Chapter 06

My head felt like it was going to explode, I had just woken up a few minutes before I found out that I was in what looked like a hospital, Carrie was lying in a bed next to me and looked fine too, which made me feel calmer, on the other hand the room was in turmoil, there was a very confused queen, a hysterical Erns, and two beautiful guys sitting around staring at us as if we were a work of art to be admired, not that I was complaining, I don't remember what happened or how I got here, I just wanted everyone to leave the room so I could at least breathe a little. With my eyes half-closed I could see the queen with three guards, talking to Erns who was trying to understand and explain the situation.

- Erns I don't need to remind you that I am the queen of this place and that everything that happens within this kingdom must be directly informed to me first before taking any action.

Erns took a heavy breath and moved closer to the queen, the face he made reminded me a lot of that of a dog when its owner fights with it, maybe he was the queen's pet.

- My queen, it was not my intention to hide something from you, but as I was busy with the party I thought it best...

Before finishing her sentence, the queen turns her back and begins to walk to our beds and strokes our arms intimately.

- You and all the other royal guards must warn me about any event that happens in the kingdom even if I am having a baby. - Imagine if something had happened to these girls what would happen, we don't know if it is true or not of course the tests need to be done.

I feel the queen moving away and feel a great relief when she stops caressing our arms, I almost let the temptation to pull my arm back win, and even more the temptation to laugh at Erns's face and say well done, well done, I know that would be very childish, but whatever, I don't even know what I'm thinking, I just want everyone to leave, would that be too much to ask? The queen turns to Erns and his guards.

- As of today these girls belong to the royal family until proven otherwise.

Royal family? What do you mean, royal family? Erns made an irritated face, but agreed, which was not the case with the two idiots that no matter how hard I tried I could not ignore them, the cold idiot who was leaning with his arms crossed on the door straightened up and approached the queen with raised eyebrows and wide eyes.

- What? What do you mean royal family haven't even done the tests yet.

The queen looks at him and smiles and puts her hand on his face.

-Caleb, I know it's them, I can feel it.

This Caleb sighs and closes his eyes in frustration, wow he looks even more handsome in anger, Logan gets up from the small couch he was sitting on and tries to convince the queen.

- Queen we just don't want you to raise your expectations to anything, these girls may very well have stolen these amulets.

What? Stolen? What do they think we are? Caleb agrees with Logan and sighs trying to make the queen understand.

- Exactly because they were found in the forest and you know very well the kind of people who live there.

I bite my tongue to keep from getting out of bed and give this idiot a good answer in the face, but he steps forward and prevents me from hitting the medicine tray on his head.

- All right, here's what we're going to do, we're going to get you settled in as soon as you wake up and run the tests as soon as possible, okay?

The queen stops and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, already losing patience.

- Caleb and Logan, you are the most important people in my life, but don't try to change my decisions. These girls' parents were my friends and you know that it is our obligation to take them in.

Wait could she meet our parents? If we were really who she thought we were that would mean that she knew our parents and maybe could answer all the questions Carrie and I have had all our lives that we never had the answer to, Carrie seemed to share the same thought because she suddenly got out of bed looking like she was listening to the whole conversation as well.

- Our parents? Did you know them? Oh...

Carrie closes her eyes and puts her hand on her head, I sit up in bed quickly and try to go to her but I have wires in my arms, ripping all the wires off, I approach Carrie already grabbing her head and asking if she was ok, I didn't know what had happened or what these people were making us take here in this hospital, I mean a few hours ago we were locked in cages and promised to die, there was no way to trust. Carrie holds my hands and opens her eyes smiling at me.

- There, you're hurting me," I take my hands off her head and look into her eyes, "I'm fine - just a sudden headache.

The queen approached us with some urgency followed by the guards who wouldn't leave her alone, while the others just looked at us with curiosity, well Erns looked at us with curiosity, Caleb and Logan looked at us with disdain, I'm already over here with those two.

- Oh, you're awake, honey you can't just pull the wires off like that.

She starts to pull my arm to return to my bed but I pull my arm back and frown, the guards come closer to us and hold their weapons tighter, Caleb and Logan now look at us seriously and Erns looks angry, it's okay I seem to have made a wrong move, I just want you to leave please. The queen gives a signal to the guards they move away again I grab Carrie holding on tightly, I am not going to do what she is saying I want to stay close to Carrie she is not well, or maybe I am the one who wants her protection. The queen pulls away a little and I feel calmer.

- I know you're confused and scared and I apologize for Erns's attitude - Erns looks away as if it's not with him - but darlings, I only want what's good for you, I truly want what's good for you, don't worry you're safe with me.

