Return to Faerie

Chapter Four

Layla felt the cool sea breeze blowing in through her window before she opened her eyes. A brief moment of panic ran through her body as she came to the realization that she had no idea where she was.

Oh, right, the cottage, she thought as she felt the crisp white sheets tangled up between her legs and the soft down pillow under her head. She knew she had had a weird dream, but they were already slipping away from her mind, as dreams do. Like every morning, thoughts of Mitch invaded before she could even get out of bed.

Layla rubbed her eyes and checked her phone. It was eight, and she could hear her parents downstairs cooking breakfast. As they always did during summer vacation, the days were beginning to blur together. Her daily routine never changed: eat breakfast, go for a run, sit on the beach and read, have dinner, go to sleep early. It was relaxing and safe on the positive end, but boring and predictable on the not-so-positive end. If she was honest with herself, she was beginning to feel restless to get back to school, even if that meant seeing Mitch with his new girlfriend. Layla's stomach turned at the image forming in her mind.

As she let her eyes close and her mind drift back to sleep for a few more minutes, she heard a ticking noise on her window like hail, except that it was sunny and cloudless outside. She heard it again, then again, then twice more before she went to the window to look outside. Down in the garden next to the vegetable patch, she saw Jack standing between the tomatoes and the carrots, smiling and waving. The early morning sun reflected off his jet black hair, and even from a distance, Layla could spot his dimples and deep blue eyes.

Jack. Jack. It hadn't been a dream. They had really gone to the faerie realm, met with his friends, had tea in Anders's cottage. If that had all really happened, then how had she gotten back here?

"Do regular people really throw rocks at windows? I thought that was like something they did in movies," she smiled as she rested her elbows on the window sill.

"I do," Jack said, flashing her a smile. "But then again, I'm not a regular person."

"Hey, just a quick question: how did I get back here? What happened last night?" Layla hissed, her tone turning more serious. She looked left and right to make sure no one could hear her.

Jack laughed, looking up at the sky. "Please tell me you remember something? I really don't want to repeat that whole meeting because you got a bad case of human amnesia."

"Excuse me!" Layla scoffed, turning up her nose at Jack. "Of course I remember. I just seem to be missing a few pieces."

"Alright well why don't you get down here and I'll fill you in?"

"I have to eat breakfast. Come inside, I'll meet you down there."

"Let's eat together? We can go to the diner down the road," Jack said, nodding towards the end of the driveway.

"Um," Layla thought of her mom flipping pancakes in the kitchen. She considered inviting Jack in for a split second, then thought better of it. Would her parents even be able to see him, or was he like an invisible ghost to their human eyes? "Mom, I'm going to the diner for breakfast with Jack," she called as she grabbed her jean jacket from the hook. There was a cool, salty breeze coming off the ocean and a few thick clouds had scuttled in front of the sun.

Before her mom had a chance to protest, Layla was halfway down the driveway, linking arms with Jack, his tall frame sheltering her from the wind. He put one long arm around her shoulders, drawing her in close. Layla sneaked a glance back at the house to see Suze looking out the front window, a confused furrow scrunching up her brow. Did she see her walking away with a tall, dark and handsome young man, or did she see Layla walking away alone, contorting her body into an awkward position as if she were imagining she had a boyfriend again? Either way, Layla couldn't help but giggle softly to herself.