Poison

by J P Anderson

  "Let Andria decide If she wants to go or not" Therius countered.

  "I'm going with you." she told them. Alister reluctantly tied up all three of their horses and all three of them continued on.

  ...

  "This isn't possible; I'm going to wake up in a couple minutes beating myself up about smoking pot or something. I mean, this isn't- possible, this kind of stuff just doesn't exist." They stepped forward and spotted what may have been the most spectacular sight in her entire life. The tree's when on forever, rolling hill of gold and a town that came straight out of medieval France, and the best, a huge castle on the middle of a mountain, with a waterfall going down the front of the mountain into a lake and from there a river taking it to the sea, which was a sparking clear blue.

  "Holy crap, what is this place?" she asked hardly able to stand.

  "Akadia, your place of origin" Paige answered a question that was in the lightest since directed at her.

  "I think you outta' start from the beginning, Paige." Genevieve said staring forward at the castle and still feeling the pull at her heart, she closed her eyes and the man from her dreams face appeared, smiling, as if he were somewhere close. As she thought more about his face and her mothers, and hers for that matter she kept thinking, he cannot be my father, you cannot be attracted to your father Genevieve X, I simply will not allow you to be that horrifically strange, although I do talk to myself and threaten myself for that matter, but that is simply off topic and random comments are sure to be ignored.

  "Well," Paige started out of breath cutting through the forest as Gen tried not to step in the metallic goo in puddles on the ground, oozing from the cut branches.

  "When your father met your mother almost twenty one years ago,"

  "Dang," Gen muttered.

  "Yes, dang, if you feel the need to interrupt do try catching yourself before the annoying words escape your lips. When they met, she never told him she was a human, the only ones who knew where Alister, the head of the Black Riders, and me"

  "Who are the Black Riders?"

  "They're the people you don't want to get tangled up in, they're too eager to kill for my taste, they don't care if you're the king of Akadia and they will kill you if they catch you close to either side of that door we just walked though. That's how he trained them,"

  "Who is he?"

  "The prince of Ranicus. He is no one to be associated with either; he is a little younger than your father. He is handsome as can be but evil to the bone. He hates humans; he thinks they are the reason for all his misfortunes and problems. He is sort of like the Akadian Hitler." Paige spoke as if she were describing the football jock she was obsessed with. The since of admiration was off-putting if not many other things.

  "He can't be that bad!" Genevieve said trying to keep the mood light.

  "Yes he can. You better pray he never finds out your sister and you are half human or he will-"

  "He'll what? Kill us?" Genevieve said it as a joke but when she saw Paige look down and kick a rock she no longer thought it was funny.

  "He will kill me won't he," Gen whispered. Paige still wouldn't speak, smiling and shaking her head then closing her eyes, trying to find the right words she supposed.

  "I have a right to know. Would he?" Gen's words became considerably more frantic the longer she spoke.

  "Without a second thought." Paige whispered. Gen could hear her heart pound; feel her virgin hope of safety in this new world crash and burn at her feet.

  "Oh. Continue with your story p-please,"

  "I think you have heard enough,"

  "Please." she begged in a whisper, trying to not look hurt as she felt.

  "Well everything was going great, everyone was happy, your mother and father were together Alister kept his big mouth shut the only one that wasn't contented was…" Paige started

  "The Akadian Hitler," Gen finished. "Wait who is Alister?" Gen asked.

  "My older brother." Paige answered swiftly.

  "I guess he is much older, if this twenty one years ago how do you know about it? You look sixteen." Gen asked, thinking of a forty year old man that looked like Paige.

  "I'm an elf. We age very slowly and never die unless killed." Paige answered in a hurry.

  "Yeah and I'm a magical princess with millions of dollars and a castle." Gen joked sarcastically. Paige opened her mouth to say something, but instead she just choked out a wry chuckle and shook her head.

  "So how much older is he?" Gen asked.

  "Who?" Paige asked.

  "Alister, how much older is he then you?"

  "Sixty seven years." Paige commented.

  "Dang..." Gen muttered again.

  "He's six hundred and seventy four years old and I'm six hundred and seven."

  "Dang, so you were alive in the fourteen hundreds?"

  "I guess you could think of it that way." Paige answered nodding solemnly. "Well he couldn't stand that Alison and his best friend were so happy." she continued

  "I've missed a step." Gen said wondering how her father could be best friends with such a vicious man.

  "Yes, I know, how could they be friends? Your father is too trusting and very incompetent when it comes to picking friends."

  "So Hitler hated my mom?"

  "No." she answered in a syrupy girlish voice and then went down to a whisper. "In my opinion, he loved her, couldn't stand that he couldn't have her. She thought he was a snake, she couldn't have been more right. He made a public speech after the death of Henrys father, making your father king, he stating that Alison would make a great queen, if she wasn't a human."

