The Girl Cried Wolf

In Ash"s mind, however, there was no difference: she truly believed that she was in the Forest, and so there she was. For her, the hallucination felt real.

[[Ash"s Delirium: Night 2]]

I have returned to the Forest, but the fairies were not there to greet me. I wanted to see the Prince again, but I couldn"t seem to find him. I asked the fireflies where his Highness was, but they flitted about, lighting my path without pointing me in any particular direction.

I realized that I made a mistake the last time I was here: I did not ask the Prince his name nor did I tell him mine. Cinderella made this mistake, and her prince had to search the entire kingdom for her. At least she left him a shoe to find her with. I took everything with me when I left and trusted that I would find my way back. Perhaps we"ll never find each other now.

In the dream, Ash sat alone and waited. The fireflies continued to dance around her.

***

In the woods, something dark was stirring. The cold air moved in heavy whorls, disturbing the regular flight patterns of the unsuspecting birds that moved through them. Patches of snow melted in concentric trails with such mathematical accuracy that no wild animal could have possibly made them. Stranger still, the patterns looked like they were stamped from beneath the ground. Melting snow revealed diadem figures that seemed to sprout geyser-like from beneath the earth, and yet the ground itself was still cold to the touch.

In the spot where Ash and Hunter had left the deer carca.s.s, the cold air spun, flurries waving in mad patterns in the air. The carca.s.s was a few days old and the scavengers had already picked off most of the meat. The wind seemed to pick up the old bones, spinning them slowly at first, then faster and faster, until they floated off the ground. The bones spun round and round in a cyclone, until suddenly the cycle just stopped. In mid-air the bones hung---and then quick as a blink, they exploded into a fine dust.

Ancient eyes were opening and a powerful old energy stirred beneath the cold ground.

***

Monday Morning: Free Period

Ash was busy going through the stacks at the Academy Library. Her fever lasted four days and she had needed the weekend to recover.

Ash had only missed a couple of days of school, but she was eager to go back to cla.s.s. She had been cooped up inside her dorm room for the last few days, falling in and out of sleep, and dreaming strange dreams about a prince in the forest who was also blond-haired pizza delivery guy.

She smiled to herself as she recalled her fever dreams, amused at how ridiculous they were. Ludicrous as the "Pizza Prince" in the Forest Palace was, she couldn"t help but feel the whole thing was, somehow, at least a little bit real, even if it was just real to her.

"You"re back."

Ash nearly dropped the thick volume she was holding when she heard the voice from behind her.

She turned her head to see who it was and nearly fell forward on to the book shelf. It was the Pizza Prince!

He put his hand on the shelf and leaned his body toward her. Ash felt her face go red. At the same time, she tried to sift through the muddy puddle of her confused brain. Why was the Pizza Prince in the library? Why was he sucking all the air out of the room and leaving her breathless in a public place? Didn"t he know he was a hallucination from her fevered mind?

As if in answer to her question, the voice said,

"I asked Celia how you were and she told me you had a fever?"

Ash turned around to face the figment of her imagination. Her heart dropped to her knees when she saw that it was Hunter Guzman leaning over her. She felt a jackhammer slamming away in her chest. She would much rather have the Pizza Prince there than Hunter---at least she could talk to the Pizza Prince. Around Hunter, she was practically a mute.

Hunter stared down at the red-faced Ash. He could feel the warm feeling starting at the back of his neck. Apparently, simple proximity to Ash Parker already made him feel good and tingly.

"You okay?" he asked.

One shelf down, Celia was straining to hear Hunter as he spoke to Ash. She hadn"t mentioned Hunter coming by the Girls" Dorm at all to Ash, and now she was hoping that Ash wouldn"t ask about that. From what she could see though, it seemed that she had nothing to worry about as Ash had frozen into a human statue.

Hunter tucked a stray blond hair behind his ear with his free hand. Ash still hadn"t responded to anything he"d said and now he was just staring at the top of her head. He dropped to his knees in front of her and met her eyes.

One shelf down, Celia nearly toppled a book case as she followed Hunter"s movement with her eyes. She dropped down to sit on the floor, even more eager to listen in.

"Hey, about that night. Was that your first time?" Hunter asked.

Celia"s hand clapped silently over her wide open mouth. Ashy-washy with the shiny black hair had gone and done it! She"d been rolling around with Hunter on the night she disappeared?! Celia"s eyes darted back and forth as she processed what she had just heard.

Ash, on the other hand, only looked at him, confused.

"It"s okay. I was surprised. I hadn"t expected you at all, but you were great."

Celia was shocked. Ash was the one who asked Hunter? She didn"t know that Ash had b.a.l.l.s like that! It was a straight-up boss move.

Ash just furrowed her eyebrows. What was Hunter talking about?

"Look, I know the first time is hard and it"s crazy after, but if you wanna go again, I"m here for you, okay? I got you."

Celia started wheezing into her hand. Her friend was so good that the golden G.o.d wanted another go at her! Ash was a queen! Long live the queen!

"And don"t worry. I didn"t tell anyone. I can keep it a secret as long as you can too."

A secret romance to boot? Celia was practically convulsing on the library floor. She was over the moon for her friend. And Ash still hadn"t said a word to Hunter. She had him whipped! The woman was a queen and a boss! A boss queen!

Ash still had no idea what Hunter was talking about. What did he mean? What secret?

Hunter felt the warm tingly feeling spread from the back of his neck, down the length of his spine. Ash still hadn"t responded to him, but the more he talked about shifting with her, the more the warm feeling spread in his body. He liked the warm feeling; it made him feel good. It made him feel free.

Hunter took Ash"s face in his hand and rising to his feet, lifted her face so that he could see her eye to eye. With her warm brown eyes looking into his, he lowered himself and kissed her on the mouth. He felt the gentle warmth envelop him entirely and he hungrily pressed his tongue into Ash"s mouth. Their tongues met and slid together languidly, two fishes gliding together in pure spring water.

As their lips met, Ash"s mind went blank, and her hands went around Hunter"s neck as she tried to steady herself. His mouth was like a white heat melting her senses. As she closed her eyes, she could see sparks of blue lightning flashing, and electricity coursed through her veins.

And then, the whole room went dark.

Somewhere in the woods, the ancient eyes blinked and the sky cried lightning.