Monkey

Reality splintered into shards of glass around me until I could no longer tell what was real. I couldn't feel my limbs either; it was like floating underwater. It made my head hurt. Far in the distance (below me? I seemed to be falling still, but I wasn't sure) reality was stitching itself back together. It flared up to me, and true gravity pulled me down.

I dropped like a stone, and hit one too. For who but Phillip--present Phillip, finally--would be right where I appeared, which was the palace kitchen strangely enough. We were both knocked to the ground. I mean, I was already en route to the floor; Phillip falling was just a bonus.

He stood and hauled me up by my elbow. Smart. I wouldn't have taken his hand if he'd bothered offering it. I was ready to explode....

"Hi Perry. Man, what happened to you?" Phillip asked, because I probably looked like I'd fallen off a cliff... because I had...

This guy could be nonchalant in a full blown explosion, I thought. Then I made the mistake of meeting his eyes. Those stupid eyes. I impulsively, briefly, hugged him. Then punched him in the arm, not caring that he was wearing armor. I was relieved that he was alive, it's not like I'd say that out loud though.

"You wanna know what happened to me?" I started, "A monkey has pulled out my hair, I've gotten hit by several doors, had more than a few horrible headaches, gotten stuck in a fancy book, slammed into a couple of walls, and fallen off a cliff. That's what happened to me. Plus I'm hungry. Also, how could you! Next time you disappear, leave a clear note! Then maybe I wouldn't care so much."

He waited a moment to be sure my rant was done. Luckily when he finally spoke, he didn't mention the fact that I'd admitted I cared at all. "That note was clear.'' He glanced at my hand, which was devoid of said note. "Well, you should be more care--where's the MONKEY?!"

I rolled my eyes. "I've lost patience with that question. And I've got several more... uh... problems with that note. AND AURORA. What did you say to her?!"

"I've spoken many words to her. It all started when we were at that one hospital when--"

I cut him off in exasperation, "I--I just plain hate you right now." I grabbed an apple from a nearby basket and gingerly sat on a kitchen stool. I'd need to stop by the medic's office soon.

"I would say the feeling's mutual, but I haven't seen you in a few hours so...." he trailed off uncomfortably, then abruptly said, "Water? What are you doing?"

Water was sitting atop one of the counters, staring at us.

I threw the apple's core (what? I eat fast when I'm hungry) at Water's head. He didn't even blink. Whatever. "It's been more than 'a few hours,' Phillip. Try 'days.'"

Water suddenly and silently gobbled up the apple core.

"No, 'hours,' Perry," Phillip restated, "What did Aurora do to torture you?" He genuinely sounded concerned. Interesting.

"I don't want to talk about it. Just ask Water."

"THREE MONTHS!" Water shrieked, and he promptly scurried away. Creepy.

We stared after him in silence.

Phillip soon turned back to me. "Water's stupid... we both know that. And anyway, three months? Seriously?"

Then something on Phillip's wrist that I hadn't noticed before started to vibrate. It was a bronze cusp with a row of dark red dots on the edges and golden swirls surrounding the dots. The cusp was tightly secured to his arm.

"What's that?" I asked. I stood up for a closer look, but sat right back down in a wave of dizziness. Maybe I'd eaten that apple a little too fast.

"Nothing!" Phillip quickly answered. He pressed one of the dots and the bracelet stopped buzzing. He sat two seats away from me (unnecessarily) after grabbing a pear from the fruit basket. He'd told me once that pears were preferable over apples, but I was starting to take that statement a little deeper than face value....

I rested my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands. I'd suddenly realized that if Phillip hadn't provoked me to follow him, I wouldn't have had to steal his gem. And if I hadn't done that, who knows what would be different? I wasn't incredibly mad anymore, but figured I probably shouldn't give anything away before talking to Valerie.

Best to keep up appearances for now, I thought.

"Yeah," I muttered, "It's not like you owe me a secret or something after all you've put me through."

"I didn't put you through anything, and either way it's not my secret to share." He stood up, opened the iced cupboard, and started digging around for something. Now that his back was turned, I could get a good look at him without risking our eyes meeting.

He looked like he'd been hit by a runaway carriage. Twice. It brought to mind what Valerie had told me. "I didn't necessarily mean physical trauma," I said quietly, "Valerie said you could have gotten stuck in the past, could have died, could have...." I trailed off. It wasn't like me say this type of thing out loud. I must have been more tired than I thought.

As I spoke, Phillip retrieved a yogurt and a waffle from the cupboard. "Valerie?" he asked, again thankfully not mentioning my allusion to caring, "What were you doing with her?" He sat down (next to me this time) and held out the waffle. A peace offering, I suppose.

"She came to me, not my fault." I picked the waffle apart in my hands.

"And she's the one who broke my gem..." He whispered. He set his yogurt down.

Phillip set his yogurt down, I thought in amazement. Clearly he had some things to think about. That was only fair; so did I.

I dropped the shreds of waffle I'd created and stood up. "I should go clean myself up. Goodnight, Phillip." I saw the pale light of dawn coming through the window. "Or good morning, I suppose."

"You didn't eat the waffle..."

I shook my head and limped away; who even said I liked waffles?

"Well, goodnight!" Phillip yelled after me.

I sighed. Why did it have to be so hard to put thoughts into words? If only I were comfortable with letting him in my head, but there were things in there that no one else could see.

At least until... until... I couldn't bring myself to even think about it.

I took the most direct route to the knight's quarters: through the kitchen gardens, past the animal pens, and across a small courtyard. When I reached the building, I went inside and dragged myself up the three flights of stairs to my bedroom.

On the way, I passed other knights who were just then starting their day. Almost every single one stared after me in shock. A few asked if I was okay, some tried to offer me assistance, and one asked where I'd been. I waved them all away and kept marching on. Judging by their reactions, it seemed plausible that three months could have passed; these guys knew me and thus should have known that I could handle myself.

I finally tumbled into my room and flopped onto the bed. I wasn't planning on sleeping, just recuperating. I could feel every bruise and scrape throbbing like drumbeats: the bruises on my nose and shoulder (courtesy of Valerie), the scratches on my face from slamming into a rough, cobble wall (courtesy of Calypso), and the roaring ache in my head (probably courtesy of me).

I laid there pitying myself for about three hours before I rolled out of bed to face the strange normality of daily life. It was odd to think that--once my body healed--the only marks of previous events would be the memories.

That's what I thought that morning. I had no way of knowing how out of the loop I'd be after so long away from Andresia, how awkward it would be around Phillip for the next week, or how much of an impact my adventures had really left on me. All I knew that morning was that Phillip was safe, and though I balked at even admitting it to myself, that was the most important thing in the world to me.