Chapter The Ultimate Love Story

Rays of sunlight landed straight on Miriam’s face. Groaning, she kept trying to avoid the light. Her neck was drenched with sweat, and it made her hair stick to her skin. She rolled over and squealed when she got too close to the edge. She stared at the ceiling, and tried to detect any soreness in her body. Squirming a little, she soon discovered that nothing had changed—she was still in pain. Sighing, she sat upright.

Her shadow on the floor told her that her hair resembled a bird nest in ways she’d never wished for. Attempting to comb it with her fingers, she winced at the strain on her muscles, cursing the uncooperative knots that wouldn’t do as she pleased. Frowning at the blonde locks falling in front of her eyes, she found it difficult to focus on her looks as the previous night’s dream played continuously in her mind.

She had been in a peaceful clearing. The sun shone brightly, casting beams through the trees, giving everything an eerie glow. Birds chirped and even the most timid woodland creatures ventured near. She sat on the ground admiring the beauty of it all. Without apparent cause, the animals scattered, startled by something unseen. She tensed, waiting for a nightmare to unfold, when out of the tree line walked a Star Lion. Proud and glorious, the majestic creature strode over to her and bowed. Sunlight danced of the beast’s bright white fur almost blinding her. The last image before waking up was of the Star Lion staring directly into her eyes, and she felt totally at ease.

Miriam had read about Star Lions before. According to the long outdated texts, they were nearly extinct. As far as she was concerned, they were little more than myth and fairy tale. She had never heard anyone speak of seeing one. The fact that her dream had seemed so real, only made her sad as it created a burning desire to encounter such a creature. It was one of her biggest wishes—apart from being healthy.

The thought of her literate sanctuary reminded her of the book from last night. It was now located beneath the bed.

Thoughts of the missing pages once again entered her mind, and the belief that it was something significant hadn’t disappeared either. She to see them.

Miriam was lost in thought when a soft knock came from the door.

“Enter,” she said.

Francesca—the youngest maid of the staff—came in with a tray of food.

“Good morning, Miss,” she chirped happily. Miriam couldn’t help but to smile at the girl’s carefree personality.

“Did you rest well, Miss?” Francesca asked as she sat the tray in front of Miriam.

“Yes, Chess, thank you. I did. What about you?” Miriam responded and looked over the delicious looking breakfast, taking some grapes she looked at Francesca.

“Oh Miss, you know me, I always sleep like a rock. I can’t believe how soft our beds are here. They are so comfortable. Every morning I struggle to even get out of it.” Francesca beamed, and a wide grin erupted on her face. The freckles that were carelessly strewn across her nose showed that she was fond of being outside.

“I am very happy to know you like it here,” Miriam said sincerely and chewed on another grape.

“I am very happy here. I wish I could stay here forever!” Francesca exclaimed with delight.

“I am sure you can.”

“I hope so, Miss. I’ll leave you now; I’ll be back again in thirty minutes to pick up the tray. Enjoy your breakfast.” She curtsied and left Miriam to finish her breakfast.

Miriam always enjoyed fresh fruit in the morning. When she was younger, her doctor had tried to suggest a more nutritious diet for her. However, as she grew up, the staff finally caved and gave her the fruit she craved.

A soft knock came again, and with the mouth full of watermelon, she answered. She almost choked, when she saw—instead of Francesca’s freckled face—a devilishly attractive Blake leaning against doorframe. He had jeans and a fitted long sleeved tee, which Miriam had to admit looked good on him.

“Bon appetite,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

Miriam struggled to swallow the juicy mouthful, and sent him a sheepish grin.

“How are you feeling today?” he asked and stepped into the room.

“I’m still sore. Though, it’s not as bad as last night. Your uncle told me last night that I should stay in bed today.” Deciding to eat something else, she took a vine of grapes, offering him one, which he politely declined.

“Well, that’s a shame—here I thought I could be your savior once more and offer to carry you around,” he said with a smirk and sat down at the end of her bed.

“I am sorry to disappoint you then, kind sir,” she said and took another grape.

His soft chuckle filled the room.

“It’s okay; I guess I should have seen that coming,” he said and met her eyes.

Once again, she was amazed over the dark blue eyes in front of her.

“Yeah …” she said, not knowing how to respond.

“Well, I can always hang out with you here. If you don’t mind?” he asked with a soft voice.

“For me it’s okay, but is it possible that I could have a chance of looking more normal first?” she asked and looked down as she saw him taking in her appearance.

