"Think he'll come around?" I asked.
"Not a chance," he said.
"Great. Thanks for that vote of confidence."
"No problem."
"Now get off my bed," I said with fake annoyance in my voice. "I would like to get some sleep."
He rolled off my bed and went over to lean up against the corners of the wall.
"You sure you don't mind doing this for me?" I asked. "I know we made a deal and all about your family, but are you sure you don't mind?"
"Not a bit," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest, closed his eyes, and bowed his head. "You only ask for a few hours a night. The rest of my time, I can do what I want. Well, as long as I stay in this room or in the shadows, but still. I'm free here."
My eyes were getting heavy so I rolled over and got comfy. Then the dim hum began within the room. That was the sign that he had taken control of the shadows and no one could bounce into my room unannounced or uninvited.
My shoulders were starting to relax and I let sleep take me. One last thought drifted through my mind before sleep claimed me. Did David actually go outside and into town? What did he think of the Water Realm?
~ * ~
"So, what is on the agenda for the day?" David asked. He was back on the bed, and I was quickly doing my make-up and hair.
"School this morning," I said, "and then back to Acadia. We have plans to make. Like figuring out how to get a ton of fire people to Acadia."
"I still can't believe there are people in the Fire Realm and the Ice Realm."
"Well, I wouldn't call the fairies people exactly."
"Still, all these years we thought they were empty."
I shrugged and leaned in closer to the mirror so I could see my eyes better. "You all believed what you wanted to believe. No one ever actually went over to look."
From what I could tell, even though all the people of Acadia could phase from one realm to another, only a handful of them had ever tried it. What a waste, if you asked me. Since the sickness and dizziness of the phasing had diminished to almost nil, I didn't mind it at all.
I turned to David and asked, "What are you planning on doing today?"
He shrugged and said, "Don't know yet."
I regarded him a moment before I said, "You be careful going out there. This world is very different from Acadia."
"Yes," he said.
"I mean it, David. You can get yourself in trouble real quick if you aren't careful."
"I'll be careful. I stay in the shadows," he said. Then he mumbled so low I almost didn't hear him, "Mostly."
I whirled around to stare at him. "Mostly?"
"Well, the shadows are cold here."
They are? Yes, they were a bit on the cool side, but not cold to me.
"I drop them now and then to feel the sun on my skin."
"But it's October. It's cold outside too."
"Not all the time."
"I'm serious, David. Be careful.
"You worry too much," he said. "But, I will. I promise. I like to see the motorcars and the clothes, and I want to taste the food. It's the same but different here."
He wasn't my prisoner. I didn't want him to feel like he was either. "All right," I said. Then quickly dug out an old cigar box that I had stuffed under my bed. I pulled out twenty dollars and handed it to David. "Here. Take this. It's money to buy things with. It won't get you much, but you can eat lunch on it or stop at the pharmacy and get candy or whatever."
"I understand money," he said and took hold of the cash with a quiet reverence that almost made me laugh. "Thank you."
"You are welcome," I said and turned back to getting ready.
Before I headed out the door, I said, "Be careful and have fun. I'll be back in a little while. I want to change before going over to Acadia." Since it was getting colder, I had to dress for it. Acadia was still sunny and warm though. My fall clothes were way too hot for Acadia weather.
~ * ~
"I never see you anymore," Tara said.
"I know. I'm sorry," I said and quickly closed my locker.
"We need to have a girls night. Have some fun, just us."
"God, that would be wonderful." I meant it with all my heart too. All I ever did was train and plan and go from one realm to another, and that was all very important, and I knew it, but I could so use a break. The weeks were passing and my senior year was almost over.
I had a thought then. When school was over, would I ever see any of my friends again? They were all making plans for college. Not me. The idea of going to college was so far out of my possibilities right then it wasn't even funny. I didn't have time for the two lousy classes I was taking at school, let alone the thought of a full schedule of college courses.
"Yay!" she said and hopped up and down. "Let's plan for Friday."
I laughed and said, "Um, isn't there a game on Friday? Don't you need to be there for Chris?"
"Oh, yeah," she said. "Let's do Saturday then! Wait. Maybe we could do a girl's day. I forgot Chris got tickets to the rave dance."
"A girl's day it is. Saturday." Tara always made me smile.
"I'll pick you up first thing. We'll have all day."
~ * ~
"All day? You're going to be gone all day?" Gabriel asked.
"It's just one day, Gabriel," I said on a sigh.
"Yes, but we need all the days we can get."
"Gabriel, I need this day."
"Why?"
"I need…the normalcy of it."
"Why?"
I sighed again. "God, why do you have to make everything so hard? I want to spend the day with my friend. That's it. I want a day where I don't have to worry about Acadia and the fire people and the king and the rebels. I want to go shopping and laugh and have fun!"
He growled. "Fine. Why didn't you just say so?"
I growled right back at him. He was driving me crazy, and I think he knew it.
"We have other things to worry about right now anyway," he said and then walked away knowing I would follow.
He was right. We did have other things to think about. Today was fire people day. We were going to start bringing them over. "How many people did you get to make the jumps?"
