"Hey, just be careful you two." Oracle said.
Be careful? That's all he has to say is BE CAREFUL? If he really meant those words, he'd stop this. Or better yet HE WOULDN'T HAVE COME UP WITH THIS DUMB IDEA. I bit my cheek to keep the words in, but this guys was nuts.
Without missing a beat, Ari jumped into the fire, dragging me with him.
It suffocated me. The fire tasted of spice and burned my throat as I shut my eyes. I imagined my hair burning away as the flames flickered blue and purple. The feeling of falling made made me jerk like I was between sleep and awake. I wondered if I just jumped to my own death.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING! I looked up and for a second I thought I could see Drake flying above me with his mouth near mine. He glared down at me and shook his head at me furiously.
It's your fault. You weren't waking up and I don't have any other ideas on how I can save you.
My body felt like it was falling through sand as I stared up at the translucent version of Drake. Suddenly water filled my mouth and I looked ahead, we were floating in clear water. Bubbles flew out of my mouth as I swam up to the surface.
"What the hell!" I heard Ari behind me. I looked over my shoulder and swam to what looked like a shore. The sand on the shore was black as a door that sat in the middle of it, not connected to anything.
"Why are you throwing a fit?" I asked as I took off my shoes and socks. "I thought you did this all the time."
"I haven't fallen into the ocean before." Ari said as he pulled out his sopping wet cigarettes. Drake would've snorted and probably said something about how it served him right thinking he could bring such poisons into faerie.
"Okay, what has it usually been like?"
He threw the cigarettes into the water. He looked up at the hot sun.
"Well, usually it just dropped us off at the market." He said as he took off his jacket and peeled off his shirt underneath it. "It's not this freaking weird."
Oh great. That wasn't comforting.
Ari frowned and looked around. He put on the damp shirt. He stared at the black door and folded his arms over his chest. He tossed his jacket to me before walking over to the black door. It looked like an ordinary door in the human world. It appeared to be made of wood. He looked from the front to the back of the door.
"Maybe it's a new entrance."
"We're you guys using the entrance in the forest?"
Ari shrugged. "Sometimes. Most of the time we used the fire. It's easier."
"Well it looks like you guys screwed up the portal."
"We've done this dozens of times," Ari said, waving me off with a hand. "Why'd it go and fuck up now?"
"Probably has something to do with the dead faerie at the entrance." I said. Ari looked at me. He looked a little pale.
"Do I look stupid?"
"Yeah." I said as he flipped me the bird. "I mean you keep stealing stuff from faeries which isn't a good idea."
"Than why are you doing it?" Ari asked. I kept my mouth shut. "Oh right, because of the pink-eyed weirdo. Why? Because you're hopelessly in loves with him?"
"No!" I said. "He's my friend."
Ari snorted. "Let me tell you something, girlie, no one does this shit for friendship." He looked at me from the corner of his eyes. We might look familiar, but we weren't the same. "You are so in love that it's pathetic."
My heart leapt into my mouth. I took a deep breath.
"My feelings about Drake aren't any of your business." I rolled my eyes and grabbed the door knob. "At least I know not to-"
My knees buckled and I fell onto my back, foaming at the mouth. Shit. Shit. Shit. My fingers went cold.
Ari's head came into my vision. "What's wrong?"
"I wouldn't touch that door..." Ari looked over his shoulder as I looked up, trying to stop the shaking. I tried to grab a hold of myself, but the cold from my right hand spread to the elbow and crawled farther up. We both saw a mermaid smiling at us. "It's poisoned."
No shit Sherlock.
I'm not going to die like this. My eyes darted to Ari. The anger and sneer from before was gone and replaced with a mute concern. He'd seen people die, I could tell by how relaxed his face was. His eyes looked from the mermaid to me.
"How do I cure her?" Ari said.
The mermaid was a small girl. She probably wouldn't be more than fifteen with long sea green hair that went to her hips. The scales on her tail shined in the sun and she pulled herself up with her arms and thrusting out her chest with a little smile on her lips.
