"So you knew about this?" I ask accusingly. They should have clued me in. How am I suppose to keep them safe if they don't clue me in?
Raven removed the Saint-Johns-Wart from the top of the vine framed Trod that we were suppose to take into the wyldwood and then took off. I was confused about her. She appeared to be human and yet she could see Fey. And she even knew about a deal that was between my parents. If they wouldn't give me the answers I wanted, right now, then I am going to track her down and demand them.
Sage, Rowan and Ash had sheathed there swords once again and had moved from there protective stance around me, as if I couldn't defend myself. After all, I'm apparently a daughter of Zeus brother, so I can totally beat there butts all the way back to the Unseelie Court and still have enough energy to fight a dragon. Right?
"It's not out place to question the Queen, sister. If your going to survive in the Unseelie Court then you need to learn that. Quick." Rowan drawled land leaned on his hip.
"You could have told me." All of there calmness infuriated me. They all stood there and waited for the questions. "Why would Mab even want me if it put you's at risk?"
Sage was the one to speak up. He said in a soothing voice to get me to calm down, "With all of the Iron and disbelieve in the Mortal world would have eventually caused you to fade away into nothing. The only reason you're still her is because your Fey side is dominate. But you would not have lasted till your eighteenth birthday. You would have lived until you were seventeen if we did not come to take you."
"I would have found a way." I always had. And I always will. I am going to keep them from being in danger for as long as i can make possible.
"It does not matter. Queen Mab has ordered you home."
This argument is impossible. Im preaching to a brick. I thought. They wouldn't listen to me if I gave a thousand different ideas, I could tell the response would always be the same about obeying the Queen. If thats all my life is going to be about there then I'm not sure i want to go. But they're all I have left now. Rowan killed the rest of my screwed up family. There's no where to run but to hide until I'm 18.
"You can't be taken if you can't catch me."
Alarm shoots across there face. That's the last I see of them because when I turn around the trees are flying past me a million miles an hour. The wind blew through my long black hair and my clothes rippled at the speed. My white sneakers dashed across the muddy ground and bounced over roots and boulders. I zigged and zagged through the brush and scaled trees to hope onto the top edge of gullies, hoping my black hoody would help conceal me in the night.
They were never far behind. Sage and Rowan were at my sides and I suspected Ash was behind me. Every time i would pass a tree they would blink into sight for a moment then go back to invisible. I was constantly worried they would catch me and drag me where ever they were headed because I'm doing this for there own good. Even if it means Mab has to wait a few years.
Rowan dived in to tackle me, but I jumped over him and caught onto a branch that stopped me. I dropped to the ground. They stopped and turned around. I bolted another direction. We played this game for hours. They would try to catch me and I would do something random to escape and they would be hot on my trail a few seconds later.
Then they disappeared completely.
I screeched to A halt. My lungs sucked air in hungrily and I struggled to stay on my feet. Maybe they got tired awhile back and stopped for a break. Once I had regained my breath I looked around. These woods were familiar. I remembered coming here a lot when it was summer and hot out. I was next to the Canyon. The Canyon is a swimming spot out in the woods where there's a huge 70ft plummet until you hit water. It's always a dare to see who will jump and who can get down the fastest.
The trail was thin and bare as the grass here was dead and still had snow piles every so often.
Weeds rustled from behind me. I sprinted up the trail and didn't even glance back. In no time at all I came to the opening in the trail where the dirt and weeds stopped and rock was under every step. The sky was prominent and peaceful. Without stopping, I glance back. A deer walked out of the trail and stared at me with its white tail sticking up.
Feeling ridiculous, I slow down and look ahead of me. My eyes sudden when I see a redheaded, seventeen year old boy with a brown hoody and green hunter pants holding a vile of sparkling blue liquid that smelled of youth.
We spot eachother at the same time. By the time I started to stop I was only a few inches away from him.
We smack into eachother with enough force to send us flying off the edge of the cliff. The sparkiling blue liquid flew out of the bottle and soaked our clothes, then, we splash into the water below.
In the water a tingling sensation spread across me. It went as soon as it vanished, so I thought nothing of it. I swam to the surface and took a breath of air. I only jumped a few times before and it scares me every time. A lot of people don't even do it because its to high.
"Oops."
I turn. The boy I had crashed into looked younger. A lot younger. Instead of havering the appearance of a teenager he looked like a twelve year old. The red head bursted out laughing.
"What?" My voice comes out high and shrill, tiny and nothing like my own voice. Reaching to feel my neck I find that my hands are small to. "What did you do to me?" I hiss.
His face was red with mirth. The boy only stopped long enough to say, "Your a toddler."
"No I'm not." Impossible. I can't be. But the boys sudden change in age scares me. What I'm a toddler? I raise my arms and look at them. They were shorter and had a little bit of chub to them. The same went for my legs... My clothes were gone. I screamed and tried to cover myself while swimming.
The boy kept laughing, though not nearly as hard as before. His clothes here only big and still stayed on. I must have been so small I floated threw them.
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." I warned. The water around us started to stir, though it seemed harder to control for some reason. Like it did when I first started to play with magic.
He stopped laughing. "Aww, are you threatening me little girl?" The boy talks in a baby voice.
With everything I have I force my hands forward, intending to create a huge wave and smash him like a bug on the canyon. The water ripples and moves with my hands, churning as I command it. The rush of water goes up two feet and pushes him back a few feet. I scream in frustration.
