Faeries of Delusia

Chapter Eleven

Usually humans need to breathe air, everyone knows that. It came obviously to me that Heidi hadn’t grasped that concept yet, even though I tugged and pulled on her arm to let go of me.

I tried to scream so she would at least turn around and look at me, and notice that I was kind of drowning, but she kept swimming faster, pulling me into the deeper, darker, and colder parts of the lake. It looked like an ocean under the surface, no one would be able to tell it was a lake if they were swimming in it, except for the fact that there were no waves.

Finally I decided to open my mouth and say, “Heidi!” Bubbles escaped and floated to the surface and I had just used up the last of my breath, but it paid off because Heidi heard and looked at me with anguish.

“What?” she asked curiously. Couldn’t she tell by my expression what was wrong with me?

I pointed up to the surface. Her eyes grew wide, suddenly understanding what was wrong. Thank goodness before it was too late.

Instead of swimming deeper she jet sped up to the top of the water, pushing me up out of it to breathe. I sucked in so many huge breaths of air I felt I was going to pass out.

“I.am.SO.sorry!” she said as if she didn’t believe she almost killed me.

I breathed deeply but managed to reply, “That’s—that’s alright . . . I guess.” I kicked my feet, holding myself above the water for a few minutes to regain my breath and my strength. Finally when I figured my brain was able to function correctly I told Heidi, “I appreciate you wanting to show me your awesome hiding place, but I need air, and I doubt there is any under there.” I pointed down under the water. Heidi shook her head.

“I’m sorry I know. I forgot!”

I could actually understand that she never has to think about air, so I let it go. She continued to apologize while I continued to accept it and tell her I was alright.

“I guess I am really no help to you then.” she stated disappointedly.

I shrugged because she was right. But then I thought, what about magic? That was what this big quest I was on was for anyway, right?

“Wait, do you happen to have any magic?” I asked hopefully.

That question confused her and she looked at me funny. “What do you mean?”

“Like, you know, magic. I need it to get out of this land and back to my own world.” I figured I had explained that to so many people I would be saying that in my sleep from now on.

If it was ever safe to sleep again. I did have an evil elf stalking me . . .

She squinted one eye, thinking intently, attempting to remember any hint of magic she owned. “Don’t mean to burst your bubble, but I’m all out. Mermaids don’t really need magic, ya know?”

I stomped my foot angrily in the water, splashing up some into my face.

“Sh, you don’t want to attract any attention to you, remember? Whoever you are hiding from could be watching you right this very second.” Heidi whispered, her eyes scanning the land behind us.

I ignored that fact and went on to ask her, “Do you know a girl named Trista?”

“Hmm, Trista . . . Not sure, what is she?”

“A Solar Faerie.” I snapped quickly.

Heidi gave an awful look as I responded. “Oh. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but she is probably captured. All Solar Faeries are being held hostage because most of them are trying to overpower the Lunar Prince.” She could have told me something I didn’t already know. I cradled my head in the palm of my hands.

As my face was curried in my hands, I moaned, “How did this prince turn Lunar anyway?!”

Heidi bit her bottom lip, as if she was holding something back. Wanting to tell me a piece of information, but couldn’t.

“Well, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, especially a human, because most people aren’t supposed to know, ya know? Well . . .” she began and I looked up at her curiously. “The Lunar Prince wasn’t always Lunar. His parents were actually Solar, but they are dead. Technically Prince Feory is the king, but no one calls him that.”

“How did he become so bad then?” I asked, listening and attempting to remember any information I could for a future reference. I do that a lot.

“I heard he was kidnapped by Lunar Faeries and then that’s how he became one.”

I interrupted, “Can’t someone overpower him, ya know, kick him ‘out of office’?”

“I don’t know how it works in your world but whoever is the king stays that way until they die. A lot of Solar Faeries attempted to kill Prince Feory, and for that they were locked up. Now everyone just assumes every Solar Faerie is plotting Prince Feory’s assassination, which isn’t true, but no one can make them think otherwise.”

“So there is nothing I would be able to say to get Trista out of prison even if I tried?” I concluded mentally to myself.

“If she’s a Solar Faerie then most likely not . . . Sorry.” Heidi frowned.

I stayed silent for a moment after that, thinking, plotting. That’s when the thought occurred to me.

“What say does the princess have?”

Heidi giggled. “There is no princess. Prince Feory is VERY picky!”

“But what if there was. Would she be able to get anyone out of prison?”

Heidi looked at me strangely, wondering what I was plotting. “Why?” she finally asked suspiciously.

“Because,” I began, “I think I have an idea.”

My shirt was totally worn out. It was dirty with holes and scrapes. If someone saw me walking, they would assume I had been lost in the woods for a week, fighting off vicious grizzly bears. That wasn’t the case of course. The things I was fighting off here were definitely more dangerous than any bear.

I took a while for me to think it was safe to come out of the water and onto land. I prayed I wouldn’t be shot with an arrow at any given second.

