When I opened my eyes, my eyes were staring back at me which was shocking. We were both covered by our respective blankets, and I could feel the warmth from my family woven through the strands. I turned my head around to see Stone laying behind me and the rest of my Lost Boys were spread out behind him. I peeked over Lark's shoulder and noticed the same. Gryphon, Silk, Mercury, Tick and Tock were laying behind Lark.
I opened my mouth to ask what time it was when Lark put her finger to her lips and then pointed to the door. I nodded, and hand in hand we carefully got up, leaving our blankets in the makeshift bed. We opened the door quietly and snuck out like small children.
"I want to show you something," Lark whispered. She glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone followed us but when no one did she pulled my arm to follow her until we reached a door that led outside.
My feet were freezing, and I didn't want to walk outside in the cold. It was colder here then it was in Weverland. "Lark, it's cold out there. Do you have any shoes I could borrow?"
I saw the rainbow from last night when Sir Rupert left the room, this time I saw him slide into the room like the rainbow was a portal. My eyes were wide in shock. Sir Rupert held up two pairs of rainboots, and two warm sweaters one in a mossy green and one in sky blue. He also had a small basket with two hot drinks and warm croissants.
"I don't drink coffee, I'm sorry," I told Sir Rupert sadly. It was so kind of the Leprechaun to bring us the food and drink.
"Dinna fash, lassie. It's just a wee spot of hot chocolate," Sir Rupert told me in his thick brogue. "Dinna take her out too far, you know how it can with the beasties."
"I just want to show her the orchard. Thank you Rupert," Lark smiled as she sat in a chair next to me pulling on the warm socks, rain boots and sweater. When we were both dressed Lark took the two travel mugs of hot chocolate and the large croissants out of the bag. She handed me one of each and I enjoyed the smell of the hot chocolate and baked good.
"When the Princes wake up, let them know we went into the orchard and we'll be back soon," Lark informed Sir Rupert. Sir Rupert bowed and left on his rainbow.
We walked out on to the terrace that overlooked a picturesque apple orchard. The sun was shining brightly over the trees and small sparkling creatures went from one tree to the next, almost like glowing hummingbirds, "what are those?"
"Sprites, they take care of the orchard. They tend the trees. They are related to the Pixies who maintain the herb gardens. They bring water to each of the plants, weed, and sing to the plants so that the herbs are always happy and healthy. The Sprites and Pixies have a bit of a rivalry going on," Lark explained as we walked through the orchard sipping our chocolate.
When we got to the center, one large tree stood out from the others. "Is this Arthur's tree? The one from your story?"
"It is," Lark answered quietly.
The magic from the tree sang in my veins, it seeped into me and made me feel relaxed and at peace. We sat down under the tree with our backs to the trunk, our knees up and watched the Sprites work. If you stayed still and quiet enough, you could hear their small voices sing.
One Sprite ventured closer than his cohorts. I laughed when I saw him perform gymnastics in the air. Lark and I enjoyed the young Sprite's antics. When he finished his show, he flew even closer and landed on my knee, I was able to see him in better detail.
He had long blonde hair with stripes of purple streaking it and long braids wrapped around his head. His ears though not as long as Mercury's were still very pointed. His eyes didn't look like a human's, they were completely purple. He was bare chested but wore black pants that cut off at his knees and a belt of silver that hung low on his waist. His wings were the most beautiful lavender, lilac and plum. They were almost translucent lavender at the top, and then darkened to a deep plum towards the bottom. They were coated in a shimmery dust that flew everywhere whenever he moved his wings. When he did move them, they moved so fast all you could see was the sparkle behind him.
He bowed deeply to Lark who inclined her head to him and then turned to me and with a saucy wink, bowed to me. I didn't know how to do the head nod that Lark accomplished so effortlessly so I just smiled at the Sprite. He looked nervously at Lark and then back to me with a mischievous grin on his delicately alluring face. He flew up and made a hand motion to Lark.
"Her name is Wren, she's my sister," Lark explained to the confused Sprite. He made some more hand motions to Lark and then pointed to me.
"What did he say?" I asked, enchanted by the small Sprite.
"She has mates already, Thistle," Lark argued.
"Mates?" the volume of my voice rose.
Thistle, the Sprite tried to argue with Lark with his hands, but she wasn't hearing it. "Leave us!" Lark spoke harshly and I could see Thistle's face grow angry and his arms crossed over his chest in a sulk.
"Fine!" Lark replied irritably. "Wren, this is Thistle Periwinkle. He's glad to make your acquaintance."
