by Lana Davison
I stopped and pushed away from him in disbelief, blinking several times in shock at the sight of him, after all this time. He had grown over the year, taller, stronger, more mature looking, somehow. I was immediately attracted to him, yearning his touch but at the same time I knew I deserved more.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded to know.
“Holly, it’s a long story. Please forgive me, I will tell you everything.”
“But Ryan said you were with someone else and that I would never see you again. You never wrote, you never once called me and you knew where I was all along. I expected more from you, I thought I meant more to you than that, but now I see I didn’t. You waltz in, just as I was starting to get over you. Do you have any idea of what I’ve been through? Do you? And you choose the night I’ve just graduated.”
“You look amazing, every bit as I remembered. Every day I thought of you, every day I wanted you. You have no idea what I’ve been through to get here to you.”
“Somehow I don’t believe you. Why should I? You’ve had eighteen months to get to me, how hard could it be? I gave up on you, thinking that you had decided on someone else, the girl your parents wanted you to be with.”
“Never Holly, I told you that,” Leo said, gently brushing my cheek.
I felt torn. How could I let him walk right back in to my life so easily? It wasn’t right.
Emily looked for me on the dance floor, and found me in deep discussion with Leo in the far corner at the very back of the dance floor. She stomped over. “You’ve a nerve turning up here, tonight.”
“You don’t know anything,” Leo said firmly not taking his eyes off me.
“I know more than you think!” she retaliated. “I was here picking up the pieces. Holly’s with Henry, it’s too late. You’re too late,” she said pushing the dagger in either further.
“Are you?” he asked me.
I wanted to tell him yes. Well, kind of, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I was lost for words. I wanted him but I was wounded. I didn’t want to forgive him so easily.
“Holly?” Emily insisted I answered.
“I… I don’t know what to tell you.”
Emily threw her hands up, flabbergasted and bewildered. She had no idea why I wouldn’t tell Leo to bugger off. “Holly, think about all he has done to you.”
“I know.” I said softly.
“You know what? I’ll let you sort this out yourself then, shall I?” Emily said storming off back to our table.
“Yes,” I nodded but she did not hear me. She was too cross with me.
“I need you, Holly. I’ve needed you all along.” Leo brushed my cheek again. His eyes were sincere, just like they had always been, but those eyes had lied to me.
I wanted to say, but you lied to me, but instead the words, “I need you too,” were what came out.
He smiled.
I could see Henry pushing his way through the dance floor. “What the hell are you doing?” He shoved Leo hard in the chest, but Leo held his ground.
“I’m not talking to you,” Leo said. “I am having a conversation with Holly, and you’re not invited.”
“Holly?” Henry waited.
I looked at Henry, then at Leo. “Stop,” I said. “Henry, Leo is right. He is talking to me and not you. I am perfectly capable of holding a conversation and I can fight my own battles.”
“She’s here with me,” Henry insisted on telling Leo.
“Well you’re a lucky guy,” Leo said. “You can go now.” He pointed in the opposite direction.
“Are you sure about this, Holly?”
“Yes, go it’s all right. I’m fine.” I said. Henry walked away, turning back a couple of times to make sure I was OK.
“Where were we?” Leo asked. “Ah… yes that’s right. You want me too.”
“But wanting and having are two different things. You hurt me more than ever. I grieved over you.”
“You had no need to. I was always coming back for you.”
“But you didn’t. You said you would be back after the term ended eighteen months ago. How was I to know you would return? You left no message. The only one I got was from Ryan and he said I would never see you again.”
“That’s because he was forced to say those words.”
“Who forced him? And why? None of this makes sense.”
“Look we don’t have long, they will be looking for me soon and I have so much to tell you. Soon you will understand everything.”
“You made me feel like a fool, I was lost without you. I don’t know if I can go through that again.”
“Holly,” Leo said taking my hand. “We belong together. For a long time I never thought there was anyone out there for me and then you came into my world and everything changed. I want to see you every day. There’s no one else that will ever compare.”
I looked down at our hands joined together and smiled. He was the love of my life and I couldn’t just turn it away. I owed it to him to let him tell me everything. Something inside me told me to go with him, but what about my friends?
“What about Henry?”
“We don’t have long?” he repeated.
“Long for what?”
“Come with me, I’ll explain.”
“I need to tell my friends something.”
“OK. I’ll wait for you over there,” Leo said pointing to the exit sign by the stairs.
I walked back to the table and collected my clutch. “Henry, I’m going with Leo, we’re going somewhere to talk, that’s all. You don’t need to be worried. I’m sorry and thank you for everything,” I said.
“But I need to get you home.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll come back here or get a taxi home. I’m sorry but I have to talk to him.”
“So we, you and I, it means nothing?” he asked, taking my hand in his as if begging me to stay with him.
