A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (12 page)

“I assume you know where you are going? With the way you are walking
south
so confidently?” Jett says while walking beside me and laughing. Ugh…I knew that stupid phrase was stupid and would never come in handy. I stop walking and all the guys are laughing at me.

I roll my eyes. “I’m just ready to get to him. Which way is East?” They start walking in the correct direction, and I follow.

“SO, HOW FAR
are we?”

“About forty-five minutes on foot.” Mason answers and then a bottle of water magically appears in his hands. “Want one?”

I shake my head. “Is there anything I need to know about your world? I mean are there goblins that want to eat me for lunch or anything?” I ask while looking around to make sure there really aren’t any mortal-eating goblins hiding behind a tree, ready to attack their prey—me. All three guys are laughing and shaking their heads. I place my hands on my hips. “What? I’m serious!”

“There are not goblins. We are just people who have magic. Our worlds are practically the same. The only difference is we have magic, and our government system is different. Our world is run by Luke’s parents instead of there being different countries and rulers like your Earth. The Denton’s run it all.”

“Oh…”

I feel like I’ve been walking forever. I’m so ready to get to Luke. He is hurt, and I have a lot of explaining to do. If he forgives me, I guess we will be on the run again or fighting the bad guys. This really sounds like a movie or a book.
Definitely,
not like reality.

We start coming up on a main road, but it’s not like a highway or anything I‘ve ever seen. The road is made of brick, and the buildings look like what you would see in a Christmas snow globe—minus the snow.

“Everything is so pretty here,” I say while looking around.

“It is. Jett, do you still know how do that invisible spell? It will be faster to go through town,” Brody asks while looking around to make sure no one can see us.

Jett scratches the top of his head as he thinks. “I think so. It’s been a while, but I’ll try.” Jett closes his eyes and says words that make absolutely no sense. He opens his eyes, and I expect to feel different. But I don’t. Plus, I can still see all three guys.

“Well, did it work?” I ask.

“The only way we will know, is if we walk out in the open and see if anyone can see us,” Mason says while looking a little worried. He must not have much confidence in Jett’s magical abilities. Jett shrugs his shoulders and starts walking out in the open. He has to move out of the way or people will walk right into him.
Obviously, it worked on him
. He motions for us to come out there.
Here goes nothing… I’m just the girl who has a warrant out for her death in Terre. No big deal. Right?!

I walk with Mason and Brody over to the busy sidewalk where Jett is. He is making faces at people walking by. He is seriously having way too much fun with this. I start laughing and moving out of people’s way. I guess it worked. Brody looks satisfied and quickly puts his finger to his lips letting us all know to be quiet. We start walking, and what I see up ahead is not what I expected to see. It is a huge castle. Like the ones little girls dream about living in when their prince charming finds them and sweeps them off their feet. My mouth drops open, and the guys laugh as quietly as they can. We can’t talk, so I don’t ask any questions, even though I have
sooo
many.

We come to a gate that obviously leads to the castle, but is locked tight. There are two men guarding it.
Wow, this is just like out of a story book.
They told me this was like Earth, but it is absolutely nothing like it. I look at the brick walkway and the purple flowers that cover the grass on each side of the walkway. The trees are planted perfectly and are
so
tall. The castle. Oh my god, the freakin’ castle! Its medieval appearance is breathtaking. My mouth hangs open in awe.

Brody motions for us all to join hands. When we join hands I barely have time to take a breath and realize we are on the other side of the gate.
Now see!? That would have been way faster than walking!

“W—” I start to say something, but Jett’s hand quickly goes over my mouth to shut me up. Three sets of eyes are glaring at me, and the guards also start looking around.
Oops.

We start running, and I follow the guys to a garden that is hidden by a lot of trees and a tall fence. When they are confident that no one is around, Jett says another spell.

“No longer invisible we wish to be, set us free so the eye can see….”

I guess we are all visible. Again, I don’t feel any different. You would think I would feel some weird fuzzy feeling or something. But, nothing. I can’t help but be disappointed. I want to see a big puff of smoke or something!

“Holly, you are on your own now. Use your instincts. We are no longer of help to you. I’m going to send a message to Luke to come to the garden. He may or may not. But, once he sees you here, tell him everything! He will be great protection to you!” Brody says, sounding sure of his plan and also sounding like a cheesy line out of a movie. ‘
He will be great protection to you’,
who talks like that? I can’t help but laugh.

“What if he doesn’t believe me?” I say while nervously biting my nails. I feel like I’m going to throw up. Why am I even doing this? I should’ve just stayed home.

Brody looks at me with serious eyes. “You being here will be enough to make him listen.” Then he and the three guys are gone. They are invisible or transported somewhere else. Who knows? Holy shit, what do I do now?

