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Rejected By Trees

"I don't think you'll be living anytime soon, kid. We have a few things we want from you." The man reached for Luca's arm but Luca was fast and within seconds the man was on the ground. I felt my eyes widen as the men began throwing themselves at Luca with sharp claws sticking out. Luca landed a couple punches on the first guy before turning to the other man and gripping onto his head and brought it down onto his knee with a crack. One by one, they became more angered and went for Luca. While he was busy fighting them off, I felt someone grab my arm and I couldn't help but let out a short scream.

"Get off of me!" My survival instinct took over my body as electricity rushed through my body and electrocuted the man right in front of me. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain and I backed into the wall. I looked back to Luca, who was laughing. Why was he so happy? I looked around and saw one man getting beaten relentlessly by... no one.

I felt my chest rise and fall quickly as I watched the rest of the men fall to the ground or run away injured. "Good to see you again, Hedrick. Just like old times, right?" Luca laughed and I heard someone else laugh along with him.

"Luca, who in the world is that? Why can't I see him?" I looked around, trying to see someone, but Luca just shook his head.

"You won't be able to see him, Nessa. He's kind of invisible to lot of people. Sorry to break it to you, but you probably won't be seeing Hedrick anytime soon. I doubt you would want to, anyway. He's pretty hideous." Luca scrunched up his nose and someone laughed again. Luca laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. I nodded slowly and tried to wrap my mind around the thought. I needed to get used to this place. Blood taking doors, satyrs, and invisible people. This should be easy.

"I didn't realize how much I missed fighting with you, Luca. We'll have to do it again sometime. When your friend isn't with us." His voice was low, and someone rough on the ears, but as he spoke I became more and more used to it.

"As much as I miss it, too, I can't. My dad doesn't exactly let me leave his sights after what happened last time." Luca tried to smile but the laughter died out and the air became tense. Last time? What had happened last time?

I cleared my throat and stuck my hand out into the direction I thought the voice had been coming from. "Nice to meet you, Hedrick. Thank you."

"Hello, Vanessa." My shoulders jumped as a calloused hand grasped mine and shook it loosely. "No problem. Now come to the back room so that we can choose the sources of your wand. First we will have to see which wood you are most with. Then we will need a hair from a magical creature that you are most compatable with. After that we will finally choose a fairy dust to use as a thin coat for your wand. The ones that are most compatible are the ones that we will use to create the main form of your wand. So, this way please." Hedrick's voice floated away from me as he continued to speak. Part of the brick wall disappeared and I followed Luca into the building.

As soon as we stepped inside, the wall closed behind us and my eyes were greeted by dozens upon dozens of trees. How many were there? None of them seemed to be the same kind of tree. Some were tall and skinny. Some were short and had fat trunks. Their leaves were like an entire rainbow. I didn't think I had ever seen so many different species of trees in my entire life. Which really wasn't that long but still.

"What you do is just walk around and try to make contact. Just try to touch them. If they pull away then you should just move on. If they lean towards you then that is another story. Come tell me the name of the tree so that I can write it down. I may have already found you by then. Go on." Hedrick pushed me forward to the first tree. It leaned away with its red leaves rustling from the movement.

"Four hundred thirty seven more to go." Luca smiled devilishly as I was rejected by a tree. Great. That was realy going to help with my ego as far as dating went. I sighed and walked on to the next tree, yet again being rejected.