The Locket (12 page)

Okay, I can handle this. I can handle this, she reminded herself. All I have to do is pinch myself, because when I pinch myself, all of this will go away and I will wake up in my bed, perfectly fine. One, two, three … ouch! Okay, that didn’t work. There
is
a reasonable explanation for all of this and I am determined to find it! But, as for now, and just in case it’s not a dream, I am more determined to live.

Taking in a long breath, Savannah released it with only a slight shake, which she considered an improvement. I can handle this, she thought again.

The inside of the woods was an endless shadow, with the trees so tightly clumped together. Above her, she was still able to see the stars and was just in time as they came alive in the sky. Thankfully, that brightened up some of the area, though not by much.

It took roughly an hour for her to get a good feel of the new surroundings. She didn’t have to worry about being cold anymore, because the temperature rose with the moist, humid air within the closed boundaries of the trees. After a while, it wasn’t just the trees that made her feel caged into this world of wilderness. There was some indescribable line she felt she couldn’t cross, as if she were stuck here now that she crossed the barrier.

The thought of being trapped allowed Savannah to amplify her senses. Again, she felt the warm tingle of the humid night, she could smell scents of fresh, sweet flowers and herbs, and her eyes were now adjusting to the dark. Yet among all of these things, her hearing was the best to improve, and a slight shiver took over her body when a distant sound became louder.

Whatever it was that was making the sound, it was gaining on her, and she suddenly knew that she probably wouldn’t know what to do if it caught her. Trying to make out the sound, she could only compare it to the hum of tiny fluttering wings. It was the best evaluation that she could make at this point due to her still naive knowledge of what lay in the depths of this woods.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” She was scared and felt fairly foolish to ask such a question aloud. For one thing, there was sure to be either no one there or at least no one there that could speak English, or even speak at all. For another thing, what Rupert had told her earlier about why she was entering the forest so late at night stopped her from saying too much else. After all, she didn’t want some horrifyingly vicious creature to wake up. “Hello?”

This time, instead of the soft cricket noises, quiet, childish laughter came as a response. It was faint in the beginning, but grew thunderous and piercing at the same time as it grew faster and started to spread throughout the trees. After a minute of this, Savannah finally decided that it was not the noises of children, but rather the noises of mischievous fairies or pixies. It must have been—the giggles that were coming from the woods sounded too meddling and playful.

She quickly covered her ears, trying to think of what to do. The king had told her to ignore them, that they were only going to make her journey a lot harder than it was supposed to be. They were going to try to make her walk in circles or forget why she was here. But she would not let them. She would cover her ears and block out the sounds until they went away.

A little over an hour into her task and she was already becoming dizzy and paranoid. What if I don’t get out of here? What if these fairies do something to me to make me stay here forever and I’m never able to return home? Her thoughts were interrupted by her own cry of annoyance. “Stop it! Stop it right now! I’m going to get to the end of this forest whether you like it or not!” To her surprise, it did stop.

Everything stopped. The noises, the laughter, even the crickets. It all stopped.

She slowly took her hands away from the sides of her head, wondering why the giggling quit so easily. “Absolutely nothing is as it first appears.” King Fredrick’s words flowed through her, filling her mind with wonder. What was going to happen next?

Deciding to go on and forget about it, she took one step forward before hearing another set of tiny, fluttering wings. Stopping dead in her tracks, Savannah searched the area, darting her eyes from one tree to the next. “I said stop it!”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake! Do shut up!” came a piercing voice from atop one of the trees.

Savannah startled, not fully expecting anyone to reply. It wasn’t until this moment and that tiny, little voice that she actually understood she wasn’t alone. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the king, although she had no reason to, considering they only recently met. It was just that she didn’t think it possible.

“Who’s there?” The voice came again with a bit more vigor.

Hoping to gain a bit of courage, Savannah raised her voice while she answered. “I’ll tell you, but only if you show yourself.” She wanted to make it clear that she was going to be the one asking all of the questions.

“Oh, all right! You are quite the devious little girl, aren’t you?” A rustle came from a tree branch overhead, soon followed by the fluttering of wings. Seconds later, Savannah found herself staring into the eyes of a teeny but gorgeous fairy. Her face held annoyance, although confidence, and the sparkles that streamed along it shimmered in the moonlight. Her ears were pointed to very fine tips and her silky blonde hair lay down not far below her shoulders. She wore a lilac thinly-strapped dress that matched her violet eyes, and there were no shoes on her feet. The wings that she was absentmindedly picking at were as delicate as glass and glittered as her face did.

