Fantasy Land

Chapter 2

Who?

Jayna

Looking back at me is a picture of myself. Actually, it's a painting. A beautifully detailed one. I stare at an older version of myself. She shares the same straight black hair, same pale skin, and hazel eyes. Her lips are plumper than mine, her chest, and hips also larger. In her arms is a small baby, a blanket wrapped around them.

"Isn't that your grandmas shall?" Lest asks over my shoulder, referring to the blanket the baby is wrapped in.

"I think so." Gabie studies it as well. "Look at that patterning there," she points it out, "I've only ever seen it on your grandmas shall that she wears all the time." After a little longer staring at the painting I turn to run up the stairs with both the journal and painting.

"Nana?!" I call out into the house.

"Yes darling." She calls back from the living room. I enter the room, spotting her sitting on her recliner with a book in hand.

"Nana," I walk over and show her the book and painting, "what are these?" She gives me a questioning look before taking the things I hand her.

"Where did you find these?" She asks me softly, delicately running her fingers along the cover of the book.

"In a box in the basement." I inform her. She smiles softly down at the book, running her fingers along the dragon design.

"These are very old." She starts to explain. I sit on my knees on the floor before her, Gabie and Lest sitting on the sofa. "They belonged to our ancestors. The painting is of Jillian, your several over great grandmother. The journal, I believe, belonged to her husband, I believe his name was Fenrir. Oh, this old brain of mine can't remember. He was a poet, a scholar of the arts." She runs her fingers to the locked clasp of the journal, the decoratively beaded bookmark sliding over her thigh. "My shall is often used as a baby blanket, handed down through the generations. Jillian was a Viking. She became queen of her clan at one point as well."

"So, all of this belonged to her husband?" I ask. She nods as she runs her fingers over the dragon design again.

"Yes. He wasn't your usual Norsemen, so the stories go. He appeared out of no where with a winged creature that hid in the skin of a woman. He knew things no man knew and shared his knowledge freely. Then he vanished." She recounts the tale to me, smiling at different points through all of it. She'd always been a pool of knowledge when it came to our family history.

"I'll put them back where I found them." I say as I get up, reaching to take them back from my Nana.

"Keep them, they may be important at some point." She says as she gives them back to me. I nod, suddenly hypnotised by the gem on the front cover again.

"Jayna?" Gabie says getting my attention away from the gem.

"Sorry, what?" I ask.

"Lest and I are going to head out after we get everything put together." She speaks softly, shying away from the journal. I nod and we head up to my room, finding the several boxes of stuff in my large closet. Gabie sets the tent in the box of car gear. In it are also sleeping bags, extra blankets, pillows, and other things we'd need for sleeping in a tent or general stuff we may need for the car. After it's in they both turn to leave.

"Just one more week, then we'll be in Europe." I say excitedly.

"It's going to be so much fun." Gabie squeals with me. I smile at her, standing to walk them to the front door when a light catches my attention from the corner of my eye. The stone on the book is glowing, drawing my full attention. I feel something grab hold of me, not physically. I feel apart of myself be dragged towards this journal before the spell breaks and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Lest does the same while Gabie starts to curse.

"Nope!" She cries out, walking away and rushing down the stairs. "Keep that demon thing away from me!" She shouts from the bottom of the stairs.

"Are we gonna talk about that just now?" Lest asks, turning to look at me. I'm about to say something but nothing comes out of my mouth.

"Lest!" Gabie shouts from the door.

"I'm going to go before she kills me." He heads for the stairs. "See you in a couple days." I wave him off, hearing my Nana giggle at my friends. I put the journal on my desk absentmindedly, my mind in a different place as I walk downstairs to help my mom with supper. The three of us eat, passing the time with conversation. There's a knock at the door that surprises us all. My Nana offers to answer it while my mom and I clean up.

"So funny story." The voice behind me makes me jump and turn so fast I may now have whiplash.

"Kyle!" I squeal, running into his open arms. Kyle is a distant cousin of mine who has been away for the past couple years. He comes back to visit ever so often. We grew up together and are remarkably close.

"I missed you too Jay." He speaks with a slight accent I don't recognize. I also notice the decent tan he has.

"Where have you been?" I ask, curious as to what he's been up to in the past year.

"Here and there." He says simply. "You and your friends are going to love Europe." He steps back from me, looking at someone in the entrance hall out of my view.

"You must tell us everything." My mom says excitedly.

"Of course." He smiles that perfect smile, fiddling with one of his many rings. "I'd like to introduce you to someone first." He offers his hand to the person, and she comes into view. She is stunning to say the least. "This is my wife, Jade." Jade is a tall woman with long legs and perfect tan skin. Her hair is extremely curly, a very dark brown easily mistaken for black. Her eyes are different colours, one pale blue and the other hazel. She's also heavily pregnant.

"You got married and started a family without telling us?" My mother scolds him. He nervously scratches the back of his neck, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Please don't scold him too harshly Miss Panstel. Lord knows my brothers done that enough." Jade speaks with the same accent as Kyle, hers much heavier. "Everything happened in such a blur. I'm so pleased to finally meet you though." She offers her hand to my mom for her to shake.

"Such a polite young woman." My mother compliments. "Please, call me Janet."

"I believe we were about to start dessert." My Nana, the cheeky devil, says from behind them. We all gather around the table, taking bites from the sweets Kyle and Jade brought with them from Europe. Kyle tells us stories of his adventures through the world, traveling all over the globe and all the people he got to meet.

"Several months ago, I met Jade. She stole my heart the moment she looked at me." Me and mom sigh.

"Love at first sight." We both sigh dreamily together. Jade smiles warmly at us before turning her eyes to her husband. "Damon almost had my head after he found out his baby sister was pregnant." We all laugh as they both laugh.

"How'd he put it?" Jade asks. "How dare you impregnate her you horny dog! I'll chop your dick off and shove it down your throat for laying your hands on my darling baby sister." She says it in the deepest gravely voice she can achieve making everyone laugh again. "Little did he know I'm the one who seduced you, not the other way around." She says to him with a sly smile. Looking down at her, Kyle shares that smile. He leans down, placing a kiss to her cheek making her giggle sweetly. A fairy tale romance honestly.

The evening goes on like this, Kyle and Jade sharing stories of their travels and her family. By the late evening, I'm exhausted. I head upstairs to my room, turning in for the night. My dreams are filled with Kyle's stories of how beautiful he said Europe would be.

The next week passes quickly, filled with gathering supplies and packing. The day finally came for us to leave. Gabie and Lest come to pick me up and help me load all our stuff into the car. I hug my mom and grandmother goodbye. I'm about to climb in the car when my gran calls me.

"Jayna!" I turn to see her jog after me. "You forgot this." She hands me the leather journal.

"Oh." I take it from her, the stone on the front swirling up at me. "Thanks Gran." I kiss her cheek. I climb in the car, shoving the journal into the bag at my feet.

"Ready?" Lest asks me from the driver's seat.

"Let's go!" I squealexcitedly. Little did I know what kind of crazy trip we were about to getourselves into.