When Hope Dies
"Wait." Audrey notices, "I thought you said we had to take her to the clearing."
"Nadia told me to take care of her sisters," he informs. "They need to be in the sun too."
"And what makes you think they're going to be dead?" she questions, and when he gives her a look, she uneasily smiles, "No offense."
Noah faces forward and repeats, "They're part of the same ecosystem." before he stops in front of the cottage. "They should be here." He notices her stunned expression, "Princess Audrey. Is something wrong?"
"No," she shakes herself free. "Just… familiar, I guess."
"Can you help me look for them?" he asks, as he gets out of the car.
"Yeah," her eyebrows furrow. Audrey halts in front of the creek, and after Noah walks over the old bridge he turns back to her.
"Don't worry. It's safe." Audrey takes a deep breath and nods, before she crosses the water and steps onto the path of stones. The cottage is built into the side of a towering tree, and the roof is still lain with hay. It's just like the pictures, but it couldn't be. It's been over a hundred years since her mother's lived here. There's no way the house would have survived all this time. The door creeks open, and they step into the living room. "Maybe they already went to the clearing."
"I smell dinner," Audrey notices, before she steps through the living room and into the kitchen nook. "God," she covers her mouth.
"What is it?" Noah steps over to her, before he sees the green haired girl stabbed in the gut lying next to a smaller girl with a gash on her forehead. Audrey kneels next to her, removing the curly brown hair from the child's face and shutting her dead brown eyes. "She looks like you."
Audrey hisses at him, "What are you saying?"
He hesitates, "Just that… she looks like you."
She shakes her head, "Don't be insane." before she places a hand on the girl's head. "My mother was raised here. She didn't actually live here."
Noah hears her sniffle, as she reaches for the golden chain, "Isn't that, you know, your family's crest?"
"So, my mother left some stuff here," Audrey excuses, before she stands and sees the large book opened on the counter. She walks over and sadly laughs, "Like this." as she flips through the pages. "These are my mother's recipes." She snatches it from the counter and turns back to him, "It's mine. I'm taking it."
Noah looks down at the girls, "We need to get them in the sun, before it's too late."
"Right," Audrey deeply breathes, before she leans over the little girl again and takes her in her arms.
Noah notices the tears in her eyes, "Are you okay?"
"I'm not the one that's dead," she spats. "That guy should've got way more than five years." She shakes her head, "I don't understand. Why would he do this?"
"Because she wasn't human," Noah softly answers, and Audrey watches as he struggles to pick up the taller girl. "Come on. We need to go."
When the car stops in the clearing, Audrey comments, "I'm surprised the vines didn't eat it, yet."
He takes a moment, "They must know what we're doing." before a shadow is cast over and they look up at the clouds.
Audrey's eyes widen, "What does that mean? Is that bad?"
"We need to get them out," he hurries, and Audrey helps him place the three girls side-by-side in the plain.
"So." Audrey pauses, "What's supposed to happen here again?"
Noah shakes his head, "She just said… I don't know."
The clouds move, and when the sun lights the clearing, the girls' skin glows, "Uh." She points, "That's something."
He looks back at them, watching as the glowing dissipates into tiny lights, "Wow." He smiles in awe. It's just as Nadia had said, her and her sisters now have new life. He looks over at Audrey, just as she slaps the firefly that had landed on her arm. She faces him, her mouth gaped, realizing what she had just done.
- For those who are unsure of what just happened, Nadia's family just turned into fireflies. I hope you all enjoyed the story. It was based on a dream I had, and I personally like the additions and adjustments I made to it. I originally planned for Nadia to have green blood, but then I remembered the whole vampire landlord thing and thought that maybe purple would be closer to the properties of red blood. I don't know what the theoretical science would be. I know a lot of shows have characters with black blood, but I don't know where that would come from. If any of you know what the blood would realistically appear as for a humanoid plant, then it would be amazing if you could share your ideas. Even though I didn't use different colored blood in this story, because it didn't seem like Audrey was hiding anything like that, I might like to use it if/when I translate this into a novel series. So, any help would be appreciated. Thank you for reading!