Heritage

by Rebecca Walton

“Come on Elle,” Poppy stammered in excitement. Oh Poppy, you have really done it this time. Slowly leaving the benches, I went to stand beside Poppy. Not before blowing a freak gust of wind, that lifted up Emma’s skirt and blew her perfect blonde hair all over her face.

  “What was that,” She spluttered, her mouth full of her own hair.

  “Someone must of left a window open or something,” I smiled as she brushed the hair from her face with her fingers.

  “Anyway, Elle Bale you are the new sharks Mascot.” Giving me the head of the shark, she ushered for me to try It on. I don’t think I’ve ever been so humiliated. Since when have I lost the ability to say No. I sighed placing on the fabric sharks head. It smelt like the inside of a year old sock. Holding my breath, I heard the cheers from the girls and could only just see them through the small opening in the sharks mouth. I officially want to burn this piece of rubbish and throw Emma on top of the bonfire.

  “It suits you Elle, makes an improvement,” Emma giggled. Resisting the urge to punch her right in the face, I pulled off the head and breathed in the fresh air.

  “Awesome, Frankie and Poppy we have training every Tuesday at six. Oh and Elle try not to wear this outside of pep rallies ok.” She smirked handing me the rest of the disgusting shark costume. The grey shark suit had on a purple and yellow t-shirt with our colleges name on. If it wasn’t bad enough that I had to wear a polyester shark, the college colours made it a hell of a lot worse.

  Walking out of the gym with a grey sharks head under my arms I’m pretty sure my day couldn’t get any worse. Then again it was only four o’clock, which gives me half a day to find something worse than this.

  “Elle, Poppy wait up,” Oscar called from behind us. Well that didn’t take long to get more embarrassing. That’s a new record for me.

  “Hey Oz,” I replied bracing myself and turning around.

  “What’s with the shark head wear,” He asked taking the head from me and throwing it around like a ball.

  “You girlfriend hates me. So now I’m the college’s mascot,” I grunted taking back the sharks head from him.

  “She is not my girlfriend…”

  “Yeah and you have Elle to thank for that,” Poppy interrupted.

  “Yeah whatever,” He replied standing in the middle of the two of us and wrapping his arms around both of us.

  “So we have a Mascot and a cheerleader?” He asked looking at Poppy.

  “Yes,” She squealed. Jumping up and down like a child on Christmas day. I think I may want to shoot myself in the head.

  “Well done Pops,” He cheered giving her a high five.

  “Yeah well done on achieving grade a talent and zero self respect,” I groaned as we reached the car park.

  “You’re just jealous that I made the squad, and you didn’t,” Poppy smirked as we made our way to my car. The car park was deserted as college had finished an hour before. My yellow BMW looked so lonely by its self.

  “Hey Elle could you give me a lift back home. My dad took my car to be fixed,” Poppy asked as I opened my car door.

  “Sure, Oz do you want a lift to?” I asked.

  “If you’re offering,” He laughed and fought with Poppy to get the front seat. I don’t know why he bothered, Poppy always seemed to win. Laughing at the two of them, I started up the car and headed towards the village where Poppy lived.

  Driving through the village of Black stoke with the radio playing one of Poppy’s favourite songs. My eyes began to droop. I hadn’t had the best sleeping pattern over the past couple of months. What with the travelling from Icarus to Gracia and the different time zones. I’m hoping that this weekend I could sleep all day through, even if people say you can’t catch up on sleep. I could always try.

  “I would catch a Grenade for you! Throw my hand on a blade for you!” Sang Poppy from the passenger seat. I couldn’t help but sing along on the drive down through the country roads.

  “I’d jump in front of a train for ya, You know I'd do anything for ya, I would go through all this pain. Take a bullet straight through my brain. Yes, I would die for ya baby.” As we all sang along to Bruno mars grenade, I pulled up in front of the cottage where Poppy lived.

