Chapter 23- Lilliana's Space

I had not seen her yet and only had heard the comments from others, but they were very well deserved. Lilliana was gorgeous and our birthmark glowed in gold like nothing else I had ever seen.

“Lilliana, you are beautiful.” I said to her still looking at her like she was something in a museum. It was hard to look away, her beauty pulled you in.

“Thank you, Grace. That is one way to get an apology.” Lilliana had a wolf smile. Which I feel like in another context would have been creepy but right now it helped me to take a breath and gather my bearings.

“Lilliana, I am so sorry for today.” I looked at the ground ashamed for not trusting her, “I should have trusted you. Controlling things is a hard thing for me to let go of, but I need to so that you an I can work together.”

“Grace, I accept your apology. I understand this whole wolf world is new to you. I have always been here, so I know your need to control things. But know this, you and I are one. We may think slightly different but we know one another.”

Right at that moment Lilliana put her paw in my hand. In a moment a million flashes came before me. Starting with the dream Lilliana showed me last night of her first love, flashes of my life and moments with Lilliana that I did not know about flashed before me. She was right. She was always there. Always in the background guiding my decisions and helping me to make sense of life.

“Lilliana, you really have always been there.” I threw my hands around her neck. I knew now that I could be safe here. I could be safe with her and trust her when she took control. She had always been right beside me helping me. Knowing this helped me to make more sense of the world around me.

“I have. I may have been locked away but I am your inner self. There is no way I could sit by and not help and guide.”

“Thank you, Lilliana. Thank you for showing me this.” I hugged her again starting to cry.

“Now, now, Gracie.” She said comforting me like a mother to a child.

“Gracie, we have to figure out this whole fighting thing. Because if we were in a real fight you would not be able to pull what you did today.” I looked at her knowing full well that she was right. There was no way around it.

“Well, I feel like I trust you now.” I told her.

“Yes, I can feel the trust too.” She said looking up. That was when I noticed it was a pink moon. Not a sun.

“Lilliana, what is this place?” I asked looking around again. The place seemed very magical. It also seemed very familiar.

“Grace in all your moments of trials since you were born you had a beautiful imagination. You would have thoughts about a garden that had beautiful flowers, some real and some not. Your moon was always pink.”

I was beginning to remember that as a child and teen I had dreams of this place. Lilliana continued, “Every time you thought of an idea that fit in with the garden, I would place it in my space. It was the most wonderful spot.” Lilliana stated dreamily. “It made being locked away tolerable.”

I realized now that Lilliana was locked away in the place, but she knew me and loved me. She had taken my very best and made it her own.

“Lilliana, this place is magnificent. I am so grateful to you for creating it and allowing me to come in.” I was overjoyed by this visit with Lilliana. Then I remembered something else. “All of my good imaginations are here?” I asked with a smirk.

“Grace, ALL of them.” If wolves could smirk, Lilliana would have in that moment. I started to run around and ran right into the item I was looking for.

“The fountain of soda!” I yelled in excitement. When I was young, I thought it was so funny that you got your drinks from a soda fountain, yet there was no fountain. I had imagined it was an actual fountain with soda instead of water. I grabbed a cup from the dispenser, next to the fountain of course, and got myself some soda. It tasted like extra sweet honey, and it was delicious.

“I can not believe that fountain is here.” I said to Lilliana. I was grateful to her for letting me see this magical place.

“Grace, you are welcome here whenever you want to. Remember I am always at your side. Clay is coming back, and it smells good.” Lilliana put her nose up to the air.

“Him or dinner?” I laughed.

“Both.” Lilliana laughed in return. I was so thankful that I now had this companion with me.

Just like that I opened my eyes and there was Clay smirking at me.

“Hey there beautiful.” He kissed me on the forehead again. It was a kiss that let me know how much he loved me and I was so thankful for his love. “Were you able to patch things up with Lilliana?”

“Yes! It was such a good visit!” I answered excitedly. I could hardly believe this new world I was in and how in just two days I had become accustomed to most of it. I knew now it was more a part of me than even I thought it was.

Clay laughed and replied, “Well good.” I sniffed the air and my stomach rumbled. “I guess your hungry?” Clay slid over my plate. It was a giant hamburger with sweet potato French fries.

“Oh my goodness. This is too good to be true!” I lifted the hamburger up to my lips and took a huge bite. It was like heaven in a burger. It tasted amazing. “What does George do that his food taste so amazing?”

“He has a gift.” Clay shrugged. I was so glad George had the gift because this hamburger was absolutely beyond anything I had ever tasted in my lifetime. I quickly finished my hamburger and was picking at the fries.

“Lilliana showed me how much she has taken part in my life. It was crazy Clay. I did not even realize that she was such a huge part in all my decisions.” Clay smiled back at me.

“Grace I am so glad you were able to make it up with her. Do you feel like you can trust her more now?” Clay asked. I was thankful that I had someone to talk to about this stuff. It was again so crazy that I had met Clay yesterday morning.

“I do. Knowing how she helped me my whole life. And Clay, you should see her garden!” I was so excited to share everything with him.

“Her garden?” Clay asked confused.

“Yea, her space she created. She made it out of all my ideas as a child. There is a fountain in the middle that had soda instead of water.”

“A garden? She made it?” Clay looked even more confused than before.

“Yea her space Clay.” Clay seemed taken aback by this.

“Alex doesn’t have anything like that. We just have like a big open space.” Clay looked a bit discouraged at this fact.

“Well, maybe it is because she was locked up so long?” I tried to encourage Clay.

“Maybe.” Clay looked like he was daydreaming. “Alex says he has never heard of any wolf doing that. He isn’t sure how she did it.” Clay stated. Then he continued. “Maybe it is because she is part of the moon goddess.”

I shrugged. It could be. I realized then that Lilliana was certainly special, and I had taken that for granted. My trust in her overflowed even more at that point and I was ready to try the fight again tomorrow.

“Clay tomorrow let’s let Lilliana fight again.” Clay nodded in enthusiasm. I could tell he was excited to see what exactly she could do since she could make a whole garden in my head.