His eyes were of the warmest brown.
His heart was large and caring.
He hardly ever wore a frown.
For he was always sharing.
His bright red hair and gentle touch,
"Damn, " Jessie said throwing her
pencil against the wall. She had been working on this poem all morning.
She was never going to finish it for class tomorrow. "I think it's time
for a break before I really break something," she said while shaking her head.
She stood up and stretched. She glanced at her clock that read "10:00
a.m." Had it really been two hours already? "I'm never going to
finish that damn poem." Jessie started pacing and then remembered that
she was taking a break. "If I'm taking a break I gonna do it right."
Jessie grabbed her jacket and headed for her door. She didn't mean to
slam the door as hard as she did, but she didn't care if she disturbed others
right now. She hurried down the stairs and to the front door before
anybody could intercept.
Why can't I stop thinking about
him? Why is my whole mentality centered on Krys? I just meet him
two days ago. So what if he's crazy and talks to birds. There
is no reason for my mind to be stuck on him. I'm doing it again.
I'm thinking about him. Ugh. Jessie started walking into town.
None of the shops were open but that meant that there wouldn't be anybody
around. As she passed the barber shop something caught her eye.
She stopped and looked into the window of the barber shop and saw nothing
inside. Then, in the reflection of the glass, she saw Krys behind her.
She jumped slightly and turned around.
"Don't sneak up on people like that.
You scared me to death," she said to Krys while trying to catch her breath.
"You aren't dead so I couldn't have
scared you to death now could I." He had this look of satisfaction on
his face that Jessie just wanted to punch him for.
"What do you want?" It came
out a lot harsher than she meant it to. Why was it that she was always
mean to the guys she liked? Who knows. A small gust of wind came
up from the north blowing Krys' hair just so. Jessie almost melted.
God, he is so cute.
"I just wanted to talk to you,"
he said in a very sincere voice. This didn't help Jessie's condition
much. Jessie finally snapped back to reality when Krys waved his hand
in front of her face. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," Jessie stuttered while
trying to regain her composure. "What did you want to talk about?"
She was trying not to look too stupid. It wasn't working and she knew
it.
"That bracelet you are playing with,"
he said. Jessie looked down to at her bracelet. She had started
playing with it again. Some habits are just to hard to break.
"Yeah, It's a bracelet. So
what?" What's up with him and my bracelet? He took her
arm gently and lifted it up so that he could have a better look at the bracelet.
"These are Maemarnian beads.
How could you have gotten them if you hadn't been to Maemar? I must
have guessed correctly." He seemed like he was talking to himself.
He finally looked into Jessie's eyes showing that he was waiting for her to
say something.
"You're talking weird again.
What is may ... may-what ever? Where the heck do you come from anyway?"
Jessie was starting to get annoyed. Why do all the cute ones have
to be so weird? It's not fair! Jessie was about to turn and
run for the hills away from the weirdo in front of her but then thought differently.
He may be crazy but I am so bored. This might be interesting if nothing
else. And he is so cute!
"I'm from the same place you are
from." If that didn't confuse her nothing would. How could he
be from the same place as she was if he wasn't from here and she was.
She was just confusing herself more and more by thinking about it.
"I don't understand." That
was obvious. With the blank look on her face you would have expected
her to have blond hair instead of red. Well, that wasn't true.
Darlyne could look just as dumb and she had black hair. Krys held out
his hand as if he wanted her to take it and follow him. Being the nieve
little girl she was, she took it. What is the worst that could happen?
Never mind that. She didn't even want to think about that.
She followed him down the street heading for Pete's. He didn't say a
word the whole way. Jessie thought about asking where they were going
but it felt too uncomfortable to break the silence. They passed Pete's
and were heading for the trail leading into the woods where she had seen Krys
yesterday. Was he taking her to the meadow or were they headed somewhere
else? They reached the trail head and Krys stopped. He looked
around to make sure nobody had been following them and that nobody was around.
"Do you remember me at all?" he
asked quietly. Jessie immediately remembered her feelings of knowing
him from somewhere. She had told him the other day in the meadow that
he reminded her of somebody. That was all interrupted by the discussion
of the talking bird. That must have been a dream. Birds don't
talk. Back to the subject.
"Yeah, you remind me of some one
but I can't figure out who." She knew that wasn't what he wanted to
hear, but that was all she was going to tell him. He let go of her hand
and turned toward the trail. He started to leave while Jessie just stood
there and stared at him.
"Are you coming?" He asked looking
over his shoulder at her. Why not? She shrugged and started
after him. If she was going to do something stupid it was going to be
real stupid. Following a strange boy that talks to birds into the woods.
Real smart.
