"Grace? Gracie, I need you to tell me who did this?" Concerned eyes pressure me to say something. Anything.
"..."
"You're not in trouble." That's a trick. You wouldn't have pulled me out of class, if I wasn't in trouble.
I stared down at my feet and refused to look her in the eyes. I know she's just trying to be nice in her own way. But I can't.
It's against the rules. I'm going to be in so much trouble.
She implores me. "Gracie, I need to know. It's my job to know. I can't do my job unless you tell me."
Ms.Fonda holds my hands in her own and brings them together. I bite the inside of my cheek and shrink in on myself. Her job? If I don't tell her…will she be fired?
Then she'll cry.
"Matthew Erwin Jones will immediately serve out his sentence at…"
The tiny hammer struck the wooden desk and I jumped at the sound of wood meeting wood. Screams and whispers erupted as the judge tried to restore order to his court. Officers moved around and collected a struggling man from his chair. Even though my head was down I could feel it.
His stare. But I didn't dare to meet it.
Did he hate me now?
Did I hate him?
Do I even feel anything? It's just so...I'm just so numb.
"We're getting a divorce." My stepfather left those words to me and my mother as he exited the aisle along with his team of lawyers and his sobbing ex-wife. She screamed at me incoherently and I kept my eyes down.
I don't know why I'm here. This doesn't feel right. Why am I here?
That day, I lost my family.
All of it. At least that's what I thought. Mom never looked at me after that. Her eyes blankly stared after her broken family. When they left her sight completely after the divorce was finalized, despite her wishes. She turned to glasses, but those took time. She had to uncork the bottle, pour it into a glass and sip it slowly.
Too slow. Cans and boxes of the liquid that smells like rotten food and hot garbage were faster.
A social worker had me placed in a new home after seeing the mess. Mom never even left the sofa to say something. She just kept her eyes unfocused and her mouth busy.
Bereley. That was her name. I played in her office sometimes. Whenever she wanted to ask me something. It was a cubicle with carpet that had seen better days. She and some therapists from the state came to ask me questions almost every day. Until they came up with the solution to their problem.
What were they going to do with me?
So they dropped me and left me with someone I should've known…I could never count on.
Adults. Just can't be trusted. They like the easy, fast fix. The one with the least resistance on their part.
That's probably why they didn't like me. I wasn't easy at all. I tried. To be as low maintenance as possible. Like a hamster or a goldfish.
I played with my food at the dinner table while they carried on with the daily conversation. Laughed. Pretended the elephant in the room didn't exist. But their eyes wandered to me eventually.
Piercing stares filled with ridicule.
"So…how's school, Gracie?"
My biological father. A man I hadn't seen since I was four years old asked me softly. The way one would speak to an animal. Simple sentences. A fawning soft tone. It made me feel like a child. He hadn't talked to me in that way since I was a literal infant.
I kept my head down. "I haven't been to school in a while." It was true. I wasn't even in my former zone anymore. So I probably can't leave a bad review to Mrs.Fonda. What happened to 'you're not in trouble'?
"..." His mouth opened and closed as I searched for something to say. His wife placed a gentle hand on his am to show their solidarity.
Emery asked snottily. "How long are you going to be here?"
Good question.
Her twin brother shushed her from his seat next to me."Shhh."
Her mother sounded mortified but...we all knew she was just saying it."Emery!"
Inside she was thinking it too.
Her father chided her with a voice rife with a warning."As long as she likes. This is her home too."
Your wife and kids think differently. All of them kept their sights on me that night. Whenever I stood too close to a picture frame or a table, they froze like they expected me to grab something and make a run for it.
To where?
I didn't have a room yet. The change in custody had been too sudden. Even though they were given a week's notice before taking me in.
I didn't mind at the time though. I was used to taking orders. It was easy. I didn't have to do too much thinking.
"This is where you'll sleep. Just for now. Next week you're gone." Emery led me to her bunk beds meant for her friends to sleep on and left. Her strawberry blonde hair bounced in her ponytail as she strutted out of the room to go play with her brother or whine to her parents.