I stand here completely clueless. I sit down on a bench and wait… and wait …and wait until I hear footsteps behind me. I quickly stand up and really wish I had magic or some sort of defense. What if it’s Lana or someone who seeks my death? I turn around, prepared to die. Instead of being someone who wants me dead, it’s Luke. I don’t have any words to say. I stutter out some unintelligible words, but stop trying to talk when I realize I’m too baffled to speak.

“Wha—” Luke starts to talk, but stops. He rubs the back of his head and looks around. He quickly grabs me by the arm and pulls me behind a large tree. I swear that thing is almost as tall as the castle. Whispering and running his hand through his hair, he asks, “Holly…How…I mean… When…What the hell are you doing here!?”

“It was all a lie, Luke. I’m not in a relationship with Brody.” I confess as a tear slides down my cheek. I wish there was a way I could tell him everything all at once, but I think what I said is a good start. He backs away from me and leans against the tree. He puts his hands in his pockets and takes a deep breath. He looks down at me with that hurt look again.
I really don’t like that look.

“Luke, it was a lie. We did it so you would come back here. We thought it was the right thing to do. You know, save your world and all. We were wrong. I—” Before I can say anything else he wraps his arms tightly around me and holds me close to him. His touch sends chills down my spine and brings immediate comfort.

“Damnit, Holly. That shit hurt.”

“I know. It was stupid. I’m so sorry.” He pulls away from me just a little and smiles.
There are the butterflies in my stomach I’ve missed so much
. He puts his hand gently under my chin and lifts my lips to his, kissing me softly.

“How did you get here?” He asks while leading me somewhere.

“Brody, Jett and Mason.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that. Brody sent me a message to come out here. I didn’t know what he could possibly want. I was ready to come out here and kill him,” he says while laughing and then his look goes from happy to serious. Obviously remembering how I hurt him. I am going to have to apologize a million times…or more.

“I’m
so
sorry. I thought what we did was the right thing at the time.”

“I felt so betrayed. But, that doesn‘t matter anymore.”

“What do we do now?” I ask, not sure if I want to know the answer. I don’t feel like fighting with someone who has magic when I don’t. Not a fair fight at all. Right now, I just want to be in his arms and pretend people don’t want to kill me.

“I’m not sure.” He sits down on the ground and rests his back against a tree. I sit down between his legs, with my back pressed against his chest. He wraps his arms around me. “Holly?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you really here?”

I shift my body so I can face him. I furrow my eyebrows. “For you. That’s a dumb question, Luke.”

“I don’t think it is. Are you sure this is what you want?”

“No.”

He laughs a little. “Things are about to get crazy, Holly. I mean insane. You do realize that right?”

“Luke, things have been stupid crazy since the day I texted you back. I would be lying if I said I didn’t constantly tell myself how stupid I am for going along with all of this. But I guess my curiosity is getting the best of me. I want to see where this is going to go.”

He kisses me softly then smiles against my lips. “Good.”

“HOLLY, WAKE UP,”
Luke says quietly.

“We fell asleep,” I state the obvious.

He laughs and nods. “Yes we did. We better get inside.”

“I can go in there? Isn’t La—” I start to say her name when the painful realization comes over me that he is engaged to marry Lana—
today
. I stand up and start nervously biting my nails.

“Damnit.” Luke is rubbing the back of his neck while he is trying to think of what to do or say. “I have to find a way to call it off. Having you here made me forget all about it.”

“Do you know about the prophecy?”

“About me and Lana getting married? Yes. If we marry we will have an unbreakable bond. If one of us broke the bond we would die.”

“No, Luke. I mean about how you were destined to fall in love with a mortal. You have a free will and can choose either path—” I start to say more, but the more I talk the more confused he looks.

“Holly, what the hell are you talking about!?”

“Brody told me that there could be world peace. Like with your world and mine. He said that if you married Lana, it could be the end of both of our worlds. Lana and her family want to take over Earth. When you and her marry, you both will become very powerful because something about magic bonding? I don’t know, maybe you should talk to Brody.” I’m confusing myself. I’ve never been good at being the messenger. If this was a game of telephone, I would fail miserably.

Luke is standing in front of me, still looking confused and rubbing the back of his neck. He looks at me and then looks at the castle. “We have to go talk to my parents. Maybe they will know more.”

I sigh. “Is Lana in there?”

“No. She is probably preparing for the marriage ceremony.”

“Oh. This isn’t going to end well is it?” I ask while biting what is left of my nails.

He doesn’t say anything else, but the worried look on his face makes me think I’m right. He grabs me by my hand and leads the way to the castle.