Ch 14

We exited the bright light and I opened my eyes to find myself once again wrapped under Gareth's arm for safety. I felt very confused looking at his calm facial expression for a few seconds before looking around at the location we appeared in. It was beautiful! An indoor greenhouse with glass ceilings and windows, causing the sun to shine through a rotunda. Exotic plants from different countries I could (or couldn't) name were positioned on both sides of a stone pathway paved in different directions into what looked like a jungle forest of greenery. I looked to the side where I heard water running and saw two fountains running streams on either side of the building to provide water to the plants, it was impressive and yet elegant at the same time. I was in complete awe even as Gareth encouraged me forward.

"Come, I want you to meet a very special lady who holds a piece of my heart."

I shook my head to regain my thoughts, oh, he has a girlfriend, wait, why do I feel sad all of a sudden? It's none of my business who he wants to be with!

"No, Gareth, really, I-"

"Gareth, you've come back!"

The voice came from what sounded like a child. Apparently we had walked into the center of the garden where there was a lovely little girl sitting at a pretty decked out table laden with flowers and food. The little girl wore a simple sky blue medieval dress but I noticed sparkling gold and silver embroidery with white ribbons braided around the dress giving it a glowing appearance. Her hair was long and sandy blond braided down her back with white ribbon and a silver hair clip at the top that looked like a daisy with golden leaves, some strands had gotten loose and trailed over her pointed ears. She had a wide grin that resembled Jareth and Gareth's, and I noticed some spaces where teeth were missing, making her look more young and cute.

She was then running towards us and jumped high to reach up Gareth's tall frame to embrace him. Gareth still had his arm around my waist, but he loosened his grip to hold onto the little girl and softly kiss her forehead and smile.

"how is my favorite lady?"

The little girl giggled and slapped his arm playfully, "G! I'm ok, I thought you were going to be late! Didja bring her, is this her?"

She was pointing at me now. I couldn't stop smiling at the little girl; she seemed so enchanting and sweet. I used to baby-sit with Sarah a lot, so we both loved kids, part of the reason I wanted to become a nurse in the first place.

I smiled and tried to curtsy without looking silly doing it in my jeans, "hello, I'm Alex, what is your name?"

"Hello, my name is Princess Lousia Marie Diana Rose IV, sister to Kings Jareth and Gareth."

I smiled at her as she made her voice sound more like Gareth's when I first met him, the voice of authority didn't sound as imposing as her brother's was though, it made her look more cute to me.

Louisa then reached one of her little dainty hands towards my shoulder to touch one of my wild curls, "Ohhhhh, Pip was right, your hair is very pretty! Gareth can I, I mean, may I sit by her please?"

Gareth smirked and nodded, "yes you may princess"

The little girl giggled, "G! Mother's not here-"

"yes, but you are in command while I am away, and we have a guest, please behave or I will tell Lady Alex the nick-name we gave you when you were 30."

I tried not to gasp, 30? She didn't even look a day over 11.

"No fair!"

"Remember, don't say that in front of Jareth!"

Gareth gently lower his sister down to the ground, but held her hand as he followed her back to the table to pulled her chair out for her so he could sit her down. I found it endearing that he lowered himself to her level as they walked holding hands; he really was a devoted big brother.

"When can he visit me while I'm acting queen?"

"Princess, Louisa, you don't become a queen unless you marry a king, or a king dies leaving you the last in line to rule the kingdom."

Gareth pulled out a chair for me next to his sister and I sat down as he adjusted, I couldn't help but find myself relaxing towards Gareth's chivalry. When I was with any of my guy friends, or Rob, chivalry was dead to them. I could see why Sarah always said that high school boys could never hold a candle to Jareth. I always thought it was because he was older, mature, and came from an old world country where he was a king. I fought the laughter trying to burst out of me as I continued to watch the siblings playfully argue with one another. The seemed almost normal, except for the British accents and old world slang, it made it all the more hilarious and cute.

"Lady Alex, you've returned!"

I smiled and whipped my head around towards the familiar voice, to suddenly be bombarded by Pippy on my cheek to give me more kisses.

I laughed, "Nice see ya again too, Pippy!"

"You remembered me? I always thought humans forgot about us once they return to the Aboveground."

"Oh Pippy, how can I forget you and your sweet sister? Especially after all you've done for me before."

The little fairy settled on my shoulder to play with my orange curls, "things became slow after you left us, his majesty was acting strange as well, always sighing and looking sadly about, I think he missed you very much-"

Gareth cleared his throat, "Ms Springwater, could you be so kind as to bring out another plate for Lady Alex, she'll be joining us."

Pippy curtsied before flying off, "yes, your majesty."

Louisa giggled behind her pale hand, and up close I noticed her eyes were a pretty hazel color, but not mismatched like her brothers. I wondered about that as Louisa reached for what looked like a white flower on the table and began to play with it between her fingers.

I smiled at it, "that's a camellia right?"

Louisa grinned, "yes it is! The white ones are my favorite, even though people like to always give me the pink ones just because I'm a princess, I don't really enjoy pink that much. Did you know they come from the Above in Asia?"

I grinned and touched a smooth petal, "uh huh, my Mom has a tree back home, I believe they are called "empress of the winter" correct?"

"Exactly! Not everyone knows that, except G, I mean Gareth, he always makes sure I get the whites I love, and did you know the leaves make a delicious tea?"

I nodded, "yes, my grandma had a camellia tea tree that always made great oil too."

Louisa continued to smile, "Are you going to live here with us?"

Gareth coughed, "Louisa, she is a guest, not a pet."

"That's not what I said, and you know it!"

"Never raise your voice to a king Louisa-"

"Mother is not here-"

While the two of them playfully bickered, Pippy returned with another servant who looked like a goblin with clean clothing and a striped apron. I couldn't stop smiling and staring as they set a plate and cutlery before me. It gave me a glance at the rest of the table to realize that there wasn't any other place settings, just two for the royal siblings, apparently Gareth was seeing Judy or anyone else for that matter. But why did he lead me on and tease me about it? And why did I feel reprocusions from it as well?

I shook my head to clear my mind and thanked Pippy before turning back to the squabling siblings to eat lunch.

Lunch turned out to be a relaxing, if not entertaining time for me. I got to know Louisa and started to love her even more. Gareth was curtious as always, but I still caught him staring at me on numerous occastions with a strange look...What happened next was even more unexpected...

Louisa had taken me for more of a tour of the greenhouse to point out some more of her favorite plants, when I suddenly got that feeling again, the same awareness that I felt when I was stalked. I quickly turned around to find a pile of glitter on the pathway behind us.

"Louisa, was there before?"

Louisa poked her head around my waist to have a look, "uh oh"

"uh oh, what?"

"Run, Lady Alex, Run!"

All of a sudden Lousia began to take form into a pretty light golden barn owl like her brothers, but she looked much smaller and had some down baby feathers sticking out. She began to flap into the air, then turned her head to look at me and give a high pitched screech. I looked back over my shoulder to see the pile of gitter begin to grow and take form. Once it was finished at an adverage hight, the glitter seemed to melt away towards the ground to disappar. Revealing Gareth's cousin Rudolf, the slimy blond from before!

He grinned, before I turnned around to run towards some palm trees. I darted behind them and kept running through some more trees, hoping to avoid the creep who I could only guess by everyone's reactions to him was trouble. I jumped over some smaller flower bushes, then ducked behind the fountain to avade him.

As I struggled to catch my breathe, a dark red crystal landed next to me, and all I remeber is fainting into darkness...

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