I didn’t have time for this. “I never said that. For now I need to go and listen to what Leo has to say. It’s important, OK?”
“OK, I’ll be waiting here.”
I kissed Henry on the cheek and looked at him directly in the eye. “Thank you. You have been a wonderful date.”
He nodded and released my hand as I walked away.
I met Leo at the EXIT sign and we walked up the stairs and left the club. When we got outside I noticed the queue for the club had grown significantly. Leo took my hand and led me toward the taxi rank. “Where are you taking me?”
“Back to my place...”
I released my hand. “What do you take me for?”
“… to get my bike,” he finished.
“Oh. Why?”
“Because we have to get out of Warshire and time is of the essence.”
“Hang on, why?” I asked confused.
“There are people after you and they will also be after me.”
“Who is after me? What are you saying? Why are you telling me this? It doesn’t make sense, nothing makes sense, Leo. I’m not going one step further until you explain what’s going on.”
“I couldn’t get back to you and I’ve left home. But where I am from I’m an important person and I don’t want to be there without you. My family won’t accept you and they will have you killed if you get in their way.”
“What? Who is your family? Who would do such a thing to their own flesh and blood?”
“Holly, get in the taxi,” Leo said opening the door.
“Only if you tell me everything the moment I step inside.”
“I promise.”
I stepped into the taxi and took off my shoes and massaged my heels. “OK, I’m all ears. But first, how did you find me?”
“I called the school and they told me there was a graduation dinner. I knew you would be going, but I didn’t want to turn up there. It was better for me to turn up to the after party.”
“But how did you know where I would be? How did you know I would be at the Night Owl?” I asked.
“I figur
ed you would be in town at one of the nightclubs. I went to Deep Purple and you weren’t there, so I tried Night Owl and well… there you were.”
I nodded. “Now tell me everything, Leo. I want to know exactly what’s going on.”
Leo took my hand. “I did lie to you Holly. I’m sorry but I had no choice.”
I released my hand immediately. “What do you mean? I knew it.”
“No,” Leo said putting his hand up out in front of me, “Let me finish, you don’t understand.”
I turned and looked out the window. “I don’t know if there is anything to understand.”
He took my hand again. “There is much to understand, a lot. I don’t know if you will believe me, but I have to try.”
I turned back to face him. “Try then.”
“I am not from the Isle of Wight like I told you. I lied about that, that’s true and I’m sorry but I had no choice.”
“Where are you from?” I asked, my tone soft.
“I am from another place. I… I don’t know how to say it to you, without you thinking I’m crazy.”
“Just try me.”
“I’m from another realm,” Leo said half expecting me to punch him and laugh out loud. I listened.
“Did you hear what I said? I said I am from another realm.”
“I did hear you.”
“And you’re not freaking out.”
“No.” I nodded, because I would tell him my story too.
“I’m from a placed called Avalon. It’s much like this but with rules and regulations that must be obeyed. A utopian society that the leaders of our world believe is best for the people.”
I was laughing now.
“Holly? I knew it.”
“No, Leo, no…” I said laughing even harder.
“It’s too unbelievable?” he questioned.
“No, no,” I said trying to compose myself. I got myself together, took a deep breath. “I am laughing because I am from Avalon, too.”
“What? Are you kidding?”
“No, I am telling you the truth.”
“So you understand about the chosen one?”
‘Yes,” I said. “That is why I left. I was forced to leave at twelve before the second stage set in, because I didn’t want to be with my chosen one.”
He nodded understanding. “But then why…? Why aren’t we supposed to be together? Because you feel so right to me.”
“And you to me.”
“So why are we not each other’s chosen ones?”
“Because we have been told otherwise,” I shrugged. “Does it matter? You left Avalon too. You don’t ever have to return.”
“Holly, it’s not so cut and dried for me. I’m… I am the Prince of Avalon.”
I gulped. “What?”
The taxi stopped in front of Leo’s house. Leo handed over the correct fare and the taxi driver drove off.
“Leo,” I whispered. “Is Ryan at home?”
“I have no idea. I haven’t been back.”
“What do you want to do?”
“We can either break in and get my bike, or we can use the front door and confront Ryan. I don’t think we’re in danger yet, but we will be. Or at least you will be and I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”
“Why do they want to hurt me?”
“Because I am the prince and I have been promised to someone else. You know what they are like with their rules. No leeway.”
I nodded. “So what do you want to do?”
Leo looked at me holding onto my sandal straps in one hand and wearing my formal dress. “As much as I love you in that thing, I don’t think you will get far on my bike in that.”
I looked down and laughed. “I’ll get cold.”
“That you will.”
Leo took my hand and led me up the driveway towards the back gate. He released my hand and quietly approached the kitchen window and looked inside to see who was there. The room was empty. He continued to walk the back of the house and looked through the windows but saw nothing.
