And What I Found There - Book Two

25. You Made a Rebel

I wake with a jolt.

"Vyndren?" I look around. I'm lying on a boulder beside a black, rushing stream. I'm in a little clearing of some sort encompassed by eerie white trees. They look like weeping willows with bright blood red vines and leaves. The trees though, I realize as I look closer, all look like twisted columns made up of crippled, broken bodies of people made of white wood.

I shudder and glance up at the sky. 

Contorted clouds spiral around each other like tornados in the sky, the wind makes a chilling sound as it hisses through the trees and somewhere in the far distance, I hear some kind of raspy howling. Jeez, talk about waking up to a nightmare.

Ugh. I shiver and rub my hands over my arms. Gosh, I'm freezing.

I quickly decide to change out of this rag-tattered dress into something less worthy of the corpse bride. I mentally rift through the wardrobes back at the Palace and distinctly remember this particular outfit because it's so pretty and edgy and will suit me perfectly here in Ghost Hills, so I don it.

Taking a deep breath, I focus on changing into this outfit. I sigh in relief as the fabric changes, and everything starts to unfold in a flash of white glitter.

I'm now wearing a black, sleeveless sparkly dress that stops just above my knees and am wearing black leather leggings and knee-high black riding boots. The dress itself is beautiful with so many different layers made of black velvet, a small leather corset is cinched up under my bust. I wear a kilt that's slit open in the front to reveal my sparkling skirt, and three different silver belts loop around my hips.

Makeup probably isn't essential to survival out here but... I can't resist from adding some anyway and now admire my reflection in the calm river. Not too shabby! I think happily as I fluff my curls. I hop off my rock and look around -

"Oh!" I yelp in surprise and blush as I see my Dark Rider. He's leaning against a tree on the edge of the clearing. He tilts his head as he looks me over, his messy hair falls over half his face. My heart throbs a little.

"You look lovely, Adara," he says softly.

I can't keep from grinning like a dork, but I try to act cool and shrug nonchalantly. "Thanks. So...what are we up to now?"

"Whatever you wanna do..." He's still checking me out. I blush with another smile as I absently tuck my hair behind my ear, unable to look at him without blushing more.

"Well, um," I clear my throat. "If you aren't in a big hurry or anything, maybe we could try training some more?"

"If that's what you want..."

"Yeah, and maybe this time we can actually use swords," I give him a look. He smirks and shakes his head. "Oh, or maybe we could go over some more hand-to-hand combat stuff!" I say excitedly. "Cornelius and Quill really haven't dived too deep into that stuff but sometimes I think it's because they don't wanna throw me around or whatever."

He scoffs. "You'll never learn anything if you aren't challenged."

"Right!" I agree. "So what do you say? Up for another lesson?"

He shrugs and slinks over to me. "So, you wanna learn how to fight, huh?"

"Duh. I mean, my life kinda hinges on me learning how to survive the Labors, right?"

"Right," he agrees. "Okay look, I will teach what I know, but I can't do the work for you. Though I kinda wish I could..." He trails off softly. But now briskly goes on. "It'll be up to you to keep pushing yourself until you master these skills. You're right, your life does depend on how well you do in training, so pay attention, train like you've never trained before, and always give it everything you got. Understand?"