She extends her hand and I look at Carrie who nods to me which gives me more confidence to go ahead and hold her hand, the queen takes me to my bed and calls the nurse to medicate me again. A middle aged dark haired woman enters the room with a sign in her hand looks at all those people in the room and looks at me quickly coming to pierce me again, and holy shit does it hurt. Right away he turns to the people and speaks the words that I have been dying to say all along.

- Sorry, but the patients need to rest, they have been through a lot and used a lot of energy, I ask that they wait until tomorrow to talk to them.

The nurse went on talking and walked to the door to toast her and waited for them to leave, and finally they left and said something but I didn't pay much attention, my eyes were so heavy that I almost couldn't keep them open to talk to Carrie as soon as they all left the room, she also looked very sleepy but try to talk to me.

- What are we going to do I can't think of anything. If we are really these people they are looking for, I don't even know what that means, but let's find out more about our parents.

I look to the side and see Carrie with her brown hair spread across her pillow, even though she was disheveled and looked sick she looked spectacularly beautiful, I on the other hand must look like a piece of junk lying in bed, my hair didn't even need to look in the mirror to know that it should be asking the heavens for rain and might be able to house a nest of birds, my sick face resembled that of a bulldog with a dented face.

- I don't know either and my head is aching too much to think of anything coherent right now, let's rest and think of something tomorrow.

Carrie agreed and started to close her eyes and go to sleep, whatever they put in those pills, maybe we really needed some rest and I must say it was the best sleep of my life.

X

I feel a strong light on my face and try to block them with my hands as we leave the castle hall followed by Caleb and Logan and many guards I think there were about thirteen just to escort us to our rooms, when Carrie and I woke up in the morning we were fed and treated very well, as if we were important, After we ate, we were surprised by Caleb and Logan at our door telling us to get ready so they could take us to our rooms, and when I say told, I mean that they literally pulled us out of bed without any kindness, how commendable.

Today I feel much better than yesterday, I'm brand new and ready for another one, Carrie is also much better and no longer looking as tired as she did last night. There were seven guards behind us and six in front of us except for Caleb and Logan who were on our side, we didn't see the queen and she didn't come to see us today either, we were following their pace until we knew if we were really the people they were looking for or not, we needed to know about our parents and this might be the only chance we would have, passing through the corridor we came to a small garden, I was delighted with it, I will surely come back here later to admire more of this place, I picked a small orange flower from one of the bushes and smell its perfume, I was totally delighted with its smell, I picked it and put it in my hair, Carrie tried to do the same thing with another purple flower and tried to go out to get it but Logan pulled her by the arm and put her back next to me.

- You will have enough time to enjoy the garden and put a little flower in your hair, but now the queen is waiting.

Carrie turns red immediately and opens her mouth to say something, but closes it again at the end only by giving a quick sigh and crossing her arms could I understand her action even because I can't forget the small detail that they are all armed. Then I take the flower that is in my hair and put it in Carrie's hair making her calm down, Logan sees the scene and puts his hand on his forehead closing his eyes.

- Why did the queen make us do this anyway?

Caleb smiles and brushes a strand of hair out of his face.

- Because we are the people she trusts most in the kingdom.

Logan looks at us and gives a sigh and starts walking faster.

- The sooner this is over the better.

Passing through the garden we are taken again to more corridors and stairs, until we reach a floor that had a large courtyard almost as big as the party the night before, Caleb pushes me to keep walking but I didn't even realize I had stopped, I'm admiring the place when I accidentally miss the step of the ladder we were going up and almost fall if Caleb did not hold me by the waist in time, I feel an electricity so when our skins touch and try to ignore the heat that takes over my body and those beautiful brown eyes looking at me.

- Try not to break your head until we get to the queen or she might think we did it on purpose.

I look at him now burning with anger and try to let go he just sighs and puts me back on my feet as if he was being forced to do that, as if on another occasion he would let my forehead break on the floor.

- So you only helped me because you didn't want the queen to think you did it on purpose.

He smiles at me disdainfully and tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear, making me want to cut his hand off.

- Well, not that it wouldn't be a good idea.

Remember the guns Lauren, remember the guns. To finally end our agonizing nightmare, we came to a double door that led to a huge, when I say huge I mean gigantic hallway with endless doors, I really couldn't see the end of it, I covertly wiped my hand over my mouth to make sure I wasn't drooling, the guards wait outside the hallway and only Caleb and Logan lead us to a room, and my God I've never been in a room as fancy as this one. The architecture of the room is old which gave an even more splendid sophistication, the place fit two of the house that Carrie and I rented, when entering the door there was a white velvet carpet that covered the entire room, must be a lot of work to clean it, Near the door there were two red corner sofas that looked great for resting your butt, as well as the white armchairs that were there to match the decoration, and the coffee table filled with books and notebooks, my eyes lit up when I saw that, my book hunger hasn't been satisfied for a long time.

