Excerpt: Sweet Dreams

Full chapters can be found at http://quandtfiction.livejournal.com

Kari could feel a sort of presence even before she opened her eyes. It was as if someone was standing in very close proximity to her face. She was waking up slowly; she did not hear the shrieks of her alarm clock beckoning her to get up and face the new day… She could feel sunlight on her body, her entire body, and below her felt scratchy, as if she were lying on… grass…?

Kari’s eyes shot open. She was staring into two big, deep, bright orange eyes. She shrieked and scooted back as much as she could without stumbling over. The orange eyes belonged to a boy who could not be any older than twelve, and when Kari screamed he backed off but didn’t look surprised. He had medium-length orange hair, and bangs framing his face that just barely reached his chin. He had a red tattoo of a swirl on his forehead. He was wearing very weird clothes Kari had never seen before. White shirt with a tied up collar, baggy white pants stuffed into small white boots, a long orange vest that went down below the waist, triangular at the bottom, and closed with five black clasps. He bounced his head sideways, as if he were very intrigued by Kari. And although this was a very odd situation, Kari didn’t feel very fazed at all.

The boy smiled innocently. “I’m Deif,” he said.

Kari just stared. She was about to get up and introduce herself when she realized she was completely naked. She screamed and laid flat on the ground, shielding herself. But Deif didn’t seem bothered.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, blinking.

“I need clothes,” said Kari, utterly embarrassed.

“Oh yes,” said Deif, as if he just realized she was naked. “I’ll bring you some clothes.” He hurried off and Kari crawled to a nearby bush, hiding behind it.

It seemed like she waited forever behind the bush before she heard the boy calling for her.

“Girl!” he shouted. “Girl! I have your clothes!”

Kari poked her head out and saw Deif looking around. “I’m here,” she said, and Deif looked at her, smiling. Kari noticed he wasn’t carrying anything, and he didn’t have a bag with him either. “My clothes...?” she said hesitantly.

“Oh yes,” said Deif, and he put a hand over his chest. It glowed, and in a flash of light he pulled out a shirt, and then some underwear, and then a pair of pants. Once he was done he handed the bundle to Kari, who struggled for a minute to get dressed behind the bush.

Kari finally got a chance to really take in her surroundings. She was in a field, surrounded on most sides by a forest, and to her right the field started bumping up and down with hills. On these hills were little houses and on one of them was what looked like a church, except there was the shape of a moon instead of a cross.

“Come with me,” said Deif, smiling. Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her hand and dragged her off to the church.