"Not many," he replied and left it at that.
Not many turned out to be us, the standard five lately, Jack, Gabriel, Lucas, Austin and me. The shadow walkers that had never jumped to another world before were hesitant to do it. "Maybe if we show them how it works, more will want to help."
"Doubt it," Gabriel said.
"Well, aren't you just a barrel of wonderful news."
We made it to the clearing, also known as the training field. "Okay, so what are we thinking?"
"I think we should take turns," Lucas said.
I nodded and said, "Maybe start with the amount we know we can phase at one time and add from there."
Gabriel nodded as well. "All right. Let's get started. I'll go over with Sunny first."
"Actually, why don't we all go over together so that we only have to make one jump there to show you the way? I can get the five of us over there and see how that goes."
We all looked around, almost as if to see if anyone would object. I linked up with Lucas and Jack and then said, "Oh, come on. Let's just get this day started."
Gabriel stepped forward and linked up, as did Austin.
"Ready? Okay, hold tight." I pulled us into the shadows. Then took a deep breath, pulled again, and yanked us through the shadows to the Fire Realm. The heat from the realm blasted over us. I had forgotten how freaking hot it was there. I'm a warm weather chic, but geez.
Also, landing with two people is tricky. Landing with five was almost impossible. We tangled and landed in a gangly mess of limbs piled five deep. Thankfully, I was at the top.
Poor Jack was on the bottom. "Get off!" he groaned.
I rolled off the pile, Lucas followed and so on and so on until Jack stood up last and brushed off. "The landing could use some help, but all in a
ll, not too shabby, eh?"
No, not too shabby at all. The pull of the five was a bit harder and felt a bit more reckless while we were in the shadows, but otherwise, I thought it would be all right. "I think five is good," I said and turned around us to see where we had landed.
We were right before the cave of Star and Brick. At least I hoped so. The Fire Realm looked the same everywhere to me. "Okay, this is the place. I'm going to run in and tell them we're here."
I had barely made it into the cave when I met up with them on their way out, including a ton of others. "Hey!"
"Hey, we were on our way to meet you," Brick said.
"Obviously," Star said and wrapped her arm in his. Brick looked down at her and gave her a smile, which she returned. Star was small, pale, and petite. Brick was big and red and dark. They looked so wonderful and happy together.
I glanced at Lucas, would we be like that? He stopped shaking hands with all the people and looked my way, almost as if he felt my glance. He smiled at me. That look said so much. It was more than just a 'hey' kind of look it was a 'Hi. I see you' kind of thing. Said so much and yet such a simple thing. Maybe we did have a chance.
"All right!" I shouted over the din of conversations going on. "Is this everyone?"
Brick shook his head and said, "No. This is only the one family. The rest should be on their way."
Lord, when he said the rest, I was thinking maybe fifty more. I was wrong. Big time. He wasn't kidding when he said he had an army of hundreds. I think he under estimated. There were so many red bodies filing in and around us, I couldn't keep track and if anyone thought I was going to remember names of all those people, they were crazy. I could barely keep track of the two hundred or so I had at home.
I made my way through the throng of people to where Brick stood with Gabriel. They hadn't stopped talking since they met. As Gabriel wasn't a talking type of person, this was really strange. But as I got closer I saw they were talking strategy. If Gabriel was going to talk about anything, strategy would be it.
"Okay, Brick. Is this it?" I asked and waved at all the people around us.
He pursed his lips and nodded. "This looks about right."
I shook my head at Gabriel and said, "How are we going to get all these people over to Acadia? There are so many."
"One at a time," he said.
"Or five or six or ten at a time," Lucas said and wrapped a comforting arm around my waist. "It'll be all right. We'll get them over somehow."
I was worried anyway. There were so many people. "Well, we better get started then," I said. "I'll take Star first, along with five others."
"Okay, I'll give you a few minutes to get over and then I'll follow with seven others," Lucas said.
I nodded and said, "Okay, then Austin, you take another group and then you, Jack. We'll drop off and come right back and see how many we can get over today. Actually, Jack, maybe you should stay with Simon on the other side and get people settled in as we drop off and bring others in."
I turned to Gabriel and said, "Gabriel, you and Brick stay on this side and get the groups ready."
"Okay, Star? You ready?" I asked.
She grabbed her backpack and the supplies she was bringing with her and said, "Yep."
I turned to the group around me and pointed out six others and said, "You guys too?"
When we were all linked up I gave my speech about the trip being a bit on the strange side and then pulled us into the shadows. I gave a quick look around at my group and saw that they were a little wary but all in all good to go. "Okay, guys. One more time and we're set. Ready?"
I grabbed the shadows again and pulled. We were yanked back and into the shadows. We landed in Acadia with a firm thud. I staggered and went down to the ground on one knee. Whoa, that was a rough ride. My heart beat hard inside my chest and my arms and legs felt all jello-y. Not a good feeling. The rest of my group looked fine though. They all were a bit green around the gills but otherwise good to go.
Why was I so drained then? Maybe I didn't get enough sleep the night before. I waited for Lucas to get there so that I could see how he did with his group. I stood up and found Star within my group.
