The Strange Adventure of Maria Mercado

by Jenell Diegor

  “Okay,” said Maria. “I am still feeling a little tired. Do you guys mind if I am left alone to sleep for a while?”

  “No of course not,” said Gadik as he nodded at Jonas and Jasper, motioning for them to follow him out.

  “He can stay,” said Maria as she points a finger at Jasper. “You will stay with me wont you?”

  He grinned. “Of course. I will be here the whole time.”

  Gadik and Jonas made their exit and left the young couple on their own. Once outside, Gadik turned to Jonas. “So, brother, what are your plans?”

  Jonas sighed. “Well, Reeza and Ankar said that I have a son somewhere out there. I will find him if he really does exist. There really isn’t many parts of the kingdom that they could have hidden him. There is still a chance that they were just saying that simply to deceive me for my cooperation.” He paused as they both reached the front entrance of the palace. “What will happen to them?” he asked.

  “Well they will be spending the rest of their days in the dungeon. We have rebuilt and refortified certain cells in order to be able to hold them. They have been searched and stripped off every possible item that could be holding a bit of magic. That was our grave mistake last time, when we failed to search the girl. I should have known better than to assume that she was the victim. And also I shouldn’t have doubted you, brother.”

  “Well I don’t blame you. After the bad name my tribe has earned for siding with the traitors, well, you know you couldn’t be sure especially when you found me with the human girl.” He looked towards the gate. “Well I must be off now. You know how to find me if I could be in assistance in any other way.” He extended his hand to shake Gadik’s. Gadik in turn grabbed it and shook it firmly.

  “Good luck on your travels and I hope that you do find your son,” he said.

  Jonas looked back at the palace one more time and then went off on his way. Gadik watched him leave and then turned around and made his way back inside. He went to the Bostavs’ floors and straight to the kitchen.

  “Hello there,” he said to Martha. “How are you feeling?”

  “Oh I am fine, dear boy. I was sore for a bit after I fell on the floor but other than that I am all right,” she said. “Is my grandson still on the premises?”

  “Yes, he is. In fact he seems to have made a new friend upstairs. A certain heroine?” he smiled at her.

  “Oh that is wonderful! I am glad he is well. If you see him again can you tell him not to leave the palace until he says goodbye to his grandmother?”

  “I will let him know,” said Gadik as he rose up and started to make his way back upstairs. When he reached the floor where the Royals chambers are located, one of the other Bostavs informed him that the Royals had been asking for him. He acknowledged and proceeded inside.

  “Gadik, our loyal guard,” said Princess Dhalis.

  “And how is the human girl?” asked Prince Maalm.

  “She is well your Majesties,” replied Gadik. “She is still exhausted from all the events that happened and she is sleeping.”

  “Very well,” said Princess Aisha.

  “When she wakes up from her slumber, let her know that we wish to speak to her,” said Prince Gustav.

  “That is all for now Gadik,” said Prince Antaw.

  Gadik bowed down again and then exited the chambers to go back to Maria’s quarters to wait for her to wake up.

  ***

  After Gadik and Jonas had left the room, Maria found herself unable to sleep, largely because of her growing attraction to Jasper. He caught her looking at him and he immediately blushed and smiled.

  “Jasper,” she said. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “A girlfriend? No, I do not. I haven’t really had much time to think about girls back home, because of the threat of war.”

  “But now that the threat is gone…” Maria sat up and looked at him in the eyes. “Jasper, do you like me?” she asked.

  “Yes. Yes I do,” he bashfully replied. Maria then took both of his hands and held them with hers. He looked at their hands and then looked at her eyes. Slowly, Jasper got nearer and nearer until his lips touched hers. Maria closed her eyes and enjoyed her first real kiss. Jasper pulled away.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Oh nothing,” he replied. “I really do like you Maria. But what happens when you leave? You won’t stay here. I mean it would be great if you do but you have a life outside the kingdom.”

  Maria looked away and nodded. “I do have a life out there,” she said. “And as much as I want to stay here right now, I do miss my family and friends. Did I tell you about them?”

  “No, you haven’t,” said Jasper. “But please do and I will tell you about mine.” The two proceeded to engage in a conversation about each other’s families, friends, lifestyles and worlds. Two different worlds but yet they share a great deal now. As they were happily discussing their similarities and differences, the door opened and Gadik walked in.

  “Maria, you’re up,” he said. “Sorry to interrupt you guys but the Royals have asked for your presence in their chambers.”

  “Oh okay I’m coming,” she said. “Will you stay here Jasper? Will you wait for me?”

  “Of course, “ he said. “I will go down to talk to my grandmother and then I will come back here.”

  Maria and Gadik left to meet with the Royals. This time, when Maria entered the chamber her entire life did not flash before her eyes. She simply walked in a stood before the 5 glowing figures.

  “Maria, we are glad to see you,” said the Royals in unison. “We have asked you here to remind you that you have another choice to make.”

  Maria looked confused as she turned her head to look at Gadik. Gadik merely nodded his head and looked back at the Royals. “What decision?” Maria asked.

  “You must now decide whether to stay in the kingdom or go back to your own world,” they said. “The choice is yours.”

  Maria thought about it for a moment. She cleared her throat. “If I go back to my own world, will I ever see any of you again?” she asked.

  “You saved our kingdom Maria. Because of you we now enjoy a peace that will last until time indefinite. If you decide to go back to your old life we will create a way for you to come back here when you are of age.”

