Caelestis

Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Sorry! I'm Kinda on a Floating City in the Sky Right Now. Leave a Message at the Tone!

The next morning, I awoke to Ardennais trying to jump onto my bed.

"No, Ardennais..." I moaned as I sat up. "Your place is on the floor." I pointed to a bone on the floor that I had given her the day before.

It was still dark outside so my head thumped back onto the pillow. I tried to sleep but my thoughts kept going back to the mermaid. Why she pulled me under, I had no idea. I didn't think that mermaids ate people and I couldn't think of what else she could have wanted from me. Unless she wanted the sword for Anstifarsness, too, I thought. My thoughts drifted to Ben, Skye and me lying underneath the stars. I remembered my thoughts about Matt and Jenifer.

Pushing the sheets off of my legs, I climbed out of bed. It had been a warm night and I had kicked off the bedspread already. I went to my dresser, opened up the bottom drawer, and pulled out some underclothes and socks. Underneath all that was my old pair of blue jeans and my faded, red T-shirt. I took them out and held them up to my face. How distant the Earth seemed now. I longed to go back and see if Joe and Mary were all right. They probably had no idea where I was, but with Zanzibar, or Dark Mountain, missing, too, they must have guessed that I ran away.

I looked in my backpack which was lying in the drawer. My camera, tennis shoes, jacket, flashlight, iPod, and pencils were randomly thrown in the larger compartment. In the smaller pouch was my pair of gloves and a hair band. I sighed and pulled it out; wrapping my thick, curly hair into a ponytail on the top of my head.

My hand wrapped around my IPhone and I pulled it out expecting it to be dead. It was on vibrate and I had about a million calls from friends and family on it. I dialed our phone number and put the phone up to my ear. Nothing happened. Joe and Mary didn't have cell phones so I called Zach's phone number. It rang four times before I heard a voice on the other side of the phone.

"Hello?"

"Zach?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes? Who is this?" Zach's voice sounded uncertain and sad. Not like it used to sound. It was almost as if something deep inside him had shattered.

"It's Adeline!"

"Adeline?" His voice rose in disbelief.

"Yes! Zach I'm so..." I didn't even know where to begin. How do you tell your brother that you're actually a Princess of a kingdom in the sky... oh and also, Merry Christmas!

"Adeline! Where have you been?! You seemed just fine and then you just disappeared. Where are you?!" Zach demanded.

"Zach, this might be hard for you to understand and believe, but you have to," I began and told him the story of the past few months. Luckily the phone had a full charge, because it took a while to tell Zach all that had happened.

"Adeline," Zach began after my story had ended, "do you really expect me to believe all that? That my sister is a princess? And Dark Mountain is a Pegasus?"

"Have I ever lied to you? Ever? You are my brother and best friend I tell you the truth all the time, why would this be any different? Zach, I don't know what else to tell you," I felt tears stinging the backs of my eyes. I couldn't hold on for much longer. "I swear that everything I've said is the truth. Please believe me."

"I...I believe you...I'm just glad you're OK," Zach replied. "Life hasn't been the same without you. After the police told us that you were probably dead, Dad sold the farm, the horses, the dogs, everything. He was devastated. We all are..were.."

"Everything?"

"Yeah, everything. All that's left is the old barn and the house. Then Mom got really sick and had to go to the hospital," Zach explained. I gasped and started to cry. "Dad is there with her right now."