Bailey Madison

Fraelia

"Do you think she's alive?"

"I'm going to poke her to be sure."

"Don't poke her you idiot, she could be hurt!"

"Well, if you know so much, what should we do with her?"

My head is pounding and my whole-body aches. I can still hear the soft trickle of the water around me, and I can feel the coolness of the grass under my body as I lie still listening to the conversation taking place around me. Did I faint? What happened? I don't want to open my eyes just yet because it sounds like my classmates have found me and I really don't want the first thing I see when I open my eyes to be their prissy little faces. Maybe if I just lie here for a bit longer, they'll leave...

"She's still breathing so maybe if I sling her over my shoulder, we can get her out of here."

"Oh, and that's so much better than poking her Maera!"

There is no way in hell I'm letting some chick from this awful school sling me over her shoulder and take me God knows where. Before anyone can grab me in any way, I fling myself up and place my back against the big willow behind me to make sure there isn't any room for someone to come at me from behind.

"Holy shit, the mystery girl is alive!"

I recognise the one speaking to be Maera, the one who was going to fling me over her shoulder all but two seconds ago. Her height is nothing close to mine, but she is completely and utterly gorgeous. I have to do a double take when I look at her properly for the first time and hide the small blush that I can feel beginning to warm my cheeks. She is super short compared to me but has a strong physic and aura about her.. She's slender with beautiful dark brown hair just long enough to reach her shoulders. She has two small plaits imbedded in her wavy hair with small strands that messily fall over her eyes and cheeks. Her eyes are the one thing about her I can't tear my attention away from. They're a piercing blue, so light they could almost pass as grey.  Unlike Genevieve who I met earlier, none of them are in school uniform. Maera is wearing skin-tight black cargo pants and a tight black shirt that has a zip running directly down the middle, disappearing into her pants. She has a knife garter around her right leg, brown leather boots and a brown leather belt buckled tightly around her hourglass figure.

The other two with her are boys. Both are insanely muscular, but one easily towers over the other. The tall one has scruffy black short hair, is wearing a tight green shirt with two dog chain necklaces neatly falling onto his chest. He's wearing the same cargo pants as Maera but his are baggy and brown with black boots meeting the fold of the bottom of each pant leg. The smaller boy has longer honey coloured hair and is wearing a white collared shirt. He's very well put together with knee length shorts and regular black sneakers. I notice that while they seem to be a lot different from one another that their eyes are exactly the same. They both have blazing yellow eyes that look like bright stars in a clear night sky or what I imagine the fire on the sun would look like up close.

Before I can say anything, I notice that my surroundings are completely different. The sun is now setting but I'm not in the forest that I was in before. I stay guarded to the three strangers in front of me but look around to try and figure out the differences in my environment. I'm still under the giant willow tree I was investigating before I passed out, but the lake no longer surrounds it. It runs from the front of the willow and up a hill at a forest clearing. Beyond the break of the trees there are cottages running along a hillside with a bridge that connects to an opposite hillside holding a large castle that looks a lot brighter and more welcoming than Saint Lishmere. Each cottage and building ahead of me is constructed like nothing I've ever seen before. The architecture is so delicate and detailed compared to the simple homes in Agnes or the harsh and blunt look of the town of Lishmere. This place uses all natural materials with beautiful wood detailing in each structure. The way the civilisation is constructed looks as if no tree or bush has been destroyed to build it. Every structure is carefully built around trees or in the nook of the hillside. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...