“I can’t see anything. Let me go in first, I’ll come straight back for you.”
“OK.”
The back door was open and Leo walked into the house easily. I was suspicious and all of a sudden wondered if this was a trap to get Leo inside, but reminded myself that Leo didn’t think anyone from Avalon had had enough time to get to us.
I looked through the window and saw Leo and Ryan walking towards the back door. I bobbed down as a reflex but stood up again realising immediately that if Leo was there it must mean all was safe.
“Come in, Holly,” Ryan said opening up the back door. “Wow! Where have you been?”
Forgetting all about my evening earlier on I looked down at my outfit. “Graduation dance,” I replied.
“You look stunning.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“For telling you Leo was never coming back and that he was with someone else.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I had no choice. I had to do it, I had someone watching me from inside.”
“Who?”
“She knows,” Leo told Ryan.
“What? She knows about Avalon?” Ryan asked.
“She knows and she’s also from Avalon.”
Ryan looked from me to Leo and then did it again as if trying to get to grips with this new information. “You are both from Avalon?”
“Yes,” Leo and I said simultaneously.
“And you’re not chosen ones?”
“No,” we said simultaneously again.
“Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”
“Yes, but what can we do? We were told who our chosen ones were from birth and we had to accept it. Holly didn’t accept her chosen one and left for Earth when she was twelve.”
“I can’t believe it,” said Ryan. “You’re perfect together.”
“We know,” Leo said smiling at me.
“This is so wrong. Everything is so wrong,” Ryan said.
“Yes it is. But no one will listen.”
“But you’re the Prince of Avalon, Leo. Your parents will listen.”
“They won’t. I’ve tried. That’s why I was away for so long. My father kept promising me the Royal League would gather to make a decision, but he led me on, making excuses after every meeting until I had finally had enough.”
“What can I do?” Ryan asked. “You won’t have long before they come knocking on this door.”
“I know. I won’t tell you where we are going; they will get a Hunter from the Royal League to get everything out of you, so the less you know the better.
Ryan agreed. “So just tell me what I can do for you in the meantime?”
“We need clothes for Holly.”
“I don’t have any female clothes.”
“Fine. I didn’t think you would have to be honest. We need money, as much as you can spare and I need the keys to my bike.”
“I’ve got some money upstairs,” Ryan said leaving the room.
Leo came over and stood next to me and collected my long hair in his hands and stroked it. “I missed you,” he said kissing my forehead. “We’ll get some money and buy you some clothes.”
“What about my place?”
“I don’t think we have time. We need to get as far from Warshire as we can. Go somewhere where we can slip in unnoticed.”
Ryan returned with a wad of cash. “This is all I could get out of the safe.”
“How much?” Leo asked.
“There’s about ten grand.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Ten grand?”
“Yes, but it won’t last long,” Leo said.
Ryan opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took a key off of a hook and handed it to Leo. “All set?” he asked.
“Yes, except for Holly’s clothes.”
Leo turned and ran upstairs and brought down a leather motorcycle jacket. “Put that on. Once
we’re on the bike it will get cold.”
I put the jacket on and followed Leo to the garage and sat on the step putting my heels back on. Leo sat on the bike for a second and glanced over at me in deep thought. I was now wearing my formal dress, silver strappy heels and a oversized leather jacket. He smiled. “I don’t think you should ride in your dress,” he said as he hopped off the motorcycle seat and dashed upstairs again, returning this time with some motorcycle leather pants. “I know they will be way too big for you, they are made for me, but you need to put them on for now,” Leo said.
I put the pants on over my dress and looked completely ridiculous now. “Oh well,” I shrugged.
“Holly, you look good in anything,” Leo announced.
“Sara,” I mumbled thinking to myself. “What will I tell Sara and Stuart? I have to tell them something. They are expecting to see me tomorrow and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“They definitely won’t see you tomorrow. I don’t know how long it will be until you see them again, but it’s for your own safety and theirs too. Are they Avalon guardians?” Leo asked.
“Yes.”
“So if you tell them about me it won’t come as too great a surprise. Don’t tell them if you don’t have to because if the Royal League Hunters gets to them they may think there’s some kind of conspiracy going on. The less they know, the safer it is for them.”
“But, I have to tell them something.”
“So tell them that you’re running off with me.”
“But they know me. That’s so out of character.”
“They know about me, right?”
“Yes, but not that you’re from Avalon.”
Leo walked over to me and looked at my necklace. “You still wear it?” he said referring to my ring.
“I do. I was having a hard time parting with it.”
“Tell them you’re getting married.”
I gulped. “Pardon?”
“Tell them you’re getting married to me, that I turned up out of the blue and you have decided to elope with me.”
“They would be worried. That’s not like me either.”
