Two Worlds, Two Girls, Two Problems (book one)

Lifeline: Tabitha

"Yahoo!" Austin yelled into the forest down below. He craned his head toward Tabitha. "I never felt this free in my entire life!"

Tabitha grumbled," If you yell so loudly, they might as well catch us."

"Sorry."

"Hold on tighter. My dress feels like it is about to rip apart." Tabitha scowled.

Austin shuffled his way up higher. "Fine."

"But, I feel great!" Tabitha whooped and did a flip in the air. Austin nearly fell off.

"Hey! I'm still here." Austin mumbled.

"I told you to hold on tighter." Tabitha retorted.

They flew in silence until Tabitha saw something disturbing. They have flown miles away from the castle. The sun was starting to set. The mountains in the distance reflected the sunlight off unnaturally. The trees swayed in the distance. But something looked odd about the landscape.

"Has anyone in your kingdom ever went as far as this?" Tabitha asked Austin.

Austin resheathed his sword. "No."

"Tell me, then. Is it just me or does the landscape look weird."

Austin eyed the scapes. His eyes widened. "Woah, it's like... all wavy."

And Austin was right. The landscape seemed as if it was a clear reflection of the water.

"Should we check it out?" Tabitha asked.

Austin started to say," I don't know about it.-"

"Let's go!" Tabitha interrupted him and zoomed over to the landscape. She stopped in front of the landscape scene. She was right. It was rippling like water. Tabitha reached her hand out and poked her finger into the invisible barrier. The barrier rippled as if it was water, but Tabitha didn't feel any wetness.

"We should go back." Austin tried touching the barrier. "I don't like the energy of this."

"Darling, let's just go take a look. There's no harm in that." Tabitha flew into the barrier. She expected the barrier to electrocute them or block them out, but they passed like it was nothing.

Tabitha opened eyes and breathed in the scent of apple blossoms. She was in a birch forest with red apples and golden apples getting riper as the sun set. She looked back, hoping to see a weird barrier. But she didn't. It was as if the barrier disappeared, leaving them in a different world.

"Where are we?" Austin asked.

"Only God knows where we are," Tabitha responded.

Tabitha's back suddenly ached with pain. She couldn't bear it. She tried to keep her wings to help her, but when she turned she realized there were no wings on her back. Austin and Tabitha both screamed as they fell toward the forest. As quick as lightning, Austin grabbed Tabitha's hand and pulled her into an embrace; making Austin on the outer shell. They crashed through the trees. Apples fell off their branches. They fell onto the grass, but Austin took more of the impact. He let her go as she got up.

"Why did I fall?" Tabitha wondered aloud. She craned her head to see her back. No wings.

"Your wings just started to glow purple and they started to fall away, feather by feather. Sorry, I could've told you but I thought you intended to do it." Austin rubbed his neck.

"No, it's okay. But..." Tabitha looked at her faintly glowing finger. "I think I ran out of magic." They began to walk into the forest.

Austin looked at his finger, which started to glow gold. "Oh, that magic that you used. My father told me that some chosen people gets a dose of magic into their life. It's either good or evil. For example, I'm good. Not only that, but when magic runs short, the only way to get some back is to..." Austin hesitated. They kept walking deeper into the forest.

"Steal it from others?" Tabitha guessed.

"Yes, but it has to be from the opposite side." Austin put his finger to his chin. He looked at Tabitha and quickly added," But not me! I heard the process could sometimes be fatal to the victim."

"Fatal?" Tabitha wondered aloud. "But do I still have some magic left?"

Austin nodded. "Of course. But you just need to find a person before..." Austin paused. His eyes has landed on Tabitha's foot.

"What?" Then Tabitha looked at her foot. Her toe was nearly transparent. She could still see her outline of her foot, but otherwise, she could see through her foot. "Oh my heavens"

"You disappear." Austin continued. The smell of apple blossoms suddenly disappeared and became replaced with the scent of horror. "And while you disappear, so does your life."

"Okay, how do we find the person?" Tabitha tried toning her voice down in shock. She was about to become transparent. As terrified as she was, she could never allow herself to have the emotion of fear.

"Not every person has that gift." Austin continued. "So it would be hard to find one."

"And-" Tabitha said before Austin covered her mouth. He pushed her down into an undergrowth.

"Shh." he shushed her.

Tabitha was about to protest before she heard a rumbling of carriage wheels. Four horses passed them with a white carriage being pulled along. Tabitha's finger glowed brighter as the carriage neared, but got dimmer as it began to go away.

"And I think we found our person," Tabitha smirked.