An Otherwordly Necklace of Mystical Entities

"So, their going to teach little Jennifer how to fly and do little magic tricks, eh?"

"It seems so."

Saku eyes his demon servant with an amused expression.

"So, when are you going to put your plan into motion?" the little demon asks in a high-pitched tone, its yellow eyes intense, and its long thin mouth pulled back showing his short pointed black teeth.

Saku's gray skeletal wings embrace around his arms. "Soon. Very soon."

***

Oh my goodness, I was so super tired. I was definitely right about this being an exhausting and long day, and it was also unfortunately pitiful as well. I couldn't do anything they were trying to teach me. I felt so pathetic and useless as they twirled around like ballerinas and shot off fire and ice from their fingertips.

"Come on. Just try to imagine being really hot and fire dancing along your skin, but it isn't burning."

Now, if that wasn't complex, I don't know what is. Nicole was standing in front of me, blue intricate wings flapping silently in the breeze, her blue hair blowing around her and a ball of flame in her left palm. Sabra, Sophia, and Brenden were standing away on the sidelines, and I glance at them uneasily.

All right, here I go. I exhale and try to relax. I imagine me on the beach on a hot sunny day,, and I imagine fire dancing around me. This was it, I could feel something welling up inside me. I open my eyes and extend my arm, the same Nicole had did. A spark flickers in and out of focus on my palm. Not even a spark but a wire of red that disappeared quickly. Well, this was very disconcerting. I couldn't even learn how to produce the most simplest power.

I sigh and roll over on my side; the blanket under me warming my cool body. This whole day was embarrassing...but I shouldn't be disappointed, it was to be expected.

Sabra ducks and kicks. Brenden dodges and punches. She flips, and he jumps back. I notice his hair glistening in the sunlight and his muscles flexing through his shirt, and I smile beside myself. I also observe something else. The way that they looked and smiled at each other had me utterly confused, because of the whole men situation of their kingdom.

"Jennifer, now I want yo to try," Brenden says, putting my contemplation on pause.

"Wh-what?" I stammer.

He chuckles. "Well obviously not all of that, but maybe just how to block."

"Oh...um, okay."

Sophia pushes me out more towards him. "You can do it, Jennifer!"

I step up to the plate, well actually to just where Sabra was standing. Brenden faces me, his smile blinding and hypnotizing.

"Alright, now I'm gonna' throw a punch, and this is what I want you..." He stops short, looking at my alarmed expression. "No, no, no. I'm not gonna' hit you, I'm just going to do this..." He pulls his arm back and then forward swiftly. I scream when his fist gets too close to my face, and I fall back on my butt clumsily.

I also tried to grow wings out of my back, but that didn't even come close.

I stare up at the high ceiling for only a short time before hot tears begin rolling down my face. I missed them so much. It was cruel and unfair that here I was, in a different world perhaps, but I was alive. And they weren't; would never be again. My mom and dad, and my best friends. Nicole. Sabra. Sophia. And Brenden. A lot of stuff has happened since I got here that I haven't had anytime to think about anything...but now...

Knock. Knock.

I don't even bother to sit up or answer it. But I regret that decision when he walks in and stands over my bed.

"Oh! Brenden!" I wipe feverishly at the tears falling down my cheeks.

His eyebrows pull together. "Why are you crying?"

"I...um, no...what's that?" I gesture to the white marble plate (yeah, I know, marble??) he was holding.

"Oh, I just brought you something to eat." He sets the plate down beside me on the bed. On it was a piled high sandwich. The meat was a deep red and it reminded me repulsively of blood, but I don't say anything.

Brenden sits behind me, his back resting on the headboard. "Today was very interesting." My cheeks burn red. "But it was what I expected." I purse my lips.

"Yeah, it was what I kind of expected too," I admit sheepishly.

"Look, don't beat yourself over it." He looks around like there were other people in the room besides us. He then leans in close, so close that I could feel his breath on my face. I blush even deeper. "The sisters probably wouldn't like me telling you this, but it took each of them about a week to learn all of what you were trying to do today."

"Really?" He nods, and then sadly pulls back from me.

"So, you don't have to cry over it. It's alright, you'll get it eventually."

"What? No! I wasn't crying over that. I was..." I pause and exhale. "Did Queen Athene tell you about me?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Hmm? Oh!" He chuckles, and my heart skips a beat. "That you are from this parallel universe called Earth, and that your city was ravaged by foreigners and that your soul was sucked into the necklace that was coincidentally our world." I nod slowly. "So, you miss it. Well, that's understand--"

"Of course I miss it!" I interrupt him loudly. "I'm...I'm sorry. I'm still so confused by all of this. I've been here for one whole day and I..." He waits for me to continue. "I miss them all. My family, and my friends. I don't even know what's become of my hometown...or the world for that matter."

"Well, I can't really comfort you because I don't know what your going through. Losing a family, perhaps, but being sent to a different world is another thing. Some supernatural mumbo-jumbo,"--I giggle--"sent you here, and this might sound cliche, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. You were very fortunate to be brought to this world. You are still alive, even though you may not be in the place you called home. Your parents and are in a very happy place though, I can assure you. I know this may sound harsh, but you have to accept the fact sometime down the road that you live here now. Queen Athene has given you permission to stay with her here, and she will take care of you."

Whoa, that was the best motivational speech in my seventeen years of life I have ever heard. I smile gratefully.

"Well, I should be going now. You need to get some rest." My smile goes away. He gets up off the bed. "Make sure you eat too. Or you can just eat a big breakfast in the morning." He moves towards the door.

"Wait. Can...I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is...Is there something...between Sabra and you?"

He falters for a second. "What makes you ask that?"

Now I waver. "Um...well, when you two were fighting..."

"Well, it's safe to say that right now there isn't."

"Now?"

He clears his throat. "When Sabra is to become Queen, and whenever she wants to start having children, I..." He stops.

Will be the first in line, I finish inside my head. My heart ached, but not surprisingly.

"Well, good night, Jennifer," he says lowly. He opens the door.

"W-wait!" I jump off the bed and walk slowly up to him. I wanted to thank him for coming into my room and talking, but I couldn't seem to form the words. Wait a minute. Why did I even get up off the bed if I just wanted to say thank you? I didn't want to admit the answer, but Brenden seemed to have figured it out.

He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks at me with warm eyes. "Your welcome." He pulls me into a gentle embrace, and I almost faint in his strong arms. He then lets me go. "Now, go and get some sleep." He closes the door behind him as I go back to lay on the bed.

Minutes pass before I finally start to drift off. I could swear though, just as I began to close my eyelids, I saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at me from across the room and in the distance a high-pitched laughter. But I push the incredulous thought from my mind, thinking it was only a hallucination, and go to sleep.