Chapter Five - Midnight Meetings
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Mina's POV
In The Past...
"Is there a reason you decided that we'd not only meet twice in a day, but we'd also meet at midnight?" I ask, watching Teague carefully.
"Technically, since we met at midnight, it's tomorrow. Er, today. Today which was yesterday's tomorrow, and-" He's going to keep rambling
"You're making absolutely no sense." To prove my point, I think about a small ball of water, and toss it at him.
That gets the desired reaction. He jumps back, as if it's acid, and barely manages to not get hit "Ack! Wilhelmina, what on earth are you doing?"
"How many times have I said I prefer being called Mina?" I form another ball and toss it at him.
He dodges behind a tree, eyes wide. "Stop it! Where are you getting that water from anyway?"
I smirk. "Guess you'll just have to find out."
On that note, I scramble up the trunk of another tree, and begin traveling from branch to branch. I grab ones overhead to steady myself - and occasionally swing from them - as well as land and leap from the ones beneath me, traveling from tree to tree.
"Mina! Where on earth are you going?" He awkwardly scrambles up a tree, and cautiously tests a branch I had gone on, both hands wrapped around the trunk.
"Come on, Teague! Just follow me! If you want to find out, just throw caution to the wind!" I continue my gleeful trek, and finally, he gives in, hurrying after me.
Till he falls. He doesn't even fall very far, but you'd think he'd fallen one hundred feet down from the ruckus he makes. I can't help it. I break down in fits of laughter as he lays splayed on the ground, groaning.
"Remind me why I listened to you?" He grumbles.
"Because you only learn from your mistakes." I respond, spinning back around.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Like I said, just follow me!" And then I set off again.
He ends up scrambling back into the tree - I wonder if it ever occurred to him he didn't technically have to listen to me and go tree leaping, and could just follow on foot - and while I occasionally slip, he takes more spills than I do. I'm honestly quite proud, since I'm a siren.
Finally, I arrive at the small pond, where I imagined the water from. "Here we are!"
He stares at it. "Why are we here?"
"Because this is where I got the water from, and you asked where I got it from." He moves his head and stares at me as if I've gone crazy. "Care to see if it's to your liking?"
He opens his mouth to respond, not understanding my teasing till it's too late, and he goes sprawling into the pond below. I so do enjoy pushing him around, considering he has some very funny reaction. He sputters out water, and glares up at me. "Mina!"
"What, is it not to your liking?"
His response is silent, until I feel a tug on my foot - Fae magic? - and I go falling into the pond as well. I fall with a splash, but I do land more gracefully than he did. "Ha."
"You were more prepared." He protests, but I just smirk, and send a splash of water at him.
He throws some back at me with his magic, and soon we have an all out water battle. I, of course, have the advantage though, till something - and it isn't Teague - sends me sprawling into the water, face first, and out of breath. I sputter, but it's trying to drag me back, and I can't get my face out of the water.
"Mina?" I would respond if it wouldn't use up the small bit of oxygen I have. My lungs burn. I may be a siren, but I can't be under water for too long without air! I haven't learned how to yet! "Mina, what are you doing?"
In the end, Teague jerks me upwards, and I let the air cool my lungs, panting. After a few minutes, I realize he's still touching me, so I shift away.
"Thanks." The corners of his mouth turn into a smile at my gratitude.
"Well, I wouldn't want a damsel in distress to drown."
"I'm not a damsel in distress. I was just in a spot of trouble. It happens to the best of us."
"Whatever. I still saved your life." He looks smug.
And now I owe him. Just peachy.
In The Present...
Since everyone had lunch served to them on their own, dinner has to be everyone together. The Fates insisted on it. Funny though, the Fates never did show up. So, it was just Prince Teague and us princesses.
The table arrangements have changed. Now, I was sitting on the prince's right and Ever on his left. Annalora happens to be sitting two seats down, so she's not too far from us but close to the end of the table, and she looks livid. I remind myself to stay out of her way.
"Wilhelmina, how did you get past the ogre?" She asks, glaring at me. No doubt she's got something planned.
I glance at Prince Teague for a moment, and decide telling wouldn't be smart even if I would tell her. "It's a secret."
