.

         “May!” she called. “I’ve found the donuts. Want one?”

Nobody answered. Hailey got a sudden nervous. She dropped the plate, letting it shatter on the floor and rushed to the corridor. May was lying on the floor unconscious. Next to her was the mirror. Hailey quickly hurried over to check May’s pulse like they had taught her at school. All right. Her heart was beating and she was breathing. Hailey looked once more at the looking glass, a very bad feeling washing over her.

         May moaned and her eyes slowly opened.

         “May!” Hailey exclaimed. “Oh thank goodness! Are you all right?”

         May looked at Hailey’s panicked face, then down at her summer outfit and finally around the corridor, and let loose a loud scream. Hailey tried to calm her down, but that only made matters worse. Scared, May backed away from her sister.

         “Who are you?” she yelled. “Answer me this instant!”

         Hailey didn’t know what to think – her older sister was thrashing in her embrace, genuine bewilderment and fear showing on her face. Didn’t May recognize her?

         “I’m Hailey, your sister. May, don’t joke…”

         “May?” May looked confused and slightly angry. “How dare you to speak to me in that manner, simpleton? I am a Lady, the daughter of a powerful Duke! What do you want with me, demon?”

         “So… you are not May?” Hailey asked slowly, her mind quickly connecting the dots. She glanced at the mirror on the floor.

         Oh dear. May and her blasted luck.