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It’s cold when Pearl wakes up.
The young medium rubs her eyes sleepily and yawns. She looks around and realizes that she’s currently inside the decrepit Inner Temple. The atmosphere is cold and damp; Pearl shivers.
Once she is fully awake, she recalls the events of the night before. She went to the Inner Temple that night out of worry for her cousin, Maya. A pang of shame coursed through Pearl’s body as she thought of how she was also supposed to carry out an important task for her mother. Her mother’s final wish: a plan that would help the entire Fey clan!
She knew that she brought the letter with her. Now where was it?
It’s bending over to start looking for it that she feels a lump in her pocket. Pearl rummages around in it and pulls out a letter. She lets out a sigh of relief and a tiny smile spreads across her face.
While she can’t understand the words on the letter itself, Pearl is aware of one simple fact. She was instructed to channel a spirit, the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne specifically. Mother was helpful enough to provide a picture of her: a young woman with dark red hair and a huge smile.
Pearl attempted to channel Dahlia the night before but to no avail. She wanted to try again later that night, but she fell asleep before she got the chance. Pearl feels a wave of shame course through her body as not only had she failed to carry out Mother’s final wish; but she also failed to carry out a plot that would certainly benefit Mystic Maya.
Speaking of Mystic Maya, where is she? She should be out of training by now.
Pearl scans the area around her for any signs of the older medium. But her cousin is nowhere to be found.
“Mystic Maya?!” The younger medium calls for her cousin. But there’s no response. Pearl’s mind races in thought and she starts chewing on her fingernail
What if Mystic Maya was hurt…or worse, killed? Pearl shakes her head in an attempt to relieve herself of the thought. If Mystic Maya’s in danger, then she needed to be strong.
Perhaps Mr. Nick would be able to help Mystic Maya? He was her “knight in shining armor” after all! Although the lawyer was on the other side of Dusky Bridge, surely, he would cross it to help her again, right? Right!
Pearl decides to ask her cousin’s friend for help and steps out of the Inner Temple. There, she is greeted by a light snow; the new snow was gently piling itself on top of the old snow creating a cold and plush blanket.
She trudges through the snow over to the old, rickety bridge. As she makes her way there, she continues to cry out for Mystic Maya with each call getting more desperate than the last. But just like before, there was no answer, only the falling of snow.
Pearl eventually walks up to the bridge, or where the bridge should’ve been.
No, no! It can’t be! Pearl’s mouth falls agape in horror as she takes in her current surroundings.
Dusky Bridge is gone! Her only link to the outside world is gone.
She is isolated and alone.
Pearl feels the tightening of her throat and tears start to well up in her eyes. She grits her teeth in an attempt to stop herself from crying. Perhaps there was a different method of helping her cousin?
A lightbulb flashes in her brain as she realizes that she could try to channel Dahlia Hawthorne again. Sure, she may have failed once, but she wouldn’t do it again. The spirit would save Mystic Maya! And her mother’s final wish would finally be carried out. She would be so happy.
She wipes the tears from her eyes and sits on the snow. The young medium prepares to channel the spirit once more. As she did so, she thought of her mother and Mystic Maya.
This is for Mystic Maya; this is for Mystic Maya! She silently chants.
She puts all of her concentration into channeling Dahlia, but nothing happens. She opens one eye to peer outside and blinks in shock as she realizes that she’s still near the foot of Dusky Bridge. It’s not possible! She couldn’t have failed again. Her mind races with possibilities for what this could mean: maybe the spirit didn’t want to be called or worse, what if she lost her ability to channel altogether?
Pearl feels tears spring up in her eyes again. She failed her mother, failed Mystic Maya. She failed her mother, failed Mystic Maya. With a strangled sob, she runs off in shame with no real destination.
She just wants to get away.
She stops in front of the incinerator and clenches the letter in her fists. Shaking her head in frustration, she throws the letter inside and watches as the heat engulfs it in flames. Her vision is too blurred by her tears to notice that it wasn’t properly burned.
After that, she wanders once more only to find herself back where she started: The Inner Temple Shrine. Her eyes shift back and forth carefully before her gaze locks onto a pot of gravy near a scroll. She grabs the pot and in a fit of anguish, she throws the contents onto the scroll with great ferocity.
Pearl falls to her knees and her eyes widen in horror as she takes in her handiwork. The old picture of the former Master was now obscured by a brown and smelly coat of paint.
The little girl proceeds to bury her head in her hands and the wound-up coil in her throat releases as she burst into sobs. She’s shaking not only due how cold it is but due to how scared she is. A fresh stream of tears rolls down her cheeks as she takes in her current situation.
She was scared, alone.
Pearl wasn’t able to channel Dahlia and if Mystic Maya were in danger, Pearl couldn’t do anything about it. She cries and cries for hours with no end in sight.
And cold.
And there was not one person to comfort the little girl as she cried herself to sleep.
Yet, when she wakes up the next morning, there is a warm and soothing presence around her body. Puzzled by this, she glances up to see that one of the spare blankets had been draped over her body.