The Gift of Dreams

chapter IV

Eloise gasped as she sat up. The bedsheets were unfamiliar and so was the room. Off-white wallpaper wrapped the room peeled and left stains that required all the imagination possible. The bedroom was bare, save for a wardrobe and a great fireplace mounted with a gold rimmed mirror.

Everything about this place was unfamiliar to her, which meant that she had not returned home. Why hadn't she gone home? Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

She heard a shuffle to the right of her and jolted as she saw Rowan lounging in an armchair, just beside her bed. Eloise was not sure whether he was aware of her being awake. He looked quite peaceful in his sleep, hair falling over his face. Which was, for the first time since she'd seen him, not tainted with a scowl or smirk.

Although Eloise couldn't spot any sheaths, she didn't doubt that there were multiple daggers hidden on his person. So she studied his clothes; blue button up, dark trousers, and leather boots. He didn't appear to care for jewellery, which was very unusual for the Fae. Instead, his pointed ears were bare of anything save a cut in his left ear.

"You're staring." It appeared that Rowan wasn't quite as asleep as Eloise thought. She felt the blood rush to her face with embarrassment.

Oh Saints. She thought.

"You're Saints aren't going to save you here. Get used to it." His smirk was back, and it was just as heartbreaking as before. There was something about Rowan that set him apart from the other Fae she had seen, a sort of unearthly dangerous air about him. It made her shiver from head to toe.

What she wanted to know the most, however, was how he kept answering her thoughts.

"What am I doing here?" She asked him.

"You fainted, so we brought you here." He replied. "Don't look horrified. Nora charged me with looking over you."

"No. What am I doing here in Faerie? Why haven't I gone back home?" Rowan stood up from the chair before she could begin to panic and ignored her question. He gestured to the wardrobe that she had observed when she woke up.

"There are garments in there for you to wear. Get dressed and then come downstairs. The others will want to see you now that you've woken."

And with that he reached the opposite side of the room, opening the white door and disappearing. He left her feeling desperately alone once more. Eloise moved from the small four poster bed and made for the wardrobe doors.

She opened the left side and found a wide range of dresses. They looked so similar to the ones back at the castle that she wondered if they had brought them here for her. But these didn't appear to look like any of the dresses that she had worn previously. And although they were very lovely indeed, they did not have the same splendour that she usually wore.

Rifling through the colours, she noticed one that caught her eye immediately. The blush pink skirts of the dress fluttered as she lifted it from a hook and placed it gently on the bed sheets. Eloise contemplated running a bath but there wasn't enough time before she was expected to meet the others downstairs.

She hadn't liked how Rowan left her alone at first, but she was suddenly relieved to have her thoughts to herself. Learning that you have unnatural abilities is generally not something one takes upon themselves easily. Just the thought half terrified her to death. Was it better when she didn't know? Or had she always known?

Thoughts flew through her mind rapidly as she got dressed. She numbly combed her hair with the only non-furniture item that the room held until she felt that she was presentable enough.

***

"Ah, Eloise there you are." The green girl- Annalise, said.

"Hi." Still feeling numb, she cast her eyes to the rest of them, noting Rowan leaning against the outside door frame.