“Lia! Where are you? Lia!”

“Lia! Hey sis, come on! This isn’t funny! It’s cold out!”

“Lia!”

Shifting as she slowly woke up, Annalia scrunched up her face and grumbled as she heard her brothers calling her. She rolled over to bury her face in her pillow and nearly yelped as wet grass rubbed her face. She sat up, looking around as she brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and her eyes widened as she saw that she was next to the lake by a tree, resting between its large roots that were shoved up out of the ground. The mists had returned, cold, yet lit by the hidden sun. She looked down at herself, shocked to find herself dressed, albeit wet from the mists.

Moaning slightly as she stood up, she grabbed her head as she braced herself against the tree, feeling fuzzy and with a pounding thrumming in her head. ‘Oh what happened? Why am I here? Why is my head pounding?’ she wondered as she rested, breathing deeply to dispel the dizziness that overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to remember what had happened as she shivered.

“The rite has begun. Come forth, my Goddess and let me worship you within the power of the moon. I, your husband and lover, the God of the Hunt, call you forth.”

‘Who was that? It feels so…real…’ she questioned herself as she rubbed her head. A brief flash of raven hair and soft loving green eyes went past her mind’s eye before disappearing. ‘It must have been a dream. How could I have been where I was and…’ she flushed as another, more questionable memory flickered in her mind before she took a shaky breath.

“Lia! There you are! We’ve been looking for you for half an hour!”

Looking over as Anthony came around the bend calling for her, Annalia blinked in confusion. She looked at her watch and saw that it had indeed only been an hour since she had left the abbey to go on her quest. ‘But…how can that be?! I was gone for more than all the day! It should be the next day!’ she guessed in disbelief. She looked up at her brother as he came to her and realized that she completely missed what he’d said. “Huh?”

“Are you even there or did the mists take you away?” Anthony asked in amusement as he put his hands on his hips. He frowned as she glanced away and put his hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong, Lia? What happened?” he questioned her quietly, concerned as he felt her shiver.

“I um…I…” Annalia stopped, uncertain on how she could even begin to explain what had happened to her that day. She looked around distractedly, determinedly fighting off tears. ‘I’m losing my mind! First some weird woman tells me this poem, and then these guys threaten me! Now I’m having delusions of having been in Avalon with some guy and had sex with him to create the Pendragon!’ She sobbed slightly as she covered her face while shaking hard.

“Lia?” Anthony’s voice was gentle with worry as he enfolded her in his arms and held her close while she sobbed and shook against him. “Shh, sis…it’s ok. You’re ok now. I’ve got you,” he murmured tenderly as he rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

“Oh Ton! I’m losing my mind!” Annalia cried as she buried her face in his chest and sobbed even harder.

“Hey now…no, you're not. Come on, what’s wrong?” Anthony replied soothingly as he stroked her back. She shook her head, not replying as she wept and he sighed softly. He kissed her head and held her, just rubbing her back and trying to calm her down.

“Hey Tony! You found her!” Ryan and Jonathon emerged from the woods and walked over, brushing off leaves and twigs from their clothes and hair as they came over. Ryan shook his finger at her as she peeked out and frowned mockingly at her. “Do you know how worried we’ve been, young lady?” he demanded, then frowned for real when she looked away, biting her lip. “Hey now…what’s wrong?”

“She isn’t saying. She just started crying and such,” Anthony answered for his sister as he patted her back and held her close when she whimpered and sniffled.

“Well you don’t look hurt…so what’s up? Why don’t we head back while you tell us, k?” Jonathon suggested in concern as his own face creased with a frown and he put his hands in his pockets.

“Yea, good idea, Jon. Let’s go on back,” Ryan agreed with his younger brother before putting his arm around his sister’s shoulders as Anthony turned them towards the abbey and their parents. “So…do we have to beat some guy up?” he asked teasingly and grinned as she smiled slightly through her tears.

“N-No, Ry…I just…maybe I’ve been working too hard…” Annalia trailed off as she looked at the ground dejectedly, shivering. That had to be it… “I think I just need to lay off on the old stories and such. Maybe working on my report will help,” she murmured, more to herself than to her brothers.

The three brothers looked at each other over her bowed head and cocked identical eyebrows. They didn’t believe her one bit, but knew that asking her now after she had gotten upset was not the best or brightest thing to do. “Ok, Lia…we’ll head back and then you could maybe sit in the hot tub for a while before working on your report?” Jonathon suggested with a grin as he leaned forward slightly to catch her eye.

