"Rayah what is that glowing on your forehead." Pearl asked completely bewildered.
"What?" Rayah put her hands on her forehead to cover the light.
"It..it stopped glowing."
Rayah looked both sides.
"What is that. What's happening, why is your forehead glimmering with light" Pearl asked immediately Rayah closed her room door.
Rayah wondered how she was going to explain it to Pearl that she'd had a heart failure condition since she was born. She didn't want Pearl to get extremely worried about her. She knew Pearl. Only her father knew about her heart failure.
"Pearl calm down okay, it happens sometimes."
"You tell me that a glimmering light on one's forehead is normal?"
The light appeared on Rayah's forehead again, it glimmered then disappeared. This had Pearl shocked once more.
"Rayah do you have some sort of magical powers?." Pearl turned from being curious to excited.
"Magical powers? No" Rayah waved it off.
"Rah you don't have to keep it a secret from me, I'm your bestie common."
Rayah could not tell why her sister was being this excited just because she thought she had powers.
"Pearl I don't have any powers, you are so into fairytales."
"I promise I won't tell anyone. What can you do." Pearl asked expectantly waiting for answers.
Rayah sighed. She thought of what to tell her sister. "Pearl I was born with a diamond on my forehead i don't know why okay. It appears once in a while."
"If that was the reason, then why did you choose to hide it."
"Because of the way you're reacting towards it right now."
Pearl looked away while she played with her hair strands.
"I was only shocked"
"Yeah you were." Rayah said then headed to her bed. " I wanna go to bed." Rayah then went and layed under the blankets.
"Rayah it could be that you possess some kind of power. I mean nobody's born with a glowing forehead alright. Don't you wanna find out what it is."
There was no response from Rayah, Pearl came closer to the bed and saw that Rayah pretended to be sleeping.
"Rah I can't believe you right now." Pearl said but Rayah still closed her eyes.
"Fine we'll talk about this tomorrow." Pearl then turned to leave.
"Goodnight." Rayah smiled as she opened one of her eyes and said to Pearl who closed the door on her way out.
Rayah sat up on the bed, she could feel her heart beating unreasonably fast, one of the symptoms of her heart failure. Rayah looked out at the star while thinking.
'Why are the symptoms showing itself. Is the diamond not working anymore?.' Rayah shivered and rubbed her arms, she hoped not. Rayah turned off her lamps leaving just a few lit candles.
Rayah tapped on her forehead and the light appeared but it just glimmered and went off. Before it glowed and only disappeared when Rayah tapped on it again.
' What's happening ' Rayah hugged herself, tear drops began dripping from her eyes.
Pearl couldn't stop thinking about what she had seen. It wasn't so easy to comprehend. She wondered why Rayah did not tell her she had a diamond light on her forehead and she seemed to be lying about not having powers.
Pearl kept on thinking about it and she kind of saw her sister in a new light as someone who's not ordinary. The imagery of Rayah's forehead glowing with a diamond shaped light kept on playing in her head until she fell asleep.
"Good morning your Majesty" A well dressed young man bowed to the Queen.
"The banquet is in three days, have you made up your mind?"
"That is why I'm here your Majesty, I have."
"Good." Queen Lisa had a sly smile on her face.
"This is the only opportunity you get to become a king by marrying my daughter if this plan is a success. Of course it will be unless you fail to do your own part unmistakenly.
" Your majesty i promise not to let you down."
"You cannot let me down, I don't need to tell you what will happen to you if you do Prince Siko."
Prince Siko knew he had to do this if he wants to become a king and protect himself. His elder brother was already king of Hali that's why he needed power if he wanted to live. His brother might just have him killed whenever he wishes to. His brother was just the king of a small kingdom that can't be compared to Montis. This is a good thing for him.
Prince Siko looked at the Queen with determination in his eyes. "Yes your majesty and I can't thank you enough for giving me this opportunity."
Queen Lisa stared at the prince for sometime
"Have breakfast with us, I want you to meet your fiance."
