Pixie Kissed

Chapter Two

Lanore stepped out of the car and looked at the house with curious brown eyes.

“It looks old. And kind of…mysterious.” She said.

“Well, it should. We haven’t been here in so long.” Her father replied.

“It probably needs some work done.” Her mother said, “But I’m sure it won’t be too much.”

As he began to unload the truck, Lanore looked back up at the house.

The windows were fogged over with dust and dirt to the point where you couldn’t see a thing inside. Plants were growing out from the gutters and ivy had  completely grown over the balcony door on the second floor. A single tower peaked out from the top of the house, a half-moon window looking down at her from above.

She picked up her bags and walked inside. The large, white door let out a long creek as she opened it and she was surprised by what she saw.

While the outside of the house was a worn mess, the inside was untouched. Besides the layer of dust ever everything, it almost looked as though no one had left at all. The hallway was neat, with empty picture frames on the walls.

There was a set of stairs covered by a woven red carpet to at the end of the hall and many empty doorways along the way.

Lanore walked inside and looked at the empty rooms. The furniture left inside looked like ghosts with the white sheets pulled over them. The paint on the walls looked and bit faded and wall paper seemed to leak off slowly.

It was all beautiful, in an eerie way.

“Isn’t it wonderful, honey?” He mother asked.

Lanore jumped, having not realized that her mother was even there.

“Yeah…I think I can remember it too.”

Her mother grinned widely at her.

“Good. Let’s go see if you’re room is in good shape.”

She followed her mother up the steps and into and blue room.

It was empty, beside an iron bed and yellowed mattress. The window was propped open and a breeze blew in, making Lanore shiver.

“What do you think?”

“Can we paint the walls green?” She asked.

“Sure! It’ll match better with your sheets anyways. I’m thinking a forest theme, beautiful and yet foreboding.”

Lanore’s mother was a well known interior designer and she often enjoyed switching up Lanore’s room. As her mother explained the new plans, Lanore glanced out the window and into the woods.

To anyone else, they were simply trees.

But to her, they spoke, as the pixies commanded them to.

They called her name, begging her to return the home deep inside, protected by prying eyes. Lanore remembered trying to explain to them that the town was her home, only for them to beg more and more.

Even now, the forest stirred, as if awoken by her return.

“Lanore? Are you all right?”

Lanore turned and smiled at her mother.

“Yeah…just thinking.”

Her mother came and stood next to her.

“Those trees are nice, aren’t they? I thought that having your room like that would reflect them. I see forests as a sign of strength and protection.”

“That’s nice.”

Her mother kissed her forehead and walked away.

“Dad will be up soon with your boxes, okay? We’ll start unpacking tomorrow.”

Lanore nodded and sat on the bed.

It felt good to be home…but she wasn’t sure which one was giving her the feeling of welcome…

-In the forest-

Adair sat up in bed, his heart pounding.

Sunlight streamed in through the windows and he could tell that it was only midday, and unusually early time for a pixie to wake.

His heart pounded as he ripped off his blankets and shot out of bed, running towards the mirror on the other end of his bedroom.

“Show me my other half.” He commanded.

The mirror rippled with color until it formed a picture.

There she lay in bed, the sheets rising and falling with her breath and heart. But it was not the apartment that she had been hiding in for so long, no. Instead, it was the home not to far from his castle.

Adair smiled, feeling his heart swell with joy in his chest.

“She…she came back. I knew she would!”

Though the girl had runaway from him so many years ago, Adair had never stopped believing that she would one day return.

With glee racing through his body, the pixie prince returned to his bed, already hoping to dream of her.