The Royal Fae- Astra (book 1)

The fairy prince

Chapter 2

I wake up with a start, I'm lying on the floor in my bedroom by the window. Was it a dream? I lay there for a while and listen for the wind, but it has died away. I reach up to play with my necklace (a nervous habit that I’ve picked up over the years) but I realise that it has gone, I search around me but it’s nowhere to be found. I turn around to the sound of my name being whispered, bringing goose bumps up all over my body my name is said with such longing and passion, I shiver and get up to shut the window. But the whispering continues I turn around expecting to see someone but there is nothing but the box.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly walk towards it and find myself holding my breath as I brush away the dust. The voice stops as the old brown tape gives way and the box collapses open, it wafts its stale smell up into my nose making me sneeze a few times before I notice the contents of the box.

At the top I find a pile of pictures I had drawn when I was a child. So many pictures of the old oak tree and fairies all around it playing music and dancing, I don’t remember drawing these but there are a lot! Some were very detailed close up drawings of one or two of the fairies.

I sit back and lean against the bed while I study a couple of the pictures more closely, they make me feel weird like there’s something just in the back of my brain, a memory I can't get to. I rub my temples my head is killing me; it's been a long weird day. A piece paper falls from the pile in my hand, I pick it up it's a drawing of one of the fairies and its drawn with such care he’s beautiful with his piercing blue eyes and an intricate crown on top of his jet black hair. I swear he’s staring right at me. Well ok not right at me as it's just a drawing but it really feels like it. I shiver again.... that’s enough for tonight I put the pictures to the side and realise that it's got quite late, where did the time go? I feel exhausted and decide to climb straight onto the bed and sleep why does it feel like my whole body is numb? As my head hits the pillow in feel myself instantly falling asleep.

I wake up with a start, someone shouted my name I'm sure of it, or did I dream it? I lay back down but I can’t shut off. Is that the music again? I look at my phone its 1am! Shivering I find myself dragging on a jumper, my battered trusty trainers and going outside into the pitch-black night to investigate. The music seems to be floating up from the bottom of the garden, I feel like I'm being pulled towards it. I pick my way through the garden using my phone as a torch, the music seems to be coming from the oak tree as I get closer the torch stops working, I stop to try and turn it back on but my phone flickers off. What the hell now I can’t see a thing, I stay where I am trying to work out where I am in the garden, there’s a pond somewhere nearby and I really don’t want to end up in it. I keep seeing little lights out of the corner of my eye but when I turn to look there’s nothing there. My hearts beating so hard I swear if I had someone with me, they would hear it, I start to shiver and shake. What am I doing? I need to go back to the house it's the middle of the night, this is stupid. 

I turn towards the house and start to walk towards it slowly, the further I walk from the sound the harder it is to lift my feet and walk. I hear giggling from behind me but when I spin around there’s nothing there, I start walking faster, my hearts beating out of my chest. Next thing I know I’m flat on my face on the lawn, pain shoots up my leg as my knee connects with a stone, I feel the warm trickle of blood roll down my leg on to the grass. Rolling on to my back I look up and right above me is a face I've seen before, I try to sit up, but everything goes black.

Loni POV...

Astra, he sighs a smile spreads across his face, finally! Stroking her golden blonde hair away from her face I can’t help but caress her rosy cheeks.  Pulling myself away to give orders it's time to bring her home. I take in a deep breath and revel in this feeling of happiness and relief that she has finally seen me it’s been so long! 

Astra’s POV

I wake up feeling completely relaxed and rested, I haven’t felt like this in what feels like forever, life recently has been one stress to the next to this is very much welcome, I don’t want to open my eyes yet. Argh fudge it! Against everything I'm telling my brain it refuses to fall back to sleep so I open my eyes, wow! I sit up and promptly fall out of bed why do I have to be so clumsy.... where am I?

The room is beautiful all sorts of flowers decorate every inch of the room, the bed seems to be made from four trees growing out of the floor and coming together to make a four-poster bed. The floor is so soft and green and looks remarkably like moss, the smell of all the flowers invade my nose with their subtle scents. Every time I look, I notice something else that I'm sure wasn’t there before, I shake my head I need to think straight.

Suddenly I hear talking nearby, I start to panic, I don’t understand what is happening why am I here? I realise that I'm in some kind of dress, who dressed? me oh man they saw my unmatched underwear! I try to find a door but only succeed in finding what seems to be a bathroom but unlike any I've ever seen before, a full length mirror shows me that I have a few bruises and a cut on my knee....and then the memory of last night seems to flood my brain all at once. 

The fairy prince......

It can’t be can it? Those were just drawings from when I was a child, fairies aren’t real. The rational side of my brain is trying to think of suitable explanation it keeps coming up blank. The voices are getting louder, I need to hide. Rushing around the room I look for anything that might hide me until I can work out how to escape. As I try to get under the bed, I hear someone clear their throat, I turn to face the sound and find that I'm no longer alone.

My whole body is tingling, I can’t stop looking in his eyes, I want to ask who he is, but my heart seems to know. A breeze seems to be blowing from somewhere the smell of honeysuckle fills my nose and causes a quick flash of a memory.

10 years ago...

Today my parents have been whispering angrily to each other all day, I’ve overheard them mention that we are leaving tomorrow, and I know without a doubt that my life is about to change drastically. Over the last week I’ve noticed items around the house slowly being packed away, they think I haven’t noticed but I have.

I need to say goodbye to Loni and the others, but I don’t know how I'm supposed to even do it. So, I decide the only way is to write a letter and hope that I don’t hurt his feelings, to hurt any of their feelings.

I sneak out into the garden extra early, and leave the letter leant up against the roots of the oak tree. I lean my head against the rough bark and breathe in the faint scent of honey suckle before pushing myself away and running up the garden. I'm sure I hear someone call my name, but I can’t look back. I shut the door and collapse onto the hard-cold tile floor, tears slowly roll down my cheeks as I cuddle my knees and try to calm down. I can’t let my parents see me like this they don’t understand all I can see is his face and his beautiful smile...I sneak back up to bed quickly and quietly, closing my eyes and sobbing into my pillow my heart breaking as the realisation that I may never see him again settles in.