Palms, Plants, Pills, Panic, and Totally Bad Timing

Nikki meets Bellran, while Henry deals with a therapist.

"So, you believe you have another sister?" the therapist annoyed Henry greatly, for some reason. It was probably because the shrink acted like he knew everything, understood Henry, like he could make it better. Well, unless he was a search team, he was useless to Henry.

"Not believe, I know." Henry corrected the man. The doctor adjusted his glasses. "Her name is Nikki, and me being here is wasting precious time that could be spent looking for her." Henry was frustrated, and growing more so all the while. He set down the ice water the therapist had given him and he hadn't touched, and settled back down into the too-cushy chair.

"I see." the therapist made a mark on his chart, and Henry fought the urge to scream. "Now, do you think maybe this is a reaction to having a new baby in the house, a feeling that you're forgotten, and need attention? Or, perhaps, you wanted a new sister, but she has failed to live up to your expectations so far, and so you created this-" he waved his hands. "Fantasy sibling." Henry's hands curled into fists, but he kept them down. "Henry, my boy, you need to accept the truth. There is no Hickey, or whatever her name is, there is only Samantha. She is your only sibling, and that's that. Now, I know it's hard, but..." the counselor continued, but Henry couldn't hear him anymore. Worry, stress, frustration, and anger all boiled up inside of him, until he couldn't take it any longer. He sprang up, and sprinted for the door.

He tried to throw the door open and make his escape, only to find that it was locked tight. He started to panic, pounding on the door and frantically jiggling the knob.

"Now, Henry-" the therapist began.

"Stop!" Henry wheeled around. "I'm sick of people telling me she's not real! I'm sick of people pretending they know better! And, most of all, I'm sick of YOU!"

"I see." the man made another mark, and stood. "Henry, I believe I have finished my evaluation. You may go." He crossed the room, inserted a key in the door's lock, and unlocked the door. Henry burst into the waiting room, startling his parents, who sat there, waiting.

"Let's go." Henry growled, and stormed out of the room, not bothering to see if his family followed him.

"Henry, wait." his mother grabbed his arm, and the pleading look in her eyes softened Henry a little.

"I'll wait here." he relented, and flopped down in a chair.

"Okay, then. Mr. and Mrs. Forrester, if you would step into my office for a minute, please?" the therapist questioned with a smile. Henry's parents nodded, and followed the man into the office. Henry sat, clenching and unclenching his hands, as the conversation in the office floated into the waiting room, as someone had forgotten to close the door.

"The phase Henry is going through is common, easily treatable, and fairly normal." The voice of the counselor sounded first. "He could fully recover, with no side effects, by just taking a pill a day; Tanzaft. It's for mild delusions and hallucinations, stress, and mellow cases of denial." There was a faint rattling sound, and Henry guessed it was the pill bottle. "Here you go." the therapist continued. "Sixty pills in the bottle, one pill a day."

"Thank you, Doctor." Mr. Forrester said gratefully. What's there to be grateful for? Henry thought sullenly. He didn't do anything. There's nothing wrong with me. The doctor finished exchanging farewells with Henry's parents, and the couple walked out of the office.

"Come on, Henry, let's go." Mrs. Forrester gently nudged Henry towards the door, and he trudged out of the accursed room.

Great. Just great. Now he was popping anti-crazy pills, his sister was missing, a weird baby lived down the hall from him, his friends think he's insane, and his parents are searching for vacancies in nuthouses. At the moment, his life sucked, and he didn't think it could get any worse.

Nikki groaned a opened her eyes. Sunlight was already streaming through her windows; she wondered why Auntie Em hadn't woken her up.

She could hear birds chirping from the garden, and a rush of excitement filled her. She was on a magical different dimension, with fairy tale creatures.

Who wouldn't be excited?

Plus, her visit with Henry had been scheduled for tomorrow. Just one more day, Henry. Nikki promised.

Today, she was going to see the garden.

She took a fast shower, and ran the closet. Changing into a pair of jeans and a yellow sweatshirt, she pulled her hair up in a ponytail. Suddenly, the door opened, and Poxy walked in, appearing troubled.

"Oh, hey Poxy. What's up?" Nikki smiled at him. "Where ya' been?"

"Just walking around." Poxy replied, still looking upset about something. "I had to think about some stuff."

"Cool. Hey, um, where is Auntie Em?"

"Holiday. They have some vacation thing that goes from last night, at sunset, to sunrise tomorrow."

"Okay." Nikki opened the back door. "I'm going into the garden. Wanna come?"

"I'm supposed to, but I think I'll let you have some time to yourself." Poxy responded absentmindedly. Nikki frowned slightly, and entered the garden, closing the door behind her.

She sighed happily as she was surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers, and hurried down the path to see more. There were big red flowers with heart shaped petals, green puffball-like plants, trees with rainbow leaves, and tons of other strange plant life. As Nikki was getting a closer look at some kind of fruit on a tree, she heard a sound.

Music.

