Fly Me Away

I was having this strange dream, and I knew it was a dream because I wasn’t even in it.

I mean, I was, but I wasn’t me, if you catch my drift?

I was outside, at the top of that trail overlooking the town. Well, I wasn’t, but someone was. It was night time, the area was dark and the town was glittering with lights, but the sun was out. It wasn’t bright at all, it was dull even, and it wasn’t lighting the town. I don’t know what that means.

My brother was there, surrounded by translucent floating women. He was wearing robes – he appeared to be a priest. The Nymphs whispered things into his ears. He smiled at me, then sprouted wings and flew off over the town. My English teacher now sat in his place, and now I was somewhere else, argh.

I wouldn’t remember it when I woke up, it was just too odd.

I opened my eyes, feeling oddly alert and very confused. As far as I could tell, I was on a mattress inside a nice yellow camping tent. There was still some light peering through the gap of the unzipped zipper and I could smell a strange mixture of nice food and burning wood. There were so many blankets covering me that they were heavy, or maybe I was just weak.

“Maggie.”

Jackson was sitting patiently in the corner of the tent like a statue. I jumped, I hadn’t noticed him before. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

I took a moment to assess myself and found everything to be in order, “fine…. Where is everyone? What happened?”

He shifted gracefully across the tent and dropped down beside me. Jackson's expression was blank, relaxed, so I assumed it was no big deal I had fallen asleep? I couldn’t remember a thing…

“They’re out by the fire, having dinner. Well, Pip is,” He slid one hand under my back and helped me sit up, “it was just a minor incident. Some of the…opposition party arrived early. Pirro took care of it.”

I held my hand up in front of my face and tried to clench it. When that didn’t work properly, I turned to Jackson “…I’m so weak?”

His expression dropped, “I’m sorry, I should have been here.”

“What happened to me?”

He shook his head.

“What happened Jackson?”

“You were frozen by a witch. Mariana, actually. It’s a strong spell that shuts your body down.”

My heart began racing. “Was I….dead?”

“No, just frozen,” He grabbed my wrist and it flopped limply, “sapped your strength. You weren’t down for long, you’ll get it all back shortly.”

I nodded and took a breath, trying to remember exactly what happened.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About four hours. After Pirro….disposed of the witch, the spell wore off, but you had no strength to stay awake. You just needed to sleep,” there was a short silence as Jackson gazed out the front opening of the tent, “You should go and see Pip. She’s worried.”

Pip. Now I remember. Her faint scream behind Pirro’s booming roar and the horrified look on her face. “…was she okay?”

“Yes, it wasn’t her they were after,” he mumbled.

His jaw tensed and he sat completely still. I placed a hand on his shoulder, “I’m okay, like you said.”

His eyes flickered to me, then he pulled me to him.

“I won’t be leaving you again,” he stated, before placing his lips firmly on mine. I was too shocked to register what was happening. Then, as if it never happened at all, it was all over before I could put my two steps in.

He stood swiftly, avoiding my eyes and helped me hobble out of the tent. I was sure my face was flushed, and I honest to god, hardly knew what I was doing.

“Jackson, did—did you….what just….?”

Pip came galloping over, demanding my attention with her long thin arms waving over her head. “Mags! Are you alright?!” she queried, patting my hair and checking for any immediate signs of sickness.

“Y…Yeah. Just a little shaky,” I nodded and managed a week smile. It was good to see Pip with her strength back. My head though was ever so slightly in a different place. My eyes dropped to my arm around Jackson's. Did he just kiss me? Unprovoked?

“Yeah? Good stuff,” she grinned and looped her arm around my free one, “Jackson said you would be. He sure can cook Maggie! Look at all this!”

And sure enough, there was a feast fit for a king spread out around the campfire. He hadn’t held back. Was all this because it could be my last meal? I pushed that thought from my head. “Wow,” I murmured. Exotic fruit platters, mangos, tamarillos, melons, some sort of gourmet spiced chicken wings, avocado bacon salads, pasta overload and..…was that caviar?

Jackson unhooked his arm and left me with Pip for support. I subconsciously tried to follow him as he wondered over towards the fire, but my legs gave way. Pip caught me clumsily and giggled.

“I want you girls to be fighting fit for tomorrow,” he announced as he stood before the fire, which was a full on inferno now. It was keeping me warm, even from ten or so meters away.

It was only then that I noticed the sun was setting, only when I saw dull orange from the fire mix with pale pink of the sun dance across his already golden features. He was so glorious. Jackson was getting good at that hard expression. I would even go as far as to say he was looking like an angel should. Blank.

Neil was here, standing awkwardly away from the fire, but still facing us. His expression was truly nothing to behold. He walked swiftly over and stood a bit closer to the fire, close enough for the orange to play on his face too….his dull, lifeless face…. It did nothing for him.

