Emory

Chapter 7

I am running through the forest, my feet completely silent on the ground. All that can be heard is the restless wind and my heavy breathing. I do not know where I am going, but I know I have to get there fast. As trees whip past me I hear something to my right. I look over and see a figure running parallel to me. A second noise to my left has me looking in the other direction. Something is running with me on that side too.  I keep running, never letting up. I burst out of the forest into a clear without warning. I stop. I take a second to catch my breath but then remember something has been chasing me. I turn slowly to seeing who has been following me. Out of the forest emerges Kye on the left, and Ben on the right. Ben and Kye stare each other down.

“He’s goin’ feral” Kye says. He is looking at me with sadness in his eyes, not at all out of breath from our run.

I look over at Ben. Without warning Ben lets out a yell that echoes through the field, raising his fist in the air. In his hand is the necklace that he always is wearing, but it is slightly different. On top of the beautiful swirl of Amber and Gold is a deep blood red swirl that does not glow at all.

 

I am awakened by something tapping lightly at my face. I open my eyes to see Milo only an inch away, on top of my face.

“God, Milo, you scared me!” I pick him off and set him on my lap but he does not seem to want to be put down. He jumps up and down on my knee and points down at the ground. “I thought we already went over this... I can’t climb down.”

He keeps on jumping and pointing. I sigh and sit all the way up and look over the edge to see what he is so excited about. Down at the bottom of the tree is a man looking up scanning the tops of the tree. He has not spotted me yet so I quickly pull my knees back, making myself smaller and hopefully less noticeable. Apparently Milo does not want to hide at all because he keeps jumping and pointing. I shush him and he stops jumping, giving me the cutest frown I have ever seen in my life. Then he turns and starts climbing down the tree. I scramble up and try to reach for him but he is too fast.

Once he gets to the bottom branch that the man is standing under, Milo leaps off and lands right on his head. The man does not seem to be too surprised to have that happen to him. He reaches up and picks him off.

“Weel awrite thaur Milo. Kye said yoo'd be it haur wi' his lassie.” Milo nods his head in answer and then proceeds to point up at me. I duck out of sight but I know I am not fast enough.

“Tis all right lass” Ah’m Kyes big brother Jax. He sent me back fur ye. Said ye was stuck in a body ay his stoatin oaks.” I can hardly understand him , but he does have the same accent as Kye, if not much thicker and his voice is very deep. His is, without a doubt, Scottish. I do not come out of hiding, instead I look around at Kye’s “Stoating Oak.” I have no idea what Stoating means... but if I were to guess it would mean Ginormous! Or another big word that means really really big.

Now that I look at the grooves of the bark and the edges of the leaves I see that, even though they were 10x as big, they are in fact Oak. The acorns that dangle above me are as big as my head, but they are also Oak. How in the world did it get so big?

Before I know it the man has made his way up to me. Milo is still on his shoulder. His hair and eyes are nearly identical to Kye’s. The only difference is that his nose would be the same as Kye’s if it were not for the fact it had obviously been broken numerous times and healed in a bent state. It suited him though. It gave his handsome features a “Don’t mess with me” edge.

“Ready tae gie doon?” He holds out his hand to me.

“I think I will wait here thank you.”