Memory of Lies

Forget what? Why's everyone forgetting?

Crystal walked into the forest in search of mushrooms and other wild plants. She was in the middle of planning a special dinner for the night, and knew just where the ingredients would be. 

Being back in her childhood home was a jolt at first, everything was different, but from afar it seemed the same. After a few days, she had adjusted and gone into town with Steve to see if anything else had changed. And boy did it. 

All her old friends were either grown up, or gone, or running their parents shops. Several seemed to have children of their own too. It made her happy to see them happy, but any time she had tried to talk to them, they brushed her off, or told her she wasn't welcome. It confused her at first, but she understood why they were scared. She remembered what Steve had told her, and to be honest, understood where her childhood friends were coming from. Who would want to be friends with the daughter of THE demon. 

Now, she mostly stayed to the house and surrounding woods. The one incident where things had started to get ugly, and she was done. It had hurt that her friend had thrown the stone at her, hitting her arm hard enough to leave a bruise, but it hurt worse when no one stopped to help her or stop the others from joining in. Worst of all was the cheering as she ran out of the village and back to the house crying.

But that was weeks ago, and she didn't bother herself thinking about it any further. Why keep thinking about horrible things after all? 

She smiled as she walked, but a smile can hide a million things. She knew that from experience. 

-----

Steve ran back to the house and burst through the door. 

"Crystal!" He shouted, running up the stairs. 

He burst into the little study room and looked around frantically. She was no where to be seen. 

"She must still be out" He muttered to himself. Quickly, he grabbed a sword from his stash and ran out into the forest behind the house. It was starting to grow dark.

----

"I'm tired" Colin mumbled. He followed Jonas down the dark streets tiredly, his loose cape dragging on the ground behind him. Jonas looked back and sighed. 

"It's alright" He said, walking back over. 

Gently, he picked Colin up and wrapped the cape around him. Colin snuggled up tight and yawned. It had been hard escaping the castle. Kye had set up guards at every door and by every window that could open. It had taken a week of planning for Jonas to realize how they could get out.

He had first asked Brandon for help. Although he was reluctant, Brandon agreed and gave them a map to help. All the secret passages and hidden rooms were highlighted on it. On it showed a path straight from their room to the market place. Jonas grinned when he saw it. They had left that night, nothing with them besides the disguises. 

"We're getting out of here, and when we find dad we'll be alright" Jonas said, trying to blend in with the crowds around them. The night of no moon started out small with a march in the streets, but once it got to the forest Jonas had heard it would heat up a bit. 

He wasn't sure what the night was about, but he had heard some of the guards talking about it. Apparently, it was a yearly celebration in the summer where everyone in the neighboring villages got together to pay homage to everything dark. He guessed it was fitting to do it on a new moon, but it made no sense to him. Jonas shrugged though, thinking that a tradition was a tradition. 

"Where is dad?" Colin asked in a sleepy voice. The little squid was fighting off sleep as best he could, but it was late, and he couldn't keep it up for much longer. 

"Somewhere out there" Jonas replied, looking out into the forest. 

They followed the crowds for a while, but spit off into the woods before they got too close to the opening area. Jonas ran as fast as he could, just trying to get out of the torch light of the others. They hurried off into the night as fast they could. Jonas knew they wouldn't have much time after sunrise before their absence was noticed. Luckily though, with their black cloaks and Jonas' ebony skin, they blended in easily. It wasn't long before they disappeared all together into the night of no moon.

-----

A/N Hey everyone! I finally have enough time now to update more frequently, but I wouldn't say I can do it every week like I used to do. Instead, I'm going to try to stick to twice a month until school comes around. Then it'll be less probably.

Also, I'd like to give credit where credit is due and I know Colin isn't a new character, but I never really said where this little prince came from so I wanted to fill that in. This cutie came from the roleplay between me and WickededBlaze01 a long time ago. I added him in because I thought he was an adorable character, and who doesn't like the see a small "bad guy" before they're bad. Not saying he will be, but he's a squid and there's a lot of people who say they're bad for just being a squid. Most of his character growth is from our role play as well, but some others do help every now and then. Mostly, he's just a scared little kid though who packs quite a punch if pushed too hard. And others know some of his secrets as well, which will be explained throughout the book too and maybe into the next few. 

Anyway, I'll stop rambling about my characters now, and thank you all so much for being patient and helpful when it comes to my books. Honestly, I love hearing all of your comments all the time. 

Until next time

SEE YA FOXES!!!