The Lost

29- Familiar

Lyn

"Luuucius!" I called out again. Knowing that he wasn't far made it easier to run faster. Hopefully I would burst out of the leaves and find him with Wren on his shoulder, with a smile on his face— I was obviously happy here in Hawthorn, but was Lucius? I thought he was... he seemed brighter than he ever had a the school. It was difficult to be gloomy when was the centre of attention in a good way for once.
In my excitement, I failed to notice the tiny arches of twisting wood that looped out of the ground. Roots. Azure probably knew to avoid them. But stupid me didn't notice until I had driven my foot straight through one.
By the time I had realised my mistake, I was already leaping forwards into another step. My foot immediately snagged against the root, yanking my ankle back and throwing me head over heels into a bush. With a cry, I went flying straight into the layers of leaves, tumbling uncontrolled until I fell out the other side. The branches scratched my arms as I went.
When I burst out of the bush the sun blinded me for the hundredth time, but I knew even through my bleared eyes that I had smacked against the ground and was currently skidding across the dirt. Ridiculously, I worried about my dress getting dirty.

Ow. I blinked twice, laying face down in dust and dry leaves. You're as elegant as ever. Perhaps I would have laughed at my clumsiness if my chest wasn't now throbbing from the collision with the floor. My ankle felt useless and weak along with my toes that were no doubt bleeding from where I had booted that root. No wonder Azure had told me to be careful. Probably that's why she hadn't been running as fast as me.
Ow. Ow. Feeling rather dazed, I scraped the dirt from my cheeks. Apparently I still wasn't quite as steady as Azure when it came to running through this mad sprawl of green. The forest would take some getting used to.
Despite the mild pain, I tried a smile as I pushed myself up. Should have listened to her. But I was excited to surprise Lucius.

I could see the area next to me where the ground was darkened, my friend's huge shadow. With a smile that was mostly to hide my embarrassment, I sat up.
"Don't say anything," I blushed, rubbing my stinging eyes. For a bit, he didn't. There was no way Lucius would miss this opportunity to make fun of me. I must have looked a right fool when I came cartwheeling out of the bush.
Eventually, there was a soft, "Are you alright?"

It was as if all of time had stopped, like everything was suddenly flat. Like that fuzzy feeling that you get in your head and fingertips before something awful happens. Almost a sensation that you're falling. I stared frozen at the floor, un-breathing.

Alright.

Lucius never used that word.
He said okay, usually missing the o. And his voice didn't hurt my ears when he spoke, not like this one did. In sharp and painful jerk of my head, I snapped up to face Lucius.
No way, my heart was starting to beat harder. There was a paralytic gaze on me, the cold blue eyes of a beast. It was almost glacial. Whoever this person was, he wasn't Lucius. He wasn't Lucius he-

Move, I commanded. My body gave no response though, because there was an enormous creature fixated on where I knelt. Deja-vu was overwhelming. Here I was again, in the exact same situation as back at the school. Seen by a human because of my own foolishness, frozen by my own fear as I stared back at them. And just to make matters worse, the person was suddenly bending their knees.

I tried stepping backwards, only to realise that I was still on the ground. My heart started to pulsate when as I realised that he was lowering himself to my level. Him- The human was male, I managed to gather that despite my panic. It was like the world was swooning, or maybe I was fainting. There was a small rush of air that followed the huge person's every move that went blowing through my hair.