“How long was I gone?” Amelia asked.
“Nearly three days. Oh, we’re just so glad you’re safe!”
Amelia had never seen her parents this ridiculously happy in years. They wouldn’t let go of her, even as the police officers and other members of the search party aimlessly stood by watching.
“Yes, of course I’m safe. Why wouldn’t I be?” Amelia asked as she was squeezed so tight that she could hardly breathe.
“I got your voicemail about Princeton and when I called your mother,” Amelia’s father said rather remorsefully, “she said she didn’t know anything about it, but she was short with you on the phone. We thought maybe you had done something to yourself.”
“No, I would never do that…” Amelia knew well that she had considered it, but she wasn’t about to tell her parents that. She looked around at the smiling search party, “But you didn’t have to call Scotland Yard on me!”
Everyone had a laugh and made their way back to the tree line, talking about all the places they looked before coming to the beach. The only reason they had thought to search this far north of town, they said, was because they had received an anonymous tip that she would be there at dawn.
“Who was it?” she asked the police detective.
“I don’t know. The only hint we have was that he was an older gentleman. The gal that answered the phone said he sounded a little eccentric too. Would you know anything about who it might have been?” he asked as he pulled out a pad of paper and pencil to take notes.
Amelia’s first thought was, of course, that Sir Jedalf might have made the call. But, how could she explain to anyone what had happened. She had no proof of her adventure besides a leather jacket and she was already beginning to doubt herself if it was all true. “I don’t have a clue,” she answered.
Millions of questions were asked of where she had been and what happened, but she didn’t have a logical answer for them either. If she told them exactly what she thought had happened, her parents would lock her away in the loony bin for sure.
She pled amnesia, saying that she didn’t remember a thing.
They took Amelia home to rest and grab a meal while they waited for a police psychologist to come over to evaluate her. Her parents were so attentive now, bringing her all of her favorite snacks, refusing to let her up off the couch to do anything for herself.
It was a pleasant change, but after a while she begged them to just sit down and talk with her. They became reacquainted as a family, talking about the success at their jobs and they talked about all the thrilling plans for Amelia when she would go to college in the fall. It was only months away and many details needed to be discussed.
When the psychologist made his final evaluation, he concluded that Amelia must have suffered a rare case of amnesia caused by the emotional stress brought on by her parents’ neglect.
Amelia, though encouraged by the doctor, did not press charges of abuse against her parents. She knew it wasn’t their fault and after much reflection, she decided that Connor was right. They were just busy making a better life for her. And from that day forth, they vowed to take more time off to spend together as a family.
When she had a moment alone, Amelia snuck away to the basement. Once more she descended the stairs with her flashlight and searched the dark cellar. What she wanted to find was the hole to Flagler that she had fallen through.
To her dismay, she only found that the bookcase that was missing before was now restored in perfect condition in the spot where the hole had once been. No other hole could be found, not even a small crack.
In the last few months of her senior year, she still couldn’t get Connor and Somniatis out of her head. Day and night she thought about that land of eternal night, monsters and fairy creatures. Unlike other vivid dreams she had, she could still remember every detail. Somniatis would not go away. Like a haunting melody, visions of sirens, vampires, ogres and gnomes paraded through her imagination and they would give her no rest.
She dreamed of Connor every night and even during the day sometimes. Amelia fantasized about his kiss, his embrace. She still had his jacket and treated it like a priceless heirloom. Every night she hung it on her bedpost and every morning she brought it with her to school, despite the hotter weather setting in over Saxondale. Connor’s scent was fading away rapidly with every time she wore it, but the scent still lingered in her mind.
Everywhere she went, she looked for him, hoping against all odds that he would appear somewhere and prove that she wasn’t insane and that it wasn’t all a dream. But the longer she searched, the more she was beginning to doubt the whole thing. But she could never forget. She wanted to keep his memory and the memory of Somniatis alive.
After a while, she decided to try and write everything down, but no matter how she described the forest, Flagler or Connor’s serene blue eyes, nothing seemed to suffice her need to get it all out.
One day during class, the images of the elves plagued her mind so deeply that she couldn’t even focus on the lesson. She flipped to a blank page in her notebook and began to doodle Theoduin, the elf chieftain that tried to kill her.
As the sketch took form on her paper, every minute detail came to life. His pointed ears, long hair and wooden armor became something tangible that satisfied her need to see it in the physical once more.
One of her classroom neighbors glanced at her sketch and leaned in closer to get a good look. Amelia, seeing that she had sparked an interest in the star soccer player at her school, angled the paper around for him to see it clearly.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “That’s amazing. Where did you learn to draw?”
Amelia stared down at her sketch and though it wasn’t an exact replica of what she saw in her dream, it was strikingly good for a first draft. “Nowhere. I just started doodling it.”
“That’s no doodle. That’s work of art. You’re really good. I didn’t know you could draw.”
