Act II
Scene IV
Sarah found herself leaning against the library elevator wall. The cool metallic against her back continuously reminding her of her new predicament. She could not believe her backpack was somewhere in that godforsaken forest surrounded by who knew what type of crime scene.
Sarah had spent about an hour wandering the dense forest in search of her backpack, to no avail. She had absolutely no clue where she was when the fight had ensued. Frustrated, she had bumbled her way out of the forest and toward the library. All the while back she made sure to re-trace her snow prints and sweep them from the earth with a thick branch behind herself.
It wasn't like Sarah had had a good view of what the knight did to Abby. Though, Sarah had a sneaking suspicion it would be something similar to the past two incidents.
Feeling dread start to creep up on her, Sarah pushed herself from the elevator wall and looked down at her free hand. The other one was holding her laptop which she had mindlessly grabbed as she was internally repressing freaking out in front of Marge.
Her hands hadn't been tingling since she got back.
Since "she" sent herself back.
The elevator lurched to a stop. She quickly stepped off and made her way to the student café.
It didn't open until 7am, so she had over an hour to kill figuring out what the heck she was going to do next.
Sarah scrapped a chair back, and settled down in front of her computer.
She quickly booted up the machine, and opened up her campus email. She also, by impulse, opened up several tabs for the various newspapers in the surrounding areas. She had been checking since her incident on updates on possible knight activity. It didn't occur to her then that she might need to keep an eye on incidents surrounding her own activity.
She sighed in frustration, putting a hand through her straight hair.
She deleted some spam, and then settled on the email she had opened from Prof. Aegerter. The message where he had told her to be careful, and had inadvertently further implicated Sarah.
Sarah quickly deleted the email. She didn't have much IT experience, but she was starting to get really paranoid.
Though, if things were really going to blow up in her face, she should probably talk with Aegerter.
She quickly sent an email asking for his office hours to further discuss her essay on "fae forklore". It was totally not a real thing, but he would probably get the hint that she needed to talk with him.
Sarah shut her laptop and blankly stared at the wooden doors that led to the back stacks.
Memories of someone calling her name flashed before her.
The voice had been soft, and decidedly masculine. It also was very much like the Goblin King's.
Did that mean his tale of not being able to cross over had been a lie?
Her brow furrowed.
He had probably lied about a lot of stuff. His offer to "help" her was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
It had been so tempting though. Just like that stupid peach had been.
But she wasn't an impulsive, hungry, teenager anymore. She was all grown up, and could teleport now apparently.
Or maybe just travel between the two planes? Or worlds? Realms?
Sarah opened her laptop again. Maybe Aegerter was an early riser…
"Sarah?"
Sarah slammed her laptop shut and jumped a little.
Aaron walked up to the table she was sitting in, his eyes still puffy, and his hair a little disheveled from waking up.
He smiled wide, "I thought that was you! Sorry to spook ya, but why are you here so early?"
Sarah, feeling awkward, mumbled the same excuse she'd told Marge earlier, and opened her laptop back up and glanced at the time.
"Why are you so early? It's like 6:20?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm opening for Sally. She said there was some emergency over at the Apgar house or whatever," Sarah paled a little as Aaron shrugged, "I owed her a favor when I had to ditch work for my brothers wedding a few months ago."
His brother, the one who was a cop? Sarah gulped.
She hesitated about asking more about why Sally wasn't coming into work. She didn't want to seem too interested…"Hey, since you are here this early…"
"You wanna know if I could brew up some coffee?" Aaron replied, smirking a little.
Sarah smiled sheepishly in return.
"Sure, I gotcha. Just give me a minute to unpack."
Sarah nodded quickly, and then breathed a sigh of relief as Aaron walked behind the café counter and started prepping for the day.
Sarah clicked her email tab again.
Her eyes widened. She was apparently right about Aegerter being an early riser. An email had just appeared that was time stamped at 6:23am:
Dear Sarah,
Sure. How does today at 11am sound?
Hope all is well.
~Ivan
Sarah sent a quick reply that that would be excellent. She only paused for a moment as she addressed the professor by his newly revealed first name.
Hopefully Ivan could help Sarah figure out what she should do next.
