text: [Themes: fantasy, fantasy]
  
  You climb through tunnels and tunnels, trying not to think about what Westerly told you. You don't like danger or conflict, or anything strange.
  
  Slowly, you become aware of a strange feeling - a feeling of something watching you. The caves are pretty full, so that's not unusual. But this is different.
  
  It's different here. It's different...here...
  
  Oh dear. It dawns on you you're in the wrong place. This is a dark, empty tunnel – so small, you have to stoop low. You must've been thinking so hard, you took a wrong turn. You have no idea where you are.
  
  Never mind, never mind. It's no big deal – you'll just go back. Your sense of direction is pretty good.
  
  Before you fully turn around, though, you glimpse something shiny and reflective. The magic lights, which here are dim and sparse, don't have a reflective look to them. It's the kind of reflective light that you only see in gems and eyes-
  
  And what you're looking at right now, you realize, is eyes. There's a person crouched in a dark corner, watching you, cloaked in a strange kind of cloak you don't see in Footink. It has a hood and long sleeves – too hot for the caves, too hot to come from around here...
  
  You hear a whisper coming from him – something in a strange language. He points a finger at you.
  
  Even though you know you need to run, your arms and legs are stiff with fear. Could this be the magician Westerly talked about? But how? And why you? You curse your stupidity in coming here. Why, oh why?
  
  "You. Will. Not. See." Four words, evenly spaced.
  
  You take that as your cue, and turn back and run. Within the first few steps, your footing comes out from under you and you trip and fall. Your head hits hard against the rock, but you don't lose consciousness.
  
  You start crawling. Fast, fast. You get your momentum again and run. He doesn't appear to follow you.
  
  You debate whether to tell your parents what just happened. If you were truly cursed, you might bring them harm by telling them. Not to mention you might be shunned for bringing bad magic. You get an awful feeling that, if you tell anyone, terrible things will happen.
  
  You think you should keep this secret.
  
  > tell what happened.
  When you get back, Rosimary looks at your grazes and wild eyes with alarm.
  
  "What happened to you?" she asks.
  
  You tell her everything. How you went to the wrong place, how you saw a strange person who seemed somehow magical, and how you believe they put a cures on you.
  
  "What a cruel joke to play on me," she says, tutting.
  
  "It's the truth, Mother. I swear. It's the truth!"
  
  She searches your eyes, and perceiving your honesty, stands up. "We need to go straight to the Temple."
  
  You begin to protest. Going to the Temple seems like an extreme course of action.
  
  Rosimary stops you, though. "Who else can help but the priests?"
  
  You understand she's right. You come with her to the Temple.
  
  Novitiate Murl, a teenage boy training to become a priest, tells you to wait for a few minutes while Mother Larissa finishes her prayers.
  
  "This is something only our head priestess can help with," he tells you.
  
  You glance nervously at Rosimary. Rosimary takes your hand and squeeze it. "It will be okay," she says.
  
  Eventually Mother Larissa, a short, bent-over old woman, comes out of the far room in little steps. She glances over your mother and you. "Mary and Rosimary," she mutters. "Mary and Rosimary." She smiles, revealing lots of white, crooked teeth. "You did well in choosing to come here. Something bad has happened to you, Mary, but it will be okay, it will be okay. Come with me to the altar and pray, and pray."
  
  She goes over to the altar on the other side of the room and kneels. You follow suit. As you pray, you feel a warmth settle over you.
  
  "A curse is over you," Mother Larissa says to you when you stand again. "And though it's already in place, it is yet to reach fruition." She turns to Rosimary and smiles brightly, looking down. "Hello there, little Sap."
  
  You turn around, and jump away in fright when you see a strange girl there, with no eyes on her face – only sunken in sockets. Her fingers are short and stubby, and her mouth is abnormally tiny, curled up in a semi-circular smile. Something about the way she looks makes you afraid, eerie. And she clings to Rosimary's hips, hugging her, and Rosimary hugs her back.
  
  "Who-" you begin.
  
  "Hmm?" Mother Larissa says to you.
  
  You point. "Who is she?" Why does she inspire such fear in you? Is it only her strange body and face? She rocks back and forth rhythmically.
  
  "What are you talking about?" Rosimary says. "This is your sister."
  
