Monsters & Fairytales

by Rebecca Suzanne

  “Hmm. Then I must recalibrate.”

  He closed his eyes and put his hands on his temples. He started humming. This is pathetic. I shot his middle piece. He raised his eyebrow and smiled.

  “I knew you’d do that.” He laughed.

  “So now you’re a future reader, too?” I raised my eyebrow.

  “Watch out!” He whispered.

  He picked me up and spun me around. In those quick seconds, he managed to shoot two kids that were sneaking up behind us. One of the kids ducked and rolled into an opening. Word must’ve spread about Sebastian. They were all teaming up on us to get revenge for their fallen comrade.

  “You okay?” He asked as if we had been in a real gun fight. It was lame.

  “Yeah.” I said dryly.

  His arm was still on me. I hadn’t noticed before just how close he and I were. He was a creature again to blend into the darkness. I really rather liked him more as the creature. His eyes and face were so much softer. My heart started racing. He was reading my emotions. He was feeding off the swelling crush I had on him every time he showed his true form and those violet eyes. All my nerves were shaking. He was going to kiss me. He was honestly going to kiss me. I couldn’t believe it. His head was leaning down and I felt mine leaning up. I started closing my eyes. My vest vibrated scaring the crap out of me. I looked down and saw my light was off in the center of my chest.

  “We’re even.” He whispered. Then he shot off into the darkness.

  “Traitor!” I called out.

  Standing there for a couple seconds, I let my heart slow back down to normal. Voices were getting closer. I wasn’t prepared for this. Ducking into the closest corner I could find, I curled up against the wall. I was thankful it was under a fog machine. I felt secluded in all this mess. A deep sigh and my heart started racing again. What was going on? Why was I on edge like never before? Even Joe didn’t get me this uneasy. No, no, this can’t be happening. I need to just shake this off. Mira, he just wanted to show off, that’s all you’re attracted to. There is nothing else going on. Just breathe, relax, you can do this.

  “Then do it.” He whispered into my thoughts.

  “Oh.”

  I narrowed my eyes, it was war, now. Determination and a fury I didn’t know I was capable of, led me towards the back of the cave. It didn’t matter where I went, he’d be there. I knew he was waiting for me. But I wanted him to know I was coming for him. I wasn’t afraid.

  Two kids walked around the corner. Their lights were off and they looked afraid. I was going the right way, at least. He was such a cheater. With each turn that led me further into darkness, my anger was diminishing and my stupid girl thoughts were coming back. That just circled back into anger again. I didn’t want any feelings towards him, but nothing seemed to be working. Joe was perfect for me, I knew it. I was attracted to him from the beginning and he treated me the way I deserved. Besides, Sebastian wasn’t even staying. He wasn’t even human! This was stupid. There was no contest. Why was I even having a contest?

  Hmm, Mirabelle, which would you prefer; the creature from another world or the dreamy neighbor who is totally crazy about you? That’s a tough question ,indeed. I was a dumb teenager. My head was hurting. The fog was getting thicker and I felt myself getting dizzy. Knowing I’d never hear the end of it, I didn’t care; I searched the wall for a yellow handle. I couldn’t see anything. Blindly, my arms scanned desperately for a wall or railing. I felt nothing. The blackness around me seemed to go on forever. Where was I? I wanted to throw up.

  My heart started pounding and I couldn’t hear anything anymore. I tried to call out for Sebastian a few times, but no words would escape my closed up throat. I was coughing, the vest was too tight. I took it off and dropped it. It echoed as if I were in a real cave. I dropped the gun, coughing some more. I felt like I was getting squeezed, as if everything around me was crushing in. Then, from nowhere, there was a light over in the distance. I picked myself up off the floor and tried to find the vest and gun. But after a few moments of searching Nothing Land, I just wanted to get out. Sebastian, where are you?

  Somebody pinch

  me.

