by Lara Ann
“Some of us are going to head down to the beach cafe, if you wanted to come?” Xavier asked me sounding a bit unsure.
“Okay, sounds fun, I’ll have to follow you so I know where I’m going though.”
“That’s okay, I can come with you if you like?” said Olivia walking up to us.
“You just want to ride in that fancy car,” joked Will appearing behind her.
“Don’t worry there’s plenty of room,” I said looking at Will and thinking maybe I could help Olivia by giving them both a lift.
“Sweet,” he said climbing straight into the back seat.
“Do you want to come with us too,” I asked Xavier, not wanting to give him the wrong idea, but still wanting to be friendly. “I can drop you all back here later?”
“Awesome,” Xavier yelled, jumping straight into the front passenger seat.
That left Olivia having to sit in the back next to Will, I thought happily, as I got into the car.
“Is this your car?” Will asked.
“No, it’s my Dad’s other car, that he’s happy to loan me while I’m here.”
“Aren’t you staying?” Both Olivia and Xavier asked at the same time.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Of course I’m staying, at least until I finish school and go to Uni or something.” At least I knew two people wanted me to stay.
Xavier directed me away from the school and through the town. It was pretty small, just the one main street with shops on either side. I wondered where they all went to buy clothes and stuff.
“Not quite what you’re used to,” said Xavier. “There’s not much to do in Emery, are you sorry you had to leave Sydney?”
“Not really, things weren’t that great for me there. I think I might miss the shopping though.”
“Yeah,” agreed Olivia. “We usually make a day trip to Launie if we want to buy anything special.”
“Is that short for Launceston?”
“Yeah, sorry, I sometimes forget you just moved here,” Olivia replied.
The cafe was cool. Situated right on the beach. There were quite a few kids from school hanging around, most of them still in their school uniforms. We ordered milkshakes and then went to sit on the big outside deck. Harry and Becky arrived with Becky’s little sister, who they introduced as Sophie. It wasn’t hard to tell they were sisters as she had the same wild curls as Becky, which she had tried to tame into a braid. It had only been partially successful with quite a few curls managing to escape. We talked for a while about school. It was nice to sit there in the sun and feel welcome. It had made moving here much easier. I realised I hadn’t really even missed my old friends, if I could still even call them friends. The last time I’d spoken with Milly, we had ended up fighting. As for Bentley, well I really didn’t want to think about him. I had gotten a few texts from Milly, it didn’t sound like she really missed me though. They were all about how amazing her new boyfriend was. She hadn’t even asked me how I was doing.
After we finished our drinks, Olivia and Will went for a walk along the beach.
“Oooh are they together now?” Sophie asked.
“Hopefully,” said Becky. “They’ve liked each other for ages, don’t say anything though, or you’ll ruin it.”
When Olivia and Will returned, they were holding hands. They were so cute together I thought, although Will was so tall and Olivia so tiny. I was happy for my new friend.
It was starting to get cold; the warm weather was still a few weeks away. So we decided it was time to head home. I dropped the others back at the school and drove back to the house.
Dad was making dinner when I walked into the kitchen.
“Hi,” he said. “How was school? Wow that sounds so weird, like I’m a real parent.”
“You are a real parent.”
“Well I think I missed all the hard bits.”
“Not to worry, I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
“Of course, dating! Let me tell you now, no dating until you’re at least thirty-nine,” he said laughing, so that I knew he was only teasing. “You don’t have a boyfriend do you?”
“No I replied,” seeing Wyn’s cute smile as I said the words. I pushed the image away. Trust me to want the only boy who wasn’t available, or even real.
“Although I think my new friend Olivia is finally going out with Will.”
“I’m glad to hear you’re making friends here.”
“Yeah, everyone has been really nice.”
“Good, how did the car go?”
“Oh my gosh! It’s so amazing, a trillion times better than anything I’ve ever driven.”
