"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

'~-Spencer-~'

February 4th, 2001 - 5:00 P.M.

A small bell rang as I opened the glass door to Solien's Cafe. Maeve waved her hand wildly above her head, and I walked over to her booth. She rose from her seat and engulfed me in a hug, a cheery smile permanently resting on her face. 

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Maeve guided me to the seat across from her, and took her own seat, facing me.

"I-I'm not entirely sure how to explain this, but, I h-had a dream. A really wild, odd dream." A snicker escaped her lips.

"Oh~ I see where this is going. Spence, you should've told me you got a crush~." 

My face flushed with embarrassment. "No, it's not like that, Maeve. Well- the dream was about someone, just not someone I've ever met." 

She folded her delicate hands beneath her chin. "Well, according to science, you must've seen her face somewhere, even if only for a fraction of a second."

"How do you know it was a her?" 

"You're flustered. Unless there's a little something you need to tell me," I chuckled, shaking my head. "Then you definitely met a girl. What's she like?"

"From what I saw- uh- she's shorter than average, brown hair and brown eyes." I struggled to remember the details of my dream.

"Well, you could've told me that in the letter, Spencer." Maeve narrowed her eyes. "But there's something you want to show me, something you couldn't describe in a paragraph."

I nodded. "Name an object no bigger than the palm of my hand."

"That's pretty big, Lover Boy." She joked, and this time I rolled my eyes at the innuendo. 

Maeve continued. "Mm, how about, I don't know, a music box."

 I closed my eyes and imagined what the object would look like. I imagined the protruding golden swirls wrapping around the exterior like a blanket. I imagined the light pink fabric lining the interior. I imagined the soft melody playing on repeat, and a spinning figurine of Maeve reading a book took center stage.

"SPENCE. OH MY GOD SPENCER WHAT THE HELL." I opened my eyes, and in front of me was said object. Gently picking it up, I wound up the little metal part and opened the lid. A soft melody carried its way to our ears. 

"Spencer. How. did you do that." 

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about." I closed the lid and made eye contact with her. "I had a dream about a woman who wasn't a human. She was the queen of some sort of alien species who could use magic. She told me that I was one of them. I thought it was odd until this morning when I was on my way out the door." I paused to bring my satchel up onto the table. 

"I just wanted to test it out and I was able to teleport my bag into my hand." 

Her jaw practically hit the floor, and a few moments of silence passed between us before we burst into laughter.

"Wow, Spence. So, you really need my help, huh?" I smiled at her, taking her hand in mine.

"Maeve, you're the only person I know who would believe me, who wouldn't call me crazy, who wouldn't- I dunno- report me to the authorities and have me experimented on." We both laughed. 

"How could I not? I mean, you literally just made something out of thin air, and the Law of Conservation of Mass says-"

"Matter cannot be created, nor destroyed." I finished her sentence.

"But I guess we're just throwing Lavoisier out the window, huh?" I burst out into laughter at the image of literally throwing the French chemist out a window.

"I still haven't figured out the finer details of it all. Like, how does imagination translate into reality?" I said.

"Now you're starting to think like a real scientist." She winked at me. "But, maybe you aren't meant to figure the ins and outs of this whole thing yet. Maybe, just maybe, you need to figure it out as you go along. I mean think about it. What if there's a crucial piece of information out there that you just haven't found yet?" 

"You're right. It's just that so much of this doesn't make sense." I stated.

"Yeah, I agree. This whole concept sounds like a fourteen-year-old wrote it-"

"Hi, sorry for the wait." A waitress with waist-length blond hair greeted us. "My name is Luna, how may I serve you?"

Maeve ordered first. "I'll have the medium decaf vanilla frappuccino. What about you Spencer?"

I was silent for a moment, studying her features. Her face was familiar. 
"I'll have a small strawberry and creme frappucino," I told her, smiling. 

"Will that be all?" We nodded, and she started to turn around.

"Wait, you look familiar," I called out, and she turned back to me.

"Really? I've never seen you before." She looked at me with confusion.

"I dunno you just... your face looks like someone I know...."

Luna cracked a smile. "Ah, so you're my sister's new apprentice."

"I'm sorry?" Maeve looked at both of us.

"How many siblings does she have?" We both laughed. I turned to Maeve. "Remember the woman I was talking about? This is one of her sisters." Her eyes went wide.