  ((with power you will always find greed))

  Grass tickled my nose. My hand reached up and brushed it away. A cool breeze hit my cheek and I sucked in the air. My body tingled as life rushed back into it. Where was I? What had happened? I lifted my head up and was instantly blinded by the brightest light I had ever seen. When the hell had I gone outside and why was I waking up here? Legs tripped over me and a weird voice said something in a language I couldn’t make out. Was I dreaming?

  “Excuse me.” I wheezed.

  “Excuse me, indeed!” Someone said in the same voice.

  I tried to see in the bright light, but everything was struggling to get into focus. My glasses weren’t on my face. Had I lost them? I felt around the floor, found them, and pushed them up on my nose. The creature in front of me was clear now. It seemed to be half woman with its long flowing hair and slender appendages, and half caterpillar with the many circular torsos. Her back was to me, so it was hard to be sure what I was looking at.

  As if she knew what I was thinking, she stopped and turned so I could see the front of her. How was that possible? There was no time for thought once my brain registered what my eyes were seeing. The first thing I noticed were her enormous purple eyes, shaped and set like a giraffe’s. They were darker than the violet of Sebastian's eyes. Her hair blended into the trees behind her, with a few awkward strands sticking out. As she walked around me, the caterpillar body I had thought she had turned out to be more ant-like. Maybe I had thought of a caterpillar first because of the yellow color she was.

  “Can I help you?” Her voice echoed in my head. It was menacing.

  “I’m sorry. I seem to have lost my friend.” I whispered, rushing to my feet.

  I turned to run in the other direction as far as I could get from that...that thing, but there was nowhere to run. I was standing in the middle of a meadow with thick trees all around. Suddenly, the trees weren’t green anymore. I wasn’t sure if they ever had been. Everything was gray and dark colored, but so bright. I didn’t understand it.

  Each time I blinked, something worse happened. The trees lost their leaves and were just cold, naked branches. Was I doing that? The ground didn’t even have grass anymore. I could have sworn this had been a meadow earlier. There were rocks everywhere. I hadn’t landed on rocks. I had felt the grass. What was happening? I was stuck with that crazy yellow ant lady in this life-sucking clearing.

  A bird cawed and I instantly looked up. Even the sky was gray; how terrible. The bird dove in front of the sun blocking the light with its massive wings. They were probably each the length of me. A vision of two of me taped to each of the bird's shoulders flashed in my head. Then I remembered I was staring at a giant bird that was hovering above me. I tried to duck into the trees, but without leaves it didn’t give me much shelter.

  There was a hole in one of the trunks nearby. I saw myself as Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas. But when I crawled inside, there was no portal to another world . I was trapped in this nightmare. The air felt heavy. I wanted to faint.

  “Mirabelle!” A familiar voice called out.

  Sebastian? Where was he? I couldn’t see him. I crawled out from the tree but the bird cawed again. I huddled back into its safety.

  “Sebastian!” I screamed. I was panicking.

  I heard gravel being crunched closer and closer to me. Then a familiar face bent down into the opening of my hollow tree. I had never felt so relieved to see a creature from another world before. I threw myself out and into his arms. I wanted him to pick me up and hold me off the tainted ground. I was so terrified of this world.

  “It’s okay.”

  He hugged me back trying to calm me down.

  “No, it’s not! Sebastian, there are creatures here, birds big enough to eat me! I have no idea what’s happening!”

  I w
as crying. I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him.

  “It’s all my fault. I couldn’t find you, and then it was too late. I should have warned you that when the exodus opens, it’s not where it closed, but where I am. This way we can ensure that a Myrian is never lost.”

  “Then how could I get through?!” I shrieked.

  “Our connection must be stronger than before. A part of me is in you that allowed you to pass.”

  “Well, then, take it out! I don’t like it here.” I whispered.

  “It’s not that simple.” He laughed.

  I was buried so much into his chest that I could hear it echo inside of him.

  “Sebastian! There you are!” Someone said.

  I didn’t move to look. I couldn’t let go of Sebastian and risk losing him again and waking up in another strange world.

  “Carlyle! How’s Father?” Sebastian asked.

  He carefully turned us to face his brother.

