Sapphires and Desires (The Gem Fairy Series Book 1) Read online

  Outside of the room Geoff sits on a bench in the hallway holding two steaming hot coffees. My day just got a little bit better.

  He’s smiling, he knows he’s made my morning. I mean you can’t outdo coffee, especially on a morning like this one. It’s practically a gift from god. Whoever invented coffee deserves a high five and their name on some sort of plaque or something.

  “That test was terrible,” I say grumpily and grab my coffee from him.

  He laughs. “It really wasn’t that bad, Laytah, you should’ve studied.”

  “I know.”

  “Whatever! It’s too late now! See you this afternoon when I’m done classes? I better get going or I’ll be late.” He shrugs and I wonder why he’s so outgoing this morning, he’s usually a bear in the morning like me. Hell, he was probably up early studying and already chugged six coffees.

  “Sure.”

  He stands up and heads towards his next class while I head to the front parking lot to grab my car. I’m so happy that I only had one class today.

  As I near the school’s front entrance, I begin to feel dizzy. I contemplate whether or not I should go back to bed instead of going uptown to get groceries. I know I probably shouldn’t drive.

  I decide to go against my common sense and I head out of the front doors to find my car. Of course I parked it at the far end of the parking lot and have to walk a mile to find it. Once I finally get to the vehicle, I jump in it and head towards the nearest super market.

  The drive is long and painful although it’s really only a few minutes away. As I drive, I dig through my center console trying to find my student ID so I can get a discount off of my groceries. I know I should probably wait until I’m parked to distract myself with this but I’m not always one to make smart decisions. I wing a bunch of junk onto the passenger seat. I have everything in here from makeup to tampons to dirty socks it’s no wonder I can’t find a little tiny card.

  Someone honks behind me and I look up to see that the light has turned green and I’m holding up traffic. Oops. I slam on the gas and speed over a hill and onto a bridge. The supermarket is just on the other side of it. I take my eyes off the road for a second to look into the console I’ve been ravishing. THERE IT IS! Right at the bottom, of course. I dig it out and throw it into my pocket. Another horn sounds behind me and just as I look up to see what I could’ve possibly done wrong now, a red car rams into the side of my own and sends me hurdling through the guard rails and off the edge of the bridge towards the river far below.

  Time slows down just like they say it does when you’re about die but my life certainly doesn’t flash before my eyes. Instead, the only thing going through my mind in those last seconds before I hit the water are the words ‘holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…’ and flashbacks of the last time I was in a car plummeting towards a river. When my car finally reaches the water a strong pain radiates throughout my whole body for only a second and then everything goes completely black.

  Chapter Two

  I don’t know how long I am mentally unconscious for but it must be a while because when my brain is finally able to function again, I can tell very vaguely that I am in a hospital. I can’t move or feel any part of my body, all I can do is lay and listen. I can hear machines beeping and assume that I’m hooked up to far too many to be in good health. At least I’m alive, I guess. I’m tired, I feel like sleeping only I’m too scared to go to sleep again, because what if I don’t wake up? I can’t open my eyes but I can tell that I’m not alone in the room. Someone’s breathing is just loud enough that I can hear it. Whoever it is they must be standing beside my bed. Could it be Geoff? Or is it a doctor? Nurse?

  I listen more intensely and can hear phones ringing outside my room and people’s footsteps in the halls. I use all my strength to try and force open my eyes. Nothing happens. Great.

  “Hello again, little one.” An all too familiar voice caws in my ear. If I could move I would’ve been up and off the bed in an instant. “Sorry for the scare last night.”

  I hear one of the monitors begin squealing and I’m sure it’s because my heart is pounding so hard.

  “Deep breaths, little one. You’re much safer with me than with him if you die. I know all of your secrets now, even the ones you don’t know about yourself.” The voice rants.

  I try to tune it out by singing Christmas songs in my head. We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas…

  The same cold feeling from last night brushes my cheek before I drift into unconsciousness.

