Chapter Ten

As soon as the faerie was out of sight, I pushed myself off the floor, and ran to my siblings. Well, if I could still call them my siblings, they were after all animals.

Gwen scurried towards me, her tiny little legs moving as fast as they could, her brown fur, the exact shade of her hair, shone in the midday sun. Her large black eyes stared at me as she got closer and closer to me.

I bent down and held out my hands to her, and she scrambled over my palms and sat there. She was so small and delicate. I could feel her tiny heart beating so fast, and she was trembling all over. I wanted to burst into tears again. How had that happened so quickly?

The others made their way towards me, all with varying degrees of success. Alexander was climbing up my skirts very quickly, his long bushy tail out behind him to help him balance. Daniel and Clara, who were now birds, found it difficult to balance and walk on their new legs, and fell over multiple times before getting close to me. Richard was still curled up in a ball, hiding from the world. I could tell he was terrified, utterly terrified. Robbie was a little shaky on four legs, but seemed to get the hang of it soon enough. Tom was very fast on his feet. He ran towards me and hid behind my legs.

'How could you?' I heard a loud voice shout from behind me.

I turned around slowly, careful not to drop Gwen out of my hands.

'You brought his wrath down on us!' The Baker's wife shouted at me.

I opened my mouth to shout back, but instantly remembered, I couldn't speak.

Well, I could speak, but in order to break this curse, I couldn't. And of course, I would stay silent for the sake of my family. There was no question about it.

I closed my mouth slowly, swallowing the words in my throat.

'He could have cursed us all! You brought him to the village!' The butcher yelled.

My mind raced. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't speak, couldn't defend myself, or my family.

I placed Gwen carefully in the shallow pocket of my dress, and held out my hands to the crowd of people, all with wrathful looks on their faces.

I tried waving my arms, trying to say 'No, this wasn't our fault.'

But, no one got the message.

'You could have harmed all of us. You and your stupid family!' The Farmer said.

Their words stuck deep. I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. I'd known these people my entire life. These people had been in Rault for as long as I could remember, and now they had all turned on me. The Farmer had worked with Father all of his life. He was barely even cold in his grave, and here was the Farmer shouting at us.

I fought down tears again. What was happening?

'Get out, we don't want you here!' The Baker cried.

Several other people from the back of the crowd began to shout at me, various choruses of 'Get out', 'Leave', 'We don't want you here'. The tears stung my eyes as more and more people joined in.

I was scared, so very scared. I had no idea what to do, how to protect my brothers and sisters, and how to stop the entire village from hating us.

I reached into my pocket and brought out Gwen, holding her carefully in my hand. Then, I turned and ran. My siblings got the message and they all followed me.

All, except Richard who was still rolled up in a ball. Robbie saw this and nudged him with his nose, until Richard uncurled and Tom helped him onto Robbie's back. The three of them ran behind me, Alexander still clinging to my skirt. Daniel and Clara were waddling along as best they could, still trying to get used to the fact they no longer had arms, only wings.

We all fled, ran away from the shouting and the screaming that followed us. I fought the sobs and the tears threatening to spill. I just kept moving.

I had to get them away, get them home, somewhere safe. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to do something. There was no sign of the faerie, he had just disappeared as though he had never been there in the first place.

By the time we got to the cottage, I was out of breath, and losing my battle with tears. I transferred Gwen to one hand, and flung the door open. Running inside, I placed Gwen down on the table, and Alexander let go on my skirt. I watched as two birds, a fox, a hedgehog and a fawn came running through the door. As soon as they were all inside, I slammed the door shut with as much force as I could muster.

All of them stared at me out of their animal eyes.

What had I done? What had they done?

How could that Faerie do this to us?

If I ever saw him again, I was going to kill him. I didn't care about consequences; I was going to kill him for what he had done.

The only way to break the spell he said was for me to not speak a word for a year.

A year.

An entire year.

How on earth was I going to manage that? I liked to talk, I talked far too much. This was going to be nearly impossible.

