"Yep," Gabriel said.
No longer remotely hungry, I pushed my plate away. It would be a slaughter if we went to war now with so few to fight. Where could we get more? How long did we even have to train them? "Gabriel? How long do you think we have before the king wants to fight?"
He shrugged and continued to eat, apparently not concerned at all. "We aren't waiting for the king. The king is waiting for you."
"Waiting for me to what?"
"To decide."
"What? Decide what?" I was at a complete loss.
"The king doesn't want a war. He doesn't need it. He already has all he wants. He has the kingdom, the power, control of the people, and the world. Why would he want to fight? What if he were to lose? He is waiting for you to decide whether or not to fight or to accept his deal."
The deal being: marriage to my uncle. Ick. The same uncle who was delusional enough to half believe I was my own mother. Ick again.
"Since he believes he will win either way, he doesn't care when the war begins."
"Oh," I said. "Well then we have time."
"Time for what?"
"To find more fighters," I replied.
"Just remember, the longer you take to begin, the longer the people of Acadia suffer."
He was right. Acadia could be such a paradise for everyone. It was always warm. It never rained, as all the water was provided from within the ground. The forests were filled with animals to hunt and eat. The soil was dark and fertile just waiting for crops. But at that time, that is not what Acadia was. I again looked out at all the people, the children who were too young to fight or even to care for themselves. The old men and women that were too old to fight but so willing to try. The rest were so willing, wanting, and able to fight and die for their world so they could have a chance at a real life, for themselves and for their families and children. So many were hungry, tired, and empty. Starved by their king, their children stolen because of their gifts and turned into warriors, whether they wanted to be or not. Their farms and homes destroyed to keep them weak or to teach a lesson.
I was afraid of what was to come. What if we failed? The suffering of my people was the only reason I was doing any of it. "I can't just rush in and not be ready. We can't lose, Gabriel. We can't."
I sat there and worried and thought about ways to get more soldiers. Maybe we could come to a truce with the rebels and fight together? I searched for and found the person I wanted. "Austin?"
He was at the main terrace table scarfing down food as fast as possible. He paused mid shovel and said, "Yeah?"
"Do you think the rebels would be interested in joining forces?"
He laughed so hard that he choked on the wad of food in his mouth. "Not hardly," he said after he caught his breath.
Crap. "Why not?"
"You know how Leif is. He's of the mind that you are either with him, or against him. There is no middle ground. Since you defected from his camp and from him, you are against him. That's it."
So many of the faces in the crowd around me were familiar simply because they used to be rebels. I sighed and said, "Maybe more of the rebels will come our way then."
"We can hope," Austin said then went back to eating.
"You need to eat something," Lucas said from next to me.
I shrugged. "I'm not hungry right now." Then I went back to the problem of finding additional troops. Where?
"What about the blue fairies? Does anyone know anything about them? Would they take sides?" I asked anyone that was listening, but no one answered.
"Most of the people of Acadia have never even thought to go over to the other realms," Gabriel said. "In fact, most of them probably don't even know about the realms, or if they do, they are like fairytales to them."
"I could go back to the Ice Realm and try to talk to them," I said. "It can't really hurt to just ask, right?"
"Not by yourself, you're not," Gabriel said.
"I wasn't thinking about going alone. I was just thinking about going. I could do it tomorrow," I said then I remembered. "Wait, I have school tomorrow. I could after school?"
"I'll come with you," Lucas said.
"So will I," said Jack. "I've never been to the Ice Realm, or any other realm for that matter. I am not too old for adventure."
"Simon?" I asked. "You want to come along?"
He shook his head and said, "No. Sadly, I am too old for that kind of adventure."
Simon had always seemed frail to me, but as time wore on, he got more so. Skinnier, if that was possible. He was just a bag of bones as it was.
"The mind's willing and wanting, but the body is unable," Simon said. "But I want to hear all the details when you get back."
I smiled in return and said, "You got it." I glanced at my watch and saw that it was almost seven. I needed to get home for 'dinner' with my family.
~ * ~
"How was school?" Lucas asked the moment I popped into Acadia the next day.
"For only being two hours, it sure seemed long," I said. "First days are always like that though."
"At least you only have two classes this year. It could be worse."
"Yeah, but those two classes seem like such a waste of my time right now. I'm needed here."
"You're almost done," Lucas said.
Yeah, I knew that, but school didn't seem like it should be top priority in my mind right then. But according to my parents, there wasn't much I could do about it. "Who all is coming?"
"It's quite the crowd actually. Me and Jack, but also Gabriel and Austin decided to come as well."
As I thought of Austin and Lucas working together, I said, "This should be fun."
"Doubt it," Lucas said.
"Are you sure all this clothing is necessary," Jack asked the moment I came into view. He was dressed in several layers from head to toe. "It's all very constricting and I can't move around as easily."
They were all dressed the same, in layers of long sleeves and pants. They did look a little thick and doughy. It made me giggle, but I tried to hold it back. Acadians didn't understand cold weather at all, so they didn't have any winter wear so to speak. That was as good as it would get for them. I, however, was set as I had on my good winter coat, gloves, hat, and my warmest pair of Uggs. I hated being cold.