  “What do you mean? When I turn 18?” she asked.

  “Yes. When you are at the age of majority, you will find your way back here to us. But until then, we will remain invisible from you once you leave here. On the other hand, if you decide to stay here with us now, then the doors to your human world will be closed to you forever.”

  Maria considered things in her head. Finally, she made a decision. “I choose to go home now,” she told them. “And I will come back when I am 18, in 3 years time. My time.”

  “Very well,” the Royals said. “It will be as you wish. Once you exit the kingdom the doors will close to you and will reopen when the time comes. And until then Maria, we ask you to keep the existence of this kingdom a secret. Once again you have our gratitude.” The Royals nodded and Gadik escorted Maria out of the chambers.

  “Wow,” she said. “Can I at least say my goodbyes?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Come on I will take you to the kitchen to see Jasper.”

  As they walked around the palace hallways and made their way downstairs, Maria looked around and marveled once again at how elegant and beautiful the palace is. I will miss pretending to be a princess, she thought. Presently, they arrived at the kitchen where they see Jasper talking to Martha.

  “Hey Martha,” said Maria. “I am leaving.”

  “What? Right now?” asked Jasper.

  “Yes, but I will be back!” she said. “The Royals said that I could come back. Oh Martha, thank you so much for being here for me. You made me feel so welcomed here.” She approached the old lady and gave her a hug. Martha gave her a kiss on the forehead. “You take care of yourself, my child. And we will see you when you get back
,” she said.

  Maria walked over to Jasper. “Hey,” she said. “You will wait for me, right?”

  “Yes, of course. I said I would and I will,” he replied. “I will miss you but I will see you again.” The young couple locked lips one more time. Maria hugged him before leaving the kitchen escorted by Gadik.

  “I will take you to the same area where you got in,” said Gadik. “And from there you should be able to find your way back home. Are you ready?” he asked.

  Maria sighed and nodded. She was going home.

  They made one quick stop in the land of the Omtars where Luxa apologized to Maria on behalf of the tribe for Meeka’s actions. They also handed to her the backpack that she had left behind. “My backpack!” Maria said excitedly. “Thank you all so much and I will see you all again soon!” She waved them goodbye and went on her way with Gadik.

  Eventually they found themselves on the same spot where Maria first entered. She turned to Gadik and gave him a big hug. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “You saved me life more than once. You are the best warrior I have ever seen. I will miss you!” Gadik returned the hug and squeezed her tight. “You take care of yourself out there,” he said. “And don’t you worry. Before you know it, you will be back here.”

  “Will you all be the same age? I mean I know the time here goes by faster than out there but how does that work?”

  “It’s weird but even though it goes by differently, somehow when you come back, you will find that exactly the same amount of time will have passed for us. Your friend Jasper will also be at the age of majority by then” He smiled at her.

  “Oh okay,” said a blushing Maria. “Well goodbye for now then. Thank you and see you in three years!” Maria walked forward until she is standing by the tree where she had napped. She took her iPhone out and found it to be working again.

  Awesome! And it says its only 8:15pm. I’ve been gone for only a few hours?

  She made her way to her parents’ store, as she is late for the shift that she had promised them she would take. As she rushed over there she took the time to answer the tirade of text messages that she received as soon as she turned on her phone.

  “Maria! Where have you bee?” said a very worried Ruben Mercado. “We were so worried about you!”

  “Young lady, you better have a good explanation for this,” said Virginia Mercado.

  “I was in the park and I fell asleep under a tree,” said Maria. “But I do have something to tell you guys.” She proceeded to tell them of how she was suspended from school but that it wasn’t her fault. To her surprise, her parents didn’t make her feel guilty and did not force her to tell the principal what really happened.

  “Well what you need to do is talk to Jasmine about it,” said her mom. “And then the two of you can go and decide together the best course of action to take that won’t put your friendship in jeopardy.”

  “Go Maria. You were late for your shift here anyway, you can make up for it by doing a full day tomorrow while you are suspended,” said he dad.

  Maria looked at them and hugged them both. “I missed you guys so much,” she said as she turned around and went on her way to find Jasmine.

  Mr. and Mrs. Mercado looked at each other, confused by their daughter’s words.

  ***

  Maria remembered that they were all supposed to be studying at Alex’s house so she proceeded to go there. She knocked on the door and Alex opened.

  “Maria! Where have you been?” he asked.

  “Is Jasmine here?” she asked, ignoring his question.

  “Yes, I am. Oh Maria! I heard about what had happened and I am sooo sorry! I really am! I did take the blob when I spilled it out of Neil’s backpack. I did put it on her locker so that it would fall on her hair. I didn’t know that you would be blamed for it! I will go and sort this out at school tomorrow,” said a worried Jasmine. “Anyway where have you been?”

  “Oh I was just in the park. I lost track of time and fell asleep under a tree.”

  “Anything interesting happen?” asked Neil, as her closest friends all looked at her with inquiring eyes.

  Maria smiled, thinking of the great adventure she just had and all the wonderful creatures she just met. “Oh no,” she said to them. “It was just a good old ordinary day.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jenell Diegor was born in Cebu, Philippines and grew up between Manila, Philippines and the oldest city in North America, St. John’s, Newfoundland.

  A complete list of her published work can be found on her official website www.jhnellorx.com and all are available in both paperback and Kindle formats through Amazon.

  Jenell currently resides in Toronto, Ontario with her cat Rocsi, and lists traveling as her favorite hobby.