Kayla wasn't surprised to see that snow had started to gather on the roof of her tent, dulling the red light of the sunrise. During the night, she had awoken to find that the temperature had started to plummet. A few more blankets pulled over her had let Kayla drop off to sleep once more, but as she had discovered by now, it was the getting up in the morning that was the difficult part, not the falling asleep.
Still, months of sleeping under a tent had taught her that lying here wouldn't accomplish anything. She steeled herself, preparing to get up.
Five minutes later, after a short daydream where she imagined that she was still working at St. Mungo's, she was turning again to seek out the warmest parts of the blankets when a part of her, the part she liked to call annoying-little-voice-in-her-head, spoke to her.
You know, lying here isn't going to help, it said. Kayla groaned loudly and tried to cover her ears with a blanket. As might have been predicted, it didn't work, as the voice was in her head. Staying in one spot just makes it more likely the Snatchers will catch up to you.
Kayla couldn't help but think that this was a low blow, feeding on her fears like this, but the little voice wasn't through yet.
If that doesn't get you up, I know what will, it threatened. Remember, I have complete control of your bladder.
Kayla groaned again, but sat up, brushing blond hairs out of her face. As expected, the air was frigid, even with the four layers of jumpers she was wearing. She quickly gathered the blankets around her, holding them with one hand.
"You're an evil voice, you know that, right?" she said out loud. The voice didn't answer. Kayla had lately begun to wonder if talking to the voice meant that she was going crazy. It had been months now since she had had a proper conversation with anyone other than herself, and she couldn't help but wonder if that the lack of conversation wasn't starting to get to her.
Starting? asked the voice snidely. Kayla ignored it and forced the blankets off her, braving the cold.
An hour later, after repacking the tent and eating a quick breakfast, Kayla hoisted on her backpack and looked around. The snow was already filling in the area where her tent and the fire pit had been, covering them more effectively than she ever could have done, even if she had been willing to use magic.
"Well Voice," said Kayla, lightly smacking her leg to make sure her wand was still in her pocket. "Where to now?"
The voice said nothing.
"Now you don't have anything to say," said Kayla. She suddenly imagined how she would look if someone was watching her, a young women talking to the trees, and quickly put the thought out of her mind. "That's so typical of you."
The voice remained quiet, and Kayla let out a sigh, before she put the sun behind her, starting to walk in the direction she had chosen a week ago.
"Maybe I should give you a name," mused Kayla, automatically slapping her leg to feel her wand again as she let the clearing. "How about Harvey? You're a girl though, so maybe...Harvline?" Kayla pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Maybe not. Don't worry, we'll find something for you.
She didn't look back as she left the clearing. She never did.
Kayla kept walking steadily westward, only stopping for lunch. The day passed uneventfully, like every day in the last month had, but still Kayla kept a careful watch, never letting her eyes stay in one spot for more than a few seconds.
The wood was as quiet as only a forest in winter could be, the lone sound in the whole forest the crunching of Kayla's boots through the top layer of the snow. Even the birds weren't out, and Kayla found herself wishing that there was something besides her out here. She tried singing to herself for a bit, but that just sounded lonely, and she quickly stopped. The voice, as usual, refused to be drawn into any real conversation.
The snow had stopped a few hours into her hike, but by the time she deemed that she had walked far enough for one day, it had started to come down again, thicker and faster than ever. Kayla was too used the weather's sudden changes to be much interested by this. She started looking for a place to camp, passing up a wide clearing in favour of one that that was smaller, but more hidden to the casual passerby.
Kayla took off her pack with a sigh and leaned it up against a tree, rubbing the ache out of her shoulders before turning to make a more careful examination of the clearing.
It was nothing special, just a small, snow-covered glade surrounded by densely packed trees as far as the eye could see, not really any different than the last one she had camped at. Same snow, same trees as far as you could see. Kayla pulled out a shovel that should have been much too big to fit in out of her pack and started clearing a flat part for her tent. Working efficiently, she quickly had a space cleared. Then, resisting the urge to do it by magic, she went through the laborious process of setting up the tent by hand. It wasn't particularly big or special, but Kayla's hands were almost completely numb by the time she was done.
