TWO
The ground upon which Jaclyn lay was damp but soft, and almost mushy with moisture. She was freezing; her face felt as though it was encased in a block of ice. A gusty wind tickled her cheeks and a slight buzzing could be heard near her ear. This wasn't home.
Jaclyn sat up, opening her eyes, and let forth an alarmed cry as her new surroundings were revealed. A forest area encircled her. The moist, thick grass under her feet was infested with mosquito-like bugs that had been magnified almost ten times the normal size. The thick-trunked trees were of the same variety. Each had identical large brown leaves, similar in shape to an umbrella, and a deep red moss growing near the roots. Each tree was almost an exact replica of the next. It was too perfect.
To Jaclyn's left, another cloaked figure stirred, standing with a gulp of dread. Looking around, slate grey eyes met ocean blue and simultaneously, Jaclyn and Draco groaned.
"What did you do?" Draco accused as he brushed wet grass off his robes and slapped at the insects that buzzed about him ankles.
"Me!" Jaclyn snapped, detangling a twig from her curly mane, "What did you do?"
"You're the one who hurled Dark Magic!" He shot back, his temper matching hers.
Jaclyn stood, fuming, in the middle of the clearing they had landed in. Draco began pacing, clearly searching for something.
"Don't be so patronizing," she huffed, "You used Dark Magic too. You used it first."
Draco stopped circling and surveyed Jaclyn as though something had just dawned on him.
"You're not supposed to use Dark Magic," he said, his eyes widening, "Your father forbade it!"
Jaclyn raised a lazy eyebrow. "Do you do everything your father says?" She asked boldly, hoping Draco would buy her bold façade. Inside she was squirming. Jaclyn hadn't considered the consequences of her father finding out about her practicing Dark Magic. If Nicholai found out, she would receive punishment far more severe than Odynia Stigma. She had gone against his number one rule, his law.
Draco bought it. Shrugging his shoulders, he changed the subject. "Where's your wand?" He asked, "Send out a calling charm so someone can come get us out of this shit hole."
Jaclyn closed her eyes, envisioning her wand falling from her grip right before she blacked out. Looking at her feet now, the wand wasn't there.
"I dropped it." Jaclyn admitted, reluctantly bringing her gaze up to meet Draco.
"What?" He asked, unsure of whether he had heard her correctly.
"I dropped my wand before we were transported here," she blurted hurriedly as Draco's face darkened.
"What?" He said again, but this time he yelled it, kicking at the grass in frustration.
Jaclyn folded her arms defensively, her eyes narrowing. "Don't get mad at me! Use your wand." she snapped with exasperation.
It was Draco's turn to fluster. "I dropped mine, too," he muttered, shoving his hands inside his pockets.
"What!" Jaclyn cried as realization dawned on her.
This new situation churned her insides, making her want to puke. Not only had Jaclyn used Dark Magic (which her father would inevitably find out about), but she had used it in the proximity of two teachers, the magic had somehow transported her and her worst enemy to a place that she couldn't locate, but was definitely remote, and she was wandless. Jaclyn sighed at the thought of Odynia stigma striking at any moment so far from Hogwarts. The sudden desire to kick and scream was strong.
"Where do you reckon we are?" Draco asked, breaking the silence and saving Jaclyn from her thoughts.
"Nowhere I've been before. I'd be surprised if we were still in Britain." Jaclyn replied solemnly, squashing a giant mosquito that had been sucking blood from her arm.
"Shiiiit," Draco moaned before turning on Jaclyn, "This is entirely your fault!"
Jaclyn gaped at him with outrage as Draco turned back to the blaming game.
"This is not my fault! You didn't have to duel me!" She reminded him.
"Your spell landed us here," he argued back.
"Our spells collided! It's our fault," Jaclyn reasoned, knowing in all honestly that it was the truth.
Draco let forth another frustrated growl and turned on his heel, heading off deeper into wherever it was they were.
"Hey!" Jaclyn yelled out, "Where are you going?"
Draco kept walking but yelled back to her.
"I'm getting out of here and away from you!"
Jaclyn made up her mind quickly. Letting pride get the best of her, she span around in the opposite direction, walking as far away from Draco as she could.
Five hours of walking later, Jaclyn was exhausted, the only change in scenery being the thinning of trees and blackness of the sky. She had half expected Draco to turn around and follow her when they had gone their separate ways. He hadn't, and Jaclyn had since not seen or heard neither hide or hair of him.
Perhaps she should have followed him. Draco could be home already and she was still lost, with no sense of direction, in the middle of, what she assumed to be, a magical forest.
After Jaclyn had been walking for an hour in what she hoped was a straight line, she had climbed a tree to get her bearings. To her back was a mountain that she assumed Draco was intending to climb in the hope of locating a way out of this mess. To the front and right, all she had seen were trees, but to the left, a fait glimmer of hope wafted in the distance. Smoke. Maybe there were people.
Hours later and the thought of finding the smoke seemed impossible, especially in the dark. Jaclyn was ready to give up and as soon as she found a safe place to rest, she slept.
Her dreams, however, were invaded by a sharp poking in the side. Jaclyn squinted into the hazy light and discovered, much to her delight, a young boy staring down on her with a stick in hand. When Jaclyn sat up, he jumped back in fright and she was given a proper chance to survey him.