And then it occurred to Amelia that drawing may not only be a way of coping with her vivid dream, but a way to gain friends. She may finally have a hobby. The sorrow that lay heavy upon her shoulders lifted a little. If she could draw, she could finally heal her broken heart and maybe move on from Somniatis.
When it came time to pick her major for Princeton, she took a daring leap and decided to enroll with the Lewis Center for the Arts to study art. Originally, she had planned to go for a degree in business or accounting, something that she could build a career upon. But with each passing day, her sketching became more of a passion than a simple form of therapy.
Her parents were surprisingly supportive of her decision and they hadn’t even seen any of her work. Amelia had fabricated some drawings of static subjects like a plant or vase to satisfy their curiosity, but there was no way she would show them the sketches of Somniatis. She wasn’t sure she would ever fully disclose that portfolio.
When she drew things that had nothing to do with that wonderful dream, they were always lacking something. But, when she drew the foggy forest or the lion-man at the antique shop, she drew with a zeal that made the images really jump off the page. When she sketched the dogwood tree in her front yard that she loved so much, it still wasn’t as captivating as the gnome’s tree home in Phantasia.
Summer came and went quickly as she prepared for her departure for school. Her parents, of course, were going to miss her terribly. New Jersey was a long way away and she wouldn’t see them until the holidays.
It was a tear-filled goodbye as she drove away in her car, bound for the New England states. It was a long journey and Amelia was once more tortured by her memories, as she was during every other moment of time when she was not distracting herself.
How she would have wanted Connor to be with her on that drive. She would have shown him all the things he had missed while he was in Somniatis. She would have stopped at every roadside attraction and introduced him to all kinds of new foods and experiences.
On the way to New Jersey, she saw sign
after sign that directed travelers to Pennsylvania. A wave of emotion washed over her when she remembered that Pennsylvania was Connor’s home state. She wondered if his farm was still there from the revolution times or if it had been torn down already.
Amelia had to remind herself that there was no way that Connor was real. Somniatis was not real and it was all just a dream. Despite the jacket that lay in her passenger seat, she constantly had to force her mind to accept the fact that Connor never existed. She felt like she would go insane sometimes.
When she arrived to Princeton, it was a surreal experience. All her years of hard work had paid off and she was finally at college. But it was a bittersweet victory. She registered and got the key for her dorm room.
It didn’t take her long to set up everything and unpack. Her roommate, whoever that would be, had not arrived yet so she had a few days to herself before classes start.
In the midst of her packing, she pulled out her portfolio of Somniatis sketches. She flipped through them all, running her fingertips over the masterful pencil strokes on the paper. She had drawn everything she could remember. The sirens, Esmeralda, Baal, Gastro Bay, Sir Jedalf and his crazy home. The only thing she had put off drawing was the one subject that had stolen her heart.
With a heavy sigh, she put the portfolio down on her bed next to her and tried to will the strange feeling of homesickness away. She missed her parents, she missed her home and Saxondale, but most of all she missed Connor. In her dreams at night, he would visit her, but it was always the same. He would stand there and never say a word. He was always out of reach and smiling that wonderful fangy grin.
She had often wondered why she had fallen in love with him. He was, after all, a demon and a murderer. But there was something about him that lured her in like a moth to a flame. He was handsome, but it wasn’t just that. There was a brokenness about him that intrigued her. Even when he was angry with her, even when he had attacked her early in their journey, she still wanted to be near him. His cold blue eyes may have cried bitterness and rage, but Amelia saw something deeper within him that he didn’t even know he had. He had a soul, regardless of what he believed.
And that soul that she saw was a good one, a kind one that cared immensely and unconditionally. His soul was a reflection of how he was as a human, before Baal poisoned him with that deal that turned him into a demon. Connor sacrificed his own future, his wellbeing for his family even when he didn’t know what he had to do for it. He protected her and was willing to die to get her home safely. He was selfless when he healed her every pain and wound. He didn’t do it to get a high from her pain and blood; he did it for her. He killed all those elves to rescue her and risked overdosing on their anguish.
Amelia loved him because he gave her something that made the journey well worth the trouble. He gave her love and that healed every scar upon her battered heart. He couldn’t give it at first because he had forgotten what love was, but it flowed freely with their last kisses at Gastro Bay. She touched her lips and smiled, remembering how it felt to kiss him. She missed that too.
She then grabbed her sketchbook and map of the campus and set out to find one of the many libraries on the property. Each one was massive and impressive.
Once she found the closest one to her dorm, she searched for a table in a secluded corner and sat down to begin her sketching. She started with the curves of his face, then his hair and neck. With much care and lots of erasing, she filled in his features.
Amelia must have spent hours sitting there, erasing, smudging and perfecting every detail of Connor’s face. Her hand poured out love and passion with every pencil stroke. She left the eyes for last, knowing they would be the most difficult.
