"The second time?" I mutter. My eyebrows burrow downward. I came here before? When?
"I did think you were going to bring someone with you. But then, poof you two were gone and only you came back.” She turns quickly and heads over to the trees near by.
My head clears as I remember everything. Zailor running after me, Jayden on the ground. Jayden's kiss. Images get stuck inside my mind. I wonder about Stephanie and Wade, would they worry about me? Would they even care? Did anyone come out to see what happen? My mind doesn't stop. Flashes of memories shoot through my head, like photographs on a spinning wheel.
I remember the first night I’d been in a foster home. The kids faces as I walked through the door. I remember the clothes I wore last week and what I eat for lunch two weeks ago. The photos flash again like firecrackers.-Blasting inside my head. I remember everything that happened in the last five years. But my memory stops in the Macy’s department store. I want to know more. I want to know before Macy’s. My heart pounds as I push the photos further. But it only makes my head hurt and the harder I push the slower the memories come.
I relax and let the memories flash on their own. Stupid memories like the homework assignments that never got done, or the overcast sky of Seattle, flitter my mind. Even if I can’t remember past Macy’s it's refreshing to remember anything at all.
I instantly know, I am not in Kennewick anymore. I don't even think I'm in Washington. Maybe not even earth. Wherever I am, I have never been here before. I know this because of wind that brushes past me. It feels foreign and comforting at the same time. A stranger and yet a controllable stranger. I only have one question for the girl that lingers near. Where am I?
“Where? Who?” My words stumble out of my lips as if forming a complete sentence is too difficult to say.
“You’re in my forest.” She answers perfectly. “I’m Brooke, the East Star, and you." She poses to grin. "You must be the North.” Brooke bends down to pick up some twigs off the ground.
Her words bounce inside my head. I frown. I'm still having trouble keeping up. I want to ask her why she thinks I've been here before. But, getting that thought from my brain to my lips, is more than I can handle.
“I wondered if the North Star would be a jumper.” Brooke continues “How else would you have found me? Although I did consider having to go find you. But my power is to protect and I didn’t see how I could possibly find someone with that."
Brooke’s voice slips away as I notice for the first time why she doesn’t make any noise. When she walks, the grass moves out of her way. She also doesn’t just walk. She glides across the grass like water. **She’s the East star? ** Thoms’s voice rings in. “Find the East star.” my mind flashes back to Brooke.
“I’m not… a… jumper.” my voice quivers.
“Really? What are you than?” Brooke squeals with delight. Her big eyes smile at me like a child.
“Nothing. I'm a girl.” just a plain human girl with no magic or abilities to figure out how to get outta here.
“Well, a girl must be very powerful if you can find me.” She bends down and sticks the twig strait into the grown. Then takes a step back to marvels at her work.
Great. I think. She’s insane. Of course, insane people tend to recognize their own. So I am crazy after all.
The wind blows again and dances with the treetops near by. Small little giggles dance with the wind. Almost as if the trees are laughing. But that can’t be, could it? I shift up onto my knees and stare down the treetops. But my perfect new eyes can’t see anyone in the trees, although my ears can hear them. Whispers and small voices. “The North Star. The North Star! You’re the North Star.” I’m not sure if the trees are whispering or someone, or something. For all I know of this land, it could be all three.
I stand up, my knees buckle a little, but I manage to keep standing, -with a little help from the rock. By the time I look back to Brooke, she’s standing next to a white tree with cherry blossoms. The twig she planted is gone, and replaced with a full grown tree.
Bewildered, I gaps, and questions fill my face. How could this be? And why am I not running from it?
I watch her take two steps over to the right, bend down and plant another twig standing strait up into the ground. More giggles echo from the trees. But my eyes are fixed on Brooke. She doesn’t seem to notice the giggles as I do. She keeps her eyes on the twig she just planted and places two fingers on her lips. She smiles a little and kisses her fingers. Still leaning down, she touches the twig and stands back. The twig suddenly shoots up. – Growing taller and taller. Stretching into the sky like a bullet, creating an instant tree, with leaves and flowers. I think I even hear birds singing from the branches.
Brooke’s face is beaming as she looks over at me. But her eyes turn a concerned when she notices my face.
“Their pixies and I’m a nymph.” Her voice is so soft. If I wasn't watching her every move. I wouldn't have known it was her talking.
