-Thankyou to my lovely beta, without her this wouldn't be possible!-
I think I might be falling in love with Rowan...
I was tempted to run to the bathroom, but if I did then he would know that something was up. I couldn't tell him. Mary had told me as such, if I were to tell him, then he would break me. I had to pretend to be indifferent to him. Well maybe not indifferent, I mean, we were friends.
Luckily for me, the door opened and Mary tiptoed in. She had forgotten the towels in the bathroom. I carefully climbed off Rowan, grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bathroom. She looked confused,
"Wha' are ya doooing?" She asked her eyes wide,
"Y'know how you told me he would break my heart if I fell in love with him?"
She nodded,
"Well, are you still sure?" I asked tentatively,
She gasped her hand covering her face "Ya didn'? Did ya?"
I nodded my head "what do I do?" I hissed.
"I don' know!" She whispered shaking her head. "I mean I don' really know 'im, I've seen 'im with the young lasses, bu' he never keeps 'em longer than a week. How long has he kept ya for?"
"Urm…" Quickly, I added up the days, "Well I've been here for 2 days and we were in the woods for three days, so that's five so far and I guess in the morning I'll be starting my 6th day."
Mary nodded. "Ya have already ou' lasted mos' of them, bu' he 'ad this one, she lasted a week an' two days. If you las' another 4 days than ya'll be equal. Do ya think ya manage tha'?" She asked me
"I don't know." I replied honestly.
"Well ya'll jus' 'ave to try an' be interesting."
"Interesting?" I asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, well if he doesn' know much abou' ya, surely he'll keep ya longer to try to find ooout?" She reasoned.
"Yes but thats not interesting, its annoying." I told her.
"Weeell, 'ow abou' ya give little snippets of information, but keep 'im guessing abou' the res'. Yeah?" Mary suggested. It sounded like a good idea. I nodded my head. "Now off ya pop. Ya need to ge' back in bed with 'im before he notices ya missing." With that she bustled back out.
I followed her but instead of walking out the door, I made my way back to the bed. Climbing back on top of Rowan, I rested my head on his chest.
"What was that about?" A voice whispered in my ear. I jumped slightly, looking up. Rowan was awake. Remembering Mary's advice I said,
"Wouldn't you like to know."
Rowan snorted. "Yes." He replied "that's why I asked." He pulled me up higher, talking into my shoulder.
"I was trying to be mysterious." I admitted. It seemed the best way to get out of this.
He nuzzled my neck. "Nice job." He replied sarcastically, his voice muffled as he spoke into my neck. I shivered slightly. He flipped me over suddenly. Looking down into his eyes I saw the amusement.
"Its not funny." I said lamely.
"Never said it was." He replied.
I sighed cuddling down into him. He tightened his arms around my body, drawing me closer to him. My eyes were heavy and I felt so safe, there in his arms. I allowed the dark abyss of sleep to wrench my over the edge into its spiralling, inky blackness.
-morning arrives-
When I awoke I was on my side. Rowan had gone, left me. The bed around me was cold, informing me that he had been gone awhile. Stretching I got to my feet. Time to wash.
... a few minutes later...
Wandering around my room, I tried the windows and the door. Neither would budge an inch. Something outside of the window caught my eye. A hunched shape, that looked like a cat. It shivered and looked up at me with huge baleful eyes.
"I'd let you in, but the windows are locked." I told the poor miserable little thing.
"Just say that you give me permission to enter and I can handle the rest." It whimpered, I have no idea how it managed to talk. Although I have hear that some cats can do this. I think they are called cait sithes. Basically, they're normal cats that can talk and are intelligent.
"Alright." I smiled it looked at me hopefully. "I give you permission to enter." I told it.
"You have to state your name." It whispered.
"I, Tyne, give you permission to enter."
Somehow its mouth stretched in to a huge smile, like the Cheshire cat in the Mad Hatter. It's smile was grisly, as it threw itself against the window, shattering it into tiny pieces.
Shattering into tiny pieces, I stumbled back, throwing up my arms to protect my face. When I eventually lowered them, they were covered in scratches. I blinked at it, dumbfounded.
"I can't keep you know. They won't let me!" I exclaimed, looking at the window in horror.
"You don't need to." It growled at me, growing bigger before my eyes, until a huge monster of a cat was standing in front of me. My mouth dropped open. It snarled. I gulped.
"Don't run away. Then I would have to chase you," It purred. out the words. I suddenly felt a strong urge and reluctance to not move. My mind screamed "Are you crazy?! Run youidiot!" I shook my head, turning around and sprinting for the bathroom. The door was open.
I threw myself in, slamming the door behind me and yanking the bolt across. I was just in time, for a second later, the door quivered as large force rammed into it. I scrambled back, looking for a place to hide.
My eyes fell on the wall that separated the shower from the rest of the room. The bathroom had high ceilings and the wall didn't quite reach the top. There was a tiny gap between them, big enough for me? I think so. I started to climb up the pebble wall, making it to the top as a voice floated out from behind the door.
"Come out, come out my littlest one." it crooned, it was laced with sedation and I instantly felt sleepy. It's voice came again, and my eyelids dropped. The last thing I heard was its voice before my eyes closed fully and I lost consciousness.
-switch to Rowan's point of view-
I left Tyne after he fell asleep. I decided it was inappropriate for me, a person in love with him, to sleep with him. Instead I went back to my own room, which was only across the hallway and went to sleep in there. In the morning I then had a meeting. It was almost time for lunch by the time I was free to check in on him. I wasn't really worried as Mary probably would have already done so.
