Leif called an end to princess training for the day. He seemed to be a bit upset about the hit to my chin, but he and I both knew it was an accident. It was going to happen. I had landed one on Austin as well, so I guess it was only fair.
"Really, Leif, it didn't even hurt."
"Yeah, I know, you already said that three times."
"Well, maybe if you would listen to me, I wouldn't have to keep repeating myself."
"I heard you, I am listening. I just don't like seeing you hurt, intentional or not. I don't care that it was in the name of training. I don't like it." Boy, was he burly and grouchy. You would think he was the one who Austin had hit.
I stepped in front of him, put my hand on his chest, and said, "Get over it. It's better in the form of training and better by Austin than someone really trying to hurt me. You don't have to like it, but you are the one who talked me into this. We're in this together, right? Well, I need to be able to help out in a fight, not just stand there like an idiot wringing my hands. I don't want to be the cause of someone else getting hurt because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. That means I need to learn this stuff. That also means you need to get a grip and realize I am going to get roughed up a bit in the process."
Leif wrapped his hands under my arms and lifted me up so I was face-to-face, eye-to-eye with him and said, "I know. You're right. I know it. It doesn't make it any easier, but I'm trying." Without waiting for me to reply, he placed a soft warm kiss on my chin where Austin had gotten me. That was so sweet. Then he pulled me into his chest, wrapped his arms firmly around me, and kissed me. His lips were warm and soft against mine. That was the last of my thoughts until he pulled away and I felt my feet hit solid ground again.
"Where is Acadia exactly? How do we get there?" I asked Leif that night. According to my parents, I was supposed to be studying up in my room, but I was too tired to really do any studying. Leif was sitting with me on my bed. I was looking through my cd's trying to pick out some music to put on, and Leif was watching me. He still did that a lot, and it was still un-nerving.
"I told you, it's on the other side of the shadows." Telling me it was on the other side of the shadows didn't really tell me anything at all. He must have known what I was thinking as he continued on saying, "It's something that I'd need to show you how to do. It's too hard to try and explain."
He sat up straight suddenly then said, "You want a history lesson?"
I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure." I didn't want to act too excited. I had been trying to get information out of Leif since the first day we met. I was afraid if I sounded to eager now he might change his mind.
"First, you need to understand there are actually four different realms, and all four realms are connected. There is the fire realm, the water realm, the sun realm, and the moon realm."
"Your earth, which is the biggest of the four, is known as the water realm. The fire realm is a red land of erupting volcanoes, falling grey ash, and hot spraying geysers. We have not found any life in this realm. The same with the moon realm. It is a cold frozen land of darkness. There is no sun and no life we know of."
"That leaves Acadia, the sun realm, the smallest of the four. It is truly a paradise. First, it never rains. All the water we need comes from under the ground in springs and such. Second, the weather is always in the seventies and eighties. It never gets below seventy and it never gets hotter than eighty-nine degrees."
"The sun rises and sets each day. There is no moon, so the nights are very dark except for the stars. You can see them all through the kingdom. Since it never rains, there aren't any clouds like you have here. Acadia is beautiful. I can't wait for you to see it."
I hadn't yet said I was going to Acadia, but I didn't bring that up now. Acadia did seem lovely. A place that never rains, was never cold. Yes, that sounded like heaven to me. Especially now while I was stuck in the cold frozen land of Ohio in November. Everything looked dead, everything was cold. I missed the sun. What was worse, it wasn't even officially winter yet.
"How were all these realms found?" I asked.
Leif just shrugged. "Like any other science break-through. The realms were found...by accident of course." He suddenly reached for me, pulled me to him and into his lap then said, "Just like how I found you. It was destiny. I was meant to find you, just like the scientist who discovered the other realms, he just did. That's enough for me."
He brushed his lips against mine once, twice, then as if he just couldn't help himself, he claimed my lips in a scorching kiss that emptied my mind of any other questions I may have had, which may have been the point. I can't say that I cared right then.
~ * ~
Several weeks of training had gone by and it was now November, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I thought I was getting pretty good at the training stuff. The temperatures hovered around thirty degrees during the day. I'm willing to admit that I was tired and cranky. Not to mention dirty and cold. The wind didn't penetrate the woods too much, so it wasn't as cold as it could have been. The sky was a whitish-blue and clear as far as you could see. Most of the trees had lost their leaves, so all around me everything looked dead. I hate that time of year. Everything is grey and brown and ugly. It's cold. Even when the sun shines brightly, it is still just so cold.
I was working with Austin and I had a session with Gavin before my day was over. He and Leigha were off on a run, I would guess just to waste some time. It had to get boring sitting around waiting for their turn with me. No one had heard or felt anything from Aiden, or any other Shadow Walkers for that matter, since that night at Dee's over three weeks ago.
What's strange is that I couldn't seem to help being a bit worried about Aiden. Did he get in trouble for not being able to bring me home with him? What kind of trouble did you get into when you were the servant of, what I was coming to believe was an evil power-hungry king?
