Sleeping

Chapter Twelve

“Hey, something wrong?” Ashton asked me, concern in his eyes and voice. I was still too shell shocked to speak. He cupped my face between his palms. “Are you okay?”

“May—she was Viola…. That whole time she was right there.” I filled with grief over our forgotten friendship. That was how she could recite that thing about marrying her competition—it happened to her. I sagged against the back wall of the cave where we sat.

“Slow down. May was your best friend, right? From before?” he asked and I nodded. “And Viola—she took care of you at Trier?” I nodded again. “And you think they’re the same person?” He sounded like he didn’t believe me.

“It’s her.” I said back, annoyed before repeating all the reasons I had just put together. “I think maybe they put her in a stasis pod, like me. And she was…waiting for me, I guess. But she didn’t look anything like herself—that was probably plastic surgery though.” I finished and shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Ashton..." I began after a moment and looked at him. "Did it mean anything? The kiss, I mean."

He was silent for a minute. "It shouldn't have," my heart dropped "but it did." I felt hopeful again as Ashton grabbed my hand tight.

"Why shouldn't it have meant anything?" I asked.

"Because us being together, caring about each other... it's dangerous, Snow. And I know at least one or both of us is probably going to get hurt, but I'm still willing to fight for us. I still want to fight for us." He looked down at our joined hands and rubbed our interlocked fingers. "As long as you do." I finally understood why it was called 'eye contact'. He looked at me with such great fear and hope in his eyes, I wanted to lean forward and kiss him again.

So I did. I grabbed his head and pulled his face down to mine. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the feeling of his lips pressed against my own. His hand threaded through my white hair.

“Attention!” Nathaniel’s voice echoed in the cavern and me and Ashton pulled away from each other, breathless. Some people were staring at us, but I told myself to not care. “We will be boarding the ships shortly. If you don’t like it—” Another blast shook the cave, sprinkling more pieces over the ground. A fairly large piece hit my bare shoulder, taking a little chunk of my skin with it.

“Ow!” I exclaimed and pressed my finger against the cut in an attempt to ebb the flow of blood.

Nathaniel glanced up at the limitless ceiling, saying “I rest my case. But first they would like to speak with my niece and I in person, not through the Rez.”

“How do we know you guys won’t hightail it out of here?” a woman hollered.

“I will stay down here and my niece will speak with them alone.” I went rigid. Alone? He may know these people, but I don’t. “Snow, if you could please come here?” My legs moved without my own real knowledge or comprehension toward the giant table at the front of the room.

“Don’t screw it up, kid. Just listen and if they ask you any questions, answer as best you can.” Nathaniel said once I was there.

“Awesome pep talk. Why aren’t you going?”

“I told them we both couldn’t go and they said they wanted to talk to you.” Great. High expectations. “Just stand there and close your eyes. And because it’s your first time, it might be nice to clench your fists.” Nathanial stepped away from me. “Good luck.”

I did as I was told—I squeezed my eyes shut and balled up my fists and waited for something to happen.

And as Yoda would say, happen something did.

It felt like I was buried in dense snow, but without the cold. It didn’t hurt, but I could’ve sworn the very gravity that was holding me together as a living, breathing half-human being suddenly became non-existent. I was completely free of everything that held me to this planet, and boom; I was just as alive and dense as before. I opened my eyes and could see I was in some kind of glass-that-didn't-really-feel-or-look-like-glass tube that quickly depressurized, blowing cool air all around me. It lifted up and I walked out. Everything in the place was either white or that glass-that-didn't-really-feel-or-look-like-glass stuff.

I looked at the faces of the six Isarians before me until my eyes rested on an older man in his late 40s. He had the same big, round eyes, skinny face, and long thin nose that I had looked at in the mirror every day for my whole life. He was my grandfather, king of the Isarians.

"You must be Snow." My grandfather spoke. I nodded. "You may leave us." He said to the other five people in the room.

They gave a low bow to him before turning to me. "That's not really necessary." I said.

"Your father is the crown prince. Your grandparents are the king and queen. Yes, it is necessary."