The minute Sarah had stepped into the professor's cozy cluttered office he had almost had a heart attack.
Sarah felt a little guilty as she handed the paled professor a mug she had quickly filled with tap from a nearby faucet.
"I'm okay professor, really. I just seemed to have lost the pendant in the struggle."
Aegerter nodded slowly, "Yes, I felt balance return when I awoke this morning, but I had no idea..."
"That a stray creature from a mythical maze had escaped with me some 10 years ago and started syphoning off magic for apparent survival in a far West enchanted forest?" Sarah walked around the oak desk and settled into the cushioned chair across from the professor. "Yeah, me neither. I bet the cops aren't going to like that idea either."
The professor gulped down some water and set his mug down gently, "Yes, there is the question of just what the knight left of this girl once he… recalibrated." Sarah shuddered a little. "Of course, Sarah, there is also the question of what happened to you."
Sarah looked down at herself. Besides the fact that she was wearing the same clothes as the day before, she didn't know what the professor was getting at. Her memory did a lap and the last conversation with the professor surfaced. The conversation where he explained his gift of discerning those who had contact with magical creatures.
"Um, am I more touched? I mean I was down Underground for god knows how long in like 'fae'-years or whatever."
The professor adjusted his glasses nervously, "Well, Sarah I wouldn't say your more marked, or claimed, then before…but there is just something drastically different about you. Do you feel quiet alright?"
Sarah again mentally noted how her palms were decidedly not tingling and replied, "No, I mean besides my possible impending incarceration, I feel super physically okay."
"I see. Well, this incarceration you are worried about-"
"Yes, I mean it's only a matter of time that they find my backpack, the book in it, and my lack of alibi. I'm not really sure what I can do at this point beyond ask you to delete the last email you sent to me."
The professor nodded, "Yes, I'd be happy to do that. As to your other concern, you really don't think you can find this place and get the bag yourself? I understand you were somehow magic'd to that location, but realistically it must be close by?"
Sarah nodded, "Yeah, I already did a search early this morning and another before I came to talk with you. It's feeling really futile at this point. I literally have no clue where I was, and that forest is so vast. Also, if I don't show up to my evening classes it'll look suspicious. Marge, the friend who visited me this morning, is already kind of not trusting me right now. I haven't exactly been honest with her about what is going on with all," Sarah widely gestured at the room around her, "this."
The professor nodded in understanding, "Yes, while I agree that disappearing at this sensitive time is un-wise, I will press you to search again later in the day. I unfortunately don't see much of an option, and I'm at least somewhat relieved you didn't make a bargain with the Labyrinth King of yours."
Sarah frowned at the memory, "Yes, that makes two of us."
Sarah tapped her fingers on the plush chairs arm rest, unsure of what to say next.
The professor took another sip from his mug and readjusted his spectacles, "Sarah, I'm very sorry all of this has been happening to you. It was a thankless job you took upon yourself, ridding this land of further death. I do hope to think you will be alright. I wish there was more either of us could do at this point, but- "
"I should just go look some more and hope this will all blow over?"
The professor nodded, "Yes, Abby is- erm, was an adult. A young adult. They go running away quite often. This girl doesn't appear to have any family either, due to her… exotic origins. I think you will have time to find your belongings before things escalate, if they even do."
Sarah nodded slowly. What the professor was saying made sense. Sarah should have some time. Though, her interaction with Marge this morning didn't make her super positive that this whole thing would just completely blow over.
Sarah stood from the chair and grabbed her backpack, "Alright, thanks for sitting with me and kind of calming me down professor."
The old man smiled slightly, "Yes, of course. If I see any developments on my side I will let you know. I hope you'll do the same."
"Sure, but covertly of course."
"Of course, Sarah."
"Officer Montgomery, do you copy?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ugh, we got a concerned call from the Apgar Society-or something House over at the Uni. Since you're on the way can you head over there?"
Layla Montgomery grabbed her walkie attached to the upper corner of her shoulder and pressed down the plastic button, "Uh, sure I guess. What's the concern?"
Dispatch, or in reality Layla's elderly aunt Debby, responded, "Not sure. Chief asked it be taken seriously. I think one of his girls is a fledgling at the house."
