The Sleeping Girl

Chapter Twenty One

I can't really blame them. No, on the contrary, I do believe that I am one of the people fawning over her too. I mean, she is the one who is going to save us. We're all just insignificant worms in comparison.

And saving us by by sleeping, too. Quite a feat. Apparently sleeping is quite a pastime for teenagers nowadays. I don't really understand why you would want to idle your time away doing nothing, dead to the world, when you could be living it, experiencing in all the extraordinary things. I mean, what if you missed something while you were asleep? I know for sure that I missed quite a lot when I was asleep. 

But apparently I'm the oddball. Well, that is to be expected since I'm from an extraordinarily different generation, but still. In the car ride, Carmela informed Chloe how lucky she was. For being able to save the world by doing absolutely nothing. And sleeping in, too. The two of them had quite the laughs about that, although it honestly confused me. 

Whatever, though.

"Come on, let's eat," says Charlotte, eventually. "You guys must be starving. And even if you're not, too bad, because I made a feast. I even, personally, made a cake for you guys. It took so long  to frost all the little faeries, but it was so worth it."

"Faeries," says Amanda to herself, chuckling. "Not fairies." Everyone else seems to think this is funny, so I laugh along too and pretend to get it.

"Oh don't worry, I'm hungry enough to eat a house," says Mike, which makes everybody laugh harder.

"Teenage boys," says Charlotte. "Typical."

We move to the dining room, and true to her word, Charlotte really did prepare a feast. There's mountains of food, most of which I've never even tried before. And I have to agree that the best is when she brings out of cake, which magic and faeries around it, and the words Welcome Home Chloe written in flowing pink script. Her eyes fill with tears when she cuts it, and she hugs Charlotte. We really are a family.

After the meal, Chloe and I go upstairs to my room, where she takes a shower. I throw open my closet and begin pulling out all my clothes, suddenly grateful for all the frivolous outfits that Carmela made me buy that day in the mall that seems like so long ago. I remember the beautiful golden dress that I went to sleep in so many years ago, how much I loved it, how fine and grand it was. I want Chloe to have something equally wonderful, equally memorable, something to make her happy in a foreign world five hundred years in the future.

Finally, I find it. A pretty, flattering, green sundress the same shade as Chloe's eyes. I present it to her when she comes out of the shower, and her face lights up. She practically snatches it from me and goes to change.

When she reemerges, she's not the only one with tears in her eyes. Looking at her just reminds me so much of myself before I went to sleep. I can tell that she's even put on a little makeup, and has somehow found a white flower to thread into her hair.

"How do I look?" she asks, twirling a little so the skirt flares out.

"Beautiful," I say. "They're gonna love you in the future."

She bites her lip. "The future, huh. That's kinda scary."

"I know just what you mean. I was terrified to go to sleep. Honestly, right now, I'm still scared at times. It's all just so different! But as I'm sure you've figured from how everybody is acting now, everybody is really kind, and welcoming, and always trying to make you feel at home. You'll fit right in."

She twists a strand of fiery red hair around her finger. "I feel like I won't fit in though," she confesses. "I mean, I saw what you did at the hospital, with Ebony and all. You've been training your whole life though. I've never picked up a dagger in my life. Or a real gun, or a sword, or whatever else. And I have no idea how to use magic at all."