Nearly impossible, but not completely. Of course I was going to remain silent. They were my family; I would do anything for them. Including this. If it meant I had a year of hardship to break this curse, I would do it.

Seven pairs of eyes still stared at me, hoping I would know what to do.

I consciously kept my mouth closed. I couldn't say anything by accident. Part of me secretly had wanted that faerie to just keep my voice. That way, this year would be so much easier; I wouldn't even have to think about it.

But, he had given me my voice, so now I had to be very careful about what I did. Any small noise from me would result in the curse not being broken. And I couldn't do that, I would not fail.

We got all of about two minutes of silence before we heard it. My head snapped to the door. There was shouting and screaming and chanting, all of it telling us to leave the village.

That had been his final curse. He had cursed all the people of Rault to hate us, that was what he had meant when he had spat 'No one can stand you.' Just before he had left.

I knew they were under a spell, knew they had no choice in it.

But it didn't make it hurt any less.

These were the people who had always been a part of my life. The people who made up my home. And now, they hated me, enough to force me out of the village.

I wanted to run outside and beg for forgiveness. I wanted them to stop shouting. I wanted everything back the way it was that morning.

But I couldn't. I couldn't go back.

We heard them get closer and closer and closer. Richard curled back up into a ball again. Several of the others exchanged glances, and some of them were still examining their new bodies, trying to get to grips with how everything worked.

They were coming, and soon.

We had to leave. We had to get out. At least until the hate died down. I didn't want to think of what they might do while under a spell, it was too horrible.

I ran into our bedroom. My carpet bag was still propped against the door. It had only been half emptied. With everything that had happened since I got back home, I hadn't had time to unpack it, so many of my belongings from Milton were still packed up. I threw some other clothes in, nightgowns for me and the girls, and some of Clara and Gwen's under-things.

I sprinted back to the front door and placed the bag down. Then, picking up another old bag we possessed, I went into the boy's bedroom and began to throw some clothes for the boys in, one pairs of trousers each, one shirt, some under things and some nightclothes each. I also shoved in some blankets and other little things.

It didn't take very long, and before I knew it, there were three bags full of our stuff ready by the door. I strapped one of the bags over my shoulders and held the other two in my hands. I nodded to Alexander, the squirrel, who jumped from the table to the top of one of the bags. Richard was pushed onto Tom's back and I lifted up Gwen to perch her on my shoulder. Daniel and Clara stood behind me, ready to go.

I would have looked back on our little cottage. I would have glanced over it one last time savouring the memories, and becoming all sentimental about it.

But, we had no time.

The crowd of people, more like a mob, were almost outside our house. We had to leave, right then.

I checked one last time that I had all of them, and then opened the door, for what may have been the last time.

Sunlight filled my vision for a split second, then the mob came into view. All of their faces were fixed on me, in a horrid vicious expression. Some of them looked almost murderous. I didn't want to stay around long enough to find out if they felt as murderous as they looked.

I darted out of the house, watching as all my siblings followed me, and then shut the door firmly behind them.

The mob almost slowed down for a moment, but we didn't wait around. As soon as the door clicked shut, I sprinted as fast as I could around the side of the house, making for the back gate. It swung open with ease, and I ran.

I didn't look back, I couldn't.

I focused on the tree line of the forest directly ahead of me and ran straight for it. I could only hope my siblings were keeping up with me.

Behind us, jeering and shouting continued, and I tried to ignore it the best that I could. They were under a spell; they couldn't help themselves. And I tried, I really did. I tried to make it not bother me, tried to force the nasty and horrid things they said out of my mind. But some of it still hit me and hurt me.

I kept running. One foot in front of the other.

Eventually, the noise began to die down, as we got further and further away. We hit the tree line, and darted into the forest and out of sight of the village, and the villagers.

I walked for a good while, making sure that my siblings were still following me every so often. We were far away from the village and could no longer hear the yells and shouts of the villagers. In the silence of the forest, I tried to decided what we were going to do.

