(Under Quick Construction) Elemental House Series: Sea of Flames

Chapter 3: Truth and Choice ☽

"—What?" I glowered at him suspiciously.

"Woah, woah, woah.  What is this? What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded, aggravated. "You're saying Im really a royal that lives in some other country? I must still be knocked out..." I said, rottenly.

"I. Said. LISTEN!" He rubbed his eyes in annoyance, his hand just as pale as the rest of his body. He was so pale he could pass as a vampire. He looked up at me. "I apologize greatly, miss—υπόσχομαι. I knew you wouldn't believe me. I get it; it's all sudden and absurd....Just stay here. I can prove it," he said.

I rolled my eyes and burst out into obnoxious laughter.

He sure is stubborn. Can't wait to see what this idiot has to prove. This is all nonsense, right? Right? Guys........?

He got to his feet and held his hand out in a fist. His hand gradually lifted up, as a purple—who knows what it is—swirl whirled around like a violent hurricane. In the very middle it was pitch black, and around it was a purple and blue hue with twinkling stars. The outline of the swirl was a purple wispy smoke. Still holding the swirl, in a flash of time, he flicked his hand in and out which expanded it, until it was the size of a human being.

"What the—" I stopped, mouth hung open. Walking up closer, I poked my hand through it. "Is this....real?" I asked. He just stood there, smiling.

Come on, Em, snap back to reality.

"You're mind tricking me. This has to be fake. What did you inject me with?!"

He stared at the grass and laughed as if I were a naive two year-old. "Still not convinced, my dear Prinkípissa?" He eyed my necklace around my neck.

"Hand me your necklace."

I looked down at my beloved necklace and held it tightly. Catherine bought this for me from New York City. It means the world to me. It reminds me that even through rough times she is here for me and loves me to death. Inside it has something from my mother I am not to open until I leave for college. I was always so impatient to open it up. I let out a sigh and let it go to un-clip it. When I did, I hesitantly and reluctantly reached it towards him.

He snatched it.

"I wouldn't be crying about one poor silly necklace. In Emelonia, you have thousands, more than three jewelers combined," he smirked. What Ivan didn't know was that I would profoundly trade millions of the most sterling, elegant necklaces for this one. This is one of the things Ivan just didn't understand. It was just "the same old stupid necklace" as Abby would say. Then, before I could comprehend what was about to happen, he just—without a heart—tossed my only record of my mother into a pit of darkness. I watched as it slowly faded away in the distance, my body as still as stone. It was truly astonishing. But, I had to remember it is just a necklace...isn't it?

NO, OF COURSE IT ISN'T.

That's my mother in there!

"What!? I—"

"Prinkipíssa, please. Just let us sit down and talk." Without hesitation we sat back down under the willow tree and conversed.

"As crazy as it sounds...I believe you." I rolled my eyes, "but come on, you couldn't take my pencil from my backpack or something? That necklace had something from my mother in it!"

Ivan's face looked serene and reassuring.

I signed, "just tell me anything else I need to know." As weird as it was, I didn't know what to do anymore. That portal—was real. I saw it with her own eyes! My cherished necklace vanished into a pit of darkness. Confusion was springing from every corner of my mind, like it always was. It felt as if my mind was a puzzle, finally fit together, and Ivan were the little two year-old, smashing my mind, allowing the pieces to disconnect and fall. I never thought that magic or whatnot could really be possible. (I always wished it was). And now it is? Was it always hidden from humans? I was still contending with myself whether what I saw was real or just an illusion. I was desperate. I want answers....no matter how strange.