They came to the path that he had
taken the other day to the meadow. Well, now it was a path due to Jessie's
clumsiness. Guess it wasn't a dream. She could still clearly
see where she had walked. At least somebody could find her if she was
reported missing. Krys went onto the path and didn't disturb a single
plant. Jessie on the other hand wasn't so lucky. When she looked
back she could swear that she had just made the trail wider. When they
reached the meadow Krys stopped again.
"I would like you to meet somebody,"
he said while taking a few steps further into the meadow. Within a few
moments something flashed though the trees over Jessie's head.
"Th . . . that bird," Jessie stuttered.
The bird landed on Krys' shoulder and looked at Jessie with questioning eyes.
Krys turned his head slightly toward the bird and it looked at him.
A smile slowly came to Krys' face.
"I would like you to meet Radon.
Radon, this is my sister, Jessie."
***
"Your what?" Jessie couldn't
believe what she had just heard Krys say. How could she be his
sister if she was an only child? He's crazy, that has to be it.
"Your my sister," he said matter
of factly. "Did you not know?" He sounded as if she was really
suppose to have known. She just stared at him in shock. So what
if they looked remarkably alike and she felt as if she had known him for a
long time. There was no way he could be her brother.
"Your crazy," Jessie said as she
turned to leave. Krys intercepted her by grabbing her arm. "Let
go of me you nut," she yelled at him. He was really starting to scare
her.
"I need to talk to you before you
leave. After that I promise that I will leave and you will never see
me again if you don't want to." Krys forced Jessie to look into his
eyes. 'I have spent years looking for you and I am not giving you up that
easily.' Jessie heard in her head. It sounded remarkably like Krys
but with feelings. She could feel his sincerity and love for her, a
brotherly love. He really believed that she was his sister.
"What just happened?" Jessie asked
as she came to the realization that he hadn't moved his lips when he had spoken.
'This?' she heard the voice
say again. Krys had a huge smile on his face. Jessie just nodded
her reply. 'This is called Mindspeaking, one of the many gifts of
being Maemarnian Royalty. When you said you heard Radon, I thought it
was just a fluke but when I saw the bracelet I was almost certain that you
were the one I have been looking for. I have been searching for you
for 10 years now.' Jessie was amazed at how fast this form of speaking
was. It only took a blink of an eye for Krys to tell her all of that
and she fully understood it. It was like he could convey his thoughts
as fast as he could think of them and as many of them at one time as his mind
could come up with.
"But . . . How could you be my brother?"
Jessie managed to get out. Krys' face dropped as if he was remembering
something very painful to him. Radon looked at Krys and nudged his cheek
with his beak. Jessie could see the bond between bird and boy was very
strong. Krys reached up a hand and stoked Radon's feathery head.
"When we were about three years
old our parents were killed and our lives were put in danger. Our uncles
tried to get us to safety. They opened a Gate between our world and
this one, something that had only happened in legends, back in the time of
The Mother. One uncle went with you through the Gate but before our
other uncle could bring me through, the Gate shut. We ran as fast as
we could to get away from the assassins. We managed to get away
and hid amongst the people in a small village on the outskirts of Maemar.
Uncle taught me as much magic as he could and showed me how to open the Gate
between worlds. It took me awhile to find out which world you were on.
I came here as soon as I could find another mage that was trustworthy and
powerful enough to help open the Gate. All my work paid off now that
I have found you. Will you go back with me? I don't want to loose
you again." Krys took a deep breath and then looked up from the ground
into Jessie's eyes. His eyes were on the edge of tears.
Jessie was lost in thought.
A stranger she had only known for two days had just summed up her dreams that
she had been having for years and wasn't able to piece together herself.
He had to be telling the truth, but how could that be? Another world,
magic, The Mother? The Mother, how could he know about The Mother?
She thought that was just some weird figment of her overactive imagination.
Jessie looked down at her feet and then back up at Krys. He had to be
telling the truth.
"I believe you," was all she could
say. Krys took her hand and smiled.
"Welcome back sis!"
***
"Mom," Jessie called out as she got
home. She had to talk to her mother and find out if what Krys had said
was really true. She did believe him but she needed more conformation.
"In here," her mother called from
the living room. Jessie went down the hall into the living room where
her mother was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. She looked
up at Jessie and smiled. "What can I do for you dear?"
"Was I adopted?" Boy, did
that hit her mother unexpectedly. Ms. Allen's face dropped. There
was silence for a moment. "I asked you a simple yes or no question.
Was I adopted?" Jessie had a hint of anger in her voice. If she
hadn't been adopted wouldn't her mother had said so immediately?
"Well, it isn't all that easy dearest.
Why don't you sit down." Ms. Allen set down the newspaper and sat up.
Jessie took a seat in the chair opposite of Ms. Allen.
"Why isn't it that easy? If
I wasn't adopted you could have just said so." Jessie's eyes were starting
to fill up with tears. Ms. Allen leaned over the table and wiped away
a tear that had broken loose and rolled down Jessie's cheek.
