To Hide and Abide

Edlyn's face paled as she heard Ariana's full story, from start to finish she didn't think that something like this was possible. That is was a fantasy plot that she would find in novels based on old folk myths and tales.

She looked into Ariana's eyes and couldn't help but allow sweet teardrops fall from her eyes. "No, Edlyn... I didn't mean to make you cry!" Ariana moaned as she struggled to break free from her blankets.

"There!" She said triumphantly and scooted closer towards her weeping friend. "It's okay now. I can honestly say that I'm a lot happier now then in my old life." Edlyn shot her a cold glare, shoved Ariana away and brought up her hands.

"How?! How can you say you are happier now? Your life is not your own! Your being used and you seem perfectly okay with that!" Ariana shrugged indifferently. "I can't say I love my situation, and no, I would like to believe my life is my own but what can I do? I was pulled here and that's it."

Edlyn gritted her teeth as her gaze became more sinister but the flow of tears did not stop. "No I can't accept this at all! This isn't right!" Ariana raised her eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh. So it would have been better if my soul crumbled along with my chard remains? Then what? I wouldn't be hear! I wouldn't be opposing the church and the Council! I'm trying to be a better person! A stronger person but you can't accept the real me?! Edlyn between life or death I will always choose life! So yes, I'm happier, I'm the happiest I've ever been and its thanks to the ones toying with my life."

Edlyn dropped her gaze and bigger teardrops started to stain her nightgown. Ariana felt completely awful for her harsh words and wrapped an arm around Edlyn's trembling shoulders.

"I know it's not ideal... I mean I'm actually an old lady and not a real teenager so I can't say I'm the first friend you made that was your own age." Edlyn raised her head, she grabbed Ariana's face with both hands and headbutted her hard. As Ariana eyes swirled with pain, she rubbed her forehead gingerly where a small goose egg was starting to form. "I was only joking!" She said as she was started to focus.

Edlyn sat there pouting until Ariana was able to look at her properly. "I can't accept that you died!" Edlyn signed causing Ariana's eyes to grow wide with shock, she had no idea how to respond.

"I can't believe that I feel no guilt or sadness for what your going through! I feel no pity that your original family lost you, I don't care that your original body is gone or that your different! I will protect you because you were brought here to be friends with me!"

"I know I should feel bad that you went through something awful and wants coming next is worse! I should feel sad that your soul was dragged her but I don't and I don't care! Your my friend and I'm happy that fate brought you into my life! So you need to accept my selfish and greedy self just like I am accepting you right now!"

Ariana was speechless, she knew that her family felt the same way but they didn't nearly have the balls to voice it out like Edlyn. The corners of Ariana's lips started to twitch. "Who said I couldn't the greedy or selfish you?! Look I see you as my family, no my sister from another mister and honestly I'm fine with it!" Ariana shouted as she pounced on Edlyn and knocked her back onto the bed.

"So you don't hate me?" Edlyn signed and Ariana laughed. "Of course not! Honestly I admire your courage. I don't think I could ever be that honest with my feelings... I'm too much of a cry baby. I don't like getting hurt and I still think that one day I will wake up and find out all of this is a dream."

Edlyn pouted as she watched Ariana's eyes start to glaze over. She reached out and pinched her cheek. "Ow! What was that for?!" Ariana grumbled. "You were going into a bad place with your thoughts."

Ariana rubbed her cheek with one hand and reached out to pinch Edlyn's cheek. "See not that great is it." She said bitterly as she released her grip. "Well at least we both know we are not dreaming." She signed before rubbing her own cheek. Ariana couldn't stop her warm feelings from overflowing. What she told Edlyn was the truth, she was truly happy with the life she had now.

Her last life was wasted by being a nervous introvert. Home, work and home again the same routine everyday, the same depressing looks and the same type of dull and lifeless day. This, what she had now was living and no matter what, she would never curse her new life. "I'm happy and that's all that matters." She said as she laid in bed with Edlyn. They stared at the ceiling silently as they contemplated what to do about the immediate problem.

"Do you think we can do it?" Ariana asked out loud. Edlyn sat up and started nodding her head. Ariana looked doubtful as she kept staring upwards. "Two more people are going to be living in this room with us... I don't think we can hide my transformation and how am I going to hide it from the faculty and other students... I don't think I thought this through very well."

After a moment Edlyn pulled Ariana into a sitting position and started to sign furiously. "Gregory! That scum sucking, piece of trash Gregory, is the answer!" Ariana stared at Edlyn's hands then her face. She sat silently for a moment then burst into laughter.

"Nope! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Do you really think he would help me in any kind of way! I think he would rather sell me out then help me with this! Besides how could he? I mean it's a girl's thing, well kinda.... and I would think he would die of embarrassment first then to let everyone know that he had to take care of me because of that."

