It was a blazing, boysenberry and sangria Summer night, deep in the Jaded Forest of the Summer Tribe in the Phiatarhia Realm. A young Taelvie was walking along a frequently used path that her great-grandfather, Spring Tribesman Sebastian Dubois  Sr., had made long ago, back in the time of old, when there were wagons and horses for transportation, instead of cars and planes, and the like.

I am that young Taelvie.

Sixteen-year-old, Gabrielle Dubois. The youngest daughter and third born child of favored construction manager, Sebastian Dubois, Jr., and the famous actress, Siobhan O’Connell, hailing from the Summer Tribe.

There are five children born to Sebastian Jr. and Siobhan Dubois: Sebastian the Third, Lucille, me, Connor and Chloe. My older brother, who will be twenty-one and is the most responsible of the four of us, Sebastian the Third, is the assistant of our father at Dubois and Family Construction Co. My older sister, who will be eighteen is the most irresponsible of the four of us, Lucille, is the sex-addicted Cheer captain at Paerriara Secondary School. My younger brother, Connor, is a sweet fifth-year Taelvie boy who adores the older sister who takes care of him while our parents are working and our grandparents are running the kingdom. My younger sister, Chloe, Connor’s twin and who equally adores her older sister as much as her brother does; and last but certainly not least, sixteen-year-old me, Gabrielle.

I am a Taelvie girl of many talents. I love to read and write stories, especially fantasies and fairy tales; rewriting some fairy tales, fantasies, movies, and T.V. shows as well. I also love to dance and act which is the reason why I’m in both Dance 3 and Theater Arts. I’m also in what is called ‘Women's Chamber’, which is an all female choir class, or for the stupid people, the singing class with only girls. I’ve loved to do all these things since I was a Taelving, which is why I have A's in English, Dance 3, Women's Choir, and Theater. Of course, I have B's in all my other classes, except for Science which I hold an A- average.

My parents and older brother would kill me if I didn't get good grades. My family was very strict when it came to education and frowned upon anything below a B which was above average. I felt mentally and emotionally abused by them at times but they were my family and I did love them very dearly.

The eleventh-year prom which coincides with the twelfth-year prom had just ended and I had decided to take a stroll through the Jaded Forest which was only about a mile and a half from the grounds of Paerriara Secondary School. I was still in my beautiful ankle-length rose pink prom dress and white three-inch heels with my favorite zipper hoodie, the one with the Bat symbol from the Batman franchise.

The beautiful moonlight began to shine down upon my long, luscious hair that fell to the middle of my back; I had taken it out of the beautiful French braid my mother had woven it into for prom when it was over and now some flowed over my breasts. My hair is the color of Honey and Strawberries while my eyes are the shade of green called Seafoam. My hair even smells like a home-cooked breakfast since I use the Vanilla and Warm Brown Sugar scented shower products from Bed, Bath, & Beyond such as shampoo and body wash.

I breathed in the flowery, woodsy scent of the Summer Tribe’s famous forest for its Jade and chestnut colored trees. It was so breathtaking though Spring is still one of my favorite tribes, only because my birthday is one of the Spring months. Oh, how I loved the beautiful sight of the moon that was floating high above me.

I only glanced at the messages I had received from my brothers and my friends when I felt so many vibrations. One of them caught my eye which had forced me to laugh. “I am not that hot,” I said rolling my eyes at my Phaedrod friends who were always so flirty, charismatic, and charming, saying things to cheer me up and make me laugh, whether they were true or not from certain points of view.

Suddenly I started feeling extremely cold. I zipped my jacket closed as if to keep the chill of the Autumn Tribe away. There was a distant snap of a twig under someone’s weight from somewhere around me. I jumped at the sound, squealing, “eep!” as I pulled my earphones from my phone and then from my ears, shutting off my music in the process.

I shoved my earphones into my jacket pocket; there were a few more snapping sounds from behind me but there were no shadows, then suddenly, “you are beautiful to me, my lady,” said a disembodied voice.

The voice freaked me out. So I immediately began to run through the woods in the general direction of home. I hadn’t recognized the voice and I didn’t stay long enough for the voice to speak again so I could hear it clearly. I was alone in the Jade Forest in what was now the middle of the night. I was allowed to be afraid.

