The Woods

Part 9

    His plans were ruined, however, seen as Astraea kept her eyes glued on him, anticipating his idea.

So apparently, Astraea saved Bri's life. When Education was let out, Bri sat around waiting for him.

"But I knew you would be late! You had to visit Lucia, after all!" When Bri added this in, Astraea had looked at him strangely with one eyebrow raised.

Anyway, Bri began to cough and then the snow started, and her sickness worsened severely. She was curled up on the ground when Astraea found her during one of her hunting trips. She brought Bri to her cave and healed her with a combination of herbs and spells. At this point of the story, Quintin basically knew that she was the witch that haunted the forest, which made him even more wary, though her story proved she held no ill-will. When she finished, he asked a question that was none of his business.

"So, where did you come from?" Astraea looked at him curiously and, oddly enough, she sort of answered his question. He was expecting a story of how she grew in power and destroyed her village. Or maybe about being outlawed from Lighthill or somewhere because of her powers, but it wasn't anything like that.

"I- I ran away from home."

"You what?!"

"I- I didn't want anything bad to happen. I didn't want anything worse to happen."

"What do you mean? Worse than what?" Astraea's grey eyes leaked a single tear that streamed down her cheek.

"I'd rather not speak of it." But Quintin didn't want to stop. Not after she had told him that much already. So he did another stupid thing.

"But you were just talking about it! How much harder could it b-" Astraea's grey eyes burned with fury and she swiped at him with one hand.

"Much harder than you would ever understand!" Her hand began to glow and a small white globe formed in her palm. Bri looked at her with wide eyes and lunged in front of Quintin as Astraea raised the globe. Her hand stopped in midair, realizing that she and Quintin weren't alone. "I'm not telling you who I am any time soon." Quintin then knew not to ask any more questions. "Return home. I have told you all you need to know." He grabbed Bri, and with only some struggling, was able to leave the cave with her safely in tow.

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