Slapping her hands together in an effort to get some blood flowing through them, she walked over and picked up the shovel again, quickly making a space for a campfire. Sneaking a glance around to make sure that she was alone, she quickly pulled several suspiciously large pieces of dry wood out of her backpack, along with a good amount of tinder and some matches.
After a solid fifteen minutes work, Kayla leaned back, feeling vaguely proud of herself as the fire started for real, the flame finally managing to get a grip in the wood. Feeling satisfied, Kayla moved toward her pack to ready the food. It would take a while for the fire to get hot enough to start cooking, but Kayla knew that it would be ready soon enough.
Humming under her breath, Kayla quickly did her preparations. The sky was starting to darken already, but Kayla judged she still had forty minutes or so before it got too dark to see. When that happened, she would eat, cover the fire, retire to her tent, and call it an day. Another day spent safe and sound.
The real battle was the lack of anything for her to do. She had already finished the few books she had brought, and never really being one much for reading, she hadn't bothered to reread them, though give her another week or two in her own company and she might just get that desperate.
Shrugging, Kayla decided that the thing to do was to start making dinner. She'd rack her brains for something to do after it got dark, and right now, she was hungry.
It was just twenty minutes later when the first noise came from the trees. It was nothing more than a scuffling, but after such a long time by herself, Kayla was instantly alert to it. Her head snapped upright, eyes flicking from tree to tree. Without meaning too, her hand started toward her wand.
She had just touched the handle of it, heart thumping wildly, when the dog came into view. It was thin, painfully so, and looked so pitiful that Kayla immediately felt bad for almost stunning it.
"Hey," Kayla said to the dog, withdrawing her hand from her pocket. She kept her voice low as she crouched down. The dog kept its distance, sizing her up. "You hungry boy?"
She glanced at the meal she was cooking, and quickly determined it wasn't fit to eat yet. She pulled out a piece of bread from the backpack, tore it in half, and cautiously tossed the larger piece in front of the dog. It landed in the snow with a soft puff. The dog sniffed at it suspiciously for a moment, before eagerly started to chow down on it.
Kayla studied the dog as he ate, muscles still tense after the close call. He looked like some kind of mutt, a half-breed. He'd obviously fallen on lean times, judging by the rate that he was downing the bread. There were old cuts on one side of his coat, perhaps marking where it had been in a fight. The dog was likely a stray, albeit one that wasn't scared of humans, although that simply be a mark of how hungry he was.
By now, the dog had finished his half of the bread, and was greedily looking toward the uneaten piece in Kayla's hand.
"Here boy," said Kayla, tossing the bread at the foot of the dog. "You have a name boy? Do you, hmmm? Do you boy?"
Why is it, said the voice in her head, that as soon as you see a dog, you suddenly feel the need to talk like a dazed child?
"Oh, hush," she said, not bothering to ask the voice where it had been all day. The dog looked up at her in surprise, his body language wary again. "This is the first dog you've ever seen me with."
Well, there was that one in that Muggle town you bought your supplies in last time, supplied the voice. Surely it can't be a coincidence that you talked the same way to it?
Kayla ignored the voice again, something that she was starting to get a lot of practice with lately.
The dog lowered his head again, clearly reasoning that the crazy human girl in front of him didn't offer enough of a threat to distract him from the food.
Kayla got a good look at its neck. No collar. Definitely a stray than, and a hungry one at that. Kayla sighed and reached into her pack, digging for something else to give to the dog, when, as they say in sophisticated circles, shit hit the fan.
The dog heard it first, ears pricking up. Kayla heard it moments later, the unmistakable sound of feet trampling through fresh snow. Then Kayla heard the voices, at least six, but maybe more. The denseness of the trees did a good job of hiding her, but they also dampened the sound of anyone coming closer. It took a moment before they came close enough for Kayla to hear what they said.
"C'mon Bill, It's could, daylight's almost up, and we've seen nothing all day," said a voice. Thin, reedy, and Kayla pictured a small man saying them. Automatically, she checked that her wand was still pocket.
"Ah, give him a break," said a different voice, "if you were a Mud-blood, wouldn't you hide in here?"
Mud-blood. So they were Snatchers, or worse, Death Eaters. Kayla knew she had to get out of there. She grabbed the shovel and pushed it onto her backpack. She could do without her tent, if she to, but she had to leave.
