Silver Wheel: Beginnings

It was a few weeks before the start of the new school year. It is a warm night and I found myself walking around the streets. It wasn’t cold enough to be wearing a jumper yet, but I had a thin purple long sleeve top with jeans and black boots. Obviously, I had a black over coat on as well. I knew that I shouldn’t have been out that late, past midnight, but I didn’t care. I let my feet take me where ever they wanted to go, and I ended up in the park.
I should probably tell you a little bit about me. Well, I already said I’m seventeen, so you should guess that I’m in collage. I have long blonde hair, deep blue eyes and I live with my father in South Wales. I’m currently studying Music, Ancient History, Maths and French. I play the flute and harp, but I also can play piano and sing if pushed, hence the Music.
Anyway, I stood in the middle of the park and looked out over the city lights, think of what I had been doing that day. Not much, as usual. Just reading, going on my laptop, practicing, never much. As I was engrossed in my thoughts, the lights all went out.
That’s better, I thought, I can finally see the stars. I have never seen them that bright before.
I stood there in the dark, looking around me. Everything seemed different without the orangey glow. I wasn’t scared, but I still turned around and decided to head back home. But, I stopped dead when I saw someone coming towards you.
“I’m sorry if I startled you. I’m Dylan.” He said, holding out his hand.
“Arianrhod.” I said, taking it.
He had red hair and deep blue eyes. He was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and a shark tooth necklace. I reached out to touch them, but as my hand got nearer I started to feel dizzy. I reached out and Dylan took my hand to steady me. I looked at his face and saw concern, which I noted was not a good look for him.
“Here let me.” He said, guiding me to a bench near by.
The closer I got to the bench, the less steady I felt on my feet; until eventually, just before I reached it, I fell. Despite Dylan next to me, I ended up hitting my head and passing out. The last thing I knew was him calling my name and picking me up.
*
I woke up to find myself in a bed. I had no recollection of how I had gotten there, I just remembered the boy. I opened my eyes, but ended up quickly shutting them again; I had a pounding headache. I tried again, more slowly this time, and then sat up to get a better look around me.
The room had white walls and ceiling with a turquoise carpet. The bed I was in was pushed up against one wall, with a small table next to it with a lamp and clock. There was very little furniture in the room other than that; a small wardrobe, and a desk. There was only one door and window, and all the wood was pale; probably pine. The next thing I noticed was that I was fully clothed, although my boots were at the end of my bed.
I was just about to get up when someone walked in. He was tall with strong features, short brown hair and chocolate eyes. He was wearing a green shirt with brown cargo trousers. He looked over at me as he entered.
Who is this guy?
I must have looked startled, because he said, “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. Stay there, I’ll be right back.” He said in a deep voice before leaving.
He returned only a few moments later with three others. “Told you she was awake. Anyway, I’m Sage.” He said.
I looked at a boy with surfer looks; he had red hair and deep blue eyes. He was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and a shark tooth necklace. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you remember me?” He asked. I shook my head. “I’m Dylan” He looked at the others with worried and dissappointed in his eyes. Not a good look.
“My name is Zac” said another, stepping forward to take my hand, which he shook vigorously. He was tall and slightly elfish; with green eyes and longish blonde hair. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, denim jeans and a denim jacket.
When the last boy didn’t look as if he was going to introduce himself, Zac said, “And this is Flint.” Flint had punk looks; with jet black that had red tips, and one blue eye, one green; heterochromia, I remembered. He was wearing a red t-shirt, black jeans and a leather jacket.
“And your name would be?” Sage asked.
“I’m Arianrhod.” I said.
“You must be hungry,” Zac said, “Come one, I’ll take you to the kitchen.” With that he grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him down a set of stairs and into a kitchen, grinning all the way.
“What can I get you, hyfryd?” he asked.
“Would it be too much to say a full English, please?” I said.
“Sure, coming right up.”
Once I had finished my breakfast, which was delicious, he took me back upstairs. “I’ll let you freshen up. There is a bathroom next door, plenty of hot water, but if you need anything else, just shout. Come and find one of us when you’re done.” He said, leaving me alone.
I decided to have a shower and headed next door. It was only then that I realised that I had no clothes to change into, or anything else for that matter. I only had what I had on, a pair of scruffy jeans, a purple top and a ring my mother had given me for my fourteenth birthday. It was silver and had two triquetras on it. My mother had thought I would like it, seen as I love mythology.
While I showered, I tried to remember how I had gotten here. I came up with nothing other than that I had seen one of them before, and that I had been wandering around late at night; nothing else sprang to mind. Once I was done, I decided to go exploring. I walked around for a while, before finding a library on the first floor.
It was a dark room compared to the rest of the house. The walls and floors were covered in a dark wood, with the bookcases and a table in the same wood. The table has six chairs around it, all upholstered in cream.
“Arianrhod” I heard someone say, making my spin towards the voice in surprise. Dylan stepped out from between two bookcases. I hadn’t noticed that there were chairs between them as well as around the table.
“Oh, um, hi Dylan.” I stammered, slightly taken aback.
“I’m sorry if I startled you.” Dylan apologised.
“It’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone.” I said, “Zac told me to find someone once I had freshened up.”
"Oh, yes.” Dylan said, “Here, sit down.” Dylan motioned towards the chairs around the table; I took a seat in the closest one.
“Now, what do you remember about how you got here?” Dylan asked.
“Not much, only that I was wondering around the streets and met one of you. I can’t even remember which.” I said.
“Hm… I suppose that you have lots of questions, but most of them will have to wait until we all sit down together. Do you have any questions that don’t involve how you got here or anything like that?” Dylan asked.
“Well, there is an issue with clothes, especially seen as I get the feeling I might be with you for a while.” I said.
“Of course. I’ll ask Sage if you can go to the shops and get the things you’ll need while you stay here. In fact, I’ll do that now.” He said, standing up. “Feel free to help yourself to a book, but make sure to be down stairs by 2pm. If you’re not there, I’ll come up and get you.”
With that he left me to look around the room. I got up and went over to the bookcase nearest to me. I found that it is neatly ordered, with labels telling me what topic each self was dedicated to.
As I walked around, I found that there are about the same number of different language books in there as there were topics, and there were a lot of topics. I also noticed that the biggest sections were on Mythology, Healing, Magic and History; ranging from the Ancient Egyptians right through to modern day.
Definitely my type of reading then, I thought
I picked up one book on mythology and started flicking through it. My eyes were particularly drawn to notes in the margin and small sketches. It looked almost as if someone had gone through correcting all the mistakes.
I put it back and picked up another that caught my eyes. It was the same thing in that one as well. Someone had gone through the books correcting them. I looked more closely at the notes and found that it was only in certain parts, as if they weren’t bothered with the rest.
I put that book back and decided to see if it was the same for all the sections. I walked over to the history and randomly selected a book. The hand writing was different, but the notes were the same. Then I noticed that one picture had been pencilled in over and over in seemingly random places. I couldn’t see any connections, and the times they showed up in varied from Ancient Egypt right the way through until WWII.
The picture itself didn’t seem that special, just some ring with what looked like two triquetras on it.