“Are you crazy?” Clare yelled. “That won’t work! And I won’t have you turning vampire on me.”
Max smiled and Clare’s heart skipped a beat. His teeth had gone stark white and were pointed fangs now.
“Sorry, Clare,” he said. “I won’t let you get hurt.”
With his new vampire strength, Max pressed Clare safely against the wall with his body and reached out to grasp Lance, who was unconscious. Clare knew then that all she wanted was to be home with Max and live her life the way she wanted to. Nothing would stop her once she returned. She had new purpose and knew exactly what she wanted to do.
Then, just as quickly as it had fallen, the Golden Tree stood still like it had fallen into space and there was no gravity. Everything was quiet. Their breathing seemed the loudest thing any of them had ever heard.
Lance shook his head, waking up. “Are you two alright?” he asked. The light was slowly coming up again. He saw the fangs in Max’s mouth and understood. “I hope that’s not permanent,” he sighed, a bit of humor in his voice.
Suddenly, Clare gasped and pointed to what was the east window before. They could see out into a vast green prairie. There was a bright yellow, warm sun rising over blacked out hills that would be glossy green once the light hit them.
“A blue sky,” Clare whispered. It had felt like years since she’d seen one. A cool fresh breeze blew in through the window.
“No earthling has ever witnessed such a sunrise,” said a female voice behind them.
They wheeled around to find, not the Golden Son, but a tall, white robed, golden-haired princess standing there. What the oracle had said was true. The round table was whole again and the glow of the Tree had returned.
“Are you the Golden Daughter?” Clare asked. “How have you changed?”
“Change is normal,” she said. She had a sprite-like smile that made Clare grin too. “Know that.”
The Golden Daughter walked to the three earthlings. “Soon the animals will awake for the first time and the other beings of this new world as well. This is just the beginning. When you return, when you and other earthlings take action, this land will grow to be as bountiful and borderless as the land you once came to.”
“This is the first ever sunrise of this new world?” Clare asked, afraid to disturb the silence and the view. It was the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen. The sun was large, yellow, and looked inviting enough to cuddle floating amidst young clouds.
Clare looked back out the window. “Do you mean this isn’t Revary?”
“To you, it will always be Revary. But you will not come back to it,” she said.
“We saved this place and now we don’t get to enjoy it?” Lance asked.
The Golden Daughter shook her head. “Protect it instead. Have faith it is safe for now and do your tasks in your world. Do not weep for the passing of what you knew. Make something new instead.”
The four of them watched the sun reach over the hill. When the first beams shot into the window, Max yelped and ducked away. The sun had burned him after all. Clare stepped aside with him and took his hand.
“Thank you for that,” she said. “I know it must not have been an easy decision.” Max reached over and kissed her cheek. “Shall we go home then?” she asked.
“How?” Lance said. They all looked at the Golden Daughter.
“When three earthlings combine their power, a portal can be opened. You have seen this,” she said to Clare.
Thinking back over her adventures, Clare remembered the oracle using his earthling power, she didn’t understand it at the time, to open a doorway to her world. He had seemed to have done it alone.
“Am I earthling enough still?” Max asked.
“The oracle was,” the Golden Daughter said. “I do not know how, but he could still access that bit of him. He was limited, but powerful.”
“Let’s do that,” Max said. He was not smiling and his blue eyes were troubled. “Take my hand.”
They all three held hands. No one was sure what to do, but even before they could wonder too long, the great blue gateway burst open between them all. Max quickly let go of Lance and Clare’s hands and held the gate between his own flexed hands.
“The gate is open,” the Golden Daughter said. “Do not forget what you have learned here.”
But Clare stopped as she began walking toward the gate. Two tears rolled down Max’s cheeks. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Without even waiting for an answer, she abruptly remembered.
“Someone has to hold the gate open, Clare,” Max said. “It’s an earthling-made gate. Remember what the oracle said? If I let go, it will close.”
Panic took hold of Clare. “No, there are more gates, we just have to find them!”
“This is a new world,” the Daughter said sadly. “What he says it true.”
Clare spun to face her. “You knew this would happen?”
“I knew,” Max corrected her. “I knew, Clare.” He sighed through his tears, his hands shaking from holding the gate open. “You have so much to live for. I want you to do that.”
She shook her head and grasped his arm. “What about your dreams? Max, you are just as vital as I am. You have to come with me.” Now the tears were pouring out of her eyes so much she could barely see. “I need you!”
The smile that broke Max’s face and made his tears fall anew was beautiful in that moment. “Love spans worlds, Clare. Look for me there.”
“No!” she tugged on his arm. She could feel his strength waning as he held the gate.
“You must,” the Golden Daughter said.
“Lance,” Max called over the roar of the gate. “Take care of her. I mean it. You two are a perfect balance, just like the Golden Son said. Don’t waste that.”
Trying to look strong, Lance nodded, but the light from the gate reflected the tears in his eyes as well. “Can we come back for you?” he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.
