Gatebound

Chapter III

I'm falling for what seems like an eternity, but I slowly become aware that my feet are on the ground after all, with no sense of an impact. I'm frozen there, blind and afraid to move, but the whiteness that obscures my vision begins to fade, flickering like static on an old TV.

Everything aquires a gold hue as my sight starts to clear, and as an awareness of my physical body spreads through my senses, I feel my hand grasping tightly at another. Involuntarily, I glance over, and although the world is overbright like I've just stepped into sunlight from a dark room, I can make out Alex as he turns his head towards me, looking utterly lost. 

I've no time to respond to him, because my vision is adjusting and I know that wherever we might be, we're definitely no longer on campus. My hand slips from his and I distantly hear a thump as whatever talisman we found drops to the ground, but I barely notice. 

Sunlight hangs around us, suspended in the air and almost tangibly thick in a way that reminds me of the thick honey I sweeten my morning tea with. It's split into separate beams by enormous widely-spaced trees that surround us, and it spills against smooth earth that's covered in dry leaves. There's a dense warmth carried in the light, radiating into me where the rays rest on my skin, but strangely enough it doesn't seem to import itself into the air, which is mild. 

I take a breath of the earthy tasting air to say I'm not sure what, but freeze as something shifts within me. Slowly, I suck in a breath, feeling like I've taken in far more than my lungs can hold, but there still seems to be room. There's an unlocking in my core - something uncoiling, expanding - and as it spreads to fill me I feel like I'm solidifying, becoming real in a way that I wasn't.

With a sense of radiant joy, I turn to Alex and grin. There must be magic here, something enchanting in the air, and when he looks over at me and returns my smile in a dazzling way I'm sure he feels it too. I don't have time to dwell on the way that grin lights up his eyes, though, because whatever I can feel glowing within me is urging to explore, to run and leap and celebrate the beauty that I can feel here.

I laugh joyously as I spin away from him, giving into the urge to dance and whirl and generally act way younger than I am. I can't be embarrassed, because Alex is looking around, seemingly unaware of me again, and as I watch the beams of light caress my skin, adrift with tiny shimmers, I feel like a fairy. 

I've read far too many fairytales - and not just in Professor Shield's class, either. Maybe it's because of those, or maybe it's just a feeling, but I'm certain we need to explore this place. We found a talisman - magical, obviously - and now we're here in this place and I just know there's something good and wonderful about it. We must be here for a reason, and I'm sure there will be a clue or a guide waiting for me somewhere.

Before I can slow down to think about it, my fairy-self is flitting off through the trees. I stumble a bit, maybe more human than I'd like, and finally start to pant, so I slow to a walk and start examining my surroundings. I'm looking for a carving on a tree, maybe, or a hidden door somewhere, and I run my hands down the strange-feeling bark of one of the trees as I pass it.

Alex's voice cuts harshly into my reverie. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

I look back, surprised to see him at least a hundred yards away, partially obscured by the tree trunks between us. He's jogging toward me with a scowl on his face.

"You can't just go running off like that!"

He grabs my wrist roughly, and I yank it back out of his grasp."Why? I'm fine!" I have an absurd urge to yell 'I'm a grownup!' at him, but luckily that impulse still seems to be under my control.

He just glowers down at me. "You're not fine - you're acting manic, whirling around here like a kid playing dress-up. And then you just take off into unknown woods? You're being foolish."