"Didn't Giselle tell you he's the guy we met at your forest?" Gabriel lied smoothly. "I don't know if he remembers me now. Giselle doesn't let me visit him anymore." He shot me a scowl through the rearview.
I glared back and he immediately looked down. No matter the animosity between us right now, I was still his elder sister.
"Gab, I know you didn't meet him at my land. Your sister told me everything," Noah said, "you met him at the Magic Realm. You don't have to hide anything from me."
Gabriel's eyes widened.
"Don't be afraid." Noah's tone turned gentle. "I'm not going to hurt Gorrie. The reason he didn't want you to tell anyone about him and the realm was to not breach the code. No sentient creature from the other side is allowed to expose themselves to humans. Gorrie just didn't want to get in trouble with kingdom authorities."
My brother looked at him suspiciously from the rearview. "How do you know so much?" He asked.
Noah flashed him a smile. "Because I'm from the same place where your friend is at. I, too, come from the Magic Realm."
"Will you get in trouble for telling us about yourself?" I voiced my concern when Gabriel went silent. If humans were unaware of the existence of goblins and their world then there must be some really good checks to keep it that way.
"I don't think so. You two have already crossed over to the Realm, if anything I'm doing the damage control. Also you're my companion, so that makes our situation more...atypical. Besides I trust you and Gab to keep this all to yourselves."
"Gabriel's just seven. Are you sure you want to take the risk?" I said and saw my brother pouting from the back seat.
"The kid already knows the gist of it. He might as well know it all for his own safety," replied Noah. "He managed to hide about Gorrie from you for weeks. You'll be surprised how good Kids are at keeping secrets."
"I'm right here," Gabriel sassed, glaring at us, "what are you two going on about?!"
"Don't get mad, little man. We'll tell you everything." Noah gave him a pacifying smile. "You look just like your sister when you get angry."
"Scary?"
"No, adorable."
We both glared at him. That was condescending. But Noah's grin told me he found it very funny. As an elder sibling, I needed to look intimidating when angry.
"Say that again and I'll show you adorable," I warned, giving him the stink eye.
Noah pressed his lips but the twinkle in his green eyes let me know he was stifling a chuckle, or another remark. Jerk.
"I don't believe you," Gabriel said.
"You don't believe me that you're adorable."
"Not that," he pouts, "I mean the stuff about Magic Realm. Giselle has set you up on this."
"No, she didn't," Noah said before I could refute his accusation, "I'm telling the truth."
My brother didn't look convinced.
"So you're the difficult one of the two." Noah sighed. "What can I do to make you believe me Gabriel?"
"Well, if you say you're from the Realm of Magic then prove it. Do some magic," my brother demanded. It made sense from his point of view. I guess I had believed Noah too easily. I should've asked him to do some magic for me too.
"I saw that coming." Noah chuckled. "We're forbidden to use our powers out of the Realm. But you happen to be in luck because I have some privileges." He slowed down the car. "Okay, brace yourselves kiddos."
Just as I was about to ask him what he was going to do, my vision turned blurry.
A second later the fog cleared and a large green blue sea was in front of me. Above it white clouds were smattered on the otherwise clear blue sky. On the horizon both blues mixed and it was a beautiful sight.
I felt cool breeze caressing my exposed skin against the warmth of sun. Cold wetness engulfed my feet and I looked down. Waves were circling around my bare feet before falling back and leaving behind sticky sand. I was at a beach.
But I'm not supposed to be here.
Noah...
I stepped away from the water and walked along the long trail of golden sand. The sound of waves washing over the sands were meditative. I saw small couple of rowing boats at the seashore, huge palm trees in the distance, followed by dense cover of greens. But not another soul was around. Instead of strange I found the sight quite peaceful.
"Where am I?" I whispered to myself.
In reply I felt tingles at the back of my hand.
"You're here," I gasped. Noah was with me. Everything hit me at once. This wasn't real. "Or more correctly I am still with you in the car... Oh god, this is all an illusion! It's brilliant!" I sat down on my knees and grabbed a fistful of sand. It was gravelly and slipped right between my fingers.
"I can see, touch, hear and feel everything. It all feels so real," I said, chuckling. "I hope you're not messing with my brain cells to-"
Suddenly, once again everything blurred and I was back in the car. It took me a moment to regain my senses.
