The Locket (28 page)

“No,” he responded reassuringly. “A power like that is too strong for a simple water sprite to use more than once on the same people.”

Savannah yawned. “Good,” she replied, snuggling up to him, getting ready to fall asleep.

Christian glanced down and noticed how tired she must have been. “I think that it is time we settled down,” he whispered in a low voice that soothed her even more. She nodded her head in agreement as he carefully brought her down onto the ground. He laid her across the leaves, setting her up so that she was comfortable enough.

“Hey, Chris?”

He brought his eyes back to hers. “Yes?”

“Back when we were by the pond, still with our memories faded, what did you mean when you said that you could get anything you wanted with the snap of a finger? You can’t really, can you?”

His mind raced with excuses and lies. He did not want to lie to her, yet at the same time, he knew he had to or he would lose her. His stomach twitched with regret and guilt. “No,” he said softly.

Coward, he thought. You do not deserve her if you cannot tell her the truth!

When he began to leave her to find a separate area to rest, Savannah caught his hand and looked longingly into his eyes. “Stay,” she pleaded.

Putting behind him all that he had just thought and felt, he gazed down at her with a warm smile. “As you wish.” Stepping over to the opposite side, he laid himself down without hesitation. Once getting situated, he draped his arm over her so as to never let anything bad happen.

And without another word, they fell asleep underneath the cool blanket of the starry night sky.

But now, well, now was different. He wanted the responsibility, the dedication, and the hard work. He wanted to do well and to be a positive influence over the next generation. He wanted to prove to everyone that he was worthy and that he would be there to solve as many problems as he could. And it was all because there was one person who truly and completely believed in him.

Despite this revelation, no matter how much he tried, he could not bring himself to tell Savannah the truth. He knew he would have to, and soon. He just needed to delay it, if just for a few hours, so that he could be with her and enjoy knowing that they were together for the little time they had left.

Placing a light kiss upon her lips, he was pleased to see her stir and hear a soft groan in response. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he repeated her earlier words.

“Hi,” she mumbled, still half asleep. “What time is it?”

“Oh, early. I would say about mid-morning.”

Grimacing at the thought, Savannah picked herself up off the ground, stretched high into the air, and let out a big yawn. “Remind me again why we have to keep getting up so early.”

Stealing her sac from the ground, Christian pried about for their breakfast. “We have to get up early so that, number one, we don’t get caught by our ogre friend, and number two, so that we can reach the general in time.” Finally finding something, he pulled it out of the bag and began getting some sticks and dried leaves together to build a fire.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Which part?” he asked, peering over his shoulder as he picked up another twig.

Shocking herself by forgetting the reason for their expedition, let alone that they were even on one, she hesitated for a moment before answering, “both I guess.”

Treading his way back to the campsite, Christian gave her a playful grin that made a blush work its way up to her cheeks. “Then for what other purpose did you think we were wandering around in the Mysterious Forest?”

After breakfast, they agreed that there was no more time to relax and that they should “commence on with their journey as soon as possible,” as Christian had so eloquently put it. Fortunately for them, the sky was a clear blue with not one single indication of a rain cloud, and the trees were beginning to disperse a bit more from each other.

Savannah took in a deep breath of fresh air and let it out in contentment. With the warm weather, the flawlessness of the forest, and Christian’s hand tightly, although affectionately, holding onto hers, everything seemed so perfect.

As quickly as that thought came, another crossed her mind. Since when does everything go perfectly? Nothing ever happens the exact way you want it to.

Except at the end of a fairytale.

If my life were a hypothetical fairytale, and this journey were my story, does this mean I am close to the end? Savannah’s face dropped at the idea. And if my story is almost over, what will happen then? Will I go back home or will I be trapped in this locket for the rest of my life? Will the king and queen remember me when this journey is over? Turning her head, she studied the man standing beside her. Will Christian remember me? Oh, God, I hope so. Please let him remember me when all this is over.

On the other hand, maybe everything being perfect had nothing to do with the end being near. Maybe the opposite—something absolutely terrible was about to happen. What if the ogre found them? Or possibly something else. Something worse.

Or maybe not everything was perfect. She might be thinking that everything is ideal, when it really wasn’t. Perhaps something was fake … just a fantasy, and not truthful. But that was just the thing, nothing around here was real. It was all pretend. It was just a fantasyland.

No. Savannah had tossed this idea around in her head a lot the past few days and had come to a new conclusion. This couldn’t be just a dream or a fantasyland that was brought upon by some sugar inducement. It had to be real. It just had to be.

Everything I feel for Christian is real, she mused, and I know it. I felt the chill of the thunderstorm, the warmth of Bertha’s fire, the force of my feet on that ogre’s head … I couldn’t have felt all of that if this were fake.

Regardless of her newfound determination to prove to herself this world was real, her thoughts and nerves couldn’t stay still. For the next hour, she remained relatively silent, lost in her own mind. So many questions rambled through her mind; if the end was near, what would happen next? If something bad was about to happen, what was it and how bad would it be? If everything was a fantasy, was there anything in this world that was real? And if not everything was perfect, what could be wrong?