"How was it?" I asked her. She was sitting on the ground, her legs sprawled out in front of her, head down.
"I hated it when we phased realms eighteen years ago. I hate it just as much now. Ugh. I swear my insides feel like they have been spun around and shaken."
I laughed. I knew the feeling.
Lucas popped into sight and I watched to see how he looked after his trip over. He looked a bit gray around the edges, but he didn't appear any worse for wear.
"How'd it go?" I asked him.
He hesitated a moment then said, "Fine."
I watched his face, as he seemed a bit wary for a moment. I poked a bit further. "Nothing strange?"
Again he had a slight hesitation before he answered, "No. Everything went well. How was your trip?"
Well, I certainly wasn't going to say it was a bit off for me if he didn't notice anything. Maybe I really was just tired. "The same."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" I asked right back.
"No reason, just checking," he said.
"Okay. Well, I guess I will go back over then. Wait for Austin before you come back. Make sure his trip went fine as well."
He nodded at me and I jumped back over to the Fire Realm. The jump over was fine. No strange weariness or dizziness. No jelly arms.
After I caught my breath, I said to Gabriel, "I'm ready for the next group. You have them ready for me?"
He pointed to a group and I counted them. Ten. There were ten people plus myself. All right.
I pulled us over to Acadia and had I not been linked up on both sides I would have fallen on my face. My legs and arms were numb and my head was not just dizzy, it was foggy. "Whoa," I said.
I said it more to myself, but the girl standing next to me asked, "Are you all right?"
I shook my head to try to clear away the haze and said, "Yeah. Just a little light in the head is all. I'll be fine in a second." I hoped.
Lucas jumped in behind me with his group. I didn't actually see it, but I was made aware of it by Star, who marched up behind me and all but shouted, "No. No way, young lady. You get to go right back."
I turned to see who Star was yelling at, only to see a striking red head. I had no doubt who she was. She was as tall as her father, but her skin was a lighter red, more pink in color. She had bright red hair that was long and straight that hung just past her shoulders. She had strong cheekbones and the nose of her mother.
"Mother," she said very formally, "no. I am staying right here."
"You are not," Star said. "You are only sixteen years old and I am still the boss of you."
"I'm staying."
Before Star could argue with her further, I stepped in and said, "Cinder, right?"
When she nodded, I continued, "Why do you want to stay? Why fight? It's not your world, after all."
She looked at her mother and said, "It's her world. It's where she comes from and it matters to her. It's part of who I am too, and because it matters to my mother, it matters to me."
"Cinder, honey," Star said, "you matter more to me. I want you to be safe."
Cinder shook her head firmly and said, "I'm staying."
Star muttered, "Stubborn, just like your father. I said no."
My brain was whirling fast as I tried to come up with a solution to the stalemate between mother and daughter. Finally, I said, "Maybe we could find something for her to do that is not right in the middle of it all." I had no idea what at that moment, but I was sure I could find something.
"Fine," Star said.
"No!" Cinder said. "I want to be a part of this. Not standing in the background."
"Every person that has a job here is important," I said. Then I had a thought, which kind of ticked me off. "Or are you looking for more than just to help the land of your mother? Are yo
u here to prove something? Do you want to be a hero? Because let me tell you something, we don't have the time or the patience for heroes here."
"No," she said earnestly. "It's not that. I swear. I just want to be important to the cause. I want to have mattered."
I turned to Star and said, "It's up to you. She's your daughter."
One good thing about the Cinder problem was that it had given me time to get my feet back under me from the phase over. I turned to Lucas and said, "I'm heading back over. See you in a few."
As my attention had been held on Star and Cinder, I hadn't had a chance to check out Lucas after his jump over. Did he have any effects from the phase? It was too late to find out at that point, so I shifted back over to the Fire Realm.
"What took you so long?" Gabriel demanded the moment I popped into view.
"Mother daughter issues," I said. When he looked confused I said, "Cinder, Star's daughter, didn't have permission to join the ranks."
"Ah," he said and nodded. "I see."
"My group ready?"
"Yes," he said and nodded at my new group.
Thirteen. There were thirteen people waiting for me. Crap. "Ah, Gabriel," I said.
I was about to tell him I was struggling with the amount of people I was jumping, but then he turned away from me and yelled, "Get the next group ready."
I turned back to my group and said, "All right then, let's get this show on the road."
We landed in Acadia and my world went dark. Only for a moment, but enough that my group was concerned. I realized how concerned when I was awakened by a slap to the face. Why that is a good way to rouse someone is beyond me. "Don't hit," I growled.
"Thank God!" A man in my group said. "We thought you were dead."
"Was I still breathing?" I asked sarcastically.
They all looked at everyone else as if to say, "I hadn't thought of that."
"Great," I said a bit out of sorts. I took a deep breath and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "If a person is breathing, they aren't dead."
I was getting close to wanting to be though. I had a headache to beat all headaches. The jumping back and forth was harder than I thought it would be and the large number of people I was trying to move was taking a huge toll on my body and my mind. It wasn't painful. It was just…not tiring exactly. It was more like exhausting me mentally.
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