Immortals Of Byolla Bay

Finals came and went. Maggie, Meshella, Rikki and I all passed and the night of my birthday party came quicker than I thought. Meshella and Maggie both did my hair and makeup, and Meshella bought me an outfit for my birthday to wear at the party. She was almost bursting at the seams just to show me what she bought.

“Since you hate heels and it is cold enough outside for penguins to live here, I did NOT get you a dress! Happy birthday!” She pulled the designer bag out of Maggie’s closet and took out a dark blue long-sleeved tunic which came down past my hips, brown knee high boots with the insides lined with fleece and crème colored thick leggings.

Jumping up, I hugged her neck, “I love it! Thank you so much, Meshella!” I put everything on and, as usual, Meshella got all my sizes right. Everything fit perfectly. I twirled around in front of Maggie’s full length mirror. I looked good and more importantly I was comfortable.

Maggie and Meshella finished getting ready, each wearing sweater dresses and leggings. Meshella’s was light green with a black belt and black knee-high boots. Maggie’s was baby pink with a white sash that fell loosely around her hips with pink ankle-high boots. “Alright, you stay here with Rikki and we will call him when we are ready for you over there. Don’t have too much fun here, okay?”

Maggie winked at me and my face turned red. Meshella cracked up laughing and followed Maggie out the door. I looked at myself in the full length mirror again. They outdid themselves with me.

My makeup was flawless, with pink shimmer gloss on my lips, crème eyeshadow with light blue highlights in the creases, eyeliner and mascara which made my eyes pop. It’s like I was looking at a different person. My hair was down and in loose falling curls around my face. I looked like I was going somewhere more lavish than a birthday party. Then there was another figure in the mirror behind me.

“My stars Kinsley if you don’t look stunning. Never has there ever been a more beautiful woman in all the realms. Just knowing you are mine takes my breath away. I’m the luckiest man who has ever lived.” He reached down and wrapped his arm around my waist and bent down to kiss my neck.

I shivered and chill bumps spread along my arms. “No, Rikki. It is me that’s lucky. I never would have thought in a million years I’d be with a man like you. You are gorgeous, thoughtful, caring, unselfish, patient, protecting and so much more. I can’t imagine the rest of my life without you.”

Rikki swung me around to face him, “I’m glad you feel that way because I have something for you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a rectangle shaped box, “I gave a lot of thought into what I was going to get you and everything I came up with just wasn’t enough. Then I thought about what was going to happen after all this mess with Drakkar was over and what I wanted us to move forward to, so I got you this.” He opened the box and I gasped loudly, “Oh Rikki! It’s beautiful!”

It was a silver chained necklace and attached to it was a silver ring with a sky blue stone, the exact color of my eyes. He turned me back around to face the mirror as he put the necklace on me, “This is a promise ring. I promise you Kinsley Preden that I will not stop until Drakkar is vanquished and your world is safe. I promise I will win your mother’s favor and with her permission secure your hand in marriage. I promise to always strive to make you happy, be at your side and work hard at building a life here, in your realm, with you because wherever you are, that’s where my home is. You are my life, and my whole world is only you.”

Tears started flowing down my face, but Rikki quickly grabbed a tissue and blotted them away. “Kinsley please don’t cry. Maggie would murder me if you smudged your makeup.” I started laughing, “I’m sorry, Rikki, I’m just so happy! I love you so much!”

I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck, to which he picked me up and scooped me into his arms. “And I love you, Kinsley, more than I thought I could ever love someone. By the way, I put the ring on the necklace instead of your finger because I thought your mom would appreciate that more seeing that she has just met me.”

Always thoughtful, always protective. “I agree. I think if I came home with a ring on my finger she would freak before I could explain anything.” Rikki chuckled, “My thoughts exactly. Let’s go downstairs and wait for the hostesses to call us, shall we?”

Maggie called an hour later, which I did not mind because Rikki and I were enjoying each other’s company. Rikki raced with me in his arms to the clearing. When we arrived it was quiet, unbelievably quiet. I looked at Rikki who looked as if he was trying not to laugh and he gestured for me to keep going.

As soon as I reached the huge tree that covered the walkway to the clearing, all I heard was, “Surprise!” I almost screamed as half our school jumped up from their crouched up positions just to shout at me. Meshella and Maggie came running forward and wrapped their arms around me, “Happy birthday! We love you!”

I was so happy, words couldn’t even explain it. There was no way to put in words how touched I was that they would do all this for me. There were purple and red streamers hanging down from the trees with tarps wrapped around the clearing to keep the most of the wind chill out. Hundreds of glow sticks were hung around us giving off a luminous glow on all the guests. There were glowing circles in whatever alcohol they were serving in the clear cups so you could see the rings all around the clearing. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Rikki ushered me forward, “Well let’s go see what poison my sister has came up with for the beverages.”

I’m not sure how long I was in the clearing. I remembered dancing with Meshella, then Rikki, then Maggie and Meshella. I remembered all the pee breaks with Maggie laughing at me trying to keep my balance while I squatted. The next thing I knew Keri was with us whispering in Maggie’s ear, then Maggie looked scared. Rikki was with Gene talking animatedly across the clearing with his father rubbing his chin, looking worried.

Maggie told me to stay put as she raced to Rikki, with Keri following her. What’s going on? Rikki suddenly was by my side, “Listen love, we need to go.” I was about to let him scoop me up, but then I realized Meshella was gone.

“Why? What’s going on? I’m not going anywhere without Meshella. I can’t find her.” I hiccupped loudly and swayed, but Rikki steadied me.

“My love, I only understood part of what you just said. You are slurring your words bad. Let’s get you home, okay? We have to get out of here, now.” He went to reach for me, but I stepped away from him, tripping and almost falling again, if it wasn’t for Rikki catching me once more.

“I’m talking perfectly fine. Meshella and Maggie worked hard on this for me and it would be rude to leave without telling her. Plus I told you I don’t leave unless she’s safe and not where a drunk guy can take advantage of her. Don’t you remember me telling you that? Just leave me alone, I’ll find her myself.”

I felt tears steam down my face and my vision became blurry, or had it been blurry? “Kinsley, baby, please, don’t cry. I’m trying to understand you, but you are mumbling and I can only make out maybe two or three words. Did I do something wrong?”

I was crying, for some reason, I forgot why, but I guess it was a good reason. Then I heard a scream that broke me out of my blubbering and sobered me up with a quickness, “Run! It’s the wolves! They are here! Run!”