“Why, hello, Evalia, we’ve been waiting for you.” A voice said.
I sat up in bed, breathing hard. My hands were shaking like they always do when I’m startled awake. I looked around with wild eyes, trying to figure out what woke me. The dream was rapidly fading from my mind, leaving me confused as well as on an adrenaline high. According to my watch, it was three in the morning. I threw myself back down on the bed. I hate being startled awake. I almost always have a hard time going back to sleep. I laid in bed shaking for a while, my mind going in circles around my dream and what I had seen in the woods. I finally drifted off into a light sleep.
Sunlight streaming in the window into my eyes woke me. After a brief moment of confusion, panic set in. What time is it? I glanced at my watch. Oh shit, I only had thirty minutes to get to class. I briefly wondered why my alarm didn’t go off, but urgency quickly overrode my concern. My morning routine was typically short and to the point. I was not one of those people to spend hours on my hair or makeup. I didn’t even really wear much makeup, at most, just simple eyeliner and one color of shadow. Today, I didn’t have time for any of that.
I put my contacts in, took out the pigtails, brushed my dark hair, then quickly redid it into one long braid that hung halfway down my back. I didn’t even do a french braid, which meant it wouldn’t last as long, but I didn’t have time to do it properly. My bag was already by the door, what else did I need? Keys, keys and my phone would be good. I found them, and ran out the door.
I made it to class with only a minute to spare. My morning classes were a blur. I tried to pay attention, but the weird light I saw the day before and in my dream kept intruding on my thoughts at the most random times. My notes from class were all over the place. Since I was unable to keep my attention on the professor, I only took notes about a third of the time. I was going to be in trouble if I kept this up.
All in all, I was feeling very discombobulated as I was wandering around the cafeteria at lunch time, looking for David and a seat. I was on my third trip around the cafeteria when a deep voice from behind stopped me.
“Evalia, come sit with me, I have room at my table.” I turned and saw Travis wave at me.
“Thanks! It’s much busier than usual in here today!” I sat down and looked at my food. I hoped I didn’t look as disheveled as I felt. “Thanks again for paintball. It really was fun.” I looked up and he was staring at me with the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever seen. Were they bluer than yesterday? I think they were. I blushed. I needed to get my mind off his eyes, so, of course, I said the first thing that popped into my head. “Travis, how long have you lived in that house?” I mentally face-palmed. The only thing worse would have been to ask him about the light.
He looked surprised. “Um, almost my whole life.” He paused. “Why?”
Mentally beating myself up for saying something so random, I slowly swallowed. “I was just wondering.” I looked back at my food and racked my brain for something to say that was not brainless. “So, how about the weather?” Ugh. I can’t believe that just came out of my mouth. That was just as bad as asking how long he had lived at his house. I shoved some food in my mouth to stop from saying something awful again.
He looked at me like I was crazy and laughed. “Well, it’s sunny and warmer today, so I like it. Is there something bothering you? You’re kind of twitching.”
Twitching? Oh, my eyebrow was having a muscle spasm. I guess it hurt me not to be stupid with him. I opened my mouth to say I was fine, but what came out was ”I don’t want to sound crazy, but have you ever seen anything weird in your woods?” OH MY GOD. Why is this happening to me? My hand found its way to my braid and started playing with the end. My eyes stayed on the end of the braid as I spun it around my finger.
“No, why?” The brusque note in his voice had me jerking my eyes up to his, which were now flat and, even stranger, a much darker blue than they had been a minute before.
I nervously laughed, and looked back at the table. Great, now I’ve pissed him off, and I am sure he thinks I am nuts. “Oh, no reason!” Shut up and leave it at that! Nope, my mouth had better ideas. It figured my foot was not far enough in, so it continued, saying, “I thought I saw something weird in there yesterday, but I guess it was my imagination running wild.” I needed to save this. My fingers spun the braid faster and faster. I thought about the paintball war. Ah Ha! A safe topic! “The paintball yesterday was really fun. I’ve never played it before, and I really enjoyed it! I hope it didn’t really bother you that David invited me.” I kept my eyes on the table, as I felt my face heat even more. This was so uncomfortable. I wanted to melt into the floor.
