ORI
"Blithe, please," Ori begged.
He had been trying to coerce her into letting him go their entire walk, but she wasn't having any of it. Her eyes were as flinty as a comet, and her grip hadn't loosened at all. She wasn't giving up, and he was running out of ideas.
"You won't ever find out your zodiac if you don't unhand me right now!" he shouted, but his threat fell on deaf ears. "Please, I just want to say goodbye to my dad," he said, changing tactics. Maybe he could appeal to her sweet, sensitive side, if any of her vulnerable moments had been genuine.
"Stop whining," she snapped.
Ori gulped.
Blithe's temper frayed even more, and he didn't want to witness her blazing wrath a second time. She pulled him into a large room. The arena. Blithe's performance already felt like eons ago. She had been a completely different person then, and so had he. She had been an angel, and he had been a gullible fool.
It was creepy walking through the deserted stands. Stray pieces of popcorn and wispy tufts of cotton candy littered the ground like dusty jewels, still leftover from last night's show. What had previously seemed opulent and extravagant now seemed garish and menacing, and Ori didn't know how he had ever been so blind. Blithe had pulled the wool right over his eyes, smothering his common sense with glitter and gold.
She hauled him down the stands' steps and into the center. Sand, a simple contrast to the evening's glistering gems, sifted through his bare toes.
They walked up the steps on the other side and out through a door. A door marked the end of the hallway, its only distinguishing feature a circus tent carved into the wood.
They marched right up to it.
With one hand, Blithe twisted the door open, still manacling his wrists together with the other. She threw him through the door, and he had a panicked flashback to the dark, cramped initiation room.
It was a different fear that awaited him.
His head hit grassy ground. She hadn't thrown him hard enough to break anything, but the impact left a blossoming bruise. He raised his head, praying they would be back in his backyard.
No, definitely not.
He had witnessed many impossible things in the last night, but his mind refused to accept what his eyes were seeing, desperately clinging to the hope that this was just a twisted dream. Instead of idyllic rooftops and chimneys, there were rows upon rows of tents for as far as his eyes could see. The cheerful colors filled him with dread.
Coming back to his senses, Ori scrambled away from Blithe. She towered over him, but an idea struck him. They weren't alone anymore.
"Stop!" he shouted. Blithe cocked her head. "I'm safe now. If you try to touch me, I will scream the stardust out of my lungs."
His comments didn't faze Blithe at all. She smirked at him, and his heart sunk like it was made out of lead. She seemed way too confident for someone about to be caught kidnapping.
"Silly, silly star boy," she said, her flowery laugh tipped with thorny malice. "You're not safe at all. Take another, closer look."
Ori didn't want to. He wanted to keep pretending that everything was okay, that there was still a way out of this whole crazy mess. He wanted to keep his eyes shut forever, as if that could prevent reality from existing.
"Do you still think you're going to be able to leave?" she sneered, reveling in his horror.
Ori shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. She was right, and they both knew it. He was trapped here, probably for the rest of his life, with no way out. He slumped in defeat, the fight fleeing his body.
"Let's go on a tour!" she chirped, abruptly letting go of his chin.
Ori gaped.
Everything about her demeanor had changed, and it was if someone entirely new had taken over. Gone was her ferocity and cruelty, replaced by cheeriness and pep. Even her eyes seemed lighter and less sharp, like pools of warm honey instead of molten sun.
She grabbed his hand, but she didn't grip so hard she left marks, tugging him across the lawn. If he had resisted or ran, maybe he could've escaped or gotten help, but he couldn't think straight, her warm touch sending his common sense into a tizzy.
Passerby stared at him curiously, and he flushed beneath their judgment, but he returned their gawks steadily. Even though they were all dressed normally enough, or as normal as one could expect considering it was a circus, something about them screamed off. He couldn't put his finger on it, and it tugged at his mind insistently, but he didn't have time to ponder.
Blithe had dropped his hand without him noticing, and he jolted when he realized he couldn't see her anymore through the crowds. A familiar wave of panic washed over him. He wasn't trusting of Blithe, not anymore, but she was the only person he knew here, and he needed her. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to rely on her for long, but she had some explaining to do before their paths split.
