Between Shadows (Shadows Saga bk2)

Chapter 1- Returns

Mara's foot went through the portal, landing on solid ground as the rest of her body crossed the threshold. She looked up at the giant building in front of her with a grin on her face and sat her bags down on the ground.

She pulled her keys out of her shorts pocket, checking the number before transporting herself and her luggage up to her room.

Before she even had a chance to set everything down and get a look at her new room, she was attacked by a force that almost knocked her to the ground.

"Oh my gosh Mara! I missed you so so much!" Trixle's high-pitched voice rang next to her ear.

Wincing slightly at the noise, Mara laughed and hugged her energetic friend. 

"It's only been a week Trix, calm down."

"Yes, but that's a week longer than we were apart all summer. How dare you tell me to calm down."

Trixle let go of her friend and Mara picked up her bags, taking them to her side of the room. Trixle bombarded her with everything that happened while Mara was gone for the week. She told Mara the juicy scoop about Alicia, whom she had met when she got to the fae kingdom.

She was a friend of Trixle's who went to Stoneside Academy, but just before they went back to school, she had asked Raysol out. He had said yes and asked his father to transfer him so he could go to school with her.

"I can't believe Ray actually has a girlfriend!" Trixle exclaimed. Her shock at her cousin’s accomplishment brought them into a fit of laughter.

A knocking on their door interrupted the girls’ giggling. Trixle bounded over in two strides flinging the door open wide to reveal a smirking Marx leaning on the doorframe.

"Well hello ladies" He flashed his toothy smile at Trixle before his eyes found their way to Mara, his smile faltered just slightly before he stepped into the room. 

Mara's breath caught in her chest, sure she had texted and talked to Marx a little over the summer, but this was the first time she had seen him since the last day of classes.

She had told him she still wasn't ready to advance their relationship, as much as she had wanted to, there had still been something holding her back, and he had black hair and green eyes. She knew it was ridiculous to let Zander have that much of a hold over her, but his actions had left her feeling wide open and she was unable to accept any sort of intimate relationship. 

"Hey." Mara said looking into Marx's deep brown eyes. Hey? Really Mara, that's the best you got? What am I going to do with myself? 

"So how was your break, you took a trip back to see your friends right?" Marx asked as he sat down backwards on Mara's desk chair. 

"Yeah, it was okay."

"Only okay?" Trixle asked.

"Yeah, it's just that it felt like a rift had grown between us. We used to tell each other everything, and now there is this big part of me that I can't share with them. It just forces this disconnect." She frowned at the ground.

"And they brought along this new friend they made, Ally, which I mean good for them for finding another friend, but they were all laughing and making jokes that I didn't understand. We used to have those jokes together and now it's gone." She looked back up at Trixle, her eyes sliding over to Marx's involuntarily. 

"Hey Mar, I'm sorry to hear that." Marx said giving her a sympathetic look.

Mara straightened her shoulders and blinked away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. "It's okay, we are from two different worlds. Besides, I have a lot on my plate here, I can't be worried about taking time out of everything to be making trips back there to see them.