  “I think I’m going to hang at Poppy’s for a bit if that’s alright with you Pop’s,” Oscar asked stepping out of the car after Poppy. She looked confused but didn’t object as Oscar shut the car door.

  “Ok I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  Waving goodbye I drove away back down the country road, leading back to the Bales house. Well that was a bit suspicious. Oscar never stayed over Poppy’s house alone, and Poppy didn’t seem like she knew what was going on. I don’t really have enough space in my brain to worry about that or think about it for the time being. The next thing on my do list was to track down where exactly the devil gates opening is.

  Considering the golden box inside the church in Icarus had a diamond shape holder inside. It would be a good place to start looking. Coming out of my head planning state, I glanced at the road as a horse leapt in front of the car. Screaming I pushed on the brake as hard as I could and swerved out of the way.

  “What in God’s name was that?” I breathed. Rushing out of the car I climbed the fence that was guarding a field full of sheep. I can guarantee that wasn’t a sheep it was defiantly a horse. Out of fear of getting trampled by sheep, I ran across the field and over another fence which led to a closed forest. Why am I searching after a horse exactly, maybe I was imagining catching a glimpse of human hands. Following a path of leaves, I walked around several trees not exactly knowing what I was letting myself in for. Trudging further into the woods I tripped over a branch lying on the floor. My hands hit the ground and began to be consumed by the wet mud that surrounded me. Kneeling in the mud I wiped my hands on my vest top and lifted myself back onto my feet.

  “Who needs a Spa, if you need a Mud bath come to the country side.”

  As I spoke a rustling in the trees made me tense up. My eyes turned pink, and I slowly turned around towards the rustling foliage. Without a chance to defend myself, a huge horse jumped from the thicket. Its front legs landed straight in front of me. Rearing it lifted his front legs up, making me jump back to avoid been hit in the face. As the horse landed I could see that it wasn’t a horse. It had the body of a horse, but its head, arms and chest were that of a human. I couldn’t move, my feet were frozen in place, and even though my head is telling me to run, my body wouldn’t let me go anywhere.

  Centaurs were a hostile breed and were known for their ignorant and harsh nature. They worked for either good or bad magic and often fought with both sides if and when they felt like it. I had never seen one before now, and the tales I heard about them made me fear their existence. They were hostile towards humans and were known for their hatred of them, so one being in the middle of a small village didn’t fill me with warm fuzzes.

  “Who are you? And what are doing here?” I asked sounding a lot calmer than I was feeling. My insides were literally telling me to run for my life and hopefully he wouldn’t catch up to me. That was defiantly an unrealistic dream. His long blonde hair danced in the light breeze,whilst caressing his muscular chest.

  “I am Tamtun, and I am not alone in these woods. There are many other mythical creatures hiding from the humans. We travelled through an invisible portal from our own realms into this one. We have no way of returning,” He boomed. His deep voice scared the birds from the trees as well as making me shudder. How is this possible, the only ways in and out of realms are through the magical openings in the realm walls or orbing. Wait there was a portal made from Gracia to a random cornfield. Then to Icarus, maybe the same person that made that portal is the one making the others. The person that knew the most about the portal to Icarus was Logan. So that means I have to pull up the courage to talk to him again.

  “What realm do you come from?” I asked.

  “I am from Ambeushania, and I would much like to go back there. As this human realm is t
aking away my magic and leaving me weak and defenceless. If I was made captive by these beings then..” He sighed lowing his head in despair. This wasn’t the image of a centaur that had been painted by the books I read. Maybe reading books isn’t enough anymore with the changing ways of all creatures.

  “I will do anything to help, but at the moment the only thing I can offer to you is taking you to Gracia…”

  “The land of the Good King?” He interrupted raising his head and pushing out his chest. In the same way, my father’s soldiers did when his name was ever mentioned.

  “Yes he’s my father…”

  “You are the princess of all that is holy? It’s an honour to meet you your highness,” He asked again, bowing down to me. His hair fell over his face as he bent his head to nod. He stretched out his hand for me to shake.

