Chapter Seventeen: Adelaide March
932 Words
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ADELAIDE MARCH
When I stepped through the door to faerie, I was struck by the smell of sweetness that hit my nose. Everything was brighter, somehow. There was a strange familiarity too. I looked at Bradley. “How many times have I been here?”
“Just once before,” Bradley said, “with the huntsman. After that, you weren’t too keen on returning. But once you’re here, it’s hard to let go.”
There’s a hesitancy in his eyes. It’s almost as if he’s waiting for me to run away screaming. But I was far from it. If anything, I wanted to know more. “So, what is faerie exactly?” I asked.
“It’s a world within a world. It was created by a witch named Hecate, to keep the offspring of fallen angels and humans safe.”
“The offspring of fallen angels and humans? So, Heaven and Hell----”
“Are real, yes,” Bradley answered, “not anything you want to come across either.”
“That’s where we go? When we die?”
“It depends on you faith,” Bradley told me, “but Heaven and Hell are the main worlds that I know of. That being said, there are gods and goddesses, but as their worlds lose relevance they’re forced to walk here in limbo.”
I took a breath. I didn’t know what to think. It was a lot to take in. “Bradley, is that where…is that….”
His eyes softened. “You’re wondering about Danny?”
I nodded.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“Can’t we find him? Bring him back?”
For a second, he looked away from me. “I’m a thief. I’ve been to heaven and hell. But getting in and out, that’s not an easy thing. I know what you’re asking me, and I can’t do that, Adelaide.”
“Why?” I asked. “Can’t I at least see him again?”
“The dead are supposed to stay dead. If you try bringing them back, it disturbs them. But…I think I can find you something that will give you peace, if you want.”
“What would that be?”
“I can get you some peace of mind. There’s a place called limbo, where souls and humans can interact. I…I know I wasn’t what you wanted, but I’ll do whatever we can in order to help you.”
“Help me move on, you mean?” the words came out cold. I hated myself immediately after.
Hurt crossed his face. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault, but I…. I’d hate myself if I didn’t at least try to. You’ve got this whole world of magic, and I just lost someone. All I want is…well….”
Bradley shook his head. “It’s okay.” He pressed his hand to my shoulder, and the slightest touch from him left me feeling tingles. I hated it, but I loved it. “You’re everything I’ve always loved, Adelaide. Everything. Whatever I need to make things right for you, I’ll do it. Even if that means going to a creepy spirit plane.”
I can’t help but smile even though it feels wrong to smile. Even though Danny is dead, my first love is gone, and I shouldn’t even be looking at another guy. But Bradley Endless isn’t just some guy.
Bradley Endless is sunny, summer afternoons.
Bradley Endless is my first kiss.
Bradley Endless is so many things I had never thought possible, and I want them all, and that makes me horrible. Because I was supposed to want all of those things with Danny, to have everything from him.
Now I couldn’t.
“I have to at least tell him goodbye,” I explained.
“Okay,” he said, “that we can do. I’m not opposed to breaking and entering. Theft is a whole different matter.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were a notorious thief?”
He ran a hand through his blond hair. “Notoriety is overrated, Adelaide. Now if we’re going to find limbo, we need to find a rabbit hole.”
“A rabbit hole?” I asked. “What, are we going to fall through it like Alice?”
“Precisely,” Bradley answered with a grin, “where do you think Alice went when she fell through?”
It had never occurred to me, that there might have been some truth in the faerie stories that I had grown up with. But since faeries were real, I supposed the stories did have to come from somewhere.
“How do we do that?’ I asked. “What, do we just as a rabbit permission to pass through?”
“Precisely,” Bradley answered, “but first we’ve got to find one.”
“Curiouser, and curiouser,” I muttered.
Bradley took my hand, pulling me into the woods of faerie, off to find a rabbit.
- Writer
