Blackthorn: In the Tween

by Jamie Ott

  Chapter 12

  One moment, she was standing in the dance hall, and the next, she was in the middle of Blackthorn Street.

  All the shops were closed, and it was dark.

  A large smile spread across her face. She was happy and relieved to be back. How strange she must look, standing in the middle of the street in a jewel encrusted ball gown.

  Lifting the hem of her dress, she turned around to see her surroundings. It was amazing how clean the town looked, as though not a single attack had happened. The streets were clean, the shops looked as though they had new coats of paint, and there was new merchandise in many of the windows.

  But, then, Lin got an eerie feeling. Something wasn’t right with this Blackthorn. Why, right across from the Blackthorn cafe, Mara’s dress shop had six window displays instead of the usual two.

  Had Mara had time to expand the shop in just a few days?

  Quickly, Lin walked up and examined the display. Her shop had been expanded greatly, and there was countless merchandise all over the shop. Had she really had time to do all this since the attacks?

  Well, whatever. She would ask Mara what happened later. In the meantime, she wanted to get home and call her parents. She must have a million things to do, as it was nearing the end of the month. Rent was probably due, and her utilities needed to be paid.

  She flew herself to her apartment building. On her way, she noticed a few new buildings were standing in downtown. This was a real surprise to her; so many changes in such a short time.

  Lin didn’t have a key to her apartment, naturally after everything she’d been through, so she used magic to open the door. But that didn’t work. Using her will, she commanded the door to open.

  And that’s when she knew something really was wrong.

  She walked inside and saw all of her furniture was gone. In place of the chocolate brown leather couches stood white corduroy looking sofa and a walnut rocking chair in a corner. On the coffee table lay a magazine with a yellow sports car on the front, and a glass decanter of a brownish liquid.

  Someone had entered the room abruptly holding a wand in hand. Lin screamed and the gray haired man in white boxer shorts told her to get out or he’d hex her.

  Scared, Lin left, immediately.

  Could it be? she asked herself, remembering something the professor said to her back at the academy.

  Tears ran down her face, as she ran down the stairs and left the apartment building.

  The only thing Lin could think to do, at that moment, was to find Mara. She flew as fast as she could to her apartment.

  It had to be really late, but she needed to find her. She was the only one who would help her.

  She banged on her door several times, hoping that she still lived there. Finally, the door opened and Mara, thankfully, appeared at the door.

  Lin’s jaw dropped, for this wasn’t her Mara, but this was an older Mara.

  She didn’t say anything, but she just stared.

  Then recognition came over her face, and she asked, “Lin?”

  “Yes, Mara, it’s me,” she said, and then the tears really came down.

  Mara opened the door and beckoned her to come inside; however, this made Lin cry even more. The furniture, there, was different, too.

  “Sit. I’ll go make some coffee.”

  Looking around, Lin noticed there were new photos on the wall, and one was of Mara standing there with a dark haired man. That same dark haired man walked out of the bedroom.

  Lin stared, and he stared back.

  Milton was much older now. His hair was completely gray, and his forehead was distinctly higher.

  Mara walked into the living with two mugs of coffee.

  “Would you like to join us?”

  “No. I’ll let you two talk,” he said, and left the room.

  “I don’t want to disturb you but I’ve nowhere else to go. My apartment; someone’s in it and all my things are gone.”

  “Well, I should think so, Lin. You’ve been gone ten years.”

  It was a long and hard conversation laced with many more tears and lots of tissues.

  Mara stayed up with Lin into the morning hours and explained how she and Milton were secretly part of the Blackthorn Contention, and how Blair had set them up the night at the Towers. She’d woken in a dungeon cell with half the other town’s resistance until Abbey Shoester snuck in and released them.

  “But I was just here not more than a few weeks ago.”

  “Time moves differently in Avalon.”

  Lin stood up and walked to the window. Dawn was starting to break. She turned and looked at Mara whose face, she couldn’t quite get over. There were lines where there weren’t before, and below her eyes was the shadowing that was common of aging women.

  “I don’t understand how this could happen.”

  “The Fairy people of Avalon are rumored to live thousands of our human years. It has happened many times, over the centuries, that people would go missing and turn up decades later un aged and confused. You are, now, one of them.”

  “What do I do, now?” she cried. “How do I start over with ten years absence?”

  Mara sat in silence for a moment, and then said, “How about I take you home. Your parents will be glad to see you.”