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Mocket: I think you're psychic!
This chapter has less action than the last, but the mysterious girl finally gets a name, and gets to talk and be normally awake.
~.~.~
They let the girl rest in one of the unoccupied rooms upstairs. By the dim pale-green light of goblin lamps, Emily traced her healing magic all around and through the girl, soothing old and newer scars that crisscrossed the pale skin of her back, shoulders, and thighs. They were long and thin cuts, like whip marks, some just white lines and others an angry rose color. It took almost an hour, a deeply distressing hour for Emily, as her mind wandered into all sorts of horror stories about the scars' origins. When she was finished, the exhausted healer dressed the girl in a warmer long-sleeved nightgown, dark grey and silky, and called in her friends to take over.
Sure as they were that the girl was on their side, they still couldn't let their guard down too much. Kara and Zach took the first shift watching the girl and waited for nearly two hours, until the sky outside the little pointed-arch window started to brighten. Kara flipped through a fashion magazine and Zach read a book that Adriane had lent him: Alice in Wonderland.
Kara finished the last article on spring accessories and glanced around the room, already bored and a little warm. She unlatched the window and opened it, letting in a cool early morning breeze.
"So, what do you think of her," she said to Zach, nodding her head towards the girl.
Zach put down his book. "I…I don't know what to think. She saved us, and I feel sorry for her. I mean, I think I know more than anyone what evil the Sorceress can do—could do. I guess that I can sympathize."
"Do you think she's hot?"
Zach blushed, but said nothing.
"Well Lorren certainly thinks she's hot. And I'm sure that Adriane would love to hear what you think of crystal girl."
"Shut up," Zach held his book to his face, pretending to read. "I've never even spoken to her—she was only awake for a few minutes!—but I've known Adriane for almost five years. There's no comparison. And besides, it's not like we're actually together, and neither are you and Lorren."
Kara scowled at that last reminder, just as the girl on the bed made a tiny movement. Both froze and stared at her. Her lips pressed together, her hand clenched, and her eyes fluttered open. For a moment she just stared back at them with a half-asleep face, but then, as if suddenly realizing her position, she bolted up in bed and flinched as far away from them as possible. Her lavender gaze shot frantically around the room, and then settled on the open window.
"Wait," Zach said cautiously. "We don't want to hurt you, we want—"
The girl cut him off by jumping on the ledge and flinging herself out the window. Zach and Kara rushed to the window, just in time to see the girl spring up from a crouch and start running towards the forest.
"Hey!" Kara shouted. "Adriane, Lorren, Emily, she's escaping! She's heading into the forest!"
Zach was already halfway to the stairs as Kara finished. "Come on!" he shouted to Lorren and Adriane, who had just poked their heads out of their rooms. They hadn't yet caught up as Zach burst out the front doors and into the chilly pale dawn, alone. The girl had become a small grey blur vanishing into the trees.
As he reached the forest's edge, he stopped. The girl had left a trail of crushed leaves and broken twigs, easy to follow. If there was one skill that he'd learned in the wilds of Aldenmore, it was tracking. He followed her path carefully, as silently as he could, listening intently to the faint sound of rustling forest ahead. It grew slower and louder, and he knew that he didn't need to hurry; she would tire and stop eventually.
And that she did: a few minutes after the noises stopped, Zach emerged in the same clearing in which they'd found her crystal. Everything was quiet but the leaves against a soft breeze. There was no girl in sight, but Zach knew that she was hiding.
"It's okay," he called out. "I just want to help you—we just want to help you."
Nothing.
"Thank you for saving us from that…thing last night."
Still nothing. He was so bad with words. He couldn't think of the right way to say anything.
"It's safe. The Sorceress is dead. We're the good mages from the prophecy."
At the far edge of the clearing, the silver-leafed bushes made a tiny movement and a figure in grey crept slowly from behind them. She stood up and faced him, still as a marble statue, and Zach understood that she wanted him to come to her. Found her, he sent a mental message to Adriane.
Walking across the meadow seemed to take only a second, but his heart beat faster and faster as he approached her. Why? Was he afraid that she'd run away?
He stopped only a yard from this motionless and expressionless girl, whose stone mask suddenly cracked to an assertive frown as she demanded: "When did you find me? What year is it? How long has she been dead?"
