Tirna Magique
(A Novella)
Synopsis
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With the Earth becoming uninhabitable, Humans are being evacuated. Thanks to the Gapie race who offered their homes to all willing Humans, life can continue on, but mostly in darkness. Transition to this new world, which only has four hours of sunlight, would take over twenty years. Earth is now in year twelve.
Only Alesa knows the true reason for the Gapie's "helping-hand", and she has plans of her own. But first, she must get her girlfriends to trust her, and that took a few years to do. Now, she would implement her plans and take her friends on an adventure that would change their lives, and their hearts, forever. Enjoy this magical, romantic world in a 150-page novella.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Four Girlfriends
Chapter 2 - Katherine
Chapter 3 - Tammie
Chapter 4 - Carmen and Alesa
Chapter 5 - Into The Woods
Chapter 6 - Tirna Magique
Chapter 7 - The Castle
Chapter 8 – A Memory
Chapter 9 - Fairies of Daem
Chapter 10 - Slip Dragons
Chapter 11 – The Mermaids of Makime Cove
Chapter 12 - Dragons of Klatirat
Chapter 13 - Dreams Do Come True
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Excerpt
Chapter 1: Four Girlfriends
Tammie’s high heels tapped impatiently between the narrow aisles of the restaurant, her eyes darting around to find her friends. Though the waitress had offered to help, she had refused, but now she slightly regretted it. The place was packed. That didn't help, especially because she was late for their dinner date...again.
"Tammie!" someone called, and she turned to see Carmen waving her hand, her many bangles jingling on her arm.
Tammie sighed with relief and headed her way.
"Sorry, guys," she said, then bobbed her head as each of her friends blew kisses. "Smooches, smooches, smooches." She squeezed in next to Carmen and faced her other two friends. "Sorry I'm late," she repeated.
"You changed your hair color again," Carmen observed.
"Yes, you like it?" Tammie flung her hair. "I was feeling like auburn blonde this month."
"Nice," Carmen smiled. "I like it."
"Yeah, I kind of like it, too," Tammie said. "So, what's been going on?"
"You haven't missed anything," Katherine said, sipping her White Russian. "She's at it again."
Tammie turned to Alesa, who placed her hand over her heart in mock exaggeration. "Whatever could you mean?" Alesa said. "You bored with me now? Huh?"
Carmen chuckled as Katherine rolled her eyes, but held a warm smile. "I'm just getting Tammie up to speed."
"So," Tammie said, putting her purse between herself and Carmen. "You mind?" she asked. Carmen shook her head, and Tammie continued. "So, is it fairies, dwarves, dragons, mermaids, or..." she wiggled her eyebrows up and down, "princes?"
Katherine hopped up quickly to adjust her long brunette ponytail. She had accidently sat on it, which she often did. She then playfully groaned and said, "All of the above, unfortunately."
"No, it's not," Alesa protested.
"No," Carmen said, "You're just getting worked up about 'all of the above.'"
"I'm just saying—" Alesa began.
"You're just saying," Carmen interrupted with her thick Spanish accent, "that we're all so pathetic that we only have fairy tales to keep us company."
"Excuse me?" Tammie said.
"Well, except Tammie," Carmen corrected.
"Who was it this time?" Katherine asked Tammie.
"Oh," Tammie shrugged, "Just Abe."
"You mean, just Ape," Carmen laughed and began grunting like a gorilla in heat.
They all laughed. "It's not that bad," Tammie finally said between giggles. "He does have a nice tool."
"Which you like very much," Carmen said, "But what good is a nice tool if you don't know how to use it?"
"He knows how to use it," Tammie said.
"Uh huh," Katherine said unconvincingly.
"I mean, it's not the best," Tammie looked away with a slight blush, "but it's okay."
"Yeah, okay," Katherine said. "So, why did this 'just okay' make you late today?"
"Why does every 'just okay' make you late?" Carmen teased.
Tammie shrugged. "You know how I am."
"Yes, we do!" The other three women said simultaneously, mocking Carmen's accent.
Tammie rolled her eyes and welcomed the sight of the waitress. "Did ya'll order food already?" she asked.
"No, just drinks," Alesa said.
They happened to get their regular server, who confirmed each of their usual dinner orders. After she left, Tammie opened her purse. "Oh, before I forget," she said, pulling out flowers. "I found these at a small store not too far from the mall."
The flowers were hair accessories with, of course, sparkling crystal rhinestones that looked like rain droplets. Tammie loved anything that sparkled, and she handed them out as if they were gemstones.
Alesa immediately put hers in her afro, which rose quite a few inches in the air. Katherine reached over and adjusted the flower's angle for her.
"They're pretty," Carmen said as she examined her gift, "but why do you keep buying these things when we can't take them with us?"
"Can't we enjoy our Earthly time together?" Tammie said.
"Yeah, like you enjoy Abe," Alesa teased.
"No, like Abe is enjoying it." Tammie said. "He only has a few more months before he transitions. We have two more years before we're up for our Trans-Plan. Let's enjoy our many hours of sunlight before living the rest of our lives with artificial stuff."