  "Ouch." Gen said completely missing the "Making your father king" part of Paige's speech.

  "The towns' people where furious, when your father asked Alison about it, she said it was a lie, so he went to the towns' people and said he would never marry a human."

  "Oh how awful, she must have been heartbroken." Gen interrupted.

  "Yes, very, anyways," she answered in an annoyed tone. "When she told him that she was human, the word spread like wild fire, but he had already promised he would never marry a human."

  "So in other words he screwed him over." Gen said plainly.

  "Pretty much, when she had the babies, your father told her he couldn't break such a public promise."

  "What a jerk" Gen commented missing the "babies" part of her speech.

  "She was horrified. She left him the younger child and took the heir to his throne to Earth,"

  "Harsh."

  "He had no idea; the heir was supposed to receive the golden locket of Ansul. The one you wear around your neck."

  "So I'm the heir to the throne?" Gen practically screamed.

  "That's why I brought you here," Paige said, Genevieve stopped, trying to stop hyperventilate.

  "Anyways, when she left, as "Hitler" thought she would, he sent every man he had to the gate that night. When she had me open the door for her, its human proof, I immediately sensed danger. She told me to take the baby, you, and hide."

  "Why didn't she hide?"

  "She knew that whatever was there would be more than likely looking for her not me." She managed a nod.

  "The riders came out and surrounded her, and right as Alister ran through the portal the head of the Black Riders jumped from his horse and..."

  "And what!" she screamed, desperate to hear more. "and stabbed her," Gen had no idea why, she had never spoken to her mother, never heard her voice, or seen her other than the old picture in the locket, but when the words hit her, they hurt, maybe more than they should, like crushing the hope of Santa or the Easter bunny, Genevieve's hope of having a regular family even for a moment was crushed.

  "Any questions?" Gen pulled it together because she had been waiting eighteen years for this moment. She went through the entire conversation in her head.

  "What do you mean babies?" Gen said recalling a fact Paige had specifically tried to mumble beyond comprehension.

  "You have a twin sister her nam
e is Alexandria." Paige finally said in a rush.

  "I can't believe you didn't tell me that Mrs. Cru- Paige!" Gen yelled punching her shoulder.

  "I'm sorry but I was sworn to secrecy 'til your eighteenth birthday." she yelled right rubbing her arm.

  "And you said my father was a king?" Gen said, she mostly just wanted to justify the facts so she could tell Peter in accuracy when she woke up any second.

  "Yes your father is a king, the king of this entire land of Akadia."

  "Then that would make me a princess..." Gen said somewhat caught in her own thoughts.

  "Okay, I've had enough." Gen said turning around.

  "Wait," Paige yelled grabbing the back of Genevieve's shirt turning her around so she was facing her. Genevieve crossed her arms in a 'none approving' stance.

  "I had to wait because your sister was supposed to be told today as well, it's not my fault." Paige yelled, trying to reason.

  "You are a liar," Genevieve stated plainly, "and probably crazy as well,"

  "If I'm crazy then how did you draw my brother?" she asked. The picture, the grey eyed man, the one who held me, was Paige's brother? Perhaps, I can see the resemblance, but he was totally white and she was totally black. It all makes since! Well except for it doesn't.

  "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...I think I need to sit down." she mumbled leaning back to sit on a toad stool.

  "No! Don't sit! They're poisonous." she got up right before her butt touched it.

  "Wait why did they kill her? Wasn't she worth more alive than dead?" she asked as the idea finally came to her.

  "I have no idea why they killed her," Gen stared her straight in the eyes; she was lying, like a dog on a rug.

  "What! I don't know, it was a very emotional time, maybe I can't remember." Paige yelled.

  "Oh like you couldn't remember who brought me in?" Gen yelled back.

  "I told you-" Paige began.

  "Yeah I know you were sworn to secrecy and whatnot, big deal, the person that put you under that oath is dead." A burst of wind ran through the forest and blew her necklace open.

  "Weird." Gen mumbled, mostly into the wind.

  "Apparently she does not want you saying things about her from beyond the grave." Paige joked.

  "Apparently," she said as more of a whisper and she looked around and stepped over a fallen tree.

  "So I'm a princess of another world with a twin sister, anything else? Am I an elf too?" Gen joked but Paige said nothing, coking her head to listen.

  "Is it much further?" Gen asked impatiently.

  A disgusting squishing sound came from beneath Gen. Her face blanched as she looked down at her shoes for goo and ran straight into something and fell to the ground. She heard Paige scream, her sword dropping with a thud beside Gen. Gen looked up and everything was fuzzy.

