Alex took another step away from him as her inner Creep-O-Meter spiked out a warning.
He stepped forward, and she stepped back again. But he just kept moving towards her, his golden eyes glowing from within, trapping her in his gaze.
“I found you here,” he said, “just as it was foretold I would. ‘A chance meeting in the forest of greeting, their destinies will be bound as one…’ Don’t you see, Alexandra?”
She was still trying in vain to put some distance between her and the beautiful yet clearly deranged man, but her retreat ended when she backed into a tree, unable to go any further.
“See what?” she said, her voice quieter than she would have liked.
He stopped directly in front of her and reached out a hand, gently tracing his fingers down the line of her cheek. “You are to be my salvation.”
Alex’s eyes widened and then narrowed at his ridiculous statement. Just as she was debating whether to laugh hysterically at his words or knee him hard enough that he’d never reproduce, he took a step away from her and tilted his head as if hearing something in the distance.
He stood like that for a moment before he moved back towards her, even closer than before, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’ll give you some time to settle in and learn how to use your power, and then I shall come for you, Alexandra. Together we will rule all of Medora.”
He flashed his disarming smile again and stepped back, casually walking away and disappearing into the dense forest.
Only when he was completely out of sight did Alex breathe a sigh of relief. What a complete whack-job!
“Hey, what are you doing out here?”
Alex spun around at the new voice, and in her haste she tripped over a bulging tree root, lost her balance, and sprawled face-first onto the forest floor. She heard the sound of suppressed laughter and groaned quietly into the leafy cushions surrounding her before pushing herself to her feet. In front of her were two guys, both around her age. Unfortunately for her humiliated self, both of them were uncommonly attractive, too.
“Maybe it’s some kind of hot-guy gene therapy,” Alex muttered, wondering where all the average-looking people were.
“What was that?” asked the guy on the right, his blond hair mussed by the wind and his bright blue eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Nothing,” Alex said. “Who are you? And where did you come from?”
“I’m Jordan Sparker,” said the blond, before pointing to his friend and saying, “and this is Bear.”
Bear grinned at her, and it was such a genuinely friendly expression that she unconsciously returned it. Just like Jordan, he also had a mischievous look about him, but his shaggy dark hair and warm brown eyes helped him seem less… devil-may-care.
“And you’re from…?” she prompted.
“The academy,” Bear said. “Where else?”
Alex almost wilted with relief. Finally, some students who could show her the way out of the forest.
“Your turn,” said Jordan. “Same questions.”
“I’m Alexandra Jennings,” she answered. “I’m supposed to be enrolling at the academy today but I was thrown through a doorway and ended up out here. Then this crazy guy came along and went all weird on me, saying that together he and I would one day rule some place called ‘Medora’. That was a fun conversation, let me tell you.”
Both boys looked at her with amusement and she abruptly stopped her rambling.
“I think we’re going to get along really well, Alexandra Jennings,” Jordan said with a grin.
“Alex,” she told him.
He shrugged. “Sure. Now tell us more about what happened with this doorway?”
She repeated the story as best as she could, watching them both for signs of understanding. If anything, they looked more and more excited, though she had no idea why.
“All I really want to do is hand in my enrolment papers, find out where I’m sleeping, and put this whole day behind me,” she concluded. “So, how do we get out of this forest?”
Jordan turned to Bear and asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“No question about it,” Bear agreed. “It’ll be a shock for her, but the best way is just to show her.”
“ ‘Her’ is standing right here, you know,” Alex said pointedly.
“Right, sorry, Alex,” Bear said. “You’ve just given us a lot to think about. If we’re right, then you’re the first Freyan to come to Medora in thousands of years. If not more. This is huge.”
“Epic,” Jordan said.
Alex looked from one of them to the other and asked, “What’s a Freyan?”
Bear turned to Jordan who cleared his throat and said, “Freyan is the name we use for someone who comes from Freya, the Original Earth. Medora is our world, which is Second Earth—kind of like a parallel Earth, but different. If we’re right about what’s happened to you, then you’re from another world.”
Alex stared blankly for a beat, waiting for them to jokingly cry, ‘gotcha!’ but their earnest expressions didn’t falter.
“Right,” she deadpanned. She was so not in the mood for any more first-day-at-the-new-school pranks. “I’d say it’s been great chatting with you, but… well, nope. Falling into the fountain was bad enough, you don’t need to continue this ‘let’s punk the newbie’ charade. So, thanks for the welcome, but I’ll just find my own way back.”
Alex chose a direction at random and headed straight into the trees. She half-expected Jordan and Bear to try and stop her from leaving, but they let her walk away without argument. She heard them following her and whispering to one another, but she didn’t deviate from her onward mission.
It took less than five minutes before the density of the forest began to lessen. The boys moved up beside Alex and together the three of them stepped out from under the canopy of trees.
“But—What—How?” Alex stared incredulously at the view, speechless.
Directly in front of them lay a beautiful lake, glistening in the late afternoon sunset. The forest where they stood led straight down to the water’s edge, and both the trees and the lake continued on to her right, much further than she could see. To her left, the forest cleared out into a grassy field which bordered the curve of the lake. Alex could even see a few horses grazing in the distance, adding to the picturesque image.
Further on from the fields and resting atop a small hill were a cluster of buildings, each one different from the next. Some looked like they were from the Dark Ages, while others looked as if they’d been built just yesterday. Two in particular stood out to Alex, if only because of their contrasting forms: one was a multi-storied U-shaped complex that was almost futuristic in design, and the other was a tower-like structure in the middle of the campus that looked like it belonged in a Medieval Weekly magazine. It was all very strange.
“Welcome to Akarnae, Alex,” Jordan said.
“What is this place?” she managed to say. “Where’s the International Exchange Academy?”
“We need to tell you some things that you’re not going to believe,” Bear said, “but you have to hear us out before you decide to ignore us, okay?”