As The Clock Strikes Twelve [8]

Chapter Eight

Wells Knows All

The dream she had that night was so amazingly wonderful Sheanna wished never to wake up.

Sheanna dreamed that she was back in her real world—and that wasn’t the wonderful part. She also dreamed Sedare was there, a new student enrolling in her school.

She took him under her wing, showing him the ropes of the school. In her dream, she was much more rebellious then she really was in real life, and Sedare happily assisted her with a few pranks she was playing.

The dream ended with an oh-so-pleasant kiss and the two of them running off into the sunset, much like a fairytale book.

When Sheanna woke up, she was very surprised to find herself on the ground. Then she realized her dream was just a dream, and she moaned, turning to face the sky.

The sun was just rising, and the faint glow cast red and orange lights over the trees, leaving long, elegant shadows. Sheanna sat up and found a blanket around her.

Immediately she realized it pink and black; the colors of Sedare’s blanket. She smiled and looked around to thank him.

But Sedare was not there, as if though her dream had ended, he was stuck inside it still. But when she closed her eyes and did not see him wandering around, looking for another dream to fall into, she immediately assumed he was off in the forest, wandering around aimlessly. Once she had confirmed he was definitely not in the area, she rubbed her cheek to his blanket and sighed dreamily.

She heard the birds singing again, just as she had in Sedare’s home, and she lay down on her back, clutching Sedare’s blanket. It was warm, soft, protecting, and it was no wonder that Sedare had kept it with him all these years. She closed her eyes, hoping perhaps to drift to her dream again, but before she could get too comfortable she heard a rustling of Vanessa’s tent. Sheanna turned her head lazily, and she saw against the thin layer of tent a silhouette of a person go to open the tent door. She bolted into a seating position, scared Vanessa would be coming out to talk to her, but it wasn’t Vanessa she saw coming out of the tent.

“Sedare!” she screamed. “What are you doing—?”

“’Morning, Princess.” Sedare cut her off and greeted her with his low, mocking bow before striding over. “Sleep well?”

“Sedare!” Sheanna screamed again, still in shock. “Did you go and talk to—?”

“Victoria?” he cut her off again. “Yes, I saved you the trouble.”

Sheanna’s eyes went wide. Vanessa might of believed and forgiven Sheanna, but Sedare, whom she didn’t even know . . .

Sheanna wasn’t sure what she was to say. Sedare sat down by her, picking up a twig from the forest floor and poking the fireplace with it. The embers still glowed, as if the fire had only been out for a little while, but Sheanna couldn’t be sure.

Finally, Sheanna chose words. “What did she say?”

“That you were forgiven,” he said, and then before Sheanna could reply he said, “No need to thank me, Princess. It was my pleasure.” He smirked.

“Sheanna,” Sheanna whispered gruffly. “My name is Sheanna, not Princess.”

“Right, of course. But, you see, Princess”—Sheanna shot Sedare a glare—“it’s much more fun to annoy you.”

“And why would that be?” asked Sheanna, handing Sedare back his blanket and scooting closer to him.

“Well, mostly because of your reaction,” he replied, taking his blanket back from her. “And also because I only get one life to live, and I don’t want to live following the rules and making everyone happy. In fact, people usually remember the ones who tease them more than the ones who please them.”

Sheanna considered this, and then shrugged. “It really doesn’t bother me that much.

“You’re not fooling me, Princess.”

Sheanna held in her groan.

Sedare didn’t hold in his laugh, though. “I’ve answered your questions, now it’s my turn. How’d you sleep?”

Sheanna shrugged, trying not to show him how amazing her night had been. “Alright. Yours?”

Sedare’s reaction was exactly the same; his lazy shrug, nonchalant expression, and he even repeated the words she said. “Alright. Yours?”

Sheanna smiled. “We’ve already been through that.”

“Have we? Well, why don’t we go through it a second time?”

Sheanna laughed, and then her smile disappeared, thinking something.

“What’s wrong?” Sedare asked, surprised by her sudden change of expression.

“How’d you convince Vanessa to forgive me? She’s cautious about strangers, and, well. . .”