My pace was rapid in three inch heels but someone else’s pace was faster. A figure swooped past me and ahead but still in the shadows, “hey, hey, meine schöne Prinzessin, don’t run away,” the voice was masculine, German in language and accent, very sexy, and very familiar now.

I froze in my tracks. I gasped softly at the voice and another sound. A twig snapping. I did a 180 to check behind me but there was no one. Then another twig snapped. Closer now. I swiveled my head to look from left to right but still, there was no one. I knew that someone was coming up behind me. I could hear the sound of snapping twigs and crumbling leaves under their boots, I could feel the ground vibrating in the slightest. My body froze at that moment, and in the next moment, I could feel hands on my hips.

******

The warmth from the masculine hands that were upon my hips made my thighs quiver, they felt so familiar. I could smell the familiar haze of coriander, aromatic nutmeg, chocolate, and the ever-present wood smoke of birch, cedar, cypriol, and of course oud which was that of Ramón Monegal's Soul of Oud.

I breathed in that ever familiar scent as I closed my eyes and my arms shot up to wrap around the head next to my own. I could feel lips on my neck and a nose on my jaw. “Meine schöne Prinzessin, erinnerst du dich an mich?” the voice spoke once more, a question for which I answered.

“Ja, mein Prinz, ich erinnere mich,” I said back in perfect German, which caused the figure behind me to chuckle against my neck.

“Brava, perfect Deutsche,” he said beautifully into my ear.

“Christopher,” I moaned his name softly, there was a kiss against my neck.

“Gabriella,” Christopher Drayce Schneider spoke the name of one of my favorite characters and of his aunt, even when my parents spelled it without the first letter of the alphabet at the end but I liked it better when he said my name because of the character I loved so much, his aunt and he knew I preferred it over my birth name.

This was the Half-Fire, Half-Air Khuzaimah boy from school that had stolen my heart since my first year at Paerriara Elementary when I used to stare at him during recess and lunch, I just couldn’t help myself. I happen to be a Half-Spring, Half-Summer Taelvie girl with whom, according to him, had stolen his heart the moment he saw me in first-year introductions. He was a second-year then, always a year ahead of me and almost two years older than I.

But that seemed like a lifetime ago now....

Now, I was an eleventh-year and he was a twelfth-year at Paerriara Secondary School; he would be leaving school and I had one more year before I could leave to go to the only other Mythical school in our realm.

Paerriara Elementary is the Mythical school for the first-year students through the seventh-year students while Paerriara Secondary School is the Mythical school for the eighth-year students through the twelfth-year students. Paerriara University is the school you can choose to go to after Paerriara Secondary School.

Those are the schools in the Phiatarhia realm where the Taelvie, Khuzaimah, Phaedrod, Andiel and Tanzanite reside with five kingdoms surrounding the three schools. It took up a quarter of the planet of Tethea of the Tethrenyl system which lies in the center of the Threnyl dimension.

I wasn’t half bad at science only because I liked learning about our world, our system, and our dimension. It was fascinating! The only other person who enjoyed it as much as I did was Chris, who is the same Khuzaimah who was attached to me and making me feel things that I shouldn’t be feeling so close to my family’s summer home which was on the border of the Khuzaimah Fire tribe.

If my family found out I was in a secret relationship with a Khuzaimah, I would be in trouble. Not only that but his family would be threatened with his life. I couldn’t do that to him nor his family but he felt so good. His touch, his kiss, his love was all I desired, I wanted, I needed in life. If I didn’t have him, I would’ve taken my own life a long time ago. He is the one thing in my life that keeps my heart going and makes my soul pulse with life.

Even in this modern world, my family still despises the Khuzaimah, especially Chris’ family and my family is the only family of all Taelvie who despises his species, other than Mason's family who were the second most royal family in the Taelvie kingdom.

With my family controlling the Taelvie kingdom, there is no way to change their minds unless a wonderful miracle occurred. Little did I know at that time, one such miracle would occur only after a tragedy had struck my family.

I moaned softly against Chris’ touch and turned in his arms, “I missed you, Chris,” I cooed into his collarbone whilst wrapping my arms around his neck and shoulders, “but it is very late,” I began neutrally, “I need to get home for I am late, and it’s not safe for us to do this in the Jade Forest,” only because it was right next to my family’s Summer home and we would be in trouble if they found us, him, unprotected by his family.