Chapter 17 - Who are you?

We look around vigorously, we don't know where the glowing orb-on-a-stick could be. My mom says, "I know who did this.."

We all sigh, happy to finally have caught the culprit, but what she says stops my father cold. She slowly turns to my father, making him go pale.

"That lying man has tricked you Ava. He STOLE MY STAFF!!" My mother pouts.

She's sounding like a kid right now, one that hasn't gotten her way. She looks like a six year old, and I don't even recognize her as the woman from my dream. But, it has to be her. She's the only person that looks like my mother, right? Anyways, we stood in awkwardness. My dad massaging his temples with his head down, my mother sitting on a bench with her hands crossed, staring at him. Acting like a child once more, she glares with a certain competitiveness in her eye.

This is all weird for me, so I break the silence. "Well mom, since he obviously doesn't have it, let's look for it a bit more." Im certain it has to be there, unless someone took it, but she was holding it!

My mom stands up and effortlessly looks for the staff without a care whilst my dad is looking for it like a mad man trying to prove himself. As I'm looking, I see something glowing from my mother's bag. It was draped on her back earlier, so what was it doing behind a bush? I feel around in the bag looking for the glowing object, when I spot something I didn't expect. There was a glowing book in her bag.

"Mom whats this?"

Low and behold, I reach out, grabbing a glowing spell book. It has ancient Chinese writing on the cover, but I cannot recognize it because I am Chinese-American, and I haven't really focused on the Chinese part of my life. There are also certain creases inside the book that I decide I will have a look at later. The book has an overall small frame, and it looks a bit beaten up. The cover feels like wood, but more tamed.

My dad points with a shaky hand, "Thats the book Ursula used to have, when she had less restraint. Before she became the Queen."

My mother presses her lips to a thin line, hiding a smirk. She starts to stand a little bit more taller. "Mother, what are you doing with her book?" I choice my words carefully. My mother laughs.

She waves her hand, creating a small ripple in mid-air. It shows a picture of a woman. A splitting image of her. My dad first realized what was going on. "You're not Ariel, are you?"