“Good idea there, Jon-Jon. You’re soaking wet! And with this weather…no wonder you’re shivering!” Ryan exclaimed as he smacked his forehead, earning laughs from his brothers and a small smile from Annalia as she shivered. He took off his coat and wrapped her in it, hugging her before they fell silent.

They went the rest of the way to the abbey and met up with their worried parents. Annalia put up with her mother’s fussing and her father’s light scolding silently, only nodding when they asked if she was all right. She was silent the rest of the trip home, not even paying attention to the conversation going on around her as she stared out the car window morosely. In the hotel room, she lay on the bed and stared tearfully up at the ceiling as she remembered her ‘dream’.

Ryan watched her silently while he stood by the entrance into the main room, his brow furrowed in distress as he watched her cry quietly. Something had deeply disturbed her and he was going to find out. “Lia…talk to me. What happened?” he murmured finally as he went over to the bed and sat on the edge before placing a hand on her hand as she looked at him sadly.

“I…it was so real, Ry! I swear!” Something inside of her broke and she started babbling between her tears. “I just felt an urge to leave the abbey and followed this strange singing and then it was like another person took me over and I did something to the fog and suddenly there was this bridge and I went over it to this island and there was an old village there and this big hill with Stonehenge on it and there was this looking glass or something in the center and there were pictures of so many terrible and wonderful things and then this man was there and he said that I was to give birth to the new King Arthur and we made love, but it was like it was two other people and he promised he’d be here and now I’m going crazy cuz it’s like none of it even happened!” She broke down sobbing hysterically as she covered her face, shaking with her weeping.

Stunned with the unexpected story that had spilled out uncontrollably from her, Ryan stared at her before reacting instinctively and wrapping her in his arms, holding her near. “Shh baby…shh…it is ok. Ry’s here and no one’s gonna get you. Shh now…don’t cry. It’s ok. It was just a weird dream pulled on by a bump to the head or something…” he murmured tenderly as he rubbed her back and rocked her trembling body, trying to soothe her sobs.

“But…it…was…so…real! I saw him! Felt him!” Annalia didn’t have the state of mind to be embarrassed at what she was telling her brother as he tried to calm her down.

“Drugs can do that, sweets. It’s ok…shh, shh…it’s ok.” Ryan continued his comforting mantra as he stroked her back and swayed with her, slowly reassuring her that she was safe and sane. Her hiccupping sobs finally calmed down and she just lay with her head against his shoulder, letting him rock her. She stared dimly at the wall, sniffling here and there with a slight cough as she relaxed against her brother. Pressing his lips to her head, Ryan smiled at how she always calmed down with him. “Feeling a bit better?” he asked quietly as he rubbed her back.

Sighing softly before sniffling, Annalia nodded a bit. “Yea, I guess so. I just…it seemed so real, Ry. How could it have been drugs or such?” she asked quietly as she wiped her nose and face of tears.

“Maybe some marsh gas or something, I don’t know, sweets. But you’re safe now, so don’t think about it anymore. It was just a really realistic hallucination,” Ryan replied with a grin as he looked down at her.

“Marsh gas, huh? Is that for certain, Mister ‘I know everything’ O’Grady?” Annalia shot back jokingly and grinned as he huffed at her.

“Well at least your sense of humor is back,” Jonathon commented wryly as he came in just in time to forestall an incoming pillow fight that looked like Ryan had been about to start.

Smiling over at her second oldest brother, Annalia smiled as she leaned her head on Ryan’s shoulder again as Ryan snorted and relaxed while holding her comfortingly. “I’m sorry for having worried you guys. It was just weird and I was trying to understand what had happened to me.” She grinned at them as they chuckled and shook their heads. “Still want to go to the pool?” she asked, distracting them from questioning her. At their positive response and subsequent scattering to get changed, Annalia got up and stretched before going over to grab her swimsuit. But her mind continued to replay what had happened. Whatever it was, it had been very interesting to say the least.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she got changed and headed down with her family to relax in the whirlpool and pool. She didn’t think about it until later that night as she started the preliminaries for her report. She stopped and stared at the poem that was on her notepad and sighed inwardly, chewing her lip.

‘Was it all just a dream? He isn’t here and I doubt I am pregnant. Plus, I didn't wake up near the 'bridge' into Avalon. Maybe I did just get a whiff of marsh gas and had a really fascinating dream,’ she debated with herself while she played with her pen as it wavered over the poem. Slowly she crossed out each line and sat back, sighing. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. ‘Yea…just a dream,’ she decided. But something inside of her spoke differently, albeit quietly. Not everything was at it seemed.

<Home>  <Previous Chapter   Next Chapter>