by Sara Brock
A memory had been surfacing in my mind, but it quickly faded when a loud voice interrupted Ian.
“I’d hate to interrupt the moment,” a voice said sarcastically, “but you two are wanted for murder back at the castle.” An old man with a long, grey beard and a commanding presence was the one speaking, and behind him were several armed guards. Ian touched my arm and we appeared in a grassy meadow in the middle of nowhere.
“Who was that guy?” I asked.
“His name is Arthas,” Ian said, “He’s an elder in our village. What I can’t figure out is why they’re accusing me now.”
“So we’re just going to keep running?” I asked.
“No,” Ian said, “We need to bring my brother to the castle to clear my name.”
“You’ll need more blood,” I said.
“No,” Ian said, “I can get enough power like this.” He kissed me for about a minute, and I could feel the energy building in my veins. It wasn’t as strong as when I had drank the blood, but strong enough, I hoped.
Ian jumped us to a clothing shop, and we bought some heavy fur coats and gloves. Then Ian put his arm around me and jumped to the spot where he had left Seth and Catherine. It was cold, and the icy wind burned my face a little, even though the power I had gotten from Ian kept me warmer than usual.
We looked around, but Seth was nowhere to be found. Ian jumped us in and out of several buildings, but still no Seth and Catherine. We finally found them huddled in a barn, barely breathing.
“This is impossible,” Ian said, “Seth is a heat mage. There’s no way he could have frozen.”
“Why didn’t he burn you when you took him to Siberia?” I asked.
“It takes him twenty seconds to warm up,” Ian said, “Longer if he’s cold.”
Ian touched Seth, Catherine, and me and brought us to a spot right in front of the castle, since he couldn’t jump inside.
“Guards,” Ian said in a commanding voice that I had never heard him use before, “Bring Seth to the royal healer.”
Ian and I walked into the castle and Ian said to his parents, “I have come to clear my name.”
I couldn’t help but notice that Arthas was standing next to the king and queen, looking particularly wicked. The royal couple seemed more confused than usual.
“I am innocent,” Ian said, “Seth and Catherine are at the medic, alive.”
“No thanks to you,” the king said, and the queen began to cry.
“What do you mean?” asked Ian.
“FIrst you banish your brother to another realm for four years, and then your try to freeze him to death in Antarctica. We’re just lucky that Arthas here brought him back home.”
“What?” Ian was starting to lose his composure, “No, I brought him here! Seth tried to kill me, so I jumped him to Siberia, but I returned for him and sent him to the healer. What is going on here?” He looked at Arthas and then said, “It’s you, isn’t it?”
He turned back to his parents. “Don’t you see? He has done something to your minds!”
“How dare you!” Arthas said, “Hasn’t your family been through enough?”
“It’s that human you’re with,” the king said, “I was wrong when I sent you to find her. She’s the one who told you to hurt your brother so that she could be queen!”
I normally wouldn’t speak to a king this way, but I was so infuriated that I shouted at him, “I didn’t even want to come to your kingdom! Everything here is crazy, and you should be ashamed of yourself!”
The king and the queen looked shocked for a second, and then the king’s expression turned to anger, “Son, now that your brother’s back, you no longer need the star. I don’t want you to have anything to do with her.”
“Father, I need to protect her! I’ve already promised myself to her and we intend to get married.”
“Well, you have to decide,” the king said, “If you insist on keeping company with the human, you are no longer welcome in the castle, and you will no longer be considered a prince.”
“Come on, Erica, let’s go. My parents can’t be reasoned with while he’s here.” He motioned toward Arthas. Ian grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him as he stormed out of the castle.
“You can’t do this,” I said, “You can’t give up everything for me. I never asked you to do that.”
“I’m not giving up everything,” Ian said, “just the crown.”
“How can you care about me that much?” I asked, “You just met me.”
“No, you just met me,” he said, “I never got to finish telling you my side of the story. I watched you for two years before I ever spoke to you. I always wanted to tell you that everything would be alright, that I was looking out for you, but at the same time, I was terrified to talk to you. You were so unlike anyone I had ever met before. What if you didn’t like me?”
“The flowers!” I said, “Were you the one who brought me the bouquet and made my siblings clean the house? I always thought Julia did that!”
“I know,” Ian said with a grin, “That’s what you were supposed to think.”
That kind of made me question the other flowers that I had received from “Julia” over the years.
“Well, thank you,” I said, “Although I would liked to have thought that Julia did at least one unselfish thing in her life.”
I think I surprised myself as much as Ian when I pulled him in for a hug. He hesitated for a second, and then wrapped his arms tightly around me.
Chapter 14
“Are we going back to my world?” I asked.
“Too dangerous,” Ian said, “I was really hoping to become heir to the throne, or at least stay a prince, so that no one would harm you for fear of starting a war.”
“So we have to break Arthas’ control over your parents so you can get your life back,” I said.
“And once I’m a prince again, it would be safe for me to bring you back to your world as I promised.”
