Twenty-eight
I was lucky enough to get the bleeding to stop. Because I was able to slow my fall I was also able to come out of the bathroom with a small gash that didn't require stitches. By the time I got back to the gym word got around about my unfortunate encounter with Sasha. Jordan was hysterical, examining my forehead and suggesting I go to the doctor to get checked out. The other students, ignoring the "Medora ban" that had been in place all year, gathered around to ask me how I held up against six girls. By that time the massive headache that accompanied my head injury was already in full force, making me very unwilling to sit and answer questions. So I made up a bizarre tale of staring down Sasha and scaring the crap out of her before she ran out of the bathroom, sucker-pushing me in the process. I knew it was far-fetched, and I knew it wouldn't be long before the truth won out, but I didn't really give a crap what they thought of me. At the end of the day I boarded the bus and leaned my head against the warm glass of the window, wanting to sell my soul for a couple of Ibuprofen. The pain made it impossible to doze, but at least with no companion beside me I would be able to keep my eyes closed the whole ride.
But the seat didn't stay empty. I had a small group mob me thirty seconds into the bus trip. I even managed to re-inherit Tonya as my seatmate. "What happened girl?" She asked, bouncing in the seat like a five-year-old who had to pee. "I heard you got the crap kicked out of you by ten girls in the bathroom!"
"Well I heard she took on Sasha Daniels and pulled out the last of her weave." Another girl interjected, a tiny girl that looked like a sixth grader and not a freshman. She was almost knocked over by a heavyset boy who everyone came to regard as the bus gossip. When it came to school chatter he was the foremost expert; I only hoped he didn't know the truth about what happened in the bathroom.
"Well, I heard when Miss Medora slugged Sasha the other girls jumped her back. Girl, if it has been me..." He trailed off, probably not certain what he'd actually do if he did get jumped by a bunch of girls.
I sighed, realizing the peaceful rest of the bus trip was going to be in vain. I offered very little information on the incident, neither confirmed or denied anyone's version of events, and tried my best to shut out the incessant noise surrounding me. All that bought me was more questions, more hypothetical scenarios and not one close to the truth. That suited me just fine. After twenty minutes of a clamor that made my headache ten times worse I nearly bolted off the bus, desperate to get into the house to take whatever drugs I could get my hands on. No sooner had I walked in the door than I got stopped again, this time by my sister.
"So, what's this I hear about you trying to pick a fight with twenty people?" She demanded, hands on her hips. I walked by her, nudging her into a wall so I could get to the bathroom and the much-needed headache medicine. "Hey! Watch it!" Aurora exclaimed, clutching her arm as if I had just broken it. "I'm telling Mom on you!"
"Whatever. Do what you want." I responded, filling a paper cup with water and fiddling with the child protective cap with my free hand. The cap flipped open, and three pills went bouncing into the sink. I took all three of the damp pills and put them in my mouth, chasing them with the cup of water.
"Eww, that's gross." My sister gagged, as if I had fished the caplets out of the toilet instead of the sink. I made my way to my room where I flopped down across the bed. "Are you sure you should lie down? Looks like you have a bump on your head. Can't you die of a concussion or something like that if you fall asleep? Not to mention you just overdosed on headache capsules."
"I doubt three pills will be enough to kill me." I closed my eyes and tried to ignore her, but I knew she wouldn't go away that easily. "Okay, some girl tried to start something in the bathroom and when I tried to walk away she pushed me. No big deal. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to lay here until this headache goes away. Oh, and thanks for the concern."
Aurora didn't seem too deterred. "Oh man. You didn't start anything with Jennifer Langston, did you? She and Jessica have been on good terms since Jennifer got attacked by that crazy girl at that party."
"No, it was the crazy girl from the party who started something. And it's over now as far as I'm concerned. She was just pissed off about Jennifer and needed someone to pick on."
Satisfied, Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. I heard that girl gets away with a lot of stuff since her daddy is the principal and all. They should have locked her up in juvie a long time ago."