I must look more shocked then I think. Because she slowly walks over to me, with her arms out wide. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
My crazy self is in full force at the moment. My right hand wraps around my star and my other hand grabs the moss on the rock. Everything in my body freezes again. Everything but my eyes, which dart from the tree that Brooke just planted, to Brooke, to the invisible giggles from the forest. My heart pounds as I take it all in.
Brook stops short and puts her hands on her hip.
“Honesty! If I was going to hurt you, it would have been a lot easier to do when you were blind and had no memories. Besides, my forest is the safest place in Narmolyna. We have never been invaded by dark magic.”
Narmolyna. My thoughts hone in on that word. Narmolyna. That’s the word Thoms said, and Jayden…. Jayden said it too.
“What did you say?” I had to make sure I’m truly inside my crazy self. I know I already feel crazy, but I just want to make sure I really am.
“We haven’t been detected by dark magic?” Brooke questioned.
“No.. The Narm…?”
“Narmolyna? You’re in the safest place in all the land.” She twills around like a child. “We weren’t always safe, and a few monz ago we almost had a run-in.” Brooke took a breath in. “So now they send spies.” She rolls her eyes. “but we’ve still manage to stay away from them.”
“Right.” It’s all I could say. But my heart drops into the pit of my stomach. My head pounding like a steal train. The realization that I really am inside my crazy head haunts me. Zailor most have caught me and instead of letting myself believe it. I escaped into my own head. It's the only possible conclusion.
I let go of the rock and hold my star with both hands.
“It’s alright your safe.” Brooke confirms.
The last thing I feel is safe.
“I'm in Narmolyna?” I whisper.
Surprise flashes across Brookes face. “Where else would we be?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t even look at her. The trees toss around and more giggles come from the flowers. I don’t feel like looking over at them. I already know I’m in some kind of comma or something. The only thing missing is Jayden… why isn’t Jayden in my comma? If I were safe from Zailor, wouldn’t Jayden naturally be here? Wouldn’t I dream of some kind of love story, where his arms wrap around me forever? I know I just met him. But it seems much more than that. It seems like we’ve always been together. Like we were connected and torn apart. Why wouldn’t I dream of him?
“Brooke… Where’s Jayden?” I sound calmer than I feel.
Her eyes squint as she looks at me. She reaches over and twists her ring around her finger, the purple in her star, flickers on each turn. Her head tilts down as the wind runs through her hair.
“Only you jumped.” Her voice is steady and careful. I realize. She's being careful on what she says to me.
I have nothing to give back to her to win her trust. First of all, I'm not even sure I want it. But understanding her isn’t as simple as she makes it out to be. Although my mind is clear, I’m still having trouble making sense of what she means. Jumped? Jumped from where? When? Did she mean when I jumped into my head? Or jumped into the air only to hit my head?
She slowly tilts her head back to me. I feel the heat of her stare as she zooms in on my star, and a smile appears across her face. Somehow my star has won her over for me.
“But you made it. That’s all that counts.”
I'm starting to get frustrated with everything she says. I know, as soon as I asked about Jayden something went wrong. Either something is wrong with Jayden, or something is wrong with me asking about him. Either way, she no longer has the beaming bright childlike look in her eyes. But, the way she said "I made it", was cheerful as if it’s a time for celebrating. If this is real and Jayden is with Zailor, this isn’t a time to be cheerful. It’s a time to fight, scream or at the very least be afraid.
Then there are the giggles from the trees, babyish giggles. Like small children having a slumber party in the background. I can’t take it anymore. This place whether in my head or real, is just plain stupid. I take my eyes off of Brooke, so she won’t be able to see my irritation with everything. I stare into the tree where the giggles come from.
“Brooke” I breathe in to make sure my voice is steady. “How do I get back?” I watch the trees dance in the wind again. This should bring me peace, like it always has in the past. But it doesn’t.
“Get back?” Brooke questions. “Why would you want to do that?”
My eyes focus on the third tree. Watching it twist and twirl. Brooke’s voice is clattering in the background.
“I’m not sure how jumpers jump. One minute you’re not there and next you’re falling from the sky.”
“I fell from the sky?” I trail off as the third tree starts to rustle around like a storm passing through it, but with no wind this time. Not even a small breeze went by, and yet the tree is going berserk.
“Do you mind if they meet you?” Brooke says. “They’ve been waiting so long.
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