An awkward silence followed my rush of words. He said, “Don’t worry about that, I was just giving David a hard time.” As he spoke, he reached forward and brushed the back of my hand with the tips of his fingers. Where they lightly ran over my hand, it seemed like his fingers were nothing more than a warm breeze, and some of my nervousness faded away. The sensation drew my eyes up to his. I was afraid to see outright hostility, but his eyes were thoughtful, and back to brilliant blue, as he stared at me. “What do you think you saw?” His voice was also back to being friendly.
“Oh, nothing, never mind, I was just being stupid. So, what’s your major?” My eyes flashed down to my tray and back to his face, then back to my traitorous hand, which was still slowly spinning the braid.
“Evalia.” He paused, and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you before. David didn’t tell me enough about you. What did you see?” That was an odd statement, and the question was firm. He really wanted an answer. I was so sorry my mouth had gotten away from me.
“Um. It looked like a giant bubble that glowed with a weird light that was caught in the trees. But, it seemed like the woods were different on the other side, and I thought I heard laughter and music.”
“Oh. That. It’s no big deal.” He laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t recognize the other side. It’s just a gateway to Shadoewynne. The one in our woods is special and looks a little different than the rest.” I stared at him, searching his face to see if he was teasing me.
“Huh? What are you talking about? Shadoewynne?” I blinked at him slowly, while trying to process his words. He really seemed serious, but he had to be joking, right?
“I thought you…” He trailed off as his eyes searched mine. Whatever he was looking for, he didn’t find. His eyes widened. “Oh, shit. Listen, forget I said anything, and just don’t go near my woods again, okay?” The color had slowly drained from his face while he was talking.
He was watching me closely, seeming to wait to see if I was going to panic, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable again. I couldn’t meet his eyes, and I was still spinning the braid. At least he didn’t think I was crazy, although this wasn’t much better. I forced my hand down to the table. “Um. Okay. So, changing subjects, what’s your major?”
He went back to eating. “Business. What’s yours?”
“Business as well, with a minor in Literature. I really like to read and enjoy writing as well, but a major in Literature won’t really help me get a job, so I went with Business instead. I am enjoying the classes more than I thought I would. I’m in my first year, what about you?” I answered quickly.
“Second year. My family pushed me to major in Business. I would have preferred an art degree, but, like you said, it won’t pay the bills. A business degree will also help me when I have to take over when my Father retires.” He was still watching me as he ate, but not as closely.
It was silent for a moment. I really needed to keep him talking while I thought about the bomb he had dropped. I racked my brain for another safe topic that wasn’t the weather. Eventually, I said, “So, how did you meet David?”
With a small smile, he said, “We went to grade school together. I met him in the third grade. He was really annoying, but he just kept bugging me until we were friends.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that
sounds like what he did to me as well. We met when I moved here and he wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept asking me out, but said he would settle for being friends. It annoyed me at first, but I guess he’s grown on me. I wouldn’t know what to do without him, now. I’ve been here for about six months, but I still get lost very easily. I am not good at directions. I am also not comfortable meeting new people on my own, but I don’t know many people either, so I don’t have a lot of friends.” I realized suddenly that my hands had been waving in front of me, punctuating my words, the whole time I had been talking. I put my hands down on the table, then picked up my sandwich. Maybe having food in them would keep them from flying around in my face.
I couldn’t decipher the look on Travis’ face. He was back to staring like he was trying to decide if I was crazy. “So, where are you from?” He asked me carefully.