  “Wheel her down the hall and notify her family please, Margaret,” a deep raspy male voice says from right next to me. It must be the doctor.

  My family hasn’t been notified that I’m in the hospital yet? Maybe I haven’t been unconscious as long as I thought, it feels like I’ve been laying here for years.

  I try and sit up. Nothing. I hope that it’s just the medication that they’re giving me that is making me unable to move and I’m not paralyzed or something terrible.

  “Dr. Thomas, I think her toe just moved!” A female voice cries out excitedly. I assume the voice belongs to Margaret, who I assume is a nurse or something close to it.

  “That’s not possible, Margaret. She’s gone. The tests have all proven the same thing.” The doctor says. ”She’s dead.”

  Dead? Who are they talking about? Not me surely because I’m very much alive. Maybe I’m in a shared room with someone and they’re dead because I’m quite obviously not.

  A touch of sadness attacks my heart. Is this possibly death? Will I be stuck in a rotting body for eternity? No. That can’t be possible. What about heaven? Geoff has always believed in god and life after death, so if I am dead, then where is all of that? Obviously I’m not dead. Or maybe, I am so close to death that the machines are saying I’m dead because they can’t even tell I’m still alive. Maybe I’m about to die at any moment and I’m just barely hanging on. OR maybe I am alive and the machines are all wrong. Whatever it is, something is very, very wrong.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, Dr. Stevens. I just hate losing patients so young.”

  “It never gets easier, you just find ways to deal with it. We lose some but we help more than we lose. You’ll understand the longer you work here. The first year is the worst.” The doctor replies to Margaret and then I hear a door open and I can tell that I’m being moved.

  It’s not long before I’m wheeled into a room that’s cold. Like freezing cold. I know exactly where I am, I mean, how many hospital rooms are super fricken cold, one, that’s right, one, the morgue. And that’s when it all really hits me and I start freaking out. They think I’m dead and I have no way of telling them otherwise. The tests and monitors that could’ve maybe saved my life have been unplugged. I’m not dead yet but I’m about to be. I pray to god that the doctor has made some sort of mistake and I’m alive just unconscious and drugged so I can’t move. Maybe I’ll wake up and be fine. Right. I’m about to die, doctor’s don’t just claim patients dead and have them wake up in the morgue. When have I ever heard of that happening?

  Is it going to hurt? Where will I go? What will happen? Oh god, Geoff and my aunt. I feel as though I’m about to cry but no tears come out, at least none that I can feel. I use my rage, my sadness, my will to live, and my remaining strength to attempt to open my eyes one last time. Nothing. The exhaustion finally overwhelms me and I slip into unconsciousness again, maybe for the last time. I savor what could possibly be my final second.

  I wake up with an exaggerated gasp and an anxiety which I don’t understand. Where am I? Why am I so damn cold? It’s dark, like super dark. I’m in a bed. Not my bed, mine is huge, this one is just small, a single probably. When I roll off, it takes longer for my feet to touch the floor than I anticipate and I nearly fall onto my butt. When my bare feet hit the ground it’s even colder than the air around me. I begin feeling my way around the room.

  “Hello?” I say shakily, I’m shivering from the cold.
r />   No answer.

  I reach for my cell phone in my pocket just to realize that it’s gone. All I’m wearing is a skimpy nightgown or dress. No pockets. What the hell.

  I can see a dim light a ways away and I begin walking towards it. Am I still in the hospital? If so, why is it so dark and cold? I remember the morgue and my heart skips a beat.

  “Hello?!” I call out louder this time.

  No answer. Oh crap. I debate walking towards the light. Am I dead? Is it the light? I muffle a corrupted laugh. Who am I kidding? I don’t believe in heaven. Do I?

  I make my way towards the light as fast as my sore legs can handle. I feel like I’ve been asleep for a year.

  When I finally make it to the source of the light it reveals itself as a doorway. Sort of. It’s an opening. An opening that looks out over what looks like a forest. I am above a forest some sort of cave. How in the hell did I end up here? I lose the fright that wracks my body and replace it with confusion. I’m wearing a hospital gown.

