Until I Sleep (Alora Chronicles Book 1)

by Lara Ann

  “He’s fine, he’ll come around in a minute.”

  “How can you tell?” I asked still worried. I brushed Wyn’s hair back off his forehead noting the lump continued to grow.

  “I’m a healer, don’t worry he’ll be fine. Probably have a nasty headache, which is no more than he deserves foolish boy....” He continued muttering under his breath as he walked towards the fire.

  Argus knelt down next to Wyn. “I didn’t mean it,” he said beseechingly to me. “I’d never knowingly hurt Wyndelleu, he’s like a younger brother to me. I am sworn to protect him. I hope he’s not too mad when he wakes up.”

  Just then Wyn groaned and opened his eyes, he looked at me and then at Argus.

  “I’m such an idiot,” he groaned. “How angry is he,” he asked looking at Argus.

  “Well he’s not here, if that tells you anything, I’ll go and talk to him,” he said moving off to join Finnan by the fire.

  “Are you ok?” I asked, still gently running my hand through his hair.

  “Mmm that feels good,” he murmured.

  “You must have a concussion,” I stated. “There’s no way that lump can feel good.”

  “No, I mean you running your hand through my hair feels good, silly.”

  “And there you go insulting me again, you must be alright.”

  “Sorry I’m not normally so rude. I don’t know what’s happening to me today.”

  “Don’t worry about it, maybe you have brain damage,” I said returning the favour.

  He smirked at me showing two adorable dimples. I suddenly stopped smiling remembering what Finnan had said about Human Elf relationships being taboo.

  “What’s wrong,” he asked noticing my change in expression.

  “Nothing, let’s get you over to the fire where it’s warmer.”

  I helped him to his feet and he put his arm around my shoulders as I helped him hobble towards the fire. I tried not to think about how nice Wyn’s arm around me felt. There were already three people there, one of the scouts must have returned.

  “Welcome Ashlee, I’m Callum.”

  Finnan had obviously filled him in as to who I was and what I was doing here. Callum was tall and lean – he looked very fit. He had an open friendly face, with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. He was holding his hand out towards me as if to shake it.

  “Hi,” I said taking his hand as he surprised me by shaking it firmly.

  “Welcome to Alora Ashlee. It is an honour to meet you,” Callum smiled shyly.

  “Callum always topped the class in Human studies,” Wyn stated. “I didn’t even think to shake your hand when we met.”

  “I think you had more important things on your mind, such as being followed.”

  “You never told us you were followed.” Finnan looked slightly concerned. “Callum, Argus do a perimeter check, you can practice your Human Elf relations later.”

  Callum and Argus silently disappeared into the forest. I hoped they had better eyesight than I did.

  “How close did they get.”

  “I lost them before the Statton Ford.”

  Finnan was nodding his head. “Good, good,” he said looking thoughtful. “You both need to get some sleep, we have a lot to do.” With that, he turned and headed into the dark forest.

  “Sounds good,” Wyn, muttered. “I don’t feel well. Grab a couple of blankets Ash,” he said indicating a pile on the ground. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

  I wasn’t sure what ‘it’ was, but I guessed I would find out soon enough. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep curled up in front of the fire next to Wyn, but it wasn’t too long before my eyelids began to feel heavy. I could tell Wyn was already asleep by the sound of his deep slow breaths, I closed my eyes…

  Chapter 3

  I awoke to the sound of the alarm going off on my phone. I sat up. I was back in my four poster bed in my dad’s house in the middle of the Tasmanian bush. I could hear the waves breaking on the beach nearby. I remembered everything from my dream; it was as vivid a memory as if it had been real. Evidence – that’s what I needed, proof it was real. I got out of bed and winced, my legs were definitely sore, but that still wasn’t proof. I looked in my full-length mirror, my pyjamas looked dirtier than I remembered, but that still wasn’t definite proof. I wasn’t tired, that was weird and surely, I should be exhausted if I’d really been running around on another world all night instead of sleeping? Unless I’d been gone for longer than I thought? Panicking slightly I ran downstairs.

  “Dad,” I called out.

  “In here,” he responded from the kitchen, not sounding worried like I’d been missing. I raced in-to the kitchen. He was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper spread out in front of him. He looked up as I rushed in.

  “Don’t worry, you have plenty of time to get ready before school starts, it’s only seven.”

  I walked slowly back up the stairs, deep in thought. So I hadn’t been gone more than one night, if indeed anything had really happened. At this point, I wasn’t sure what to believe. A part of me found it incredibly exciting. Traveling to a whole new world was not something many people got to experience. And then there was Wyn, I definitely wanted to see him again. He was the most amazing person I had ever met, Elf or Human. There was a small part of me that thought it was all too much. I was still devastated by the death of my Mother. I still cried all the time – although mostly I could wait until there was no one around before I let the tears come. Maybe it would be better if it was just a dream?

  I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Steam filled the room, I took the locket off before I stepped under the slightly scalding water. I let the water just run over me for several minutes. My feet! I suddenly thought. Oh, crap! I should have checked my feet for evidence be-fore I showered. I lifted one foot to have a look but the water had already washed away any evidence there might have been. There was a red scratch on my ankle, but I couldn’t remember when I had done that. It could have been from anything. I guess I wouldn’t get a definitive answer yet, I’d just have to wait until tonight.

