Meeting Violet Sorrengail from the novel "Fourth Wing" - part 1

(Warning: Spoilers)

It’s a chilly fall evening when I finally sit down after days of procrastination to write my English homework. I’m listening to my playlist in my headphones, tuning out the outside world and brainstorming ideas for the text I’m about to write.

Suddenly I see a shadowy figure from the side of my vision. I whip my head around, but see nothing particularly out of the ordinary. My room is a mess, like always, and I blame the late hour for my vision.

I try to concentrate on my work when I hear a loud thud through the screaming music in my ears. I yank my headphones out, startled and look around, expecting to find… a burglar, a monster, I don’t really know. I expect anything but the reality. Next to my bed, among all the piles of laundry I haven’t done is standing Violet Sorrengail herself, the girl I’ve been reading about all week! My wildest dreams are coming true in front of my eyes and, frankly, I can’t look away.

The unmistakable half-brown-half-silver hair is sitting on top of her head in a crown-like braid, and her rider leathers glisten in the poorly lit room. I seriously think I’m hallucinating. She looks at me puzzled and starts saying something, but all I hear is muffled speech. I’m panicking and counting the hours of sleep I had this week. Maybe that’s the cause of this vivid hallucination.

I look at her face closely. It seems so real. I feel like I could touch it. So, I reach out. I half expect my hand to simply glide through her, but it stops as soon as it reaches her cheek. I pull back, scared for my life.

“What is happening?” I blurt out, desperately searching for a rational explanation. I find none.

“How should I know? You summoned me,” says Violet, looking equally confused. “At least I think so?”

She looks around, perhaps searching for something familiar, but her confused gaze tells me she doesn’t recognize anything in my room. I don’t blame her. In the book she mostly writes with quills and communicates in hand-written letters.

“What do you mean ‘summoned you’?” I ask, confused as ever.

“I don’t know. I was chilling in my dorm, and suddenly I heard a voice in my head, like Tairn’s… your voice, I now realize. In my Archives there was a new door. I’ve never seen it before,” she studies my face with curiosity. “All I did was follow it mentally, and boom… here I am,” she looks around one more time. “Where am I?” she asks, eyes focusing back on me. Her hands are relaxed by her sides, however, I can see her daggers shining at her ribs. She must not think I’m much of a threat.

“First of all: whoa! I honestly don’t even know what happened. Did I really do that? Can I really do that?” I shake my head in disbelief. “Second of all: welcome to the real world. I mean… my real world. I’m starting to get confused with the worlds” I laugh nervously.

I reach for my bag and take out my prized possession: Fourth Wing, a novel by Rebecca Yarros. I glance at the book affectionately before noticing Violet’s confused face. I laugh.

“I don’t recognize this book. What is it about? A handbook for surviving the Riders Quadrant?” she asks, puzzled.

“Something like that” I laugh. “You could say it’s your handbook on surviving in the quadrant” I say, because it’s technically true. The book is from Violet’s perspective and describes her time and experience in the Riders Quadrant.

“I don’t follow.”

“This book exists in my world and describes yours. It’s your life, written by Rebecca.”

“Who the hell is Rebecca?”

“The author? Look…” I start flipping the pages. “Here you’re on the Parapet just after you met Xaden” I point to a page.

“How do you know Xaden?!” her eyes skim over the text, shocked. “This is exactly how it happened. How… What… What?”

“Crazy, right? I don’t understand it fully yet either, but it seems to me like you have just teleported here from this book to my realm. Isn’t that cool?” I smile at her, but all I get back is a worried expression. “I know it seems like too much. I can hardly believe that you’re here too. But what other explanation do you have?”

“Please pinch me. I want this to be a dream. I want to wake up.” she looks on the verge of tears, and I begin to feel sorry for this woman.

Away from everything she’s ever known, in a world full of things she’s never seen. I would be upset too. I take her hand in mine reassuringly. And then I pinch it.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“You did ask me to pinch you…”

“Not literally” she yanks her hand away, body turning away from me. She starts pacing. “You mean to tell me I’ve just teleported from my dorm into a world where my life is just a fantasy. Correct?” she almost trips over a towel on the floor.

“Correct. At least I think so…” I nod, following her movement with my head.

“And none of us knows how exactly that happened and most importantly how to reverse it. Are we on the same page?”

“I don’t know. Are we? What page are you on? I read the whole book, but you might still have until the very end. What do you remember from before you were teleported?”

“Not what I meant with the pages, but it could be useful information. Let’s see. Well, it was an ordinary day. I had my library duty before breakfast. Liam’s still following me around everywhere. We had a strange Battle Brief today, but other than that…”

“Liam?? You’re telling me Liam’s still…” my voice cracks before I can finish the sentence.

“Shadowing me, yes. Just like Xaden ordered him to. I kind of like him even if he’s forced to hang out with me,” she gets lost in that thought for a second. “Why? What’s so unusual in that? You have to know I trust Xaden with my life. After all, it’s tied to his. If I die…”

“He dies. I know the drill. And nothing is unusual, I was just surprised you weren’t as far into the book as I was expecting” I’m trying hard to keep my voice steady. I can’t spoil the end of the book for her. She’s the main character.

“That must mean you know my future, right? What happens after? Do I finally get my signet power? What is it? You have to tell me!” She looks at me still pacing.

“No spoilers! That will ruin the whole book. For you and for me. I still don’t know if this interaction of ours has any effect on your life back at the college.”

I panic, taking the book in my hand. I fumble with it for a few minutes, trying to find the exact chapter she was in before coming here. I finally locate it between chapter twenty-one and twenty-two where there is a minor time gap which includes November and the beginning of December.

“That’s how I remember it from the first time I read it, so I don’t think we have any problems regarding the plot. Isn’t it strange, though, how you disappeared in November and appeared in November in my world? It sure would explain why you’re not as far in the book as I read it. If I remember correctly, the book ends somewhere in July, so there’s a long way for you to get there.”

“Good to know, thanks. But what happens in July? Do I die? Why does the book end?” She’s pacing even faster now.

“Like I said, no spoilers for you, however, I can tell you that this book has other volumes. It’s a series containing five books, but only two are published for now. I haven’t read Iron Flame, the second book, just yet. And for gods’ sake, stop pacing, I’m getting nauseous!”

She finally slows down and eventually plops down on my bed, face buried in her hands. I hurry over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll figure everything out, don’t worry. And for the time being, you can stay with me. I promise I won’t bite. And you would surely win any fight in my world, you have nothing to worry about. You’re a rider, a little teleportation won’t break you. And if we’re lucky, we’ll get you back into your book in no time!” I try to sound as confident as I can, but there is no doubt I don’t know what I’m talking about. She looks up at me, an appreciative smile on her face.

“Well, I can definitely tell you won’t be the one to kill me,” she jokes, and I try not to take it to heart. “I’m thankful you’re at least nice to me. However, if I have no choice but to stay here, we will have to set some ground rules.”

To be continued...

Csete Borbála IX. R