Since I was the only one that had already been to the frozen land of ice and snow, I replied, "Yes, it's necessary. Suck it up." After giving them all a good once over, I said, "We ready?"
"As ready as we're going to get," Gabriel said. I had no doubt that my sarcasm came from his side of the family.
"Okay, Austin and Lucas have realm jumped before, have either of you done it?" I asked Gabriel and Jack.
They shook their heads no. "Well, then we need to go over the basics," I said. "To shift realms, it's a three step process. One, you shift to the shadows. Two, you picture where you want to go. Three, you shift again, while in the shadows, to get to the other side. Any questions about that so far?"
"Yeah, how do we all get to the same place?" Jack asked. "Only you have been there?"
"I have only tried to jump realms with one other person before. I don't know that I can take everyone in one jump. So, I thought I would take one of the others with me first then we could both come back and get the rest."
"I'll make the first jump with you," Austin offered.
"Why you?" Lucas asked.
Austin put up his hands and said, "It was just a suggestion."
"Lucas. Stop," I said as gently as possible. "I know you are capable, but I'm going to need someone to phase with two people at once. He has the most experience out of all of us, and I'm pretty confident he will be able to do it."
Lucas nodded in slow agreement. "All right."
I looked at Jack and Gabriel again and said, "One more thing…realm jumping is not exactly fun. It's not painful, but it's like being jerked around on a rollercoaster."
"What's a rollercoaster?" Gabriel asked.
"Seriously?" I said eyes wide.
"You guys are so deprived. Deprived, I tell you. Okay, forget about the rollercoaster. Just be prepared to get tossed about and spun around. Can you both handle that?"
At their affirmative nod, I turned to Austin and said, "Are you ready?"
"Let's get it, chic!"
Austin. He was so dramatic sometimes.
I wrapped my arms around Austin's waist and he did the same to me. I heard Lucas growl from behind me, but I didn't have time to deal with him right then. I focused on the landscape of the Ice Realm and pulled first into the shadows and then quickly over.
The wind blasted us the moment we landed, with sharp little pieces of ice.
"I hate this realm," I shouted over the roar of the wind.
"I can see why," Austin shouted right back. "You ready to head back?"
"You got the image to make it back?" I asked.
"Yup."
"Okay, let's go back and get the others then."
I jumped back to Acadia and welcomed the warmth that immediately soaked into my exposed skin. Austin popped in almost right next to me. Even though I had expected it, it still gave me a bit of a start to suddenly have someone right in my personal space. I took a step to the side and shook off the snow and ice that already coated my head and shoulders. "Shoo, it's a bit rough over there."
I decided I wasn't about to put Austin and Lucas together even for the short time it took to jump so I said, "Okay, "I'll take Lucas over. Can you get the other two together or should one of us come back again?"
He nodded confidently and said, "I can get them both. No worries."
"All right. Give me a second to get over there first, so that I can be prepared for them," I said and wrapped my arms around Lucas and pulled us into the shadows.
"Prepare for what?" Jack said.
I shot a smile at Lucas, who grinned right back. We both knew what to prepare for. "Ready?" I asked.
"Ready," he said.
I tightened my hold around his waist and pulled us over to the Ice Realm.
The wind hit us hard and roared around us.
"This is winter?" Lucas shouted. He burrowed down into the jacket I had found for him. I knew it wasn't going to be enough. We would have to be quick. Otherwise everyone would freeze.
"Yep!" I shouted back as I tried to be heard. It was definitely winter. I pulled my hood up over my head and tried to hold the edges closed around my neck. Where were the others? We had already waited a few minutes.
Suddenly, Austin was next to me, with one very green Jack and one angry-faced Gabriel. I assumed the jump wasn't as easy as Gabriel had imagined. Jack stumbled a few steps away and then hurled all over the ground. Gabriel, stance wide, arms crossed over his chest, glared savagely my way.
I smiled wide, even with the fierce wind blowing right into my face then shook my head right back at him and said, "Uh uh, you don't get to be mad. You wanted to come and I warned you. That's more than I got the first time I jumped."
Jack stumbled back to our group and said, "I don't like this place. It's cold."
You think? I studied his face a moment. He looked less green but still not happy. "You all right, Jack?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm all right," he said. "But whatever a rollercoaster is, I don't think I want to try it."
I chuckled. "You got it."
I turned and looked around. Was it never daylight there? The place looked the same as it had the last time I had been there; dark, snowy, and only the glow of the moon to light the place. It was colder, that was one thing, and the wind was bitter and painful. We needed to find the stupid fairies and get out there before we turned into popsicles. "Hello!" I shouted as loud as I could.
I looked up at the sky hoping to see the big flakes of snow that I had seen the last time right before the fairies arrived, but there was nothing. "Look around you guys. See if you can find what looks like big snowflakes."
Jack was already shaking his head at me. "I don't know what a snowflake is. How do I know what to look for?"
Everything had to be so difficult sometimes. I reached down and grabbed a handful of fluffy snow and showed it to all of them. "This is snow," I said. I blew on it until it separated enough to show the distinct pieces. "See? It's all little bits of snow. What we call flakes. We need to find big ones."
