The Lost Girl... (Faith, Hope and Tranquillity #1)

CHAPTER 15

UNKNOWN POV

“Do you think she fell for it?” A female’s voice asked calmly.

“I don’t know, only time will tell…”

“Why do you need to do all this? Can’t you just move on and find someone who loves you back?” The feminine voice was hopeful.

“No! This will work and we will all live as peaceful as before but with our true queen!”

Lily’s POV

I agreed to meet David at the coffee house early the next morning which we both seemed to frequent fairly often. It was close enough to both of our apartments and if anything was to happen we knew that Mrs Sanderson would be more than happy to help us. We also knew that she would keep us topped up with coffee as often as we needed it and wouldn’t get tired of us being there. She was always excited to have customers in and revelled in looking after them.

I hadn’t sat at my usual window seat, choosing instead to sit in a booth further back with a charging port for my phone, just in case I needed it. As well as a note pad and pen. I don’t know why I brought this but something deep down was telling me I needed to keep a record of things. My intuition told me something was off and weirdly, it wasn’t about the elves or magic. It was about the real world.

David arrived shortly after I had started drinking my first cup of coffee, he looked almost shy. He greeted Mrs Sanderson, and gave her his bank card so she could just charge us as we needed her to. Turning and noticing me he smiled brightly and headed over to me. I assumed he would sit across from me but instead he squeezed in at the side of me and pecked me on the cheek. I was a little taken aback but then remembered we were kind of dating. I smiled shyly at him but felt something strange inside me, coldness.

“Morning sweetness!” He smiled at me.

“Morning you” I smiled but stifled a yawn. I hadn’t slept amazingly last night with all of the dreams. Most of them were ones I had already had before; the only difference was this time no silver haired man entered my dreams telling me they were incorrect. Celeb was dark haired again and Dae silver haired which confused me even more. Silver was definitely Celeb, I knew, my heart and head knew so why was the Celeb of my memory dark haired. Was Silver/ Celeb serious when he told me my “memories” were being tampered with. But then a part of me wondered if Silver was telling the truth. Or maybe I was just losing my mind. David seemed like the only person who was unbiased in this whole situation, and I needed his input.

“Did you read the book?” He asked, quietly as Mrs Sanderson gave him his tea, he nodded a thanks but turned back to look at me for an answer, his brows were furrowed as if he was worried about my response. I looked him over and carefully thought about how I would answer this.

“I did, and it didn’t help one bit. It made me realise I’m going crazy and clearly, I’ve read the book before and forgotten…” I said, twisting my napkin around and around in my hands. David went silent and just looked at his cup. He again looked worried but there was a shroud of anger in his eyebrows. What had I said wrong? Should I tell him about what happened with Silver. But before I could say anything, he sighed heavily. “What? What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I decided everyone was out to make me lose my mind as I sighed heavily.

“What if I told you that you aren’t crazy and this is all real, your dreams are memories, and you are Sere…” He said, seriously, his eyes boring straight into mine. I looked at him in sock before I shook my head laughing, the type of laughter that someone does when they have no idea what’s happening, and they feel like the world is against them.

“You can’t be…”

“Serious?” He said, keeping eye contact with me, his eyes boring into mine with a seriousness I have never seen from him before. Even at work. I just continued to stare at him, nervously laughing. “I really am being serious…” He sighed. “But I was worried. I didn’t want to tell you for fear of you thinking I was crazy.” He leant back in his chair, looking up to the ceiling. He looked like he was holding back tears. “Also, the fact you’re safe here… in this world… being normal…” He continued staring at the ceiling. His eyes were now closed. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but the emotion David was displaying seemed real. It took a few minutes before I found my voice again.

“I am normal… You’re saying I’m really a lost elven princess? HA!” I made a movement to stand up, scared of what I might say to him. He moved quickly and grabbed my hand to stop me rising. He once again looked me in the eyes, sadness and determination showing in them. My head flashed in pain once again.

“You are! You are the Princess Sere, you think you’re 24 human years old but actually you’re actually nearly 32. You were 15 when you went missing but looked like a 7-year-old so the authorities classed you as that. You’ve been missing 17 years. That’s why you still look like a 17-year-old despite being a lot older. You have two sisters, Voronwe and Estel who you care about dearly. Your mother and father couldn’t have children and were blessed with you guys after many years. You fell in love with a prince who you knew you would marry and rule alongside. You love nature and flowers. You adore fairy tales, especially stories about fairies. Your natural hair colour is black despite your fair complexion and eye colour. Your eyes darken when you get angry and lighten when you laugh. You wish you were taller, and your favourite thing is to ice skate as well as swim. You absolutely hate wind and seafood. I’ve been searching for you all of that time. Singing our song to draw you to me. To make you remember the truth…” He spoke everything out with lightning speed, but every word hit me in the heart. He finally took a breath and looked at me, I could see him frantically searching my face for some form of recognition.

