Queen of Hearts

Chapter 25: a weird reunion | Evan

I couldn't answer. This probably sounded dramatic, but my throat was dry, and I couldn't get a sound out. Was this how victims felt when they were assaulted? Was this how anyone felt when they were truly in fear?

Because I knew what that felt like now. Linny drew out her scissors, holding them surprisingly steadily. "What do we do?" she asked. She patted her pockets, her face paling. "I don't have my phone with me. Do you?"

"Yeah." I spun around, but I was met with seeing a dirt path wind off into the forest located only a few mere metres away from us. We were standing in the middle of the path, I realised. How did we get here? Where was that hole that we had fallen down for ages? I glanced up, but there was nothing to see except blue sky.

At least the sky seemed natural.

"We have to find someone," I decided, turning a full circle, but there was nothing in sight. There weren't even any power cables, which suggested that wherever we were, it was so far out into the countryside that electricity simply did not exist here. That almost meant that we couldn't call anyone, as our phones would have no signal. "We can't call."

Linny cursed. "Maybe we could continue walking down this path. The fact that there is a path here means that it has to lead to somewhere, right? There is civilisation here. We're not..." Alone, she seemed to want to say, but did not.

That was when a girl appeared on the other side of the path, walking from the opposite direction to the forest. She had a backpack on her back, and it seemed that she had been hiking. Her skin was tanned, probably from a lot of exposure to the sun. As she got closer, I saw that her eyes were odd - they were a rich purple, like blackcurrant. Maybe she was wearing contacts, but something about her made me want to hide.

But it was too late. She had seen us. "Hey," she greeted us with a smile, her voice thick like honey, "you guys are locals from Eirazelle, aren't you? What are you doing all the way out here?" She lowered her voice as she added, "Be careful, the Queen's guards might come up here."

"Uh...what?" I spoke for both Linny and I.

She stared at us funny. "Aren't you from Eirazelle?" Then her eyes brightened. "Wait, are you trying to join the rebels?"

I hadn't planned on telling her anything about Linny and I, but for some reason, something in her voice encouraged me to open up and tell her everything. "We actually came here through a hole." I laughed, even though there was no humour in it. "Right now, we're confused and we have no idea where the hell we are, and we just want to return back to where we came from."

The girl looked bewildered. "Wait - what are you trying to say? Are you saying you're not from Jendilya?"

"What is that?" I asked hopelessly.

Her mouth fell open. "You're from the outside world, then. No way. How'd you find the gate?"

What did she mean by a gate? Was it the hole that we had fallen into? I was tempted to ask these questions, but she grabbed both our wrists, cleverly avoiding coming into contact with Linny's scissors, and dragged us into the forest.

"I'm sorry, but if we stayed out in the open, the Queen's guards could have spotted us, if they decided to patrol up here again," she apologised, not sounding sorry at all. When we didn't say anything, she changed the subject and held out her hand a little awkwardly between her and me. "I'm Sarah."

"Evan," I cautiously shook her hand.

She giggled, her purple eyes warming so that a tint of dark pink showed. "Is this how you do it in the outside world? Grasping hands like this?" She looked at Linny as if expecting her to introduce herself also, but Linny's expression remained stony.