"Finally, something we can agree on." I managed to say. "Now, can I have a few minutes to rest?"
"Sure." Aurora was ecstatic. Her friendship seemed to depend completely on her best friend's relationship with her older sister. And as long as the sisters were good with her, she was good with the group in general. I kind of felt sorry for her. Well, I did until she said, "I would totally have Mom kick you out if you made Jessica mad at me." And that brought about a quick death to my pity for my beleaguered sibling.
It didn't take long to drift off and wind up back at the cabin in the woods. Granddad was already putting a cold cloth on my forehead, nursing my wound. "Well, are you going to tell me how this happened?" He asked, gently touching the scab near my hairline.
"Long story and it involves a bully." I responded. "But enough about that. How are things going here?"
Grandpa shifted a little. His demeanor grew nervous. I knew he had something to tell me that he didn't want to say. "Grandpa, come on. What's going on?"
"Better you hear it from the group. Are you able to sit up?"
Surprisingly I was feeling a lot better after just a few moments of sleep. I sat up and made my way to the courtyard where the Counsel always met. They were all assembled, as if they were waiting on me. Two chairs stood empty, however. Dresden and Ghias were missing from the fold. The Counsel had once come up with an odd idea to spread the word about the "glorious and imminent revolution" we were staging behind the grass curtain in our little hideaway by posting notes on trees of neighboring villages, like ninjas under the cover of darkness. They figured it would be the only way to get the villagers on board without getting them into serious trouble. Donla and I both shot the idea down, deeming it to be too risky. I had no intention of endangering any of the inhabitants of Psitharis; this was going to be a solo mission. Not to mention it just seemed a little too "dystopic teen novel" for me to be set up as some sort of epic heroine. Besides, for as long as they had lived the Counsel were still children. I refused to put them in that sort of danger. My protestations were firm and very loud. I thought I had made my displeasure abundantly clear; apparently not.
"What's going on here?" I demanded. Barathasan, who usually started out the meetings with a lengthy and boring speech, sat silent, staring nervously at Donla, then back at me. "Donla, can we just skip to the facts here?" I implored her. I knew that of all people, she would shoot straight with me.
She motioned for me to sit down. She stood, always appearing wise and a bit imposing. I trusted her truths as much as I trusted my own grandfather's. It wasn't that I didn't trust the Counsel, it was just that they had a terrible habit of sugar coating the situation for me, and that was the last thing I really needed. "Medora, my queen, I am afraid my children, as well-intentioned as they were, did not follow your orders." In the pit of my sinking stomach I knew what she was going to tell me would be horrible, but I had to let her finish. "As you can see, Ghias and Dresden are missing. It is my misfortune to inform you they have been taken as prisoners by the queen herself. She has...she has sentenced them to death for treason."
I felt as if all the air got knocked out of me. "What happened?" I asked.
Donla looked accusingly at the others before addressing me. "The children have been leaving the safety of our haven to perpetrate their plan of informing the masses of your existence. They left in shifts, two going one day, three going the next. Ghias, Frailen and Dresden were in a distant village when they were caught. Frailen managed to elude capture; the others did not." The severity of what she just told me hit me like a thousand-pound dead weight. The queen I had created was evil enough to end the lives of two children. She had probably been waiting all these years to get her hands on them, out of the safety of the glade and the dark forest. I felt the panic rising up in my throat. Frailen fell to her knees at my chair, begging my forgiveness, but punishing her was the last thing on my mind at that moment.
"Get up, Frailen." I responded, putting my hand to my forehead. "The last thing I need right now is you making things worse with these hysterics." A thousand thoughts were going through my mind. Why in the hell couldn't I control this stupid queen I obviously created? How was she able to continue to exist, even though I wanted more than anything for her to disappear from my mind completely? Was I so much of a loser that I couldn't even win in my own dreams?
"We need you to stay strong, your highness." Donla chastised me, sensing my doubt. "My children need you to be strong. We have to figure this out. We need you to be the ruler you are destined to be, especially now. We cannot afford for you to falter. You must decide. Are you our ruler, or do we leave my children to their fate?"
