Sorry this has taken so long to update. I've just has so much work to do. This week I had 3 tests, and 4 quizzes. I've been busy. Junior year sucks. But about this chapter. So far, this is my favorite chapter! It gives insight to both Christina and George's character. And (sigh) finally hints at the plot of the story. Sorry it has taken so long. I already know the basic plot line. I'm just working on how to get there. This is not it. The plot gets a bit more twisted, as you will learn within the next 5 chapters or so. I don't really know, I haven't written them all. Anyway, please read and review. I hope you enjoy!
**Disclaimer** same as before
Chapter 3: New Ideas
Dazed and perplexed, Christina sat down on the edge of George's bed. She hunched her back and head over her knees. George grabbed a chair and swung it around to face Christina. He sat down, watching her.
'Why do I feel so weak and tired,' she thought. 'I'm so heavy… wait, where am I?" Slowly, she picked her head up and raised it to find bright green eyes looking hers back. Startled, her eyes widened and she leaned back against the wall, waiting for him to make the first move.
Feeling awkward, George also leaned back in his chair, and he began to speak. "Uh," his voice cracked. "Can I talk to you?" As she looked into his bright green eyes and saw he was genuine, she relaxed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, what do you want to talk to me about?" she was a little confused.
George began to have more confidence in what he was about to suggest to Christina. He smiled.
"I wanna know. Do you want to be a knight?"
In surprise, she shook her head, open mouthed and confusingly looked back at this boy. She felt like she had been hit in the head, hard, and that she was now waking up to reality. She was speechless. She had no idea this was what he wanted to discuss, what he knew was true. She slowly realized that her dream to become a knight was stupid and all he wanted to do was laugh at her and make her fell dumb. She didn't know how to act, and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"Wait, what?"
"It's a simple question. Do you want to be a knight?" he uttered it slowly this time so Christina could fully absorb his meaning.
She calmed down, and regarded him. 'Does he want to make fun of me? Laugh at me? Why does he want to know! What can I say? Yes, no? I can't lie…' She looked up from her lap into George's eyes. She was scared. She sighed and looked away. 'Drat. His eyes don't give his thoughts away. Do I trust him?' she looked back, but this time, she saw something different. She couldn't place it. Without another hesitation, she said, "Yes."
"Well, I agree." He said easing the tension that he had created. "You have talent."
"I have talent," she stated back.
"Yeah, that's what I said." Replied George.
"Well, I'm glad you think so. I'm leaving now." She stood up and began walking towards the door, but George was on her heals.
"Wait! I'm not done talking to you!" He grabbed her elbow and spun her around so she was facing him. Christina wavered a little, then put her hand behind her on the wall to steady herself, looking down at the floor.
"Whoa, are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." She tried to clear her head from her sudden dizziness.
"Sit down."
She turned her head up and looked him in the eye. "I said I'm leaving."
"We still need to talk."
"Talk! I haven't even known you a day. What could you possibly need to talk to me about?"
"Well, for one thing, the reason why you're so dizzy and weak."
She gave him a sharp look, and realized she had to get out of the room. "What are you talking about?"
"Did you think none of us would notice? Or do you think that we are all just too stupid to notice."
Christina began to get scared. In almost a whisper, she muttered, "Notice what?"
"Don't play dumb here, Christina of Heron's Grove."
She took a step back, finding the wall in her way. "How did you know that?"
George shrugged. "I have connections in the palace. I know why you're staying at Corus. But that's not the point. The point is, is that you're a smart, talented girl with a lot of magical ability who deserves to have the chance to be a knight. I'm just trying to get you to see that."
Christina felt herself shrinking into the wall. She didn't know what to do. The door was too far and George was standing a foot from her, anyway. She slid down the side of the wall, bringing her knees up to her chin. She fought tears. "You don't understand… what do you want?"
George sat down next to her, giving her some space. Steadily, he replied, "I want you to go talk to Sir Laeorn of Vanhassin, the knight master, about becoming a page."
"I can't! You don't understand. You don't know anything!" Christina stood up suddenly, too suddenly, and tried to make it for the door. She stopped half way and tried to regain herself from her dizzy spell. Her hands were at her temples, with her eyes closed.
George knew she was too weak to go anywhere. He guided her towards his chair, and she sat down. "I know one thing," he began. "Your Gift is the strongest I've seen. So strong, that you body's weak from the use of it."
Again, Christina felt scared. "…What are you talking about?"
George tried to be patient with her. "Don't play around here. I already told you that I noticed what you did."
"Then what did I do?"
Taking a seat on his bed, George said, smiling, "You made us all invisible." When he uttered those words, Christina looked up at him in shock. "It's an old spell. I'm surprised you knew it."
Not for the first time that night, Christina didn't know how to react. She decided that she might as well save them both some time and stop playing around, and just go with it. George obviously wasn't going to let this go. "Surprised I knew it? What about you?"
"What about me?" George smiled.
Then Christina remembered something that happened earlier that night. George looked at her perplexed. "What is it?"
Now Christina smiled. "I don't know why you care so much about me and how I try to hide my gift, when you try to hide your own."
George frowned. Christina laughed, and George couldn't help but join in. "Jeez… I should've know I couldn't hide it from you."
Again Christina didn't know what to do or say. "So…."
"So are you going to talk to Sir Laeorn tomorrow?"
She looked up at him, hiding nothing in her eyes. "I told you, I can't."
"Why not? You're a noble and have just as much right as I do. I don't know what it is about you, but something tells me that I have to get you to do this."
Christina was scared. She hadn't known this boy for more than a day and already he knew more about her than her own family did. She had hidden her gift from everyone as soon as she had learned about it. No one but George knew she wanted to become a knight. She felt like her privacy had been invaded, yet for some reason, she wasn't mad at him. For some odd reason, she felt like she could trust him. Things weren't making any sense.
"You don't understand. Do you know anything about my family?" George shook his head from side to side. She sighed. "I'm an only daughter to my father, Sir Feroun of Heron's Grove. I have a duty to him and my family to –"
"No, you don't. It's your right. You have to make him see that. You're destined for something. What it is I don't know, or how I know it."
Christina began to get angry because he wasn't listening or understanding her. "Good question. How did you know who I was? How did you know about that spell I did, if you weren't anywhere near me? How do you know this is what I'm meant to do?"
"You name I learned from a servant in the castle. The magic I sensed when I first met you. But when you did the spell… your gift is so strong that I could feel it surrounding us. I didn't need to be near you. You don't get it. I don't know how I know. You're just going to have to trust me. This is what you must do."
In anger, she turned her face from his. She sighed. There was no way her father would allow her to become a knight, not when she was his only heir. Sir Feroun liked the old ways. Women were not supposed to be knights. She sighed. 'It's my dream,' she told herself. 'If I'm truly meant to be a knight, then it will happen…' Her thoughts trailed off. Slowly she stood up and walked towards the door.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"To bed."
"And Sir Laeorn?"
"I'll talk to him tomorrow," she muttered. She wanted him to realize that it was her decision to actually talk to the knight master, not George's. As she exited the room, she looked over her shoulder. George had a huge grin on his face.
She sighed. "Damn," she whispered to herself.