The Kiss of Forever
Chapter 21
We passed completely over the woods, and through a valley, until we got to the top of a mountain within a long range of them. The glimmers had already decided on a spot inside a smaller patch of woods. We landed on a patch of soft green grass, which was nice for Daniel because he landed flat on his back, whereas I landed easily on my feet. “And she sticks the landing,” I said, “And well, he does not.” We both laughed and Daniel got up. We remembered we were in large group of glimmers. There were so many, but it was simple to get lost with Daniel. I shivered, half coming to reality, and half because of the coldness. “Want my jacket?” Daniel asked, and put the jacket on my shoulders without waiting for an answer. “Thanks, but you should keep it,” I replied, starting to take the jacket off, but he placed it on my shoulders, “Keep it,” he said. Daniel obviously would not be taking it back. I looked around at all the glimmers, and noticed that Karl still wasn’t there. I was about to mention it, but Alice just then started the meeting deciding our tactics for battle. “We will need to start fighting by the day after tomorrow at the latest, so this plan needs to be able to be put into action effectively and quickly. Our idea was to flush out Thainise, from both the front and the back.” “Okay,” said Daniel because he was always just trying to be agreeable. “Nope,” I contradicted Daniel and Alice, “If we do that, then they can escape the sides, which I’m sure you thought about,” I continued before Alice could interrupt, “They could also escape to the sky. I presume they have the power to fly just as we do. I think we should attack from above because then we can see where they disperse to, and if they have a safe house underground we can flush it out. How does that sound?” I asked. “Good,” said all the glimmers. Daniel looked uncomfortable as he said, “Sure.” “I want the truth, Daniel, I mean it. We need to know the loopholes.” I said seriously. He replied with, “Okay, then, even if we can see where they disperse to we may not be able to catch them. Also, if the green glimmers attack us we could lose sight of the ones fleeing. I think we need to come from front, back, and sides, then we can fly if we need to.” “That could work. That sounds best so far,” I said. We had mutually decided to just forget about the glimmers because they were not helpful. In fact, it seemed as though they had no idea what constructive criticism was. “I really think that we need to cut off their ability to fly. That will take away their easiest access to escape,” I said. “Okay, that sounds good,” Daniel replied. “I think that we should send a small army to surround the whole are, one to two layers of glimmers. Then the rest will come down from above, a group of four to five layers, hopefully,” I said. “It seems like we’re spreading our wall a little thin,” he said, “But there is no other way to cover all the bases. I’m in.” Of course all the glimmers also agreed. “Let’s put it into action tomorrow night at 10:23 p.m., to not have it at too obvious of an attack time,” Alice said, “It is getting light already, so we will sleep till then, but first we will assign you groups.” We all got assigned groups, I was with Daniel, and then went off to sleep to get energy for the upcoming events. It was getting pretty bright, I noticed while falling to sleep in Daniel’s arms, our bodies touching and sharing warmth.
The Kiss of Forever
Chapter 20
We were kissing, lost in each other’s lips, when I looked
over to the clock and it read 10:59. “Oh my God, Daniel,
we’re gonna be late, it’s 10:59,” I said. He
looked confused for a moment, but then remembered what I was
talking about and threw on his shoes while passing me mine. I
speedily put them on, and then we simultaneously grabbed each
other’s hands and ran, quite loudly before silently
laughing as we remembered that everyone was asleep because, well,
it was 10:59, or maybe 11:00 now. We finished running down his
stairs from the attic, through the hall to the maid’s
stairs, and out the back door.
Once we were outside and about twenty yards into the woods, we
burst out laughing. We had to slow dramatically in order to get
enough oxygen. We finally got to the clearing to see only Alice.
“Hello,” she said, “Everyone is waiting to meet
the ‘famous two’ that were destined for the crown,
blah blah blah, but before you meet them all and get too
overwhelmed, I would like to give you a few serious pieces of
information. First of all, there are thousands of them, so
don’t be worried when you see them. Secondly, you will not
be returning to the orphanage for a while,” I gasped, but
Daniel seemed only a tad bit shocked, like he was half-expecting
this to happen, “We have all that you will need for the war
and for afterwards. After tonight we will all work together to
plan an attack to start the war. Now,” she started to shine
like a glimmer in its pure form, and started to talk in the
tingly language they used to communicate. “Let’s all
meet each other,” she finished hundreds of glimmers came
from the forest, while thousands more appeared out of thin air.