We had been forced out of our home, with nowhere to go. And just to top it all off, my siblings were now animals, and I had to stay silent for an entire year.

A whole year.

How on earth was I going to manage to do that? I could barely go an hour without speaking, let alone a year. This was almost an impossible task; one I wasn't sure I was completely up for. But I had to be, I had no choice in the matter. This was my family. I had to do this for them.

I kept walking, and the forest got thicker and thicker. I had no clue where we were going. I just had to get them all away from Rault, at least until the frenzy of whatever spell had been placed on the villagers had died down a bit.

I thought of maybe trying to get word to Blanche. She could maybe hide us all in the cave for a little while. But, the problem with that plan was that I needed to shout out to the birds. And I had a slight problem with shouting at that moment. I had tried to think of other ways to get the message to her, but I was almost certain that birds couldn't read.

So, we were stuck. And I was at a loss as to what to do.

We had just run. We hadn't even thought about staying and resisting them. We had just fled our home. The place where all of us were born, the place where Mother and Father had both died, the place that was dearest in the world to all of us.

And we had just abandoned it.

No, I had. I had made the choice, not them. I was the only human among us now, and I had made the choice to run away. This was my fault. If I just kept my mouth shut, if I had stopped them from going out for the competition, maybe if I had gone with them. I could have stopped them from taking from that faerie. Maybe I could have fought him right then and there before they were all bound up.

What if Father knew? If he could somehow see what had happened from where ever he was now. He would be so mad and disappointed in me. I had promised him I would look after them all, and now they were all cursed, and we were fleeing our home.

We got deeper and deeper into the forest, and I still had no clue where we were going. I considered just walking to the cave. Blanche may turn up at some point, and I could try and explain to her what happened. I knew she could read, so maybe I could write it in the dirt. But I had no idea how often she slept in that cave. I only saw her once every three months, and we possibly only stayed there because it was near the path between Rault and Milton. I had no clue if she was normally there, or if she even stayed in that area of the forest for long. In truth, I knew very little about Blanche, and now I couldn't speak, I had very little chance of finding anything else out about her.

I kept walking, animals at my feet, and birds a little way behind me. I could hear Clara trying to flap her wings, in a failed attempt at flight. Gwen was still clinging onto my shoulder, and Alexander had climbed his way from the bag in my hand up to my forearm. He squeaked something out, and Gwen came running down from my shoulder to my elbow to meet him. He took her in his paws, and held on in a sort of embrace. It looked so strange, a squirrel and a field mouse, but they were my siblings.

Alexander moved back down to the bag, still holding onto little Gwen. I continued to walk, listening to the bird song in the silence of the forest.

Birdsong. Last time I'd heard that, it was when Blanche and I ran away to the mysterious cottage.

Wait, maybe… maybe if Blanche couldn't help me, maybe Rose could. Rose lived in the forest, away from the world. Rose's cottage couldn't be that far away. She might help me, she did before. Her aunts wouldn't be thrilled, but if I could just get through to them, how desperate we were, and what had happened, they'd have to help, surely.

We should go to Rose, she could help. At least for one night. We just needed somewhere to stay for the night that was safe and dry. I needed a few hours to just think about what on earth we were going to do for the immediate future.

I just had to retrace the path I had taken from Rose's cottage to Rault just under a month ago. I could just about remember where to go.

Even if Rose, or her aunts, wouldn't let me stay, I could get her to just shout for Blanche, make our plight known to her. If we could somehow tell the birds, they could get the message to Blanche. She'd come and help. She had to. After everything we had been through, I knew Blanche would come through for me. There was no doubt in my mind, she'd would help.

My pace picked up. At least now I had a destination. I just had to hope that I could somehow get the message to Rose about what had happened. I could do it, I had no choice. This was my family, and I would be damned if I let anything else happen to them, anything at all. I'd already failed once; it was never happening again. I would break this curse on them, and get them back to normal. I just had to get them to safety first.

