A/N: I am not Clive Barker and don't own Abarat. I'm not making any money off of this… blah blah blah, I'm sure you guys know the drill.
This is going to be a story consisting of several pretty short chapters, although they're all going to be longer than this first one.
This is written for my lovely friends on The Midnight Hour forums. If any of you read this and aren't members, I really suggest you join! We have games (one of which inspired this fanfic), discussions, contests, and roleplaying! Everyone there is totally awesome and we really need more members!
Where the Tide Brought Her
Introduction: A Place to Lay Her Head
Candy Quackenbush had slept soundly, despite the monsters and floods that had plagued her dreams. When she finally woke, she expected to be surrounded by her friends. After so long spent cold and alone in the Izabella, she wanted desperately to take all of them into her arms and relish their warmth and touch. But as she opened her eyes, she discovered that she was by herself, no sign of her friends at all.
A sick, nervous feeling began to settle in her stomach. The room she found herself in was completely unfamiliar. Everything in the room was gray, with no designs or color, and the furniture was all so geometrical and angular. It was completely different from the vibrant settings she had seen elsewhere in the Abarat. It felt more like a cubicle… or a prison.
But the bed was incredible. It was so wide that it took up most of the room. Fat, fluffy pillows were piled around her head and she was nestled under at least half a dozen blankets, some of which were made of fabrics that Candy had never felt before. The mattress contoured to her body, fitting into every curve, so that it felt more like she was sleeping on a cloud than a bed.
Weeks and weeks had passed since Candy had last slept in a real bed. She flipped the pillow over to its puffier, cooler side and dropped her head on it. Before she could even arrange the blankets around her, she had fallen back asleep.