The Bond That Binds Us

10: Meeting The Fam

"Safira?" Axel calls softly. When I didn't respond, he poked me in the arm lightly. "Safira. Wake up. We're here." His voice is no longer soft; it's demanding, like always.

"Already?" I groan groggily and open my eyes reluctantly. Stretching my lethargic body in the limited space, I take in the scenery around me. I expect to see a house or something, but there's absolutely no building in view for miles. We've been driving through open fields for hours, but now we're driving through a forest. A forest that could be a perfect setting for a horror film, might I add. I look across at Axel uneasily. "Where's your house?"

He notices, and a faint smile plays on his lips. "You'll see." He responds vaguely.

I roll my eyes and continue to look out the windows. "Can you put some music?" I ask, hoping to fill the silence with something, since Axel obviously wasn't big on conversing.

He doesn't respond, and I'm about to go off on him about how disrespectful it is to ignore a person like that when I notice that he's concentrating hard on something. I look to see what he's so focused on that he couldn't respond to a simple question when I catch sight of it. A huge hedge, an incredible amount of miles wide and tall. It towers over the rest of the forest, blocking any sunlight from reaching the road that stretches out before us. I assume Axel's going to stop the car at any moment, but instead he just speeds up.

"What are you doing?" I question, panic rising in my chest. The impenetrable hedge is getting too close to the car, and Axel looks like he has no intent of hitting the brakes.

"Be quiet." He says irately.

"You're insane! Stop the car, Axel! Do you not see that hedge?!" I order.

He pays no attention to me and keeps going. Of course. This insane idiot would be the death of me, literally. If I'm going to die now, I might as well come to terms with any unresolved issues I had. I definitely didn't want to be stuck on earth as a ghost for the rest of eternity because I couldn't face my problems. If ghosts even exist. I sneak another quick glance at Axel. Well, if werewolves exist, then other supernatural beings probably did too. The thought unsettles me. What unsettles me more is how much closer the hedge is getting every second. I want to shut my eyes, but then I'd be clueless about when the impact of the hedge would hit us. If I had to guess though, I'd say we'd be crashing into the hedge in... 3... 2 ... 1...

Good bye, life.

I brace myself for the devastating collision, only to find that ... we've driven straight through the hedge? "What just happened?" I ask Axel, dazed.

He smirks at me. "That wall that you saw? That was entirely made up of flexible vines. Harmless, really. It's the illusion that they're something solid, like a hedge that keeps people from attempting to go through. It keeps people out of my territory."

"Oh. That's kind of genius." I admit, giving him a huge smile, mostly out of the cheerfulness that today would not be the day of my death.

"Isn't it?" He responds arrogantly. I take my eyes off of his breathtaking features and look in front of me. I'm stunned by what I see.

It's a huge, expansive meadow, filled with tall, green grass and colorful flowers. And in the middle of it is an incredible and gorgeous estate, looking as classy and vintage as a building could. The estate isn't the only building in sight, though. Surrounding it in the shape of an open- ended rectangle are a bunch of miniature houses, looking cute and comfy. They aren't intimidating like the estate is, and I wonder what they're there for. Wouldn't the estate be enough for Axel? Even still, wouldn't one of those smaller houses be enough for Axel? Why did he need so many buildings just for himself? In the middle of the rectangle is a massive and well-manicured courtyard an antique and beautiful fountain, flowing with crystal clear water.