Keep On: Cassandra's Tangled Journey

18) The Library (Act 1)

Cassandra tugged the ends of her hair, then placed both her hands on Selena's shoulders.
"Selena! You can't do this! I can't let you do this!"
Selena pulled away. "You sound like my mom right now and I don't appreciate it."
Cass quickly pulled her hands back to her waist. She leaned in slightly closer once again, trying to talk to Selena in a more adult way this time.
"Have you ever heard about, 'with power comes responsibility?" Selena shook her head. Cassandra ignored it and carried on. "Well, that's a phrase I didn't pay attention to. I got the power, and I fucked everything up. So many opportunities I could have had, and I lost them because I was too selfish to see eye-to-eye with anyone. From what I understand, you want to become a witch, right?" Selena nodded. "Right. So, the main question to ask yourself when it comes to these big life decisions is; how is this decision going to affect you long-term? Because that's something I did not consider before I grabbed the moonstone, and now I have an oval-shaped hole in my chest." Selena raised an eyebrow as Cassandra traced the brim of the egg-shaped circle that was covered up by the shirt, but still visible due to how thin the shirt was.

Clutching her chest, Cassandra begged, "Selena, I'm telling you as someone who had made some truly inexcusable mistakes, please please please, do not do this just to fulfil Sabrina's wishes. You have a life, do what you want-"
"This is what I want!" Selena raised her voice, broadening her shoulders to make herself seem like the bigger person, "My old life was crap. I was always second best. Always. I was the one who had to do the chores each night, and no one ever said 'thank you'. Sabrina was the first person to see me for who I truly am- a witch in training. Like she always says, you're either born a witch, or you live long enough to learn enough magic to turn yourself into a witch. Do you know what this means, Cassandra?" Before Cass could answer, Selena finished her sentence. "This means you can become a witch too if you want!" She grabbed Cassandra's hands in her own, and jumped up and down enthusiastically. "You look young enough, I can get you started right now!"
She started to drag Cassandra along with her, but Cass let go.
"Woah, kid, I don't want to become a witch."
Selena's face fell. "But it's so sick. Sabrina would be delighted!"
"I know she would, but that's not who I am."
"Well then, who are you?"
Cass thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure I'm not a witch," she chuckled.

Selena smiled at Cassandra as if she were brainstorming something. As Cassandra awaited the teenager's answer, her eyes darted around the room trying to figure out where to go after this conversation was finished. Finally, Selena spoke.
"How about I give you the green gem?"
Cass's face lit up. "Are you serious?"
"Eh, why not?" Selena snapped her fingers and a mysterious silhouette appeared right next to her, cradling the bioluminescent emerald in its arms. It took a few seconds for Cassandra to realise it, but the silhouette was of her. The fourth guardian was her own shadow. The silhouette reluctantly let go of the gem as Selena pried it out of its arms, and handed it to the woman in the magician's costume who was beaming like a young child who had just been praised by their teacher.

Cassandra placed the green jewel in her pocket where the red, orange and yellow gems were still resting, despite the fact that Cass was now wearing a completely different outfit. She threw her arms around the young girl, hugging her tight.
"Thank you so much, Selena."
"No worries," Selena winked at Sabrina, who was witnessing the entire interaction from behind the melting flaxen candle, unbeknownst to Cass. The red-headed witch winked back at her best friend, glowing with pride that her plan was all going as expected. She knew Cassandra had the potential to make it all the way through the castle, so she figured that giving the green gem right then and there would definitely motivate her subject to keep on.

"That's all the help I'm giving you," Selena said as she broke away from the hug. Cassandra nodded.
"That's fine. I understand." She looked around again. She noticed an empty milk bottle that seemed weirdly out of place in this library. "Should I?"
At first Selena didn't respond in any way, since she had just said that she couldn't help any more, but she quickly gave in and nodded. With one last smile, Cassandra left Selena to continue whatever it was she was doing before they started talking. Though Cassandra didn't see the appeal in wanting to turn into a witch, she could understand why Selena was so desperate. Sabrina had been all alone for over 10,000 years, and she clearly wasn't very good at meeting new people, seeing as she had supposedly sent quite a few people through this challenging obstacle course over the years and unsurprisingly, no one appreciated being trapped in an alternative universe as a means of getting to know someone. Once she had collected all seven gems and created the rainbow bridge, Cassandra would have an adult discussion with Sabrina, because this young prodigy clearly had potential, she just needed to find a better way to express it.

Cassandra approached the giant clear milk bottle that was knocked on its side. The cap was off, and there were a few drops of the white liquid that had spilt on the desk. Cass poked her head inside, wondering what she was supposed to do with this container. Just as she turned to look back outside, that pesky shadow of hers blocked her view and shoved her into the bottle, closing the lid afterwards.

Splat! Cassandra landed flat on her back in a new atmosphere, one that was completely different from the library. While the library was dark and dusty, the only source of light coming from poorly-lit lamps and a couple of leaking candles that had 'fire hazard' written all over them, this new world was bright, vibrant, colourful, and had a cool temperature. Also, everything was made of candy.

The platform Cassandra was standing on was made out of a pink wafer, resting on top of a gooey marshmallow layer. The rock walls around her were sculpted out of fudge and jelly, and they were built on top of a giant milkshake waterfall, dropping magenta cookies over the edge like clouds dropping hail on a winter's day. Speaking of clouds, the clouds in this universe were made out of cotton candy.