"How did you do that?!" Gabriel stole the words right out of my mouth. He was back too. "Gorrie never made me see things."
"Because your Gorrie isn't as cool as me," replied Noah. I noted a slight edginess in his tone. Anyone would've missed it, but it seemed I was getting good at picking up his moods. He was troubled. Something happened.
"Are you alright?" I asked him quietly, more concerned about him than his magic.
He gave me a look that said we'd talk about it later.
"So do you believe me now?" Noah turned to Gabriel, who immediately nodded. He stopped the car and I realized we had reached his school. "We'll continue our talk later. And it goes without saying that you're not supposed tell about this to anyone. Not even Matt."
My brother nodded diligently before opening the door.
"And Gab," Noah called as he was about to leave, "give your sister a break. She cares for you. I'll feel good if you patch up with her."
Gab's eyes moved to me, his cheeks turning light pink. He gave another shy nod before running away.
I bit down a chuckle. Sometimes I thought if I was too easy on this brat because of his cuteness.
Noah drove out of there once he entered inside the school gates.
"Thanks," I said to Noah, "but you didn't have to do it. He would have come around eventually."
"I didn't have to but I can see you both are miserable without each other. And if I can help then why not?"
I nodded. "He looks up to you, so your words will have quite an impact."
"What can I say? I'm awesome." He smirked.
"And too cocky for your own good," I added, shaking my head. "So tell me what happened back there? You looked agitated after doing your magic thing-y."
Noah raised his brows at my wording of his powers.
"You guys amazed me that is what happened," he barked out a laugh, "Giselle, you weren't supposed to remember that you're with me in the car when you were living in the vision. You should've been indulged into it completely, free of any stimuli from the real world. I had curbed your senses so you don't get confused and fry your brain.
"But you picked on everything very easily. You knew you were with me in the car. Not only that, you felt my touch, a stimulus from the reality... Human brains aren't powerful enough to put up with a Prime goblin's tricks. And you just did it like that... Damn it, you're amazing Martin.
"Gabriel also surprised me. Unlike you, I took him to the forest since he was missing going there. He was supposed to strictly follow the trail that I designed for him. But he didn't, he made his own path and along the way his imagination overrode mine.
"I'm impressed. You two somehow managed to subvert my trick. It's not a joke. Many spirits and primitive goblins in the realm can't do that."
"Should I be happy that I'm not all at your mercy?" I remarked light-heartedly. Going by Noah's reaction it seemed we did something big.
"Yeah, you should be happy that you're little less at my mercy," he retorted, grinning, making me frown thoughtfully.
"Please tell me you can't read my mind," I said suddenly, worried. I realized if he could trick my mind to see things then he could very well read it too. I'd be mortified if all this time he was listening to my thoughts.
My thoughts were something that I'd always like to keep private. No matter how much I was into Noah, he shouldn't be getting access to them. They only belonged to me.
"Wouldn't you like to know that?" He teased.
"Noah," I whined, "tell me." Curiosity was eating me.
He chuckled. "No, I can't. I can trick you into telling me whatever I want to know, but I can't literally read your mind."
I sighed in relief. "I hope you never use those mind tricks on me."
"I won't." Noah reassured me, turning serious. "No matter how much I'm tempted to use them, I'll control myself. It would skew the dynamic between us and that's not right. You're my companion, not my toy."
"Isn't it all already skewed in your favor?" I challenged, even though my heart warmed at his words. "You're a freaking goblin with magic powers. I'm a human. You hold so much power over me."
"Then why aren't you watching your back when you're with me, Martin?" He remarked.
"Should I?"
I never felt the need to watch my back when I was with him. I trusted him. And maybe that wasn't good idea when I knew he was a supernatural being who could do anything to me in a flick of the finger.
"You shouldn't." He reached out to hold my hand. "I'd never do anything intentionally to hurt you or upset you.
"After finding out you're my companion I was afraid. I was afraid that you were too weak for me, too human to keep up with me. I think that was the part of reason too why I avoided you.
"But of course you aren't weak. Even without all the amazing things you're capable of, you're perfect for me. It hasn't been long since we started dating, still I know we'll be fine." His lips lifted up into a beautiful smile. "I thought I'd be the one keeping you on your toes, and look how the roles are reversed. It's you who bring me surprises everyday."
*******
You can read two chapters ahead on inkitt. Link is in bio.