Heidi gave me one of her shirts to wear since mine had had its day. Of course her shirt was wet, but so was my previous one, so what was the difference? The shirt she picked out for me was blue. It was a tank top that could be seen through thin blue silk that covered the same areas as the tank top. It was quite pretty, and was a little small, barely fitting me. Heidi was a very skinny girl—well, mermaid.

Heidi wanted to come with me. She desperately wanted to help, but obviously she couldn’t come out of the water, so she just watched me until I was out of sight.

I decided to find the twins. I wanted to go to Raiden’s and see if he and his family was okay, but I couldn’t risk my life because Toru was surely hiding in the woods still, ready to shoot at me once he got a good aim.

It would take awhile to get there. I remembered my journey up until now. If I ran, maybe I could get there by tomorrow.

No, of course not. It was already getting dark. I needed a place to sleep, somewhere I would be safe until morning. Heidi told me there was a Sand Faerie she knew in the desert. The number of his cottage was 4.6. She told me he would take me in for the night as long as I didn’t bother him. I wondered if it was Mitsoki, but of course it wasn’t, because Mitsoki couldn’t help me anymore, and there were probably millions of Sand Faeries here.

The desert wasn’t as far as I assumed it was. I walked until a little into the night. It was pitched black and I strained my eyes under the moonlight to see a cottage. Knowing this land, the cottage would probably be invisible or something crazy like that. It wasn’t long before I started running into poles. I examined each of them, it reminded me of the pole I encountered with Mitsoki, but these ones were smaller and all different colors. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen them coming, they stuck out in the middle of this desert like a sore thumb.

I was suspicious of these poles, what would they do if I touched them? I couldn’t stand out here all night waiting for one to do something so I decided to try something out for myself. I looked for a button on the pole to press and maybe something would happen, but I came up empty. Finally I figured it out. I twisted one around the whole way clockwise, and a few feet away a cottage appeared out from under the sand. It was almost like it wasn’t there, then in a few seconds, there it was!

I reluctantly approached it, wondering who lived inside of it. The house number wasn’t 4.6 so I dared not to knock on it. Instead I scurried back to the poles and twisted the same one and just like that, the cottage was buried back in the sand. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful whoever lived there wasn’t woken up and came out to start trouble.

I continued to twist the poles and approach the cottages in search for the right one for about a half of an hour. Finally I got to the right one. 4.6.

The cottage was small like the others I’d witnessed. It couldn’t be any bigger than my living room . . . who could live in there?

I knocked on the door lightly. I knew this had to be the place because the number was the one Heidi instructed me to go to. But could I trust her? I had only been acquainted with her. I’ve learned that creatures here aren’t the best to be trusted . . .

The light flickered on from inside, I could tell by the change in lighting I could see through the one window it had. I heard a voice before the door opened.

“Who in Delusia is knocking at my door this late at night?!” I tired yet angry voice spoke.

My legs became unsteady and my palms began to sweat instantly. I was nervous. Would this person be upset with me? Turn me down?

“Hi, uh, I’m Jamie.” Yes! I actually remembered my name! “My friend Heidi told me I could stay here with you for the night . . .” As I paused, thinking of words to say, the door swung open and a too-familiar face stood in the cottage, smiling ear to ear.

“Jamie!” he cried out, grasping me in a bear hug in which I found it hard to breathe.

It was Mitsoki. I should have known!

“Mitsoki!” I said in the same enthusiastic tone he used on me. “I didn’t know you’d be so happy to see me.” I joked.

Mitsoki let go and stepped back, smile gone, acting cool. “Well, you know, it’s been so long.” He began to mutter excuses. I just laughed. “So, Heidi the mermaid requested you stay with me for the night for protection?”

I nodded. He stepped aside, letting me in. I figured since this was a magical land, inside the cottage would be bigger than what it looked, but it was as small as it looked to my surprise. There was a bed, sink, refrigerator, and a small table with two chairs.

“Well this will be awkward.” Mitsoki muttered as we both stared at the one bed.

“Uh—I think I’ll sleep on the floor.” I hoped Mitsoki didn’t think I would do otherwise . . .

I went over and sat on the floor at the end of the bed. Mitsoki followed.

“I will sleep on the floor if you want.” He bent down next to me.

I shook my head. “No it’s fine really, I’m okay.” I assured him.

He shrugged and pounced on the bed, throwing a pillow at me. I caught it and rested it under my head. The wooden floor was hard and cold but it was only for one night so I ignored it and didn’t complain.

Suddenly the lights when out. “Good night.” Mitsoki exclaimed. He had been dead silent a second ago I figured he was nearly asleep so I was startled. I was also curious about the lights suddenly going off. I didn’t see him pull a string or flip a switch.

I sat up abruptly and stared at Mitsoki.

Mitsoki’s eyes got wide but then chuckled. “Don’t do that, just popping your head out of nowhere.” He breathed in.

“How did you do that?” I asked, ignoring his teasing.

“Do what?” he asked, confused.

“Turn the lights off.”

He just smiled slyly at me. “Magic, remember?”

I rolled my eyes and laid back down on the floor, closing my eyes, hoping sleep would consume me soon. I needed to get to the twins, to get to Trista, to get to Raiden. I needed to find magic before it was too late. My memory was suffering . . .

How old am I again?