The only thing I thought was off, was that Karl wasn’t in
this mob f glimmers. “Is this everybody?” I asked.
“Yes,” Alice responded. She could tell I was awed, so
she wondered about my question, but never brought it up again.
“We will fly to a safer, more isolated location. You do not
know this obviously, but you have the ability to fly. Concentrate
on the air around you, and you will start to float and then
fly.” It seemed easy enough, and I got it on my first try,
but it took Daniel seven. When he reached me I teasingly said,
“Well, guess I’m just a better flyer.”
“No way,” he said, “I meant for it to take me
five tries.” “Yeah, but it took you seven,” I
said. “You caught me,” confessed Daniel. “Hey,
did you notice that Karl wasn’t down there,” I asked.
Daniel tensed at the name, but just said, “Maybe he was, I
don’t know, doing glimmer stuff, or in the bathroom.”
“That’s what I thought at first, too,” I
countered, “But Alice said that the whole army was there,
and she’s so precise she would have mentioned that anyone
was missing.” Daniel took my hand in his and said,
“Don’t worry about it, as much as it pains me to
think that he is still alive,” “Daniel,” I
interrupted and gave him a play slap, which he returned, leading
to a fake cat fight. “Anyways, as I was saying,” he
continued, “She probably just didn’t know that he had
taken some detour.” “Okay,” I said doubtingly,
and Daniel gave me a kiss on the forehead before saying, “I
know you don’t believe me on this, but there isn’t
any need to worry,” and he took my hand back into his
own.
The Kiss of Forever
Chapter 19
The next day, after classes, we headed up the hill to the
clearing where we would have our second training session. We
heard someone coming up behind us and turned. Karl was just
leaving the orphanage and only a few yards from us. Daniel
switched from holding my hand to putting a protective arm across
my shoulders. “Hey, Ellie,” Karl said getting closer
to us. Daniel tensed. “Hi,” I said. Daniel kept
looking straight ahead, and Karl only looked at me never even
glimpsing at Daniel. There was still a lot of tension, and I
could barely stand it. I had no idea how to make them reconcile,
though. We were getting very close to the clearing, so I started
running ahead, and Daniel ran right behind me, and Karl a little
ways after. We got up there and Alice was waiting. She started
talking, this time in a human voice because, apparently, in human
form they knew the English language. “This will be our last
training session. Tomorrow you two will be meeting your warriors,
the other glimmers.” That seemed not only intimidating, but
I was surprised that Daniel and I were going to be ready for war
at the end of this training. “We will have the same
schedule and partners-“ Alice continued before Daniel
interrupted with, “No, I think that I should train with
Karl and you and Ellie could train.” “I’ll talk
with Alice-alone- for a minute, now,” I said. I grabbed
Alice’s arm and we walked into the woods. “What do
you want me to do?” Alice asked me. “I don’t
know,” I replied, “Daniel will kill someone if I work
with Karl.” “But if he works with Karl they will just
end up beating each other up,” she finished my thought,
“and I know that you are thinking maybe you could work with
Daniel, but that won’t work because he would always let you
win. Therefore, the best option for everyone’s benefit is
for you to be with Karl and I will be with Daniel. Discussion
over.” We walked back to camp because I couldn’t
think of a counter to her argument.
“We’re back,” I said with mock joy, “I
will be training with Karl.” Karl smirked at this remark
while Daniel grimaced. Even with this complication, Daniel made
it to the break with only harsh glaring at Karl and no killing. I
would say it was a success. At break Daniel grabbed me a water
and we sat down together. “I hate him,” he said.
“I know,” I said. “He deserves you even less
than I do, and I don’t deserve you,” Daniel said.
“Untrue,” I replied. Daniel kissed me, and I kissed
him back. When I looked up I saw Karl looking dejected. He
finally realized that I didn’t like, and this fact seemed
to make Daniel satisfied. “Hey, did you just kiss me to
keep Karl away?” I asked. “Of course not,”
Daniel replied guiltily. “Not okay,” I said. Trying
to gain forgiveness he kissed me again. This time he meant it.
