Chapter 24
“Riley! Is it really you?” a tall woman with frizzy blonde hair asks as she enters the room. Her skin is paler than mine and she is wearing a bright orange dress the color of flames. “Oh, I missed you darling.”
My mother pulls me close to her and hugs me so tightly that it's hard to breathe. I try to squeeze out of her death grip but I'm unsuccessful so I just let her hold me, my arms flailing uselessly at my side. She sniffles and takes a step back.
“You look so handsome. I've missed you so much.” She says staring down at me because she is much taller than I am. “So did you convince the princess that she is your life mate yet?”
I look down solemnly, and feel a little bit hurt at the thought. She realizes that it's a touchy subject and quickly changes it to something else.
“Your sister is very excited about her wedding tomorrow. You should go see her and congratulate her! I'm sure she would love to see you, and I think that she's already met Aliso and made her part of the family.” My mother says grinning slyly at me.
“Mom, can't my family not be an embarrassment? She's my first girlfriend and she'll be my last. I would like it if she had a good opinion of my family, but I suppose that's too much to ask for.”, I say dramatically.
“Riley. I swear you act more like your father every day. Stop being such a drama queen. What I meant by your sister making Ali part of the family is that she asked her to be in the wedding. She knew that since you were a groomsmen, Alison might feel awkward without a date to sit by so now she'll get to sit by you during the whole wedding.”, my mother replies hastily.
“That's brilliant!” I answer.
“Yes. Well Eva is trying on dresses now for the wedding, you should probably go get fitted for your tuxedo then.” She says, turning quickly around and walking out the door letting it slam behind her.
I'm left alone in the empty space and I smile at the door. I missed my mother, even if she's a bit eccentric. She's still my mother. I missed the kingdom and our ancient castle. I open the large wooden doors and trek upstairs to the formal library where everyone is getting fitted for the wedding.
I wake up on a large, soft canopy bed with willowy curtains and light pink frilly sheets. The room is fit for any princess with its plush white chaise next to a large bay window. The room is very well decorated. It has an endless wall of books, a high ceiling with a crystal chandelier, white roses everywhere and a beautiful view of a garden. I must be dreaming, this place can't be real. I pinch myself but nothing happens.
Where am I? I get up and I hug myself tightly. My skin still feels chilly from earlier and I'm wearing a long gray button-down cashmere sweater and some black silky tights. I open the door and enter into a hallway. The hallways floors are made of a grey marble while the walls are covered in dark wood panels. The place looks ancient and smells musty, yet familiar. There are footsteps coming towards me, and I feel a sudden tightness in my chest. I hold my breath waiting to see who will come around the corner. I'm prepared for the worst, and my hands are balled up tightly into fists at my sides. The person walking keeps whistling a tune and they stop short when they see me. It's a large man. Not just a large man, but an exceptionally large man. He stands over six feet tall and he's also rather fat. His belly is definitely rounder than the average mans. He's wearing a medieval helmet and carrying a large sword engraved with mysterious black symbols. He is wearing an entire body of armor and the crest of the armor has the symbol of a dragon in black. He holds up his sword defensively. I moan and try not to panic, is he going to kill me? He throws his sword down and it makes a deafening clanking noise. I cover my ears and my eyes widen as he rips his helmet off gracefully. He lets the helmet drop next to his sword, and with his face covered in sweat he grins over at me. His blue eyes glimmering relentlessly and I realize something that I hadn't before. This man is not just large, he takes over a room and he consumes it, exuding power. He is power, and he is the king. I'm not sure what to do so I do an awkward half bow and half curtsy introduction. The man chuckles deeply, his chuckles shaking the hallway unintentionally.
“So you must be the lost princess that I have heard so much about?” he asks, his voice a tender baritone, with a slight, implacable accent. “My son has been very excited to make your acquaintance.”
I feel flushed and hot all of the sudden. I've never met a king, other than my father and now that I'm placed in front of a king other than someone I know personally I have no idea how to act. Of course my brain forgets manners and any hope of being courteous when it actually needs to be.
“I-I'm Ali.”, I finally manage to stammer. The king bows down before me graciously and I feel uncomfortable again.
“Well my name is King Edward, ruler of Elacia and I would like to welcome you to my palace and kingdom. It's not much on the eyes, Elacia, but it's true beauty you can find within. Please make yourself at home Ali and if you need anything at all then feel free to come to me personally.”, he answers regally.
“Thank you for your kindness.” I whisper barely audible. King Edward grunts in response and begrudgingly puts on his helmet and picks up his sword. He turns toward me with his hand tightly clinching his sword.
