CH15

She sat down next to me and pulled me into her arms and I hugged her back. I looked up to see the tears running down her face, yet she still looked as peaceful and as elegant as ever. I smiled and she kissed me several times on the forehead and cheeks. Remembering my friends I turned around to see them frozen. I laughed at their expressions and motioned them over. Some women were already taking care of Angel's leg.

"I thought you didn't kill or harm creatures. Didn't you make a vow or something?" My friends sat behind me and I looked at a gentle smile.

"It said nothing about it applying when It came to the safety of you daughter." She grinned and I hugged her again. I then realized I had to introduce her to my friends. I perked up and sat down next to my friends.

"This is Crystal, Brandon, Sam and Tiffany" I pointed to each one as I went along and pulled James over to me with a few scratches on his face and hands. "And this is James."

"Hello. I am The White Queen but seeing as you all are close friends of my daughter, you can call me Mirana." Her voice was warm and welcoming. Then she looked at James "Crystal was right about that water attack after that one show. You really did need a better plan." She grinned and left their mouths hanging open. "Don't want to catch flies, they don't taste very good." I couldn't help but laugh as they shut their mouths.

"Wait, how did you know about that?" Brandon was the first to come out of his shock. Mom stood up and whipped off her dress.

"My looking glass of course" She gracefully smiled and looked back down at me with her platinum blond hair and red lips. "Let's go get you cleaned up, my little Lily." She helped me up and I saw some guards behind us. "Please help our friends to the guest rooms and help them get cleaned up for dinner." They nodded and lead my friends away. They looked back at me and I nodded for them to go. Angel was being fed treats and my Mom led me away as well. She let me lean on her as I limped along.

We walked down the hallway that led to my room and hers. We made it to my old bedroom door and I stopped.

"Are you ok?" I looked over to my concerned mother and then continued to look at the door.

I opened it slowly and she held me so I wouldn't fall. It was dusty inside and dark. My bed caught my eye and I realized that the covers were never remade from the night she took me to her room, my last night here.

"Lily?" I looked over and she wiped a tear from my cheek.

"You didn't change anything, why?" She stared into my room.

"I didn't want to." That was the simplest answer ever. She took a deep breath and continued to smile. "Come on, we need to get you taken care of and I need to check that leg of yours."

We finally made it to her room. I sat on her bed and remembered the last night I was with her. I watched her glide around the room grabbing bottles and bandages. She set it on the bed and rolled up my pant leg. Already the blood was coming through the bandage. I hadn't realized I was bleeding this much. She looked at it and covered her mouth and looked away.

"Mom, are you ok?" She nodded but continued to look elsewhere.

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"Well this is the same way you acted when I was four and had a bloody scrape on my knee. You ended up getting a lady to do it instead." I smirked. She got up and sighed with a grin. She went down the hall to get someone to fix me up.

I looked around the room and noticed the painting of me as a baby in her arms, on her nightstand. I smiled at it. As I scanned the rest of the room I noticed a mirror. It was oval and had gold edges. On the top was a red gem. I wondered if this was the looking glass. I hobbled over to the mirror and looked around to make sure no one was watching.

"Mom" I was expecting for mom to pop up in the mirror but it was Sarah's tombstone. My eyes got wide and then it flashed off. I heard foot steps and jumped back onto the bed.

"Alright princess now let me take a look." An older lady came in and Mom sat next to me on the bed. The lady un-wrapped it and examined it for a bit. I looked over at my mom with her eyes closed. "Oh, dear" A flash of worry came over me.

"What?"

"Seems as though you may need stitches" That's what I was afraid of.

"Uh-heh nah it's ok look feeling better all ready." I tried to persuade them and get up but my mom held me down. She looked at me sternly. I sighed and nodded. "I don't like needles." I mumbled. My mom held me tight as the lady prepared for my doom. She was just about to place the needle through my skin.

"Now this might hurt just a little." My eyes got wide.

"Wait wha-" She stuck the needle in me and I screamed. I grabbed the pillow and screamed into it to block out most the sound. My mom held me tighter, but I still screamed.

It was 30 minutes of me screaming. "Ok, 20 stitches but you are all ready to go. Just need to put this bandage around it so it doesn't get infected." The lady wrapped up my leg and left with a curtsy. I tried to rub my leg but my mom stopped me from touching it.

