Zilferia
Alexander and Pearl

I bolt upright in bed, screaming. I am covered in sweat from head to toe and shaking. I put my head in my hands and take deep breaths. It’s alright… it was just another nightmare… it’s not real… And yet it was so vivid and realistic… I can still hear the wicked cackling of Patrick and feel his hands grabbing a hold of me once again, preparing to lock me up forever and torture me again and again…

I shudder and stand, swaying. I quickly make my way out of the room, tears streaming down my face from between my hands, dripping off my chin and onto my neck, where it traces a small, thin line past my collarbone and into my shirt. I continue to sob quietly as I open the door to my favorite part of the house- the balcony.

I stumble toward the chair next to the edge and collapse into it, my face still buried in my hands. Just as I hoped, the chilly early-winter air helps me to begin to forget about the nightmare. My hot, fevered skin soon cools and I can see my breath in the crisp, cold air. I slowly pull my hands from my face and look up. The sky around me is filled with the first snow of the year. The big, soft, and perfectly white flakes dance all around me, landing on my nose, eyelashes, and lips. I blink them off of my eyes and catch them on my tongue.

A small smile begins to lift my lips. I have always loved snow, been enchanted by it. As the snow swirls around me, my skin feels cold to the touch, but I don’t care or even notice. I slowly begin to join the flakes as they dance and soon I am twirling around the balcony in my silky, white pajamas, my wet hair sticking to my scalp, and a broad grin on my lips.

When I stop, I have to sit down because I am too tired and dizzy. I laugh a happy, stress-free laugh for the first time in more than a year. It feels so good I do it again, listening to it echo off the mountains. By now, the warmth from my skin has melted the snow on me and I am once again soaked. My body finally realizes how cold it is and suddenly I have goosebumps and begin shivering. I wring out my hair and start towards the door when it suddenly swings open, revealing the figure of my best friend.

“Crystal?” Nathan says disbelievingly as he steps forward into the coating of snow on the balcony. He eyes the path in the snow caused by my dancing. “What are you doing out here? Are you insane?” He asks jokingly, blinking as the snow lands on his eyelashes. A light coating of snow highlights his brown hair, making it sparkle from the light coming from the hallway behind him.

I smile. “Maybe. That depends on how you look at it,” I laugh. “After all, you came out here as well, did you not?”

He can’t help but smile back. “Alright, fine. You caught me red-handed. I am a crazy sleepwalker who likes to freeze to death,” he mocks me. “I’m out here because I couldn’t sleep, actually.”

“Ah,” I say. “I know how that is. I was just about to go back inside, as a matter of fact. It’s a little chilly out here,” I say sarcastically. He steps forward and takes one of my hands, withdrawing it almost instantly. Eyebrows furrowed, he then puts his hands on my bare arms. They are so warm compared to my frozen skin that I’m a bit startled.

“Wow!” he exclaims. “How long were you out here? Your skin is like ice!”

“I don’t know,” I contemplate, turning to look at the horizon. The sun is just beginning to come up. “Over an hour?”

“What?! You’re going to get hypothermia or something!” I let him guide me inside, back into the warmth. He runs and grabs me a towel from the swimming room and wraps it around my shoulders. My face feels hotter than usual, and for a moment I am concerned that I really have caught something, but then I realize that I’m just blushing. Wait… blushing? Why am I blushing? I’ve spent a long time with Nathan and I know him super well… why do I suddenly feel different when he does the same things for me as he always would? He hasn’t changed… so how have I? I shake it off and force the blush to disappear, a talent I learned a while back whenever I sat by a cute boy at school. This is different… I don’t know what happened to me over the past little while, but I am acting differently, and I don’t like it.

We get hot chocolate from the kitchen and sip it slowly while sitting on the couch, side by side. I feel the blush starting to come on again, but I force it to fade away, stuffing my emotions deep inside for me to sort out later. Now I feel calm and at peace as well as safe, just like I always have with Nathan. I start to wonder if that was all a figment of my imagination.

I don’t want to go back to bed, and Nathan doesn’t seem to want to either, so we decide to make the most of our last day on Zilferia together. Without disturbing our Familiars or anyone else in the house, we quickly get dressed and head out into the snow. Nathan holds an umbrella that we both huddle under as we walk through the gently drifting snow. We head toward the woods, not to replace anything, but simply to walk.