  The girl turns her face in your direction, still with that strangely circular smile.
  
  "No she isn't," you say.
  
  The girl's smile drops instantly, and her grip on Rosimary's skirt tightens.
  
  Mother Larissa watches you. "Do you have no knowledge of her? No knowledge?" It's a serious question.
  
  You nod. "I've never seen her before."
  
  "Well, then this is the curse, I do believe. I do believe. Sap has always been your sister, and now you have no memory of her!"
  
  You stare at the girl. A sister? But you've always been a single child. How can this be so? It's impossible.
  
  > trust the head priestess.
  The priests know much more about magic and its potential than you. It makes sense to trust them. This girl with no eyes is your sister, even though you don't remember her. And the magician's curse was to make you forget her.
  
  "But why would he do that?" Rosimary asks on your behalf.
  
  "I do not know," Mother Larissa says. There's a pause.
  
  Novitiate Murl, who has been nearby the whole time, speaks up. "Didn't you say Sap was powerful, Mother? Perhaps he intended to sap her power away. No pun intended. Mary would reject Sap, making Sap vulnerable."
  
  "That is true," Mother Larissa says thoughtfully.
  
  Sap grips her mother more tightly.
  
  "Will my daughter be okay?" Rosimary asks.
  
  Mother Larissa bends over to talk to Sap. "Little one, would you like to receive training with me? From the moment of your birth, I recognized in you great magical power, and it was always my hope you might join us in the Temple one day. I do not mean to suggest you must become a priest with us now, but, given our situation, perhaps some training would be good for you."
  
  She shies away, and then nods slowly.
  
  "Very well," says Mother Larissa. "Meanwhile, Mary, tell us where you saw the magician, and we shall try to find him."
  
  You tell them everything, and sit and wait. By the end of the day, you learn that they were unable to find the magician, but found evidence he had been there.
  
  Days pass. Sap spends much of her time at the Temple, and Tolmerrie and Rosimary are happy for her.
  
  "She spoke of wanting to become a priestess," says Tolmerrie.
  
  None of your memories return. You hear little of the magician, and wonder if maybe he's left. Or if he's planning something big. The stress of not knowing wears on you, even though there's nothing you can do.
  
  One night, you're woken by having your shoulders shaken. It's Sap. You begin to speak, but she puts a finger over your mouth, and gestures for you to follow her. You do.
  
  Outside, it's dark. She points into a far corner. You can barely see anything. You try to listen, but can't hear anything either.
  
  Then, suddenly, she raises her hand and shoots forth a bolt of light. It hits against the rock hard, causing it to shatter and making an exploding noise.
  
  Without hesitation, she starts to run forward. How can she even see where she's going? You follow hesitantly. As you come closer, you see a rat there. She stomps on it hard, again and again.
  
  Okay, random. The rat keeps moving, refusing to die. Even when it's beaten to a little pulp, it keeps scrawling. She gestures for you to try and finish it. This seems important to her, but then, she's weird, apparently.
  
  > ignore her.
  You don't like the idea of getting blood on your shoe. You ignore her and start to turn back inside. She sends another powerful magic flash into it, but you don't turn around to see.
  
  A few seconds later, you hear a thud on the ground. You turn around to see her fallen. Her arms and legs move in an inhuman way, like a demon controls her limbs, and there's foam at her mouth.
  
  "Sap!" you cry, and run towards her. She struggles for breath. Her arms and legs convulse painfully. There's nothing you can do. You just try to reassure her you're there.
  
  "Tolmerrie!" you shout. "Rosimary! Anyone, help!"
  
  There's a painful jab in your shin, and you look down to see the rat has bitten you. It's still alive, albeit broken. You gasp and kick it. Where the bite is, you see something glowing and bluish. It disappears into your blood as you watch.
  
  Oh no.
  
  "That's the end of you," says a voice. The magician's. You recognize it instantly, his foreign accent. The face of the rat peels back, and you see a resemblance of his face. "Now all that stands in the way of my plans is the priestess, and she will perish too when my poison reaches her."
  
  You see your parents racing towards you from the house. You start to run towards them, but before you get far, the scene turns terribly blurry. The ground seems to come up to meet you.
  
  There's nothing you remember after that. You never wake.