But in front of it was a gigantic bed with red and white sheets and a huge canopy covered with red lace tied to it, and a recamier chest at its feet. The room also had a wardrobe that went from one wall to the other and had so many doors that I lost count after the thirteenth, the place was all lit, if not by lamps, by the huge windows with red curtains that were there and called me to lean over them reading a good book and breathing fresh air, the room still had a huge fireplace and other decorations such as flowers, pictures, mirrors, desks, and other furniture that made the place even more beautiful, sitting in some armchairs were the queen and Caleb that I didn't even realize that had left my side, how long have I been admiring the room? They were waiting for us anxiously, well the queen was waiting for us anxiously Caleb was with his arms folded on the couch.

I look back and realize that Carrie and Logan are not here, the queen steps forward and says that they are looking at Carrie's room, so wait is this my room? While we wait for Carrie, the queen goes to talk to the guards to see if they have found out anything about the attack yesterday, I sit down in an armchair facing Caleb who is now looking at one of the magazines on the coffee table, I hadn't noticed, or was trying not to, how extremely handsome he looked in that blue long sleeve blouse that perfectly outlined his breasts and tanned abdomen, I wonder how many there are? I look down and go to the black pants that fit perfectly to his body, his thighs and thick calf called the attention of any woman or man, how can a person be so beautiful? I will now move my gaze up to her arms, neck and face, ah those brown eyes will be the end of me, those thick and long eyelashes looking at me, wait looking at me?

- Are you liking what you see Flor?

My face burns with embarrassment when I realize I've been caught in the act, I try to cover it up but it's already too late, damn it, Caleb starts laughing while I try to formulate something to answer his teasing, but the humiliation pushes any thoughts away, thank heavens Carrie comes back and sits down on the couch, a sign that she was in a really bad mood, Logan comes in a few seconds later with an even more closed face looking at Carrie, okay what's going on here? The queen joins us and sits down on the other couch asking the guards to leave the room and wait outside, the queen hadn't noticed until now with all the confusion yesterday and my rather chaotic state at night, but she was very pretty too, she actually reminded me of someone else, she must have been in her thirties, she was blonde and had green eyes that looked like freshly polished grass, she crossed her hands over her lap and looked directly at Carrie and me.

- Girls I need to know a little bit about you and how you got here, you told Erns you were not from here so where did you come from?

Now everyone was anxious to hear our answers, including Caleb who is now entirely serious with his arms crossed looking at us, almost no pressure, Carrie takes a deep breath and looks at me, then looks at the queen and stops at Logan.

- First we want to know where we are and what they are.

The queen sighs impatiently and looks at Logan who nods.

- You are in Baruel, in the Illuminare Kingdom, north of the Elemental Kingdom and south of the Shallon and Animalia Kingdoms.

Caleb continued what Logan was saying as if they had rehearsed it.

- Baruel is divided into four realms, first comes the Iluminare realm, the largest realm within Baruel, we can guide and control energies like light and lightning, among the four realms we are the most powerful and lethal.

Logan sighs and runs his hands through his golden hair making a bored face, like they do here often.

- You would think so.

Caleb gives a small smile and raises one of his eyebrows getting up and walking around the room with his hands crossed behind him, as if he was very familiar with him.

- North of Iluminare is the elemental kingdom, which is Logan's home kingdom," Caleb stops behind me and I feel like a rush about to be devoured, "as you saw yesterday, that is of course, if you weren't admiring something else, I sigh in relief when I see that everyone is bored with the speech, everyone except Carrie who narrows her eyes at me, I'm going to kill this guy later, well at least hurt him, a lot - the Elemental Kingdom can control and manipulate the elements earth, fire, water and air, of course each person controls one of these elements.

Caleb continues walking around the room until he sits down again in front of me, Logan sighs again, seriously what is this guy's problem? Or what's wrong with me that I find him incredibly sexy doing this? he crosses his arms and rests his back on the armchair before starting to speak.

- To the South we have the Animalia Kingdom and the Shallon Kingdom. The Animalia Kingdom can heal animals, calm and some even talk to them, there are some people from the Animalia Kingdom that can even heal people among other things that you will understand, but ahead.

Logan is completely focused on Carrie who seems tense next to me, and I would also be with someone like him with his attention on me. The queen then stands up and stops in front of us holding our hands.

- Finally the Shallon Kingdom, well we haven't had any more contact for a long time with those creatures, since their king declared war on the other three kingdoms we have united to defeat him and since then whenever they peep into our kingdom we arrest them, they have mixed with forbidden practices that as you saw last night can be very dangerous, and when I say dangerous I mean possession, sacrifice, and many bad things that I can't even pronounce, so one thing you must always understand here, do not talk to and even less trust a Shallon, never. But that's a story for another time.

