Unfamiliar Territory [Book One]

Chapter Thirty-Five | How Deep the Roots Grow

Sweet, darling child of the moon

Rest now, I will return soon

I picked up the sound of someone singing a soft melody after I cut my way through my old bedroom. The rest of the second story was in a similar state of overgrowth. Not one piece of sturdy wooden furniture, or fanciful artwork, or anything was left untouched by the wild entanglement of weeds, grasses, and ferns. I was lurking through a jungle where bedrooms used to be.

Though the shadows may lurk and creep

No harm shall come to you, my one who sleeps

The sounds of rumbling thunder still occasionally rolled overhead, but the rain had become tamer. I could hear the signing voice clearly through the dying storm. A woman. The witch. It had to be.

Mommy will hold the darkness at bay

She will chase all your nightmares away

With all of the windows covered up by plants, and with no other source of light, it had to be pitch black. I had to assume, because I could see just fine. Like when I was out in the true wild. This witch believed she thought of everything, but she did not think of me.

And when the sun does arise, and hurts my little one's eyes

Mommy will be there, to soothe and silence your cries.

There, across the room. The witch continued to hum her strange melody and I could hear it much clearer and closer than I could before.

I got down on my hands and knees and crawled to a wall of tangled and colorful wildlife where her humming was the strongest. As carefully as I could, I clawed away at the flowers and vines and stems until a polished wooden door was revealed, waiting behind them.

The soft, gentle humming continued beyond it. The door was already ajar. A new, foreign light was flooding in from the cracks. I slowly pushed it open, immensely grateful for Dr. Quincy's impeccable upkeep of the large mansion when the door did not creak. I made to immediately find a spot to hide but, for a moment, I was mesmerized.

Dr. Quincy had told me about the ballroom where his father would host fancy, over the top, get-togethers. He had only shown it to me once before and it wasn't as grand as what I could imagine, but it still felt like stepping into a different world. Wide, open marble floor for dancing. Strong, sturdy pillars that held up a ceiling which was painted with an assortment of fantastical woodland creatures like fairies, centaurs, and the like. A massive window took up nearly an entire wall that looked out into the vast and beautiful mountainside. The view alone had taken my breath away.

I was in a similar position again, but for entirely different reasons. The once sleek, sprawling floors were now cracked, shattered, and fouled by wildlife growing out from beneath them. The many paintings that once hung on the walls had been torn down and ripped apart by the vicious vines and grasses. The pillars were taken over by twisting greenery. The once beautiful ceiling painting was nothing more than a breeding ground for the overgrowth. And, finally, the window. Something had shattered through it entirely, leaving a massive, jagged hole that allowed a cold wind to blow through.

And the sun. That's what kept me from moving. It was setting, but it still seemed to take up the entire sky. I had never seen it so close. The orange light that came off of it and flooded into the room was almost blinding.