As we make tracks through the deepening snow, we don’t know where we are going, and we don’t exactly care. We just walk, enjoying being alone together in the soft silence; in the peace we missed for almost the entire time of being in Zilferia. After walking for a while, I pick a tree and climb, Nathan following right behind me. We go as high as we dare, then turn and look out over the clean white landscape. The sky slowly transfers from gray to blue, almost too slowly for us to notice it. Not long later, the sun is peeking over the mountains, the sky above us a bright, nearly cloudless, blue. The snow slowly stops falling and we watch as the sun slides into the sky, boldly shining over the land made new. The sunlight sparkles and shines on the snow, but it is still cool enough that it doesn’t start melting yet.

After a while, we climb back down and continue walking around. I stop as I hear something coming towards us and warily watch as a large bush in front of us rustles as a large, powerful liger steps out to meet us. I had no idea that they had ligers on Zilferia, I thought that making a tiger lion was just something that people on Second Earth did. Apparently not.

The liger turns to face us, snarling. I don’t move, just lock eyes with it, even though I have been told not to do so because they take that as a challenge. I stare it down for a minute or two. Finally, it lowers its head to me slightly and continues on its way. Nathan stares at me, amazed. I’m surprised as well. I thought that being able to befriend animals was one of my Gifts, which were all taken my Patrick and his Dragon Hunters.

After walking around for a little longer, we decide to head back to the Dragon Mansion since my parents are probably up by now. When we get back, no one is awake yet except the servants, who ignore us and continue with their business. One takes our coats, boots, and umbrella. Nathan and I sneak into the living room, where we sit down on a couch just before Alexander and Pearl come down.

Thaddeus joins us for breakfast, which is a grand farewell feast that is so large Nathan and I just sample everything and get really full really fast. I notice that Thaddeus has a surprisingly large appetite as he downs dish after dish, even continuing long after Nathan and I get full and have to stop.

After breakfast, we head out with our Familiars. We don’t know exactly what we will do with them once we get home, but we can’t just leave them here, so we are taking them with us. It has started snowing again, but it’s pretty light and there aren’t many clouds in the sky. We head toward the woods. After we get in a ways, Thaddeus stops in front of a large bush and turns around.

I am surprised to see his eyes are filled with tears as he says, “Crystal, my little niece, and Nathan, I will miss you both. You are both very intelligent, kind, and caring, and are great examples to me. Thank you for teaching me what it is to be young again.” He says, then steps away, filled with emotion. I’m surprised by this since he seemed almost not human because of how smart he was- he was never wrong and he never really talked about anything that didn’t pertain to the task at hand- which was keeping us alive through the Games.

Now Pearl comes up to us. She gives me a hug and whispers in my ear that she loves me. I swallow, forcing the tears down before they start to flow. She then puts her hands on my shoulders and tells me that I am always welcome to come home and stay for any length of time. She extends the same invitation to Nathan, saying that he should include himself with the Dragon family and he will be welcome at their house at any time for any reason.

Alexander then comes up, clearing his throat. He finally gets out that he loves us and will let us make our own decisions although he would rather we be a family now, but he loves us anyway. He has basically adopted Nathan into the family, as has Pearl. When all the goodbyes are finished, Thaddeus tells us that he will give us word about our first universe to search for Rex in through the watches, but that the message will not come for a while so we have some time to rest at home.

“Oh, and remember, it isn’t winter yet in your dimensions; we froze time there, so it will be exactly the same as you left it. Alright? So have fun back in your old homes for a few months; recuperate and just enjoy yourself. I will give you a call in a few earth months. …Goodbye,” he chokes out, walking away.

Nathan turns to me and smiles. “See you in a few months then?”

“Right,” I say. We give each other a quick hug and then, with one last wave of farewell, Nathan walks through the portal, with Greg riding proudly on his shoulder. Swallowing, I stride forward and walk through as well, calling one last goodbye to my parents and great-uncle.

Once again, there is a flash of light and I feel like I am being tickled, then I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. When I stand up and look around, I don’t replace shimmering whiteness like I did when I came to Zilferia. This time, it’s a gleaming silver. There isn’t music like the trees in Zilferia, but the sound of wind through normal trees- no music, no singing, just rustling leaves and the call of birds. I suddenly feel very homesick and I can’t wait to arrive. I can tell I’m almost there when I double over once again as something invisible seems to punch me in the stomach. When I look up, I see the thugs that had escorted me to the portal to Zilferia. I stand and suddenly remember how one of them had shoved me into the portal.

Without warning, I stand and lunge toward that man and shove him into the wall, which is no longer a portal. He slams into it harder than I expected. I glance down at myself and realize that I’m a lot tougher than I was before I left, despite my time in the Dragon Hunter’s castle and the hospital. My arms are actually quite muscular, as are my legs. I strip off my coat and jacket I had on, leaving just a black t-shirt. I put my hands on my hips and stare threateningly at the other thugs as the first one slowly pulls himself off the ground, glancing at Nora as she hovers beside me.