"Wait seriously? Oh my god, it's a pleasure to meet you. I have so many questions about-"

Her eyes suddenly lost their light, as she blankly stared ahead of her.

"Spencer. You can't tell anyone about this." Luna warned.

"Wait, why?" I spoke back angrily. She shook her head.

"Bad things will happen if you do. I don't know all the details, but Amelia said that- at least for now- you cannot tell anyone about your powers, or your training." 

"Who gives a damn about what she says?" Her deep blue eyes darkened.

"Amelia Divine is one of the last remnants of Lady Irene's immense power. She is your queen and therefore your superior. You obey her word. Understood?" She growled and I nodded in fear. Two drinks appeared in front of Maeve and I, and Luna was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, that was quick!" Maeve snapped back to reality. "Aw, Spence, did you make this music box for me?" 

Luna erased her memory.

"Yeah." I smiled. "I guess I did."

After two hours or so, the sun started to set, and we said our goodbyes, the same feeling of dread lingered in the pit of my stomach. The wind whistled through my hair as I exited the building, strolling down the sidewalk.

 Eventually, I arrived back at my apartment, turning the key into the lock and setting down my possessions on the couch again. I entered my bedroom and opened my closet door, taking out some comfortable clothes and changing into them.

I examined my bookshelf and chose a book I had been meaning to read: "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. I hopped onto my bed and turned the first page.

After I turned the last page, I felt myself become tired, so I turned off my bedside lamp, set the book down, and let myself drift off to sleep.

"BOO!" 

I yelped and practically jumped six feet into the air. Amelia began to laugh her head off at my skittishness.

"OhmyGodReid, you should've seen the look on your face! It was PRICELESS!" She wheezed, clutching her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny your majesty." I glared at her. Finally, I looked at my surroundings, and I was in the same part of the "Starry Field" as before, where I had first met her.

"So," I continued. "You're supposed to be training me? How do we start?"

"It's simple," Amelia replied. She reached out her right hand and materialized a wooden sword. "I teach you how to fight with fake weapons, and then eventually," The wooden material suddenly transformed into a light turquoise weapon, very clearly made out of magic. "This happens. Or, you get a different weapon, you don't always have swords as your main. For example, I have a friend who uses a bow."
I stared at her in wonder and amazement as the brilliant sword transformed back into the dull wooden one. She tossed it to me, and I clumsily caught it. Amelia materialized another one.

"Alright Sugar," Amelia smirked, lightly clashing her weapon against mine. 

"En garde!"

--------------

We were given folders with all the information that we knew about the royal family. Amelia's folder was pretty full; we knew the most about her. The prince and princess's folders were about the same size, but we didn't have a lot. The king's folder had very few items in it because the public knew next to nothing about him.

"Alright, so let's start with Queen Amelia Divine." Luke Alvez spoke out first.

David continued. "Five-foot three, standard brown hair and eyes. Born on September seventh."

"Natural-born leader with a passion for helping others." Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst, was the next to speak up. "So why is the media portraying her as a villain?" 

The room grew quiet as we reviewed the events of the past year. This time, I was the one to start talking.

"Because some of her species decided to organize an attack on the Washington Monument. Everyone is blaming her for something she had no hand in." Everyone seemed to agree with me.

"And it all just went downhill from there." Emily agreed. "Alright, next is the prince. Eighteen years old, most likely a senior in high school. We know he's been to several protests and pride parades, so he seems like an activist." 

"Eighteen is barely an adult." Matt Simmons commented. "God, these are kids. What are we doing trying to hand them over to someone who's going to kill them?" All of us subconsciously nodded, and I was grateful for the support.

"The princess is ten years old, and is said to be a prodigy who is only a grade below her brother," Penelope said next, starting to smile. "She'll graduate at twelve just like you did, Spence!" Everyone chuckled at the remark.

"And finally," Tara concluded. "The king. All we know about him is that he's tall, smart,-" she glanced over at me.

"And probably smoking hot." Penelope joked, sending us all into a fit of laughter.

"Hey pretty boy," David teased. "You sure you don't have a secret wife we don't know about?" The remark sent everyone back into uncontrollable laughter. I laughed alongside them, not liking how close to the truth they were.

"Alright," Emily gathered us together. "Let's at least find them, and then we can decide what to do with the information." 

I became more anxious as everyone went to their stations, and started profiling the family. There were only two ways this could go, and neither outcome was favorable.

Arthur Schopenhauer once said, "Compassion is the basis of morality."