  What’d they do, air transfer me to another hospital and the plane crashed in this dumb forest? It would be my luck but I somehow very highly doubt that that’s what’s happened seeing as the last thing I remember is being put into the morgue. Is this heaven?

  I try to think of a forest even near the city or one between Philly and my hometown, nothing like this forest which more than anything resembles a rain forest and surely I’m not suddenly in South America. I must be dreaming, I figure. I look down at my attire to see the hospital gown flapping in the wind and sigh.

  “She’s gone.” A man’s voice invades my memory. The doctor. Could I be…dead? Could this be afterlife?

  No. How ridiculous. I’ve never believed in the afterlife. I believe that we die and go into the dirt. Don’t I? Suddenly I’m questioning everything I’ve ever believed.

  I feel a tear escape my eye. Even up high on this cliff I cannot see a single building or road, just trees, trees and more trees...

  I look down the cliff I’m on top of and into the forest below. It’s a big drop. How am I going to get down?

  I inspect all of the ledges carefully and find one that might just work. I mean I might just be able to climb to the bottom without killing myself. I wonder, if I go back into the cave, if there’s another entrance out. But then again, it’s dark in there, pitch black and who knows what’s in there. Bears? Not to mention, I’m terrified of the dark. I’d rather just take my chances.

  I kneel on the ground and push my legs out and off the cliff feeling for a ledge to rest one of my feet on.

  After a bit of feeling around and testing, I find a ledge, put my foot on it and then repeat the process with my other foot.

  It takes a significant amount of time but I eventually make it to the bottom alive. I look at my palms to assess the damage I’ve caused, expecting them to be raw and bloody from clutching the sharp rock.

  They’re bloody alright. I spit on my gown and rub one of my hands on it to clean it.

  I turn around to face the forest. It’s tall. I mean I’ve never seen such tall trees in my life. It’s almost scary.

  I grab a large stick from underneath a tree and begin my trek into the forest. The stick is for in case I run into any large animals that I need to bop on the head. I’m not much of a nature fanatic. I mean I did girl scouts growing up but that wasn’t much. I playfully swing the stick around like a ninja as I walk through the brush. Like I said earlier, I’d rather laugh than cry. Making the best out of bad situations is the best way to live. I mean I have to smile a little or things will just get worse, right? Even if the cause of my smile is pretending to be a ninja, good thing no one else is around…that I know of...

  I find it eerily quiet. There are no birds singing, or chipmunks squeaking, nothing. It is nearly completely silent except for the sounds of my footfalls.

  I wish I had a phone to call for help, then again, I doubt I’d have service.

  I eventually come to a small creek and take a seat to wash off. I’m sweating like nuts. It’s not cold like it was in the cave. The sun is hot and it’s muggy like a greenhouse under the canopy of the trees. I take off my hospital gown and soak it in water before putting it back on. The water is chilly and refreshing. I next soak my tangled hair in it.

  I long to drink it but don’t want to get some sort of parasite or something. I soon carry on and skip across the small creek.

  After a good part of the day passes without any progress I decide that it’s time to stop walking before it gets dark. I need to build some kind of camp. I gather some long branches and lean them up against a tree sort of like a teepee. Then I throw in a bunch of leaves hoping to make it a little comfy. By the time I’m finished, I’m starving. Thing is, I walked all day and didn’t see a single animal of any sort so hunting is out of the picture, not that I’d be able to hunt anything anyway. All I have is this dumb stick for a weapon. Luckily I have seen quite a few berry bushes. Of course, who’s to know which ones are deadly poisonous and which ones aren’t but I can’t help but to take a chance, it’s better than starving.

  After about five minutes of walking I find one and pull as many berries as I can off the tree and shove them into my mouth. They taste like cherry sort of but they don’t have a pit.

