I was awake, long after dinner was finished and everyone else lay asleep, just sitting in the window seat of my room, reminiscing memories of a life. A life that I probably couldn't ever go back to. All the laughs, the emotions, the love. All of it gone, because I was suddenly a princess, of all things. It didn't seem right. I wasn't special. I was an orphaned nobody, taken in by a nobody, and raised with big dreams that all seemed so insignificant to me now. It's funny, the way time can have that effect on you.
I shifted around on the seat, lifting the glass so the freezing air could come in.
I had a room facing the back of the house. It was nice and spacious, but felt untouched, for some reason. Like no one had ever dared to come in here. The walls and carpet were a smooth, even white, while the red bedspread bloomed out of it like a crimson rose. The walls around the window were angled so that I couldn't be seen from the doorway.
The stars seemed to shine brighter out here than in the town, and I couldn't tear my eyes off of them, my nerves keeping me up. I stared at them for so long that my vision started to blur, and it seemed as though one of them were moving towards me. For some reason, it had a more gold tinge to it than the others.
I watched, bewildered and shocked as it appeared to fly in through my open window. Rubbing my tired eyes, the features of a small winged girl materialized before me. She wasn't a star at all. She was a fairy.
She glowed in the darkness, casting dim shadows across my wall. Her deep, dark blue eyes were sparked with determination as she watched me.
"You're Ivory Woods?" Came a distinct, bell-like voice. I eyed her warily.
"Yes."
A grin split her face. "I'm Jae. Nice to meet you. Now, follow me."
She zoomed out the window and I leapt through it after her, yanking on a hoodie.
"Why should I trust you?" I asked, struggling to keep up with her. She just shrugged, tossing her indigo-streaked light blond hair over one shoulder.
There, in front of the house, lay a figure sprawled out in the damp grass by the river. Bile rose in my throat as I got a sinking feeling that I knew whoever it was.
Pushing back the all too familiar chestnut colored hair from the clammy forehead, I stared into Stryker's face, which was contorted in pain. It was dark out here. He probably slipped coming to find me, but that didn't matter now. He needed help.
"Jae?" I call out to the fairy, who was perched on a dandelion.
"Yeah?"
"Did you wake up Dyana?"
"No." She scoffed, puzzled. "Why would I have done that?"
"Because she's a doctor!"
"Oooh, right. That would've been smart."
"Go!" I hissed. She streaked off quickly towards the house, disappearing in an instant.
Gnawing on the fingernails of one hand, I quickly reached out, pulling Stryker's gun from the holster on his belt loop and his hunting knife from where I instinctively knew it'd be hidden in his boot, just waiting for use.
Dyana appeared beside me. Her curly locks tangled and her eyes grave, she surveyed Stryker with a calculating eye, immediately making it known to me that his condition couldn't be good.
She shot up, her eyes wide as Stryker gasped, through obvious pain, one word.
"Ivory?"