Adela's shapeshift (part 2)

The counselors who were gathered in the room where Adela was confined for an hour cast three spells on her: one to conceal her features, another to temporarily alleviate her fever, and a third to silence her voice.

"This is going too far," the child-like voice muttered softly as skilled fingers braided Adela's hair.

Silent and unable to lift her head to see her altered reflection in the vanity mirror again, Adela trembled at the memory of that first terrifying look. It was as if her soul had transmigrated into another woman's body entirely.

"Look at me."

Adela reluctantly raised her fiery eyes to meet Samandra's.

The petite woman, dressed in a modest white gown, regarded Adela with a momentary flicker of pity. "You look just like her now. She was kept against her will here too... I was her friend, supposed to be her son's nanny... Sometimes, I wish it had stayed that way. But the winds steer the ships against their will."