Just as I had made this realization, I felt something soft touch the underside of my chin, forcing my parted lips to close. I balked and looked down, seeing a black-gloved hand caressing my skin. I then traced upward along the sleeve of the red gown until I found myself staring up into a pair of jade-colored eyes set into a doughy, alabaster face.

"You shouldn't leave your mouth hanging open," purred a low, silk-like voice as this second individual narrowed her dark, but emphatic gaze upon me, "You might swallow a spider."

The way she said these words sent a prickle down my spine, and I couldn't keep myself from swallowing, to which the strange woman chuckled eerily, the long, curly silver locks of her hair trembling as she did. She was shorter than myself, though for the moment she stood over me, and wore an elegant jumper skirt, embellished with near-gaudy amounts of frills and lace. One would not have been untoward if they mistook her as a life-sized porcelain doll.

I stared up at her for a moment, once again without having meant to, but for entirely different reasons. Her interruption had disoriented me, as if I had hitherto bewitched by some sort of spell, only to be jolted from it by her touch. Then, after a moment, I caught myself and looked back to the lady in white, only to realize she had vanished entirely.

The young woman before me followed my gaze languidly, then it fell back on me, and I heard to words "Are you unwell, Miss Cleyne?" escape her lips.

"Oh…yes…" I trailed off slightly, still caught between reality and delirium, and only responding automatically upon hearing my name. A second later, I remembered myself and shook off the haze, quickly adding: "No! I mean, I'm fine, I just…thought I saw something."

I mechanically put on an amicable smile, and she met mine with her own, her fox-like eyes narrowing in a way that bespoke an keen sense of understanding—one that sat ill with me.

"And are you oft given to staring blankly into the ether, Miss Cleyne?" her velvet voice cooed, sounding as one who had just uncovered a damming secret.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"So it would seem…" I blushed, hesitant as to how much I wanted to interact with such an obviously attritive person. I stood, if not only to be polite, and found myself looking down on her now. I was, myself, not particularly tall by any rights, but I still dwarfed the girl before me, which only added to the 'child-like' sense of her motif. It also served to restore my bearing, if ever so slightly, and drew my mind away from the strangeness of this double-encounter.

She took a step back, allowing a little space to bridge us, and folded her arms gently across her torso. "I suppose it can't be helped," she said after an uncomfortably long silence. "What with all the curious things you must see with those beautiful blue eyes of yours."

"I beg your pardon?" I said, confused. After all, my eyes were green. "What do you mean?"

"What indeed…?" she responded slowly, her lips twisting into a devilish grin, and then turned on her heel, as if making to leave.

"Ah…?" I started to say something, but couldn't form the words.

She paused and half-turned to look at me over her shoulder. "Ah?" she repeated.

"…my apologies, Miss…?"

She smiled again, this time more amicably, and about-faced, resting her hand over her bosom and bowing gently, though her eyes remained locked onto mine. "Millenia."

Once again, her odd demeanor left me speechless, which seemed to only amuse the girl further. I looked at her, and she at me, for some short time afterward, and I became aware of a strange feeling inside of me. Unlike the abstracting sensation of feeling 'lost' in the other woman's gaze, however, this one was more akin to that of gazing upon a mountain with the insatiable desire to see the world from its peak.

Moreover, I felt that if I should break the glance first, then I would surely 'lose' this silly little game, and childishly found that notion unacceptable.

She chuckled.

"Have a good evening…Miss Cleyne," she said, her words so that they were almost a whisper and, without even a moment's hesitation, disengaged.

I watched her leave, and only when she was out of sight did I finally feel able to relax, letting out of a breath that I must've been holding longer than I realized. That adolescent part of me reveled in my perceived victory, though something else within wryly wondered if I truly had.

Whatever the case, a part of me hoped that I should never meet such a perplexing personage again, and in the moment immediately following, I became aware of the turning hues of the sky.

It seemed I would be late after all.