"I can tell you for a price."
Of course.
"Girlie, this blonde girl here isn't worth my liver or my breath." Ari said. For someone who hung out with vampires a lot, he seemed to know a lot about what a faerie could want. And if I end up dead, I hoped that Keeva would rip this guy apart. Or Aine. Aine would probably do that.
"I don't want that!" She giggled.
Her eyes drifted over Ari again and this time I noticed what she was talking about. The cold reached my ribs and I could feel my breathing slow down. I glared at Ari.
"Help...me!" I hissed as the cold reached up from my ribs to my throat, making me clench my teeth together. "If I die..."
"What do you want?" Ari repeated to the mermaid.
"A kiss." The mermaid said.
I probably would've laughed if the spell hadn't numbed the muscles in my ribcage. Ari actually took off his shirt for show and leaned down to the mermaid. My life is going to be saved by a faerie tale cliche. That's good to know, I guess.
ARI HURRY THE FUCK UP.
He kissed the mermaid's forehead.
"that's not what I meant!" She squealed.
"You didn't give specifics," Ari said, "and I'm married." Ari lifted up a gold ring he wore on a chain that hung around his neck. "So tell me, girlie, what's the cure?"
"Black sand."
Ari grabbed a fistful of the black sand and stuffed it into my mouth. I swallowed after I tried to remember how to swallow. As soon as I swallowed it, I gasped and twisted to my side.
"What..." Sucking in a deep breath, "the hell..." air is way too precious, "was that?" The mermaid giggled.
"Too bad that we can't touch the door without dying," Ari said and flashed a smile at the mermaid.
"A kiss on the lips."
I looked to see Ari playing with the wedding ring on his silver chain. Ari went over to her and leaned over her again. He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the mouth.
"And now how do we get through without foaming at the mouth?" Ari asked, jerking a thumb at the door.
"Use soaking wet hands from the ocean," she said and Ari dipped his hands into the water and went over to open the door. I almost expected him to fall on his knees with foam coming out of his mouth, but the door opened, revealing a black void.
Ari sat down and sighed.
"Aren't you ready to go?" I asked. I stood up on shaky legs. I didn't have time for this.
"I figured that after nearly choking to death you'd want a moment." Ari said as I shook my head. "Desperate for that rose, aren't you?"
"I don't have time to waste." I said, "Drake's already been fighting her for a week by himself."
"So what? He's a faerie. I'm sure he's fine and even if he isn't..." Ari patted his pockets and forgot he didn't have a cigarette, "I doubt he'd do the same for you."
"He would."
"Really." Ari said, "that's because he's your friend?"
"Yeah." I said. "And a knight." I could feel warmth and feeling coming back into my right hand. My breathing was coming in a bit more steady.
"A knight?" The mermaid asked.
I smiled. "You probably know him," I said and leaned forward, "the knight of the Lunae Lux Court, Drake."
"The Dragon." She said and sank back into the water. "You're a fool to mess with him, you know. Dragons are supposed to be the ones that are slayed."
"I haven't met a knight more worthy of my time." I smiled as the mermaid pouted her lips. It was like looking at a kid trying to be an adult. The way she sat she tried to make herself look more adultish in some way.
"It's not supposed to be a knight it's supposed to be-"
"A Prince," Ari said, "everyone girl wants a prince and trust me, Matty, it sucks when they can't live up to princehood."
I got up. "Is that what happened to you?"
"I think you're ready to go, don't you?" Ari said. Oh that was smooth. Ari stepped into the black void, careful the grab my hand before stepping into the darkness.
The darkness lasted for less than a second as I was forced to sit on a plush theater seat. I blinked and saw we were in a movie theater with blood red carpeting. I smelled butter from popcorn. I looked around. This looked like the theater near my place. I had taken Orisin, Aine, and Drake to see a movie awhile ago because Aine and Orisin wanted to learn more about humans. The scenes flickering on the screen didn't look like something from Hollywood though.
"Hey kid, what are you doing out here again?"