“I must be on my way. I'm teaching the children how to fight with swords correctly.” he says, but it's muffled by the large helmet covering his head. He side-steps past me and continues walking down the corridor. I decide to follow the path that he took and eventually I hear the sounds of laughter behind a closed door. I knock gently on the door and a few seconds later someone opens it.
“Hello. May I help you?” asks an older woman wearing a black dress and tall white socks. Her hair is the same fiery red as my mother's but she looks to be about twenty years older with sagging eyes and laugh lines around her mouth. Her bright green eyes are the only sign of youth still detectable on the woman. I try to make myself look presentable and tug down at the grey sweater I'm wearing. She stands impatiently staring at me.
“Yes. Well my name is Alison. Alison Callahan and I am Princess of Newhollow.”, I say trying to sound important. I think I pull it off pretty well because the room gasps and then everyone becomes silent. I can see hatred fill the woman's eyes as she angrily spits at my feet and slams the door.
Hot tears burn my eyes and I begin to sob. I fall to the floor hopelessly and pull the grey sweater up over my head to hide myself. The door opens and shuts in front of me but I do not pay attention to it. I'm to busy feeling ashamed of myself. Someone sits next to me and puts a consoling arm around my shoulders. I continue to cry for a few minutes but my curiosity starts to get the best of me. I poke my head out of my sweater like a turtle pokes his head out of his shell after a scary event has just taken place. I use the sleeves to wipe my eyes and once I can see clearly I see a pretty girl sitting next to me. She looks to be in her mid-twenties with golden bronze skin and jet-black hair falling in natural waves around her tan face. Her brown eyes watch me with concern. She is finally the one to break the silence.
“My name is Helena. I'm Riley's sister. I'm sorry for the actions of our maid. She's been known to be a bit of a kook at times. She had no right to treat you that way.” Helena says gently caressing my back. I've never known anyone I've just met to be so good at consoling people and I feel much better after crying and talking to Helena.
“My name is Ali. I have come to the kingdom with your brother but I can't seem to find him. I was trying to find help when I heard laughter from the room you were in.”, I say between sniffles.
“Well you should come in and try on dresses with us. It will be fun and it will get your mind off of everything.” She says smiling brightly. I stand up and follow her into the room that they were previously in. The room is a large grand library. One wall has three large bookshelves holding books of every shape, size, texture, color, or age that you could possibly imagine. The floor is a shiny dark wood and the walls are painted a bright, clean white. There's a large luxurious ant
ique desk in front of a bay window and chairs are scattered around the room. In every chair are piles of pink formal dresses. The maid is nowhere to be seen and I'm glad that this is the case. The other girls are giddily bouncing around the room trying on different dresses of every shade of pink. Helena introduces me to four other girls. Two of the girls are her younger sisters, Anna is 14 and Isabelle is 16. They both are tall and skinny with dirty blonde hair but Anna has striking blue eyes and Isabelle has the same shade of green eyes as Helena. Then she introduces me to Felicity her cousin. Felicity is a chubbier woman in her late 20's with dark hair and dark eyes. She resembles the sisters in a way but only vaguely. The final girl that Helena introduces me to is Alice. Alice is beautiful and angelic. She's much smaller than the other women and much more fragile looking with her pale skin and rosy cheeks. Her platinum hair is long and straight.
“This is my best friend and maid of honor, Alice.” Helena explains to me.
“Helena. Don't tell everyone that they may get jealous.” Alice answers sincerely. All the other girls shake their heads saying no, but I can see the faint glimmer of jealousy in Felicity's eyes. I extend my hand to shake Alice's hand as I did with all the other girl's. She takes mine and holds it for a few moments but something starts to happen between us. I try to let go but I can't because it's as if a magnet has been placed between us forcing us together. Our eyes become wide and we stare at each other, her green eyes looking comically large and mine probably mirroring hers. Flashes of images come before us as if a projector screen has been turned on in my mind. I hold my breath as images of Alice and Helena come into focus. It's them as small children in the forest. Alice is on the side of a river soaked and shivering and she's badly injured but Helena picks her up gently and brings her to the safety of the castle. I come back to the room and catch my breath to find Alice staring at me in shock with tears in her eyes.
“Helena saved me; you see she found me when my parents abandoned me. My father threw me from a bridge and I would have drowned if it weren't for Helena. I ended up with a broken leg, a few bruises and a new best friend.” Alice explains to me. Helena stands by Alice's side and squeezes her hand. “I've lived in the castle ever since as part of their family and I'm so happy for each and every one of them.”
“I didn't know that you were a Seer?” Alice says looking quizzically at me.