Beautiful music, that seemed to draw Nikki to it. She wandered the path, following the music, until she came to a little circle, surrounded by tall plants, with two parts of the stem branching out about five inches apart, and long, slender plant strings connecting the stems. In the middle of it all, a boy was playing the harp-like plant, creating the music.

Nikki just stared.

That boy was hot.

Dark, tan skin, longish black curls, gorgeous face, stormy gray eyes, and perfect teeth.

He seemed to just notice Nikki, and he jumped.

"Oh, sorry!" Nikki babbled. "I just heard your playing and it was really great, so I followed it, and now, well, here I am!" Shut up, idiot. her brain screamed at her, and she shut her mouth. Instead of being put out by her odd behavior, however, the boy just laughed.

"I'm Bellran." he had a slight accent, which made him all the more handsome. He bowed, took Nikki's hand, and kissed it. A hot flush crept up Nikki's cheeks.

"I'm Nikki." she replied, and did an awkward curtsy.

"Ah, yes! The girl from the banquet. That was quite a speech."

"Thank you." Nikki said shyly. A silence followed. "You play beautiful music." Nikki offered.

"That was nothing, really. Just a pastime. I was just trying to waste time before I have to meet with the queen. She always makes me nervous." Bellran admitted.

"Yes, Queen Thalia scares me, too." Nikki agreed.

"No, I meant Queen Ellatia. I must meet with her in-" he checked a nearby sundial. "Right now! Oh, dear! It was a pleasure meeting you, Nikki. I hope we meet again." he rushed away.

"Good bye." Nikki said, mostly to herself. She stood there for a second, kind of in shock. I think I'm in love, she thought, and began to walk slowly, back to her room. She started to gain speed, and went faster and faster, until she burst into her room, scaring the crap out of Poxy, who was pacing the room.

"I have something to tell you." Poxy announced, right as Nikki said, "You'll never believe what happened to me!"

Poxy laughed, and sat down on Nikki's bed, patting the seat next to him.

"You go first." he offered, and Nikki grinned, plopping down next to him.

"Okay, so I was in the garden, right?" Nikki began, and Poxy nodded. "And I was just wandering around, when I hear this gorgeous music. So, I go to see what it is." Nikki took a deep breath, still excited. "There was this guy, playing this beautiful music. His name is Bellran. He was hot, Poxy, and so nice! I could sense that he was just the perfect guy." Nikki slowed down, and uttered, more to herself, "I think I'm in love." She sat there after admitting this revelation, lost in thought, before seeming to find her concentration again.

"Your turn!" Nikki faced Poxy, and was surprised to see a look of what looked like pure anguish. However, it disappeared almost instantly, so she couldn't be sure. He now was just staring at her, his expression unreadable.

"Poxy?" Nikki asked, hesitantly, and he snapped out of it.

"What?" he asked.

"You were going to tell me something." Nikki prompted.

"Oh, yes, yes that's right!" Poxy appeared flustered. "I said I was going to tell you something, so I can see how you would think something like that. Um, yes, what was I going to say?" He forced himself to laugh, and Nikki examined him curiously, quite perplexed. "Right. I was going to say...." he hesitated, then brightened somewhat. "Ah, yes! I was just going to say that Auntie Em will be back tomorrow." he rose, his smile vanishing, his face now a picture of a struggle to mask his emotions. "I have to go." He practically ran out the door, leaving Nikki, completely and totally confused.

Henry stared at the small white pill in his palm, as his mother stared at him expectantly, making sure he actually swallowed it. He stalled for as long as he could, slowly moving the pill up to his mouth, dreading what it might do. With his mom watching so closely, he didn't see any way out of it, unless.....

He tilted his head back, as if he was actually putting it in his mouth, and covered his mouth with the palm that held the pill. Using his tongue, he kept the pill pressed against his hand, keeping it from falling into his mouth, and maneuvered the small capsule in between two fingers. He lowered his hand, the pill hidden, sandwiched in between his pointer and middle finger, and gulped down water from a glass, pretending to swallow.

"I'm sorry, baby, but I have to see your hands." Mrs. Forrester told him sheepishly. Henry silently raised both his hands, fingers together, palms facing his mother. She looked relieved, and set his cup in the sink.

"Thank you, Henry." she said tenderly. "You have no idea how important this is. Don't worry, soon you'll be better, and we can put this whole mess behind us. You'll see." Yeah, right, Henry thought as he trudged upstairs to his room, a little guilty for lying to his mom.

But it had to be done.

Author's Note

I know, I know, it's super short, but Bellran deserved his own chapter. Enjoy!!

Reviews

[A. L. Allen]

Awwww... Poor, poor Poxy. D': He was so close!! Darn that Bellran! You know, for some reason I get the feeling that Bellran's going to turn out bad in the end...

Anyway, yet another great chapter! I feel so bad for Henry, but at the same time I'm happy that Nikki will get to see him (yet, I have another premonition that something's going to happen that will prevent her from visiting ;)).

Post the next chapter as soon as possible! :D