She situated herself on a low, outstretched tree branch. “There. Now can you tell me who you are? With all your yelling and screaming, you have disturbed my beauty rest and are, besides that, invading my territory,” she finished, jutting out her chin in defiance.

“I’m sorry,” was all Savannah could squeak out. Aside from Lance, who could barely be considered unordinary despite her initial reaction of him, she had never seen anyone quite like the creature before her. Or, she should say, the girl, woman, lady, whatever she was that was before her. In amazement, she stared at the fairy, even though she knew it was rude. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare. I’ve just never seen anything, sorry, anyone like you.”

“Oh,” the fairy sighed. She glanced at her nails and smiled. “I know. So, I believe you left out who you are. My patience isn’t what it used to be.”

“Sorry,” she apologized again, beginning to feel more than foolish. “I’m Savannah Morgan.”

The fairy’s face dropped in surprise. She took a moment and studied over Savannah, getting entirely too close to her face and then floating back to her perch. “You cannot be … wait a minute. Your last name is Morgan?” Savannah nodded. “That must mean that your father is Terrance?”

“Yes.”

The fairy looked confused. She started to talk on and off again, but nothing seemed to be coming out. Finally, she said, “Is your mother, by chance, Gwen Cartier?”

“Yes,” Savannah replied, with a growing thirst for the knowledge everyone here seemed to possess of her parents.

She considered this for a moment, then shrugged it off and began looking left and right. “So, where are they?”

“Dead.”

“Oh.” The little fairy’s face first fell in sadness, while her eyes gave away pure sympathy. Then, abruptly, her hand flew to her head in a sign of frustration. “I should have known. Honestly, for a fairy over two-hundred years old, you would think that I knew something!” Putting her hands to her hips, she stomped angrily in the air, causing a spray of glitter to encircle her.

With a mixture of resentment and slight aggravation, Savannah said, “You know, when one person tells another about the death of their loved ones, the second person should usually at least try to
act
sad or concerned, not focused on their own selfish inconveniences.”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, sorry about your loss,” she started, coming out of a daze. “But how could this have happened? I have lived far longer than any of the other fairies in this forest, and they still have their abilities to predict the future! I don’t understand!”

Savannah rolled her eyes. “Well, I see that you have bigger problems right now, so I think that I am just going to take off.”

“Wait!” the fairy cried. “Do you think that you could do me one quick favor before you go?”

“Depends,” she tried looking tough by crossing her arms. She hoped the fairy wouldn’t notice they were shaking a little.

“On?”

“On if you’ll tell me your name.”

The fairy laughed, making bells chime all over the forest. “That’s simple enough. I’m Belle, short for Isabelle. Now—” Shaking her head in satisfaction, Savannah was about to start again before the fairy cut her off. “I have a question for you. Where did you come from? Did you always live in the kingdom outside of here or did you—”

Knowing right away where the question was going and not feeling like explaining her story over again, she held out the locket for Belle to see. “Oh.” Taking it in her gentile hands, she held it up and began examining it. Savannah struggled not to let out a chuckle when she saw that the locket was nearly the same size as Belle and overpowered the poor girl. “This is it, all right. This is the necklace that Gwen took with her when she left into the mortal realm.”

“I see,” Savannah now had all of her concentration on Belle. “Can you tell me exactly what happened before Gwe—I mean my mom left this world?”

Running a hand through her bright yellow hair, she said, “I’m afraid I cannot, for I am not the one who is meant to tell you.”

Savannah held her gaze for a minute, not for the first time wondering how to reply. Letting out a huff of amusement, she said, “There’s someone that’s meant to tell me? Honestly, that seems a bit—”

“You will be meeting him soon,” Belle interrupted as her face went immediately blank, staring aimlessly into the air in front of her as if she were cast by a spell. “And what an expedition you’ll have! You will meet a few other people along the way besides him, some will be helpful and some will not be. But your journey is not going to end well for—and you must be careful—the person whom you will least expect to harm you will end up hurting you the most.”

