Call to Arms

Two

“Dad! I’m home!”

I yell as I set the Chicago Blackhawks Store shopping bag on the couch after flipping on the lights switch. I examine the living room of the two bedroom condo my father and I lived in…it was spotless. Don’t get me wrong; our condo was always clean but not pristine. I begin walking toward the kitchen, all kinds of confused. “Dad?” I yell.

“In the dining room, there is someone I want you to meet!”

I stop walking when I notice a weird feeling going through my body, almost the kind of feeling I had this morning. I felt my hands vibrate as I moved them toward my face. I begin to shake, only because I had no idea what was going on. “Dad!” I yell as I see the sparks come out of my fingertips. “DAD!” I yell as I see the sparks go toward our lamp, which then shattered.

“Oh…my…dad!”

My father runs into the living room, looks at the lamp, then over at me. I stood there, motionless, in shock that I broke our lamp. Oh my god, I broke our expensive lamp. I finally look over at my father as I try to hold the tears back. “Dad…I am so…” I stop talking as a woman with dirty blonde hair and green eyes steps out from the dining room. I look over at her, confused as to who she was and why she was here, even though my real main concern was how did I break the lamp. “Dad…who is she?”

“Ella…I think there is something I should tell you.”
“Dad…who is she and why is she here?”
“Ella…this is your moms sister Jocelyn.”
“Oh my god…” She begins as she puts her hand over her mouth as a tear rolls down her cheek. “She’s beautiful.”
“You mean to tell me that growing up I have no family other than you and now out of nowhere I have an aunt related to mom? What the hell dad?”

My dad doesn’t say anything as he lets out a sigh. My supposed Aunt Jocelyn is looking at the floor but then looks at me. I run my hair through my dark brown hair as I finally look at my father. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me? Do you know how I broke that lamp because if I told you, you’d think I’m nuts.”

“Yes, actually, we know how you broke the lamp,” Jocelyn smiles.
“Ella, I think you should take a seat,” my father says.

I take a seat as Raegan, Emma, and Kait storm in. I look at them then over at my father, who has his face in his hands. “Ella, your father invited us over,” Emma states as I can feel the steam coming out of my ears.

“Ella, they are your best friends, they have a reason to know why you broke the lamp by accident,” my father tells me.
“Ella, you broke a lamp?”
“Okay, everyone sit down,” Jocelyn says.
“Who are you?” Raegan asks.
“The coolest Aunt ever, Jocelyn.”
“Ella, you have a cool aunt?”
“This is all brand new information to me as well.”

The girls sit down on the couch with me. No one says anything and to be honest, I really just want to know why I broke a lamp. “Ella,” my father begins. I look up at him as I realize I’m not anywhere near ready for him to tell me what I’m about to be told. “This isn’t our home.”

“Okay…so what are we, aliens?”
“What I mean is…we’re not from this realm.”
“Realm?”
“We’re from the fantasy world.”

No one says anything as I let out a roar of laughter before I feel my hands vibrate again. I stop laughing as I try to control what’s about to happen. “Somebody help me!” I yell as the looks on my friends faces change.

“You need to stay calm Princess Ella Marie of the Enchanted World.”

As soon as those words come out of my Aunts mouth I knew my father was being serious. I calm down and the vibrations in my hands stop. I sit back down and look at my father, who looks as if he’s about to cry. “Dad…am I princess?”

“A princess with a prophecy.”
“Does this involve my mother? Oh god she isn’t dead, is she?”
“Your mother is alive…but your mother was born with Maleficent as a sister.”
“So what, she’s dead, remember?”
“Actually, she isn’t.”

I look at Jocelyn, who is looking directly at me. There’s something about her, I can see it in her eyes, she wants to guide me through what I am about to be told. “Okay,” I begin, looking at my three friends, who are all kinds of intrigued about what is being said. “If Prince Phillip, didn’t kill her, what does Maleficent have to do with me?”

“Maleficent is your mother, your Aunt Clare, who is Auroras mother, and mines sister. She wasn’t always bad you know. We were all born with a gift of good, almost like a fairy. However, your father was in love with your mother, so she gave her power up. This made Maleficent…all kinds of angry because she was in love with your father, which is why she became evil.”
“Way to go dad.”
“What, I fell in love with your mother okay?”

“Maleficent said that she would take over your mother and fathers kingdom. This frightend your mother that she saw what you people would call a psychic…this is where the prophecy comes in. The prophecy was that you would have the power to defeat Maleficent once and for all…however, this will be a challenge because you have a weakness…this weakness will show with the one you fall in love with, but you will over come this weakness to defeat her.”

I don’t say anything, in fact, not one says a word and I can hear the silence take over the room. I try to take in all of the information I was just given in. I look over at my father. “Ella…I am so sorry I lied to you.”

“Dad you mean to tell me that the movie Sleeping Beauty was a huge lie, just like my childhood? And if my mother isn’t dead, where the hell is she?”
“What is a movie?”
“That’s another story for later Jocelyn…Ella, when you were born, Maleficent came across this book that she could use to kill you to get a hold of your power. We tried to run here as a family, but she found us…your mother is in captivity with Maleficent.”
“So you mean to tell me I have to find this book in your world and destroy her?”
“The book is here in your realm…we just don’t know where it is.”

I don’t say anything. This was not the conversation to have with your best friends in the room. I look over at them; they are all in a state of shock. “Can I speak with you ladies in the hall?” I say as they follow me outside to the hallway. “Look, I know you probably think my dads all kind of crazy, but please, please don’t think I’m crazy.”

“Ella, we’ve known you for ten years now, you’re not crazy and your dad isn’t lying.”
“Really? I know for a fact if this were one of you, I’d think you were all crazy.”
“Ella…whatever this is, we’ll help you, that’s what best friends do.”
“What would I…”

I stop talking as I hear an explosion from the hall. We all look at one another as we storm into the condo. I stop dead in my tracks as Jocelyn and my father come toward me. What looks like a portal opens and a dark figure comes through, grabbing my father. “DAD!” I yell. I then grab hold of my father and try to pull him toward me, but it doesn’t help because just like that, my father was gone.