Arianna's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

One night remained before the full moon. Arianna had her true answer now, but the witch still held her face in a glass globe. A dance without her own face could not carry the full feeling the spirit demanded. So she walked into the sea witch's dwelling to take back what was hers. The witch sat on a couch grown from jagged purple crystal. Sea creatures swam in her black hair. She held the globe in one pale hand. Inside it, Arianna's face drifted, eyes closed, mouth still. The witch smiled. The smile did not touch her eyes. "You came back," the witch said. "Most don't." "You lied to me," Arianna said. "You gave me my grandmother's story. You wanted me to fail." "I gave you what you asked for." The witch turned the globe slowly. "You begged for an easy answer. I don't make the ocean kind." Arianna stepped closer. "I want my face back." "It's mine. You traded it." The witch tilted her head. "Unless you have something you want more." A shape shifted in the dark behind the witch. Scales caught the light and threw it back in a hundred colors. A dragon unfolded, pink lips and blue-painted eyes, smoke curling from her nose. She watched Arianna the way a cat watches a bird. "My guardian," the witch said. "She keeps what I collect." Arianna's heart slammed. She had no gold, no magic. But she knew what the witch fed on. Secrets. Things people let slip without meaning to. The witch traded in them. "Then I'll trade a secret," Arianna said. "A true one. Worth more than my face." The witch went still. The creatures in her hair stopped swimming. "Go on." Arianna breathed. "You asked me once why I dance. I told you my grandmother. That was the lie. Here is the truth." She looked the witch in the eye. "I dance because when I move, the ocean feels close. Like it's mine to speak to. Not hers. Mine. I have never told anyone but Marius. Now you know it first." The witch's lips parted. For once her eyes matched her smile, hungry and bright. A true answer, freely given, was the rarest thing she kept. The dragon leaned in and breathed a small flame that lit the whole room gold. "Done," the witch whispered. She set the globe on the crystal couch. The glass cracked. Arianna's face slipped out like water and settled back where it belonged. Warmth filled her cheeks. She touched her own skin and felt it move. "The debt is paid," the witch said. "But you gave the spirit's answer to me. I have it now." Arianna stopped at the door. She had her face. She had traded away the one true secret she needed for tomorrow's test. The witch could sell it, twist it, speak it first. Now Arianna had to face the spirit with her truth already in someone else's hands.