“Oh, no.” Sedare shook his head sternly. “It’s my turn to ask questions, remember?”

“Actually,” Sheanna correct softly, “you specifically asked ‘what’s wrong,’ so technically, you did ask me a question.”

A grin stole over Sedare’s face. “Clever girl,” he said.

Sheanna beamed back. “Do I get another ticket?” she hoped.

“Sorry, Princess. I’m fresh out of tickets.”

“Oh? How many tickets did you have?”

“One.”

“And who has that ticket now?”

“You.”

“Hm. Perhaps I ought to give it back.”

“Perhaps.”

They sat in the silence for a while, each of them watching the glow the sun cast over the leaves fade. It wasn’t long before Vanessa walked out of her tent and joined them, a small basket in her hand.

“’Morning, Sedare,” she greeted. Then to Sheanna’s astonishment she said, “’Morning, Sheanna.” She opened her basket and looked inside.

“What’s for breakfast?” asked Sedare expectantly, sitting up a little straighter.

“Only fruit. We should save our meat for dinners,” replied Vanessa. She took three peaches out of her basket and passed them to Sheanna and Sedare.

Sedare murmured a thanks and bit into his fruit, but Sheanna still stared at Vanessa, slightly astonished.

Vanessa understood her look almost immediately and smiled. “All is forgiven,” she said softly, reaching out to pat her arm.

“I lied,” reminded Sheanna. It was almost as if she wanted Vanessa to be mad at her.

“We all do,” replied Vanessa solemnly. “Now, go on, eat up, we’re not stopping for lunch today.”

Without another word, Sheanna smiled at Vanessa and bit into her peach.

Just as Vanessa had said, they didn’t stop for lunch that day; or the next day. In fact, they didn’t stop for lunch for weeks.

Sheanna had never expected that much traveling, but she hadn’t really realized that in medieval times it took people months on end to get to their destination. Sheanna’s heart sank with every passing day. They’d probably be too late to help the queen by the time they got there.

But no one else worried. Neither Vanessa nor Sedare nor any of the guards; it seemed as if they had forgotten the entire reason of this expedition.

Just to remind them, Sheanna asked as often as possible without being too annoying, “When are we going to get there?”

“Eventually,” the guards had grumbled until one day one of them snapped, “We’ll get there when we get there!”

A smile had crept on Sheanna’s face, and she shared it with Vanessa. The same response in both worlds.

Even though Sheanna and Vanessa were friends again, Sheanna still refused to share a tent with her. Sure, the warm tent and blankets might be more comfortable than the cold hard ground, but every night when they sat by the fireside Sedare would tell a story that was much more welcoming to her than a tent. He was just as good at storytelling as he was at listening; he would tell stories that were so farfetched Sheanna would say half the time, “No, that didn’t happen!” while he assured her it did.

The strength of his storytelling was through his expressions. He looked as if he was telling the truth, nothing but the sole truth, and then at the end would laugh, saying, “I fooled you!” He was such a talented liar, and it scared Sheanna; could she ever truly know when he was telling her the truth?

But she trusted him to tell her the truth the entire time, and perhaps that was a problem.

It was three weeks before they finally found their way out of the forest. Sheanna held in her sigh of relief; they were heading into a desert.

The climate of this world still puzzled her; she couldn’t understand how a luscious green forest could be stationed next to a dry, barren desert. And then the temperatures! The forest had seemed to trap the cold weather, but the desert made up for all the heat the forest had lacked.

Unfortunately, no one had planned ahead, and Vanessa hadn’t packed any clothes suitable for warm weather, and since Sheanna had failed to pack anything she had been sharing Vanessa’s clothes.

Sheanna had remembered the first day in the warm weather. She had been riding atop of her horse when she felt a little dehydrated. She wanted to save the water for the rest of the journey, though, so she didn’t say anything.

It was about midday when it happened. She was wearing a black dress with purple gossamer lace resting over it, of course, very hot. The black boots trapping her sweaty feet didn’t seem to help, either.

She began to fill dizzy; the world spun around her even though she was going at a very slow trot, and she forgot what she was doing. She felt as if she were falling until she hit something hard, and passed out.

