Chapter Eighteen
Maggie Grey
I gasped as the air returned back to my lungs and my eyes snapped opened to the stars hovering above.
My body fell limp as I slumped back before leaning over to the side to cough.
I felt like the wind was just knocked out of me.
When I saw the bits of sand breeze by, I slowly looked out amongst the hilly sand dunes.
I could see Ayira’s body as the wind picked up around her and our things scattered about in the distance.
Slowly, I put my weight on my hands as I pulled myself up.
My shoes sunk into the deep sand as I looked up at the night sky.
The clouds were faint, and the stars twinkled.
My hair began to blow against my face as I scooped the white strands back to tuck behind my ears.
Just in the distance, I could have sworn I saw something in the middle of the sand but as the wind picked up, all I could see was rolling dunes.
“Hellooooooo!” I called out, cupping my mouth with my hands. I’ve seen enough scary movies to know the last thing my black ass should be doing is calling out to the danger and greeting it with a hello. Foolishly, I tried to call out his name instead. “NAAAAAMIRRRR!?”
My voice called back to me, echoing throughout the dunes as I tried not to let panic set in.
It’s only been a year, but I’ve gotten so used to Namir being behind me, beside me, or in front.
Danger, fear, and anything unsettling was obsolete.
I didn’t have to worry about the unknown because he was always there.
Him and that damn nose of his. I forgot what it felt like to be by myself but even then, I always had my mom and grandmother.
I was never really by myself until now. Looking back at Ayira, I tried to thicken my skin and toughen up.
I looked around with squinting eyes before looking up at the dark clouds slowly fading further into the night.
I felt like I was in some sort of storybook until I spotted something moving.
A dark shadow with wings spread wide above the clouds as it glided across the night sky before disappearing.
“Nope…nope nope nope.” I stumbled with my hands stuck out trying to keep my balance. “Ayira!” I hissed. I kept my eyes on the sky, but I managed to reach down and shake her body. “Ayira! Get up! We need to go!”
She let out a loud gasp as her back arched, chest rising into the air before she began coughing. Her braids she had done by the girls fell loose into her usual bone straight length as she looked around.
“What…what is this?” She asked, voice strained as she looked around. I could see her hands dig into the sand when she looked down. A sense of familiarity washed over her face as her eyes glistened. “Am…Am I home?”
“I don’t know but we need to leave,” I rushed while breaking my neck to look up at the clouds again. “There is something…in the sky flying around and I know for a FACT it’s not a damn bird.”
I felt like she was moving in slow motion when I yanked her arm up to steady her balance. We both stood on wobbly feet sinking into the sand as I looked around for our things.
“Where are we??” I asked, reaching for my bag. “Huh? Is this your home? Hmmm?”
“The sand feels…different,” she said as she reached down to scoop up the brittle dust in her hand. “This does not feel like home.”
“Uh huh, and what’s that in the damn sky?
” I asked while anxiously looking up. I waited for a second, seeing nothing but the floating night clouds.
Ayira instead pointed ahead with her finger.
Squeezing my eyes, I peered off in the distance seeing the same structure sitting in the middle of the dunes. “What is that?” I asked.
“Do you see it?”
“Yeah, I–––Ayira?! AYIRA?!”
“Come!”
She was already off, stomping through the thick sand as I dropped my bag and followed behind her.
I kept my eyes on the sky, I watched another shadow of something with a very large wingspan glide above the clouds.
It wasn’t until I ran into the back of her, did I realize she stopped and looked around.
“I do not see it…” She said, voice lowering with concern as I looked around.
“There's nothing out here…” Glancing quickly at the sky again, I shouted. “HELLOOOOOOOO?! SOMEBODY?!”
SOMEBODY! Somebody! Somebody…
The fading echo rang back at me repeatedly as the dunes rolled, causing a large rumbling sound until silence fell over the wasteland.
“This place is not normal…” Ayira concluded. I tossed my hands in the air wanting to shout out no shit Sherlock, but I doubt she’d understand the reference.
“Whatever it is, how do we leave from it?” I turned around to see the direction we came from, but it was no use, everything looked the same.
“Why do we have to leave?” She questioned.