“I will admit it does make the whole driving thing much more pleasurable. I remember my first car; it was such an old bomb. I think I spent more time broken down by the side of the road than actually driving.”
After we finished dinner and I had rushed through all my homework, Dad asked me if there was anything on TV that I wanted to watch.
“No thanks Dad,” I said faking a huge yawn. “I’m a bit tired, I think I might just go to bed.”
He looked a little disappointed as I headed up the stairs. I felt a little guilty as it was only 9:30pm and I wasn’t tired at all. I was just desperate to get to sleep to see if I would end up in Alora again. I wasn’t sure if going to bed early would actually help me get to sleep any earlier, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. I was definitely too excited to sleep, what could I do to make myself sleepy? I quickly changed into my pyjamas, looking down at my pink t-shirt and matching pink shorts I grimaced. I am so stupid, the last thing I wanted to do was end up in Alora wearing some-thing so inappropriate again. I opened up my cupboard, wondering what could pass for pyjamas as well as clothes. I tossed my whole wardrobe piece by piece onto my bed. I couldn’t wear jeans to bed – too uncomfortable, and too hard to explain if my Dad saw me sleeping in them. I opened my drawer and saw a pair of black yoga pants. Perfect, I just needed a long top to go with them.
I didn’t know what female Elves wore, never having met any, but I guessed it wasn’t too revealing. I found a long blue stretch cotton shirt. It was more like a short dress than a shirt; hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird. Although after my heart pyjamas, anything would be an improvement. I looked down at my bare feet, could I really wear shoes to bed? I pulled out my Ugg boots. I could probably get away with saying I just forgot to take them off before I fell asleep if Dad came in. Having sorted out my clothes, I quickly changed and began to put everything away. Twenty minutes later, I was regretting having pulled everything out, and vowed to myself not to do that again. That was something they never showed in movies, after trying on fifty different outfits in a montage, they never showed the poor sucker having to pack it all away again.
It was now 10pm and I was feeling a bit tired. I decided to just listen to some music and try to go to sleep. I went through my playlist deciding on Guy Sebastian. I tossed and turned through the playlist and finally fell asleep while his voice softly crooned.
Chapter 4
I woke up somewhere new, I was still in the forest but nothing looked familiar. It had worked, I was back in Alora - or at least having the same dream. Two unfamiliar Elves were having a very animated, whispered conversation nearby. I assumed they were with Wyn, I wondered if he was near. Just then, one of them looked over at me. I gasped sitting up quickly and instinctively scooting backwards. His eyes were nearly black and cold; they held none of the warmth I was used to.
“Awake are you?” He spoke in a harsh grating voice that matched his expression. “What are we going to do with you then?”
The other Elf laughed, it was not a happy sound. I was starting to feel quite frightened. This was nothing like last time. I stood up slowly, wondering if I could run. Of course I couldn’t, I had seen how fast Wyn and Argus could move when they were sparring.
“I know what I want to do with her,” the other Elf said leering at me.
That was enough for me. I turned and fled into the fore
st. Maybe I could get enough of a head start to find a hiding place, I thought desperately. I was making too much noise, there was no way I could hide anywhere. I screamed as I felt rough hands grab at my shirt and I fell heavily to the ground. I felt a blinding pain over my left temple. My vision became blurred. No, no, NO! I can’t black out...
I slowly came back to consciousness. My head ached and I could feel something wet running down my face. I rolled over and sat up as I put my hand up to my face. It came away red. Ugh, luckily I didn’t faint at the sight of blood. As I became more aware I realised as well as the pounding inside my skull, there were other clanging sounds. Just like the fight the other night. I looked between the trees, and I could just make out several figures whirling about each other.
“Wyn,” I breathed, he must have come to rescue me.
I saw a figure go down, but my vision was blurry I couldn’t tell who it was at this distance. The rest of the fight was over quickly, one figure seemed to move faster and more gracefully than the others. He quickly dispatched the remaining two fighters and turned to look in my direction.