The boy looked about ten years old. He was too thin, his ribs protruding grotesquely through his bare chest. A small pair of faded shorts was the only clothes he wore and they were so frayed and thin they looked as though they would break at the slightest touch. His feet were covered in dried grass, creating makeshift shoes that were held together with broken leather straps. His long blonde hair, however, was clean and bouncy with tight ringlets. His brown eyes sparkled with coy curiosity.
"Who are you?" the boy asked shyly, his English surprisingly perfect.
"Jaclyn," she replied, extending her hand for him to shake but he backed further away.
She quickly withdrew it and instead took to smoothing her robes in an effort to appear civilised. The dirt she had slept on was clogging her pores, her teeth felt fuzzy and she was no longer freezing cold but blistering hot, the humidity making her sweat. It was disgusting and she was sure she smelt.
"Do you know where we are? I'm sort of lost." Jaclyn tried, offering the boy a chance to introduce himself.
"I'm Juan," he said, his confidence building as he edged back closer, "and this is the Trepalium Forest. Where are you from?"
Trepalium. Now why did that word sound familiar?
"I'm from London. Have you heard of that place? Is it near here?" Jaclyn asked quickly, wanting more than ever to be rid of this wilderness.
"London? I've heard of it once before, an elder was speaking of it. That was before he was-"
Juan was cut off by the sound of his name drifting on the wind, somewhere in the distance. It was a strained female voice that was harsh and cut through the air sharply. When the woman came into view, Jaclyn knew instantly that she was Juan's mother. The resemblance was unmistakable with her tight blonde curls and large brown eyes.
"Juan!" she yelled, "What are you doing out here? What have I told you about wandering off into the forest, and alone no less! You know what day it is; you know it isn't safe out here!"
Juan hung his head at his mother's anger before regaining his confidence and speaking up.
"But mother, I found a girl! She's lost and all alone!" Juan insisted, pointing to Jaclyn who stood uneasily at his side.
For the first time, the woman turned her blazing gaze upon Jaclyn, making her want to run as she sized her up.
"Lost, you say? Where might you be from, then?" she snapped irritably, running her hand through her hair and glancing over her shoulder.
"London," Jaclyn informed her, casting her eyes away from the woman who was standing her ground gruffly like a fire-breathing dragon.
"London?" the woman repeated, and her tone was so bewildered that Jaclyn snapped her eyes up to face her.
She could have sworn she saw a brief glimmer of recognition in her eyes.
"You've heard of it?" Jaclyn rushed optimistically.
Juan's mother hesitated towards her son. Juan was looking between the two women with complete and utter awe. A moment passed and she shook her head. Jaclyn sighed inwardly.
"I haven't heard of it," she said, her authoritarian voice softening and suddenly hospitable, "but perhaps you should come back to the village. There's food there and no doubt you're exhausted. Maybe you can have a wash, too," she added, wrinkling her nose slightly and causing Jaclyn to turn a deep red.
Juan and his mother, who introduced herself as Eloise, led Jaclyn quickly through the forest and into a large clearing fashioned with mud-brick houses and about one hundred different people. The villagers eyed Jaclyn inquisitively and whispered as she passed. A feeling of mistrust prompted her to walk closer to Eloise.
Finally, the mother and son stopped in front of the furthest and most rudimentary mud hut and pushed Jaclyn inside. It was a modest dwelling with two beds pushed into opposite corners, a plain table and chair residing in the middle and a bucket filled with water beside the door.
"What is this place?" Jaclyn asked, peering out the sole window quizzically, watching the people roaming around outside.
"We are not obliged to say." Eloise replied stiffly and Jaclyn's feeling of unease returned as she turned to face the pair.
"Right," she muttered, not knowing how she was supposed to respond.
Juan placed a crude plate that was covered with an assortment of berries, fruits and nuts.
"Eat these," he said, his tone suddenly guarded and not at all innocent as it had been before.
Jaclyn sat herself down and thanked the boy before filling her rumbling stomach. The food was terrible, all of it bruised and none of it ripe, but Jaclyn demolished it in minutes, craving more and certainly having the room for it.
The silence that swirled around the room was off-putting and she felt the need to fill the void with futile chatter.
A commotion outside saved the trio from further conversation, and for that Jaclyn was eternally grateful. She followed Eloise and Juan as they hurried outside. At the far end of the village, the disturbance was located.
A man, averaging a height of about nine feet, was holding something or someone captured in a circle of outraged villagers. The villagers were yelling and screaming obscenities at whatever the half giant had in his grasp.
"What's going on?" Eloise asked an elderly woman, who was standing with a straw broom in her hands, in front of what was probably her own mud hut.
"Titan caught another one," she croaked, glaring at Jaclyn as though she was nefarious.
"Another one?" Eloise gasped, clearly shocked.
Whatever it is that this Titan has caught can't be good, Jaclyn thought as she watched the rowdy throng of people.
Leaving Juan and Eloise by the old woman, she edged silently towards the crowd. The villagers continued to cuss and spit at whatever Titan was holding in such a vulgar manner that she was almost afraid to see what the "another one" was.
As the group pushed and shoved, the prisoner that Titan the half giant had captured came into view. Jaclyn almost chocked. She felt the familiar sick feeling return. In the massive man's grip was none other than Draco Malfoy.