Max shook his head. “I chose to be of this world. I wouldn’t last in our world now.”
“How can that happen?” Clare screamed and threw her arms around his neck. “You’re an earthling. You cannot change!”
“Things change, Clare,” the Golden Daughter repeated. “But above all, he chose this. He must live with his choice, as must you.”
The sun was fully risen now and life was beginning to stir outside.
“This world is alive due to you,” the Daughter said. “You must go now. It is not for you. Not this time.”
“I won’t let you give up like this!” said Clare.
Max shook his head. “I’m not giving up. I promise.”
Lance pulled Clare from Max and held her tightly in his arms as she cried.
“I’ll come back, I swear!” she said. “I won’t leave you forever.”
“Go!” Max yelled. “I can’t hold it open much longer. I’m hardly earthling anymore.”
Lance ran toward the gate, but Clare stopped one last time and turned around. She reached up, took Max’s head in her hands, and kissed him. The pull from the gate caught her and Lance held her tightly as they were both sucked into the gate at last. With a cry, Max let it go and the light vanished. The earthlings were gone.
“You made a wish,” the Golden Daughter said. “A wish that took the last of who you were. What was it?”
Maximus the vampire pulled his black hood over his head, preparing for the long journey ahead of him into a world where there was none other like him. An eternal life of solitude awaited him outside.
“I wished for her to be happy no matter what.” His voice was deep and melancholy.
“She will only be truly happy once she has forgotten you,” the Daughter replied.
Maximus the vampire nodded. Without looking back, he left the chambers of the Golden Daughter to begin his long trek across the brand new lands.
He would come to be known as the oldest, wisest, and most sacred of vampires in all the stories. The only vampire to have laid eyes on the
Golden Daughter.
But that story is not to be told here.
Epilogue
Clare returned to school as she had instructed them all to do. They all met in history class as they had before, but were not the same kids they had been. This gave them all a strange sense of unease around each other. And something was missing, but none of them knew what it was. The teacher, LeGrand was somewhat more melancholy and mainstream in his teachings now, which made Clare miss his old ways. A few weeks into this strange lull, Clare approached him with Lance and Alice close behind her. To her surprise, LeGrand watched her as she stood before his desk, his hands loosely in his pockets and his hair long and untied.
“Clare,” he smiled. “I was hoping you’d come and see me. I’d had a wonderful chat with your boss Heather a few weeks ago and you all have been on my mind.” He sat down, his eyes bright and eager, tented his fingers, and looked up at them. “How can I help you?”
“Why are you acting like you’ve got some kind of ace up your sleeve, sir?” Alice asked, blunt as always.
In reply, LeGrand looked to Clare. “Don’t make me drag it out of you, Clare. I want to know all about Revary.”
At the mention of the magical world, Clare gasped and Lance choked. “How?” she started then stopped. She didn’t know how, but she guessed Heather had something to do with it. “You spoke to Heather? But she didn’t know.”
“Didn’t she?” LeGrand asked. “She told you about her dreams, yes?”
Clare shrugged. “Kind of. Once. Something about being a guardian and seeing visions in dreams. I don’t listen too hard to her when she talks like that.”
“You should,” he replied. “She came to my office one day and was concerned about you and your friends. I was so troubled by what I heard that I had to take the day off. You see, my mother used to tell me such fantastic stories that were so similar to what Heather had said. I remembered you recognizing my grandfather, knowing the book—I wondered if what I thought was happening really was.”
“What did you think?” Clare asked. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
“That there is hope for us earthlings after all. There’s a chance for our dreams to become reality. That maybe we too can see a new sunrise.”
In her heart, something tugged. Not everyone sees a new sunrise. Not Al or Stella. For dreams to be kept alive, sacrifices must be paid and some dreams put out.
“Who decides what dreams stay and which ones go?” she asked hopelessly. “I feel like I’ve lost something valuable for a dream I don’t even fully realize yet.”
At this, Lance took her hand in his and wrapped his fingers over hers. “Do you think some ideas and desires are just stepping stones to greater ones?”
LeGrand nodded and frowned in thought. “I do. Like this.” He tapped the green cover of what Clare recognized as the book from before, only now the cover was blank. “It’s so strange, but I’ve found some tales in here I hadn’t read before. Any chance you know someone who could put them to writing?”
“Jeff, maybe,” Lance said. “But what does that have to do with what we’ve been through? No offense, but I don’t think you can imagine.”
“I can’t.” His face fell. “And neither can anyone else who hasn’t been there. So take that experience and use it. It’s a tool for you alone to craft with. Don’t waste it. When you’ve learned something through an extraordinary experience, tell people.”
Alice glanced to the side at Clare. “What about losing people? We’re not the army of friends we once were.”
“Yeah,” Clare put in. “Al and Stella.”
LeGrand stood up and took up his briefcase. “You cannot force people to stay with you. Not all friendships are meant to last. I expect Al will go on and get that white picket fence and that wife.” He winked at Clare, reminding her of their previous conversation. “I cannot make a guess for Stella. Perhaps if she embraces her talents…”
“Seen them,” Alice smirked. “And I don’t hope to again.”
