Nathaniel!!! What the heck was Nathaniel doing here?

I couldn't just leave him! The problem was, he was in the ogres' clutches, and I knew all too well that if I tried to rescue him I'd end up trapped by the ogres too!

I moaned and clapped my hand over my mouth.

Oops! Now the ogres would find me too! How stupid could I get?

I listened closely.

"did you hear ssomethinG?" asked an ogre.

"nO! now shut up and let's eat before I knock your brains ouT!" another ogre snarled.

He sniffed.

"mmmmmmm, smells deliciouS!"

"yes, yes, finE."

"'i'm taking the necK!"

"oh, no you don'T! i got iT!"

I was stupid. I was stupid. I was stupid. I was stupid. But I knew what I had to do. Or, try to do at least. I was crazy. I was suicidal. I didn't want to die!!!

"Plenty of neck to go around, right?" I called into the trees in front of me. Stupid. Stupid! Stupid me!

"whO...?" an ogre snarled, then abruptly her voice changed into that smooth persuasive tone.

"Come here darling. We won't hurt you. You must Sasha!" Stupid! I was stupid! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!!!

"Of course I am." speaking as roughly as they had been before. I was SO stupid!

The ogre gasped in surprise.

"careful then griinA! it could be a traP! didn't you hear about that other group of ogres who were caughT? they said the girl spoke our languagE! how often do humans speak ogresS?"

Speaking ogress? Again with the languages! I'd been speaking English!

Regardless of the language, I laughed scornfully and stepped into a small clearing. There was just enough light to make out quite a few huge, bulky shapes and one smaller one. Nathaniel. He looked dazed until he saw me.

"Sasha! What... "

He shouted in surprise and horror when he noticed our companions.

"hush, deariE. We do not want to harm you. Nor do we plan on it. Just keep quiet now, huh?" an ogre soothed. I scowled when Nathaniel's eyes slid out of focus again. Stupid! I was so stupid!

"Well, I presume it was NisSH that you were talking of just now?" I asked casually.

"You were the girl!"

No. Ella was the girl...

"Yup. You got that right!"

"i smell magic coming from heR. CarthaKkA, look into her eyeS!"

What? Look into my eyes? I winced.

The ogres gasped.

What?

"D-dearie, you must tell us the truth," an ogre said in a very persuasive voice. But I wasn't that dumb. Okay, I was, but I still didn't for a fraction of a second trust that voice.

"Ha!" I retorted, "Must I?"

The ogres eyed each other warily.

"you seE? she doesn't even knoW!"

Know what?

My voice sounded a lot braver than I felt.

"What exactly do I not know?" I asked skeptically.

"We'll tell you, but you must sleep first." An ogre said, attempted persuasiveness evident in his honey-sweet voice.

"Yeah right! Nice try! Let him go now!" I motioned to Nathaniel.

I'd expected the ogres to laugh. They outnumbered us and they were ten times bigger and stronger than us.

The last thing I expected was for them to exchange more wary glances.

This was going way better than I'd expected so far. Was it possible for my luck to last long enough to get us out of here?

"What do plan on doing then?" the ogre asked.

"You mean after I pound you all to dust? Go home of course!" I retorted. Inside, I was shaking with fear. I was going to die. We were going to die. This was it. I'd come to terms with not seeing my old life again, but there were still so many things I should have said. So many things I should have done. I'd never thanked Ella for helping me, apologized to Nathaniel, or so many other things. I could have helped change someone's life. What was the last thing I'd said to Gabby? I hoped it was nice. My parents? I'd been failing English before... I'd never set that right now. And in finishing school, I'd never really been that nice to Areida...

But I made sure my voice, face, and body language portrayed none of my fear. I'd always wanted to go into acting; now I was acting not only for my own life, but for someone else's as well.

(Talk about 'no pressure'.)

The ogres glanced at each other.

"Than how do you purpose we eat?" an ogre asked.

Weird. Why hadn't they killed us yet? I'd just insulted them!

"I dunno, that's your problem!" I decided to push my unbelievable good luck to the limit, "We are leaving now." I grabbed Nathaniel's wrist and pulled him away.

I heard hissing, but no pursuit behind us. Nathaniel was still too dazed to say anything and he kept stumbling.

"let them gO!" one ogre hissed, "you know what she could do to yoU!"

I did not run. That would only betray my fear.

"W-what..." Nathaniel stuttered; blinking.

We'd walked for about three miles until I'd found a small creek and splashed water in his face.

That brought him back to himself.

I still couldn't believe what I'd done.

I still wasn't entirely sure how I'd done it.

"Why- how- how the hell did you get us out of there?"

"Um, I'm not 100% sure of that myself."

He'd been frowning, but now his face lit up.

"I can't believe I found you!"

"Yeah, I could say the same thing," I said, suddenly angry, "What were you doing here?"

His grin only got wider.

"Looking for you, of course. Where might you have been?"

I blinked.

"Looking for a way home," I mumbled. His smiled hardened.

"Ah. Am I to assume you failed, or merely that you wanted to see me as badly as I wanted to see you. Thus, you decided to stay?"

My cheeks flushed.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you or at least given you some sort of warning... it was just very last-moment."

His smile became guinine.

"I understand. And, I guess I don't need to worry anymore." He leaned in closer, "There is something I do need to know though."

"What's that?"

"How did you resist the ogres' spell?"

That took me off guard. Huh? Wait... I ran through the conversation in my head. They had tried to be persuasive. But I hadn't even noticed. How had that worked?

"Huh. I don't know."

He leaned in closer.

"I missed you."

I looked into his eyes. I'd missed him too. I'd forgotten how great he looked so close before.

His hand touched my cheek. He seemed hesitant.

I smiled, encouraging him.

His lips moved closer to mine.

I stood on my toes to meet him halfway there.

His lips pushed against mine.

Suddenly, the world dissolved. It was just me and him. A thousand swirling colors whirled around us. Fireworks were exploding in my heart. My head spun.

I was abruptly pulled back into the world when I heard a streak and the bang of real fireworks above me.

I pulled away quickly and looked up. To my utter shock and confusement, a real firework had just exploded above our heads.

I gasped.

He gasped too, and tensed next to me.

The colors of the fireworks were so beautiful, yet they seemed very unnatural in this place. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed fireworks!

"Let's get out of here!" he yelled.

"Why?"

"It's- what was that? I-"

The fireworks. Or rather, the firework. He was afraid of it.

I supposed, he'd never actually seen fireworks before.

"It's alright. Where I'm from, they're very common."

He eyed me skeptically.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. They're harmless... from down here... Now, where to next? I'm through with wierd stuff going on..."

"Sleep?" he asked, "I can't say I don't agree..."

"Sleep, then."

I smiled, remembering the kiss.

I didn't think my luck could get any better.

Sleep... would it end my good luck? I hoped not...

I was so tired... (Acting for life - literally - is more tiresome than I'd have believed possible.)

As I found a comfortable spot of ground, (Nathaniel's was only five feet away from me...) I couldn't get that firework or my mysterious luck out of my head. Why had the ogres just let us go? It didn't make any sense.

Author's Note: Please review!