"I don't know." I was honest. "This is all supposedly happening in my head, and I still managed to get two of my friends apprehended and sentenced to be executed. How do you fight something so malicious they'd consider murdering children? I'm no ruler, no matter what you say. Everything I do winds up making matters worse. I don't know how to fix this world when my real life is a big ball of crap!" My breathing became short, labored. I think I was having a panic attack.
Grandpa leaned over and put his arm around me. "Sweetheart, you don't understand. This world was created by you, yes. But it also has to continue without your help, without your guidance. Just as Ghias and Dresden chose to act contrary to your wishes, things happen here that are outside of your control. You have power in this land, but it will continue to evolve with or without you. Psitharis is a self-sustaining world, and you are not responsible for every single thing that happens here. What you are responsible for is what actions you take next."
"But what can I do?" I asked. "I've nearly gotten myself killed on several occasions here. I've been bruised and battered during my time here, not to mention I trusted the one person who wanted to see me hang worse than anyone else. And now two kids who trusted me are in danger, thanks to a twisted figment of my imagination. I can't do anything right!"
"Well, you had the power to return here, to find us. You've repeatedly had the ability to rescue yourself when things have gotten too dangerous here. You may not be able to stop the world, but you do have powers here you have yet to discover. You are letting your real world talk you out of the greatness you can accomplish. You now have the ability to prove yourself, to save two people who believe in you the way I believe in you. Please my girl, you have to try. After all, what happens if you just stand by and let it happen?"
Suddenly the panic subsided, and almost just as quickly, the nerves calmed, and I was able to breathe deeply. He was right. Something inside me, something strong and angry, had grown tired of being the subject of other people's sick, twisted amusements. I was tired of being Mom's whipping girl. I was tired of placing second behind my sister every single time. And I was sick and tired of a bunch of twig bitch girls thinking they could push me down and call me names because no one was there to stop them. I was tired of being "the mistake". There was no mistake about me. I could do something here I couldn't do at home; I could fix my life. And when I did I could save the lives of two of the only friends I had in either world. It was settled. Time to take on the dragon's butt.
"Okay, how long do I have?" I stood and looked at all the faces that surrounded me. Barathasan stared at me the way he always did; proud and undoubting, even though I almost had a massive freak out. The rest of the group, Alexa, Chylis, Emyll and Frailen, looked less than certain. I had to prove to them I deserved to be here, standing at the head of this table, preparing to take my place as ruler of this land. "And exactly where is this execution supposed to take place?"
Donla smiled. She knew I had found my second wind, that I was now ready to fight any force in this world to get my friends back. "The execution takes place in seven of our days, which means we need to be in place in three of your sleep cycles. The location is a peculiar one. It is in the main courtyard of the amusement park. Usually these executions are done quietly and in the palace, but they have chosen this particular place to take the lives of our dear children. Perhaps there is some...significance...in the location?'
She left the sentence dangling, as if waiting for me to finish it. "Yeah, there is." I remarked wryly. "Let me guess. A man named Calperal is in charge of arranging everything, am I correct?"
Barathasan interjected. "Right down to the décor that is to be set in place for the princess and queen's arrival. It is to be a celebration; the rebellion has been quashed before it was even started, that sort of thing. There will be three executions in all: Ghias first, Dresden second."
"Who is the third?" I wondered. A voice in the back of my mind already knew the answer, was screaming it so loudly it reverberated through my skull, but I hoped to hear a different answer than what I was expecting.
"Oh, just a soldier." Frailen added. "Supposedly he betrayed the queen too by letting a prisoner go a few weeks back. He was supposed to be this loyal guard to her majesty then one day he had an important prisoner in his clutches and, right in front of the queen's guard, he helped them escape, just like that. Must have been a really important prisoner for the queen to make a public example of him like this..." Frailen looked at me, realization finally reaching her long after it hit everyone else. Red with embarrassment she muttered "oh" before she closed her mouth and slunk down in her chair.
