28"She ... ... ... ..age eno... ... ... ..er thr... you knew ... ... ... ... didn't ... ..arn her?"
I couldn't figure out what was going on around me, and I didn't know where I was. But my head is spinning...and I think there's a light in my eyes...
And is something on my head?
I pried my eyes open to take a look. Sure enough, Kari was sitting there. (As a faerie, of course.) She didn't notice that I had been looking at her for about a minute...then her eyes met mine, and she jumped a little, startled.
"She's awake."
That got Trevor to scramble over and hug me tight from my position lying on the floor. Oh yes, it was the cave floor. Not where I had landed; I was right beside the entrance now. And the sun was on its way up. I've been unconscious all night. Anyway, Trevor didn't say much, just squeezed me tightly. He did say something about "others" and "bones", but I didn't quite catch it.
At that point, I felt well enough to sit up a little, and Kari had gotten off my head anyway. Thorn came over, looking a little mad, but it wasn't at me. She grinned in my direction, flew up to my ear, and whispered, "Your task is over now, you'll be glad to know."
So I'd done it. I'd saved Sable.
A few more things were explained after that. Tyldor was with us as well, and he explained that yes, the task was a sacrifice. He made a point to say that I would not truly have died; warriors from the Fighter's Guild (which Thorn belongs to, by the way) would have been called to back me up in the event that I had been in trouble, which was really more than likely. The task was one of courage, not strength.
He also explained that the vampire (never learned his name) wanted to reach my own side, but a psychic block prevented him from doing so. (How complicated). The necklace however, would have provided a good medium for transport, as it was a way for him to enter my own body.
Trevor told me that the room that he had briefly looked in before slamming the door contained the bodies of other women, most human and some faerie. Some were no more than a pile of bones, which explains what he was talking about before. But don't people who are bitten by vampires become vampires? So maybe he wasn't a vampire after all...oh, I don't know.
Thorn, for her part, told me about the key she had thrown to me. It was a way to travel from one side to the other. She also apologized, telling me that she had not known that this was achieving the vampire's goals. Thorn reversed us after that, which is why we never made it all the way.
"So where is the vampire now?" I asked.
Thorn shrugged. "Not on either side, that's for sure. He got stuck in between when Trevor pulled the necklace off you."
So anyway, we walked (and flew) back through the forest, after Tyldor had given Trevor and I ghost-like forms again. Then we went through the town, once again attracting the attention of several faeries. Thorn waved to a faerie with white robes who gave her a very confused look.
I was just trying to absorb everything I'd heard, and had pretty much accomplished this by the time we reached the area on the outskirts of town where we had initially arrived when Thorn took us here. That was when I had received the mother of all...confusing concepts.
"You'd best go back now," Tyldor said. "Thorn will come and get you when it is time for the Reawakening. She shouldn't take too long; time works very strangely between the two sides."
"And what is the reawakening?"
"Thorn didn't say anything?"
"Well..." Thorn flushed. "Didn't think of it."
Kari moved in close to us and explained. "You see...years ago, there was a war between two of the continents. People all over this world had been affected, and so many died.
"Many men and women had been killed in the fighting, leaving children to be orphans. There was no way to take care of all the children in the world's current state.
"So they were reborn into the other side, finding human families. Every time one comes back, there is a Reawakening."
I really didn't get it. My mind was still not in good working condition, apparently. The great realization just hadn't hit.
"That's why Thorn considered it okay to appear to you two. Faeries can tell when someone else has that...fey appearance."
"Fey? Doesn't that mean, 'does not resist death' or something?" That's what I thought back when I was in the dungeon...
"It also means, 'to have a magical, or faerielike appearance."
Hmm...fey...
Oh.
OH.
Oh my god.
"We were faeries," I whispered, tears in my eyes.
"Once a faerie, always a faerie," Kari replied. "You'll find out at the Reawakening."
I stood there in shock for a few moments. Trevor was the same. I do live here. Well, I belong here. My faerie parents are dead, though. I wonder who they were? I wish I remembered them. I don't believe it. This is like a dream. My home is in Singwyn.
"See ya later!" Thorn had pointed the key at Trevor and I. We were soon back in my room.
Sable was still lying on the bed. The time: 4:49 pm. We had only left 14 minutes ago. This really is like Narnia.
"So...what now?" Trevor asked. And you know what we did?
We picked up from where we had left off in our video game. After phoning Sable's parents to pick her up, of course.
***
A week passed.
Thorn hasn't come for us yet...but, uh, Tyldor did. He said she would be 'unavoidably detained'...sounds odd if you ask me. In the meantime, we're just waiting. Hanging out together, going to school. Lectures are so hard to pay attention to now. I am daydreaming more than usual.
Sable hasn't come back to school yet. She went to the doctor's, who determined that she just had a nervous breakdown. So she's staying home for a while.
She never told anyone what she saw. I know this because, well, she called me and...here's the whole scenario. The last thing I want to say about all this for now.
You see, Trevor was over at my place yesterday when the phone rang. I picked it up, and the conversation went something like this:
"Hello?"
"Hello, Juniper."
"Sable? How are you doing? Um...did you tell?" Very tactful.
"That's why I called. What were you doing with that...that...creature?!"
"Just talking."
"Juniper, you're insane. Stop thinking about faeries all the time!"
"Sable...you know they're real."
This next part is where she really drops the bomb.
"Shut up. They are not. And as long as you INSIST on hanging out with such...utter...utter freaks, I'm not going to associate with you any longer!"
"..." I risked my life to save her. And this is what happens.
"Come back when you've regained your senses. Goodbye." And she hung up on me.
I continued to hold the phone, thinking about what just happened. The longest friendship I'd ever had is over. Sable hates me. And she means it too. A thousands ways to apologize came to me at that moment, but then...
...I realized that it just wasn't worth it. Sable won't forgive me so long as I remain who I am. It would just be a waste of time.
So I hung up the phone silently and sat down on the couch. The reality was just coming to hit me.
"She dumped you, eh?'
Trevor. I had practically forgotten he was here, even though I'd sat down beside him. "Sable said...she said..." Embarrassing as it was for me, I started crying. Not just little sniffs, either. Full-out sobbing.
Then, Trevor did what any good friend would do: he gave me a hug. Just a normal hug. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? He hugged me for a few moments, and that's when the strangest thing happened. He tilted my head up and looked me in the eyes.
And then he kissed me.
Of all the things.
I just had to stare at him in shock for a few moments. So Trevor loves me back.
And I hugged him, and I started to cry again. For friendship lost, for love found. For everything we've been through. And even for the fact that faeries can exist.
Life is so confusing.
THE END
(Long (ish) A/N): Well, there it is. My first fanfic. And it only took me seven months.
Just for the record, I want to continue writing stories with these characters...develop the world I've opened up and all, y'know? I might go a little overboard and make everyone sick of my stuff. So if you get bored with my writing, just ignore me. ^_^
So, yeah. I am going to start on another story soon, but unlike this one, I'm going to actually plan it ahead. It might take a while! In the meantime, I want to finish my other story as well.
Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed! Reviews rock, man...I got all tense every time there was a new one! (In hopes that it wouldn't say, "Your story sux!" or something along those lines.)
But you didn't come here to read my rambling. So goodbye! See you soon! ^_^