The Girl In That Hooded Jacket

Fall from the sky.

          In art she immediately began to sculpt. Just an opening exercise, but when she reached inside the utensil bucket, a sharp pain sliced down her right thumb. She yanked her hand back and examined it, frowning. A long, shallow, gash stretched from the tip of her thumb to the middle of the skin between her thumb and index finger bones. The space your pencil rested while writing or drawing. Blood dripped to her thumb, pooling in one spot to form droplets. Witch in turn would fall and stain her teachers desk. She glanced at the bucket, identifying that a sharp slicing tool was most likely the cultrate for her injury and tucked her hand into her chest, shielding her wound from her classmates view. She made her way to the teacher, who was advising an eager girl with her clay on the other side of the room, by the door. Faith quietly excited with her permission and headed toward the bathroom. Her thumb throbbed over and over, Faith, relishing the pain and warmth in her hand, entered into one of the stalls and tugged several lengths of toilet paper form the roll. She dabbed at the cut and did her best not to drip on the floor. A glint of dull, dirty metal shone on the floor and she stooped to pick it up. A small rusty necklace lay in her palm. Gray and sad, the gleam of it almost completely gone. Small symbols lay arrayed in a circle around the ring. Inside the ring was a star made of bands of mettle, overlapping and weaving into one another. There was no beginning and no end. She paced to the sink and ran it under the clean water, her wounded right hand resting on the edge, just inches from the water. When it was visible and slightly more exuberant looking, she shifted it to her wounded hand without thinking. She examined it closer as her cut slowly cried it's crimson tears. There, in the inside of the star, lay a gleaming gem. It was only the size of a small raindrop, sparkling clear and pure . Almost completely colorless. Each corner of the star lay barely indented in a rim on the inside of the ring of mettle. Forgetting about her still bleeding thumb, she drew it over, trailing red droplets. They separated and condensed, like water on wax paper, on the pendent. They seemed to move on their own, slinking to the gem and disappearing inside. She blinked, disbelieving what she'd just seen. The small jewel seemed to be a slightly pinker shade than it had just moments ago. Or maybe not, maybe it had just been her imagination. In any case, she didn't have any time to process that, because the star had begun to spin. Faster and faster. The dull light came away from the pendent in an almost useable sheet, revealing its true glamor. The world became a dizzying whirl of colors and lines. Soon she had to close her eyes and curl into a ball. The world became weightless and her hood floated off her head, splaying her hair out behind her. Cool air slapped her hair around her and suddenly she was falling. Down, down, down she fell. She opened her eyes as she broke through the clouds. The ground rushed up to meet her and she opened her mouth to shout or cry or scream, but her breath was snatched away before she could get anything out. Below her was a landscape of rolling hills, beautiful mountains in the distance and a huge tower of water rushing up to meet her. She cringed as it engulfed her in a thick spray, stinging her skin with its miniscule droplets. Soon the droplets became steady egg sized blobs then softball, then watermelon. As each one hit her, she tilted a little more to one side or the other, each tilt increasing as the masses of water grew larger. She'd slowed down considerably by now, but a belly flop on the solid water below her would still hurt like heck, maybe even give her a concussion if she couldn't get her spinning in control. She straightened her feet out in front of her and then thought better of it, going down feet first wasn't an awful idea, unless you were falling from a height no diving board was set at. And good reason. The water that would get up her nose would sting immensely. She curled herself into a ball at the last second to try to prevent as much spin as possible. With one hand she covered her mouth and nose and the other wrapped around her legs, still gripping onto the necklace for dear life. She slammed into the wall of water with a bone jarring SMACK! Then Faith was floating once again. In the water, gravity seemed to disappear and all she wanted to do was stay right where she was. Her body relaxed, coming out of her fetal position, her legs floating out from her body. But her lungs ached for air and she struggled against the space around her. And her body wouldn't obey. She continued to sink. Suddenly, the water released her and she was set softly into the arms of... someone she didn't know. Inside, she panicked, but her body was still unresponsive to her requests. Whoever's grip she was in, they held her close to their chest, bridal style. Their heartbeat was strong and slow against her ear and their voice was deep. It came from under her ear, gentle but strong, like the purr of some wild cat. "Greetings little lady." She pleaded her hands to move. To respond to her in any way. They twitched, and with great effort she managed to curl her arms up to her chest. She shivered involuntarily. The wind was cold and she was soaked from head to toe with water. "Let's get you inside." She became aware of some other person standing near. A sing song voice came from a little to her their right, "Don't be a creep, Lucien." A deep chuckle emanated from the chest under her ear. "You're one to talk. You just sent a whole pillar of water into the sky!" She could feel the man carrying her walking. The sun beat down on her skin, somewhat drying the water drenching her. Then the air went cold as they passed into the shadow of what must have been a big building. She was slowly gaining control over her limbs. Somewhere a door opened and they passed into the cool interior of some building. She assumed it was the same structure that had, moments before, been shielding her from the sun. Moving her limbs still proved to be a difficulty. Suddenly she jumped as the ground under her transports feet disappeared, only to reappear seconds latter. A step. From a stair. But the jolt had done its job. Her eyes had flung open at the sudden drop and she clung to the broad chested man holding her. Her hands clutched at his silk, green shirt, embroidered with golden and orange flowered vines winding their way up one side to curl around his collar. He smelled like fresh air and... How to put this... Like a... Man. She glanced up at his face and was surprised to see him looking at her. He had bright, very bright, green eyes. Like the sun dancing through a leafy canopy in spring. His hair was a nice dirty gold color with honey highlights from the sun. Over all, he looked like a big friendly man. No. There was something in his eyes, a mischief of some sort and a cunning. He was NOT a man. A boy... At least on the inside. "You're awake!" He said. Lucien, she thought that was his name. Lucien smiled down at her with his bright white teeth and handsome smile. "Welcome home."