Taken aback by her out-of-nowhere change, Zach blinked and hesitated before saying: "We found you here two weeks ago, it's 2013 in Earth years, and she's been dead for four years. Who are you? What's your na—"
"How did you defeat her? Do you know anything about that creature from last night?"
"We've never seen that thing before, and we defeated her all together, with magic from our animals—"
The girl almost flinched at the word 'animals,' as if it grazed an open wound. Her face softened, as she stopped snapping at Zach and finally looked him over. He felt his ears simmer in embarrassment for his simple billowing white shirt, jeans, and hiking boots, and decided to return her look:
Even in the low morning light, her raven hair starkly contrasted with the silver leaves and multicolored flowers around her, and her eyes seemed to glow, framed with thick lashes and set above a narrow nose and full lips. She stood almost as tall as him, and though her nightgown was loose, it still hinted at her body's curvy contours—not as lean-muscled as Adriane, but definitely more…feminine.
"Are you human?" she took a few steps towards him and brushed the sandy blond hair from his eyes, examining him, her face very close to his. He almost shivered at the touch of her hand.
"Yeah…Are you?" He suddenly realized that he'd never learned her name, and added "I'm Zach. What's your name?"
She stared into his eyes, seeming to challenge him. "I'm Nightshade. My father was a human, my mother a fairy."
"Are they still alive?" he asked, regretting the bluntness immediately.
"No."
"Neither are mine."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too."
Her lavender eyes and his bright blue ones were nearly-level and were drawn to each other like magnets, bringing them closer and closer to each other. Zach felt the air between them crackle with electricity—was it their magic, or something else?
"Hey Zach!"
Both jumped back and whirled around towards the sudden voice behind them. Where Zach had first come into the clearing, Lorren and Adriane were emerging from the trees.
"Hey!" he called back and waved, with a shaking voice and hand.
Nightshade shrunk back, frowning and watching the two newcomers warily. "Weren't they with you last night, fighting that monster," she said.
"Yeah, it's okay. They're my friends," he awkwardly stretched out his hand to her, not sure if it was too familiar a gesture. "Come on."
She didn't take his hand, but walked alongside him to meet Adriane and Lorren in the middle of the meadow. He saw a blush tint her face as they finally met up.
"Um," he said to his friends. "This is Nightshade," and then turned to Nightshade: "This is Lorren and Adriane."
Lorren bowed and tipped his wide-brimmed black hat. "I believe we met last night, briefly. Thank you for saving us."
Nightshade's blush grew stronger, and she surprised Lorren by answering with a handshake instead of a curtsey. "You're welcome. And thank you for finding and caring for me," Lorren's hand and hers held each other a little too long, and Zach felt a familiar but uncommon feeling stirring within himself.
"Thanks from me, too," Adriane said. She threw a quick questioning glance at Zach before returning to Nightshade. "Do you remember anything about last night? What kind of monster it was or how you beat it?"
Nightshade's gaze fell to a patch of flowers on the ground. "I remember waking up, that dark mist, something like a snake, you three and another girl fighting, but it's just snippets, blurry. I don't remember what I did, but that creature…I don't think I've seen it before," she frowned, looking confused, before her expression hardened and she stood up straight. "But I'm okay now. I can fight that thing again if it comes back."
Adriane's eyes narrowed, and Zach could tell that she didn't believe her whole story. Before the warrior could say anything, Lorren interjected: "Well, I'm sure that we're all tired and hungry. Adriane, why don't you tell Kara or Emily to have the cook make us some breakfast, so it'll be ready when we get back."
"Sure," Adriane said, a little annoyed at Lorren.
On the way back to the research base, Adriane didn't mention any of last night, but she kept a suspicious eye on Nightshade the whole time.
~.~.~
So what did you think? Do you like Nightshade? Hate her? No opinion yet? This chapter was just Zach's perspective, so you'll get to see what Lorren, Adriane, and Nightshade herself think later.
Next chapter, Emily and Kara meet Nightshade, and they set off on their first quest.
Review please! What do you think will happen? What do you think should happen? Who is Nightshade? Who were her parents? Why was she trapped in that crystal?