Don’t mention my hair, don’t mention my hair…

“You look good enough to eat.” He winked, “It’s all right though, would an hour be okay?”

“I think so. What’s the rush?”

“I am extremely bored, and uncle is studying in the library. I wouldn’t want to disturb him,” he said with a shrug and rose from the bed. With a teasing bow, he excused himself and left the room. Miriam watched as the door closed.

she thought. Granted, she didn’t have a large experience in guys, but according to the staff reaction to him, she could imagine that he was among the top.

Her mind was dangerously close to the gutter, and they made her blush. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on something else. She leaned over and peeked at the book beneath her.

Should I tell Blake about it? Perhaps he knows what language the notes are.

Francesca was back, with a bubbly smile.

“Shall I take your tray, Miss?”

Miriam shook her head, “Can you please help me look fairly decent? Blake is coming later.”

The merry maid agreed and couldn’t hide her excitement. Clapping her hands, she rushed around, finding clothes to consider.

Miriam watched her friend with amusement. The upbeat mood rubbed off on her. After ten minutes, both girls were laughing at stuff that they forgot within seconds. They played dress-up, and it was a relief to feel somewhat normal—even if it were just for a short time.

It wasn’t until a light tapping on the door interrupted their happy banter that they broke off. Miriam had dressed in a delicate salmon colored dress, and she looked at her frame in the cheval glass.

That’ll do just fine, Francesca left the room with a small smile and wink to Miriam. The maid scurried out, and let in Blake who was looking back at the giggling girl in the hall.

“I see that you are in a better mood now,” he noted.

“It’s hard not to be when you are around Francesca. That girl is like champagne, bubbly and fresh.” Miriam motioned for him to sit down. She took a seat on the bed and leaned against the headboard.

“So… what should we do? I reckon our options are limited since you are supposed to be in bed,” Blake stated after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“Hmm … We could talk?” she suggested.

“About what?”

“Well, you could tell me about the book you’ve read?” She actually wanted to know more about him, but in the last second, she had chickened out and ended up asking about books. At least she knew that books were something they had in common.

“To be honest I actually found it less compelling than I originally thought. I had forgotten how much I hated being forced to read classics in school.” He rolled his eyes, making Miriam giggle.

She looked at him through her eyelashes.

“I guess I should suggest another book for you then.” She laughed.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he said, with a small nod of his head. His hair fell over his eyes, shadowing his already dark eyes. Miriam didn’t like it; she thought it made him look creepy. A shiver ran up her spine as she surveyed the guy.

she stopped herself from voicing her thoughts and her thoughts swayed to the missing pages, and once more, she contemplated showing the book to Blake.

“Do you like history?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“What kind of history?” He leaned down to rest on his side, facing her.

“You know … The history of the world and such?”

“You mean like the story about Solem and Nemesi?” He frowned.

“Oh, I love that story,” Miriam admitted with a sigh.

“Really? How come?” Blake’s eyes met hers. She blushed as she recalled the reason why.

“You’ll laugh…” she muttered and looked away.

“No, I won’t. Please tell me?” he begged, rolling onto his stomach, making a praying gesture towards her. When she didn’t cave, he pouted and gave a rather good impression on puppy-dog eyes. Laughing, she reached out her hands to stop him.

“Okay, okay… I’ll tell you,” she said, and he leaned back again, looking expectantly at her.

“I think it’s the greatest and saddest love story of them all,” Miriam admitted, she averted her gaze and fiddled with her fingers. Blake kept silent, and when she dared to look up again she found him lost in thought.

“What?” she asked. He refocused on her and looked confused for a moment. He quickly gathered himself with a slight cough and answered:

“I just never thought of it like that.”

“Oh … I see. To me it just seems so sad that they can never be together. Two deities forever banished from each other presence to prevent the world from going under,” she said with a shrug.

“I guess you can look at it that way. To be honest I always thought of it as a magnetic pull,” he said. Miriam looked at him with bemusement.

“You know when you have two magnets, the poles attract and repel. Two different poles attract and two of the same repels?” he asked.

She gave a slight nod.

“Well, I’ve always thought of Nemesi and Solem being opposites, which have magnetic poles that attract except when they touched something shifted, and they began repel each other,” Blake explained.

Miriam nodded slowly. Physics had never been her favorite subject in school, although, she recalled hearing about magnetism before.

“I guess that is another way to look at it,” she said with a skewed smile. He responded with a dashing smile.

“Wait, so you don’t believe in Solem and Nemesi being deities?” Miriam asked after a minute.