Horror struck up in my heart though the moment I came along that corridor. There was a shape slumped in the hallway. I ran up to it. Mary was snoring softly a platter a few feet away from her, its contents all over the floor. I kicked her awake. She saw me, and her eyes widened.
"Why are you on the floor?" I demanded.
"I', I' told me to sleep and I jus'... did" she stuttered out, clearly confused. I shook my head at her. Shoving open Tyne's door, a large cat was sitting outside the bathroom door. My eyes widened.
I knew what this was. It was a shape changing beast. One moment a sweet little kitten, the next a huge monster, ready to bite off your head. I scanned the room, the furthest left window lay in shards on the floor.
Mary appeared at my shoulder, andopened her mouth, I slapped a hand over it. She wasn't about to give us away. If the cat told you to do something then you would do it. Immediately.
Unsheathing my sword, I stalked up behind it, running it through the neck.
It collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Search this room," I commanded Mary, in case Tyne had tricked it and was hiding in there. Meanwhile I strode up to the door of the bathroom. I shoved against it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Tyne?" I called out "Tyne, let me in!" There was no reply. "Fine then, I'm breaking it down." I waited a few seconds "Tyne let me in!" I called out once more. When that failed, I drew my sword, it glowed blue for a second before I brought it down, in between the door and the wall. Breaking the bolt.
I kicked open the door. "Tyne?!" I called out again. Nothing. His fox whipped between my legs and started mewling at the wall, pawing at it. I ducked around the wall. There was nothing.
"He's not here." I told the fox. The fox leapt at me, climbing up to sit on my head, it took a wild leap at the wall. Glancing up, I caught sight of something hiding on top between the gap of the wall and ceiling. It was Tyne. Relief flooded through me.
"Get down." I told him but he didn't move. His fox, who I had caught when it missed and fell, started to yowl.
"Mary! Get in here." I snapped. She appeared by my side and followed my gaze.
"Oh, 'es alrigh'!" She cried out happily.
"Maybe," I told her. She cocked her head at me. "Go and get my brother. And some gaurds. Tell them I'm ordering them." She nodded her head, vanishing off a few seconds later.
I stood still, keeping my sword drawn and my eyes fixed on Tyne. The fox climbed out of my arms and sat on my shoulder, howling all the while.
"Good grief! What is that racket?" I heard someone exclaim, I had no doubt it was my brother, Sage.
He eventually entered the bathroom. "Won't you shut it up Rowan?" He snapped.
"No." I replied nonchalantly.
"What's up with the dead shape shifter outside the door? Redecorating?" Sage sneered.
"Nope. He let it in." I replied, my eyes were still fixated on Tyne.
"Who?" Sage asked.
"Who do think?" It was glaringly obvious to me.
"Tyne?" Sage asked
"Who else do you know that could accidentally let in a shape shifter?"
Finally, Sage followed my line of sight.
"How on earth did he manage to get up there?" He exclaimed.
"Ask him when he gets down. And wakes up." I replied.
"Oi!" Sage hollered at him. "Wake up!"
"You don't think I haven't tried that?" I asked, astonished by his stupidity.
"What should we do?" Sage asked.
"I'm not sure." I replied wracking my brains. "I want to know how he got up there in the first place."
"Ask him once we have him down. And awake."
I nodded. His fox started howling even louder than before, but neither of us mentioned it, and the guards didn't dare suggest that it should stop.
Sage and I started to come up with ways to try to get him down.
-switch back to Tyne's point of view-
I knew that I wasn't sleeping naturally. It was weird being active in the mind and being able to think properly but not be able to move. I suppose that its sort of like being in a coma. The darkness swirled and spiralled around me, making me feel dizzy. I wondered how long I had been here for. A yowl cut through my thoughts.
It sounded like my fox, but I couldn't be certain. Suddenly my thoughts went back to the evil cat that wasn't a cat, horror clawed at my insides, what if my fox was being torn apart by it. In my horror, I didn't notice I was falling until I was. I somehow managed to twist my body and land in a crouch. My fox was suddenly in my face, licking me. I smiled, scooping him into my lap as I folded my legs under me.
Before I could settle down, I was pulled to my feet.
"How did you get there?" Someone asked at the same time as someone else asked
"Are you alright?" I looked up and saw Sage and Rowan standing there next to me, Rowan was trying to check me over.
"I'm fine." I assured him. He scowled but stopped fussing.
"How did you get up there?" Sage repeated his question.
"I climbed," I stated. Surely it was obvious?
"You climbed?" He sounded incredulous
"Yes," I told him.
"How?" He exclaimed. I sighed,
"Would you like me to show you?" I inquired.
"Yes," He replied.
I passed my fox to Rowan. Then scaled up the wall. It wasn't difficult, I dropped back to the floor, pulling my fox from Rowan's grasp as I did so. Sage was staring at me. I shoved past him into the bedroom. Rowan shadowed me, like a nervous dog.
"You killed it?" Not very intelligent thing to say really but, well, what else could I say. It was lying there spread on the floor, looking surprised. Rowan took me by shoulders and steered my past it. I think that if he hadn't done that I would have stayed there for hours, staring at it, without really seeing.
As it was Rowan sat my down on the bed between his legs with head resting on his shoulder and my little Otto curled up in my lap. The guards took away the creature and fixed the window. I stayed where I was, snoozing in Rowan's lap, as he gently thread his fingers through my hair. I sighed contented. And let my eyes close again.