Re: Hannah & Jeremiah; Jester's Court
She didn't know he knew. She didn't know, and so she couldn't know what she would do differently had she known. She'd told one person about herself, and it had changed everything and forever, and the two people who had figured out in other ways, they'd seen her differently too. Small and tiny things, nuanced things, but everything was different. She didn't want things to be different, especially not tonight. Tonight she just wanted to be the girl from the fairytale, the one that lived happily ever after and never, ever looked back. And she knew life wasn't like that. Even the fairytales weren't really like that, and she always wondered if the evil witches came back after the book was closed. But tonight there was a castle, and tonight she was the girl in the story. Amy had never, ever wanted to be the prince, and neither did Hannah.
She heard him breathing, and she felt the pressure from his fingers, and she waited, waited, and she waited. There was nothing but time, and this night could go on forever.
Possibility, he finally said, and she opened her eyes and looked over at him. She didn't look ahead yet, not at all. she just looked at him, and she smiled. Then he was squeezing and tugging, and she turned her head to look at their kingdom. "I like that. Our king-" And she stopped, because the world in front of her wasn't dead, and it wasn't slumbering. It was vivid greens and bright neon lights. There were people and people and people, but they were shadowy and dressed in clothes from all kinds of times. But they were happy, and the rides were solid, and the food carts were solid, and the rides looked solid. Ahead of them, there was a main street with shops on either side, and that road led to the looming castle. She was parted lips and awe, and, not for the first time, she wondered how it was that she could be affected by magic, for surely this was magic.
He was tugging, and she finally moved. Step, step, step, and nothing disappeared, nothing melted away into cold and dark night. It all stayed, and she tugged her hand free of his just long enough to twirl in a circle of sweater and copper hair, and then she stopped with laughter on her lips, and she reached for his hand. "We're riding the big, big ferris wheel," she insisted, not for one second wondering if it was safe to ride a phantom ferris wheel high into the sky.