Logan still looking at Carrie leans forward and raises his eyebrows.

- Now answer the queen's questions, who are you and where did you come from?

Carrie looks at me and I nod for her to speak, she looked very nervous, well I was nervous, we didn't know what they wanted with us or what they were going to do, last night was a blur to me, but I clearly remember they said they were going to do a test, what test? That's what we were going to find out. The queen still holds our hands in hers and I thought it was rude to pull back so Carrie leans forward and squeezes my hand as if to give her confidence, we were going to tell her who we are and this was a rather dangerous step according to the movies.

- My name is Carrie and this is Lauren, we used to live in an orphanage in Chicago and just a few days ago moved to a small town called Buford in Wyoming in the United States.

Everyone looks surprised, what did Carrie say that caused this? the queen sits down in the middle of the two of us still holding our hands, I find her attitude a bit suspicious, they don't usually treat us this well, we are used to shouting and violence, this is very suspicious.

- So you are from the land? How did you get here?

Wait, so we weren't on earth? I know they talked about kingdoms, and I also saw last night a demonstration of what they can do but I thought it was a secret society in an unknown country, I mean the world is so big, but I never imagined that we were no longer in it, well we still need information on what will happen to us later, I pull my hand from the queen's, fuck the rudeness.

- Well briefly, we moved into a house that we found with an affordable price to pay, the night we heard something in a room in the house that we did not even know was there, so we thought they were trying to rob the house and as totally normal people instead of seeking help we decided we should face ourselves. But when we got to the room we found a circle with some kind of black sand and when we entered we woke up in a forest, we were captured by strange men with colored eyes and hair, and then locked in cages promised to death, luckily we managed to escape, then we were mistaken for maids, we worked, were almost killed by a giant monster and spent the night in a hospital where we didn't know what they were giving us as medicine and now we are being interrogated.

When I finished speaking everyone looked ecstatic, and eyes ran from Carrie to me, Caleb started to laugh and Logan to shake his head negatively, Caleb stood up with his hands on his waist and looked directly at me.

- You have got to be kidding, this is not possible the matrix grains have been extinct for many years and would not be wasted for two girls to come here.

The queen, who until this moment didn't even seem to be breathing, gave her first sign of life after my talk.

- Unless they are really who I think they are.

I couldn't stand this "maybe they are who I think they are" talk anymore, why don't they just say at once that we can be, when I was about to tell them to spit it out and Logan asked a question I was trying my best to avoid.

- Another thing, how did they manage to escape from prison?

I couldn't say that the lake creatures helped us, they were very kind getting us out, and go figure what they could do to them. Carrie was about to answer when I put my hand on her leg and stepped forward.

- Well, it seems Erns doesn't pay attention to what he does.

The queen sighs and from the look on her face it seems that Erns was in trouble, well as long as the creatures weren't hurt, Erns would be blown away, I didn't like him at all. But back to the crucial issue, now it was our turn to ask the questions, everyone seemed to be creating theories in their heads when, with a cough, I call their attention to me.

- Now that we have answered their questions how about answering ours? Starting with what is this test you are going to do with us?

The queen takes a deep breath and stands up, now standing next to the boys who look at us seriously, well whatever they plan to do seems to be really serious.

- Girls first I want you to know that you are not obligated to do anything you don't want to do.

All right now I'm scared, when people start saying that it's already a sign that a bomb is coming, and they just want our permission so that maybe they won't feel guilty. The queen looked nervous and rubbed her hand repeatedly.

- We will run tests on you to see if you really are who I think you are. This test is quite complicated and painful, among one of the powers of the people of the Animalia Kingdom, the most powerful ones can see into other people's past, but the process is quite complex and involves a ritual and a ceremony, and I don't want to put you through it without your permission.

They look at us expectantly, waiting for our answer, as if they were really going to give us any choice, as surely one day or another we would be forced to do this. Carrie takes my hand and looks down and then looks at the queen.

- You can really meet our parents.

The queen nods, and I notice her eyes fill with tears. Carrie and I exchange glances and I already knew what our answer was, even with the warnings that it would be painful and a bit complex, we had to take the risk this meant maybe and for the first time hearing about our parents, we fell into this world just like that and we are alive until now, maybe this is a sign that everything we have been through since we got here was to experience this, I look at the queen who is waiting anxiously and for Logan and Caleb who's only anxiety I see is to get it over with and send it back to where we came from, I look at Carrie and nod my head, God willing.

- All right we agree to take the test.