"Mom!" I called out, knowing she would hear me in the kitchen. "Are you playing matchmaker again?" The question was pointless, as I already knew that she was, thanks to the photos and bios of a few (very nice looking) guys on the desk in her office-room.

"Rani, I thought I told you to stay out of my office!" my mom called back. I dropped my head into my hand and groaned.

"You just told me to come in and get your phone!" I could hear her pause and think about that for a second.

"Since you're in there, why don't you take a look through them?"

I rolled my eyes, grabbed her phone, and went back to the kitchen.



~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


"I'm Haven," the boy introduced himself, and I just kept staring. Gorgeous didn't begin to cover it. He had long blonde hair pulled back into a messy braid, with some hair falling out of it. His green eyes sparkled, and his smile made it hard to look away from him. He was well dressed, in perfect-fitting jeans, a light gray button down shirt with a green vest over it that matched his eyes.

"And you are...?" Haven continued, laughing.

"Rani," I said, after another second. He laughed again, and I laughed with him, because I couldn't not. He was beautiful.

"I think you're staring at me," he commented, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. I quickly looked away. "You're shy, aren't you?"

"Kind of?" I looked back at him. "I don't meet new people often."

"That's okay. I like shy guys." He took my hand and pulled me lightly along with him, smiling over at me again as he did so. He liked to smile. I liked that.


~.~.~.~.~.~.~.



"May I join you?"

Haven and I looked up at the same time to see a very handsome boy, about our age, standing near our table. He had a pretty-boy I-know-how-to-get-my-way smile on, and it worked on him. Short brown hair and deep black eyes went nicely with his tanned skin and expensive designer outfit.

"We're on a date," I answer, looking at Haven. He smiled at me.

"So that'd be a no," Haven clarified as the boy opened his mouth to protest.

"Are you sure?" He asked anyway. "A little spice in a relationship never hurts..."

"We're sure," Haven and I answer at the same time, which makes me smile all silly-like.

"Well, my card--" he took two business cards out of his jacket and handed them to us-- "if you change your mind. I'll see you around."

"He's so used to getting his way," Haven said after he left. Jasper, the card said his name was. Jasper Nightshield. "But he was cute." Haven smiled at me in a mischievous way.

"He was," I laughed.



~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


"I knew you'd call," was the first thing Jasper said when we met him in the park.

"Oh, really?" Haven said.

"Yes." Jasper smirked, and looked over at me. I stayed kind of in the background, near Haven, perfectly fine with being shy and not having much attention paid to me. "What are your names?"

"I'm Haven," he answered and held out his hand. Jasper took it and instead of shaking it, he kissed it, old-fashioned.

"And you?" Jasper looked at me.

"Rani." Jasper reached over and took my hand, kissing it like he had Haven's. After Jasper let go, Haven grabbed my other hand and held it in his, squeezing it once quickly, making me smile.

"You're shy," Jasper said to me. "I like that."

I smiled. I really did want him to like me, maybe like Haven did. He intrigued me, and I really wanted to know more about him.

"You really want to get to know us?" Haven asked. "We're not interested if you just want to play and then leave."

"I want to know you two," Jasper answered seriously. "I'm not interested in just a game and nothing more. I've had that. I want more."

"Then I think," I started, and they both looked at me, making me pause, "I think you should be the one to take us somewhere really nice."

"All right." Jasper smiled at me. "I can do that.


~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Tags: jasper haven rani

Prologue

The house was just like I'd seen it in my dreams. Beautiful, old, well cared for, and filled with secrets, although that wasn't clearly visible from the outside. I knew, however, the place held more secrets than I could imagine. Why else would it have been uninhabited for so long? Why else would there be stories of ghosts, both peaceful and not?

And most important, why else would I have dreamed of this house, along with a girl whose name I do not know, for three years?

It didn't make sense, and no one ever believed me when I told them about the dreams, about the girl. Some--my friends--pretended to, but most just made fun of me. Then, when I told them I found the house and was going off to live in it, pretty much everyone, friends included, wrote me off as crazy.

The house was for sale when I found it, for an insanely cheap price. I'd managed to resist calling the seller for two whole days, when I finally caved in on the third morning. The dreams those two nights were more intense than ever. The seller--a Ms. Shield-- invited me down to stay at the house for a few days before I made up my mind. She said it was because when most people set foot inside the house for the first time, they changed their minds and never came back. I agreed to this, packed up my stuff, and traveled up to Northern Ohio where the house was.

For some reason, I was drawn to this house and that nameless girl in my dreams. I had no idea why, and I didn't like it. But I was here to figure it out, to stop the dreams, and maybe find a way to save that girl, because in my dreams, she died.

Tags: timeless

I used to wonder what things would be like if I didn't exist, or if things were different. If I wasn't trapped in this hell, wondering if there was anyway out.

I used to wonder if things weren't like this in other places, for other people. 

I used to wonder if I would ever find a way out.

You see, I used to wonder a lot of things.

