Faeries of Delusia

Chapter Eight

Have I ever been a princess? Not exactly . . .

“Um, no, why?”

The prince thought to himself. I let his question sink in before finally realizing where he was going to lead this.

“It would definitely spice things up in this land if you were to become my princess.”

“Well I don’t know,” I shot back instantly in response. I didn’t want him setting his mind to this too much.

“Isn’t it every girl’s dream to be a princess?” he asked in spite of himself. He smiled at me, almost wickedly.

“Not mine, sorry.” I said scootching closer to the curtain. “May I please be dropped off here?”

His smile curved into a scowl and his eyebrows scrunched together. He suddenly grasped my arm. “No. You shall be my princess. You cannot refuse Prince Feory, prince of the Lunar Faeries!”

“Exactly. I am not a Lunar Faerie, so you cannot control me! You are not my prince I don’t even belong to this land. I’m going HOME now!” I about screamed in his face.

“NO-!” He was about to yell at me, but then we were so abruptly interrupted.

“Hey dude.” a familiar voice called from behind us. We both spun our heads. The curtain was lifted and Mitsoki was holding on to the back of the carriage. “She said no.” With that, his fist flew through the air and landed right on the prince’s nose. A bone shattering crunch was heard before the prince began to shout out in rage and pain. “Come on, Jamie.” He held out his hand and I grabbed it, then we jumped from the fast moving carriage and tumbled through the grass.

I coughed and sputtered dirt and debris from my mouth and cleared my eyes. “What was that all about?”

“You didn’t think I would let that prince guy take advantage of you, did you?”

“Where did this sudden change of attitude come from?” Was it really Mitsoki I was speaking to?

He shrugged and helped me to my feet. “I guess I feel bad for my past actions.”

“So now you’re making up for it.” I almost chuckled. He nodded and smirked.

“But listen, you need to find what you are looking for and get out of here. The prince will not deal with this, trust me. He’s gonna get someone or something after you and me. Especially me for punching him in the face.” His face brightened with saying that last sentence.

“Where do you want me to go?”

“I don’t know where to get magic you’ll have to ask around I can’t help you anymore.”

“You said that a long time ago and look at you now, you saved me.” I couldn’t believe I lived to see the day I would say that Mitsoki.

“Don’t argue with me. Go now. If you see the prince, close your eyes and don’t open them until you are sure he is gone.”

I was about to protest but he put his index finger to my lips. “Go.”

I gave up and sighed out. “Alright.” As I began to walk the other way, I looked behind me and saw Mitsoki still staring at me. His face was worried.

“Be careful!” he called out.

I waved to him as a closing farewell to this confusing Faerie.

Where was I to go now? I wandered aimlessly around this valley in search of some store that bluntly stated “Magic for Sale.” I didn’t give my hopes up. I’m not that lucky.

I didn’t have anyone to guide me either. Through my journey so far people have showed up in the nick of time to help me out, but Mitsoki wasn’t going to just pop up anymore, he told me he couldn’t go any further, he can’t help me any longer. He barely helped me as it is but it was nice to have someone to back me up if I was in a problematic situation. I didn’t really see any creatures. The place I was walking around was a vast valley with nothing ahead of me, nothing behind me. I noticed a few floating glitters around here, I guessed a Faerie of some sort. Obviously there were more variations of Faeries than I had assumed, so it could be anything.

I decided to keep going straight, it was bound to lead my somewhere whether it be good or bad. I needed a hint of life, something to keep my hopes up and know I wasn’t the only living creature for miles.

Eventually my venturing paid off. I ended up in a forest. There had to be something in here I could talk to! Hopefully it wasn’t another Vampire Forest like earlier. I felt the golden stake Raiden gave me in my back pocket just in case.

It sounded as if the forest was alive. Bushes rustled and the trees swayed in the cool afternoon breeze. I thought it foolish to talk out in the middle of a mysterious forest, but I needed someone to come out of hiding and to lead me to the magic I needed to escape from this wonderland.

“Hello!” I shouted, my eyes scanning the treetops and forest floor. The rustling suddenly stopped, like the forest died abruptly. I called out again. “Can anyone help me?”

I screamed when a tree some meters away from me broke and fell over. I backed myself up against a tree and decided to keep my mouth shut. Trees don’t fall over on their own, at least not in the human world. I needed to know if someone was here with me. “Hello?” I whispered and quickly regretted it as a hand cover my mouth while another arm lifted me off of the ground into the tree I stood under. My eyes were suddenly blind folded shut and ropes were tied around my wrists and ankles. I squirmed, attempting to protest. I heard no one breathing, no one talking. Who was doing this to me?