She woke up ten minutes later, and felt hot grains of sand piercing her body. The sun was blocked by a few figures, bent over her protectively.

“Princess?” asked a familiar voice, concerned. “Princess?”

Moaning, she shifted, trying to get more comfortable, and saw Sedare, Vanessa, Mercy, Mikel, and a couple other guards she didn’t know leaning over her, all of their faces echoing each other’s with distress.

“Hm?” She sat up as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings slowly. “What happened?”

“You fainted.” Sedare seemed to be the only one talking. Sheanna heard a note of hilarity in his voice, and upon glancing at him saw him struggle with the corner of his mouths, trying to keep them in a serious frown, but failing.

Sheanna, turning red from both dehydration and embarrassment, took the water pouch Mercy was extending to her. Sheanna had been thoroughly abashed and wished that she would disappear until Sedare spoke again, this time to the guards.

“She shouldn’t ride alone,” he told them. “What if this happens again? She can ride with me the rest of the way.” So Sheanna had ridden with Sedare every single day, sitting behind him and wrapping her arms around him.

And she enjoyed that much more than she should of.

Sheanna refused to admit she liked him. Every day Vanessa would tease her when she caught Sheanna gazing at Sedare, “Sheanna and Sedare, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Sheanna would always cover her mouth before Sedare could notice, and when he turned to glance at her Sheanna would give him a seemingly innocent smile.

A seemingly innocent smile.

She smiled at him as if he didn’t keep her awake at night, as if she didn’t obsess over him silently, as if she didn’t love him.

Sheanna had only known him for a month at the most, but she loved him. Back at home all the boys teased her and made fun of her for various reasons, some of them irrelevant and false.

But Sedare was different.

Sure, he could be a real pain, and he could drive Sheanna crazy easily, but she loved that about him. Thinking it over, she loved everything about him.

Even though she barely knew him.

Which is why when she met the one girl who knew everything there was to know about Sedare, she became jealous.

It had been late at night when it happened. Sedare had cut wood from a dieing tree in the middle of the desert and had made a campfire. Vanessa was already sleeping, as were most of the guards. Sedare and Sheanna were the only ones awake, for Sedare had not finished telling his nightly story.

“No!” Sheanna insisted for the billionth time. “That definitely did not happen!”

“It definitely did,” said Sedare solemnly. “The girl began to fly.”

“Impossible,” Sheanna persisted. “Little girls intent on jumping off of cliffs do not just sprout wings and began to fly.”

Sedare looked up curiously. “I never said she sprouted wings.”

Sheanna laughed. “You implied it.”

“Did I, now? Well, I unimply it.”

Sheanna laughed again. “Unimply isn’t even a word!”

“It is now.”

Sheanna grinned broadly. “Well, go on! You haven’t finished your story yet!”

“Alright then. So, the little girl began to fly, and she soared high in the sky, when all of the sudden . . .” He paused for dramatic effect.

“All of the sudden?” Sheanna urged.

“. . . she fell and broke her neck and died,” Sedare joked. Apparently, that wasn’t the real ending of his story.

“And they all lived happily ever after?” Sheanna countered.

Sedare nodded solemnly.

Sheanna laughed. “No, tell me the real ending!”

Sedare sighed, smiling, and continued. “She realized that someone must love her, for she had been so intent to die but came up flying. With newfound confidence she went back home, despite the boy who teased her. The end.”

“That’s not the end!” Sheanna angrily objected. “What about the boy who teased her?”

“Well, he ended up loving her,” said Sedare seriously, looking into Sheanna’s eyes. “He teased her to hide it.”

Sheanna looked away, turning red. “Her parents who abused her . . . ?”

“Were not really her parents,” he said. “Her real parents lived far away and upon hearing that their daughter had been mistreated came to her aid immediately.”

“And then they all lived happily ever after?” Sheanna met Sedare’s eyes.

“You know I don’t believe such things happen in real life,” he said softly, looking into the fire.

“Well, if you’re going to tell a story about a girl who began to fly after trying to kill herself you might as well add some more untruthfulness to that.”

Sedare smiled. “That’s true.”