Savannah stared at Belle in fascination as she came out of her trance. Shaking her head, the fascination faded into disbelief and a sudden urge to escape this magic show. “Wow!” the little fairy exclaimed. “I think that I just had a vision.”

“You did, and I’m leaving.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Belle began, placing both hands on Savannah’s shoulder. “Where do you think you are going?”

“Uhh, away from here,” she said, glancing back. “I need to get on with my journey if I want to make it to the city in time, and besides that … you’re kind of freaking me out.”

As she started to walk again, Isabelle accelerated her wings and flew up next to Savannah’s ear. “Miss Morgan, I do not mean to keep you from your expedition—” she began, but was waved off in response. Afterward, every time Belle came in front of her, Savannah simply walked around her or would, again, wave her aside and keep walking. “But I really need that favor!”

When she realized that the little fairy wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted, Savannah gave up trying to get away and looked Belle in the eye. “What favor?”

Grinning at her halt, Isabelle folded her hands and placed them gracefully in front of her. “The one I had asked you for earlier. Now, could you just do me a favor and think of your favorite color or something so that I can see if my powers still work? Obviously I know that my predictions do now, thanks to you, but the rest of them are a mystery to me.”

“I suppose so,” she sighed, holding up her arm to see what time it was. It wasn’t until then that she remembered she hadn’t put on her watch before she left. That’s funny, she thought. I usually put one on before I go anywhere. The strangeness of the portal must have made me forget.

Truthfully, Savannah always put a watch on before leaving her room because it reminded her that she had a schedule to keep. “As long as this doesn’t take up too much of my time.”

Excited that she was getting what she wanted, Isabelle answered, “Oh, it won’t, trust me!” No sooner had it taken Belle to start flying than she was able to concentrate on the task at hand. “Close your eyes,” Savannah did so. “Picture a room with its ceiling and walls and floor all in your favorite color. Got it?” She nodded. “Imagine it now with you and someone else in it. Maybe someone whom you really care for or think about every day.” Her mother and father came first to mind.

Isabelle shut her eyes too and put her hands to the top of Savannah’s head. Within seconds, the two of them had a visual in their minds of Mr. Morgan smiling as Mrs. Morgan was lying at Savannah’s side in her bed, stroking her hair and humming her a song. As the sweet tune of her mother’s voice drifted through the air, her eyes grew heavy and her breathing slowed as she fell fast asleep. The room was covered in different shades of blue, and only a single window rested upon the walls. The moon and stars left little light to shine into the room, and the blackness of the hour consumed the mood and turned it melancholy.

The vision was immediately interrupted when Belle pulled her hands away, watching as tears scuttled down the sides of Savannah’s face. “I’m sorry,” she managed, wiping them away.

“Don’t be. It is not your fault that they died, Savannah. It is not anyone’s fault.”

Savannah took a deep breath, mopping the last of her tears. “I suppose you’re right. What am I supposed to do? I’m scared, Belle, I don’t know how to handle this.”

“Oh, Savannah,” Isabelle’s brows lowered in concern. “I wish I could tell you that answer, but no matter how much magic I have, I cannot always predict the future. Not even the most powerful witches and wizards in the world could answer such a question. The key through life is that you will have to make your own decisions. No one else should choose what you are to do and who to do it with for you and no one else should tell you what is in store for your future. Because, just think of it; if you knew exactly what was going to happen to you every day or even every once in a while, would the ride through life be as much fun? Follow your heart, Savannah. That is the only advice I can give you. After all, it is just one of those things that you are going to have to find out on your own.”

Smiling, Savannah glanced up to thank Belle for her advice. All that she ended up finding was a cloud of golden dust. “Huh, I see that the creatures in this forest have no problem coming and going as they please.”

Turning to head back in the direction she was venturing, Savannah started on her journey at once. Pushing a tree branch out of the way, she was mildly startled by the sight of Isabelle sitting on a bright red apple from an apple tree. “But I must warn you, Savannah, the creatures in this forest are extremely unforgiving and unforgivable. What they do to people you will be sure never to forget.”

“Good grief, where did that apple tree come from? It’s the middle of the forest.”

“Oh, the trees in this forest come and go. Some just randomly appear while others never move, and, being an enchanted forest, anything can grow here. Now, back to what I was saying.”