The world suddenly shut down for a moment. I felt I was deaf, yet I felt nothing cover or even touch my ears, but obviously things were not normal around me. I tried to speak through the cloth that covered my mouth but it came out as grumbles. At least that proved I could hear and wasn’t deaf, it was simply my surrounding that halted all noise. I fell over once I heard a loud growling coming from right beside me. I tried to scream, “Please don’t hurt me!” but of course only mumbles escaped. Tears made their way out of my eyes but were immediately soaked up by the cloth around them as well. Who is there? I thought mentally while deciding a plan to escape. Not being able to see or move put my plan on hold at the moment of course.

“UNTIE ME!” I screamed and it pierced my own ears. At least whoever was with me could possibly make out what I was screaming since it was so loud and demanding. My wish came true all of the sudden. The cloths tied around my mouth and eyes loosened and fell around my neck. I was reluctant to see who or what was near me but I already had an escape plan. First, I needed to knock out whoever it was using my feet.

I searched around me and held in my cries of terror when I saw a huge, cat-like beast standing in front of me.

“Oh—God.” I murmured, my teeth clenched together firmly.

It roared and I felt death approaching. This thing was going to eat me alive! But cats don’t have thumbs, this couldn’t have been the thing to tie me up.

“Who—who are you . . .?” I asked in my shaky voice through my chattering teeth.

“Boo!” a childish voice from behind me shouted and instantly began to laugh when I flinched. The large cat in front of me morphed into a little boy about twelve years old, I would guess. He and the other boy I couldn’t see roared with laughter. Suddenly the other boy appeared from behind me and I did a double take, noticing they had to be twins for the resemblance was remarkable.

“Is this your idea of a practical joke?!” I wondered aloud.

They continued to laugh in response.

“What are you guys anyway?”

“Dah, isn’t it obviously.”

I remembered the cat turn into the boy.

“Shape shifters?” I whispered almost to myself.

They both nodded. “Sweet, huh? We live in these woods, and you are trespassing!”

“Huh?” I was still confused and shocked. One minute I was under a tree, the next I was tied up in the tree with two little boys laughing their heads off at my fear.

“You-are-tres-passing.” the other boy repeated slowly.

“I’m not stupid, I get that!” I shouted in defense. “Why am I tied up?” I shook my hands behind me, seeing if it was loose enough to undo myself. These boys were only about twelve years old, they shouldn’t know how to tie a real knot, right? I began to shake my feet also attempting to loosen the rope. “Untie me now.” I ordered fiercely.

“No can do.” one of them announced. “We caught you, now you have to play with us.”

“I’m Fumio.” one of them said.

“Yep, that’s my brother. And I’m Tomo.”

“Oh great. So you’re gonna make me play with you guys, and if I don’t you won’t let me go, right?” I presumed.

“No. If you don’t play with us we’ll kill you.” Tomo stated simply and shrugged. “Easy, right?”

My eyes grew wide. Before I mouthed back to them—assuming they could kill me—I would think over what I was about to say.

They both sat down in front of me and examined me. “You look kinda beat up, what happened to you, human?” Fumio asked, resting his head on one of his hands.

“I’m just looking for magic so my friend can fly me out of here.” Maybe I shouldn’t tell anyone this, just in case they could use it against me in some way.

“Who’s your friend?” Tomo asked curiously.

I sighed out. Of what importance is this to them? “Demitra.” I replied.

“Oh that bratty vampire. You’re friends with her?”

When I met her I didn’t have a problem with her. She wasn’t a brat to me, at least what I could remember. I barely remembered what she looked like, I barely remembered what I looked like. I became worried and tried to think about my parents. What did they look like? I began to sweat—breaking out into a mental panic. Why couldn’t I remember what anyone looked like? Was I losing my memory or what?

“What’s wrong?” Tomo asked, not sounding too worried.

By the way, I only knew who was who because I remembered what side they were on. Tomo was on the right, Fumio on the left. If they moved around I would have no idea.

“I don’t—remember . . .” I probably sounded crazy.

The boys exchanged worried looks. They silently talked to each other through body language.

“What?” I sat up trying to interpret what they were suggesting.

“Well, that happens. You forget.” Fumio told me.

“Huh? What do you mean? I forget what?”

“Everything.” Tomo bluntly stated.

My eyebrows scrunched together. I didn’t want to forget anything!”

“That’s what this land does to humans. It’s a shame.” Fumio sighed out. “Oh well.”

“No, not oh well! This is terrible. I don’t want to forget! What’s my name again?” I began to think of things I didn’t want to forget. What is my name? My breathing became shaky and I was suddenly light headed.

“Hey are you okay?” one of the brothers asked, but my vision was blurred all of the sudden as I panicked mentally and physically so I couldn’t see which one.

“What-is-my-name?”