"Hey Lucille?" I asked the peryton.

"Yes?" She answered, as we were walking along another dirt road.

I fingered my necklace between my fingers, staring as the red liquid as it sloshed around in the vial.

"Do you know what this is? I had it on when I woke up. Back in the King's palace, when he took it off, I stared feeling really sick." I asked, leaning down to show it to her.

She stared at it with her dark black eyes. I suddenly felt very cold as her gaze turned to me.

"I cannot tell you much about it. I can tell you it is unicorn touched, and is probably keeping you alive."

"Keeping her alive?" Ren frowned, looking mildly distressed again. He had been in sort of a gloom since leaving his family's farm.

The peryton glared at him, I was slightly irked by her sudden animosity towards us.

"Erasing someone's memories is a very difficult spell, it's very possible it went wrong and she might have died. An enchanted item can act as a plug, to keep the spell together, while a spell by itself is more like a seal. It can be broken, and plugs can be pulled out." She explained.

"Well then someone messed up on both our curses." Ren sighed.

Lucille shook her head. "No, your curse is different. You were brought back from the dead. Someone found your body and breathed life into it. These side effects were to be expected. Galia was already alive, she must have died while she was being cursed, and the caster took some of her blood and enchanted it to keep her alive, and for the curse to stay strong."

I straightened. "Wait, so if I take this off, I'll get my memories back?"

Lucille answered with such sudden force I took a step back. "No! I mean yes, you'll get your memories back over time, it is most likely you'll die before that happens. The only way to get your memories back is for the caster to remove them by hand."

I kicked the dirt. "Shoot."

Lucille turned and flickered her white tail at me. "I must warn you though, I do not see much hope in arriving in the presence of a unicorn, at least not you Galia, Ren maybe."

"Why?" I demanded. "What's so weird about me?"

"That's enough questions for now." Lucille snapped, then she spread her wings and took off into the air, flying away into the sky.

"What's up with her?" Ren gaped, gesturing with his hands.

I bit my lip and frowned. "She was in a good mood until she saw my necklace."

"Yeah, what's with that? It looks normal to me." He softly took it from my nervous hands and examined it, pulling me closer to his face by the necklace.

He blushed and dropped it. "Sorry M'lady, forgot about your personal space."

I sighed and straightened out my dress. "It's fine Ren. Hand me some jerky."

He obliged, giving me a very small piece. We had been trying this for a few days, but every time I tried to eat some-

"Blegh." I spit it out. "Yep, still a vegetarian."

After playing a new game we invented by throwing the money sack to each other (don't worry it was tied at the top) we eventually got bored. Lucille hadn't come back, thank goodness we hadn't come across any forks in the road yet.

I spoke to soon. As soon as the sun was kissing the tops of the trees we came to a small pond. One path split to the left an traveled through some serious hills. The other drifted off to the right and drove straight into one of the darkest forests I have ever seen. The pond sat in the middle, it was a very beautiful pond, the rocks in bottom were a pale blue, and it was surprisingly clear water. It was a pretty big area, if I walked in to the middle, it would probably come up to my waist.

    "Whoa." Ren gasped, getting down on his knees to stare into the water. "Look at the fish."

    I kneeled down to look at the water. I didn't notice them standing up, but there were fish. There was only about four, but they were pure white, and slightly translucent. They're scales flashed silver and rippled in the glowing moonlight. They swam around the water slowly and gracefully, it was memorizing to watch, I didn't realize how close our faces were getting to water until my nose was wet. I jerked my head back in surprise, Ren hadn't even noticed he was starting to swim, so I yanked his head out before he got his hair wet.

    "Whoa." He marveled. "They're hypnotizing."

    "Yeah, probably magic, so let's stay away from them." I ordered, walking away to find a place to sleep.

"But I don't wanna go away from the glowy fish Mom!" He groaned.

I started dragging him by the shirt. "Come on you dork, they'll probably eat you."

