Hazel couldn't figure out what to do about Frank. He's so nice and friendly and yet, her mom treats him like shit.
Every night, once her mom goes to bed, they sneak out and take a walk in the woods. Frank loves those moments as much as Hazel. He likes to tell her stories of when he was at home with his family and friends.
Hazel is always fascinated with what he tells her.
Like when he was little, he would play hide and seek with his friends. They would form into trees to blend into their surrounding area. Or the one time him and his mom found an injured fawn and healed it back to health.
Hazel was taught that forest spirits were the lowest of the low of creatures. But after talking to Frank, they were just fun friendly people. Which made Hazel like Frank, a lot. They were always goofing around and sneaking away to just be themselves.
"Hey Hazel?" Frank asked.
"Yeah?" She replied as they walked around the woods.
"Do you think we can go see human stuff? I've never been close to them before." Frank told her. "And after the stories you've read to me, I want to see one up close."
"It's dark. They're all asleep by now. Maybe when my mom goes to the store or something we can go." Hazel promised.
He nodded and let out a breath. There's been something on his mind that he wants to tell her, well two things. One is that he wants to be back in his normal form. Not that he doesn't like his human form, but he misses his wings. Second, he had a crush on Hazel. But he knew how her mother acts around him and how witches think of forest spirits. And if they dated, courted, or whatever witches called it, he knew Hazel wouldn't be accepted in the witch society.
"You okay?" Hazel asked. He was way too quiet than normal.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "I just…I just miss my spirit form. I miss my wings mostly."
"Wings?" She asked, confused. "I thought forest spirits didn't have wings."
"Well, I like shape shifting into different animals. My favorite forms are birds." He replied. "My normal form is very earthy."
"I know. I learned about forest spirits." She smiled a bit. "But I learned all the wrong things. Like you're evil and gullible. And you're not."
He laughed. "No forest spirit is evil. Gullible, yeah, probably."
Hazel looked at her hands. "How did my mom capture you?"
He looked down. "I was going around the woods, to just get out a bit. And I heard this noise, like a wounded animal. So I raced over to try and help and then…I was trapped. Your mom had a spell going to make that noise."
Hazel had her hands balled into fists with some purple mist swirling around them. She couldn't believe her mother did that, just to capture a slave! No. A forest spirit.
"I can't believe her!" She looked at Frank. "I'm going to free you."
He looked up at her. "How?"
"I don't know, but I promise I will."