The Locket (19 page)

“The king drew it.”

He instantly paused, mid-sentence, mid-thought, and mid-expression. “The king?” he confirmed.

She nodded. “Mhm, he gave it to me just before I left the palace.” Christian had a look on his face that made her laugh out loud. It was a mixture of astonishment and embarrassment. “Is there a problem?”

“No. But I am a bit taken aback.” His father, his own military-controlling, country-ruling father, drew what looked like a child’s artwork. This was ridiculous, she had to be lying. “I do not believe you.”

Glaring at him in what he now considered the look she produced solely for him, Savannah made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a sigh. How could someone so oddly, though astoundingly, well-bred be so pigheaded? “Are you calling me a liar?”

“What if I am?” he asked defiantly. “What are you going to do about it?”

She thought about this and decided, “Nothing. There is nothing for me to do now, but like I’ve said before, one day you’ll get yours. One of these days I will be able to frighten you so much that the sheer thought of me will send shivers down your spine.” She stalked off, head held up high.

Christian glowered at her. She could not frighten me, not in a million years, he thought, heading after her. The fact that she even considered that idea was almost amusing.

Almost.

On the other hand, maybe it was better off this way. Savannah could be highly disagreeable. Not to mention that he was getting a bit more emotionally vulnerable than he liked. What if he told her his feelings, told her the truth about him, and she ran off and told everyone where he was hiding anyway? What would he do then? No, it was best to separate himself from her and travel on his own.

***

Finally out of earshot of Chris, Savannah let out a growl, followed by a consoling sigh. “At least I won’t have to deal with his enormous ego now,” she reassured herself. But the fact that she was traveling alone and without protection or someone to talk to, gave her a sense of longing for him to come back. It was not anything personal, of course: just a need for something to do or feel safe.

And she felt, strangely, that she now needed Christian to give her both of those things.

She took a deep breath and let it out in distress. Why were boys so difficult? Why did they need to be the bosses of everything?

Finding an excuse to change the topic in her own head, Savannah took the time to appreciate the beauty of the world around her: the silky textures, the pastel colors of the sky, the adventurous vibes of the trees and bushes. Why had she not noticed before how full of magic this realm was? Not ordinary magic, such as pulling a rabbit out of a hat or a wave of a wizard’s wand, but a magic that filled your heart, like love, happiness, and not-every-day miracles.

You know, despite everything, this place is amazing, she thought. I suppose that’s not such a bad thing. In fact it’s pretty cool, since I used to love all this fairytale junk when I was a kid. The problem is that I just can’t shake this feeling that something horrible is going to happen—something that cannot be resolved at the end of this story that I must leading. I feel like I’m the main character out of a fantasy novel and that this adventure that I’m on is a real journey. But what if it’s not like any of those stories that I’ve read? What if this all turns out to be more like reality than I thought, with bandits and murderers and more realistic endings instead of the typical “happily ever after” ones? What if I don’t ever go back to where I came from? What if I have to stay here … forever?

Savannah had not thought that this harmless little fantasyland could be so frightening. But it was. Once the sky grew dim, the trees became nothing more than dark, threatening shadows. As she walked further up the path, she tried thinking to herself how the forest looked in the daylight. She tried picturing its childlike appearance, filled with more creatures like Dimitri and Isabelle.

She carried on, trying to keep nothing but good thoughts in her head. Nothing seemed to sooth her as well as she hoped.

This time, when she took another cautious step onward, the bloodcurdling howl of an animal overthrew all other sounds of the night. Chilled to the marrow, she darted her eyes all around her, seeing as best she could in the darkness. Maybe it was about time she packed it in. She should get some sleep for tomorrow anyway.

Throughout her childhood, Savannah had always believed that whenever she fell asleep, nothing would be able to harm her, and all of the haunting fears would vanish. They were beginning to, fortunately, when she closed her eyes and rested on the dry leaves. After a while though, so many thoughts were roaming in her mind all at once that sleeping seemed an impossible task.

Okay so let me get this straight, she thought. After my mom dies of an abrupt disease brought on by traveling through this necklace, Jenny and Tom take me in and I move to live with them in New York City. On the second night, my mother’s locket opens on my bed and reveals a dimension-changing, world-traveling portal. When I get here, the king’s assistant, Lance, greets me thinking that I am my mom, and when he finds that I am not, he takes me, more than a little pissed off, to the palace anyway. The royal family asks me to travel across the Mysterious Forest to talk to their general before war breaks out and, stupid me, I agree.

When I first come into the forest, I meet a fairy named Isabelle who tells me my future and, in doing so, totally freaks me out. Not long after, I bump into probably the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, who later turns out to be a real idiot. Then we meet a kind vampire and soon after leaving him, Chris and I get into another huge fight and split up at the path break. And now I am here alone … in the dark …under one of the scariest trees that I have ever seen.

When the sound of howling echoed through the woods again, she squeezed her eyes more tightly shut and curled up into a ball. Great.

***

It was not long before Savannah heard a minor rustling in the leaves. How long had she been asleep? A minute? An hour? Hearing the sound again, she quickly sat up, whipping her head in all directions to find where the sound was coming from.

Hearing it again, she got to her feet and took a better look around. It didn’t occur to her how odd it was that, though the rest of the world was dark around her, one sliver of the forest shown with the brightness of dawn. And in that sliver she saw a figure running, no, rocketing through the trees in fear. Clearer now, she saw—Christian? It couldn’t have been. But it was. What was he running from?