Lance reached over and punched her arm, rolling his eyes.
LeGrand walked away, not looking back. “Don’t lose heart, you three. Nothing about you is worthless.” He paused in the doorway. “In fact, wisdom, strength, and hope are some of the best things you can be. Quite a powerful trinity.”
“And don’t forget Neverland,” Clare stated, smiling at their private joke.
He left.
Clare dropped her head and leaned against Lance. “It feels so unfair. I’m sorry to say that, but it does. We went through so much and still don’t have a compass to sail by. Al just always knew.” She met Alice’s eyes. “Maybe I should just take the easy route and go to whatever college will get me a job too.”
Alice shook her head. “That is giving up. Don’t. You’ve changed, right? I have. I know what I have to do.”
“We’ll help too,” Lance said. “We may part ways, but at least we’ll still be in the same world.”
They all smiled and laughed at his attempt to ease their anxiety.
“Library then?” Alice asked, heaving up their belongings
It wasn’t quite a year later that Clare sat in front of her computer, a blank document waiting for her to convince five top colleges to take her, that she remembered everything clearly. She wasn’t surprised and she did not weep. She simply remembered, nodded and said, “Oh yes, that’s what happened.” She had known all that from the moment she had returned, but what had lingered in her mind was the absence of something or someone. There was a boy named Max, but she couldn’t recall his importance. He had been there, as they all had been, but that was his role. He had been there.
In the other window on her screen, her teammate called for backup. “I’m being slaughtered by your volunteer work!” Lance called over the headphones. “These kids you work with sure are quick at picking up on tactics.”
Clare smiled. “I taught them everything they know. They make great rogues and fighter elves. Speaking of the kids, are we still hanging out this weekend?”
This hanging out had been going on all year. Lance and Clare had been inseparable since that last year of high school. Alice rejoiced when Lance had said he was going to ask her out.
“I always knew it’d be you,” she’d said with a smile.
Clare had wanted to wait until after college to get married, but Lance insisted on getting it done before they forgot and were too involved in their new lives. His had taken an unsuspecting turn when he quit the football team after getting a full-ride scholarship on the sport. He said he had a change of heart and wanted to try something else. Three more years of hard work saw him in an office that was hot in summer and frozen in winter.
He, the new professor, drove an old station wagon that should not have even had the soul to turn over the engine, but by grace, it did every morning. It was the cheapest thing he could buy that would hold his family. They’d ended up naming it the Great Beast for the roaring sound it made while running. He drove it to the university every day.
The professor pushed his black-rimmed glasses up his slender nose as one by one, his students finished the test he had spent hours putting together. They had devoured it in less than twenty minutes. As the last girl stood up to hand him her test, he stretched and pulled his long blond hair out of its ponytail.
“How did you do, Ella?” he asked the shy girl.
“I think I did well enough.”
He loved the British accents the young children had. Moving away to Europe was the best thing he had done for his family.
“Good, I’m glad you like medieval literature. It helps me be a better teacher when I know at least one person is enjoying it.” He smiled.
“Have you always liked it?” Ella asked.
The professor gathered up the tests and his things into his leather bag. “No,” he laughed. “My wife did. I used to be a football star actually. American football, of course. She used to live for these stories. She’s quite the business tycoon now.”
After the room was cleared out, the professor went outside to the delicious English autumn that was just around the corner. The air was becoming chilled and the leaves were changing to their festival colors. If he hadn’t been so broke from the move and the renovations to the house, he would have taken his wife and kids to the zoo. But they’d have to make do with the squirrels and pigeons and a visit to Kensington Gardens.
He and his wife sat outside in a little café waiting for their kids to get out of school. She smiled and sipped the chai. She always had this glow after coming home from her job. He was glad to see her happy. They were doing the right thing, even though it wasn’t always the easiest. They had made some drastic changes in their lives and continually sacrificed to do what they thought was best for themselves and the children.
“Look at this new phone,” she said cheerfully, waving the rectangle. “It’s called a BlackBerry. It has Internet access. Makes work so much easier. And I can get news faster. Jeff got his book published,” she said, reading off her new phone. “I always knew he’d be the famous one. In the end, my name won’t even be mentioned,” she laughed.
“That’s not true,” Lance said. His coffee steamed his glasses over and she laughed in a girlish fashion. “What’s it about?” he asked.
She rubbed his lenses playfully, making it worse. “Something about the lost adventures of Hero Maximus. Didn’t we have a character by that name once in Sun Age?”
Lance set his mug down and eyed his wife sadly. “Yeah, we did. I’m glad we never let that slide. Are you going to include the new stuff in your upcoming blog?”
She smiled. “I have tons of ideas. But work first, projects second.”
“Wait, wait,” Lance begged. “Where does husband fit in there?”
She leaned over and kissed him hard in the cold breeze. “You’re always there. Right?”
Revary Page 31