“Oh, here and there. My dad was in the army, so we moved around a lot. I don’t really have anywhere that I would say I’m from.” I did air-quotes while still holding the sandwich as I said it. “It’s a tough question for me. I never stayed anywhere long enough to put down roots, or make any close friends. When dad would get sent out on missions, we would move back to my grandparents, and when he came back, we would move back to base. I jumped between schools until I was a sophomore in high school. Kids at school near my grandparents thought I was weird, and the kids at the base all moved on without me when I was gone. It made it weird when I came back.” I was babbling, but I couldn’t seem to stop. “Once dad was out of the army, we thought we settled down, but then he died just two years later. Mom and I permanently moved back to the Columbus area, where she is from, and now I am here. I decided to go to school away from her because I wanted my independence. She wanted to decided where I live, my major and even what classes I took. She is already my boss because I work for her, making jewelry she sells on the internet. I sorta regret moving out on my own because I am so awkward and have anxiety that makes it hard for me to meet new people.” I was still babbling, and telling him, almost a stranger, things that I am not usually comfortable sharing. I really need to stop. I checked my watch, more as a pretense than anything, but jumped when I saw the time. “Shit, I’m going to be late for math. Got to go, Bye!”
Travis laughed. “Bye, Evalia. See you later.”
I grabbed my stuff, packed up the sandwich I hadn’t even taken a bite of and ran out, after throwing out the rest of the trash, my mind still racing. The afternoon was a repeat of the morning. Even though I took notes in each of my remaining classes, I couldn’t tell you what happened in them. Thank God for the internet and online syllabuses! I would not have been able to figure out what my coursework was without them! After my classes, I went home, and made Ramen for dinner (the dinner of college students everywhere!) and spent the rest of the evening researching Shadoewynne on the internet. I found lots of stories about fae and fairy, but no stories of Shadoewynne, or gateways that matched what I had seen. In a way, it would be really cool if I was a magical being. I mean, who doesn’t dream of being whisked away from their mundane existence. I drifted off into a daydream about it several times while researching.
Around 8:30, David called me. For the first few minutes of the call, I debated what I should do, but I finally decided to ask him.
“So, I sat with Travis at lunch today. He told me you have been friends for a long time.” I paused, and he didn’t say anything. I just needed to jump in. “This is a crazy question, but have you ever seen anything weird in the woods behind his house? Like a bubble, but the inside of the bubble looks like a different world.”
“That’s not as crazy as some of your questions! Yeah, that’s just the gateway to Shadoewynne.” I realized I had been holding my breath, and let it out slowly. “Travis’ gateway is special. That’s why you didn’t recognize it.”
Wait, he was assuming that I know about Shadoewynne as well. “What the hell? Travis and you both assumed I know about Shadoewynne. Why? I have never heard of it before today, and I have never seen a gateway.”
There was silence on the phone for a minute. I checked my screen, it showed the call still active. I was about to ask him if he was still there when he finally spoke. “What do you mean, you’ve never heard of it? You obviously have Shadoewynne ancestry.”
I was stunned. My mouth hung open and no words would come out. I finally managed in a squeak, “What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No! I didn’t know! What do you mean, by ‘I obviously have Shadoewynne ancestry’?” My voice got higher and higher as I spoke, and I was starting to feel faint.
“Sugar, deep breaths for me, okay? I have the ability to tell if someone has Shadoewynne ancestry, which is a pretty common talent, and I knew from the first time I touched you that you are part Shadoewynne. The feeling was very strong.” His voice was slightly amused, like he thought it was funny that I was having trouble comprehending this.
“Why didn’t you say something?” I was slightly breathless, but anger was surging, which was pushing back the panic.
“I assumed you knew. I’ve never met anyone with Shadoewynne blood who didn’t know. It’s usually pretty obvious. Powers start appearing no later than the age of sixteen, but it tends to be much earlier. For you to be college age and have no idea is beyond unusual, from what I know.”
