Searching for Always and Forever

Chapter 29

Hope woke up to her bedroom door opening, then closing. She had a pounding headache and a disgusting taste in her mouth. As she opened her eyes, the morning light hurt her sensitive eyes. She grunted and covered her face with the sheet.

"Morning sunshine. How do you feel?" She heard Landon's voice and felt his hand caressing her head. He kissed her head through the covers then Hope suddenly remembered everything that happened and everything that she said the night before. Did she really say to Landon she loved him? Oh god, they were barely dating for a week... even if she had strong feelings, this was way too early to say and he definitely didn't say it back to her. She felt so embarrassed. She could feel her heart starting to pound faster and faster as she had to face him as soon as she took off her covers. God she was so nervous. Would he say anything or just ignore it completely? Suddenly Hope heard a loud thump and breaking furnitures.

"Ouch!" Landon yelled and Hope immediately sat up on her bed, taking the covers off her face. Landon was on the bedroom floor, holding his head and had a pained expression. Hope's painting easel was broken, under Landon and he was covered in paint.

"Oh my god!" Hope panicked, then she checked her wrist."Oh god!" She started to panic even more as she noticed there was nothing on her right wrist. Her bed started to shake under her as a magical wave hit once more.

"Hope, calm down!" Landon said as he made his way to Hope's bed. He sat down facing her, took her hand into his and started massaging her palm. "Just relax, everything is going to be okay." Hope closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She couldn't lose control. When she finally felt her emotions under control, she opened her eyes.

"I lost it, Landon. I lost my bracelet." Hope said as she tried to not panic again.

"Okay, don't worry we will find it. It must be in the woods by the Old Mill." Landon said as he was still stroking her hand. Hope nodded. "Get ready and we'll go right now." He said in a calm and comforting tone. Hope looked at her bedside clock and she noticed it was way over breakfast time.

"Shit! I missed breakfast again!" Her pulse started to rise.

"Don't worry, I went downstairs, I sat with your siblings and told them you felt sick and couldn't make it... which I don't think was a complete lie." Landon smiled as he looked into Hope's eyes. She must have looked horrible, but she honestly didn't have time to be bothered about her looks or about the horrible headache she had. She couldn't let herself wonder about the fact she said to Landon last night.

"Thank you Landon!" Hope squeezed his hands. She truly appreciated that he checked on the kids. "Ten minutes." Hope ran to the bathroom, washed herself quickly, brushed her teeth and put on the first outfit she put her hands on. In no time, they were out walking in the woods, tracing their steps back to the mill. They were looking for it for a long while, but they found nothing. "We are never gonna find it." Hope started to feel the magic bottling inside her again.

"I'm sure it is here somewhere. Let's go back, eat something and continue the search with some fresh energy."

"I can't. I'm not safe around people until I have my bracelet." Hope shook her head. "Maybe... Can you ask Freya to come see me? She might have an idea or a spell or something to help." Hope asked shyly.

"Certainly!"

Hope waited at the mill until Freya and Landon would return. She was sitting under the same tree she and Landon made out the night before. She felt so happy and peaceful... obviously it was the alcohol's effects, but still, it was nice to not be in constant worry. But she was so stupid to lose her bracelet and not notice. She was so mad at herself. Even though she felt the most calm last night, probably since they arrived at this school, she swore she would never drink again. Besides losing the bracelet, she said some things to Landon she regretted. It wasn't a lie and Hope felt love for him but she had to figure out her feelings in more detail, before blurting out that she loved him. Hope facepalmed herself as she was thinking about the embarrassing moment, when she heard steps coming her way. Landon luckily found Freya fairly quickly. Hope was glad she didn't have to wait that long. She got up to her feet, to tell Freya what happened. She heard giggling before she saw the two girls appearing from the forest. It was definitely not Landon and Freya but she was equally happy to see her sister Grace not so much her girlfriend.