"You were adopted. I couldn't
have kids and you were the perfect child for us." She said quietly.
Another tear rolled down Jessie's cheek.
"If you aren't my mother then who
is?" Jessie accepted the tissue Ms. Allen handed her. "Why didn't
you tell me?" she sobbed into the tissue.
"We didn't think you would find
out. We had just moved here and nobody knew that you hadn't come here
with us. We don't know who your mother was. You were found in
the meadow with a gentleman who had died from an arrow wound in the back.
It was a very strange situation. Tests showed that he wasn't you father
but possibly a very close relative. We didn't want to tell you because
we didn't want you to feel different than the other kids." Ms. Allen
needed a tissue for herself now. She was having a hard time telling
Jessie all of this but it needed to be said. "How did you figure it
out?"
"I met my brother," Jessie said
getting up and running for her room.
***
"Hey Jes wait up," Billy called
from behind her. Jessie just kept walking toward home. Today had
not been a good day at school. Darlyne was making sick jokes about Krys
and Jessie and Jessie just couldn't stand it. So what if Darlyne didn't
know that Krys was Jessie's brother but she kept talking about Jessie bedding
him. Jessie almost hurled at the thought. Then Jessie was chastised
in English for not finishing her poem and was accused of slacking off in front
of the whole class. This was not her day and the last thing she wanted
to do was talk to Billy about those damn dreams. Especially last nights.
All the pieces finally fit together and she was able to see the bloody murder
of her parents and the slow painful death of her uncle. Billy finally
caught up will Jessie.
"Why didn't you wait for me?"
He asked with both annoyance and concern in his voice. Jessie ignored
him and kept walking. "Did I do something?" That did it.
Jessie stopped and gave him a stern look.
"Leave me alone," She said an then
continued walking. When they were about halfway to their houses Billy
saw a large bird fly by. Jessie looked up and immediately recognized
Radon. He wanted her to follow him so she did. Billy stopped on
the sidewalk wondering where Jessie was going. He decided it was best
to leave her alone.
***
"We leave on Friday," Krys said
to Jessie over a cup of hot tea. They had gone to the local espresso
shop and ordered drinks and bagels to go. Now they were sitting in the
meadow drinking their drinks and eating bagels.
"What do you mean we leave on Friday?
Where are we going?" Jessie hadn't expected that statement from Krys. What
brought up this sudden change of subject? They had been talking about
the Culled and how to communicate with them. They had been silent for
a few moments and then he just said that.
"We are going home. We leave
on Friday because it is a new moon and the Gates will be lined up."
He took another sip of his tea and then set the cup down. "We really
don't have much of a choice. The Gate that I made to come here is deteriorating
and it will take me awhile to repair it. The longer we stay here the
weaker the old Gate gets and the more energy it takes."
Guess that decided it. If
she ever wanted to go back to her home world she would have to go on Friday.
Why did it have to be so soon? What would happen to her friends and
family? She wouldn't know anyone except Krys and Radon in her world.
She had to go and she knew it.
"Alright, I'll go," she said almost
under her breath.
"I will need to meet you here every
day after school so that I can teach you the customs of our people.
Actually you don't even have to go to school if you don't want to."
Krys got up from where he was sitting and offered Jessie a hand up.
"It's getting late. You better get home."
***
Jessie had decided to attend school
to be with her friends while she could. Everyday after school she met
with Krys in the meadow to discuss their world. Finally Friday came.
"We leave tonight. Have you
said all your goodbyes? It really doesn't matter because nobody will remember
that you were here. The wonders of magic. I will have to have
Charley teach you some tricks when we get back."
"Charley? Who is he?"
Jessie asked in wonderment. This was the first time Krys had mentioned
any names.
"Oh, Charley is my roommate, I guess
you would say. We share a house. He is the one who helped me build
the Gate to get here. You will like him. Back too tonight.
I will meet you at the trail head at 11 pm. Got it?"
"Got it." Jessie started for
home to pack her bag. She was very nervous about all this. She
had seen Krys do a few simple spells like a fire ball and a shape shifting
trick that he performed on a stick turning it into a live frog then back to
a stick. She had been able to see the magic working by Seeing it.
That is she could see the threads of energy that made up the magic spell and
could watch it working. To the normal eye it was as if nothing was happening
until it was done. What a strange ability Seeing was. Jessie could
look at a tree and See its energy circulating through out it. She had
never Seen Krys do any large spells and tonight's spell was huge. It
would drain almost all of his energy.
Jessie got home and packed her bag.
She would never see her parents or her friends again. But she must go.
End Chapter 3
Back to Chapter 2
Go to Chapter 4
Home - Griff's
Lair - Twin Gates