Aiden was big and burly, but he didn't seem like the cold-blooded killer type he was trying to be. It was in his face, his eyes. His aura suggested he was sad and unhappy, not evil and deranged. Plus, he had had plenty of opportunity to do some damage to any one of us had he really wanted to. He had time when in the bathroom at Dee's, or in the street, or anywhere. But, he didn't. I just didn't understand him.
Out of nowhere, I was suddenly struck right across the face by a fist the size of a softball. See what happens when you aren't paying attention when you're in combat training? My cheekbone immediately took on the feel of fire, and my eye felt like it was going to explode right out of my head. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes and a screech of pain shot out of my mouth. Then came the realization that my feet had left the ground and I was falling fast to the hard, frozen dirt, which I hit, with a solid smack and a crack of my head. "Ow."
Austin and Leif were both immediately over me trying to pull me to my feet. "You need to be paying attention at all times!" That was Austin, with his so helpful instruction. I had the urge to say "duh" to him, but since he was right, I hadn't been paying attention, it didn't seem appropriate.
"Austin, you need to be more careful with her. She isn't used to this type of training." That was from Leif. Although he was only trying to help, I took issue at him making me out to be some prissy girl, which in general I was, but the way he said it made it sound bad. I sighed huge and deep, pulled my hands out of theirs and got to my feet on my own. Leif and Austin shifted sickly in my vision as a wave of dizziness swamped me. I did not want to pass out in front of them, so I immediately dropped down to one knee and put my head down. As I sat there breathing in and out, Leif and Austin continued on as if I wasn't there.
"I am being careful!" Austin exclaimed. "Good Lord, one of the ten year olds could take her down. She's soft and untrained. There is still so much she has to learn. I don't have time for her to waste. She is distracted easily and she tires quickly."
"Of course she's soft and untrained. Look where she grew up. You've been in training for years. Look at her. She's small. She isn't stron
g. She's trying to learn everything in a matter of days that took years for us to learn. What do you really expect?"
"Hey! I'm right here you know," I said to them, but they continued on as if I hadn't said a word.
"I expect her to serious about this," Gavin responded punching his hand into the air in frustration.
I turned away from them at that point. I just hunched down in my warm coat, pushed my hands down deep into the pockets, and headed down the hill. I didn't want to hear anymore. I didn't want to hear what a waste I was. I didn't want to hear how weak and unskilled I was.
They, all of them, Leigha, Austin, Gavin, and even Leif all seemed to forget I had feelings, which frankly had been taking quite a beating lately. I was not just a doll to train. Three hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plus the time spent with Leif on the weekends just working on my gifts, was my life right now. I hadn't spent anytime with anyone else, not even Tara.
Leif hadn't spent any real time with me since I don't even remember when. Every moment we were together was spent in training. Even at night. It was so bad that I was pretending to immediately fall asleep, just to get a moment of peace. It had to end.
They forgot I spent all day in school, homework at night, training with them, and time with my mom and dad and I was just worn out. Not just physically either, I was taking quite a mental beating too. What did they do all day when I was in school? Were they training for three hours at a time? I didn't think so. Were they trying to explain all the strange bruises and sudden clumsiness to their parents? That would be another, no. Did they have a diorama on The Grapes of Wrath in American Literature that was due after Thanksgiving break? Again, no.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I was working myself into quite the state. In fact, I was stomping my way down the hill. Did they even realize I had walked away, or were they still ragging on about my weaker points? Had the others joined in on the fun? Oh, I was just so annoyed.
I decided against going home. Instead I headed toward Tara's house. I wanted, no, I needed some girl time.
Chapter Thirteen
Lost
I made it home after a lovely two-hour gabfest with Tara just in time for dinner. I barely made it in the door when my mom said, "Sunny! What happened to your face?" She tilted my face into the light.
"Nothing exciting," I said, pulling my face out of her hand. I had already worked out what to say on my way home. "I talked Austin into showing me some of his martial arts stuff, and he accidentally landed a hit on me. Before you go off, it was my fault. I was distracted. Leif is already having a hissy over it, and Austin is slobbering all over himself saying how sorry he is."
"Well, he should have been more careful. You are not some tough boy to wrestle around with." Okay, I was getting mad all over again. Why did everyone just assume I was some weak little girl who needed to be hovered over and taken care of?
I took a deep slow breath and said, "Don't make a big deal out of this, mom. He didn't do it on purpose. That is why it's called an accident."
"Well I don't like you hanging out with that group anyway. Why he would even think to try to. . ."
I cut her off and said, "Hey, I asked him to. It wasn't you, it was me who took the hit. Me. Why is everyone forgetting that little piece of information? If I want to be mad, then I have the right to be mad. I'm not, so geez, just drop it." We stood there staring at each other for a moment. Then I said, "I'm not hungry, I ate at Tara's. I have a project to work on anyway." I left it at that and went to the quiet sanctuary of my room. I didn't really feel like working on my diorama, but it needed to get done, so I didn't really have a choice.
After I was finished, I decided to go to bed. I was tired. I didn't even wait up for Leif. At the moment I didn't care if he came or not, the big jerk.
I tossed and turned for a little while. I was trying to work out why I was so upset. Maybe it was because I didn't feel as if anyone had any faith in me. I needed to feel as if I was a part of the team and I didn't. I felt like I was a liability. It wasn't a good feeling. I was trying as hard as I could to learn everything at once. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe we were all trying too hard.