"Stop," hissed a voice, the tone so commanding that Kayla stopped as well for a second. "I see a fire ahead."
The dog started whimpering lightly, actually getting close enough to scuff up against Kayla's leg. Kayla looked down at it, where it was pawing at the bag, unhappy that the food was being put away.
"Sorry girl," whispered Kayla, hoisting the pack onto her pack. The dig whined pathetically, and, after a moment's fight with herself, her pity for the dog won out. Kayla quickly lowered her pack to the ground, reaching in for more food. Seconds later, she thrust a whole loaf at the dog. The dog quieted down immediately and began chewing at it, just in time for her to her the last few words they were saying
"—and make sure they can't Apparate. And be sure you do it over a wide area too, I'd hate to lose another one like that."
Kayla cursed her moment of weakness in waiting for the dog, but it was far too late; unsurprisingly, the only thing that happened when she tried to Apparate was that she slipped and landed next to the dog. Worse yet, the Snatches might have heard her grunt, because sound of tramping feet picked up, heading straight for her, and she saw movement through the trees.
She considered her options. She could try to flee, but they outnumbered her, and running would be difficult in a wood this closely packed. On the other hand, she could play dumb and act the part of a Muggle, which had gotten her out of the other two times she had almost been caught. As the footsteps got alarmingly close, she hastily decided on the former plan, as running away was always an option. She barely managed drop her pack and get to her fire before they were on her.
There were eight of them, all wearing clothing with a ragged armband, possibly a uniform of some kind. They quickly spread out in a circle around her little clearing, wands trained on her.
It's ok Kayla, she thought to herself. It's not the first group of Snatchers you've dealt with. Just don't lose your head, and you'll be fine. Don't think about that fact that you're outnumbered, or that you're an appalling dueller—too late.
Kayla drew a breath as they moved closer to her, most of their faces just out of range of the fire. Now was the time to say something, before they had a chance to get the ball rolling.
"Bicycles," she blurted out. The Snatchers paused, looking at each other, obviously not expecting to hear that.
Brilliant, said the voice. Now you're talking like a dazed child to everyone.
"That's the name of the dog, if you're wondering," said Kayla, recovering smoothly. She could do this. The key was to just not panic.
"That's his name?" asked a Snatcher, a big one, blond hair glinting in the firelight as he squatted down and clicked his tongue. "Here boy. C'mon over here boy. Yes, what a good boy. What a good boy you are. Yes you are."
Do all humans get stupider the closer they are to animals? wondered the voice. Kayla imagined it rolling its eyes, and then remembered that the voice didn't have eyes.
"Really Paul?" asked the leader, a portly man who looked like he had only squeezed into his robes with difficulty, glaring down at the blond Snatcher. "We're here on business, and you're going to pet her dog?"
"Sorry boss," said Paul, standing up. The dog whined at him, and then sniffed at his feet, making no move to go back to Kayla.
Traitor, muttered Voice, and this time Kayla had to agree with him.
The Snatchers drew still closer to her. The flickering light from the fire made them all seem bigger, more intimidating.
"We've got you surrounded," said the leader unnecessarily. "Don't put up a fight, and you won't be harmed."
"What do you want?" asked Kayla, reminding herself just in time not to raise her hands up. A Muggle would have no clue that they were pointing more than sticks at her, so Kayla couldn't either. "And who are you people? Halloween's already over. A while ago now, as a matter of fact. "
"I don't know," said the Snatcher next to the leader. He had a short grey beard, and what looked like a permanent scowl. "She doesn't seem like anything more than a Muggle."
"Shut up, Fred," said the leader, scowling at him. "She could be disguising herself."
"What are you talking about?" said Kayla, trying her best to look bewildered. "What's a Muggle, and what does it want with me?"
"Shut up!" the leader barked at her, visibly annoyed. "Don't try to run, or else..."
He made gesture with his wand.
"Or?" said Kayla, feigning confusion.
"You know," grunted the leader, making the same gesture again. "Or else..."
"You're going to wave a stick at me?" Kayla resisted the urge to add more. Keeping it simple was the key. And not panicking. Those were the two keys.
