by SL Perrine
“Hey, you guys lost?” Then another feeling smacked against my chest. It was like a second heartbeat. It felt like an outside force grasped and drew me to it while I pulled it towards myself. I poked my head around the fence and saw Chase and Nolan standing on the curb across the street. I saw Ty walking across the street, headed for the group of boys.
I wondered why they were there, since they walked four blocks in the opposite direction of the school. I moved back behind the fence, not wanting Chase or Nolan to see me cowering. Some all-powerful princess I turned out to be. I heard the commotion from around the fence. As I inched back around, I saw Chase and Nolan following Ty across the street. The three were standing with their backs to me as the group of boys ran away.
“Well, that was quick,” I said to myself. I wondered if I should let them know I was there, until the invisible force made me remember. Ty was already aware of my presence. I stood and freed my skirt of the leaves and dirt, flattening my hair as best I could before walking around the fence to where the boys waited for me.
“Thanks.” I could feel the color rush to my cheeks as I sped up to get past them.
“No problem,” Chase said as casually as possible. “Need an escort?” he asked with a playful smile, hooking my arm in his to walk with me.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I said as he pulled me along with him. As we passed Ty, I looked at him. His eyes met mine, but he didn’t say anything.
We walked the rest of the way to school in silence, Chase still holding my arm. I think Ty nudged him from behind at some point, because he tripped a little and had to let go. That gave Ty room to walk beside me. He was careful not to touch me, and I him. I really wanted to talk with him about the vision I had at his house and the dreams in the past. They seemed to be a few of my memories, from when I was younger, and his stories rolled into each other. Whatever they were, I wasn’t interested in having one at school, so I was happy he kept his distance.
At lunch, Robin was less than happy with me over my lack of team spirit when I apologized for missing the game. I was ready for her usual comment about how being on the squad was a commitment you couldn’t shrug off, but then I remembered the altered reality. She not only kicked me off the squad, she told me she didn’t have room in her busy life for friends like me and demanded I hand in my pom-poms. I was mildly disappointed, I realized, as she said the words. “I’m just not feeling your commitment to the squad. Drinking, missing the biggest game of the year... I mean, what were you thinking?” Robin gave me a pathetic, sorry smile. It said in no way was she saddened by it, then she walked off.
I’d hoped later on in bio that Callie would be a little easier on me. However, there was no such luck there either. Callie had too much on her plate to fit in a friend who was not on the same path as she was. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I made myself think about how everything would go back to normal after the altered reality was reversed. I could only hope Callie and Robin would come around then.
A sudden feeling of loss swept over me. Someone important was missing from my life. I thought about my mom, but I didn't recognize that as the feeling I had. I mean, I missed my mother, but when I thought about her being gone, I felt something different. I knew I’d get her back. I had known she’d been gone. No, this was an entirely different feeling. Like the closest friend I’d ever had, an extension of myself, had been missing for a very long time. Missing, or dead. My heart hurt.
“Are you having a bad day?” I hadn’t felt it the whole time at school, but before the bell rang at the end of the last period, there was a pull from the bottom of my stomach. As I turned around, I saw his face, and he beamed at me.
“Is there something amusing about me having a bad day?” I asked bluntly.
“No,” he said abruptly. “I was just–”
I looked at him with a questioning glare.
“You have toilet paper stuck to your foot,” he said as quickly as possible, which redirected my angry gaze.
Annoyed, I threw my bag on the floor and removed the tissue from my shoe, tossing it in his direction. “I haven’t even used the girl’s room today. I should have just stayed home. Is there a high school in Pylira?” I asked him very loudly. Considering the altered reality, at that point, I didn’t much care who heard me.
“Keep your voice down.” He grabbed my bag and hand simultaneously and walked us towards the nearest exit.
“What? It’s not like anyone here knows anything. They don’t even question anything abnormal. They are all being abnormal!” I protested.
“Yes, but there still are others hiding in plain sight. Do you think you’re the only one who’s living in a world you’re not from? There are others here,” he said in haste.
“What do you mean? How am I living in a world I don’t belong in? You’re the one living in a world other than your own. I was born here, remember?” I jerked my hand from his as the familiar electricity pulsed through my skin.
“Yes…sorry, that’s what I meant,” he quickly agreed. “I’m talking about the ones who were reborn here, but belong to my world.”
“If that’s the case, then they already know who we are. No sense in hiding from them.” I looked around the school grounds at the other students leaving for the day. Any number of them could be the women from Ty’s clan, reborn and waiting to return to their world.
“I know that, but buio have a way of being very convincing. They could have gotten to any of the reborn maga to sway them to side with Ourobus,” he said as he ran his fingers through his hair. I watched as it fell down again. A few more inches and it would be covering his eyes.
“Oh, you mean like the way you convinced me you weren’t here for an ulterior motive.”
I pulled the bag he still held from his grip.
“I’m not,” he said as he reached to tuck a stay curl behind my ear.
“I didn’t feel it.” I looked at him.
He moved his hand from me and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it from his face. “What?”
