Chapter 4— Artemis

He picked a rom-com! How amazing was that? Instead of a terrible horror movie that would keep me up at night. I have to admit I wouldn‘t mind a nice action movie. Snuggling up under his arm made up for the cheesy lines I had to endure. 

When the movie was over, we went to a small diner in town. I couldn‘t shake the feeling there were eyes burning holes in the back of my head. When I turned all the customers were occupied with their meals or had their noses stuck in the evening paper.

Alfie demanded all my attention, though it didn‘t quiet my anxiety. I couldn’t check because Alfie had claimed my mouth as his own. He didn‘t care who saw him devour my lips. Like magic released into the dark sky to give birth to stars as so were the explosions taking place inside me. 

When it was over the fire still burned. We hadn‘t touched our food. He guided me out of the diner, the night was still young, but the party was over on Alfie’s part. I felt like a damp dog locked outside its owner‘s house.

He brushed his lips against my cheeks. Leaving me near begging for more.

‘I should get going.’ His lips rested on my neck, his hand caressing my thigh. 

Our bodies pressed together his sweet unearthly scent would fuse to my skin. He peeled away from me. He placed his hands either side of my face. I exhaled. I was glad he stopped. A pan of guilt smacked me. This wasn‘t how I wanted to give myself up for the first time.

‘Thanks for a wonderful night.’ I slipped out of the car. 

The neighbours had to be peeping out of their windows. I felt as hot as a baking tin straight for the oven and as red as a blood-soaked floor.

I ran to the door. My heart hammered in my chest with each second, I stayed under the watchful eye of the moon. My legs threatened to buckle. 

‘Rocky!’ I knocked.

I pushed on the door, though it didn‘t swing inwards. Did Rocky really lock me out? I frowned and tried the handle again. It wasn’t locked. I rammed my side into the door and I felt a wood shift.

‘Rocky!’ I cried.

I rammed my body into the door, the wood budged enough to allow me to slip in. 

‘What the heck?’ The little kitchen table bared the door. My limbs froze as the situation of my home registered in my mind. The chair had toppled over, my dishes shattered in the kitchen.

‘Raquel!’ I darted to the room. 

Blankets and mattresses lay in disarray. No sign of my sister. I fished out my phone and dialled her number. The Beyonce ring tone sounded in the other room. I followed the music to the kitchen. I picked up the pink covered phone. The screen had been bashed in.

‘No, no.’ I trembled as I called Stella.

The phone rang and went unanswered. I dialled again and met the same. 

‘I need you, Stella.’ Tears fell down my chin. They took my sister. Sera was right. I should have been more careful. Rocky‘s gone.

I paced the disarrayed room. Someone had broken in. Did I call the police? No, I called my best friend‘s mom. I had to have walked the entire trailer park before Sera and Stella arrived. I held out hope she got away and was hurt in the grass. Rocky wasn’t anywhere. 

‘Where have they taken her?’ I sobbed. Stella rubbed my back.

‘I knew this would happen, I told you girls, now they’ve gone and taken my Rocky.‘ Sera blew her nose into the blue scarf around her head.

‘Who are they? Didn’t you see who they were, a symbol or something?‘

Sera shook her head, ‘I only saw their evil, but there could only be one place they could have taken her.’ 

Sera and Stella shared a knowing glance. I stood.

‘Where… where have they taken her? Tell me I have to find her!’

Stella gripped my hand, ‘Mom thinks they took her to the Mage Dimension.’ 

I shook my head, ‘The what?’

‘It’s the place where all creatures of magical origin live in peace and freedom. It‘s not the most peaceful and free place at the moment.’

‘Why? How come you never told me about it, Stella?’ I crossed my arms. My bloodshot eyes fixed on them.

‘I didn’t think you needed to. Gosh, Arti I was going to eventually.‘ Stella cringed.

‘Whatever! Take me there so I can get my sister back.’ 

‘It won’t be that easy sweetheart. We shouldn‘t talk about it here. Let’s go to my house, who knows what they left behind.‘

I grabbed my coat. Maybe if I had been there, we would have fought together. I should have been careful. I closed the door to my tattered home. Every little thing we worked for gone, stolen. 

Sera locked the door behind us. She ushered us upstairs. 

‘You’ll have to go to the mage dimension and find her. I have some contacts that can help.‘

‘What if she’s been taken as Hera‘s slave.’ Stella said and gasped.

‘Now, now don’t be negative. If that‘s the case you’ll intercept.‘ Sera hissed.

‘Okay, how do we get there? Open a portal in the woods and make a sacrifice to appease the spirits?’

‘It’s not that deep babe, just take the closet.‘ Sera blinked.

‘Oh right.’ I chuckled. 

‘You have to be careful girls. I don’t want to lose another one of you, the image dimension isn‘t what it used to be.’

I stared at the blue closet door. The path to a new world, the unfamiliarity didn‘t matter. All I needed was to get Rocky back.