Antonio?
A black and white version of what looked like Antonio, staring down into the camera. I almost laughed because of the confused raised eye brows he wore as he wore black and tried to look like the intimidating vampire from the horror movies. He looked to be in a sketchy part of town with rundown buildings and empty lots filled with grass.
Antonio lead down. "You need to get out of here before someone tries to rip out that eye of yours."
"Oh for god's sake..."
I looked to my right to see Antonio staring at the screen before lowering his eyes and shutting them tightly.
"What's wrong?"
"I feel like someone is trying to rip my head open," Ari said. He leaned forward and his head lulled down.
"Ari, wake up," I said and tried tapping his cheek. I stood up in the empty theater and looked around.
A large yelp made me jump and I looked back onto the screen. Antonio's eyes grew bigger and I saw Antonio was holding onto a kid's arm. Antonio's eyes softened.
"Let go of me, old man!" Ari screamed and I jumped back. I pushed myself in front of him and Ari's eyes lit up. He looked up at me and grabbed a hold of me. His face broke out into a sweat and his skin burned as he pressed his forehead into my stomach. His fists grabbed a hold of my shirt as he tried to pull himself up.
"Come on Kid."
Antonio's tone of voice changed suddenly to an electronic screech. I looked over my shoulder to see a large black and white hand break through the screen.
Looking down, I saw a red exit side. "Ari, get your ass up now," I said, pulling him up.
"COME ON, KID."
We dropped a little and I pulled hard on Ari as I dragged him down the aisle. The hand felt around. The seats creaked and groaned under the weight. I dragged Ari until we were in the aisle before dropping to the floor. Ari sweated through his clothes as he tried to suck in as much air as humanly possible.
"Ari?"
The hand vanished, leaving crushed seats behind. Ari stopped shivering. Instead, his eyes grew wide and he shook his head hard.
I looked back at the screen. There was a black woman on screen. She looked to be close to our age. She smiled at me. Her hair was a little shorter and wore her hair in dreadlocks with hints of golden interwoven with them. She was close to the screen and I could see her hands were cradling the viewer's face. Ari's face. She smiled and it made her nose scrunched up.
"Naomi Lion?"
"I got to go," Naomi said and let go of Ari's face. I looked back at Ari. The shiver continued now, but he stopped sweating at least.
"Can you move?" I asked. "We should get going before that weird ass hand comes back."
Ari looked back at the screen.
"I've been so into your mystery." The woman sang and I looked back up. Ari must have been watching her from behind the stage since a heavy curtain obstructed the view a bit. "Is it because of our history? Are you into me?"
"Ari, come on," I said and looked back at him. Ari stared at the screen. His eyes dulled.
Oh great.
"Sorry," I said. I slapped him hard across the face and started shaking. "Ari, we don't have time for this!" Ari looked back at the screen. Motherfucker, wasn't he supposed to be the one protecting me? I pulled hard on his arm and dragged him up, but he was nothing, but dead weight. I dragged him until we reached the exit and carefully pushed the door open with on shoulder, but Ari let me go and slid to the ground. Before I could pick him up, he pulled himself back to his feet. Staring up at the screen.
"I didn't want to leave."
Ah hell.
"Ari, this is clearly another trap!" Though I had to admit, this was a pretty good one. "This isn't the time to deal with your psychological problems." I said and punched him hard in the gut. He let out an urk sound before he tried throwing a punch, but I dodged it and kicked him at his knee.
"Matty?"
I felt the color drain my face. It's not real. I looked over my shoulder to see Erasmus. He looked as he did when I was a kid, dressed head to toe in regal attire and a soft smile on his lips with one hand out toward me.
"It's been such a long time."
The hazy version of Erasmus stepped toward me. I froze.
Drake.
Ari lost balance and I grabbed his arms, dragging him through the exit door.
______________________________________________________________________
Author's Note:
Hi guys! HA! I got it up! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. What do you think of this version of Ari? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for coming back each chapter. Can't wait to wait to 'see' you guys next week!