“Well? You punks need to take me home now, remember?” I glance up at the sky and see the moon- the exact same as the night I left it. I lead the thugs back inside the building and replace Kiki still asleep at the table. I slip my hand into her jacket pocket and sure enough, there’s my old cell phone that I had tucked into her pocket as I was leaving for Zilferia. I put it in my jeans pocket and pick her up. She continues to sleep because of the sandwich Vlad gave her before we left.

Wow, this all seems to have happened so long ago… yet nothing has changed. This will take some getting used to, I decide as we walk toward the vans. The thugs cower behind me. They were frightened of me even before Zilferia, and they are quite terrified now. I smirk a little. Serves them right.

We pass the form of the ‘Strangler,’ as I called the thug who suffocated me so long ago and I can’t help but smile at my handiwork. He’s still knocked out, after all this time… I hop into the passenger side of the white van, Kiki on my lap. I tell him to drive me back to the park where they kidnapped me, and step on it.

The man gulps, but decides to hold his ground. “Where’s Vlad?” he demands. “I take orders from him, not you. Where is he?”

I’m surprised. I hadn’t thought that any of these thugs had an ounce of loyalty- or courage, for that matter. “Vlad stayed in Zilferia,” I reply. “He told me to tell you to get me home, and then just continue on with your lives. You are released of duty once I get home.”

“Ah,” the man says, putting the key in the ignition. “Then I will drive,” he says and starts heading back the way we came… or so I’m guessing, since I was out cold for most of the ride the first time.

Two hours later, we finally reach the park that seemed to have started it all, the change of my entire life and countenance, as well as my strength and experiences. I have grown so much in the past eight months or so that I don’t know if my own… ‘family’ will recognize me… I mean, almost dying multiple times changes a person.

Once Kiki and I are out of the van, the guy takes off at top speed, apparently anxious to resume his life from before I met Vlad. I smile a little, for that is exactly what I am about to try to do- resume my former life. At least, for now.

When we get home after I hotwired the car since I forgot my car keys somewhere on Zilferia, the sun is just starting to come up. I take Kiki upstairs and tuck her into bed, hoping that when she wakes up, she will just assume that it was a weird dream she had that we were kidnapped. Then I head to my own bed, finally tired from waking up so early that morning in Zilferia and dancing in the snow. Nora perches on the post of my bed nearest to my head. I feel comforted having her here with me. I fall asleep remembering my friendships I had forged in Zilferia, a smile on my face and feeling thankful for that particular trial in my life. My last thought is, When ‘mom and dad’ come home, they will have some explaining to do… I always knew I didn’t quite fit in here. I know they love me, but… I fall asleep even as I am thinking about what the future may bring.

‡‡‡

Nathan grits his teeth as he goes through the portal, once again feeling as though he was suffocating. Once it fades, however, he opens his eyes and realizes that he’s not surrounded by shimmering white this time, but a glistening black. He doesn’t hear the song of the Zilferian trees any longer, but the screech of metal on metal instead. It grates on his ears, but luckily, it doesn’t last long.

He pops out of the portal back on top of the old building where he first met Vlad. Nathan looks around the pre-dawn landscape and breathes in the smell of smoke that permeates the area. Ah, finally. Back home, where I belong. Good old Tanguay… wow I’ve missed this place. He climbs down and meets the thugs that beat him up the first day he was there. His lip curls with disgust and he can barely keep himself from beating them up. At least they have the decency of mind to be surprised and afraid that he’s back- because that meant that he survived the Games… which you basically only win if you and your team member survive. They realize that this means that Nathan’s stronger than them, and they know it. It helps that Greg hisses angrily at them as well, he supposes.

He grins, glad at their fear. “Let’s go,” he says, walking straight through the group. They silently make way for him, then slowly follow, their footsteps cautious. He climbs into one of the vans and has one of the thugs drive him back to where they left his backpack and bike all those months ago. After he hops out, they take off as fast as they can, tires squealing until they launch into the air and rejoin the flow of traffic overhead. Nathan smirks and puts his backpack on. He feels the weight of his clarinet in it; a weight that he hadn’t felt for so long, the once familiar feel of it was now unknown and strange to him.

Nathan climbs onto his bike and begins making his way home, stress that he never realized he had been carrying gradually melting away. Finally, I’m home… He’s relieved to be back where he belongs, but that doesn’t mean he’s not already looking forward to the adventures he’ll have in the future with Crystal ‘Shay’ Dragon while looking for her brother in all the known universes.