Later that night, once we set up camp and had thoroughly gone of how we were not to touch the fish, I couldn't sleep. I sat against a tree, hacking away at a thick branch I had found on the ground, carving away at it. I had tried to sleep, but for some reason my eyelids remained open, and my brain kept thinking. I thought about my necklace, how it was both my curse and my life source. I thought about Celeste, wishing I could remember more than just a few fleeting emotions at the sound of her name. I also pondered the witches I had encountered so far, about how the last one had just laughed at me, as if whatever I did was a joke.

Ren was asleep, I had been listening to the sound of his breathing, it was slow enough now, that I knew he was asleep. He looked very peaceful in his sleep, very calm, like he had not a worry in the world. I knew the truth though, leaving his family behind had hurt him, but he could never have stayed with them in his current state. We had to break these curses.

I stood, walking over to the pond with my sharpened piece of branch. The stones were glowing, this truly was some sort of magical place. I was just looking at the water, when all of a sudden I noticed something. My necklace was lifting off my chest and floating towards the pond. I leaned forward a bit, just to test it, also to the side and backwards, it was like a magnet was tugging at it. That was new.

I looked back at Ren, to make sure he was still sleeping. Then I pulled off my sandals, and tugged my dress over my head until I was left in my undershirt and leggings.

Then I dipped one foot into the water.

It was cold, but not unbearable, more like refreshing. Every time my foot hit the small, glowing, blue, pebbles a shock rippled throughout them, causing rings of blue light to radiate from my footsteps. It was beautiful, for a moment all I did was stare at the water in amazement. Then the fish started to swim towards me, they danced around my ankles, curved around my thighs, and created gorgeous arches and dances like they had practiced for this moment their entire lives.

My head disappeared under the surface the water.

As soon as I was submerged, the sharpened stick was yanked out of my hand. It ripped through the water, going in circles around me, moving completely by itself. Then the pale ochre color of the de-barked branch turned completely black.

The water around me disappeared, I was suddenly standing in a forest, the black stick still dancing around me, I watched in horror as it started to grow, misty black whisps trailing from the handle until I recognized the face of a horse, a pure black mare. The black changed to flaming red, as her circles continued.

A black unicorn with a blood-red mane was dancing circles around me.

Her eyes were red and appeared to be on fire, the faster and faster she went, kicking her hooves, and roaring at my face. I had never felt so terrified in my life. Sweat was dripping from her flank, it looked like she was going to kill herself from running so fast, she flicked her tail and whipped my shoulder. I cried out in pain as she stopped encircling me with her vicious rage. I cried and clenched my smarting shoulder, it was only after I heard another strangled cry did I dare look up to face the nightmare again.

She was standing still, face down, her sharp, long, black horn was pointed in one direction. There was a boy, I think it was a boy, his face was dirty and scratched up, his hands were shaking as he held them up in a submissive gesture, whining pathetically. The black unicorn was pointing her sharp, long, horn right at his heart.

I screamed in unison with the boy as she plunged forward, stabbing him through the chest, and staining the tree behind her with his blood.

His body crumpled to ground. Then the unicorn turned to me, her eyes ablaze with fury and rage, her black horn dripping with blood. She let out a sharp cry, my face was wet with tears as I stared in horror as the boy's unmoving body.

"Y-you killed him." I whispered.

She snorted and lunged towards me.

My head broke the surface of the water and I gasped, crying hysterically. Someone was dragging me out of the water, holding me tightly. I felt cold, so cold. I clutched Ren's shirt as he threw a blanket over me.

"Galia what happened? Lucille woke me up and you were floating in the pond like you were dead, I thought you had drowned." He inquired, his voice was shaky and he sounded scared.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Lucile staring at me coldly.

"I went into the pond." I gasped, shivering against Ren's chest, as much as I hated the fact I was this close to him, he was really warm.

"Why did you go into the pond? I thought we said it was off limits." He said softly, calmly, as if I was his only worry in the world.

I clenched my fists again. "Because I was stupid, it was tugging my necklace and I thought maybe...maybe I wouldn't have to die just to have my life back."

I stared into his steady blue eyes, he was looking at me with deep concern. "I saw terrible things in there Ren, terrible horrible things."

    He didn't break my stare. "What?"

    I shivered again. "I saw a unicorn murder someone."