“Tie them up,” he ordered tersely then swiftly ran to my side.
“Wyn...”
“Shhh Ash, let me look at that cut on your head.” His fingers gently brushed my matted bloody hair back off my forehead.
“Finnan, quickly,” Wyn shouted.
Finnan left what he was doing and came over. He removed a small jar from the pouch at his belt. As he opened it a pleasant aroma filled the air, it was a minty piney kind of smell. I felt calmer al-most immediately. He lightly rubbed some on my forehead. I felt myself start to feel floaty and very relaxed.
“Mmm what is that,” I asked. “I feel weird. I think I might float away,” I added giggling. I felt myself falling backward. Strong arms caught me and lifted me up.
“Are you sure you should have given her that?” Wyn asked sternly glaring at Finnan. “I think she might be reacting badly. Is it even safe to use Poltin on Humans?”
“She’ll be fine. Of course it is safe to use on Humans. Don’t disrespect my training and authority boy,” he answered sharply.
Seemingly unfazed, Wyn replied. “Perhaps you should use your healing magic?”
“It’s just a small cut. You need to remember what we talked about.” He turned and strode back into the forest to join the other Elves.
“You’re so cute when you’re all serious,” I said, another silly giggle escaping. Whatever that stuff was, I had the feeling I was going to be very embarrassed when it finally wore off.
“What happened, how did you end up with those dark Elves?”
“I just woke up, and there they were. When they looked at me it was so cold, I could tell some-thing bad was going to happen, so I ran.”
“Why didn’t you call out for me?”
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“But you must have known you couldn’t outrun them.”
“Yes, but it was all I could think of.”
“I’m concerned by how close they were. I just assumed because of our connection, that I would be the closest to you when you got here.”
“Maybe you were. They said I had finally woken up or something. Maybe they just found me first?”
“Maybe this is too dangerous for you. Perhaps you should take the locket off and not return.”
“What!” I said more horrified by the thought than was reasonable. “I can’t ever see you again?”
“Think about it Ash, we don’t even really know each other.”
“I know but...I feel like I know you somehow, like we belong together...” I trailed off at the strange look Wyn was giving me.
He looked away before answering. “I know Finnan talked to you about it, about us... Just rest now, don’t say anything until you can think clearly again.” He tightened his grip on me slightly and started walking.
I closed my eyes and tried to relax my cramped muscles. It was hard to do with Wyn’s arms around me. I felt like I was about to cry. Of course Wyn wasn’t interested; I had to stop making such dumb comments. I had embarrassed myself enough already. He was a Prince and I was just a random stranger. He probably already had some beautiful Elven princess picked out to rule along-side him.
Before long we were back at the familiar campsite. The four Dark Elves were tied up in the far corner of the clearing. There must have been more of them in the trees.
“Finnan, why did Ash appear so far away from me? Why not here near the campsite?”
“I’m not sure,” Finnan replied. “It doesn’t seem to be an exact science.”
“Perhaps it’s too dangerous for her to be involved,” Wyn replied.
Finnan looked at him sharply. “It is too late for that – things have already been set in motion.”
“Of course I want to be here,” I replied crossly. It was somewhat awkward to try to argue my case from Wyn’s arms. “Put me down, I’m not broken!”
“Feisty isn’t she,” Argus laughed, joining the conversation.
“This is none of your concern!” Wyn said angrily. Wyn gently lowered me to the ground. I tried to stand up, but could feel myself swaying alarmingly.
“Here, let me help you sit down,” Wyn said as he carefully helped me into a sitting position. Sit-ting down felt much better than standing, I leant back carefully until my back was resting against the large log near the campfire.
“How come you didn’t come back yesterday?” Argus asked somewhat rudely. He definitely wasn’t my favourite Elf. Although I’d been glad enough of his presence when I was fleeing from the dark Elves. I could see two Elves standing guard over the captives on the other side of the clearing, and I was glad they weren’t any closer.