"She's got be a Muggle," said the Snatcher with the grey beard again, eyeing her tent, fire, and backpack. "Look around mate, everything here's Muggle made, and no one's that good of an actor."
"Shut it Fred," said the Leader, casting a nasty look at the grey bearded Snatcher. "That's up to me to decide, and not you!"
"I'm just saying, she'd have to be a fantastic actor," said Fred, scowling at Kayla, as if it was somehow her fault he was being told to shut up.
Kayla opened her mouth to thank him for the complement, and then remembered that she was still acting and quickly shut it.
Fantastic, the voice said again. Kayla pictured it rolling its eyes again, before she caught herself. Yes, you're such a good actor that you have to accept every compliment.
"Check her tent," suggested one, the only female in their group. "See if it's magical."
"Magic?" said Kayla, as the blond Paul strode over to her tent, the dog happily following along beside him. "You guys think I have magic tricks?"
Paul opened the door to her tent roughly, as if determined to make up for his moment of weakness with the dog.
"Nothing magical in there," he said, pulling his head out of the tent. "I mean, it smells kind of funny, but other than that..."
He shrugged. Kayla felt her cheeks flame, as if a man calling the place where she slept ripe (which, to be fair, it was, since she had camped in it every day since mid-August) mattered. I know, she thought to herself, before the voice had a chance to chime in with something sarcastic.
You know me so well, said the voice, but I'm actually really impressed with how you're doing. I think we might get out of this yet.
"She really is just a Muggle then," said the female Snatcher. "That's a shame."
"We could always have some fun with her," suggested another one of the Snatchers. "It's always fun to watch them squeal, and I'd hate to have come out here for nothing."
There was a chorus of mumbled agreements from about three quarters of the group, including the blond Paul.
"Do have to go through this again?" grunted grey-bearded Snatcher. It was hard to tell with a voice like his, but he sounded very slightly annoyed with the rest of the Snatchers. "Let's just go. She's not worth any money, and I have a bunch of things left to do."
"You're such a softie," said the leader, grinning at Kayla, as the snatchers slowly started to advance on her. "We can have our fun, and still be in time for dinner."
Never mind, the voice sounded timid. I think you're in trouble.
"I'm in trouble?" muttered Kayla under her breath, slowly reaching for her wand. It looked like they—she—wouldn't be able to talk their way out of this one, and whatever she was going to do next, she was certain she would need her wand. "You're a part of me, remember?"
You...you present a strong case of why I'm in trouble as well the voice congratulated her. May I suggest a hasty exit strategy?
Six of the Snatchers were slowly approaching her, some tucking way their wands, confident that they wouldn't need them. She waited until they were ten feet away, and then subtly turned the snow beneath two of them into slush, which they promptly sank up to their knees in.
"Huh?" they both said, but Kayla had already transfigured the slush back, not into snow, but into solid stone.
"She has a wand!" yelled one of them, as he tried to raise his foot, but Kayla had already ducked past him. The other one had doubled over in an attempt to wrench himself free of the stone, but he gamely made a grab for her jacket; his fingernails scrapped the back of her coat, but then she was out of his reach.
She sprinted into the darkening forest, putting trees between her and the Snatchers. She could here shouts and yells, and the sound of feet driving through the snow behind her. She cast a look back and caught a quick glance of six of them racing after her before she had to duck forward, a spell soaring where her head had been. Giving the mental equivalent of a shrug, she bent forward, pounding holes in the snow as she raced forward.
It was still snowing, but nowhere near fast enough to cover her tracks, which meant that she would have keep running, at least until the sun was down and they had to rely on wandlight. She spared a glance up at the sky, noting the red tinge at the edge. Sunset was already here. All she had to do was avoid them for ten minutes or so, and then she would be safe—relatively speaking of course. For people like her, there was no complete safety.
Another spell flew over her shoulder, slamming into a branch just ahead of her, raining splinters of wood down on her.
Still, anyplace is safer than this, eh? said the voice, as Kayla redoubled her efforts.
There was panting behind her, and more spells flew around her. Kayla could tell by the way the spells were soaring past her that they had formed a semicircle of sorts, driving her forward and all but making her run straight. They might look ragged, but they were in surprisingly good shape, and they were gaining on her.
