The House By The River

Chapter Five

Aoife and Kat ran to Nessa, who had sunk to the floor and was curled up sobbing in the fetal position, and Zoe, who was sprawled on the ground. Alex stayed fixed in her place, her breathing shallow as she stared at her friends. Blaez weakly pulled himself up and shakily made his way over to the four girls. Aoife wrapped her arms around Nessa and was softly whispering calming, supportive words into her ear. Kat was shaking Zoe, trying to wake her. Blaez gently stroked Zoe's colourless cheek. He glanced towards the shimmering light that was still above the carving on the floor, then at the lilies on the table, then at Zoe. He stood up and walked slowly towards the lilies, which he took out of the vase. He sat back down next to Zoe and placed one of the lilies in her hand. He gave one each to Kat and Aoife, before slipping one into Nessa's trembling grasp. He gave the final lily to Alex, who gave him a confused look.

"They're not lilies." Blaez told them. "They're a hybrid plant, aconite and thistle. They look like lilies because they were bred to, centuries ago. It meant that children would see them and, thinking they were ordinary flowers, pick them."

"Why give them to us? Why would whoever bred them want children to pick them?" Kat asked quietly, her brown eyes boring into Blaez.

"They both heal my kind, and protect humans from us." the boy replied. "The venom from Filtiarn's bite will either have made Zoe and the other one - you never did tell me your names - into my kind, or it will have weakened them enormously."

"I'm Aoife, they're Kat, Alex and Nessa." Aoife told him, pointing at each of the other girls in turn. "So, you thought that if Zoe's been turned into 'your kind', whatever that means, the flower would wake her up?" Blaez nodded.

"What is your kind?" Kat questioned, and Blaez began to gaze at the floor, looking thoroughly ashamed.

"You were probably raised with stories of us." he began. Aoife, Kat and Alex looked at him expectantly. "I am a Child of the Moon." he said, raising his eyes. "A Werewolf." The three girls gasped. They had heard of Werewolves. Their parents had terrified them with stories of children who had been killed by Werewolves when venturing into the forest at night. And now two of their friends had been bitten by one. They stayed in a stunned silence until Nessa stopped shaking and crying and sat up. She saw Zoe's limp form and gasped.

"Sh-she was t-trying to p-protect m-me." she stuttered hoarsely, tears filling her blue eyes. "She c-can't b-be d-dead!" Kat slid her hand into Nessa's and Alex joined her friends on the floor.

"She's not dead, just unconcsious. She'll be fine." Aoife said reassuringly, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself. The four girls hugged each other as Kat, Aoife and Alex tried to cheer Nessa up.

"She always was the noble one who would do anything for her friends." Kat said, smiling. "And she always got through whatever life threw at her."

"Like she always said: when life gives you lemons, start a food fight and make life regret it." Aoife quoted, and the four girls laughed. Blaez smiled slightly.

The four girls continued to talk for about twenty minutes before Zoe emitted a small groan so quiet only two of them heard in. Blaez and Nessa. Nessa placed her hand in Zoe's and Blaez put his hand under Zoe's head and lifted it slightly as Zoe's eyes fluttered open.

"W-what did I miss?" she asked weakly, glancing around the room. Her eyes widened as they settled on Filtiarn's still, lifeless body. "You guys kicked his half-wit arse!" she yelled excitedly as she punched the air, her  energy restored. Kat rolled her eyes at Zoe's antics, glad her friend wasn't fazed by the incident.

"Kat got two knives in his paw and Aoife got an arrow through his neck." Blaez told Zoe, who looked round at him and smiled. He smiled back. Alex wolf whistled, and Zoe made a very rude gesture at her.

"I don't think 'wolf whistling' is really the right thing to do right now. It's kind of insensitive." Aoife commented, and Kat smirked.

"Why?" Zoe questioned, clearly confused. Kat explained about Werewolves being real, and how Filtiarn had been one, just as Blaez was.

"The venom means that Nessa and I are Werewolves, now?" Zoe asked, obviously trying to keep her voice even. Aoife nodded. Zoe took a shaky breath as she looked around.

"What do we do now?" Kat asked. "We still need to find Evie and Alba." Everyone was silent for a couple of minutes as they thought of ideas, before a dull thud like metal landing on wood came from the direction of the shimmering light. Aoife got up and walked over to the anomaly, bent down and picked something up before sitting down with her friends again.

"It's a pendant." Nessa noted on seeing the object that Aoife had collected.

"No freaking duh!" Zoe all but shouted, and Kat and Aoife yelled at her to shut up. Blaez took the pendant from Aoife and gasped as he looked at it. He turned away and raised his hand to his eyes.

"Are you crying because of a pendant?" Nessa asked incredulously. Blaez looked back round. His amber eyes were brimming with tears which threatened to flow freely down his pale face.

"My sister, Cana, had a pendant exactly the same as this. It was a gift from an old lady in our village. It was the day before Cana and Hollie were seen approaching the house." he whispered, and Zoe wrapped her arms around him.

"We'll find her. When we find Evie and Alba, we'll find Cana and Hollie." she said firmly. She looked around at the girls, as if daring them to defy her.

"Yeah. We'll do everything we can to help." Alex told him, and her friends stared at her, shocked.

"You want to do something that will almost certainly involve getting hurt... for someone you've just met?" Zoe questioned, stunned. Alex nodded.

"He's helping us find my sister, it's only fair that we help him find his." she answered.

"That does make sense." Kat remarked, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Through the light, then?" Zoe asked. Nessa shook her head.

"Everything that goes through there is lost." she said, and Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Maybe the pendant was a sign. If it came from the light, maybe people can come through, too. It's a good starting point, at least."