He shoved his way through the performers, apologizing as he stumbled on toes and knocked into shoulders.
"Blithe! Blithe?" he shouted, trying to raise his voice over the constant chatter. Searching for her in the crowd was like trying to find a golden needle in a colorful haystack. Finally, he thought he caught a flash of gold, and he chased after the glimmer. But when he broke through the throngs of people, he found himself in a dark corner. The crowd had vanished, and so had the chatty clamor.
"Hello? Blithe?" he called uncertainly, his muscles tense and wary. No answer. "Hello?" he tried again in vain.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when a girl emerged from the shadows, the blackness washing off of her skin like waves. Wherever Blithe was light and golden, this girl was dark and black. It looked like she was trying to disappear as much as possible.
"Hello?" he asked cautiously. The girl stepped forward and he stepped back. He wasn't making the mistake of blindly trusting someone anymore. Especially this girl, who didn't even look trustworthy at all. She raised her head, her dark brown curls falling away from her face to reveal appraising eyes and a frowning mouth.
"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously, circling him like a wolf.
He stiffened, following her with his eyes. Now that she had stepped into the light, he could see that she wasn't completely dark. A dress sewn of moonlight and sheer fabric that shifted like obsidian clung to her waist, fading away like shadows at her knees. Thin slivers of silver that curved into crescents dangled from her ears, and a small clip pinned her unruly hair in place, but there was still something wild about her.
"Orion," he answered, the lie slipping from his tongue with surprising ease. He had never been a convincing liar, but he sounded truthful even to himself. Maybe it was because he'd grown up knowing he'd been named for the constellation, but it just felt right, like it was meant for him. "Who are you?"
"A girl," she evaded, eying him from beneath her lashes.
"What's your name?" he sighed, trying to wheedle out information, but subterfuge had never been his forte either.
"Woe," she replied, her pacing coming to a halt.
Ori narrowed his eyes at her. No one would give their child such a depressing name. Her words sounded genuine, but she was a performer, so she was probably well versed in the art of weaving falsehoods.
"That's-" he began, but Woe cut him off.
"My turn. Why are you here?"
"Blithe... invited me," he said, choosing his words with care. Woe's almond-shaped eyes thinned, her stare disconcertingly ferocious.
She didn't believe him. She didn't think he belonged, but he had passed the initiation test. Obviously, there was a reason Blithe had chosen him, and it irked him that this girl thought he was ill-suited. "The circus showed up in my backyard, and I heard tinkly music. I followed it here, and Blithe coerced me into joining." He shrugged nonchalantly, gauging her reaction.
"I don't believe you," the girl said flatly, crossing her arms.
"Look!" Ori said with an angry edge. "I know you don't think I belong here because I'm not special, but I passed the initiation. Blithe said I did. So I have every right to be here, just like you do." Woe snorted in derision, her eyes running up and down his body as if she could see the boringness in his bones.
"I'm not saying you don't have potential, although you seem a bit ordinary," she added. "But I am saying that I don't believe she convinced you. Happy boys like you don't just run away from home."
Ori stiffened at the bitter emphasis on happy boys. From her words, it sounded like she knew that Blithe wasn't the perfect angel she pretended to be. She almost made it sound like Blithe had abducted him. He didn't know if he would call it that, since he had agreed in the first place, but now wasn't the time for technicalities.
"Are you saying you can help me escape?" he asked, taking a tentative step closer. His hope fluttered and died as she looked away, something rueful flitting past.
"No one can escape," she said quietly. "Not me, not Blithe, not anyone else."
She spun around and melted back into the shadows. The darkness blossomed around her touch, whorling into inky roses, and the petals clung to her like butterflies. Before she could completely vanish, swallowed up into the heart of the flowers, Ori grabbed her arm and stepped inside.
[ a / n ]
I'm so sorry my update schedule is so erratic! This week's been really stressful school-wise, and I'm going to Amsterdam for holiday break, so it's hard to find time to edit (and I don't want to post anything that I haven't polished).
What do you think of Woe? I know there's a not a lot about her yet, but she's my favorite character, so I hope you guys like her <3