The two of them sat in silence for a while, and Sheanna kept waiting for Sedare to laugh and say, “I fooled you!”, but he never did.

It was a while before the silence in the night was broken, and it was broken by neither of them. It was broken by the guards’ shouting.

Sheanna jumped up in surprise as the guards pointed out the figure of a person walking far in the distance. Before she knew it Sedare was at the guard’s side.

“Please, it would be my honor to go see who it is before letting them come here. So you could get ready in case it’s an intruder,” he said.

The guards sent him off without a word, and Sedare sped away from them, kicking up sand as he went.

Within seconds, or so it seemed, he had reached the other person. Their figures paused for a few seconds, and then, quite unexpectedly, they embraced.

Their laughter echoed over the desert as they returned to the camp. Between laughs Sedare told the guards, “Its okay, she’s with me!”

Sheanna slowly walked towards this new person and studied her.

She had fiery red hair that was long enough to sit on. Her green eyes mixed with a bit of hazel sparkled with her outgoing personality. She was long and thin, and slightly taller than Sedare.

“Hello hello hello!” she said brightly to Sheanna, bouncing over to her. She looked back at Sedare with her eyebrows raised. “Ooh, Sedare, who is this?”

Sedare glared at her, smiling all the while. “Sheanna, I’d like you to met my friend, Wellina.” Sheanna hated the way he touched Wellina’s arm. “And Wellina, this is Sheanna.”

“Lovely to meet you!” said Wellina brightly, shaking Sheanna’s hand. “And I’d prefer you’d call me Wells.” She glared at Sedare. “He, apparently, has no manors what-so-ever.”

Sedare raised his eyebrows. “Oh, it’s me who has no manners, Miss I’ll-show-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-eat-your-food-and-use-your-campfire?”

Wells gave him a sour look. “Hey! I’ve been traveling for weeks to find you. I’ve missed you!” She hugged him tightly, making Sheanna’s jealousy boil.

“Traveling for weeks to find me, now?” Sedare asked, pulling her away to look her over. “You’re such a fool! I told you I wasn’t coming to your festivities.”

“You haven’t missed us overthrowing the queen yet,” she informed. “We’re waiting just for you.”

“I feel honored.” Sedare rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to partake in that!”

“I’m not going to partake in that,” Wells mimicked.

“Did you just mimic me?”

“Hey, look who’s catching on!” Wells hit him on the arm.

For a millisecond Sheanna thought they were mad at each other, probably from the death stares they were fixing upon each other, but then they proceeded to burst out laughing.

It was only then that Wells remembered Sheanna was there. She looked her over carefully and then turned back to Sedare.

“Is she your next victim?”

“My next victim?” He looked at her with a ‘please’ look on his face.

Wells nodded, and then looked at Sheanna again. “She’s blonde,” she pointed out.

“Yes, thank you, Wells. I almost forgot that I had a visual impairment and I needed you to state the obvious to me constantly.” He rolled his eyes.

“No, I meant—”

“I know what you meant.”

It was silent, and that made Sheanna uneasy. She shifted awkwardly, looking from Wells to Sedare, trying hard to figure out their relationship.

“Well, I’m going to see how much more water I can milk out of those cacti over there,” said Sedare, jolting his head towards a couple of cacti nearby. “I’ll leave you two to talk.” And he took the water pouch and ran off.

It was silent for a while, and both Wells and Sheanna watched Sedare go. When Wells caught the expression on Sheanna’s face she grinned broadly.

“You love him.” She stated this as a fact, not a question.

Sheanna turned red, and finally admitted it. “A little.”

“You can admit it!” Wells cried, and then saw the look on Sheanna’s face. “Oh, you think Sedare and I—?” Wells shook her head. “No. We’re just friends. Childhood friends, to be exact.”

Sheanna laughed, despite herself. Could the lie between her and Sedare get anymore worse?

“What?” Wells looked genuinely confused.

Sheanna didn’t know what possessed her to tell Wells had happened, but she did. Around Wells she felt open, as if she could talk about anything.

Wells laughed with Sheanna when she was finished telling her story. “What sour luck! Sedare’s rarely ever been caught for his lies. Don’t worry, he’ll back you up. And your friend said that she would keep it all a secret? Marvelous, then you should have no problems. And don’t worry; I’ll keep it a secret, too.”

