Every two years they showed up. They take a herd of young girls and some of them never come back. No one really talks about it because they all know what happens. They die. They get eaten alive.

"Ok," Neevh said as she lay in the grass looking up at the sky. She didn't really know what happened to the girls but she wasn't about to find out. Even though she daydreamed about the Feralonians she didn't want to really have to find out first hand. Who knows what really happens to the girls who get taken away.

Only two days before the Dochma, the leader of Feralon, comes to choose new girls and bring back what's left of the old. Neevh flicked her wrist and the basket moved forward towards her so she could reach in and grab a bottle of water. Her mind grabbed onto the molecules as easily as if her own hand had clasped the basket. It seemed mindless enough but the action was purely out of instinct from doing it for so long. Two days. Ha. I'll be long gone by then.

What will I do? The Feralonians were very intimidating and they were slightly larger than her species. Not too large mind you but large enough to be unsettling. I will just have to leave before they come. If I am in the woods when they visit they will have no idea I even exist. That is silly. They have utter control of our world and they knew I existed the moment I was born. Neevh lay in her thoughts for a long time before she got up. Her back was sore from the hard ground and she felt a headache coming along. She opened up her mind and felt the slightest tug on her perception for the shortest second then it was gone. In her experience it was better to ignore it, out here it is an animal with high intelligence. Those buggers always screw up the radar.

"I need to get away from here," Neevh sighed as she stretched on her toes.

Neevh pulled the basket into her arms and folded up her blanket so she could stuff it into the basket along with some left over food. Her small feet pushed into the grassy knoll as she walked down a well trodden path. She knew it by heart. Her home. The grasses grew high around the walkway and Neevh pushed her hands through its silky golden fluff as she passed by. The trees billowed in the breeze and brought the scent of cedar and pine.

Her skirt billowed in the evening wind as it started to pick up. She could smell some sweet tangy mixture coming from the small cabin. She already knew what it was not because of the smell but because she had heard her mother's thoughts this morning. She had come home to the same scent many times before but this time felt different.

"Mother the pie smells wonderful," she said as she walked through the door.

No sound erupted as it usually did. Neevh threw her mind out of her head and towards the rooms. She could usually feel her mother's strong aura, her thoughts but now she felt almost nothing. Almost was still something and she shouted again as her steps got more frantic. She could hear her blood pounding in her head as she searched every room. Finally she reached the last door. The kitchen. She opened it slowly but when she saw her mother doubled over she pushed it aside quickly. She stepped forward swiftly as she knelt next to her frail clammy body.

"What is it that hurts mama," she whispered as if her voice would break her.

"Everything hurts," her mother mummbled.

"Lay down so I can look at you."

Neevh sat close to her as she opened her mind. It was a feather touch that trailed around her mother's own thoughts. She whispered down her spine and into her veins, she pulsed with the blood and fluctuated with her breathing. Neevh could feel her mind probing through her mothers body slowly like a snake she coiled around her heart to feel for any abnormalities. It was hard work but she knew she could do the job and get it right. Then it was there. It flickered like a small red ball of light. It was clogging a vein like sludge.

Neevh simply had to free the red like grunge from her vein. It was fairly simple work for her but it made her think of how fragile the human body really was in this world. Part of Neevh wanted to cry at the thought of her mother in trouble. What if I hadn't been here? Her body shivered under this new thought then she set her mind to the obstruction gradually using white light to shift it. The little ball was coming loose and she smiled in triumph, as the light got stronger and more frequent. She could feel it budge and she pushed the white light brighter. Finally it moved and then disappeared as if obliterated.

She pulled herself back into her body and her body jolted. Her mother lay on the floor silent with her eyes closed. She shook her mother softly.

"Mama,"

"Help me to my bed Neevh,"

"Ok mama."