I compared him to Jackson. I knew there was no point in doing it, but I couldn’t help it. It made me feel shallow; I thought so little of Neil and I didn’t even know him. It ignited a burn of curiosity in my stomach that made me want to talk to him. Perhaps Neil had a fantastic personality under that old, plain exterior? Or maybe he had an amazing past that involved world war II and a dark haired damsel?

Maybe.

“Try one of these,” Pip pushed, holding some marinated vegetable kebab up to my mouth. I didn’t even noticed that I’d wobbled my way over to the food. I tried a piece and this pleased my stomach very much. I forgot how hungry I was….had I even eaten today? I couldn’t’ remember. I started shoveling down the food in silence, barely noticing the scolding heat from the fire pelt my face.

I jumped when I heard a quiet grunt from behind the flames. Pirro peeped his head around and grunted again, his beady eyes watching Pip and I as we helped ourselves to more food.

Jackson turned to us, about to translate I presumed.

“Eat up, then get some sleep, both of you. We’ll be free until about mid day tomorrow,” he stated, watching me pick up a piece of sausage on a toothpick and pop it into my mouth. He smiled, then turned back to the fire.

Midday. It must have been about 8 o’clock now? There wasn’t much time.

Pip didn’t seem to be in too much distress…actually, I wasn’t really either. My eyes darted from one angel to another. Did they all have calming powers? They made a super calming aura.

Pip and I ate until we were about to explode, then sat quietly around the fire, huddling beside each other on one of the logs. We were the only ones who spoke, the angels were completely silent and in there own little worlds, though I would haver preffered it if Jackson was in mine. Where was he anyway? And I hadn’t seen the Nymphs since before my little nap…

I told Pip what happened with school and her family and such after she disappeared and her face dropped. She didn’t want to be out here, but she was glad she was. Now I had somebody to go through this with. I mean, I’d always had a big strong angel, but it was different having another mere mortal knowing the truth about everything. I hugged her then, and she shed a tear.

Not long after, when night hit, Pip expressed her need for sleep and wondered into our big yellow tent. There were two mattresses in there, and she had been sleeping on huge piles of leaves Pirro prepared since the first day she got here. Poor thing. I said my goodnight, but remained next to the roaring fire. I’d practically just woken up.

It was a good time to think. Such a quiet and unnaturally relaxing atmosphere. I glanced around, trying to spot someone else in the black of night, but I appeared to be alone. My weak human eyes could only see whoever was significantly close to the fire and, at that moment, it was no one.
I shivered when I felt something glide in next to me.

“Margaret,” one of the nymphs spoke softly. I had to squint to see her there; she was almost invisible in the night.

“Hi,” I answered, turning back to the fire and expecting to see five more flitting around and giggling, but there were none. Only one nymph?

She smiled softly and placed her cold, smooth hand on my shoulder, “You are aware, are you not, that the demon king is coming tomorrow?”

“Yes?” I responded. Wasn’t that the whole reason for me being here?

“And you are aware, are you not, that once the angels take care of the demons, you will no longer be in any danger?”

“Yeah…” Where was she going with this? She sounded so solemn, as if that was a bad thing. And why was she alone? Maybe I would never see any of the nymphs again and she was sad about it. Hmm… I didn’t think I made much of an impression on them.

“And if you are not in any danger,” she leaned close and lowered her voice to just above a whisper, “You will not need your guardian.”

I felt the knife in my chest. That thought never crossed my mind. I hadn’t thought of what would happen beyond the encounter with the demon king.

“Will—” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it wouldn’t go away, “….will he have to leave?”

Her bright pearly eyes were full of awful sympathy. It made me want to throw up.

I stood abruptly, knife in my chest shifting painfully; I decided right then to run into his arms and beg him to stay. The nymph vanished; her job was done.

I had taken a grand total of 5 steps towards the dark forest before I stopped. Darkness; the trees, which I couldn’t see rustled in the wind. There was absolutely no way I could tell if Jackson was there.

“Jackson,” I whispered roughly, not wanting to alarm or wake Pip.

No response.

I was impatient. “Jackson,” I called a little louder now. I made it sound as urgent as I possibly could.

…nothing. I gave him a moment, he can’t have been far. He said he wouldn’t leave again.

There was movement in front of me and I leapt out of my shoes, stumbling back towards the fire. Pirro’s huge silhouette emerged from the darkness and padded slowly across the ground towards me. I held my hand to my chest. Christ that gave me a fright.

“Pirro, where’s Jackson?” I whispered, walking towards him. He met me half way and I placed a hand on his shoulder. He made a low noise from his chest, then made a right angle and began walking. Taking this as a sign he knew where Jackson was, I followed him.