I don't, anymore. I'm fifteen years old now, today, and no one has ever even noticed how things are. I've given up wondering, I've given up hope, I've given up trying. I haven't, however, given up waiting. In the book, there's always a prince that comes and saves the princess, there's always a hero, there's always a happy ending. Maybe my story won't have one, but it doesn't hurt to wait, right?

Well, maybe it does. But what else is there to do when you're trapped? So I wait, uselessly, because no one even knows I exist.

Bet you didn't expect that one.

I suppose it's not totally true, though, since I do get food and water every day, or maybe every night because there's always that light on in here and I don't keep track of 'day' and 'night,' only time. I can't even remember what sunlight feels like, or what darkness is like.

I've been here for seven years. I was locked away by someone when I was eight, and I haven't seen anyone again since.

There are no doors, or windows here. I don't know how they get the food in, even, because I'm asleep when they do. Or maybe it's just one person. Or maybe it's no one at all and I just imagine the food. Is that even possible?

No doors, or windows. No cracks in the smooth surface of this place. I've been over every bit of it, and nothing.

There's a bed in one corner. A small toilet and a sink in another. There was this notebook on the floor when I woke up, along with the pen, and that's it.

What is this place? I don't think I ever knew. If I did, I can't remember now.

I used to have a sister. But she died, before I was locked away here. Can I be locked away if there are no doors to lock?

My sister. She was pretty, even though she was never older than four. Her eyes had three colors in them, and she was always smiling. Or maybe I'm remembering wrong. I haven't thought about her in a long while.

How did she die?

There was a crash. I wasn't in it too, was I? 

No, I only saw it.

My sister and my mother both died.

I don't know any more than that.

I wonder what will happen to this notebook next time I sleep. Will it be replaced? Will it still be here? Will I still be here? Will anyone read it?

I want to get out. I hope someone saves me. I do so hate it here. I don't even know where here is, though, so how can I expect anyone else to know? Is there even anyone else? Anywhere?
 

Tags: trapped

'If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or the sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what saftey would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dunedain were asleep, or all gone to the grave?

'And yet, we have less thanks than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. "Strider" I am to one fat man who lives within a days march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town to ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while years have lengthed and grass has grown.

'But the world is changing once again. A new hour comes. Isildur's Bane is found. Battle is at hand. The sword shall be re-forged. I shall come to Minas Tirith. '

Tags: lotr aragorn

"Shh, now. Calm down. The less you struggle the less it'll hurt."

Tags: scars

Rahr

Fadely

Lydine

"Take my hand," Lydine said, holding out her hand. I looked at her, confused.

"Why?" I asked. She smiled, that pretty smile that makes her face soft and bright.

"Why not?" She looked around her as if looking for something, and I was even more confused.

"I hardly know you?"

"I don't know you any better than you know me," she pointed out. I shrugged. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know."

"I don't know that, though." 

"Trust me, just this once, and if you want, I won't ask you to again." Her smile slipped a little and her face lost a little bit of it's light, leaving me wanting to see both again. She didn't look right without the smile and the brightness.

"Okay," I accepted, slowly putting my  hand in hers. Her face lit up, and I felt myself smile back a little.

XxX


 

Tags: fadely

It was dark. A partial moon shone from high above, surrounded by a impossibly huge blanket of stars, but it still it was dark. The air was warm, though, from the long summer day. The wind blew, occasionally providing short relief from the heat.

Water crashed lightly against the land from somewhere down below. The water was dark, almost black, and was hard to see from the top of the cliff. But that was part of the beauty. The wind tangled in the leaves, causing a rustling sound that was just as comforting as the crash of the water.

She stood at the edge of the cliff, looking straight out to where the darkness of the water met the darkness of the sky and blended until they couldn't be told apart. Behind her was the rustle of the trees in the wind, below her the water crashing against the rocks, and all around was the silence that could only come with night. She wore only a simple white summer dress, with her long, dark hair flowing down her back, a beautiful contrast the light dress and her light skin.

The wind blew again, harder this time, and she slowly raised her arms, tilting her head back towards the sky as she did. Her hair and her dress blew lightly out behind her, and with the wind in her face she could almost imagine herself flying. She smiled.



 

People should learn to stay away from us.

We're dangerous and unpredictable and those close to us tend to get killed.

Magician's are what we call ourselves. The female form of the mage, a being almost no one knows exist. We must keep ourselves hidden, because for a woman to posses magic is a crime punishable by death.

But that's not why we're dangerous.

We cannot be controlled. For the majority of us not even we can control all our magic. We have it in such excess that it's almost impossible and it would kill anyone weaker.

But that's not it either.

We are dangerous because of who hunts us, of who we much secretly fight. Demons. Summoned, somehow, from another place and time. We do not know what they wish, only that they must not be here. They kill us because we are the only ones with the power to find them and kill them.

The mages have no idea what is befalling our world. They remind oblivious, caught up in too many petty things. But there is nothing they could to anyway, except cause a panic with the lower people. They do not have the power, the magic, the spells, to do anything about it.