  “Yes and the pleasure is all mine,” I replied taking his handshake.

  “So if you would like to come to Gracia, and we will try and make you as comfortable as possible. Then you are entirely welcome,”

  “What about the others,” He asked pointing around the trees as a hundred mythical creatures showed themselves. Poking their heads around trees and stepping out from bushes, I was surrounded by elves, nymphs, fairies and ogres. All of them looking weak and in distress.

  “Whoa, Ok well I could orb you all there I suppose, but I have one question. Some of you come into the human world yourself on a daily basis. Why can’t you go back the way you use when you come here on your own?” I asked confused. Fairies and elves come and go from the human world all of the time. Sometimes they are even caught by humans which is how the tales of them began. That always needed a lot of memories wiped when that happened, but with spells, sometimes some information cannot be erased.

  “The portal closed as soon as we entered,” squeaked a fairy in my ear as she flew around my head.

  “We couldn’t return home through the trees either.” A woodland nymph wailed, barely visible as she stood inside a tree.

  “The opening that we use to travel from our own realms to the humans was sealed shut. Just over five days ago and we are all slowly losing our magic.” An old elf walked towards me with his small walking stick. He was dressed in a workers uniform with a name tag.

  “Why are you wearing a supermarket uniform?” I asked pointing at his clothing. He sighed and shook his head, shaking his grey hair with his hand.

  “I’m…Fitting in,” He muttered looking down at his feet. “They think I’m a small person”

  “Right,” I sighed, trying not to laugh as it was a serious situation, but the image of an elderly elf serving humans in a supermarket is a funny and surreal picture.

  “We also work in a dress store,” Piped up two woodland nymphs, as they stepped out of the trees wearing matching light blue floral dresses. Their blonde hair tied up in a tidy pony tail. They looked almost normal without their normal dresses, made from flowers and daisy chains in their long free flowing hair.

  “Anyone else have a part time job?” I asked trying not to sound as if I was mocking them. Six more elves stepped forward with two nymphs and one ogre. What could an ogre possibly do in the real world, he was huge and hairy, and I could smell him a hundred feet away.

  “What do you do?” I asked pointing at ogre, trying not to be rude.

  “I work on a building site,” He moaned. His breath carried through the magical creatures as they all covered their noses. That makes sense, an ogre wouldn’t stand out that much on a site full of hairy beastly men. There is an occasional attractive builder, but most of them are middle aged beastly men.

  “Ok well, I need a bit more power than I have to take all of you to Gracia. So I need to call for some reinforcements. So talk amongst yourselves,” I smiled turning away from them and pulling out my phone from my pocket. I walked a few feet away from them as the chatter of creatures became louder than expected.

  “Hello” Alex answered.

  “Hey Alex. I need you to get the twins Genevieve and Adam to meet me in Bakersfield woods,” I replied. Seeing as the twins are one of the few people that can orb themselves and others through realms. The twins were perfect to help me out with the task of orbing a hundred creatures to the castle.

  “Do I want to know why?” She asked, I could tell she was smirking by the sound of her voice.

  “No, you honestly don’t,” I laughed turning back to the mass of mythical creatures. Some of which were dressed in everyday human uniform. Alex would be in hysterics if she was seeing what I was seeing.

  “Ok but that makes me want to know more. Gen and Adam are on their way, see you later alligator,” She chuckled.

  “In a while crocodile.” I laughed hanging up the phone. Tucking it back into the pocket of my shorts, Adam orbed in front of me. He was quickly followed by Genevieve. Both of them had a cheeky expression on their face,which made them look more adorable than ever.

  “We are here to help your majesty,” The both smiled in unison saluting me with their right hands. Chuckling at them I turned them both around so they could see the others.

  “Holy smokes is that a centaur!” Adam cried running towards Tamtun.

  “Awesome!” Genevieve yelled following her brother. I’m beginning to think that this is a terrible idea. Chasing after the two of them I reached them just as they reached Tamtun. They both stood and stared in amazement at the half man, half horse.