"Don't mess with it. Now lets get the rest of you all cleaned up, my little Lily." I watched her get a rag and start wiping my hands. Then my face, I watched her tender hands take mine.

"Did you really watch us?" I kept my eyes on my hands.

"Of course, everyday" She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about Sarah." My eyes began to sting and I tried desperately to hold in the tears. I wanted to scream and cry so badly. "Well, Mrs. Smith informed me that your friends and Hatty, Mally, and Thackery and down in the dinning room waiting for you."

After I was all cleaned up, my mom helped me to the dinning room. We walked through the halls and I saw Mark again. He waved and I smiled back at him. We were almost to the door to the room when I heard Crystal. We hesitated to open the doors but I was starving and nothing was going to keep me away from food.

"You didn't need to attack him!" Crystal shouted at Sam. Sam threw up his arms defensively.

"I didn't attack him!" He argued.

"All he did was help me up and you practically jumped the guy!" She plopped her self down in a chair across from him and sighed "Hey, Lily."

"Uh- hey guys." I waved. Brandon and Tiffany were sitting side by side watching Crystal and Brandon.

"Hey Lily" They both said in unison. I looked over at James smiling at me with his wrapped hands and a stitched scratch on his forehead. He got up and pulled out the chair next to his. I went over to James and my mom sat at the head of the table next to me and Crystal.

"Hey James, you ok?" I stroked his cheek and he took my hand in his.

"Absolutely" He offered me to sit down and pushed the chair in for me.

Hatty and Mally showed up. "Thackery is cooking Lily's favorite." Hatty winked at me. I heard the doors open and saw Bayard, Bielle and Angel come in. I practically jumped out of my seat to see them.

"Hey Bayard and Bielle! I missed you both!" I hugged them and they licked my face.

"We missed you too." Bayard barked. I felt eyes on me and saw my friends and my mom staring at me.

"What?" I shrugged.

My mom smiled at me "Nothing now come sit so we can eat."

Thackery brought out chicken legs and I did dig into them. I didn't care if my mom was watching because my friends dug into them too. We sat and chatted for quite a while. Mom was asking each of us questions about the Aboveland and about just us over all. I avoided the questions as much as possible. No one mentioned Sarah and it hurt to think that we had already forgotten her.

"Well time for bed." My mom announced and we all headed to our rooms. Crystal and Tiffany shared a room and the larger room with two beds occupied the boys. I went to my old room that was now cleaned up and dusted. I slipped into a gown my mom gave me and slid into bed. My leg still hurt but it was starting to dull down.

"Want to talk? You were very quiet at dinner." My mom cracked the door open and peeked in.

"About what?"

"You, or anything really" She came in and sat on the bed.

"Not really, I'm sorry I just down really want to right now." Her face fell and looked sad.

"Ok, well good night, love you." She kissed my forehead. For so long she wasn't there for me to tell her I loved her and now when the chance came, I couldn't get the words to come out. I did smile and she left.

I lay in bed wondering why the picture of Sarah came up and not my mom in the mirror. My room was darker than I remembered and I felt further away from my friends. The guilt of not talking to my mom haunted me and soon I found my self out of bed. I headed down the hall to her room and peeked in. She was lying in bed sleeping.

I crept over to her bed. "Mom" I whispered. She didn't wake up. "Mom" I whispered this time louder and still nothing. The image of Sarah lying in bed dead crept through my mind. "Mom" I had a normal tone and voice.

"What's wrong?" She opened her eyes and I took a deep breath.

"Can I stay here tonight?" I shyly asked. She lifted up the covers and let me hop in next to her. Her arms wrapped around me and she kissed me on the head.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I still like cherries, and I really love animals. I got in a fight one time with a boy being mean to a dog. I broke his nose. Lizards and snakes creep me out and I really really hate horror movies. I also don't like needles or heights." I paused and looked up into her eyes. She kissed my cheek.

"Since when did you start to not like heights? You use to climb in that cherry tree all the time?" My fingers wrapped around my necklace that I never took off.

"Since the day of the attack when I had to jump out of the cherry tree" I cuddled closer into her and she stroked my hair until I fell asleep.