Sheanna smiled her thanks and invited Wells to sit down at the campfire with her. The two sat down and smiled at each other.

Sheanna didn’t even need to say anything—immediately Wells began to talk about Sedare.

“Yes, so how long have you known Sedare?” she asked.

“About a month now.”

“Ooh. Where did you met?”

“In the forest, a little ways from his house.”

“What were you doing in the forest?”

Sheanna turned red and told her.

Wells laughed. “It’s alright. It’s not like I’m going to kill you personally for trying to stop us from overthrowing the queen. I can’t say the same for Princess Victoria, though . . .”

Sheanna turned white with fear.

Wells laughed. “I’m only kidding! So what are you, some kind of Princess, too?”

“Yes. The Princess of the West.”

“So, frankly speaking, you have no business trying to stop us from overthrowing the Queen of the East?”

Sheanna turned red. “She’s my best friend’s mom.”

“Frankly speaking, I said.”

“Frankly speaking, I suppose I don’t. But I’m going to try to stop them anyway.”

Wells smiled. “The perfect girl for Sedare, I see. You’re a fighter, just like him. But you seem much more open then him. You’ve noticed how closed he is to other people, I presume?”

“You mean about getting him to talk about himself?”

“Of course.”

Sheanna nodded. He wouldn’t ever speak a word about himself.

“See, that’s where I come in handy! I’ve known him all my life, so I know everything there is to know about him.”

“His parents,” Sheanna said before she could stop herself, and turned red.

“Oh, so you’re wondering about his parents?”

Sheanna nodded slowly.

“Well, I never did know much of his father. He left Sedare, his mother, and his sister when Sedare was lit—”

“He has a sister?” Sheanna asked, shocked.

Wells nodded. “A twin sister, actually. Anyway, his father left his mother and his sister when he was little. So, that automatically made Sedare the man of the family. I met Sedare when he was . . .” Wells looked up in the air, calculating. “Five? Maybe five in a half? Yes, definitely, I was four when I met him, and we’re a year apart.”

“So what of his family now?” Sheanna interrupted. “Where’s his sister and mother now?”

“Both dead,” replied Wells soberly. “They died when Sedare was nine. They both got the flu, and first his sister died, then his mother. Sedare was so heartbroken he refused to ever have any contact with people again, ever let anyone else into his heart again. He ran away and lived in the forest.”

“And you kept in contact with him?” Sheanna asked softly.

“Yes, I brought him food and what-not. I was already in his heart, and he couldn’t get me out, but he decided never to let anyone else in his heart again. He went on that phase, being cut out from civilization for . . . three years? No, four years . . . right, he was thirteen when he came back and lived with me for a while.”

“So recently?” Sheanna asked, astonished.

“Very recently.” Wells nodded. “But he’s still kind of refusing people to fall into his heart. Especially blonde people.” Wells looked at Sheanna to see if she offended her.

Sheanna did feel kind of offended. Did they believe blondes were dumb here, too? “Why?” she asked, rather than trying to figure it out.

“Because his sister and mother were both blonde. His sister wasn’t an identical twin.” She added the last part for Sheanna’s confused look.

They sat in silence for a long time, before there was a yelp off at in the distance. They turned to see Sedare struggling to open a cactus by hitting it with a rock angrily. The water finally sprouted out and hit him in the eye, making him stumble back.

Both Wells and Sheanna giggled. Quickly, Sheanna realized something.

“You did math before,” she said, surprised. “I always read that peasants weren’t supposed to be smar—” Sheanna cut off, feeling guilty.

“Don’t worry,” Wells said at her look. “I wouldn’t know math either if Sedare hadn’t taught me.”

“Sedare taught you?” Sheanna was very startled. “How would he know math?”

“I have a theory,” said Wells, lowering her voice. “But you can’t tell anyone, especially Sedare. Word of honor?”

“Word of honor,” Sheanna agreed hurriedly. “Tell me! What do you think?”

Wells sucked in a deep breath before continuing.

“I think Sedare is a prince.”