Chapter Twenty-Three: The Only Thing That Makes Life Unfair Is the Delusion That It Should Be Fair
~Dr. Steven Maraboli
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See? Long(ish) chapter!
Recap:... I don't even know anymore. There's only so much you can do with 981 words. I blame Cassie.
Word count: 1,925
ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!
Havenfield didn't have any fancy entryway, unlike Everglen; just a huge room with clear walls overlooking the ocean and scattered furniture breaking up the space. A wide central stairway curved to the upper floors, and a chandelier of intricately braided cascaded from the domed ceiling. It was simple and elegant.
(That being said, it was still very fancy.)
Both the houses (castles, manors, whatever; there wasn't a difference between the three anymore and sweet mallowmelt she sounded like a spoiled rich kid! Someone get help! Call an ambulance!) were beautiful, but Everglen seemed more... lived in. Even though Everglen was much bigger and Havenfield had the pastures of T. rexes and other animals that didn't exist in the real world, Everglen didn't seem as empty. Havenfield might've been lively once upon a time (Jamie knew it was, thanks to her messed up memories. Seriously, though; it was scrambled, like... like eggs. Yeah. Eggs. Okay, that wasn't very flattering), but it definitely wasn't now. Probably because of Jolie's death.
Jamie was suddenly glad that no one here could read her mind because that was probably the most insensitive thing that went through her head in years.
As Jamie did her best to keep her guilt off her face (at least she didn't have to try too hard; like Sophie said the previous day, she was good at hiding her true feelings. She learned it in Criminaling 101), a woman who could've only been Edaline swept in.
She looked like she was in her late twenties or early thirties, but for all Jamie knew, she could be 3,991 years old. Infinite lifespans and never-fading youth were annoying that way. Still, despite how annoyingly deceptive her features were, Edaline was one of the most beautiful woman Jamie had seen (she definitely beat that woman who had been supposedly fostering Jamie.) She was a pale blue dress made of a wispy fabric that floated around her as she moved. She had soft pink cheeks, big, expressive turquoise eyes, and amber hair that fell past her shoulders in soft curls. She sort of looked like a stereotypical Disney princess. Jamie wasn't going to try and decide whether Edaline or Della was more beautiful because that was impossible and a waste of time, but at a first glance, Della might've "won" thanks to the dark circles coloring the skin beneath Edaline's eyes.
Edaline frowned when she saw Grady. "You're covered in dinosaur fluff! I'm sorry, I told him to be presentable," she added apologetically to Alden.
Alden laughed. "I've yet to see someone ride a T. rex without picking up a few feathers."
"You've never seen Edaline in action," Grady corrected with a smile.
...Okay. So not a stereotypical Disney princess. Edaline was clearly way cooler than that.
And then... there was silence.
When no one said anything else, Grady fled from the awkwardness by fleeing up the staircase, saying, "I'm going to wash up."
Or maybe Jamie's mind was interpreting him leaving in the wrong way; he was covered in dinosaur feathers, after all.
Wait... was it fluff? No, Jamie was going to call them feathers because fluff sounded way too cute; she may have been okay with petting Verdi (up until she felt her emotions, but whatever), but the Tyrannosaurus rex was far from cute. Unlike the eurypterid. That was very cute.
Edaline nodded—although Jamie got the feeling that she was nodding to herself, not her husband, like she was silently reassuring herself that everything would be fine. She took a deep breath before turning towards Sophie and Jamie. Her voice was shaky as she said, "Welcome to our home."
She sounded nervous. That was okay, though; she could've sounded like a cliché villain instead.
But Alice and Scott didn't sound nervous, her subconscious pointed out. Jamie dismissed the thought; first of all, didn't Grady and Edaline completely shut themselves away from social interaction after Jolie's death? She was pretty sure they did. So them even giving her a chance was a pretty big deal. Second, Alice and Scott were the perfect foster parents anyone could ever ask for; it wasn't fair to compare Grady and Edaline to them.
Okay, fine; saying that wasn't fair, either. She had to at least give them a chance. It was just...
Well, Jamie was feeling bitter. Of course she was; she had taken 11 long years to find a family who'd accept her, and once she finally did, she was ripped away from them. It wasn't fair. But, then again, it would take a day for her to list all the times life hadn't been fair to her.
"Thank you for having me." Sophie sounded so respectful, Jamie half expected her to dip into a bow—which would've been hilarious—but it did remind her that brooding about her life wasn't an acceptable reaction to being welcomed into someone's home.
"Yeah, thanks," Jamie agreed half-heartedly, which meant that she was hoping that she didn't come across as ungrateful two seconds later. She really was grateful to them. She just... Now just wasn't her brightest moment.