  I quickly dressed in my school uniform and put my locket back on. There was definitely some-thing comforting about the feel of it around my neck. It connected me to my family whom I would never know. It also connected me to Wyn, I smiled at the thought.

  After a quick breakfast, Dad handed me a set of car keys.

  “Do you want to try driving yourself today? I’ve put the school address in the GPS on your phone.”

  “Sure,” I said feeling brave, what’s the worst that could happen?

  “Just call me if you have any problems.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you after school,” I said feeling nervous about driving such a fancy car.

  “If you want to check out the sights after school, don’t feel like you have to rush home. Just be-cause I’m an old hermit doesn’t mean you have to be,” Dad said laughing.

  I gave him a hug and headed out to the garage.

  The red Audi was still sitting where it had been before. I wondered if Dad drove it much. I pressed the button on the key and the locks smoothly opened. I opened the door and slid in cautiously. The leather seats were cool and comfortable. I placed my phone in the holder and waited until the map to the school came up. The engine started smoothly, I was glad to see it was an automatic, one less problem to worry about. I knew how to drive a manual, but autos were definitely easier. Sitting in the centre console was a gadget I assumed was the garage door opener. I pressed the button, and sure enough, the garage door began its clunking as it opened.

  I reversed out into the sunshine. Perhaps I could get used to this after all I thought, as the car accelerated smoothly up the drive.

  The trip was over quite quickly, it was by far the nicest car I had ever driven. I was actually looking forward to the end of school so I could drive it again. I parked as slowly and carefully as I could between two nice looking cars, where I figured it would be safer tha
n next to some of the students’ decrepit looking rides. They looked much like I had expected my first car would look. I felt somewhat guilty as I stepped out of the shiny red car and looked back at it. It was by far the nicest car there.

  I looked up towards the school and saw Xavier standing near the entrance. Was he waiting for me?

  “Hi Ash,” Xavier said answering my silent question.

  “Hi Xavier,” I replied, happy to have someone to walk into school with.

  “Nice car.”

  “Thanks, it’s my Dad’s.”

  “Wow, he must trust you, my parents hardly ever let me drive their new car, and it’s just a Falcon.”

  “I guess, he’s pretty generous that way.”

  “Let’s head in, Maths first period. They certainly know how to write a terrible timetable here.”

  “Yeah, my old school was the same. I think they do it on purpose to torture us,” I replied laughing.

  The morning passed fairly uneventfully. First Maths, then History followed by Biology. As I shared all these classes with Xavier, I didn’t have to find my way around. Not that it was all that difficult; it was such a small school that it was pretty easy. There was the English/History department, which was over the Art/Drama/Textiles classrooms. Across the courtyard was Maths, Geography and Languages (happily, I wasn’t taking any of those, I’m terrible at languages). Just as well Wyn spoke English. I stopped walking. How probable was it that Wyn spoke English? Yes he had a bit of a foreign accent, but that was definitely a mark in the ‘it was just a dream’ column.

  “Is everything okay?” Xavier asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

  “You want to talk about it?”

  “No that’s okay,” I said awkwardly. I could hardly discuss my inappropriate feelings for a boy who probably didn’t even exist. Especially with someone, who I couldn’t tell if he liked me or was just really friendly with everyone.

  We sat at the same table with the same group from yesterday.

  “You’re doing Drama right?” Tali asked as soon as I sat down.

  “Yes.”

  “That means you’ll have to be part of the production, that’s all we’re doing in drama this term,” Tali replied.

  “That sounds fun, you’re doing ‘Annie’ right?”

  “Yep.” Harry confirmed. “Becky’s playing Annie.” He said looking at her adoringly.

  “I think they cast me because of my crazy curls,” Becky said. “I wonder if they’ll ask me to dye it red.”

  “You could match me then,” Harry joked.

  “Ugh that would just be too much,” Will replied. “You two are too soppy already, I can only imagine how bad it would be if you had matching hair.”

  Harry and Becky seemed to be the only couple in the group. It would be nice to find out the history, whether anyone else had dated within the group of friends. Maybe I could ask Olivia, she had been nice to me yesterday and she didn’t seem to gossip much.

  My opportunity came sooner than I expected. As the bell rang signalling the end of recess, Xavier turned to me. “What class do you have next Ash? Maybe someone else is going the same way.”

  “I actually have a free period now, I guess because the school doesn’t offer Legal studies.”

  “I’ll take Ash with me to the library,” said Olivia. “I have a free now too.”

  We walked towards the library building on the far side of the school not saying much. I think we might have similar personalities, which can either work or be a total disaster in a friendship.

  “Well this is it,” Olivia said with a grand sweeping gesture.

  “I looked around the single large room with shelves of books and a few rows of outdated computers.

  “This is it?” I asked.

  “Yep, impressive isn’t it,” she said sarcastically. “Lucky we have a good internet connection, otherwise I’d never get into a good Uni. I don’t know how they survived before then.”