Edlyn shook her head. "There is no other way! Look he is now a member of the faculty, no one would question him if you are sick. What if it happens during a test, exam or school activity? You need to rely on Gregory." Ariana brought her hands up, covered her face and groaned. "Can't I just tell a female teacher... like Ms. Hadley?" She said behind her hands. Edlyn peeled Ariana's hands away and looked at her seriously.

"You win! You win... I don't know who I can trust and... I mean I have no idea who's on what side and least with Gregory he makes his stand clear." Edlyn smiled and bounced back to bed. "Will you go look for him with me tomorrow?" Ariana asked sheepishly and Edlyn responded with a firm head shake. Ariana moved to turn off her bed side lamp, within minutes of laying in absolute darkness they both fell asleep.

While unknowingly to them a pair of eyes were watching them from within the trees. A breath of relief left his mouth as he turned to leave the area. Suddenly he heard footsteps from down below. He pressed himself against the tree as his eyes shone brightly with guilt.

He looked downwards feeling his sweat starting to collect around his nose and back. It was Ms. Hadley and Mr. Dabney walking side by side in the dark. Ms. Hadley was holding a flash light while Mr. Dabney held an index finger upwards, the tip of his finger was lit with a light green flame.

"Are you sure you saw someone come this way Pascal?" She questioned with a bored tone. "Yes! The little bugger ran this way. You know I would have chased him down but this is your area, I'm not stupid enough to cross into your territory without your permission. Too afraid of the after affects." Mr. Dabney said as he shivered. Ms. Hadley laughed. "I can guarantee you, whatever idiot crossed my barrier will be feeling it tomorrow."

Mr. Dabney looked up and motioned his hand like a gun. The green flame shot upwards, the young man hiding, skillfully shifted his body to the outskirts of a branch, to hide away from the flame. "Do you see anyone?" Ms. Hadley asked.

"Not yet give me a second." Mr. Dabney answered and to the man's surprise the green flame gracefully moved through the air. Sweat started to roll down his back as his body froze and his eyes were entranced by the movement of the light.

The young man cursed as the flame approached him. From within the flame was a giant blinking eyeball. The man could see his own reflection and he held his breath as he pleaded with his own eyes for the owner to not reveal him.

"Mr. Dabney?" He could hear Ms. Hadley call out. The eyeball closed itself and turned back into a normal flame before racing back down to his master. "Must have been my imagination." Mr. Dabney replied. Ms. Hadley patted the man's back. "Well it's not like the fellow will be able to escape his punishment. So we will catch him right away tomorrow."

"We'll see..." Mr. Dabney replied as they both started walking back. The young man waited a while longer before jumping down the branches towards the ground. He looked around and dashed off towards the direction of his room. Cursing his own stupidity along the way and wondering what would happen tomorrow.

.....

Ariana and Edlyn woke up excitedly. They had the whole school to themselves for 24 hours. They had hoped that they would find their luggage the moment they woke up but nothing was in the room.

They forgot that the Headmaster had said they had to act like they were never there and sighed. Without any fresh clothes they would have to stay in their room all day and leave at dawn to walk back to the entrance and act like they just got there.

They decided to look around the room instead. A majority of their time yesterday was given to Ms. Hadley, regarding school rules and about personal space. After hours of lecturing they crawled behind Ms. Hadley until they reached their room.

Once inside they didn't bother to take a closer look, they just wanted sleep but then ended up talking again. It was a grand room, the walls were painted a soft, shimmering coral colour with a pearl white crown pattern all over the wall. In between the crowns was a white silhouette of a unicorn horn and ears. It had a crown of roses and beautiful long eyelashes stretching out from it's closed eyes. The floor was made of dark, walnut hardwood.

There was a giant light grey, plush area rug in the center of the room. It had a a white design in the center and they tried to take a closer look. They walked around what looked like an emblem and pondered.

Edlyn started clapping her hands, signaling she figured out what the image was. "Look! A giant shield, inside are two giant, white cranes, facing eachother with their wings are spread out. See this, it's the cherry blossom clusters and some leaves. It's the school emblem!"

Ariana looked a little closer and her eyes widened, Edlyn was able to see the pictures before she noticed. She nodded her head in agreement, secretly thanking that Tillie wasn't around, she didn't want to start over with her lessons and then they moved their gazes to the corners of the room.

Each corner had essentially its own living quarters. Each bed was relatively modern looking a giant bed box that extended into a desk, book shelf, cubby and closet combo. The frame was painted white, the mattress was firm and dressed in pastel violet bedding with a matching plush comforter. Again they found that the school emblem was done in a shimmering white and elegantly stitched on to the comforter.

In the middle of Ariana's and Edlyn's beds were wide sun windows, light golden curtains framed the sides of windows. When they drew the curtains closed, they noticed that a dark gold design was embellished on it, again it was the school emblem. Now that they looked over the room the were at a lose with what to do next. A gentle knocking was heard coming from the door. Ariana rushed towards the door and she swung it wide open.

