Life, Death, and Strange Encounters

The next day presented itself with an unpleasant surprise. When Isaac and I went down to breakfast, holding hands and chatting merrily, we were greeted by a familiar squeal the moment we stepped into the dining room.

“ISAAC! Oh my god, it’s so good to see you!”

Yeah, you guessed it. Helena had arrived. Apparently, his father had some business to discuss with the King and Helena had bullied his father into taking her with him. But, what surprised me the most was that she didn’t try anything funny like before. In fact, when we were finished with breakfast, she wished to speak to me alone. I feared this discussion a bit, since I had no idea what she was up to. I hoped, based on what I saw during the meal, that she had finally given up on Isaac. Still, I was cautious.

Helena dragged me out of the room and behind a corner, where nobody would see or hear us. Then, out of nowhere, she flashed me a bright smile and hugged me so tightly I thought my lungs would collapse. It is safe to say that I didn’t see that one coming…

“Johanna, is it? I just realized that we haven’t really had the opportunity to get to know each other. You might have guessed that I didn’t like you at the beginning, but things have changed. I finally understood that Isaac doesn’t want to marry me… And well, I’m kind of sad about it, but whatever. There are other fish in the sea, you know. I might take on Jonathan next.” She winked at me and giggled.

‘Oh the joy,’ I thought. ‘Jonathan really deserves her.’

“I really hope that you will forgive me and we can try to be friends… I’d like that very much. Especially since I don’t have any other human friends.” She flashed me another of those perfectly white smiles. I looked at her, puzzled.

“Are you telling me that you yourself are not human either?”

She started giggling. “No, I’m a pixie. What you see right now is my humanoid form. My true form is somewhat different.”

“So what does a pixie look like in his or her true form?”

She flashed me a mischievous smile. “Well, pixies are actually somewhat smaller, they would reach your waist in height, I think. And we have 4 wings. The skin of the males is greenish and the females are usually purple. You should also watch your back when around us, because we like to cause trouble.”

I laughed. “I think you got that one covered.” Helena giggled. “Yeah, sorry about the drama I caused. I hope you and Isaac will be very happy together.”

Now it was my turn to hug her. “No problem, and thank you.”

After our little bonding moment, we walked back into the dining room together. Fortunately, Isaac was finished and we could get the hell out of there. Although Helena and I were now on good terms, I still thought she was kind of psycho. Maybe it was just the pixie talking in her, but still. I had had enough strange behaviour for one morning.

As soon as we had put some distance between us and the dining room, Isaac smirked at me.
“What is it?”

“I’m just curious to hear what Helena had to say.”

I rolled my eyes. “Basically, she told me she wanted to be friends and that she was over you. Oh, and she wants to take on Jonathan next.”

Isaac stared at me for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. “Oh, Jonathan is going to be one happy man!”

I grinned. “Well, I think he deserves her. Helena will drive him insane in no time.”

“Of course. No question in that. Want to bet how long they will survive each other?”

“Sweetheart, I think you’re getting a bit carried away. They aren’t together yet.”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Knowing Helena, they are. Jonathan just doesn’t know it yet.”

Laughing, we stumbled back into our room and plopped down on the bed. I rolled over and hugged Isaac. “What are we going to do now?”

“As strange as it may sound, I have no idea. Maybe we should just take a break for a day and stay here? I’m worried about you… You have been extremely brave, dealing with all this new information. To be honest, I was sure you would have had a mental breakdown by now.”

I giggled. “I can see you have a lot of faith in me.”

“It’s not that, sweetheart… Think about it! You’ve been through a lot and I still don’t understand how you can take it all so calmly.”

I shrugged. “Well, Lucy and I both just believe in things like that. So it wasn’t all that hard to accept.”

Isaac smiled and brushed his hand against my cheek. “What would I do without you?”

“You would find a better, inhuman girl and live happily ever after.”

He shook his head and lifted his wrist where the Bracelet of Truth was. “I don’t think so. You are the one.”

“As corny as it was, I liked what you just said,” I said, kissing him.

Now it was Isaac’s turn to smother me with kisses. “Of course you liked it. And do you like what I’m doing right now?”

I grinned. “Very much so.” It was the truth, I was enjoying myself immensely. But when Isaac slipped his hands beneath my shirt, I froze. How far were we ready to go?

He stopped as soon as he saw my response. “I’m sorry, was I too bold?”

I shook my head. “That’s not it. I just suddenly started to think how intense our relationship should be. I mean, we haven’t known each other for that long, but it is already pretty serious, even without the… physical side. I’m afraid you will think I’m a slut if we go much further so soon.“

Isaac chuckled. “Sweetheart, you are not a slut. We are bound to each other by magic. You are my true love, as we’ve been shown again and again. If this is the only reason you’re holding yourself back, you shouldn’t.”

I sighed. “I understand… And the bigger part of me knows that I shouldn’t feel ashamed of anything. Just give me a moment to think things through.”

