Look Me In The Eye When I Tell You I Love You

Facing The Truth

MJAM: Thanks to EmSiggers for the book cover. I love Butterfly Covers!!! I've finally finished the chapter, hope you guys like it! To the right is an interview with my favorite alternate rock band. It's seriously hilarious.

Demie

Life is pretty boring.

At least that's what I've always thought and how it's always been for me. No family, no friends, no life. I spent every moment by myself unless I was with Ian. And I had gotten used to it; it became my normal.

It only took three seconds to shake my normal when Ian took my hand and we stepped through.

I couldn't keep my mouth from dropping as he pulled me across an icy bridge to the castle that rivaled I'd seen the night before. It touched the sky, beautiful and intricate and made of ice. There was no green; the surrounding land was ice and snow. The castle sat below a frozen waterfall, I could see the fish frozen in their descent. It wasn't until we made it to the entrance and passed through the courtyard that I realized that there was no one in sight. The place was deserted.

"Ian...where are we?" I whispered, tiptoeing as best as I could while wearing heels so I wouldn't disturb anything or anyone.

"Oelh Court, you've already visited Ahln before." He led me through the grand doors of the castle, closing it behind us. Then he turned to me and I gasped as I actually looked at him.

Ian's features had changed to a face that was definitely inhuman. His eyes were a piercing light purple. His ears were...pointy. He was Ian, but then he wasn't. He looked like Ian, but then he didn't. I tried to say something, but I couldn't form a word, let alone a sentence. My thoughts were going in all directions, it was impossible to process them. Finally, I settled on one word, "Ian?"

"Demie, I'm sorry. For what comes next, please know that I'm sorry. None of it can be changed though. You can't change any of it." His eyes searched mine for understanding.

"Ian? What's going on?" Something was wrong, something was very, very wrong. This wasn't normal, none of this was normal.

He didn't answer, but he did take my hand. I barely felt the electricity that shot up my arm. I barely noticed the way my skin tingled.

Ian's hand was cold.

There wasn't much light coming in from outdoors, the sun wasn't even up, and there no light inside. Ian led me through the entrance hall, to a set of great doors under two grand staircases going in opposite directions. Opening the door, we slipped through into an inky darkness, so dark that I couldn't even see my own hand.

Ian let go of my hand as soon as we entered the room. The door closed behind us and I felt panic rise within me in the darkness as I realized that I couldn't feel Ian's body heat nearby. "Ian!" I called out but there was no answer.

I stepped back and felt behind me for the handle, expecting to find two doors behind me. I felt nothing but a cold wall, slick as ice. There was only silence and stillness and me. "Ian?" My voice was smaller and softer. I took a step forward and then another and another, the click of my heels reverberating through the darkness. The darkness began to recede as an unknown light quickly grew brighter. It took my eyes a little while to adjust to the light as I was momentarily blinded. I blinked a couple of times and looked around me.

A row of men, in a purple uniform, stood like soldiers, and behind them stood a crowd of both men and women, in purple jackets just like the green ones that the servants of Ahln wore. I don't know which was more disconcerting: the fact that every single one of them had light purple eyes and pointed ears like Ian or that their eyes were all locked on mine or that Ian was just a few feet in front of me. I stared at him in disbelief, but he wasn't even looking at me, probably the only person who wasn't. Ian was silently kneeling before a man and a woman, each wearing a crown, sitting above everyone else in an exception to the two little girls, who wore tiaras, and two men who sat on each side of them just a little behind, who wore less elaborate crowns. Another man in uniform stood in front of them at the foot of the platform, a man who looked suspiciously like Ian.