"What did you do to me?" I yell and hold out my hands, focussing on the water surrounding him.
"What were you doing slapping the bottle of Forever Young out of my hands?" He asks sarcastically with that stupid grin on his face.
My energy foucases on tightening my hands, which was so much harder then it use to be. The water gets colder and colder, turning into slush. My arms tremble. My energy spent, I release the hold on the water and gasp for air. This shouldn't be that hard!
"Thats cute." He croons. "Don't worry, chicka, this potion was only a temporary one. It could wear off anytime in the next 50 years..." The boys green eyes roll into the back of his head as if he was thinking.
50 years? Im going to be stuck like this for fifty freaking years? Argh! If I could kill him anyway I wanted I would knit a sweater with his instestins!
Quickly, he checks my expression, then goes back to grinning. "...Or in the next few muinets."
My shirt floated past me along with my underwear. We began arguing and I tried to fashion my clothes to fit so I tied them, but my shirt pretty much acted like a dress. He asked my why I don't just glamour some clothes and then I had to admit that I didn't know how, and that sent him drowning in laughter. Literally.
"Goodfellow, what did you do to my sister?" Ash called out from shore. The shore was only about ten feet off from where we were. Rowan and Sage stood beside him. There was no where to run.
Goodfellow looked at Ash, confused. "You have a sister? Why didn't you tell me?" He snapped his fingers. "I should have guessed she was related to you somehow. She also tried to kill me." He was only half serious the entire time, like he was joking.
"Well, she should be easier to handle." Rowan murmured to Sage.
"So whats her name, Ice-Boy? Or should I call her Ice-Girl?"
After a moment Ash drew his sword and an icy cold leaked from his body. He took a step forward and narrowed his eyes. "You know I'm going to kill you. For her."
Goodfellow gave an exasperated sigh, but it sounded forced like the cheer he slapped on his face. "If you must." He turned into a black raven with green eyes, almost looking like a baby, and flew off with ice daggers right behind him.
I panicked and looked for a way out. If I was normal then I could easily keep running, but I'm stuck as a three year old and my powers, and I'm guessing me speed and strength, are now midget strength.
They pull me out of the water and I was suddenly not wearing my sopping wet clothes, but a small silver dress. For a moment I wondered if this what he meant by glamouring clothes. Sage held me and kept me from running off again. I tried to kick and squirm but now he was much, much stronger then me. Ash and Rowan argued about some girl and killing that guy that turned me into a kid.
Eventually, I tired myself out and stopped fighting. They might be doing something to me or I might just be worn out, but I felt calm and just wanted to rest. By the time we got back to the Trod it was the afternoon and everyone had stopped trying to kill each other with words. In the sun the vines looked even more unreal. They were so out of place.
We stepped through the Trod in a rush of energy. On the other side a battle raged around us. Short little green, warty men killed each other with spears and clubs, eating freshly fallen enemies. Two larger ones with yellow and red eyes battered the other in the center of everything. The forest around us was quiet and looked desaturated and the trees were taller then the school. It was like those grand forests artists are always painting in fairy tales and children's books.
Rowan, Sage and Ash all started cutting down the little green men who came to close. While Sage swung his sword I was being tossed side to side violently and clung onto his neck so I wouldn't slip into the battle unarmed. Once again my blood boiled: because I couldn't do anything to help my brothers.
The little men fought with clumsiness and rage, a complete contrast from the winter fey protecting me. My brothers swung there swords like a hypnotic dance, never moving out of a protective stance and always hitting there swords mark. As sage twirled around with me in his arms I caught brief flashes of everything going on around us.
The two bigger ones stopped fighting and took notice to us. While Sage was deflecting a spear from his leg I caught a glimpse of them shaking hands and charging at us. All of the short smelly men stopped fighting eachother and charged at us. Black blood was splattered everywhere be swords and glamour.
The strong sent of blood attacked my senses and I caught glimpses of fallen things being eaten by each other.
My stomach growled.
A green man. One with large, gnarled, sharp yellow teeth, hobbled towards Sages back. He didn't make a sound and licked his bloody lips with a pointed black tounge. He snuck up behind my brother and I started to yell. He took Sages upper lag and tore his nasty teeth through his muscles. Sage cried out and fell to the ground. His arm dropped me and I rolled through pools of blood.
Quickly, I sat up and looked around for Sage or Rowan or Ash. I couldn't see them. Those green men surrounded me and laughed at my misfortune. Each one of them carried a crudely made spear and knives, snapping there teeth together.
My heart hammered. I stood and instinctavly took on the offensive. My hands raised and the ground pulsed intime with my heart beat, but the ground didn't move. I fouscased the energy around us and tried to form a ball of fire. The ball of blue fire flickered weakly in my palms. They laughed and stepped towards me.
I launched the fire ball at the one closest to me and hit him directly in the chest. He stumbled backward and smoke streamed from a scorch mark on his shirt. Another one came from my side and raised his spear. Time slowed as he stabbed it down ward. Three others raided there weapons and did the same. My legs were stiff and I watched the spear head get closer and closer.
"Crystal!" Someone shouted beyond the wall of green.
Grrrrr! I feel like more should be happening per chapter.
So thats it! I'm going to try my damnedest to have at least three minor plot twists and try to get at least one major per two chapters, give or take. Because two points of action a chapter is not good enough for my writing, I say!