Chapter Nine continued yet again (why did I make chapter nine so long??)

Standing in the doorway was King Lyon.

“Daddy!?” Mallorie dropped her hand, “Is that… is it really you?”

King Lyon nodded, “Yes.” He walked towards Sara and put his hand on her shoulder, “thanks to this young lady I’m here.”

“But… but…” Mallorie stuttered, “I told the guards to dispose…”

King Lyon nodded, “And dispose of me they did, they put me in the dungeons, in the ones no one ever sees, the ones the people don’t know about.”

Mallorie gasped, wide-eyed, “But.. I didn’t mean for you…”

“I lived in that prison for a year Mallorie!” King Lyon roared angrily, “You wanted to kill me, and that’s no better! I would have preferred death to that hell!”

“Daddy…” Mallorie sobbed, dropping to her knees for the second time that day, “I’m sorry…”

Her father shook his head, tears streaming from his face; “I’m afraid it’s too late for that Mallorie.”

Ryan just looked at Sara in bewilderment, “How..?”

Sara shrugged, “I don’t know… I got this… feeling when I came into the palace, that something was wrong. And then… I started to wonder if King Lyon really was dead, and if he wasn’t… wouldn’t he be here? So I decided to look, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up before the challenge…”

Ryan laughed a hollow laugh, “Guess the challenge doesn’t matter much anymore… But Selena has to be punished too…” Ryan explained to his father and to Sara about what had happened after he had won.

“Oh my god…” Sara whispered.

Mallorie glared at Sara, “This is all your fault!” Mallorie’s eyes bulged with hatred, “I’ll.. I’ll… you’ll regret this Sara.”

The guards came up to King Lyon then and whispered something in his ear, “No,” he shook his head, “I don’t trust myself with the decision of Mallorie’s punishment, I’m her father…” He turned to Ryan, “You decide son.”

Ryan thought for a moment, then said grimly; “Go to Hell Mallorie.” At his words a portal of fire opened behind Mallorie, a dark figure reaching out and grasping Mallorie’s dress.

Mallorie stared at him, “My own brother!”

Ryan shook his head and turned around, stalking off without saying another word. The last words he heard as he left the room were Mallorie’s pleas for forgiveness, and then a deathly silence.

Chapter Ten

Sara stepped into the apartment an hour after Mallorie’s punishment, finding Ryan sitting on the couch. “Ryan?”

Ryan turned around, “Hey Sara.”

Sara sat down on the couch. The two sat in silence for a moment, then, “I guess you’re wondering why I left…” Ryan said.

“Just a little bit,” Sara said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“It wasn’t that I couldn’t watch what I did to Mallorie, I don’t feel guilty about it. I know I should, but I don’t. She got what she deserved, I’m not gonna preach that shit about ‘I’m not gonna sink as low as you’ or whatever.” He put his head in his hands, “But my father being back.. it really threw me off…”

Sara looked at Ryan, confused, “Do you have problems with you dad?”

Ryan shook his head, “No… Yes… I don’t know!” Ryan stood up and began pacing. “I dunno… I just think… I don’t think my dad should be on the throne, he ran away from the kingdom Sara.”

“Did he though? Or did Mallorie imprison him, or order him to death, right away?”

“He ran away after my mother’s death, Mallorie was afraid he would come back to reclaim the throne so she sent out her guards to ‘dispose of him.’ Obviously the guards chose to imprison him instead; maybe they weren’t as loyal to Mallorie as she thought…”

“Well what would you have done in his place?” Sara asked.

“I was in his place! I loved her too; she was my mother! And I didn’t run away.”

“But you didn’t love her the way your father did, and you weren’t under the pressure he was under,” Sara said, “what would you have done if it had been me?”

Ryan thought for a while, “I don’t know… just the thought of you dying… it makes me sick.” Ryan thought of the vision of her death and shivered.

Sara nodded, “I know, same here. So maybe you should forgive your father, you can’t hate him forever.”

“But you don’t understand Sara…” he said, “He doesn’t listen to himself, her doesn’t do what he knows is right. He listened to the people when I was born, even though he knew that Mallorie would never become a good ruler.”

