Deception was waiting for me when I walked out of the tent wearing the blue dress. He sniffed at my dress, and I gently pushed him away with my hand. My untamed black curly hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, as was Kami's blonde hair, the same color as Emily's hair, who had come out of the tent with me, along with the other girls and Santana. The girls all eyed Deception with a look of concern, probably worried that he would ruin their dresses before they edged around him, especially Santana, who made a wider circle around him than the others. Once they had passed him, Deception began to trail behind them, his black tail dragging along on the grass.
"This way, ladies," Tami said, taking the lead, and we trailed behind her in single file. We clutched the small bouquet of blue and white flowers in our hands until we arrived at one of the fields that lay outside the maze of tents. I saw that up ahead, several chairs were set up in the grass, as well as an archway made up of entirely blue, yellow, and white flowers, w a boy in a tux stood. I couldn't see him clearly from this distance, but I could see the glint of the round glasses perched on the tip of her nose. No doubt it was Peter. The chairs were full of people, some dressed in regular, dirty-looking clothes, some dressed in armor, and others dressed in fancy clothing.
Beside the flower archway, a girl and two boys dressed in an assortment of clothes played a soft melody that was almost drowned out by the sound of people talking in their seats.
I spotted my mom and Neeva sitting in two of the chairs towards the front. I could only see the back of their heads, but I recognized the clothes I had seen them in earlier. My mother's head jerked back and forth, and I she was waving one of her hands towards my father, and by the way, he was sunken down in his seat, I did not doubt that she was chewing him out for giving me and Henry alone time.
My eyes danced around the other seats, and I spotted Emily's mom and brother, Carson, sitting towards the front. I also spotted Vivian and John sitting together in the middle row. John wore a hood that was pulled over his head. I did not see Amber or Henry. Strange because it seemed that almost everyone I probably knew was at this wedding, but maybe not so strange. I had no idea what kind of relationship Amber or Henry had with Emily.
Before we reached the aisle that Emily would walk down as a bride, I felt Santana, who was right behind me, tap me on the shoulder. At that moment Tami, the leader of this little parade, stopped us before we reached the first set of chairs, so I tilted my head back slightly so I could hear what she wanted, "That place you were at for like 400 years, it had no sound or color, right? Like there was something forbidden about making noise there, so you weren't allowed to talk?" she asked me in a whisper.
"Yeah..." I answered her, while I waited to see what we were to do next, unsure of why this was being brought up now, of all times. We were at my friend's wedding, and I would rather not think about that place where happy things like this didn't happen.
I turned around not to look at Santana but to look at Deception that would no doubt trail behind me down the narrow row of chairs and knock everyone closest to him over if I allowed it. I made sure to get the attention of his yellow catlike eyes before I motioned him to the right. He stared at me pensively for a long second before he began to move to the right behind the last row of chairs. I kept motioning in that direction before he was at the very edge of the wedding, before I singled him out to stop and to wait there.
"Well, you seem to become okay with the whole taking, noise, and color thing pretty quickly..." Santana said, and I could see that she was staring at me with her big blue eyes out of the corner of my eye.
And I nodded my head. She was right, I had adjusted to these things that I had lacked for so long with unnatural ease. Talking still bothered me a little, but it was becoming less and less strange to feel those vibrations in my throat. The issue of sound hadn't been a problem for me either, and I welcome the long-absent presence of color with open arms.
We stopped besides the arch of flowers were Tami arranged us in the designated order, with me the closest to the archway "Well you've seem to adjusted to this world pretty quickly despite living your whole life without knowing any magic existed or that you had elemental powers," I pointed out then continued, "But I think it just has to do with what I am, I'm a fifth element user, so I guess that my body and mind was made to adjust from living in the world of the dead to living in the world of the living pretty quickly."
"Almost the truth," the little sinister voice whispered in my head, "But you know it's me keeping you from dropping to the ground in a fit of madness, made incapable of doing anything by the whirling of your mind."
I quickly shushed the voice. At the same time, Neeva turned around to stare at me before turning around. I looked at his retreating and wondered why he had just done that. There wasn't a way he could hear that voice, too, right?
"That could explain it." Santana said slowly, "I just didn't want you having some living world break down in the middle of the wedding and totally ruin this day for Emily. Your brain is going crazy right now, and it's kind of making me feel dizzy ."
