Waking up was not quite as hard as I had imagined it to be. Truthfully that was because I didn't get a single bit of the sleep I so desperately craved.
After Harry's late night visit and the strange stirring of...feelings...that he left me trying to decipher, sleep was no longer within my grasp and thus I was left tossing and turning until the stars in the sky blinked out and the sun's rays began to take their place.
I'd have to figure out a way in which to wake myself on a normal day in this God forsaken place. I wasn't quite sure what that looked like exactly but if I was allowed to speak with Hew today, I knew it'd be the first thing I'd ask him. Otherwise...I'd just continue disappointing the dark faerie...and I'm not sure how much more leniency he'd give me.
Leaning up against the rickety doorway as I awaited said faerie's arrival, I feel the warmth of the sun penetrating my pale skin. That was still so strange. I could feel the sun's warmth but I know now, after days of being here, that it will not tinge my skin into an angry red but it also won't bring on any olive tones either. It was curious.
Reaching my hand into the golden rays as they fell between parted tree branches above me, I watch the light dance across my skin, shadowed by the waving leaves. It's a bizarre sensation, one that I still can't exactly describe but it reminds me of when Hew touched me. It's like a warm hum, like an electrical current that radiates underneath the skin.
In fact, everything here that is vibrant with life seems to hum. Not audibly but, it's something in the way everything seems alive...as if aware of its own existence.
The creatures of Faerie that were native to this land were the most aware of all.
Two pairs of bulbous neon blue eyes stare out at me from the depthless shadows of the forest to my right. I can't be sure if they are from two separate beings or maybe just one...well... there is also the possibility of there being four, one-eyed creatures staring at me too...but those unblinking eyes stare into me with too much knowledge...too much knowing.
A sound like branches breaking under the weight of something heavy echo off to my left, snapping my attention to it immediately. Pushing myself off of the doorway, I stand very still, praying that it's Hew or even Harry at this point. I don't know my surroundings all too well but I definitely don't like the sensation that those dark woods to the left of the house put off.
It's dark...haunting...and wreaks of death.
I'd only noticed them just the other day. The smell pungent amongst all the flowery scents that usually permeated the air. No, this part of the woods is hideous and smells like something has died. The trees look warped and rotted, much like the tree that I'd seen in Neverwood before my arrival in Faerie. Harry's tree. I feel like there is something important my mind is trying to piece together upon that thought process but there is another snapping sound and my attention is therefore acutely fixed once more on what lays before me.
My eyes search for the source of the noise, my too-small hands balling into fists like I could actually defend myself against some fucked up faerie monster, and then...finally... I feel instant relief when a pair of glowing green eyes peek out from the underbrush.
"I imagine life must be very boring for a fox if watching me is your greatest source of entertainment." I drawl, folding my arms under my chest as the grey fox from the day before creeps out from the bushes where it had clearly been hiding this entire time.
It side eyes me before slowly and cautiously laying down, it's bushy dark grey tail twitching as if out of annoyance.
"Oh I'm sorry. Did I say something you don't like?" I tease, feeling a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips for what feels like the first time in forever. The fox lets out a chuffing sound and actually rolls it's eyes. I would have been shocked by that if it weren't for the fact that in the blink of an eye, where the fox had just been, now stood Harry...appearing out of shadowy mist with an expression of pure boredom.
"Yes, in fact, I find the idea of watching you to actually be rather dull. To suggest otherwise would be a little self important, don't you agree?" My jaw is scraping the ground as the tall faerie stretches out his dark wings and throws me another one of his sarcastic glares, folding his arms across his chest in the process.
"You....you're...but-"
"Ah...the mortal is at a loss for words. Shocking," the faerie gives me a casual smile that almost has me falling onto my ass, "I shall truly enjoy your silence as your voice normally is quite shrill." As if to emphasize his point, he takes a long finger and pretends to clean out one of his pointed ears.
All I can do is blink, once...twice...
"You are such a stalker!" I finally manage to blurt out and Harry's dark brows furrow together in confusion.
"And what, pray tell, is a stalker?" A slight lift of his brow as he awaits my answer. He places a hand onto his hip, impatience pouring out of his stance.
"You followed me! You sat there in your little fox form and watched me like a creep!" That was how he'd known about Hew helping me. He'd watched us the entire time.
What else had he seen in that animal form by the river?
I almost want to cover my chest self consciously but from the flippant wave of his hand, he already knew the direction my thoughts had gone.
"Don't flatter yourself human. You have nothing I haven't seen before," he states as if that is comforting, "besides...," he turns and begins to walk towards the direction of the woods that are still living, "your figure doesn't appeal to me...in that way."
Um...ouch? I visibly wince out of reflex for being called "unappealing" but then remember that this being is a literal monster and immediately feel better.
"Well...good! I'm glad!" My words feeling more defiant and matter of fact than necessary. By the half lidded gaze Harry tosses over his shoulder, he finds my attitude just as unappealing as my features.
"Do come along human. Quit dawdling." I roll my eyes and obey his command... for once.
Marching along through the glen that leads towards the river, my mind wanders to the night before. I cannot fathom the behavior exhibited by Harry last night. It was literally night and day compared to how he usually treats me...which is with sullen dismay. It was unnerving to have witnessed him be something other than rude and positively evil.
Smacking a branch out of the way that he deliberately placed in my path, I bite my tongue. I have so many questions. I have so many things running through my mind and I have to force myself to remain quiet. He doesn't like questions...especially personal questions if Hew's warning was to be taken seriously...but...