To the cottage in the woods.

We arrived a few hours later. It took longer than I had expected, but we were forced to go slower than when I had made the trip before, due to the rather irritating fact that my siblings were now animals, and had significantly smaller legs than I did. They toddled along as best they could. Daniel even occasionally tried to flap his new wings, but he never got very far off the ground. It looked very strange, a raven walking, not flying. He and Clara were the slowest walkers, but they were now built for flying, not walking, so I guessed it was no surprise.

When we finally could see the cottage through the trees, I almost wept with joy. We were here, safety at last. It looked exactly the same as I had last seen it, with only the small exception of there was no smoke coming out of the chimney. But, it was now the end of April, so the weather was significantly warm enough to not have a fire.

We'd had no food since that morning, and my belly was beginning to ache again. And I was so shaken up and emotional, I thought I was going to burst into tears as soon as soon as I saw Rose. I'd have to make sure they were silent tears though, thanks to this stupid curse.

I practically ran to the front door, all my brothers and sisters seemed to work out that this was where we were headed. I couldn't exactly tell them, and even if I could, I wasn't sure they'd be able to understand me in this form. I had heard some of them squeak and squawk at each other, so I guessed that they could all understand and speak to each other.

But just not me.

I couldn't interpret what they were saying, and I couldn't say anything back.

I was alone.

I reached the front door, eagerly hoping that Rose would be able to help all of us. I lifted my fist and pounded at the door, as loudly as I could.

Alexander hopped off the bag and landed just before the door. Gwen was still in his arms, but he let her down so she could scurry around. Tom and Robbie, or now a Fox and a Fawn, joined us in the doorway, Richard was still on Robbie's back. Daniel and Clara eventually caught up, and loitered behind me.

There was no response from the cottage. I heard nothing, not even some vague footsteps. I knocked on the door again, trying to make the sound louder.

We waited in silence. There was still nothing on the other side of the door.

Again, and again, I knocked, hoping that someone would here.

Still nothing.

I still knocked, over and over again.

Nothing.

Where was Rose? Why wasn't she answering the door?

I got more and more desperate. If she wasn't answering the door, I really had nowhere to turn.

The other began to catch on that whatever plan I tried, I'd failed. I had failed them. I had tried to get them somewhere safe, and I had failed them. I kept hitting the door, hope dwindling with each attempt.

She wasn't coming, she wasn't here. She wasn't going to help.

I swallowed the lump in my throat the best I could, I had failed.

My face fell towards the ground, where Alexander the squirrel was looking up at me with his large grey eyes. He knew I had failed, and I didn't know what to do. He probably felt as bad as I did with what happened, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Something flashed in the corner of my eye, brown and small. Gwen scurried across the wooden porch of the cottage, and under a small crack in the wood by the floor. I saw her go before my mind could work out what it had just seen. She just disappeared.

I fell to my knees almost instantly, trying to see where she went. But my head was too large to get my eye to be level with the ground. Alexander also noticed this, and tried to fit his head through the small gap in the wood, but to no avail.

I wanted to shout for her, to tell her to come back, but I couldn't. It was so frustrating not being able to speak, I hated it.

Alexander began to say something, but I couldn't understand a single sound. I wasn't fluent in animal, a skill all my siblings seemed to have grasped instantly. I tried to ignore the jealously creeping into my mind. They were cursed, they hadn't chosen to exclude me.

But I was excluded. I had to be silent, for them. It was all for them. And yet, they could still all communicate with each other, and I had been denied that.

Gwen still hadn't returned through the crack, and she wasn't responding with little squeaks. So, I stood up as fast as I was able, and wrenched the door open.

I didn't care that it wasn't my house, and that I really should just be walking in. But I had to make sure my baby sister was alright, I just had to. I pulled the door open, and almost ran inside.

Gwen was scurrying up a leg of the table, perfectly fine and safe.

But the rest of the cottage.

