As Adeline followed him into the forest, she noticed that as he walked, he took off the golden collar around his neck.
"Much better," he sighed out.
As Adeline got closer, she was curious as she heard voices. Deep, loud, and booming voices!
"What on Earth?" she said outloud.
"Colossus! Come and join us!" a voice called.
"Yes, how was it in the human world?!" another voice called.
"Those humans…what strange creatures. I wonder what they are like?" a feminine voice asked.
Now Adeline was thoroughly confused. How could they be asking about stuff about humans?
'We are all humans.' she thought. As she pushed through the thick brush, her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. She was in the midst of giants! Large beings that towered over her and any human. In fact, her head would probably only reach his knee. Colossus was sitting in the midst of them and telling them about the day.
"Yes, humans are very interesting creatures. And many of them do not believe we exist," Colossus explained.
"Are they food?" another asked. That made Adeline gasp and her eyes widen even more!
"I do not believe so. I am still learning about them. But I admit, they do look chewy. Perhaps one day I will see if they are food," Colossus smirked.
That did it! Adeline let out a short scream at those words! All of the giants turned and looked in her direction.
"What is that?" a giant girl asked.
"A young human." Another giant observed.
"Why, it is the youngling from earlier," Colossus said, now looking in her direction. But he noticed her wide eyes and she looked even more horrified when he looked at her.
"You're right…they do look chewy," another giant smirked, now licking his lips.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, now scrambling to her feet and turning to run away in horror!
"Human! Human, wait!" the young girl giant called.
"She saw us! We've got to capture her!" another giant said, now standing.
"Stop! You'll frighten her even more! I'll go after her!" Colossus called, now standing and walking briskly after her.
Meanwhile, Adeline was tearing through the forest as fast as she could. She had to get out of there! The problem? The way back to her home disappeared! She was trapped in the forest!
"Which way, which way?!" she gasped.
"Come back! Stop! Come back here!" Colossus called, now running after her.
"GET AWAY FROM ME, MONSTER!" Adeline screamed, now running as fast as she could. As she ran, she noticed an old abandoned brick house. She didn't even care if it belonged to someone; she ran inside and ran for the basement! She then hid in a closet and held her chest in pure fear. This was an old cabin that was abandoned and had been in the forest for years, but yet most people complained that it was haunted and hard to find. Now miraculously, she found it!
"This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream," she chanted to herself. But she stopped as she heard heavy footsteps.
"Where are you? Youngling, come out," a voice called. Adeline whimpered and hid even more. "Listen, you have seen us so you need to come with me. If you come quietly you won't be harmed."
Adeline rolled her eyes, but then she gasped as she saw a mouse in the room with her. Terrified, she burst back out but screamed as she saw Colossus' eye peering in the basement window.
"I thought I smelled you down there. Come here," he said, now sticking his entire hand through the wall , and breaking it, to get her!
"NO! Leave me alone! You monster!" she screamed. Colossus' eye narrowed.
"I'm not a monster." He said sternly.
"You all are trying to eat me! You even said I looked chewy!" she said, now looking for a way out.
"Youngling, you must calm down or else you will make this worse!" Colossus said. But as he tried to grab her, Adeline bit down hard on his hand making him wince. His eyes then narrowed angrily. "That does it!"
She then screamed as he made another grab for her, but she ducked and ran up the stairs. She then ran inside an empty bedroom and hid in another closet.
But at that moment, Colossus peered into the upper window and glanced around each bedroom. He then sniffed the air and his eyes opened slowly.
"There you are," he said lowly. He then reached into the bed room and reached for the closet. Once he tore off the door, Adeline screamed as loud as she could. She could feel his fingers feeling around the clothes for her and he was occasionally grabbing clothes too! Growling lowly, he grabbed her and a handful of clothes and snatched her back through to him. "I said calm down!"
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Adeline protested as she was trying to get untangled from the clothes.
"Hush, you're only making this worse," Colossus said, now walking back towards the others with Adeline in his hands. But the young girl continued to scream and push on his hands, demanding release! She had been captured by a giant!
Two hours later…
"Colossus, what happened?" Evander asked, now seeing Colossus with a handful of clothes.
"The young human. She has seen me and my kind." Colossus explained, now peeking in the clothes and seeing Adeline had fallen unconscious due to her struggling.
"I see. So she has see the giants' realm," Evander said.
"Yes and now we need to speak with the others," Colossus said.
"About what?" Evander said, now standing and looking at him sternly. "You're not thinking about that, are you?"
"I don't have a choice," Colossus said. "She has seen me and therefore I have to follow protocol."
"What do you mean?" Evander asked. "Everyone in the show saw you."
"But that was in the form of a magic trick. She has seen me in my true form. I'm a giant and I told you I would help you put on an act as long as my true identify was not revealed." Colossus said sternly.
"But she's only a girl. You cannot do this Colossus. It would frighten her beyond belief." Evander replied.
"Do you think I want to do this? Of course not! But you remember the last human that said that they would not tell our secret. They could not even keep it quiet for two years," Colossus replied. "I had to do everything in my power to keep my people from invading this world and destroying it in anger. They want their privacy."
"I understand that. However, there must be another way," Evander replied, now pointing at the bundle in Colossus' hands. "She will not survive when we travel from realm to realm."
"That will be fine. She will be under my personal watch and yours." Colossus smirked, now wiggling his brown eyebrows.
"You must be, as humans say, joking. I have no time to watch over a human child," Evander said, now arching an eyebrow.
"And neither do I, but we have no choice. She will become one of us and she will learn our way of life," Colossus said, now sitting down and gently moving the bundle back and revealing the sleeping girl. He then noticed she was slowly waking up.
Adeline slowly opened her eyes and sat up, but gasped as she saw she was sitting in the giant's hands. She turned around and saw Evander looking at her and placing his hands up in concern.
"Calm down, now calm down. Do not be afraid young one. It seems you have discovered a secret about Colossus here," Evander said, now glancing at the giant behind her. Adeline looked over her shoulder and gasped at the large being behind her. She then jumped out of his hands and got tangled in the blankets and clothes.
"Youngling, calm down," Colossus said softly, now laying down on his stomach and gently moving the clothes back so he could see her. He then pulled out the golden collar and it slowly began shrinking him down. When he was small enough, he placed it on his neck.
Adeline angrily moved the clothes back and saw both of them looking at her.
"Little one…we need to talk," Evander replied, now kneeling beside her.
"Help me get away from him! He's going to eat me! He's dangerous!" Adeline wailed, crawling over to Evander and hiding behind him. Colossus let out a sigh and ran a hand down his face.
"Colossus will not harm you. But you do realize that by not going home like I asked you and following him, you cannot return home now," Evander said gravely, now glancing over his shoulder at her. He then brought her gently around to where he could see her better.
"W-What do you mean?" she asked.
"It means," Colossus started. "That you belong to the circus now. After all, we cannot have you returning and telling the entire world about us."
"W-What?! You can't do that!" Adeline protested.
"It has already been done, Adeline," Colossus whispered, now pulling her to him and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Adeline pushed him back and felt something on her head. As she jumped to her feet and looked in a nearby puddle, she had a jewel on her forehead.
"That jewel binds you to us. Adeline…welcome to the Cirque Mystique," Evander replied with a small bow. Adeline gulped hard! What on Earth had she gotten into!
guestsurprise: Oh my! Interesting no?
newbienovelistRD: It's BEYOND interesting! I'm on pins and needles to find out what's gonna happen next! :O