You know, running this way means that you're running away from the sun, said the voice blandly. I think it would make a nice picture, don't you?
Kayla didn't waste her breath answering. She could see her shadow in front of her, running frantically through the snow. Another spell shot two feet left of her, and Kayla put on a burst of speed, fear spurring her on.
The drop was so sudden Kayla barely had time to stop. Flinging her arm out, she managed to cling onto a tree, skidding to a halt with inches to spare.
She was on the top of a ridge, a small valley spreading out below her, the ridge she was on casting its shadow far over the land. Directly below her, she thought she could see trees and maybe a small creek, though it was too dark to see properly. The drop was quite far. It couldn't quite be called a cliff, as there was some ground leading away from her, but it was far too steep to be called a hill. It was more of a...hilff?
Focus Kayla, said the voice, still sounding completely unflustered. Get away, and then you can call it whatever you like.
Kayla looked left, and then right. To go left or right was to run parallel to the hilff, and risk being cut off by the group still behind her. She realized that they must have driven her here on purpose. She had nowhere left to run. In theory at least, but a third, rather desperate option occurred to Kayla.
Don't you dare... started the voice, for the first time sounding worried, but then a spell hit the tree Kayla had her arm around, and she acted. Driving her legs forward, she tore down the hilff as fast as she could without falling over.
She had misjudged how steep it was though, and within five steps she was going too fast, and she couldn't keep her feet. She screamed as she lost control and began what could be called a freefall. She didn't know if the Snatchers could see her anymore, or if they had started down after her, but now she had bigger troubles. She bounced down the hilff, jacket preventing her from getting too scratched, but doing little to protect her from the impacts with the ground. She screamed again as she went through a briar patch, tearing out a clump of her hair, and then suddenly stopped as she smashed into a creek, splintering the ice that had, until now, coated it.
All the breath was blasted from her body, though the screaming had already taken most of it away. For a moment, she lay there, stunned. It took five seconds for the freezing water to work its way through all her layers and reach her skin.
Gasping back to into action, she reached toward her bleeding scalp, then switched halfway to go instead to her ribs. Probing, she concluded that at least five of them were broken, maybe another three cracked. Quickly, she checked the rest of her. No limbs broken, but bruises everywhere, and her wand had somehow had remained intact, a miracle on its own.
Next time you jump off of a cliff, suggested the voice rather coolly. You could try a Bouncing Charm. I think you might find it's easier on the body
Kayla thought about that for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that it probably would have worked, and that that information would have been a lot more useful a minute ago.
"I hate you," she said to the voice, but predictably, it didn't answer. She glanced up to the top of the ridge. She could hear shouting, but so far no one seemed to want to follow her. Groaning, she lay back down on the broken ice, trying to ignore the frigid water. She had to heal her ribs, and that was best done lying down, preferably on something flat. Since she didn't have that, and moving herself to a flat surface would be difficult, she would just have to do the best she could. She squirmed around a bit, and then, biting her lip, she waved her wand over her body.
She could feel her bones actually moving under her skin, repositioning themselves back to where they were supposed to be, before sealing themselves back to the bones where they belonged. It wasn't a pleasant process, but it wasn't exactly painful either, and within half a minute, Kayla was sitting up, ribs repaired.
Whimpering, she stood up. Her ribs were healed, but she was still heavily bruised, and she didn't have time to heal every bruise. Limping slightly, she set off, heading away from the ridge. It was almost completely dark in here, the sun blocked by the ridge, and it would hard for them to track her through a dense forest at night while it was snowing. Kayla was confident that she was as good as gone, even if the Snatchers wanted to follow her down here. It would only take a few minutes before she was far enough to Apparate away. She was practically safe already.
Two seconds later, a wizard bounced down right past her, rebounding off of a tree and rolling to a stop somewhere in the darkness. It was hard to see exactly where he, or she, had landed, but Kayla had a good guess, and she hurried away from it. The plan was still a good one. Even with a bouncing charm to prevent harm, Kayla wagered that he would be disoriented enough for her to lose him the dark, and she thought it unlikely that most of the Snatchers would want to come down here. Even with her moving slower then she'd like, she was still perfectly safe.
She made it ten feet when she heard the telltale sound of boots crunching around behind her.
It's just not really your day, is it? said the voice.