  “Children,” Tamtun grumbled looking awkward as the twins continued to stare intently at him. Taking their hands, I led them away from the centaur and into the middle of all the other creatures. Kneeling onto the ground, I looked up to the twins and held one of their hands.

  “Right you guys. I want you to do something really important for me ok,” I smiled. They nodded at me and waited for me to continue.

  “See these creatures, I need you to help me orb all of them back home. Do you think you can do that?” I asked.

  “All of them?” Genevieve asked in shock. She took a look around and then looked at her brother.

  “Ok we can try,” She giggled.

  “You guys are my saviours,” I smiled kissing them both on the forehead. Keeping hold of them I stood back up and turned to the group of creatures.

  “Ok, So I need you all to get into a circle and hold hands” I commanded. All of them started to try and arrange themselves. You would think that it was as easy enough task, but apparently it wasn’t for them.

  It took over ten minutes for all of them to arrange themselves into a circle, and that was with help from me and the twins. As they all stood hand in hand surrounding us, the twins smiled and jumped with delight.

  “Genevieve and Adam can you go hold hands with someone please and wait for my command,” I asked. They nodded at me and skipped over and separated two woodland nymphs to join in the circle. This idea better work I hope. Looking around the circle, it wasn’t really a circle. The forest was full of too many trees and creatures for a perfect circle. Everyone was wound around the trees. It was very spread out and had more curves than was intended, but it will serve its purpose. Wandering down the circle I placed myself between an elf and a fairy. With one hand below my waist and my other above my head, I felt like a fool.

  “Gen and Adam after three I want you to close your eyes and orb but don’t strain yourselves, ok!” I exclaimed.

  “1…2…3.”

  Closing my eyes I thought of home as the wind swirled around all of us. After a couple of seconds, I opened my eyes, and we were all standing in a gigantic circle in the middle of the castle gardens. A few of them were standing in the flower beds, but that wasn’t bothering me.

  “We did it!” The twins screamed and ran to give me hug.

  “Well done you two. Now could you do me one more favour and tell my father to come outside.” I asked.

  “Ok,” they cried. Adam ran towards the castle as Genevieve cart wheeled her way up the hill. A group of gardeners gave me disapproving looks as Tamtun stepped out of the cupid
fountain that my father recently had made. It’s not broken its fine.

  “Guys if you are in the flower beds or anything else that could get me in trouble could you step out of them. I would really appreciate it. Thank you!” I yelled. Mouthing sorry to the gardeners, they sniffed and continued with what they were doing. Rounding everyone up in the part of the garden that didn’t have any flowers, I turned to see my father walking towards me.

  “Adabelle,” My father exclaimed from behind me.

  “Dad,” I smiled sweetly. I did the right thing didn’t I. It’s not as if I could have left them in the human world to be caught out and the whole magical community to be found out.

  “What exactly is going on here?” He whispered to me whilst smiling to the others. They all gasped and bowed their heads down towards him.

  “They were all in the human world. They came through un known portals that closed when they entered. The doors that lead to the human worlds from their own, our’s also closed, meaning they were stuck. So using my initiative, which by the way, you always want me to use, I asked the twins to help bring them here,” I babbled. Catching my breath I glanced back at Tamtun who was standing to attention.

  “So you brought them into my garden,” My father moaned bringing my attention back on to him.

  “Well I couldn’t leave them there, and I also couldn’t have taken them to the Bales now could I,” I replied.

  “Good point.” Taking a look around all the magical creatures were watching us intently.

  “Well then, we will see to it that you all be returned to your realms or if you wish to stay in this realm. That would be lovely. Katelyn!” He called Katelyn, and she appeared next to him in a ball of light. Giving me a once over look, she turned towards my father.

  “I will order them immediately,” She grunted making a clipboard appear in her hands.

  “Is there anyone who wishes to stay here,” She shouted above the chatter.