I explained the conversation I had with Marcus, and told her my thoughts about him potentially having BPD. She seemed thoughtful when I finished explaining.
“This makes sense. If you’re his favorite person, it explains why he has such intense feelings about you that go back and forth between positive and negative,” I said. “He projects these big fantasies onto the relationship and needs your approval to feel good about himself, but he also lashes out because he’s trying to test if you’ll leave. It can be hard being with someone who has BPD, but if he gets treated, this relationship isn’t doomed to fail. You guys could still make this work and set up healthy boundaries.”
“Maybe that could’ve happened before, but the bond is broken now. The magic is gone, so I’m not interested in trying again,” Kallie said shortly.
“Not even a little?” I whispered.
“No. He hurt me more than you realize. I can’t sit around and allow him to treat me poorly because I feel bad for him.”
“I get it. I have bipolar, but it doesn’t give me an excuse to treat Charlie like shit.” I shook my head. “But at least now you know why he acts the way he does. He doesn’t want to, Kallie. He’s not just an asshole.”
Her mouth remained flat. “It’s not an excuse for the way he treated me. I never thought hewantedto hurt me, Ava. But I don’t want us to get back together. Ever. I don’t want to even be his friend. And until he’s better, I think it’s worse for him if I’m around.”
My heart broke into a million pieces for them. “I agree. Still sucks, though.”
“It does. But I’d rather live with a broken heart than with regret that I never took the chance to see what life could be like without him hurting me,” Kallie stated. “He might be able to recover and live a happy life, and that would be really awesome.Me and him, though? Never again. I wish him all the best, but he needs to leave me be.”
Oberi cooed, then hopped onto her lap. Kallie stroked her feathers, and whatever hope I still had left for her and Marcus died within me. I really thought my intuition was right about them, but guess not.
It was contrary to everything I believed in, but I really had to wonder if love was able to fix the worst situations. At the very least, if they couldn’t be happy together, maybe somehow they could be happy apart.
Time, I supposed, would tell.
Things were reallyquiet after what went down with Kallie and Marcus. Charlie and I didn’t see either of them around, just kept to ourselves.
Charlie felt guilty about what he’d done, but he didn’t regret his decision. I thought that Kallie and Marcus had to grow separately before any progress could be made on reconciliation, friendship or otherwise, and Charlie had done all he could to help our friends. It was up to them now to see what the future held.
A few weeks later, Abigail delivered a letter from my Auntie Imogen, asking me to come visit her. I hadn’t seen her in ages, so I was delighted. She was spending the day atUni Essentials, a place in the city, and asked me to swing by. I wasn’t sure what the location was, but it sounded magical, so I was looking forward to going. I took a carriage, and Eldin escorted me downtown.
From the moment I entered through the glass double doors, I was instantly transported to a fairy land. The doorway was aportal, and it took me to a room that had been placed under a wonderful illusion spell. The area around me was a massive flat plane surrounded by mountains, bathed in golden sunlight. The very air sparkled, and I inhaled the scent of wildflowers. On the cliff sides of mountains were gigantic mushrooms in pink, green, and light blue, so large they rivaled the size of trees. The sky seemed to span overhead, though if I looked closely, I could see wooden beams where the ceiling was high above.
There were unicorns everywhere, grazing on the mountain and napping in the sun. A river ran through the middle of the room that the unicorns drank from, and the water came in rainbow colors. Balloons filled the air, and the entire area smelled like birthday cake. All around the room were different vendors— chocolatiers, candy carts, and ice cream. Nearby, there was a white barn. On the wall were mounted all kinds of bridles and saddles, which the Elves tacked onto the unicorns to ride. Elves were bathing the unicorns, brushing their coats and feeding them treats. A big smile bloomed on my face as I watched unicorns bounce off of gigantic marshmallows into candy cane clouds.
“It’s a unicorn stable,” I said in wonder. “With all the things a unicorn could ever need.”
Oh, goodness, I appear so silly,Oberi said in embarrassment, hiding behind her phoenix wing.I need to fit in.
Oberi changed into a unicorn and pleasantly stomped her hoof.There. I am no longer a faux pas.
I saw Auntie Imogen standing near a long stage at the bottom of the mountain that looked like a runway. She called me over, and I rolled across a pink bridge to where she was standing.
“Hey, Ava. Glad you could make it. You’re the go-to girl on fashion, and we really need your opinion,” Aunt Imogen said in a fluster.
“I’ll say!” A high-pitched voice rang out from behind a rack of clothes. A blonde woman with large glasses poked her head out of a mess of gowns. “And to make things worse, I don’t think this is my color.”
The blonde woman waddled out from behind the racks, and I had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep from belting out with laughter. Thecolorwasn’t what was wrong with it. In fact, the lavender shade was the only thing saving the dress— if you could call it that. It was more like one big ball of tulle, shaped in a way that made the wearer look like a massive puff ball. The sleeves were so huge that the woman’s arms stuck straight out, and she couldn’t bend them.
“I designed that dress myself, Odette!” Aunt Imogen shouted. “I think it’s great on you.”
“It makes my ass look huge!” Odette countered. “I look like one big butt cheek!”
I knew her. Odette was one of Kallie’s aunts— an alicorn sorceress, who was married to an alicorn shifter. There was an array of mischievous giggles. Three clones of Odette stepped out from behind the curtains. I assumed they had to be around my age. One of the girls was stuffed into an outfit that made her look like a walking avocado, while her two sisters wore equally outlandish garments— one an outfit that looked like a variety of long stuffed gloves sewn in a mismatched array, another a gown that appeared to be a bunch of pillows taped together.
“Theodora, take that off,” one of the girls snapped, poking the avocado outfit. “You look ridiculous.”
“Absolutely not, Odessa! It’s instyle,” Theodora purred.
“Well, I suppose itdoessuit you, because you’re always green with envy,” Odessa said, fluffing her hair around the pillows.