When I awoke the next morning, there was no sign of Leif. I didn't know if he had come during the night and left already or not. It was Thanksgiving, so the day was sort of a free day. The first part of the day was family time, but after that I was free to do whatever I wanted. I quickly showered and dressed and notice with dismay the lovely purple and green bruise slashed across my cheek. It would be hard for anyone to forget what happened yesterday with the proof staring at them from my colorful face. Just lovely.
I shrugged my shoulders. There wasn't anything I could really do about it. The bruises would fade in time just like all the other mishaps I had had lately.
I wished I had asked Leif and the others over for dinner. All they ever had was fast food. You just can't live on that stuff. I suddenly felt bad for not thinking of them. I tried to reach Leif on his cell, but he didn't answer, so I left a message asking him to call me back.
~ * ~
I still hadn't heard from him after we'd finished with the turkey. I decided to borrow my mom's car and head over to the Inn to see them. I stocked up on leftovers. It was all still warm, so I knew they would enjoy it, especially the guys.
Leigha answered the door before I had barely knocked on it, jerking me inside harshly. "Hey! I brought enough for everyone, relax." I thought they were dying to get at the food. I hustled over to the small table and set down the bag I had stuffed everything into. Only after turning around did I notice that Leif was not there.
"We don't know where he is," Gavin said, obviously reading the question on my face.
"What do you mean you don't know?" No one immediately answered me. I looked directly at Gavin with my hands on my hips and asked, "Aren't you a tracker? Well, track him." It didn't seem that hard to me. Wasn't that the point of their gifts?
I watched as Gavin looked to Austin and Austin looked to Leigha and a feeling of foreboding skittered down my spine. "What?" I asked the room at large.
I watched in shocked dismay as Leigha's normally cold emotionless face fell and changed to one of utter despair. That scared me more than anything. If she was losing it, then it must really be bad. "We have tried. We looked all night long. We have tried to track him and it is as if he just disappeared. We can't find him."
"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Gavin asked. Even his normal harsh exterior looked a bit frazzled. My heart was pumping too loudly for me to really hear them.
"No. I have no idea. When did you last see him?"
"He left the clearing right after you did to walk you home. He was supposed to meet up with us later last night. We haven't heard from him since he walked down the hill."
I dropped down into the chair next to the table, absently noting it was hard and stiff. "What do we do?" I didn't know what to do except to go out and look, but they had already done that.
"We were just getting ready to go out again," Austin said, as he put on a brown leather jacket.
I hadn't thought to bring one myself as I figured we wouldn't be outside in the cold. I just had on a grey pullover hoodie. Oh well, there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I got up from my chair and said, "Okay, lets go, I'm ready."
They all shared another look, but it was Leigha who said, "No. Why don't you stay here in case he comes back?"
"Why? I can help you look." My voice sounded small even to me.
"No, stay here where we know you're safe." They were heading out the door, not even giving me a chance to argue. "We'll call if we find anything."
Well, they could tell me what they wanted me to do, but that didn't mean I was going to do it. I just couldn't sit there. I had to be doing something too. I waited for about ten minutes then I was out the door making my own search.
I drove up to the clearing on the old gravel road. The road was bad. I think I would rather have walked u
p the big hill through the woods to get there. That day, though, I believed it would be faster to drive. I was wrong. The road was so rough I had to go slower than if I was walking. I was going nutty trying to get to the lot before the clearing. Finally, I parked along the side of the so-called road. I got out and walked the rest of the way.
The cross was lit up. It was brighter than I had imagined in the night. We had never been up there after dark. The glow from the cross lit up the entire clearing. without having to really look, I could tell immediately that Leif was not there.
Well, now what? I jogged back to the car and made my way slowly back to town. I parked on the square and got out. I stopped in at Renee's to look around. Ben was there, and I was surprised to see he was there with Heather Malik. Good for him. He deserved someone as nice as her. She was the pretty, perky, cheerleader type. As he was the football jock, it was a nice match.
I said a quick hello then asked if anyone had seen Leif. Frustrated that no one had, I made a hasty retreat back outside and stood for a moment to decide where to go from there. The night was cold and it smelled crisp and bitter, like snow was on the way. My nose burned from the chill in the air. I wrapped my arms around my body for warmth. I really should have grabbed a coat. My sweatshirt just wasn't cutting it. I was cold.
The square had antique post lights around the center. The town had placed wreaths of evergreen and holly around each one. It was a festive look. Christmas was coming soon, I realized.
Where could he be? Next door was the Old Mine Tavern. I didn't bother with shadowing, I just marched in and looked around. The place was hopping that night. Not like it was the night Leif and I had shadowed in for a dance. The memory was sweet. It made me even more anxious to find him.
It just wasn't like him. Since we had met, he always told me where he was going and what he was doing. I shouldn't have left him the way I had on Wednesday. The reality was that we didn't even know exactly how long he had been gone, because I didn't know for sure that he hadn't come to me last night. My anger and frustration had led us to this. My fault. It was all my fault. I had to fix this.
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