Unfortunately for Emery and me. Life didn't work out that way. But secretly I hoped that too. But that day never came. Actually it kinda did...because I—I
I died?
"Wake up."
An angel called out for me and I rolled over. Or tried to. Hands rudely shook me up and down like a salt shaker and I moaned. "Five more minutes…"
"No! That's enough rest. Tell your friend to stop following us!" Lowell continued to bother me until I opened my bleary eyes. Crusty from sleep.
I rubbed at them and noticed how close I was to my pillow. Or rather Lowell. Am I in a sling?
I wiggled around and looked up. Oh. Someone didn't get their beauty sleep. "Lowell?"
His features squeezed together as he gritted out. "Yes, it's me. Tell him to stop or do your weird magic thing." His exhausted appearance and our surroundings had me more than confused. What the hell?
"What friend? Where are we? And why are there twigs in your hair?"I fired question after question but trailed off once he started hysterically laughing in my face.
Has he lost it?
Oh no. Did Lowell kidnap me?
A growl from behind me demanded my attention and I turned in the sling to see a large black wolf staring me down six feet away. "Lowell!" I scrambled to get away but my dangling legs found no purchase.
He resumed laughing maniacally at me while raking a hand down his tired face."Don't panic. Say hello! This is your new friend!"
I jumped when it barked and started pawing at Lowell's shirt. "What is going on? Where are we?"
And why is there a human-sized wolf staring at us?
He glared at me and harrumped. "Great. Just lovely. Miseria?"
"Mhmm?" My eyes darted between Lowell and the big dog ahead of us. It pawed at the ground and moved its big head to indicate it was listening.
"Do you...smell anything?"
SNAP.
A nauseatingly sweet smell immediately became present to me. It was so dominant that I wondered how I hadn't noticed before. Underlying it was something minty. Earthy. Sweat. Lowell. It's kind of awful.
I struggled to get away from Lowell as my nose burned from the onslaught. Rain. It smelled like rain too and hot chocolate. The wet dirt beneath me wafted up and the woody scent made me gag.
On its own I'm sure it's nice. But all together...
Behind me bones snapped in and out of place. Lowell screamed. "You…You're a bloody shifter! You couldn't have done that sooner?!"
A gruff voice boomed back. "Watch yourself kid. You're in my territory. Now move."
I gasped and pushed my way out of the sling and dropped onto the soft wet forest floor as my stomach lurched. Oh no. I opened my jaw wide and spewed out the contents of my stomach.
Black and red prickly liquid salted the ground. Jesus. I need Jesus. I think I got possessed.
"Tsk. Damn it kid." Strong hands lifted me up from the ground and brought me back into their embrace. A particular scent got stronger and air exploded from my mouth. I coughed and gasped as I inhaled as if I had just been fished from a pond.
That's good. Strong but good. What kinda cologne is that?
It's like a chocolate candle. It smells like a bonfire. I like this one. I inhale the scent over and over again. Until it's burned into my brain.
"That's it. Focus." He rocked me slightly and I hung onto his bare chest. He's kinda hairy. Wait a minute. Why isn't he wearing a shirt? And why is he so toasty? I'm freezing. "You. How can you bring a baby here?"
"Bring her–It wasn't my call. She's–important and she needs to go to the Hawthorne house."
The gruffer one sounds surprised. "A baby witch? That's rare. Well you're about as far away from them as possible. It's a couple of days' trip to get to their side of the forest right now. You're going to have to wait until the formation changes again."
Lowell argued with the gentleman while I struggled to breathe. I can't take this anymore. Why? Why am I in so much pain? My joints feel like stones and my limbs feel like rubber. Did someone run me over? I knew something bad was going to happen. Wait a minute.
I weakly asked from the stranger's chest."Where's Kissae and my brother?"
Lowell replied offhandedly. "We got separated."
Lucian muttered under his breath. "There's more of you?"
"What happened? Who are you?" I lifted my head and tried to get a good look at him.
Huh. Not what I pictured. The face that belonged to the gruff voice was older than I thought. Middle-aged and had a salt and pepper beard that used to be a dark black. Faint lines mapped his face and I could tell that he was a frowner. But hey, he has all of his hair!