I really needed to talk to my mom. I checked my watch, it was after nine, so she would already be asleep. Feeling angry and betrayed, by both my family and my friend, I sighed. I learned a long time ago to be upfront with people (except my immediate family) about how I feel. “You know what? I’m pissed at you right now. I guess I can kinda understand why you wouldn’t bring it up, but it still makes me mad. It doesn’t help that you sound like you find this amusing. I feel like you kept information from me, and think it’s funny and, at this point right now, I’m really mad, and don’t know what to think.” I was repeating myself, and could feel tears welling up in my eyes. It wasn’t fair to blame David, though. I’m sure there were some expectations of secrecy. Shadoewynne people don’t talk about Shadoewynne. I sniffed. At least I still had my sense of humor. I rubbed the moisture from my eyes, as I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. Let’s talk about something else. I can’t process all this right now.”
“Okay.” The relief was evident in his tone as he turned the subject to movies. We talked for about another half hour about recent Marvel releases before we hung up. I didn’t try to read; I just went straight to bed. It took awhile, but eventually, I fell asleep.
Chapter 3
I woke up slowly. The moonlight filtering through the blinds dimly lit most of the room. There was an extremely dark corner that my eyes always went to when I woke up in the middle of the night. Something about it just wasn’t right. This time, as I stared into the inky blackness, something moved. I squinted, but still couldn’t make out anything but darkness. Slowly, I reached over to my night stand to grab my glasses, and I put them on. The room jumped into focus, but I still couldn’t see into that corner. It seemed darker than normal, and a rustling noise came from that direction.
It’s just a mouse. I chanted in my head. If I say it enough, it will make it true, right? Sure, it will. This is ridiculous, what could it possibly be? I reached over and turned on my reading light. The corner lit up. A four-foot-tall dark green man stood there. His skin looked like it was made of overlapping leaves complete with veining, and his hair looked like moss. He smiled at me, showing small pointed teeth that appeared to be stained blood red. He took a slow step toward me as he said “Found you”. He reached out his hand, and suddenly it felt like a wet cloth enveloped me. Panicked, I glanced at my arms, where I could feel something tightening on me, but there was nothing there. I scraped at my skin with my fingernails, trying to pull whatever this was off me, but it was useless. I could feel it, but I couldn’t see it, and there was nothing substantial there for my fingers to grab. It was painful now, and it felt
like it was burrowing deep into my skin.
Still scrabbling at my arms and belly, I looked back at the intruder, who was smiling wider, his lips almost splitting his face in two. He slowly faded in front of my eyes. My mouth dropped open as I stared at the now empty corner. Surely, this is a dream. The pain from whatever he had done as well as the long, shallow scrapes I had put on my arms convinced me I wasn’t dreaming. What the hell?? I didn’t sign up for this!
In my research the night before, I hadn’t found much and definitely hadn’t seen anything that was described like that. It took everything I had to lay back down. With my skin still tingling painfully and my mind running a mile a minute, I was unable to fall back asleep. Eventually, I got my laptop out and started researching green men who can disappear. Still nothing. After an hour or so, I gave up and retrieved my book from the nightstand and began to read.
The sunlight streaming through my window woke me, with the book still resting on my chest where it fell the night before. I was amazed that I had been able to fall asleep. With everything in the last two days, I thought I had about reached my limit and would have been up worrying all night. I guess since I had been reading one of my favorite books that I had read over a dozen times, it had calmed my mind enough I was able to fall asleep.
In the morning light, it seemed as though the events of the night before were all just a bad dream. My skin still felt tight, but I tried to convince myself that it was my imagination. As I got ready for my shower, the long red marks from my nails showed the reality. The scratches hadn’t bled, but the soap caused them to burn painfully. I hissed as I scrubbed them thoroughly.
I had a gut feeling that I was in a lot of trouble. As I got ready for the day, I thought about the green thing and what it said. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t come up with any reason for him to have been there that would be good for me. For that matter, how had he gotten in? Where did he go when he vanished? Was he following me, still invisible? A feeling of dread settled into my stomach, and made me feel queasy. This was not going to be a good day. I really needed to stop thinking about it. If I don’t remember, then it didn’t happen, and can’t hurt me.
A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Page 2