"You sure Abe just has a few months?" Alesa questioned. "You checked him out?"
"Yes, Miss Unbeliever," Tammie said. "I looked at the official Trans-Plan website, and he's on the list for this year."
"I'm just checking," Alesa said. "You know how these guys be lying these days."
"Oh, I only have a few days," Carmen's said, her accent ringing out as she overacted routine pickup lines. "And...and I just want to spend them in the daylight with you in my arms."
"My Trans-Plan is just one year from now," Alesa said, mimicking a male’s voice, "and you just might be the one for me. Will you do me the honor and share my Transition with me? We can live 'forever after' in our assigned Gapie home."
"Oh, I do, I do!" Carmen reached out, her bangles clattering, as she grabbed Alesa's hands across the table.
"Okay, girls," Katherine said, "That's enough."
They all chuckled and smiled.
"And thinking of forever after..." Alesa started.
"Oh, here we go," Katherine said and began sipping her drink again.
"I'm just saying," Alesa said, "I mean, what prince would you all want to have? We're all in our early thirties, and obviously we have someone in mind we would want."
"You making a list or something?" Carmen asked.
Alesa hesitated slightly before replying. "I'm just asking."
"You're always, 'just asking,' Alesa," Katherine said.
"Well, some say it's probably better to find that special someone before we transition to the Gapies’ homeworld."
"And marrying too early will cause an early divorce," Katherine stated. "I mean, who wants to end up in a Gapie's house, stuck with someone you don't even like anymore?"
"Hear, hear," Tammie agreed. "It's best to be single like we planned. I remind you all, we vowed to stay near each other to create a good bond so we can help each other during our Transitions."
"Anything can change from now until then, though," Alesa said.
"You trying to say you met someone?" Carmen looked concerned.
"No, of course not," Alesa waved her hand in protest. "I'm just saying we should keep these things in mind because it will be harder during our Transitions."
"What, we've been hanging out for like five years now," Carmen said. "And we got together because our Transition homes with the Gapies were not too far from each other."
"And we were very fortunate that we even got along," Tammie added.
"Because we are all still single," Katherine said, raising her glass.
"And Katherine here got us those jobs at the Trans-Plan Helpline," Carmen said, "for which we are very well paid, I might add."
"Thank you," Katherine said.
"You're welcome," Carmen smiled, "and that allowed us to live closer together so that we can get used to hanging out here on Dying Earth before the Gapies take us away."
"What I think Carmen is saying," Tammie leaned forward, "is that we got it right. The four of us are doing really well, psychologically speaking. And those princes will come when it's the right time."
Alesa sighed. "I just want to make sure we're ready when we do meet them."
"Ready for what?" Katherine frowned. "The best orgasm we've ever had?"
They all laughed.
"Sounds like somebody needs an Abe in her life," Tammie giggled.
Katherine shrugged. "It's been a while, that's all."
"I'm sure Tammie could hook you up," Carmen said.
"Oh, no," Katherine declined. "I don't want one of those."
"What do you mean, 'one of those’?" Tammie said.
"Those daylight-prose-men," she answered. "Everyone makes it sound like we won't get any light on the Gapies’ homeworld, and men use that to get a quick sexual fix. We’ll get four hours of sunlight.”
"But the rest of the time, the many passing moons block the sunlight," Alesa said.
Katherine shook her head. "There's also the natural light the ecosystem provides during the night hours. Plus, we'll have our artificial light in our homes when we need it, and public locations and other areas around the planet. There will be plenty of light. Not as much as on our homeworld, but enough for us to survive."
"Yes, the Gapies’ natural light," Tammie said, taking out her computer pad and turning it on. She slid her fingers over the surface to unlock the screen. She held up the pad and scrolled through some pictures. "I just downloaded these today."
Slides and slides of the Gapie world nightlife displayed luminescent trees, plant life and animals. Even the clay-like structured homes were lined with light. Rivers and oceans were lit up from the underwater creatures that dwelled inside them, and the night sky was filled with thousands of bright stars.
They all sat quietly as Tammie displayed the pictures of what would be their new home in just a few years—the Gapie homeworld, Earth's savior from the plague that was sweeping its continents. Earth inhabitants received all the assurance they could possibly get from the Gapies, whose warm ways and purring voices soothed Human hearts. A few pictures displayed a Gapie here and there with their blue and green linings of bioluminescent color that brightened the tips of their fur. Their huge saucer eyes dominated their faces, and they had large feet on their hind legs, adapted for leaping. They also had tails with red, glowing tips. They looked like a mix of a night monkey and a kangaroo as they stood in darkness filled with colorful lights.
"It kind of looks beautiful, doesn't it?" Carmen said.
"Hey, look," Katherine pointed, not indicating Carmen's picture. A live shot of desolate land caught her eye from the overhead television screen above them. The streaming ticker tape listed the previous population numbers of those who had once lived there, the area affected by the plague, and how many people had already transitioned. The screen then split to show the contrast of the dead land compared to areas that were once lush and green, and the ticker streamed the numbers of those who had died from the plague.
"I don't understand it," Katherine whispered. "Why are some of these people refusing the Gapies’ help? They want to die?"
