So, you all like my title? Haha. Well, I’m doing a character encounter with my character Meryl, and someone else from the book Water Princess, Fire Prince. (You can find the character encounter link here.) Basically, it’s where one of my characters meets one from the book. So, yep. Enjoy!

I stood up, but quickly sat down again. I twisted my fingers, then undid them. Yeah … I was nervous.

Meryl was coming. She was actually coming.

This was my first time actually sitting down and just talking with one of my characters. And with Meryl? She was one of my characters that was the most developed and worked on. Least to say, I was super excited.

A knock sounded on my office door. Yep, I had an office.

I jumped to my feet and darted to the door. When I opened it, there were two teenage girls talking in hushed tones. When they noticed me, both stopped.

“Cassie, you can go now,” I said to the blonde. She was my brain keeper (Yep, I have one of those as well. I’m pretty cool), which means she gave me loads of unwanted ideas.

“Alyssa.” With a nod of her head, Cassie was off. Odd. Usually she was less compliant.

“Meryl I presume?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from squeaking.

“You made me. I assume that you would know.” Meryl breezed past me as if she owned the place.

The girl sat on the only couch. All her knives that were strapped to her caught my eyes. As I was staring, I saw a distinct shade of blue in her tanned skin. Well, at least that gave me an idea of what time in the story she had come from.

“Are we going to get started?” Meryl asked.

“Yes, yes of course.” I rushed to my seat, and nearly knocked over my swivel.

Meryl rolled her eyes, something I’m sure that Emerson had taught her, but I caught her small smile. Good. She was getting more comfortable.

“So, to get started-”

“Alyssa!” Meryl shrieked.

“Meryl? What’s wrong?” I stood up.

Nothing appeared to be wrong. I walked over to her, and Meryl grasped my hand and pulled.

“What?” I repeated.

“This chair! It’s-it’s pulling me down!”

I almost laughed. Meryl was sort of a trickster, but the panic in her eyes made me hold back. Then, in an instant, Meryl was pulled down into the couch cushions and disappeared.

“Meryl!” I cried. What was I going to tell her brother? That Meryl was swallowed up by a chair?

My thoughts got interrupted when I felt something tug my arm. I looked down and saw Meryl’s hand. I pulled her wrist, trying to bring her back, but instead I felt myself get dragged down.

“Cassie!” I yelled, but by the time I heard her pounding footsteps in the hallway, I was already almost completely sucked in.

“Alyssa!” I felt Cassie tug at my ankle, but I was already too far gone.

I was surrounded by material, and my claustrophobia kicked in. I began to panic, and tried to breathe, but I couldn’t.

My lungs burned, and I waved my arms at the fabric. A few seconds later, I fell to the ground. The … stone ground.

A shriek behind me caught my attention. I turned and saw someone on the floor. Cassie! Her arms were wrapped around herself. She had claustrophobia as well, though her’s was much worse.

Then a though struck me. Where was Meryl?

I scooted back to Cassie, and laid a hand on her back, hoping to calm her down. After a few seconds, she sat up.

I looked around. We were at the edge of a stone room. A circular table with chairs surrounding it sat in the center. Just where were we?

Meryl. Right.

“Meryl?” I called, standing up and looking around.

A groan came from the other side of the table. I rushed over there, followed by Cassie.

Meryl lay on the floor, a gash on her forehead.

“Meryl? Are you alright?” I asked.

“Wh-who are you?” she asked, her eyes looking glazed.

“I”m Alyssa. Remember?”

She shook her head.

“Looks like she hit her head pretty bad,” Cassie noted.

“Gee, you think?”

A slamming door made me jump to me feet.

“Who are you?” A deep voice asked.

In the doorway, stood a young man with an arrow notched in a bow that was aimed straight at me. Though, from my lessens I could tell that it wasn’t fully pulled back.

Behind him stood a woman, maybe a little younger then him, a bow held in her hands, though the arrow was pointed downwards.

“I’m Alyssa. And this-” I gestured to Cassie behind me, “-is Cassie. And my friend on the floor is Meryl. And she is hurt.”

As if on cue, Meryl got to her feet slowly.

The bow slightly lowered, though I still though that it was wise to not move.

“And who are you?” Cassie asked.

“Why is your friend armed?” The man asked, ignoring the question.

“It’s a crazy long story.” Actually, it wasn’t. I just didn’t want to explain. In fact, I didn’t even know the explanation.

“I’m Ri- I mean, the Wind Prince. And this is my sister, the Leaf Princess.”

So we got titles, but not names. Brilliant.

“If she takes off the weapons, we’ll give her medical attention,” the Leaf Princess piped up.

“Meryl, go ahead and take them off,” I said.

Meryl looked confused, but unstrapped her seven knives.

“Come with us,” the Wind Prince said.

Cassie, Meryl, and I followed wordlessly out into the hallway.

“The injured girl will come with me,” the Leaf Princess said. And before I could object, the princess was leading Meryl off.

“You two can come with me,” the prince said, and took off again.

Cassie walked beside the man. “Could you please tell us your name? And where we’re at?”

The man sighed. “I’m Rich, and my sister is Kath. And you’re at the Kastle.”
The Kastle? I repeated to myself.

Suddenly, Rich stopped. He turned to us and asked, “By any chance, are either of you the Water Princess?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but a flash behind Rich drew my attention. A circle of what looked like a kindergartner’s painting was hanging in the air. An old man stepped through, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mustafa, do you know where we are?”

Mustafa nodded. “You are in Rizkaland, someone else’s story. Now, we must go before we mess up this world too badly.”
“But what about Meryl?” I asked.

“Oran has that taken care of,” Mustafa replied, then held out both hands. “Ladies, may we go now?”

I nodded, and took his hand, and Cassie did the same. We stepped through the circle of crazy colors, and I smiled. Just another crazy day of being a writer.

So, what’d you guys think? Mustafa and Meryl are both from my April NaNo project, and personally one of my favorite stories. Tell me what you think in the comments!! 😀