I scanned our surroundings before continuing. “The jolt.” I heaved my bag over my shoulder and started to walk.
“Your feelings are compromised. Everything you feel is based on your emotions. Right now, I’d say you’re a little upset.” He turned to follow me.
“There it is,” I said as I calmed down.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he ran both of his hands through his hair.
“Making sure it’s real and not some weird joke,” I said, not sure of it myself.
“You mean like a spell?” He sighed.
“Yes, that’s what you said the other day. You wanted to make sure it was real and not a spell. Like someone spelled you to distract you from what was really going on. How do I know that’s not what this is?” Again, my temper flared. I had openly trusted everything he had said without thinking about angles.
“You really want to know?” He threw his hands in the air.
“Yes!” I screamed at him.
He moved, and as quickly as I yelled, his mouth descended on mine. That time, he was not soft. It was a hard and needy kiss. His hands fisted in my hair, and I wrapped mine around his neck. When he let go of me, he backed away quickly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so…Ahh.” He growled under his breath.
I held my fingers to my lips. I could still feel him there. They were burning, as if the fire in my belly had reached all the way up to my mouth. “We both have heightened emotions right now. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
As quickly as before, our mouths were on each other, but that time, I went to him. My fingers entangled in his hair and his hands pressed into my back.
I released him, grabbed my bag from the ground, and ran home. The farther I got from him, the tighter the pulling felt. That was how I knew he wasn’t following me. I didn’t want him to either. I needed to think. I really needed someone else to talk to about all this. I needed my mom.
Chapter -16-<
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“You knew we were following you?” Chris finally asked when the three of them woke the next morning.
“Yep.” The little girl swayed back and forth on her heels.
“Why not say something to us then?” Tabby asked her.
“I figured you would catch up to me and say something, but you didn’t, so I thought maybe you just needed to see I’m not harmful.” She played innocently with her pigtails as she studied their surroundings.
“Why would we think you were harmful?" Chris asked.
“Right now, anyone could be… anyone. You’ve had your guard down with me this entire time.” She picked up her pack and nestled it onto her back after shoving her jacket inside.
The sun had come out and it was much warmer than it had been in the days past.
“So, should we have had our guard up around you? Are you telling us you’re going to hurt us?” Chris asked, laughing.
“No... I’m not going to hurt you.” The girl sat, picking at the dirt under her nails as if she couldn’t have been bothered with the other two or the conversation.
“Well… that’s a start,” Tabby added quickly.
“I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m not exactly who you think I am either.” At the end of the last word, the little girl grew two and a half feet in a swirl of blue light–making her a full six feet tall, by Chris’s estimation–and morphed. She was no longer a bubbly eight-year-old girl, but instead a fully-grown man. Chris couldn’t help herself as she stood gawking at him. Tabby’s breath caught in her throat as she jumped backwards three steps.
His black hair was spiked and looked as though covered in blue glitter. His eyes were gold. Tabby noted the squared jaw, chiseled muscles, and a tan Chris would have killed for. Neither girl spoke or moved as he stood there, glowering over them. Then his features grew softer and he smiled, making his bright white canines visible.
“It’s okay. I’m a friend of luce maga. I’m not going to harm you,” he said, wiping his hands down the front of himself, as if to get off the remnants of the girl he once was. He wore black slacks and a dark blue and black shirt, which also looked to have a hint of glitter to it.
Finally, Chris found her voice. “How do we know that?” She grabbed Tabby’s hand, gearing up for a fight. “How do we know you’re not buio?” she snapped.
“See, I knew walking this way was going to get us in trouble,” Tabby commented.
“No, we're not in trouble. There is only one of him,” Chris pointed out to her friend.
“He’s not going to hurt us.” Tabby pulled free of her friend and moved away. Chris looked between Tabby and the man, and back again, clearly confused.
“I’m not, I swear. For one thing, I would have let those buio boys have their way with you yesterday instead of dropping a tree on them. I don’t relish hurting people, not even buio,” he said as he looked around again, as if the group of boys were going to spring on them at any moment.
“Why use a disguise?” Tabby asked scornfully. “Never mind. Your kind loves mockery.”
“Would you have trusted a man walking in the same direction you were?” He looked from one to the other. “No, you wouldn’t,” he answered for them. “You would have assumed I were buio and fought me. I had to show you I am of no threat.”
“Okay, so if you’re not buio, what are you?” Chris asked.
“I’m luce,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Only women of luce are allowed to leave Pylira. So, how is that possible? Did you disguise yourself to leave?” Chris asked him as she grabbed her own pack.
“No ma’am… tra monde is not that easily fooled. Can we start over?” he said as he outstretched his hand to them. “I’m Farlow, Prince of the Fae.” He bowed to them when it became evident neither would shake his hand. “I’m a light fairy, as dark fairies don’t exist,” he added as he stood.
Chris fell into a curtsy immediately. “We apologize, your highness,” she said quickly and tugged at Tabby, who reluctantly followed suit, a scornful look on her face.
“If only I’d known you believed that so easy, I would have opened with it.” He laughed.