  I throw a few extra into a giant leaf from one of the trees and wrap them up in it for later before turning around to find my camp. I left a trail of sticks stuck in the ground to find my way back but they’re hard to find when everything is green and brown and it’s getting dark. I eventually find it and curl up in my little fort. Thankfully it’s still hot and I don’t need to attempt to build a fire. That’d be interesting, me rubbing sticks or stones together, I wonder if that even really works.

  As I lay here it gets dark and becomes impossible to see. God I hate the dark. I wish I had some sort night light or something. Eventually I drift off into a deep, exhausted sleep.

  It’s what feels like hours later, but could quite possibly only be minutes, I’m so tired it’s impossible to tell, when I wake up to a rustle in the trees and my heart nearly stops. I hold my breath attempting to be as quiet as possible. I pray that whatever it is can’t see in the dark.

  I’m sure that my eyes are big as saucers as I scan the darkness hoping to make something out.

  The rustling gets closer and my hand grips my stick weapon tightly.

  “What’re you gonna do, whack me with that?” A rough, British male voice mocks.

  Everything goes black…again. Oh, for Christ sakes.

  Chapter 3

  I wake up freezing again. I better not be in the morgue or in that stupid cave again though I’m not sure which would be worse. I mouth a cuss and realize that I can move, that’s a good sign, I’m probably not in the hospital. I close my eyes and focus on any sound I can pick up. Am I alone? When my feet hit the ground I recognize the feeling of the cold stone floor of the cave. I start towards the light again.

  Who was that man in the woods? What did he do to me? Is he the one that brought me here in the first place?

  I just can’t seem to understand how I got from the hospital, to a cave in a forest. It makes absolutely no sense.

  There goes an entire day of walking for nothing. As much as I hate to have to climb down the cliff again, I’d rather not risk running into that man again. He could either be my savior or my kidnapper and I’m about to wait to find out the latter.

  This time as I rush out into the sunlight and sit on same ledge I did yesterday about to push myself off and begin climbing down, I hear the shuffle of feet on the rock cave floor behind me.

  “Stop! You could kill yourself climbing down that!”

  It’s the man. I debate heaving myself over the edge but decide against it. He’s obviously not about to kill me, I realize. If he was, why would I still be alive? He could’ve killed me last night. Of course I’m still skeptical. Is he a rapist? A psycho? What does he want? Or is he really just trying to help me?

  “Who are you?”
I demand remaining on the edge ready to push myself over it at any moment. I mentally try to remember where I put my foot the last time in case I need to hurry down. I mean, like he was going to be stupid and risk his own life to follow me down the cliff. Surely, there was a better way of getting down to the forest only hopefully it would take longer and by then, I would be long gone.

  “Stand up and I’ll tell you,” he offers.

  I debate it but shake my head.

  “No,” I answer. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  “Oh, now you want me to answer two questions? Quite the gal you are,” he mocks.

  I steal a look behind me. I should probably know what my captor looks like so I know who I’m running from. I meet eyes hidden by sunglasses. He is a man give or take about my age of 22. He has light blonde hair that blows slightly in the light breeze. He’s dressed rather fashionably for running around in the forest. He wears a leather jacket and dark jeans. I gawk awkwardly. He’s sexy. Like drop dead gorgeous.

  He laughs slightly. “Fine. My name is Damon.”

  “Who are you?” I ask again.

  “I just told you, silly girl.”

  “What do you want?” I try again.

  Nothing, he just stares at me blankly.

  “Why am I in a forest?” I try. He has to tell me something helpful.

  “You are here in this forest because you decided to drive your automobile off a bridge and into a river.” He says almost sounding irritated. He pulls a hand from his jacket pocket and pulls out a silver chain with a very large blue pendant and twiddles it between his fingers. I’m no jewelry expert but to me it looks like a gigantic sapphire.

  “What does driving my car into a river have to do with being in a forest?” I ask confused.

  He raises an eyebrow. “Everything of course. Maybe if you stand up and step away from that ledge, I’ll tell you more. Obviously if I were the murderer you seem to think I am, I would’ve killed you by now.”