I smiled shyly at the Sprite. "It's nice to meet you too."
As quick as a flash, Thistle few up to me and pressed a tiny kiss to the corner of my lips and then flew away.
"Aww crud!" Lark grumbled.
"What's wrong?" I asked her with a happy feeling filling my body.
"He got Sprite dust all over you, it's kind of like catnip for magical creatures. It shouldn't be too bad since he only got a tiny bit on you." Lark said as she stood up. I really wanted to just lay down under Arthur's tree, absorbing the magic and enjoying this feeling of happiness, and serenity.
"Before you leave back to Weverland I wanted to talk to you about your mates," she stated, gathering up our cups and napkins from the croissants.
"Mates?" I spoke quietly. I didn't want to mess up the peaceful feeling that flooded my body.
"A Mate or Mates is kind of like a partner, a soul mate, some people have one, others more," Lark explained as she helped me up and I wrapped an arm around her, my legs a bit unsteady. "They are made for you, a piece of your soul. Not everyone finds their mate or mates, some like Queen Amethyst never do."
"Do you have a mate?" I questioned her.
Lark smiled, "I have five."
I giggled, "I would like one, how do I find one?"
Lark laughed, "I'm pretty sure you already have."
"Who?" I replied almost drunkenly, we were almost back to the castle, and I could see the Lost Boys, Sir Rupert, Lark's Princes, Coach and mom standing there waiting for us. They hadn't seen us yet and I was excited to get back to the Lost Boys and tell them about Arthur's tree and meeting Thistle.
"Your Lost Boys," Lark clarified.
I stopped walking, the spell of the Sprite dust broken, "they aren't my mates, they are my friends. I don't think they even like me like that."
Lark looked at me like I was insane, "haven't you felt it with your magic? Even I can see it and I didn't even try with my magic. Those men are in love with you, they would walk through fire for you."
I shook my head, but I could see there was no use arguing with her. Yes, they cared about me, they had even kissed me but that's just because they felt protective of me, they weren't in love with me.
Lark pressed a small flat round piece of metal into my hand. I looked down and saw a shiny gold coin, embossed on it was an apple tree and on the other side the words were written above a sword Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice.
"What do the words mean?" I asked my sister.
"If you seek his monument, look around," my sister responded solemnly. "King Arthur and Morgana didn't need a statue for us to remember them. We see Avalon and we see the good that Arthur and Morgana did in their lifetime and the for the future of their children."
"Thank you, it's beautiful," I turned the coin over and over in my hand and I could feel there was magic inside of it, fused to the very metal that made up the coin.
"If you ever want to talk, about anything, even it's just an outfit you can't decide on, hold the coin against a mirror. It's kind of like a cell phone," Lark instructed me. She pulled me into a hug, "I wish we had more time together, I'm sorry we didn't know about you earlier and that we never came looking for you. If I had known you were alive, I would have."
"I know," I hugged her even harder, both of our eyes glassy with unshed tears.
We got up to the top of the stairs. "I'm all ready to go."
"I'd like a minute to talk to Lark," Coach said. They walked inside to talk. It was the first time he had any time with Lark to himself, and I understood. I got him to myself all the time back in Weverland.
Sir Rupert, Gryphon, Mercury, Silk, Tick and Tock started saying their goodbyes. Each of the Princes asked to give me a small hug which I said yes to. Gryphon handed me a bag, "It has your clothing from last night, the feather from my coat, the blanket Mercury made you and a few dragon scales that Tick, and Tock thought you might like. And hopefully Lark gave you the coin that Silk made for you."
"Thank you for everything. You're all so kind and thoughtful." I tried to take the bag, but Saint took it for me, and I cuddled into his side.
"You're the sister to our mate," Gryphon explained. "We want you to be happy. If you ever need anything, you have the coin, call us and we'll be there."
"Hopefully once we find Dahlia, and school is over we can spend more time here," I told the Princes. I was so sad to leave Lark and Avalon, but we needed to find Dahlia before the Jabberwocky was able to use her to gain entrance and destroy the magic here. "I just wish we had an idea on where he was."
"The Jabberwocky should be close to Weverland, it's has a lot of ambient magic, and so therefore it's the easiest spot to make portals between your world and Avalon," Mercury told us as we waited for Coach in front of the mirror home.
Lark and Coach joined us on the terrace. I could see Lark and Coach's eyes were wet. They gave each other one last hug and Mercury opened a portal into a mirror hung on the back door of the terrace. Coach and Anne walked through the mirror followed by the twins, Stone, Phoenix, then me and finally Saint.