“It’s not that, your highness. I can see the sigil on your arm, that of the Queen Renal,” Chris said in a low voice.
“Please stand. I don’t like such formalities, not here anyway.” He grabbed Chris’s hand and lifted her to her full height. He stopped a moment to look into her eyes, brought her hand to his lips, and kissed it lightly. Chris felt a little unnerved and lost all train of thought. Her cheeks became a crimson red as she blushed.
Tabby stood and looked for the sigil. It had been difficult to see since it was the same color as his tanned skin, which made the scar from the sigil barely visible.
“May I ask what you are doing here?” Chris found her voice.
“I thought surely you would know that… since it is almost time.”
Tabby still wasn’t convinced he meant them no harm. She regarded him cautiously. “Time for what?” she asked.
“When we heard the passage would be closing, I was told to be on this side of it. My magic and direction is needed here,” Farlow answered as he gestured to everything around them. They realized he meant he was supposed to be in that world.
“So, we are going the right way after all,” Tabby said. “Onward east then, shall we?” She became leery of him and wanted them to start moving. If they were going to get to their destination, they needed to move.
“Tabby, he’s a prince.” Chris nudged her friend.
“Yeah, in Pylira he’s a prince. Here, he’s just a guy in pretty blue glitter. Who, might I add, has been playing tricks on us for weeks now.” She set her bag on her back and tied her long-sleeved shirt around her waist, glad for the warmer weather she was used to. She wanted to get to a part of the journey that allowed her to bask in the sun while she had the chance.
“Sorry, I didn’t think about that, I guess. I just didn’t want you to be afraid of me. I need to keep track of you two,” he said, looking at Tabby.
“Why? What do you need us for? I heard there were a lot of luce maga here. We are headed to meet them,” Chris stated.
“Do you want to fill Chris in?” Farlow asked Tabby.
“I don’t need to. Chris knows my family is involved with this,” she said to Farlow. “Have you two met before?” Chris asked them curiously.
“Just once,” Farlow said, “a very long time ago.”
“Tabby and I have been friends for more years than she lived with her own family. I know everything. That I didn’t know,” Chris added with a bit of annoyance, looking at her friend. Tabby and Chris were so close, they considered each other sisters. Chris wasn’t aware there was something–as big as knowing the Fae Prince–she didn’t know about her friend.
“Okay, if you say so,” Farlow said, looking at both of them in turn. “Shall we travel together then? I still need to keep watch of you two. Consider it my job,” he said as he looked at Tabby.
“Fine,” Tabby shot back, “but no prince stuff here. We’re just all regular people in this world. Got it?” she said with a finger pointed in his chest.
“Yes, yer… yes,” Farlow choked out.
“Okay then. Let’s go?” Chris asked the two.
They spent the day walking in silence. It was clear to Chris that Farlow wasn’t going to let them get too far away from him. He had met them stride for stride, but he did let them fall back as he had while in disguise. If there was any trouble, he would meet it first. Chris felt a little uneasy about the way Tabby had addressed the Fae Prince. Tabby was very callous whenever they had spoken of royalty in the past. She always said she had no use for the royals of Pylira. Tabby hadn’t really told Chris much about her family issues, but Chris knew who they were, so she was able to put the pieces together herself.
When she ran into Chris, Tabby hadn’t had any personal possessions with her. She said she left home without it all, save for the clothes on her back and a silver l
ocket she wore around her neck, but it was always kept hidden under the collar of her shirt. Chris had once asked her where she had gotten it from, since it had a royal insignia on the back. Tabby would only say it was very special. She would never tell Chris who she got it from, but when Tabby handed it to her a couple of years ago, Chris had gotten some pretty weird vibes from it while in the tra monde.
Chris had gone to Pylira briefly as well, and those she encountered had asked where she got it from. She responded the same each time she was asked. “It belongs to a friend.” After the third person asked her, she tucked the locket behind the collar of her shirt for the rest of her visit. When she arrived back, she tried to ask Tabby about it again, and she only said it was given to her by someone very dear to her heart. She changed the subject and they never spoke about it again. Once in a while, when Chris knew Tabby didn’t see her watching, she’d see her pull it out, open it, and kiss it before putting it back in its hiding place.
Chris knew Tabby’s family was in Pylira. She also knew Tabby didn’t want them to know where she was. She left her home and found a new home with Chris and her family. She had returned to Pylira only once after the curse enacted. She was the one who learned about the mietitore, and they followed her through the tra monde.
Nobody had known of their existence until then, and maybe they hadn’t known they could travel between the worlds. Nobody knew they were the men of the buio clan either. It was speculated that Ourobus, the Buio King, had created them through the use of his advisors before the curse had been started. Many thought they were a means to track down those responsible for the curse and kill them.
Chris knew about the curse before she met Tabby. That was how she came to be in the new world. Her mother had been told by the Queen of Pylira herself, who commissioned her and her children’s help in protecting and aiding someone who would be born with great power; power enough to break the curse–the bonds from Ourobus and his people–and destroy him for good. The hope was that his destruction would free his people to reclaim the lives they had lost…some quite literally.