Fantasy Land

Chapter 14

Wonderland

Jayna

The garden is beautiful in its snow-covered state. The strange part is that none of the flowers or plants are dead and wilted, but alive and thriving. It is so strange to see them like this, they are supposed to me dead.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Fafnir asks from behind me. I nod, staring at the thriving roses covered in a layer of ice and snow. Their red colour seems to shine through the layers on top of it. "A powerful sorceress placed a spell on this place. She'd loved the garden so much she wanted to enjoy it even when it was meant to have withered."

Looking up, I can see a phantom of a woman walking through the garden. Horns grow from her head and large wings rest on her back. I gasp, shocked to see a ghost. I start to fumble over my steps as I back away from the woman.

"Calm yourself." Fafnir says as he catches me as I fall. "She is only a memory. The spell holds memories of its caster." It looked like there was something he wanted to say that died out in his throat.

I looked back at the woman, allowing myself to see her as more than a freak appearance. A memory, that's all she was.

She bent down, long fingers lifting one of the delicate roses to her nose as she bent over. There was a shall wrapped around her shoulders, a long dress hugging her figure as huge wings drag behind her. The delicate looking feathers at the base of her wings just barely brush the ground as she moves. She suddenly spins around to look behind her. Something runs into her, her dress moving into her body as if a child was hugging her. This is confirmed when she kneels down before the invisible child.

"The spell only shows the memory of the caster. Those around her do not appear as phantoms here now." Fafnir says before I can ask. She seems to be talking to someone, smiling wide. Children's laughter echoes around the area as the woman stands. She turns to look dead at us, calm, and affection washes over her face as she looks at us, stretching her arms towards someone. She fades away as the person gets to her.

"Who was she?" I ask, faintly recognizing her face. From where, I'm not sure, but a sense of familiarity washes over me as I remember her face.

"Her name was Mystique." Someone says from behind us. We turn the see Damon, dressed in jeans and a long sleeve shirt only. "She lived here for many years before she disappeared centuries ago. Every night she'd spend in this garden." His eyes are locked on the spot the phantom was standing, eyes holding a look of what I think is longing. "Her husband and son would come to check on her every night, ensuring she never froze in the snow."

I stare in awe now at Damon. Centuries ago? If werewolves and witches are real does that mean that all kinds of fantastical creatures are also real?

I'm pulled from my thoughts when a snowball explodes over the side of my head. Another one hits Damon on the chest.

I turn to see Lest and Gabie hidden behind some bushes making snowballs. They're smiling and laughing to themselves.

"Oh, it's so on now!" I shout, running behind my own set of bushes and making some snowballs. I watch as Gabie stands to throw a snowball, throwing one of my own at her. She sees it coming, raising her hand, and melting it midair. She throws hers, hitting me again. "Not fair! You can't use your powers!" I shout.

"Says who?" Gabie asks me.

"Says me, the one without powers!" I shout back, spotting Lest's head over the bush. I throw and hit him dead on in the back of the head. He lets out a groan as he holds his head. I spot Fafnir crawl behind me bush with me from the corner of my eye.

"What are you doing?" He asks, head tilting to the side like a confused puppy.

"Have you never had a snowball fight?" I ask shocked. He shakes his head silently. I place the made snowball I just had into his hands. "You make balls out of the snow and throw them at your opponents." I instruct as I make another snowball.

He looks at Gabie and Lest, throwing the snowball with deadly accuracy. He hits Gabie's shoulder, her snowball going way off base and hitting Damon in the head. She laughs at the snow melting down the side of his face as he glares at her. We all collectively decide to bombard the poor guy now.

He's soaked in snow by the time we stop. Lest, Gabie, and I collectively start to laugh until we cry. Gabie is hunched over clutching her sides as she laughs at the unamused look on Damon's face.

Lest and I fall backwards into the snow. We lay there long enough we end up making snow angels as we laugh.

"Are you lot quite done yet?" Damon asks with an annoyed look on his face. The tone of his voice, however, gives him away. He's clearly very entertained and maybe having a little bit of fun.

"Is the big bad alpha upset he can't handle a simple snowball fight?" Lest asks from the ground, propping himself on his elbows. He has a cocky look on his face, one I remember seeing while he was playing football and knew, he had pissed off the other team. It's a scarce expression he doesn't wear often.

Damon's mouth opens and closes like a fish on dry land. He settles on just glaring at Lest after a moment. Gabie ends up laughing harder at his expression, letting out a very loud snort. I can't help but join her in her joy. She falls she's laughing so hard, landing in Lest's open arms as she laughs. I see a warm smile grace Damon's face when he knows my two friends aren't paying attention to his any longer.

The expression quickly disappears.

What sounds like a loud howl reaches our ears. Someone who is covered in blood rushes to us, tainting the pure snow crimson.

"Callum?" Damon asks. The boy collapses into his arms, gasping for breath. His stomach has been gashed open by what seems to be claws.

"The boarder," Callum chokes as he coughs up blood, "Rouges." Is all that Callum is able to get out of his throat. His eyes roll back into his head as he goes limp. Gabie and Lest have sobered up right away now, looking at the boy in worry.

"Go." Gabie says aloud as she takes the bleeding boy from Damon's arms. "Go protect your pack. I will look after him." Lest pulls off his winter coat then his long sleeve shirt. He hands the shirt to Gabie, pulling his jacket back on.

Damon nods, standing and heading the way that Callum came. I turn back to Gabie and the poor boy laying in the snow. Gabie has another shirt she's using to apply pressure to the boy's stomach.

"Jayna, I need you to gather the herbs from under the maple tree over there. Can you do that?" Gabie asks me, nodding towards a tree I hadn't noticed before. I nod, walking over on shaky legs. I pick a bunch, rushing back to Gabie. I hand them to her as I kneel beside the boy. "I need you to hold pressure on his wounds, okay?" I nod, placing my hands over hers, applying pressure the way she told me.

Using the snow, Gabie grinds the weeds I'd picked into a chunky paste. She melts some show in her hand, soaking a few of the weeds in it. She applies the paste over the wounds to stop the bleeding. Taking the soaked strips, she wraps them over the paste to seal it in. As a final measure, she wraps Lest's shirt over the area tightly.

"Looks like we havecompany." Fafnir says from beside me. I look up to see what he means, spottingseveral pairs of eyes glowing yellow in the darkness around us.