She had to pause every minute to bring up the memory of his blue eyes, their softness and sincerity. She had brought some colored pencils with her and set to getting the hue of his irises just right. It was dark in Somniatis, but in the moonlight, she could remember how clear and pure the blue was and how they sparkled like the sapphire in the amulet.
Just as she was putting the finishing touches on Connor’s eyes, she began to get the feeling that her sketch wasn’t good enough. She sat back and stared at the portrait of her demon lover. It was a good likeness, almost like a photograph. But there was something missing. She had left no room on the page to add herself into the sketch.
She sighed and held her head in her hands, still gripping her pencil between her fingers like she was not finished. Her eyes absorbed the portrait, gazing at it longingly as if it really were Connor sitting there on the table and not this mere drawing. It broke her heart to know that he wasn’t real. She so desperately wanted him to be real and there with her right now.
“You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?” a deep, gentle voice said from behind her.
Amelia’s heart quickened. She knew that voice. She thought she would never hear it again. Steeling herself for disappointment, she lifted her head and slowly turned to see who was addressing her.
She didn’t want to believe it. Was she that good of an artist that her sketches came to life, literally? Or was she dreaming again? This was certainly a vivid dream if she had fallen asleep in her dorm. Or perhaps she had finally lost her mind and saw Connor standing there when, in reality, he only existed in her mind.
He was there, wearing a clean pair of jeans and black short-sleeved shirt. His height was the same as she remembered, as well as his jet-black hair with silver highlights and muscles physique. His face so closely resembled Connor’s but his eyes were different. There was no hate, no sadness, no bitterness or rage like that which emitted from Connor’s. These eyes, though they were the same gorgeous shade of blue, were filled with joy, pure unbridled joy.
Amelia had no strength to stand and her body shook with nervousness. She had always thought that if she found Connor again, she would embrace him and kiss him, but she couldn’t bring herself to move one muscle.
“Connor?” Her voice was hoarse and hardly audible, but he still heard her in the silence of the library.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. The same restrained excitement that she felt was mirrored in his own behavior. She could see his rough hands quiver at his sides, but he was so much stronger than her and was able to stand in such a moment as this.
When he smiled, no fangs flashed at her from beneath his lips. Amelia stared longer, still in disbelief that it was really Connor, but there was no mistaking it. She brought her hand to her mouth to keep her from screaming out her elation upon seeing him.
Connor fell to his knees by her chair and they embraced once more. This was no dream, no hallucination; this was real. She could feel his powerful arms surround her, his heartbeat against her chest and his warm breath tickle her neck. His intoxicating scent enveloped her and she exalted in it, so happy to smell him once more. She could hear him sniffle, suppressing the ecstatic sob that rose in his throat like it did in hers.
She never wanted to let go, afraid that he would disappear again.
“Where did you…? How…? What happened?” she asked a whisper laced with a madness to know the truth.
Connor pulled away, keeping his hands cupped around her waist. “I landed in Pennsylvania.”
“But why? Why not at the lake with me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because that was the most familiar place to me.”
Amelia let her palms rest against his broad, muscled shoulders. “What have you been doing for all these months? Why didn’t you come find me?”
Connor’s fingers dug into her flesh. “I wanted to, but as soon as I made my way to a town, I met up with him.”
“Who?”
“Jedalf. The old loon was driving down a country road on some motorbike. He gave me directions and documents I’d need and sent me here. He wouldn’t tell me why. Everything just fell into place. I enrolled, I got a job and I’m renting out an apartment. I wanted to search for you, but he kept telling me not to. He said we would find each other somehow
.”
It had occurred to Amelia that she had never told Connor what school she was accepted to. She wanted to strangle that scheming wizard. This was his plan all along. He gave them the box to mislead Baal and slipped the amulet in the jacket pocket when they could have used it earlier and not risked their lives to get to Gastro Bay. He knew Amelia would show up in Somniatis, he knew she would need the amulet for her trip back, he knew that Connor would travel with her and come back to Earth, he knew Connor would land somewhere different than her and exactly where Amelia would be in the end. That wise but psychotic wizard knew everything and still he took the long way around to get them both to where they wanted to be.
Amelia’s mouth gaped open as her mind scrambled to make sense of Sir Jedalf’s master plan. Connor chuckled and gently placed his finger under her chin to shut it for her. She smiled, thrilled to feel his touch again.
None of it was a dream, it was all real. That thought troubled her, knowing that there were perhaps millions of other worlds out there that haven’t been discovered, just like Somniatis. But at the same time, it was such a relief to know that she wasn’t crazy. Connor was real, physical and something she couldn’t deny anymore.
Connor slowly leaned closer, drawing her face towards his. Every intense sensation that she had missed came flooding back to her in a rush of delight she couldn’t contain. Their lips met once more in that blissful, passionate kiss that she remembered from so many months ago. It had been far too long.
Escape Page 15