Edaline smiled, although her eyes were sad. Jamie hoped that she wasn't the reason for that. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that her hopes ended up being true. Of course. The one time her hopes were probably reality, it implied something worse. That was just her luck.
"I hope you can stay for tea," Edaline told Alden. "There's mallowmelt."
Alden's face kit up. "If you insist."
It didn't take much to convince him. Jamie wondered if mallowmelt could lift her spirits. Apparently, it could.
Mallowmelt was a gooey cake that tasted like freshly-baked cookies soaked in ice cream and covered in frosting and butterscotch. It melted on her tongue, and even though Jamie wasn't particularly fond of sweet things (that's why she didn't make any of the recipes in the Unlocked novella-thing. That, and because Zoe in the kitchen was a disaster waiting to happen. Jamie was good at cooking, but she wasn't that good), mallowmelt was absolutely delicious. She couldn't blame Alden when he took three slices. Kudos to Grady for taking four. And then there was the tea.
Truth be told, Jamie had forgotten that elves had tea. She hadn't read the first book in a while, and it wasn't her favorite (that was either Exile, or Nightfall. She wasn't entirely sure—but it definitely wasn't Flashback; Fitzphie becoming official more or less ruined the entire book). It didn't help that Sophie didn't take the tea—or rather, they weren't offered. Not in a bad way, though, because they got lushberry juice instead—whatever that was.
Edaline summoned it with a snap of her fingers. Jamie's ears picked out a tiny popping sound. There was a flash of light. A bright green bottle appeared on the table.
Jamie wasn't too surprised (she knew Edaline was a Conjurer, after all), but Sophie scooted back as if the bottle was possessed, and for the sake of not seeming suspicious, she let out a "surprised" squeak.
Okay, fine; she was a little surprised, and maybe she fell out of her chair in shock, but her reaction was totally normal for someone who saw something just poof! into existence!
Grady laughed at them as Edaline made sure Jamie was all right (at least someone cared). "Guess you've never seen a Conjurer in action before," he said, his blue eyes twinkling with poorly concealed mirth.
"How?" Sophie asked eloquently.
Edaline smiled for real this time. "If I know where something is, I can bring it here with my mind. It's kind of like teleporting, but with objects."
"What can you do?" Sophie asked Grady.
His smile faded. "Nothing nearly as fun, trust me."
Unfortunately, Jamie had to keep herself from blurting out that he was a Mesmer. On the bright side, though, she found another way her memories were like scrambled eggs; both were surprisingly useless.
Silence could be deafening.
Was that an oxymoron? Or was it a paradox? Or was it simply an ironic statement? Or was it all three? Jamie didn't care. She doubted anyone else did, either. She had a feeling that elves knew it, though—not whether it was oxymoron or paradox or whatever, but that silence could be deafening. Maybe that was why everything—the furniture, the scenery, the wall paint; literally everything—seemed to have something to say. If they didn't, everyone would go deaf from the sound of silence.
After an awkward but delicious dinner of a soupy green... thing that Jamie barely touched because everyone else was too nervous to eat so she felt self-conscious to be the only one eating, Grady and Edaline left Jamie and Sophie alone to unpack. The two girls muttered awkward good nights before going to their respective rooms.
With only her sketchbook (notebook, really, but "sketchbook" sounded fancier), a pencil (she really hoped that elves had pencil sharpeners), and her beanie (that was on her head, of course) to "unpack", there wasn't much to do. After staring outside and watching the sun go down into the ocean because it looked absolutely gorgeous despite the fact that she was viewing it through a window, Jamie flopped onto her new bed and let herself sink. The mattress wasn't very firm. Then, she propped two pillows up and adjusted them before sitting up and pulling her feet up and her back against the pillows. She placed her sketchbook against her thighs and began to draw.
First, she sketched Edaline. She wasn't sure why she started with her. Maybe because...? Maybe because... there was no reason.
Then, she sketched Grady. No real reason.
But then she sketched Verdi. Why? Because Verdi was important, that's why."
Questions:
1. Favorite quote from chapter twenty-three of When Wishes Come True?
2. What ability do you think suits Jamie the best?
Please vote on the poll—or, you know, just review your answer...
Linh SongxJamie Blair(Jinh): 5 votes
Fitz VackerxJamie Blair(Jafitz): 14 votes
Biana VackerxJamie Blair(Jiana): 3 votes
Tam SongxJamie Blair(Tamie): 18 votes
Dex DizzneexJamie Blair(Demie): 3 vote
Tamie wins, holding 42% of 43 votes.
And, remember; please review!
~Sarcasticsnark13