“I guess I forgive you,” I said. “Time to
finish up practice,” declared Alice. We finished with us
doing a round robin of duels. Karl beat me, so he moved onto
Daniel. Daniel pounded him easily and I almost had to get
involved, but he stopped just in time. Then, I dueled Daniel and
I won, so I guess Alice was right and Daniel would always lose to
make me feel good. I called for a rematch, which left him
wondering to why I would want a rematch if I won, but then I told
him not to go easy on me. He still did, though, so I won because
I also beat Alice and then Karl in our rematch. “I’ll
see both of you out here at 11:00 tonight to meet your army, no
buts,” she said. Daniel and I headed back, it was already
past dinner, so he took me to his room because Tania was already
asleep, and we didn’t want to wake her. I had found out
that his room was in the attic. We spent the whole night talking,
and a little kissing, too.
The Kiss of Forever
Chapter 18
We reached the amusement park around 11:00 a.m. Even though I
wasn’t really asleep, I waited for Daniel to
“wake” me. He gently nudged my shoulder, and I
started to open my eyes. Once I was fully awake he gave me a
drawn-out, sweet kiss. I turned to Tania, switched seats to be
next to her, and awakened her. “Hey, we are here, ready to
have fun?” I said. “You bet” she replied, while
stretching and yawning. Tania accidentally hit me in the face
with her arm as she stretched. We both burst out into giggles.
When I looked back over to Daniel, he gave me a look that said,
“Are you guys drunk?” That made me laugh even
harder.
“Okay, we will split into groups before we get off the
bus,” Mrs. Sellice started, “Group one is Tania,
Hannah, Daniel, Alec, and Nathalie. Group two is Ellie, Sallie,
Karl, Sam and Charlie. Group three is…” she
continued, but I didn’t listen. I couldn’t believe
Daniel and I were in different groups. We both turned to each
other and said two different things at the same time. “I
can’t believe we are in different groups,” I said
while Daniel said, “Karl is staying at the orphanage? I
thought he was just meeting Tania there.” We were both
equally shocked. “Yeah, isn’t it great? Karl is at
the orphanage,” Tania said, “Now I get true love, too
Ellie.” I was about to tell Daniel, “I told you
so”, but before I could he said, “I know, I know, you
told me so. Don’t worry about us being in different groups.
I’ll just switch with Karl.” This made Tania pleased,
but I was afraid of what could happen to my best friend if she
was alone with him. I guess they would be in a crowd, so she
would be fine. I wanted to leave Daniel with her to keep her
safe, but I knew that there was no way he would ever leave Karl
alone with me no matter what the reason or how safe it seemed. By
now, everyone else was off the bus, so we all got out.
If I could just forget about the others, it seemed like it would
be a really fun time. Daniel managed to switch with Karl after a
tense conversation I had to supervise in order to keep the boys
from fighting. Daniel and I read a lot of the ‘less scary,
but still thrilling’ rides, but we rode one amazing
rollercoaster that I wanted to ride over and over. It had one
extremely large drop at the beginning and then lots of smaller,
but sill large drops and a few turns. I sat next to Daniel in the
two-person car. He seemed freaked out because it was wooden. At
the end of it I was ready to go again, but I had to convince
Daniel. “Please, it is so much fun,” I tried.
“Now, why would I ever do that death-trap again,” he
opposed. “Because it would make me happy,” I
suggested. “Or it would kill us both,” he countered.
“Fine, I’ll just do it alone,” I said and
started walking through the line barriers to the open cars.
“Wait up, I’m not gonna let you die alone,”
Daniel said and jogged up to me. I gave him a peck on the cheek
and grabbed his hand to lead us to the car. We rode a few more
times, each time I had to re-convince Daniel to go. After about
nine rounds we stopped to play a game. We lost, but Daniel got
really close on a few of them, while I was at least a foot from
the target every time I tried. We bought and shared some cotton
candy. We ate it on a bench a little ways off from the whole big
scene of the amusement park. “Thanks for the treat, and for
riding that roller coaster with me,” I said. “Oh the
cotton candy is no problem, but the rollercoaster almost killed
me, and you, literally,” He said. I laughed. “You
know, you’re amazing,” Daniel claimed. I was taken by
surprise, “Well, thanks,” I said, “You are,
too.” “I love you,” he uttered, “ I
really do, Ellie.” This time I knew exactly what to say,
“I love you, too, Daniel.” I gave him a kiss.