  We walked past the bookshelves and sat in a couple of comfy, slightly worn looking, padded chairs.

  “What do you want to do at Uni?”

  “I want to do veterinary science, that’s why I have a free period now. You can only do one science elective here. I’m doing Bio, Chem, and Physics.”

  “Wow, I’m definitely impressed,” I replied trying to imagine the tiny girl examining a large horse and failing.

  “Do you know what you want to do after you finish school?”

  “Well I like writing, but I’m not sure if I want everyone to think I’m just doing it because my Dad does.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about what other people think. Do you like your Dad’s books?”

  “I actually haven’t read any of them yet.”

  “Well that makes me feel better, I haven’t read them either.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to read them, it’s just that I haven’t even known him that long. I want to get to know him a bit first.” Crap, what was I doing, I really did not want to talk about my past. Olivia was so easy to talk to it had just kind of slipped out.

  “Don’t stress, I won’t mention it if you don’t want me to,” Olivia said noticing my look of distress.

  “Thanks – really, I’m grateful. I really don’t want my messed up past becoming a conversation topic.”

  “I understand, my Dad passed away when I was eleven. It was really hard, everyone was so weird around me for ages. They either said nothing about it, or they kept asking me how I was feeling.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you. Thanks for understanding,” I replied reaching across to give her a quick hug.

  “I felt like we had a connection when I first met you, I hope we can become good friends.”

  “You don’t know how nice it feels to be accepted so quickly. I was really worried that no one would like me here.”

  “There are some kinda nasty people in our year, but our group mostly keep to ourselves.”

  “I know Harry and Becky are together, can I ask if anyone else is or was involved?”

  “Is there someone you have your eye on, Xavier perhaps?” Olivia said smiling widely.

  “No it’s not that,” I said quickly. “I just don’t want to put my foot in it, by saying something stupid.”

  “Oh okay, but I think Xavier might be interested if you change your mind. He and Tali did go out for a little while last year, but they’re friends again now. It was a bit weird straight after, but not anymore. Harry and Becky have been together for nearly a year now. It’s hard to imagine them breaking up anytime soon. That’s it really, so you don’t have to worry.”

  “What about you, do you like anyone?” I asked,

  “Well...there is kind of someone....” She broke off looking slightly flushed.

  “Is it Will?” I guessed, noticing she had failed to mention him before.

  “Is it really that obvious?”

  “No, I only guessed because he’s the only one you haven’t talked about.”

  “Oh, that’s okay then. Please don’t tell anyone.”

  “Of course not. I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I did,” I said, happy to have made a new friend. I certainly wasn’t going to do anything to lose her trust in me.

  “What are we supposed to be doing in our free periods anyway?” I asked deliberately changing the subject.

  “They’ll give you the study notes for your correspondence subject soon. We’re supposed to study those during our free periods. Although if there are a few of us here, we usually just end up talking. I usually do most of my work at home, it’s much quicker that way.”

  The bell rang then, so we headed for the school Hall and my first Drama lesson.

  When we walked in most of the Drama students were already there. Becky was up on the stage talking to the Drama teacher.

  “That’s Mr Davies,” Olivia said. “He’s pretty cool - for a teacher anyway.”

  We sat down near
the front of the Hall.

  “Do you have a part?” I asked her.

  “Yes, just a minor one. I’m also helping with some of the set design, and I’ll be doing some of the hair and make-up too.”

  “That sounds fun, maybe I could do that.”

  “Hi girls,” said Mr Davies coming up to us. “You must be Ashlee, although I hear you prefer Ash?”

  “Uh yeah, I do.” He was the first teacher that had shown any interest in my name preference.

  “Do you act, dance or sing Ash? What are your dramatic strengths?” he said, getting straight to the point.

  “Well I’ve done some acting and dancing, singing is out I’m afraid.”

  “Great, we might put you in the chorus, you can help inspire my insipid dancers. You’ll have to sing too, but I have some great singers already, so if you don’t sing too loudly, you’ll be fine. You can be on the set design team with Olivia too if you like?”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Okay you lazy layabouts,” Mr Davies said loudly clapping his hands together as he turned back to face the stage. “Let’s start with ‘It’s the hard knock life,’ so Ash can get a feel for what she has to learn. Turning back to me he said quietly, “don’t worry that the dancing is all over the place, we haven’t been at it long, but you’ll get the idea.”

  “He’s funny,” I said to Olivia. “I hope he doesn’t expect too much of my dancing abilities.”

  “Don’t worry,” she whispered back. “He doesn’t expect us to be that professional. He just likes to play theatre director instead of Drama teacher.”

  The music started playing, and then Becky started singing.

  “Wow she has an amazing voice,” I said to Olivia.

  “I know, I think we’re all a bit jealous. She’s not big headed about it though. I don’t think she actually knows how good she is.”

  “The dancing is really terrible though,” I laughed.

  “Uh huh, you’ll catch up in no time.”

  We sat back and enjoyed the rest of the singing.

  The rest of the day passed quickly. The bell rang signalling the end of the day and I walked out to the car park with Xavier.