Quest For The Key

Chapter 24: A Travel Into The Mind

Maïa had flown with such speed the guards had not been able to follow her. She had never been in this part of the forest before, but she did not like it. It was eery and dark. There was no none there but she felt evil presents. With nothing to keep her company but the hollow sounds of her footsteps. Soon she found a tall tree. It looked dry and safe so she climbed it. Maïa now realized she had left all her belongings back by the volcano. She would have to double back the next day and pick them up. Hopefully the guards hadn’t found them. A  thick tree branch gave support as her bed but it was terribly cold.  Finally she shivered off to sleep, a restless one.

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There is a light up ahead and it is shining bright in the black nothingness that swallows me up. As I press on, I become aware that I am not alone. A boy sits curled in a little ball, rocking back and forth, looking frozen to death. It’s cold in here, where ever here is yet, I take off my jacket and drape it over the boy’s shoulder’s. With that he looks up at me and my eyes now take in his perfect complexion. Pale skin with blonde hair. Millions of shades of black and greys outline the side of his nose as if cowering in the cresses. 

Before I can stop myself my body plops down beside his. Up close I can see the fine details. The small scar of a gash above his handsome serious eyebrow and the red dot in his neck. When he speaks his voice has the tone of  ocean tide flowing,  always flowing and sometimes splashing up on land. For what seems like hours we talk and slowly I find myself falling for this mystery boy. Talking to him keeps my mind sort of distracted from the cold that still plows into me.

It’s now when he mentions something about love being possible that I look up.  Looking into those cat like eyes that were watching me he leans in to tenderly kiss me. In seconds warmth spread from my head to my toe.  A family of butterflies take flight in my stomach but settle as the wind carries them away into a calmer breeze. I held there not wanting to let go, our lips melting together like a song before we part. Now, he watches me again studying my reaction as my cheeks burn red and flushed. Does this mean he loves me? Do I love him? What is he thinking? How stupid am I, Maïa you don’t even know what your thinking!

In the next moments he leans in close to me ear. Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Instead his lips purr “Jack” as he outstretches his hands which starts a mesmerizing glow off his chin, making his eyes seem darker. I stare into his eyes trying to memorize his angel like face then barley manage to tear away from it to look in his hands.

A golden light pours out of his hands. Now I realize the figures I had seen in the dark had been him. Jack was the light. Now the light is filling me with a tingling feeling and my mind is drifting away. No! My hands scramble to take hold of Jack but when my hand reaches from his, I go through it. He scenes the fear in my face I think, because he kisses me again. More  passionately. Before his lips go transparent too and I slip away, his eyes glued on me the whole time, as my conscience drags me back from him, back to reality.

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Morning came quick and the sun beams shone in Maïa’s eyes as she awoke. Her dream had been a wonderful one. With every fibre of her being Maïa longed for it to have been real. 

She had a  sore behind and a cramped back but not long after she was walking again on her aching feet looking around like a new born child. Maia had travelled with the circus all her life and stayed in bounds. She had never seem just views.When she got to a certain point in the forest she noticed the air was slowly filling with fog. It got so bad she couldn’t see and could barley breath.Maïa swayed left then right feeling dizzy and finally had to lean against a nearby tree, but, as she did the tree gave way and she fell through the earth .

“Ouch” thought Maïa as she landed on her bum with a SLAM.  She stood up spitting out the rocks and dirt that had gotten in her mouth and tried to clear her eyes from all the dust and drifting debris in the air. The air underground was not better. Maia wondered why there would even be  a need to have a secret trap door to the undergrounds..As she stood up brushing off her clothes Far across the room in the dim light she made out a purple figure with a spiky object on it’s shoulder and beside her a girl leaning over a boy.

As she approached them she could see that they were panicking and now was not a good time for questions. The boy glowed.

“ Swallow Jack” cried the girl with tears in her eyes.

“Jack?!” thought Maïa.

The crying girl began to pound at the boys chest, and Maïa winced. It could not be that this was the same boy from her dream. He seemed to frail and week. In the dream he was more....manly. 

The purple woman layed a hand on her face for her to stop. Then she slumped to the ground and lay still. Maia approached farther and touched the boys arm. It was ice cold. She could tell that he was slipping, and fast. If he was her dream boy she wouldn’t want to lose him. If they didn’t do something quick he would die in the next hour. Maia spied the seashell and observed it. Seeing the liquid inside she poured the remaining contents of it between the boys dying lips. Then she separated his mouth and put hers to his, blowing out several times. Yes, it was him! Those lips! The thought made her high. Next Maia gently rubbed his throat and then proceed to push down on his chest. Places he hadn’t let her touch in her dream. She made sure to push where his heart was hoping that it would circulate the blood more quickly. 

By now both women were staring at Maia in disbelief which made Maia un comfortable but she kept pushing. This moment belonged to her and Jack only. Finally Jack drew a raspy breath but it was first one in days. Colour slowly flowed back into his cheeks and his eyes fluttered. Jack tried to sit up but fell down again.

“No we must not rest we are not safe here!” Jack cried pushing Maple to the ground. “ The guards are surly still around we must get out of here and now. I have a bad feeling about this volcano”.

Maple would have laughed at Jack’s stupidity but in stead she cried tears of joy.

“ What's wrong” Jack tried to sooth his sister but then she giggled.

“ Jack I love you. Never leave me again” Jack was very confused but Maple reassured that once they had moved from the drafty underground they would explain everything.

“That voice” thoought Maïa grinning to herself.

Maia followed behind like a ignored puppy. All four of them travelled up and out of the hole they came in. In less then 20 minutes of carrying Jack they found a cave to stay in.  It was not warm but it would keep them shielded  from the wind. Maia still sat listening with wide eyes jaw open as Pepper and Maple in formed Jack about what had happened and  what he had missed when he was in his coma.

“ I thought I had lost you forever when I finally met up with Pepper after the wedding again. She told me you were shot with poison.” Maple continued.

Jack although enjoy Maple’s stories very much grew more and more tired as she talked on. Finally he had to rest. Maple gave him her sweater for pepper had taken his off him in the cellar of the volcano due to his fever,  but now he was freezing. Jack fell asleep but shivered violently even when maple snuggled up to him. All night Maple tossed and turned envisioning Jack limp and cold lying on the dirt floor again and again.

Sometime in the night Jack got up. Maïa sat by the cave entrance hugging herself in the damp air. Jack walked over and sat down next to her. Maïa was frozen. It had been so easy to talk to him last night when she knew it had been a dream but now, now this was real. It was so awkward, no one talked, no one dared to disturb the peace of the night. In a way it didn’t belong to them, so it didn’t feel right.

Finally Jack feel asleep, right there, right beside her and after a half hour of motivation Maïa convinced herself to look at him. He layed like a statue, except for his chest that rose up and down like a dance she couldn’t and wouldn’t ever follow. Maïa, when she was really sure Jack was asleep, traced the crease of his nose, his eyebrows, and eyelids, cheek bones, neck line, and then those lips. They felt different, Maïa felt different. The other night it may have been a thought, or a guess, or an assumption . Now it was the truth. She loved him.