"What does that mean, my brain is making you feel dizzy?!" I snapped, and just then a line of boys came shuffling out. All of them were dressed in what I could only describe as scraped-together nice clothes. None of them matched, and everything clashed. I might have gone without seeing color for 400 years, but I certainly knew that orange stripes didn't go well with bright green pants.
"I'm a sixth element user, mind, and matter. I can tune into people's heads sometimes and get a good idea of what they are thinking or feeling, but I just get all these scrambled singles from you," she said.
"Well, I'm fine if that's what you're asking," I replied while the band began to play a louder and livelier tune and everyone in the aisle stood up, "Just stay out of my head if it makes you feel so dizzy!"
"Ohhhh, you're mad about Emily becoming friends,"
"Okay, listen-"I began, but before I could get into it, the band began to pick up, and everyone went silent.
Tami began to move forward, and so did the boy first in line. They met each other in the middle of the aisle and linked arms before they began to glide across the grass towards the arch. The boy next in line, a boy with brown hair and eyes, began to move down the aisle after them. I absently watched him begin to move, and abruptly, he stopped and looked back at me. I felt a small push on my back, and I stumbled forward, and the boy linked arms with me and began to move with me down the aisle like Tami and her partner.
When we were almost towards the end, Tami and the boy split, Tami going to the right and the boy going to stand beside Peter. I followed her lead and began to move to stand beside her, but before I could settle into my spot, Tami grabbed me and switched me places so I was the one closest to the flowers.
"Violet!" somebody said loudly, and I looked to my right and saw that Peter was staring at me with wide eyes behind his glasses. I smiled and waved at him before I faced forward again and watched the other couples move towards us.
This continued until all members of the wedding party were standing in their spots. Then, in the distance, a figure in a white dress appeared with a man in a tux at her side. They drew closer and closer until Emily stood at the end of the aisle.
She looked beautiful. Her long blonde hair had been braided down her back, and flowers had been woven into it, and a smile stretched its way across her face. Mr. Howl stood beside her with a look of bittersweet happiness across his face.
They began to move down the aisle, and Emily could barely stop herself from bouncing up and down in excitement. She reached Peter, and she quickly let go of her father's arm and grabbed both of his hands.
Emily's dad smiled at them before he slowly inched his way to stand behind them. He looked out across the crowd, "I'm here today to marry my lovely daughter Emily," he said and gestured towards Emily and gestured towards Peter, "To this fine man here, because, as her overprotective dad, I'm the only one who can say who my daughter can't and can kiss," he said and the whole audience laughed.
Then the sound of a horn ripped through the air. I jumped in surprise and watched while the happy little scene that was playing out in front of me turned into one full of confusion and fear. Then I saw a figure dressed in black in the distance, running from the same direction Emily had just come from minutes ago. A second blow of the horn ripped through the air, and the people in the chairs began to stand and scatter in all directions.
"And I pronounce you husband and wife!" Mr. Howl boomed, and I looked just in time to see Emily and Peter kiss. When they pulled away, tears were streaming down Emily's face.
I looked away, not able to bear to look at them anymore. This was supposed to be Emily's happiest, and now it was a complete and utter nightmare. I didn't know exactly what those horns were for, but judging by everyone's panicked reaction, it wasn't good.
"Violet!" I looked up to see that Henry was charging towards us. He looked panic-stricken.
"What's going on!?" I asked, throwing my flowers down on the ground.
"Yeah, what's going on?" Kami asked; besides me, Santana, and she were the last remaining bridesmaids.
Henry held up a finger for us to give him a minute. His chest rose up and down rapidly, "The scout-Greta-control."
"What!?" Kami and Santana in unison.
Henry paused and took a couple more deep breaths, "The scout that came back and told us that Greta was only a couple of days, he was under Greta's magic. Her army is going to be upon us in an hour."
"Daughter!" my father said, coming towards me. In the background, I could see my mother hurrying away with Lilly in her arms.
"Listen," he said, coming towards me.
"Okay, I'm listening," I told him calmly.
"You need to raise the army of the dead or else we don't stand a chance."
"I know, but... You need several people to sacrifice....who will I sacrifice? I don't think I'll be able to. After all the time, I still haven't come to peace with it."
Neeva shook his head, "No, you only need one with the person I have in mind."
"Who?" I asked.
"Me," Neeva answered.