Finding Eden by Camilla Beavers Page A

my lap as the waitress walks away from up. I stand and
plop the napkin down next to my untouched food.
    “ I’m not
hungry,” I say, “I’m leaving. And don’t
follow me. I’m not in the mood.”
    I walk away from the
table, out the door, and call for a taxi to go home.

Chapter
Twelve
    Lying on my bed, my dress
on the floor, I think about what my dad and Sahariel said to me. Am I
really an elf, or is everyone I know insane? I hear the door open,
close and then footsteps as they come up the stairs. My door opens
and Marcia walks in.
    “ Oh, Eden,”
she says, looking surprised, “I thought you were out with your
father.”
    “ I was,” I
said and sit up.
    “ Did something
happen?”
    “ You could say
that,” I say.
    Marcia doesn’t pry;
she just walks around my room picking up my shoes and other clothes
on the floor. As she’s about to walk out of the room carrying
my dirty clothes, I stop her.
    “ Marcia?”
    “ Hmm?”
    “ Do you think my
father would ever lie to me?”
    “ What?” she
says, “No, of course not. I know he’s not around much,
but he would never lie to you. Why do you ask?”
    “ No reason,”
I say, “Hey Marcia?”
    “ Yeah?”
    She opens the door.
    “ What do you do
when something important has to be done, and you’re the only
one who can do it, but you don’t want to do it? What do you
do?”
    “ It depends,”
she moves to stand at the foot of my bed, “if it’s
something important and you’re the only one who is affected by
it, then I suppose it’s up to you how important it is. But if
there are more people being affect by the outcome of what you decide
to do, then well, you suck it up and do what you have to do.”
    “ When many people
are counting on you to succeed,” she says, “if you fail,
you not only fail yourself, but you fail the others as well.”
    She smiles and leaves the
room quietly without asking any questions.
    “ I hate my life,”
I say. I flop back on my bed
    An hour later I hear the
door open and close, the murmuring voices of my dad and Sahariel
float up to me. Sound of someone walking up the stairs comes through
my door.
    “ Eden,” my
dad knocks on my door before opening it, “can we talk?”
    I sit up and look at him
as he walks in, “I’m not going to Julliard, am I?”
    “ I’m afraid
not,” he says.
    “ Well,” I
say, “it’ll make a great cover story, I guess.”
    I feel a tug, a twinge,
on the line with Sahariel and then it goes slack. In a blink of an
eye Sahariel is standing in my room smiling down at me.
    “ So that’s a
yes?” He’s really happy, and I can see that in his eyes.
    “ As much of one
you’re going to get.”
    So quickly my eyes can
barely see, Sahariel turns to my dad and says, “We need to
leave as soon as possible. I’d like to leave tonight-“
    “ Hold on,” I
cut him off, “sorry to break it to you, but we’re not
leaving until I’m done with high school. I’m not going to
leave randomly. That will leave too many people asking too many
questions.”
    “ She’s right,
you know,” my dad looks at Sahariel.
    “ I know, I know,”
Sahariel frowns and shakes his head, “I didn’t say I had
to like it.”
    “ Besides,” I
say, “there’s actually only five weeks left in the year.
I’m sure you people can wait.”
    “ Your people,”
Sahariel says.
    “ What?”
    “ Nothing,” he
sighs.
    “ Well, we should
really start planning,” my dad motions for Sahariel to follow
him out, “I don’t really want to have to deal with people
who think she’s been kidnapped.”
    Then my dad and Sahariel
leave me alone in my room, leaving me alone with too much time to
think about the life I’m leaving.

Chapter
Thirteen
    The weeks seem to fly by,
and before I know it, Evaughn is hosting a going away party for me
the night before graduation, before I'm supposed to leave my human
life behind for what may be forever.
    “ Thanks for doing
this,” I say to Evaughn.
    “ No problem,”
she smiles