“Because princess! We don’t know what exactly is out here! Now do we?!” I snapped before gripping my head to calm myself down. “Look…This isn’t what I had in mind for going to see my parents…You said you would help–––”
“Ah ah! I said I would come with you. You told me to stay out of the way and so I am,” she said, hearing a hint of an attitude for the first time. “I do not have to follow you everywhere you go the way your friends do–––”
“Oh?!” I laughed with a hard nod of my head.
“So this is the real you coming out! I see! Couldn’t talk back to your precious daddy so you take it out on me.
Fine. Go be free then…Go find your Neverending Story.
I’m going to find a way back with or without you.
I actually have a home, friends, and a life to go to and have no problem returning to it. ”
“Friends?” She repeated. “You mean the ones that came with you to help you with your parents?” The fake shock in her tone almost sent me over the edge. “Where are these friends? I do not see them?”
She pretended to look high and low while I smirked. I didn’t even have a good enough comeback for her.
“Like I said, I’m going back home.”
“Well then you do that. I was never raised to stay sheltered and afraid of the unknown,” she added before turning to walk off.
The wind began to pick up around us as we parted ways.
I went back to where our things were scattered and fell to my knees to grip the sand in an attempt to steady myself.
With my hair blowing across my face, I looked back over my shoulder to see Ayira disappearing amongst the sand dunes.
I plopped down on the sand, pulling my things close to me as the wind continuously picked up around me.
My bare arms were exposed from the tank top and each little brittle of sand stung like tiny pinches.
“Aaaaaaaghhhh!” I screamed, keeping my head down as my eyes squeezed shut. “STOP IT!”
My fingers clenched the sand tight as the wind suddenly switched with my hair flying sideways in the opposite direction. The only choice I had was to curl into a ball, keeping my face covered as much as possible, but my tank top in the back began to lift, exposing my skin.
Then it just…stopped.
I froze, afraid to move until I caught a peek of the familiar shoes belonging to the magical school.
I pulled my head up to see Ayira plopping down beside me with her hair covered with sand.
She had a lot caught in her eyelashes and mouth as she tried to wipe the rest of her face down, but she refused to speak.
I did notice, however, the wind became still.
Neither of us said anything at first. She just began to run her fingers through her hair, getting the sand out while I shook mine loose like a dog fresh from its bath.
“Soooooooo I guess we have to stick together,” I started. She didn’t respond right away. Just looked up at the sky with her own thoughts.
“If this place is anything like Khamar, you do not want to wait until the sun comes out,” she said as her eyes lowered to mine with the subtle threat. “If you are the moon, why are you afraid to move at night?”
The question struck me hard in the chest as I grew stiff with no exact answer. Instead, I looked away and focused on the bag buried deep beneath the sand that blew in this direction.
“I am the Great Sun’s daughter… I understand and know myself,” she went on.
“From the moment I was born, I was told I am special. I am directly descended from the sun. When I was a little girl, my father would tell me that when I look up at the sun, that I am seeing my reflection. I see myself. I am not just Ayira Khamar. I am THEE Ayira Khamar. Daughter of the Great Sun King Khamar and a reflection of the Solhari people, my people. I am fluent in three languages, trained dancer, and I am one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful of my people. Why do you not know this about yourself? Does your family not tell you anything?”
“I am Maggie Grey,” I said. “That’s who the hell I am. That’s who I’ve always been and who I always will be.”
“Ohh…Maggie Grey,” she mocked with a frown before cutting her eyes to the sky. “You are nothing but a coward.”
I glared at her but had nothing else to say in response.
Just sat there fuming with my knees brought to my chest. My black sweats were covered in bits of sand as I sunk my shoes into the gold grain only to lower my chin back on my knees.
Why did I even fix my mouth to say Namir wasn’t enough?
God… Now I’m stuck in the middle of the freaking Sahara Babylon Dubai desert with no food or water, just sand, and a princess who claims to be the sun the way they claim I’m the moon. What in fantasy book hell is this?!
“What are we doing?” Ayira asked impatiently. “Are we going to wait for someone else to grab us and disappear? Are we going to sleep until we wake up in the exact same place as before?”
“Again, you are free to leave!” I snapped. “You’re supposed to be this sun dragon freak, do something to get us out here!”
She held out her hand, extending her fingers to show her palm producing nothing. No flame, not even a burst of light.