Layla bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, "Alright, tell him I'll head straight there."
"Copy that sweetie."
Layla released the button, rolled her eyes, and made her way back to her patrol car. Her thick boots crunched into the snow with each step.
She stifled a yawn as she settled into the leather seat, and proceeded to blast the heat at full throttle.
Besides the incessant cold, it had been a pretty uneventful morning. Layla just had to investigate some possible illegal hunting with some locales who lived in the remote mountain areas. Driving up the steep, icy, dirt roads was not ideal. Thankfully, her conversations and check-ins led her to believe the tip called in was not true.
She proceeded to make a U-turn and pull into what could shakily be defined as a "road". A couple of flakes of snow started to fall as she bumped along the road. Layla adjust her thick fur-brushed mittens on the wheel while keeping an eye on her speedometer.
A couple of minutes passed, and a few crackled phrases emanated from her radio. Nothing serious and nothing related to her. Unlike this Apgar House nonsense. She hoped it was nothing more than a petty theft or minor squabble she needed to deal with. Layla hadn't been on active duty for a while, but those two murders that had occurred on that campus gave her the chills. She'd heard rumors about the state of the bodies, and wouldn't wish whatever death they faced on her worst enemy.
She covered her eyes and swore as the sun revealed itself behind the thick snowy clouds. It took her a moment to roughly detach and adjust her car's sun visor. While she did that her foot unconsciously pressed a little deeper on the gas. It was then that Officer Layla regained focus on the road ahead that she saw three moderately large streaks jump in front of her car.
Her adrenaline spiked as she jostled her wheel to try and avoid the creatures. Her anti-lock breaks immediately were activated and she swore as her car roughly swerved to the right and banged into a large evergreen tree. Some snow leapt from the tree bristles on the impact and dusted her car.
Layla blinked in shock for a few moments, trying to process what had happened.
Her mind caught up with her as her radio crackled to life again.
Opening her door she quickly exited her car to assess the damage. Thankfully her air bags hadn't gone off, and from a quick glance she could tell the car hadn't even dented badly from the collision with the tree.
What had happened? Did she almost hit raccoons?
Curious, and no worse for wear, Layla walked around her cars perimeter. She then made her way to the adjacent road where the animals had been. It occurred to her that maybe she could determine what she's almost hit by looking at any tracks leftover. It had snowed the night before, and besides her own cars frantic tire marks, it had been left undisturbed.
After a few moments she found what she was look for. Or at least something she was looking for. Three sets of… barefoot footprints of children? She rubbed her eyes and took a closer look. On further inspection she could tell the prints weren't quite human. They seemed almost reptilian? Her eyes tracked how the prints had directed back into the forest once her car had come near enough. She heard rustling in that direction, and mythical tales of undiscovered mountain creatures popped into her head.
She looked back at her car, and then made the decision to walk into the forest. She would only investigate the tracks for a few minutes. She was driven by a morbid curiosity, as well as with resistance at having to dig her car out just that moment.
Adjusting her gloves, Layla made her way into the thick forest, unbeknownst to what she was actually being led to.
A/N
OMG. So I was looking back at my last posting, it was actually almost an entire YEAR ago? So crazy about how much has changed. So basically, I was in Florida again visiting family BUT instead of my mother being sick for the whole trip, my older sister and I got sick the day we returned home. So I'm currently in bed nursing myself to wellness for work tomoro. I also decided to open my word doc for this story. Turns out this entire little chapter was written in like June, but I kind of dropped the ball with posting haha. Anyway, I wrote some notes to myself about where this is going (like I know myself too well at this point). Hopefully I can post a little more frequently this upcoming NEW DECADE (crazy right?). Anyway, I apologize for my absence, but to be fair I had to leave the lab I was working in (HR nightmare/ majorly toxic environment), pass this big exam to keep working on my PhD, and deal with family illness/ drama. I "think" everything has pretty much settled though. I'm not one to like brand a year as shitty, but I guess you could say this one has been a little bumpy. Regardless, I hope 2020 is a lot brighter for all of us (though the US is entering an election year... so there's that hahahaha...ahhhhhhh). Happy New Year!