• They had grown up together almost as brother and sister. He a prince and she the library’s keeper. Though the Prince’s father didn’t approve of the girl playing with his son he allowed it for this girl was a safe playmate in the mansion. But the two were older now, reaching the end of their teens, and the boy was off doing what princes are born to do; learn to run the kingdom.
    Each country in the world was it’s own kingdom. The United States was a kingdom ruled by blood royalty of George Washington, the first King who rose to fame by his ability to be a general. The Chinese and Japanese held onto there ancestry but still made scientific advancements into the future. The British and Indian fought each other over feuds from they’re past. Many of the kingdoms sat quietly.
    The U.S. was the only kingdom that allowed its states to have governors and to take suggestions from those states when making decisions. He had one advisor from each of the forty-eight states and talked with them often. It was here that the Prince spent most of his days trying without enthusiasm to learn his fathers actions.
    One day, on the few he had free, the Prince wandered into the library. There were four rooms in the library; the main room, which was all history books, the second, which held novels written through out time, the third, who’s books were full of artwork, and the fourth, the scientific journals. The Prince knew where she would be and so he sauntered through the doorways to the fourth room.
    A smile grew on his face as he entered for there sat his best friend. Her short body was curled up in one of the large wingback chairs that surrounded a wooden coffee table. She had kicked her shoes off by one of the claw feet without any care of their tumbled look. Her long brown hair was braided and hung along her elegant neck and down to her waist.
    The slacks she wore were dark blue as they should be for her position in the mansion. The white sleeved shirt she wore was covered by they red and blue sash that ran across her breasts and tied at her right hip. This was the sign of the Kings mansion and was always to be wore inside of its doors. A piece of her hair hung down in her face as her eyes scanned the words of the large book in her hands.
    “Mellia?” He whispered her name through the dimness of the room. The shelves around them were full to the brim of scientific finds and facts. There were no windows in the library for that would be a waste of the wall. The girl looked up at the Prince. Her eyes were the brightest things in the library to him. The golden yellow that stood out against her tanned skin and dark hair.
    A smile grew on her face. “Prince Alexander.” She had learned as a child to call him prince when he first entered any room she was in. For if their was another person behind him and they heard the nickname she had given him then she would be in a lot of trouble.
    “Its safe,” he replied and moved to sit beside her in one of the red chairs. “I have the day to do what ever I want.”
    “Really?” Mellia’s smile grew even larger. She put the book down and straightened her legs slipping her toes into her shoes. “There is a book I would like to show to you, Amore.”
    “What is it this time?” The Prince followed the girl out of the fourth room and back toward the main room. There she went to the farthest corner and climbed the rolling ladder to the top of a shelve and brought down a small journal. It was leather bound with a small copper buckle on it. The pages looked worn and aged yellow.
    “I found this yesterday evening before I retired to my quarters.” Her hands opened the book with care and turned it to the first page. It was written in an ancient form of english. The words were spelt wrong and the letters were misshapen; the Prince was having trouble understanding the first line.
    “Magic?” he asked for it had been the only word that made sense to him.
    “Yes,” Mellia looked up at his face. The Prince was rubbing his neck with a long hand. His head turned down at the book. The brown hair that was cut short was light like cedar wood. The right eye, the one she could see, was a bright green the other matched she knew from her days of taking glances at the pair. He was much taller then she, reaching six feet five inches, taller than his father and his mother. They questioned where the height had come from.
    “This looks to be a journal of some kind,” Alexander smiled at her. “I’m sure you’ve already figured out who wrote it.”
    “I have.” Mellia turned a few more pages to a signature page. “The author was a Sir, Lancitt Forthwort.”
    “That’s an odd name!” exclaimed the Prince.
    “Well, yeah,” she smiled at his act, he always liked to play things up. “Anyway, this book is full of things, like creatures I’ve never heard of and places that are hidden under the sea or in mountains where, for some reason, we’ve never uncovered their existents.”
    “What are you saying?” he turned to her away from the small journal. “That this man knew of places we haven’t discovered?”
    “No....” She thought for a moment putting her hands on her hips and looking up at the elegant chandeliers. “It seems to me that there are places we cant discover. We are in need of something that we don’t have any more.”
    The Prince took only a second to come back to his first words about the book. “Magic.”
    “Yes.” Her expression was dull as she took the small book back up the ladder. “I was thinking that it was a novel and not a history book.”
    “But?” The Prince watched as Mellia climbed back down the ladder after putting the small journal back into place.
    A sigh escaped her lungs as she turned to face Alex. She didn’t look up into his eyes but instead stared down at the finely rugged floor. “The book was meant for me...”
    Alex didn’t respond. He knew her too well for her to be lying to him. The words that came from her mouth, the reason she was hiding her face from him. Magic died along time ago, young Prince, it was a memory from his childhood school days, The fact you even know the word is mind boggling. But yes, his teacher had said, Magic does not exist in our world.
    “But then....you...” The Prince stumbled backward into the table holding his head in his hand. Mellia moved toward him but didn’t reach out in concern.
    “I may possibly be the descendant of a Warlock.”
    He shook his head. “You’re joking, you have to be.”
    “Amore?” He looked up at her face suddenly; because of the tone she used in her voice. It was so sad and helpless. Her eyes were on the floor. “I must find out the truth.”
    “I....I cant help you, Mellia,” his body shuddered at the thought. Not help her? When that’s all he had done for the past fourteen years.
    “Alex....” Her face turned up and she looked into his eyes not wanting to continue.

    And that’s when he woke up from his dream. His body shot upright on the soft mattress cold sweat seeping from his skin. Alex glanced around his dark bedroom then down at his shaking hands.
    “That....” he whispered, “It did happen didn’t it....she’s really....really....a.....”