Once upon a time...
Ha! Got you! You thought this was going to be some corny story about a fake magical land with fake magical powers.
No. This is the real world. And this is real magic.
It's all real.
"Evie," my friend Janice moaned at me, "Put the book down!"
"No," I said simply, "I'm in the middle of a chapter."
"I have a feeling you skipped a few words."
I looked up at her in confusion. She pointed a greasy school french fry at me. "the words 'Chapter' and then a number that tells you you're on a new one. I think you missed that. Either that or that book doesn't have chapters."
I rolled my eyes. "Well sorry. They're pretty long compared to the last book I read. And I like Sydrian too much to stop reading in this middle of this one for you."
She sighed. "Don't start that again."
"You should just read it already."
"I don't read vampire books."
"Why?"
"For the same reason you do. I dream about book characters too you know." She took a bite out of her fry and continued to wave it around. "I mean, you talk about you're dreams like they're real or something."
"They are."
She laughs a little and finishes the fry. "You still won't let that go. You've been saying it since we met in preschool and actually learned to read. I don't get it. Why do you want to believe that?"
"Because it's true. I've shown you proof."
"Oh yes. A shoe you could buy at Burlington Co. is great proof you met Cinderella. And a feather sure proves you met Robin hood."
"What about the more recent proof?"
"Just because you snapped a pic of a random girl cosplaying Zoey from House of Night doesn't mean it's actually her. You could have gotten that offline for what I know."
I shook my head. "Someday I'll get proof. I swear."
She smiled at me and got up to throw her tray away.
...
My eyes were barely able to stay open, but I just needed to finish this chapter... I just...
The chapter ended and I let the book rest against the bed, my head against the pillow. My eyes fluttered shut
And opened to a white wall.
I no longer felt tired. In fact, I felt like I was waking up from a dream. But I knew I wasn't at home. I had painted my walls long ago a sparkly bright purple if only to be able to tell the difference when I woke in a 'fictional' world.
"Please be in the right book," I murmured at such a low volume that no person paying an average amount of attention would hear. But there was always one person who paid attention.
"Did you say something?"
I turned over and saw I was in a dorm room. It was brightly lit, the sun looking orange as it was newly risen. I could easily tell which parts of the room belonged to me and which to she. Mine were disorganized and everywhere. Her's were orderly, labeled, and -well- all of her schoolbooks sat in order from thickest to thinnest on her desk with two binders beside it stacked in such a way that it created a flat surface from the slants.
That's how I knew it was Sydney before she turned over to look at me with tired eyes. "Evie?"
Evie, short for Evalyn, was the name I'd always gone by, but it still seemed strange to hear it from her. Her voice wasn't perfectly as I had imagined it, but close. I was glad. I hated when I was completely off.
"Sorry, I just woke up from a weird dream."
She sat up. Throwing on my glasses, I saw it was definitely her. Her hair was mussed, but the dark gold color and layers to her shoulders still were clear. She was thin. The sleeves of her shirt looked like they could fit four of her arms, and from the books, I knew she enjoyed fitting into the smallest sizes, so that was saying something.
I sat up as well and she grabbed her phone. Looking at it, she said, "You didn't wake me up. Don't worry. Anyway, my alarm's going to go off any-"
She was cut off by a beeping noise that she quickly fumbled to turn off.
"Any now?" I prompted.
"Are you still dreaming?" she asked with an eye roll and a hint of a smile. "If that didn't wake you up, I was planning on leaving you here this time."
So apparently we've been rooming long enough that she knew I didn't like waking up in the morning. And since Jill isn't here, that means Angeline has already arrived. So I wonder if I get to skip the Angeline-is-trying-to-learn-about-society drama.
Wait... did that end?
Sydney stood and I saw she was a bit taller than I'd imagined. She was about five' four by my guess.
Raking her fingers through her hair, she padded over to a drawer and pulled out some clothes.
"Are you going to get up or what?" she asked. I nodded and got out of bed. My drawer was obviously less organized because she had disappeared into her closet and come back out dressed by the time I was opening my closet's door.
I knew which outfit was the uniform because of how it was described in the book, but also the fact that other than it, all of my clothes consisted of simple shorts, capris, and t-shirts.
When I'd dressed, I came out to find Sydney holding a backpack and her hand on the doorknob of our room.
"I'm going to go find Zoe," she said, "Before she ends up at a table with Jill, Eddie, and Angeline."
"Yeah, she won't like that." So we were at least at the end of the Indigo Spell. So how did I end up rooming with Sydney? Wait... what species was I? I went over to the mirror and looked myself up and down. No lily on my cheek. I'd say from my paleness I was moroi, but I've always been pale.
"Meet you down there," she said in dismissal and left.
I bared my teeth to the mirror and found short fangs. Oh, wonderful. This was going to mess me up. I almost hoped I was an outsider. It's always easier not to mess up the plot line when I didn't need to be involved, just watch.
There were only two things to worry about at this exact moment though. Where was the cafeteria, and what was my schedule?
I often find any papers I need -schedules, passports, ID's, etc- in the book I'm in. It's convenient so I know, but inconvenient if I don't own the book in the dream.
I went over to the backpack that was left our room and dug through it. No book. I dug through a few messy drawers and looked around, finally finding The Fiery Heart under my bed.
"Oh god," I murmured, "Wonderful..." Did I even want to stay on this plot?
Inside, I found a schedule. It was the right book. And I was already messing it up by rooming with Sydney. What outcome could this have?
