Chapter Fourteen

The Grass is Greener

I felt nothing, just nothing. My eyes remained tightly shut. The bright light faded and Liam seemed to let go of my legs. The light coming through my eyelids seemed to be normal brightness, of a normal day. The wind brushed my cheek. There was wind?

My eyelids fluttered open and in front of me was a vast open field. The grass seemed brighter in what appeared to be the midday sun. The sky was a clear blue, I could feel the warmth radiating throughout my entire being. Each sense came back alone, slowly at first then blasting me with a defining push. First had come sight, then touch. A smell of fragrant flowers wafted into my nose, it was incredible. I could taste the dry air.

Then came sound, quiet chatter invaded my peaceful thoughts. The chatter grew in volume until it seemed to be right behind me. I turned, it was. The field was immense, it seemed to stretch for miles, and miles. Stood, or sat on the stunning field were hundreds of people. They were all smiling, chatting, laughing. I didn’t understand.

A hand rested on my shoulder. I span around and saw Liam facing me with awe awakened in his eyes.

“Aimee, what happened?” he breathed. His brown hair was ruffled, and his lower half of his body singed, but he was alive. I shook my head.

“I have absolutely no idea!” I exclaimed. A smile stretched across my lips.

“Are you telling me when you let go, you had no idea if you were going to kill us both?” Liam laughed. I felt happier, lighter. My shoulders shrugged. He hugged me tightly. All previous hatred had been dismissed, after all we had just lived through the end of the world.

“Well that’s something I never thought I’d see!” said a familiar voice.

“Sally!” I screamed. I broke free from Liam and bounded to her. She was standing with Alex. His face was set into an unfamiliar smile. Sally however was ecstatic, she screamed and jumped up and down.

“We knew you could do it,” smiled Sally. Tears shone in her eyes, tears of joy no doubt.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You saved us!” she laughed, “You opened the entrance to our new world!” I must have looked confused, because she took me by the hand and just laughed, “Every Apocalypse, the world isn’t saved, the magic is just removed from it. So, in turn there is no Apocalypse because there is no magic. All the magic is moved into the new world, opened by the seeker. Erm, I told you so is in order for that! All the magic on Earth was moved here. All nineteen million of us.”

“But how are you still alive?” I questioned. Sally raised her eyebrow.

“Clever magic,” she whispered, “All people killed in the battles surrounding the apocalypse are brought back to life.”

“Wow,” I breathed. Silence entered my thoughts, all those people who died were given a second chance at life. Sally’s face suddenly grew brighter.

“Everyone,” she repeated.

“Including us,” shouted a long lost voice. My jaw dropped at the sound of that voice. It was the voice I missed the most. The one voice I had loved, more than all that was in my life. I span on my heels.

There they were. All ten of them. It was a surreal moment. I watched them all in awe. My heart sprung to life. I shook with happiness. My legs collapsed. My body was caught by a tall pale statue. His skin was the same temperature. I saw his long blonde hair fall in front of my face. My body twisted so my chest was pressed against his. I gazed up into his eyes, they were the same deep black I remembered.

“Adam,” I whispered.

“Hello Aimee,” He replied. I rose onto my tiptoes and our lips met. My arms tightened around his neck, I was slowly pulled off my feet. Once he released me I buried my head into his stone chest. This had to be a dream.

“You’re still as short as ever,” laughed another voice. I sprang out of Adam’s arms, and launched onto the person who said that. His body was pushed into the soft grass, and his dark hair flew all over his face.

“Would you like to repeat that?” I laughed. Simon beamed up at me. I climbed off him and helped him back on his feet.

“How’d have thought, that my very short big sister would save all magic?” he chuckled.

“I always knew, I mean it was so obvious!” cried out Katie from behind us. She ran toward me and wrapped her arms tightly around my shoulders. Her bright blue eyes sparkled. My heart leapt again. Lydia was the next to hug me, then Ellie, then Tanya, then Jessica, then Henry (even though I have to say he was like hugging a tree). James and David smiled and congratulated me, they clearly weren’t the kind of people who give away hugs easily (I think they only hugged Ellie and Tanya).

“I saw the future, because Ellie was in it!” I gasped. Ellie laughed, her arm was wrapped tightly around James.

“So you lot are the infamous bunch of friends?” sighed Sally, Alex shook his head. It was clear they would fit in our group easily.

“I don’t get it,” pondered Jessica, “If the is no ‘human’ life on a planet before we visit, then how do humans get there?”

“They are the people without powers, or the ones who don’t use them,” Alex answered.

A chorus of people singing, wafted through the air. Dancing, oh how I had missed it.

Alex caught the eye of a very attractive blonde (I was assuming she was a mermaid, as she seemed to know Lydia). Sally was dancing with a were-wolf who, by the looks of things, was related to the Matthews. I twirled across the grass. My heart pounded to the pulse of the singing. All of our voices twisted through the lyrics, harmonies span in the air. My legs were tried and yet I kept dancing. I was truly happy. If this was the end of the world I was happy. This was how it was supposed to be, this was the end.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LYDIA LYCHEE

Liam was crying tears of joy, I mean really, he was such a soppy character. Once he figured out that we knew what happened after we died, he came straight to me.

“Lydia, I didn’t know, I thought it was the way things were meant to be,” he sobbed, “I thought I had lost you forever, it hurt too much to watch you die again.” I held his blubbering head to my shoulder. He had really been changed by this, I was glad that he wasn’t angry anymore, but would he just stop crying.

“I know, I know. It’s ok, if you hadn’t done what you did we would still be stuck in that vicious cycle,” I comforted, “Your mistake was destiny, it was supposed to happen.”

“I’m sorry, Lydia. I love you.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

KATIE BILLING

My heart rejoiced. It was over. Things had ended perfectly. We were together. Aimee was dancing and spiralling happily in her little bubble. I had no idea how she did what she did. The pressure she must have been under.

“You don’t know how happy I am Katie,” she smiled. She had clearly missed us a lot.

“I think I do,” I empathized, my smile spread across my face just as hers did.

“Come on!” she yelled. Then we were singing a very bad version of ‘Walking on sunshine’. Aimee bounced about, her vocals remained perfect. Oh she did make me laugh. Two stones arms dragged me backwards.

“Stop laughing at my sister,” came a menacing voice in my ear. I turned and kissed the vampire holding me. His lips were drew up in a smile.

“I’m just happy that we can be together,” I breathed. His grasp tightened around my waist.

“Forever,” he mused. I tucked my head into his stone chest. He was right.

My eyes closed.

My name is Katie Billing and I had been going to Edmund’s school for gifted and talented children since I was four. That was my story. This is my happily ever after.