  “That is a dumb question and you know it! He’s not entirely sure whether to be angry or worried. I guess you’re lucky he's mostly worried.” Carlyle nudged his arm. It was then that he saw me. “Uh, do you know you have a human growing out of your chest?” He whispered behind his hand as if that’d make it inaudible to me.

  “Yes, this is Mirabelle.”

  Sebastian rushed through his words. He let go of me and I nearly fell off of him. I caught myself and steadied against the tree.

  “Just curious, but your father wouldn’t happen to be worried you got stuck in my world? Because then that would mean it’s my fault and thus he’d be mad at me.”

  “Your fault?! Who is this girl?”

  Carlyle chuckled. He pushed Sebastian again in that playful manner. I looked at Sebastian for answers. What was going on?

  Carlyle stared back at me and then stiffened his back upright. He was huge; at least twice the size of Sebastian in bulk. Suddenly, I realized just how much I had been completely over exaggerating Sebastian’s build. Carlyle was the one who was seven feet tall, not to mention the muscles bulging everywhere. He was just a beast. He had a neck that was the circumference of four average human necks, shoulders that billowed up the edge of his neck like Popeye, arms that were the size of me, and wings that were only justifiably large due to the amount of weight they were destined to carry. His wings even curled up a few times off the ground from their sheer size. It was really something to be looking at him.

  “What is it that she is staring at?” Carlyle whispered.

  “She does that.” Sebastian laughed.

  “Oh!” I snapped back to reality. I had completely forgotten what was going on. “Right, you said your dad was worried. I understand it’s Sebastian's job and all, but I take it that he was aware of how long he was gone for? And that would mean he’d known Sebastian had gotten stuck, and that would make it all my fault. Your dad doesn’t sound like someone to make upset.”

  “He didn’t mean it-” Sebastian started to say, but Carlyle interrupted him.

  “No, he is not. You are somewhat right, though, the Moreans don’t usually stay that long, so he was worried about that.” Carlyle said.

  “Um, I thought it was pronounced mere-e-in?” I asked. I was so confused.

  “No, he was just slurring his speech.” Sebastian laughed, nervously.

  I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eye. Was he trying to convince Carlyle to agree with him? Why would he do that?

  “Huh?” Carlyle said. “Oh, I did say it wrong. He’s a Myrian. Mm-hmm. Yep.”

  I didn’t buy it. He said it in a way that someone does when they finally catch on to the joke.

  “See, you’re hearing things. It must’ve been from all the transporting, or as you call it ‘apparating’. Come, let’s go see the Minakai. He’ll get you back home.”

  Sebastian started to walk off. He gave a weird look to Carlyle.

  “Is that like your great wizard?” I joked.

  “No. It’s like our leader that knows everything.” Sebastian grinned.

  He was still nervous. I rolled my eyes and looked to Carlyle. He was nervous, too. He held up his hand and made a very small wave. It almost made me want to laugh that someone three times the size of me was intimidated by me. I walked over closer to him. He hadn’t started walking yet. I stood there and just waited with my arms crossed. Carlyle laughed nervously and took a step away from me.

  “Sebastian, what is this human doing?”

  “I have no idea.” Sebastian sighed.

  “I’m not moving until you tell me what is going on.” I said.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He laughed.

  Carlyle looked to Sebastian, then to me, and then sprinted over next to him. My brain was racing. What was going on? I had to remember. I tried thinking of everything Sebastian ever told me about his race. The first thing he had said was that he was a guardian angel, then he said that was natural for humans to create fear and sometimes think of him as a boogeyman, but finally he had said his job title was actually a Maracore.

  I looked at Sebastian.“Okay. You said you were a Maracore.

  Then I turned towards Carlyle."He said you were a Morean, but you said you guys were actually Myrians. What is this?” I jumped in front of his path.

  “Wow, then this must be pretty awkward for you right about now.” Carlyle said.

  He patted the back of Sebastian’s shoulder then turned to walk off.

  “Where are you going?” I called to Carlyle.