Our order is dying. There is too much killing and not enough new magicians being born to change things. If this order dies before we achieve victory, the last hope for this world will be gone.

Long ago, so long ago no one but those who were alive remember, there was a war. A war that almost killed every living thing. Mages against the magicians. The mages believe they won, and that there are no others of our kind, but they did not really succeed.

There were few of us left. Twenty, from what must have been over two thousand. We created our order, to try to keep ourselves hidden.

We protected ourselves, hid any knowledge of ourselves from the rest of the mages and the mortal world.

Things are getting worse, though. So few of us are being born that we cannot replenish the numbers that are dying. With our hidden war, things are more dangerous than ever. There is a chance we could be found out. There is an even bigger chance we will die out before we can save this world, even though it is the same world that has forced us into hiding at all costs.

And now, as in all the stories worth hearing, all our hopes rest upon the fate of one, a girl who must never know her own destiny. We can watch over her, help guide her, use our power to try and let her keep control, but we cannot reveal ourselves. She must never know of our assistance, for it would, more than anything, hinder her.

Hers is a path filled with loneliness and uncertainty, but, with luck, also with hope and unwavering friendship and love.

All of us, we must now have faith in the old stories and the magic that is our only god.

Tags: magicians

It was a warm night, I remember. It was warm and so clear I could see the stars while laying in the backyard. I couldn't remember the last time the sky was so clear and it was such a perfect temperature. It was beautiful, and sad, all at once. Nights like this? They didn't come around very often.

And the almost-full moon, up there with all the stars? What a romantically sad thing. All alone amid a never-ending blanket of stars. Beautiful and sad all at once.

It hit me that night. Before then, I'd never realized that this really was where I belonged. Throughout my stay here, I'd felt like this wasn't where I was supposed to be. Even after meeting Jennifer and falling in love and her moving in and bringing her adorable dog, it felt like this whole place was against me, somehow.

Now, though, I don't know how I ever felt that way. This is my home; I've worked hard to make it that way, and I've made a place for myself here. This is where the person I love is, and this is where the house that I've worked so hard to make my own is.

XxX

"I can't take it anymore!" Jenny yelled to me. I tried not to flinch--Jenny never yelled--and settled in until she calmed herself down. "They've known me all my life, and then they turn on me like this! Like everything about me had--had--had been a lie! Like it's all my fault! I live here, all my life, and they've known me, all my goddamn life, and then they find out about you and decide that none of that matters?!" Jenny kicked something, a sign that she was done with ranting and willing to calm down.

I climbed off our bed and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and resting my head on her shoulder.

"They just need time, Jenny," I told her. She leaned back against me and sighed.

"I know," she whispered. "But it's harder than I thought it would be."

I understood that. It had been just as hard for me, and she knew that. It's just how it was. So I held her a little tighter, and sent up a wish that it wouldn't take too much time.

XxX

"There you are!" Jenny exclaimed with a smile. I smiled back, and sat up quickly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down on top of me. She laughed.

"I was just admiring the stars, but I'd be more than happy to just admire you..." Jenny laughed again as I knew she would, having had a couple years to get used to me. She rolled off of me and onto the blanket, but rested her head on my shoulder and draped her arm over me, tickling lightly for a second.

"It is a pretty night," she told me.

"Very pretty."I kissed the top of her head, threading my fingers through the ends of her long hair. "How'd it go with your family?"

"They asked about you." I could feel her grin as she said this. "They wanted me to tell you that they hope you can forgive them. All of them."

I sighed. "Do you want me to?"

"...That's up to you. I'll support whatever you decide."

"Then I'll think about it. But, hey, progress. It's only a matter of time before they're insisting to pay for the wedding. Well, one can hope anyway."

Jenny laughed, poking me in the head. I grinned.

XxX

"No," Mr. Wright said firmly. I could hear him through the closed door; I don't think he made any effort to be anywhere near quiet.

"Dad, come on," Jenny pleaded. I flinched back.

Jenny was upset because her father refused to let me eat dinner with them. It was supposed to be a family dinner, he'd said, and they didn't have room for 'someone like me.' Even after five months they believed that it was all my fault that Jenny fell in love with me and her whole world changed. Jenny had tried so hard to convince them otherwise, but they wouldn't believe it.

Then, her mother extended an invitation for me to join them for dinner. Jenny thought they were finally coming around. I was worried that something like this would happen.

Apparently, Mrs. Wright hadn't filled in Mr. Wright on my coming.

"No," Mr. Wright was insisting again. "I will not have that--that--"

"If she can't stay," Jenny interrupted, "I won't either."

Silence.

"Fine." Jenny stormed out of the room a few seconds later. We left. I'd never been back; I'd never been invited again.

XxX

"I wonder," Jenny mused, "if we should get another dog..."

I laughed. "I think Cinn would enjoy that, big puppy that he is."

"I love you," Jenny told me, kissing my cheek and snuggling closer.

"I love you, too."

Tags: jennifer

Tags: lila, rosaline