White Orchids {BOOK 1 COMPLETED}

ACT 2: Chapter 22 - (part 1)

It's what I feared. Clover had done everything in his power to avoid me. No matter where I went, I couldn't find him. I had even gone to the Oak's dining hall, but no one had seen him. Neither had Mort and Moria. Artemis met him early morning, he had been on a very bad mood and after that he'd disappeared. It was obvious that Clover was in a world I'd never heard of, which meant hundreds – maybe even thousands – of possible worlds. There he could avoid having the one conversation he feared.

I had also tried thinking of Clover before I opened the door. But I walked out at the same place, like he'd blocked the magic somehow. Clover had been here far longer than I, and he'd clearly learned a few tricks I hadn't gotten the opportunity to learn.

I regret that I ever brought up the well and Rampion. It had been better if I kept my conversations to simple topics. I could have talked about Moria and Mort, even about the Raven. Everything was better than the well that always seemed to force itself into my thoughts. If I hadn't been such a fool, then Clover wouldn't have avoided me, and I wouldn't have spent my one free day in an unsuccessful chase.

Once I realized that I'd likely not find Clover and there was no point in another wild-goose chase, I instead spent the morning writing down names in my notebooks.

A large brown gate folds itself out in the middle of my room, I'm still sitting at the desk with a pen in hand. Rampion – as usual dressed in the large bear costume – steps out from the whirling darkness.

"A child's bedroom?" is the first thing he asks.

Rampion looks around my room, where all my deepest memories are hidden. It feels intrusive and intimate. It hadn't felt like that when Clover was in my room, maybe because he was never there for very long and didn't study it the same way that Rampion does. Clover just stepped out of the door, made sure everything was okay and then left again. He hadn't even looked around. But since Rampion sees my room, I guess Clover simply didn't care.

I sit at the desk with my notebook open and a pen in my hand. The whole page is filled with names – mine and my family.

"They don't like it when we do that," he says and points a large paw towards the notebook.

"Are you planning to tell on me?"

I feel like a first grader when asking that question, which is more fitting than I'd like to admit with my current bedroom and Rampion's costume.

"No. It has nothing to do with me."

I sigh of relief. I have enough to worry about. Clover and my memories are two of them and I don't need to add angry guardians.

"What's your name? Your real one," he asks.

It feels like he understands, that he's going through the same thing I am.

I try to say it out loud – my name. My mouth is open, but my tongue is not moving, like somebody is holding it and forbids me saying it. It has always been hard after Blomst took my name, but if I tried long enough, I could eventually say and pronounce it. Now I cannot even get a single sound out of my mouth.

"Just point," he mutters.

I underline Jonna with my pen.

"Jonna?" He asks.

I widen my eyes. For some reason I thought I wouldn't be able to say it. Whenever I thought of Eclipse real name it was hard to focus on it. He pronounced it perfectly without any hardships.

"Wait, are you Swedish? Or Danish? Or wherever the name comes from?"

I hadn't been so sure first, but now it's obvious he's also Swedish. The Värmland accent I hear seems to be real and nothing this strange world has created. I should have understood it, all others spoke in my accent, and he was the only one who didn't.