  “Yep, this is awkward.” He said with a small squeal to his voice.

  “Somebody better tell me what’s going on, or so help me!”

  I plopped down on the cobblestone pathway and crossed my legs.

  “I’ll explain everything once we’re there. Please, it’ll be nighttime soon. And you do not want to be on the Drybucks at night.” Sebastian begged me.

  He bent down tugging on my arm, trying to get me to stand up.

  “Nighttime? How much darker can this place get!”

  I looked around throwing his arm off of mine.

  “Huh? Brother, where’d you get this human from?” Carlyle laughed.

  “It looks dark to you?” Sebastian asked me, ignoring Carlyle’s childish jokes.

  He was staring very closely into my face. He looked sincerely concerned.

  “Of course. Everything is this horrid gray color. Is it not that way to you?”

  I was getting worried. My heart hiccupped in my chest. Had I lost my sight?

  “Our trees are a much brighter green, our sky a brighter blue, but it’s the same color scheme as your world.”

  “No, no. I saw that lady. She was purple and green and yellow, and- and this is gray. Your land is all gray. You blend in. There aren’t even any leaves or grass.” I said.

  “Come.”

  Sebastian used his strength against me and pulled me up.

  “What’s wrong?”

  There was no time to play angry anymore; clearly this was more serious than a few white lies.

  “Nothing. We need to get you to the Minakai.” Sebastian said.

  He started walking with his arm still on my shoulder. I wasn’t sure where he was leading us out of this circle of trees, but I was wishing he’d quit tugging on my arm that way. His hand slid down my arm and grabbed my fingers. Even with the friendly gesture, I wasn’t ready to walk next to him. I hung back as far as I could. The two of us looked more like a father tugging on his child that wanted to stay at the playground, rather than the loving couple holding hands through a park that you would have expected from our display earlier at the arcade.

  “Sebastian!”

  I dug my heels in to stop him. It took everything in me, but he finally stopped yanking my arm out of the socket.

  “What?!” He yelled at me.

  “My purse, I left it at the arcade.” I said behind my hand that was now covering my gaping mouth. How could I forget my purse?

  “Really? Mirabelle, the
re are far greater things to worry about than personal belongings.” He sneered.

  “I doubt it.”

  I glared at him and tried to let go of his hand. He wouldn’t untangle his fingers, so I ended up crossing my arms with his still around mine.

  “Come.” He commanded.

  “Oh, I’m a dog now?” I screamed.

  “No, they listen much better than you. And I’m surprised you’re not more worried about your animals at home.”

  “They’ve been left at home for hours at a time. This isn’t a matter of identity theft and bankruptcy. Do you know-?”

  “Enough!” He bellowed out.

  I was silent. His chest was heaving through his anger. I dropped my arms. I had a feeling his hand that close to my heart wasn’t a very good idea at the moment.

  “You better listen to him.” Carlyle whispered.

  I looked over at him. He was still under the impression that covering his lips allowed the other person to not be aware he had said anything. Sebastian glanced in his direction then started walking again. I kept our arms as spread out as possible, but I kept our hands together. As much as my pride wanted to disobey, I followed him without resisting. Carlyle kept a pace just behind me. I wasn’t sure why he was coming along.

  “You know my name, what’s yours?” Carlyle asked from behind me.

  I wasn’t sure a conversation at this moment was that great of an idea, but I wasn’t going to deter the possibility of getting my mind off of Sebastian.

  “You know it, Sebastian said it earlier.” I mumbled.

  It didn’t work. Frustration was still the only thing that could come out of me. I had the worst temper. How my mother ever dealt with it was beyond me. She had the best patience of anyone I had ever known. I missed her. My heart hurt. The gravel road didn’t seem so uncomfortable anymore. All I wanted was to curl up and cry.

  “Oh, right, sorry, a lot is clouding my mind.”

  “It’s Mirabelle.”

  Trying to regain some ounce of normalcy in my life, I stuck out my free hand for him to shake. He looked at it curiously then touched it. I squeezed his hand and shook.