“I love you, Ellie,” he said again, and pulled me in
for another long, amazing, kiss. I was lost in his full, light
lips. I was in love. Truly in love.
**
Far too soon, we had to leave for the movies. Once we got there,
I was disappointed that I wasn’t still on the bench with
Daniel, but we both tried to look on the bright side, and decided
that spending some time together was better than nothing. And
soon enough we were back to the orphanage, and had to say
goodnight. With a quick kiss and a goodnight, and an I love you
from Daniel, I went off to sleep.
The Kiss of Forever
Chapter 17
I woke the next morning and got ready. We got to sleep in, so I
was ready to go in the commons around 9:00 a.m. with Daniel by my
side. We sat next to each other on the bus. “I call the
aisle,” I said. “No way,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, actually, I totally get it, so just stick that in
your juice box and suck it,” I replied. He laughed, but I
remained completely straight-faced. We got on the bus first. We
were sitting in the way back and Daniel did a little chauffer bow
and said, “Ladies first.” “Nope,” I said.
We decided to arm wrestle it out, and, like the boyfriend he is,
he let me win. Well, after I told him that he was treading on
dangerous ground, which seemed to sort him out.
Tania sat across from us, but she had no one on her other side
because Hannah was sitting with someone named Nathalie. Daniel
spent most of the time looking out the window while his arm was
around me. He didn’t seem too interested in our girl talk.
“So, what’s up with you and Daniel?” Tania
asked. “We’re doing great,” I said, smiling,
and I grabbed his hand which made him smile, too. Tania grinned a
little. “What’s that?” I asked. “Well, I
was wondering, I mean…. I saw you and Daniel with this
guy, and he came back to the orphanage, and he asked me out. I
really like him from what I know of him. He seems sweet,”
she said. I couldn’t think of who this guy was, “What
is his name?” I questioned. “Karl,” said Tania.
I could not believe it. I turned and saw Daniel was already
looking at me. He must’ve heard the name. He seemed
shocked, but not as unhappy as I was. “Daniel,” I
mumbled. Tania continued, “We’re meeting at the
amusement park today and I just wanted to make sure that that
wouldn’t be awkward for you guys.” I was about to
turn back around and say that he was awful and if she ever sees
him again she should run in the other direction, but Daniel beat
me to it and gave a surprising answer, “No, no,
that’s fine. We hope you guys have fun together. Tania
beamed. She must have read my mind because right then she moved
over to the other seat and shut her eyes. Within minutes she was
asleep. I made sure no one else was eavesdropping before I
started my conversation with Daniel.
“What were you thinking?” I said. “Well, I
think it’s pretty obvious I hate Karl,” he said,
while I grimaced at his usage of hate, “So, it seemed like
if he was interested in someone else I wouldn’t have to
worry as much about you.” “I told you I didn’t
like him,” I said, disappointed in his lack of trust.
“I know that,” he continued, “but he likes you.
You saw what he was like the other day,” Daniel shivered as
he remembered that moment with Karl. “I still don’t
want my best friend hurt,” I said, staying true to my
argument. “Come on, it’s one date. Who knows, maybe
they will fall deeply in love. Do you want to keep Tania from
true love? And you really can’t say anything now;
it’s too late. Come on, it will be fine. We could even keep
an eye on them. Well, you could because I would be too tempted to
punch that jerk.” He said. “Calm down,” I said,
“this is exactly what I mean. Think about why he is that
bad.” “No, you have got to give up. Just let her have
a little happiness,” Daniel replied. I started feeling a
little guilty, so Daniel won, for now. I leaned into his
shoulder, ready to take a nap. He kissed my forehead, “I
love you,” he said. “I love you, too,” I
responded, and kept resting never quite reaching
sleep.