Ms. Hadley stood there with her indifferent face as she looked over the girls. "Good morning." The girls stared back at Ms. Hadley, then moved their gaze to a white bag in her hand. "Do you... want so breakfast?" She asked with a blank expression. "We would love to eat but we have no clothes." Ariana answered as she tore her eyes from the bag. "That's what I brought." Ms. Hadley said as she brought up the white bag and shoved it into Ariana's face.

"My father periodically sends me clothes but they don't fit.... I have no use for them and just picked some out. Choose what you like, tomorrow I will bring you you uniforms to wear." Ariana graciously took the bag and smiled at Ms. Hadley. "That's very nice of your father to send you clothes but not knowing your size seems..."

"Odd." Ms Hadley inserted for Ariana. "Well yes." Ariana answered with a nod of her head. "Well I haven't seen my father in the last ten years." Ariana's eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard Ms. Hadley's response. Edlyn snuck over and grabbed the bag. She tip toed behind the door and started to rummage through the bag. "Aren't you lonely not seeing your father after so long? Do write to him at least?" Ariana asked.

Ms. Hadley's eyes turned ice cold as she narrowed he gaze at Ariana. "Whatever relationship I have with my father is strictly my own business. If I choose to write him three times a year then I will! Besides he's too busy to even care what I do anyways."

Edlyn stepped out from behind the door and showed off a beautiful baby blue tea dress. The skirt stopped at mid thigh and ruffled all around the dress. It was decorated with cute, navy blue tea cups with white steam coming out.

Edlyn quickly signed her thoughts to Ariana and they both flashed Ms. Hadley a giant grin. "Ms. Hadley I think you're wrong... see this dress. It's quite priceless." Ariana said as she watched Ms. Hadley's face closely.

"Edlyn should know as this dress is from Abela's new clothing shop." Ariana explained. Ms. Hadley's left brow started to twitch and Ariana's grin started to turn more sinister. "I think there might be a huge misunderstanding between you and your father... your mother should be the one buying you clothing but you didn't mention her, your father buys it for you instead... Do you know how hard it is for a male to enter Ms. Abela's shop?"

Ms. Hadley's masked cracked and Ariana caught her sneering at her. "There's only one person that man ever cared about and that was my mother! When she passed away, she took his heart with him. There is absolutely no parental love in his void heart." Ms. Hadley spat.

Ariana gave Ms. Hadley an empathetic sigh. She grabbed the bag from Edlyn and pulled out a white tea dress. It was mostly made of lace and had a dark drown belt fastened around it with a bronze buckle.

"Did you know it's actually quite uncomfortable for men to go into a clothing shop to buy a woman's outfit? But your father actually took time out of his day, looked through everything they have,"

"I would even wager he ask an attendant for advice before he bought you these outfits. Always keeping in mind your last known size... you probably never told him your new size let alone thanked him for the thoughtful gifts? Even though he is trying in his own way to show you he has been thinking of you." Ariana said nonchalantly.

Ms. Hadley's face froze, Ariana could see the gears starting to turn and she decided to keep going.

"Let me take a guess your situation with your father. Proud figure in the community, refused to remarry because he loved your mother too much, only says necessary words to you when the time calls for it and shoved things into your face?" Ariana asked.

Ms. Hadley swallowed back saliva but her mouth still felt dry. She gave Ariana a small nod "But have you ever looked at it from his point of view? His precious daughter, the last gift his loving wife left, unsure on how to raise her and decided to make sure she grew up strong. Strong enough to stand up against anyone, someone not willing to give up on what they believe in despite what others say?"

Ms. Hadley started to shake her head in protest as a few tears started to leave her eyes. "No your wrong... he only knew how to have high expectations of me.... he doesn't care or love me!" Ariana narrowed her gaze at Ms. Hadley and pulled her inside their room.

Ariana sat Ms. Hadley down onto her bed as half her own face became dark. "Has he ever said he doesn't love you?" Ariana asked bluntly. Ms. Hadley body started to slightly tremble as she looked at Ariana. Something was wrong, she shouldn't feel intimidated by any person, her father conditioned her well enough.

"Tell me, has he ever said he doesn't care or love you." She hissed causing Ms. Hadley to squeak no while Edlyn stood her ground, shaking like a leaf. "N-n-no he hasn't b-b-but he hasn't told me he loves me either." Ms. Hadley stuttered as she tried her best not to shrink back.

"Wonderful! There is still hope!" Ariana shouted gleefully. Ms. Hadley looked at Ariana with misty eyes as she opened and closed her mouth like a carp out of water. "Not telling you he loves is is very different from saying he doesn't love you."

Ms. Hadley tried to protest but Ariana turned around and pulled off her night gown. "I should know, my first adopted family and my current showed me the difference." She said as Ms. Hadley paled when she saw the giant, faded scar across Ariana's back. "Be brave and take the first step with your father, write him a letter and I guarantee he will write you back."