Queen of Fire and Shadows

Part 3

Something wet touches my face. Then again. And again. I open my eyes frustrated with whatever it is that's wetting me and disturbing my sleep. "Okay, okay! I'm up!" I grumble.

I roll onto my side, pushing myself up, realising that—now that I am on two feet—Leith is gone and in his place is a large creature with four legs, a swollen nose and a horn on its head that sparkles in the light. On its back there's a strange contraption. The top and side of it looks polished and smooth. Hanging down each side, is a thick rope made out of the same material. At the bottom of the rope, is a burnished triangle with a wide base. I wonder what this thing is.

I look about—realising that I am definitely alone and that no one is around. Just this weird creature and the tall plants surrounding me. As my vision becomes clearer, I start to look closer and realise that I'm not entirely alone, there's life all around me. I look more closely at the body of the big plant near me. There are tiny creatures crawling up and down the creases in its skin. I look up as a shadow speeds over me. A loud, powerful shout echoes across the now blue ceiling.

A soft crunch of dead leaves under foot grabs my attention. I spin around, and there, leaning against one of the big plants is a smiling boy, no older than me. He is, without a doubt, the most good-looking boy I've ever seen. He has hair similar colour to the yellow flowers, all tangled and messy, elegant cheek bones, eyes like the grass I'm currently squashing, full lips and a slender neck. I've never felt more ugly. "Ray—how nice of you to join reality. I hope you got your beauty sleep."

I step back. "How do you know my name?" I ask.

The boy smiles. "Don't you remember me? How I saved your life and—" His melodic, boasting voice is broken off by my extremely loud exclamation of:

"Leith?!" I am dumbfounded. "But—you, how?"

Leith smirks, "It was easy, all I used was a vile I made, mixing ingredients from Magnus' parent's farm-that's-not-really-a-farm. Then hay-presto! I created a vile that could allow me to shape shift. I knew what to do from there, with help from Magnus's Mum who is one of the Collective, they're the leaders of this place and—"

I can't take it anymore. Who's the Collective? How is the Leith that saved me so—so Leith? Who's Magnus and his Mum? What's a farm? What's a vile? And most importantly.  WHERE AM I?! I take a deep breath, "Okay, first off, you can't just say something like that and expect me not to ask questions—"

"I just did!" Leith interrupts. I stare at him until he stops smirking.

"Secondly, how does your ceiling change colour?" I ask my first question, pointing up at the blue peeking out from under the leaves.

Leith stares at me, his face laced with an emotion I can't tell what. "You've never seen the sky before?"

I stare at him. So it isn't a ceiling. How interesting. "That's what you call it? The sky?" I say the new word carefully.

Looking at Leith to make sure I say it right. I continue. "And what's that?' I ask, pointing at the creature still standing in the shade watching us. Me.

Leith stares at me, shocked, "You don't know what a horse is?"

I frown. "What's a horse?"

"That!" Leith cries, pointing at the creature, exasperated.

"O-okay, so if that's a horse and that's the sky then where are we?" I spread out my words, making it sound less complicated.

Leith looks me again, this time a different emotion is displayed, it brightens his eyes and toys with his lips. "Actually I'm wrong to sat that Annie is a horse, she's actually a unicorn." A unicorn? The word rings a bell, I think I remember a woman, around fifty years old, who was brought in by two Sleepers, she'd been rattling on and on about a person called Gideon and shouting out other words I never heard before, things like; pixies. Phoenix. Dragon. Salamander.

"So that's why it—"

"She!" Leith interrupts.

I scowl. "She has a horn on her head?" I ask.

Leith gasps, exaggerating the situation. "Anna-Beth has a beautiful horn! Don't you Annie?" He croons, smiling as he rubs Annie's neck. She nuzzles his collarbone.

I look up at the sky, the memory of a loud shout echoing across it. I ask my third question, "When you were gone, did you hear that loud shout?"

Leith stiffens. "What shout?"

I look side-long at him. "A loud rumbling shout—Oh! There was also a shadow before it."

Leith stares at the sky. "I didn't hear anything. I mean, there was a loud roar, but that was probably a Griffin."

He looks at me and must've—no he definitely saw my blank expression at the world 'Griffin' Leith sighs. "A Griffin is a creature with the head and wings off an eagle and the body of a lion."

I cock my head to one side. "What's a—"

"Don't even start!" Leith cries in anguish, "You'll wound my ego!"

I frown slightly, "What's an—"

"STOP!" Leith shouts. "As the son of two Pegasus riders, I demand that you don't ask questions about this!" He gestures to everything around him.

I nod slowly "Okay."

Leith drops his arms. "Okay? I thought I knew you well enough to know that you put a fight."

I roll my eyes. "You've known me for less than twenty four hours. Are you positive you know me that well?"

The question stumps him. I can tell. I mean if one hand on the chin and two frowning eyebrows has anything to do with it—I'm guessing that he's thinking about it. Maybe even going to sleep on it. Leith's voice distracts me from happy visions of him finally getting a taste of his own medicine— "I'm guessing you don't want to go?" 

Leith's now sitting on the contraption placed on the unicorn's back. His hand is outstretched towards me. I shake my head. "Don't you remember what I said?"

Leith replies, "In the time that I've known you, you've said many things. Perchance you are implying the time you wounded my ego—or was it when you compared me to one of those retched...things? I'm not sure Miss Summers, please, remind me." His voice is coated with sarcasm and teasing.

I growl, he's so innocent it isn't fair. "No, I'm talking about when I told you I would never hold your hand again." Leith fakes a chest wound claiming that I'm too cruel. I grumble about him being too pretty to be an airhead as I straddle Annie's back.

"What was that?" Leith asks over his shoulder, "Did you just say admit that I'm handsome? Wait 'till Noah hears this!"

I open my mouth when Leith yells, "Don't you dare forget my number one rule!"

I scowl, "What? Don't defend myself about your butt ugly face? Geez, some rule."

Leith turns as red as the leaves on the big plants. "First off, that's rude. Second, sorry I thought—"

I scowl harder. "Yeah I know what you meant, just forget it okay?"

࿁⥈࿁

Riding a unicorn is the best experience of my life, yeah it's quiet, but still exhilarating. The wind brushing my hair back, making it dance to soundless tunes. It's the best feeling I ever felt! It's nearly twilight. The sky turning into mixtures of yellows, oranges, soft reds. The further away from the sun, the cooler the colours become. They turn to greens, blues and purples. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen—and yes Leith would kill me for thinking this—but, it's even more beautiful than him.

As the colours fade away, the sky isn't the only thing that holds my attention. Leith is glowing, it's a small glow, but still there. I touch his bare arm, just to be sure. Then pinch myself, just to be doubly sure.