Chilly eyes stared down at me."What's your name?"
"Don't answer that."
I ignored Lowell and gave him my middle name. "Nox. Now what's yours?"
He savors the name. "Nox. Hmm. It's Lucian. Why are you out here little bloodsucker?"
My lips quirked. "My brother and his friend are sending me to a witch's house." That's such a weird sentence to say out loud. I end with another question. "Because I'm weird. Why are you here?"
All alone from the looks of it in the darkest forest ever.
He drawled with an accent I couldn't place. "I live here darling." Wings flapped overhead and a bird settled on a tree branch close to us. Lucian gave it a dirty look. "Alright. Come on. You don't want to be here longer than you have to be."
He walked away from Lowell and hoisted me up onto his shoulder. From this vantage point I could see better.
Woah.
"They're glowing!" Mushrooms of all kinds protruded from the ground and the base of the trees around us. Providing sufficient light to our surroundings. Fireflies whizzed around between trees and refused to settle in one place. A snake with a fluorescent heart and transparent body crept up a tree next to Lowell.
Lucian, who was clearly used to the odd sight, replied in a bored tone. "Yeah. They are. Don't touch them."
Infrequent lights floated around in the air and occasionally floated closer to me. What are those? They don't look like bugs.
My eyes refocus and suddenly the quality of my sight is so much better. So much so that I can see wings and a person attached to them. Glowing from within and dressed in leaves.
Is that a real fairy? They're called pixies here but my eyes contained the image of a quintessential fairy.
Cute and miniature. I've always wanted to meet one after my traumatizing experience with that psychopath on my birthday.
What the—This is the Sunless forest? It's full of light and life everywhere.
I gawked at the wooden wonderland around me. This is like a dream come true. I looked down and immediately averted my gaze. There goes my dream. Wow. Forget. Forget. Erase. Forget.
Where are his clothes?
I drew out the words dramatically and stared straight ahead at Lowell. Who was currently holding a hand out to a pixie.
I swallowed and inched a little backwards on the stranger's shoulder so I could see Lowell.
"Why…are you naked?"
The pink light pulsed and then landed on his hand. Pink dust emanated from the fairy and I watched with envy. I want to make friends with a pixie too!
He bit out after he realized I was speaking to him."Shifted. Torn up. Deal with it."
Okay...
Lowell sent the pixie off and stomped behind us, infuriated with the current state of affairs. I'm lost with a potential bounty hunter or worse. With a child who can barely control herself or her newfound thirst. Inside a forest with every single danger known and unknown to faekind.
That's it. I'm requesting hazard pay as soon as I get back.
That pixie better send—
"Lowell?"
"Yes, my dear." He immediately slipped on a carefree smile to cover up his thoughts.
"What's hazard pay?"
"..."
Lucian stopped in his tracks before resuming his march towards wherever he was taking them. There better be some gold in this for me or I'm going to start considering eating deer.
Miseria's eyes widened. "Please don't eat Lowell."
"..." Lucian missed a step and almost crashed to the ground.
"What?" Lowell shot Lucian a betrayed look.
Then it clicked for him what that meant. "No. Oh gods. Not another one!" Lowell cried out while clutching at his ears. No. She…she reads minds now? Two? Unacceptable. This was not in my job description. Quick. Don't think of it.
Flashes of Erichean made me shut my eyes and try to block it out. I don't want to see or hear anything I shouldn't. "Why would you blurt something like that out?"
Lucian brought Miseria to eye level and gazed into her eyes. Off-limits girly.
She blinked innocently and remarked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"We're not blurting anything out and you need to stay out of our heads. I mean it. We're almost there."
Almost where?
She listened closely to the sounds around her. The ones that had become exaggerated ever since she woke up. Is that a stream?
Almost home?
Where is he taking us? Eric, I'm going to quit after this.
What's with the vampire girl?
She smells funny?
What's she wearing there? A tiny sun? Helios familia?
A constant stream of thoughts trickled into my ears constantly like a stream. I can't think with all of them being so loud.
I just want to stop. Make it stop. Stop!
Snap.