"I swear, the only thing you do is complain," muttered Kayla, hurrying up, but before she had done more than lift her leg up, she heard the Snatcher behind her grunt, "stop!"
Kayla did so. She didn't feel much like running anymore anyway. She fingered her wand, trying to work out how fast she could turn around. She wasn't going to go to Azkaban. She'd felt enough dementors recently that she knew that she'd do anything to avoid going there, even if it involved getting herself killed.
"Turn around," ordered the voice. Kayla did as she had been told. The Snatcher hadn't told her to put her hands up or throw down her wand, so she kept it close to her, hiding her wand from his view.
It was the grey bearded Snatcher who had wanted her to be let go. Kayla almost felt bad that she would have to Stun him. Then pain surged from a half dozen places when she shifted, and she quickly felt all the sympathy drain away.
"Listen up," said the Snatcher. His eyes flickered up to the ridge, then back down to Kayla. "There's a storage unit in London. Apparate to King George's Park, and head away from the Thames. When you pass the tennis courts, turn left and walk to the end of the street. Turn right on the lane. Keep walking till you see Warble River road. Go down that street and the unit's right in front of you. Number one-six-eight. Key's hidden, but you should be able to Summon it. Inside you'll find some backpacks with camping supplies. Only take what you need."
Kayla stared at him, completely taken by surprise.
"What?" he said, as if she shouldn't be confused by this sudden turn of events.
"What?" she asked, still not comprehending what was going on.
"Don't patronize me," he growled, scowling at her. It was getting too dark to see properly, but Kayla saw his eyes glance back at the top of the ridge she had fallen down.
"You're helping me?" said Kayla, brain still failing to fully understand what was happening.
Obviously, said the voice, but even it seemed too shocked to sound properly sarcastic.
"Obviously," said the Snatcher. "Your brain working right?"
"You're helping me?" asked Kayla again.
"Are you even listening to me?" said the man, annoyed.
"You're helping me?" said Kayla, but now amazement was starting to replace the shock.
"Knew we'd get there," said the man, scowling at her again. "Now do I have to repeat myself?"
"I got it," said Kayla. She relaxed her grip on her wand. She didn't know how, or why, but it seemed like there was still hope for her. "Why are you helping me?"
"Why do people always have to ask why?" said the man. He grumbled under his breath for a moment before he spoke up again. "And back in my day, when we got rescued, we'd the manners to thank people for it. Not these days I guess, eh?"
He looked pointedly at Kayla.
"Uh, thanks," stammered Kayla. "This is kind of the first real conversation I've had in months, so..."
I don't count? asked the voice, hurt, but Kayla wasn't falling for it. It wasn't hurt at all.
"I suppose that's forgivable," said the man, voice softening by a miniscule amount. "You know where to go?"
"Yeah," said Kayla, but now a finger of doubt was starting to reach into her. A part of her couldn't help but wonder if this was a trap. Perhaps she would be better off to ignore him. She was sure she could acquire some sort of supplies in one of the Muggle towns she had passed through.
And be a thief? said the voice. C'mon, if he wanted to turn you in, he would have stunned you before you had turned around.
"That's a good point," admitted Kayla, momentarily forgetting the man in front of her.
I felt bad about not suggesting the Bouncing Charm before you jumped off the cliff, admitted the voice. I've decided to make myself more useful. You know, for now.
"Glad to hear it," said Kayla. She refocused on the scene in front of her, the one with the man who had just offered her help and then heard her talking to herself. "Uh..."
"You sure your brain's working?" asked the man, studying her.
"Nope," said Kayla under her breath. She raised her voice and said, "I'm fine. Thank you for your help."
"What are you waiting for?" barked the man, when Kayla didn't move. "Kids these days..."
He mumbled something under his breath, before he turned and started picking his way up the hilff, grumbling all the while.
Kayla grinned to herself as she watched him disappear into the dark. She was badly bruised, half of her hair was torn away, she was bleeding from the scalp, she had lost everything in the backpack, her legs were starting to cramp from all the running she had done, and she was wet and starting to get very cold.
But she was alive, supplies were within a few minutes of her, and best of all, it seemed like Muggle-borns weren't alone. There were still a few people out there who hadn't given up on them yet.