Switching her attention to what was far enough behind him, she saw a tall and ghastly figure that had to have been five times the size of a regular human being, or three times the size of what would be considered a giant man in the real world. He was insanely bulky, with both his teeth and his ears being a deep yellow and sharply pointed. His eyes were as black as a midnight sky, his skin as rubbery as latex, and his nose as large as a coffee mug. The figure wore a green and brown toga made entirely of leaves and vines, while his shoes were leather that twisted all the way up to his knees. The creature was, utterly and completely, an ogre.

Shuffling through her head to try and think up a scheme to help him, Savannah realized that her list of options was short. A rage built inside of her, a rage that more than wanted—needed her to help her friend. Everything was happening all at once, and it started to torment her. Why couldn’t the ogres here just be sarcastic and harmless like Shrek? Why did they have to be so aggressive and evil in this place?

She sighed. Well, she thought, it only makes it that much harder for me to stop him.

It had not taken long for her to gain the courage to chase after them and give Chris a hand. But before she could take a first step toward them, something was stopping her from moving, something powerful. There was some sort of solid force keeping her feet nailed to the ground whenever she attempted to move them.  A tingle seeped up her leg and pushed down at the same time. It was not fright or panic, that much she knew. At least not fright or panic for herself. Though it was making her impatient knowing that there was not much time between now and when the ogre would eventually reach his prey. Let’s face it, she thought, there is no way, no matter how fast he is, that Chris can out run a creature like that.

Knowing her time was limited, Savannah tried lifting her leg again with much more force. This time panic did begin to spread throughout her body as it hit her that she was stuck somehow. She didn’t know how exactly, but she didn’t care, as she surveyed the scene again and saw the ogre gaining on him. A ball of ice-cold fear made its way into her stomach at the thought of Christian being hurt, or worse.

Thrashing her body left and right, pulling as hard as she could, her legs still wouldn’t move. She feverishly pulled at branches, trying as hard as she could to move herself. Her time was almost up!

With a sob escaping her lips, she realized there was no more for her to do then watch the grisly ogre, who did in fact catch up with him, block Christian’s attempts to knock him out with a stone and heavy stick. After restraining Christian against the ground, the ogre tried strangling him. It was a long and grueling struggle, but he managed to knock Christian out first and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Savannah started again to lift her legs, but they would not budge. Tears choked up in her throat as she watched the ogre haul her friend’s motionless body to his camp. Thankfully, he was only unconscious and not dead, but if she did not do something soon, he would be.

The ogre brought him to a small, closed-in area of trees, where a hefty black cauldron stood bubbling over a fire. Steam as thick as the heaviest fog lifted from the hot water and spread around the bushes and grass.

He tied his prisoner tight to a fat oak tree, the rope firm enough to be impossible to undo with human hands. How could she possibly untie him?

There was not much time for that. Something had to be done before Christian was. But how could Savannah do anything to save him when she was stuck?

As she strived to imagine a plan, she noticed the ogre grabbing for his pocketknife and heading to where his defenseless hostage was tied up. His eyes were burning with the desire for an immoral deed. “No!” she shouted. “No! Stop it! Christian, wake up! WAKE UP!” He did not move. His body was completely lifeless. “Please, oh please, wake up!”

Savannah instantly sat up out of breath, sweat trickling down her face, and looked around her. There was nothing there. No Christian, no campsite, no ogre; just the solitude of the night. Had it been a dream? It must have been. Then another thought triggered her mind. Oh no, she thought. He’s in trouble!

Without hesitation, she snapped out of her bed of leaves, snatched her backpack from a nearby log, and sprinted as fast as she could through the woods to the split in the path that she had come from. Taking the left side, her breath came out in gasps. Ignoring the pain in her legs and lungs, she ran without faltering in fear of being too late.

I hope I get to him before that ogre does, Savannah prayed, gaining speed as she saw dawn rising in the distance.

She dashed beyond the tree branches and slashed through the tall grass, desperate to overcome her vision. In the past, her dreams had foreseen the death of her parents, and there was no way now that she was about to let the same thing happen to her only real friend in this world.

The sky lit brighter with the mounting sun as her legs grew exhausted with the fierce pain of running too much and too fast. Her heart thudded madly and her lungs grew hungry for long breaths of fresh air. Would three years on the varsity track team finally pay off?

Shortly, she came to a region of the forest she recognized by the increasing size of its trees and bushes. This had to be where all the forest’s ogres were banished, which meant it wouldn’t be long now before she reached the ogre’s camp.

When Savannah felt that she had at last reached the right spot, her suspicions were confirmed at the sight of a limp body lying powerlessly against an oak tree. What now? She could not exactly walk right up to a vicious beast, say “hey, that’s my friend you’re holding captive,” ask to untie him, and go on her merry way. No, she would have to conjure up a plan—quickly. Inspecting the area for any sign of a way to help, the most obvious solution, she found, was directly in front of her.

The bark on the tree was dry, weak, and it crumbled without much difficulty, making it that much more challenging for her to reach the top. Climbing to each new branch, she at last made it to a sturdy, high bough that allowed her to fully stand and spy below.

The beast was already well on his way to his prisoner, dagger in hand. This was the first time that she had gotten a second chance with her gift, or a chance at all to change what was once to be, and she was not about to blow it. Surveying the scene below her, Savannah reminded herself of the rope tied tight around the hostage. It was clear that she was no match for the ogre, physically anyway. If only she could untie Christian and somehow find a way to drag him away from the campsite … the dagger! That was it. The ogre’s dagger!