Guardians: The Last Elder

Chapter 4: Narnia or Morlea? Hmm, tough choice...

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
~ Roald Dahl

                                                                    _______________________

It was the pounding headache that finally woke me up. My eyes fluttered open and I looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. I seemed to be in a long room with white-washed walls and a parquet flooring that had rows and rows of unoccupied cots in it, all of them covered with white sheets. Large windows filtered down sunlight, brightening the entire room. 

I sat up groggily, rubbing my eyes. As I sat up, a dull pain jabbed at my side. I looked down and realized I wasn't wearing my previous clothes. Instead I was dressed in a long t-shirt and pants that certainly weren't mine. I pushed up the hem of the t-shirt and saw white gauge wrapped around my waist. It must be because of the knife wound given to me by Thomas-who-really-wasn't-Thomas.

Just as I was contemplating whether I should get up and look around to ask someone "Where the hell I was?", the doors to the room burst open and in came a person I didn't know. She was a short woman with a cheerful face and straight, thick hair that looked like it might be a wig. When she saw me awake, her eyes lit up and a broad smile spread across her lips.

She clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Oh! You're awake! Good, good! Perfect!"

She extended her hand, saying, "I'm Meredith! It's so nice to meet you!"

"Um, hi. I'm Ava Young," I said, awkwardly shaking her hand. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"Why, you're in Morlea of course!" she said in a tone that implied that it should've been obvious.

"Right. And where exactly is that?"

She looked caught off guard but then burst out laughing. "Oh silly girl! Don't pretend as if you don't know!"

"Um, don't know what?" I asked; already growing a little exasperated. "Please, wherever I am, I need to go back. I-I need to see my Mom. She must be worried, especially after what happened last night."

I felt that same heavy dread settle inside of me as the events of yesterday came crashing back. Was that all even real? It all seems like a very bad dream right now to me, particularly in the bright sunlight.

"Wait, last night?" the woman asked, looking a little confused herself. "Nothing happened last night, if you must know. You were right here, sleeping soundly and sometimes murmuring words that nobody could understand."

"What do you mean?" I asked with scrunched eyebrows. This doesn't make any sense. Wasn't I in the park yesterday and weren't there all these... creatures trying to kill us? And what about Thomas's crazy behavior? He looked like he was possessed or something. But what happened after that guy in the coat appeared? I couldn't remember anything past that.

"How long have I been here, exactly?" I asked, cautiously, almost afraid to hear her answer.

"Um, about a day and a half if you count this afternoon," she answered.

I nearly fell out of my bed at that. "What?" I gasped.

"Yeah," she said cheerfully, obviously not understanding what I was so worried about. "We've been waiting for you to wake up. Everyone's pretty curious, we don't have a lot of new people coming here you know. In fact, you gave us all quite a bit of shock when you fell from the air through the portal. Portal travelling is restricted, especially for people coming from different worlds, so you can imagine our surprise when you popped out. You were nearly dead though with blood loss but our healers here took care of you and look at you now, you look fit as fiddle!" she continued to ramble but I tuned her out, thinking, This woman is crazy, actually crazy!