Lost in Technicolor

Time Traveling

Jade's head slammed back into the top of the wooden seat as if she had been thrown into it. She reached behind her rubbing the spot on her head with back of her hand, but when she brought it back it was sticky with a red glaze. With a small gasp she ran it on the dark material of her dress. Out of sight out of mind, she expected to hear Drake's usual sarcastic comments in the back of her head, but when there was only comforting silence. She remembered that he was asleep and glanced down to look at him, but he wasn't there. Her eyes immediately shot up to that place where Petra's head should've been.

Biting her lip, she edged across the seat towards the window and pushing aside the red curtain glanced into the hallway, but there was only a young woman dressed in the official blue uniform.

Letting her uneasy feeling slide because there was the possibility that she had dozed off and Petra and Drake had left to do something, although she wasn't sure what there possibly could be to do on a train, she sat there for a few minutes sighing and glanced up to where the clock sat on the shelf, but after a few minutes she couldn't take the anxiety growing in her stomach, twisting it into knots. Why couldn't she hear Drake's thoughts if he wasn't touching her?

So she slid open the booth door and stepped into the hallway. The lady in the stiff blue uniform, now leaving against the wall, glanced at her and then with a yawn that stretched her bright red lips taut said, "What can I do for you ma'm?"

"Have you seen a boy around my age with bright blonde hair and brown eyes come this way?" She asked.

The woman laughed, covering her mouth as if she didn't mean to be rude, but Jade could only glower while she waited for her to stop giggling on. She finally caught control of that red mouth of her's and said, "Yes of course. He's in there ma'am."

With long red finger nails, she pointed toward the booth directly in front of her. Nodding her appreciation, Jade stepped forward and slid the door open to find Drake laying on his back in one of the empty seats, sleeping with his hands folded behind his head. Rolling her eyes, Jade shut the door behind her and sat in the seat opposite to him.

"Drake, what the hell are you doing in here?" She asked him through clenched teeth. Why was he always behaving so foolishly?

Yawning and stretching his arms above his head, he slowly sat up and after rubbing his eyes, squinted at Jade, "What? Why are you here, my dear?"

"Drake" she muttered shaking her head, "I'm not in the mood to play these games right now. Okay?"

Smiling and giving a small laugh, he replied, "Who's Drake, my darling?"

Jade ran her hands through her hair and sighed, "Drake, please!"

"I'm not Drake, my love," he said, biting his lip and giving her a worried look. "Are you all right?"

"Fine!" She growled, crossing her arms. "Fine. I'll play along. Who are you?"

He laughed again, giving her a quizzical look as if to ask her if she was serious. When she made no attempt to speak, he replied, "Damien White. I thought everyone knew who, the king's councilor was, my darling."

Jade's heart froze and her mouth dropped open. She studied his clothes once more which now with closer inspection she realized were not the black jacket and pants Drake had been wearing but rather a more expensive and elaborately decorated suit. And his face wasn't Drake's. Though very close, there was a more powerful and cruel edge to his features. But he wasn't Damien and yet he was. He was much younger. How could that have been?

He laughed nervously at her reaction. He was so much more laid back than the older Damien. The way he slouched as he sat, how he smiled so frequently and without sarcasm, and how his voice seemed kind at times. It all made him seem like a real person. One, whom, Jade could actually talk to without feeling like melting into the floor with fear, every time she saw."Again my love, are you all right? You seem startled. Did something happen?"