***

Meanwhile, Christian began to develop a small headache with all the thoughts clouding his mind. This is a complete disaster, he decided, squeezing her hand tighter. His frown deepened, thinking again about everything the two of them had gone through these past few days. It was all moving so quickly now, with so much occurring in so little time.

Savannah was the person to bring him out of his child-like delusion that the real world and growing up didn’t exist. As negative as that might sound, he thought, it wasn’t such a bad thing. There were so many things he wanted to do, so many dreams he now wanted to fulfill. Unfortunately, there were also dreams he knew would be impossible to come true.

Changing his gaze from the trees that were no longer crowding so close, to the girl he was in love with, his heart sank. He could never marry Savannah.

He didn’t love Adelaide, the princess from the next kingdom. He barely even knew her. As much as it pained him to think it, with this newfound responsibility, he knew great sacrifices would have to be made. Although his father was the king …

No, that would never happen. His father wouldn’t just change the laws of marriage, even for him. Why would he? If he changed the rule for him, he would have to change it for everyone else.

But would that be so bad?

If only Christian knew what Savannah would say if he asked her. If he knew she would want to marry him, he would do something, anything, to find a way to be with her.

“I think that we’re almost there,” she announced, interrupting his thoughts.

“What?” Christian asked, not yet entirely focused on her.

“I said that I think we’re almost there. We have to be getting close anyway,” she added, thankful that she had found something to talk about during their awkward silence. He nodded his head, oblivious to the fact that he still had a look of concern on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh … nothing.”

Savannah scanned every inch of his features, not at all convinced. “No, there is definitely something wrong. I can see it in your eyes.”

He shook his head. “It is nothing.” This time he tried reassuring her with a seductive smile. Maybe if he couldn’t convince her, he could at least distract her with charm.

No matter what he did, nothing could change Savannah’s mind once something was in her head. She knew he was once again hiding something, possibly even the same something he’d been hiding from her. She also knew enough not to pry and that you had to give people some space when they didn’t want to talk about what was bothering them.

Her patience was beginning to thin.

“So why is it that you trust we are nearing the end of our journey?” he said, hurriedly hoping to change the subject.

Savannah took one last long look at him, making sure to fix him with the best suspicious yet pleading eyes she could give, and obliged him. “I’m not completely sure, it’s just a feeling, I guess.” She didn’t want to mention anything about her predictions of something bad happening. Why trouble him even more? “We’ve already passed by all the major landmarks on the map the king drew—the fork in the road, the Enchanted Pond—all that’s left is to reach the other side of the forest.” Nodding, Christian considered this with the same solemn expression he’d had for the past hour.

Switching her attention back to the nature before them, Savannah took in everything with a sigh of appreciation. The trees, grass, and plants were just as lush and colorful as the first day she came here. Though the grass was tall and the trees varied every so often from one kind to another, it was all was such a breathtaking picture. The sun, or at least the light that could shine through the space of the trees, illuminated the array of rainbow colors that popped from the ground, each flower springing to life but never fading.

The sky, as blue as ever, lay above them as a veil protecting its hidden bride. The pure white clouds floated along the stream of blue, settling any fears of rain or thunder. A songbird whistled by, while ten more followed seconds later. Flutes played lively in the background, a harmony for the birds’ melody.

The air was sweet with lavender, a gentle breeze grazing her cheek. She took in another deep breath as the breeze made its way up to her ear. It was then that she heard the soft cry whispering alongside the wind.

“Listen,” she put an arm out to stop Christian from walking any further. “Do you hear that?” Again the sound came. It sounded like a sort of whimpering from among the trees.

“Yes,” he agreed, straining to hear it more clearly. It was someone crying.

“I think it’s coming from over here,” she declared, pulling his arm and leading him to the noise. Picking up her pace, she prayed that it wasn’t another ogre or pixie. After all, it was high time they had a break from something that wanted to eat or torture them.

Curving around a large oak tree, they spotted the source of the sound. A little boy with soft, orange waves of hair was leaning up against a tree, his face buried in his tiny, folded arms.

From the abrupt gasp of someone behind him, the boy whirled around, frightened. It was no surprise to find his face red and puffy, though it was a surprise to find the face of a human boy. His nose was small and turned up slightly at the end, a rain of freckles dancing across it. His eyes were larger and very, very green. Lips that were brought into a pout trembled at the sight of two new people.

Savannah bent down until she was eye level with him. Smiling into his emerald eyes, she said as gently as possible, “Hello there, sweetie. What’s your name?”

“T-T-Tony,” he sobbed.

“Tony,” she repeated, allowing his name to sink into her memory. “My name is Savannah, and this big lug here next to me is Christian.” At the mention of his name, Christian followed her lead and crouched down beside the boy. “So what seems to be the problem, Tony?”

“I-I was playing with my ball outside, w-when I accidentally lost it in the woods,” he began, wiping the tear away from his eyes. “And I-I went to go find it, when I became lost too.”

Savannah moved her mouth to the side and lowered her eyebrows a little, making her face more sympathetic. “Aw, well Christian and I here are heading toward the nearest town. If you come with us, then maybe we can find our way out of here and bring you back home together. Would you like that?” Tony nodded, using his arm as a tissue to wipe away all that came running out of his nose. Though his tears had now stopped, his face was moist and still as red as an apple.