  As everything became clearer she was shocked to see herself staring back at her. Granted, this double had black long flowing curls. Genevieve's hair was more of a chest length mess, it was straightened at the moment but that didn't help the bed head and zigzag swooping bangs from getting in her face constantly. This double was the height of perfection, her terrified face had no scrape under the cheek when Peter and her skydived and she landed on her face or any piercing on her ears for every time Peter's dad left and came back. Instead of ratty old cammo pants with keyboard suspenders and a HIM shirt this double wore a beautiful bareback lavender dress.

  "You." she found herself whisper as a man in an orange suit with a black tie and spider buttons stood proudly in the sunlight. An attractive man with shoulder length brown hair stood to the side staring straight, if she wasn't mistaken she would have guessed he was trying to avoid Paige's glance, but Paige didn't seem to notice. She was too busy hugging the orange suited man brushing his hair back as if trying to memorize his face. The man that she did not know the identity of was the one whose hand that reached for hers first. She grabbed it and hoisted herself up by his strong hand.

  "Who is this?" The man asked still holding her hand and pointing at her with the other.

  "Your sister." Alister said. He immediately let go of her hand.

  "Thought you said my mother died the night we were born Paige." Paige winced. Alister turned inquisitively to her.

  "You told her." she could see he was angry. She looked at her sister she was in utter shock. Her mouth was open and eyes were filled with question.

  "Don't worry Alister I wouldn't tell Alexandria anything if you want to be the one to tell her." She smiled thinking that may calm the beast.

  "She knows my name as well, and Andria's, great Paige; I suppose she knows Acruz as well!" he yelled throwing his hands up in anger.

  "I…" Andria began. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell straight back. Genevieve ran to catch her but tripped over a root sticking up from the ground and unexpectedly joined her for the second time in five minutes.

  It was then when Gen got up and got her first good looked at her twin close up. She was her mirror image. Her choice of makeup resembled more of what her…err…their mother would wear…just a little pink eye shadow. Gen's hair was to the beginning of her rib case, but only because Genevieve straightened her curls. She finally got up but left the fainted Andria on the ground. When she got up Paige was hugging the other man, but differently than she hugged her brother, she whispered something into his ear and then let him go like she didn't care if he existed.

  "So what's his story?" she asked blatantly point to the man.

  "I am your step brother." he introduced as if he were making it up as he went trying to not look at Alister that was staring at him and Paige.

  "Fascinating, do you have a name?" Gen asked smiling with glee that now she had two siblings when moments ago she had none.

  "I'm Therius and you are?" he held out his hand like a southern gentleman waiting for her hand.

  "Genevieve." She held out her hand with pride showing off her black fingernails. He kissed it and bowed. Usually that would have been weirdest thing that would have happened to her the entire day, or week or perhaps even month. But today it was so far down on the list it was almost sad.

  "You dress strangely Genevieve." he said looking her over in the lightest since of the word.

  "Speak for yourself; you dress as if you are to be the swan prince." she said pointing at his pointed shoes. She studied her words, and how very strangely they were worded.

  As if you are, seriously, you're going to speak in old English now. I mean I was always on the brink and I did somewhat talk like that but never to that degree. It must be the atmosphere or the shock of all of this completely unbelievable nonsense. A princess, seriously, are they trying to punk me? Where is Ashton Kutcher? Alright perhaps it is real, it feels real, and it feels right somehow. Like I'm home. Cheesiness be damned. Alister spoke of Acruz that basically proves he's my father. I would ask but I'm too afraid to speak and be wrong. How silly, I know, Genevieve X, afraid. Which reminds me.

  "What's my last name?" he smiled and lightly laughed.

  "Grave, Genevieve Grave."

  "Grave," she murmured repeatedly. Pickles, that doesn't fit my perfect super special awesome family tree. He was supposed to say Deveartae. Ugh, I'm so not ready to be part of the Scooby doo gang. She quickly turned around when she heard the rustling of leaves. Andria had got up and now stood right in front of her. She also gave Genevieve a once over.

  "How's it hangin' sis." Genevieve said giving her a hearty grin and waved at her like a little kid would to Mickey in Disneyland her eyes rolled back yet again and Gen cocked her head to the right in utter confusion as she fell backwards yet again. This time Alister caught her and picked her up and held her with both hands.

  "Does she do that a lot?" Gen asked pointing to her sister as if she could be talking about anyone else.

  "No just when she finds out she has a twin sister." Alister breathed. She nodded nervously.

  "I've seen and dealt with a lot more things than her and hadn'
t fainted twice." she muttered under her breath as they started to walk forward. Then realized she was comparing siblings and smiled at yet another brand new concept.

  Therius chattered the entire way through the forest about Andria and the wedding and being hungry and not knowing his parents very well. But every chance she could she caught a glimpse of the strong handsome man who was talking to Paige with the spider button.

  "So what has happened since I, took my leave?" Paige asked Alister.