“Yeah, I think of them as some sort of being out there. Though, I am pretty sure that there is some scientific explanation.” He shrugged.

Miriam didn’t know how to respond to this, and an awkward silence fell for the first time over them. After a minute or two, she decided to ask; “What do you think of the legend of the five stars then? And the war with The Black Holes?”

His eyes showed surprise.

“You aren’t supposed to know anything about that war. It’s been removed from almost every book in existence,” he said.

“Not every book though. How do you know about it?” she asked with regard, happy that the silence was broken.

“Well, I found a book, just like you I guess.” He gave her a skewed smile. Miriam didn’t know what it was, but she thought he looked at her in a new way.

“What do you think of it then?” She smiled back at him.

“I believe in it. I am not sure about the Black Holes taking human form though. It seems a little far out. Why do you ask?” He looked puzzled. Miriam reached down to pull out the book. She laid it on the bed in front of her.

“I just read about it last night. For a long time I’ve been annoyed about the lack of knowledge in schoolbooks, so when I found this the other day while we were in the library, I was happy. It’s so exciting!” she said.

“You think war is exciting?” Blake asked and cocked an eyebrow. Miriam looked at his expression and scoffed mentally. She couldn’t raise an eyebrow—she always ended up looking extremely retarded whenever she tried. Shaking her head to rid her mind from the random thoughts, she looked down at the book.

“No, I don’t think that war is exciting. However, I think the truth is. It’s also extremely crucial!” she said and met his eyes. They were so dark.

“Your eyes are really dark, Blake,” she thought out loud. He gave a short laugh.

“So I’ve heard. It’s a born gift I guess,” he said with a wink, which made Miriam look more like a tomato, than she would have preferred.

She flipped through the book open and found the place where pages were missing. In this light, it was easy to see that the pages had been ripped out rather than just fallen out. She looked up to see Blake studying her.

“There are some missing pages,” she mumbled, and she couldn’t help but pout a little.

He reached over and took the book in his hand. He read the page numbers and began skimming random pages of the book. Miriam didn’t know what to do. She just leaned back and watched as he read the book.

“This is much more accurate than the book I read. Does your mom know you have it?” he asked.

“Yes, well, I found it in the library. She must know we have it. Though I’ve never seen it before the day I found it,” she admitted, Blake looked up from the book and at her, and she tried hard not to squirm under his intense stare.

“I don’t think you should tell her about finding the book. This is an old book, and adults have a way of ruining every bit of fun,” he said and gave her the book back, “It could be like our little secret?”

“You don’t think of yourself as an adult?” she asked surprised.

“Yes, but not an old adult like our parents are, I mean…” he started and trailed off as he caught sight of something outside the window. Miriam turned to see what he was looking at, but couldn’t see anything else than the blue sky, where a lone bird flew around.

“So, do you have any idea where the missing pages could be? I’ve already searched the library where the book was,” she asked.

“Why do you want to find them so badly? I reckon there must be a reason for them to be ripped out,” he said.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that these pages are seriously vital to me. I mean. I feel like I need to know what these pages contain, and not just like when I’m longing for a new book in a series to come out. It’s more like a feeling inside of me,” she tried explaining. Blake just looked at her with a motionless expression.

Miriam sighed. She hoped that made sense.

“Okay, you know about the weird attacks, right? They aren’t normal. I’ve read tons of books and not once have anything, even remotely similar to this been recorded. I barely even read about it in fiction books. However, I think there was something about Siamese twins, which were separated once.

“And I am pretty sure that I am a whole person. Therefore, that can’t be the case. Besides, if that were the case, my mom would have told me. But lately I’ve been having these weird dreams too.”

“What weird dreams?”

“Well, for example, this morning I dreamt about a Star lion. I mean … it’s ages since I’ve read about it, and I think … I think that maybe the missing pages has something to do with the Star Lion.” She started to doubt herself. It felt right inside her, but as soon as she voiced her thoughts, they sounded wrong.

“I see. Though, I still don’t think you should tell your mother about finding the book,” Blake said and sat up straight. He was silent as he looked around with a thoughtful expression. He stared at her drawer for a minute and slowly turned his head.

“Does your mother have a secret closet or a drawer or anything like that?” he asked. Miriam put her palm to her forehead in a quick motion.

Solem, why didn’t I think of that?

“Of course! Thank you, Blake. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” she said and looked up to find him looking at her.

“So you know where it might be?”

“Yeah, she has a personal library; it’s supposed to be a secret for the government and such, so they don’t send spies to steal her ideas and such,” she answered and gave Blake a coy smile, which he returned.