I couldn’t breathe, I could feel my heart hurting, everything he said was true about me and I know I hadn’t told him most of those things. Sure, the Voronwe and Estel could have been guesses especially from the literature but the fears and likes, we had never discussed them, sticking to work and likes such as music etc. MY breaths were getting more and more shallow as I struggled to keep a handle on the panic attack that was threatening to take over me. Suddenly it occurred to me though, him knowing about the song? Surely no one else could know that… but what about Silver? My mind asked, I was absolutely reeling, and my head felt like it was going to explode again. Finally, I managed to choke out words again…

“How?”

“How do I know all of this?” He took a deep breath. “Well, because I was there, we grew up together… well from the age of 10 we did…”

“I don’t get it, who are you?” I gasped, struggling to piece things together. He sounded like he was saying he was my love, my Celeb… but Silver claimed he was Celeb… wasn’t he? And even though I liked David, something between me and Silver felt right, we had an awkwardness, but I felt safe around him. Silver shared a memory with me he, kissed me with such passion, knew my past as well and was able to get into my dreams, he was with my supposed sisters as well.

That’s if this was even actually real! I grabbed my head which was now pounding in pain again. I felt like there was a whooshing sound in my head. The sound of something rushing towards me. Kind of like wind. I shivered and remembered my dreams, they kept changing. Didn’t they? The silver haired boy was sometimes Dae as well. Celeb was more often than not, dark haired… with ebony eyes… like David… And Dae was able to warp minds according to the book… but Silver and the gang had been every bit nice to me… then again, he would be, hadn’t Dae said he loved me too… and Dae was with my sisters, they were my real sisters? Was this actually real? I started shaking my head. The sound of wind getting louder.

S…A…..afe?

I closed my eyes trying to listen to the sound, it was terrifying but equally soothing.

“I think you know who I am Lil!” David almost shouted, staring deep into my eyes, hands still gripping mine tightly. I opened my eyes, my head hurting.

“David, you’re saying that you are my Celeb? The other half of me?” I looked into his eyes, my eyebrows furrowed, looking for something. I don’t know what I was looking for, a sign of shock, or recognition or even excitement. “You’ll always be David to me but… this is real?” I knew I was talking quieter and quieter, not sure how to react. Then it occurred to me that if I accepted this, I needed to talk to Silver. Before I could write him off as being crazy due to a loss and me being sucked into it but now… He knew this was real and was helping me too. David’s grip on my hands softened but his eyes didn’t shift.

“It’s all real… We are each others, meant to be together. I am Celeb… but I gave that identity up years ago to protect you, I’ll be David forever, you’re David” He smiled and squeezed my hands softly. “You’re my sweet princess who I missed for years. But, when you came to my company 5 years ago I knew straight away it was you, but I also knew you had been kidn*pped so I kept quiet to protect you” Hadn’t Silver pretty much said all this as well? My head and left eye began to hurt, more this time, I could smell smoke but couldn’t see anything.

David let go of my hand and put one on my temple, tilting my head to look into his eyes.

“Someone is trying to harm you, change your memories and make you forget the important things, to try and control your fate. I don’t know why but I know who it is, its Dae, But I don’t know where he is, he will no doubt have blockers up to disguise himself from me.” I gasped in shock.

“You know about Dae?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course, you told me about him when he declared his love for you. You wanted me to help you stop his feelings.” I bit my lip, I didn’t remember that, and had yet to recall a memory of it.

“So why could this be Dae? Why would he try to hurt me?”

“I don’t know, I just know he disappeared then all of a sudden you did. There were rumours… But that doesn’t matter. Ill always protect you.” David looked at me with ore seriousness in his eyes.

“Can you help me get my memory back?” I asked… Silver has said he couldn’t, that I needed to remember myself.

“I can, and I will.” He said with a huge grin on his face. “But I need you to be safe while we do it. I’m worried about anyone else you might know. The new people at work…” I drew in a short breath, but he didn’t notice. “They’re quickly becoming your friends, are they ok, good to you?” He asked, oblivious to who they were. Could he be right, could Silver be Dae… but then how did he get my sisters to help him… unless he was controlling them? I knew he could from the book… But if David was Silver, he knew my sisters, why didn’t he recognise them?

“They’re good, Hope and Faith are new to the area and don’t have many friends so with us being somewhat similar ages they wanted a friend. They’re lovely.” David narrowed his eyes looking towards the window. I tried to twist around to look at what he was seeing “David, what’s wrong?” I saw what he was looking at and an electric shot went through my body. I wasn’t sure if it was shock or pleasure, but it wasn’t called for at this time.

“That’s Silver, right? I don’t trust him… he seemed ok when I interviewed him but…” I knew I needed to diffuse the situation. If everything David was saying was true, I needed to talk to Silver and straighten this out. I nudged him in the ribs.

“What’s wrong, are you jealous?” I said, laughing, but the comment made my head hurt again. Was my head hurting because a memory was trying to push through? Was this conversation bringing forth more memories? I felt like I needed to lie down.

“No, I’m not jealous, I know you’re mine, I just don’t trust the guy.” He moved to my side of the table and put his arm around my shoulders possessively. I closed my eye and prayed as hard as I could to whatever divine being was listening that Silver didn’t see us… or worse… come in.