It was starting to get dark. Ian looked at the setting sun and then said, “We have to find shelter. The night is dangerous here.”
“Can we go back to Gelsey’s cabin?” I asked.
“No, Gelsey is aligned with my parents,” Ian said, “She’s no longer on our side.”
I didn’t know anyone else in the fae world, so I was out of ideas.
“I’ll just jump us to an inn,” Ian said. He handed me a disguise-muffin and ate one himself. I held out my hand, but he put his arm around me instead. We popped into a pathway right in front of an inn.
This inn was not the Mariott, or even a Best Western. It was a tiny bed and breakfast house that looked like it needed a new roof.
“We’d like a room,” Ian said to the figure who answered the door, and I stifled a gasp when I realized that it was a small green goblin.
“Of course,” he said in a nasal voice.
He led us to a small bedroom and I couldn’t help but notice there was only one bed. The goblin left and I raised an eyebrow at Ian.
“Sorry,” he said, “If you were in a separate room, I wouldn’t know if someone tried to kidnap you.”
“Whatever,” I said, suddenly realizing how tired I was. I peeled back the ugly grey quilt and lay in the surprisingly comfortable bed.
Ian didn’t seem sure what to do with himself. He kept looking between the bed and the floor. I rolled onto my side and pretended to sleep. I’d let him figure out what to do.
I felt the bed dip beside me and knew that Ian had opted not to sleep on the floor. The bed was so soft and comfortable that I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up, I was alone. Ian was nowhere in the room, and when I walked down to the living room, I realized that he had left the inn.
“Have you seen the guy I was with?” I asked the goblin.
“The king and some others showed up and took him in the middle of the night,” the goblin said, “They were so quiet, the boy didn’t even wake up. And who was I to argue
with king’s orders…”
The goblin was trying to look innocent, but I was sure that the king had paid him handsomely for giving away our location. I found out later that this particular breed of goblin could see through disguises. Ian wasn’t aware of that either, since the royal family doesn’t normally associate with goblins.
So now I was alone in the middle of a strange land with no way of getting home and the closest-thing-I’d-ever-had-to-a-boyfriend had been kidnapped - again.
“Which way to the castle?” I asked the goblin, and he looked at me like I was crazy. When he saw that I was serious, he pointed and said, “Walk the path two hours in that direction, and you shall see the castle.”
I knew what I had to do. I just had no idea how to go about it. I had to defeat Arthas. I knew that he was behind all of this.
I was out of human food, but the goblin provided me with a stunning-looking breakfast. Pastries, fruits, juices, and meats all piled up on a plate. I knew I shouldn’t, but better to risk going insane than to starve to death, right? If I was going to defeat Arthas, I needed to keep up my strength.
I had a plan. Maybe it was the fae food, but I was feeling pretty confident all of a sudden. I had taken a small sewing kit from the inn - not sure if it was complimentary or not. I was going to attack the first fae that attacked me with one of the needles, drink a little blood, and then force my way into the castle.
Chapter 15
As I took that first step out of the inn, I felt considerably less confident. I did see the path the goblin had mentioned, but it wound through what looked like several miles of dense forest, probably filled with enemies. In this unfamiliar realm, I would be lucky even to find the castle, and defeating its inhabitants seemed even less likely. Even so, I knew I had no choice, so I kept going.
I hid behind a tree every time I heard a sound. Everything was going pretty smoothly. I was almost to the castle when I saw the last person I ever expected to see. I had thought Ian would be tied up or in a dungeon somewhere, but here he was pacing back and forth on the castle grounds. Ian didn’t look so good. His hair was messed up and it looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Was this a trap? A hallucination?
I didn’t care. I ran up to Ian and threw my arms around him. “Ian, you’re okay!” I said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Don’t touch me,” Ian said, pushing me away, “after what you did!”
I was so stunned that I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. I ran through all of the times that I had been rude to Ian. He hadn’t seemed mad about it then, so why was he acting like this now?
“Um, what did I do?” I asked.
Ian laughed, but it was a crazy, maniacal sound, not a laugh of happiness. I realized that his eyes looked a little insane too.
“Like you don’t know,” he said, dragging out each word, “You broke my heart.”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about!” I said, my voice rising.
Ian reached toward me, and I could tell that he was going to jump me somewhere, but I held out my little needle from the sewing kit. I was still a little fast from the blood I had drank from Ian a few days ago, and I was able to jab Ian’s finger with my little needle at the same time that I dodged out of his reach. I licked the blood off the needle as Ian watched me in disgust.
I felt the familiar rush of energy filling my veins as I ran toward the castle. I had a hunch that Arthas was the one who had altered Ian’s memories. If I wanted Ian back, Arthas was the one that I would have to face.
Made giddy by fae food and blood, I yelled Arthas’ name as I ran up to the castle door.
“State your name and business,” a guard said. There were two of them. One was tall and heavy, the other was skinny and short.
They didn’t know I wasn’t fae. They didn’t know I could lie.
“I found this,” I said, holding up a button from the sewing kit, “It is very special to Sir Arthas. I’d like to return it to him.”
