I woke surrounded by silver.
I was lying on my side on a metal floor, and from where I lay, all I could see were silver walls. Had Jason replaced the white with silver while I'd been unconscious? It didn't seem likely.
Remembering Jason made all the recent memories that I'd somehow forgotten flood back into me. I had been held down against my will, and Jason, who had re-introduced himself as the Shadow Man, had...
I couldn't remember, and it bothered me. However, I could not, in a million years, forget the pain. Whatever he had done to me to extract my magic, it had been so agonizing that my body had decided to have mercy on me and allow my consciousness to slip away, freeing my mind from the chains that held me prisoner.
I pushed myself up onto my elbows - except something was wrong. When I tried to move my arms, I felt more movement than there should be. Confused, I glanced further down my torso and legs, trying to figure out what was wrong with me - and screamed, although it came out as more of a hoarse croak.
I didn't have a torso anymore. I didn't have legs.
I wasn't even human.
One quick look had told me that my body was a mass of brown, and I'd freaked out enough to look away, already making a silent deal with myself that I was not going to look down for a very long time.
I stilled, forcing myself to calm, to breathe evenly, in and out of my nose. Did I even have a nose? What was I?
This had to be a nightmare. There was no way I could have transformed into this...thing. There was no way the Shadow Man had managed to do this to me. I felt disgusted - at myself - and instantly felt ashamed. It wasn't my fault I was like this. There was no point to waste my time fretting over my new appearance. First, I had to find my way out of this silver prison.
Second, I had to figure out how to return to Jendilya. The Shadow Man had revealed that we had been in Earth the entire time. If I could go back to my world, perhaps I could use my power. I would have a bigger chance at grabbing someone's attention, and hopefully, I could be saved. Could the Dorlae heal me? I hoped so.
Suddenly, the silver walls began to move, one of the walls sliding open with an ear splitting noise, and I was tossed roughly out into the light, which blinded me momentarily. I went sprawling, my legs - my multiple legs - digging into the dirt as I fought to regain my balance. Once I managed to stop sliding, I used my many legs to force myself up.
This time, I was surrounded by nature. There was green all around me - green that I slowly understood to be grass, meaning that I was small. I was extremely, extremely small. A large shadow loomed in front of me, and I scrambled back when I saw the Shadow Man's enormous face, peering at me from behind the glass window.
Back when I was still human, I had walked into a room with teeming wildlife - only it had been separated from me by a glass wall. It had been the room where the Shadow Man had shown his true colours, and abducted me. He'd fabricated most of his story as to how I came to be in his company - he'd claimed to have saved me, when in reality he had taken me away. Eva hadn't tried to kill me; he had.
He had not been lying about his wife, at least, but his love for Sophie ran just a little too deep, clouding his rational thoughts and causing him to do things that went against regular human morals. Sophie had been obsessed with magic, and hence, so was Jason - and his main goal had been to extract the magic I had out of me, in order to study it, and do who knows what with it.
It was evil, pure evil. Earthens were not meant to meddle with magic. Magic didn't exist on Earth, therefore, magic was not for the Earthens to control. It was another reason why I had to escape somehow, and warn Queen Kameron.
The Shadow Man pounded his fists against the glass, causing the dirt underneath me to shudder. Not used to my new body, I quickly lost my balance, and fell back to the ground.
"What am I doing wrong?" the Shadow Man roared, his face red with fury. "Why did this happen again?"
I was too shocked to react. What did he mean? Was my transformation not something that was supposed to happen?
The Shadow Man slowly withdrew his fists from the glass. In a few seconds, the cold, emotionless mask had returned. "No matter. I still got what I wanted: a portion of your magic. I still have yet to figure out how to use it, but I am sure it will not take long."
"You - " I shouted, unable to get another word out, due to the combination of shock and horror that had flooded me the moment he'd announced that he now had my magic. What was he going to do with it? Could he even use it?
And the questions that scared me the most: did that mean he had stolen that portion of my magic away from me completely? Was it gone forever?
The Shadow Man continued speaking, oblivious to the fact that I was glaring at him. "Welcome to your new home, Kelvin. Make yourself as comfortable as you please here, for I'm afraid you won't be leaving anytime soon - if at all." He ended his sentence with a smirk, and I wanted nothing more but to punch him, even though I knew that in this current form, I could do nothing more but irritate him.
He turned, and his figure receded into the distance. I growled - or tried to, the sound didn't come out of my throat the way I wanted it to - and shakily got back on my many feet, turning a slow circle. There had to be a way I could escape. I wasn't going to let the Shadow Man near any of my friends.
The blades of grass rustled, and I instantly froze.
I wasn't alone.
From the midst of green, two golden orbs appeared. Screaming, I jumped away - but I did more than that. I shot straight up into the air, and stayed there, hovering just a few feet above the ground.
I was flying.
The other creature hopped out from the cover of the grass. When it came into view, I recognised the creature as the golden eyed frog I'd noticed before. "Don't be afraid," the pale green skinned frog said. The frog had a feminine sounding voice. Could I assume that the frog was female? "I won't hurt you."
I wasn't so ready to believe the frog, especially since I could tell that the frog was bigger than I was, and I could potentially become the frog's next meal. "Who are you?"
"I used to be a human girl. I came from Jendilya, just like you," the frog answered.
"You were from Jendilya? What's your name?" The questions poured out of my mouth. If this frog was just like me, that would mean that she was on my side, right? I had an ally in all this.
The golden eyed frog hesitated. "My name is Livia."
I had never heard of her. "Were you there during the civil war?"
She shuddered - and seeing a frog shudder was almost scary. "I remember. It was chaos. The Queen of Diamonds was killing everyone. How is Jendilya under her rule now?"
"Queen Jennifer is dead, actually," I replied, and Livia gaped. I had to say, a human expression on the face of a frog was downright creepy. It would be a while before I was used to it. "Do you know about her older sister?"
Livia nodded. "Princess Kameron. I heard she led the rebels to an attack against the castle, but I assumed she would lose. The Queen of Diamonds was just too powerful for any of us." Perhaps it was just my imagination, but the golden eyed frog held back a grimace.