“He had no way of knowing Mallorie was going to be an evil power maniac,” Sara laughed, “She was what? Three when you were born?” Sometimes you have to listen to the people, otherwise chaos erupts.”

Ryan smiled, “You’ve got a good point, maybe you’re right…” He sat there thinking for a moment, “Maybe I’m not ready to become King after all…”

Sara smiled, “Then it’s a good thing your father’s back.”

Ryan nodded, “Yeah…”

Sara kissed Ryan, “For what it’s worth though, you’re going to begreat when you do become king.”

“That’s not gonna be for awhile though…” Ryan sighed.

Sara nodded, “Yeah.”

They sat in an uncomfortable silence, not knowing what to say. Finally Ryan interrupted the silence, “So this is it huh?”

Sara nodded sadly, “It’s time for me to go home now…”

Ryan hugged Sara tightly, “I don’t want you to leave.”

Sara nodded, staring to cry, “I don’t want to either, but I have to.” She wiped away her tears, “It’s been almost a week Ryan, and my parents must be so worried…”

“I might be able to help you out there” he grinned, wiping away Sara’s tears.

Sara laughed, “It’s okay, I want to deal with my parents myself, I need to let them know I need freedom, but I’m going to be in such deep shit when I get back…”

Ryan laughed, “You give ‘shit’ a whole new meaning.”

Sara punched him lightly, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ryan shrugged, “you give it character.”

They talked for a little while longer, just silly stuff, trying to make themselves fell better.

“How am I going to live without you Ryan?” Sara sighed, trying not to cry again, “It’s not like I can just swing by and see you…”

Ryan pulled out a silver phone from his pocket, “I thought of that already, you can call me with this.”

Sara took it, “a cell phone?”

“Kind of… Only it can send a signal through our magical barrier…”

“There’s a catch to it isn’t there?” Sara asked.

Ryan winced, “How’d you know?”

“There’s always a catch.” Sara said.

Ryan nodded, “Yeah… there’s a catch. The magic in the phone is limited, so outside of the Underworld it won’t work unless you’re within a few hundred feet of us…”

“How’d you contact Spirit then, when you were in exile?”

“I was in Jersey, I could go into the city when I needed to, but I transferred over to Connecticut because I thought I saw some of Mallorie’s guards… I think she was keeping an eye on me.”

Sara sighed, “So basically I can only call you when I’m in the city?”

Ryan nodded, “yeah, but after you talk to your parents that won’t be too hard will it?”

Sara laughed bitterly, “I’m gonna be grounded for months.”

Ryan laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Sara smiled, looking into Ryan’s eyes, “Tell me the truth, do you think we’ll ever see each other again?”

Ryan pulled Sara close, “Of course we will, I won’t be able to get out here much though… at least not for a while…”

Sara nodded, burying her face in his shoulder, “and I’ll be grounded.”

“But we’ll find a way okay? I love you Sara.”

Sara looked up at him, “I know, I love you too.”

“We’ll see each other again someday, I promise.”

Sara stood at the Gates and sighed, she couldn’t believe that after all that had happened she was going home. She looked behind her; Ryan and Spirit were standing right there, and King Lyon was with them. Sara hugged Spirit, “I’ll miss you Spirit, I know we got off on the wrong foot” she laughed, “but you grew on me.”

Spirit laughed too, her eyes were watery, “I’ll miss you too Sara, you’ve become my best friend, if you ever need some girl talk just call Ryan and demand to talk to me.”

Sara laughed, “Will do.” She walked over to King Lyon and shook his hand, “Goodbye sir, and take care of Ryan.” She looked ar Ryan and winked.

King Lyon laughed and pulled Sara into a bear hug, “Don’t worry little lady, I will.” He looked at her, “thank you Sara, for saving me, if you ever need anything just ask, you’re always welcome here.”

Sara smiled, “Thank you sir.” She turned to Ryan, “this is goodbye I guess…”

Ryan just kissed her passionately, “I will always love you.” She kissed him briefly and turned around, she was crying but she didn’t care. She waved goodbye and then turned to face the Gates, she took a deep breath and then walked through them without turning back.

And so ends the first book in the Faerie Trilogy…

Author’s note: OK guys, it’s done! But there’s more, does anyone want to read it? ;)