“What do you mean? I’ve only been gone one day.”
Finnan replied calmly, “Time between our worlds doesn’t flow smoothly. What has been twenty-four hours for you has been two days for us. Next time it could be the other way around. Time is a difficult concept – we don’t fully understand how our worlds are joined or why time passes so inconsistently. Travel between our worlds can be almost instantaneous or days can pass. It is some-thing that we need to study more in order to fully understand it.”
“Have you really only been gone one day?” Wyn asked cautiously.
“He thought you weren’t coming back,” Argus stated.
“Of course I was coming back, I said I would.”
“I need to question the prisoners,” Finnan said. “Ash, you need to rest, we’ll discuss our plans later. Argus, I’ll need your touch.” He and Argus both strode quickly across to the waiting Elves.
“What did he mean by ‘touch’,” I asked glad to be alone with Wyn while I was feeling so weird.
“All Elves possess certain ‘gifts’. Argus can sense a person’s feelings by touching them. It is most helpful when trying to tell if someone is telling the truth. He can also cause them to feel things.”
“What sort of things?”
Wyn looked hesitant. “Well... he can make them feel calm, or trusting, or loss or...pain.”
“Oh...so what can you do?” I asked hesitatingly.
“Err nothing special really,” Wyn replied flushing slightly.
I was really intrigued now, nothing seemed to fluster him. “Please tell me, I’m sure it’s amazing.”
“Not really, I can just move fast and umm...communicate with animals.”
“Really? Wow, I’d love to be able to talk to animals. What do you say to them?”
“It’s not really like that, they don’t think like we do. It’s more like sending and receiving pictures. With Thunder it’s a bit different because I have known him since he was a foal. I can get most of my ideas across, when he wants to listen.”
“That must come in handy.”
“You don’t think I’m strange?”
“No, why would I think that?”
“Well...never mind, I’m glad you approve.”
“Do the others think it’
s a strange gift?” I said, sensing there was something he wasn’t saying.
“Something like that,” Wyn answered looking down at his feet. “You should really rest. Let me get you a blanket.”
Sensing he didn’t want to talk anymore about it, I let him arrange the blankets around me, until I was lying comfortably in a blanket cocoon.
“I don’t really feel tired, maybe you could tell me what you have planned.”
“I should really wait for Finnan. If Halmer were here, I could get him to sing to you. He could sing you to sleep in about thirty seconds, me too probably,” He replied with a chuckle.
“Is that his gift? Is he nearby?”
“I forgot you haven’t met him yet. He is out getting fresh supplies, you can meet him when he returns. You’ll like him, everyone does.”
“Maybe you could sing to me instead?”
“I’m not the best singer. If that’s what you want, I will certainly try to oblige you.” He sat down next to me and began to sing. His voice was haunting and incredibly beautiful. If he was just an average singer among the Elves, I couldn’t imagine what a gifted one would sound like.
We met nearby the waterfall
You stood so still
With raven hair
And eyes of blue
You must be an angel
Come to rescue me
I felt a fool
I made no sense
Insulting my angel
Yet she forgave my careless words
And together we leapt through the trees
On a bold and brave steed
Where did you go?
My angel, fair of skin
With raven hair
Return to me
Lest I despair
Return to me my angel fair
My last thought as my eyes drifted closed, was that he could not possibly be singing about me...
Chapter 5
I opened my eyes in disbelief. I was home again! That seemed so unfair, I was sure I’d only been in Alora a few hours this time. Yet the sun was coming in through the crack in my curtains. I grabbed my phone; it was 6:30 am. I had a sudden thought – proof – I had proof this time! I jumped out of bed and rushed to my mirror. Sure enough, there was a nasty looking bump on my forehead, and a small partially healed cut underneath. That balm Finnan had used must work pretty well for my cut to have started healing after only a few hours. I smiled happily. It was real. Wyn was real. I danced around my room feeling like a five year old on Christmas morning.