I turned around and suddenly we were surrounded by the big snowflakes that I knew weren't snow at all. "Oh, God," I said.
"What?" Lucas said. He glanced around and saw all the fairies too and said. "Oh!"
"Umm, guys?" I said and grabbed hold of Gabriel and Jack and pulled them to me. Austin thankfully saw the fairies as well and pulled in with the rest of us.
Jack squinted at the fairies and said, "They're so small. How can they help us?"
One landed on his shoulder and tilted its head at him, regarding him a moment. I knew what was coming. So before it could snap a bite out of Jack's neck, I swooped down and flicked it off his shoulders and said, "Don't!"
I turned in a circle and glared at all the fairies. There were hundreds of them all around us, maybe more, just floating in the air like little blue flakes of snow. The wind didn't seem to faze them at all, the cold either.
"Look," I shouted so that I could be heard by everyone and thing. "I am here to see if we can work together. See if you can help us. We are from a world that…"
All the fairies, every one of them was shaking its head slowly back and forth in denial. They said without words, no.
"But you haven't even heard my plan yet!"
They gathered together in front of me and continued to shake their heads.
"Sunny, I don't think they want to hear our plan," Gabriel said from behind me.
Well they were going to anyway. "We need your help. Please."
All but one of them fanned out and circled around us. It made me nervous. They were surrounding us. They were little, yes, but there were so many of them that together they formed a solid wall around us. It did block out the wind at least, but the feeling of being jailed in was almost worse.
I stared at the one fairy that separated itself out from the others. She, or it, I don't really know what to call it, came right up close to my face, maybe an inch away from my nose. I could see all the tiny little details of its lovely face. It had high strong cheekbones, big black eyes with blue-white eyelashes that were the same color as its hair, tiny, thin arms and legs, big luminescent wings that fluttered lightly in the roaring swirling wind.
I felt like it wasn't actually looking at me but into me. I could feel a fluttering in my head. A tingle. I knew without any proof, that it was reading my mind. It knew what I wanted, and needed. Its face suddenly looked so sad. Still separated a space away from me, it held out its hand.
I was concentrating on the little fairy in front of me, but I still heard Gabriel yell next to me, "Sunny, don't."
"We should go. They are getting anxious," Austin said.
"Sunny?" Lucas said.
I slowly reached out a hand to the fairy. I knew it wanted something from me. But what? Everything slowed down at that point. I saw my hand rise to the fairy.
Jack jostling me from behind didn't deter me.
Gabriel shouted again, "Don't!"
The fairy reached out her hand to mine and slowly, so slowly, connected its hand to my finger. I only know she touched me because I was watching her. I didn't feel the tiny hand at all.
The moment we connected though, a vision slammed over me and blocked out everything else. In my mind, I was watching King Gideon. He was in an elegant study type of room, slumped over a desk that held a drawing, a map maybe, covered in blue and white. His hands were buried deep in the hair of his bowed head. Then the vision was gone, ripped out of my mind with a suddenness that left me confused and jarred about what was going on.
It took me a moment to realize that Jack had yanked me back from the small figure with a ferocity that left my arm tingly. My gaze landed back on the fairy who was desperately trying to reach out to me again.
&n
bsp; "Wait!" I shouted at Jack. It was trying to tell me something. I knew it. I threw myself toward the fairy, my hand reaching for her as she in turn tried to get to me. The strong arm that was banded around my waist held me back and pulled me further away.
"Wait!" I screamed again, but Jack wasn't listening to me. He pulled me into the shadows and I knew he was about to jump us back to Acadia.
"No!" I threw myself as hard as I could against the imprisoning arm. I frantically tried to reach the fairy as Jack pulled us through the shadows.
What did the vision of the king mean? Was it the past? Was it the future? Why did the fairy show it to me? I felt the shadows yank me be backward with Jack and then the strangest feeling of loosening around my middle. Where was the twisty twirly ride? I grappled for Jack, whose hold around me was falling away.
Strangely enough you can't scream in the shadows, otherwise I would have been screaming like a banshee. If Jack let go, would I be trapped in the shadows forever?
Evidently not. When Jack's grip had let go of me completely, that was when the shadows took hold and spun and twisted me like a top. I fell out of their folds in a flailing mess of arms, legs, and hair, and onto a red plush rug, with a grunt.
I sat up and shoved the tangled curtain of hair out of my eyes to see the face of the king as still as stone.
"Arianna?"
"Uh," I said eloquently. I jumped to my feet and brushed myself off as best I could. Me, still dressed for a blizzard.
"No," he said with a slow sad shake of his head. "Not my Arianna." He slammed a hand down forcefully on the desk he stood behind, the desk in the vision. Then he took a breath and said with an arch of his eyes, "What do you want?"
"I…I," I stuttered as I tried to think of what to say. "I didn't mean to come here. I'm not even certain how I ended up here." Oh, I knew how it happened. Damn fairies put the picture in my head and there I was.
I wanted to see his aura. I needed to know what personality I was with. "Gideon?"
"Don't," he snapped.
I quickly clamped my mouth shut.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 39