The unusual interest in her continued for the rest of the day and well into the evening. Nydia glanced at her a few times, but Melody pretended not to notice. Her suspicions were confirmed that Nydia could indeed see them.
She smells of lavender. One of the male invisible-people spoke in his strange tongue and Melody understood it as perfectly as if it were English. He pressed his face into her hair and breathed deeply. It took all her self-control to not show the slightest outward sign nor to turn and punch him in the face. The invisible-people had no respect for personal boundaries. There was several raucous giggles from some of the others nearby. Recently, they had made concentration on anything impossible. Her mother was really starting to worry about her. She was almost as distracted and fidgety as Nydia these days.
She had even seen some of the invisible-people deliberately grope unsuspecting victims. So far they hadn't tried that with her yet and she wasn't sure if she'd have the strength to pretend nothing was happening if they did try it.
After evening prayers were finished, Melody wandered back into the garden. She found Nydia crying in the garden, caught up in a cruel game with the invisible-people where they tried to grope her again and again and she tried to make them stop. That's it. Melody charged forward in anger. She didn't acknowledge them in any way, but her apparent wrath seemed to scatter them briefly. "Nydia, you should go to bed."
Nydia nodded, wiped the tears from her eyes, and fled to her bedroom. The invisible-people were more plentiful in the garden than anywhere else. Melody hated them. She hated them. They had ruined her life for months, stolen away the quiet and tranquility of the garden and now she never had a moment's peace. They were everywhere, there was no privacy anymore. She sat down in the middle of the garden and watched and waited. They crept closer to her. She swore if even one of them touched her, this time she would attack them. This time she would ripe one of them to shreds. But they seemed to sense this somehow, and though they came very close, they did not touch her. Melody found she was able to maintain her personal space for several more hours as she sat there still and silent as stone. They looked like children who wanted to touch, but didn't dare try. A great intensity roiled off her in waves, promising harm to any who disturbed her space.
She woke up the next morning and felt very wet. She looked down and found herself and the bed were soaked with an unusual amount of morning dew and someone had sprinkled green clover all over her. As she brushed herself off with disgust, she heard irritating giggles outside the window. The invisible-people had gotten their revenge for last night, for denying them in their game.
The dark lady was among them today. She had started to appear at times. They gave her a wide berth, which was peculiar in and of itself. They never did that with anyone else. It was even harder not to glare at this new one because she seemed to take amusement in their activities and did nothing to stop them. At one point, Melody had been forced to walk right past the dark lady while pretending she wasn't there. She smelled of mint and thyme with lavender thrown in and there was a darkness about her that said stay away, do not enter this space. But the other sisters seemed oblivious to this. They brushed right past her as if they couldn't feel anything. A rare few seemed to frown and then move to the side slightly when they passed but that was all. Melody was forced to walk through that space too, it felt like fingernails scrapping on stone as she walked through that darkness. But she really had no choice. To steer around it would reveal she could sense it and she didn't want to draw any attention to herself.
When the dark lady had first appeared, Nydia had openly gaped at her until Melody kicked her discreetly under the dinner table. Appearing to gape at thin air wasn't smart. But Melody had watched out of the corner of her eye as the dark lady had smiled at Nydia and then wandered away.
Nydia and Melody cleaned the alter room together one long afternoon. The alter room was the one place the invisible-people never seemed to come to. For once, Melody had some privacy. She relaxed her shoulders and let out a sigh. "You can see them, can't you?" Nydia's small voice spoke up.
"What?" Melody asked, feigning bewilderment.
"That dark woman, I've never seen her before, but I have a really bad feeling. She's not like the others." Nydia continued.
"You realize I have no idea what you're rambling about." Melody declared.
Nydia gave her an angry look. "You're a really bad liar."
Melody snatched a piece of paper from a table and wrote They might hear us. And then glared pointedly at the windows around them.
Nydia decided to humor her paranoia and wrote back on the paper. They understand our language?
I'm sure of it. And I bet they can read too.
Melody snatched up the paper, tore it into a thousand pieces, and fed it to the nearby fireplace.
After that, Nydia never tried to speak of the invisible-people again, but she stayed closer than ever to Melody. Melody felt slightly happier. At last, she had someone who knew the same as her what was really going on. They couldn't actually say anything aloud, but they said many things to each other with their eyes.
Everything was going great, but then one day Nydia disappeared.
Melody was frantic. The entirety of Avalon Abbey was on edge. One of their own had disappeared without a trace. Secretly, Melody blamed the invisible-people. She didn't have any proof, but she didn't know who else would delight in making people disappear. The urge to confront them grew stronger.
And the plot thickens...Please Review!