Carmen shook her head. "They just don't trust them, and they believe they had something to do with the Earth dying."
"Well, everyone knows that we were heading to destroy Earth ourselves anyway," Katherine said. "I mean, the catastrophe that was headed our way was in the decades of data that had been previously recorded. This was bound to happen." She paused. "We just should be grateful the Gapies found our planet when they did. If not, we would just be an extinct species."
"Extinct everything," Tammie said.
Katherine waved her hand towards the TV. "Look at that. It's obvious what's going on. People are stupid. Those who don't take the inoculations or think the inoculations are all they need just can't get it through their thick skulls that they are just a temporary fix to get us through this until we can get off this dying world! The Gapie ships have been working 24/7 for twelve years to help us, and they still have eight more years to go. Even if we could all survive on inoculations, there won't be any living thing to provide food, the water would be undrinkable in time, and those who stay here would still die. Earth is slowly becoming unhabitable, and it's dying. People should just accept that."
The four women fell silent as they watched other scenes and statistics of the deaths of those who had chosen life on Earth.
The waitress interrupted their silence as she began placing their orders in front of them. She glanced at Tammie’s pictures.
"Oh, are those new?" the waitress asked.
"They came in just today," Tammie said.
"Oh, good. I'll make sure I go download some before I go get my inoculation."
When the waitress walked away, Tammie asked, "Hey, Carmen, did you get yours already?"
Carmen shook her head. "You want me to pick you up?"
"Can we do it after work tomorrow?"
Carmen agreed. "Sure."
"How many days are you late?" Alesa asked.
"Just two days," Tammie said.
"Oh, okay," Alesa said, "so you're cool then."
"I know," Carmen said, "We're not cutting it close this quarter. I didn't like how that sickness felt." She shivered, remembering.
"You, ma'am," Alesa said, "were lucky. You could have died."
"I know," Carmen said sincerely. "It won't happen again, I assure you."
"And speaking of dying," Alesa said.
"Oh boy," Katherine commented.
"No, no, not that," Alesa assured them. "I was talking about our next vacation plan."
"You said it wasn't 'that,'" Carmen said. "You are talking about 'that.'"
Tammie’s face collapsed into a frown "I told you. I don't do bugs."
"I know, I know," Alesa insisted, "but if you go to the camp with me and don't like it, we can leave early and take a cruise on my bill."
"What?" Carmen and Tammie said together.
"My treat. You don't have to fork out any money," Alesa took a few bites of her food. "In fact, you won't have to fork out any money to go to the camp. That's my treat as well."
"Wait," Carmen said, "Let me get this straight. You're paying for our trip to this camp site you keep talking about, and if we don't like it, we can then go on an all-paid cruise ship vacation?"
"Yep," Alesa nodded. "Everything will be paid for either way. You just have to say yes."
"You're really desperate about us going to this childhood fantasy place of yours, huh?" Katherine said seriously.
"I'm just asking you to walk through it with me," Alesa pleaded. "I really want to do this before we go."
"So," Carmen wanted to clarify, "You want us to go to this camp where you imagined this imaginary world where you talked with fairies, rode on dragons, and danced with princes."
"A prince," Tammie specified, "Eden."
"Edan," Alesa corrected
"Edan," Tammie repeated, "This imaginary perfect hunk of a man, well, a boy, rather, that you haven't seen since you were sixteen."
"Boy-bat," Katherine said.
Carmen laughed. "Boy-bat prince. Yeah.”
Tammie continued."Yeah, probably some local camper you used to play doctor with."
"It wasn't like that, Tammie, "Alesa said.
"Sure it wasn't," Carmen teased.
"No, it wasn't," Alesa insisted. "Come on, guys, you've got to say yes. Don’t worry about the money."
"How much did all that cost?" Katherine asked.
"Does it matter?" Alesa poked her food with her fork. "Just say yes."
"Hey," Carmen said, "If I don't have to pay for anything, then I'm in."
Alesa looked at Katherine and Tammie.
"In three weeks, right?" Katherine said.
"Three weeks," Alesa confirmed.
Katherine paused before answering. "Okay. I'm in."
"Yes," Alesa hugged her, and then they all looked at Tammie, who reluctantly caved in.
"Okay, okay. I'll go," she said. "But the moment I say I want to see some ocean and a tropical breeze, we're going, right?"
"You’ve got to give it a chance first," Alesa said. "So I can't say that we will go exactly when you say. But I'll make a conscious effort to be sympathetic if you show extreme signs of distress. Just give it a chance first, a really good chance, okay?" When Alesa didn't get an immediate answer from Tammie, she repeated, "Okay?"
"Alright!" Tammie said. "I'll give it a chance. At least I’ve got three weeks to mentally prepare myself for dealing with bugs."
Alesa beamed. "Okay. I'll send you all the itinerary and flight plans. I know you will like it."
"Uh huh," Carmen said.
Alesa couldn't contain her excitement and clapped her hands together. "You will. I promise."
"Uh huh," Tammie repeated, in Carmen's tone.
"You will," Alesa smiled. "Trust me."