“Yes, well that was the first time it's ever happened. I've only recently started developing my powers. I learned that I was a Healer, but that was the first time that I've ever had a vision.
“You know my brother is a Seer. We're half-elf so we each have a power of our own. My power is mind control, but I very rarely use it and only if I really need to. I use it to help people like when you were sad out in the hallway I made you remember happy things to calm you.” Helena informs me. I look at her surprised because I wondered how she calmed me down so easily. She used her gift to make me happy that explained it.
“Do you all have superpowers then?” I ask.
“My power is to control fire.” Isabella answers, putting her fingers together and rubbing them causing them to spark and a flame to emerge. She shapes it into a ball and then claps her hands together making it disappear. She grins up at me proudly.
“That's so amazing.” I gush.
“Yeah, but daddy never lets me use it he thinks it's a disaster because I used to not know how to control it and I would catch everything on fire. He even gave me a nickname, I'm dragon girl.” She blushes and stares down at her hands.
“Watch my gift!” Anna shrieks. I watch as she starts to spin around in circles moving so quickly that I lose sight of her and she moves around the room in seconds and back again. She spins gracefully like a ballet dancer and then she stops abruptly. “I'm super fast and sneaky.”
“That seems like a great gift, I bet you know all kinds of secrets.” I wink at her and she gives me a smirk as if to say that she knows much more than she probably should know. Felicity coughs and clears her throat so that we all must direct our attention to her.
“Ladies, Ladies that's enough fun for one day. Now on to more serious matters like what are we going to wear for the wedding.” Felicity says, trying to take control of the situation. Helena claps her hands together and four servants appear with 10 more dresses for everyone to try on. They all undress and redress and I sit down in the extra large rosy colored chair in the corner watching them and giving my opinion every once in awhile with a nod in approval or a thumbs down.
Someone bursts through the door, out of breath and hysterical. I look up to see what all the commotion is about. It's Riley standing in the doorway with his arms at his hips leaning over, his cheeks red. My heart leaps out of my chest when we lock eyes and I quickly look down at the ground instinctively. He rushes over to me and wraps me up into his big, strong arms. I allow him to do it although I feel a little embarrassed. I also feel new warmth in my stomach. I feel calm and safe so I fall back against him feeling his heart race faster.
“Can I talk to you in private?” he whispers in my ear, sending shivers through my body. I try to control the blood rushing through my veins and into my cheeks but it's too late and I can feel my cheeks starting to redden. He puts his gentle hand into mine and tugs me towards the door. I follow, trying hard to listen to my head screaming at me to not be alone with him. We reach the cool, refreshing hallway and he passionately pushes me up to the wall. I wrap my arms around him trying to think of an escape, but he kisses me and my heart melts and my mind goes into shutdown mode. He kisses me tenderly with his soft lips and then he puts his tongue into my mouth ever so gently. I stop and push him away. He looks back at me and grins.
“Sorry. I couldn't help myself.” he responds. I want to punch him, with that smug look in his eye but I try to breathe and count to ten. I can feel my anger boiling over the edge.
“The only reason I let you get so far is because I was picturing Leo in my head the whole time.” I answer, cold heartedly folding my arms across my chest. His face drops down and he looks hurt. I try hard not to feel bad, but my conscience gets the best of me.
“I'm kidding Riley. Just can we take it slow I thought we agreed to start off as friends and see where it leads?” I say. He looks back up with that glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“I know but you're so beautiful and I was trying not to do anything to you but I can't help it.”, he whispers, pouting his lower lip. “Anyways, I really needed to talk to you about something. It's urgent. Can we go out to the gardens? I promise I won't try to kiss you or do anything to you. We'll just talk.”
“Alright, no funny business though Riley.” I say, trying to sound as in control as I can. He grabs my hand and we walk quickly through the narrow stair case to the first floor and out the large white French doors into the old English country garden setting. There's a brown cobble stone pathway leading to a large black wrought iron fence, but on either side of the pathway are pink, white, purple, and blue flowers. Small trees are speckled throughout the garden making it shady and cool. We sit next to an evergreen with our feet pointed up towards the sky and Riley stares at me while I stare up at the clouds.
“Ali, we have to leave after the wedding tomorrow.” Riley says.
“Why?” I ask. I can tell by the look in Riley's eyes that he's full of concern.
“It's Theo. He's in trouble and I think he might need us. He's the last person I want to help but I saw him in a vision a few hours ago and he was trapped. I think that he's been captured by his father, Mathew.” He stares at me, waiting for me to answer. I can't answer because my heart is in my throat and I can't find the right words to say to Riley.
An Unexpected Guest