She was embarrassed, but I was pissed. Now I had to help him escape too? Dammit! I owed that backstabber nothing. He didn't free me; I woke up and got away. And now I was having to help the jerk who was prepared to hand me over to the queen, or even worse to a bunch of mercenaries who would have done who-knows-what to me before they handed me over to Calperal. As far as I was concerned he could be the first they put in the noose. I didn't care.
Except I knew I wasn't that person. If I tried to rescue Ghias and Dresden I had to rescue him as well. Just one more complication I really did not need.
I could feel the tug of waking begin its first incessant pleadings with the rest of my mind. "This was just a nap and I'm waking up. I'll be back when I go to sleep tonight. We'll make our arrangements and head out then. Barathasan, find every single map you can find in that library of my granddad's. Perhaps there's an old map of the inner workings of that amusement park, one that will show us a way in without being detected. Frailen, stop looking so annoyed with yourself and start planning the supplies we'll need for our rescue party. Some weapons would be a good idea. A tommy gun, if you can manage it."
Frailen protested. "But we don't have any..."
"Emyll," I continued, "decide among the rest of you who is best to journey with me to Dream Land. I'll need three of you. I refuse to put the other two in danger. The others will take up our cause if one or all of us are – taken. But I promise I'm going to do my best to keep that from happening." Emyll nodded, pulling a confused Frailen out of her chair and leaving with Barathasan to do their jobs, all the while Frailen's quiet protests of "But we don't have any weapons!" still echoed in the air.
"Grandpa?"
"Yes, sweetpea?" He stared at me, wondering what his part could be in all this. He knew I would never send him out on a dangerous mission; after all, I had put him here to live in safety for a reason. I couldn't lose my first, my best knight.
"Do you really think I can do this, or are you just being a Grandpa and telling me what you think I want to hear?" I looked at him nervously.
He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug. "I believe with all my heart you can do whatever you put your mind to. I always have."
I had to say what was lingering between us, what we both knew was the real reason for these executions. "They're trying to smoke me out, aren't they? I'm the one they want."
Grandpa knew better than to lie to me. "Yes, I believe so. After all, there have been several uprisings since the queen and the princess took over, but they were quickly and silently ended. People were executed in secret, not in full view of the masses. I think they are hoping to capture you in some sort of heroic rescue attempt."
"The more people I take with me the more risk I bring to myself and to those children."
"They're mentally not children anymore, my girl. They know the perils they face."
I nodded. "But if I'm supposed to be their so-called intended queen and ruler it is my duty to protect them. I care more about you, more about Donla and the Counsel than I've ever cared about anyone in my own house. You and the Counsel are my family. So you won't see me again, not until I have saved my family. And I have to do this alone. If I can't succeed in this attempt, then I'll never have the strength or the courage to save Psitharis; I'll never be able to face reality with my head held high. Secretly set some supplies right outside of the curtain and let them keep planning. It will give me ample time to put space between here and Dream Land."
Grandpa wanted to object, I know he did. But he knew I was right. Putting the others at risk was unnecessary. If I wanted to prove myself, if I wanted to prove my worthiness to save my beloved home from destruction, I had to do it on my own. No one could save me from the bullies of this world or the other world.
"I will be with you, my girl. Always." Grandpa leaned in to give me a hug, perhaps the last hug we would be able to enjoy ever again. After all, I was preparing to walk into a death trap. Before I could enjoy the warmth of his embrace, my eyes flew open to see the pillow that had made its way on top of my head as I slept. Little pink flowers from the ridiculous sheet set my mom purchased just last year greeted my blurry vision. Irritated, I threw the pillow on the floor. My head felt better from my earlier fall, but now I had so much going through my brain I didn't know where to start. Plans had to be made, and I only had three days in which to make them. Gone were any concerns about Sasha, about my sister's reputation, about anything that happened here in the waking world. I was facing a destiny truer than anything I had ever faced here in my boring existence. Nothing but the safety of my two friends mattered now. Oh, and that other guy too.