It was bare.

Empty.

All of the things that had filled that room; the vases, the rugs, the washing. It was all gone. All that remained was a bare table and some chairs. The room was dark, as it had been the last time I had seen it, but now it was covered in a thin layer of dust. It was uncleaned, uncared for, unlived in.

There was no one here. No sign of Rose, or her aunts.

It was definitely the same house, there was no doubt about that, but in a strange way it was not the same. A ghost house.

I walked towards the table where Gwen was now sat onto, and placed the bags I had been carrying down. Laying my hands on the dusty wood, Gwen ran into my palm.

I heard the rest of them scurry and waddle through the door and move around the room.

I turned around, holding onto the tiny field mouse in my hands. All six of them had moved through the doorway, and were now exploring the cottage they had found themselves in.

Passing Gwen to Alexander, I looked around the room, trying to find anything familiar. Or at least some clue as to where Rose was.

There was nothing. And it appeared like there had been nothing for a little while.

I took the small staircase at the back right hand side of the cottage, and went to look around upstairs. I hadn't been up there before, only staying in the basement before. I found two rooms; one to the left and one to the right. The one to the left was small, and contained one single bed, no linens or sheets on it. Nothing else lay on the floor, or by the window. Just an empty room with a bed.

The room on the other side was almost identical, although much bigger. This time, three unmade beds lay side by side.

One for each of Rose's aunts.

This must have been their room. Which would make the smaller one Rose's.

They had all just gone, left, without a trace.

Disappeared.

I carefully closed the doors to both rooms, and made my way back down stairs, to where all my siblings still appeared to be squeaking at each other in their own animalistic language. I pulled back a chair and sat in it. Alexander, Daniel and Richard turned to look at me first, the inquisitive expression on their faces obvious.

They wanted to know why we were here, and how I knew about this place.

One by one, the rest of my siblings turned to face me, all of them looking curious.

I glanced around quickly for a piece of paper and a pencil, but there was nothing. In the end, I pointed my finger out before me, and drew words in the dusty surface of the table.

We'll be safe here. For now. I wrote.

There was no point trying to go anywhere else today. We were all exhausted. It was far too late to go back into the forest and hope we could find somewhere else to spend the night. Maybe Rose might be back tomorrow, I was sure she wouldn't mind too much for us to spend one night in the empty cottage.

Alexander clambered up the back of the chair I was sat on. He jumped onto the table, landing next to the writing. His head tilted to one side whilst he read what was written, before turning back to me and nodding his little furry head slowly.

Daniel tried to flap his wings in order to get high enough to see what was written in the dust. He tried, and failed. He got about four inches off the ground before plummeting back down to the ground, landing beak first. Clara used her long neck to grab him and pull him upright again. He shook himself off, relatively unhurt. It looked very odd, a bird who couldn't fly. But, he had only been a bird for a few hours, he couldn't be expected to know everything just yet.

The room in the cottage got darker and darker, as the sun began to set behind the grey clouds in the distance. My siblings had a little wander around the cottage, curious to see where exactly they were. It got progressively blacker, until I was forced to see if I could find any candles. Luckily, there was a small drawer in the kitchen that hadn't been emptied of candles and cutlery and other little things.

I found small twigs outside the cottage, and a few larger logs, and placed them in the fire place, before lighting them with a small candle. The fire erupted from the wood, spilling much needed light into the dark room. I lit some more candles in a small attempt of trying to ensure we could see something for the next hour or two.

Finally, the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and darkness fell.

It lasted all of about two seconds, before light filled the room.

All seven of my siblings began to glow. Small ribbons of golden light exploded around them, wrapping them up and consuming them. I watched in horror as all of them became golden balls of light once again. Then, all of a sudden, the light disappeared.

There before me, was all my brothers and sister. Completely human.

They were all human again.

They were all back.

Tears clouded the edges of my vision, as I beheld them; before I fell to my knees before them, collapsing under the pressure of the day.