"Why do you hate me so much?" I rush out before I can stop myself. I just know Death is peeking over my shoulder and clapping giddily when Harry comes to an abrupt stop mid step.
I can swear the shadows in the trees loom ever closer as he slowly turns towards me. His expression completely vacant as he stares me down. I fidget helplessly.
"What makes you think you are so special that you are the only human deserving of my ire?" He has me there. If I'd learned anything in the weeks since I'd been in Faerie, it's that Harry has a tumultuous past with humans, so much so that others knew of it and scorned him for it. But...I want to know why and if that means sounding desperate for his kindness than so be it.
"Well...you did steal me away and every time I speak or you happen to catch my eye you make your disgust of me very well known so...sorry if I take that personally Harold." He lifts his elegant brow once more and I know I'm in trouble.
He takes two powerful steps forward and suddenly we are shrouded in the darkness of his shadows. Their cold mist licking my skin as if tasting the salty sweat there.
For a minute, he just stands there foreboding and terrifying. The greens of his eyes translucent and shine in that feral way when the sunlight breaks through the darkness surrounding us. Then the coiling shadows retract back to their places amongst the trees and Harry only placed his forefinger underneath my chin so that I have to look him directly in the eye.
The physical contact is enough to send me running but my feet are rooted in the ground. I don't like how he touches me...or rather how it feels when he touches me. It's like my body becomes alive with a tangled web of emotions and I can't pinpoint an exact one that is accurate.
There is fear, yes, but also yearning.
"My, my..." He says while he looks me over with a slight tilt of his head, his soft lips slightly puckered as he assesses me, "your human heart will be the death of you Jessie...it bleeds too easily for me." Now my eyebrows lift to my hairline in confusion but before he lets me go I feel the slightest brush of his thumb against my bottom lip. Then, he's back to trotting through the wilderness, his wings swaying loosely behind him, while I am left reeling from the slight caress and wondering if I only imagined it.
Because if that soft touch had been real...well it would only confuse me further and I don't have the time to be even more confused than I already am.
I'm about to angrily give him a piece of my mind and demand he never touch me again with his filthy demon hands when a loud thunk echos through the woods. Harry comes to a perfect stand still once more but this time he seems rigid. I damn my hearing as it tries to pick up where the sound originated from.
"Harry? What was that?" I ask, my voice radiating throughout the wilderness so much louder than it has any right to be. It's as if the entire forest has gone mute and I am dialed up to the highest volume.
Harry is still standing there, unmoving as a gentle wind blows his long curling hair back and forth, his wings hanging half open in a way I haven't seen from him before.
Again, another loud thunking sound but this time Harry staggers back, his head dropping forward. As I go to look around for the source of the sound, I catch red spreading along the back of his black blouse out of the corner of my eye. For once, the mist he usually uses to cover himself is fading slightly enough for me to see the bright red forming there in the lower right side of his back.
I feel my own blood curdle and freeze at the sight.
Something is wrong.
Something is horribly wrong.
"Harry...?" I tentatively say once more and take slow steps towards him, my fingers raising up as I now notice a metal point sticking out of the backside of him.
No...not metal.
Iron.
Before I can even react, Harry is collapsing backwards, falling into me, and I am taking on his powerful weight. My hands are immediately slick with sweat mixed with his blood and I feel my vision tunneling in, the panic now taking up the entirety of my being.
I pull one hand from beneath him and see his life's blood imprinted in my palm. A moment of hysteria must pass through me because I let out a hiccup of a laugh at the prospect of his blood being the same color as mine.
"Run...," Harry whispers, drawing my attention back to his eyes which are looking up at the canopy before quickly flickering to me.
Harry's voice is deep and scratchy and I know my lips are trembling as I try to calm him while blood spittles out the side of his mouth.
Luminous green eyes, wide with a fear I've never seen before grip me in their sights.
"Run Jessie...find Hew."
I glance between him and the blood still seeping out of his wound, the shadows that normally coil around his naked body are struggling to cling to him where an arrow protrudes out of his lower abdomen.
I feel a terrible sense of dread and fear mixed together.
Someone has shot him.
Someone is coming.
No sooner do I have that thought, rustling comes from deeper in the woods causing my heart to speed up into panic. I'm about to start crying. I can feel it. Death has abandoned me and I don't even know where we are. I was following Harry blindly, too lost in my thoughts of the night before...of the stupid and nonsensical feelings...
Harry's hand is suddenly on my face, pulling me from my anxiety attack, and I find my gaze transfixed on the splotches of his blood against his pale skin, just below his beautiful mouth.
It looks wrong.
This is all so wrong.
"Jessie...I need you to go. Find Hew. Bring him here. He'll know what to do..." Harry once again hacks up more congealed blood, some of it speckling my blouse.
I can't breathe. I can't think. I just fixate on the red staining my shirt.
"Jessie," he snaps and his agitation brings me back to him, "go...now...while you still can you stubborn girl." Harry's hand drops from my face and pushes at my shoulder. I fall back onto my hands as he lays there staring at me with such warning...but I can still see something in his usually animalistic eyes. Something that makes me find my legs as the rustling gets closer.
"GO!" Harry shouts and I run faster than I ever have. Faster than all those times back home, away from my tormentors.
And while I run aimlessly through the woods, I can still feel his touch burning in my cheek...and the look in his eyes that made me find my feet.
He was scared.
He looked mortal.
He looked...human.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note:
I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I'm not even entirely happy with it but I HAD to post it. I kept teasing you guys (not on purpose) and so I had to finish it today between a crying baby and laundry haha!
I hope you like it!
What do you think is happening?
Who shot Harry? :o
All my love,
Balletclutz