“Very well,” said the short guard, “I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“No!” I said, trying to think on my feet, “I heard there was a reward…”
The bigger of the two guards looked at me skeptically before opening the door to the palace.
I tried to look confident as I walked through the door. Arthas was standing in the throne room, speaking in hushed tones to the king and queen.
“What did you do to Ian?” I demanded of Arthas.
“Why, don’t you know, Erica? I simply restored his memories to their rightful state. I can’t make anyone believe anything that they don’t fear has some truth already.”
“Change him back!” I shouted.
“Or what?” Arthas countered.
“Or this!” I yelled, charging at Arthas with my tiny sewing needle. I poked his hand hard, and blood started dripping out.
“Y-you thought you could hurt me with that little needle?” Arthas said, laughing so hard he could barely talk. I licked the needle and felt more of the fae energy that I had before. I was now much faster than Arthas, and I poked him again, taking blood from his other arm. I went back four more times after that, hovering over him like a giant mosquito.
“Stop! Enough!” Arthas said, “Guards! Seize her!” except that by then I had enough blood to outmaneuver all of the guards, dodging all of their approaches. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, I would use my needle and get more blood from the guards.
Just to get on Arthas’ nerves, I took a couple more drops from him. Soon afterwards, I felt something in my brain shift. At first I thought I was going insane from all the fae food I had eaten. (I pilfered even more food on my way into the castle.) I felt like I could see various “slides,” or pieces, of each person’s mind. After a second, I realized that I was seeing their memories. I concentrated on the mind of the guard currently attacking me, and I noticed that he had a memory that was different from the others - altered. It was of Arthas doing noble things and rising into power until he was the king’s advisor. When I focused on this memory specifically, it shimmered. I was contemplating how to get rid of it, and the more I thought about it,the smaller it got. Finally, it disappeared. The guard looked up, confused.
He stopped attacking me and looked around, as if he had forgotten where he was. Another guard took his place. This guard had the same altered memory as the first, and so I simply erased it. After creating confusion among several of the guards, I turned my attention to Arthas.
“What have you done?” he roared, “Only I have the power to add false memories!”
“Yes, but I have your blood,” I said, “and a whole lot of fae food.”
I wondered if I could change Arthas’s memories. I looked into his eyes and I knew that he was about to change my memories too. Since I had my star power going for me, I was faster. I needed to come up with a memory that would make Arthas feel like he needed to leave right way. I knew I was short on time, so I added the first thing that popped into my head - a memory that he had to meet up with a loved one at Gelsey’s cabin right away.
Arthas laughed, “Leave in the middle of a fight to meet with a dear friend? That is something I would never do. It has to be believable - like this!” I could almost feel Arthas scrolling through my memories, trying to decide what false memory to add.
My blood froze as I waited for the memory to appear, but then it was my turn to laugh. I suddenly “remembered” Arthas rightfully gaining power in the fae realm, and that I had become his servant.
“I’m supposed to obey you as my ruler?” I asked, “Like I’d ever do that!”
The thing is, memory spells aren’t nearly as effective when you know someone is casting one on you and you’re just waiting for a false memory to appear.
“I give up,” I said, “I’m going home. This isn’t my fight anyway.”
“Don’t let her get away!” Arthas shouted at the remaining guards he commanded.
I was way too fast for t
hem to catch me, but I didn’t leave the castle. Instead, I hid behind a very large potted plant where no one could see me and waited for the commotion to die down.
I watched Arthas from between the leaves in the plant and looked through his memories. As I concentrated on Arthas’ memories, I quickly realized that my magic hadn’t worked on him before because he had no loved ones. He only cared about power. I would have to try a different technique. Hoping for the best, I inserted the memory that Arthas had heard of a great fortune to be earned by the person who could heal the royal family and servants of their madness. I made sure that in the memory, the person giving the reward was a royal ally who lived really far away. So if Arthas believed the memory, he would have to heal the royal family himself and then travel to the other side of the world to earn his reward. It was a long shot, but I knew that Arthas would do anything for fame and fortune.
“The fortune shall be mine!” Arthas said out loud to himself. I could hear him as he walked around the castle, repairing the memories that he had destroyed and saying, “I, Arthas, have healed you of your madness.”
After a while, I could no longer see the memories in the heads of the people, and I realized my power was fading.
I followed Arthas as best as I could, moving from one potted plant to another so I wouldn’t be seen. Finally, Arthas got to the king and queen and restored their memories, so that the king looked less angry and the queen looked less sad.
I held my breath when Arthas reached Ian.
“I, Arthas, heal you of your affliction!” he said, and Ian stopped looking devastated and instead looked confused.
“I’m off to claim my fortune!” Arthas said.
Chapter 16
Once Arthas was gone, I slipped out of the shadows. Ian saw me, but he didn’t say anything. I started walking toward him, but he turned his back to me and took off in the other direction.
“Wait!” I called out, but it was too late. He disappeared, and I knew he had jumped to who-knows-where.