He nodded. “Of course, darling. Take your time. Just know that I support whatever decision you make. If you want to wait, we’ll wait.”

I was happy Isaac was so calm about this. Truth be told, I was excited to experience the physical side of our relationship, but at the same time, I was afraid. Doing something too soon was only part of my fears. I’d experienced violent behaviour towards my body in the past. I knew Isaac wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want, but the images from the past still haunted me. I just hoped that when I’d feel safe and loved in Isaac’s arms, those visions would disappear.

Sighing, I lifted my gaze. “You’re right, I shouldn’t feel bad – what we have is very special and I’d love to take it to the next level.”

My lover smiled. “I’m glad you trust me this much. You know I would never hurt you.”

“I know, Isaac, I know.”

“So… Whenever you’re ready.”

I took a deep breath and smiled, locking eyes with him. “I’m ready.”

***

The morning after our first time together, Isaac greeted me with small kisses down my neck. I couldn’t suppress a giggle.

“Isaac! It tickles!”

He chuckled. “Good morning to you, too. I hope you are feeling well?”

Sending him a beaming smile, I flipped us over so I was resting my hands and chin on his chest. “Never been better.”

“Glad to hear that, love. Now it’s time to greet the new day.”

I nodded and slipped out of the bed, leaving Isaac looking after me with puppy dog eyes. “I’m going to take a shower.”

When I had adjusted the water and stepped into the shower, I suddenly got an interesting idea. I wanted to get myself another tattoo. I already had a few small ones, but I’d promised myself that when I find the right guy and start a new chapter in life, I would get another one. All my tattoos were markings of a certain period in my life.

My thoughts were interrupted when Isaac joined me under the water “And who gave you permission to invade my shower?”

He wrapped his strong arms around me. “I invited myself. Do you mind?”

I turned around and pecked his lips. “Of course not, that is, if we actually wash ourselves and do not fool around.”

Isaac smirked. “I never fool around.”

Smiling at his mischief, I reached for the shampoo.“By the way, would it be possible to get a tattoo in this world? I had an idea for another one, but I don’t want to wait until I go back home.”

“Of course, sweetheart. I get all my tattoos in this world. They have an amazing technique for it.”

“Oh? What kind?”

“Well, the whole design is applied on the skin in one swift motion. It hurts like hell for about 5 seconds, but then it’s all over. I personally think it’s a lot better AND faster, since in your world you’d have to suffer for hours to get a tattoo.”

I thought about it and nodded. “I agree. It sounds far more reasonable. I wonder if this technique could be used in my world, too…”

Isaac chuckled at that. “I doubt that. The technique works with magic, I don’t think humans would take kindly to that.”

Giggling, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me. “I guess you’re right.”

After drying off, we went to have breakfast with Isaac’s parents. Since I was too excited to wait any longer, we decided to go to Isaac’s favourite tattoo parlor just after we finished eating. One of the perks of being a member of the royal family is that you never have to worry about booking in advance…

We made our way to the city and soon came to a tattoo place called “Inked”. Isaac stepped in with me trailing along behind him. Inside, we were greeted by a guy, possibly a vampire. He introduced himself to me as Sky and asked us what we were looking for. Isaac already knew what he was getting, he had decided on a design of entwining vines around one of his previous tattoos. Sky started sketching it out and asked me to think of what I wanted in the meantime.

What did I want? I had established that I wanted SOMETHING, but what was it going to be? In the end I decided upon a simple, but elegant design of angel wings. I guess it would seem confusing to people who didn’t know about the real meaning. I had thought of my dream about the Guardian Angel, who told me everything was meant to be. A tattoo like that seemed appropriate for my new chapter in life. Sky seemed to love my idea, too, and after enduring severe pain for 5 seconds, I had a completely healed tattoo on my left shoulder blade. I couldn’t have been happier when Isaac and I made our way back to the castle.

After lunch, we decided to go find Lucy and Damien, who had been missing for quite some time. They hadn’t appeared to the dining room either. Isaac and I were getting curious as to where they were hiding. After asking around, we obtained the information that the two lovebirds were having a picnic in the castle garden. What did we decide to do? Crash their party, of course!

Fortunately, Damien and Lucy didn’t mind us joining them. Instead, we had a lot of fun and stayed outside until nightfall. I had never seen something more beautiful than the stars of Avalon. They are much brighter and there is a lot more of them. The sky isn’t really dark at all, it looks as if it’s sprinkled with diamonds. What Lucy and I didn’t know before, was that every month on one special night, the otherworlders could see the Cloud City of angels high up in the sky. Usually, the City was concealed by spells, but on one night, the angels would reveal their heavenly home and allow the people down under to see the light. Today was one of those special evenings. When walking sleepily back inside, I couldn’t help but to wonder, was my Guardian Angel also up there? Maybe someday I would know.