"What? Did you cheat? Use your Siren's Lure or whatever it's called and force it to walk out a window or something? You were the last one in there before the ogre had to be replaced. I bet you only weren't disqualified because you're using the Lure to cheat and to try and win."
"Why, you dirty, rotten, ugly, little brat!" I stand up, glaring at her.
Prince Teague looks like he's not sure what to do. Break the fight? Yell at one of us? Let it go?
"Says the girl with the fish face." Everyone knows a siren doesn't have a fish face. But I lose it at that. Using Fae magic, I throw the food on her plate into her face. "Eew!"
"Now nobody has to see your hideous thing you call a face." I snap. "I'm not the one that would even need to cheat. You are."
She lets out an angry noise, but instead of throwing something or throwing an insult at me, I feel a searing pain on my arm, and let out a pained noise as I see the cut. She did that with Fae magic? I clutch it, and glare at her, trying to decide on some course of retaliation.
"Enough! Annalora, she didn't cheat." The prince snarls, standing up. "I saw what she did, and it was more impressive magic than anything you did!"
I freeze at this. Did Prince Teague just...Defend me? Annalora snarls insults at me under her breath, and I can't help but guess that they're foul.
"Dinner is dismissed." The prince stands up and the girls begin to scurry away. But before I can slip off, I hear him, "Wilhelmina, wait." He's about to yell at me for losing it. I can tell from the look on his face. I open my mouth to try and explain it, but instead, he gives a simple command, "Let me see your arm."
"I can heal it myself." I mutter, but he still hears it.
"I want to know if the damage is serious enough to get rid of wart face or not. Now let me see." He carefully moves my hand off the wound, and frowns. I'm still wide-eyed at the fact that he just referred to Annalora as wart face. "It isn't serious enough to get rid of her." He looks upset by that. "But, it won't be hard to heal."
He waves a hand over it, and a golden glow appears as it disappears before my eyes. "...I could've done that myself."
"You could at least say thank you." He huffs.
"Can I go now?" I honestly really want to get away, because he's not letting go of my arm.
"Ah...Yes." He nods, looking a little embarrassed. "Of course. I'm sorry."
He lets go, and I hurry off.
Later that night, when I'm in proper sleepwear, I see a flicker of a shadow in the room, and wave a hand over a candle at my bedside. I lights, revealing a certain prince, watching me.
"Do you make it a habit of coming into girls' rooms uninvited it, or am I the only one privileged enough to be in your presence?" I glare at him.
"Shhh. I don't want the entire castle knowing I'm in your room. Besides, none of these rooms belong to any of you. They're all mine." He smirks.
"And is there any particular reason you're here?"
"Yes. But you have to follow me to find out." He smirks, walking over to the window...Which is open. Is that how he got in? Why didn't he just use the hallway?
"Why?"
"Just follow me." He smirks wider, and crouches by the sill.
"Wait a minute. I'm not dressed properly to go outside!" With a snap of my fingers, I'm dressed into a dress, although very simple. He seems a bit surprised that I'm not fancied up...Or so I think. And then he falls down.
"Drop on down to me." He calls after a minute.
"What?"
"Trust me. Just drop down to me."
I don't trust him. But I'm not letting him show me up. I step on the sill, and drop down, only for him to catch me in his arms. I quickly slide out of them, and brush myself off a little.
"So, why am I out here?"
"Like I said, just follow me." He turns to enter the Royal woods.
"But there's a Reaper and an assassin running around out there!" I stare at him like he's crazy.
"Trust me, they won't be there. Not just follow me!" He hurries off.
Sighing with a sad shake of my head, I follow. It's nearly midnight. What could he possibly want to be doing in the Royal woods right now? Especially with me? I run after him through the trees, and after a while of running, we reach a small pond. I stare at it, confused. I've seen this pond before. Where have I seen it?
"I-I've seen this before..." I stare at it, trying to pinpoint where in my memories. I've never been in the Royal woods!
"Do you remember?" He asks, leaning closer. Am I imagining the hint of excitement in his voice?
"I-I-" My head spins, and then everything goes black.
Oh no! Poor Mina! A blackout in the middle of the woods is never good.
Remember, three reviews if you want the next chapter!
~ Dagger