Rayah stood in her room's terrace, the morning breeze blowing around her.
Rayah inhaled then exhaled, she could see lush grasses on the castle field.
Someone whistled to Rayah's hearing.
"Psst Rayah"
Rayah saw that it was Pearl waving towards her from her own room's terrace which was adjacent to her's.
Pearl suddenly went back inside when Rayah was about to wave back. Rayah's hand stopped in mid-air
"Good Morning." Pearl spoke behind Rayah all of sudden.
"Ahh" Rayah shrieked.
"Pearl can you stop being sneaky?"
"Sorry"
"What do you have there."
'Why is she being all enthusiastic now.' Rayah wondered.
Pearl held several books. "Oh, I found these books, take a look at them."
Rayah collected the book Pearl handed to her, it was titled A Witch's Diary. "What do you want to do with this"
"There are some spells in them. It's the story of a witch who couldn't control her powers and that got her exposed so she had to flee for her life, always on the lookout for hideouts. There are some spells she casted in there. Let's try one and see if it will work."
"I am not a witch Pearl."
"Of course yes let's only try some of them and see. You won't know until you try."
Pearl took back the book from Rayah and flipped through the pages.
"Ooo, let's try this spell. She casted a spell that lifted her up when a big boulder was coming her way, let's try that. Just say Ham-nu-ta-ma-kaa."
Rayah didn't know what to say so that Pearl would stop believing she had some form of power.
"Pearl listen....
"You aren't a witch Yes I know. I'm not saying you're a witch let's just check if your powers work...
"I don't have powers"
"You don't know that, let's awaken them."
"Do you mean awakening the powers that I do not have"
"Rah why are you being this way, I am your sister why don't you trust me." Pearl's voice sounded hurt
"Pearl you don't understand, I am not lying when I say I do not have powers."
"Says a girl with a magical glowing light on her forehead. You know what, it's fine." Pearl turned around to leave.
"Ham-nu-ta-ma-kaa" Rayah said out the spell. Pearl immediately turned back to see.
Rayah had her eyes closed. "Did it work?" She asked.
"Say it one more time."
"Ham-nu-ta-ma-kaa!" Rayah said more loudly, everywhere was quiet as the breeze blew by. They were both waiting for something to happen most especially Pearl.
"This one didn't work." Pearl said.
Rayah opened her eyes hoping to see Pearl disappointed instead she saw a girl filled with eagerness to see it work.
"Let's try some other spell." Pearl flipped through the pages again.
Rayah sighed innerly. "Okay"
"Anyone there?" Pearl called out.
A servant quickly came into the room. "Yes your highness."
"Get me a fresh flower. Do not waste time."
"Yes your highness."
Rayah could only wonder what Pearl planned to use the flower for.
The servant was back with the flower before they knew it.
"The witch hated flowers because of their bright colours so she would kill anyone she saw on her way." Pearl said as she continued skimming through the pages.
Rayah felt an headache coming up. "Oh Wow."
"Yeah, she was going through worse moments of her life, living in exile so that's why she hated anything bright at all like flowers. The witch believed there was nothing bright in her life and it hurt her eyes to see anything bright so she killed the flowers."
"Poor Flowers" Rayah forced herself to reply.
"Now say O-lu-vrei-man-tot-ski" Pearl brought the flower in front of Rayah.
"O-lu-mrei-van-tot-ski."
"No Rayah it's O-lu-vrei-man-tot-ski not O-lu-mrei-van-tot-ski."
"Oh."
"Say O"
"O" Rayah repeated
"Lu"
"Lu" Rayah repeated
"Vrei"
"Vrei" Rayah repeated
"Man"
"Oluvreimantotski. I get it now." Rayah said.
Pearl then turned her back at Rayah. "Alright say it already. I want it to be a surprise when it works."
Rayah was mentally exhausted from all these Spell casting stuff Pearl was making her do. She said the spell one more time. "Oluvreimantotski" she said with her eyes closed.
Pearl gasped. Rayah heard it and immediately opened her eyes.
"Oh my god Rah"